Josefer Martin - Growing up Super - Chapter 1

As I sat in the back of my seventh period computer programming class, one of my easiest classes, but still my favorite, I thought back over the day's events. Less then an hour before I had been held at gunpoint by a man I once called my best friend, who then robbed me of my most prized possession, and ran off both my new worst enemy and a multi-millionaire.

I then thought back further, back to the first time I met Mike and Zelda. It was the August of seventh grade, a week before classes were to begin. Jessica and I, at that time just beginning our partnership, and still getting the feeling of our eventual relationship, had been invited by the administration to tour our new school, William H. Parker Junior High School.

When we arrived at nine in the morning, having been dropped off separately by our parents, we weren't sure what to do. The parking lot was almost empty, but after walking up to the doors, we realized that the front doors were open. In retrospect, it's logical, since we were supposed to be there, but when you're twelve years old, the logic circuits aren't quite working at full capacity.

Jessica led the way, since she could sense the two people waiting for us in the lobby. I followed close behind, not really knowing what to expect. The two people waiting were just a bit older then us, actually a year or so, but otherwise looked entirely normal.

"You two must be Jessica, and Joseph," said the boy, "I'm Mike, and this is Zelda."

"Actually," I spoke up, "It's Josefer, but you can call me Joe."

"My bad," said Mike with a smile, "well, no matter, we'll get it all sorted out later. In the meantime, we're here to show you around Parker Junior High. Zelda here will show Jessica around, and I'll show Joe around."

"Yeah, sounds good," I admitted. He exuded confidence, and had definite charisma.

He took me by the shoulder and we walked down the main hall, the girls started up the stairs to look around the second floor. "Joe," he said, "I can call you Joe, right?"

"Yeah Mike," I confirmed, still unsure of what the proper response should have been.

"Joe, I remember what it was like when I was in your position. Still unsure of what to do, what not to do, and how to act around norms and supes. Well, I can't tell you how to act around norms, since that's for tomorrow, but the rest I can teach you, and so much more."

As we walked around the school, he showed me the various classrooms and offices, as well as the hidden places that the norms didn't know about. He talked about what I'd expect of both my school hours, and my extracurricular activities. He explained how we'd be taught the bits of history left out of the norms' educations, plus the extensive civics and martial arts instructions we'd receive.

He also talked about how the supe program worked. Before that day, I'd hadn't known much. Just what they'd told us at the Orientation Camp in July, and what I'd gleaned from the internet, some of which Mike was contradicting. He explained about the two stage power process, about how a supe would be born with one power, one they knew how to control from birth, but then, once they reached puberty, they'd gain a second, more powerful power.

He then bragged about how his second power had manifested in the middle of his math class, about how one moment he'd had to figure out the answer, and the next it just came to him. He then explained how he'd cheated by hacking into the school's computer system and changed all his classmates' grades to make himself look as smart as he knew, or at least thought, he was, at least by comparison.

That should have been my first clue as you what kind of man Mike would turn out to be, but then I wasn't an intuit, just a gadgeteer. By the time the day was up, and my parents had arrived to take me home, I had learned a whole lot about the world that most norms never did. I had also gotten my first glimpse as my future best friend, and worst enemy.