"A true hero isn't measured by the size or the strength, but by the strength of his or her heart."

It is a phrase that he had not understood for the longest time, but is more clearly than ever. Any hero can be known by action or by words, but never in his life have actually believe that he would meet actual superheroes that cared about him, not as a human, but as a friend.

It was a clear sunny day in the city of Beverly Hills, California. He and his father enjoyed spending time in the streets of fabulous stores he can enjoy. One of the stores which was in the city of Los Angeles, where he's staying with his father was a huge book store where his father conducts several films. Every now and then, he would read some stories and ask for assistance with his dad with productions. When his father mentioned that he was going to travel to Europe about a few months, his life was about to change forever. He even tried to ask my father if he can go with him for moral support, but he did remind me that since this is business work, he would spend less time with me. Not knowing what to do, his father then mentioned of a place in Kentucky that he can stay at for the time being with his uncle. As they prepared their flights, his father had left him a bunch of old comic books that contained different types of superheroes that was popular back in the day. Thinking that the idea was ridiculous, the boy kept his father's books to remember him throughout the entire trip. They were just saying their good-byes at the airport as they started to go their separate ways.

"You have everything?" his father asked who was in his best suit for the meeting.

"Yes, dad. I checked everything before we left the house." the boy answered in respect.

"Okay. Just wanted to make sure."

"Promise me you'll write?" the boy asked his father as he hugged him dearly.

"Of course I will, Richard."

Richard's father kissed him in the forehead and allowed him to walk on his own. It became hard for him to see him off since the death of Richard's mother. She died tragically by a horrible fire when Richard was born, but never knew how his son was saved in the fire by the time the fire struck. Many people believed that he was saved by an angel, but his father did not believe in such mythology. Richard and his father then went to their own separate ways as mentioned before, then his journey began.

As soon as he came out of the airplane from the Louisville airport, Richard looked around and found his uncle holding a sign saying:

"Re-chard"

He sighed and shook his head clearly. From what he understood from his father, Uncle K was not able to read or write at all when his mother had left school years ago. From his ADHD issue, there was no possible way for him to improve his teaching since. From what his mother had told him before she died, he was kind and giving, but has time to think of what life is sometimes. As Uncle K saw him come to his direction, he started to cry.

"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. You look just like your mum."
"Thanks, Uncle K."
"Now, shall we be going?"
"Where?"
"Home, silly."

As he started to grab hold of Richard's bag, he started to walk towards his car. Richard expected to be a beat-up old truck still covered in muck and dirt, but instead, he saw a nice 98' Civic Vehicle in the parking lot. Uncle K popped open the trunk and placed the bag inside. Throughout the journey, Richard and Uncle K became a bit quiet until they came to a nearby town.

"Do you drive?"
"Yeah."
"Good, because you're going to love the surprise I got for yah."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You'll love it."
"Oh boy." Richard stated silently.

As they pulled in to the entrance of a gate, Richard noticed that Uncle K lived in a farm, just like his mother had, but he was a bit more worn down and a few animals roamed about the area.

"Welcome to the barn."
"Wonderful."

Not knowing what to expect, he started to grab his bag and started to walk towards the house. All around surprisingly was clean, not exactly what he had expected, but for a solo bachelor, he would be expecting company. As he went to the spare bedroom to rest for the night, he noticed that his uncle did everything possible to make him feel so much like home.

"Anything you need?" Uncle K asked him.
"Not right now, Uncle."
"Okay. Your surprise should be here any moment now."

As soon as he said that, there was a honk outside the house.

"Perfect timing they are. Come on."

As both Richard and Uncle K walked towards the entrance of the house, two cars started to pull towards the gates. One of which was a pickup truck and the other a nice black 97' Honda comes rolling in. Both drivers started to come out and one of which was Richard's first childhood friend: Nessie. Since she doesn't talk as much, Nessie has an act of spending time with animals when they went traveling to the forest.

"Richard, Richard," the woman replied. "We haven't seen you since you were a small boy."
"It has been a long time, hasn't it, Ms. Anderson?"
"You can now call me Mrs. Peterson. I had just recently got married, you know."
"Sorry about that, ma'am."
"Manners, that is why my daughter talks so much about you."

Nessie just nudged her mother on the side and looked down. Richard looked at Nessie and she was just as he remembered: long black hair with amazing blue eyes, fair skin and a silent personality.

"So, Richard, what do you think?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we couldn't decide what kind of car you want as a welcome back present, so we brought two of our best vehicles you can keep as your own."
"Are you serious?"
"Don't thank us. It was your Uncle who helped us out."
"Amazing. Let me see this car."

He pointed at the 97' Honda and was amazed. Everything was particularly new and clean. He appreciated the vehicle and was able to drive to school. However, since he never have been around before in a long time, Richard knew that he had to ask his Uncle for directions. The next morning, as he was waking up early for school, he noticed through his window that his uncle was working in the farm just like his mother did before. While preparing to go, Richard then noticed that Uncle K was not able to show him directions if he's working with the pigs.

"I guess I'm going to use a GPS."

He then walked towards his car, got in, and started driving away. Uncle K, while wiping the sweat off his brow, then noticed his nephew leaving for school and smiled.

"I hope my map that I gave him will lead him right."

For that moment, he walked towards the horse shed and started to bring food for the animals. While Richard came towards the center of town, he then noticed a few high school students like him were leading him to the direction he needed to go.

"I guess I'm here."

He pulled lightly towards the entrance as he noticed that there were no parking lots at all. All around them were a gravel road for vehicles and a grassy patch for the horses. Richard knew that he would get use to this area and started to park at a spot. He got out of the car and started to enter towards the high school grounds and a few people noticed him coming towards their school.

"Hi!" a girl replied as he turned around. "You must be new here, right? I'm Jasmine."
"Nice to meet you, Jasmine."
"Nice to meet you too, Richard."
"How do you know..."
"When a new person comes to town, not various amounts of rumors comes through here at school."
"Okay."
"Don't worry. There's no deep rumors of secrets around here. All we care about is education and love."
"Love?"
"Yeah, didn't you know? All the girls are talking about you being their boyfriend."
"I actually am not interested for a-"
"I know. I know. Not many girls see that. If a guy ain't interested, don't mess with him."
"You speak from experience?"
"I'm actually not interested in boys, but I like talking to them. Don't worry about it."

All throughout the school, Jasmine was able to show him all around the school of where classes are, the time schedules, and the groups he could enter. Just about lunch time hit and Richard started to understand Jasmine more and more, but never thought of her interested.

"Alright, Richard," Jasmine replied, "meet my group: This is George, William, Ariel, and Anna."
"Nice to meet you guys."
"Don't worry about a thing, Richard." Ariel replied. "If any of the girls try to get close to you..."
"We'll take care of them." Anna finished.
"Thanks. I feel a bit safe already." he stated quietly in a sarcastic tone.

While they continued to talk about what the group should do together, Richard then noticed some strange girls started to walk together in a group. It was something about them that started to feel a bit different.

"Who are they?"
"Who?" George asked as he looked at their direction, "The Cole sisters? Don't waste your time with them."
"Why not?"
"They are one of the groups that barely let any other people come close to." William replied.
"It's true." Anna replied. "One time, I wanted to spend some quality time with one of the girls, but not one of them appreciate me for who I am."
"That was because I was the one that mentioned that we didn't do what they do." Ariel replied.

As they started to talk, Richard noticed that there were about four that sat by each other at lunch time. One of which wore a hoodie over her head, another had a long hair, the third looked like a guy than a girl, and the last had a unique type of hairstyle.

"Do you know their names?" Richard asked.
"Yeah," Jasmine stated. "The small one is Willow. Shy as a fly, but has the sweetest voice when you hear her sing."
"The short haired one is Olseia. She's not one you would like to pick a fight with." William replied.
"You tried to pick a fight with her?" Anna asked.
"Well, I wanted to get her attention, but yeah."
"The one in the hoodie is Delia. If you try to talk to her, she won't speak to anyone. She's technically has no voice." Ariel replied.
"And that girl with the strange hairstyle is Erica." George stated. "One of the most popular girls around, but not interested in any guy around. I'm guessing that we guys aren't good enough for her."
"I see." Richard said as he turned towards the girls.

Erica's eyes and his were locked towards each other as if they wanted to talk, but nothing came towards them. Later in the afternoon, as Richard started to come in one of the classes, he noticed one of the Cole sisters sat by herself. It was the girl with the unique hairstyle. Their eyes locked again as if time had stopped, but then she shook her head and started to read a book from the class.

"Can I help you?" the teacher asked.
"Yes. My name is Richard. I'm actually new here-"
"Oh. A transfer student. I see. Welcome. We have a seat prepared for you. You can sit with Ms. Erica."
"Thank you, sir."

As Richard sat down with his seat, he grabbed a notebook to prepare for notes, but didn't get the chance to talk to his "partner" he was sitting by. As he looked at her, she barely paid any attention to class as she started to read her book. He then noticed a small black mark under her sleeve. Before he had the chance to ask her about that mark, the school bell rang. The mark then was covered by her sweater and started to move away from him.

Something about her wasn't right, but the only way to find out is to see what the mark was about. While walking about towards the library to read a book, Richard then spotted the girl from earlier at the lunch table. It was Willow. She was talking to someone, but was unable to see who it was. As he tried to find out who it was, Richard then felt a grab by the shoulder. It was Delia, one whom people thought that she couldn't talk. She glared at him at the eyes to read something inside, but nothing. She let him go and walked away.

"What was that all about?" he asked himself as he turned to see Willow.

As soon as he turned towards the direction where Willow was at, she wasn't there anymore.

"Where did she go?"

He then started to walk away from the library and went to his car to drive home. Though he had various amounts of questions from the three of the four girls, he wanted to find out, but will ask tomorrow.