The Expanding World Read online

  He told me he had to vote for Wendi since she was his girlfriend, but he truly wished me the best of luck. That was both sweet and frustrating at the same time.

  In gym class, Coach Blue spent much of the class explaining the importance of hygiene to us. Then she made us do push-ups and sit-ups for the rest of the class. Joy. I could handle that. What got to me was that after class, I heard a couple of girls (Lori and Patti) snickering about the hair stubble under my arms. They compared my armpit to a jungle. It looked like I needed to shave.

  Dear Diary: I think I’d rather deal with deadly drones, robots, and androids than with some of the mean girls in my class. My body may be invulnerable but my feelings certainly aren’t.

  The Pits

  At the end of the school day, I fought the urge to leap home in one bound. I have no idea why I let Wendi and Patti get to me so much. But they did. All I could think about were the mean things they said, especially about my underarms. Man, it would have been so good to give them a blast of super underarm odor. That would have made them nice and quiet. Of course, it probably would have also made a lot of other people nice and quiet too. People who didn’t deserve to get blasted, just because of two mean girls.

  Jason noticed that I was moving at a quicker pace than normal. “Ah, why are we walking so fast, is there something wrong?” he asked, a worried look appearing on his face.

  “Or do we have a lead on who that girl is?” he added hopefully.

  “No,” MAC answered for me. “Lia is upset that Wendi and Patti made fun of the hair growing under her arms.”

  “Oh right,” Jason said, his eyes popping open. “That explains why you’re keeping your arms so close to your sides.”

  I turned to him without slowing down. In fact, I picked up the pace. “It made me feel bad, okay?”

  Jason began to jog so he could keep up with me. “Of course. You may be super, but your feelings are regular human feelings.” His face turned slightly red and he slowed his pace. “Ah, have you shaved since you’ve become super?” he asked, chewing his lip with embarrassment.

  I shook my head and sped up more. “Nope. But now’s the time. I know it’s weird, but that’s all I can think about now…like how gross my armpits must look. It’s ridiculous how I hadn’t even thought about this until I heard them laughing. Now it’s all I can think about.”

  “Okay, well, don’t you think you should wait for your mom…for like tips and stuff…”

  I shook my head. “Nope, can’t wait. I’ve seen her do it. How hard can it be?”

  “Ah, well…your mom isn’t as invulnerable as you are…”

  We stopped in front of my home. “Thanks for your support, buddy. You’re a good friend. I’ll be back to normal once I get rid of this hair!” I raced into the house at super speed.

  Leaving Jason on the pavement to continue alone to his house, I shot inside and gave Shep a quick pat. Then I zoomed upstairs into my mom’s bathroom. Tossing open the cabinet, I scanned for razors. Funnily enough, I only saw one pink one sitting in the corner on the top shelf. I grabbed hold of it and could see that it looked unused. I knew my mom wouldn’t mind me using it.

  I raced into my bathroom. I turned on the water and ran the razor under it. I lifted my arm. I put the razor on my armpit. I thought about the process. I mean this wasn’t rocket science. You move the razor down the underarm, lift it up and repeat the process. I lifted my arm. I got a whiff of myself. Ouch. I’d have to shower after this. I ran the razor down my underarm. I looked at my underarm. The hair was still untouched. I repeated the process pressing harder. I looked at it once more. It was still covered with hair. I looked at the razor. Maybe there wasn’t a blade. The razor now looked crinkled and bent. It shook and wobbled like it was made of putty. Yep, the razor met my underarm and lost big-time. My underarms had wilted a razor. This was such a feeling of power but also absolute horror. Would I be forced to have hairy underarms and legs forever? OMG, people would call me Wookie!

  Wait, wait, no. Mom’s legs and armpits are smooth. She’ll know what to do. I pulled out my phone.

  LIA>MOM OMG I JUST TRIED 2 SHAVE MY UNDERARMS!

  MOM>HONEY ABOUT TO GO IN 2 SURGERY TALK AFTER. LUV

  That was it. I took a deep breath. Okay, fine, surgery could only last a few hours. I could wait this out for a few hours. Hopefully, there would be no crimes I had to stop, or leads on who the teleporting shrinking girl was. My phone beeped.

  JASON>Ah, how’s it going?

  LIA>Why do u ask?

  There was a pause.

  JASON>This is kind of awkward but I’m guessing you can’t shave…

  LIA>OMG how do you know?

  JASON>Lia, you’re super. Bullets can’t hurt you, no way a razor can.

  LIA>(POOP) OMG! (POOP)

  JASON>Use UR heat vision.

  LIA>Huh?

  JASON>Think about it. Please don’t make me say more about this. It’s pretty embarrassing.

  LIA>OK

  I put the phone down. I dropped the razor (well what was left of it) into the trash. I lifted my arm. I locked my vision on the hair. I concentrated and sent out my heat vision. A beam of energy sparked from my eyes. The beam hit the hair, the hair burnt off. It took about three seconds until my underarm was nice and smooth. But way warm. I thought about ice cubes. I blew a little puff of super cool breath on my armpits. Ah, now that felt better. I lifted my other arm. I repeated the process. Yep, I was right. This certainly wasn’t rocket science. I lifted up my underarms and checked them out in the mirror. Smooth as glass!

  I figured that while I was at it, I may as well do my legs. My legs were actually a little easier since I had a nice clear view of them. I smiled. Now a quick shower and I would be ready for whatever the world threw at me next.

  Dear Diary: When you are super it’s amazing how the littlest, simplest, almost silly task can become quite the chore. Who would have thought being invulnerable would make it impossible for me to shave like a normal girl? My BFF Jason, that’s who! Not only did he realize I had that problem, but he knew an ingenious way to solve the problem. All that comic reading he does sure comes in handy. My lesson from all of this…no matter how powerful you are, you still need friends.

  Cat’s Out

  The next couple of days were pretty normal. Wendi and her gang made their usual taunts and mocked my chances of winning the election. Wendi constantly pointed out that she was better than me in everything, which to her meant, LAX and being pretty. Okay, she also had slightly better grades. That was only because I got a B- in gym class last year. And that was only because I’d been getting used to my powers. So I took it slow in gym class to make sure I didn’t accidentally hurt anyone.

  Jason discussed my campaign strategy with me. My strategy was simple. While Wendi talked about being perfect, I talked about being just a normal kid who can relate to other kids. Ha, me normal, now that was something. Although, as Jason had said, I really am normal. I’m just normal with superpowers.

  Sadly, there was still no progress finding Tomas and Felipe. I knew we had to do something fast before Jess turned the entire town into turnips. Dad’s company still hadn’t been able to find Shrink Girl, Ellie Mae. I started to think that maybe we had the wrong name.

  But then while walking home on Thursday, MAC came to life. “Finally, finally!” MAC exclaimed.

  “They’ve found Ellie Mae?” I asked, almost panting.

  “They did. Her full name is Ellie Mae OPAL. She lives at 1111 Side Street, in Moon City,” MAC told me. “The name and address were encrypted, but we broke through.”

  “Excellent! I’m good as there now!” I said.

  Jason grabbed my arm. “Wait, don’t you find it a little weird that after days of searching, she suddenly pops up at such a strange address?”

  I stopped. “Maybe…” I admitted.

  “Don’t you think this could be a trap?” Jason added.

  “Maybe,” I groaned.

  “Shouldn’t we tell t
he rest of the team?” Jason asked.

  I answered without really thinking, “No, not yet. The others don’t even have costumes. It would be weird if these girls from Starlight City just showed up in Moon City. Besides I’m scared of what Jess might do.”

  Jason nodded. “Good point. Then take me with you instead.”

  I shook my head. “No way! If it’s a trap, I don’t want you getting caught or being in danger.”

  “I can take care of myself,” Jason replied. “I’ve been training with Hana. She says I have natural moves.”

  My first thought was…is there no man in my life who doesn’t have Hana in their life now? I fought back that thought because it wasn’t useful. Plus, being jealous of an android was just plain silly.

  I looked Jason in the eyes. “If this is a trap. I’ll need you and the rest of the team to save me and take out BAD.” I told him.

  Jason gave me a weak grin. “Got it…”

  I activated my costume and leaped into the air. “Ah, Lia, not to chill your cool vibe,” MAC said. “But you leaped the wrong direction. Moon City is the other way.” A flashing arrow pointing behind me appeared on the screen.

  “Oh okay, right,” I said.

  I landed and turned around. I leaped up in the right direction. I figured four or five super leaps and I should be there. I needed to make a quick decision. Did I want to approach this girl as Lia Strong or Super Teen? I figured Super Teen might be a bit too much. I didn’t need to tip her off or scare her off. I wanted this to be a girl to girl talk, not a super to super talk.

  I landed on the outskirts of Moon City and walked the rest of the way. Truthfully, it reminded me a lot of Star Light City. Maybe the houses were painted in slightly darker colors than the houses in Star Light City, but apart from that, it screamed average middle-sized town.

  With MAC's GPS, I found 1111 Side Street, a small dead-end street just off Main Street. There were only three houses on the street: 1111, 1110, and 0111. I thought the numbers were a bit strange.

  1111 Side Street was a single story, dark green house. It looked very modern with big tinted windows and solar panels on the roof. In fact, it looked a lot like the other houses on the street. The front yard had two big oak trees in it. I don’t know much about trees but I did know that these particular trees had to be older than the house. I walked along a neatly trimmed pavement and up the steps onto the front patio that led to a dark wooden door. I pressed the doorbell. I heard a beep.

  “Coming,” a young girl’s voice called from behind the door. I noticed a camera on the ceiling next to the door. The camera turned to me.

  The door popped open. The young girl smiled at me. “Hi!” she said. “We don’t get a lot of visitors down this street. Kind of funny. So, I am guessing you are Super Teen, and you want to talk.”

  I laughed nervously and took a step backward. “ME?” I said pointing to myself, my eyes popping open. “SUPER TEEN? I’m so honored that you would think that.” I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “Nope, I’m just simple Lia Smith, from Starlight City. I’m here doing a book report on our neighbor city.”

  The girl looked at me. “Ah, sure… Lying isn’t nice. Did you come to join BAD?”

  I laughed again. “Ellie, I assure you I’m not lying. And why would I join anything called BAD.”

  Ellie’s eyes popped open. She leaned on the door. “Cause BAD is good. They help people get better. They cure sick and injured people.” She paused. “Wait, if you know my name is Ellie, you must be Super Teen. Right?”

  “Lucky guess?”

  Ellie looked up at me. “You’re a great superhero but a terrible liar!”

  Okay, time for a bit of truth. “Actually, I’m a teen reporter for the Sun City paper and blog. A couple of our teens are missing. Rumor has it BAD has them.”

  Ellie shook her head. “No, BAD wouldn’t do something like that.”

  We both heard a cat crying from above. Ellie walked out the door past me. She looked up in one of the oak trees. Sure enough, we spotted a gray Siamese cat up on one of the top branches.

  Ellie looked around. She smiled. “I got this.” Ellie started growing, and not normal growth, mind you. She grew to the size of the tree. The now giant Ellie put the cat in her palm and lowered her palm to the ground. The cat hopped off her palm and stretched. Ellie shrank back to normal size.

  “So much for being Shrink Girl,” I said.

  She laughed. “Well even when I grow, I have to shrink again, I can only stay big for a little bit. It really tires me out.”

  The cat looked at me. The cat opened its mouth. A net flew out of the mouth. The net fell on top of me. Electricity shot through the net burning the ground beneath my feet. I ripped the net off me and tore it into pieces.

  “So much for you NOT being Super Teen!” Ellie demanded.

  “So much for BAD being good,” I replied.

  She looked at me. She looked at the cat. “I’m sure it was just trying to protect me. Down kitty!”

  The cat stood up, closed one eye and arched its back.

  It showed me its claws.

  “Not impressed,” I told the cat.

  The cat crinkled its neck. Its body started to expand. The cat grew to the size of a really large lion.

  “Still not impressed!” I said.

  The big cat dropped back onto its back paws. You didn’t need to be a cat expert to know what its next move would be. The cat pounced towards me, three-inch claws out and glistening in the sunlight. I caught it by the paws before they could hit me.

  “Bad kitty!” I said, pinning its claws up in the air and keeping the big cat on two legs. “Give up now!” I said. “I really don’t want to hurt you!”

  I saw the cat inhale. I did the same thing. It breathed a green smog at me. I held my breath. The smog passed over me. My eyes actually burnt a little. Ellie sighed and fell to the ground. I flung the cat up in the air away from me. The cat thing sprouted wings and hovered above me. It made a hissing sound. It showed me its claws.

  I blasted one of its paws with my heat vision. The cat screamed, then flew off.

  I lowered myself down to Ellie. I gave her a little shake. I used super breath to blow away the green yuck that still surrounded us. I waved my hand over Ellie. Her eyes popped open.

  “They told me you’d come and that they just wanted to talk to you. Ah, okay, maybe BAD isn’t so good after all,” she said. “I will help you find your friends.”

  Dear Diary: I think it’s safe to say BAD is pretty rotten. They took a nice normal cat and turned it into something that wasn’t normal at all. They even tricked Ellie into thinking they were good. At least now I had Ellie on my side. Yeah, I know this could be a trap. Ellie may be pretending to be on my side to get my guard down, but I don’t think so. My gut says no, and my brain says listen to my gut.

  Oh, I’m also pretty darn pleased with myself that I did learn from my loss to Tanya. As soon as I figured the cat thing might use a breath weapon on me, I prepared. Yes, I may need to breathe like everybody else, but I can hold my breath for a long time. In this case, certainly long enough to get rid of the green toxic gas that spurted out of that cat’s mouth. Life lessons can actually be rewarding.

  New Friend

  “What’s your plan?” Ellie asked me?

  I looked at her. “I need to get into BAD’S research lab. You know the address, correct?”

  Ellie nodded her head. “It’s just outside of town, underground. But I can teleport you in. I can even shrink you so they don’t find you. But you have to promise not to hurt anybody.”

  “I just want to save my friends and get out of there with them,” I said.

  Ellie looked at me. “I really haven’t seen your friends, but there are levels in the lab I’m not allowed in.”

  “Then that’s where I have to go.”

  “Little cousin, what the heck are you doing?” we heard from behind us.

  Turning, I saw Glare Girl standing there with her hands on
her hips.

  “Oh hi, Martha, I mean Glare Girl,” Ellie said. “Why are you here?”

  Glare Girl moved towards us. “Does your mom know you’re hanging out with people like this?”

  “Actually, she does,” a voice called from beside us.

  We turned to see a short woman with curly dark hair standing on the porch. She had a smile on her face. “I’ve been listening to the conversation intently. I agree with Ellie and Super Teen.”

  Glare Girl slammed a foot on the ground. “Oh, Aunt Jeanie! You would take their side! BAD has been good to us. They’ve cured us and made us super.”

  “Huh?” I asked.

  “I had a gluten allergy,” Ellie told me. “The people at BAD made it go away. Plus, I get these cool superpowers!”

  “I had acne that wouldn’t quit; until I met BAD. Now my skin is perfect. And I’m super.”

  Jeanie walked off the porch. “I did some legal work for BAD so I know they aren’t all bad.” She took a deep breath. “Still, if your friends are missing, I understand the need to check them out.”

  I didn’t know this Jeanie woman but I had a good feeling about her. I thought I could trust her. I knew the trick here would be getting Glare Girl on our side.

  “Look, I don’t want them to take away my treatment! I DON’T want acne again!”

  Ellie looked up at her, eyes open wide. “I mean, I don’t want to have a gluten allergy again either, but I don’t want people hurt because of me.”

  Jeanie put her arm around Ellie. “That’s my girl!”

  Glare Girl shook her head. “Look, I appreciate your problem, I really do. But that’s YOUR problem, not mine. I refuse to go against the people who made me, me.”

  “As long as you don’t get in our way,” I said.

  Glare Girl shook her head. “I’ll try, but I can’t lie. If they call me in to help. I am there. I’m not biting the hand that feeds me. I want action, but I’m not stupid.”