Out of this World

by Katrina Kahler

  “Actually, Jason,” I replied, “I think I’m going to leave early tomorrow. I want to prepare for being class president, and also make sure nothing slows me down during the day. This way I can get to BMS labs to see Zeekee straight after school.”

  Jason looked at me and paused. A worried expression crossed his face.

  “Well, okay, see you in school…” He turned and walked away, his head bent down towards the floor.

  Once the front door had closed behind him, Mom turned to me and spoke. “Lia, weren’t you a little cold to Jason just then?

  “I think I felt the temperature in the room drop,” Grandma added.

  I didn’t answer right away. Finally, I said, “I’m going to my room. It’s been a LONG day!”

  Dear Diary: I’m so mad at Jason and my dad. First of all, it wasn’t Jason’s place to tell my family about the attack and warn them about Zeekee. And then Dad decided he should take over. How dare they both assume they know what’s best for me. Men! I’m not surprised about my dad, though. That man only seems to come into my life when he needs something from me. But Jason? That was a surprise. He has always had my back. I just can’t believe he’s so jealous of Zeekee.

  Poor innocent Zeekee.

  Getting Schooled

  I admit, it felt weird walking to school alone. In a way, though, it felt kind of peaceful. But the second I got through the door of the main building, Marie and Lori rushed at me. They each patted me on the back. “You won!” Lori exclaimed with a hint of surprise in her voice.

  “I never doubted you,” Marie said, smiling.

  “Oh, I had plenty of doubts,” Lori said.

  I nodded. “Me too, actually.”

  “Hey, where’s your faithful sidekick,” Lori asked.

  “Ah, who?” I asked.

  “Jason!” Marie stated the obvious.

  “I just needed a little space from him,” I replied slowly.

  “Is this about that cute guy you were hanging out with at Mr. T’s?” Lori asked.

  “Maybe,” I said.

  “That’s a yes,” Marie nodded. She leaned into me. “We heard he was really good-looking!”

  “REALLY good looking!” Lori added.

  “He’s an alien,” I whispered quietly. “He wanted me to protect him.”

  “From who?” they both asked at the same time.

  “His mom,” I whispered back. “Apparently she’s leader of his planet, and she didn’t like him reaching out to strange new worlds.”

  “So cool!” Marie sighed.

  Lori’s eyes popped open, her smile grew. “Ah, so our boy scout, Jason got jealous!”

  “No!” I said. My shoulders drooped. “Yes. Maybe. I don’t know. He’s always been so protective of me.”

  “He’s a good friend,” Marie said.

  Before I could say any more about my feelings towards Jason, and his towards me, Wendi, Maggie, and Patti headed towards us. But instead of strutting in their usual confident manner, they seemed to hesitate before approaching us.

  “So, you actually won,” Wendi conceded, her eyebrows raised as she looked at me. “I guess the little people wanted one of their own. So they got what they deserved. I really don’t have time anyhow, with being LAX captain and my busy social life and all….”

  “Ah…ok,” I said, staring back at her.

  They turned and walked away. Leave it to Wendi to make my victory seem like a defeat. Before I had a chance to react, or even breathe for that matter, Steve rushed over.

  “I’m so, so happy you won!” he said, taking my hand.

  “Ah, thanks,” I said, slowly removing my hand from his.

  “I’ve got more great news!”

  “Ah, okay…” I said.

  “You know that my dad is a very successful plastic surgeon?” Without waiting for me to respond, he rushed on, “Well, he realizes the school needs to celebrate the new school year. So….” He paused for suspense. “He’s funding the dance for next week!” Steve was so excited, he was almost leaping out of his skin.

  “Oh, that’s nice,” I replied.

  “He’s funding all the music and food and decorations! Do you want to go with me?” Steve asked.

  I sighed. My sigh actually made Steve stagger back a few steps. Oops!

  But I didn’t want to go with Steve. Not that he wasn’t an okay guy. Right now, I didn’t want to go with anybody. So, of course, I said, “Let me think about it!”

  Steve dropped his head. “Yeah, I understand… why would a hot girl like you want to go with a guy like me?” He processed my words a little more. “Wait, you didn’t say no…”

  “She also didn’t say yes,” Lori said.

  “Still, I’ll take it!” He turned and ran back to his gang, which consisted of Henry Singer and Gary Nestor. Jumping with excitement, he exclaimed, “She didn’t say no!” They all gave him high fives.

  Marie leaned into me and whispered. “You don’t really want to go with STEVE, do you? I mean, he’s nice enough, but he’s well….”

  “Way blah,” Lori said.

  “I wasn’t going to use those words,” Marie said.

  “Blander than broth,” Lori said.

  “Worse,” Marie smiled.

  “About as exciting as watching white paint dry?” Lori said.

  Marie giggled.

  “Look you two! One more word and I’ll deactivate my super deodorant and drop you both!” I gave them a little grin so they knew I was mostly kidding.

  They pretended to zip their mouths shut. The bell rang. We headed to class.

  I walked into Mr. Bell’s class to see Jason sitting in his customary seat, next to where I normally sat. For a moment I considered going to another seat. But I walked over to him and sat down.

  “Hey,” Jason said.

  “Hey,” I answered back.

  “Look, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings yesterday,” Jason whispered a little too loudly.

  Mr. Bell looked at us. The class snickered.

  I stood up. Using my command voice, I spoke, “EVERYBODY IN THIS ROOM WHO IS NOT JASON, FREEZE!”

  Everybody in the room except for me, Jason and Jason Grant froze in place. Jason Grant looked confused.

  I pointed at him and used my command voice once again, “YOU FREEZE TOO, DUDE!”

  Jason Grant stopped moving.

  “Wow,” Jason gasped. “You’ve been practicing!”

  I crossed my arms and glared at him. “Yeah, somehow my command voice works best when I’m angry,” I said.

  Jason stood up. “Look, Lia, I know you might not want to hear this, but I don’t completely trust this alien kid.”

  “His name is Zeekee,” I said. “And why don’t you trust him?”

  Jason shrugged. “I don’t really know. Part of it is my gut feeling. Part of it is that he just seems too suspicious. I’m just trying to protect you.”

  I pointed to all the frozen people in the room. “I’m pretty good at protecting myself…you know, being a superhero and all. Remember, I’m the one who dropped a herd of charging rhinos with a whiff of my armpit!”

  Jason nodded. “Yeah I know, you have awesome power, Lia. But even you can make a mistake, let your guard down. You may be almost invulnerable, but you still have weak spots. I think this alien could be playing on one of those.”

  “Are you jealous?” I asked.

  Jason turned a bit red. “What me? Jealous?” He thought about his words. “Yeah, I guess I am. Maybe” he sighed. “Look, Lia, it’s always been you and me. But I get the feeling this guy is trying to come between us.” He dropped his head. “I just know I hate you being angry with me. Heck, I can’t remember you ever being angry with me before.”

  I leaned into him. “Well, I am angry with you now!” I said. “I’ll most likely get over it. But I need space!”

  “Got it,” Jason said. He pointed to the frozen class. “Now you’d better let them all move again before somebody sees this.”

  I sat dow
n in my chair. I unfroze the class. The rest of the school day dragged by, but luckily it went by uneventfully.

  Dear Diary: I actually hate being mad at Jason. The two constants in my life have been Mom and Jason. And right now, Mom has her dating thing going on with Oscar Oranga (Yuck). So I haven’t been seeing as much of her. I can’t blame her. Mom may be super like me, but she’s also human and needs companionship. Dad certainly was not the best companion. I want my mom to find happiness, even if it is with the reporter who’s trying to uncover my secret identity. Plus, on some level, I know Jason really mostly has my interests at heart. He has always been there for me. It’s always been me and him. I guess I can’t blame him for being jealous. I’m sure he’ll eventually get over it. He’ll realize Zeekee is just a kid from another world who needs help.

  Mom’s Date

  That night, Mom invited Oscar over for dinner. This would be the first time Mom cooked for him, and the first time I would actually get to sit down and talk with Oscar. As much as I wanted to see Zeekee, I knew Mom needed me at home. I also knew I could spend the weekend at BM Science, training with Zeekee. And besides, MAC, Hana, and Dad had all sent messages telling me that Zeekee was sleeping, and it was necessary for him to get some rest. I guess traveling from another world can be quite draining.

  Mom actually took the afternoon off, which I had never seen her do before. But she really wanted to cook for Oscar, and she wanted it to be extra special. If Mom truly wanted it to be extra tasty, she would have ordered out. I love my mom, but she’s not a great cook. Still, I understood she needed to make something special for Oscar Oranga. I helped her in the kitchen as best I could. By helping, I mean I gave her verbal support by saying things like…

  “Pasta works. You make great pasta, Mom”…while thinking, all you have to do is boil water and drop the pasta in the pot.

  “Yes, Mom, that tastes fantastic!”…while thinking, it could use less salt.

  “Go easy on the amount of garlic you put on the bread, you don’t want him to pass out if you kiss him.”

  Saying stuff like that was where I lent a hand. Although, I did set the table and make the ice cubes. Yeah, not really a great help, but I made the ice cubes in under a second by using my frost breath on them. I also lit the candles on the table with my heat vision. So that was fun. But Mom wanted me to get the use of my powers out of the way before Oscar showed up.

  Once the food was prepared, I did the most important job of all. I sniffed Mom to make sure her deodorant still held. And it did. I also picked out her outfit. I decided on her short red dress. I figured Mom’s food might only be average, but if she looked stunning enough, no way Oscar would care.

  As Mom finished getting ready upstairs, I heard the doorbell ring. I took a deep breath. I walked to the door. I opened the door.

  BAM!

  A concussion blast knocked me across the house and into the rear wall. I shot to my feet. There, standing in the doorway, stood a tall girl with long black hair. She was dressed all in black, including her mask.

  “Glare girl! What are you doing here?” I yelled.

  Glare girl gulped. She pointed at me. “Wait, I thought Oscar Oranga was going to be here?”

  “I guess he’s running late. I repeat though, why are you here?”

  Glare Girl shrugged. “I wanted to scare him a bit, get on the news. You know how I like my fame. Hey, how did you take that blast? That should have put you to sleep for a week!” I saw her eyes light up from behind her mask. “OMG, you have to be Super Teen, and that means Oscar Oranga is dating Super Teen’s mom!” She doubled over with laughter and then looked up at me. “Does he know?”

  I walked towards her slowly. “No, of course, he doesn’t know.” I looked at the dent in the wall from Glare Girl blasting me. “Of course, that will be hard to explain, but I’ll figure something out.” I glanced around. It occurred to me that my faithful dog, Shep hadn’t come to my rescue. I stormed towards Glare Girl and lifted her up with my little finger. “What did you do to my dog?”

  Glare Girl held up her arms. “Look I didn’t do anything to your dog. I love dogs and cats! They sense my power, so they run away from me!”

  I nodded. “Yeah, been there done that.”

  Glare Girl looked down at me. “You know, I like to think of you as a rival, but this isn’t what I had in mind for today at all. I’d much prefer to taunt you out in public when you’re in costume as well. I think it’s better for our reputations.”

  I rolled my eyes. I knew Glare Girl was big on reputation, and getting famous and noticed. Whereas, I just wanted to help people. Well, mostly. I sighed. “So, if I put you down, you will go quietly?”

  She held up her arms. “Yes. “

  Mom glided down the stairs. “Is that Os-” she sang. Her words stopped in mid-sentence, and then her tone changed completely when she saw Glare Girl. Mom’s hands curled into fists. “What is SHE doing here?”

  I dropped Glare Girl to the ground. I snickered and told her, “Man, am I glad I’m not you right now!”

  Mom shook the house as she stomped towards Glare Girl. “Why are you in my house?”

  “OMG! Your mother’s a super too!” Glare Girl gasped.

  “Yep,” I told her. “She sure is!”

  Mom lifted Glare Girl off the ground with her pinky. “Are you here to fight my daughter?”

  “Actually, Ma’am, I just want to scare your boyfriend….” Glare Girl admitted.

  ‘That’s not much better,” Mom told her.

  Glare Girl held open her arms. “Look, I wasn’t planning on hurting him or anything, just putting a little fright into him so I get mentioned on the news.” She grinned. “It will make your girl look better…with her always using her powers for good and all.”

  “Look,” Mom told her. “You’re very lucky because I’m in a really good mood right now. Plus, I really don’t want to sweat in my dress.”

  “You do look lovely, Ma’am,” Glare Girl told her.

  Mom dropped Glare Girl to the floor. She pointed to the door. “Go! Run! If I see you in my house again, I won’t be so kind!”

  Glare Girl gave Mom a salute. She turned and ran out of the house calling, “Bye, Super Teen!”

  Mom turned and examined the wall that had a ‘me’ sized dent in it. “Now this might pose a problem.” She thought for a moment. “I guess we could cover it?”

  “Or just use command voice on Oscar so he doesn’t notice it,” I suggested.

  “Honey, I’m not using command voice on my man friend. At least, not this early in our relationship,” Mom said.

  “I have an idea!” I shot out of the room at super speed. I raced up to the attic and grabbed an old rainbow tapestry that Mom and I had stored up there for a special occasion. I sped into the garage and grabbed a few nails. I sped back inside the house. I held the tapestry over the crack in the wall. I smiled at Mom. “This will work.”

  Mom nodded and grinned. “Yep, you’re a genius!”

  I floated upwards and pounded two nails into each of the top corners of the tapestry. I dropped to the ground and pounded a couple of nails into the bottom of the tapestry. I stood back with Mom. We smiled at each other.

  Mom put her arm around me. “You are one smart girl!”

  “I learned from the best,” I replied, getting a whiff of Mom’s underarm. I coughed.

  “Uh oh…” Mom groaned. “Did my anger burn through my deodorant?”

  “Is the room spinning?” I asked.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” Mom said. Now it was her turn to speed upstairs.

  I heard a knock on the door. I concentrated on the door and tried to look through it. Sure enough, I saw Oscar nervously fidgeting on the other side. He had a dozen roses in his hand. Wow, I had a new superpower: x-ray vision! I kept looking. I saw Oscar’s bones through his body. I shook my head. All I could see was a skeleton.

  Okay, that power will need work. I walked over and opened the door.

  �
�You must be Lia,” Oscar said.

  “Ah, yes,” I said, opening the door wide. “Come in. My mom should be down in a second or two.”

  Oscar handed me the roses. “Do you have a vase for these?”

  I took them from him. “Yes, I think I can find one!”

  “They are for your mom,” Oscar said, walking into the living room.

  I headed to the kitchen to get a vase. I called over my shoulder. “Yep, I kind of figured that!”

  I put the flowers in a vase and filled it water. I joined Oscar in the living room. He sat on the couch, so I sat across from him on a recliner. After a minute or two of awkward silence, Oscar sniffed the air. “Smells good!”

  I gave him a polite smile. “Mom likes to cook,” I said.

  “So your mom tells me you are in middle school,” Oscar commented.

  “Yep.”

  “Do you like it?”

  I shrugged. “I like the kids. I like some of the classes. It’s okay.” I paused for a second. I figured I’d give him an easy question. “Do you like being on TV?”

  Oscar sat up straight. A grin expanded across his face. “I love it! I get to entertain the people as well as inform them!”

  I bit my tongue. My initial thoughts were…What a huge ego! Seriously, it’s only the local news! But I didn’t say that. Instead, I asked, “Why are you so concerned with Super Teen?”

  “I think she’s super interesting,” Oscar responded. “I mean, come on, we here in Starlight City have what might possibly be the most powerful person in the history of history.”

  I took a deep breath to prevent myself from blushing. “There are other powerful people popping up!” I said. “What about that Glare Girl?”

  Oscar nodded. “Sure, there are some, but none seem to have the raw power that Super Teen has! I mean, she can pop off her shoe and knockout a mall filled with people.”