Late Bloom Chapter One!

The year was 2109. Louis Chandler stared at his bedroom ceiling. Today was a very important and terrifying day. Today was his fifteenth birthday.  But he wasn't excited about it… Today was also the day that he would discover his power… If everything turned out okay. If he succeeded. That's what terrified him. What if his powers weren't there? What if he couldn't do it? He turned to lay on his side and stared at his wall. He didn't want to think about that…

He looked over at his clock. It blinked 7:31 at him in bright green lights. It was an hour before he had to go meet with Mrs. Ferguson to show her what he could do… If he could do anything. This was his one chance to do it, so he could stay with his family. He sighed and closed his eyes, wanting to not worry about it…

He was brought out of his thoughts by a small shock to his feet.  He jerked his feet under the covers. “Morning twerp! Today's Exile day!” The voice of his brother came from the direction of his doorway.”

He opened his eyes and turned to give his brother an annoyed look. “You do not know that, Andrew.” He threw his pillow at his brother.

Andrew caught it with a smirk. “Well just in case, you should pack up your things. Y'know, so you don't have to do it later.”

Louis sat up and picked up another pillow to throw at him, when his brother was jerked out of the doorway and he heard his sister, Jasmine, screaming at his brother. “Andrew Samuel Chandler! What are you doing? Do you want to give him heart attack? I swear I will throw you half-way across the city again if I have to.”

Louis heard Andrew mumble a response and Jasmine growl. After a few minutes of what sounded like a running and shouting, Jasmine came into his room. Louis smiled at her. “Hey sis.”

“Hey big bro.” She came to sit on the bed next to him. “How ya feelin'?”

He put on his most convincing smile. “Oh I am feeling great. No pressure at all.”   

Jasmine lightly punched him on the shoulder, making him wince. “Liar.” She grinned a little and hugged him. “Lighten up bro. Today's a big day for you.”

Louis sighed. “Don't remind me, Jas.”

She pushed him off the bed. “I was talking about your birthday stupid!” She giggled and helped him off of the floor. “Your test is just a test. Your birthday only comes once.”

“Every year.” He smiled and let her help him up.

She laughed and pulled a small wrapped box out of her back pocket and handed it to him. “Happy Birthday Louis.”

He looked down at the box and then up at his sister. “Awww Jas. Thank you.” He tore the wrapping off and opened the box. He gasped and took out a small flat blue square with a picture of an apple on the back. “Wow!”

Jasmine grinned, “I know. It's called an iPod, according to the records. No ones used one of these since way before World War Three!”

Louis looked up at his sister. “You mean… Early 21^st century stuff? Oh my goodness! Thank you Jasmine!” He gave his sister a big hug.

She hugged back with a smile on her face. “I knew you'd love it!”

Louis looked down at it. “This is a relic! How in the world did you get that?”

“I found it in a bag when I was with my class on our trip outside the walls. It had the charger, and earbuds. I tried it out and it has dozens of songs… Some of them were weird though. They said the word butt a lot.”

Louis laughed, “Oh. That was around the 2010's then. Americans then were weird. Not all of them though.”

“That was when your grandpa was a boy.” They looked up to see their parents in the doorway. “He sure had some stories.” His mom chuckled in an attempt to keep her son happy.

Louis sighed, “I guess it's time for me to get ready, isn't it?” He put the iPod back in it's box.

His dad nodded. “You should get dressed. We have to go in twenty minutes.”

Louis sighed and gave his sister another hug. “Thanks for the present, Jas.” Jasmine hugged back and went to her own room.

His mom elbowed her husband. “Samuel!”

Samuel Chandler crossed his arms. “Sorry, Susan… It's a very important day. His whole future depends on today.”

Susan Chandler also crossed her arms. “You think he doesn't know that? If anyone should be the most worried, it's him. Are you afraid that he’ll reflect badly on you, Mr. Secretary?”

Samuel put his hands to his head. “He's my son, Susan! You think I want to see him leave at fifteen years old?”

Louis put his hands on his ears. “Please! Stop fighting! This isn't making me feel any better about this...” He fell on his bed and awkwardly face-planted into his pillow.

His dad came and sat on the bed behind him. “I'm sorry Louis. I wasn't thinking about how you were feeling… Will you forgive me son?”

Louis nodded as his mom sat next to him and ruffled Louis' hair. “Louis. Don't worry son. It's super rare that one's powers don't show up by now. And the doctor will be there to help.”

Louis sat up and smiled a little. “Thanks… I feel a little better now.” He lied. He was still terrified. Just because something was rare, didn't mean it wasn't possible.

His dad smiled and clapped him on the back. “Okay. But seriously. You need to get dressed. We now have thirteen minutes. He led his wife out of the room to give Louis time to change.

Louis breathed in and then let it go. He needed to get ready. His parents were probably right. He shouldn't worry about it. It was his fifteenth birthday! Maybe he had developed it over night. He stood up and went to go take a shower.

-------------------------------------------

Twenty minutes later, Louis sat in the waiting room with his mother. His dad had an important meeting scheduled and Jasmine had stayed home to make Louis his birthday lunch. “For when you get your powers.” She had said.

The room was empty, besides one other boy and his father. The boy looked how he had been feeling. He looked terrified. He turned to his mom. “I guess there aren't many kids my age with birthdays today.”

His mom whispered back. “Febuary 29^th isn't a very common birthday.” She was right. Febuary 29^th was not a common birthday, which seemed a little weird to Louis. Especially since they had permanently done away with the leapyear. It didn't come only once every four years anymore. So why were there still so few births on that day?

A nurse opened the door to the waiting room. “Joey Daniels?”

The other boy looked up. “Y-Yes sir?”

The nurse smiled a comforting smile at Joey. “The doctor and Mrs. Ferguson are ready for you in the back.”

Joey looked down and closed his eyes tight. “I'm gonna fail. I'm gonna fail...”

Louis smiled at Joey. “Hey. You'll do great.”

Joey looked up and gave Louis a nervous smile. “That's nice of you to say… But you don't know that.”

“You don't know either. Just be positive. Your emotions can really influence your outcome.”

Joey smiled and stood up. “Th-Thank you.” He walked to the door and followed the nurse and his dad into the doorway and closed the door behind him.

Louis smiled. Joey seemed like a nice guy. He hoped that when he was done with this, that they could meet up and hang out.

Twenty-five minutes passed and Joey came back out looking really excited. “You were right! Oh my goodness! I have powers!” He gave Louis a hug. “Thank you! Thank you so much… What's your name?”

“I'm Louis. Louis Chandler.” The hug took him by surprise. He didn't really give many hugs, so he really didn't know what to do.

Joey blushed and pulled away, “Sorry... I forget personal space boundaries when I am excited.”'

Louis chuckled nervously. “It's okay.” Then he changed the subject. “So what power do you have?”

Joey extended his hand and suddenly a small flame rose from his palm. "I can control fire."

Louis grinned, "Wow! That's cool!"

His mom nudged him and chuckled, "Dontcha mean hot?" Louis gave his mom a look. "You know... Fire? Hot?" He facepalmed. "What?! That was funny Louis."

"Mom..."

Joey chuckled. "That was a good one."

Louis was about to respond, when he heard someone clear their throat. He turned to see the nurse waiting for him at the door. He turned to Joey. "I'll see you later, I guess."

Joey smiled, "Good luck, Louis..."

Louis turned to the nurse, and went through the open door.

This is one of the three projects I have decided to do work on this fall! Please comment and tell me what you think! Give me suggestions! Fun squishy stuff like that! Stay Fluffy Y'all!