Saving the World

by Katrina Kahler

  For some reason, I started to sweat. Man, I hate nervous sweat cause it tends to burn through my deodorant. The weird thing was that I had no idea why I had this nervous sweat. I’ve fought androids, killer robots, alien queens, giant mad scientists and mutant apes. I could certainly handle a room full of normal people who just happened to have nothing to do, so they get put on the board of education. Yet for some reason, I nervously watched the clock all day.

  In history class, I wasn’t paying attention when Mr. P asked me what I thought the greatest invention of the 20th century was. I blurted out “toilet paper” because come on, it was a great invention. I got the class to laugh, even though I still insisted it was an important invention for sure. But Mr. P pointed out that toilet paper or TP was actually invented well before the 20th century. Though he did say, modern toilet paper, the kind that rolls, was invented in the 19th century. So, I was sort of close. Mr. P had a way of making you feel good even when you messed up.

  At lunch, I had to admit it felt kind of weird when Jason sat next to Tanya instead of me. But I forced myself to be happy for Jason. And for Tanya too. After all, Jason was a great guy. Any girl would be lucky to have him as a friend and more.

  Tim and Krista noticed me staring a bit too long at Jason as he chatted and laughed with Tanya.

  “You okay?” Tim asked.

  “No thanks, I don’t need the salt,” I said.

  Krista looked at Tim. “I think she just answered your question.”

  Krista nudged me. Normally I would have reacted, but I was so engrossed in Tanya and Jason, I didn’t budge.

  “Boy, you sure are solid!” Krista said.

  “Yeah, she works out a lot,” Marie said covering up for me.

  “She just needs to concentrate more on the matters at hand,” Lori said loudly.

  I turned my attention back to my other friends. “Ah, sorry,” I replied.

  They all shrugged. “No problem. We understand this must be a bit weird for you,” Krista said.

  “That Jason is one lucky, dude,” Tim said. “Man! Tanya is so pretty.”

  The other three girls at the table hit Tim with glares. He sank back into his chair. He nibbled on a fry.

  “He’s right,” I said. “She’s older than I am. She’s prettier than I am. She has awesome power…”

  Lori coughed.

  “Power of persuasion,” I finished.

  Just as I sat there, wallowing in my woes, Patti and Wendi came marching over to me. Yep, nothing is ever so bad that Patti and Wendi can’t make it worse.

  They both shoved their food under my nose.

  “Look at this!” Wendi said. “Do you see a lot of green in these meals?"

  “I don’t!” Patti answered.

  I forced myself to look up at them. I contained myself from wilting them. I returned their glares. “Actually, I have an appointment to talk to the school board at 3:30 today!” I told them.

  Patti dropped back. Wendi remained in my face. “Well, you might actually get something done. I’m surprised!”

  “I’m not surprised you are surprised,” I told her.

  “Of course, we’re helping you do your job,” Wendi reminded me.

  “How?” I asked.

  Wendi turned her phone so I could see it. She had an online petition that read: Give us More Healthy Foods at School. “We have over 500 signatures,” Wendi said.

  I looked at the list. “Pretty sure that Snoopy, Elvis, Pikachu and Bart Simpson, don’t go to this school,” I told her. Still, it was a pretty impressive list.

  “I think there might be a Bart Simpson,” Patti insisted.

  I glanced down the list. “Whatever. That will help, thanks.”

  “Hey, we’re just helping you do your job!” Wendi told me.

  “Thanks. I'll tweet my results after the meeting,” I said.

  “Hang on, I just figured out this means you won’t be at LAX practice, today!” Wendi said. Yes sir, no matter what I did, Wendi could find something to complain about. I could cure the common cold and Wendi would complain that the medicine I’d invented didn’t taste savory enough.

  “I can be there at the start, then head off,” I told her.

  Wendi stood there in thought. “Nah, we don’t want you getting all sweaty and smelly! You’re going to have a hard enough time convincing the board even at your best. This is too important and too close to my heart as well as those of our schoolmates. I don’t want you risking it all because of Lia body odor.” She left on those words.

  “I don’t have Lia body odor!” I mumbled under my breath.

  Marie and Lori both looked at me.

  “Well, it’s not that bad! And only when I get nervous.”

  “And you won’t get nervous talking to the school board?” Tim asked.

  “Okay, maybe a little.”

  Jason and Tanya had been listening intently to the conversation. “I can go with you if you want,” Jason told me.

  I smiled at him. “Actually, I would appreciate that,” I answered. I looked at Tanya. “Is that okay with you?”

  Tanya shrugged. “We’re just dating. It’s not like I own him. Of course, he can go. I know you guys are great friends.”

  I should have been relieved. But somehow, for some reason, hearing those words…we’re just dating, made my heart sink. I forced a smile. “Thanks, Tanya,” I told her.

  The next thing I knew it was 3:30. I found myself standing outside the school conference room with my buddy, Jason, and VP Macadoo who seemed almost as nervous as I was.

  “Finally,” the VP grinned. “After all these years, the school board will hear my thoughts!”

  “Well, actually my thoughts,” I told him.

  He grinned and bobbed his head. “Yeah, but when it comes to the food we serve, our thoughts are the same.”

  Now, that was a scary thought. But in a way, it was fun to be bonding with this big hulk of a man. Nice to see that he, like everybody else, had fears and goals. It made me smile.

  “Of course, once I pitch the more green foods idea, I’ll give them my other ideas,” the VP said, rubbing his hands together.

  “Such as?” Jason asked.

  “Longer detentions, longer school days, more math, less art, just for a start,” he rattled off.

  “Oh…” Jason said.

  Yeah, I wasn’t a fan of any of those ideas. But I didn’t want to mention it now. After all, VP Macadoo was my ticket into a board of education meeting. I couldn’t risk that. I had to hope that after I said my piece, the board would be too busy to listen to anything else.

  The door opened. An older looking woman with a beehive hairdo came out. She looked at me. “Ms. Strong, the board will see you know.”

  I stood up. Jason and Mr. Macadoo both stood up also. The old lady held a hand up. “Sorry, Macadoo, the board only wants to talk to the student.”

  Mr. Macadoo looked at me, pleading with his eyes.

  I shrugged. “Sorry!”

  I followed the lady into the conference room. There, sitting at a big long table were eight older men in poorly fitting jackets, and three older women dressed like ancient grandmas. They looked like the type of people who had nothing else to do besides being on a school board. But the person at the head of the table was quite different. She was a very pretty younger woman who wore a stylish and fashionable outfit. She had the biggest blue eyes I’d ever seen. She certainly stuck out in this crowd. The others had donuts and coffee in front of them. She had a glass of water and nothing else. She smiled at me.

  “Nice to meet you, Ms. Strong. I’m Tina More. I’m head of the school board.”

  “Nice to meet you too, Ms. More,” I said, sliding into my seat. “Wait, are you related to Tammy More? I know she’s a great junior LAX player.”

  Tina smiled. “Yes, she’s my daughter.”

  “I can tell. You have the same eyes,” I told her.

  “Thanks,” she said. “Now, Ms. Strong do you mind if I call you, Lia?”
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  “No, not at all, that is my name,” I told her with a smile.

  “Lia, what can the school board do for you?”

  I stood up. “Well, a lot of my fellow students would like more green food and more healthy lunch choices served at school. We also want healthier options for the breakfast menu, so the kids who eat breakfast at school can benefit from those as well.”

  Ms. More didn’t blink. “That is an interesting request. We will take it into consideration.”

  Okay, I didn’t come this far to let a bunch of older people tell me “we’ll think about it.” I’ve been around enough to know when I’m getting the brush off. This was the school board’s version of “maybe”. A maybe that meant most likely not.

  I held my ground. “I’d like a more solid answer please.”

  Ms. More smirked and shook her head. “My, you are a feisty one. So, so much like your mom when she was your age.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” I told her.

  She nodded. “It was meant as one. Still, we can’t just give in to every student request.”

  “This isn’t every student request. This is just one that makes sense. We have an online petition with over 500 signatures.”

  “You kids today with your online petitions,” Ms. More laughed. “As I said before, we’ll take it into consideration.” She shooed me away. “Now, run along please.”

  “No!” I said using my command voice. “You will approve of my request,” I ordered.

  I watched as the eyes of the eight men and three older ladies all glazed over. “We will approve it!” they repeated.

  Tina More just grinned. “You are so much like your mom. Your powers won’t work on me.”

  “Ah, what? I asked, unsure of what was going on.

  In less than the blink of an eye, Tina stood behind me. “I’m super too, my cousin.”

  “Say what?” I repeated.

  “The Mores and the Strongs are third cousins. We’re super too. We just keep our powers to ourselves. After all, we're outnumbered by the non-powered. There are billions of them and maybe a hundred of us. If we come out like you do, sooner or later they will be after us and we will lose. After all, they are scared of us. Look at what that lawyer is trying to do to you.”

  “Look, the way to make people accept us is to show them we can help them and do good!” I insisted.

  “Let’s just agree to disagree,” Tina told me. “You go around being a goodie in a cape. My family and I will stay behind the scenes.”

  “Fine,” I said “But here’s the thing. I really need to get this done for the school.”

  Tina sped back to her chair and sat down. “Okay, convince me.”

  I thought for a bit. What do school board members usually want? They want fame and proof that their school is better than all the other schools in the area. “We can claim to have the healthiest food in the district. You will be trendsetting. You’ll become the school board who all the other school boards want to be like.”

  Tina grinned. “Convincing argument. I will add some green choices and more salads.”

  “Plus, you won’t raise lunch prices. Correct?” I said.

  Tina nodded. “Sure.”

  I walked up to her and offered my hand. She shook it. “We have a deal!”

  I stood up and walked out of the room. Jason and VP Macadoo met me as soon as I opened the door.

  “How’d it go?” Jason asked.

  I gave him a thumbs-up. He leaped from his seat and hugged me. “You rock!” he said. The hug felt good.

  VP Macadoo leaned over to me. “Did you manage to get in any of my talking points?” he asked.

  “Sorry, no,” I said. “Next time!”

  Dear Diary: A couple things…First, I was able to get something done as school council president. That felt good, way good. Nice to know I can always do things without power. Of course, I also learned that my family isn’t the only super-powered family around. We have third cousins who also appear to have powers. I will have to talk to Mom about that.

  I also think I was so cool when watching Jason with Tanya today. I handled it really well. I am getting this. I really am. Plus, Jason did hug me. But that was just a BFF hug. Right?

  The Secret Revealed

  When mom got home that night, I kind of ambushed her at the door.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about the Mores?” I demanded. Our faithful dog, Shep picked up on the tone of my voice and quickly ran out of the room.

  Mom looked at me. “I’m fine too, honey. How was your day?”

  I took a step back. I took a breath. Then another. “Sorry. I just met with the school board today. I got them to put more healthy green options on the school lunch and breakfast menus.”

  Mom walked over to the living room. She plopped down on a chair. She popped off her shoes. She leaned back. “That’s great, Lia. But what’s this about our third cousins?”

  “Tina More, she’s head of the school board,” I said.

  Mom put her arms behind her head. She sniffed herself. “Sorry. I probably should have mentioned our cousins to you sooner. But the Mores and Strongs have a long history of pretty much avoiding each other. Things got worse when I met your dad. Things got way worse when I married your dad.”

  “Why?”

  “The Mores are very much into hiding their powers. They think we should all use them only in emergencies, for the most part. The Strongs are a bit less conservative. We like to be in the foreground with our powers and our careers. They like to do their work in the background. They are always the woman behind the man. And that’s fine,” Mom said.

  “I kind of get that, but why did things get worse when you married Dad?” I asked.

  “Ah, I thought that was obvious. Sorry, long day. The Mores think if regular folks keep seeing us, they will fear us and eventually come after us. They think your dad and his inventions will lead that charge.”

  “But Dad only wants to help!” I said.

  Mom grinned. “Yeah, but some of them think he has alternative motives. They think he’s planning to capture us all.” She laughed. “The Mores didn’t approve of my marriage to him at first. But then Tina told me it’s a good way to keep an eye on him, keep him under control. Then when I left him, they didn’t approve of that either. They actually thought I should wipe his mind. Which I would never do. That made a bigger rift. The Mores are good people, mostly. They are just worried and scared.”

  I took in Mom’s words. Yeah, I could kind of see how some supers might be worried about Dad and his team of robots, scientists and all their inventions. They do appear to be helping us but they could also be studying us and looking for weaknesses; building weapons to stop us if they needed to. “But Dad has been a great help to me and the others,” I argued.

  “True, but Marie and Lori wouldn’t be supers if it wasn’t for scientists like your dad. Same with Ellie Mae and Glare Girl, they were made super by science. In fact, even Tanya and her sister were made by science. Sure, it was an accident, but science nevertheless. So, that’s the More’s other worry. That your dad and others like him are trying to make everybody super.”

  “Is that such a bad thing, Mom?” I asked. “Think of it as the world where everybody has powers….” To tell the truth, I wasn’t sure if that would be good or bad. Then one of Mom’s earlier statements got to me. “Wait, you said most of the Mores like to stay in the background. That kind of tells me that one or two don’t. How come I haven’t bumped into them?”

  Mom frowned. There is Kara More, she has the strange power of being able to duplicate another super’s powers if she touches them. She can absorb a lot of powers making her difficult to deal with. Along with each power, she also takes on a little of their personality.”

  I shivered a little. “That’s weird. Why haven’t I seen her anywhere then?”

  Mom laughed. “You have…on TV. She goes by the stage name, Kara Star.”

  “You mean the movie star, Kara Star?” I
gasped. “I love her movies. The one where she was a vampire in love with a zombie was so good. She played the vampire part perfectly. Do you remember how amazing she was in that movie?” An image of Kara Star as a vampire came to mind. That movie was one of my all-time favorites.

  Mom rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I remember.”

  “So much for the Mores being in the background,” I said.

  “Kara believes in hiding in plain sight,” Mom told me. “She’s not a bad person, she’s just different and really wants success. Luckily, she has found it so she leaves the rest of us to live our lives.” Mom licked her lips. “What do you say we get pizza for dinner?”

  Shep came bounding back into the room.

  We both smiled. “I swear sometimes he understands us,” I said. “And pizza sounds great.”

  While waiting for the pizza, a text popped in from Jason.

  JASON>Nice work with the board!

  LIA>Thanks.

  JASON>You okay?

  LIA>Of course. Like u said, I got what we needed.

  JASON>Walking home u seemed….preoccupied.

  My first thought was to type. Of course, I was. I’m Super Teen. I always have something on my mind. Plus, I don’t love seeing you, my BFF, being with one of my other friends. But I have to deal with that. Instead, I decided to tell Jason about the Mores. I probably should have mentioned it on the way home but I had to digest the info. At least that’s what I told myself.

  LIA>I learned something weird…

  JASON>Okay what could possibly be weird these days????

  LIA>There is another super-powered family. The Mores!

  LIA>But they mostly keep their powers secret

  LIA>They are our third cousins

  LIA>But they don’t trust my dad.

  JASON>Well that makes sense

  LIA>??????!!!!

  JASON>U know I love ur dad

  JASON>He’s a gr8 mind and a gr8 guy

  JASON>But 2 others he might seem…

  LIA>Evil mad scientist???

  JASON>Well mad scientist

  LIA>Thanks

  JASON>So you can’t blame supers for being worried.