I looked at my watch and watched the numbers change from 4:12 to 4:13. I wanted to say I didn’t believe that she would flake on me, but that would be a lie. She seemed like exactly the type of person to flake on me.
It was almost 4:30 before I saw her coming toward me on Sixth. Dressed in jeans, a hoodie, and a pair of sunglasses, Audrey looked like she’d been up all night. She scowled at my comment about her being late. “I’m here, aren’t I? Come on.” Then she walked past me and into the building, leaving me to scurry behind her.
The building lobby was nearly empty, with a security desk taking up most of the space. Audrey walked right up to the desk. “Appointment?” the security guard asked without looking up from his magazine.
“I don’t have one. I’m here to see whoever is in charge of the—” She turned to me. “What’s the name of it again?”
“Big Super, Little Super.”
Audrey turned back to the guard. “Yeah. Big Super, Little Super program. There’s been a mistake and I need to talk to someone.”
The guard gave us a baleful look. “What’s your name?”
“Audrey Hart.”
“You don’t have an appointment. Council number?”
Audrey rolled her eyes before rattling off an impossibly long number. I stopped counting after thirteenth digit.
“And you?” He was talking to me now.
“Penelope Gordon. And I don’t think I have a—”
“She’s going to Academy this year,” Audrey interrupted. “She doesn’t have one yet.”
The guard grunted before picking up the phone on his desk and dialing a few numbers. We waited silently.
“I have an Audrey Hart here to speak to someone about the Big Super, Little Super program.” He paused. “And she’s got an unregistered Academy applicant with her.” He paused again. “Penelope Gordon.” Yet another pause. “Will do.”
The guard hung up the phone. “Go to the eighth floor, make a right out of the elevator, and go all the way down to the end of hall. Since you don’t have an appointment, you’ll need these.” He put a pair of passes attached to lanyards on the counter. “Bring them back when you check out.”
We grabbed the passes. They were blue with “visitor” in capital red letters across the front. A frisson of electricity went through me. I was here at the Council. I’d gotten to the point where I stopped believing it would happen.
“Kid!” I looked up to see Audrey already standing in the elevator with crossed arms and furrowed brow. “Come on!” I hung the pass around my neck and followed her into the elevator, trying not to count my chickens before they hatched.
* * * * *
We found the office without much trouble. There was a big sign on the outer door that lead to the Office of Admissions. On the other side of it was a waiting room with a receptionist at a desk. “Audrey? Penelope?” the receptionist called out from behind the desk. “She’s waiting for you.” She pointed down the hallway. “Second door on the right.”
Audrey gave her a nod and kept walking down the hallway while I followed behind. The second door on the right was closed and the writing across the glass read
Miss Fine, Dean of Admissions
Audrey stopped in her tracks causing me to run right into her from behind and then together we stumbled into the wall. We looked like a scene from the Three Stooges. “What are you doing? That’s the right place.”
She turned white and let out a strangled sound. “No. I can’t. I gotta get out of here.”
“Why?”
She started walking back down the hallway. “Because.” She used it the way that adults use it—as a conversation ender.
Just then, the office door opened and a lady wearing a black dress, black tights, and a black sensible loafers stepped out into the hallway. She looked me up and down over her glasses. “Hello, Penelope. I’m Miss Fine. Step into my office.” Then she called down the hall, “And you, too, Audrey.”
“No, that’s OK. I forgot I have a prior engagement and I’m late.”
“Inside. Now.” The steel in her voice was clear. I hustled into her office and Audrey trailed behind.
Inside, Miss Fine sat behind her desk, where it looked like she had been having a very late lunch. She moved the remains of a salad, a bottled water, and a book about traveling to Greece out of view. Then she pointed to two chairs on the other side. “Have a seat. So, what can I do for you today, Audrey? Something about not liking your match with the Big Super, Little Super program?”
Audrey fidgeted in her seat. “You’re in charge of the Big Super, Little Super thing?”
“I’ve recently moved on from the auditing department. Now, I oversee the entire admissions department for the Academy. Big Super, Little Super is one the programs that we offer to our new students. So if the two of you have some sort of complaint about it, I’m the one to speak with.” She pronounced “complaint” like it was some contagious disease.
I cleared my throat. “Oh no, Miss Fine. I don’t have any complaints at all. I am actually very excited to be a part of the program. This means I’m going to the Academy, right?”
Miss Fine gave me a patronizing look. “All of our Little Supers will attend the Academy in the fall. A Big Super gives them some support from an adult Super, besides any family members of course. That’s how it works. You should have received an acceptance letter from the Academy before you received your assignment letter.”
My heart did a little flip. Could it really be this easy? “But I didn’t get an acceptance letter.”
“And I didn’t get an assignment letter,” Audrey chimed in. “In fact, I didn’t even sign up for this thing. And I’m definitely not qualified to be someone’s role model.” She stood up. “So, since you’re in charge of the whole shebang, you can get her a real Big Super and I can be on my way.”
“On that, we agree. You are the last one a young, impressionable mind should be looking up to. From what I remember, you’re hanging onto your Super license by the grace of the Council. You may have passed your probation but you’re still the same old Audrey—underwhelming powers that you barely control. No sense of duty. No sense of responsibility. You’re definitely not Big Super material.”
Audrey’s face reddened and I felt my own heat up in embarrassment for her. Before we could say anything else, Miss Fine stood up. “Let me just go get the paperwork for this and see what’s going on. Stay here.” She left the office, leaving me and Audrey alone.
“I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what I was apologizing for—maybe the fact that she’d just been embarrassed in front a kid. “Is what she said true? About you not being a very good Super.”
Audrey sighed. “Pretty much. I did get audited. I was on probation. I am kind of a fuck up.” She ticked each thing off with her fingers.
“And you’re still a Super? You made it through school and everything?”
She snorted. “Barely. But yeah.”
Miss Fine came back into the office with a handful of papers. “Well, it seems that there has been some sort of mistake. And for once, it wasn’t yours, Audrey.” She turned to me. “Penny, you were never accepted into the Academy. Your application is still incomplete. You were added to the Big Super, Little Super program by some glitch in the system.”
“Glitch?” Audrey repeated.
“Incomplete?” I repeated at the exact same time.
“Yes,” Miss Fine answered us both. “So it seems like the problem is solved. We’ll just cancel your assignment and—”
“Wait! But I want to go to the Academy. What do I have to do to complete my application?”
Miss Fine looked down at her paperwork. “Well, the written application was submitted. But the abilities assessments were never scheduled. And it looks like you’ve missed the deadline to schedule yours for fall admission.” She closed the file with a definitive tap. “But you’re welcome to apply for next year.”
“No!” My outburst startled both Audrey and Miss Fine. But I didn
’t care. “I have to get in this year. There has to be a way.”
“Yeah,” Audrey added. “It’s your system glitch that made her think she was accepted. And aren’t you in charge of everything here? You could easily make an exception.”
“You of all people know that this organization is built on policy and rules. An exception just wouldn’t be fair to all of the other applicants who got their packets in on time.”
“Come on, Kid.” Audrey stood up. “You heard her. She’s not going to do anything to help you. Let me show you where the Council Department of Ethics and Oversight is. I’m sure they’d like to hear about this glitch and why it’s impossible to fix it.” I stood up to go with Audrey.
“Wait.” Miss Fine put her hand up. “No exceptions can be made but maybe I could offer an extension.” Audrey and I sat back down and Miss Fine went on. “I’ll give you a week to complete the evaluations. There’s no guarantee that you’ll be accepted but you’ll have a chance to finish the application process.”
I jumped up and shook Miss Fine’s hand across the desk. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
She looked a little shocked but shook my hand. “No guarantees,” she repeated.
“Of course, of course. But I’m definitely going to pass and when I do,” I pointed at Audrey, “I want her to be my Big Super.” Miss Fine looked horrified, but nowhere near as horrified as Audrey did.
Chapter 9
“No. No. No. No. NO!!”
It was after five and Audrey and I were out on the street in front of the Council building. Before we left, Miss Fine set up appointments for my assessments—one for that Friday and the other the following Monday.
Before she dismissed us, Miss Fine told Audrey that she’d have to be my Big Super for now but that once I’d taken the tests, she’d make sure I’d get a real one. And Audrey had been saying that one word to me ever since.
“But it’s only temporary. In a week when I’m done with those tests, you’ll be off the hook.”
“No! That’s what you said when you convinced me to come here in the first place! I’m not falling for it again!”
“But—”
Audrey cut me off. “I don’t want to be a Big Super, Kid. Didn’t you hear her in there? If you want to get into the Academy, you need to get with someone who can help you. And that’s not me.” She turned and started walking toward the 1 train’s subway stop.
I followed behind her, running to keep up. “But you were so great in there. You knew exactly how to get her to help me. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even be getting a chance.”
Audrey shrugged but continued walking and didn’t look back at me. “I’ve dealt with her before. All she cares about are rules and her job and how things look. I guarantee she has no friends, no love life and no plans except to work until she dies. A note in her file would kill her.”
“See? You know stuff. You have to help me.”
Audrey stopped short and whirled around. I almost ran into her again. “Look, Kid, I’ve done my part to help you. Now you’ve got to leave me alone. I have to get uptown for a dinner appointment. If I’m late, I’ll never hear the end of it.” She turned and stalked away from me, into the subway entrance.
I stood there in the January evening cold, watching her walk away from me. Something—call it a glitch or fate or whatever—had brought us together. Me, a wannabe Super with no powers, and her, a Super who knew what it was like to be mediocre. That had to mean something. And now she was walking away from me.
What now? I asked myself. But I already knew what I had to do.
I waited a second and then followed her down into the subway.
* * * * *
“You’re terrible at following people.” The train was packed but Audrey spotted me pretty quickly. Once she did, I wiggled through the crowds and found a spot next to her. She tried to ignore me but finally couldn’t help herself. She still wouldn’t look at me, though.
I shrugged. “Well maybe if you would teach me this stuff, I’d learn. This is why I want to go,” I paused and looked around, “you-know-where. Help me!”
“I already told you that I can’t. Where are your parents? Go ask them to help you. And wouldn’t they be worried about you following a strange woman around?”
“My parents have nothing to do with this.” It wasn’t a lie. My mother literally had no idea. And my dad was gone. He couldn’t help me with anything now. It was Audrey or nothing. “And stop treating me like a kid. You adults think that just because you’ve lived longer that you can treat anyone younger than you like we don’t matter. I’m a person just like you, you know.”
Audrey snorted but didn’t correct me. My phone buzzed a couple of times during the ride. It was Mom. She’d texted me a couple of times since I’d left school. Now she was calling me every few minutes. I turned off my phone and buried it in my backpack.
“Looks like somebody is looking for you, Kid. Maybe it’s time to pack it up and head home,” Audrey said, looking out of the window instead of at me.
“My name is not kid,” I gritted through my teeth. “How many times do I have to tell you that?”
“Oh, yeah, it’s Penelope. What kind of name is that anyway? Sounds like the name of someone’s pet pig.”
“What kind of name is Audrey?” I threw back. “What happened? Did you fall out of a time machine or something?”
Audrey gave me the bird and went back to staring out of the window for the rest of the ride.
* * * * *
“Why are you still following me?”
Audrey got off at the Ninety-sixth St stop and walked along Broadway, making a right on Ninety-fourth St. By then it was dark. I followed behind, close enough to have a casual conversation with shouting.
“Just agree to help me and I’ll go away. I mean, for now,” I added as I took a few extra steps to catch up with her. “We’ll obviously have to meet up later to figure out a plan.”
“It was a glitch, Kid! A mistake. You really shouldn’t be putting all of your eggs in one glitch.”
“But. . .” I lowered my voice. “I had a vision about you. I saw your apartment and your name. And then I got the letter. That’s a sign. I know you’re supposed to help me.”
But Audrey wasn’t impressed at all. “No. I don’t care if you’re a psychic or something. I don’t care what your tea leaves told you. The answer is no.”
“Why not?”
“You know this is how little girls get kidnapped all the time, right?”
I ignored her. I’d done too many out-of-the-ordinary things in the past twenty-four hours to be worried now. “Where are you going anyway?”
“Some place you’re not invited.”
“Audrey, all I want you to do is help me a little bit. Just tell me what the assessments are like so I’ll know what to expect.”
“Uggghhh!” she cried. “Just leave me alone!” She slowed her stroll in front of a brownstone. “This is my parents’ place. I have a family dinner that I’m supposed to be at, like, right now.”
“Do you parents know you’re a Super?”
She gave me a funny look. “Of course they do! But they have enough—”
The door at the top of the stoop opened and a large man with reddish brown curls in a half moon around his head appeared. “Audrey? What are you doing? Who is that?”
Audrey turned and walked up the stairs. “Hey, Dad. I was just about to come in. And this is nobody.”
Her dad looked over her shoulder at me. “Hi, Nobody. Are you coming for dinner, too?”
“No!” Audrey said just as I said, “Yes!”
Her dad looked at both us curiously. “Well come in, then.” Audrey trudged through the door. I gave her dad a bright smile and followed behind.
Chapter 10
“Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend, Audrey?”
Audrey hadn’t spoken another word to me since we got inside, even though we’d stood next to each other as we took off o
ur scarves, gloves, and coats to hang up in the front hallway. Her dad walked deeper into the house and called out that Audrey had brought someone with her.
I trailed behind her as she made her way through a living room area into an adjoining dining room. Around the table were a bunch of people in the middle of an intense conversation about somebody’s cat being pregnant. Audrey didn’t bother to greet any of them. She just sat down in a chair and I sat right next to her.
The table was full. Across from us was a woman that looked like an older, more put together version of Audrey. She was sitting next to a big guy with a blond crew cut. At the end of the table, a woman that must have been Audrey’s mother looked at me curiously. It was her that asked Audrey about me.
“No.” Audrey took the bowl of mashed potatoes from the center of the table, slapped a huge helping onto her plate with a thud, and then passed the bowl to me.
“I’m Penny,” I said, taking the bowl from her and giving her a pointed look. “It’s nice to meet you guys. I hope Audrey introduces you all to me.”
“Oh my God,” Audrey moaned through a mouthful of food. “This is my mother, Mrs. Hart. That’s my dad, Mr. Hart. That’s my sister, Ella. That’s her. . . Rodney.” Then she pointed at me. “And this is my stalker, who Dad just let in the house like he doesn’t care about my safety or wellbeing.”
Ella rolled her eyes. “Are you saying this little girl is making you feel unsafe?”
“If she was it wouldn’t matter to you guys. You’ll let anybody in here.”
“No, I wouldn’t. And if she gets out of line, I think I can take her.” Her Dad winked at me. “Let me know if you’re about to attack Audrey, Penny. I gotta protect my daughter. I think they told me that at the hospital when we agreed to take her home with us.”
I laughed. “I’m actually her Little Super.” Before I could get the words all the way out of my mouth, Audrey kicked me under the table hard. “Owwwww!” I cried but Audrey just glared at me and shook her head.
Super Secret (Book 1): Super Model Page 3