BEING JAMIE BAKER

Chapter 24

I didn't give Mr. E. a chance to plead his case. Before he could even blink, he was flying across the room. Yeah, I know that revenge is generally frowned upon and that my parents got a little mad when I roughed up Carter, but, hey, I can't be expected to master my power and my temper all in one day. Mr. E. went soaring and crashed into a bunch of desks. He groaned a nice painful-sounding groan for a second, but not nearly long enough if you ask me.

"Jamie, wait," he immediately began. "Let's be reasonable. You don't—"

"Reasonable!" I shrieked. "Reasonable?" I picked him up again and threw him into the blackboard. "You almost killed my boyfriend! You tortured him! Don't you dare tell me to be reasonable!"

Mr. E. opened his mouth to say something, but I didn't want to hear it. I grabbed his hand and sent a current into him that forced him to scream out in pain. "Is this what it was like for Ryan?" I kicked up the power a notch, making Mr. E.'s body go so stiff that he could no longer scream. "Tell me, what's worse, the electrocution or the suffocation?"

I let go of his hand and let him fall limp to the ground. As soon as he could, he croaked, "Please, Jamie. I'm sorry. I didn't want it to be like this."

His pathetic apology set me off again. The anger inside me only grew worse from the violence. "You're sorry? Sorry for what you did to Ryan? Or just sorry that your stupid plan didn't work?"

With that, my rage clouded out the world around me, and I grabbed him again. This time electrocuting him didn't seem like enough. It didn't seem deadly enough, so I slipped my fingers around his neck and began to squeeze. His face was a dark shade of blue when a voice yelled, "Jamie, stop!"

I was so blinded by my emotion that I never heard Carter enter the room. He'd surprised me, but not enough to make me let go of Mr. E. "He was going to kill him!"

"Jamie," Carter said again, his voice calm and commanding. "Let him go."

I looked into the face that was starting to lose consciousness, and I was filled with a hate that I'd never dreamed to be capable of. Derek, Carter, Mike... None of them even came close to making me feel the way I felt right now. That hate made it impossible for me to stop. "I'm not going to let him hurt anyone I love ever again!"

I felt a hand come down on my shoulder. "You're not a murderer, Jamielynn," Carter said.

Those words had been said to me a hundred times before. My parents had said them. Ryan had said them. Even Carter had let the phrase slip before. I looked at Mr. E. again, and this time I saw the terror in his eyes. The same terror I saw in Derek's face as he died. Then, suddenly, Mr. Edwards was gone. I could only see Derek lying there beneath my grip, barely able to struggle anymore, and I realized exactly what I was doing.

Carter was right. I wasn't a murderer. The conflict in me finally surfaced, and I collapsed to the floor, breaking into violent sobs as I released Mr. Edwards. Carter let me cry for a moment and then said, "You'll thank me for that someday, Jamielynn."

Again, Carter was right. I was already grateful he'd pulled me from whatever temporary insanity I was suffering from. But I couldn't let Carter see how relieved I suddenly was, and I definitely couldn't let him see that I was in any way thankful for what he'd just done. Dave Carter is just not the kind of guy I need thinking I owe him one, even if maybe I do.

Carter is dangerous, and he's still a scumbag. I wouldn't trust him any further than I could throw him. Actually, I could probably chuck him a lot farther than I trust him. In fact, it really unsettled me that he'd just helped me. It scared me even. It was just so... un-Carter-like. What could he possibly have to gain from Edwards staying alive? Edwards was as much a threat to his precious story as he was to the safety of my family.

When I couldn't take the mystery anymore, I dried my tears. Or maybe they just froze in place when I flipped into ice queen mode. "What are you doing here?"

Carter didn't seem surprised by my question. In fact, much to my chagrin, he was prepared with an answer. A good one.

"I've got a plan to have Edwards locked up for life without raising any sus

picion about you or your powers."

"Impossible." It was too good to be true. And even if there were a way, knowing Carter, it was definitely going to cost me.

"Not impossible," Carter disagreed. He was confident in his answer, but he seemed very wary about something, and his reluctance made me extremely uneasy. "But you're going to have to trust me. I'm going to have to write a story."

I may have overreacted to this news just a tiny bit, since Carter's hands flew up. "Hang on just a minute now, Jamielynn. I'm not talking about exposing you. I'm talking about exposing him."

So surprised by his answer, I couldn't help looking down at the man he was pointing to. The man who was trying to sit up and was still coughing. The man I almost killed in cold blood.

"What do you mean?"

"It'll be so easy, Jamielynn." Carter swiped his fingers across the air as if spreading out the headline for me. " 'Obsessed teacher stalks student. Tries to kill boyfriend in jealous rage.' "

It sounded like nonsense. "What are you talking about?"

"Think about it. He's always paid special attention to you, hasn't he? Always been extra friendly to you? Kept you after class to talk to you? No doubt he was trying to gain your trust. Get you to let him in so you'd slip up about your powers. But think about what it could look like to everyone else with just a little help from yours truly. He's already done all the work by kidnapping your boyfriend. And when the cops go to his apartment and find all the surveillance photos, well, no jury in the world would let him off."

"But he has evidence of my powers! It'll expose me!"

"Don't sweat it. I've already got that covered."

I wanted to smack that smug smile clean off his face, but I was too busy being swayed by his plan. It was tempting. It could work. But... I shook my head in denial. I couldn't give in. This was Carter. I couldn't trust him. "What do you get out of it?"

His smile grew even wider. "The satisfaction of knowing I helped someone in need?"

"Don't mess with me, Carter!" I screamed. "I'm not exactly in the mood for your crap!"

It felt good to see him cringe away from me when I held out my hand in his direction. Sometimes being a scary superfreak has its perks.

"Look, it's a win-win situation. You get to keep your secret, and I still get my story. And this is an even better story because people will believe it a lot easier than they'd swallow the 'Supergirl is real' thing, even with video footage. This story screams hard-hitting journalist. By uncovering the truth I just saved your life and your boyfriend's. We could be talking Pulitzer."

Again, he had me stumped. Not that I necessarily wanted Carter to benefit from this mess, but his plan would take care of Edwards. And if Carter got his stupid Pulitzer maybe he'd stay off my case and get out of my life once and for all. Jeez, that thought alone was worth it.

I was subconsciously nodding my head before I made my decision. "We'll have to get our stories straight," I mumbled, realizing that I'd already given in.

"It'll never work," Mr. Edwards croaked out of the blue. "Even if the world doesn't believe my story, Visticorp will know the truth. They'll come after you. You'll never be safe. Not unless you let me help you."

"You stay out of this!" I spat, kicking him in the stomach out of irritation.

Hey, I said I won a beauty pageant. I never breathed a word about being voted Miss Congeniality.

Mr. E. shut up—because I'd just knocked the wind out of him—but his threats had done their damage. I'd forgotten about the group of rich evil scientists that Mr. Edwards used to work for. I looked up at Carter, somewhat frantic, but he just smiled again. "No one's coming for you, Jamielynn," he assured me. He then turned his grin on Mr. Edwards. "Are they?"

Mr. Edwards's face flashed a deep red, proving the truth in Carter's accusation. I looked to Carter for further explanation, and he happily obliged.

"Your Mr. Edwards here is completely on his own. No one will come for you, Jamielynn, because the truth is, they never believed in you in the first place. It was Edwards who heard about your accident in Illinois. Edwards who tried so desperately to get proof, but he never did. He tried for months and months to convince Visticorp you were different, but they never saw the value in his claims. He quit the company and set off on his own to find you."

"That's not true, Jamie! Visticorp sent me to Illinois after your accident to watch you—to see if you were worth the risk. But the more I learned about you, the more I couldn't stand the thought of handing you over to them. I told them you were a regular girl, and then I followed you to California just to make sure no one else came for you."

"He's lying, Jamie," Carter said. "If he was only here to make sure you stayed safe, then why come after you now?"

"That was all his fault!" Mr. E. screamed, pointing an accusing finger at Ryan's unconscious body. He was so irate all of a sudden that he had to take a deep breath. Then he looked back at me and said, "If you listen to this man, Visticorp will see the story. They will figure out I lied to them. Even if they don't believe it, they'll send someone to double-check."

"Trust me, Jamie. He can rattle off all the tales of your abilities that he wants, but Visticorp will only see the same crazy obsessed man that the rest of us see."

My head was starting to spin from the two conflicting arguments. The problem was, I didn't trust either Carter or Edwards. Even though it was probable that they were both lying, it was still possible that either of them could be telling the truth. I didn't know what to do.

I was so angry and just so tired of being chased and stalked and threatened that I grabbed Carter and pinned him to the wall. "If you are lying to me, Carter, so help me I will commit my first murder!"

The startled cries of my parents forced me to drop him.

My father screamed my name, while my mother gasped, "What are you doing?"

Carter relaxed a little, and my father helped him to his feet. "Did you do it?" Carter asked him.

My dad nodded and suddenly I was completely lost. "We found everything, just like you said. We destroyed everything necessary and left the rest."

I stared at my father, dumbfounded by how he was already in cahoots with Carter. He looked more serious than I'd ever seen him, like he was reporting to a general or living Mission: Impossible or something. But my mom, who was obviously in on the plan too, glowed as if she was thrilled by all the cloak-and-dagger. "I even left some of Jamie's things there," she said proudly.

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't trust Carter, but it was clear that my parents did. Maybe I was a little biased because Carter destroyed my life so thoroughly in Illinois. I mean, my parents are not stupid, and no one is more paranoid than my dad. I guessed I had to go along with the plan. Really, what other choice did I have anyway? Go with my obsessed English teacher? Um, no thank you.

"What things did you leave there?" I demanded, trying to make myself calm down.

"Oh, just your old pompons, your crown, and a pair of your panties," my mom said. She shrugged as if it were no big deal and then smiled wickedly. "I stuck those under his pillow."

"Mom!" I gasped.

"Linda!" my dad yelled, every bit as horrified. The blood had drained from his face at the word "panties."

"What?" Mom snapped. "That's exactly the kind of thing a creepy stalker would take!"

"Ugh! At least tell me they weren't any of my nice silk Victoria's Secret ones."

"The little black ones with the lace," Mom admitted guiltily.

"Mom!"

"Ladies!" My dad cringed again, covering his ears. "Please!"

Carter interrupted our little family moment, much to my father's relief. "Uh," he said glancing around the room. "Where's Edwards?"

I wan

ted to say a really bad word. Mr. E., whom I hadn't even seen get to his feet, was gone. My parents took an inventory of the room as well, and when my Mom's eyes fell on Ryan for the first time her breath caught in her lungs. My dad followed her gaze, and then he did say a bad word.

"He needs to get to the hospital," I explained, "but his heart is beating pretty steadily." I knew because part of me had been focused on nothing but that sound since the moment I first stepped in the room.

My mom rushed over to him and untied him from his chair. I felt bad for not having done it sooner, just like I was going to feel bad about having to leave him right now. But there was just so much going on all at once, and I absolutely had to deal with it. Sometimes it sucks to be the only person in the world with superpowers.

"You guys call an ambulance, and I'll go find Mr. E. He can't have gotten very far. He isn't exactly in prime physical condition right now."

"Be careful, Jamie," my mom whispered as I left the classroom.

"Don't worry, Mom. I'm not going to hurt anybody." I couldn't help thinking about the control I'd just gained, and a smile broke out on my face.

It had been only a minute or two, and Mr. E. really couldn't have gone far, so I closed my eyes and concentrated on just listening. When I found him, he was running through the quad, nearing the front steps of the school. Conveniently for me, the quad is full of nice little throwable objects like trash cans and vending machines.

Now, I knew I promised I wouldn't hurt him, but he didn't know that, and I was still pretty ticked off about him torturing my boyfriend, so I didn't see any harm in scaring the pants off the guy. I mean, come on, would Johnny Storm—who happens to be my favorite superhero, by the way—do things the boring way? Or would Wolverine—who I also love because of Hugh Jackman in the X-Men movies? Delicious!—let him get off as easy as just being tied up or whatever? I don't think so. So when I caught up with Mr. E., instead of just grabbing him and hauling him back to wait for the cops with everyone else, I picked up the nearest thing I could find and chucked it at him. When the concrete bench I'd thrown came crashing down on the steps in front of him I'd never seen anyone look more frightened.

 "Aw, come on, Mr. E. Don't leave yet," I taunted coldly. "I thought you wanted to experiment with my powers."

Mr. E.'s eyes widened, and then he tried to make a break for it around the rubble I'd placed in his path, but there was a trash can just to the side of the steps. I happen to know from personal experience that if you shoot lightning at something it tends to explode from its spot, so I zapped that trash can the minute Mr. E. headed to the left. When it blew up in front of him, he tried to reason with me again.

"I abandoned my whole life for you, Jamie! Don't you see how much I care?"

Oh, I saw all right. I also saw a recycling can sitting on the other side of the steps. Mr. E. saw me take aim and started running again.

I cringed a little when the recycle can I blew up went flying through the window of the administration office. Oops. My bad. My accidental destruction of school property distracted me enough that Mr. E. was able to get down the steps and dash into the parking lot.

I couldn't very well start blowing things up in a big open parking lot next to a crowded stadium full of witnesses, so whatever I did to stop Mr. E. had to look natural from here on out. Well, lightning is natural, right? As long as it's coming from the sky and not the palms of my hands, of course.

There was always plenty of electricity in the atmosphere around me, whether it was coming from buildings or power lines or even the clouds, and now that I knew what it felt like and how to move it, it was almost too easy to make it rain down from the sky like a freak lightning storm.

I ducked behind a large tree and held my hands up to the sky. I started pulling lightning bolts down from the clouds, being very cautious not to hit any poor sucker who might be arriving late to the game or any of my classmates' cars. Mostly, I let it crash down around Mr. Edwards's car as he tried to escape the parking lot, hoping he would run it into some large, stationary object.

Okay, okay, so maybe I accidentally let one slip and blew Mike Driscoll's big, shiny 4Runner to kingdom come. Oops. My bad again. But other than that, I swear I was being very careful!

Unfortunately, all the lightning had gained the attention of the sports-goers, and they were all fleeing the metal bleachers, looking for safe cover. They would be headed my direction any second, not to mention Mr. Edwards was almost free of the parking lot. I looked up at the shiny new marquee standing proudly at the exit and smirked to myself. "Sorry, Mr. Huang."

With one final lightning bolt, that stupid sign came crashing down right on the hood of Mr. Edwards's car. He was going nowhere now, and the cops were already screeching around the corner. Problem solved.

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