I guess you couldn't say that I didn't sleep. All that thinking does wear you out. I don't know at what time I fell asleep. Pretty late, I'm sure. The alarm woke me at 8:30. For some crazy reason I expected to be up by 10. I guess I was wore out.

"Everyone's at school," said Larry.

"So we have the whole Palace all to ourselves."

"Yeah. I'm going to check in on the kids just to see how they're doing." He grabbed some weird-looking blue-tinted glasses from his drawer. They can give him the ability to see what's happening somewhere else without even being there. That's what we call Teleport-Vision.

"I see your sister, Kathy, at school. Talking with friends." Then he gasped. "They're talking about Robert!"

Now, that really got my attention. "What are they saying?"

"I'll set in on loudspeaker so that you can hear."

I heard a girl's voice say, "So did you hear about the scuffle that happened last night over at the new arcade place?"

"What scuffle?" said Kathy.

"Oh, you mean you don't know?" Hmm. That voice sounded familiar. GASP! Uh-oh. Kylie Anderson.

"That's exactly what I mean. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, my cousin was there, and he said that one of your brothers was there."

"What? Who? Which one?"

"Robert," said another girl's voice. "They say that he even got into a fight with a tough guy."

"Yeah, and that he was with his girl and everything."

"What? Robert doesn't even like girls yet!" Kathy said. I could sense that she was getting upset.

"And you say you didn't even know?" said Kylie.

"I didn't know! I went to bed early last night. But I'm sure that Spiny would not approve of this. You know how strict he is about our curfews. He'd kill me if I arrived home later than 10. Well, I'll admit that part of the reason is that he doesn't like Richard too much."

After that the bell rang and everyone went to their classes.

Larry turned the audio off and the glasses away. We didn't say anything for a while. I guess there was nothing we could say.

Finally Larry said, "Robert's in 5th grade, right?"

"Yeah."

I was he was trying to avoid the subject. Then his phone rang and he answered. "Hello? Yes, it's me. Yeah. Uh-huh. All right, thanks." He hung up.

"What was that?"

"Amarkian Prince Involved in Teen Gang Fight."

"Huh?"

"It's going to be printed out on today's newspaper."

Right then and there I felt like dying. "Oh, no!"

"I'd say uh-oh, instead of oh no."

Great! Now the whole world would know! Larry's phone beeped. "Hey, look at this." Someone had sent him a picture of…Robert with a bloody nose. Oh. No. "And you're in the background."

HUH? I looked closer. Sure enough there I…I was dead. I seriously thought about jumping off a plane.

I was really getting nervous now. "Well, they don't know for sure that it's me. Maybe…maybe I'm so far in the background that nobody will recognize me."

"Um, actually, they also told me that police are investigating who it is. And they've already hear rumors that it may be you."

Uh-oh.

"Larry! We need to do something so they won't know it was me!"

He took out a shotgun from the closet and loaded it.

"Not with that, you bonehead! We need to do something!"

All of the sudden, his whole face brightened up. "I know! I'll be back. You stay there!"

He ran out of the room like silver lightning. He was gone for about fifteen minutes. I don't know what happened to me, but all of the sudden, I got a funny feeling. Like, I don't know, just a funny feeling.

Larry came back rushing in. He was out of breath. "Look….at…the...picture."

I looked at it and…hey! I disappeared from it! "What did you do?"

"Went…back…to…last night…and…changed…the…past."

"Oh…well, thanks. That was a close one."

"Sure was."

(AT THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. RECESS TIME.)

"Hey, Robert," some kid said to him.

"Hey, what's up?"

"We're playing Crazy 8's tonight."

"What time?"

"It starts at 8:30 pm. It's going to be a mega-marathon."

"Sounds intriguing."

"We're meeting at the Card-Kard-Kardashian. Heh, I know stupid name for a restaurant but that's the place."

"I might be there. I might."

(BACK AT THE PALACE.)

Larry and I didn't do much that day. Time went flying by. Before we knew it, it was time for the kids to get home. Dismissal time.

I'd just finished making something to eat. I came out of the Family Kitchen. "Hey, Larry!"

He came jumping down the stairs. "Yeah?"

"I finished making lunch."

"Lunch?"

"Well, you know. The mid-afternoon meal. The one that comes between lunch and dinner. Grilled cheese sandwiches and coleslaw."

"I thought you didn't like coleslaw. You hate that stuff."

"I do. Besides, who said I was going to eat it."

"Oh, okay. Is there still lemonade left?"

"Yeah. I made some more."

As if on cue, the door opened and Greeny walked in. He comes home first because…well, he's in 1st grade and they get out earlier. "Greeny," I said to him.

"What?"

"You left the door open again."

He turned around. "Oh, sorry." He went and closed it. Then he came back. "How was school?"

"Great. Except there was this kid who kept picking his nose."

I froze. Larry and I exchanged glances. "Oh?"

"And he kept eating it."

Before he could say anything else, I said in a loud voice, "Well, come on, let's go eat!" The way I'd been for the past 18 hours, I was liable to lose my lunch at any moment and for no good reason. I mean, my stomach gets very sensitive under stressful conditions.

But that doesn't stop 7-year-old boys from talking. "And he said it tasted good."

"Greeny, hush."

"And there was this other kid. And he stinked like when I forget to go to the…"

"GREENY!"

He finally sat down to eat. Phew! Some things I would really prefer never to find out.

A few minutes later I was in the kitchen, cleaning up when Larry came bursting in. "Hey, Spiny. Robert's home."

"He is? All right."

"No, you don't get it. I mean, just now I found out that he's home."

I started drying the dishes. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean, he's been home for the past ten minutes but I just barely found out. I happened to be looking at the alarm and it said the the front door was open."

"Was it?"

"Yeah, by about one millimeter. I guess he sneaked in and didn't close it completely."

I couldn't figure that. Robert sneaking around behind our backs? "Well, that does it. I'm going to have a talk with that kid."

"What about the towels?"

"YOU dry them!"

I ran up the stairs and to his room. I usually knock, but the way I was feeling I didn't think that was necessary. I opened the door and…got hairspray in my face. Let me tell you something about hairspray. It stinks! Oh, it STINKS! Don't ever get it in your face.

My eyes got red and watery and they stung. "Robert what are you doing?!"

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"I don't know. Maybe painting your bowling ball or something?"

He grinned at me. "You sure are dumb for being the school's smartest kid."

I crossed my arms and sneered at him. "That's not funny!"

"I didn't mean it to be funny, you know."

I sighed. Calm yourself, Spiny. Patience. Patience. "Are you going to eat with us?"

"Sure, sure. In a minute."

I turned around and…OOF! Smack bumped right into Larry. "What are you doing here?!"

"I live here."

"I thought I told you to stay in the kitchen."

"You mean you're not sure you told me?"

"Oh, FORGET IT!"

"By the way," Robert said. "Larry, how's it going?"

HUH?

Larry looked speechless. "Um…I…uh, fine." Get this. Robert never even said hi to Larry, much less ask how he's doing. Believe me when I say that this was the first time. Not only that, but remember that only the previous night he'd called me "dude."

A while we were at the table eating. The girls hadn't arrived yet. Then it happened again. "Hey, mon," said Robert. I looked up and…he was referring to me! "Where's the mayonnaise?"

"Um…in the fridge."

"Sure, sure." Sure, sure. Was that all he knew how to say know?

He got up and went to the kitchen. I leaned over to Larry. "He called me 'mon.'"

"I know. And a while back he said something else."

"What was it?"

"Never mind. After you eat."

Hmm. I didn't want to even think of that. Then Greeny perked up. "Hey, Robbie…"

"My name is Robert. Robert."

"Oh, but I always call you Robbie."

"Yeah, well, sometimes you have to accept change whether you like it or not!" Wow. Did he sound angry!

"Spiny, Robbie's being mean to me!"

"I am not, you little squirt, and stop calling me that!"

"All RIGHT!" I yelled. "I will not have discussions at the family table while we're eating. Greeny, if Robert says that he doesn't want you to call him Robbie then don't. And Robert, don't you raise your voice at your brother and I don't want to hear anymore name-calling. Am I clear on this?"

Robert sighed. "Yes, sir."

Then Greeny said, "Yes, sir."

I nodded. "Good."

The rest of the meal was quiet. I guess I sorta scared everyone. That wasn't my intention, you see. You have to be firm. Otherwise…well, you know.

Afterwards, I sent everyone up to their rooms to do their homework while Larry and I cleaned up. "You know, Larry. Robert was definitely not acting normal today."

He was wiping the food off the dishes. "I guess he doesn't like nicknames anymore."

"Well, I don't get it. He doesn't get angry when people call him Rob."

"Yeah, but…Robby. I mean…"

"Well, so what? Rob and Robbie are both nicknames for Robert."

"Yeah, but Robb-Y. The y. Y. Why, Spiny?"

"Oh, don't start with your jokes! And for your information, idiot, its Robbie, without the y."

"No it's not! You know it as well as I do. Plus, the letter y was never really that cool."

I sighed. What was the use? "What do you know? You've never had a nickname."

"My name is just Larry."

"Yeah, but that's just a shortened form of Lawrence."

"Actually, in my case, it's just Larry. That's my full name."

"Whatever. The point is you don't have a nickname."

"Pfft. Whatevs!"

"Matter of fact, you don't even have a last name!"

"Oh, what…oh, dear." He ran to the window. "The girls are coming. Run for your life!"

"Coward!" I yelled at him. I ran to the living room. You know what the fool did? For no good reason, he froze my hand! That's right. With his Ice Power, he FROZE MY HAND!

"What'd you do that for?!"

"Um…um…um…um…"

"Will you stop meditating and unfreeze my hand this instant?!"

"I shall use Extreme Temperature to unfreeze the ice."

"Oh, no you don't."

But before you could say "homeostasis," Mr. Jerk subjected my hand to temperatures so hot that it would have incinerated a hot stove.

But at that moment, the doorknob started jiggling and wiggling. Someone was trying to get in. But it didn't matter who it was, we'd be doomed. There's plenty of reasons of why I don't want anyone to know that there is such thing as super-powers. It seemed like forever for the door to creak open.

And then…