Emma swatted at the hands shaking her. She curled tighter around Elna Gabbie, the Cabbage Patch’s red yarn hair pressed against her cheek. But the hands kept shaking her. Then, her Charlie Chaplin alarm screamed, “Wake up! Wake up! Hurry! You’re late! You’re late!” Why wasn’t her phone alarm going off too?

Blue lightning flickered through her eyelids. Emma groaned and stared up at Nan. Her stomach groaned. Waking up exhausted sucked.

“Are you sick?” Nan asked. Bags lined Nan’s eyes and her mouth pressed tight, fine lines radiating outward.

“No.” Emma shook her head. Not sick. Exhausted. Yesterday, she’d biked home and gone straight to bed.

“Then get ready for school. Do you need me to drive you?” Nan asked, not looking convinced.

Emma glanced at the clock. 6:48 a.m. That meant Charlie Chaplin had been shouting at her for nearly ten minutes before Nan had awakened her. Why had Nan waited so long?.

Not to mention, the harps and chimes from her phone should have been going another five minutes before that… Crap. She’d left her phone with her backpack in the costume room. Ollie better have it, since Emma’d left it when she’d flown out the window to save Hannah.

Good thing morning practice was still a couple days a week. If she hurried, she’d make it to school on time. The four miles to school would take her forty minutes on her bike. She needed to get ready and leave by 7:15. That gave her half an hour to get ready.

“Don’t think so.” Emma climbed out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth.

Nan got out of her way.

“Is Hannah okay?” Emma asked.

“Why wouldn’t she be?” Nan said. “Get ready for school.”

Obedient, Emma headed back to her room and tugged on some shorts and a t-shirt. Since they hadn’t swam, she didn’t need to swap out the swimsuit and towels in her gym bag, but she did need new dry land clothes. She threw in some socks, a pair of shorts, two shirts—one short sleeve and one long.

Outside, gray clouds filled the sky, but so far as Emma knew, it wasn’t supposed to rain. Still she grabbed her Dollar Tree poncho and stuck it into the big center pocket of her duffel bag. Nan handed her an apple, and Emma raced out the door to her bike.

Either Hannah would be in Ms. Range’s class or she wouldn’t be. Hopefully, she was okay.

Emma pedaled furiously, struggling to make it to school on time. A block from school, the first bell rang. She pedaled even harder. At the full bike rack, the second bell rang while she locked her bike next to Sebastian’s.

Her stomach growled through English class. Worse, she hadn’t done her homework, but at least that didn’t seem to matter since they’d spent the whole class talking about superheroes. When the bell rang, she raced out of the classroom to go buy some food.

Three news vans were broadcasting from the parking lot near the crater Emma’s gleek-sneeze fireball had made. Valerie Virgo stood next to the crater, far paler than normal. Emma ignored them and rushed across the street. At the grocery store across the street , Emma bought a tube of cookie dough and a po-boy sandwich, then ran back, sucking cookie dough straight from the tube.

Late again, Emma froze in Ms. Range’s class.

A debate raged out of control. Everyone talked—no yelled—all at once. The voices seemed to mash together. Why didn’t high school teachers make kids raise their hands to talk like in grade school? That kept the voices from being overwhelming.

Like the morning after the supposed EastTech launch, a single question dominated the chalk board:

Does someone who has superpowers have a responsibility help to those who don’t?

What a stupid question. Yesterday, Emma could have hurt Hannah instead of saving her. Besides, she didn’t need any new responsibilities just because she got superpowers after the stupid UFO thing. With an F in English and an autism diagnosis, high school was clobbering her. No way could she handle being a superhero, too.

Across the classroom, a huge crack spidered through the parking lot window. Her fireball had done that. She needed this superhero thing to go away. Saving Hannah was one thing, but anything more was beyond her.

Hannah! Was her cousin there?

Summer and Hannah sat in their normal spots right next to each other, but an angry purple and black bruise dominated half of Hannah's face. Her left eye had swollen shut. Hannah screamed at Summer.

“Enough!” Ms. Range’s voice cut through the classroom, and all the conversations stopped.

Only Hannah and Summer kept screaming at each other.

“She destroyed Hunter’s car! If you’re going to go out and use your superpowers, you should pay to fix the damage you cause. The insurance company won’t pay for superhero damage.”

“Your asshole boyfriend almost killed me.”

“If Blake hadn’t gotten him drunk—”

“If that super didn’t save me, I’d be dead. Pancaked between the wall and his car.”

“Ladies,” Ms. Range stood at the front of the classroom, in parade rest with her hands clasped behind her back. “I understand you are both at the center of this debate. That said, avoid the profanity and give someone else a chance to talk. I’m going to restate your arguments and open up the floor for someone else.”

The eye slit on the creepy mask stared at Emma. What would it be like to be forced to wear something so awful?

Ms. Range sighed. “Ms. Lee is arguing that superheroes have a responsibility to act to save someone’s life, correct?”

“I guess so.” Hannah rubbed her arm, just below a huge black bruise.

“Ms. Sestina is arguing that unless a superhero can pay for repairs on any property damage, they should not use their powers. Is that correct?”

Summer nodded and smoothed her hair.

“Good. Then once Emma takes her seat, we’ll continue the debate in a civil tone. Remember to use our debate phrases.” Ms. Range gestured to a poster on the wall with a list of good words to use in a civil debate.

I agree because…. I disagree because… Yes, but…

Emma slunk to her seat in the middle of the front row. Her duffel bag knocked into the poor students along the edge. At least the debate meant she didn’t need to borrow paper or pencil for notes.

Emma stared up at the clock. She couldn’t hear it click over the sound of everyone talking, but the numbers on it clicked steadily forward. 10:07. Not even. Not divisible by—

“It’s great that there’s supers now,” Kyle said to her right. “I kind of like having Hannah around. I don’t want her to be pancaked.”

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Emma struggled to filter out the voices, but they were too many for her to even try to play the number game.

“I agree. Supers should protect people when they can.”

She couldn’t think. The voices washed over her.

“—Dragon Girl—”

She couldn’t think.

“—fireball—”

She needed to curl up into a ball.

“—dead—”

Not dead. No.

“—Pay for what they do—”

Emma pulled her arms over her head.

Again and again, it seemed like the whole class she had a responsibility to be out patrolling for crime, rescuing kittens from trees, righting injustices, and that sort of thing.

Emma pulled her feet under her, pinning them against the hard orange chair. She didn’t want to be a superhero. Last night had left her exhausted and broken. Besides, she wanted to fit in, not take care of everyone. Just because she could gleek-sneeze fire and fly, didn’t make saving the whole world her responsibility.

The debate continued, but Ms. Range knelt in front of her. Was the last time she cried in here really only a couple weeks ago?

“Emma, you look overwhelmed,” Ms. Range whispered while the others argued. Their voices drowned out Ms. Range’s voice. Whatever Ms. Range was saying ended with an invitation to go outside.

Emma raced out of the classroom.

The sky had turned darker gray, and Emma rubbed her arms. Despite the rain poncho in her swim bag, she hadn’t dressed warm enough for this weather. She paced the open space between the planter and the row of trailer classrooms.

In the debate, no one even considered the supers’ side. They all imagined themselves as people needing saving. No one thought about her, or what having that responsibility would do to someone. What would she have done if she’d blown up Hannah? She could hardly see to aim the fireball. No one asked how the super felt about damaging Hunter’s car or putting that massive bruise on Hannah?

Seriously. How did she feel?

Tears pricked her eyes. This was all too much. Emma needed to talk to someone. She needed to talk to the only person who knew her secret, the only one she could trust. She headed across the small quad towards Ollie’s French class. With another twenty minutes before the bell, Emma paced outside the classroom.

How could she care for everyone? She had too much going on already and couldn’t handle this.

“What are you doing?” Ollie asked, appearing from inside the classroom. “Madame Benoit asked who the crazy girl outside was.”

Emma stopped mid step. Her arms were raised halfway in the air and she’d been pacing. Had she really been flinging her arms all over the place?

“I—”

“You’re on the verge of a meltdown.” Ollie stood beside her, her hands palm outward, but didn’t touch. “I put your stuff in my gym locker.” Ollie grinned. “And Madame Benoit gave me a bathroom pass to get you away from the window. You had the whole class watching you.”

“Just what I need.” Emma glanced around, making sure no one was in ear shot and lowered her voice. “Both English and AP HuG only talked about me and what happened yesterday.”

“What did they say in Human Geography?” Ollie led the way towards the gym.

“That supers have a responsibility to use their powers to help people and because of that the flying girl that saved Hannah…”

“You don’t think being a superhero would be fun?” Ollie asked.

“God no.” Emma’s drew her shoulders up to her ears, the tension returning. She focused on keeping her hands balled into fists at her sides. “Just because I’m a weirdo who got stuck with powers…”

“You can flap. You don’t have to hide your stims with me,” Ollie said.

“What?” Emma stared at Ollie like she was still speaking French.

“Your stims. I flap sometimes too.” Ollie flung her arms up and down like Emma had been doing. “Spinning is fun too. Chewing on things. It’s okay. It’ll help you calm down. Avoid meltdown or shutdown.”

Emma’s nails dug deeper into her palms. Her shoulders were still inching up towards her ears.

She chewed her pencils to nubs and had broken more than one pen in her mouth, chewing until they burst. Nan always got on her for that. Was that an autistic thing? What about biting her nails? When she’d stopped biting them she’d starting tweezing the hairs out of her legs. It was like an addiction. Was all that part of being autistic?

“So you don’t want to be a superhero?” Ollie asked as they crossed the grass on the main quad.

“How can I? I can’t even pass freshman English.” Emma leaned against the grey gym wall. Her voice kept rising on its own. “I couldn’t even pick a job to do this stupid my future project. Now I’m stuck in special ed and I don’t know—”

“You telling me you wouldn’t try to stop someone from getting hurt?” Ollie asked with unmasked incredulity.

“Well… no.” Emma stared down at her feet. She’d needed to save Hannah, but Hannah was her cousin. Would she feel the same urge to save a stranger? “But why can’t I just keep my head down?”

“Because that’s not you.” Ollie smiled, her mouth crinkling upward until her cheeks rose into little pink hills.

Emma looked away, running her hand over the rough bricks.

“Drop it.” Ollie started walking towards the locker room so briskly that Emma almost had to jog to catch up. “I’m excited about the play. I mean I’m just a freshman, and my part’s so small—”

“What’s going on?” Emma asked.

“Don’t look,” Ollie whispered. “There’s a big, scary dude coming up from the office. He must have seen us outside, and it’s not break. Talk to me about the dance or the play. We’ll finish this conversation in the locker room.”

“Hey! What are you doing outside during class?” the man shouted.

Emma turned so fast her hair hit her in the face.

Ollie stiffened.

The man looked chiseled out of granite. He had a gray buzz cut, a gray suit that looked pressed and neat, not like Mr. Wale’s crumpled ones. Even broader through the shoulders than the senior swim guys, he screamed authority. Just looking at him made Emma’s eyes water. She couldn’t bring her gaze up to meet his.

Ollie held up her bathroom pass, a large serving spoon with the word bathroom and a toilet printed on it. Then she pointed at the locker room doors.

"We’re going to the girls’ lockers," Emma said.

“Both of you?” The man squinted at Ollie.

"Ollie is a girl." Emma’s voice came out clipped and hard. Just because her friend’s hair was short didn’t make her a boy. Even if she had a boy’s part in the play, it worked because they didn’t have enough boys and they did make-up and costumes and stuff.

“Who are you?” Ollie put her hand on the locker room door. “You’re not a teacher. Are you a new security guard?”

“No, I’m from EastWatch AstroTech and the Feds contracted us to investigate these supposed super appearances.” He handed them each a card.

“John Johnson?” Ollie asked, reading her card. “What kind of a made-up name is that?”

Emma elbowed Ollie. No need to antagonize the big scary guy who was looking for her.

“Stepdad adopted me. Can’t help my first name was already John.” He shrugged. “Who are you?”

“Can’t we just go pee?” Ollie asked.

“Were you girls there last night?" He put a funny emphasis on girls like he didn’t believe that Ollie was one. “Don’t lie to me. I have a list from the teachers who were.”

Ollie slumped, her whole body collapsing on itself, her hand pulling away from the door. She glanced towards the man, then looked away.

“I was there. I’m Ollie Oren. I’m in the play.”

Emma swallowed hard when he turned to her.

“And were you—”

“Emma’s grounded,” Ollie interrupted, her words streaming out all in a rush. “She left right after swim practice. Missed the whole thing by about fifteen minutes.”

Emma froze. Another reason she shouldn’t do this super hero thing. She couldn’t lie to save her life.

“Emma…” The man somehow managed to glare at them while scrolling through his tablet. “Not Emma Edgin?”

“Uh… yeah.” Emma risked a glance at his face.

A heavy brow hid his eyes.

She rocked, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Why couldn’t she stand still? Nan always said it made her look guilty and unladylike.

“Hannah’s cousin.” Ollie said. “Hannah is the one that almost got squished by that douche’s car.”

“Ollie!” Emma shouted. It came out way louder than she intended. She hadn’t even meant to say anything let alone shout.

“Right.” The granite man coughed, covering his mouth. “You weren’t there though?”

Emma shook her head. “I left right after swim practice. I didn’t hear about the whole thing until this morning.”

“Can anyone vouch for your location?” the man stared down at her with light brown eyes, surprisingly like her own.

Emma shook her head. “I bike home alone, it takes about half an hour, but Nan didn’t get home from bingo until after I went to bed.” Tears pricked her eyes.

“Didn’t the government say supers are a hoax?” Ollie asked.

“That’s why I’m investigating. To verify that this is just a series of hoaxes.” The man frowned. “I’ll be interviewing the witnesses to this so-called superhero activity once I get settled in.”

“Please, I got to pee.” And it wasn’t a lie. She hadn’t realized it until now. Her bladder started screaming at her that if she didn’t go right now, she’d pee her pants.

The man sort of waved his hand, and Emma took that as a sign that they could go. Emma sprinted into the locker room and slammed into the stall before the outside door shut.

Crap! It didn’t matter if being a superhero was fun, too much, or dangerous. Ollie was right. Emma needed a costume that hid her identity and a superhero name. Otherwise, the Super Commission would get her.