Peace and Grace

3. Hero or Sidekick?

When we enter the gym, we all stand there a little confused. Besides us, it's empty in here.

Suddenly a glow bursts through the doors and lands behind the podium at the front of the room. The glow fades away and in its place stands a woman.

"Good morning," she greets us with a smile. "And welcome to Sky High."

"Yeah! Whoo!" cheers Zach. This is met by silence. He grins sheepishly and I giggle.

The woman continues. "I am Principal Powers. Now in a few minutes you will go through Power Placement, and your journey will begin. I wish you all the very best year. Good luck and have fun! Comets away!" With that the light engulfed her again and she flew away.

"Power Placement?" says Will.

"Sounds fascist," remarks Layla.

"It's how they choose where we'll go," explains Ethan.

"The hero track, or the loser track," simplifies Magenta.

"There's a loser track?" Now Will seemed even more nervous. I have to admit this makes me more nervous too.

"I believe the preferred term is 'hero support'," Ethan reassures us.

"Attention freshmen!" We all turn to see the floor rising before us to form a stage, a coach standing there atop it. "I'm Coach Boomer. You may know me as Sonic Boom, you may not. Now's the time for Power Placement - here's how this is going to work: when I call your name you'll come up here and demonstrate your power, and yes, you will do so in front of the entire class." There were some nervous murmurs at this. "And I will determine where you go: hero, or sidekick. Now every year there are a few students who I like to call 'whiner babies' who like to question my judgement. Know this: my word is law, my word is final. Are we clear?" We all murmur some form of 'yes.' This obviously doesn't satisfy him. "I said, are, we, CLEAR!"

"Yes Coach Boomer!"

"Good. Now..." One by one he begins calling up students. A red-haired boy with glasses goes first. He turns into a rock creature. After showing his strength by catching a car that falls from the ceiling, Coach Boomer declares him a hero.

"Ah man, this'll be easy," says Zach in sheer confidence, and heads up to the stage.

"Zach no!" I cry, and try to stop him, but he's already approaching the coach.

"Did I say you were next?" Boomer demands.

"The name's Zach, Coach Boomer, you can call me 'Zach Attack'. Try not to drop your clipboard." Zach claps his hands and faces us. Nothing happens.

"Any day now superstar."

"I'm doing it," Zach insists.

"Doing what?"

"I'm glowing."

"Uh huh..."

"You know it's actually a lot easier to see in the dark. Maybe you could switch off some lights, cup your hands around your eyes-"

"Sidekick!"

"B-but-"

"SIDEKICK!" Zach is knocked off the stage by the force of the coach's voice. I help my now embarrassed friend to his feet.

Ethan goes next and melts into a puddle of orange goo. He's made a sidekick. Next is Magenta. She can shape-shift in to a guinea pig. Also sidekick. A boy who can sprout multiple arms, hero. A girl who can turn into a big bouncy ball, sidekick.

"Ha, sidekick, get it," Zach chuckles to me. "Kick." Oh Zach.

A boy who can make himself look like anyone really impresses the coach by making himself look like Boomer. Hero. Another boy spits at the wall, making us all cringe. Gross. But then, we all watch in amazement as the wall begins to disintegrate before our eyes. Acid spit. Hero.

"You, flower child. Your turn," Coach says to Layla.

"Oh, I don't believe in using my powers unless the situation demands it," says Layla quickly.

"Well then you're in luck: this is the situation, I'm demanding it."

"Well I believe that the hero-sidekick dichotomy only serves to-"

"Are you refusing to show us your powers?"

"W-well it's more complicated than that-"

"SIDEKICK!" Layla's hair is blown back by the shout. "Okay, small girl front and centre. You're next."

All eyes fall on me. "I-I'm not entirely comfortable using my powers," I begin.

Coach sighs heavily. "You refusing to show us too?"

"No, it's not that, it's just, I don't want to hurt anyone-"

"Just get up here."

I bite my lip and, head-hanging, head up to the stage. Zach gives my shoulder a supportive pat.

I go stand next to the coach. It seems extremely quiet. "What's your power?"

"Telekinetic energy."

"Telekinesis huh Miss..."

"Grace. Nadia Grace."

"Grace huh? You wouldn't happen to be related to James Grace would you?"

I wince a little. "Yes sir. He's my dad."

Boomer chuckles. "The daughter of Mastermind. This should be good."

I take a deep breath and hold my hands out in front of me. Closing my eyes, I concentrate hard. Focus, focus.

There are some gasps when the coloured energy begins to swirl around my hand. It's mostly orange. Good thing most of the others don't know that this means I'm nervous, so less embarrassing.

"That's it?" says Coach.

"Uh..."

"Ball!" At his command, a basketball suddenly flies out of nowhere, hurling towards me. I gasp and send a handful of energy towards it, and it explodes in midair, sending bits of rubber showering my classmates.

"I wanted you to catch it but, that's cool too." He scribbles something down on the clipboard in his hand. "Grace - hero!"

(Thoughts so far? Hope you're enjoying! Thanks so much for reading! :))