Super Frost: Confessions of a Teenage Superhero

The following Monday was pleasant enough, except for the constant torture in power control class again. This time, I practically fell asleep, my energy drained. I still didn’t know how to fly with my eyes closed and my focus on tapping into one person’s mind. I was completely out of fuel and couldn’t wait to get to lunch to get some refreshing orange juice or tea… Maybe I just wanted it to be the end of the school day so I could go home and sleep.

I didn’t even pay attention to what Mr. Oz was saying to the principal when she came in to interrupt for a moment. I could have sworn Principal Rushman called Mr. Oz “Bruce” for some reason. I didn’t know why. But I could have heard her say, “I want you there at the September Ball and look out for anything suspicious. And Bruce… be careful.”

When they shook hands in the hallway away from the rest of the class, I peered around and caught a glimpse of Mr. Oz kissing the principal on the cheek. So I guess that’s how it was in this school. Then again, I was probably the only one not getting any affection from any man in this school, even though I had a pretty decent night with Tom. I still wasn’t sure of my feelings for him. I went along through the entire day Monday and avoided Jeremy and the guys the entire day, sitting with Mylana and her girlfriends. I didn’t even bother to go see Tom that day either because I was still having constant debates with myself.

But the next day when I was kind of dozing off while walking to my next class, someone suddenly grabbed me by the hand and pulled me away from the crowd. It jolted my senses a little, but it at least woke me up. I found who the hand belonged to when the guy pulled me into a corner. It was Jeremy. He said, “I need to talk to you in private, before lunch.”

He sounded serious then. I was kind of half scared that he was going to challenge me to battle again. But when we were safe from everyone and he turned to look me in the face, my stomach flipped over. This was getting ridiculous with the bugs in my stomach. I must have been sick.

“What’s wrong?” I said.

“Why have you been avoiding me yesterday?” he said.

“I wasn’t avoiding you,” I said. “I just went to see Mylana and the girls.”

He scoffed. “It was because of him, wasn’t it?”

“No.”

“You were out with him the other night,” he said. “Why?”

“He asked me nicely,” I said. “Besides, I thought we weren’t going out until the Magic concert. It’s ok for me to hang with other guys, right?”

“Yeah, but today I found out that you’re going with him to the dance,” he said hotly.

“Why would you worry about that? He’s a really cool guy and he asked me first. I like him.”

“Well, I thought you were one of us. I thought you weren’t into all that bullshit.”

“Hey, we’re friends! Can’t you just say that you’re happy for me?”

“Not after he stabbed me in the back all those years ago. He may be the top dog now, but you need to look over your shoulder when you’re with him.”

Now I felt my face getting hotter, not because of him. “What are you talking about? He told me you did something horrible to him before you started high school.”

He rolled his eyes and groaned. “I knew it. He’s got you fooled. He’s lying to you.”

“No he isn’t! You’re just saying that because you’re jealous!”

At that moment, what I had just said was echoing in my ears. I couldn’t believe the horrible thing that just flew out of my mouth. I would never accuse anyone of jealousy, and I just did. The horrible sinking and flipping feeling in my stomach almost made me nauseous. I wanted to tell him telepathically that I regretted that and I wanted to know what he was thinking. Maybe I was wrong about the entire situation, that maybe Tom really was lying to me.

So I said, “I’m sorry. That came out wrong. I’m not accusing you of anything.”

“So are you still going to the dance with him?” Jeremy said.

I tried to find the words to tell him the truth, or anything at all, but I was at a fork in the road. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but no words came out. I wanted to tell him that I just wanted to see where this would lead. Maybe there was a way to say that I liked both him and Tom, but I couldn’t choose which one I’d rather go to the dance with. Tom was handsome, popular, and great. And Jeremy… he was cool when he wasn’t fighting in battle class, and he was nicer in real life. I also learned he was a big fan of Arctic Monkeys, an English band I’ve never heard of before until he played a song called “Cornerstone” for me. And he liked comic books and movies as much as I did, the more we talked over lunch in the past week. I knew he was an Avengers fan before he even asked. And then there was that stomach thing happening in my stomach whenever I saw him.

So I said, “I don’t know anymore. I thought you didn’t like dances.”

“When have I ever said that?” he said. “I said that the music they play at dances like that are stupid.”

“It’s only pop music,” I said. “I deal with it.”

“You don’t know how I feel.”

“I know how you feel about bad music,” I said. “I know, you’ve told me that most music on the radio pretty much sucks.”

“No, you still don’t get it.” Jeremy was now standing closer to me, his face closing in on me. His face was now up close with mine, and I felt as if he was going to kiss me, but I knew he wasn’t. My heart jumped. “You have no idea what position I’m in. And you put me there.”

He backed off finally as he went to class, leaving me stunned. I didn’t know what else to say to make him stay, or to make him do what I thought he was going to do. But I felt it in my chest that I didn’t want him to be mad at me. The September Ball was only a week away, near the end of the month, but I started thinking that maybe I should have told Tom to let me have some time to think about his offer. I wanted to go to my very first dance, but I didn’t think about who I wanted to go with. I wanted someone who liked me, truly. I wanted a boyfriend, sure, but did I want a boyfriend who was only using me for publicity? Just to get what he wants? More importantly, I felt that maybe the perfect date to this dance was someone I had been friends with for a while, and I pretty much mucked things up with that one. That was when it hit me again.

Jeremy was planning to ask me out first. And Tom stopped him from his dream of being my date.

Another song started playing in my head that afternoon at lunch. I was kind of bouncing back and forth between the song Jeremy got me into, the song about the man asking random women if, “I could call her your name...” and the song from Disney’s Hercules. It wasn’t even the song I liked the most, where Hercules is dreaming of “going the distance”, it was the song Meg sings. “It’s too cliché, I won’t say I’m in love…”

I thought about hanging with the guys at our table instead of sitting with Mylana and her clique, but then I was suddenly interrupted by someone tapping me on the shoulder. I turned. Fiona had dyed her hair purple this time, almost the same shade as my violet eyes.

“Hi, I don’t think we were introduced. I’m Fiona,” she said with a smile. “You must be Violet.”

“Hi,” I said. “Look, if you’re here to start something…”

“No, I don’t want to start anything at all, I wanted to give you something,” she said.

“Oh. It’s not some kind of gag involving poop or gum, is it?”

She giggled at me. “No, but you’re cute, all right? There’s a party I’m having this Friday night. I was thinking of inviting you. Do you want to come?”

She handed me the paper with the computer printed invite on it. There were drawings of candies all over it, and in pretty cursive type it had the day and time of the party, with Fiona’s address on it. I took it and stared at it hard while I was hips deep in my thoughts about Jeremy.

“So, you’re coming, right?” Fiona said, grabbing my attention again.

I came back to her and said, “I don’t know if I’ll get there in time, but I can try to make it after I have dinner,” I said.

“Great! See you there.”

She left me standing in the middle of the aisle, just off to the side of the guys’ table. But when I looked for Jeremy, I could see he wasn’t there. He was in the back of the cafeteria again, eating alone at an empty, quiet table.

So I went to sit down with the guys and said, “Do you know what’s with Jeremy?”

“I don’t know,” Andy said, taking a napkin and absorbing the grease from the pepperoni pizza. “You tell me.”

“Well, I didn’t think it was that bad, the last time we spoke,” I said.

“H-he w-wanted to ask you to the dance,” Glitch said.

“Yeah, you kind of ruined it for him when you said you’d go with the rubber freak,” Pat said.

“Well, what am I supposed to do?” I said. “I couldn’t say no.”

“Yeah, well it’s kind of easy to do,” Pat said. “All you have to do is say no, and that’s it. You could say you’re going with someone else, not Jeremy, just to get him off your back.”

“But Tom is really nice,” I said. “I think he likes me.”

“He’s. Using. You,” Andy said.

“Why would Tom use me?” I said.

“He’s the most popular guy in school,” Andy said. “And I know his reputation with Jeremy and the rest of us. He’s not the coolest guy in the world. He only wants to use you to build his ever growing team of terrible people to take control of the school.”

“You’re also missing the obvious,” Pat said.

“What am I missing?” I said. Pat and Andy looked at me like I was dumb or something. “No, really, what am I missing? I don’t get it.”

“Andy?” Pat said. “Should I tell her or should you?”

Andy put the greasy napkin off to the empty side of his tray, looked at Pat, and said, “I don’t think so. I think we should let her figure it out.”

“Guys, you know I’m right here,” I said.

“J-J-Jeremy is in l-l-love with you,” Glitch said.

“Way to go, Glitch,” Andy said, turning to him. “Thanks for stating the obvious.”

“Jeremy loves me?” I said. “I thought he was back to hating me again.”

“He never hated you,” Pat said, directing his attention to me. “He’s been acting strange around you only because you make him nervous. He thought the best way to get even with you was to challenge you to battle class. Then when you saved Glitch’s life, he started warming to you. But you didn’t give him a chance until when you guys went to that ice cream place after school. He’s liked you ever since.”

I put my head in my hands and rolled them over my face. “So I screwed up,” I said.

“No you didn’t,” Andy said. “You’re going to Fiona’s party, right?”

I stared blankly at him, thinking how in the world did he figure that out. But then I realized the flyer for the party was sitting on the table next to my lunch, where I put it. “Uhhh, yes?” I went.

“You know Tom is going to be there too,” Andy said. “Even though Fiona dumped him, he’s still going to be there. All the popular kids will be there. So it’s a perfect opportunity to tell him that you’re not going to the ball with him.”

“Well, what if I want to go with him?” I said.

“Then you’ll be the fool he’s taking you for,” Pat said, taking a bite of an apple. He swallowed. “Trust me, he’s not the nicest guy in the world and he’s not to be trusted.”

“M-m-maybe I should g-go with you,” Glitch said.

“You’re just saying that because you want Fiona to be your date,” Andy said. “Get over it.”

“Never gonna happen,” Glitch said, without stammering once. We all stared at him in shock that he just said something without his stammer. It was weird, hearing that come out of him.

After a long pause, Pat said, “Dude, did you just lose your stammer?”

Glitch put down his chocolate milk and looked at us in shock. “What?” he said.

“You lost your stutter just then,” I said.

“D-d-did I?” Glitch said. And he was back to his normal self.

“I guess that speech thing only happens when you’re nervous,” Pat said.

“Pray that you don’t talk to Fiona Dangerous that way,” Andy said before the two guys laughed.

“Hey, she’s beautiful!” Glitch nearly shouted. “You don’t know how I feel about her!”

The guys laughed harder. I guess that was how Glitch was slowly getting over his social anxiety by being defensive. If he was inflicted with a situation, he could hide his stammer under pressure. If someone made him angry, or if he was doing something where he wasn’t in front of a crowd, he could very well function as a regular person. But knowing him, I don’t think he’d have the courage to go up to Fiona to tell her how he felt, because he’d take too long fumbling over his words. Perhaps I could do something about that in the future. I started thinking of ways in order to get Glitch to lose his speech impediment completely so he could profess his love to her. I would later write all this stuff down much later.

Now, with my situation, that was different. With the party coming up in just days, I didn’t know what to say to Tom at the party, let alone what I should wear. I had never been to a late night party at a girl’s house before. I had seen teen movies and romantic comedies set in high school, so at least I had an idea of what really happened at these kinds of parties. The thing was, I had to keep this a secret from my parents; they were not allowed to know. If there was going to be free booze at this party, I knew the cops would be called in a matter of hours when the party got too noisy. And if I didn’t stay incredibly long, I wouldn’t be arrested for underage drinking. So I had to plan it accordingly. All I had to do was go to the party, tell Tom I wasn’t going with him to the dance, and then leave. It was an in and out job. It would be quick, painless, and I wouldn’t have to make anyone suffer.

Problem was, I still liked Tom. It was like he still had some power over me. Maybe if there was a way to read his thoughts, I’d have a shot, but whenever I was with him, I was useless and stupid.

This plan I had wasn’t going to end well.

As Friday grew closer, I felt pretty good about going to Fiona’s party, except I started to feel a little under the weather in class the day before. Things were uneasy. And when I was in Mr. Octa’s class, the bad feeling in my stomach didn’t want to go away, especially since Jeremy was there in the same class as me.

“You see, boys and girls,” Mr. Octa lectured, playing with his glasses and pacing. “If any of you would harness your power of a particular force of matter and mind, it’s possible to either decimate a villain or destructive machine, or revive someone mortally wounded, if you were careful. Of course, no one has been able to recreate anything of that sort and no one has been able to use their powers to that ability. It is up to you youngsters, whether you make it into the program or not, to find that happy medium between mind and matter to crush your enemies or save the world. May the bloodbath begin.”

Kids laughed. Jeremy didn’t even look at me for a second. I knew he was mad. Then suddenly, I felt my stomach beat against my heart and my heart skipped. I held my breath. No use. I felt as if I might throw up. I had to raise my hand.

“Yes, Miss Harris?” Mr. Octa said.

“I’m not feeling well,” I said. “Can I go see the nurse?”

He sighed. “Sure. I’ll write you a pass.”

He scribbled something on a piece of green paper and I left for the hospital wing. When I got there, the nurses took my vitals as a regular clinic or hospital would do, and I sat in an examination room with a TV and some magazines. The same nurse from when I saw her earlier in the month came in and said, “Back again, Violet?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said.

“What’s the matter, dear?” the nurse said.

“I keep feeling this nauseous flipping feeling in my stomach,” I said. “I think it’s messing with my heart too, because I felt this skip thing in my chest.”

“Oh my,” she said. “That does sound unpleasant. Let me have a listen.”

She took a stethoscope and listened to my chest. After taking some deep breaths and breathing normally for her to listen to my heart, she said, “Huh, looks like you’re in top condition to me.”

“But that’s impossible,” I said. “I felt it earlier.”

“When did this happen?” she said.

I sighed. “It was just after lunch. You see, I like this boy, and he’s the most popular guy in school right now, but there’s this guy friend of mine who doesn’t like him. And when I’m near him, the guy I’m friends with, well, my stomach does this flipping thing. At first, I thought he used to hate me, but now that we’re friends, he doesn’t want me to go after the popular guy that I might end up dating. I don’t know what it is, really. He’s nice, but the other guy’s perfect. I want both of them to stay in my life, but I don’t know how to keep them.”

“I see,” the nurse said. “Do you feel this flipping feeling with the popular boy?”

I thought about it. I told her the truth. “I used to feel it when I first saw him, but now I don’t really feel it anymore. He’s really cute, though.”

The nurse smiled at me and humphed. “Well then, that’s it. I know what’s wrong with you. It’s so obvious.”

“What is it?” I said. “Is it serious? Am I dying of heart disease?”

“No, silly,” she said. She took a deep breath and answered, “You’re falling in love.”

I blushed. This was so embarrassing. “What? No! That’s not it at all! Falling for who, Tom Larkin?”

“No,” she said. “You’re falling in love with your friend. You did say he used to hate you, right?”

“We used to be enemies, but we formed an understanding,” I said. “We’re not exactly friends, but he was thinking about taking me to see Magic in concert.”

She got up and put her stethoscope on the table behind me and added, “Sounds like he wants to date you to me.”

“But how is that possible?” I asked.

She took her clipboard with my papers on it and said, “Well, your body does funny chemical things when you fall in love. It can be anything from a few tremors or sweaty palms or just butterflies in your stomach, which is probably what you have, when people develop a crush on someone. You’re probably feeling something like puppy love on this guy Tom, but the other guy you just described to me as your friend, he sounds like the real deal. I’ve seen it happen all the time at this school. First you’re enemies, and then after someone goes up to you and says, ‘stop fighting and kiss each other’ you just ignore it. But sooner or later, you end up liking each other in some way that you start going on a date with them.”

“But-” I started, but the nurse cut me off.

“It’s always the same,” she said. “And it has happened to you, dearie. Just enjoy the fall and have fun dating your friend. Maybe stop going with this Tom fella and start dating your friend.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” I said. “I like Tom Larkin, there is nobody else. And I’m going to this big party at Fiona’s tomorrow. This may be my one shot at getting the guy I want and maybe even getting popular.”

“Well, what’s more important, dear?” the nurse said. “Your friend’s heart, whom I’ve got a feeling has the same feelings for you too, or being the most popular person in school? Not all the popular kids are the nicest people in the world.”

She put a hand on my shoulder and added, “Some popular kids can be enemies.”

I thought about her last statement for a while when she left, but something bothered me still. Popular kids like Fiona were actually starting to be nice to me. Mylana was kind of acting like a wannabe with her fake friends paying more attention to their phones than anything else. I wasn’t sure she was a real friend anymore. She wasn’t the same as she used to be in middle school. And about Tom Larkin, he was pretty hot and he was a romantic. He was much more physically adept than Jeremy, and he was the student body president. But somehow, I couldn’t see how Tom and I could combine our powers of elasticity and ice to defeat our enemies, unless I bounced some wind or ice at our victims.

Was it true that I was falling for Jeremy? I went back to class, hoping that school nurse was wrong and it was just an irregular heartbeat.