The Invasion

by Katrina Kahler

  I stood. I wobbled for a moment, the narrow high heels felt foreign and unstable. I regained my balance. I felt tall. I felt grown-up. I felt powerful. I hate to say this, but I felt pretty. “These are so comfy!” I said.

  “Forget the comfort, they look great and that’s what’s important!” Dan said.

  “True,” Wendi and Patti said, nodding their heads in agreement.

  “You’re transformed!” Wendi said.

  “From nerd to decent!” Patti said.

  “Less nerd,” Wendi said.

  I knew these girls were trying in their own way to be nice, but wow, they weren’t very good at it.

  “At least you’ll look better next to us now,” Wendi said.

  “Not as good as us but better than usual!” Patti said.

  I actually regretted not dropping them with super foot odor. But, in their mild defense, they were sort of trying.

  Danny came running into the room.

  “Danny, I have not summoned you!” Dan scolded.

  Danny pointed out the window. “Look!” he shouted.

  Turning, we saw a bunch of giant blue butterflies descending on the street.

  “Oh, that’s not right…” I sighed.

  Dear Diary: See, this is what happens when I try to enjoy myself the way a normal girl would. The town gets attacked by giant butterflies. I need to face facts. My life just isn’t normal, at least not by regular standards.

  As for Wendi and Patti, I guess I kind of like them better as frenemies than as straight enemies. I’ll never be close to those two. But maybe we can reach a level of tolerance. Tolerance is good. I no longer have the urge to toss them into the sun. Which is good. Right?

  More Challenges

  I was hoping the giant butterflies would just float around and then go away. Then Super Teen wouldn’t have to do anything. Unfortunately, though, the butterflies were flapping their wings so hard they were blowing people and objects all over Main Street. The butterflies had to be stopped.

  I groaned. I finally had the mean girls being somewhat nice to me. But now, I was going to have to ditch them and go off and fight giant butterflies. Well, duty called.

  I turned to Dapper Dan. “How much for the shoes?” I asked.

  “Honey, if you have to ask, you should not come into my store!” he said.

  “Lia, don’t talk about price tags… you’re embarrassing us!” Wendi said.

  “Yeah,” Patti agreed.

  Reaching into my wallet, I pulled out Mom’s credit card that I kept for emergency purposes. “Do you take credit?” I asked.

  Dan smiled. “Of course!”

  Seemingly forgetting about the giant butterflies just outside. He walked up to the cash register and inserted my mom’s credit card into his credit card machine. It dinged. “You are good! Those wonderful shoes are yours.”

  The building started to shake a little.

  “Can I pick the shoes up later?” I asked.

  “Certainly,” Dan said. “But why?”

  I slipped on my high tech functional shoes. I turned to Dan and said, “Because I am scared to death and I am going to run away now!”

  Getting up, I ran out the door. I heard Patti and Wendi snickering.

  It was what it was.

  Patti scoffed. “I thought she was braver than that?”

  “Nah,” Wendi replied. “She’s always had a weak stomach. She probably needs to run to the bathroom. We should be glad she left.”

  Yep, so much for my progress with those girls. Oh well, I’d rather save my town than have mean girls on my side, any day. Spinning at super speed, I told Mac to activate my uniform and mask. Leaping up into the air, I surveyed the situation. There were giant butterflies everywhere, hovering over town and flapping their wings.

  They weren’t trying to be harmful, but the raw force of the flapping was sending everything flying.

  I needed to draw the butterflies away without harming them. After all, they were just doing what butterflies do. I don’t even think they realized they were super huge, each one larger than a school bus.

  “Butterflies like nectar. Right?” I asked MAC.

  “Yes, they do. They crave it!” MAC said.

  “Can you generate a nectar scent?” I asked MAC, even though I felt pretty certain I knew the answer.

  “Yes, of course,” MAC said. “I’m a little offended that you asked.”

  “MAC!” I said. “I’m not doing any of this to offend you! I just want to double check and make sure before I ask you to do something you can’t do…”

  “Fine,” MAC said. “Sorry, I’m very sensitive. I forget you are human sometimes!”

  “Very human!” I told him.

  He laughed. “Still, for a human, you are pretty good.”

  “Thanks,” I said. I noticed a swarm of butterflies flying up towards me. “I assume you activated the nectar scent,” I told MAC.

  “See, you are sharp!” MAC said. “For a human!” He added.

  Jason appeared on my MAC interface. “Lia, there’s a report of huge butterflies over Main Street!” he told me.

  “Yep, I’m dealing with it!” I said. “I’m leading the butterflies away from the city now.”

  “Good, lead them to the lab so we can study them,” Jason said. “But hang on…why were you on Main Street?”

  “Patti and Wendi took me shoe shopping!” I said, continuing on towards the lab. I could feel the wind from the butterflies’ wings on my back. It felt cool.

  “No, seriously, why?” Jason asked.

  “They said they wanted to be nice to me since I’m on the LAX team with them as well as the student council.

  “How’d you go?” he asked me.

  “Everything went well until I had to fake being scared and run away so I could draw the butterflies away!” I told him.

  “Oh, those girls aren’t going to let you live that down. I can hear their jokes now,” Jason said.

  “It is what it is!” I replied as the lab came within sight. “What do I do with my trail of giant butterflies?”

  “The lab has set up a 100-acre field just west of here. It’s full of fresh flowers and grass. They’ve created a new super nectar that should keep the giant butterflies happy while we study them.”

  Using my super-vision, I saw the field ahead. I started lowering myself towards the field. Scientists in protective clothing stood in the field waiting for the butterflies to land. I could see their excitement about the idea of studying such an incredible phenomenon.

  I glided down to the ground. The butterflies perched on large overgrown flowers. It looked like disaster had been avoided. Of course, we still had no idea where these butterflies were coming from. Plus, I really didn’t want to fight or hurt butterflies. They were, after all, just doing what butterflies do. They didn’t seem evil or have any bad intent.

  I saw Jason and Tanya walking towards me. Not coincidentally, the butterflies above froze in place. I assumed that had to be Tanya’s doing.

  I said to Tanya. “I assume you’re the one who froze the butterflies…”

  “Yes, of course,” she said. “This makes it easier for the scientists to study them without anybody getting hurt.”

  “You can leave them frozen in time like that?” I was kind of amazed at Tanya’s raw power.

  “Yep,” she told me. “Easy-peasy.”

  “You sure that your little sis had nothing to do with this?” I asked.

  Tanya looked at the butterflies. “Nah, this isn’t her style. These things are too normal.”

  “Giant butterflies are normal?” I asked. “When they were caterpillars they could fly!”

  “That just made them more efficient,” Jason said.

  “That’s not normal,” I said. “Believe me, I know not normal when I see it. I live not normal. We all do.”

  “Good point,” Tanya said. “Let me put this another way. These things aren’t distorted enough for Kayla, plus I don’t feel a temporal disturbance around
these things. They’ve been altered, but not by Kayla.”

  “Then by who…” I asked.

  “By whom...” MAC corrected. Then added. “Sorry…”

  Jason pointed behind me. “I think he might have an idea!”

  I saw Adam flying in for a landing.

  Of course, he had Zeke on his tail. Zeke was always there. For better or for worse.

  “We need to check out my uncle Eddie,” Adam said.

  “You mean the mad scientist who is in Capital City Max Security prison?” I asked.

  Adam nodded. “Yep.”

  “Could he really do this from prison?” I asked.

  “Most likely, no…” Adam said.

  “Agreed,” Jason said.

  There it was again, the two boys who I like, both working together. I kind of liked it. I kind of didn’t like it. Yeah, as I said before, I’m a complicated person.

  “Most likely isn’t a definite no,” I said.

  Tanya looked at each of us. “Hence, the reason you guys need to talk to him.” I could tell Tanya was tempted to add a ‘duh’ to that sentence, but she didn’t.

  “Even if Uncle Eddie isn’t behind these strange giant butterflies, he might give us a clue as to who is. He knows a lot of evil geniuses,” Adam said.

  “Yeah, I think they play Yahtzee together.” Zeke grinned. “Or Go Fish or Uno. You know, evil mad scientist type games.”

  “Or maybe chess?” Jason suggested.

  Zeke shook his head. “Silly Jason, mad scientists don’t play chess. It’s not challenging enough. It’s a game based solely on intelligence and strategy!”

  “How is that not challenging?” Jason asked.

  “No random factors to deal with!” Zeke told him. “Mad scientists need randomness to make things challenging.”

  “Do they?” Jason asked. “Do they?” he repeated.

  Zeke nudged Adam. “Tell him, buddy.”

  Adam hesitated and then finally said. “I’m on Jason’s side here! I think chess is much more challenging to mad scientists and evil geniuses.”

  Once again, the two boys who I sort of liked were working together, well... agreeing. Not sure I liked it. But I think I did. That couldn’t be a bad thing, right?

  Zeke stood there, arms crossed, shaking his head. “Oh, you guys with fully functioning brains and nice complexions really have no idea how evil mad scientists think. I feel a bit sorry for you.” Pointing forward, he said, “Let’s get to the prison and talk to Dr. Eddie. He’ll back me up.”

  Jason pointed in the opposite direction Zeke was pointing. “Capital City is that way!”

  Zeke rolled his eyes. Well, one of his eyes. “My way would work too, it’s just the more scenic route.”

  “He does have a point,” I laughed.

  “Of course I do!” Zeke said. “I may think differently, but different isn’t wrong.”

  “It can be,” Tanya told him.

  “Oh no, not you too, pretty Tanya…” Zeke sighed. “I thought you were on my side.”

  Tanya smirked at Zeke. “Fly away, little zombie! Go prove us wrong!”

  “I will do that!” Zeke said. He fired up his jetpack and took off.

  Tanya, Jason, and I looked at Adam. Adam grinned. “He’s my best bud, he’s way loyal. He just takes a little getting used to!”

  “Shall we join him?” I asked Adam.

  “Yes, we shall!” Adam said very formally.

  I looked at Jason. “You want to put on your flying armor too?”

  “No, four's a crowd,” Jason said. “I think, for now, I can do more here by helping the scientist team.”

  “You sure?” I asked.

  “Yeppers,” Jason said.

  Whenever he said yeppers, I knew he really meant it.

  Adam and I exchanged nods. We took off and caught up with Zeke, heading towards the high-security prison.

  Dear Diary: Business first. I don't think Uncle Eddie is behind these giant butterflies because being in jail has to limit what he can do. Also, that would be too easy. If I’ve learned anything over the last year, it’s that the universe never gives me ‘easy’. I guess because I’m super powerful, the universe tosses super obstacles in my way. No problem, they make me stronger. Still, this isn’t going to be a wasted trip. Eddie knows a lot of stuff. He should be able to give us a clue or two about who could be behind this. Mad scientists might not play Uno together, but they do follow each other’s work. I think they all want to outdo each other.

  On the life side, I once again find myself comparing Jason and Adam. The two of them are a lot alike; they’re both smart and always want to do the right thing to help the world. Yes, they also have their differences. They aren’t clones. Well, at least not of each other. But those differences just make things more interesting and fun. And confusing of course. Yep, the universe loves to throw challenges at me. I believe I am up to the task. I know I am up to the task.

  Feelings

  On the way to the maximum security prison, Zeke remained at my side. I found this odd because Zeke normally liked to stick close to his BFF, Adam. I figured he wanted to ask me something. I thought he would ask…Does Tanya like me? How about Marie? What about some other girl? Zeke tended to fall in love very easily and he wasn’t easily discouraged. On some level, I gave him kudos for that. On another deeper level, I found it frustrating to the max.

  “What’s up, Zeke?” I asked.

  “We are!” he said. I thought he was making a joke but he pointed down to the ground below us and said, “See.”

  “Yep, very good, Zeke!” I told him.

  “I’m quite observant for a person who doesn’t have a completely functional brain!” Zeke said, probably prouder about that than he should have been.

  “Yes, I get that,” I said.

  “I want to talk to you,” Zeke said.

  “Shoot,” I said.

  Zeke looked at me. “I don’t have a weapon. They don’t let me carry weapons, which is probably good because of that day when I accidentally shot myself in the butt. That hurt my butt and my feelings…”

  “Figure of speech, Zeke. Shoot means…talk to me!” I told him.

  “I am talking to you,” Zeke said. “Gee, Lia you’re a pretty girl and kind of smart but sometimes you can be a little slow…”

  “Zeke, what do you want to talk to me about?” I said the words so loudly the force of my voice blew him backward.

  Zeke flew back over to me.

  “Man, you are strong!” he said.

  “Zeke, get to the point, PLEASE!” I fought back the urge to vaporize him with heat vision.

  “You know I’m pretty observant,” Zeke said slowly.

  “I guess,” I replied.

  “Well, I can't help noticing, and you don’t have to be a Sherlock Johnson…” He started to say.

  “You mean Sherlock Holmes,” I corrected.

  “No, no, no, Sherlock Johnson…he was this smart dude on the street I grew up on. He knew, like, everything. He even had all his own teeth! And back 200 years ago that was a big deal!” Zeke said.

  I stopped flying and put my hands on my hips.

  “Please just say what you want to say. Spit it out!” I said.

  “You don’t really want me to spit. Right?” Zeke asked.

  “Nope!” I said and continued to fly.

  Zeke, staying right beside me, grinned proudly. “I like that I knew that.” He paused and then without any more hesitation he asked, “Do you like Adam?”

  “Of course I like him!” I said.

  “I mean do you LIKE like him?” Zeke asked, grinning. He quickly removed the grin from his face, trying to be serious.

  “That’s personal,” I said.

  “Okay, fair enough,” Zeke said. “Do you like Jason?”

  “Yes, Jason and I have known each other forever. He’s my best friend.” “That means Jason is to you what I am to Adam,” Zeke said.

  “I guess,” I said.

  “I never wa
nt to kiss Adam,” Zeke said. “Do you ever want to kiss Jason?”

  “Zeke, I don’t want to talk about this with you!”

  “I’ll take that as a maybe…” Zeke said. “Do you ever want to kiss Adam?” Zeke added.

  I sighed and groaned. “Zeke! That is none of your business!”

  “Oh, I disagree!” Zeke said. “You may have a point about Jason…he’s a bro but not a BFF. Adam is my BFF. I care about him a lot. I don’t want to see him get hurt. His body might be almost invulnerable but his heart isn’t.” Zeke paused for a minute. “I know I am fairly brain dead, but even I can tell that both Adam and Jason like you. Math may not be my strong point but even I understand there is only one of you and two of them. I don’t want to see my buddy hurt. But I also understand this is your choice to make… Therefore, if you are going to hurt him, I’d like to know so I can start to think about ways to comfort him; make him feel better.

  Oh my, Zeke actually made sense. I couldn’t scold him for wanting to protect his friend. “Wow, that actually makes sense…” I told Zeke.

  “I can, on occasion, make sense. Right now, so Adam can’t hear what I’m saying, I have MACC reading to him off a status report. For a guy who can’t feel pain, I am actually quite sensitive,” Zeke said.

  “I’m not sure what to say…” I told Zeke.

  “Just blurt out what’s on your mind. I find that helps. I do it all the time!” Zeke said. “I may not be rich or smart or smell good, but I’m happy.”

  My, my, here I was flying through the sky, taking life advice from a mostly-dead zombie. Never thought that would happen.

  “Look, Lia, I know I only look 15 but I’ve been undead for over 200 years now. I’ve had time to learn some things!” He smiled at me.

  I smiled back at him.

  “You’re smiling with me, not at me!” Zeke said happily.

  “Yes, I am!” I told him. “Sometimes you surprise me.”

  “Most of the time I surprise myself!” Zeke admitted. “But really, what’s the story, morning glory?” He paused. “Oops, I let my age sneak out there…”