Out of this World Read online

Tanya put her arm around me. We watched the medical people work on Zeekee.

  “His vitals are good. I think once he becomes conscious again, he will be fine in a day or two,” the person said.

  I nodded with relief.

  Jason and Lori arrived on the scene. Jason ran up to me just as the medics started to carry Zeekee away. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I said.

  “From what I hear, Zeekee will be fine too,” Jason said.

  I shook my head. “No thanks to you!”

  Jason took a step back. Tanya put her hand on my shoulder. Everything around me froze into place. Tanya stepped in front of me. “Be careful with your words here, Lia!”

  “If Jason hadn’t reported Zeekee to Dad in the first place, none of this would have happened!” I insisted.

  Tanya waved a finger in my face. I figured she was probably the only person in the world besides Mom or Grandma, who could get away with that. “Lia, those electric thingies would have found Zeekee if he was at your house. But you wouldn’t have had an entire staff of medical and security personnel to deal with them. By telling your dad about Zeekee, Jason may very well have saved Zeekee’s life. Now, I’m going to start time again. I want you to think about your words.” She grinned, “Don’t make me revert you into a baby!”

  I felt pretty confident I could stop Tanya before she actually turned me into a baby, but her words still made sense. Maybe I had been a bit, just a bit hard on Jason. “Can you turn time back a little so I didn’t say what I said to Jason?” I asked.

  “I could, but I’m not going to,” Tanya said. She walked behind me and time started up again.

  Before Jason could respond I said, “Jason, I’m sorry. I should never have said that. I know you were only doing what you thought was best for me and Zeekee.”

  “Mostly for you,” Jason replied.

  I gave him a little grin. “I appreciate it.” I started walking out of the room to check on Zeekee. “I’ll talk to you later, Jason.”

  “Later,” Jason said.

  Dear Diary: Man, I was scared those things might have really hurt Zeekee. I don’t think I’ve ever been so worried in my life! Not sure what that means. But Zeekee gets me. At least I think he does. I hope his does. Funny how he knew I still don’t 100% trust my dad. Yeah, he’s my dad but he still left both Mom and I. I like to believe he means well, I do…I just hope I’m not being naïve. Being super doesn’t make me totally aware of things. Too bad I can’t read minds. I guess I could use my command voice to make Dad tell me if I can trust him, but then he might not ever trust me again if I did that. He’s my dad, I want to give him the benefit of that and believe that I can trust him.

  As for Jason, I’m still so mad at him. Not because I think he was jealous of Zeekee (which he still might be), but because he didn’t trust me to protect Zeekee. Of course, he might have shown good sense there, since Zeekee did get attacked while I was in the room with him. One thing I know is that Jason always means well. Man, I am confused.

  Friends

  I received a text from Jason early on Monday morning, right before school.

  JASON>Hey…

  LIA>Hey

  JASON>How’s Zeekee?

  LIA>MAC tells me he’s still sleeping but they expect him 2 b fine.

  JASON>That’s great!

  LIA>Yep

  JASON>Walk to school together?

  LIA>Not today…

  JASON>OK C U there.

  LIA>Sure

  I felt kind of bad giving Jason the cold shoulder again. But I still couldn’t shake the feeling that Zeekee would have been fine if he’d stayed at home with me to look after him.

  When I got downstairs, I found Mom sitting at the kitchen table. She had made me a plate filled with bacon, eggs, French toast and fresh fruit. Mom knew that being super meant I needed a lot of calories to power me.

  “Heard you had a crazy day yesterday,” Mom said, sipping on a cup of steaming coffee.

  I sat and started gobbling down the bacon. “Yeah, nothing I couldn’t handle.”

  “I hear your alien friend got hurt. Your dad said he took a lot of volts. He was lucky you were there to step in.”

  “Just being a hero, Mom.”

  “How are you doing?” Mom asked. “MAC sent me a read out from your suit. You took enough of a jolt to stop a school of whales….”

  “I’m fine,” I told her. “I’m like way strong,” I grinned.

  “I looked at your friend’s medical records, he’s going to be fine. Everything seems stable. His alien body just needs time to recover.”

  I smiled and cut into the French toast. “I can’t wait until I can talk to him again.”

  “So, why are you mad at Jason?” Mom asked.

  “I’m not mad,” I insisted. “I’m disappointed. He didn’t trust me.”

  Mom reached across the table and grabbed a red juicy raspberry off my plate. “Honey, I don’t know a lot of things. But I do know that Jason trusts you.”

  I ate a couple more raspberries before Mom could nab them from me. I sighed. I knocked Mom off her chair and also blew her plate to the floor.

  Shep jumped in on the opportunity to clean the floor for us.

  “Sorry!” I said, standing up to help her to her feet. “Sometimes I forget my own strength!”

  Mom laughed. “Part of the deal when you are a mom to a superhero. Just glad you had fresh breath. But it’s nice to see your power is still growing.”

  “Plus, Shep, really scored some tasty human food,” I added.

  “Just glad I was pretty much finished eating,” Mom said with a grin. “Do me a favor kiddo, give Jason a break. The boy is your best friend.”

  I sat down and got back to eating. “I will,” I said. “Just not today.”

  Once again, I headed to school alone. I admit I did kind of miss Jason’s company. But I looked at this as a time to think; a time to collect my thoughts about the coming day. After school would be my first Student Council meeting. Now that I was class president, I needed to decide what would be the best way to help my class and the school, and maybe even our community. Sometimes older people don’t give kids enough credit, I wanted to do something to show them we care about what’s going on around us.

  We had the dance coming up, thanks to Steve’s dad who was sponsoring it. I thought we could maybe suggest that everybody who comes to the dance, donates a dollar or two to the city beautification fund. Yeah, I liked that idea. Maybe I could even get them to donate their time.

  I bumped into something. The weird thing was, I couldn’t see anything. I reached out to feel for whatever was blocking my path. I felt a jolt of energy pass through my arm. I staggered backward but didn’t fall.

  “What the heck?”

  A voice, neither male nor female said, “Lia of Earth, I am Gaadaa, personal robotic bodyguard of High Leader, Zela. Your people are hiding Zeekee Zaxxx from his mother, our leader. You will surrender him to us, or else!”

  “Or else what?” I asked.

  “I am so glad you asked!” Gaadaa said.

  I heard a high-pitched tone ringing in my ears. I slapped my hands over my ears. The sound still echoed through my body.

  “Your primitive efforts to stop me from harming you will not work! This tone has been designed by our best scientific minds specifically to harm you.”

  I staggered backward. With the sound clanging in my head, seemingly bouncing from ear to ear, I found it hard to stand.

  “Hey, Lia, are you okay?” I heard a familiar voice that I couldn’t quite recognize. The words seemed to be in the background of my mind. “Lia, what’s going on?”

  I wanted to answer, but I couldn’t. I needed to focus all my attention on just standing.

  “Stop!” I shouted.

  For a second, the sound stopped bombarding my brain. I leaped forward, swinging wildly.

  “You are powerful, indeed,” Gaadaa told me. “But even you cannot hit what you cannot see. Wait! What is h
appening to me?” Gaadaa screamed.

  A large square cheese humanoid appeared in front of me.

  “What the? I got attacked by a robot made of cheese?”

  Marie smiled and popped out from behind the now cheesed Gaadaa. “It wasn’t originally made of cheese,” Marie told me. “I just thought cheese would be more fitting.”

  I hit the cheesed robot with heat vision, turning it into a pile of melted cheese for the birds.

  Jason came up and put his hand my shoulder. “You okay?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, weird experience, but I’m fine.”

  “I saw you were in trouble and sent out a mass text to the team,” Jason said. “Marie was the closest. Good thing her powers were best suited to handle something like this.”

  Marie grinned. “I’m just glad I only turned that nasty robot to cheese and not everything else around it. The training with your dad’s people at the lab has really helped me.”

  Lori and Jess ran up to us. “Is it over? Did I miss the action?” she asked.

  Jess pointed to the pile of cheese. “I’m guessing, yes.”

  Lori smiled at Marie, “Did you do that?”

  “Yes!” she admitted proudly.

  Lori held up her hand to give Marie a high five. Marie slapped Lori’s hand. Lori turned to cheese.

  “Oops,” Marie said. “I guess when I get excited, my power still sneaks out!” She took a deep breath. She touched Lori on the shoulder. Lori turned back to the original Lori.

  Lori looked at us all looking at her. “What, why are you all staring at me like that?”

  “No reason,” I said.

  “Nothing to see here,” Jess smiled.

  “Everything is normal,” Marie grinned.

  “Let’s get to school,” Jason suggested.

  “Did you turn me into cheese again?” Lori asked Marie.

  The rest of us just giggled.

  “You did! Didn’t you?” Lori persisted.

  “Not on purpose!” Marie told her.

  We laughed and continued on our way to school.

  Jason and I walked silently for a few minutes. “It’s nice to be walking with you again,” Jason told me.

  “I have missed you a little,” I admitted. “And thanks for the save.”

  “I do always have your back!” Jason told me. “You know that, right?”

  I gave him a nod.

  “I need to hear it from you,” Jason insisted.

  “Yes, I know you have my back. You always have and you always will,” I groaned.

  Jason smirked. “Now, that wasn’t so hard!”

  “Why don’t you trust Zeekee?” I asked Jason.

  Jason looked me in the eyes. “I don’t know him well enough yet to trust. He’s a guy who literally just fell from the sky. He might be the most trustable guy in the universe. But he hasn’t done anything to earn my trust.”

  “Fair enough,” I nodded.

  Jason grinned. “But Lia, I do trust you. And if you trust Zeekee, I will trust your trust.”

  “Thanks, buddy,” I said, smiling at Jason for the first time in days.

  Jason’s grin widened.

  “Wow, I needed that,” he said. “I really don’t like it when you’re mad at me. It’s an experience I don’t think I’ve ever had and one I don’t want to go through ever again.”

  “Agreed! You definitely want to stay on my good side,” I told Jason with a little wink.

  “You ready for your first student council meeting?” Jason asked.

  I shrugged. “We’ll see. Truthfully, I’d rather be fighting robots from outer space.”

  “Did you really turn me into cheese again?” Lori asked Marie.

  We all laughed as we walked into the school.

  Dear Diary: I must admit, my world didn’t seem quite right when I was mad at Jason. I’m glad we’re getting along again. I hate to say this, but Jason MAY have been right. Being at my dad’s lab MAY be the safest place for Zeekee. After all, that robot thing had me in trouble. Yeah, I have been in trouble before and always fought my way out of it, but this time it certainly helped that Jason and Marie were there. These aliens sure are alien to me. They seem to know a lot more about me than I do about them. That’s not good. When Zeekee wakes up, I’ll have to talk to him. I need to be better prepared in the future. I want to keep Zeekee safe of course, but I want to keep my world safe too! It’s a good thing I have my team.

  School Governing

  The school day went by as smoothly as a school day could. Truthfully though, the day actually dragged by a bit as I anxiously awaited my first school council meeting. Of course, I did have this conversation with Steve on my way to lunch…

  “Oh hi, Lia. Imagine meeting you here!”

  “Yeah, imagine meeting you in the lunch room, the same room as all the other students in the school.”

  “So Lia, have you thought about the dance?”

  “Being the new class president, I have.”

  “So Lia, what are your thoughts on the dance?

  “I’m glad you asked, Steve!”

  “You are?” his face started to beam.

  “Yes, I think we can use the dance to build a little community awareness. I’m going to have a volunteer table where we’ll get kids to donate money or their time to help make Starlight City even nicer.”

  “Oh,” Steve said. He thought about what I had said. “That’s actually a good idea.”

  “Thank you, Steve.”

  Steve looked down at his shoes. “Have you given any thought about who you might go with to the dance?”

  “Yes, yes I have,” I said.

  Before I could say anything else, Steve’s face lit up again. “Oh who? Is it somebody I know?”

  I nodded. “Yes, I’m going with some of my teammates. They can help me at the volunteer table.”

  “Oh,” Steve said, seemingly trying to sink into the floor. “Do you think you’ll have time to maybe have one dance with me?”

  “I’ll do my best to fit you in for one dance,” I said.

  “A slow dance?” Steve asked.

  “Let’s not push it, Steve!” I pointed to the cafeteria. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to eat while I still have time.”

  “Right, right,” Steve said. “See you later at the council meeting. I’m my homeroom rep!”

  “That’s nice, Steve!” I told him.

  While our school did house middle school kids and high school kids in the same building, the two student councils were separate. Therefore, being the oldest grade in the middle school meant that I was not only my class president, I was also the leader of the student council. Which meant (much to my surprise) that not only did I have to come up with ideas for my class, but I also needed to run the meetings and come up with ideas that were good for the entire school. I thought, no problem. If I can fight alien wisps and robots, then I can handle a room filled with middle school student politicians.

  I could sense though, that my nano deodorant had to work overtime to keep me fresh smelling. I told myself that it was a great thing my dad was back in my life to help me with cool technology like that.

  When I arrived at the classroom that would hold the meeting, I noticed I was the last one there. The student council sat at a big round table in the middle of the room, and there was just one spare seat. I headed towards that seat. Of course, it would be situated between Wendi and Patti.

  “Well, look who has decided to turn up, the queen of the student council,” Wendi scoffed.

  “Do you want us all to bow?” Patti smirked, standing up as if I were royalty.

  “Yes, Patti. Bow to me!” I said in my command voice. Yeah, it was a bit petty, but I wasn’t in the mood for any mean girl games. Time to show them I meant business.

  Patti raised her arms over her head and bowed down on the table. “As you wish!” Patti said.

  I sat down next to her. “Rise!” I ordered.

  Patti sat up. Wendi shot her a why the heck did you do
that look. Patti only shrugged. I fought down the urge to smile. Yeah, I know I should have felt bad about using my power like that, but really, Patti had it coming. She’s actually lucky I didn’t make her cluck like a chicken. In a way, I had restrained myself.

  “Okay, we all know each other,” I said. “So I don’t think there’s any need for introductions. Is there?”

  I looked around the table. Everybody shook their heads. I got the feeling that most of the kids thought the less they talked, the better. But not Wendi, of course.

  “Well, since I have the most experience at student council, I can lead if you wish,” Wendi told me.

  “That’s okay, Wendi. I can handle this.”

  “But…”

  “Wendi, sit there and don’t talk unless called on,” I said in my command voice.

  Wendi sat there and zipped her mouth shut.

  I noticed Jason (who was school secretary), giving me a look. I knew I’d get a lecture about this later. But really, by using my powers like this I helped everybody.

  “Okay, student council, here’s what I want to do. We have this dance coming up on Friday. Right?”

  All the kids nodded their heads.

  “And thanks to Steve’s dad’s generosity, the dance is free. Correct?”

  All the kids nodded their heads again. Steve sat across from me beaming.

  “Well, here’s what I propose. We have a volunteer table at the dance. The table will have a sign-up sheet and a jar and a box. Kids can either volunteer their time to help beautify the town, or donate money and put it in the jar or donate canned food for the box. What do you think?”

  Jason spoke up, “I like the idea.”

  Steve spoke up, “I love the idea!”

  Brandon, who was there as masters of arms (which was pretty much a token position) said, “That’s a great idea!”

  Krista spoke up. “Sounds good. I’ll man the table if you like.”

  “We’ll all take turns,” I told her.

  “Any objections?” I asked.

  A sixth grader named Henry Singer raised his hand.