Giovanni trudged his way to the locker room after practice, leaving divets in the grass as he kicked at the lawn in frustration. He couldn't understand it! The last couple days, practice had gone majorly awesome for him and the rest of his teammates! They had had so much focus and drive and energy, and with their super-powers on top of everything, they all just KNEW they were going to beat the competition out of the water at their next game in a couple days. However, today, Giovanni had been the only one so OFF his game, he had no idea what was going on with his body or his powers, least of all why! His coordination seemed off somehow. He kept making mistakes. His aim was atrocious. The control he had to exert on his strength to keep from sending the soccer ball into the next county was virtually non-existent. The coach had called him aside three times to correct him and ask if anything was wrong. As far as Giovanni could tell, he still felt more than fine, but for some reason, nothing he did was working. Eventually, the coach had him sit on the sidelines the rest of practice, watching the rest of his teammates perform everything flawlessly. Giovanni felt ashamed. He had sat there on the bench watching his friends, his face red with embarrassment, until he couldn't stand it anymore and looked at the ground, his feet, anywhere else. He had let the guys down. He'd let the coach down. Worse, he'd let himself down, and he didn't even know WHY! When he reached the locker room, he quickly stripped off his uniform, tossed it near the dirty clothes basket (but missed, and sent the entire wheeled hamper careening down the hallway to the opposite end, near the girls' locker room!), had a quick shower, re-dressed, gathered his backpack, and left without answering or talking to anybody. He had a moody, depressed air about him as walked down the sidewalk, heading off the school grounds. "Hey, Giovanni! Wait up!" Giovanni stopped and turned and saw Chrys waving an arm at him and running up to him. Giovanni sighed. He had forgotten he had promised to walk home with Chrys again today after practice. She had decided to join the botany club, which met after school the same time as soccer practice, and since they got out at the same time and lived so close to each other, they had figured they might as well walk home together again. Personally, Chrys was helping to ensure she wouldn't get singled out or picked on again during her walk home. Giovanni, meanwhile, was hoping to enjoy some time with someone who enjoyed his company...and knew his secret. However, Giovanni wasn't sure he felt like having company on his walk home today, given the disaster that practice had been for him. "Hi, Chrys," he said rather morosely, when Chrys caught up to him. Chrys frowned. "Are you okay? You look depressed." Giovanni sighed again. Did he really want to spill his guts to a girl he still barely knew? However, his mouth seemed to decide for him and said, "Practice didn't go so well for me today." "Really? What happened?" Chrys looked at him, concerned. The look on her face reminded Giovanni of how his mom would look when he had a scraped knee or a really bad cough. Chrys already knew his secret. Maybe she could help him figure out why he completely sucked at soccer today. "Well, I don't really know. Here I am with all these great powers, and today, I felt completely off my game." Giovanni explained the many things that went wrong at practice, and his face went red when he confessed to having been benched. "Hmmm. Interesting," Chrys said, as a frowned creased her brow, and she rubbed her lips with her finger. She tilted her head, looking at him curiously for moment. Giovanni fidgeted before asking, "What's interesting?" "G, how did you feel after we left each other yesterday?" "I felt really good, like I was on top of the world." "And how did you feel this morning when you got up?" "Well,.... I felt groggy, like I hadn't slept very well." "How long did you feel that way?" Giovanni thought for a moment. "I actually felt kind of out of it until I met up with you at lunch today." Chrys's lips twitched as if she were going to smile, but her lips evened out into a straight line again. "And you touched my hand at lunch, right?" Giovanni felt his face and neck get hot. "I was only guiding you to a free table!" He felt he had to defend himself for some reason. "Yes, yes, I know," Chrys said dismissively with a wave of her hand, "but after you and I connected and spent some time together, did you feel better? More like your usual self?" Giovanni's eyes widened. "Yes! I did!" He frowned a moment. "But what does all this have to do with practice going so awful for me?" "Answer me one more question first: How do you feel now?" Giovanni bit his lip and closed his eyes. He was quiet for a couple moments before opening them and looking into Chrys's bright blue eyes in confusion. "I...I feel...off. Like...there's something missing." "I think I know," she said softly. Chrys then carefully took Giovanni's hand in her hers. They both gasped as a spark of sensation ran between them. Giovanni realized now that he had felt the same spark at lunch earlier today, when he had touched Chrys's hand to get her attention. Immediately, Giovanni felt a sense of well-being fill his entire body: wholeness, peace, strength, control, focus. Everything that seemed to have been lacking in him at practice now didn't seem to be lacking in him at all! "What...what just happened?" Giovanni asked warily, quickly dropping Chrys's hand and taking a step back from her. "I don't understand!" Chrys sighed. "You feel okay, back to normal now again, don't you?" she asked knowingly. Giovanni nodded his head. "I think something happened when you shared your powers with me yesterday," Chrys explained. "When you did that, it affected how you can use and tap into your powers. I think that when you're apart from me for an extended period of time, you can't ground your powers, you lose control over them. Somehow, I have become a sort of grounding force for your powers." Giovanni groaned. What Chrys said made perfect sense. He didn't want to believe it, but seeing how he felt ever since yesterday--with and without Chrys--Chrys's solution seemed logical. "So, what do I do now? I can't touch you all the time! And it's not like we have all the same classes together! What do I do at practice? Oh man!" "I don't think it's as dire as you're making it out to be, G. After you touch me, I'm sure you're grounded for a while. We just have to determine how long. Plus, there's bound to be another way to ground your powers other than having to touch me. We just have to figure out what it or they are." "Do you have any suggestions?"
