The New Normal

by Katrina Kahler

  I was also relieved to find Mom understood me going to the zoo and saving the day. She understood that I wanted to help make the world a better place with my powers. She told me she was worried (cause she is a mom) but proud of me. My grandma and my great grandma also sent me texts, telling me how cool it was.

  So awesome!

  Dinner…

  For dinner, Mom and I headed to my favorite hibachi restaurant: A Taste of Japan. Okay, not the best name, but the food there is excellent. I just love hibachi. There’s something about watching a guy with sharp knives cut and toss around your food in front of you while he cooks it that just makes the food feel fresher. Kind of makes me feel like one with the meal. I also loved sushi appetizers. Nothing better than the way raw fish feels in the mouth, kind of a nice gooey squish. Of course, Mom and I were careful to be careful with the garlic and onions. Mom joked about the fact that neither of us had dates, so we could indulge a little. She ate a few more than me since she had perfected the art of not gassing the room.

  I felt like a nice regular girl again. Yeah, being super is cool but it’s great to do normal things as well.

  “What on earth is this!” we heard a man yell way louder than was necessary.

  Turning towards the sound, I saw a huge man at the bar. He pounded on the counter and scolded the waitress, Lee Tang, “This stuff is raw!”

  “Sir, you ordered eel….” Lee said, stepping back.

  I know Lee, she’s a big sister to Mia, who’s in my class. They’re both nice quiet girls. They are friendly and smart. Mia was also in the restaurant cleaning tables with a big towel.

  The man pounded his fist on the sushi bar again.

  “Yeah, but I thought you’d toss it on the fire!” He shook his fist and his face had turned bright red with anger.

  This got the chef to come to Lee’s aid.

  “Sir, sushi is uncooked, raw!” the chef explained.

  “I don’t even eat my veggies raw!” the man spat. “I’m not a bird!”

  “Sir, birds don’t eat a lot of veggies,” Lee said poking her head out from behind the chef.

  The man crossed his arms. “I’m not paying!!” He pounded the bar again.

  Now all eyes in the restaurant were on the man.

  Mom groaned. “I know that man. He’s George Banks a guy from my class when I was at school, he’s always been a jerk.”

  “We have to do something about him!” I said.

  Mom shook her head. “We have to pick out battles. Lee’s dad can handle him.”

  I knew mom had a good point. I felt a little embarrassed that I hadn’t figured out the chef was Lee’s dad. Still, I didn’t appreciate this man being so rude. I glared at him. A beam of energy shot from my eyes and hit the man in the butt. His pants burst into flame!

  George stood there frantically trying to blow the fire on his butt out.

  “Oops! Looks like you have heat ray vision when you’re angry,” Mom whispered to me.

  Yep, I had just figured that out.

  The smoke detectors started beeping. Mom jumped up and raced over to George. “Drop and roll, George. Drop and roll….”

  He looked at her. “Wait! Aren’t you Isabelle Strong from my class at school?”

  “Now it’s Doctor Isabelle Strong… drop and roll…” Mom pointed to the ground and spun her finger around.

  George dropped to the ground and started rolling as instructed. Mom took a towel from Mia and dropped it over George’s big backside. “Call 911!” Mom ordered. She turned to George and patted him gently on the shoulder. “You’re going to be alright…. You won’t be able to sit on your behind for a day or two but you will live.”

  “It hurts,” George groaned. “Their fire made me catch on fire…I’ll sue…”

  “There’s no fire going on in the restaurant right now, George,” Mom told him. She showed him a burnt lighter. “I removed this from your pocket before I covered you. Looks like your back pocket caught on fire because of the lighter.”

  “Oh…” George looked at it in confusion.

  “Another reason to not smoke,” Mom added, just as the paramedics arrived.

  “Wait, your name is still Strong? Did you never get married?”

  “Got married but kept the name.”

  “Bummer! I was hoping I’d have a shot with you.”

  “The EMTs are here to take you to the ER. Don’t worry, just first degree burns. You’ll be fine.”

  “Hopefully there won’t be any brain damage,” Mom mumbled as they took George away.

  “Why didn’t you tell him you were divorced?” I kidded.

  “Quiet and eat your food,” she scolded with a smile.

  “Heat ray vision is so cool,” I said. “Well actually hot, but a cool power to have!”

  Mom nodded. “We’re going to have to work on training you to stay calm. Don’t want you drilling holes in people or melting them when you get angry.”

  I nodded. “That’s a good idea! Otherwise, some of my teachers and also Wendi could soon become dust!”

  Dear Diary: Wow, I can fire flames of fire from my eyes. Actually, Mom says it’s not technically fire, it’s a beam of intense heat that can cause anything it comes in contact with to burn. My mom is such a science geek. But I get it. It’s a cool but dangerous weapon that I have to be careful with. It may not have the mass effect of a super fart or super foot odor but it can still be quite hazardous.

  Part of me loves the idea of having heat vision. I don’t need the microwave to warm up my food or do popcorn. Well, with practice I won’t. But another part of me realizes I have to stay calm so this doesn’t just blast out of me.

  As we walked home, Mom and I worked on my breathing and meditation exercises to quieten my mind and anger as Mom put it. Whenever I feel angry or upset I need to close my eyes, take deep breaths and let them out. I need to count backward from 10 and keep breathing until I feel calm again. Of course, I also have to be careful not to clobber things with my breath.

  Being super can definitely be super tricky!

  Sunday Trip to the Mall…

  Sunday was usually the day I hung out with Tim, Jason, and Krista. Today though, instead of just hanging out with the guys, playing video games and tossing LAX balls around, Krista asked me if I would go to the mall with her to help choose some new shoes.

  As it was such a beautiful day, Krista and I decided to walk. Jason told me to take my mask and a change of clothes just in case, so I did. Luckily my new Super Teen outfit had been washed since my episode at the zoo. I wasn’t sure why Jason thought Super Teen would be needed at the mall, but I trusted his gut feelings.

  “So have you started your genealogy report for history yet?” Krista asked me as we walked.

  I shook my head. “Mom wanted me to talk with my grandma and my great grandma today but the weather is so great. I just couldn’t do it. Maybe later.”

  “Your grandmas look so young still! They look like they could be sisters!” Krista said. “Have they had any work done on their skin?”

  I shook my head. “Nope, just good genes,” I said. I didn’t tell her she’d be shocked if she met my great, great grandma who poses as my great grandma’s sister now. Yep, whatever makes us super causes us to age really slowly. The good news is we are young for a long time. The sad news is every Strong woman has outlived their husbands by a good deal. Like Grandma would always tell me, life has tradeoffs. But I tried not to think of that as Krista and I entered the mall. I certainly didn’t want to focus on the negatives.

  We headed right to our favorite store: Shoes! Shoes! Shoes!

  Okay, the name wasn’t original but the shoes were reasonably priced and so nice. I was wearing some black canvas sneakers and had sprayed my feet really well with Mom’s super deodorant. I was certain I could take my shoes off without worrying about knocking out the store. We were there for Krista’s shopping spree but I wanted to be prepared just in case.

  Before reaching the store, we noticed a cro
wd gathered in the concourse. There in the middle of the crowd, stood a tall man in a lab coat. He stood next to what I could only describe as a white, life-like, crash-test dummy. The man in the lab coat pointed at the crash-test dummy.

  “This, my friends, is BM Science’s prototype home health aide robot, HAR!” the man said. The man turned to the robot. “HAR, take a bow.”

  HAR bowed. “So glad to meet you all!” he or it said.

  “HAR is very strong!” the man said.

  HAR walked over and picked the scientist up in his arms. The crowd clapped. “We believe HAR is the future of home health aide. He can handle almost any situation.”

  Krista nudged me. “This is cool. But I want shoes.”

  I grinned. “Let’s head to the store.”

  In Shoes! Shoes! Shoes! Krista and I could barely contain ourselves. She tried on a really cool pair of red converse high tops and then decided to try some other colors. We both looked at the heels but knew there was no way our moms would approve. Just as I picked up another pair of shoes, I heard a scream, “Help! This thing is crazy!”

  The manager of the store ran out towards the scream, but a split second later came rolling back into the store. Right behind him was HAR, the not so helpful robot.

  “I’m going to clean you up!” HAR shouted.

  The scientist guy ran behind HAR desperately trying to slow him down. “HAR! Stop! Stop!” He demanded. HAR ignored the scientist and picked up the manager with one arm.

  HAR turned to the scientist. “I’m cleaning them because dirt causes disease!”

  “But why are you hurting people?” the scientist yelled.

  HAR locked his head on him. “Must destroy anything that is dirty!” he insisted.

  I tugged on Krista. “Let’s get out of here,” I coaxed.

  Krista shook her head. “Nah, I want to see how this plays out!”

  I slipped out of the store, telling Krista I had to go to the bathroom. Moving at super speed, I headed quickly off and looked for the nearest facility. Jumping into a stall, I put on my change of clothes and my mask. Then I tossed the clothes I’d been wearing into my canvas carry bag and stashed it up high out of sight.

  Rushing back towards the shoe store, my heart started to race. I felt it pounding in my chest. I had sweat forming on my forehead. My palms were clammy. I had no idea how strong this freaky bot was. But I knew I had to stop it.

  When I ran back into the store, I saw the HAR holding the store manager and his scientist handler up in the air. He held them over his head like they weighed nothing.

  “Hey, why not pick on somebody your own strength?” I asked in my most mocking voice.

  HAR spun his head around to look at me without moving his body. It gave me the shivers. He dropped the two men to the ground. HAR turned towards me and started rubbing his hands together anxiously.

  “Finally, I get to clean up the mess that is Super Teen!” he shouted. He pointed at me with a plastic white finger. “That pink t-shirt you’re wearing doesn’t go well with green skinny jeans and white shoes! Where’s your sense of color?”

  I stomped towards him. “I’m not dressed for a fashion parade!” I told HAR. “But this outfit is still pretty cool!”

  HAR bent over and laughed while pointing at me. “Ha! Simple human... You’re so funny!”

  “You going to stop this craziness?” I asked.

  HAR bent his robotic knee joints and raised his fists in front of his plastic face. “Hardly.”

  “You’re an aide robot, not a fighter!” I said.

  “I know how to adapt!” He shouted, lunging forward and punching me in the nose.

  I gave him credit. I felt that punch, but my head didn’t flinch at all. HAR pulled back his fist and looked at it, taking in the dented metal that was the size and shape of my nose.

  “Nice try!” I said. I reached up and grabbed HAR by the top of his head. I pushed down hard. HAR’s body buckled under the pressure like a collapsing spring. Maintaining the same level of force, I acted like a human trash compactor reducing HAR to the size of a lunch box. He’d be no more trouble now.

  The people in the store began to applaud!

  The store manager ran up to me. “That was amazing!” he said, as he breathed a huge sigh of relief.

  “It was nothing!” I replied. Although I’d actually been super nervous, it had turned out to be very easy.

  “That crazy mad robot was right about something though!” The manager said and pointed at my feet. “Those blah canvas shoes don’t go well with that outfit. What size are you?”

  “Ah, six….”

  “Perfect!” he turned to one of the shelves of shoes and grabbed a box. He showed me a brand new pair of pink converse sneaks. “I think you’ll enjoy wearing these.”

  “I couldn’t!” I told him.

  Just then, the police arrived. The scientist guy ran up to them. “Our robot had a little malfunction.”

  “Please accept the shoes!” the manager insisted.

  “Okay,” I said, after all, they were great shoes and the pair I’d secretly been wanting to buy.

  He pointed to my feet. “Try them on. I want to make sure they fit perfectly!”

  Without even thinking about it, I agreed. After all, I had taken out the robot without much of a fight so I thought my feet would still be fresh. I popped my heel out of my shoe. I popped my toes out. I wiggled them some. I heard a gasp, and then another and another. Then a plop, plop, plop. Within a second I was the only one left standing in the store and as well, in that entire area of the mall! I picked up my shoe and sniffed it. Oops! I had forgotten about nervous sweat! I slipped my foot into the pink converse. On the bright side, it fit perfectly.

  I sighed. Rushing back to the bathroom at super speed so no security cameras would notice me. I changed into my regular outfit then headed back to the store and helped revive the people.

  By then, Oscar Oranga and the press had arrived.

  I heard Oscar saying as the camera rolled, “Oscar Oranga reporting from the Star Light City mall. We were called here to cover an out of control Android. Not the phone, a real Android. Super Teen showed up and took the Android out. But she also took out the entire store and half the mall with a simple whiff of her feet! Which begs the question, is Super Teen a Hero or a Zero?”

  The cameraman scanned to show all the people laying out cold on the floor. The medics had arrived and were starting to bring people around.

  I ignored the press and headed over to Krista. I gave her a little nudge. “Krista wake up.”

  Her eyes popped open. She smiled. “Wow, you missed the most amazing thing!”

  I shrugged. “Sorry, my stomach gets really nervous during scary stuff like that.”

  She shrugged. “That’s okay we all can’t be Super Teen.”

  Oscar Oranga plunged a microphone into Krista’s face. “Young lady, you were one of Super Teen’s victims,” he prodded. “How do you feel?”

  Krista sat up. She smiled. “I feel great. Super Teen saved us all from that crazy HAR robotic-dude thing. It was awesome!”

  Oscar waved the mic in front of her. “You don’t mind that she knocked you silly? Reviewing footage from the store’s security camera shows a simple whiff of her foot downed the entire store!”

  Krista’s eyes popped open. “Nah, it was the most relaxing thing I’ve ever experienced.”

  I stood there in amazement as almost everybody that Oscar Organa interviewed, agreed with Krista. They were scared of the Android and grateful that Super Teen had saved them. They didn’t mind being put to sleep because in today’s hectic world a little nap now and then was a good thing. Even Chief Michaels noted that while he doesn’t fully approve of super vigilantes, he appreciated the effort Super Teen made, and that was the best rest he’d had in years.

  I couldn’t be sure if Oscar liked what he was hearing. When the camera stopped rolling I approached him.

  “So, Super Teen is a hero?” I asked.
/>   He looked at me with open eyes and a fake smile. “I guess she is.”

  I figured I should leave that comment well enough alone. Krista bought her shoes and we headed home.

  Dear Diary: Sometimes I forget how powerful I truly am. It’s both super cool and super frightening at the same time. To be able to beat a robot up with one hand and then drop an entire store and most of the mall with a whiff of my foot is crazy! I need to be careful though. I love my new converse shoes but I’m so glad nobody actually died.

  Still not sure what to make of this reporter dude. I’m starting to think he might feel it’s a better story if Super Teen is a menace. I hope I’m wrong. Cause Super Teen can do a lot of good.

  I think I need to look out for him or he might be the death of my reputation.

  Not So Social Media…

  I walked Krista home to make sure she got there safely. She seemed a little loopy after getting a whiff of my feet. A couple of times, I had to put a hand on her back to steady her.

  She smiled at me, “You’re such a good friend, Lia.”

  “You sure you’re okay?” I asked when we got to her front porch.

  She nodded. “I feel fine. I don’t know what Super Teen did but that was the most relaxing sleep I’ve had since I was a kid. I dreamt I was floating on a cloud.”

  “So, the smell of her feet didn’t make you want to throw up?” I asked.

  Krista laughed. “No, actually. Her feet were very overpowering, but it was kind of in a good way. It made me understand that she really is WAY powerful, but we have nothing to fear. She’ll always protect us!” She pointed to her door. “It’s been such a fun shopping adventure, but I think I’d better get to my homework.”

  “Yes, me too,” I agreed as I glanced at my watch and realized the time. “See you at school tomorrow, Krista.” I smiled at her and waved goodbye.

  Part of me felt good that by knocking people out with my slightly stinky feet, made them feel safe. But another part of me found that very weird and a little creepy. That’s a lot of power for a young teen to have.