'A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing…so is a lot.'

~Albert Einstein

What if being normal or simply average meant being different? Could you imagine it? To never be singled out by out stupid thing like…being able to throw fire, or glow in the dark, or make as many copies of yourself as you want? What if you could fly like superman? I know a boy in the city who takes his girlfriend out on midnight flights when they think nobodies looking.

For some odd reason, it may just be me, but I think it's all funny. We're what the movies call mutants; what the press either calls Hero's or Villain's depending on what mood they're in come printing time, but as far as anyone's concerned I'm just the girl next door.

The first day of school is hyped up way beyond belief. Everyone expects you to fall on your face or to make an idiot of yourself but that's just because they just don't want it to be them when it happens.

I showed up at the bus stop on the corner 15 minutes early with nothing better to do. Since I was the first one there I got to watch as others joined me in the early morning stand, or sit in my case. I watched as the normal ones stared down the street willing their own bus to come and take them to school, to take them back to the normal lives and their normal friends.

This was when Wonder-boy and Flower-girl made their grand appearance as they walked down the sidewalk hand in hand like the disgustingly cute couple they were. Will with his Red, White, and Blue all American teen look and Layla with her hippie flower-child shtick.

"Hi!" Layla said as she waved, twirling a daisy between her fingers as she smelt the dying flower.

I said nothing as Will wrapped his arm around his girlfriend protectively, like I was a threat or some kind of trouble. Most people got that feeling around me, probably because I was trouble, just not the type they would expect. "Are you going to Sky High?" He asked but once more I gave no response. It wasn't like I was rude; I just didn't feel like talking, it was too much of a waste of energy.

Layla turned and smiled at Will, it was easy to tell that the two were happy together. A true fairytale story, boy meets girl, boy befriends girl, girl gets boy jealous and ends up saving boy's butt at some point, and in the end they're together. Shoot me now!

This was when the bus thankfully rolled up in front of us, breaking the couple apart so they could get on the bus and unknowingly stopped me from throwing up at all the cuteness.

"Hey Stronghold! You ready for another big year?" A man in an orange and white uniform shouted happily at teen hero as he opened the door to the bus. This was Ron Wilson, bus driver and certified giant robot killer for the city.

"Ha-Ha you bet Ron." Both he and Layla took their seats as I climbed my way up the bus steps. Suddenly Ron's face turned to one of the strictest seriousness in the world and his arm shot out between him and the closest seat, blocking my path.

"Whoa, where do you think you're going freshman?" He eyed me up and down as I smirked at the thought of him really thinking he was tough. "I've got my eye on you, kid." I said nothing as I pushed my way past his arm to take the first available seat; the one next to the glow stick.

"Sup Shades!" He said excitedly. "Ready for the big day, freshman?" He seemed so sure of himself that it was too hard to believe that he actually helped save the school last year, though I heard all he did was scream like a little girl. "The name is Zach Attack, but, you know, you can call me Zach." He said smoothly as he leaned back into the seat, suggestively raising his brows.

"Oh please! Stop with the act already. She's obviously not interested." A girl in a black and purple schoolgirl outfit said on her way down the bus aisle, sitting next to some boy who changed from a drastically overweight guy to some lanky redhead, freeing up space for the girl to sit.

"Shows what you know Magenta. Maybe you're just jealous that I've moved on from you."

"Is that what those phone calls to my house were last night? Sounded like begging to me." She smiled devilishly at Zach before putting headphones in her ears. Zach's face fell and turned a slight color of red, standing out against his pale skin and fluorescent hair.

I opened my mouth to say something to him when Ron Wilson shouted. "Last stop! Buckle up everyone, you know the drill. Freshmen! Keep all hands and heads away from the windows. In case of emergency, don't use the doors, they're just for show, just pray that someone here could save us, and hold on tight!" His lead foot hit the gas and the bus roared down the suburban street onto the busy highway.

Beneath my feet I could feel engine as it came to life on the road, the rhythm beating itself into my body as we raced down an unfinished highway ramp. Screams of terror and whoops of joy echoed all the way throughout the bus as if it were some kind of amusement ride. I chuckled to myself as I relaxed into the rocking motion of the bus as it maintained balance after takeoff.

I looked to my right, out the window past Zach when I noticed he was looking at me oddly, like I was interesting of something.

"You're odd, freshman." Zach said as he situated himself to where he was looking directly at me. "Most people freak when they see that were going to go off road, but…"

"But what?" I asked, smirking. This boy knew nothing about me.

"Nothing." He turned back around and watched outside the window as we flew around the floating building; part of the show for the newcomers.

The bus driver landed roughly on the landing strip off to the side of the building, sending everybody forward that wasn't ready for the sudden stop. "My bad!" He called out awkwardly as he opened the bus door. "Alright, everybody out! Now!" I followed the line out of the bus and headed straight for the school, I had some business to take care of before the morning officially began.

"Will! Zach!" a voice from across the yard yelled as a boy dressed in 50's orange clothes brushed past me and ran straight for the group that was now forming under an oak tree that hadn't been there before, most likely due to Layla and the lack of shading on the front lawn of the High School. The boy stopped at the group and they all welcomed him. "G-Guess what!" He gasped as he took a puff from his atomizer.

"You're such a dork Popsicle." Magenta said from her spot among the branches of the tree.

Layla rolled her eyes and proceeded in talking to Ethan. "What is it Ethan?"

"I'm a tour guide!"

"That's great!" She knew it was a good thing for him because Ethan really did have no life outside of school, so it was an accomplishment for him.

"Come on, I need your help gathering freshmen!"

"Here's a few right here." A familiar dark voice rang in the group's ears as Warren Peace approached then with a few fearful freshmen running from his flaming hands.

"Warren!" The two girls squealed as they practically jumped the upperclassman in a hug. It had been the last day of school since any of the group had seen him.

"Sup man." Zach said, trying his hardest to be cool, or at least what he thought was cool.

"Not you glow stick." Warren ruffled the younger's hair before he felt a chill go down his spine, knowing that his girlfriend was close and was most likely going to kill him. He turned around to see in fact Sarah targeting him in the group which wasn't hard, he was the only guy dressed all in black and red.

"Trouble?" Will asked with his arm draped lazily across Layla's shoulders. He recognized the look from the few occasions that he and his own girlfriend had fought.

"Um… I think so." He said as Sarah, aka Ice-girl, came up to him to chew off his head about how he should be trying to be a better person and how violence wasn't always the answer, to which he quipped "But it's defiantly more entertaining."

During the couples spat, the first warning bell of the day rang in the distance, signaling that the school year had begun. The group got up and left, the fighting couple included, and the oak that was big enough to have been 100 years old shrank back to nothing.

I sat silently outside the principal's office for nearly 5 minutes before she opened her door and saw that I was sitting there. Apparently I had caught her by surprise because her jaw was hanging wide open like a fish gasping air. "Wh-What are you doing here?" She finally asked as she regained her composure.

"What? Can't I visit my mother at work?" I asked, standing up to her height which was easy considering I was her height.

"Don't call me that, you and your brother need to learn that I am not your mother. I gave up that right a long time ago." She stepped forward to leave but I blocked her path.

"Yeah, I know. You gave it up when you put your job before your kids." I said angrily before I looked down and licked my lips. "Dad says hi."

"Oh please, you know as well as I do that I could care less about what your father says. It's not like he's Mr. Fantastic or anything."

"Ha! Let's face it mom, you're not exactly Wonder Woman now are you? At least he actually took time out of his day to help us with our homework, or to come see a school recital, or a basketball game. He was there for us, you weren't!"

"Will you lower your voice, people can hear you!" She hissed at me. I swear her eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head.

I took a deep breath and calmed down, somewhat. "Just to let you know this was dad's idea. Not mine. So if you any issues put it up with him, not me."

"Fine, I will. Now," She straightened her jacket and smoothed her skirt of any nonexistent wrinkles. "I have an orientation that I have to conduct, you should go. Boomer will get you sorted, and please, no tricks, no smart aleck remarks, just be good."

I stood up and followed her without answering. She led me to the auditorium where a ton of freshmen stood in place like lambs to the slaughterhouse. So innocent that they didn't even know what was coming to them.

I stayed in the back where no one could see me when a swirling ball or snow and light flew into the auditorium, making all the newb's gasp. The comet turned into Principle Powers, captivating everyone's attention but mine. I knew that this was all for show to impress them all but it was still interesting to see her win over all of these kids when I was the only one who was resistant to her.

"Comet's away!" She clapped her hands and she was gone. Where she once stood was now a man in his late 40's with the typical gym coach uniform of ball cap, shorts, jacket, and whistle.

"Alright, so here's the drill! You show me what you can do and I decide whether or not you babies are going to be Hero's or Sidekicks. Got it?" They all nodded vigorously as he pulled out a clipboard with a list of names and began to read off.

Turns out that there were a lot of up and coming Hero's in this class. There was the kid that could super-jump up to the ceiling of the gym and touch it, the chick who could turn into a giant snow leopard, the guy who could super-belch his alphabet (he was going to get sidekick until he belched the car that dropped from nowhere out of harm's way), and then there was one dude who could close his eyes and move from place to place, like now you see him, now you don't.

"Hey you!" He pointed to me once everyone was done. "Yeah, you in the black. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to get sorted. Principle's Orders." I said as I pushed my way through the newly founded Hero class of 2013.

"Yeah? Well you're not on my list." He gave me a skeptical look. "What grade are you?"

"Sophomore." He flipped the page on his clipboard and out tumbled my record sheet onto the floor.

"Transfer huh? From where?" Coach asked as he picked up the long list off of the floor.

"Uh…The detention unit south of the city." I chuckled as I pushed my sunglasses to the top of my head, pushing back my ink black hair that framed my face, revealing my plain blue eyes from my dad's side of the family. On the outside I was normal, just like everyone else, right? Wrong.

"Oh!" He feigned surprise. "Alright girlie, power up. Some of us have better things to do than stand here all day."

"Actually, now that you mention it, I kinda don't want to. Not just yet, that is." I stuffed my hands into my jacket pockets, rubbing the fingertips to my palms out of nervous habit.

"Why not?" He asked, dropping his clipboard to his side and getting closer and closer to my face, invading my personal space. "Are you too good for us? Or are you just simply not good enough?" He sneered at me like I was the dirt on his running shoes.

"Neither, I'm just simple neutral. It's kinda like Newton's law, you know? I'm not going anywhere nor will I do anything I don't want to until an opposing force makes me." I smiled sweetly at the grouchy coach as he stood straight up and squiggled something on the sheet with my name on it.

"Ryder Smith, congratulations. You're officially a SIDEKICK!" His voice boomed so loudly that you could probably hear it in my mother's office. I just shrugged and took the slip that had my homeroom teacher on it.

I arrived at Room 843 after the first 5 minutes of the period. Apparently this was the hero support class but it looked more like one of the storage rooms it was surrounded by. It had a plain fogged glass door but I could see figures behind the door so I knocked.

'5 seconds then I'm walking' I told myself. '3, 2, 1, okay that's it.' I turned my heel to walk away but the door opened with glow stick standing there with the doorknob in his hand.

"It's you." Was all I could say.

"Yeah, uh…you lost Freshy?" His eyes trailed over my dark metallic silver and black Shiny Toy Guns Tee shirt and moved down to my super skin tight grey plaid skinny jeans and black converse with a silver star on the ankles, unfortunately for him his eyes stayed on certain places a bit too long for my liking.

"Nope." I pushed my way past him, bumping shoulders with him causing him to lose his balance momentarily before he straighten out and took his seat between Magenta and Ethan. Apparently Layla had been upgraded to Hero status after the Homecoming incident and it was just the three of them who would never get a chance at becoming a hero because their powers were considered lame.

The classroom was smaller than I actually thought it would be, about 15-16 students total. Some of them looked right out of place like the girl in the tennis outfit, but others, like Ethan looked right at home. The teacher, however, looked strange. His blond hair was in disarray as were his clothes like he had just gotten out of bed and he looked like a hamster.

"Oh, hello. Can I help you?" He asked me politely. I just handed him the slip I had been given after I had been deemed not worthy of Hero status.

"Sorry I'm late. I got lost on my way here."

"That's fine, most people do. It's somewhat hard to find. Class, may I have your attention please? I'd like to introduce your new class mate, Ryder. Ryder, would you like to say something about yourself?" He smiled like I would actually take the bait.

"Not really."

"Oh, come on! You'll find that in this class we are all friends. Go on, just one or two things about yourself." He smiled encouragingly as I sucked in a breath of air.

"Alright, my name is Ryder, you all know that. Uh…my mom is the reason I'm here, sort of. I'm not normal, so I'm stuck here. Can I sit down now?"

"Yeah, sure. Alright, as I was saying before Ryder joined us was that it's okay to be in Hero Support because we're kind of like the cheerleader's for our hero's…"

"No! John, she cannot go here! Send her to a normal school, a private one, anywhere but here!" Principle Powers shouted into the phone as she paced around her thankfully soundproof office after orientation.

"I can't Jo, and you know exactly why. You're the only school that'll take her." John Smith, Ryder's father and Principle Power's Ex-husband, said calmly on the phone.

She gave a breathless laugh. "It's not my fault she's been in and out of detention halls since she was 13. Maybe if…"

"Jo, I don't need the lecture and I'm pretty sure you don't want another fight. Can you just keep her at the school? You don't have to treat her like your daughter, just like a student until she can graduate, then you'll be rid of her. She already has a job and is working real hard. She's a good kid, a bright kid at that. You'll see, so please?"

"You've said that before and look what happened." She said as she stopped pacing and sat down at her desk, looking at the stacks of paper that covered every virtual surface.

"It'll be different this time. She knows the difference and who her true friends are. Look, I've got to go, I'm leaving for work in a few and I better get ready. It was nice speaking to you Jo."

"You too John and you better be right this time. Goodbye John."

"Bye Jo."

She hung the phone up softly before going back into Principle mode and got to work on the paperwork.

Ok, there's a poll on my profile for this story, please check it out and pretty please w/ cheesey goodness review! :D

~Cheeto