“This is the story of how I died. Well, sort of. I fancy myself a superhero, and let’s be honest, superheroes always come back eventually. Maybe I’ll die halfway through the book and you won’t hear from me again until the sequel. That’d be pretty mind blowing wouldn’t it?

Imagine it. You’re halfway through the story, you can see how many pages you have left, and you assume that I, the main character, can’t die in whatever life threatening situation I’m in because the story has a long way to go. Then, BOOM! I die. My best friend takes up my mantle, rescues the damsel in distress, and it’s over.

Alright, so maybe I won’t do that. Then again, maybe I will. I guess you’ll have to read on to see what really happens. Trust me though; I’m crazy enough to do it. Right now I’m acting as if I’m talking to some on looking audience, when really, I’m biking to High School, on the first day of my Junior Year.”

“Are you sure your Mom has had you tested, psychologically I mean?” my best friend, Stace Evergreen, asked.

“Psssh, I’m telling you, that would be an awesome intro to a book. I’ll use it one day when I finally put pen to paper. I’ll be the next J.K. Rowling,” I declared.

“Except you’re an American. And a dude. And you have no ideas for this book of yours except for 4th wall breaking and superpowers. You don’t even have a main character yet.”

“Obviously I’m going to be the main character. My own name is even weirdly original enough to work: Tempus Mutare. I’ll just use a Pen Name or something so no one knows I used my own name.”

“Yeah… you’ve got some weird parents for naming you that.”

“I’ve asked them about it before, why I wasn’t named something normal like Justin. Apparently some scientist paid them to name me Tempus. I’ll admit it’s a little sad that my parents sold their first born’s name for a house, but, it is a pretty nice house.”

Stace, baffled, looked at me with wide eyes as he asked, “Is that true? You never told me that.”

I got really excited and shouted, “I don’t think so, but wouldn’t it be awesome if it was?! I definitely have the potential to be a famous writer one day.”

Stace just sighed. To be honest, I make him do that a lot.

As we rode up to the off-white painted school on our bikes, it was exactly as we had left it. 

Our school was a little strange in its setup, having six or seven decently sized buildings plopped in random spots across a patch of land with walkways in between. These cement paths were built to connect to each building as it was put up, leaving the sometimes covered walkways more convoluted than a tangled up spider’s web. Someone in administration needed to learn how to take care of a lawn, because, despite it being ridiculously simple to grow nice green grass in Florida, the uncovered land was growing a sickly yellowed weed with clumps of brownish grass here and there.

“Same old McFly High,” Stace said as we were locking up our bikes. He paused for a second and stared intently off into the distance. “Wait bro, is that a tree I see?” he asked.

I looked in the direction he pointed and all I saw was a brownish column that with mold growing on top of it. “No, I think that’s just a random pole in the ground. Man, you seriously need to get contacts or something. Where are your glasses at?”

“I’ve still got them bro; they were just chillin’ in my pocket. I can’t really wear them while riding a bike,” he said, reaching into his neon pink and green board shorts.

I didn’t quite understand what he meant by he couldn’t wear them while riding a bike. I mean, isn’t that usually a good time to wear them? Last time I checked, blind people couldn’t ride bikes, at least not proficiently.

He leaned his head over while putting them on to avoid snagging his blonde, surfer-styled hair. When he looked up, it was clear what he had meant. His black, thick-framed glasses were missing a temple piece on the side. “Uh, should I even ask?” I questioned.

“It’s no big deal bro, just a mosh pit at Warped Tour this summer. Really people were just bouncing off of me,” he smirked when he said it. His muscle mass alone would have weighed him down and kept him grounded.

“But someone’s hand caught ‘em and they went flying,” he continued. I wasn’t surprised his face was vulnerable since he was just as tall as I was: five foot short. Technically we were only three inches or so under the average, but when you’re only 5’6”, those three inches feel like a lot.

Stace then said, “I’m just lucky that nothing important broke; these were pretty expensive.”

“Oh right, because they just make those side thingies for decoration. They’re not important,” I remarked sarcastically.

“Bro, I just wish I didn’t have to wear them at all. Just give me a radioactive spider to fix my eyesight.”

“See everyone wants super powers, they’re so in right now,” I said as I started to walk away towards the student union, where they were handing out our student schedules. I immediately ran into a girl, tripping over her and knocking us both over. Maybe I needed to get bitten to fix my eyesight.

Stace ran over to helped the brunette girl up. "Thanks," she said as she brushed herself off.

I got up and handed her the binder she'd dropped. "Sorry," I said awkwardly. What else were you supposed to say when you ran into someone like that?

All she said was, "You will be," before walking away.

"That seem ominous to you? Like some kinda foreshadowing?" I asked nervously.

"Yep, foreshadowing her telling the entire female student body that you're abuse women. Good luck getting a date to Prom," he said as he went back the bike. I started away from him again.

Trying to change the subject, I mentioned, "I think we talking about radioactive spiders biting you."

“Right. I just wanted my eyes fixed. If I really wanted super powers I’d choose to be bitten by a radioactive tennis ball.” He finished locking up his bike and jogged to catch up with me. The dried up grass crunched with every step he took.

“And I’m the crazy one. You think the best super power would be tennis balls.”

“Bro, Tempus, like I’ve said a million times: tennis balls are the best. Imagine having the ability to conjure tennis balls and throw them with godly precision. Basically, I could just randomly throw out my arm and a tennis ball would find its way to whatever target. You can’t beat that. If I’m in this hypothetical book of yours, that’s the power I want.”

This time I sighed as we walked up to the Cafeteria/Student Union (that’s classy McFly High for you) and got into the line for our schedules. It was useless to argue with him. Of course, I’d try anyways.

“Like I’ve told you a million times, that isn’t how geometry works. Secondly, tennis balls have a lot of their energy transferred back into them when they bounce, so they don’t do a whole of damage no matter how hard you throw them. The physics of that super power just don’t make any sense.”

“Tempus, since when do super powers make sense anyways? They’re closer to magic no matter how hard authors try to impose scientific theory on them. So, as I said, tennis balls are the best.”

The long legged beauty in front of us turned, gave him a flirty smile, and said, “You play tennis? I love tennis. Here’s my number.” She grabbed his arm, pulled out a red sharpie, and sure enough wrote seven digits down. “Call me sometime and we’ll play.” She gave me a normal smile for being his friend, then turned back around and resumed conversation with her friend.

“How do you do that!?” I whispered furiously at him. “You were talking about nerdy nonsense and she interpreted it at you being a tennis champ and casually gave you her number. Are you sure you don’t actually have a super mind control power?”

“She just heard what she wanted to hear because she liked what she saw. She’s probably super shallow,” Stace said as he flexed his biceps.

“So you’re not going to call her?” I asked, flabbergasted.

“Are you crazy? Did you see her? A ten out of ten for sure. She may not be girlfriend material but I can sure as hell have a good time.”

I should have known. Things like this had been happening for years, even when he went through the long hair, Insane Clown Posse, and Tripp Pants phase. I couldn't even get a girl to talk to me, outside of asking for help on a homework assignment.

"Aww, to be young and carefree," a gruff voice called out from behind us. The accent seemed... Irish? Scottish? I get them mixed up.  Turning around, I saw a middle aged man in a suit so expensive that it almost made me kneel down and start begging for scraps.

"Aren't you a little old to be in line for a schedule, bro?" Stace asked.

"Oooo, sassy. I like you. I'm actually here for a different reason," the man said. He paused, clearly trying to build up some dramatic tension or something.

"Are you... the Principal?" I asked. Maybe he was a Senator or something coming to check out a poor school for a rehab charity stunt or something. There was no way a teacher here would dress like that.

"Not quite, love. I'm actually here to see you two; I'm from Entryway Incorperated. If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you both about joining our ranks."

"Entryway? You mean the computer company?" Stace asked, baffled.

"Actually they're more of a tech company now," I corrected. "They support a lot of genius inventors. They made the first hydrogen fueled car and they're in the process of developing VR."

"Ah, thank you. It is such a hassle to explain every time to people that we're more than just a Microsoft knock off."

"So what do you want with us? No offense, Tempus, but you're certainly not a budding innovator when he doesn't even own a screwdriver, and I'm even worse than him. Sure we're smart, but unless you're looking for members for a eSports team, there's no way we're your guys," Stace said. I owned at at least one screwdriver from when I had to replace a jammed button on my Dualshock 4, but point made. The only invention I ever had was for a Banana Hugger that is like a koozie for your fruit. It keeps them fresh, cool, and bruise free, but I really couldn't get anyone to look past the fact that they sounded like a condom brand. RIP the Banana Hugger. 

"Stace Evergreen and Tempus Mutare, correct? You match the pictures in your files."

"What files? How do you know who we are?" I asked.

"My orders weren't to explain things to you, they were to bring you in. Now, would you too mind coming with me? The flight to California leaves in four hours and I'd rather not miss it."

"Bro, haven't you heard of the term 'Stranger Danger'? We're not going anywhere with you, certainly not if that place is across the country. No thanks, Jeff," Stace said as turned away from the guy.

"Bye Felecia," I said as I followed suit. Random meme-slang (is that a thing?) aside, I was intrigued, but Stace was right, there was no way we could just get on a plane with some random dude.

Fingers dug into my shoulder as he grabbed us  and spun us around. His face was flushed because he clearly had too many button's pressed. They say that eyes are windows into the soul, but his eyes were more like Ghost Rider's. Each one was like a molten pit of despair, more inclined to steal my soul then show his own. Contacts? His eyebrows glowed orange and smoldered away.

One of the voices in my head was screaming, "RUN YOU DUMB *BEEP*." That was the potty mouth I usually keep bottled up. The other three voices, however, all wanted to know if he moonlighted for haunted houses during Halloween.

"Do you need to get that checked out, bro?" Stace asked. "Spontaneous combustion of the eyebrows seems like a hospital worthy condition." Apparently I wasn't the only one who was not nearly as terrified as I should have been. I kept my mouth shut though. Probably not a good idea to poke James Woods with a stick right now.

"Again with the jokes," the man said, his voice shaking with anger. He grabbed us by the wrists. "I'm done dealing with brats. Come with me or I'll burn this whole school down. In fact, I'll burn it down just for that eyebrow comment."

The hairs on my arm began to smolder the same way his eyebrows did and where he grabbed me began to feel like a sun burn. This guy was a monster or something. Probably a monster, but there was a fifty/fifty chance he was just really into cosplay and roleplaying.

"Let them go, Ignis," another voice called out, this time with a bit of a Spanish accent. I turned my head to see a guy named Joshua running towards us. A blue light appeared between Stace and I and... Ignis(?), forcing us apart. Blisters were forming on my wrists, but... they seemed be fading away just as fast as they had appeared.

"Of course," Ignis groaned. He regained his composure, straitened his suit, and said to Joshua, "I should have known the lapdog would be here."

"Well, boss had a feeling that the Organization would try to make their move on these two. If you touch them again, we'll leak all of the information stored on your servers to the world. That'd probably throw a wrench in your plans, huh?" Joshua asked as he brushed off the cindered cloth from our shoulders.

Ignis hesitated for a second before saying, "You're bluffing. There's no way you have access to that information, and if by some miracle you did, you'd have already sent it out. There's no reason for you to keep it."

"Leverage, my good sir. You could take the chance and see how your boss feels about you personally putting his scheme behind five or ten years, or you could let these two go." Joshua asked, smirking.

Again, Ignis hesitated. "I could just kill you now and no one would know. Hell, I could burn down this whole building and they'd blame it on a freak electrical accident. Maybe the wiring in this place hasn't been replaced since the 80's."

"Ah, well, you could, but you'd run the risk that the information would still get out and you might kill Tweedledee and his partner Tweedle-dipshit in the process, and then your boss would be really mad." I have a feeling I'm going to have to censor him if he keeps this up.

He thought about it for a moment, and then Ignis smirked and said, "I'll be back. It'll only take a week or two to have Jack sweep the servers and find out if you really did find a way in. It's not as though we can't find you."

"Sure, sure mayne. As Tweedledee said, 'Bye Felicia'," Joshua said, waving bye to Ignus.

I can't be certain, but it seem like Ignus's hands burst into flame for a second. Just a second did he let the anger through once more. No one else noticed and he just walked away, but my legs were trembling.

"Who the FUDGE was that?!" I screamed at Joshua.

Stace interrupted, "Wait, hold up a second, am I Tweedle-dipshit?" Stace too? Watch your language! This is a young adult book, not a... old adult book?

"Well, you did insult a guy who literally just burned his own eyebrows off," Joshua replied.

"That's why I insulted him," Stace countered, as if that totally justified provoking a probable super villain. 

"Right mayne, whatever you say. Now, where to begin? His name is Ignus. He works for an evil organization called the Organization."

"Wow, that's original," I interrupted.

"We honestly have no idea what exactly their plan is, which is why I'm here to keep an eye on you two. We've been in the same school since fifth grade. I went to your Bar Mitzvah, Stace." 

"...I'm not Jewish."

"It's a figure of speech, mayne, chill. Maybe, if you had actually invited me, I would have known. Instead, I spent most of my free time watching you guys play games and stuff. Do you know how boring it is to watch other people play video games?" Joshua asked.

"Aren't there millions of videos on Youtube just for that? I watch those all of the time when I can't actually afford the game or I'm not sure if I want to buy it or not," I explained. "It's actually really useful."

"You're killing the vibe, mayne."

"Wait, lets roll it back a bit. Did you just say that you had no idea what this Organization is up to?" Stace asked.

"It's actually 'the Organization'. You don't capitalize the 't' in 'the', but you do still have to say it. Really it's just to differentiate between the proper noun and regular noun. But, yeah, we have no idea what they're doing."

"So, you just told lied to super villain trying to kidnap us?" I asked.

"More or less. It'll probably take him more than a week to scan all of their servers for one tiny breach. Hopefully it's enough time," Joshua said.

"Enough time for what?" Stace asked.

"Enough time to turn you guys into super heroes, duh. Why else would a super villain be after you?"

"How can we be super heroes if we don't even have powers?" I asked.

"I'd love to explain it to you, but I have Pre-Cal with Claira and there's no way I'm missing that. I'll see you two later," Joshua said as the bell rang.

We were speechless as he walked away. Since we didn't know what else to do, we went to grab our schedules and realized that we had different home rooms. Makes sense, as I was taking AP Calculus and Stace was taking Pre-Cal. Our classes were near each other, so we walked together.

Before we left to go to our separate classes, I asked Stace, "Has Joshua always been a psychopath?"

Stace didn't reply, simply opening the door to his class and leaving me standing in the hallway. That was oddly over dramatic.

An arm brushed against me as someone basically tackled me to the ground. Okay, it really sucked to be thrown to the ground. I owed that girl earlier more than a simple apology.

A girl shouted into my ear from on top of me, "Hey, Tempus! How's it going?!"

"Why are you on top of me and screaming? I could get arrested for this," I said. My face brushed against the crunchy grass as I tried to wiggle out from under her. I think a nat flew up my nose.

"Oh, sorry," she said more quietly as she got off of me. Her hand extended to help me up. "It's been so long, Tempus."

"...Who are you?" I asked. She was a taller girl and her arms and face were red from light sun burn. Her shoulder length chocolate colored hair was messed up a bit after falling over. Most guys would probably agree she her face was beautiful, but what really stuck out to me were those bright green eyes, glimmering like little emeralds. Hypnotic almost. She wore a white T-shirt with butterfly wings and the word Paramore. Great band. Great album. Accenting her shape quite nicely, I might add, were a tight pair of blue jean pants. I don't know why you'd wear pants in summertime Florida, but it worked for me. I still had no idea who she was.

"Lily? I lived down the street from you. We were in the same school from Kindergarten until I moved away in 7th grade. You gave me that ring pop when we were 10 years old and asked me to marry you. Don't you remember?" Lily asked, hurt almost.

Right, how could I have forgotten Lily? We used to play in the wood park just a few blocks from my house. I gave her a paper crane for her 8th birthday after we read "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes". She cried and smile at the same time; I avoided her for a week because I was afraid she was mad. 

I admitted, "Well, I try to block out that ring pop moment, it was sort of embarrassing. Why are you here, when did you get back?" I asked. Did she say yes or no to the ring pop thing? I wasn't remembering that memory.

"I moved back last week, but I live alone and I had to get adjusted and stuff. That's why I'm running late today actually; I had to get my schedule set up. You wouldn't happen to have Calculus right now, would you?" she asked.

"Yeah, you too? That's awesome. Last year I was the only Sophomore in a class of Juniors and I was afraid that was going to happen again this year. I'm glad I'm not the only over achiever," I said. Suddenly I had forgotten all of that weird stuff with Joshua and Ignus.

"I'd love to chat right now, but we're kind of really late," she said has she started speed walking off to class.

I chased after her, shouting, "What did you say to the ring pop question back then?!"

"You're going to have to remember that one," she yelled back at me, laughing. Her smile sent warm fuzzies all through me.

What a weird morning. I don't even know how to properly end this chapter.

I strolled into complete chaos right as the last bell rang to start class. The Seniors were grouped up around the room, talking loud enough to be heard over the group next to them, slowly getting louder and louder. They all shut up for a second as I walked in, expecting the teacher. A few who I'd had class with last year nodded at me, one girl I tutored for the Pre-Cal gave me a smile, but a majority ignored me like the lowly Junior I was. The sense of isolation, being alone in a crowd of people was strangely nice, and a little sad. These people had been together since probably elementary school and formed their tight friendships long ago. Trying to talk to them made me feel like a step parent to a teenager; I was in the class with them, but it was too late to become their classmate. A lot of them were probably already mentally checked out, dreaming of college, jobs, whatever Seniors thought about.

"Yo, why are you just standing around? Get over here!" Lily called out to me, people parting like the Red Sea. She sat in the back corner of the room, with her backpack in the desk next to her. Wow, she'd saved a seat for me

I blushed and walked over there as fast as I could, keeping my head down so no one saw my stupid grin. Even still, one of the older students patted me on the back and cheered, "The Freshie found himself a girlfriend! Hazzah!" The entire class clapped as I took my seat. I've known most of them since my Freshman year, and I'd even made friends with a few of them back then, but they stopped talking to me last year for the most part. Seems they remembered me more than I thought they did.

"Wow, Freshie, you're like a rockstar," Lily teased. Then she became really serious and asked me, "You gonna tell 'em we're not dating?" My, eyes must have shown the panic at speaking up to correct them. "I'm kidding, it's not a big deal. So, what's with the nickname."

"Well, when I started High School, I was the only Freshman in a class of Sophomores for Algebra II, because I didn't get into the International Baccalaureate, or IB, program. Everyone else who took Geometry back in Middle School ended up in IB, but I don't know why I didn't. It was probably the essay, which is ironic because all of my English teachers since have raved about how great my writing is. It's so fun being the outcast every year. Ah well, I have you now. Thanks for saving me a seat," I said. I took out the same translucent yellow folder I've used for Math for three years, opened a new pack of paper, and put half of it in there. The flaps were bulging from the novella of notes, old tests, and doodles I'd saved up. Even though I excelled at Math, I sometimes just randomly forgot things and had to go back to figure out how to solve simple problems. I guess my brain figured synthetic division wasn't necessary... five times.

"No problem. I have you to thank for making me take advance classes way back when. Since they don't let you retake a subject unless you fail, I've been stuck year after year alone too. You have to take responsibility for that and six next to me from now on," she said, as if it were such a hassle. I wasn't going to argue.

The teacher still hadn't shown up, even though the bell rang about five minutes ago. I'd heard he was kind of crazy strict, but looking around, his classroom didn't look any different from the other teachers. Punny posters? Check. A ceramic apple teacher award that somehow every teacher has? Check. Mildly calming and uplifting grey-blue wall paint? Check. Really, I don't know what I expected, but there certainly wasn't  "The Chokey" from Matilda. Twenty-five desks, a white board, and an old school projector made it look like every other math class. 

I noticed that Lily had been silent for a minute, which meant I obviously wasn't being interesting enough. When I looked over to talk about the weather or say that polar bears are heavy enough to break the ice, she was drawing a picture of a cat with a mountain of markers. She was just finishing up and handed it to me.

"Your folder is see through, so I figured I would give you a picture so you thought of me every time you open it," she explained. The same guy who'd congratulated me earlier snickered. The entire class stared at Lily and I, giggling. She didn't seem to notice, but these upperclassmen were way more interested in me than ever before. I guess they thought of me as their younger sibling who'd just brought home is first girl.

I tore my attention away from the giddy audience to the cat pic. It looked like something drawn by a second grader, albeit she stayed in the lines the whole time. It was a fat blue cat with bright green eyes, head oddly disproportionate to the body. Honestly, I'd never been creeped out more by a drawing. So naturally I said, "Wow, it's great, thanks!" As I slid it in place, I feared the drawing would steal my soul if I ever looked it in the eyes again.

"I'll draw you a second one for the other side later! Oh, is that the teacher?" Lily asked me, pointing to the front of the room as the door opened. Everyone raced to a seat like we'd just started the most serious game of musical chairs ever.

Now I understood. The balding man strode in wearing a boring brown blazer and yellow shirt underneath it, with khaki pants. His face was so flat I wondered if he'd ever smiled in his entire life. Without another word, he simply read off his list of students while the classroom was deadly silent outside of the occasional frightened, "Here."

As he finished, Lily spoke up. "Um, sir, you didn't call my name. I just transferred in and I might no be on your sheet, but I have a note from the front office."

"Name?" he asked.

"Lil-" she started.

"You're not here. Sorry, you're going to have to go down to the front desk again and have someone call me. I've seen to many students fake signatures to trust them anymore."

She stood up and tried to hand him the piece of paper, "I promise I'm not lying. Just take a look at this note."

"No, sorry, now if you don't leave my classroom, I'll have to call someone to escort you out," he said in his monotone voice, as if it was something he was used to doing.

For a second Lily froze with the paper raised, as if she wanted to shove it into his face, but then just sighed. She said, "Alright, fine. Will you please give Tempus Mutare two of every hand out so I don't miss anything?"

"If I have extra copies."

"Ugh, I'll be back," she said angrily. She walked back over to her desk and just shoved everything back into her backpack and violently strolled out the class.

What even.

"Tempus. Teeeempuuuuuuss!" Joshua shouted to bring me out of my daze. He was a few inches taller than me, standing at about 5’8”. He had dark wavy hair, almost like the typical skater hair cut but different at the same time. The slight natural tan he had to him that had told me he was probably of Hispanic descent, which was pretty common in Florida. And the accent. He started to sit down to my right once I looked up.

Apparently I was siting down at a round table in the lunch room. I looked back down. A tray with a slice of pizza and fat free chocolate milk sat in front of me. Gross. That was like Diet Coke but way worse.

The last thing I really remember was the Calculus teacher going over the syllabus, but I wasn't paying attention. Instead, I was reading a poster that said, "Don't Drink And Derive," I guess after that I just sort of zoned out of it until the bell rand and I somehow ended up here. At least my motor functions still worked even if my brain was preoccupied. There was a lot to process from this morning. I mean, super heroes existing (probably?), super villains are after Stace and I (probably?), and most importantly, my old crush is back in town (probably not? Too good to be true).

I know, I know, typical male high school loser finds out he's a super hero and all he can focus on is the sweet posterior of a hot girl as she walked out of Calculus. I won't argue that it's dumb, but, hormones. All of these old memories of Lily came flooding back today and it's like I couldn't stop thinking about her.

"Bros, hit me up with that super villain information," Stace said as he sat down next to Joshua. "I totally missed what we were going over in Pre-Cal. I've been able to feel energy surging through my body all day."

"Does this mean that the 'Tennis Baller' will be born?" I asked.

"Never say that name again," Stace warned me.

"Aren't you the one who came up with that name back in middle school?" I asked.

"I don't know what my power is, but I will do everything I can to find a way to harm you with it. Even if it's communicating with fish, I will send Piranhas from South America after you."

"Right, shutting up." I wasn't sure how he planned to get a swarm of fresh water fish over the Gulf of Mexico, but Stace was just resourceful enough to make it happen.

"Alright, fine. But keep it down, mayn," Joshua said. "We've got a minute, Claira went to see the nurse. What do you want to know? Motives, organization make up, who I really am?"

"What is my power?" Stace and I both said simultaneously.

"You guys are eager, huh? You need to get yourselves girlfriends, or boyfriends, or both, I don't judge. Too much free time fantasizing about being super heroes," Joshua said.

"Didn't you say you stalked us up until now?" Stace asked flatly.

"Right, fine, just don't tell Claira that mayn. Tempus has powers over time and Stace, you can warp space or something. Happy? I wanted to wait until we could get somewhere for you to train and then you'd discover them all magically like you'd just received your letter to Hogwarts or something. Thanks for ruining that special moment guys."

"How do you know that?" I asked. 

"It was in your files. And before you ask, no, I don't know where they came from. Not exactly. The Boss handed 'em to me last week or so. Honestly, I've been watching you for years, waiting for you guys to display some sort of powers. I was told not to contact you until you discovered them on your own, but the Boss knew that the Organization was about to make a move on you guys, so that pushed up the time tables a bit. Truth be told, you're both pretty late bloomers. Occasionally that means you're strong, but I have a hard time believing you Tweedles are any stronger than your average hamster," Joshua said, seemingly jealous. 

"Is that why the blisters on my arm have already healed?" I asked.

"Wait, what?!" Stace shouted. He brought up he wrist next to mine and you could see a clear difference. The skin on his hard was gross, red and bubbly in the shape of a large hand. Mine looked like the pale baby I am.

"Sure, time powers, temporal healing, why not?" Joshua said, feigning disinterest. I could see him checking out our arms out of the corner of his eye.

"That's dumb," Stace said. "What good are space powers?" The table shook a bit as he brought his hands together and concentrated really hard, face turning purple. Then, just for a split second, light around him might have looked a bit distorted as if going through glass or something? Honestly I wasn't sure. "DID YOU SEE THAT?!" he shouted.

"I said keep it down!" Joshua whispered aggressively. People were already looking at Stace. A lot of girls and even a couple of dudes seemed to be checking him out, but the rest just thought he was crazy.

"Sorry," Stace giggled. I didn't even know Stace could giggle.

"Oh, I see Claira walking up. Now shut up about the powers thing or I'll let slip that your first porno was hentai, Stace," Joshua joked.

"How did you!? That was a pop up when I was thirteen!" Stace explained, flustered. It was the first time I'd ever seen someone able to get under Stace's skin. It was a nice change of pace.

"Hi Claira," I said once she was right behind Stace, who had his face hid in his arms in embarrassment. She could be easily described as your typical Southern girl, except…different. She had light brown hair that slightly curled at the ends and big shiny blue eyes, with just the right amount of freckles on her face. She was never caught without her trademark cowgirl boots, which she most definitely pulled off. There was just something about her completely adorable accent mixed with her fashion style and brains that set her apart from any other girl at school.

You might’ve expected that in Florida there would be more girls like her considering how far south we were, but unless you were looking for what I like to call modern Rednecks you’d have to go a little more north. Most everyone in Florida considered the real rednecks to be from Georgia or Tennessee – they were more worthy of being called southern states than we were.

I have never had any one on one time with her but it was pretty clear how Joshua could fall for her. Maybe in some other universe I would’ve fallen for her. Though, I just understood girls like Lily better and I was about as far as you could get from a country guy.

Then she smiled the sweetest smile and I almost right then and there declared my love. Hormones were not an easy thing to deal with.

"Hi, Tempus, Stace, Josh. Josh asked me to sit here, is that cool?" she asked, shyly.

"Of course," we all said in unison, enamored by her.

"Me too!" Lily said, stepping out from behind Claira and making her way along the table. Another female student was passing close to us and Lily had to brush against Stace and Joshua to get out of her way. "That was kinda rude," she said as she sat down on my left. "Anyways, I finally manage to convince the teacher I was in his class. He thought I was impersonating the counselor, and eventually I had to wait until she had a moment to go down there herself to talk to him. What a dumb school."

"Guys, this is Lily!" I explained, enthusiastically. "We go way back. She was my best friend up until she moved in middle school, but she's back now!"

Stace nodded, showing that he remembered her. Joshua reached out and shook her hand, saying, "I think I remember you, but nice to actually meet you. I was just telling Tempus that he should get a girlfriend," he said as he patted my on the back. I spit out the fat free milk I was drinking and turned a dark red.

Lily blushed a little too and said, "Haha, well, it's nice to meet you. I met up with Claira on the way back from the front office, and she talked mentioned having lunch with friends.. Who knew that those friends were you guys?! What a small world."

Claira had just sort of been standing, unsure of where to sit this whole time, but decided next to Lily. Quickly, Joshua made Stace trade seats with him so that he could sit next to Claira. He asked, "Claira, are you feeling any better now?"

"Yep, I just had to give the nurse a note from my doctor. No big deal. So were you guys talking about Thai food when I walked up? I love Thai," she said, almost innocently. I must have been staring at her because Lily elbowed me real fast.

"N-n-n-n-no, that was just... nothing. Don't worry about it," Stace quickly said, while Joshua burst out laughing. Stace went back into ostrich mode.

"Hey, let's all compare schedules!" Joshua proposed, changing topics quite smoothly. So we all took out the crumpled pieces of paper in our pockets and handed them to him.

"Looks like we've actually have a bunch of classes together. After this, we all have A.P. Language, then American History, and then tomorrow Tempus and Claira have Physics together, Stace and I have Chemistry, and Lily has Study Hall? I didn't know that was a thing. Then we all have French 2 followed by different electives. If I knew I should have taken Automotive instead of Drama, then I'd have five classes with Claira. Wait, Lily is taking Auto too?"

"You're taking Auto, Claira? That's awesome!" Lily said.

"Yep, I figured it'd be useful for fixing tractors and stuff. Getting those repaired cost a lot of money. What about you?"

All of the sudden I felt a chill coming from Lily's direction. She said somberly, "My mom used to be a big car freak. Ever since I was little I've been tinkering with cars a bit. Like you said though, it's a really useful skill to have when you own a car."

I was about to ask why she looked so sad, before I was interrupted.

*RING RING RING*

Lily wiped her eye and said, "Wow, it feels like we just got here. I didn't even get a chance to eat this cold burrito." She stood up, dumped her tray in the trash, and walked out without another word. The rest of the gang followed suit.

Welp, I wish I knew what to say. I sat next to her quietly for the rest of the day, waiting to see if she'd open back up, but she didn't and walked out of our last class before I even had a chance to follow her. I guess the only thing I could do was hope she felt better tomorrow.

Pushing it out of my mind, I decided to get together with Joshua and Stace to figure the rest of the whole super hero thing out. Boom, next chapter.

"Mom, are you home?" I yelled out. I slipped off my shoes at my front door and walked into the living room. 

Her faded ash colored hair, from where she'd dyed it multiple times and had it fade yet again, lay strewn over the edge of the couch as she snored. She was only forty-five, but the ever growing wrinkles she'd developed over the past few years made her look closer to fifty-five. Becoming a mother as a twenty-seven year old career waitress apparently did that to you, especially when you get fired from your job of a decade for a prettier model and are forced into working for the diner off of the interstate and forced to work doubles just to get by. 

I apologize, not just to get by, but to give my brother and I the best life she possibly could given the circumstances without having to live off of the federal government, because as my mom put it, "That's for people in more need than us." Between my dad's warehouse job and her service job, we skidded in just below the poverty line for a family of four. That didn't stop them from gifting Jacob and I with the best possible stuff for Christmas, birthdays, and even Easter where we got baskets full of diabetes inducing candy.  We had a big screen television for the occasional family movie night, both my brother and I had a desktop and laptop for school and whatever else, and a relatively new Playstation.

About the only thing I didn't get was a car, but honestly I wasn't too eager for one. Getting a car meant getting a job for gas and insurance, and that meant growing up. After seeing my parents' hard work, I was motivated into putting off real life for as long as possible. I'm a shitty person. I've come to terms with it. That being said, words cannot describe the pure admiration I have for my mom and dad. For as long as I live, it's hard imagining that I'll ever be able to repay them for everything they've done for us, and everything they will do.

Ah man, nothing like coming home to put perspective on your life, I thought. I didn't wake my mom up, not with three hours left before she had to be at work again. Instead, I quickly dropped off my stuff in my room and left a post it note for her or my little brother. Emmett B. Middle School let out later than McFly High, and he had to take a bus home, so there was a chance he'd make it home after my mom woke up if he took it slow. Also, my dad didn't get off of work until almost 11 PM. The note said that I was going out, and I loved her if I didn't make it back before she left; the note also told my brother to stay out of my room. Of course he'd go in there anyways, but I wouldn't be a big brother if I didn't at least give him the thrill of rebellion every now and then. 

I ran back out the faded green door, hopped back onto my bike, and rode to Saftey In Numbers Park. Subtle, yeah? Once school let out, Joshua said to meet up at the park near my house once I'd gone home and given my parents a heads up that I might not be home until late. Finally, time for super powers!

Joshua sat at a bench with Stace, under the shade of a hoard of huge oaks and about a football field's length away from the wooden playground littered with children. The grass here was actually properly cared for, unlike the lawn of McFly High, and was springy with each step as I approached the two.

"...wants to talk to you. Alone," Joshua hushed to Stace as I walked up. It wouldn't be the first time that a girl confessed to Stace.

"Who is it this time, Heather from English? She's had a crush on you since you scored the winning goal in the soccer game vs the Fooseballs during our Freshman year. I bet she really just wants to convince you to join back up. Apparently the team hasn't won a game in two years. She probably thinks you're the lucky charm that went missing."

"Right," Stace said blandly.

"Anyways, let's get started. Tempus, mayne, slow down time or something. Stace, do the space things. I want to be home in time for dinner because tonight is Taco Tuesday."

"Isn't it Monday?" Stace asked.

"It's an inside joke, you wouldn't get it."

"Cool, does your mom make real Mexican tacos? My mom always talks about how the fast food places suck for Mexican food. Something about shredded beef instead of ground beef," I explained.

"What? No. We just buy Taco Bell. Just because my skin is dark, you think my family is Mexican that we're really good at making tacos? That's really racist."

Uh. What do I say? "Uh. Uh. Uh," I babbled out.

"I'm just messing with you, mayne. Of course we're really good at making tacos. Except for my mom; she's from Indiana and as white as white can be and all of her tacos taste like dirt. We order from Taco Bell because she's all insecure about it whenever my dad or I try to make them fresh. Now that I've told you my whole life story, can we get on with the training? I really wanna try the new Quesalupa."

"Sure..." I said, still feeling awkward at the situation. 

Stace and I stood still for a minute or two. And then another minute or two. Then we both asked in unison, "How are we supposed to do this?"

"Uh, right, how about picturing a happy place?" Joshua asked.

"That sounds super generic," Stace said.

"Do you have any idea what you're really doing?" I asked.

"I don't need this diva drama. I'm out," Jousha said, and he apparently wasn't joking. He straight up walked away. Stace and I stared at each other, dumbfounded.

"Why did he even come here?" Stace asked.

"Um, did you bring the soccer ball you always carry around?" I asked him.

"Yeah. I guess since we're not going to figure anything out, we can at least burn some energy. I've sort of been hyped up since this morning. That dude with the eyebrows... you feel me, bro?"

Scared wasn't the right word, but the encounter definitely left me with goosebumps. "I feel you."

And just like that, we hit the ball back and forth for an hour or two, talking about random things. He asked me about Lily, I asked him about Heather, he didn't seem to concerned about her. That lead me to asking as I popped up the ball to him, "So, why don't you join the soccer team again? You were really good at it."

As if to prove my point, he juggled it effortlessly as he said, "I wasn't feeling it. It just seemed like there were better things to do with my time. Like Rachel and Rebecca. I just needed some R&R, if you know what I mean."

He was just talking to avoid the conversation. I knew for a fact that he was still a virgin. The way he made a smiled and looked at the sky every time he lied gave it away. Just like when I asked him if he was okay after his dad passed away. It was rocky territory, but I said, "He wouldn't have wanted you to quit just because he isn't here anymore."

Stace missed the ball and it thumped to the ground and rolled away. He chased after it as he said, "That's not it. I just don't want to anymore, bro." Smile and look at the sky, as if on queue.

"I know what you're going through, but you can past this," I reasoned.

"What do you know about what I'm going through?! You have a Mom and a Dad. A real dad. Not some drug dealer your mom met a few months ago that moved in. You no nothing about me!" he screamed and punted the ball at my face.

The ball froze inches from my face and I ducked, watching it fly by in slow motion and bounce off of the tree right behind me.  That was it! I stopped it!

"Stace! Stace! Did you see that?!" I screamed.

"Whoop-di-freaking-do for you. Super powers and a real family. Must be nice to be you," he whispered, words dripping with anger.

I didn't realize how deep that well of emotions went. He threw his arms at me and I flew backwards, head smashing into the bark behind me. My vision went in and out as I began to lose consciousness. I saw Stace freaking out, screaming my name? My ears weren't working properly, as if my head were under water. An old man grabbed onto Stace and then they were gone. Flashing red lights shone through the trees. Ambulance? I thought the next thing I'd see would be Paramedics, but instead Lily's teary face graced me as I finally faded into blackness.