Who Needs Superheroes?

Chapter 1: Bad Day, Bad Luck, and Bad Guy

Remind me to never ever again volunteer to perform at an elementary school. Ever.

Ever since Ms. Rodard asked for volunteers for a quartet to play at the 5th grade Transition Day, I had never been so excited to do volunteer work, that is until the day I actually had to do it.

One word summed up that whole day: bad.

It was a Thursday morning and the alarm that I had set to ring at 6 AM actually rung at 8 AM. In my rush, I managed to stub my toe on my nightside table, cut my finger with a knife, and burn myself on the toaster. After my rapid scramble for breakfast, I scurried to my car and might have driven 20 mph faster than the speed limit required, but no one can prove that.

Once I reached school, I had to check into the office and sign in. The secretary told me it was 3rd hour and I scurried off to my 3rd hour class, World History. I pushed the door open and everyone in the class paused and stared at me. Mr. Dimitro scowled and said, "ahhh, Miss Renick. You finally decided to join us. Give me your pass and have a seat." I handed him the tardy slip and awkwardly slid into my seat beside my best friend since kindergarden, Jeanne Carter.

"Where were you?" Jeanne hissed.

"Alarm didn't ring," I whispered back.

"Can any of you tell me one of the new laws Master Fear has passed within the last week?" Mr. Dimitro inquired to the class.

Agnes William's hand shot up faster than the blink of an eye. Mr. Dimitro waited a moment longer to see if anyone else would volunteer before he picked Agnes. Agnes was the school goody-goody, which in a city like ours isn't always a good thing. She had the intelligence of all of our senior class combined and the ignorance of a brick. Weird combination, huh? She didn't let anyone's words get to her no matter how true they were. Ignorance is a bliss nowadays, so I couldn't help but envy her. Ever since Fear took over our town of Justice, everyone lived in fear, counting their days, cowering in their locked houses before their own death came. 

I was so plain average that it wasn't even funny, and because of this I had a higher risk of death if Fear decided to throw another one of his temper tantrums and take it out on the people of Justice.

"Master Fear declared that no one shall be caught wearing the color pink," Agnes answered Mr. Dimitro's question. "I personally think--"

"--Miss William, you are not here to express your opinions on Master Fear's politics. You must obey the laws or suffer his consequences, we all should know this by now. Can anyone tell me another one of his laws?" Mr. Dimitro inquired turning his attention to me. "Miss Renick?"

"Umm. All minors under the age of 21 are to be in their homes by 11 o'clock at night." I stated although it came out more as a question.

"Very good, Miss Renick. I see you are learning something after all. In other news, Nikolai Volkov has announced that he will be building a new refinery right outside of Justice, by the old car factory."

I internally rolled my eyes. Nikolai Volkov, a Russian American named "sexiest entrepreneur" in the nation two years running, had been the talk of the world ever since he struck rich two years ago. Orphaned at a young age, he was the youngest man to ever build himself such a fortune without having inherited a single penny from his parents. He was every girls' dream and Alexx Hilsbor's, our local playboy, sole competition. Now, at the age of 20, he continued to expand his oil empire. 

The rest of the class continued to discuss Nikolai, the girls in particular at the front of the discussion. Most of the guys added a comment here and there, in an attempt to earn their participation points. 

"Now that we are all caught up on current events," Mr. Dimitro said, trying to wrangle the class back together, "get out your---"

At that moment the passing period bell rang signaling the end of class. "Very well, we'll finish up our unit tomorrow. Don't forget to keep up with your reading and notes! Have a nice day class," Mr. Dimitro stated firmly and we all stood up from our seats.