Superkid

by Christina Barr

  Then I remembered again. I was a good boy. I couldn’t punch him first, and I wasn’t gonna upset Mom. She already didn’t want to take me to Pizza World. I should have been on my best behavior.

  “Come on,” I told my friends, “let’s go.”

  We all started walking away toward my mom. She had our food waiting for us. We didn’t have any time to deal with common scum when pizza was waiting for heroes.

  “Aw,” Brock teased. “Saved by your mommy!”

  Kiara got mad and turned around to face Brock again. “This isn’t over,” she warned.

  We didn’t have time, so I grabbed her shoulder and pulled her away to the table where Mom was waiting.

  “What was that about?” Mom asked.

  I felt pretty guilty, even though I didn’t start anything. “Don’t worry, Mom. Everything is okay.”

  It was really okay. Mom got plenty of pepperoni pizza and cheesy bread sticks. Mom didn’t buy us pop because she was careful about me drinking it. Dad said I needed to concentrate on stuff that would make my bones strong, so I drank a lot of milk. He wouldn’t even let me have a lot of juice. Sometimes it bugged me having a dad that’s a dentist, but he said that I would be grateful to have all my teeth when I got older.

  “Felix,” Mom said, “I need to use the bathroom.” She pointed at me very seriously. “Do not move from this table, Felix. You, Li, and Kiara stay right here until I get back.”

  Kiara smiled. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Brown. I’m sure we’ll be too busy enjoying this delicious meal you so graciously purchased for us.”

  “I’m serious,” she warned.

  “We promise,” I said.

  Mom was watching us carefully when she walked off. She had to keep turning around until she went around the corner to the bathroom. She was always so scared that something bad would happen, like I was a baby. I didn’t need to be watched all the time.

  Kiara was also watching. She was keeping her eye on Mom until she couldn’t see her anymore. “Now that your mom is gone, let’s talk a little bit.”

  “How did my training go?” Li asked.

  “It’s going fine,” I said. I got all carried away with the whole race thing, but there wasn’t really a point in mentioning how I beat him. Boys know and can respect who is really the best. I didn’t need to rub it in his face. “You’re small, but you’re fast. I bet we could really use you.”

  Li smiled really big. “You’re really fast too.”

  We started to get into the pizza. Li could barely reach over the table and get it himself. There’s a big difference between five and six. He probably couldn’t understand it because he was five, but it would all become clear when he was six. I guess that’s why it bugged me that Kiara was really five, but she did have a super brain.

  “And we’re strong,” she said. Then she started laughing. “You should have seen us take out Brock and his buddies.”

  “Are they bad guys?” Li talked with his mouth full. Mom told me I should never do that. Little Li still needed to learn so many things.

  “They’re bullies.” As much as I didn’t like Brock, I didn’t want Li to arm himself with that stick and start beating Brock on the head. He was just a little kid. Brock was evil—not super-world-in-danger kind of evil—just the plain normal kind. “They’re nothing we can’t handle.”

  I saw that Brock had a long table with a bunch of kids sitting at it. The table had balloons and table cloths that said: “Happy Birthday!” on them. I didn’t get why the kids liked him. Couldn’t they see that he was bad? Was he making them bad too? Did they dislike good? Was that why they didn’t like me?

  “You don’t wanna go play with Brock, do you?” Kiara sounded all sad and looked worried.

  “No!” I said. “I don’t wanna play with him. I just don’t understand why he’s popular.” I frowned. I didn’t mean to get all upset about it. It shouldn’t have even been bothering me.

  Kiara put her hand on my shoulder and shook me a little bit. “Don’t worry about them,” she said.

  “Yeah!” Li cheered. “You two are good guys. You help people. That’s cooler than being popular.”

  “And even if you think it’s not,” Kiara smiled, “know that having me as your friend is.”

  I laughed. I was being silly. It was way better having Kiara as my friend, and Li was a cool new friend too. “But next time when one of us gets stuck, we don’t leave them behind.”

  Li put his head down. I guess he felt bad. “Sorry.”

  He wasn’t the only one. I looked at Kiara and remembered how I left her behind on purpose so I could prove I was better. “I’m sorry.”

  She shook her head. “It’s okay.” Then she smiled. “Besides, we all know that I would win fair and square in a race.”

  Li and I gave Kiara a funny look. “No you wouldn’t!” I said.

  “Without your magic shoes?” She laughed. “Oh please!”

  I had that feeling again. It was the same one I had when Mom talked about Superkid being a costume. It was like I was being made fun of, but they didn’t understand how much they were teasing me. “I’m still a boy, and you’re a girl!” I told her. Those were the facts whether she liked them or not. That meant that I was better.

  She rolled her eyes. “Girls grow up faster than boys. I’ll be done when I’m like eighteen. You won’t be done until you’re like twenty-five.”

  Suddenly, I wasn’t that mad at her anymore. Every time I thought about growing up, I got kind of sad. I didn’t like that it was gonna happen, but twenty-five years was so far away into the future. “I’m glad it takes that long.”

  “Why?” Li asked, with his mouth full again.

  “I don’t wanna grow up,” I said.

  “Everybody does some day,” Kiara said, and she was actually smiling about it. “But when you’re a man, then you’ll be unstoppable. Think of all the good you could do. You’ll be faster and stronger and handsome.”

  I pouted and pushed my plate of pizza away. I suddenly wasn’t all that hungry. “Well, my grandpa’s the oldest person I know, and he’s not fast, strong, or handsome. He’s all wrinkly.”

  “That’s what happens when you get really old.” Kiara talked like it was normal and that it didn’t bother her at all. “Then one day, you die.”

  How could anyone want to grow up? One day you would forget how to have fun and you’d care more about teeth than juice and candy. You’d read the newspaper for the boring stuff instead of the comics. You’d have to get a job instead of playing with friends; if you didn’t have a job, you’d just be lonely in the house all day. Then after that, you’d start to get wrinkly; you’d get short again, and if you still had hair, it would turn white. Then one day, you’d fall asleep and wouldn’t wake up, and everybody left would cry. Why would anyone want that?

  Growing up scared me. It was more than consequences and responsibilities. I didn’t want to lose what I had. I didn’t want what mattered to me to go away, and I didn’t want to die.

  “I wanna grow up,” Kiara said quietly.

  “Why?” I was shocked. Why would she want to do that to herself? Why would she want to leave me?

  “I wanna be a woman.” She didn’t look at me when she talked. She looked right ahead at her carton of chocolate milk and tapped on it with her fingers. “I wanna bake cookies without Mom having to watch me. I wanna be pretty and tall like my mom. I don’t wanna be scared to lose my baby teeth, because I’ll look funny. I wanna get married and have a real baby that’s mine. I don’t like dolls that much. They’re not real.”

  Then she put her milk down and looked at me like she was mad. “And I want my dad to stop acting funny when I play with you. He says I’m not allowed to…” She closed her mouth shut.

  “To what?” I asked.

  “Nothing.” She got all shy and turned away from me. “You don’t understand, Felix. Boys wanna be young so they can be stupid and do dumb things like play in the mud and eat boogers.” Then she looked at me, and
she seemed really sad. “Girls wanna grow up so they can be beautiful.”

  “I don’t eat boogers!” Li yelled.

  I didn’t either, but I don’t know why I didn’t tell her that. I didn’t know what I should say. I had that mushy feeling again, but it was more than mush. It felt bad inside, like I felt bad for her. I didn’t know how to explain what it was or how to make the feeling go away for either of us, so I kept my mouth shut. She was younger and already smarter than me. I didn’t want to look even stupider.

  “Everybody grows up,” she said, “and when you grow up, you’ll like it and you’ll like who you grow up with.” Then she smiled, but it didn’t seem like a really fun and happy smile.

  “Oh!” Li yelled. “I’ve got a question.”

  “What kind of question?” I asked him. It was better than the bad, mushy feeling anyway.

  “Are we really superheroes or not?”

  I guess I did forget to explain everything to Li. He must have been really confused. “We are, but nobody else can know. It’s a secret to protect our families.”

  “But you don’t have any powers,” Kiara said quickly to Li. “So don’t do anything stupid like jump off any tall jungle gyms or fight a second grader.”

  “I understand.”

  Mom came back from the bathroom after that, so we stopped talking about superhero stuff. I started eating pizza and bread sticks again. I guess I wasn’t too upset after all. Pizza must have had super powers too. I planned on eating a lot of it as a study.

  Dad came in a couple of minutes after that too, and he had ice cream. My day just got a whole lot better.

  “Did you get chocolate?” I asked.

  “Our favorite flavor?” he asked. “Of course.” Dad rubbed his hand in my hair, but I didn’t even care. He was allowed to do it when he brought me ice cream.

  “I like strawberry,” Kiara said. “But chocolate is nice.”

  Dad took it out of the grocery bag, and it had three different colors on the tub. “It’s the chocolate, strawberry, vanilla combination.”

  My eyes got huge. When you eat chocolate with vanilla and you mix it, it’s like you just made the chocolate double! “You’re the best, Dad!”

  Mom got mushy eyes and grabbed Dad. “I agree.” Then she kissed him, and I stuck out my tongue.

  “Yuck!” I hated when Mom and Dad kissed. It was so gross. There should have been a rule that banned parents from kissing each other in front of their kids. It’s too weird.

  I was the only person who didn’t like it though. Li was busy licking his lips when he looked at the ice cream and Kiara…

  I don’t know what kind of look she had on her face. She was smiling, but she kind of had sleepy eyes, but she wasn’t tired. She had her elbows on the table and was holding her head up with her hands. I didn’t get it, so I kept looking right at her until I could understand. Then all the sudden, she looked at me, and her smile found more room on her face and doubled in size. It was kind of scary.

  If I didn’t know any better, I would think she just gave me cooties. That was impossible, but for some reason, I was scared. I was really, really scared.

  “Are you gonna beat Kiara in a race?” Li asked me.

  I didn’t want to be scared of Kiara, and I still needed to prove to her that I was better. “Sure.”

  Then she snapped out of her weird look. “Fine,” she said. “After ice cream, I’ll beat you.”

  We ate our ice cream as fast as we could. I kind of got a brain freeze, but I was ready to dust her in a race to the slide.

  Li wanted to race too. It wasn’t a big deal. I could beat both of them easy. We all made sure we were standing the same distance from the net. There was another way in that would have been closer to the slide, but we all agreed to go the exact same way as before.

  “Ready?” Kiara asked.

  “Get set!” I yelled. I bent my knees and focused. I could beat everyone without my shoes. I knew I could. “Go!”

  We all took off. It was clear that Li was the slowest, even though Kiara was the same age as him and a girl. I was in the lead, which was what I expected. She was fast though. I thought I’d be going by so fast that she wouldn’t be any competition, but I was wrong. I had to do my best.

  She started to get a little behind on the net. She didn’t get caught like before, but I was better at climbing things. Then I knew I could make a big lead when I got to the ball pit. Someone had brought the swing back to the starting point. After I got on it, she would have to go in the ball pit, which would slow her down enough for me to win.

  “So long!” I jumped, grabbed the handles, and started swinging. I was so pumped.

  Then suddenly, a bunch of kids jumped up from the empty ball pit screaming and waving their arms. It surprised me, but I didn’t let go. Then when I was about half way, they started grabbing me! I tried to kick them away, but I couldn’t.

  “Felix!” Kiara yelled.

  I couldn’t hold on anymore and I fell in. “Help!” There were like five or six boys attacking me. I couldn’t really see. All the bright and colored balls turned dark, and I could only see a little bit of light through the cracks. I wanted to get up, but I felt their arms holding me down, and I could hear laughing. They were all laughing at me again.

  Then, I heard a really loud and high-pitched screamed. “Leave my Felix alone!”

  I heard boys starting to scream, and some of their arms disappeared. Kiara was definitely attacking them.

  “I’m coming,” Li yelled. He started helping too.

  After they got two or three off of me, I was able to fight my way up. Li had jumped on someone’s back; Kiara had someone pressed up against the wall of the ball pit crying. They were all guys from my class, but they weren’t Brock’s minions, which meant that his evil was spreading.

  I tried to reason with them. “Why are you doing this?”

  Then one of them hit me in the head with one of the balls. It didn’t really hurt, but that wasn’t the point. I got mad and threw a ball at his head as hard as I could. Then it became a war. Everyone started throwing balls at each other. Everyone was screaming and yelling. I didn’t understand how it all happened that way. I didn’t do anything. There wasn’t any reason to interrupt my race. They were waiting for me to come in so they could attack me. They were up to something.

  “Felix!”

  I froze in place, but everyone else jumped and turned around. My dad had climbed the net and was standing right outside of the ball pit. He didn’t yell that much. He didn’t have to. He was scary enough without making his voice loud. I was terrified.

  Kiara was really nervous, and I never saw her so shaken up before. “They attacked Felix!” Kiara yelled.

  Dad pointed to me, Kiara, and Li. “You three, out! We’re going home.”

  Li and Kiara moaned and started walking toward Dad right away. I was still a little shaken up.

  “Now, Felix.”

  Then I snapped back and started running. I don’t think I deserved a spanking, but I sure did want to make sure that I wasn’t gonna get one.

  The other boys were scared of my dad too. He kept glaring at them. Then he pointed. “You all are very lucky that you’re not my boys, but I will be informing all of your parents.”

  That would teach them a lesson. They might also hate me more, but at least they would get what they deserved.

  Mom was waiting by the net upset too. She had her arms crossed, and she was tapping her foot. That was a bad sign. “Felix—”

  “It wasn’t his fault,” Dad told her. “Some boys jumped him.”

  Then Mom looked like she melted, and she attacked me with hugs and kisses. “Oh, Mi Niño!”

  I felt really embarrassed. I didn’t care when she hugged and kissed me at home when we were alone. There were too many kids around and I didn’t want anyone to think that I was a momma’s boy. A momma’s boy was like the worst thing I could possibly be.

  “He’s fine,” Dad told Mom. “Let the boy g
o.”

  Mom frowned, but she let me go. “Why didn’t you tell me you were being picked on?”

  “Because, I can take care of it,” I said. I didn’t want to talk about that with Mom. It made me feel like a big baby, especially because I knew she would freak out about it for the rest of my life.

  “And Kiara made one of the boys cry!” Li said excited.

  Kiara smiled. “And Li did a good job too.”

  Mom was still upset about the ball pit attack. I wasn’t hurt. None of us were hurt. We were better than not hurt. We were strong, and we proved it. I felt good about taking on all those guys. We were outnumbered in a surprise attack, and we still won without super powers. That proved that we were meant to be a team.

  Mom couldn’t see all that. She was still scared for me. “Well, let’s go. Felix and Li, you can ride with me. Your dad can take Kiara home.”

  I couldn’t look at her. “I wanna ride with Dad.”

  Dad looked surprised. We had a good bonding day, but it didn’t really amount to all the time I spent with Mom. It was really important, but Mom was the better person to ride with.

  “Oh. Okay,” she said a little bit sad.

  Kiara came and stood next to me. “And I wanna ride with Felix.”

  I decided to finally look at Mom. She was hurt, but I didn’t want to smother her like she was trying to smother me.

  “Why don’t you take Li home?” Dad told her. “It’ll give me and Felix a chance to bond some more.”

  She smiled. “Okay.” Her voice didn’t sound like she was smiling though.

  We all walked over to our shoes so we could leave. Li forgot where his shoes were, so we had to look around a little bit. It wasn’t hard to find black shoes. Kids with little feet usually liked colorful shoes with cartoons on them. Kiara remembered where her shoes were.

  I thought I remembered where I put mine, but I didn’t see them where I thought I left them. “That’s weird.” I looked around near the shelf, but I didn’t see them. “Do you guys see my shoes?”

  They both started looking around for them. They looked on the floor, because some kids accidently knocked some down, but they weren’t on the floor. I started tossing all the shoes from off the shelves so I could make sure that I wasn’t looking over them when I checked.