A Guide to Being Super

Rule #14

Rule #14: Win or lose, always have an escape plan.

I had shown up to Dan's after school as usual to train but when I got there Dan wasn't suited up for training like he was supposed to. Instead he was sitting on his couch and watching TV, like he was a normal guy and not, you know, A SUPERHERO. He was so absorbed in the latest episode of Survivor that he didn't even notice me walking up until I had already been there for at least three minutes.

"Oh, hey, Matt," he said, stuffing another handful of chips in his mouth.

"Hey Dan. Aren't we supposed to be training today?"

"You are."

"But you're not training with me?"

"Didn't Rachel tell you?"

"No... What was she supposed to tell me?"

He didn't answer.

"Dan?" I asked.

"Dan!"

Still nothing.

"Dan if you keep eating those chips you're going to get super fat and then Kelly won't love you anymore."

That got his attention. "What?" he asked, setting his chips aside but not pausing the TV.

"I need to talk to you." I grabbed the remote and turned off the TV.

"But that was the season finale! At least let me pause it!"

"Too bad, you ignored me."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. What were we talking about?"

"The fact that you're not ready to change and that Rachel was supposed to tell me something."

"Oh, that. That was not important enough to turn off the TV," he said, surprisingly sounding like a lawyer for once.

"Well I'm sorry. So what's going on?"

"I told Rachel to tell you that we aren't training together anymore."

"What?"

"We don't need to."

"I don't understand," I said. "What do you mean we won't be training together anymore. I need to train!"

"I know you need to train, you just don't need to train with me anymore."

"This is insane."

"No, it's not. Let's face it, we both know that you're becoming more advanced than me. Now that you have your own training facility you can train on your own. It just works better for everyone," he said.

"Wait, I have my own training facility?"

"It's in your lair. Rachel is finishing the setup right now."

"Really?"

He smiled. "Really."

"So I just train on my own now? Without any supervision?"

"Well I'll be stopping in now and then. And we'll still have to demonstrate at the superhero meetings. But yeah, you'll be on your own. Think of it as an independent-study type of situation."

"Independent-study?"

"Mhmm."

"So I can start in my new lair, like, today?"

"Like today," he said.

"I can go over there now?"

"Yes."