7 New Worries

Later, Zac stayed up all night at home, taking advantage of the fact that Amy wouldn't be home tonight so that he could test his understanding after his confrontation with Dario.

But he wouldn't be very successful even if he used his anger at many different people and situations from his past to try to control his newly awakened powers.

It wasn't easy to control strange abilities that escaped the basics of reality!

However, Zac would realize that night that this was the right path for him. During his training, he would notice changes in how he saw the world around him or how he affected his surroundings.

That wouldn't give him immediate control over his abilities, but it had been an important starting point for him, giving him a path to follow in order to change his situation.

The next day, he would return to school as if nothing had happened the day before, much calmer about his situation than before but still full of questions in his mind about what had happened before he woke up in the hospital.

...

Arriving at school in the morning, Zac saw the looks in his direction a little different than the day before, while the whispers today were much harder for him to hear.

"Look, he really came to school." One girl commented to a close friend, not knowing if she was interested in Zac's problem or afraid for him.

"He's either stupid or brave." A young man next to the girl said. "It wasn't a good idea to react against Dario's group."

The whole school was already talking about how Dario and his group had acted against Zac again yesterday, but how this time, the situation had developed differently, with Zac reacting and managing to escape the worst.

Dario's group had been found by the school guards because of Dario's and Skin's cries of pain after Zac's departure. Rumors spread after that.

Sean saw his friend walking towards the school entrance and grabbed one of his arms, stopping him from going any further.

"Did you really react? Have you lost your mind?" Sean said in an angry but concerned tone.

"Yeah, I finally gave back some of what those bastards put me through recently," Zac commented with a smile as he looked into Sean's eyes.

"You're a fool!" Sean took a step back from Zac with a strange look. "Do you know what kind of trouble you're in now?"

"I have no idea," Zac answered truthfully.

He was intelligent and had a good future ahead of him as long as he had the opportunity to fulfill his potential. But he didn't know everything, and he didn't have the kind of intelligence that 'villains' needed to survive.

Sean knew this and said with disgust. "Well, let me warn you, Dario wants to destroy everything you have now. Before, he just saw you as a distraction, but now you're his target, Zac."

"Well, I'll wait for him. But he'll end up much worse the next time he tries something against me." Zac said confidently.

"Really? Have you learned how to dodge bullets and get the principal to follow your orders?" Sean said, not caring about the trouble he could get Zac into just by telling him about it.

"What are you talking about?" Zac didn't understand, of course, since he only talked to a few people and usually didn't pay much attention to the gossip around him.

"Dario is part of The Vipers. To you, he's just a troubled teenager. But he's involved with hazardous people. Can you handle people capable of killing?"

Gulp!

Zac hadn't expected Dario to be so bad as to be involved with such a troublesome group!

He thought the guy was a violent bum who mistreated others out of his own frustration. But Zac hadn't expected that such a person would actually go down this path of no return.

"That..."

Sean didn't give his friend a chance to speak and continued. "Not only is he part of The Vipers. This group has an influence on the school staff. Do you think you'll be okay if they put pressure on the principal to hurt you? 

Tsk! I always told you not to react, man!"

Seeing Sean's disappointed expression, Zac lost some of his calm from earlier. "I had no idea... Why didn't you warn me before?"

Sean sighed. "Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I also didn't think that you would do what you did, or that he would insist on pressuring you... It would have been better if I hadn't said anything if things had gone as they usually do. Unfortunately, I was wrong not to think about the possibility that you would react the way you did".

While they were talking, Dario and his group arrived at the school gate and stood at one of the gates, waiting for Zac and Sean.

"What do I do now?" Zac asked. "Their group isn't going to come after me for a simple teenage disagreement, are they?" 

"Who knows? Dario will try something. Whether The Vipers will help him get what he wants is another question. But they don't have to do much for you to get hurt... Sigh, this has gotten out of hand. If I were you, I'd talk to Amy and stay away from school for a few days. Let the situation calm down a bit, you know?"

"Is this going to work?" Zac asked when he saw one of the school's security guards standing next to Dario's staff.

"Maybe not today. But nothing will stop you from not coming to school for the next few days."

As they stood there and Dario's group looked at them, the guard at the entrance to the academy called to Zac. "Zac Small, come with me. Principal Price is waiting for you in his office."

Sean looked at Zac and wished him luck.

Zac entered the school and soon passed where Dario and the other three cronies from the day before were.

"Be careful from now on. Our business isn't over yet, Small." Dario said as he smoked a cigarette without even looking at Zac.

Zac clenched his fists when he heard that, but he didn't miss the small smile on the guard's lips.

'Sean wasn't lying. It looks like that bastard really does have the influence to move the school staff around... Is that why I suffered so much at their hands without the school doing anything about it?' He suddenly realized what was behind Dario and the guy's cronies still being able to come and go from this place, even with so many rumors about the things they did.

Thinking about it, Zac felt even more angry at the people in this place, feeling betrayed and disappointed by the reality of things.

He thought he was just ignored because he had no evidence and was an orphan with no one to fight for his rights. His sister was too busy to come to school to complain, so maybe the school staff didn't pay much attention to him. 

But when he discovered that the truth could be much deeper and darker, Zac became angrier because all his injustices could have been intentional and not just a lack of consideration for him.

Without meaning to, he felt his powers shift, causing his view of the tanned man in front of him to change, and he suddenly saw the man's internal organs.

He saw something that caught his eye. 

"Mr. Allen, I heard that you recently had heart surgery. Is that true?"