SuperVillain

23

"My mom? A psychic?" Now that was interesting. I was half psychic!

"She never told you?" Otto asked, surprised.

I was excited now. "No! She never said anything about it." 

"Maybe ask your dad about it when you get home. He may know something." Otto winked.

Talking to my dad once had been nerve-wracking... but it wasn't as bad as I had thought it would've been. "Okay."

"Maybe you should read that book, too," Otto continued. "You may learn something you didn't know. The book itself is magic, so anytime someone new with Lightning heritage is born, or dies, or gets married or whatever, it's added in."

"It's sounds important... do you really want to give it to me?" I looked back at the short man.

Otto smiled. "Take it. You need it more than I do."

I smiled then my phone buzzed, I realized my lunch break usually ended about then. "Oh, shoot, I'm going to be late for work... I'm sorry, but I've gotta get going!"

"Oh, of course," Otto ushered me to the door. "It sure was nice to see you, Leila! I hope you come around again sometime."

"I will," I said, and for once I'm telling the truth.

I barely have time to pick up some lunch on my way to City Hall. After chatting with Mr. Madison, ("Sorry I'm late!") I sit down with my burger and begin to look at the book. But then lunch is over, and I have to get to work. And before I know it, it's 3:30, and Sunny and Mason are here.

Sunny practically burst through the door, dragging Mason behind her. "He wouldn't say anything about your date! He said we had to wait for you!" She scrambled into her usual chair, and Mason, out of breath but laughing, crawls into his.

"So how was it already?" Sunny was bouncing.

Mason propped his elbows up, like always, and he looked sleepy. "She had too much soda at lunch. Super caffeinated."

"Ah," I gave Mason an apologetic smile and turned to Sunny. "Well, we discovered neither one of us are really 'fancy' people. We probably could have been more comfortable at a Pizza Hut."

"But you still had a good time, right?" Sunny's eyes were wide. I knew she worked really hard to try to make everything perfect for us yesterday.

Mason grinned. "I know I did."

I can't help but grin back. His smiles were contagious.

"Good!" Sunny leaned back in her chair, satisfied.

"You don't have to yell, Sun," I said. "We can hear you."

"Oh, I wasn't sure if you could past all those giant cartoon hearts in the air above your heads. You kids are in love." Even behind the slight sarcasm, you can hear happiness in her voice.

Mason blushed and keeps grinning that goofy contagious grin, which apparently makes the blush contagious too, because I am definitely blushing.

Sunny kept talking but it got drowned out, we were grinning like idiots and leaning closer, then bam. Kiss. Right over my desk.

Sunny eventually got our attention. "Hey, snap out of it! It's Monday afternoon in the Mid-Fais City Hall, not Leison-Land!"

"Leison-Land?" I laughed.

"Oh, yeah, it is Monday!" Mason exclaimed, slapping the arms of his chair. "You told your dad about the dream, didn't you?"

"Oh, yeah!" I nodded, grabbing the book from my bag. "He said I should meet this guy Otto, he's, like, the assistant to the Lightning family or something. He gave me my birthmark, so it's not really a birthmark!"

Sunny raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."

"He also gave me this book," I added as I plopped it on the desk. "It's basically my family history."

"Dang, that's long," Mason examined the book. "Do you really plan to read all of this?"

"Uh, maybe," It was sorta long, now that he mentioned it. "I might just skip to the end, the more recent stuff."

I put the book back in my bag and we chatted some more, Mason and Sunny told me about school, who's popular and who's not, the teachers, who's with who, and end-of-the-semester tests, which were coming up. To be honest, I missed school, all the drama, seeing everyone everyday, even the bad cafeteria food. 

Just before I went home, I asked Mr. Madison, "Do you think once I'm not mayor anymore, I could go back to school?"

Mr. Madison replied, "I'm surprised you'd want to. Most kids don't seem to like school."

"I miss it," I admitted, and helped him finish organizing envelopes.

"Thanks," he responded politely. "Well, you've only been gone one semester, I'm sure you could make that up in January. You may need a bit of summer school to keep up, but I'm sure you can manage."

I nod. "If I do that, I'll still be in the same grade as Mason and Sunny."

He smiled. "Oh, this is about your friends."

"Well, yes, that's one thing," I responded truthfully. "But I also want a good education so one day I can get a job I really want, not one that I was forced into."

Mr. Madison jokingly frowned. "You mean you don't like working with me?"

"Of course I do," I told the old man, giggling. "I don't know what job I want, but I don't think it's this."

"Well, you have your whole life to figure it out. You should head home now, I'll finish up. Have a good night."

At home, I knocked on the door of the Lightning Lair. "It's me,"

"Well, who else would it be," I heard my dad mutter.

I let myself in. He was sitting at the desk, his only light a small lamp. I could see a trash can overflowing with crumpled papers.

I sat on his messy bed, not far away. "Did you know Mom's psychic?"

He looked at me, genuinely surprised. "No I didn't. That's why I sent you to Otto, he's the best at that stuff."

"He gave me a book," I offered.

Dad's head snapped up again. "He gave you the sacred book? He said he'd never give it away, it was too rare. But he gave it to you? Why you?"

I crossed my arms.

"Look, just because I helped you out doesn't make me magically a nice person." He crumpled another paper.

"You could be a nice person if you really tried," I told him. "I know you could."

"Nah," it was barely a whisper. "I couldn't..." then he turns to me again and says, "Okay, I think you'd better go now... don't you have work tomorrow?"

He knew I had work. I have work every day. He just wanted me to leave. So I did.

Would he always be a bad guy?

Dear Mom,

Hey, it's just me. I know I won't get a response, but I wanted to talk to you, like we used to.

I learned you're psychic today, which means I'm psychic. Why didn't you tell me? Would've been kinda nice...

And just when I thought Dad was softening, he snaps again and we're back at the beginning. He wasn't always like this, apparently...

I talked to a man named Otto today. I learned all kinds of stuff.

He gave me this book full of things about the Lightning family. I think I'll read it now.

Bother you later,

Leila