Warren and I flew to my house and I gently set him down in the back yard so that no one saw us. "How did you know to put me on your back?" he asked.
"I some times fly my younger sisters, Noelle and Elaine, around; but I don't have to do that with Elaine anymore. She just got her power."
"What is it?"
"She can shape shift into any animal. So she can fly when in a bird form."
"Pretty cool. Well, I guess I'll be going. See you around," he said as walked toward the street.
I watched him turn out of our yard and head toward his house. I then walked into the front yard so I could enter through the front door.
"I'm home," I shouted.
Elaine came rushing at me shouting, asking me what did I do at school and why was I late and why did the principle call. I groaned and walked into the kitchen.
"Hi, mom," I said trying to act causally.
"Some one had an interesting day today," she said.
"Yeah... but it wasn't really my fault. It was a mistake that I got detention," I said hoping she would understand.
"I know. Principle Powers called and explained that, and she also said that you were sick, that you damaged a desk with chemicals, and applied for your flying license."
"It was a pretty interesting day," I said.
"I'm sorry you had such a tough first day. Maybe tomorrow will be better," she said.
"I hope so," I said fervently,"What am I making for supper?"
"I thought that you could make Fettuccine Alfredo," she suggested.
"That sounds great. I'll go put my school stuff away and then I'll start making it," I said as I headed toward my room.
Beccah and I share a room and she was there when I came in. "Where were you?" she wanted to know.
"I got stuck in detention," I explained.
"What! Isn't that were bad kids go? What were you doing there?" she explained.
"It was a horrible mix-up. The principle didn't give me time to explain why I was there and just stuck me in detention. When she found out that she had made a mistake she was very apologetic and she let me fly home."
"So you didn't have to take the bus home."
"Nope and am I ever glad," I said as I started to change my clothes into some thing more comfortable.
I headed down-stairs and started to grate the cheese for the Fettuccine. When supper was almost ready, Dad came in and asked how my first day of school had been. "It was okay," I said nonchalantly.
My mom came in and my parent's kissed hello. "How was your day?" my mom asked.
"It was good. I saved the world again, but I can't tell you how."
"The story of your life," I said jokingly.
"Coreta had an interesting day today," my mom said.
"Oh?" said my dad wanting to know more.
"I'll tell you while we eat," I said as I headed toward the dinning room with the food.
While we ate I told the whole story of my day. My dad laughed at me having to take Lash outside for a "my little sister" talk.
"I'm glad you made friends even if you didn't have a very good day otherwise," he said.
"It's okay. As long as I don't have to take the bus I should be okay," I said.
"When the principle called she said that she would send someone to fly with you to school tomorrow," my mom said.
"That good. I hope they realize that it's morning," I said. No such luck.
The next morning I was awoken by my alarm clock. As I made my way down stairs the door bell rang.' who could it be at this hour?' I wondered.
I opened the door and a lady and a man in super hero costumes greeted me with a smile."Hello, I'm Steve Stronghold and this is my wife Josie Stronghold. We are here to take you to school," the man said with a smile and a pose at the end.
"...what?" I said in a quavery morning voice.
"The school has asked me to take you to school because we are the closes super heroes in the area who can fly. I hope you don't mind?" the lady said gently.
"Oh... that okay. Um. I'll be right back let me grab my school bag," I said.
I hurried up the stairs and said to Beccah on my way out of the room,"Get up. I'll not be going on the bus today so you'll have to get there yourself. I have your breakfast on the counter. See you when I get there. Okay?"
"What?... okay," my sister said as she was still groggy from sleeping.
I dashed down the stairs and joined Mr. and Mrs. Stronghold in the yard.
"Now," Mrs. Stronghold began,"How long have you been flying?"
"Since I was ten," I replied.
"Good have you ever been flying with out an adult present?"
"Yeah, lots of times. My mom and dad used to let me fly every were as long as I wasn't seen and I've taken my sister's flying a lot too."
"Alright, well let's head out," said Mr. Stronghold impatiently.
"One more thing dear. Have you been flying in this area a lot?" Mrs. Stronghold said sweetly.
"No, we just got here and I haven't really figured out how to fly without being seen by the neighbors," I said sheepishly.
"Well, we'll have to build you a tree house in the back yard with can double as a take off the landing platform. But for now we'll just check and see if the coast is clear and then take off."
Mr. Stronghold made sure that no one was coming. Then Mrs. Stronghold grabbed Mr. Stronghold from behind and she took off carrying him along. I summand up a wind and I followed.
"What are your powers, dear?" Mrs. Stronghold asked.
"I have control over wind and sound." I replied.
"Is that why we can hear each other so well." Mr. Stronghold said putting two and two together.
I nodded yes with a smile. They were a very nice couple. We soared along, Mrs. Stronghold pointing out landmarks to help me orient myself in the air. When we got there just as the bus did. "Thank you for flying me here, Mr. and Mrs. Stronghold," I said.
"It was a pleasure and please call us Commander and Jetstream," Mr. Stronghold said with a wink.
"Mom! Dad! What are you doing here?" Will said running up to us. Following him was Layla and Beccah.
"Why hello dear. We were just taking Coreta here to school."Mrs. Stronghold said,"Coreta this is my son Will Stronghold."
"We've met. He helped me yesterday when I got sick," I said.
"That's my boy. Helping the world one person at a time," Mr. Stronghold said proudly.
I laughed and said my thanks and headed toward the school. The rest of the day was fairly normal, if you can all being in a superhero school normal.
In Science class Mr. Medulla had us assemble freeze rays. I studied it hard so that I would be able to tell Noelle all the particulars. Warren didn't seem to be doing much though. "Aren't you going to put that together?" I asked.
Warren just looked at the pieces on his part of the desk and gave a very indifferent,"No."
"Why not?" I asked. Why would anyone not do the assignment the teacher had given them?
"I don't get it." He said quietly.
"But you just put this here and make sure that it's tight enough and ..." I blushed realizing I was taking over his project," sorry."
"It's okay," he said with exasperated sigh.
"Why do you put this here?" he wanted to know.
"The hold the freon which will make the ice to freeze stuff."
"And this goes where?"
"You don't put that on till last. It's just to protect your hand from freezing when you shoot. You can attach the coil that carries the freon to the barrel. Here," showing him what to do next.
Together we worked on the gun until the end of class. We didn't finish it, but he understood what went were and why it went there.
As we got up to go to lunch, I asked him,"Aren't Speed and Lash suppose to be here."
"Yeah," he said looking around,"I guess they decided to bail."
We walked into the cafeteria and there were Speed and Lash. Lash was standing over Beccah and she looked angry and like she was about to cry.
"What are you doing to her!" I screamed as I stormed over, kicking up a whirl wind as I came,"Leave her alone!"
"Chill, babe," Speed said," We just wanted to get to know her better."
"Get away from her and leave now," I said my eyes flashing leaving no room to argue.
Speed and Lash slunk away, but they gave off an air of defiance that said they were leaving because they wanted to not because they were told to.
I turned to Beccah. " What happened?" I asked gently as the wind around us faded.
"They were just teasing me about having Zack, Magenta, and Ethan for friends. It isn't so bad to be a sidekick. I didn't want to use my powers, but they were making me so mad."
I smiled at her. "It's good that you stick up for your friends and that you showed great restraint from using your powers. I just don't have that kind of control when I get angry or upset."
I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I turned around and saw Warren and the rest of the gang. Layla sat down next to Beccah and started the comfort her, saying that Lash and Speed weren't worth get upset over and thanks for sticking up for the sidekicks.
I sat thinking and by the end of lunch I had a plan.
Our next class was P.E. The "p" stands for physical and the "e" stands for embarrassment. Coach Boomer said,"Today we are going to play Save the Citizen. Lash and Speed you want to be Villains?"
They nodded. I leaned over to Layla and asked,"What is Save the Citizen?"
"It's were two Villains try and stop two Heroes from saving that dummy over there. I don't like this game. Too much unnecessary violence."
I laughed at her hippy ways and sat down to watch the game. Lash and Speed chose this guy who could shape shift into different people and Warren. Warren was looked very unhappy to be chosen and none to pleased with his partner too. "Oh, dear," Layla said softly.
"What?" I asked.
"That guy," she said pointing to the shape shifter Warren was paired with,"he and Warren don't get along very well. I hope Warren doesn't lose control."
Warren and the shape shifter just eyed each other and took their positions. The next three minutes were the second longest three minutes of my life. Warren and Speed Lash started to battle. Warren throwing fire balls at Lash and Lash stretching into weird positions to avoid them. The shape shifter kid changed into a real strong guy and went after the citizen. Speed tripped him and scampered off. He too fast to catch. Warren was growing more and more frustrated because he couldn't seem to hit Lash. Finally with a roar of rage he formed the biggest fire ball yet and threw it at him with gusto.
He missed.
But he did hit Speed from behind. The fireball hit Speed and knocked him down. Giving the shape shifter the chance to grab the citizen.
"That's game," Coach Boomer announced. "Mr. Peace and Mr.Wilks please pick you opponents for the next round."
Warren looked mad, but he didn't argue with the coach. He gloweringly looked at the Wilks kid. "We pick Coreta and Layla," said Wilks with a smirk at Warren.
Warren looked shocked. He hadn't been expecting that. I turned to Layla and said,"Does that mean you and I have to go down there and fight Warren and the Wilks kid?"
"Yeah," she said reluctantly with a sigh.
She and I stepped out onto the floor. I didn't want to hurt anyone, but I didn't want a bad grade in P.E. either. "You take Warren and I'll take Ryan. Don't let them near the citizen," Layla said.
I nodded. I was to nervous to really think. The buzzer sounded for us to start and Warren started to throw a fire ball at me. I summand up a wind and blew him over. I then turned to Ryan Wilks. He had turned into Wolverine and was slicing Layla's plants she had placed around the citizen to keep him from getting it. She was trying to grow some thing that could with stand his blades, but was too distraught over her plants dying to think straight. I came up behind him and said,"I wouldn't do that if I were you." My voice carrying eerily around the gym. He turned and I blew him over with so much force he slammed into the wall. He try ed to get up, but the hit had knocked all the breathe out of him. "Coreta!" Layla screamed.
Warren was up and had nearly burned his way to the citizen. I flew over and tackled him away from the citizen dummy. We landed in a heap on the floor and he jumped up and threw a fire ball at me. I wasn't ready for it so it hit me. I blew the wind around me to put it out and then turned to Warren. He was half way to the citizen. I blew him away from the citizen gently. He grimaced and fought it running into the wind I had created. He slowly made him way towards the citizen using the floor to drag himself closer. I flew over the citizen and said to Layla,"Create more plants to protect it and I'll just keep up a wind blowing away from it. Maybe we can keep them away from it long enough for the game to end."
She nodded and created a rose brier so thick and thorny that it would hurt anyone to get through it. The scent of roses was blown through the gym. Both Warren and Ryan were unable to get through our defenses. Five second later the buzzer sounded. "We won," I said to Layla shocked.
"Hit the showers everyone," Coach Boomer barked.
I noticed that Layla was very quite as we headed to get changed. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"I didn't like being the Villains and winning. I want the good guys to win," Layla admitted.
I digested that thought for a moment. "Just because we were called the villains doesn't mean we were the real villains. The skills that we used to protect the citizen are just as important as the skills we need to fight to save the citizen. If we only know how to attack then we won't be able to protect and the enemy will be able to defeat us. I'm not saying I didn't mind being called the villain, but we need both skill sets from the game."
I couldn't have spoken truer words.
