Undercover Heroes

Chapter 1

There are heroes. Then there are superheroes. Many people would argue that they're basically the same, with their fancy intentions of saving something. But they're not. That's like saying Rebecca Black and Michael Jackson are basically the same.  You just can't say that a one-shot wannabe singer is basically the same as the all-time King of Pop. It's not how the world works. Sure, heroes and superheroes are both great and stuff as they go around generally being good. But seriously. Heroes are just your average-day person who goes around saving cats from trees (though it was completely the cat's fault). Superheroes, well, are super. I mean America has a habit of putting the adjective "super" in front of many things that aren't actually super. Supermodels, super sized, super cool, super anything. But when they say "superhero," they mean it. These people are really something. Superheroes don't dabble with small things. Go big or go home. They have abilities that most people tend to not have. Whether its super strength, super speed, or just plain agility, superheroes go above and beyond (sometimes literally). They save the world. Or at least... they could.

…

REVOLUTION CITY

NOVEMBER 17, 10:36 EDT

BAM.

Everything goes flying as I get shoved roughly into the wall.

"Watch it, loser." Some popular guy sneers at me as he continues his path, surrounded by an entourage of girls.

Loser this. Loser that. And then all those other happy stereotypical high school names that follow. But, in all honesty, you could say I am a loser and be completely right. A nobody. A nerd. I don't have a crazy amount of friends, I'm not involved with a popular sport, and I have glasses, however fake they are. High school is just stereotypical enough to slap the title on me. People may call me thousands of names but they always seem to miss one. A superhero. Though I'm not really one for tights, I do like going around town saving people and the occasional cats (idiotic cats). It's not really rare to see someone flying around in a suit here in Revolution City, where our Super population is the highest in the country. But it isn't always a good thing. 

I continued to walk.

"Oh, look!" Another guy yells, "It's the nerd from Narnia!" A wave of snickering follows. Typical… Wait. Scratch that. Not just "another guy." It’s the great and mighty Tyler Gold, the most popular jock in the school. Just another stereotypical star of another stereotypical, popular sport, and in this case, it happens to be soccer. Funnily enough, he also happens to be a self-centered, arrogant jerk who just loves picking on the nerds. But I’m his “special target,” ensuring more...negative emotions from me toward him, though I have more than one reason. Gold is just another one of those awful people who happen to have a lot of power. I don’t know who in their right mind would give him this power and popularity, but evidently he’s got it all. The world's just messed up that way. High school’s just messed up that way. The students are also messed up--slapping around nicknames on the first day, praising someone who obviously doesn't deserve praise, and general stuff like that. 

Clenching my teeth in frustration, I make a sudden turn into the girls' bathroom to escape the myriad of laughter. I yank open a stall door, ignoring the creaks of protest at the hinges and pull out my dictionary. Of course when I say “dictionary,” I don’t actually mean a real paper dictionary. I’m not that nerdy; I mean my electronic, hand-held, first-edition Popular to Nerd Dialect Dictionary. I type the words which sprouted from Tyler’s arrogantly loud mouth moments ago.

“Oh look! It’s the nerd from Narnia!” means the subject meant that the nerd stereo-typically reads books alone since they are friendless and socially inadequate. This also signifies the subject meant, “Ha! I don’t read that kind of weird nerd stuff. I’m way too cool for that. But I know about this stuff because you nerds always talk about it and I’m cool enough to catch on.” It also means the “nerd” should stay in the fantasy stories and not come out into the real world.