Rise and Shine

by R. J. Ross

  “So she’s doing well?” Summer says. “I know you said she sticks out a little, being a D-class.”

  “She’s doing fine,” he says as they finish and clean up. He heads to the large couch, ignoring the channel changer and waving a hand at the television on the wall. “So old school,” he complains. “It’s not even a smart TV.”

  “Your parents are over a hundred years old,” she says, sitting down right next to him and pulling his arm over her shoulders. “You have to cut them a little slack.”

  “I’ll redo it before we leave,” he says, clearly not agreeing. The screen flickers and a pretty teen with dark blue hair appears on the screen. She’s holding her own mic, this time.

  “Hello, Lady Rose and Technico!” she says. “This is Blackbird, reporting from Cape High! We want to congratulate you both on your marriage, and wish you a long, happy life together.” She moves, motioning to the group behind her, who start to cheer and wave their arms in the air.

  “Is the one hiding behind the magazine Vinny?” Summer asks with amusement.

  “Of course it is,” Nico says. “I’m actually surprised she even got him out of the kitchen.”

  “So, let’s get started!” Jennifer says, grinning widely and running off of the screen. The scene changes to the music room, where Alyssa and Justin are sitting on stools. Alyssa has a mic and Justin is holding a guitar.

  “Shouldn’t this be the other way around?” Alyssa asks.

  “Can you play the guitar?” Justin asks.

  “Well, no, but you’re the professional singer,” she says, looking nervous.

  “Alyssa, just sing, already,” Aubrey says from off screen.

  “Is it wrong to want to laugh?” Summer asks Nico, who’s already grinning. She forgets the question as Alyssa starts to sing her favorite song. She sighs happily as the song finishes. “She’s amazing,” she says happily.

  “It’s not even a super power,” Nico agrees. “I think Justin’s a bit jealous.”

  “He’s hiding it quite well,” she says.

  They hear the group cheering and several whistles from the background before the scene changes. This time they see a gigantic wedding cake on a table. Vinny is in a white chef’s coat, and diligently putting the final touches on the cake. “And here we have our very own Fire Hazard finishing up your wedding cake,” Jennifer says, coming into the shot. “We tried to get a shot of him eating fire, but, well, you can see how that turned out.”

  “Eating fire gives you indigestion,” Vinny says, “Besides, I volunteered for this.”

  “You’re saying that the ‘professional baker’ you had do our cake is a teenager?” Summer asks Nico.

  “It tasted good, didn’t it?” he says.

  “Do you have anything to say to the happy couple, Fire Hazard?” Jennifer asks.

  “Yeah,” he says, sticking out his arm abruptly and stopping an approaching blur. Carla grunts and keeps trying to reach for the cake, “If there are any pieces missing before the reception, it’s her fault.”

  “I’m just taste-testing!” Carla protests before the scene cuts off.

  This time it’s a group of teenage boys, looking rather awkward. “Freddy, Ward, Lance, Kaden, and… if that slight flicker is an indicator, Brandon,” Nico says to Summer. A second later, Brandon shimmers into view. “Yeah, called it.”

  “What would you like to tell the happy couple?” Jennifer asks from behind the camera.

  “Are they really going to show this at the reception?” Kaden asks, looking worried.

  “They might,” Jennifer says.

  “It’s not going to kill you,” Freddy says. “Okay, start the music,” he says to someone to the side. To both Nico and Summer’s surprise, country music starts playing. The boys place their thumbs in their pockets, and start to line dance. The sound of onlookers roaring with laughter comes from the background, but the group is also clapping in time.

  “Are ANY of them country music fans?” Summer asks Nico. “Not that they’re not adorable.”

  “Not a single one of them,” Nico says, laughing as Lance and Kaden run into each other as they turn the exact opposite direction. The two glare at each other—and then start a “dance battle.” The music even changes to the Dueling Banjo song. Even Jennifer is laughing by this point, especially as Kaden starts doing the Running Man. Lance grasps his chest and falls over, defeated.

  But the “drama” is completely ruined as Ward and Brandon do the waltz across the screen with the most serious expressions in the world.

  The scene changes again, and again, showing all of the kids at one time or another doing something silly, or amazing, or both. Nico and Summer are laughing so hard that tears are falling by the time it’s over and Jennifer is speaking again.

  “So, we would just like to say,” she says, stepping aside and turning to the group behind her. They all shout “CONGRATULATIONS!” and strike their favorite super hero poses, save for Vinny.

  “Fire Hazard,” Jennifer says. “Can you put the cooking magazine down for just one minute?”

  The video stops.

  “I love your students,” Summer says, cuddling up against his side. “You’ve done well.”

  “Thanks. You’d be shocked at how long it took to teach the guys to waltz.”

  “You didn’t!” she says.

  “Of course I didn’t,” he agrees. “But I have the video of them learning, I bet. Want to see?”

  “Absolutely, yes,” she says.

  Banzai!

  The front yard of the tiny house in the suburbs is crowded with teenagers. The neighbors keep peeking out their windows, or walking their dogs past the house, watching curiously. They’ve never seen so many visitors at the Nao house, but that’s not why they’re so fascinated. These teenagers…

  “They’re supers, aren’t they?” one of the ladies across the street whispers. “Oh, I bet they’re from that school that Technico runs! Do you think they’d come clean my house, next?”

  Kim sighs, ignoring the gossips and looking at the students in front of her. “I didn’t expect this many of you,” she admits. “But since you’re all here, I’ll put you to work! My daughter’s playground is too small. It was fine when she was three, but she’s a big girl, now, aren’t you, Hana?”

  “Yeah!” Hana says.

  “Yeah, but…” she hears Kaden say, only to see Sunny touch his shoulder.

  “She’s a big girl,” Malina repeats to the fifteen-year-old tank, firmly. “No teasing them over height just because you’re tall.” Kaden nods, looking a bit sheepish.

  “Do you have a kit?” Trent asks. “Or should we get the pieces, ourselves?”

  “I can put together something that will go underground when you don’t need it,” Zoe volunteers. “That way when she gets older we can put in a small training course!”

  “She’s going to be in Cape High… or would that be Cape Elementary?” Jack says. “She’ll have plenty of training courses at school. How about a tree house?”

  “I would say yes, but I don’t have a tree large enough,” Kim says. The entire school looks at her for a long moment before someone shoves Sunny forward. “Oh, right. There is that, isn’t there? But she’s still so young that I would worry about her falling out of the tree. Do you think you could make it safe?”

  “Nets,” Trent says. “I’ll get them!” He jumps into the air, only to grunt as his brother drags him right back down.

  “Mask up before you go,” Jack says. “And get us some lumber while you’re at it. I’ll hit the junkyards for the metal parts.” He taps his watch and the little old ladies across the street let out excited gasps. He glances over at them, smirking slightly before whistling. His surfboard comes flying and he hops on, taking off.

  “Well, there go all attempts at discretion,” Zoe says. “Everyone mask up, we’re probably going to get an audience.”

  “You mean we didn’t have one?” Sunny asks, yawning as he digs out his mask. “Where do you want t
he tree?” he asks Hana, crouching down in front of her.

  “In the back!” she says, taking his hand and pulling him to the back.

  “Give me a moment, everyone, and I’ll draw up some schematics,” Zoe says, clapping her now-gloved hands together and creating a hologram. “How many floors do we want?”

  “Two would be nice, don’t you think?” Malina says, watching.

  “Just two?” Zoe says. They all turn, seeing as a tree shoots up behind the house, large enough to see over the roof. “I bet we could fit three into that!”

  “Is everyone forgetting that my daughter is only five?” Kim asks, throwing her hands in the air as she hears her daughter cheering excitedly.

  “Bigger! Bigger!”

  “Naaah, that’s big enough for now,” she hears Sunny say. “Hey, do you guys want me to dig the trench for the water and electricity?” he calls to the rest of the group. “We’re bringing it in from the main house, right?”

  “’Main house’? This isn’t—you know what? Never mind,” Kim says. “Leave plenty of room for a kitchen, please,” she says to Zoe, “and a restroom, of course.”

  “Of course!” Zoe says. “I was planning on it. It’s the elevator that will take a bit more finesse to fit in.”

  “Elev—never mind. I would LOVE an elevator. I just hope they don’t sue me for lacking permits,” Kim mutters.

  “Oh, I already took care of that,” Zoe says, waving it off. “Now, everyone, time to go to the back!”

  Kim looks at the hologram. “You do realize that a tree house like that costs more than the bonsai tree I gave you, don’t you?”

  Zoe grins at her. “Since when has that stopped us from doing anything?” she asks, heading for the backyard. Kim follows, glancing over at the blatantly watching crowd across the street. The two old ladies have suddenly been joined by most of the neighborhood, and the entire group is filming this with their phones.

  “This is going to wind up on the news, isn’t it?” Kim says.

  “Incoming!” Trent calls from above. She looks up, and starts to laugh as she sees the massive pallet of wood that he’s carrying. “I’ve got more that I need to go back for. Sunny, are you done growing the tree?”

  “Yeah, I’ll give you a hand. But the trenches—“

  “I’ll do them,” Sandra calls out.

  “Cool, thanks!”

  “Can we do this for my brothers, next?” Adanna asks as she starts unpacking the wood.

  “Sure!” the group says.

  Kim looks over at her daughter, whose eyes are huge with wonder as she looks from one teen to the next. If only for that, she thinks, she’s grateful that she became the seamstress for the Hall.

  “Mommy!” Hana says, turning to her. “We need to pick out curtains!”

  ~About the Author~

  R.J. Ross has been writing since junior high, when she discovered that it could help her keep an A in English Class. She lives in Missouri, where she spends all of her time writing. If you would like to see more of her work, you can find several short stories at amazon.com/author/rjross!

  Like her on Facebook for bonus material such as character profiles, unpublished information, and status updates at https://www.facebook.com/capehigh! Or check out her blog for free Cape High short stories at https://capehigh.wordpress.com or follow her on twitter @rjrosscapehigh

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  ~About the Cover Designer~

  Artist, designer, programmer - you would think that by growing up near the Gulf Coast Leslie Zielinski would spend more time on the sandy beaches. No, she spends her time in front of a computer screen creating digital art and making it come to life.