Super Secret (Book 1): Super Model

by Princess Jones

  Rodney looked confused. “What’s a ‘little super’?”

  Everyone at the table froze. Then Ella stepped in. “Oh it’s just some inner city youth mentorship program that Audrey is completely unqualified to participate in. Sweetie, I was supposed to bring back that paint swatch to my mother but I think I left it in the car. Can you go get it for me?”

  “Sure, Babe. Where is it in the car?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Check everywhere. The glove compartment. The trunk. The engine. Everywhere.” Rodney nodded and lumbered out of the room.

  As soon as the front door clicked shut, everyone at the table was talking at once.

  “You can’t talk about that kind of thing in front of Rodney. We’ll all get a Council inquiry!”

  “You signed up to be a mentor? Why? How did you even get through the vetting process?”

  “The first thing you should teach your Little Super is not to talk about being a Super with civilians.”

  Finally, Audrey cut through all of it. “Hey, hey, HEY! I didn’t sign up! It was some mistake and this kid has been following me ever since.”

  Then she turned to me. “And never talk about Super stuff unless you know you’re among Supers.”

  “But I thought you were all Supers.”

  “We’re all Supers.” She gestured to everyone around the table. Then she pointed at the door, meaning Rodney. “He’s not.”

  “How was I supposed to know?”

  “You don’t know until you know. So unless you know, keep your mouth shut. The way you’re going, you’ll lose your license before you even get it.”

  “How could you get assigned a Little Super if you never signed up for one, Audrey?” her dad asked. “You need to go down there and get this sorted out.”

  “I did! But they won’t assign her a new Big Super until she’s done with entrance assessments to the Academy. She hasn’t even been accepted yet. She might not even get in.”

  “Hey!” I felt the panic bubbling in my stomach. “I’m definitely going to get in. Even if I have to take the tests a bunch of times. It’s very important to me. My father was a Super.” I said the last part like it would explain it explained everything but I could tell by the look on their faces that it didn’t explain anything.

  Mrs. Hart looked concerned. “Was?”

  “H-he died last year,” I stammered. “But he taught me a lot before he did. And he started the process for me to go to the Academy. And I’m going to finish it.”

  “I’m sure you are, dear,” Mrs. Hart explained. “But you should know that when someone doesn’t do well enough on the entrance assessments to go to the school, the Council does a mind wipe on them.”

  “Mind wipe?”

  “All civilians who get exposed to Super matters get wiped. Anytime someone catches a Super flying or stumbles upon the Council or accidentally gets some information they shouldn’t have, the Council sends someone to wipe any memories of it away.”

  All of my memories of being a Super involved my dad. I felt a sudden sharp pain in my chest. I didn’t want any of my memories of dad gone. They’d have to kill me to get them. “But, they can’t do that.”

  “And that’s how I know you’re not a Super yet.” Audrey said. “The Council can do whatever they want. I’m surprised your dad didn’t tell you that,” she added.

  Just then, Rodney came back. “Um, it’s not in the car, babe,” he said to Ella.

  “Oh don’t worry about it, Rodney,” Mrs. Hart said. “Let’s have some dessert. Audrey, help me with these plates.”

  And that’s when I remembered that I hadn’t called or texted my mom back. The clock over the mantle to the right said it was almost seven. I’d turned my phone off on the subway but she was probably losing her mind. “I have to make a call,” I said to the table. “I’ll be right back.”

  * * * * *

  “Where have you been? You missed dinner!” My mother was in full freak out mode when she answered the phone. She’d already sent me a million text messages and filled up my voicemail box.

  Reading her increasingly worried texts, I wished I could just explain that I hadn’t made it home for dinner because I had to go down to the Council headquarters to discuss some mix ups with my acceptance into the Council Academy. And then I’d followed my reluctant Big Super home to have dinner with her family. But even without the warnings from Audrey and her family inside, I knew that confessing this to my mother was the last thing I could do.

  I took a deep breath. “Mom, I told you. I’m at the library studying. I turned off my phone so I could focus and forgot to turn it back on.” I shivered a bit, partly because I hadn’t bothered to put on my coat and partly because I was definitely lying a lot. This was becoming a habit.

  “It’s already seven. It’s time to come home. You need to eat and get some rest for school tomorrow. I’ll come pick you—”

  “No! I mean. . . I’m here with some friends. We took a break for burgers a while back so I’m not hungry. And you’re the one that has to get up early to open the diner. You need your rest. I’ll get a ride home with one of the other kids. I’ll be home soon.” I knew the idea of me with friends would make her feel better.

  She calmed down but she still sounded tired. “Fine, my love. But you need your rest, too.”

  “That’s funny coming from you. You work harder than anyone I know.”

  “That’s what I’m supposed to do. I’m a mother. I love you. See you soon.”

  I said my goodbyes, hung up, and turned around to go back inside. But Audrey already was standing right behind me, wearing her coat, scarf, and gloves, and loaded down with a tote bag full of Tupperware containers.

  She had an uncomfortable look on her face and I knew she had heard my conversation. I kinda expected her to give me grief over it but all she said was “Dessert goes fast in this house. Here.” She handed me a little container of chocolate cake. “That’s my mom’s Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate cake. She wanted you to take some of it home. And she made me promise not to eat it so if anyone asks, you make sure to tell them I didn’t.”

  I opened the container. “There’s a bite taken out of it.”

  “Oh shut up and take your coat. It’s cold out here.” She handed me my coat and watched me put all my winter gear on.

  While I was getting bundled up, I said, “You’re lucky, you know?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, all of that.” I gestured up to her parents’ place. “Your family.”

  “Um. OK. Sure.” Audrey struggled to balance her leftovers. “How long has your dad been. . .” She trailed off without finishing her question.

  “Four months.” I tried not to let her hear the lump in my throat but I was sure I failed big time. Audrey nodded and looked away. I took her silence as an opportunity to finally tell her the truth. “I need you, Audrey.”

  She let out a weary sigh. “Kid. . .”

  “I need you to help me. My dad was a Super like you and your family. And he thought I was a Super, too. He wanted me to go to Super school but he didn’t get too far in the process before he died. And now I have to finish it on my own.”

  “What about your mom?”

  I shook my head. “She’s not a Super and she doesn’t know about any of this.”

  “And you can’t tell her,” Audrey finished for me.

  “Exactly. So, I’m pretty much on my own. That’s why I was so excited when I got that letter. I thought there was finally someone I could tell about my situation.”

  “But what am I supposed to do?”

  “Just walk me through the process.”

  “Penny, I don’t know if you were paying attention today,” Audrey started, “But I am not your best bet on this. I am probably the worst Super in the city.”

  “And that’s exactly why I need you. You know how to do this without being good at it. And Miss Fine says you barely have any powers.”

  “Hey I’ve got powers!” She sounded a little
offended. “I can regenerate. It’s actually pretty damn cool. I’d show you again right now but I don’t want to get blood on my leftovers. I’m not that great at using them but I get the job done” .

  “Exactly. So you’ll know how to help me because. . .” I paused. The words didn’t want to leave my mouth. “Because. . .”

  “Just spit out, Kid!”

  “I don’t have any powers.”

  Audrey put her hands over her mouth in shock, dropping her bag of leftovers in the process, but I still heard her behind her gloves. “Oh, shit!”

  One time when I was little, I went to a sleepover at a friend’s house and we watched a movie called Train. The movie was about some college kids traveling on a train through Europe. They get kidnapped and tortured in increasingly gruesome ways for about an hour and a half. At home I wasn’t allowed to watch those types of movies and about twenty minutes into it, I realized why.

  I couldn’t get the images out of my head. I couldn’t sleep for days. After a week, my parents were ready to take me to a doctor because I wasn’t eating, sleeping, or speaking much. And I had a look on my face that said I’d seen too much and I didn’t know how to process it.

  That’s exactly the way Audrey looked after I told her my secret. I explained the whole thing to her from the beginning—how I had that dream about the bus and how my dad told me about being a Super and how I never had another vision again until I had the one about her.

  She sat down the stairs outside her parents’ house and didn’t say anything for a full ten minutes. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Well? Are you gonna say something?”

  “Don’t do this,” Audrey blurted out. “I’ve worked with Miss Fine before and she was this close to taking my Super license from me. She’s not gonna let you slide. Her name is Elphaba for God’s sake!”

  That confused me. “What does her name have to do with it?”

  “She’s had to walk around here being called that all of her life. She’s got a chip on her shoulder. She’s not doing anyone any favors, Penny!” Audrey’s voice had gotten higher and more hysterical.

  But I didn’t care. “Just help me. Please!”

  “What makes you think I can help you?”

  “You’re my Big Super. I need a role model,” I stammered. “And I need to figure out how to get my powers working.”

  “Well, you just told me about two visions you had. It sounds more like you’re just behind where you should be. Like, you need some remedial classes or something.”

  I ignored that. “So you think I’ll develop powers as I get older?”

  “I don’t know! Visions aren’t what I do. I know about super fast healing. I get hit by a car at least six times a year. But that’s not going to help you!” Audrey finished by opening my container of cake and starting to eat it.

  “Hey! That’s mine.”

  “I stress eat! And you are stressing me the hell out right now.”

  I patiently waited for Audrey to eat my cake before I spoke again. “Well? What are we gonna do?”

  Audrey took a deep breath. “I don’t know, man. I think you might be really screwed.”

  Chapter 11

  “Where exactly are we going?”

  Audrey and I walked along Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights. When we had gone our separate ways on Monday night she was still pretty shocked. She said she needed time to think about the whole thing but she’d be in touch. I was doubtful, but true to her word she texted me the next day and told me to meet her in Cadman Plaza Park at 6:30 because she had an idea.

  “My district meeting,” Audrey huffed.

  I couldn’t tell if she didn’t want to talk or if she was just out of breath from walking so much. In fact, it seemed like she was out of breath a lot. That didn’t seem very Super-y to me but what did I know about it? “District meeting?”

  “When you graduate the Academy, you’ll get your Super license and a district assignment. That’s where you’ll be working. I talked to my district lead about you and your test. Since I don’t have any mind powers, I don’t know what will be on your entrance test. But there will be someone at the meeting who does.”

  I nodded as I took it all in. “What district do you have?”

  “Brooklyn. There are a lot of Supers working Brooklyn but for the most part we all work alone. District meetings give you a chance to see everyone.”

  “What’s the Academy like?” I asked, changing the subject.

  “Like high school. Like a really weird high school. It’s basically a bunch of kids with overactive hormones running around except instead of gym class, you learn to control your powers.”

  “You make it sound pretty normal.” I envied the casual way she talked about it. Like it was in her blood. She practically took it for granted.

  “It is. Or at least it becomes your normal.”

  “What about Big Supers? What was yours like?”

  Audrey shook her head. “They didn’t have this stuff when I was in school. Must be something new.” She pointed at a church ahead. One of those big ones with the spires and colorful windows. “We’re here. Come on.”

  I followed Audrey inside and down a few flights of stairs to the basement. We ended up in a meeting room with rows of chairs and a big refreshment table in the back. Everyone inside looked pretty normal, which surprised me but I tried not to show it. Audrey had just yelled at me the night before about not being able to tell a Super just by looking.

  Audrey motioned for me to follow and made a beeline right up to the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen. The guy was tall. Impossibly tall. He had jet-black hair, smooth creamy skin, and the most beautiful blue eyes. He looked one of the guys on the covers of the paperbacks my mom read when she didn’t think I was paying attention. I didn’t know how old he was but I wondered if I could talk him into to waiting for me until I was old enough to marry him.

  Audrey, on the other hand, seemed oblivious the insane beauty of this guy. Maybe her eyes weren’t working. She tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey.”

  “Hi, Audrey.” Even his voice was beautiful. Oh my God, I thought. How can he look like that AND sound like that?

  “This is the one I was telling you about. Penny. And this is Nathaniel, my district leader,” she added, turning to me.

  “Hi, Penny. I hear we have a problem.” Nathaniel shook my hand. It was warm and strong and I held on a little bit longer than I had intended to and then blushed when he practically had to yank it back from me.

  “Um, yeah, you see I was supposed to go to the Academy but I guess I didn’t get in because of some glitch.” I was babbling. I took a deep breath and tried to slow myself down. “Anyway, Audrey convinced them to give me a second chance and now I’m worried about the testing because I don’t have—”

  “We don’t have any idea what the tests are going to be like,” Audrey interrupted, giving me the stink eye. “So, yeah, like I told you before, we need to know what we’re up against.”

  “Right.” Nathaniel raised his hand and called over a short, blond guy with glasses. He was eating a cookie from the refreshment table. “Ladies, this is Dale.”

  Dale shoved the rest of the cookie into his mouth and used his now free hand to give us a little wave. “Hi Audrey. Hi Penny.”

  “How did you know our names?” I blurted out.

  Audrey gave me a pained look and Dale rolled his eyes. “Come on, man. I’ve got skills.”

  I felt my face get hot. “I just. . . I just didn’t think it worked that way.”

  “Just kidding! Nathaniel told me!” Dale laughed. “So you’re taking your entrance tests? Cool. What do you want to know about it?”

  “We were just wondering what kind of tests they put you through.” Audrey explained, while I stood there quietly. I’d already embarrassed myself enough for the night.

  “There are only two tests—a written test and a card test. Everyone’s written test is personalized purposely so that it’s on something you know nothing abo
ut it. And the card test is just guessing cards they hold up in front of you.”

  “That’s it?”

  Dale adjusted his glasses. “They usually give them on separate days because when you’re that young and you’re learning to use your powers, stuff like this can really take it out of you. You get migraines if you try to push yourself too hard.”

  Audrey nodded. “Right. And, just curious, how much should she be able to do right now, anyway?” She tried to say it casually but I knew what direction she was going with this.

  “Enough to pass the test.” Dale cocked his head to side a bit and focused in on me. “I mean, no one expects you to be really good at this. You haven’t been trained yet. The whole reason to go to the Academy is to figure out how to use your powers. But the tests are really basic. You should do fine.”

  Nathaniel looked at his watch. “We need to get this meeting going.” Then, louder, to everyone in the room “Everyone, time to get started. Everyone take a seat.”

  Nathaniel went to the front of the room while we found seats. As the meeting started, I kept thinking about what Dale had said. He made the test sound really easy but it probably was easy for him. He had powers. I wasn’t so sure.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out, thinking it was my mom. I needed to text her right back or she might call in the National Guard. But when I looked it wasn’t her.

  You can’t fake it.

  I didn’t recognize the number, but I texted back anyway.

  Who is this?

  Dale. The guy you were just talking to.

  I looked behind me to see Dale sitting in the chair he’d taken a few rows back. He gave me a half wave.

  How did you get my number?

  Come on.

  He followed it with three crystal ball emoji. I blushed into my phone.

  Sorry.

  I don’t normally read thoughts when I’m not working but you’re practically broadcasting yours. Like I said, you can’t fake the tests. But if you have any of the talent, you can make it stronger by practicing.

  That made a lot of sense. I might have just been grateful to get some good news. It also meant that maybe I could prepare for this whole thing somehow. But if Dale could read my thoughts, what would stop the test proctors from doing it? I asked him the question and he texted me back immediately.