The phone rang.
Sanya picked up the receiver. Her boyfriend, Trevor, was supposed to call anytime now. He was trying to get the weekend off to come down and visit her. "Hello?" She asked.
"Is Carolyn there?" Damn. A call for her party-girl roommate, who as usual was not around. "No she's not. May I take a message?"
"Naw. Bye." Probably one her party buddies. It was Thursday, the beginning of the party weekend. Sanya jumped onto her bed, floding her long legs underneath her, sighed and picked up the remote control. Flip flip. A bad Lifetime movie. Flip. Football game. Flip. Political stuff. Flip Flip Flip. Nothing on TV. She reached over to put a tape in the VCR. Sanya settled back to watch "Mr. Holland's Opus" for the five- hundredth time, when the phone rang again. She leaped across the room. "Hello?"
"Sanya?" It was Trevor. "Hi honey!"
"Hi love. What's the news?" Sanya asked, pointedly.
Trevor yawned into the phone. "it's bad news. I don't think I can come down there this weekend."
"But why?" Sanya asked, as Trevor yawned into the phone again.
"I'm exhausted. I worked night shift for like a week now, and I don't think I can drive without wrecking my car." Trevor yawned yet again. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I'll try and make it next weekend, I promise."
Sanya sighed. "I understand. I told you to try and get your work schedule changed. You're going to kill yourself working nights like this."
"I know, but well, I need the money, so I can come down there and join you."
"Okay, well, get some rest then, sweetie. I love you."
"Love you too, hon." They hung up then, and Sanya returned to the TV. Unfortunately she had missed the beginning to the movie. She stopped the tape to rewind it. The campus information channel was on., and she watched it, hoping a good song would come on in the meantime.
The announcements flickered by, until one caught her eve. The Friends of Humanity were holding a rally in the courtyard of her building. "Great." Sanya said out loud. She had tried to judge the colleges she'd picked on their tolerance to mutants like her, but that just isn't something you can ask admissions without having to answer a lot of embarrassing questions. "And why are you asking this??" The eyes looking at you over a stack of papers. Unfortunately, this school was not tolerant. Unfortunately, it was the only school in the area that offered Criminology, Sanya wanted to go into the FBI, so she really had no choice.
Sanya thought for a few minutes. She could do something for Trevor, after all. She turned up the volume on the TV and closed the window and the shade. Sanya knew if she was seen doing what she was about to do, she would probably get kicked out of school. At the very least, she would have the Friends of Humanity to deal with, one headache she didn't want. She needed to test herself first. Covering her "special gifts" also meant she grew out of practice. Sanya concentrated for a few minutes, and then felt herself lift off the ground. Flight achieved. She dropped back to the floor to wait till midnight, when it was safer to try what she was planning. No one at home knew of her powers either, not ever her parents. Someday, she would probably have to tell Trevor, but not yet. She was so afraid he would break up with her, and Sanya really wanted the relationship to work out.
Once on the roof, she pulled the black sweater closer to her. It was a chilly night, but Sanya was more worried about being seen than getting sick. She checked carefully, but there were no students nearby. It was nearly 12:30 and anyone who was anyone was out partying, and wouldn't be coming out of the frats or bars till at least two. She checked one more time, and leapt off the building, red hair streaming out behind her.
Sanya flew carefully, high enough to avoid being seen from the ground, low enough to stay under any radar, and in view of the highways. Sanya had little sense of direction, and had to follow the road in order to not get lost. It was quite a haul, three hours by car, but Sanya had no speed limit. She flew much faster than the cars below her, making the journey in an hour and a half.
She landed lightly on the roof of Trevor's house. She slid down to the ground, and found Trevor's window, which was open, and gently levitated through. Trevor was sleeping, tangled in the covers of the bed. Sanya looked at him, and felt her heart start pounding. Nerves, she decided. She had not done this to anyone in a long time. She'd practiced on her pet gerbil, it had been the only non-nocturnal gerbil on the planet.
Sanya stretched out her hand, which was glowing yellow, and touched the field gently to Trevor's head. "I have more time to sleep than you, love," she whispered as she touched the field to his hand, and began to draw the sleepiness out of his body. Sanya was shocked by how tired Trevor was, and realized she would have to be careful how much of his exhaustion she absorbed. She still had to fly back to school, and get up in the morning for her class. As she absorbed, the field grew lighter, finally fading out, when Sanya had maxed herself out. It took Sanya about five minutes to absorb maximum from Trevor. She could feel how tired he was, and nearly staggered under the collected exahustion. She smiled at him, pushed his dark hair away from his eyes, kissed his cheek gently, and flew out the window and back to school. No one was around, and she crawled into bed, to sleep all of it off.