Flamer

Aiden and Elias stifle laughs as they listen to their archery instructor explain the different parts of an arrow and eventually get separated. Aiden attends an orienteering class next but is too distracted to pay attention after he is subjected to racist insults by a boy from another patrol. He laments that it is when he’s not actually thinking about being different that someone comes along and reminds him that he’s “totally abnormal” (104). He remembers times he was bullied in middle school and again begins to feel anxious about high school.

At lunch, he discusses an X-Men comic he is reading with David Green. Aiden’s favorite character is Jean Grey because she can read people’s minds and know their feelings, which David, who likes Wolverine for how “badass” he is, can’t believe. Aiden fantasizes about having Jean Grey’s powers and being able to get revenge on the people that mistreat him, but also considers that if he was Wolverine, he could cut off his fat and instantly heal.

Aiden attends the basket-weaving class he signed up for. He figures it will be like making hemp bracelets, which he finds calming. David signed up for it as well because it sounded like less work than the other available options.