“Wait you two! I refuse to lose to either of you!” Jane joined them too. The other three students just sat there looking at them like they were crazy. The hooded student that had been ignoring them all just sat down and waited for the bell pretending that nothing was going on. The other two girls looked about and decided to join everyone else running. They figured they had nothing to lose so why not?
Asher, Art, and Jane were on their way to becoming the strangest trio in the class. Their class one was already known as the oddballs due to their powers but now they had three outstanding members.
Just a few minutes after they finished up their laps the bell rang sounding to them that it was lunch time. This brought Asher in to a whole new wave of energy as he changed. He could barely contain himself while waiting for Jane to finish up. “Art you took too long, as soon as Jane is out we are running to get spicy chicken wraps at the cafeteria!”
“Ah what! It’s spicy chicken wrap day? I’m coming too, that spicy mayo is the best.” Art had not known either what lunch was being sold and now with him on board they were of one mind.
Jane came out changed and carrying her bag in her arms. “Let’s go before they are all gone.” Asher dashed away towards the cafeteria. He would get one of the spicy chicken wraps or he would die trying!
The three ran through the halls dodging passed other students who looked at them in curiosity. The cafeteria doors lay open before them with only a short line at the counter. Asher was the first one in to line and could see the stacks or rolled up wraps shining like a pile of gold.
Asher, are you drooling?” Art swore he saw a dribble of drool falling from Asher’s mouth.
“Huh? What? nooo. ” Asher wiped his face pretending nothing happened.
“I’m so hungry I could buy that while stack.” Jane reached them looking at the prizes to be bought laid out before them.
In turn they each placed their order grabbing their wraps. The cafeteria woman stopped them before they walked away to eat at a table. “Now don’t forget about the raffle. The one who finds the wrap with the big H branded on it will get a personalized gear free of charge from hero corp labs. Good luck!” The three hadn’t heard of this raffle but when the cafeteria woman pointed at a big poster on the wall it was dated all the way from the week before.
“Personalized gear for the tournaments? That would be so awesome. We could request for battle gear. Or the science tournaments could request for a lab kit. Or the business tournament can request advertising equipment. It would be the best head start to anyone in any tournament. I would have the best combat suit to carry my lead with me.” Art was already designing his price in his head.
“Wouldn’t the lead be too heavy? You would be a sitting duck.” Jane became the voice of reason to Art’s folly.
“That’s fine I will just join the weight lifting club and aim to improve my body. The stronger I get the better I will be able to use my power anyways right? The more metal the better.” Art was unperturbed by the logic so Jane just shook her head and looked for quiet corners where she could turn her head and eat without stopping others from enjoying their own meals.
“I think it would be pretty cool to have our own personal gear too. I think my sister already has one that can help her use her power better.” Asher was trying to drag up memories of his sister wearing a specialized suit but it was too blurry in his mind to properly remember.
“Most who want to go in to law enforcement end up hiding the capabilities of their uniforms or gears. The business tournament does this more than us though. They like to hide every single detail so that they can get an edge over competition. They even make mascots for the corporations they mock up. It is the best one to visit since they try to sell their ideas for companies.” Jane had been once with her parents since it was an event open to the public. It was more or less a career fair that showcased the students instead of the jobs.
“Guys! The flyer says there will be five winners!.” Art had just read one of the other posted flyers on the wall. The fine print at the very bottom said that there would be a total of five sold at the lunch. “It also says that they offer this promotion to ten other high schools! That’s so cool. Fifty people will get their own personalized items or gear or whatever. It’s like handing out a better grade for free.” Art was over the moon seeing this.
“The hero corp really goes all out with their promotions don’t they?” Asher himself thought that it seemed like too much. If they asked for anything it could get very expensive the more that they did.
“They are investing in the future. A lot of students will avoid joining any sort of justice system jobs because of the tougher requirements to get accepted in to the right university or starting job. This is basically their way to throw caution to the wind and give an unsuspecting student a better chance.” Jane was slowly unwrapping the tin foil on the wrap.
“Wait, we should do it together.” Having sat down while still chatting and seeing that Jane was about to be the first to see if she won something Art stopped her.
The three of them placed their wraps in front of them and looked around. Their excitement plain on their faces. “Good luck everyone, no hard feelings if one of us wins and the others lose alright?” Asher wanted to make sure that they wouldn’t get angry if the other won.
“How could something like this make us angry?” Art wasn’t even worrying about it and Jane had no intention to even support the idea that it could happen. “Lucky fist bump first!” Art held out a fist.
“Weird but OK.” Jane held hers ot tapping Art’s fist while waiting for Asher.
Asher laughed a little thinking it was indeed weird. “Lucky fist bumps!” Asher tapped his fist on there and the three instantly tore open the tin foil revealing the tops of their spicy chicken wraps.
“Bust!” Art saw that his was not a winner and looked at the other. They were all free of any H brand which would show that they were winners. “Should I go buy us more?” Art asked slowly. He wondered if they would want to try again.
“There’s no way I could eat two of these, The flyer says one per person anyways so you would just get in trouble anyways.” Jane casually picked up her spicy chicken wrap to take a bite.
“Jane!” Asher stood from his seat holding his own spicy chicken wrap in his hands pointing at the wrap Jane was about to bite in to.
Thinking there was something wrong with it she dropped it on the table. “Asher!” The reaction came from Art this time pointing at Asher’s hand holding his spicy chicken wrap.
Jane having jumped again Art’s shout joined the three of them pointing. They were all at a loss for words pointing at each other looking wide eyed. Jane thought for a moment that her mask had fallen off and they were all stuck but realized that none of them had the right words to finish a full sentence.
Art finally managed to get put a proper question after mumbling a bit, “What do we do now?” The three of them had lined up their spicy chicken wraps revealing that there were branded H symbols on each of them.
“They were sneaky! What If I bit in to it and ruined the symbol!” Asher was annoyed by this possibility since none of them even considered that the symbol had been hidden on the bottom.
Jane had turned away and was reading the fine print with the instructions on the flyer. “Ah! Hurry hurry hurry! We need to show the cafeteria worker before the lunch bell rings!” She grabbed her wrap and sprinted towards the lunch counter.
There was already a lunch worker that had noticed their commotions and was waiting for one of them to come up. She had already handed out the price voucher to one winner. ‘Finally a nice girl wins.’ Her thoughts were then thrown in to confusion as she saw that the two boys with the running girl also held their wraps. ‘Oh no, they all are going to fight over who gets the voucher.’ She already held her head in her hands with worry over how she would remedy this.