The alarm sounded. The smell of frying eggs and bacon filled the air of his room. Jeremy opened the window and looked outside. “....we’re in for another hot one today! Heh, we’ve got a heat wave on our hands, folks! Anyway, after these commercials, we’re cutting back over to-” Jeremy flicked the radio off. It was just another day in Frankford, Missouri. “Jeeeeremy Graaaay! C’mon down and eat your breakfast! I made eggs n’ bacon! Honey, c’mon down! You’ll be late school!”

“In a minute, Mom, I overslept!” Jeremy sleepily walked into the bathroom and got ready for school.

Jeremy was a mutant, unknown to everyone except his immediate family. He had the unique ability of controlling and resisting fire. He could also fly. He had known these abilities since he was a small child. While many would see these as amazing and wondrous powers, Jeremy found it to be overrated, and mostly a nuisance.

Jeremy jumped from the top of the stairs, glided the way down, and in an attempt to stop, crashed into the wall. “Hey, Mom, I almost got it that time!”

“I swear, Jim, you should spend more time doing actual work than practicing your flying. Now go in and eat some breakfast before it gets cold.” Jeremy poked at his eggs. He wasn’t very hungry. “Ok Mom, I’m going to school now!” “Ok, see ‘ya later, Jimmy!” He stepped out the door, and glanced at his watch. “Ah man, I’m gonna be late.....ah, no worries. I can just fly to school today.” Jeremy began to float in the air, slowly so he wouldn’t fall. “Man...I remember last time when I tried to fly to school. I THINK they got the windows repaired...” “Ok, here goes...” Jeremy stuck one arm out in front, the way he had seen the superheroes on TV do many times before. “Here’s to being in the big-times!” Jeremy began to slowly move forward, gaining speed as he flew. As he went faster, he began to think about the day ahead. “Oh man....today’s an ‘A’ day, so I have world history first hour. God, I hate Mr. Pierson. Always assigning two hours of homework...too much work...way too much wor-” *BOOM!* Jeremy felt himself hit something metallic. As he lay on the pavement, dazed, he looked up to see a man running towards him. “Oh man, my car!”

Jeremy looked up at the gray van. It had a large dent on the front from his impact. Sorry.....just...not paying attention.”

“Yea? Well PAY ATTENTION next time! Jeez, you know how much money it’ll take me to get a dent like that fixed? I’m on an important trip!”

Jeremy stared at the man‘s attire. “Hmm, that’s odd. Why is he wearing that stuff in the middle of May? I mean, people just don‘t walk down the street in leather jackets and jeans when its 90 degrees out! ”

“Hey, KID, You even paying attention?! That’s it, I’m gonna give you a piece of my mind, freak! The man rolled up the sleeves of his jacket.

“Uhh....look, really sorry bout that! I’ve gotta go to school now. Sorry again!” Jeremy floated above the street.

“HEY! Where are you going?! Hey! Come back, you freak!”

Jeremy flew away from the scene of the accident. “Oh man.....that guy looked really angry. If I didn’t get out of there, I would’ve been likely to have gotten shot or something! I wonder if he was one of those criminals that I always see on the news. He sure did look the part! Ok, I guess I‘d better be more careful this-” *THWACK!*

The halls were crowded as Jeremy entered the door to Frankford City High School. He looked at the clock. “Phew, five minutes ‘till the bell. Man, flying sure does come in handy!” Mr. Pierson’s class was boring as usual. Jeremy, like always, fell asleep during the daily lectures. “Your homework assignment is to write a five page essay on the decline of the nazis in World War Two, and the rise of the fascist Fifth Column organization in the United States. Be sure to-” The bell rang. Anxious students rushed from their seats to the door. Jeremy, followed the masses, satisfied at his long morning nap. “Ahh…I’ll just ask somebody for the homework assignment. No biggie. God, …why does he give out so much homework? One day, I should just throw a fireball at that toupee of his. Yea…that would be hilarious…a burning toupee on his head…” Jeremy looked around the halls and realized that everyone was staring at him. “Oh man…what’s this about?” He looked down and realized that he was hovering three feet above the ground. He stopped moving forward and adjusted his height. Embarrassed, he smiled and waved to the people around him. “Must be the…uhh...new shoes…”

The sun was hot in the sky as Jeremy lazily walked home. “Jeez…everyone probably thinks I’m a freak now. I mean, even the Goths are avoiding me.” At that moment, he spotted a girl from his first hour class walking down the street. Jeremy approached her. “Hey, you’re in first hour world history, right?”

“Yes…I am.”

“Ok, that’s GREAT! I don’t know if you know me. My name’s Jeremy. Your name is….Sharon, right? No, wait, Shauna! Err, no..wait…”

The girl giggled. “Cheryl will do fine.” Jeremy was surprised that she didn’t try to avoid him like the rest of his peers did. “Um…yea, do you have the homework from that class? I kind of….fell asleep today.” Jeremy felt embarrassed by saying this. “Oh man, I must look like a total loser now.” Cheryl giggled again. “Yes, I saw you today. You were snoring, I think.”

Cheryl smiled. “You know, you’re not much of a loser in my eyes.”

This came as a shock to Jeremy. He was speechless. “What the..?! How did she..?! But how?!”

“How? I’m an adept. I can read minds. It’s a gift, I guess. I was born this way.”

Jeremy was still completely speechless. “Hmm…fire, eh? Sounds fun. Oh, and you can fly! I’d give ANYTHING to learn how to fly! I’d probably even trade in my being psychic to learn!”

Jeremy was shocked. He had never met anyone like her. “Oh jeez.…so everything I think you can hear?”

“Yes. Oh, and you‘re not that bad looking yourself, Jeremy.” She smiled. “Um, yea, ok. Uh, anyway, do you have the homework assignment? I’d kind of like to-”

“See what we did in class, right? Sure, I have it.” Jeremy smiled, still a bit uneasy about Cheryl’s abilities. “Ok, we’ve got to read chapters five to seven in the world history book, then you have to write essay on it. It’s an article about the decline of Nazi Germany. Very easy stuff. Got all that, Jim?” Jeremy nodded. “Ok, well, I’ve got to get home now, Jim.” At first, Jeremy was shocked that she knew his nickname. “Oh, wait, she can read minds. Man, this will get some getting used to.”

“Don’t worry about it, I won’t actually TELL anyone anything I overhear. I don’t even listen to half of the things I pick up. I can tune it out if I want, you know. Anyway, I’ve got to go now. My parents will have a mid-life crisis if I’m late just five minutes. See you later, Jimmy!”

Jeremy watched her walk down the street and disappear behind a corner. “Wow…what a girl.”

As Jeremy stepped in his house he noticed a small note on the coffee table next to the door. It was written sloppily in pen.

“Jeremy-

“Oh great…on my own AGAIN! We’re not even related to that woman, why should we care for her?”

It was true. Neither Jeremy nor his mother were related to Aunt Helen. Aunt Helen was nothing more than Jeremy’s mother’s friend. Jeremy still had no idea why he’d been calling her “Aunt Helen” all his life. Jeremy, realizing there was nobody around to stop him, began to levitate. “Well, I might as well get some practice with flying while I’m alone.” Jeremy dropped his books and immediately soared out the open front door. “Maybe I can make it to fifty feet this time!” Flying required much practice to master, as Jeremy had found. (The myth about flying is that once you can do it, you can go as high as you want. Not true. Jeremy found that when he tried to fly too high, his speed decreased dramatically and he would begin to fall. Much like a plane, a steep climb can send the flyer plummeting towards the ground within seconds.)

“Ok, I think I’m about thirty-five feet up…ok…steady…” Jeremy made a slow climb upwards. Suddenly, he began to fall. “Ok, too high up!” Jeremy concentrated all his energy on recovering. He had never been able to fully regain control of his altitude after falling before. This time was no exception. Jeremy was able to slow his fall dramatically, but nailed the ground hard. “ARGH!” Jeremy pounded his fists on the grass. As he stared at the sky, he noticed a group of spectators had gathered near him, and were all pointing and talking among themselves. He got up and faced them. “Um, I can explain why this happened. See…..uhh…the wind gets REALLY….uh….windy……where I was at….and…um…I was blown here.” The group didn’t seem to understand. “Uh…yea….anyway, I’m going to go now…see…uh….I got some….homework….and…uh, yea….I’ll just walk…” Jeremy quickly walked away from the scene. The group was still standing there, wondering what had just happened. “Well, let’s check making a fool of myself off the to-do list!”

The next morning, as Jeremy stepped out the door, he spotted Cheryl standing on the curb. She waved as he came out of his house. “Cheryl! How’d you get here? I never told you where I lived!”

“Well, yesterday when we met, I probed your mind a little bit.”

“..and you remembered how to get to my house all the way from yesterday? It’s not a short way, you know.”

“Having a photographic memory helps.”

Jeremy smiled. “Wow, is there anything that she CAN’T do?”

“I can’t fly, or shoot fire out of my body, but besides that, nope.” They both laughed.

“Hey, Jeremy, can you show me some of your abilities?” Jeremy thought of what happened the day before.

“Uh, as long as I don’t have to fly.” Cheryl laughed.

“Hehe, No flying required. I just want to see how your fire works….”

“Ok, well, first I have to concentrate on the flame with my mind. I have to think about it before it can actually happen…like this.” Jeremy concentrated on his hand. The air around his hand became hot, and then, suddenly, it burst into flame. Cheryl stepped back.

“What? Never seen fire before?”

Cheryl smiled. “No, not on a person’s hand!”

They both laughed again.

“So, um, what else can you do besides the whole fire thing? Can you shoot death rays out of your eyes or something? Do you have super strength?”

“Well…uh, no. I don’t think I know of anything else. You know, I CAN do more than just make my hand into a ball of fire. Watch.” Jeremy concentrated on the flames covering his hand. “See, I can shape the flame into anything I want…well, to an extent. I can only get a ball, a square, and a thin line of fire so far. I’ve been practicing, though.” Jeremy shifted the flames into different shapes.

“Wow, that’s amazing! Your power is like a billion times better than mine!”
“Yea, well, it gets boring after a while. Hey, want to see what else I can do with the flame?” Jeremy shaped it into a ball again.

“Sure.”
“Here, watch this!” Jeremy threw the ball forward. It streaked through the air like a fiery meteor before crashing into a trash can and knocking it over.

“WHOA! You can throw it?! That’s too cool! Look, let’s make a trade, your fire for my mind reading ability!” Jeremy laughed.

“Nah, you’ve got it better. I can’t do anything else than what I showed you. Besides, what good is it to be able throw some fire around? Plus, your power is concealed. When I use mine, everyone notices. People think I’m a freak because I can do it. You can use your power without the fear of being caught.”

“Yea, but you can fight crime with that stuff! You’re like a walking arsenal! What can I do to stop a bank robbery? Tell the robber his favorite color is blue? You could take a fireball and hurl it at his face! You’d be a hero! If either of us are freaks, I’m the freak. People just don’t know it yet.” Cheryl had a point. Jeremy’s powers could do some real damage. “Hey, I never thought of it that way. I could use it to be like a hero in Paragon!” Jeremy glanced at his watch.

“Well, Cheryl, if you’re going to walk to school with me, we’d better get going now. I, uh, don’t want to have to fly to school again.”

The last bell of the day rang. Jeremy was eager to get out of his 8^th period math class. As he walked down the steps, he was greeted by Cheryl, who was waiting near the bottom of the stairs.

“Jeremy, I got the greatest idea today! Remember this morning when you showed me your powers?”

“Um, yea.”

“WELL, why don’t you become a superhero?”
“Become a superhero?! How?! Superheroes have costumes! Superheroes have special names! Most of all, they have TIME! With homework and all that stuff, I don’t see any way…”

Cheryl frowned. “But Jim, I can train you to be one! I bet I could get you in top crime fighting shape! Jim…..please?”

“Cheryl….I don’t know…I mean….”

“So you’ll do it?!” Cheryl jumped with excitement. “I KNEW you would do it! Now…let’s see….we need a costume…”

“But-”

“I got it! Dress up in red! Since you’re a fire powered superhero, red is DEFINETLY you!”

“I don’t think-”

“We need a mask, too….we can’t have everyone knowing who you are!”

“Err..I-”

“So, when should we start your training? Tomorrow?”

“Ok, ok, fine. Tomorrow.” “Oh no…what am I getting into?”

“You’re getting into the SUPERHERO business, Jim! You‘re going to do what you‘ve always dreamed about!”

“I’m not sure if I should’ve done that. Well, one thing’s for sure, I’ve changed my life. The question now is whether I’ve changed it for the better or the worse.