We watched as some people attempted to reach out for the popcorn, only to be met with air. Jemmy giggled uncontrollably as tears rolled down her face, leaning her head against Jaxson’s shoulder.
Will shot his son another look, as laughter erupted once more.
Jaxson pretended to misinterpret him and nodded. “Oh yeah, popcorn makes you thirsty.”
Several glasses of soda showed up beside the popcorn bowls.
Noah guffawed. “Sno caps! I love my popcorn with sno caps!” he barely breathed out.
“As you wish,” Jaxson said with another dramatic flourish of his hands.
Movie theater candy piled up beside the popcorn and sodas.
“Jaxson James!” Will warned loudly over the laughter.
“Uh oh, dude, he used both names,” Noah tried to say with a straight face.
Tears were now rolling down my face. I totally needed this laughter right now.
Jaxson still looked unremorseful as he made his illusions disappear.
“Okay, well,” Paul stated as tried to stifle his own laughter. “Do we have anything else that should be addressed?”
Gavin turned to me and used my ability to push his thoughts to me. Should I let them know that there are a few people here that are under the impression that their gifts skipped over them? That they don’t have a gift? When in all actuality, they do?
My eyes rounded in shock. I pushed my thoughts to Remy, Drake, Jace, Noah, Jaxson, and Troy. Gavin believes that some of the Nons aren’t actually Nons at all, they’re gifted. Should he address that now?
Gavin and I was given a resounding. No! Even from Troy, Jace, and Remy.
“Going once,” Paul continued as he pointed his finger around the room. “Going twice,” he paused. “Gone! Get some rest, shower. The shoppette is open for another hour. There will be no training tomorrow or Friday. However, everyone is to remain here at base. We got some planning to do, and I will be calling people down to our offices tomorrow and Friday. Have a good night everyone. Welcome back!”
“Do we have classes tomorrow?” Jaxson shouted hopefully to Paul’s retreating back.
“Yes, Bell, you do,” he paused in the doorway to turn to look at Jaxson, a small smile on his lips as he said, “Although, I heard Mr. Bates has been known to dismiss students early if they were to bring him, say a…trained capuchin monkey. Maybe one that’s willing to do circus tricks for him? It should also be able to bring him bowls of peanuts on command.”
The room filled with laughter once more.
“Done!” Jaxson exclaimed.
I giggled. “You know he was joking right? We still have class, and it’ll still end at lunch time.”
“That’s what you heard. What I heard was a capuchin monkey will be coming to class with me tomorrow,” Jaxson said with a smirk.
I groaned. This wasn’t going to end well. Jaxson had been leashed for too long here, and now he had free reign of his gifts again. He’ll be using them…a lot. Poor Mr. Bates.
As we were headed out of the room, a group of the Nons came over to us.
“Hey, you guys want to have a few brews with us? We have some back in our rooms. Maybe we can shoot some pool. Since we don’t have an early wake up call.” I recognized Yaris as the speaker. He was a man in his late twenties. He was built short and stocky like a bull dog. His head was always perfectly smooth and shiny. I had a feeling he put something on it to make it like that. Spencer was right in saying the man rarely smiled. Sometimes I thought I saw a ghost of pain cross his eyes during training. I’m sure he had a story to explain on who or what took his joy.
“Well the young’uns can’t imbibe, but they can hang out,” another man said. His accent thick like he was from the South. Cowboy wore a Stetson and cowboy boots with a pair of jeans and a flannel. He gave me a wink. All he was missing was a piece of straw between his teeth.
I might have been stereotyping just a tad, but I haven’t crossed that many people from the South. I only had movies and books to base my opinion on.
I looked over at the guys. “Thanks, I’m tired, and we have classes in the morning. Next time?”
“I think I’m going to turn in, too,” Jaxson stated.
“We’ll come hang out,” Troy stated resolutely giving me a pointed look.