Saint Joseph School

*wondered why her bed smelled like chocolate sometimes*

*hugs Sam anyway, not like she gets to keep the thing* *hopes the school doesn't demand a damage deposit, though*

Joni has continued to emerge from her shell over the past year. A major turning point in her life has been her reunion with her estranged mother in January, and the two remain in contact. Her three-month relationship with Diego was self-initiated, and although it ended painfully, she emerged from it ...

All that stammering brings back memories of Joni's own first day. She gives Lisa what she hopes is an encouraging smile. "Hi... welcome."

Hello... it was nice meeting you the other day... everything well?

There was something about Joni that caused some people to give up on her in frustration. There was also something about her that caused other people to want to protect her from those that did. Martin Jacobs fell squarely into the second category; it made him a good father, but sometimes he ...

"Who's there?"

"Hey, baby girl, it's me."

Joni nearly fell out of her chair getting to the door, throwing herself at the person on the other side with a sob. "Daddy!"

* * *

They sat together on the spare bed, Mr. Jacobs holding his daughter gently as she cried. It took her a few minutes ...

She thought she'd left the chapel unnoticed, but Diego had noticed somehow and caught up with her in the park. "...Afternoon." She immediately felt bad for the curt greeting.

"Good afternoon. Es good to see you in service, but you leave so quickly."

A few people had been staring her direction ...

Joni had gotten a change of clothes on campus, while the others had all argued with Ms. Sinclair that she would need company, but with no success. She was welcome to stay at the hospital as late as she wanted, since it was her mother there, but the others needed to obey curfew. That left just her ...

It'd been February, 2006. Hurricane Katrina was long gone, and hadn't gotten anywhere near Savannah anyway, but they'd still felt it that winter. Damages to pipelines throughout the South had sent natural gas prices through the roof.

With zero control over her ability while asleep, the 15-year ...

"Is that really her?"

Joni nodded silently. She had barely said a word since the others arrived.

It hadn't been difficult for five costumed, card-carrying heroes to get access to the hospital room, teenaged or no, especially when one was a relative. Patient "Jacobs, Michelle" was out of her ...

Saturday the 3rd

"Joni, es you okay?"

Joni stretched the stiff feeling out of her limbs and reoriented herself. The hospital, probably Peregrine Island's. She found her comm. "Yeah, Diego, I'm fine, my badge triggered." She kept herself from apologizing for "leaving" the rest of the team. "Is ...

Technically, "cold" does not exist. What we call "cold" is really just "not hot." Heat is energy, measurable, but there's no such thing as a unit of cold. An object colder than its surroundings is that way because the warmth around it has yet to affect it, and if something's getting colder it's just ...

It looked like she might be the first one here. Either that or she had the wrong place and was about to interrupt someone else's dinner in an embarrassing manner. Joni knocked anyway.

"Maalcolm, could you get the door, please?"

"Going!"

Joni didn't recognize the first voice, or even the ...

Wednesday the 12th

She'd been distracted all through history class. Mr. Norris had even needed to grab her attention with a sharp "Miss Jacobs!" after she hadn't responded, leading to much flustered stammering while several classmates snickered.

If one student in particular had so much as ...

Unintuitive, it's true, but the most insecure people are in many ways also the most self-centered.

While they were dating, if Jacob ever told Joni that he couldn't meet with her that day, the idea that he actually might have a justified reason would be drowned out by "he just doesn't want to ...