Chapter 10

Michael

"Wha—” Zack stuttered. “What was that?”

My mind was racing as I sat on the grass in my backyard. “I… I don’t know.”

“Michael,” Sarah said with a shocked expression. “You just jumped higher than our house…”

“No, that’s impossible,” I said in disbelief. “No one in the world can jump that high!”

“But, you did!” Zack stated. “We all saw the same thing, right?”

Sarah and I didn’t answer. We remained silent while trying to wrap our minds around the impossible. What I’d done was impossible. The tingling feeling and power I felt were impossible. Superpowers only existed in the movies, didn’t they? But, this was real life. Super speed and super jumps shouldn’t be real! “What’s wrong with me?”

“Wrong with you?” Zack said. “Michael… you’ve got powers! Like superhuman powers! This is so cool!” He paced back and forth, ecstatic. “You know what this means? You could be a superhero! Fight bad guys, save the day, just like in the comic books and movies.”

He paused, formulating an idea. “I could be your sidekick! And Sarah… we could be your team! We will look for all the bad guys, we’ll communicate with you through ear pieces, and we’ll get an underground lair—”

“Whoa, Zack!” Sarah interrupted. “Slow down! Give Michael a moment to breathe first!”

Zack stopped and looked down at me. I still sat there on the grass, unaffected by Zack’s enthusiasm, just trying to take it all in. I had… powers. Superhuman abilities. What would that mean?

Sarah knelt down next to me. “Do you know how you got these powers, Michael?”

I shook my head.

“Has anything out of the ordinary happened to you?”

“No. Everything has been normal.” I furrowed my eyebrows. “Except for last night when I…” My wheels started turning. Last night I was zapped by the glowing meteorite, the now-non-glowing, blue stone hidden in my bedroom. Did the stone do something to me? Give me superpowers?

“When you… what?” Sarah asked. “What happened last night?”

I hesitated to answer, trying to decide if I should tell Sarah and Zack. Mr. Johnson told me not to tell anyone about the stone. Was that because he knew it would give me powers? How would he know that? Why didn’t he tell me?

“Did something happen during your date last night?” Sarah asked.

I stood up, ignoring her, and started heading to the house.

“Does this have to do with the blue rock in your dresser?”

I stopped in my tracks and turned back at her. “How do you know about the stone?”

She stood up too. “I saw you trying to hide it this morning, remember? What’s so special about that rock? And why are you trying to keep it a secret?”

I groaned and ran my hands through my hair. “I… I don’t even know!”

“Well there’s no use in hiding it now. I saw the rock, and I’m assuming it has something to do with your crazy jumping ability. Am I right?”

“I think so,” I said. That secret didn’t last long, I thought. I decided to tell Zack and Sarah about the meteor shower and how Angela and I found the glowing blue stone that zapped me. Sarah furrowed her eyebrows trying to put the pieces together. Zack hung on to my every word.

“Wait,” he interjected. “You said it was a meteor shower—meaning multiple meteors, right? Were there other meteorites that landed out there last night? Meteorites with glowing stones in them?”

“Oh, yeah, there were other impacts, but no glowing stones,” I said. “I think we heard three impacts total. Angela and I checked in one of the craters that landed near Ray Simmons and his friends, but we didn’t find any glowing meteorites like mine.”

“Ray was there?” Sarah asked.

I nodded.

“Too bad he didn’t get hit,” Zack said under his breath. Sarah gave him a scolding look, but he just ignored her. “Did you check the third crater for another glowing stone?”

“No, we didn’t have enough time.”

Zack hummed to himself. “Well, we should test out your powers, Michael. Do that super jump again.”

“No thanks,” I said. “I’d rather not.”

“Why not?”

“Did you get hurt when you landed?” Sarah asked.

“No,” I said. “I just…” How could I explain it to them? “I want us all to forget that this ever happened, okay?”

They both looked confused. “I couldn’t forget even if I wanted to,” Sarah said. “It’s not every day you see a guy jumping as high as houses, Michael.”

“I know, it’s just…” I sighed.

“Don’t worry,” Sarah said. “We’ll take this slow.”

“We can help you practice,” Zack said. “Learn to hone your skills before you go catching bad guys. We’ll help you out.”

“I don’t want to go catching bad guys!” I said. “Isn’t that what the police are for? Besides, it’s against the law to take justice into your own hands. I don’t want to be a vigilante!”

“What?” Zack said, flustered. “There are some things the cops can’t stop that you can! That’s when they’ll need a hero like you to—”

“I don’t want to be a hero! I just want to be me!” I spoke louder than I’d meant. They were both quiet. Sarah looked sympathetic. Zack looked hurt and angry. “I just want to be normal Michael Stone… a teenager, the soccer captain… and maybe one day a doctor. Nothing more. That’s the life I’ve been planning for since I was twelve. So, let’s just forget this whole superpower thing. Don't tell anyone and I’ll keep it under control.”

Zack opened his mouth to argue, but I cut him off. “You guys should go,” I said. “I’ve got yard work to do.”

My cousin scowled at me for a moment and then left with a huff. Sarah still looked sympathetically at me but didn’t say anything as she walked inside the house. I started mowing the lawn, trying to distract myself from my thoughts.