At Hearst High…

After putting on a disguise and checking the Hearst High blueprints, I started off on my mission.

I had nearly made my way to the science department when suddenly, a slender blonde in a swamp green and puke orange Hearst High cheerleading uniform blocked my path. Mia Warren, aka Barbie Junior.

I knew she was Max's little sister and Kara's number one lackey, but I hadn't figured out her angle yet. Was she a jealous second-in-command who desired to steal Kara's spot? Or was she a fed-up follower? With cliques like Kara's, most of the girls fit into either of those two categories. Kara was not a benevolent leader, so they must be secretly discontented… at least I was nice to my followers most of the time, unless they betrayed me…

"Hey! You! What do you think you're doing?!" Mia demanded, her hands on her hips.

"I…" I was at a loss for words. Normally I would have bitched her out, but now I was acting. And if I broke character, my cover would be blown.

"You're a security guard, right? You're supposed to make sure no gross guys go anywhere near me! And guess what? I've had two math dorks hit on me already, and it's not even lunch!" Mia complained.

Tell me about it! I thought. Then I mentally slapped myself. What the hell was I doing, commiserating with Barbie Junior? She was the enemy!

"Uh... I don't really think that's part of my job..." I murmured. Couldn't she take a hint and leave?

"Are you kidding me? Do you even know who I am? My dad's the principal. My big brother is the school star. That means you have to do whatever I want!" Mia exclaimed, sounding like a petulant child. Are you sure you're seventeen? I thought.

"But... I mean, I..." I would have to play dumb until she got tired of bitching. With any luck, she wouldn't figure out who I was.

"Ugh, you're going to really make this difficult, aren't you? Here, have some money." She reached inside her cheerleading bag and pulled out an Andrew Jackson. "Would a twenty cover it? That's what you make in a week, right?" Bitch, please. Even if I took bribes, your amount is painfully inadequate.

I was shaken out of my thoughts as Mia continued. "Say... wait a minute... you look kind of familiar... do I—"

Luckily, she was cut off by a shout down the hall.

"Mia! There you are! Cheerleading practice is starting!" the familiar bitchy voice of Kara barked.

"Ugh, whatever. I hate today..." Mia muttered, storming off.

Whew, that was a close call, I thought. I was confused though. Barbie Junior seemed almost… human. Like someone I could see myself hanging out with. Nah, it must have been the chemicals in the science department messing up my head, I decided.

When I arrived at the science classroom, I could see a guy with green eyes and a black Mohawk and a girl with brown eyes and wavy shoulder-length pink hair working on some kind of robot.

"Hmm... it's a start... but if we're going to make the greatest Battlebot ever, we'll need to come up with some anti-grav thrusters..." the guy mused.

"Come on, Nishan, you know we don't have time for that. We need to get back to prepping those cheat sheets for Max and Kara..." the girl replied.

"Hey Nishan! We need to talk." Autumn barked, interrupting them. Nishan excused himself and came over.

"Autumn. Random stranger. How can I help you?" Nishan inquired.

"Nishan, Max recently tried to record our football practice using some kind of advanced helicopter... robot... model... thing." Autumn narrowed her squinty brown eyes at him.

"Ah. That would probably be the stealth quadrocopter I built for him," Nishan admitted.

"Nishan! How could you do that?" Autumn screeched. Nishan, the pink-haired girl, and I all covered our ears.

"What? I didn't know he was going to steal anything! I figured he wanted it for, I don't know, a prep rally or a sportsball game! Besides, it's not like I could say no. Max keeps the bullies off me, and I do whatever he wants. That's the deal." Nishan looked down at his sneakers.

"Come on, Nishan, is that really how you see yourself? As someone's lackey? Don't you want to be your own guy, work on your own projects, to just be yourself? You should think about transferring, like I did!" Autumn boomed.

"Oh man, I am really bad at awkward social situations like this," Nishan began nervously. "Is there a polite way I can say no? Or do I just throw a smoke bomb and run? Look, no offense, but Hearst's got the best academic reputation in the state. The way I see it, high school's just one dinky step on the way to college... which is a step on the way to my PhD... which is a step to running a research facility... and from there, it's just a few steps to becoming an ageless, all-powerful cyborg... and that's just a step to—"

"Nishan! Just come by and visit us once," Autumn interrupted, glaring at him. "Keep an open mind. I promise you'll be impressed by all the lack of bullying we have to offer." Yeah, because everyone will hate you, not Nishan, I thought.

"Fine. I'll stop by to check out your academics," Nishan relented. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work I need to do for Max." And he walked off.

Autumn turned to me. "Come on! Let's go build up our academic program so it can compete with Hearst!" She crossed her arms.

Even though my school was new, it had excellent academics already, and Autumn's insinuation that our school's academics were inferior to Hearst's offended me. What the hell was her problem? She wanted to transfer to my school so badly, but when she did, one of the first things she did was insult our academics. If she had such an issue with it, then she could transfer back to Hearst High for all I cared… actually, that would be ideal for everyone.