I Can Not Tell a Lie But I Kind Of Have To
Where'd She Come From?
“How was school?” Mom asked me the second I walked into the kitchen.
“Fine,” I said, dropping my backpack on the floor.
“Are you hungry?’ she asked.
“Are you kidding? I’m a 16-year old boy. Of course I’m hungry!” I shouted.
“Great,” she said, taking out a plate. “Mrs. Johanson made an extra batch of brownies.”
“Sweet!” I said, sitting down and biting in to the gooey treat. Just then, my phone rang, which was all the way across the room. Mom picked it up and answered it.
“Hello?” she said. “Yes, this is Neil’s phone. Would you like to speak to him?” She handed it to me, and I covered the speaker with my hand.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“Some girl named Debra,” she said. My eyes popped out of my head. How the hell did she get my number? I put the phone up to my mouth.
“Sorry, but this is not the number you wanted to reach,” I said in a British accent.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Debra said.
“Just fine love, just fine,” I said, hanging up.
“Why did you tell that girl she had the wrong number?” Mom asked me, cleaning up my plate.
“She’s a freak! She’s totally obsessed with me!” I shouted. Sidney walked in and grabbed a soda from the fridge.
“Maybe you should go out with her,” she said. “I mean, this is like your only chance at getting a girlfriend.”
“Oh yeah, I don’t see your boyfriend anywhere,” I said.
“He’s at hockey practice,” she smirked. Damn. Backfire.
“Shit,” I mumbled. Sidney laughed at me.
“You can’t even think of a comeback!” she cackled.
“Just go back to your room,” I said. She stuck her tongue out at me and left. Sidney spent practically all her time in her room. She only comes out for food and school.
“Why don’t you and Dad work on the car?” Mom suggested. Time to whip out those excuses.
“I can’t,” I said. “Daniel and I are meeting Eric and Kyle at Tuck’s.” She shrugged and pulled money out of her purse.
“No, its okay mom,” I said. “Tuck’s lowered the price of almost everything, so we’re going to take advantage of 50 cent French fries.”
“Okay, have fun,” she said, as I walked out the door. I got in my car and drove out of the driveway.
“Smart, real smart Neil. Why couldn’t you have just said that you had homework?” I said to myself as I dialed Daniel’s number.
“What up?” Daniel said.
“Okay, long story but meet me at Tuck’s in like ten minutes,” I said. “And tell Eric and Kyle too.”
“Whatever,” he said and hung up. And sure enough, Eric, Kyle, and Daniel walked into Tuck’s ten minutes later.
“Rack ‘em up,” Kyle said, referring to the pool table. Eric, being the biggest pig of us all, had already ordered a large order of fries.
“So why are we here?” Daniel asked.
“I told my mom that I couldn’t work with my dad on the car cuz I’d be here,” I said, taking aim and shooting the 6 ball into the corner pocket.
“I think this is like the 100th time we’ve saved you from having to do stuff with your dad,” Kyle said.
“Yeah, why don’t you just suck it up and do something with him,” Daniel said, aiming and hitting the 3 ball just to the left of a corner pocket.
“Have you met my father?” I asked him. “Eric, get your fat ass over here. You’re up.”
“Coming,” he said, stuffing his mouth with another fry. “What’s so bad about your dad?”
“For one, he basically hates me,” I said. “Well, not really, but he doesn’t exactly express a liking for me either.”
“Maybe it’s not you, maybe it’s him,” Kyle said.
“Nope. Yesterday, I asked my dad for five dollars. He said no. Ten minutes later, Sidney asked him for five dollars, and he gave it to her,” I said.
“Okay, so maybe it is you,” Kyle said, and then started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“Your dad likes your sister more than you!” he blurted out. Eric and Daniel started laughing too.
“Shut up,” I mumbled.
“Oh look, we embarrassed him,” Daniel said.
“And how was Millie today Dan?” I asked. “I heard she met this freak who was trying to hit on her but she walked away from him. Oh wait, that was you.” He glared at me, and Eric and Kyle laughed.
“Stop laughing Eric,” Daniel said. “You’re not quite the ladies-man either. Remember Tracy last week?” Eric turned red.
“What happened?” Kyle asked eagerly.
“He started talking to her and when he turned around, he fell into a trashcan!” We cracked up, and Eric retreated back to the fries.
“Okay Kyle,” he said. “Remember when you-- damn, I forgot, you’re, like, perfect.” Kyle beamed.
“Okay, just for that, you’re paying,” I said. He glared evilly at me.
“Speaking of Isabella,” Daniel said.
“We weren’t talking about Isabella,” I said.
“Well, in theory we were.” We stared at him.
“Okay, so Kyle has to pay for the food. And that reminded me of my dinner last night, which was Italian. And Isabella is an Italian name,” he said confidently.
“You’re so stupid!” Eric shouted.
“Bets, place your bets!” we heard someone shout. I turned around and saw Mike, the biggest football head at school, with his other lunk-head friends. Kyle walked over to them and we reluctantly followed.
“What’s the bet?” he asked Mike.
“How long the new girl will stay single,” he said. “Charlie here guessed two weeks. I think she’ll be with someone by tomorrow.”
“I guess Friday,” Kyle said. “How much do we put in?”
“What do you mean ‘we?’ ” I asked. He rolled his eyes.
“Fine, how much do I put in?” he asked.
“10 bucks,” he said. “Winner takes it all.” Kyle plopped a ten on the table.
“Any other takers,” he said. The bell on the door dinged as another customer entered.
“Oh, I think she’s taken now,” I said.
“That’s risky,” Mike said. “Why now?” I pointed at the counter behind him.
“Because she’s making out with Trent right this second,” I said. I watched in amusement as all of their jaws dropped. They turned back to me.
“So, where’s my money?”
––––––––––––––––––––––––––
$130. That’s how much I got from winning the bet. Who says you’ve got to earn your money? Of course, I blew it all on a new stereo system. But oh well. The news of Millie’s new beau had already reached the ears of practically everyone in the school by the next morning. I noticed how most guys seemed less friendly to her that day. They didn’t open doors or carry her books for her, like they did the day before when she was single. Coincidence? I think not!
Usually, a new student ensures at least a week of something new and exciting, but not this time. She had brought one day that wasn’t so incredibly dull.
So as I walked into English, my “normal” routine began when Debra sprinted over to me and practically shoved my head down her shirt. I wordlessly pulled away and sat down, ready to endure another boring lecture from the old Mrs. Griffon. And forty-five minutes later, I was, again, following my dull unwritten schedule as I talked to Kyle, Eric, and Daniel in gym while ignoring Mr. Mallory’s yells of “you morons!” or “shut your damn mouths!”
Eric tapped me on the shoulder and pointed behind me. And there was Millie, standing over my shoulder, looking extremely tall. I’m sitting on the floor, remember?
“I just wanted to thank you for being so nice to me yesterday,” she said with a smile.
“No problem,” I said. “I--”
“But I also wanted to tell you just back off now,” she said, suddenly harsh. “I’ve got Trent to hang around, and that’s enough friends for me, kay? Just thought I’d let you know so you don’t look like a fool.” I was completely speechless as she walked back towards Trent. Eric, Kyle, and Daniel were just laughing at me.
“You just got served!” Eric said.
“By a girl!” Daniel shouted loud enough for the entire class to hear, including Charlotte.
“Excuse me?” she said, appalled at Daniel’s last comment. Charlotte was the kind of girl who stood up for what she believed in… which was everything. And she was extremely forceful.
“What did you just say?” she said. Daniel shriveled up.
“I said, you just got served by a girl,” he said timidly.
“What’s so bad about getting insulted by a girl?” she said.
“Nothing,” Daniel said. “Its just that girl’s usually don’t come up with good disses.” Every girl in the class gasped, not because they were offended by what he said, but because they knew how Charlotte would react.
“You’re never going to learn,” Kyle said to Daniel, who seemed oblivious to the fact that Charlotte wasn’t too happy.
“Learn what?” he said.
“That girls are just as powerful as guys,” Charlotte said. “That girls are just as smart as guys, if not smarter. That girls are just as athletic as guys! And that guys just have a big empty space between their ears while girls fill up that space with great and mighty knowledge and use it wisely!”
“Huh?” Daniel said. Charlotte looked exasperated.
“We both learn things,” Charlotte said really slowly to him. “But girls actually use that knowledge wisely.”
“I don’t get it,” he replied. I hung my head.
“She saying they’re smart and we’re dumb!” I yelled at him.
“Why?” he said.
“Because we use what we are given and you guys waste it playing video games and looking at naked pictures of Britney Spears,” she shouted irritated.
“I would never look at a naked picture of Britney Spears,” Daniel said defensively. “I would look at a naked picture of Lindsey Lohan.” Charlotte threw her hands up.
“Forget it. It’s a lost cause,” she said, walking back over to her friends.
“Oh my god,” Kyle said. “You just made Charlotte the Activist give up on a case.”
“It takes some real hard-headed people to do that,” Eric said.
“Thank you,” Daniel said confidently. Oh boy.
3…
2…
1…
“Hey!”
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
“Here,” Dad said, as he dropped an empty cardboard box on the floor of my room. “Put stuff you want to sell in it.”
“Why?” I questioned, which probably wasn’t the best idea.
“Because I said so damn it!” he shouted, slamming the door and leaving me alone in my room except for good ole Eric Clapton. I telepathically cleared old books, CD’s, and even my old Darth Vader action figure off my shelves and dropped them in the box. I took it downstairs to Mom.
“Can you explain to me why I need to give you this stuff?” I asked, hopeful that she could give me an actual answer.
“We’re having a yard sale,” she said.
“Why?”
“Money’s a little tight ever since you and Eric broke the garage door playing baseball,” she said. “I still haven’t figured out how you two did that!”
“The baseball got jammed up in the gears,” I said. “Sorry about that.”
“So hopefully this yard sale will pay for that repair,” she said. “And the weather isn’t supposed to be too terrible, a little cold but maybe no rain.” Sidney came in the living room with a box of her own and dropped in on the ground at Mom’s feet.
“There,” she said and turned around.
“Why don’t you take this outside?” I said.
“Because!” she shouted and abruptly left the room.
“She is the spitting image of Dad,” Mom laughed.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
“You two better be in detention this afternoon,” Mr. Adamson said to Daniel and me the next day at school. “Mr. Larkens told me that neither of you showed up for your Tuesday detention.”
“We were--” Daniel started to say.
“I don’t want to hear it. Just be there.” He swiftly turned around and walked down the crowded hall.
“I’m not going,” Daniel stated.
“Don’t expect me to go to your funeral,” I said. “I’m going to go.” I closed my locker and we walked to the cafeteria. We bought our lunches and sat down with Eric and Kyle.
“Lunch started three minutes ago and Eric is already done,” Kyle said.
“I was hungry!” Eric said defensively.
“Save Timber Park!” I heard someone calling. We all turned around and saw Charlotte and some of her friends passing out fliers. They walked over to our table, and Mary Stuart handed me a flier.
“Save Timber Park on Friday,” I read off the flier. “What are they doing to it?”
“They’re close it down so they can cut down all the trees and turn it into a parking lot,” Charlotte said. “We’re going to protest it.”
“You guys should come,” Leah Little said. Leah was the number one girl on my ‘God I hope she likes me’ list. Not that I actually wrote one or anything. She was pretty, nice, smart, and funny. Not to mention a cheerleader.
“Are you coming Leah?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’ll be fun,” she said. “You can help us.”
“I’ll be there,” I said quickly, my voice cracking. I coughed.
“I’ll be there,” I repeated, sounding a little less eager. They giggled and walked away.
“Smooth. Real smooth,” Daniel said, picking at his meatloaf.
“What, and like you’re not going to come,” I said. “I bet you anything that Leah got the rest of the cheerleading squad to come too.”
“Hey Charlotte,” Daniel yelled at her across the cafeteria. “I’m coming too!” She laughed and turned around.
“FYI, It’s going to be cold so all the girls will be in jeans, sweatshirts, and sweatpants! No short skirts!” I saw Daniel sigh.
I dreaded the rest of the day coming to an end but I found out something cruel; when you really really don’t want to do something, time goes by twice as fast. I took a deep breath and walked into the detention room. I took a step back in surprise when I saw Daniel sitting in the room. I sat down next to him.
“So much for not going, huh?” I asked as Mr. Larkens entered and sat down at the desk, eyebrows furrowed from glaring at us. I found out another cruel thing that day; when you are really bored, time DOES NOT go by. Eventually towards the end of detention, Mr. Adamson rushed in the room and clicked on the television in the room.
“Breaking News!” cried the reporter on the news channel. “I have just been informed that there is a robot attacking the public library.” Robots? You’ve got to be kidding! “Where this robot came from, no one knows, but we all know that The Wonder will soon be there.” Oh crap! I stumbled to my feet and ran to the door but--
“Where are you going?” Mr. Larkens asked, narrowing his eyes. Before I could make up an excuse, he barked at me to sit back down. This will not end up well. We watched the news for about five minutes, and as each second passed, everyone started discussing the whereabouts of The Wonder.
“We’re doomed,” I mumbled to myself.
“Oh my God!” the newscaster suddenly shouted. “There is a person attempting to stop the robot, but it is not The Wonder!” A camera showed a live video of a girl about my age speeding around the robot, literally. She must have super speed. She put her arms out in front of her, revealing her palms, and shot some sort of silver bolt at the robot. It must have been hot because the robot began to melt and was quickly turned into nothing but a metallic puddle.
A news reporter quickly snatched her arm for an interview. No one would have been able to know she was a super if it wasn’t for the silver mask she wore that covered her eyes. A classic stereotype about supers is that they always wear costumes; tights, a long cape, mask, and, of course, the dorky underwear. No, that doesn’t really happen in real life. And no, we don’t have the “power” to jump behind a bush and pop up two seconds later in a completely different outfit. Just goes to show that you shouldn’t believe everything you see in movies.
The mystery girl had flowing black hair and hazel eyes that popped out against the silver mask. Her ears stuck out a little bit, if I were to describe her in detail. She tucked her hair behind her strange ear with long fingers and continued talking.
“I’m not going to reveal my identity,” she told her the man. “A super’s identity is the most important thing.”
“Any ideas what we should call you?” the man asked somewhat annoyingly. I could tell the girl wanted to walk away before the interview had even started.
“No,” she said bluntly and with that she had run off in the other direction. The man faced the camera again.
“There you have it folks! An interview with the, uh… The Silver Flame! Back to you Chet.” This so called Chet appeared at the screen again and Mr. Adamson turned the TV off.
“You may go,” he said to us and Daniel and I were the first out of there.
“Did you see her!” he shouted. “I can’t believe we have her and The Wonder!”
“Yeah,” I said dazedly. “Me neither.” I was deep in thought the entire drive home.
“Fine,” I said, dropping my backpack on the floor.
“Are you hungry?’ she asked.
“Are you kidding? I’m a 16-year old boy. Of course I’m hungry!” I shouted.
“Great,” she said, taking out a plate. “Mrs. Johanson made an extra batch of brownies.”
“Sweet!” I said, sitting down and biting in to the gooey treat. Just then, my phone rang, which was all the way across the room. Mom picked it up and answered it.
“Hello?” she said. “Yes, this is Neil’s phone. Would you like to speak to him?” She handed it to me, and I covered the speaker with my hand.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“Some girl named Debra,” she said. My eyes popped out of my head. How the hell did she get my number? I put the phone up to my mouth.
“Sorry, but this is not the number you wanted to reach,” I said in a British accent.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Debra said.
“Just fine love, just fine,” I said, hanging up.
“Why did you tell that girl she had the wrong number?” Mom asked me, cleaning up my plate.
“She’s a freak! She’s totally obsessed with me!” I shouted. Sidney walked in and grabbed a soda from the fridge.
“Maybe you should go out with her,” she said. “I mean, this is like your only chance at getting a girlfriend.”
“Oh yeah, I don’t see your boyfriend anywhere,” I said.
“He’s at hockey practice,” she smirked. Damn. Backfire.
“Shit,” I mumbled. Sidney laughed at me.
“You can’t even think of a comeback!” she cackled.
“Just go back to your room,” I said. She stuck her tongue out at me and left. Sidney spent practically all her time in her room. She only comes out for food and school.
“Why don’t you and Dad work on the car?” Mom suggested. Time to whip out those excuses.
“I can’t,” I said. “Daniel and I are meeting Eric and Kyle at Tuck’s.” She shrugged and pulled money out of her purse.
“No, its okay mom,” I said. “Tuck’s lowered the price of almost everything, so we’re going to take advantage of 50 cent French fries.”
“Okay, have fun,” she said, as I walked out the door. I got in my car and drove out of the driveway.
“Smart, real smart Neil. Why couldn’t you have just said that you had homework?” I said to myself as I dialed Daniel’s number.
“What up?” Daniel said.
“Okay, long story but meet me at Tuck’s in like ten minutes,” I said. “And tell Eric and Kyle too.”
“Whatever,” he said and hung up. And sure enough, Eric, Kyle, and Daniel walked into Tuck’s ten minutes later.
“Rack ‘em up,” Kyle said, referring to the pool table. Eric, being the biggest pig of us all, had already ordered a large order of fries.
“So why are we here?” Daniel asked.
“I told my mom that I couldn’t work with my dad on the car cuz I’d be here,” I said, taking aim and shooting the 6 ball into the corner pocket.
“I think this is like the 100th time we’ve saved you from having to do stuff with your dad,” Kyle said.
“Yeah, why don’t you just suck it up and do something with him,” Daniel said, aiming and hitting the 3 ball just to the left of a corner pocket.
“Have you met my father?” I asked him. “Eric, get your fat ass over here. You’re up.”
“Coming,” he said, stuffing his mouth with another fry. “What’s so bad about your dad?”
“For one, he basically hates me,” I said. “Well, not really, but he doesn’t exactly express a liking for me either.”
“Maybe it’s not you, maybe it’s him,” Kyle said.
“Nope. Yesterday, I asked my dad for five dollars. He said no. Ten minutes later, Sidney asked him for five dollars, and he gave it to her,” I said.
“Okay, so maybe it is you,” Kyle said, and then started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“Your dad likes your sister more than you!” he blurted out. Eric and Daniel started laughing too.
“Shut up,” I mumbled.
“Oh look, we embarrassed him,” Daniel said.
“And how was Millie today Dan?” I asked. “I heard she met this freak who was trying to hit on her but she walked away from him. Oh wait, that was you.” He glared at me, and Eric and Kyle laughed.
“Stop laughing Eric,” Daniel said. “You’re not quite the ladies-man either. Remember Tracy last week?” Eric turned red.
“What happened?” Kyle asked eagerly.
“He started talking to her and when he turned around, he fell into a trashcan!” We cracked up, and Eric retreated back to the fries.
“Okay Kyle,” he said. “Remember when you-- damn, I forgot, you’re, like, perfect.” Kyle beamed.
“Okay, just for that, you’re paying,” I said. He glared evilly at me.
“Speaking of Isabella,” Daniel said.
“We weren’t talking about Isabella,” I said.
“Well, in theory we were.” We stared at him.
“Okay, so Kyle has to pay for the food. And that reminded me of my dinner last night, which was Italian. And Isabella is an Italian name,” he said confidently.
“You’re so stupid!” Eric shouted.
“Bets, place your bets!” we heard someone shout. I turned around and saw Mike, the biggest football head at school, with his other lunk-head friends. Kyle walked over to them and we reluctantly followed.
“What’s the bet?” he asked Mike.
“How long the new girl will stay single,” he said. “Charlie here guessed two weeks. I think she’ll be with someone by tomorrow.”
“I guess Friday,” Kyle said. “How much do we put in?”
“What do you mean ‘we?’ ” I asked. He rolled his eyes.
“Fine, how much do I put in?” he asked.
“10 bucks,” he said. “Winner takes it all.” Kyle plopped a ten on the table.
“Any other takers,” he said. The bell on the door dinged as another customer entered.
“Oh, I think she’s taken now,” I said.
“That’s risky,” Mike said. “Why now?” I pointed at the counter behind him.
“Because she’s making out with Trent right this second,” I said. I watched in amusement as all of their jaws dropped. They turned back to me.
“So, where’s my money?”
––––––––––––––––––––––––––
$130. That’s how much I got from winning the bet. Who says you’ve got to earn your money? Of course, I blew it all on a new stereo system. But oh well. The news of Millie’s new beau had already reached the ears of practically everyone in the school by the next morning. I noticed how most guys seemed less friendly to her that day. They didn’t open doors or carry her books for her, like they did the day before when she was single. Coincidence? I think not!
Usually, a new student ensures at least a week of something new and exciting, but not this time. She had brought one day that wasn’t so incredibly dull.
So as I walked into English, my “normal” routine began when Debra sprinted over to me and practically shoved my head down her shirt. I wordlessly pulled away and sat down, ready to endure another boring lecture from the old Mrs. Griffon. And forty-five minutes later, I was, again, following my dull unwritten schedule as I talked to Kyle, Eric, and Daniel in gym while ignoring Mr. Mallory’s yells of “you morons!” or “shut your damn mouths!”
Eric tapped me on the shoulder and pointed behind me. And there was Millie, standing over my shoulder, looking extremely tall. I’m sitting on the floor, remember?
“I just wanted to thank you for being so nice to me yesterday,” she said with a smile.
“No problem,” I said. “I--”
“But I also wanted to tell you just back off now,” she said, suddenly harsh. “I’ve got Trent to hang around, and that’s enough friends for me, kay? Just thought I’d let you know so you don’t look like a fool.” I was completely speechless as she walked back towards Trent. Eric, Kyle, and Daniel were just laughing at me.
“You just got served!” Eric said.
“By a girl!” Daniel shouted loud enough for the entire class to hear, including Charlotte.
“Excuse me?” she said, appalled at Daniel’s last comment. Charlotte was the kind of girl who stood up for what she believed in… which was everything. And she was extremely forceful.
“What did you just say?” she said. Daniel shriveled up.
“I said, you just got served by a girl,” he said timidly.
“What’s so bad about getting insulted by a girl?” she said.
“Nothing,” Daniel said. “Its just that girl’s usually don’t come up with good disses.” Every girl in the class gasped, not because they were offended by what he said, but because they knew how Charlotte would react.
“You’re never going to learn,” Kyle said to Daniel, who seemed oblivious to the fact that Charlotte wasn’t too happy.
“Learn what?” he said.
“That girls are just as powerful as guys,” Charlotte said. “That girls are just as smart as guys, if not smarter. That girls are just as athletic as guys! And that guys just have a big empty space between their ears while girls fill up that space with great and mighty knowledge and use it wisely!”
“Huh?” Daniel said. Charlotte looked exasperated.
“We both learn things,” Charlotte said really slowly to him. “But girls actually use that knowledge wisely.”
“I don’t get it,” he replied. I hung my head.
“She saying they’re smart and we’re dumb!” I yelled at him.
“Why?” he said.
“Because we use what we are given and you guys waste it playing video games and looking at naked pictures of Britney Spears,” she shouted irritated.
“I would never look at a naked picture of Britney Spears,” Daniel said defensively. “I would look at a naked picture of Lindsey Lohan.” Charlotte threw her hands up.
“Forget it. It’s a lost cause,” she said, walking back over to her friends.
“Oh my god,” Kyle said. “You just made Charlotte the Activist give up on a case.”
“It takes some real hard-headed people to do that,” Eric said.
“Thank you,” Daniel said confidently. Oh boy.
3…
2…
1…
“Hey!”
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
“Here,” Dad said, as he dropped an empty cardboard box on the floor of my room. “Put stuff you want to sell in it.”
“Why?” I questioned, which probably wasn’t the best idea.
“Because I said so damn it!” he shouted, slamming the door and leaving me alone in my room except for good ole Eric Clapton. I telepathically cleared old books, CD’s, and even my old Darth Vader action figure off my shelves and dropped them in the box. I took it downstairs to Mom.
“Can you explain to me why I need to give you this stuff?” I asked, hopeful that she could give me an actual answer.
“We’re having a yard sale,” she said.
“Why?”
“Money’s a little tight ever since you and Eric broke the garage door playing baseball,” she said. “I still haven’t figured out how you two did that!”
“The baseball got jammed up in the gears,” I said. “Sorry about that.”
“So hopefully this yard sale will pay for that repair,” she said. “And the weather isn’t supposed to be too terrible, a little cold but maybe no rain.” Sidney came in the living room with a box of her own and dropped in on the ground at Mom’s feet.
“There,” she said and turned around.
“Why don’t you take this outside?” I said.
“Because!” she shouted and abruptly left the room.
“She is the spitting image of Dad,” Mom laughed.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
“You two better be in detention this afternoon,” Mr. Adamson said to Daniel and me the next day at school. “Mr. Larkens told me that neither of you showed up for your Tuesday detention.”
“We were--” Daniel started to say.
“I don’t want to hear it. Just be there.” He swiftly turned around and walked down the crowded hall.
“I’m not going,” Daniel stated.
“Don’t expect me to go to your funeral,” I said. “I’m going to go.” I closed my locker and we walked to the cafeteria. We bought our lunches and sat down with Eric and Kyle.
“Lunch started three minutes ago and Eric is already done,” Kyle said.
“I was hungry!” Eric said defensively.
“Save Timber Park!” I heard someone calling. We all turned around and saw Charlotte and some of her friends passing out fliers. They walked over to our table, and Mary Stuart handed me a flier.
“Save Timber Park on Friday,” I read off the flier. “What are they doing to it?”
“They’re close it down so they can cut down all the trees and turn it into a parking lot,” Charlotte said. “We’re going to protest it.”
“You guys should come,” Leah Little said. Leah was the number one girl on my ‘God I hope she likes me’ list. Not that I actually wrote one or anything. She was pretty, nice, smart, and funny. Not to mention a cheerleader.
“Are you coming Leah?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’ll be fun,” she said. “You can help us.”
“I’ll be there,” I said quickly, my voice cracking. I coughed.
“I’ll be there,” I repeated, sounding a little less eager. They giggled and walked away.
“Smooth. Real smooth,” Daniel said, picking at his meatloaf.
“What, and like you’re not going to come,” I said. “I bet you anything that Leah got the rest of the cheerleading squad to come too.”
“Hey Charlotte,” Daniel yelled at her across the cafeteria. “I’m coming too!” She laughed and turned around.
“FYI, It’s going to be cold so all the girls will be in jeans, sweatshirts, and sweatpants! No short skirts!” I saw Daniel sigh.
I dreaded the rest of the day coming to an end but I found out something cruel; when you really really don’t want to do something, time goes by twice as fast. I took a deep breath and walked into the detention room. I took a step back in surprise when I saw Daniel sitting in the room. I sat down next to him.
“So much for not going, huh?” I asked as Mr. Larkens entered and sat down at the desk, eyebrows furrowed from glaring at us. I found out another cruel thing that day; when you are really bored, time DOES NOT go by. Eventually towards the end of detention, Mr. Adamson rushed in the room and clicked on the television in the room.
“Breaking News!” cried the reporter on the news channel. “I have just been informed that there is a robot attacking the public library.” Robots? You’ve got to be kidding! “Where this robot came from, no one knows, but we all know that The Wonder will soon be there.” Oh crap! I stumbled to my feet and ran to the door but--
“Where are you going?” Mr. Larkens asked, narrowing his eyes. Before I could make up an excuse, he barked at me to sit back down. This will not end up well. We watched the news for about five minutes, and as each second passed, everyone started discussing the whereabouts of The Wonder.
“We’re doomed,” I mumbled to myself.
“Oh my God!” the newscaster suddenly shouted. “There is a person attempting to stop the robot, but it is not The Wonder!” A camera showed a live video of a girl about my age speeding around the robot, literally. She must have super speed. She put her arms out in front of her, revealing her palms, and shot some sort of silver bolt at the robot. It must have been hot because the robot began to melt and was quickly turned into nothing but a metallic puddle.
A news reporter quickly snatched her arm for an interview. No one would have been able to know she was a super if it wasn’t for the silver mask she wore that covered her eyes. A classic stereotype about supers is that they always wear costumes; tights, a long cape, mask, and, of course, the dorky underwear. No, that doesn’t really happen in real life. And no, we don’t have the “power” to jump behind a bush and pop up two seconds later in a completely different outfit. Just goes to show that you shouldn’t believe everything you see in movies.
The mystery girl had flowing black hair and hazel eyes that popped out against the silver mask. Her ears stuck out a little bit, if I were to describe her in detail. She tucked her hair behind her strange ear with long fingers and continued talking.
“I’m not going to reveal my identity,” she told her the man. “A super’s identity is the most important thing.”
“Any ideas what we should call you?” the man asked somewhat annoyingly. I could tell the girl wanted to walk away before the interview had even started.
“No,” she said bluntly and with that she had run off in the other direction. The man faced the camera again.
“There you have it folks! An interview with the, uh… The Silver Flame! Back to you Chet.” This so called Chet appeared at the screen again and Mr. Adamson turned the TV off.
“You may go,” he said to us and Daniel and I were the first out of there.
“Did you see her!” he shouted. “I can’t believe we have her and The Wonder!”
“Yeah,” I said dazedly. “Me neither.” I was deep in thought the entire drive home.
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sorry it took so long for an update... and a bad one at that. well, i've FINALLY finished exams and middle school. (wait for it) HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't be happier. ANYWAY... so yeah, subscribe and comment and show me the love! : )