Shift

Chapter 7

Shift POV

___________

Every morning I follow a similar routine. My alarm goes off at 9:00. I press snooze and go back to sleep. Then my alarm goes off again at 9:10. I eat a bowl of cereal. When I finish I go into the living room and watch television for half an hour and then I get dressed and go out.

Its been a busy couple of days and today I want to relax. I press snooze twice, slowly get out of bed, eat some Lucky Charms, and channel surf for twenty minutes trying to finding something I want to watch. I end up watching a tv show about supers. As a supervillain I live and breathe all things super. And villainy. The show talks about the recent accomplishments of heroes and villains.

It briefly mentions my police chase. Then it shows the list for top fifty supervillains. My spot hasn't moved. Disappointed, I change the channel to the news. Some superheroes have disappeared and no one knows what has happened to them. Also, law enforcement is still looking for the person responsible for the fire at the Cube. The main suspect is Screech's missing bother. They don't say his name. Superheroes have control over what information is revealed to the public. I bet Screech is mad his little brother is all over the news ruining his image.

I get dressed and walk across the street to my favorite coffee shop. They have delicious fruit smoothies. I buy one and then sit down with a magazine. The coffee shop has these giant comfy chairs that you just sink into. I finish the smoothie and open the magazine.

There's not a lot of interesting things to read, but I do find a quiz. Its supposed to tell you what your superpower is. It's stupid and will never be right on what my superpower is, but I do it anyway. There are only five questions, so it's not like it will take a lot of time. I read them and circle my answers.

To find out your power you have to count your answers and see what letter you chose most often. I have mostly Cs. Of course the quiz is wrong and says I can control water. How you're supposed to find out anything with such random questions I don't know. I put the magazine away and leave. As I walk down the sidewalk I listen to my footsteps. They echo strangely. I stop, the echoes don't. I soon realize it's not an echo. It's someone else's footsteps. I'm being followed.

I start walking again, pretending I haven't noticed. I slowly take out my ray gun. When the footsteps are right behind me I spin around, aiming the ray at at...Venus?

"Venus?! Wha-"

"Jeez, Shift. You're so hard to sneak up on!" She whines. "Also, its Beth. Do you see me wearing my villain costume?"

"No."

"Exactly! So don't use my villain name. Call me Beth."

"Okay. So do you want something?"

"Jeez! You're so cold." She pretends to shiver. "Can't I just talk to my friend?"

"We both know you have something in mind."

"Yeah." She smiles evilly. "You know me so well."

I don't say anything, waiting for her to tell me what she's planning. We start walking again as she tells me about what someone did at her school. I don't know the person so I have no idea what she's talking about. I just nod or make a comment every few minutes. I know eventually she will get to the point.

"So then she said a bunch of mean things about me. She said I don't have any friends. So I told her I had friends just not at this school, because why would I want to be friends with any of them?"

I laugh at that. "I wouldn't want to be friends with them either from the sound of it."

She throws her hands in the air. "I know!" She exclaims.

"So, I want you to enroll at my school," Venus says.

"What?!" Me? Go to school?

"Just for a day! I need you to act as my awesome rich friend so I can prove them wrong."

"Beth, complimenting me is not going to get you anything."

"Aww! Come on! It's not even really an act. You're the best friend ever, and it's just one day." She gives me puppy eyes. "Pwetty pwease?"

I think up excuses as fast as I can. "I haven't been to school in forever, and I seriously hated that place! And why would you want me to be the friend? Why not Samson? He's much better with people than I am and he actually goes to school."

"But he's not my best friend, you are. Besides, he's a bit nerdy. He would make me look dumb. I get somewhat bad grades in almost every class. "

She won me over when she told me I was her best friend. I agree, and she says she will get me the necessary school supplies. She will also pick me up before school and drive me home after. I am already nervous for my first day of school. I will have to practice acting like a rich snob. That actually sounds fun.