My name is Trick Jefferson, and I am a grade-A smartass. I do only as much work as I have to, I flaunt my powers, and I thoroughly enjoy playing tricks on people. So I'm pretty much a poster child for some sort of superhero reform school, right?
Wrong.
My parents want to send me to freaking Sky High, one of the most prestigious superhero high schools in the country. Apparently, it was the Commander's alma mater, so it will be good for poor, misguided Trick, who only needs 'the right motivation.'
According to my parents, I am displaying all the qualities of a supervillain. But you know what? I'm not. All I want to do is a little acting, a little singing, a little socializing. Normal high school stuff. I do NOT want to be shipped off to a school for freaks. But does anyone care what Trick wants for Trick's future?
NO!
Nobody gives a rat's ass. Nobody. This is why I am currently on a bus hurtling through the sky. Gee, I wonder how they came up with the name 'Sky High?' So, anyway, being a new student. I have to through power placement. Yippee.
"Jefferson!" Coach Boomer calls. I walked up to the platform and hop up, not bothering with the stairs.
"What's your power?"
I rolled my eyes. Power placement was so retarded. "I can control electricity."
"Show us!" he barked. This was easy enough. I snapped my fingers and made the lights flicker. I'm not really entirely sure what my power is, exactly. Well, I have a pretty good idea, but as my powers stem neither from my parents (I think) nor radiation/taxic waste/being bitten by a radioactive animal/any combination of the three, I can't be 100 sure.
"SIDEKICK!" he bellowed. I did my best to control my temper, as my powers tend to get out of control when my temper does.
I'm not very good at controlling my temper.
"Oh, HELL no!" I said, clenching my fists. It was bad enough that I had to be at this stupid school. I was NOT going to be second-string.
Boomer looked at me. "Are you questioning my placement?"
I was pretty sure I was sparking. "Damn straight I'm questioning your placement! I know I'm hero material." HA. That was a lie. I was more like supervillian material. Shocks and a bad attitude? Villian combination in my book.
Boomer looked at me skeptically. "Yeah? Prove it."
I juggled a bolt of electricity between my hands, giving it time to gather power and giving me time to debate whether it would be better to put the bolt through the window or Boomer.
I chose the window.
Boomer rolled his eyes and sighed. "Hero," he said grudgingly. "NEXT!"
I walked out of the gym, having received my correct placement. It's kinda convoluted, but I prefer to make sure I have everything I need to be what I can be. That way, I have no excuse for doing poorly. I don't want anyone to be like, 'Oh, it wasn't her fault. She was doomed from the start.' If I don't live up to my standards, I want people to say, 'What a failure. What a stupid, lazy failure.' For example, if I never save the world like everyone clearly expects me to, I'd rather have people say 'That girl ignored her potential' than 'Boomer ignored that girl's potential.' You see?
I laid on the low ledge surrounding the shrubbery near the front entrance, reading Ibsen's The Wild Duck. Again. I was majorly into theatre, which is another reason that I most certainly did not want to go to Sky High. The theatre department was almost non-existent. As soon as I established myself as credible, that was the first thing to change. I sighed and closed my book, running through my mental checklist.
Make sure I am placed as a hero. My powers are hero powers. (Or villian powers, but shhhhh. They don't need to know that.) Check.
Learn better control of powers. Working on it.
Make sure teachers know I am intelligent and competent. Shouldn't be too hard. I'm smart enough, when I bother trying.
Push for better theatre department. DEFINITE priority.
Find something redeeming about School du Freak. Yeah, not happening so far.
I knew that the list was going to grow as time wore on, but that was enough for the first day.
