I'm glad I remembered to sleep in my raincoat, because Dad continued his tradition of waking me up on the first day of school with a bucket of ice cold water.

"Ha-ha! I surprised you this time and was prepared! Now it's time for some sweet, sweet revenge!" I tried to control my powers as I began to lightly pelt Dad with my sister's various stuffed animals that I hid under the bed in her room directly across from mine. Sadly, I lost it and then the Beanie Babies dropped to the soft, beige carpet for a moment and Claire's old Barbie dolls came out of their box and started to vigorously attack me.

"Ouch! I feel like I'm in a nightmare of some kid who just watched one of those Chucky movies!"

"Oh, I love how karma's just the best thing in the universe. Isn't it, Lizzie?" my awful, conceited stepmom retorted with a sarcastic sneer.

"Shut up Catherine! And now that I'm going to Sky High, I want you to at least try to get used to me as Liz, ok?" Ugh! Sometimes, she really does get on my nerves, and when that happens, it takes all of my willpower to tolerate her smugness!

"Fine, but you'll always be little Lizzie to me," she said with an obviously fake smile.

My full name is Elizabeth Marie Penn, and unfortunately, everyone has called me Lizzie since the day I was born. I have always despised that nickname, but I have never been able to speak up for myself and ask people to stop. I am sixteen years old, but I do not want a car because I'm terrified of driving so I walk to wherever I can. I have lived in Maxville all of my life and used to go to a normal high school, but now that my powers have begun developing, my parents are allowing me to go to Sky High. Sadly, late bloomers are common on both sides of my family.

I didn't discover my abilities until I was passionately making out with my boyfriend Jake on my bed, about to take off my clothes so we could go all the way, but I suddenly heard him thinking about how excited he was to steal my virginity and also get it on later with Hannah, my now ex-best friend. When this occurred, I pulled away from him, slapped him in the face, and forced him to leave. I thought he spoke those words that directly to me, but at school the next day, when he asked me what he did wrong, I told him that he said that. He heavily denied it, and called me a freak and a slut for sticking my tongue down his throat and then telling him to go away for his cheating on me. Apparently, that power had manifested during the rush of things, and I was unknowingly reading his mind. Thankfully, that jerk only assumed that Hannah had mustered up the courage to let me know what she was doing behind my back.

I have another ability, and it's telekinesis. I didn't find out until after a few days of crying over Jake where I finally realized that the problem was that Jake's a player and it wasn't him thinking that I'm not pretty enough. I became filled with anger and violence and almost left my house to get my revenge, but when I glanced towards my nightstand to look for my journal, I screamed and noticed that most of the objects in my room were floating. Thinking back, I wish that they would've appeared during one of my quarrels with my stepmom while we were in kitchen, and randomly, knives would've pinned her to the wall and scared the crap out of her. If that was actually how my telekinesis revealed itself, she wouldn't mess with me anymore.

My parents have been divorced since I was seven and Claire was two. My dad remarried when I was eleven, and my mom is in a relationship that only I know about. She tried as hard as she could to keep it from me, but I'm a very curious mind reader. I had been wondering why she was so giddy, and she let down her mental guard, so I learned that she has a boyfriend who she's gotten more serious with. Claire lives with my mom, and for now, I'm staying with Dad and the step monster while we're renovating my bedroom at Mom's house.

After destroying my closet while searching for something that would be casual and comfortable but cute enough to make a good impression at my new school, I eventually decided on a knee-length light blue dress covered in adorable flowers matched with navy TOMS.

My dad had already left for work, so I didn't feel the need to say goodbye to Catherine. I walked to the bus stop for Sky High and saw that no one was there yet. Maybe nobody rides the bus, and everyone has flying cars or something like that. After what felt like forever, a hippie with longish red hair and an all-American boy who I thought I should recognize who were holding hands showed up.

"Are you new? I'm Layla Williams, and this is my boyfriend, Will Stronghold. By the way, I love your dress! It's so pretty!" Layla exclaimed while shaking my hand.

"Thank you! And now I know why Will looks so familiar, he must be the son of the Commander and Jetstream. My name is Elizabeth Penn, but I go by Liz."

"You look like you're a sophomore or junior. How come you're new? Did you move here over the summer or transfer?" Will asked with an anxious expression, probably hoping that he didn't offend me.

"I'm a junior, and I live in Maxville. I was a late bloomer and didn't discover my powers until last year, and my parents didn't want to send me to Sky High yet," I paused as I observed that Will had a glum look on his face. Layla realized that he was why I paused and nudged him in the elbow. I continued, "I'm kind of glad they did that because if they didn't do that, I would've been stuck in Hero Support for all of freshman and most of sophomore year, and I would have most likely been tortured daily for not having powers. Now, I know I'll be placed in Hero classes because I have telepathic and telekinetic abilities."

"Sorry I gave you that weird look while you were talking. I was thinking about last year where I was a freshman entering Sky High with no powers. I embarrassed myself and my parents at Power Placement, but shortly after, my powers surfaced while I was in a cafeteria fight," Will apologized.

"Liz, thank you for calling it Hero Support. Personally, I think the whole idea of Hero and Hero Support having two completely different educations is unnecessary," Layla emotionally stated.

"I agree with you, but…" Of course, I got interrupted by the bus pulling up.

The door opened. "Hello, I'm Ron Wilson, bus driver, and you might be?"

"Liz Penn. It's very nice to meet you," I said as I shook his hand and stepped in.