“True. We don’t need her to have any more photographic evidence.” Charlie thought for a second. “I guess that means I’m the bait and you’re the switch!”
“But we are just deleting. Not switching anything for anything else,” I told him.
Charlie nodded. “Yes, yes. You get the drift, though. You don’t have to be so literal all the time.”
“Literally?”
“Look alive, Betsy is coming!” Charlie dragged me around the corner and out of sight just as Betsy opened the door.
“Can you keep her away for a few minutes?” I whispered.
“I don’t really have a choice, do I?” Charlie asked.
“Sorry,” I said. “But you are the best ever and I totally appreciate it.”
“Just try to not burn the place down.” He winked at me, then chased after Betsy.
“Yo, Betsy!” he shouted as I slipped into the library.
Betsy had left the photo browser up, and it didn’t take long to find the pictures of my stupidpower moment at the café. I thought I had done such a good job hiding behind that menu, but I didn’t even think about the giant window behind us. Betsy had gone outside and easily caught several pics of me while I was trying to dodge glances from the SFC. I actually looked pretty good in those pictures! My hair was even normal looking. These may have been the best pictures ever taken of me. Except, you know, the green skin.
I tagged all the pictures and hit the Trash icon, and even remembered to empty the trash afterward. A hard-learned lesson from the time I had used my webcam to take some glamour shots that were so embarrassing I immediately deleted them. Or so I thought, until Dad found them and posted them on my bathroom mirror.
Anyway, these less-than-glamour shots were now deleted. But I needed to get them off the camera, too. How did I do that? This camera was way fancier than anything I had ever used. So many buttons! That’s why the pictures were so clear and (sigh) undeniably of me.
It felt like too much time had passed. Charlie was great at distraction, but not that great.
Yep. I heard Charlie shout, “Hold up, Betsy! I still have to tell you something else!”
Followed by, “Don’t touch me, you freak!”
I flipped through screen after screen of green me, but there were too many to delete them one at a time. I needed them gone, now! I didn’t know what else to do—
“Sorry, pretty camera.” I flinched as I smashed it to the ground. The lens cap broke off, taking some of the actual lens with it. The back took a bruising, too—a big crack that destroyed the touch screen. I pressed the Power button, but nothing happened. I tried one more time for safety’s sake, and still nothing. I had officially killed the evidence, and in a few seconds, Betsy would kill me, too.
Very literally.
I set the camera on the ground and artfully arranged its mangled pieces. There. It just fell. It really just fell and broke. Gravity, man. What a jerk. Yep. Yep, yep, yep. It was time to get out of here.
“What are you doing, McGowan?” Betsy yelled as she thundered into the library.
I stood and held my hands up in the universal “It wasn’t me!” position. “I, uh, I think your camera fell, Betsy. I’m sorry.”
“Fell?” She scrambled to pick up the pieces and cradled them like a baby. In an instant her eyes flickered from murder to sorrow and back to murder. “You did this.”
“What? Me? Nooooo.” I backed away from her.
Charlie stuck his head in the room and saw Betsy’s rage. “Uh-oh. I think we need an adult.” He looked down the hall. “Oh, crud. Ms. Watson is coming! Any adult but that one! Veri, we need to jam. Now.”
“I saw you,” Betsy screamed as she grabbed my arm. “I saw! And you don’t want anyone to know!”
“Ow! I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I grimaced as her thick fingers cut off my circulation.
“You’re a liar!” Betsy was absolutely irate. (And, admittedly, right.)
“What is going on in here?” Ms. Watson called from the doorway. She held the top loop of Charlie’s backpack—with Charlie in it—so he couldn’t get away. “Unhand her! This instant!”
“She smashed my camera, Ms. Watson!” Betsy showed her the wreckage.
“The school’s camera,” Ms. Watson corrected.
“No, she bloody well didn’t!” Charlie sounded really convincing, maybe because he thought he was right. He had been outside the room when I’d sent the camera to the sweet photogenic hereafter.
“Yes, she did. I know it!” Betsy was really starting to lose it. “She wanted to get rid of the evidence!”
She finally let me go, pushing me toward Ms. Watson and Charlie.
Ms. Watson raised an eyebrow. “The ‘evidence’?”
“She. Was. Green,” Betsy declared.
“Green?” Ms. Watson looked at me.
I didn’t know what to do. I kept my mouth shut and rubbed my throbbing arm. I could feel something starting to happen in me. This would be the absolute worst time for a power to show up! I held my breath and tried to think of other, random things: Einstein, summer vacation, penguins in sweaters, waffles. It seemed to help!
“Charlie! Veronica!” Ms. Watson motioned for us to follow her. It was time to leave, and I knew exactly where we were going: straight to Principal Chomers and a million miles from Est-hood.
CHAPTER TEN
SSSSPEAKING OF PROBLEMSSSS
Ms. Watson had decided to make us sweat it out in her office.
“Shall we poke around?” Charlie asked, lifting a paper off her desk.
“No!” I smacked his hand. “Aren’t we in enough trouble already?”
“Everything is going to be fine, Veri.”
“Nuh-uh,” I said. “I can’t be found out now! I’m so close to becoming an Est. This dance means everything.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Charlie said. “The dance? That’s what you’re most worried about? Not your magical superpowers?”
“They can wait until after the dance,” I said as calmly as I could.
“No. The dance can wait! Est junk can wait!” he said. “This is getting serious, Veri.”
“You are talking about serious?” I was astounded. “You’re the one who thinks this whole mess is awesome. I’m going through with the dance, Charles. My stupidpowers aren’t going to stop me.”
“Unbelievable,” Charlie muttered.
“What are we talking about in here?” Ms. Watson said. Charlie and I jumped.
“Nothing,” I said flatly. “Nothing at all.”
“Mr. Weathers, Ms. McGowan. What are we to do with you?” Ms. Watson asked as she got into her chair.
“Let us go home, perhaps?” Charlie said.
I lowered my head.
Ms. Watson didn’t even crack a smile. “What happened? And why do I have Betsy swearing that you were green and you destroyed her camera, Ms. McGowan?”
“Well,” I sputtered, “I was green…”
Charlie’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.
“… with envy,” I added. “Isn’t that how the saying goes? And I think it was just really apparent from my expression when Betsy photographed me.”
Charlie caught on quickly. “Yes! And we went to Betsy to ask her not to use those unflattering pictures of Veronica.”
“B-but by the time we were all together, the camera was already on the ground,” I said. Now that I was fibbing, I sensed a stupidpower flaring up. I felt sneaky and slimy, like a snake.
“If it was an accident, why would Betsy blame you for breaking the camera?” Ms. Watson asked.
“Because Betsy hatessssss me,” I actually hissed. I snapped my mouth closed and looked at Charlie, mentally telling him to take over.
“Uh, yes,” Charlie picked up where I left off. “Betsy bullies Veronica on a regular basis. Everyone in school knows that. Hates her guts, some would say.”
I nodded in silent agreement.
“And what was the scenario in which you ‘turned
green’?” Ms. Watson added air quotes to her question.
I was scared to open my mouth. I needed to mind my s’s.
“I wa—I mean, at Bla—I mean, at … the café with … the formal club, when I got—” Crud. What was an s-less word for envious?
Luckily, Ms. Watson interpreted my awkwardness as embarrassment.
“So, you saw the Spring Formal Club? And you were jealous of them?” she asked.
“No. I’m on the S-SFC.” I managed a stutter instead of a hiss. The stupidpower was fading as long as I was telling the truth. “I, uh, wasn’t jealous of them, I guess.”
“What were you jealous of?” Ms. Watson asked in a voice that was oddly soothing.
I could feel Charlie staring at me. Wasn’t this humiliating enough? Now I had to fess up to something that would make Charlie tease me for the next bazillion years?
“It wasn’t anything, really. There was just someone else there. Can we please not talk about this?” I muttered to the floor.
Charlie let out an exasperated sigh. “Blake,” he answered for me.
“You don’t understand.”
“I don’t understand?” Charlie looked hurt. “Pretty sure I’m the only one who understands.”
Ms. Watson furrowed her brow. “Agreed. I definitely don’t understand what either of you are talking about. What I do understand is that we have damaged property and three preteens who can’t seem to get along.”
“It’s not Charlie’s fault,” I said. “Principal Chomers should let him go.”
“We are both in this,” Charlie said, more to Ms. Watson than me.
Ms. Watson nodded. “Well, then you should both be pleased. After this discussion, I have chosen not to take this up with Principal Chomers.”
“Oh, thank heavens,” Charlie said. “Is there anything I can do for you? Do you need a kidney? I have a spare.”
“But,” Ms. Watson continued, ignoring Charlie, “you’ll be spending the next two afternoons with me. After school.”
(I half expected her to belt out a super-villainous “Bwah-ha-ha!”)
“Detention?” I asked.
“Yes.” She stared at me, her eyes narrowed. “That’s what they call it.”
“Elementary, my dear Watson.” Charlie tipped an imaginary hat and puffed on an equally imaginary pipe. “But you seem to have missed a very important clue. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I don’t know who did what, but I get the feeling that no one is telling me the truth … on more than one account.”
I had a question. “So, what about Betsy? Isn’t she in trouble, too?”
“She physically accosted you, Veronica. There will be a punishment, certainly, but I’ll deal with her separately. Although actually, it might be therapeutic for the three of you to serve your sentence together, now that I think about it.” She nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly with herself. “Maybe you can work things out. Ensure that we never again have a situation like the one we saw today.”
“But—” I sputtered.
“See you back here at three.”
And that was all she wrote. Well, I mean, all she said.
“Thank you, Ms. Watson,” I said as Charlie and I gathered up our things.
I pulled the door shut behind us.
“What was up with you in there?” Charlie asked.
“Nothing, I-I’m just tired,” I lied. Truth was, I was starting to feel very alone. Charlie was doing his best to help, but this was something he couldn’t really understand. My stupidpowers could cause a lot of trouble and real damage to him. That wasn’t how friendship was supposed to work.
* * *
“Hi, guys!” I called as I set my backpack down on the bleachers. Being outside for non-gym activities was a treat reserved for the coolest of clubs.
Kate looked up from a thick history book. “Hi, Veronica!”
The rest of the Ests seemed very occupied, nay, obsessed with their phones. To get their attention I knew I’d have to make a big impression, so I came prepared. In one swoop, I whipped out the gigantic binder I had painstakingly put together over the weekend. It held all my ideas for the dance. And there were … a lot. And maybe some glitter glue. Or maybe all the glitter glue I owned.
They were going to freaking lose their beautiful minds when they saw all the work I’d done!
“So, here are my thoughts for decorations.” I grandly opened the binder to reveal its super-glam interior. There they were, the horses and the vampires and the vampire horses!
“This is, like, really amazing,” Derek said in disbelief.
My heart soared as the other Ests—except Jenny, who remained entranced by her phone—nodded in agreement. My happiness was at an all-time high, which instantly made me worry. This would be the exact time that stupidpowers would come out. Happy! Happy? What stupidpowers come from happy? I could feel my toe start to tap, and I wasn’t making it tap. That’s when I noticed that my head was bobbing as if there was some really great music playing. News flash: there wasn’t.
I was dancing. Oh my gawd, I was dancing. Uncontrollably. The stupidest of stupidpowers had me moonwalking in front of the SFC.
Stop, Veronica, STOP! I needed to gain control of my limbs. The entire SFC was staring at me.
“Ha!” I pretended to laugh as I busted into some snazzy jazz hands. “These are just examples of dances no one should ever do at a dance!”
“Go, Veronica! Go, Veronica!” Titan Williams (Funniest) shouted.
The SFC all smiled and laughed as they clapped a beat for me to dance to—except for Jenny, who was still phone obsessed.
Titan joined me. His dance was definitely a joke. It was the same one my dad would bust out occasionally at a wedding. I think it was called the Running Man? Anyway, Titan hammed it up for a few minutes while my stupidpowers kept me dancing. In fact, after he did his final hip thrust, I was still going strong, feeling happy and like I was finally part of the group. That happiness was a problem, because it meant my powers would keep me dancing indefinitely. It was getting awkward again.
I worked up all my will and pushed down my happy feelings. I pushed ’em down as hard as I possibly could. It felt uncomfortable, like holding my breath, or pulling on a too-tight pair of jeans fresh out of the dryer, but I seemed to be reapproaching normalcy. My arms and legs slowed down, and I had control over them again. It worked! I actually controlled my powers! But I’d had to hide my feelings to do it. If I became Artiest, would I have to constantly keep squashing my own emotions?
“I know all of you are having fun, or something, but listen up!” Jenny crowed, waving her phone. “Dark Rooms announced they are playing a surprise show Friday at the Oil City Thunderdome! We have to get tickets.”
“It’s impossible, man,” Titan said, sighing. “I already heard it sold out in seconds.”
What I was about to say would definitely change things, but what was really strange was that, for about fifteen seconds, I hesitated to even say it. I knew this would raise me way up in the eyes of the Ests, but something about it felt icky. Despite that icky feeling, I said it anyway. “Uhh, guys? What if I could get you into an even more secret, smaller show that Dark Rooms is doing? For free?”
In unison, their jaws dropped.
“What did you say?” Hun Su asked.
“I, um, well, I know their drummer. You see, my dad and his mom are cousins, so he’s my second cousin or something? I don’t know, really, but sometimes we have Thanksgiving together … Anyway, uh, they are playing a secret show under a different name at Count’s on Wednesday.”
“Pfft,” Jenny said. “That’s a twenty-one-and-over club. Even if you are telling the truth, we couldn’t get in.”
I smiled, despite wanting to crush Jenny in my hands. And again, I hesitated.
“Maybe we could come to Thanksgiving?” Titan joked.
Everyone laughed.
“That’s pretty neat, though, Veronica,” Kate added, though I noticed Jenny shot her a look. Kate
immediately looked away from me and back to her book.
“Well,” I said, “my dad is the bouncer there. I can find a way to get us in.”
Aaaaaand they were back.
“OMG! Really, Val?” Derek put his arm around me.
“It’s still Veronica, actually. And yeah, we can go, if it’s only a few of us.”
Hun Su lost it as she and Derek jumped up and down.
“You’re one hundred percent sure?” Jenny pressed.
“One hundred percent sure.” I cheered and flung my hands up—as one does when one is lying through her teeth.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
(NOT SO) SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
There it was: three o’clock. Our usual time of joy and freedom was now a slow trudge of doom to the library for detention.
“Oh, one of my favorite napping spots in the entire school,” Charlie squealed.
“You have more than one?” I asked.
“But of course,” Charlie said, “and I rank them by quietness, comfortableness, and proximity to a vending machine.”
“Where does the library rank?” I asked as we walked up the stairs.
“Third,” he continued, “out of thirty-two.”
Outside the library, Charlie flung up his hood as he used his body weight to push the door open. “Snoozeroo City, here I come.”
But the library did not look like Snoozeroo City or any relaxing suburb from Charlie’s imagination. Ms. Watson was waiting there and had turned all but four of the chairs up onto the tables, just like the janitorial staff did. In one of the chairs, a steely-eyed Betsy already sat.
“Come in,” Ms. Watson barked. “Sit.”
Charlie and I sat down next to each other, with Charlie across from Betsy.
“Now,” Ms. Watson began, sitting next to Betsy, “here is how life goes: You children may never get along, but you have to learn to be in the same room together and not cause a scene. A little respect, a little understanding—that is a basic requirement in life. And that is what we will be doing for the next two afternoons: being in the same room. Without causing a scene. Sure, Betsy might think it’s ridiculous how loosey-goosey Veronica is. And maybe Betsy thinks Charlie’s accent is dumb and made up.”
My So-Called Superpowers Page 8
