Free Unfit by K Hippolite

don’t you go back to them and find your own boyfriend?”
      “Alešan!” says Panne, eyes round in shock.
      “I have a boyfriend,” I say. “He’s right downstairs.”
      “No, that one’s supposed to be mine. I was here first. Go find your own.”
      “But you don’t love him. You only want him now to stop me from having him.”
      “How do you know that? Are you reading my mind, tele-creepo?”
      “I don’t need telepathy to see you aren’t capable of love.”
      Alešan stares at me, body stiffening in rage. She leans over and jabs me in the chest with the pointed nail of her index finger.
      “You stay out of his life, tele-creepo, hear me?”
      “Tele-creepo?” asks Mrs. Lanarr, coming in through the door.
      Alešan plunks down in her desk, face serene once more, having recovered her poise. “Kwan’s a telepath, Mrs. Lanarr. I heard she’s a guild fugitive.”
      “Oh really?” asks Mrs. Lanarr. But her mind relays no surprise. Either she’s good at hiding surprise, or Greg has already told her.
      “I’m not a fugitive. I’m a Naiskarin.”
      “For who?” asks Alešan, disparagingly.
      “Kajo Blue. The mystery Lightning from the paper a few weeks ago. I’m his Naiskarin. In fact, he has called me to go on a mission with him when school ends.”
      “I’m so sure,” says Alešan, rolling her eyes.
      “Now, now, let us not discount Kwan’s story so soon,” says Mrs. Lanarr. She studies me with renewed interest. Curiosity leaks out of her mind. It’s the first raw emotion I’ve ever received from her.
      Grandfather was right. This has impressed Mrs. Lanarr.
      “But Mrs. Lanarr‒”
      “Allow her the benefit of a doubt, Alešan. Perhaps life needs her to do something important wherever she is going. Now let’s start tonight’s lesson with basic algebra. Ladies, if you’ll get a sheet of paper ready, I shall quiz you.”
      But I find myself daydreaming during the lesson. Dreaming of a world where Mrs. Lanarr approves of me over Alešan.
     

  School is back the next day. A group of telekinetic electricians have adjusted the system to give the blacked-out area power from the other stations on the grid. I’m told that the extra load will cause faster core burnouts across town. The damaged station needs to be fixed quickly.
      Between school, sewing for my graduation outfit, and my lessons at the Lanarrs’, I’m very busy. The end of school takes me by surprise. I took on traditional Naiskarin colours for my graduation outfit, with the black dress and white satin pants. I chose red velvet for the belt, to match the crimson sun design on the chest. I even have a blue headband, the physical copy of Kajo’s halo that he uses as his mark.
      In this way, my graduation dress can double as a Naiskarin’s robe. I can tell Kajo’s impressed when he sees it after school.
      “You look very official,” he says.
      “It’s the very least I could do for our future Namika.”
      “A Namika is someone who runs a whole demesne. I’ll just be a Lightning working with what telekinetics I get.”
      “I think you have more gold than the Coalition. Why don’t you declare and have done with?”
      He chuckles. “You’ve hidden that gold for me, right?”
      The heavy bag of gold he gave me two days ago. Auditors would find it at my parents home, so I’ve hidden it under my bed at the Lanarrs’ house. Last night Mrs. Lanarr promised me that no one would need to use my room while I was gone. Kajo’s gold should be safe there.
      “It’s as hidden as I could manage. As you wanted, I gave Dave some. Kimberly had nowhere to hide it, so I still have her share. Why don’t you deposit it at a bank though?”
      “That’s not minted gold. I’d have a hard time explaining to them that I made it.”
      “You can make gold now? Are you kidding?”
      “Let’s go. I’ll show you.”
      Kajo uses his made-up gold to buy us a car. He lets me