by Lisa Yee
“Let the feast begin!” Harley shouted.
The mood was jovial, and the food was especially delicious, having been made with friendship and love. Later, as the pies were being sliced, each person around the table said what they were thankful for.
Harley was thankful for her new video equipment.
Beast Boy was thankful for his ability to morph into animals.
Katana was thankful for her ancestry.
Hawkgirl was thankful for her grandmother.
Wonder Woman was thankful for Super Hero High.
Uncle Jonathan was thankful for Aunt Martha, Superman, and Supergirl.
Aunt Martha was thankful for Uncle Jonathan, Superman, and Supergirl.
“I’m thankful for all of you,” Supergirl said, motioning around the table. “And…wait!” she cried, racing out of the room. She returned with a fuzzy colorful something overflowing in her arms. Bits of fuzzy yarn stuck out at odd angles. “This is for you,” she told the Kents. “I knit it myself.”
The Kents smiled at the strange tapestry of colored yarn, not really sure what it was supposed to be. But it was wonderful to them all the same.
“We love it!” Uncle Jonathan gushed.
“LOVE it!” Aunt Martha echoed.
“Group hug!” Wonder Woman shouted.
Surrounded by friends and family, Supergirl’s necklace glowed bright as it lit up her face with a joy she hadn’t felt since first arriving on Earth.
The happiness Supergirl experienced at the farm lingered. Anytime she thought about it, her crystal glowed. Still, there were moments when Supergirl feared that it betrayed her parents to be too happy. She was conflicted in so many ways. And when it came to Super Hero High, she wondered if one could feel like they belonged, and at the same time feel like an outsider. Some things were really starting to click into place, like her friendships, and she was doing well in her classes. Supergirl felt great about that. But would everything ever really fall into place? She hoped so, but still she was wary. After all, she’d learned the hard way that nothing was for certain.
“Hmmm…you’re doing well,” Barbara said, studying her charts. She had about two dozen of them on her minicomputer. Each one analyzed Supergirl’s progress in different areas: Speed, Flight, Vision (X-ray, Telescopic, Microscopic, and Heat), Hearing, and Strength.
“Let’s test your speed on foot again,” Barbara said. It was after school, and they were sharing the track with the cross-country runners, who were warming up.
Supergirl shook herself out of her Krypton-infused daydream. She’d been thinking about home again, and how her father always used to bake cookies.
Supergirl stood on her mark. When she heard the tiny click of Barbara’s stopwatch, she took off, lapping the members of the Super Hero High track team three times before tripping over her shoelaces and tumbling awkwardly in front of Jay Garrick, the track coach and the original Flash!
“Anytime you want to join the team, you’re in,” he told her as she leapt up and pretended that nothing had happened. “But you’ll need better shoes.”
Supergirl looked down at her red high-tops. They were just fine, she noted. Except that the laces were undone, again.
“I’m not surprised he said that,” Barbara said, entering the stats into her computer. “Thanks to my B.A.T., my computer can analyze hard data. But even so, sometimes human observations can be telling, too. Coach Garrick’s pretty wise.” A graph with an icon of Supergirl running came up. “Your shoelaces caused you to trip. All the serious runners wear air-coiled jet sneakers that wrap around their feet like a lightweight shell,” Barbara noted. “It doesn’t matter how cool your high-tops are if you can’t keep them tied.”
She motioned for Supergirl to come closer. Her normally optimistic face looked deadly serious. “I want you to remember this,” she said, lowering her voice. Supergirl braced herself.
“Double knots,” Barbara said.
“Double knots,” Supergirl repeated.
Next up was Flight. Supergirl soared majestically around the tall buildings of Metropolis, waving to people as they called out, “Hi, Supergirl!” She stopped in front of an apartment window where a little girl and her brother were playing super hero, wearing towels as capes and jumping off the couch. When they saw her, they raced to the window and blew kisses. Supergirl did a flip in the air, then gave them a thumbs-up before heading to the mountains.
Using her super-hearing, she heard Barbara say, “You’re tracking well, Supergirl. All looks great! Do a couple laps around the mountain range, making sure you maneuver through the canyons, then head back in.”
Just as she finished her second lap, Supergirl thought she caught sight of Bigfoot, the mysterious creature known for his stealth and his ability to confuse the public. She swooped down to get a closer look, and as Bigfoot ran from her, Supergirl slammed into a tree, causing a chain reaction—tree after tree fell in turn as she watched, horrified.
“Thanks, Supergirl,” a logger called out as the toppling trees slowed to a stop. “We were just about to cut them down!”
Supergirl gave him a weak smile and sighed with relief. “I…uh…meant to do that.”
“Well, you have room for improvement,” Barbara said kindly when Supergirl returned. “You need to pay more attention to what you’re doing and where you’re going.”
The tests continued, some with better results than others. Finally, Babs said, “Okay, one more. Hearing. Let’s see if you’ve mastered this. Hone into the library and tell me what you hear there.”
Supergirl scrunched up her nose. This always seemed to help her hearing. Then she concentrated. She heard rumors and gossip in the corridors, Mr. Fox and Grodd exchanging baked broccoli casserole recipes in the teachers’ lounge, and finally Supergirl clued in to Granny’s voice. “Someone’s been removing books from the library!” the librarian said.
Supergirl could make out Hawkgirl asking, “Isn’t that what they’re supposed to do?”
“Not without checking them out first.” Granny sounded sad.
“Don’t worry, Granny Goodness,” Poison Ivy jumped in. “The Junior Detective Society is on the case!”
Supergirl listened as Granny thanked them profusely. She could hear the Supers still talking and munching on cookies as they made their way out of the library.
“This will take forever,” The Flash said. “If we track down each book on this massive list she gave us, we won’t have time for anything else!”
“We’re the Junior Detective Society,” Poison Ivy reminded him. “We’re here to help anyone who needs sleuthing.”
“Look,” Hawkgirl said. “The Boom Tubes.”
“The door looks secure,” The Flash noted. Supergirl could hear him knocking. “Anyone home?” he joked.
“Come on,” Hawkgirl said, sighing. “We’ve got work to do and no time to play with the Boom Tubes.”
The Boom Tubes. How many times had Supergirl let her mind wander and thought about them? Especially when she did something embarrassing. Like the time Wonder Woman let her try on her tiara and in her enthusiasm, Supergirl bent it out of shape. Or the time in phys ed when she and Green Lantern were in charge of collecting the speedballs and she tossed them too hard, sending him flying across the room. Though everyone applauded, and Green Lantern pretended he’d done it on purpose, he avoided her for days.
Then there was Cheetah and her crew. Even though her teachers seemed to like it when students asked a lot of questions, not everyone else did. Cheetah would growl things under her breath like, “You know you don’t get extra credit for hearing yourself talk, right?”
Frost got chilly whenever Supergirl broke a school record in phys ed. Supergirl couldn’t understand it. She thought they were all supposed to support and encourage one another. So it was a relief when Frost pulled her aside one day and said, “You missed Super Heroes Throughout History when you took Wildcat’s Official Super-Strength Test— Oh, and congrats on the being-the-strongest-teen-in-the
-world thing, by the way. Anyway, just thought you’d like to know that Liberty Belle assigned us the universe for homework.”
“The entire universe?” Supergirl gasped, unable to hide her surprise. They had just finished covering the world, and she thought the solar system was next.
“Yes,” Frost said as Raven stood behind her nodding. “We’re supposed to do an illustrated history of the entire universe. Due tomorrow.”
The next day, when a weary Supergirl handed in 147 pages of her “Illustrated History of the Universe,” an astonished Liberty Belle said, “Great job, Supergirl, but I didn’t assign this.”
Supergirl was having trouble keeping her eyes open. “But I thought—”
“But it’s marvelous!” Liberty Belle exclaimed, looking at the pictures. “I’m going to post these on the bulletin boards and give you extra credit!”
Supergirl smiled, then stopped when she saw Frost glaring at her. Now what had she done?
Later, during lunch, Cheetah strolled over to her. “Say, Supergirl,” she said, “I don’t think you’ve even taken part in the new student initiation, and it’s overdue.”
“What is it?” Supergirl asked, setting down her iced tea.
“Well, in order to show your allegiance to Super Hero High, you’re required to dress like a chicken and cluck loudly around the dining hall. Think you could do that tonight at dinner?”
Supergirl nodded. It would be hard to scare up a chicken costume by then, but if that was what it took to be initiated into Super Hero High, that was what she would do. Right after school, instead of going to her Knitting and Hitting Club meeting, Supergirl flew to the Kent family farm.
“What a wonderful surprise!” Aunt Martha said as she brushed down the horses. “Uncle Jonathan is in the cornfield if you want to say hello to him.”
“I can’t stay long,” Supergirl said apologetically. “I just need to gather some chicken feathers.”
Aunt Martha pointed. “There are plenty of loose ones in the henhouse,” she said.
That evening, when Supergirl strutted into the dining hall, most students were already seated and eating. She cleared her throat until she got everyone’s attention. “Good evening!” she called out in a strong, clear voice. “I’m Supergirl, and I’m a super chicken, and cluck, cluck, cluck, I’m new to Super Hero High! Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck!”
There was an uncomfortable silence.
Supergirl could see Cheetah, Frost, and Sapphire trying not to crack up. A feeling of shame washed over her. Had they played a joke on her?
“Cluck…cluck,” she said weakly. “Cluck?”
Laughter started from Cheetah’s table and made its way around the room. Supergirl stood frozen in her handmade chicken costume. She could feel her face get hot as the laughter began to turn into a roar. Suddenly, above it all, she heard, “CLUCK, CLUCK!”
Looking around as the “CLUCK, CLUCK” got louder, Supergirl spotted Beast Boy standing on a chair.
“Cluck, cluck,” he called out before turning into a giant chicken. He chicken-walked over to her and whispered, “Dance!”
Dance? Supergirl didn’t know any dances. Wait. She knew one…Uncle Jonathan had taught her the chicken dance, a silly dance he’d do when they fed the chickens.
Supergirl took a deep breath and yelled, “Chicken dance, everyone!” Soon, led by Beast Boy and Supergirl, everyone in the dining hall, including Parasite and some of the servers, were clucking in a long line up and down the rows of tables.
When they were done, everyone cheered and broke out in applause! Well, not everyone. Cheetah, Frost, and Star Sapphire, who had chosen to sit out the dance, did not look happy.
That night, Harley was in heaven. “Look!” she said to Supergirl. “The dance has gone viral! The president is even considering making it the national dance of America!”
Sure enough, all of the USA and beyond was doing the chicken dance. Supergirl smiled. Now if only the rest of her time at Super Hero High could be as successful.
Nights were still hard when Supergirl was alone with her memories. Sometimes she’d have nightmares of cute little green monsters scampering around, or planets exploding. Morning couldn’t come fast enough.
When the sunlight finally peered through her window to awaken her, Supergirl smiled. Its warmth felt like a hug as it gave her strength and renewed her spirit to face the day. She made it her mission to brighten up and be as helpful as possible to as many people, animals, and aliens as she could. This included Granny, who, once she was taught the proper steps, excelled at doing the chicken dance, albeit with the help of her cane.
“So,” Granny Goodness said after she finished clucking. She sat behind her crowded desk as Supergirl sank into a couch so plush that she felt like she was being wrapped in clouds. “You’ve two more strength tests coming up. Are you ready?”
Supergirl shook her head. Sure, she’d been working with Babs, and that had been going sort of well. But something always messed her up in the end.
“Maybe I need new shoes or something,” Supergirl said meekly, recalling what Coach Garrick had told her. “I know I’m strong enough, and fast enough. But I don’t think I’m good enough.”
Granny absentmindedly toyed with a snow globe of the solar system, shaking it up so all the planets had unaligned. “I think it’s all in your mind, Supergirl,” she said thoughtfully.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean,” Granny explained, “you’re talented enough and have what it takes, but the thing that’s stopping you is you. Perhaps there are things that are bothering you?”
Supergirl thought about this. Could Granny be right? No, she decided. She was just a mess. No one would argue with that. But then again, all those nights staying up, worrying about things she couldn’t control…things she couldn’t forget. Principal Waller had set up several sessions with Dr. Arkham, the school counselor, when she’d first arrived. And Wonder Woman had said that he was great and had helped her. But Supergirl just couldn’t bring herself to talk to a stranger about her deepest, darkest fears and worries.
“Cookie?” Granny asked, shaking Supergirl out of her thoughts.
Strength Test Day. Though Supergirl had done massive testing with Wildcat when she first started Super Hero High, this was the official standardized exam. Every school in the galaxy was taking it on the same day. All students were given the same tests, and the scores were tallied, tabulated, recorded, parsed, and examined. Human, alien, animal, mutant, other—everyone was on edge. Your strength standings said a lot about who you were, especially if you were a super hero.
At Super Hero High, Wonder Woman was up first. Supergirl noticed that she didn’t look nervous at all. In fact, not only did Wonder Woman look calm and confident, she looked like she was having fun. Supergirl watched her closely for clues on what to do.
In the Creative Strength Category, also known as CSC, students were charged with coming up with something unique. “For my CSC, I’m asking the assistance of a special guest,” Wonder Woman said, smiling. “Beast Boy, will you join me?”
“Would I? Oh man, I’m there!” Beast Boy said, leaping up and taking a deep bow. “It’s Beast Boy! I’m Beast Boy! He’s Beast Boy!” he chanted. The Riddler and Catwoman shook their heads disdainfully.
Wonder Woman whispered something to him and his grin widened. “Sure thing, Wondy. You got it!” he said. In the time it took for him to finish his sentence, Beast Boy had turned into an elephant, but not just any elephant. A rare jumbo jumbo super jumbo elephant so big that several Supers had to back up to give him room.
With ease, Wonder Woman lifted Beast Boy the elephant over her head, tossing him in the air, catching him, and throwing him higher each time. While the class applauded politely and Supergirl cheered loudly, Wildcat looked on. Supergirl could hear him saying, “Ah, the old jumbo jumbo super jumbo elephant trick. When will I see something new?”
“Thank you, Wonder Woman. Beast Boy, please assume your normal state,” th
e coach said, as both Wonder Woman and Beast Boy bowed to the students and sat down.
Students demonstrated their strengths—some stopping rockets, others bending metal, and still others doing the traditional lifting of multiple thousand-pound weights—while Supergirl thought of what she would do. Encouraged by Wonder Woman, when her name was called, Supergirl raced to the front of the room, ready to ace the CSC.
“Beast Boy,” she called out. “Will you join me up here?”
Pretending to be shy, Beast Boy stood up and mouthed, “Me?” Then, pointing to himself, he said, “Ladies, take note of Mr. Popularity.”
Supergirl whispered something in his ear. “Heck, yeah!” Beast Boy exclaimed.
“Let’s see what you’ve got,” Wildcat said. He was tired and cranky. This was the last strength test of a long day.
Beast Boy shut his eyes, puffed out his cheeks, and morphed into several extinct, and very awkward, creatures before finally appearing as a massive brachiosaur. The class cheered wildly, along with Wildcat, who had instantly perked up. This was something new! Even Wonder Woman was smiling and giving Supergirl an approving nod.
Supergirl approached Beast Boy Dino. Everyone laughed good-naturedly as she walked around him, trying to figure out how to pick him up. Finally, she squatted down and lifted him from his belly, being careful to balance his ginormous frame. Then, slowly, Supergirl lifted him above her head with both arms stretched skyward. The cheers could be heard all the way to Waller’s office.
But wait! There was more. Supergirl was now lifting Beast Boy Dino with one arm…then one hand…and then, could it be? No, maybe people were seeing things, but yes! She was balancing him on one finger…her pinky finger!
Harley was going bonkers capturing it all for “Harley’s Quinntessentials.” “WOWZA! This is gonna break the Internet,” she shouted. “I predict a million views a minute!”
To Harley’s delight, Supergirl wasn’t done yet. Slowly, she lifted herself off the ground and flew above her classmates, with Beast Boy Dino still balanced on her little finger.
