Journey to Superhero School

by Gracie Dix

  “Hooray! FINALLY!” Jessica yelled when Oliver Flew into the kitchen.

  “Sorry, son. She’s a bit excited,” Mr. Fletcher mentioned, patting Jessica on the back.

  “It’s fine. I’m SUPER excited too!” Oliver said with a huge smile. He was hovering in the air up to this moment. He decided to land and flinched ever so slightly due to the pain.

  “You okay, sport?” Mr. Fletcher wondered, looking concerned.

  “Uh . . . yeah. I slept wrong,” Oliver lied, pretending to massage his neck.

  “I slept like a baby,” Jessica bragged while she skipped around Oliver.

  “I’m glad you slept well,” Oliver said. He meant what he said, too. He was truly glad his sister slept well. He actually hadn’t sleep so well himself.

  “O. M. G.” Jessica moaned, “Where is mother? She doesn’t need THAT much makeup!”

  “Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Mrs. Fletcher exclaimed, walking into the kitchen from the other door. “I know how excited you are.”

  “You look beautiful, honey,” Mr. Fletcher said as he gave her a kiss on the check. “Oliver, grab a snack from the pantry. We’re going to be late.”

  “That’s not MY fault!” he whined childishly. Oliver grabbed his favorite snack from the kitchen and loaded up into the car with the rest of his family.

  Jessica was bursting with excitement, but she was attempting to keep her composure in the car. She was ALMOST too jittery to notice her Super Sense was tingling. It felt like Oliver wanted to tell her something important, but that was almost masked with another feeling she felt from Oliver. Jessica figured it was just nerves and went back to staring out the window impatiently. Two-thirds of the way there, she couldn’t take it anymore. “OH MY GOSH!” she screeched, spontaneously kicking the seat in front of her—the driver’s seat.

  “JESSICA FLETCHER, I AM DRIVING ON THE STINKIN’ HIGHWAY!” Mr. Fletcher shouted, throwing his arms in the air, momentarily taking his hands off the wheel.

  “Hands on the wheel!” Mrs. Fletcher exclaimed, grabbing the wheel to steady it before the car swerved into the next lane.

  Mr. Fletcher quickly slapped his hands back on the steering wheel and continued talking. “I get that you’re excited, but there’s no need to . . . ”

  Jessica took a giant deep breath and let her words burst out of her mouth. “What! No! I’m . . . I’m not excited! EXCITED? I’M MORE THAN EXCITED! This is the happiest day of my life! I’m not excited! I’m, I’m . . . I’m ECSTATIC!” she interrupted, now grasping Oliver’s hand and squeezing it in hers.

  “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Jess, chill. That hurts!” Oliver gasped, not expecting for her to squeeze the life out of his hand.

  “Oopsie, sorry,” she said sheepishly as she let go of his hand. “I’m just so excited!”

  Oliver turned to look at Jessica and flashed an amused grin. “I can see that.”

  “I mean, aren’t you, Ollie?” she asked, now twirling her hair.

  “Yeah, no duh. I’m not after killing any hands though,” he answered, smiling again.

  “I know, I got it. I’m sorry,” she exclaimed giggling.

  Oliver just sat still, wondering how long she could keep up a silent moment. Jessica just sat up straight, drumming her fingers on her lap, occasionally biting her tongue. She looked at her phone for a bit, put it away, and kept swiveling her head from her lap to the window. After a few minutes, she finally spoke. “Ollie!” she whispered with anticipation.

  Oliver sighed and looked at her. “Yes?” he said, expecting her to do something completely crazy.

  Instead of doing something crazy, she pulled out her phone, fiddled with it for a bit, then shoved it in his face and scrolled through photos. “Someone sent me these photos. I don’t know who—but they did, and they’re weird.”

  Oliver looked at her phone expecting the photos to be of some strange person in a unicorn costume, but instead, he saw pictures taken of him and Jessica playing in the yard at their house.

  “Yo, what?” he gasped quietly. He leaned in closer to his sister and whispered, “We’ve got to tell Mom and Dad.”

  “No!” she hissed, “Then they might not take us to Superhero School!”

  Oliver thought about it for a minute and then replied, “Fine! Just . . . block the number, delete the photos, do whatever! Get rid of them.”

  “Good idea!” she agreed. In her hurry to delete the photos, before she could pull her phone back, it slipped out of her grasp and hit Oliver right in the knee.

  “Ow! Holy crud, Jessica!” he shouted. Oliver closed his eyes, took some deep breaths, and held his knee, trying to squeeze the pain away. His knee throbbed, but the pain began to settle.

  “Everything okay back there, sweeties?” Mrs. Fletcher called back.

  “Yeah,” Oliver answered quickly, “everything’s dandy.”

  Jessica, on the other hand, looked mortified. “Oh, Ollie, I’m so sorry!” she whispered, tears glimmering in her eyes.

  Oliver opened his eyes and looked at his sister with a serious expression. “It’s all right, sis. You didn’t mean to do it. I’m okay.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked quietly.

  Oliver put his hand on Jessica’s arm to try and comfort her. “Yes, I’m fine. I just wasn’t expecting that,” he stated slowly.

  Jessica just nodded. It was silent for the rest of the car ride. When the Fletchers pulled up to where they were informed Superhero School would be, all they saw was a strange looking bus stop and a bunch of kids standing around it. Other than the kids and a few parked cars, the bus stop looked deserted.

  “Well, I guess this is the place,” Mrs. Fletcher said to her husband as they all got out of the car.

  The students at the bus stop all looked like normal kids at first glance, but at second glance, one might notice something different. Especially when one of the kids suddenly shot fire out of their hands. Oliver and Jessica gasped in amazement. All the other kids just laughed as if they were used to seeing that happen—which, of course, they were.

  Then Jessica laughed, too. Her laugh resounded with pure joy. Finally, Jessica felt like she would be in a place where she could fit in. Oliver, on the other hand, felt nervous. Jessica began to run out into the crowd when Oliver grabbed her arm.

  “Jess, wait,” he exclaimed.

  “Whaaaat?” she asked, irritated. “Those are our people, Ollie! Come on!” She yanked him forward. Oliver was forced to take a hard step and gasped. He clenched his fists tightly and closed his eyes for a second. Jessica’s annoyed expression changed into one of concern almost immediately. “Oliver! I knew it! I knew you were hurt! I Sensed it. I should have looked into it!” She shouted.

  “Geez. Shut up, Jessi!” Oliver hissed. “Yes, I’m hurt. But I didn’t want Mom and Dad to know. I didn’t want to take a chance they would cancel our visit today. Help me make sure they think I’m fine.”

  “Umm, okay.” Jessica muttered. “Mom, Dad! We’re going to go and check out the area!” she called.

  Jessica led Oliver to a nearby tree and sat down behind it. Oliver carefully rolled up his jeans to reveal that a small amount of blood had begun to soak through the bandages on the same knee where Jessica had dropped her phone.

  “Oh my GOSH! Ollie!” she hissed. “What the heck happened? When?”

  “I leapt out of bed this morning and landed wrong. My knees slammed against the wood, really hard. Then this happened,” he explained, gesturing to both of his bandaged knees.

  “Yo, what’s up newbies?” a voice greeted them. “Why are you hanging out back here?”

  Oliver looked up to see an African American kid wearing an army-green shirt and tan pants looking down at them.

  “Uh, I kind of busted my knees,” Oliver replied. “My name is Oliver, and this is my twin sister, Jessica.”

  “Hi, I’m Teddy,” he said. He bent over to see both of Oliver’s knees bandaged. “Whoa! Man, when did you do this? This is terrible!”

  “I know, r
ight,” Jessica agreed with a sigh.

  Teddy crouched down and began to unravel the bandages. “Don’t flip out, man. I’m just going to take a look.” Once he had unraveled the outer bandages, Teddy ripped off the adhesive bandages underneath.

  “Ow! Holy crud!” Oliver yelped.

  “Holy crud is right, Ollie!” Jessica repeated. “It looks like your knees have been hit with a hammer!”

  “I wouldn’t go that far, but it does look pretty bad,” Teddy agreed. Oliver’s knees were bruised and caked with dried blood. New blood was slowly beading up on the surface. “I think it’s time to bring out the big guns.” Teddy stood up and began to call out. “Yo, Ondrea. A little help, please. And bring my backpack.”

  A few seconds later, a girl raced up beside Teddy. “What’s up, baby?” She asked, handing Teddy what Oliver assumed to be Teddy’s backpack.

  Teddy kissed the girl on the cheek and smiled. “This is my girl, Ondrea. She’s a Healer. She can help you out,” he said quickly.

  “Oh! All right,” Ondrea muttered. She looked at Oliver’s knees and gasped. “Wow! That’s a mess! Let’s get that Healed up. Then you can tell me your names.” Ondrea hovered both her hands over Oliver’s knees. “Okay,” she said, “this is either going to hurt or tickle.” She closed her eyes as if concentrating. A red and white mist floated from her hands and surrounded Oliver’s knees.

  Oliver shut his eyes and clenched his teeth. “Hurts,” he mumbled. “Definitely hurts.”

  He felt Jessica’s hand in his and he squeezed it hard. Squeezing her hand gave him a feeling of comfort that aided in dulling the pain a little. He mouthed her name which gave him a bigger sense of comfort. It was then that he, for the very first time, TRULY realized how much she meant to him. The pain subsided almost as suddenly as it started.

  “Done!” Ondrea cheered. “You should be all good now.”

  Oliver opened his eyes and looked at his knees. “There’s still blood. My parents . . . ” he started to say, looking over their way nervously.

  “Aren’t going to know,” Teddy interrupted. He began to unpack his lunch and grabbed a couple of napkins. Then he repacked his lunch and opened his water bottle. “Here.” Teddy poured a little bit of water over both of Oliver’s knees and then wiped them dry with the napkins. When he was finished, all the blood was gone, and it looked as if nothing had ever happened in the first place.

  Ondrea picked up the bloody bandages and the now-bloody napkins and put them in the pocket of Teddy’s backpack.

  “Eeew. Babe!” Teddy whined.

  “Oh, stop being a baby. We’ll just wash our hands once we get up to the school,” Ondrea scolded. She mimed a claw with her fingers and waved them playfully in Teddy’s face. “Here comes the bloody finger monster!” she said menacingly. Ondrea began to giggle and Teddy just laughed.

  “All right, all right, babe. Once we get to the top, we’ll wash our BLOODY fingers!” Teddy exclaimed, still chuckling. He ruffled her hair with his clean hand and smiled before standing up.

  Teddy and Ondrea picked up clean napkins and wiped their hands off the best they could. Teddy picked up his backpack, then addressed the twins. “Come on. The bus is almost here,” he said as he helped Oliver up. Ondrea gave a hand to Jessica and all four of them began walking back to the bus stop. Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher stood back by the bus stop and gestured for the twins to come over. Once Oliver and Jessica said their love and gave their hugs, Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher began to walk to the car. Oliver and Jessica went back to join their new friends, Teddy and Ondrea.

  “It feels weird to walk as if nothing ever happened,” Oliver said in wonder.

  “Trust me, you’ll get used to it,” Teddy exclaimed, giving Ondrea a knowing smile.

  “Yeah,” Ondrea agreed, “You can say goodbye to hospitals at Superhero School.”

  Suddenly, the bus arrived.

  “Load up!” The bus driver called as he opened the doors to the bus. “Time for school, kids.”

  “Whoa! That bus just flew down from the sky!” Jessica exclaimed in awe.

  “Yep. That’s school for ya,” Ondrea laughed. “Come on!”

  CHAPTER 8

  Once the bus was up in the air, Oliver began to jump up and down on the floor of the bus to see what would happen. It turns out the only thing that Oliver did was make the bus driver mad.

  “Sit back down!” the bus driver yelled over all the noise. Oliver, instead of sitting down, walked around the bus and tried to get a look at everyone. He was shocked to see someone he hadn’t seen since he was a toddler.

  “Francis!” Oliver exclaimed, scooching into the seat next to his preschool pal.

  “Ah . . . Oliver! Hey! It’s been a while, dude!” Francis shouted. He held his fist up for a fist bump, which Oliver eagerly returned.

  “Bro! I didn’t know you had Super Powers!” Oliver said with a grin on his face. “What can you do?”

  “Well, I’ve got Super Hearing and Super Vision. The naming system for Powers kind of sucks, but I’ve got another REALLY cool Power!” he answered excitedly. “By the way, where is your sister?”

  “She’s just a couple seats over to the front,” Oliver replied, pointing to her.

  “Sweet. Dude, watch this,” Francis instructed with a humorous grin on his face. Suddenly, red glowing lasers shot out of his eyes and singed Jessica in the neck. He laughed loudly. “How cool is that, bro?”

  Jessica turned around and rubbed her neck. “Hey! What was that? Not cool!” she called, glaring at Francis. Then she saw Oliver sitting next to him. “Oliver, tell your new friend not to do that!”

  “First of all, this is Francis, our old pal. Second of all . . . Francis, why would you do that? Not cool, man! That was seriously dangerous!” Oliver scolded.

  “Whoa! We loved playing that game when we were younger. When did you become such a buzzkill?” Francis wondered, crossing his arms.

  “I’m all up for a good time as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone,” Oliver responded.

  “You’ve changed,” Francis huffed grumpily.

  “Okay. Well, that’s not fair,” Oliver stated rationally. “Yes, I’ve changed. I’m not an idiot anymore, Francis.” Oliver began to get up and head back to his sister.

  “Fine. Be that way,” Francis grumbled.

  “We’re still friends, Francis. You just need to get your act together,” Oliver said as he scooted out of the bus seat. He crossed and sat next to Jessica once more. “Sorry about that, sis,” he whispered.

  “It’s okay, Ollie. It’ll go away soon. Besides, it’s not YOUR fault,” she responded. Jessica leaned into Oliver’s shoulder and fell asleep for the rest of the bus ride.

  8.2

  When Oliver and Jessica got off the bus, they stopped in front of the bus doors and stared in shock and awe.

  “What the heck?” Oliver whispered. “The school is floating on top of a giant CLOUD!”

  “OMG! This is so cool!” Jessica shouted.

  “Yo, maybe you should stop saying ‘OMG.’” Teddy suggested, coming off the bus behind her. “You’re entering Superhero School now.”

  “Actually, we’re just visiting for now. We start at this school in a few months for the new school year,” Oliver explained.

  “Oh. Well, I can’t wait for you to start here. It’s actually pretty fun,” Teddy said, giving Oliver and Jessica a friendly pat on the back.

  “Thanks!” Jessica cheered happily.

  “Sorry I took so long, Teddy Bear,” Ondrea said quickly, jumping off the bus. “I had to yell at Malcolm to give me my bag back. That stupid bully.”

  “A . . . bully?” Oliver asked, looking nervous. Naturally, Oliver was more worried for his sister than he was for himself since he could Fly away and Jessica couldn’t. But, then again, she did have a Force Field.

  “Yeah, but he shouldn’t bother you guys. Don’t be afraid to be yourself here—even with Malcolm running around. However bad Malcolm is, he’s still being himself,” Ondre
a said, giving the twins a slightly humored smile.

  “Hey, thanks,” Jessica said. She gave Ondrea and Teddy a big grin.

  “We’ve been standing out here for a little long. Ondrea and I might be late to class, so we have to go. If you want us to, we could help you find Darla. She’s the one who usually gives the tours. Although that’s pretty weird considering that she isn’t too friendly, but I promise you’ll like her,” Teddy offered.

  “Nah. We’ve got this. You guys should get to class. We don’t want to make you guys late,” Oliver said.

  “All right, we’ll be off then,” Teddy said. He took Ondrea’s hand in his, and they began to walk off.

  “Wait!” Jessica called. When they stopped, she raced toward them and gave them both big hugs.

  “Sorry, she’s a hugger,” Oliver chuckled.

  Teddy smiled and ruffled her hair. “I’ll remember you Jessica. See you next year,” he said.

  Jessica smiled back and then said, “Thanks. And don’t touch my hair.”

  Ondrea burst out laughing and grasped Jessica in another hug. “You’re such a sweet girl! Stay tough, Jessica!”

  Jessica walked back to Oliver. They started walking toward the school, where they could see that their Mom and Dad had just gone through the front doors. Oliver waved sheepishly as Teddy and Ondrea walked toward a different door. “Hmm. Must be a side door,” Oliver thought.

  The twins stepped through the door and almost screamed with delight. Kids were bustling in the hallway. There were bright red lockers lining the walls of the hall and a white carpeted floor. The principal’s office was obviously right at the end of the hall, since there was a door labeled “Principal’s Office.”

  “Ollie,” Jessica muttered, tapping him on the arm, “There’s a girl walking toward us.”

  Sure enough, there was. She had long brown hair that went halfway down her back and she was wearing a plain purple shirt with a blue ruffled skirt. She was wearing black tennis shoes and had a scar on her left cheek. She looked about the twin’s ages.