A Guide to Being Super

Rule #10

Rule #10: Don't forget about your other life. Even if you save the whole world the night before, you still have another life to think about. Basically, I mean that you shouldn't forget to study for that test tomorrow. You can't save the world on Wednesday night when you failed a test Wednesday morning.

Ike was waiting for me when I walked into English the next day. And boy did he look pissed.

"What the hell, dude?" he said.

"What are you talking about?"

"I tried to call you all weekend! But did I hear anything? No! You've been avoiding me for weeks now."

"Ike, I really haven't been avoiding you."

"Bullshit!" Before he had been trying to stay quiet enough to avoid the attention of our class but now he yelled this, causing everyone to turn around and look at us.

"Dude, let's go in the hall or something," I said.

"No, I'm not going in the hall! I'm supposed to be your best friend and I have a right to know what's going on!"

"Ooo, trouble in paradise," some idiot near us said.

"You can shut up," I said, pointing at him.
"See? You're already ignoring me."

"Seriously? Because I told someone to shut up I'm already ignoring you?"

"Um, yeah," Ike said.

"Ike, I promise, I'm not avoiding you," I said, lying my ass off.

"Why should I believe you?"

"Like you said, you're my best friend. I have no reason to lie to my best friend." Except for when I'm secretly a superhero. There is that exception.

Ike seemed to relax when I said this, finally sitting down at his desk. I sat down at my desk and prepared myself to lie some more, if needed. Lying to my parents was one thing, as a teenager I was practically born to lie to them, but lying to Ike was a totally different issue. I was a horrible person.

"So you'd tell me if something was going on?" he asked.

"Of course."

"Okay." He fidgeted in his seat. "Then I guess I had no reason to be pissed off."

"Yeah you really didn't." He shot me a look.

"I mean, you really don't have a reason to worry," I said.

He nodded, seeming to agree with me. The knot in my stomach lessened. Hopefully now he could tell me about his weekend, class would start, and then we could just move on like I wasn't lying to him about everything. Of course, what I hoped didn't matter to the universe one bit.

"So what were you doing all weekend?" he asked. "If you weren't avoiding me then it must have been pretty important."

"What was I doing this weekend?" I said.

"Yeah. I mean, I'm just curious. Did Rachel get in trouble and then trash the house again or something?"

"Nope, not this weekend."

"Then what was it?"

"It's sort of hard to explain."

"I doubt that. What happened?" he asked good naturedly, not realizing that he had touched a nerve.

"Well..." I said, completely intending to come up with some bland but complex lie, but I couldn't think of anything.

It wasn't that I couldn't lie, I had made my peace with that for the moment, but that was when Faye walked into the room. I swear, my entire mind went blank. Sadly, she didn't say anything to me. But she did smile as she walked past, which must have meant something. Of course, because he knew me too well, it only took Ike about .5 seconds to realize a) I wasn't going to finish that sentence and b) why I wasn't going to finish it. Once he realized that, it only took him about another .5 seconds to get completely pissed again.