Kiara knew everything about it; all the pieces fit into the puzzle. I knew girls were dangerous, but it became more real to me.
But she must have had one thing wrong. “But I’ve spent a lot of time with Ms. Hucklebee. Maybe I’m immune to her.” I was so happy that my head felt like it could float right off my neck. Ms. Hucklebee was my soul mate.
“No,” Kiara said. “I can smell her cooties on you.”
I got really scared! I looked on my hands and on my arms. I didn’t see anything. I felt my face with my hands, but I couldn’t feel it. Then I sniffed myself, but all I could smell was that spray stuff I got from my dad. “What do they smell like?” I asked.
“Like death.”
“I’m gonna die?” I think my heart stopped beating for a few seconds. I wanted to get up and start running and screaming, but I didn’t want to look like a big baby to Kiara. She already saw Brock push me on the ground and hit my head on the tetherball pole. There was no point in looking even stupider.
“No, Felix.” She giggled. “You just have to stay away from her for a while. Just make sure you go home and take a nice, long bath.”
I took a deep breath and calmed down. “Okay.”
I wasn’t gonna die, but my heart felt like it did. Ms. Hucklebee and I could never be. If Kiara could smell cooties on me, then it was best to stop spending recess with Ms. Hucklebee. We were officially over.
“Don’t be sad.” Kiara rubbed my back and smiled. “I may be the only girl that you can ever talk to—for forever—but at least I’m really nice.”
That was true. I might have lost one love, but at least I found my first friend. “Thanks for telling me all of this.”
I knew by the way she smiled at me that we’d be best friends forever. “You’re welcome, Felix.”
Chapter 8
School was definitely more fun when I had a best friend. Kiara liked to play on the swings, which I also really liked doing. I would push her and she would push me. It was pretty amazing how much higher you could fly when you had a friend. I wasn’t becoming any more popular with the boys, but I didn’t care about being their friend as long as Brock led them anyway.
It was kind of annoying when I got home every day. Mom would ask me a million and ten questions about Kiara. I didn’t even tell her that Kiara might have been my soul mate. She’d never stop talking if I told her that.
I didn’t know how I felt about it. I didn’t plan on growing up, so I didn’t need a girlfriend to marry. I didn’t plan on telling Kiara that either. Telling her might have upset her, and she might have convinced me to change my mind.
Kiara was really smart. She wasn’t just school smart. She was super smart. By the end of the first week of us being best friends, she told me a secret.
We were alone under a turtle statue during recess. We were getting to know each other better. She asked me a bunch of questions about myself. After I told her everything about me, she started asking things about Mom and Dad. Then I asked, “Why do you want to know so much about me?”
She shrugged. “I dunno. I guess it’s because I think you’re special.”
“You think I’m special?” I was a little surprised. She was there when I almost split my head open. “Why?”
She shrugged again. “You’re a superhero, right?”
I thought we were both dumb then. I was dumb for ever thinking that I was a superhero and saying it out loud and she was dumb for still believing it. “I thought my bruised head was proof enough that I wasn’t.”
“Maybe something was wrong. All superheroes have weaknesses. Right?”
I shook my head. I felt terrible about it, but I knew the truth. “I’m not a superhero.”
“Why did you say you were?” she asked.
“My dad said I suffer from an overactive imagination.” I pretended like I was him for a second. I held my head up and puffed out my chest. Dad was always so proper. He even used a knife when we ate barbeque ribs. The mess was half the fun!
Kiara started to laugh at me. “You can’t trust grownups.”
“Why?” I was confused. I had never thought of not trusting a grownup. The only kind of grownup Mom said to never trust was a stranger.
“They think they’re really smart, but they’re not. You see, everybody’s got something called wisdom teeth. They grow in when you start growing up, but it’s so much information that it hurts. Adults are also big babies, so they get their wisdom teeth pulled. When they do, they lose their smarts, and they’re so dumb that they think they still know what’s up.”
It made sense when I thought about grownups like my uncle, but I could never think that about my dad. “So you’re saying my parents are dumb? My dad is pretty much a doctor.”
“They’re not completely stupid. They just don’t understand some things, like who you really are inside.” She poked me in my chest and smiled.
I held the spot where she had poked and looked at it. Mom and Dad didn’t always know what I felt inside. Even when I explained myself, Dad didn’t always get me. Maybe they got something wrong. I felt something special when I put on my cape for the first time. It felt like an electric pull, joining me and my cape forever. Neither of them could really understand that. Nobody could.
Brock made me stop believing in myself. Dad made me stop believing. Even Mom made me stop believing. But maybe it was time for me to start believing in myself again. “So you think even if I hurt my head, I’m still a superhero?”
Kiara smiled. “I am.”
My eyes bucked at first, because I was shocked. Then I realized she was probably playing a game with me. “No you’re not!”
“Yes I am! My powers are that I’m super smart. I have a really high I.Q.” Kiara always talked so calm and came up with what to say so fast that she couldn’t be lying.
Still, her being a superhero was pretty hard to believe! “Prove it.” I crossed my arms and glared at her suspiciously.
“Can you spell ‘responsibility’?”
I could barely spell my middle name. “No.”
She held her head up proud. “R-e-s-p-o-n-s-i-b-i-l-i-t-y. Responsibility!”
Wow. That word had a lot of letters. “I guess you’ve proved your point.”
“That’s why you need me, Felix. I can help you with the things you don’t know. Every superhero needs some kind of adviser.”
“You mean a side kick?”
“Nope! I’m too smart to be just a side kick. I’m your partner for life.” She punched me in the arm. It was just something she liked to do sometimes. I didn’t mind. She was just a girl. She couldn’t hurt me.
“I guess that’s okay. You are my best friend.”
Kiara started changing color in her face. She must have noticed, because she covered her cheeks with her hands. “You have to find a way to get your super powers back, Felix.”
“Or what?”
“Or I’m in charge.”
The recess bell rang. She got up from under the turtle really fast, but I sat there for a second. I was nervous. What if I needed something more than my cape? I didn’t know how to get my powers back, but I couldn’t let Kiara be the leader. She didn’t even have a cape.
“Come on, Felix!” She reached under and grabbed my arm. She was pretty strong for a girl too. I couldn’t let her outdo me.
“I’m coming.” I liked that I had someone to spend recess with and that we actually talked and worked together during class. I could see her being my best friend forever, but I couldn’t let her be the one in charge. I just couldn’t.
I thought about what I could do all day long to make myself super again. I had tried wearing my cape. It was never the same as when I first put it on. I needed something else.
After I went home and was eating my snack while watching TV, I was sent a sign. The TV played a commercial about a kid who got these magical shoes. He was just a normal kid before, but when he put on the shoes, he could run faster and jump super high. He was jumping over walls and running mara
thons and beating really tall people in basketball. He could basically fly!
Then Mom came in the room to watch TV with me. As soon as I saw her, I jumped on the couch and started yelling. “Mom, buy me the special Super Max Air Shoes!”
They were the coolest looking shows I had ever seen before! They had wings on them and they had a red stripe and red laces. They lit up when people walked. All my shoes were plain and boring, but those shoes were special. I knew that I would need those shoes if I wanted to be a superhero. They could help me like my cape did.
“Stop jumping on the couch, Felix.”
I jumped off the couch, pulled on Mom’s leg, and begged! “Please! Can I have them?”
“What’s wrong with your other shoes?”
“They don’t have wings, Mom!” I wanted them so bad, more than I had ever wanted anything in the world. “Please?”
Mom didn’t like to say no to me. She would, but I knew she didn’t like it. I figured if I pouted enough and made my eyes sappy enough, she wouldn’t be able to resist. “I’ll get them for Christmas.”
“No! That’s not soon enough.”
“Felix.” Dad came out of his office with his eyebrows all pushed down on his eyes. It was his angry face. “Men don’t beg.”
“But I’m a little boy, Dad. I’m a little boy who needs a pair of shoes!” I started to whine. Dad didn’t like it, but I didn’t mean to do it. I just really needed those shoes.
“Why do you need these shoes?” he asked.
“I need to impress Kiara!”
“Kiara?” Mom squealed.
Dad still didn’t like it. “You shouldn’t have to impress your friends, Felix.”
“I don’t have to.” I knew Kiara would still like me the same. I just wanted to be special like how she was special. “I want to.”
For some weird reason, that made Dad smile a little bit. “Consider it an early Christmas present.”
I gasped and ran over to Dad for a hug. “Thank you!”
He patted me on the back a little bit. “You and your mom can go now and be back in time for dinner.”
Getting Mom and Dad to agree to get the shoes wasn’t the hardest part. It was actually getting them. Mom and I went shopping, and she drove all over town looking for those shoes. We must have gone to a bazillion stores, but the only pair I saw was way too small. I tried to put it on anyway, but Mom noticed how uncomfortable I was and wouldn’t get them.
Our trip home was a sad one. I kept thinking about all the other kids who must have taken those shoes from me. They didn’t know that they were aiding the forces of evil. How could I save the world if I couldn’t complete my powers?
I slept with my cape that night. It was off duty when I went to bed. I let it be just a blanket. I didn’t know why it wasn’t enough anymore to make me super. I needed to figure it out so I could fix it. Kiara would for sure ask me about in school the next day.
I was so sad. I didn’t want Kiara to be in charge. She was really smart, but I knew I was supposed to be in charge. I don’t remember what I dreamed about, but the dream felt really sad too.
When I woke up in the morning for school, I was dragging my feet. All I could think about was telling Kiara about how I had failed to regain my super powers. I washed up, put on my clothes, and ate breakfast like I did every morning. But when I walked to the door to put on my shoes, they weren’t where I left them.
“Where are my shoes?”
“Those things?” Mom put her finger on her chin so she could really think about it. “What did I do with them?”
Dad was standing by the door, jingling his keys. “We really have to go.”
“Oh yeah!” She laughed to herself. “I traded them.”
“You traded them?” I didn’t mean to raise my voice at Mom, but I was really surprised and upset. I needed shoes to wear. I had others, but Mom had bought me those shoes especially for school.
“Yeah, but it was for something really good.” Mom went behind the couch and pulled out a plastic bag that was in a rectangle shape. “Come look inside.”
I got really excited. Only one thing could be in there! It was the thing that I needed to regain my powers. Mom and Dad actually pulled through. I just knew they would.
I took the bag and shook it. Something was definitely inside. I reached inside the bag and took out a shoe box. I knew it had to be the Super Max Air Shoes because my heart was pumping really fast. I was already having a reaction to the shoes, and I hadn’t even touched them. Then, I opened the box.
They were amazing. They were exactly like the commercial, except they were in my size and all just for me. I took them out of the box and enjoyed the moment of feeling their power. I held them close to my heart so the super charge would be stronger.
“And what do we say?” Mom asked.
“Thank you!” I hugged her with the shoes still in my hands. Mom was always so nice and so perfect to me.
“Thank your father, too.”
I ran over to Dad and hugged him too. “Thank you, Daddy!”
He reached down and patted me on my head. “I know you’ve had a rough time in school with the bullies and hurting your head, so I wanted something to go right.”
Things were right! I put on my shoes right away. They felt like normal shoes. They were a little weird at first, but new shoes always were. I jumped up and down and then the shoes lit up. I gasped because it was so cool.
“This is perfect!” Nothing could bring me down. My day was gonna be perfect!
I made sure to take extra long steps with a little bounce so everyone in class would know that I was wearing the coolest and newest shoes of the year. Even Brock was looking at my shoes. His shoes were old and dirty. My shoes were special.
“You look happy,” Kiara told me when I sat down.
“I am,” I told her. “I’m very happy.”
“I thought only my mom got this excited about a pair of shoes.”
“Yeah, but my shoes are special.” I looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear when I whispered. “They’re what I needed to get my powers back.”
Her eyes got big. “Really?” she asked surprised. “You sure?”
“Yep. I’m a real superhero again. I’ll show you my power during recess.”
Kiara smiled. I guess she was really happy about staying my number two. That was good. She didn’t have any hard feelings about me having the better super powers.
When it was time for recess, Kiara and I went to the back of the playground near the super high fence. We went to the far, far side where no one usually went to go play. I didn’t need to show civilians all the awesome things I could do.
Kiara took a seat in the grass to watch. “Show me your powers.”
“Well…” I didn’t really try out all my powers yet, but I had a pretty good idea about what I could do.
“For starters, I’m super fast.” I started running and running all around as fast as I could go and I knew it was super fast. Nobody could run as fast as I did. I bet if ordinary kids were watching us on the playground, they wouldn’t be able to see me. When I got back to Kiara, she was so impressed!
“That was really fast, Felix.”
“That’s not the only thing. I’m also strong.” I didn’t know what I could do to prove that I was strong. I didn’t want to risk hurting Kiara, so I couldn’t use my powers on her. Nothing else was around to break, and I kind of didn’t want to try. Instead, I did a hand stand. Hand stands meant that I could lift as much as I weighed, so that was a lot.
When I got back on my feet, she clapped for me. “That’s impressive, Felix.”
“I can also heal pretty well.” I pointed to my head. “My bruise is gone.”
“I noticed.” She was giggling a lot, like she was really excited.
I liked impressing her. I needed to show her one more thing for my great finale. “I can fly too.”
“Fly?” She looked at me confused like she didn’t believe me. “You can fly
?”
I thought about it and realized that I spoke too fast. I couldn’t fly and even if it were possible, I’m sure I would have needed my cape. “Well, I can at least jump pretty high.”
I looked around and saw the fence behind us. It was really high, way higher than what any normal person could jump. “I bet I could jump over the fence!”
“Really?” She didn’t believe me!
“I will!” I saw the commercial. Those kids did amazing things with my powerful shoes, and because I was already special, I was gonna be the most spectacular kid in the world.
I backed up and readied myself for only the coolest thing ever.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Kiara asked.
“Of course I’m sure.” I was positive that I could do it. “Just watch.”
I bent my knees and focused on the fence. I planted my feet into the ground and imagined myself jumping over it and flying away. I could do it. I knew I could.
I started running as fast as I could, using my super speed. Then when I got to the fence, I bent my knees again and lifted myself up with a powerful jump.
Then I soared. For a second, I thought I was actually going to fly. I could feel the wind underneath my feet.
Then I felt the fence.
“Felix!” Kiara ran to my side. It was pretty embarrassing. That was the second time she saw me fail. “You okay?”
I was pouting. I was really angry at myself for being so stupid again. I had closed my eyes so I wouldn’t have to see her disappointed with me.
“Maybe you need your cape.”
I opened my eyes, and she was actually smiling. “You sure?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Just promise me that you won’t go jumping out of windows or rooftops.”
“What if it’s a little roof?”
“No!” she yelled. “No roofs. No windows. I mean it, Felix!” She pointed her finger in my face.
“Okay. I promise.” I wouldn’t be trying to fly any time soon or maybe ever.
“Let’s go play on the swings.” Kiara gave me her hand and helped me up. It was weird when I thought about the fact that I thought she was evil and gonna kill me. She quickly became my best buddy.
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