SuperVillain

7

The next day I was so bored I guess I fell asleep, because I remember waking up to Sunshine calling my name at my desk.

"Wha...?" I said sleepily. "Oh. Hi, Sunshine."

She giggled. "Didn't get enough sleep last night?" See, that was the thing with Sunny. Like her name suggests, (and her bright pink hair,) she's always bubbly and positive.

So, like, the exact opposite of me.

The truth was, I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. Dad and I were up scheming again. But I just nodded.

Then I realized something: "Hey, where's Mason?"

Sunshine smiled and sat down across the desk. "Don't you remember? He's out of town for today, visiting his aunt. He has to be back for school tomorrow though."

I slapped my head. "Oh, right. I forgot."

Sunshine smiled. "You sure do like him, huh?"

I stopped cold. A monster like me with innocent old Mason? No chance it would happen. Not if he knew what I was really like.

Not that I'd tell him.

He wouldn't like me either way.

Sunny giggled again when I didn't reply. "Want me to tell him? So you don't have to? It's obvious he likes you."

I had a feeling in my gut she was lying. There was no way. I still didn't reply.

"He talks about you all the time. The things we could do for you, since you're always inside. How long have you known him?"

I thought about this. Then, blushing, I responded, "Three days before you moved here."

"Wow!" She exclaimed. "I've only been here six days!"

So I'd only known Mason for nine days, but it might as well have been forever. It was as if I'd known him and Sunshine my whole life.

"Did you need something?" I wanted to change the subject.

"Well, since Mason isn't here, I thought we could do something and get some food. You know, like a girls' night."

I'd never had a "girls' night" before, so I said, "Um, don't you have school tomorrow?"

Sunshine shrugged. "Who cares? It'll be fun. Whaddya say?" She held her hand out to me.

Hesitantly, I grabbed it, and she pulled me out of my chair.

"Mr. Madison!" I called. "I'm going to get dinner it might be late when I'm done see you tomorrow!" 

I heard Mr. Madison say something, but Sunshine pulled me outside and started running, still holding my hand. She laughed. I'd never seen this mischievous side of her before.

When we arrived at the Chinese restaurant, Sunshine said, "It's too bad you have to work seven days a week. I bet you hardly ever get a break."

I nodded. "Yeah, but you and Mason have helped a lot. You guys made me feel... like a kid again." When I saw the sympathetic look she was giving me, I said, "I'm only 16, you know. I know not many people would say this, but I really want to go back to school. I want to go to college and get a job that I want. Make a life for myself. Not sit at a desk all day, bored out of my mind."

"If you don't mind me asking," Sunshine cautiously said. "How did you become mayor?"

I inhaled. I hoped I wouldn't start crying or anything stupid like that. "My mom," I started. "You wouldn't know, since you just moved here, but she was the mayor before me."

"Did she... die?" She interrupted.

I shook my head and saw her breathe a sigh of relief. "But she might as well have died. She... she left. She ran off to Hawaii without any explanation. She didn't talk to me, she still doesn't, and she doesn't love me. She always acted like I was in the way. She abandoned me." I wasn't planning to say all that, and while my stomach churned, it felt kinda nice to get it all of my chest.

Sunshine was silent. She just stared at the ground.

"Don't feel bad," I said. "It actually feels really nice to tell someone all this." I saw her smile. "Since my mom was such a 'great mayor'," I made quotation marks with my fingers. "She didn't have anyone else on council except Mr. Madison. So they grabbed me, since I'm her closest relative."

Sunshine raised her eyebrow. "Why didn't Mr. Madison just become mayor?"

I shrugged. "Guess he thought I'd be better. I don't know why, though."

Sunshine frowned. "What do you mean?"

I felt the spark in my stomach. "Just look at me. Not exactly mayor material. When I look in the mirror, all I see is a... 16-year-old... mess, full of... nothingness." Not the best words, but oh well.

Sunny touched my hand. "He probably chose you because your mom was so good, he thought you'd be good too. Maybe even better."

My vision started to go yellow. Uh oh. But I couldn't stop it this time around. "I don't know why everyone thought she was so great. She couldn't even take care of her own daughter."

"Well, if you want to talk..." Sunshine was staring at me, but not at my eyes. "Is your hair turning... blond?"

"It-it's just the sun," I murmured. The pain in between my eyes was unbearable.

"It's dark out? I think you have something on your glasses, too."

I sprinted to the bathroom, nearly knocking all our food on Sunshine. It was weird that seemed to happen every time I went to get food with her.

I looked at the mirror, but only for a second. I couldn't take my glasses off with Sunshine right behind me. So I ran into a stall and pulled out the camera on my phone.

Sure enough, I pulled my glasses off to find the mark between my eyes throbbing with golden light. The tips of my hair were yellow, just as Sunshine had said.

Speaking of Sunshine, she burst into the bathroom just then. "Leila? Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, totally," I responded from the other side of the door. "Just a little incident. I'm fine, though. I'll be out in a minute."

"Oh. Okay..." Sunshine said skeptically.  I heard the door close.

I waited while my vision went normal and the mark stopped glowing. Finally, I walked back to our table.

"All good?" Sunshine asked. I nodded.

"You know," she said, "You don't have to call me Sunshine. Sunny is fine by me."

I sighed. "Sorry. I guess I'm still new to this whole 'friend' thing." I smiled and saw her smile too, but she had a sad look in her eyes.

That night, I went home happy, something that I hadn't done much.

Until, at least, I went down to the Lightning Lair.

"Where have you been?" My dad hissed.

I checked my watch. 10:30. Oops.

"You were supposed to be here two hours ago! Where were you?" He demanded. "Tell me!"

I put my arms behind my back. "I was... getting dinner with... my friend Sunny."

"Friend?" He scoffed. You don't have time for 'friends'. Tomorrow, you're coming home right after work."

I just nodded. I always did what he said.

"I think I've got a plan. We need to figure out how to to make it work." I knew he meant he would make it work and I would get food for him or something, but I didn't care.

"So, I'm going to 'capture' the mayor, little Leila Jackson," Dad made quotation marks with his fingers. " You go into a closet or something in change into your real form to help me, and we pretend Ms. Mayor is stuck in said closet, and we won't let her go unless they let me take over!"

 I grinned. "Genius! When are you planning to do this?"

My dad thought for a second before replying, "The day after tomorrow. 1:00 PM sharp."