Saving the World

by Katrina Kahler

  Kalie released my hand. Looking me in the eyes, she said, “I’m keeping her from hurting people. She has no training.”

  I crossed my arms and glared at her, concentrating hard on not to fry her with heat vision. “She has great power!”

  “All the more reason she needs training!” Kalie glared back.

  “I hear she’s training with BMS labs!” I said far more defensively than I would have liked.

  Kalie nodded. “So they have shown us with some training videos. But I don’t trust them much more than Super Teen.” She looked at me. “Frankly, I’m surprised you trust them so much, given your personal history with their founder.”

  Well, well, Kalie certainly had done her homework.

  Mom stood up. “No reason to bring my ex-husband into this!”

  Oscar cleared his throat. “Yes, Kalie, no need to bring up her super-rich ex-husband.”

  “I thought it was relevant. He hasn’t been the most responsible father figure to you. Why do you think he can be a good guide to Super Teen?”

  “Cause the two aren’t related,” I insisted.

  “Sure they are!” Kalie insisted. “If the man wasn’t a good father to you, why do you think he can help Super Teen? And if he did help, I would think you’d be jealous.”

  I knew Kalie was trying to get me to lose my cool. So I did. Using my command voice I ordered, “Oscar, you’re a dog. Kalie, you’re a fire hydrant!”

  Kalie stood up, dropped her arms to her sides and went stiff. Oscar dropped to all fours and crawled over to Kalie. He started sniffing her.

  “Lia!” Mom scolded.

  “What?” I said. “It popped out of me. I did it by accident…”

  Mom waved a finger at me. “Young lady, you don’t accidentally make one person think they are a fire hydrant and another a dog!”

  “At least I didn’t make Oscar think he was a dog that had to pee,” I said.

  Mom crossed her arms. “He is my current boyfriend.”

  “Hence, the reason I took it easy on him.” I looked at Mom. “But come on, Mom, he brought Kalie Hanson into the house…the woman who is trying to stop me from helping people!”

  “She thinks she’s doing the right thing!” Mom insisted.

  “Well, she’s wrong. I help people!”

  Mom pointed at Oscar and Kalie. “How is this helping anyone?”

  It did help me feel better but I knew that wouldn’t help my argument. I sighed and looked at Mom. “She was bad mouthing Dad.”

  “Your dad is a big boy with a lot of resources. He can defend himself. Plus, I know you mumble complaints about him sometimes, too.”

  “He’s my dad, I’m allowed to complain.”

  “She’s a lawyer, it’s her job to protect the city.”

  “Mine too, Mom.”

  “Then it looks like you need to convince Kalie that she and Super Teen are on the same side. And fast, before my boyfriend wets her.”

  Mom had a point. By doing what I was doing, was kind of supporting Kalie’s argument that I could be dangerous. This might be considered an abuse of power.

  “Sorry Mom, I just have to put up with so much of this bullying stuff at school. I don’t like having to deal with it at home as well. Kalie reminds me of other mean girls.”

  Mom put a hand on my shoulder. “She’s a woman doing a job. Not a girl trying to make herself feel better by making you feel worse!”

  “Wow, Mom you know mean girls so well.”

  “Trust me, honey, mean girls are not a modern phenomenon. It’s just that these days, social media makes it so much more anonymous and easy to be mean.”

  “True that,” I said.

  “You need to use your words not your powers,” Mom told me.

  “Got it.” I pointed to Oscar, who had a leg raised at Kalie. “You two, go back to being people and forget about this!”

  Oscar lowered his leg. He stood up and walked back to his seat. Kalie sat down. Her eyes blinked.

  “Sorry, I lost my train of thought for a moment,” she said.

  Oscar jumped up. “Excuse me, I have to rush to the bathroom.” He darted out of the room.

  I sat on the chair next to Kalie. “My point is, Super Teen is just trying to help.”

  “My point is, she’s not qualified to help. She’s a kid and not a deputy,” Kalie countered.

  “There’s the petition that’s getting signatures to make her a deputy!” I said.

  “I saw. Hopefully, the police chief will be wise enough to ignore it. The will of the people is prone to emotion, not logic,” Kalie said.

  “Super Teen has saved the town a number of times,” I replied.

  “True, she’s also knocked out the mall, dropped herds of cattle with farts, dropped charging rhinos with BO. The list goes on….”

  “But all those people and animals just took naps. There was no lasting harm done,” I said.

  Kalie shrugged. “She got lucky.”

  “Come on, fighting a giant robot isn’t luck. She saved the town and more.”

  “I will give you that. But since Super Teen has shown up, other super beings have also appeared. Like that Glare Girl,” Kalie said.

  Oscar walked back into the room. “Yeah, she’s nasty. I’ve had experience with her. She’s just in it for the fame.”

  “See!” Kalie said.

  “Just because one super being is a fool doesn’t mean Super Teen is out to do harm!” I said.

  Kalie looked at her watch. “It’s getting late. I should be going.” She stood up. “I’ll call an uber.”

  Oscar jumped to his feet. “I brought you. I should drop you home.” He looked at Mom. “If that’s okay with you, honey?”

  The word ‘honey’ almost made me barf. But Oscar somehow makes Mom happy so I fought down the barf.

  “That’s fine, honey, I’m on call tomorrow.”

  Kalie smiled. She looked at me. “Now, your mom is a real hero. She has the training and the knowledge to save people.”

  “She does,” I agreed.

  Kalie patted me on the shoulder. “Look, Lia, I get it. It’s cool to see a person your age using superpowers and seemingly helping people. But if I ever see Super Teen, I will tell her…I appreciate what you are trying to do. Get some training from trained professionals. Go to the police academy and come back when you are older. Use your power wisely.”

  “I hope you do get to meet her and tell her that!” I said.

  Kalie grinned. “Hopefully, she won’t use her command voice on me and make me do something ridiculous,” she smirked.

  Oscar gave Mom a kiss. (That I could barely watch.) Then I watched him and Kalie leave. Once we heard Oscar’s car rev up, I turned to Mom.

  “Do you think she knows anything?”

  “She knows a lot of stuff, she’s a lawyer and a sharp lady.”

  “Ha. Do you think she has any idea I could be Super Teen?”

  “I doubt it,” Mom said. “But just be careful around her.” Mom looked at me. “So where did you head off to earlier in such a hurry?”

  I groaned. “To BMS labs…I was texting Jason. He was there with Tanya trying to comfort Kayla then he went silent. Plus MAC went silent too. So I flew there as fast as I could.”

  “And?” Mom said.

  “Kayla had replaced the lab with a strange, eerie version of her own home, complete with Jason as a door.”

  Mom’s eyes narrowed. “Alright now, that just seems freaky.”

  “Believe me, weird doesn’t begin to cover it. Especially when you are there looking at it. If there was creepy music, I would have thought I was watching a horror movie. But this was actually real life. At least, how my real life has become.”

  “How did you stop her?”

  “Tanya held her off with the help of Jan, Marie, and Lori. I got that cute little Ellie Mae to come and teleport me next to Kayla. I knocked her out with a neck pinch and everything went back to normal.”

  “Kayla’s power is amazing and
scary….”

  “True, luckily beneath that power is a scared, average eight or nine-year-old. Doesn’t take much to stop her.”

  Mom quivered a little. “It could have been very bad if you hadn’t stopped her. How did your dad react?”

  “Dad was kind of like a kid in a candy store. He loves Kayla and Tanya’s potential. But he did acknowledge that Kayla will be dangerous until she learns some control. Like Tanya has.”

  “How are YOU handling all this?” Mom asked me.

  “Which part? Jason hanging out with Tanya? Or me seeing Kayla’s power? Or do you mean, realizing that Tanya has the power? Or maybe, coming home to the reporter who is trying to figure out my secret identity, as well as the lawyer who’s trying to stop me from helping the world? Which one are you referring to, Mom?”

  “I didn’t know Oscar was bringing Kalie, but he thinks of her as his ticket to the big city media.”

  “Is that what you want, Mom?”

  “I’m okay with whatever he decides. I like the guy, he’s nice and makes me feel good. But I won’t stand in the way of his career. This is about you, though. Jason has always been your BFF.”

  I smiled. “He still is. It’s just that now I have to share him more. But he’s happy and that makes me happy.”

  As weird as it was, that was the truth. Jason was a great guy and he deserved a great girl. I had to admit, Tanya was a great girl.

  Dear Diary: Yes, I might have abused my power a little on Kalie, but she had it coming. She’s trying to stop Super Teen from doing her job. She bad mouthed my dad. She’s so high and mighty.

  But yeah, I really shouldn’t have mind-controlled her like that. That might have felt way good but it was wrong (well wrong-ish) 

  Her last comment kind of freaked me out though. Could she have any idea that I am Super Teen? Nah, no way. Right?

  Mental Links and TP

  As I walked to school with Jason, we talked about the events of the day before.

  “Unbelievable that you had a face to face with Kalie Hanson in your own home yesterday!” Jason said.

  “Yeah, I really wasn’t expecting that. I mean, come on. You don’t expect to see your arch enemy sitting in your recliner.”

  “She’s not really an arch enemy. She’s a lady trying to do a job.” Jason reminded me.

  “I know, but arch-enemy seems more fitting. Then again, I guess Wendi would be my real arch enemy. Even though, Glare Girl claims she wants it to be her.”

  “Wendi isn’t sharp enough and Glare Girl is nicer than she lets on,” Jason said.

  “So, how did it feel to be a door?” I asked. Part of me wanted to snicker, a bigger part was concerned.

  “Weird. I was kind of me but then at the same time, I was a door,” he shivered. “Can’t really explain it. It was like I had a brain but I was a door….”

  “Sounds freaky,” we heard the familiar voice of Jess say.

  We saw Jess and cute little half-vampire Felipe walking towards us.

  I grinned. “Jess, I haven’t seen you at school lately. Where have you been?”

  “I decided to try home-schooling. I’ve been finding school…how do I say this politely…way boring and filled with jerks.” Jess said.

  “Glad you were being polite,” I told her.

  Jess shook her head, her hair was now black but with red streaks, it worked on her. “Nothing to do with you two. But there are so many mean girls at school. I decided if I hang out there much longer, I’ll vanish them – or worse.”

  “What’s worse than being vanished?” Jason asked.

  “I’m not sure I want to know…” I said.

  “My own personal TP.”

  “By TP, you mean toilet paper, not an Indian home. Correct?” Jason asked.

  “Smart boy!” Jess answered.

  “Yeah, probably a good thing you decided to try home-schooling,” I told Jess.

  Turning to Felipe, I asked him, “And where have you been, Felipe?”

  Felipe glided up and hugged me. “My family when on vacation!” he said bouncing up and down.

  “Oh, where did you go?” Jason asked.

  “Transylvania,” Felipe said. “It was way cool. I had to wear a coat and everything.”

  “Ah, funny,” Jason said.

  Felipe shook his head. “No joke. That place is cold! But still fun. I’m hoping though, next year we go to Disneyland.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, that would be fun too…”

  Felipe looked me in the eyes. “How’s Kayla doing?”

  “Why do you ask?” I asked, a bit taken aback.

  “Ah, sometimes, once in a while, I feel her thoughts,” Felipe said, shaking a bit.

  Now, that may have been a little freaky, but it certainly wasn’t surprising. I’ve pretty much figured out that in my world now, anything goes. It kind of made sense that two powered kids would be on the same mental wavelength.

  “Oh?” I said, cautiously. “So what has she been thinking?”

  Felipe shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. “Not sure, she seems angry, sad, confused, scared…”

  “That pretty much sums her up,” Jason said under his breath.

  Felipe’s half-vamp hearing picked that up loud and clear. “What does that mean?”

  I bent down to him. I looked him in the eyes. “It means she is just learning to use her powers and her powers scare her.”

  Felipe thought for a minute. “I think she thinks other people are scared of her too….”

  I nodded. “Yeah, she may be right there.”

  “I certainly am scared of her!” Jason said.

  I gave Jason a glare. He took a step back. “Sorry, slipped out, but I am,” Jason said.

  “Why? Kayla is nice!” Felipe insisted.

  Leaning into Felipe I said softly, “She’s still learning to control her powers. That’s going to take some time because, well, her powers involve time, and that’s complicated.”

  Felipe smirked. “I get it. But she’ll be alright?” he asked, a worried frown crossing his face.

  “My dad and his best people are working with her. I am sure she will be fine,” I said.

  “Okay, I trust you,” Felipe smiled. He gave me another hug. “Thanks, Lia!”

  “No problem, kid!”

  I heard Jess’s voice in my mind, “You’re not lying to the kid. Are you?”

  I thought back, “I don’t lie.”

  “Are you holding back any truth?” Jess thought to me.

  I considered my thoughts very carefully. Jess was not a person to mess around with. There was so much going on, I needed Jess on my side. Or at the very least, not against me. “The kid is scared, people are scared of her. Everyone is wary of her except my father who is fascinated by her…” I thought to Jess.

  Jess smirked and thought back to me, “Your father is an odd man. But I like him, he’s easy to read. If you trust him, I do too.”

  Once again I considered my thoughts carefully. “I do trust him. He is my dad and he’s been a big help. Yeah, sometimes he lets the science get in the way of logic; if that makes any sense. But he means well. He truly wants to help,” I thought to her.

  “Why are you two just looking into each other’s eyes?” Jason asked.

  “I think they must be mind-chatting,” Felipe said.

  “Oh cool,” Jason said. “Right, mind chatting.” He stopped to think about his next words. “I guess it’s best if I don’t ask what you were talking about.”

  “Smart boy,” I said.

  MAC beeped from my arm. “Ms. Lia, the school bell is in ten minutes. Unless you are planning to move at super speed, you’d better get a move on.”

  Jess pointed at MAC. “I can’t tell if that thing is cool or annoying.”

  “Cool!” MAC told her. “Very cool and helpful. I do not want Lia to be tardy.”

  “He’s a little of both,” I said.

  “Hey, I can hear you!” MAC said. “Just because I’m a machine, doesn’t mea
n I don’t have feelings, well e-feelings.”

  “Mostly helpful,” I said.

  “I can live with that,” MAC said. “You now have nine minutes until the bell.”

  Jason and I started walking to the school. “See you guys later,” I said.

  “Yeah!” Felipe said.

  “Be cool,” Jess said.

  “You sure you don’t want to come back to regular school?” I asked.

  “You just want me to turn those mean girls into TP, don’t you?”

  I headed to school thinking she may actually be right.

  Dear Diary: It’s always nice to see Felipe. He brings a bit of added sunshine into my life with his upbeat spirit. Kind of interesting that he and Kayla share a little mental link. Well, I guess there aren’t many young kids with power, so it makes as much sense as anything in my world does. I hope I reassured him. Heck, I hope I reassured myself. My dad may be a nearly mad scientist, but he does mean well. He does want to help the world, and teaching Kayla to control her powers will help the world. I know it will.

  And yes, it was good to see Jess again. She never did fit quite in at school, but she is a friend and certainly somebody we want on our side. Maybe she’ll come back to school sometime? Heck, maybe I do want Patti and Wendi to be turned into TP!

  The Meeting

  When we arrived at school, VP Macadoo was waiting at the door. He had a strange look on his face. I couldn’t quite make out what was so unusual about it.

  “Wow, I’ve never seen Mr. Macadoo smiling before,” Jason whispered to me as we approached the VP.

  That was it! The VP was actually smiling.

  “Great and surprising news, Lia!” VP Macadoo beamed. “The school board will hear our augment for more diverse foods today at 3:30 pm.”

  “Oh good. But I’m not surprised,” I said.

  “I’m shocked! They’ve never positively acknowledged my requests before. They meet in the school conference room next to the teacher’s staff room. I will meet you there.”

  “Sure,” I said.

  He pointed at Jason and me. “Now hurry to class, I wouldn’t want to mark you two as tardy!”