Now You See Me-Gifted 5 Read Free Page A

gang leaders, addicts . . . when her only real crime had been hanging with people like that.
    Not that home was such a great place to be either. Her mother was rarely there, and when she was at home, she was drunk. Welfare cheques were spent on booze and who-knew-what-else, and Jenna could recall many nights when she went to bed hungry.
    So release from Harmony House wasn’t any great relief. She went back to Brookside Towers, the nasty low-income housing development she’d been living in with her mother for two years. Her mother was still drinking, still partying. The apartment was a mess, her life was a mess, and she had to keep that fact a secret from the social workers or she’d be sent into foster care.
    By order of the judge, Jenna had been transferred to this school, Meadowbrook, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, she also had to report to a school counsellor every week. But the counsellor, Mr Gonzalez, wasn’t such a bad guy. He didn’t know about Jenna’s ability to read minds, but he must have suspected there was something uniquely odd about her because he sent her to see Madame. Jenna had been furious – she’d been branded as a ‘problem’ again and now she had to attend a ‘special’ class with other problem students.
    So the first time she entered this classroom, she was in a very bad mood. The so-called ‘Gifted’ class could only make her already wretched life even worse.
    But then things began to turn around for her. Aspects of her life started to improve. Her mother went into a rehab programme, and now she’d been sober for over a month. She’d got a job too.
    Even her home was better. The residents of Brookside Towers were demanding long-overdue improvements to the estate, and the local government was actually responding.
    And the Gifted class turned out to be nothing like what she’d expected. Her classmates weren’t ‘problems’ – not in the traditional sense. They had ‘gifts’ too. And despite her usual efforts to remain aloof and disagreeable, Jenna found herself fitting in – and even making friends. It wasn’t in Jenna’s nature to show her feelings or admit them to anyone, but deep in her heart she knew she was as close to being happy as she’d ever been.
    Not that she was great friends with all her classmates. She glanced at Martin Cooper, who sat over by the windows. He was looking at her right now with fear in his eyes.
    ‘You’d better not be reading my mind,’ he said to her in an accusing tone.
    Jenna shook her head wearily. The little wimp couldn’t even figure out how to block her. He was the eternal victim, always expecting to be picked on and bullied. His only satisfaction came when he was teased so much that his gift emerged – and an incredible physical strength made him capable of causing serious damage.
    ‘Out of my way,’ barked a voice behind her. Jenna stayed right where she was, knowing full well that Charles Temple could easily manoeuvre his wheelchair around her. She wondered if being unable to walk was the reason he could be so aggressive and argumentative. She assumed it was the source of his gift – telekinesis – the ability to make things move with his mind.
    Sarah Miller was already in her seat, of course. Jenna always thought of her as ‘Little Miss Too Good to Be True’. How else could she criticize someone who was always sweet? It was still hard to believe that Sarah had potentially the most dangerous gift of all of them – the ability to make people do anything she wanted them to do. Not that Jenna had seen much evidence of this amazing gift. For some mysterious reason, Sarah didn’t want to use her talent.
    Ken Preston looked up and caught her eye. ‘Hi,’ he said. The greeting wasn’t expressed very warmly, but Jenna was just pleased to be acknowledged by him. She and Ken had experienced some conflicts recently, and she didn’t want him to hold anything against her. He wasn’t a close friend like Emily or Tracey, but she