by Honest Lee
When you ask someone, “If you could have any superpower, what would it be?” nine out of ten people will answer, “I wish I could fly.”
Ximena was one of those people. When she got her power, she became lighter than air. She floated up from her desk and touched the ceiling. She kicked off the walls and made a loop around the room, never touching the ground. She could fly!
She said to herself, “Best power ever!”
“Cool!” Ava said.
“I wish I could fly,” Mark moaned.
“Thatpowerisawesome,” Teo said really fast.
“Neat-o!” Mason said. “Hey! Can you get my paper airplane? It’s stuck in the air vent.”
“Can’t you just teleport up there?” she asked.
“I could, but then I’d be naked,” he said.
“No worries, I’ll get it,” Ximena said. But when she tried to fly forward, she jump-flipped backward and bumped her head. “That’s odd. I can’t seem to control where I’m going.”
“You’re like a bird. You just need more room,” Chloe said. She opened the window. Ximena kicked off the ceiling and flew outside.
But as soon as she went through the window, she started floating up, up, and away. Ximena couldn’t control herself. She was like a balloon, flying higher and higher into the sky. “Help!” she shouted.
The students from Classroom 13 ran after her. Luckily, a big gust of wind blew her down from the sky and closer to the ground. Ximena spun through the air. The wind sent her in loop-de-loops, causing her to bump her head on traffic lights and scuff her knees on lampposts. Eventually, the wind blew her into a tree where she got stuck in the branches long enough for her classmates to come rescue her.
It was Fatima’s idea to tie some rope around Ximena’s ankle and hold on to her like a balloon. It turned out she couldn’t exactly fly so much as float. Fatima pulled Ximena back to Classroom 13. When they were safely inside, she let her go. Ximena fluttered up and bounced on the ceiling.
“I stand corrected,” Ximena said to herself. “Worst power ever.”
William was paranoid. He didn’t trust anybody. He thought that “homework” was an elaborate prank Ms. Linda played on him each day. While he was home doing math and spelling, he believed everyone else was having a pizza party.
So when the purple lightning hit the classroom, William thought it was another fake-out. William certainly couldn’t remember having any amazing abilities…
…though there was something strange going on.
Every day—just before lunchtime—William would start to get a headache. Then he’d black out. When he’d wake up, he’d be in some strange new place surrounded by fish and destruction. His clothes would be torn, and he’d have no memory of what had happened. He was certain his class was playing a cruel joke on him.
“Not cool, you guys!” he said to them.
“William, it’s not a joke,” Jay-Fu Triple J said. William didn’t believe him.
“You really do have superpowers,” Ms. Linda insisted. William didn’t believe her.
“It’s true,” his grandparents explained. “We made a video of it.” William refused to watch the video. He didn’t even believe his grandparents.
But it was completely true.
As you know, every day—just before lunchtime—William would start to get a headache. But what really happened when he blacked out was this: His body grew huge and turned bright green. He’d beat his chest in a rage and shout, “I am Bulk! Bulk is hungry! Bulk want fish sticks!”
Then he would blaze a path of destruction in his search for fish sticks. The first time it happened, he destroyed the school’s cafeteria. The second time, he used a school bus as a baseball bat and attacked the local pier. And the third time, he wrecked the downtown district of the nearest city.
But when he finally ate fish sticks, he’d fall asleep, shrink, and turn back to normal. When William would wake, he’d have no memory of being the Incredible Bulk (which is what the news called the hungry monster).
William didn’t believe it, but it was true. It was all true.
“Yeah, right,” William said. “Honestly, Honest Lee, I thought you’d be honest with me.”
“What? You can hear me?” I (your author) said to William.
“Of course I can hear you,” William said, “and I know you’re talking behind my back.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m talking behind your back. I’m just telling a story about you.”
“Well, I don’t appreciate you spreading rumors about me. I do not have superpowers. And I’m not paranoid!” William screamed.
“I did not scream!”
“Yes, you did.”
William said, “If you don’t stop talking about me, I’m going to sue you for slander!”
(Oh boy, that’s my cue to skip to the next chapter.)
Zoey liked to be a rebel. Some days, she wore mismatched socks. Sock rebel. One time, she used the boys’ bathroom. Bathroom rebel. On the day of the lightning, she even broke Ms. Linda’s number one rule: NO CHEWING GUM IN CLASS. Gum rebel.
Unfortunately, the purple lightning struck, which put Zoey in a rather sticky situation.…
At first, Zoey just thought her power was being pink. “I’m pink! Coolest power ever!” But when she raised her hand, it streeeeeeeeetched all the way up to the ceiling. When she yawned, she blew a big pink bubble. Then, when she tried to get up from her desk, her feet stuck to the floor, so she fell. As Mark walked past, he accidentally stepped on her head—and she got stuck on the bottom of his shoe.
Zoey was human gum.
“Oh crud!” Mark said. He hated stepping on gum. (Who doesn’t?) He tried to peel Zoey off his shoe with a pencil.
“Ouch!” Zoey shouted. “That hurts!”
The more Mark and Zoey tried to separate the gum from the shoe, the more Zoey stretched.
“Who has been chewing gum in this classroom?” Ms. Linda asked, furious.
“I’m not chewing gum,” Zoey said, “I am chewing gum.”
“So are you chewing gum or aren’t you?” Ms. Linda asked, confused.
“Ms. Linda, please help me!” Zoey said.
“This gum is talking!” Mason yelled, freaking out.
“A super-stretchy superpower,” Fatima said, “but obviously not the best.”
Together, Fatima, Ms. Linda, and Mark carefully removed Mark’s shoe. They went to the school library to research how to get Zoey unstuck. According to the Internet, they could:
• Freeze her overnight in a plastic bag and then peel her off
• Pour boiling water on her
• Iron her with a clothes iron
• Use peanut butter and a knife to scrape her away
“Zoey, which would you like us to do?” Ms. Linda asked.
“None of them!” she cried. “They all sound like torture. I’d rather stay on Mark’s shoe.”
Mark’s shoe was stuck to the side of Zoey’s head and Zoey had one thought stuck in her head: Whatever happened, she would never chew gum again.
Since the first day of class, Liam’s farts had become the stuff of legend. And not because of how bad they smelled—which they did (like a tuna fish sandwich left in the sun). They were legendary because of the amazing things Liam could do with nothing more than the air from his butt.
Liam controlled his farts the way sculptors sculpted clay. He could fart any pop song on demand. He could stink-bomb a target one mile away. He could fart in Morse code (which only Yuna could understand). Liam was a true fArtist.
To no one’s surprise, the purple lightning transformed his butt blasts into something even more amazing. Liam now had SUPER-ATOMIC FARTS.
He ate a can of beans and hit the soccer field to test his new powers. “Go ahead, pull my finger,” he said.
Only Teo was brave enough to do it—and only since his super-speed allowed him to pull Liam’s finger and run halfway across the city to safety before
PPBBBBBBTTTTKABOOM!
&n
bsp; The blast left a humongous crater outside the school—and a flaming hole in Liam’s underwear.
The heroes of Classroom 13 saw him as a force that could be used for good. The villains of Classroom 13 now saw him as a weapon that could be used for evil. All Liam saw was his butt hanging out in the cold air.
Olivia had always been the smartest person in Classroom 13. But now she was the smartest person in the world.
The purple lightning made her a super-genius. Her brain was so big, it popped out of her hair and glowed green anytime she had a thought. When it started glowing so bright no one could look at it, someone should have realized she had a really big idea: to take over the world.
You might think this made Olivia a super-villain, but you should ask her why first. Yes, let’s ask: “Olivia, why are you going to take over the world?”
“I’ve done all the calculations,” Olivia said. “The human race is destroying planet Earth. If we don’t start fixing it now, Earth will be dead in a matter of years. Since everyone is too lazy or too greedy to fix the planet, only I can do it. But first I’ll have to take over and become the world’s global monarch.”
See? She wants to save the planet. That’s a good reason. But she wants to take over the world to do it. That’s a bad thing. Sometimes, people do bad things for good reasons. It’s silly but true.
Does this make Olivia a bad guy? (Or bad girl, in this case.) Honestly, I’m not sure. What do you think?
Olivia was going to take over the planet. But she couldn’t do it alone. She needed help. So she built a Biomagnetic Antigravity Force-Field Reality Manipulator. It worked like a charm—or, more accurately, like a magnet—or, even more accurately, like a superhero magnet.
It found Jay-Fu Triple J kung-fu karate cooking at home. It found Chloe, even though she was invisible. It found Mason, even though he’d teleported to China. It even found Emma (who had been hiding under her mom’s couch this whole time… silly cat). It found every student from Classroom 13. Then it pulled them all back.
“What are we doing in school on a Saturday?!” the students shouted, furious with Olivia.
Olivia explained, “The adults are destroying our planet! In a few years, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish! Animals are becoming more endangered every day. And instead of using solar power, we’re using fossil fuels, which causes pollution, which causes a greenhouse effect, which causes global warming! We have to stop them. And I know how—we have to take over the world!”
Half of the class agreed with Olivia.
The other half didn’t.
“We can’t take over the world,” Jay-Fu Triple J said.
“Yes, we can, and we should!” Sophia said.
Olivia pointed to Fatima. “You’re psychic. You’ve seen the future. What did you see?”
Fatima had to be honest. “I saw us… destroying the world.”
“Then we have to save it!” Sophia said. “I’m with Olivia! Let’s put all the adults in jail. Including my mom!” Half of the students cheered.
“No, wait!” said Mini-Benji. “As superheroes, we have to side with the law.” Half of the students cheered.
“It looks like we have a standoff,” Olivia said. “If you’re not with us, you’re against us. And we will have to do what all superheroes do.…”
“Star in movies?” Ava asked.
“Wear tights?” Mason added.
“No!” Olivia said. “We’ll have to have a super-battle!”
The kids looked at one another. No one wanted to fight, but no one wanted to destroy the planet, either.
“Let’s do this!” Liam shouted. He fart-blasted the other side.
Suddenly, a super-battle broke out in the middle of Classroom 13. Mark flung corn chips at Spider-Dev the boy-spider, who shot back with webs. Jay-Fu Triple J used his super kung-fu karate kick on Ethan’s giant robot. Teo used his super-speed to tape Preeya’s mouth closed before she could sonic-scream. Hugo stepped in gum-Zoey and got stuck.
Mini-Benji saw Chloe’s footprints and tied her shoelaces together so she tripped. Ximena grabbed William before he could “Bulk out!” and floated them up into the air. Emma and Isabella squared off in a battle of cat versus fish dolphin. They ended up in a dance-off, and everyone agreed it was a tie.
Mya & Madison couldn’t decide what to wear to their first big battle, so they just kept changing outfits. They morphed into pink spike armor and blue glitter capes but couldn’t choose which was cutest. They ended up missing the whole battle.
Ava used her mind-reading powers on Mason, but to no effect. (It’s like he didn’t even have thoughts.) Lily and Yuna were going to battle but decided it was more fun to watch. Flaming Santiago fought against Sophia, but his fire-sneezes were no match for her weather powers. Her rain put his flames out before she realized they were both on the same team. Jacob didn’t have powers, but he did spray Liam’s farts with air freshener.
Meanwhile, Olivia battled the super-hamster and super-cow. (Well, she didn’t fight them so much as take a moment to pet the animals.)
The students were fighting and shouting so loudly that Ms. Linda heard them on the other side of town. (Of course, she did have super-hearing.) She immediately flew out of her house, across town, and into Classroom 13.
“What in the name of education are you kids doing?!” she shouted.
All the kids stopped fighting. Trying to hide behind Ms. Linda’s desk, Hugo knocked over the classroom globe. It broke into several pieces.
“Rompí el mundo,” Hugo said in Spanish. “Lo siento.”
Ms. Linda shook her head. “I am very disappointed in all of you. With great power comes responsibility—and all of you used your powers to make a mess.”
“Wait,” Fatima said. “This is good. This is great! My vision came true, but we’re safe. We didn’t destroy the world. We only destroyed a globe!”
“Yes, but you destroyed my favorite globe,” Ms. Linda said. “You all have detention—for a week!”
Later that day, the not-so-superheroes and not-evil-enough super-villains of Classroom 13 sat in detention. Ms. Linda had them writing (over and over) the following phrase:
I will not destroy the world.
I will not destroy the world.
I will not destroy the world.
Ms. Linda noticed a strange storm cloud had appeared in the sky. The cloud was black and red, and crackled with purple electricity. It looked very familiar, but the super-teacher couldn’t quite place it—at least not until it was too late.
KRAK-KA-BOOOOOOOOM!
A huge bolt of lightning crashed through the window and struck everyone in detention. Don’t worry. No one was hurt. All the purple lightning did was knock out all the lights. And make everyone’s hair stand straight up. Oh, and everyone lost their superpowers.
The students (and teacher) of Classroom 13 returned to their not-so-secret identities. Some would miss the excitement of superpowered life. But deep down, they all knew that in a place as unlucky as Classroom 13, every day was sort of super.
Grab some paper and a writing utensil. (Not a banana, silly. Try a pencil or pen.) Or if you have one of those fancy computer doohickeys, use that. Now, tell me…
If YOU could have a superpower, what would it be?!
When you’re done writing your chapter, share it with your teacher and your family, and, of course, your friends. (Don’t forget your pets. Pets like to hear stories, too, you know.)
And if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, send your story to the author. He’ll get a kick out of them. (No, really, I’ll give him a kick. Honestly. Wait… I’m the author, so I would have to kick myself. Never mind. No kicks. But send me your stories.)
HONEST LEE
LITTLE, BROWN BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
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New York, NY 10104
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Did you enjoy Lily's chapter? Do you want to see what else happened in that scene? Because you can—in PETER POWERS AND HIS FANTASTIC FAMILY!
I'm totally serious. Lily guest-stars in Peter Powers the way Peter Powers guest-starred in this book. Check it out!
