The Ups and Downs of Being Super

by Katrina Kahler

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  Diary

  of a

  SUPER GIRL

  Book 1

  The Ups and Downs

  of

  Being Super

  John Zakour & Katrina Kahler

  Copyright © KC Global Enterprises Pty Ltd

  All rights reserved

  Table of Contents

  The Long Day…

  Home Sweet Home…

  The New Rules…

  Morning comes…

  Breakfast Time…

  Same Walk, Different Me…

  Locker Talk…

  Class Time…

  Lunch Break…

  The Fart…

  The second half of the school day...

  Practice Makes Perfect…

  Snack Break…

  Not on my watch!

  The New Normal…

  Cat in tree…

  The Big Reveal…

  Between friends…

  Testing…

  Heading home…

  Home Sweet Home…

  Shower interrupted…

  The Bad Guys…

  A long day done…

  A wonderful day…

  The Long Day…

  “I leaped across the parking lot towards this black van car. The bad guys were in it. They turned and saw me and hit the gas! I leaped again and picked up the car like it weighed nothing! I turned the car over and shook it until the bad guys fell out. They rolled to the ground and then each ran off in opposite directions. I took off my shoe and tossed it at one of them. It hit him on the back of the head. He fell to the ground, out cold. Truthfully, I’m not sure if he was knocked out by the force or the smell of the shoe!”

  “I then turned to check the other guy. No way I was letting him get away!” I noticed my hands had clenched into fists as I told my story to Jason.

  “Then what happened?” Jason asked me, a smile on his face.

  “Then I woke up,” I said.

  “Bummer,” he said, his smile fading. “It sounded like a great dream, Lia!”

  “It seemed so real!” I said with a shrug. “I blame you! You’re the one always talking about superheroes and comic books!”

  “Well, comics are awesome,” Jason said.

  It had been a LONG day at school. Still, no matter how terrible my school day went I always enjoyed my walk home with my best friend, Jason. Okay, I know what you’re thinking, he's a boy, and he's a friend. But he's not my boyfriend. We're more like BFFs. Mom and I moved to our new home in Starlight City when I was three. I walked out of my house and saw three-year-old Jason playing with Lego bricks in his yard, alongside his mom. My mom and I walked over. Jason handed me a piece of Lego and said, “Play!” I smiled and said, “Yes!” Hey, we were three years old. We didn’t have the biggest vocabulary back then. But even so, at first sight, we knew we’d be friends forever.

  Yeah, it's kind of funny to be BFF with a boy, but since that day we have shared everything. Maybe someday it could turn into more of a crush. After all, I guess he's good looking and all and he's amusing to hang around. But like I said, I’ve known him forever, well at least as long as I can remember. So, dating him might be weird. In many ways, we’re like brother and sister, except of course we get along really well.

  “So…how’d you do on the science test?” Jason asked, coaxing me to the present.

  “I can’t believe I got a B on that,” I sighed in frustration. “I thought for sure I’d get an A minus at worst. I studied the planets in our system so well. I remembered all the moons. I knew Pluto is now a dwarf planet…which I don’t agree with BTW.” I looked at Jason in disgust. I should definitely have got at least an A minus.

  He smiled sympathetically. “I’m with you on that. I mean come on, how can Pluto be a planet one day and some other day it’s not. Just because a bunch of space research people said that it's not big enough to be a planet?" He paused for a second. "Oh, when I say it like that, I can see why they changed their mind. I guess I’m just not big on change.”

  “Me neither,” I replied.

  Then something else came to mind that I was also annoyed about. “And it’s not fair that lacrosse practice is so hard. I swear Coach Blue thinks we’re training for the Olympics or something. She ran us up and down the field so many times. I believe my sweat was breaking out in sweat. I desperately need a shower. I must really smell right now…”

  “I haven’t noticed,” Jason said politely. He pointed to his nose and smiled. “Of course, I do have a head cold.”

  I gave him a friendly little shove. He playfully went staggering backward like I had pushed him too hard. “Be careful!” he said, fake rubbing his arm. “You are way strong!”

  I shook my head. “Not according to our team captain, Miss Perfect Wendi Long. She said that I need to work on my abs and my wrist shot… I’m surprised she didn’t critique my breath and hairstyle…”

  Jason shrugged. “Ah, you can’t blame Wendi. She’s not a bad person; it’s just that being perfect comes naturally to her.”

  I gave him another friendly little push. “You just say that because she’s the best-looking girl in the school…”

  “Well yeah, but only if you like golden blond hair, sea blue eyes, and perfectly clear peach complexion….” He grinned.

  I sighed. “Yeah, Wendy seems immune to zits…unlike me. I have one on my nose that needs its own postal code.”

  Jason laughed. “It’s not that bad. Nobody has called you Rudolph yet…” He paused for a second. “You ready for the big day tomorrow?”

  “You mean the math quiz?” I asked.

  “No, you turn the big 1-3 tomorrow. You become a teen!”

  “Well, you became a teen last week,” I said. “So far, have you seen any difference between being a teen and a tween?”

  Jason stopped walking. He looked up at the clear blue sky and thought for a moment. Scratching his head, he said, “Now that you mention it, I feel older. I think my back cracks more and I believe I might have a gray hair…”

  “Ha ha!” I told him.

  He gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder. “Nah, so far 12 and 13 seem the same to me. But who knows, maybe for you, it will be different. After all, girls mature quicker than boys…”

  I laughed. “We do mature mentally faster!”

  Jason started using his fist to make noises with his armpit. “What makes you say that?” he asked as he squeaked away.

  We laughed all the way to our houses.

  Home Sweet Home…

  I got home and kicked my shoes off the second I walked in the door. Shep, my ever-loyal German Shepherd, ran up to me, tail wagging away. It’s great to come home to somebody who is so excited to see me. Shep licked me a few times as I bent over to pat him. Then he turned his attention to my shoes. For some reason, he always insists on sniffing my shoes when I get home.

  “Ah, Shep, those things probably smell really bad!” I warned. “It’s been a long day.”

  But that didn’t stop Shep. He sniffed my shoes contentedly. “Wow, you are a tough dog!” I laughed.

  Walking into the living room, I plopped down on the couch. I needed a nap. The funny thing was that when I was a little kid, I HATED naps. I guess I felt t
hat I’d miss out on something if I slept. Today, after a day of tests and practice, I needed a 20-minute power nap. It wasn’t just the work that got to me. Sometimes I felt the hardest part of middle school was dealing with other middle school kids who I couldn’t help thinking were always rating me and comparing me to other girls. There were so many things to worry about. I now had a giant zit on my nose and was sure that everyone must have noticed it. But my main worry was what Wendi Long was saying about me on Facebook, as well as in private to her friends. I could only imagine what she said behind my back. Eventually, I fell asleep and dreamed of being an ugly duckling who turned into a beautiful swan. Weird!

  I woke up a little later to the sound of the front door closing.

  “Mom?” I called, half-awake from the couch. I pulled out my phone and looked at the time…4:20. That was early for Mom. “Is everything okay?”

  She didn’t usually leave work early. At least not since I was old enough to watch out for myself. Mom and I have been alone for as long as I can remember. I can barely recall my dad. But that’s okay, Mom and I make a great team.

  She walked into the living room still in her white medical scrubs. “I came home early,” she said, sitting beside my feet on the couch. “Looks and smells like you had a long day.” She broke into a wide grin.

  “Yeah, it’s been pretty big,” I replied. “I’m wrecked! What are we doing for dinner?”

  She smiled. “How’s pizza sound?”

  “Like you read my mind!” I told her, my face breaking into a smile of its own. “But you still haven’t said why you’re home early.”

  “My last surgery was canceled so I figured I’d head home before they asked me to do something else.” She patted me on the legs. “So I could spend the evening with my daughter. After all, you’re going to be 13 tomorrow…”

  “I realize that, Mom.”

  She looked me in the eyes. “There’s something I want to talk to you about, before the big day. Prepare you….”

  My eyes popped open. “Mom! I know about the birds and the bees as you call it. You've already talked about that, and then they talked about it at school as well.”

  She laughed. “No, it’s not that. It’s just well, your name is Lia Strong, and you're part of the Strong family. You're also one of the Strong women. You don’t know this yet, but all of us Strong women change when we hit the teen years.” She was talking slowly, hoping I would understand.

  “Mom, I know about puberty and the changes it brings!” I told her. I pointed to my body. “Some of them have started already!”

  “That's not what I'm referring to.” She stood up from the couch then bent down to touch her toes and stretched upwards again. “Strong women change differently….”

  “Mom, what are you talking about?”

  Without another word, she bent down and picked up the couch with me on it. Then she lifted it over her head with one hand. And when I say lifted it, she did it easily, like it was a twig.

  “What the….”

  “Lia! Watch your language!” she scolded before I could finish.

  “Yeah, this is definitely different!” I said.

  “I told you,” Mom replied, lowering the couch with me still on it, back to the floor. “You take a shower and change while I order the food. We’ll talk over pizza and wings.”

  “You drop this on me and then say, we’ll chat in a bit?” I looked at her in amazement and shook my head. This was too much to take in.

  She put a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Believe me, honey; this is a wonderful change. But like all changes, it will take some getting used to. But I promise you’ll understand it better with a full stomach.”

  I sat up on the couch. “There were a lot of buts in that statement,” I told her.

  She smiled, and I could see she was not going to say another word. Finding it hard to believe what had just happened, I stood up and headed upstairs. Right then, I figured it best not to argue with a mom who could lift the couch. If what she said was true, tomorrow I would be able to do that too. I had a million questions running through my brain. But Mom was right. This would all go down better after a shower and pizza. Not sure why, but a good shower always cleared my head. And tasty pizza puts me in a good mood. Yeah, my mom was one sharp lady.

  The New Rules…

  Mom and I sat down at the kitchen table with pizza and wings between us. Something about the smell of a pizza puts me at ease.

  “So how was your day?” Mom asked, pouring some pepper on her pizza.

  “Mom! I've been very patient so far!” I replied abruptly. Right then, I think I had the right to be frustrated.

  She grinned. “Okay, okay…well…first off, being super is…well… super. We can do things other people only dream of…”

  I nibbled on a piece of pizza and shook my head in agreement. “Yes, I noticed you lifting a couch like nothing! How strong are we?”

  “Each of us differs. You know your grandma can still whip a gator like nothing. Your great grandma can lift over 300 pounds with one hand. Though of course she never does that in public. And she insists her mom could throw a tank the length of a football field easily…” Mom told me all of this in her most serious voice.

  “Wow!” It was the only word I could think of as a response.

  “Well put,” Mom said, munching on a wing. “We have other abilities too…. I’ll only mention the basic ones until we see what ones show up in you. All our senses are very heightened. Our skin is very dense. Yes, it can be poked and penetrated by some sharp objects, but we heal very quickly."

  “So, we’re like Wolverine in the X-men movies…”

  Mom bobbed her head. “Kind of; only no claws…”

  “Phew!” I said.

  “Oh, we also have super breath…” Mom told me, apparently reminded by my sigh. “Well, technically it’s not the breath. Our lungs are just super powerful; which means we can blow people away and toss them over and over.”

  I smiled. “Oh, that’s so cool!”

  “Except if you forget, and sneeze,” she told me. “That can be bad!”

  I slumped back in my chair.

  “You just have to be calm and relax, Lia, and you’ll be fine,” She spoke with confident assurance. But it was assurance that I certainly didn't feel.

  “Mom! I’m a teenage girl! Do you remember how hard that is??”

  She laughed. “Yes, I remember those days. But when you’re feeling stressed, close your eyes…take a few deep, gentle breaths…ease them in and ease them out. All the while, imagine you’re somewhere nice and quiet…by a pond or on a cloud…then count down from ten, slowly.”

  I did as she said. I closed my eyes, took a few breaths and then slowly counted backward from ten. I opened my eyes. I had to admit that I felt calmer already. “Wow! That works!”

  She pointed to the side of her head. “Med school, baby!”

  Munching on another slice of pizza, she looked at me for a moment and then continued. “When touching or grabbing objects or people, treat them like they are very fragile crystal…because to us they are…”

  “You’re kidding?” I asked, my eyebrows raised in disbelief.

  She picked up a thick ceramic mug that she liked to drink coffee from. It had to be the biggest, thickest mug in the house. I watched as she closed her hand around it. The mug crumpled into ceramic dust. My mouth dropped open.

  “Lia, close your mouth.” She shook her head at my wide-eyed expression. “Nobody wants to see what you’re chewing…or, in this case, forgetting to chew.”

  “Oh wow!!” My mouth was still open; I was in total shock. When I saw her frown, I closed my mouth and did as I was told. Then I thought of an important question. “Does this mean I’ll never be able to hold hands with my boyfriend?”

  She shook her head. “No, of course not…”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, a deep frown creasing my forehead. “No, of course, I won’t be able to hold hands, or…no, of course, I will be
able to hold hands?”

  Mom smiled. “Yes, Lia, with practice you’ll be able to hold hands. It’s not that bad. You just need to be aware of your strength.”

  “Phew!”

  She nervously tapped the table. “One thing, though, hygiene is super-duper important.”

  “Mom, I’m a girl in middle school. For us, hygiene is always important.”

  She nodded. “True. But now you’re going to have to be extra cautious. I’ll give you some of my super deodorant. It’s the only type that will work.” A big smile crossed her face. “I actually developed it myself. It’s good to know chemistry and the superhuman body so well. When I give it to you, make sure you use it on your underarms really well. You don’t want to lift your arm to ask a question and knock out half the class!”

  I rolled my eyes. “Mom, I know how to use deodorant…”

  “And your feet!” She cut me off urgently. “That’s something you must not forget. You must coat them really well. And make sure you wear shoes that let your feet breathe. And of course, never ever, ever wear socks two days in a row. You want people to be able to keep breathing after you take your shoes off!”

  “Mom! My feet don’t smell! At least not THAT bad! Well, they’re not lethal.” I added after a moment’s thought.

  “That’s cause you’re not super yet. Once it hits, look out. What you now think isn’t that bad, will suddenly be able to drop a herd of charging rhinos from 30 feet away!”

  “Ah, okay,” I replied, though I couldn’t really believe her.

  “Oh, and the reason why we never get pizza with onions and garlic is that it’s very important for us never to eat anything that can give us gas.” She stopped for a minute so I could consider what she’d said. “For some reason, our bodies are immune to certain things, but others we tend to make worse…. life’s a tradeoff I guess.”

  “In other words, no bean burritos,” I said jokingly.