"Not everyone is meant to make a difference. But for me, the choice to lead an ordinary life is no longer an option."

~ Peter Parker (Spiderman)

By the time lunch rolled around, I had almost forgotten about Delinquent. Well, I almost forgot until Mary mentioned it as we sat down at the lunch table.

"I can't believe there's another villain in town. I mean - Captain Impossible already has it hard enough with the other bad guys he puts away. Did you guys hear about what he and White Lightning did this morning?"

I shook my head. If I hadn't been there, I would've had no reason to know anyways. Mary's best friend Elise shook her head as well.

"Oh my god, it was so amazing! Apparently they stood off against Two-Face, whose hair was an embarrassing shade of orange when they scared him. They barely had to do a thing, Two-Face is no match for Captain Impossible." She squealed.

I was reluctant to point out the fact that we did in fact have to do a lot to catch Two-Face. Running across Arlington Memorial Bridge on a Moonday morning in morning traffic was no pleasant treat. Especially when the guy you're chasing panics so much that he occasionally loses control of his powers and turns into a rainbow colored man.

I also didn't point out that I, White Lightning, was the one to incapacitate Two-Face. But, it didn't matter. People saw what they wanted to see, and they wanted to see their favorite hero saving the day, not his sidekick.

"I guess that's cool." Elise said in a quiet voice.

"You guess?" Mary gasped unbelievingly. "There is no guessing about it. All supers are amazingly cool. Except for, you know, the bad ones."

Ian stuffed a bite of his sandwich into his mouth and smiled at Mary. "The bad ones are the best, they can actually break the rules."

Mary scoffed at him and stabbed her fork into her salad angrily.

Did I forget to mention that Ian was a twin? Yeah, Mary was Ian's sister, she was older than him by two minutes and forty three seconds and she never let him forget it. Mary was, in short, Type 'A' control freak. She was used to being in charge at all times, and often mothered Ian and scolded him for his childish behavior. She was also quite a bit obsessed with Captain Impossible. I didn't have the heart to tell her that he was about fifteen years too old for her.

Mary's best friend, however, was a bit of the opposite. Elise was quiet. She was quite reserved and shy, but when you got her talking, she wouldn't stop. Even though she looked fragile and adorable, she was about as strong as any weightlifter. I made the mistake once of challenging her to an arm wrestle - never again. She also had this silky blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes that helped with her image of a girl soft and cute, even if we knew better by now.

Elise's father was the White House Physician. Her mother was a Doctor at George Washington University Hospital. So she was sort of a mix of the kind of students that went here. Her dad had quite a bit of power from working in the White House, and her mom was a major Doctor at a local Hospital. It also meant that she barely saw them.

Mary flipped her dark brown hair over her shoulder and narrowed her dark eyes at me, "So, what about you, Olly? What do you think about this new vigilante who calls herself Delinquent?"

I smirked. "Well, she hasn't done any real harm to anyone, so I doubt that she's much of a threat to your precious Captain Impossible."

Ian snickered.

Mary huffed. "He's not mine."

"Also, what even is her superpower? The article Ian gave me didn't say anything about it."

"I read somewhere that it's teleportation." Elise spoke up.

Ian smirked, "That is so cool!"

(Yeah, because a villain who you can't catch is the best kind for superheroes like me.)

(Note the sarcasm)

I was just glad that this new girl hadn't committed any real crimes. I mean - sure, vandalism was a crime, but it wasn't too serious. I also didn't want to arrest someone who was just trying to stand up for the people.

"She still has nothing on Captain Impossible." Mary argued, stuffing more salad into her mouth.

I nodded along. In all reality, it did sometimes get annoying how everyone was always obsessed with Captain Impossible. I mean - did sidekicks get that little recognition?

(But Daniel was indestructible, so I guess she had a point.)

"Oh, by the way," Ian interjected, pulling out a paper from his backpack, "did anyone finish the political science homework?"

Mary sighed as loud as she possibly could. Some other tables looked our way, but they were mostly used to it to the point where they turned away when they realized it was only Mary being Mary. "Ian! Why didn't you do it last night?"

"Well, you see, I don't really care that much about politics, so I don't really want to understand how they work. But, I realize I should probably turn it in, but Mr. Brooks isn't going to accept a blank page."

Mary huffed and turned away from Ian, angrily stuffing more of her salad into her mouth. Mary was, in the least, obsessed about getting into a good college. But since she and Ian were twins, she knew that they were also going to look at his track record, which isn't the brightest. I knew Ian only brought it up to annoy her even more.

I pulled out my paper and gave it to Ian. He grinned and started to copy down the answers, changing a few as he went along. I couldn't tell if he was changing the answers so he wouldn't get caught cheating, or if he was changing them so Mr. Brooks wouldn't think he was as smart as he actually was, but with Ian it could be both.

At Eldredge, Political Sciences was actually a class. With some of the city's finest children going here, we had a ton of classes you wouldn't normally see in a regular high school. I'm pretty sure they expected us all to become politicians and lawyers and such.

Elise also didn't quite approve of the cheating, so she, like Mary, ignored Ian and me for the rest of lunch.

This was how most days went by. Ian and Mary bickering like the siblings they were, Elise nodding along and agreeing with Mary, while I occasionally interjected with a couple of questions.

The end of school was when the formula changed a bit. I was getting my stuff out of my locker, ready to leave school and go save a couple lives before the day ended, when Heather Richards walked up to me.

Heather Richards was a quiet girl, though not as shy as Elise. She had reddish brown hair that was as straight as a board and always kept her skirt at a respectable length, even if the other girls didn't. She was also the only girl at the school with a secret service entourage.

"Hey, Oliver." She said, looking at her feet. I spotted her entourage quickly, they were only yards away from her, blending into the scenery. Most of the school had gotten used to them hanging around, they were trained in blending in anyways, but not me. I was always wary of the ones who hid in the dark.

And, just in case you didn't notice the last name, Heather is the President's daughter. Yes, the President of the United States of America.

I had met her father a couple times before. For instance, the time when Captain Impossible and I saved him from an assassination attempt. Or the time when I was sworn to the city as an official super.

(Yes, most of the good supers had to take an oath. That way they couldn't turn bad.)

"Hey, Heather," I smiled with my signature full row of white teeth.

She blushed and looked down. "Umm . . . I was wondering if you wanted to . . . you know . . . go get some coffee or something . . . like . . . after school." She looked up and her eyes softened. "With my study group I mean. We wouldn't be, like . . . alone."

I internally sighed. The truth was, I would love to go get coffee with Heather, and she was a nice girl. But, the problem came at my after school 'job'. I would never have time to do something like that.

This is why I had developed a method of letting them down easy. I didn't really want to say no, but I was unable to say yes, so I had to find a way to say no without totally blindsiding her. I didn't want her to think she wasn't good enough for me and I didn't want her to think I was rejecting her. I actually had plans after school.

"I would love to, but I've got an after school job." I sighed like it was the most inconvenient thing in the world, which it was most days. "My boss is really strict about showing up and stuff. If I didn't have to work, that would be totally awesome. How about we meet up at lunch or something? You know my friends, right?"

Heather still looked a bit upset, but she was definitely happier than she would've been if I'd outright said no. "Yeah, okay."

I grinned and closed my locker. "Great, I'll see you then."

As I walked away, Ian caught up with me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Ahh, dude! You just don't know how to let them down easy."

"What do you mean?" I had thought I did an excellent job.

He shook his head with a smile crawling across his face, "You don't invite them to lunch if you don't want to be with them."

"Well, I never said I didn't want to be with her." I argued.

"You said it with your eyes, man."

I sighed. Most of the school had noticed the fact that I didn't date anyone. I always turned down date offers and I was never seen hanging around any girls but Mary, Elise, and a couple of their friends. Some kids thought it was because I was gay or something, or maybe even asexual, but the truth was that I didn't have time for girls between saving the city with Daniel and homework.

When Daniel picks me up after school, everyone just assumes he's my dad or something. My friends know that he's my boss, so they think it's a little weird that he picks me up, but they didn't know the real reason.

"Any crime we have to stop immediately today?" I asked, throwing my backpack in the car and buckling up because Daniel's driving was reckless.

"Nope, but that just means more time at the shop. Perhaps you'll actually get some homework done today."

I was grateful for an afternoon working at the comic book store. It was always interesting to see the kind of people that shopped there and to read some of the comic books when I got bored. Plus, Eric, the other guy who worked there, was fun to mess with.

Technically Eric's job title was technician and storage manager, but he also worked down in the Man Cave. It was kind of like our own little Bat Cave, except it was not actually a cave, just a basement with a lot of high tech equipment to help us on particularly hard missions.

Eric was Daniel's cousin, and the only other person who knew both of our secret identities. I mean - it would be kind of hard to hide your face from a guy you work with every day.

When we got to the shop, I immediately took my place behind the counter. My job was to occasionally stock the shelves and work the register. The only time that the store was ever crowded was when a new comic of a real super was released. Supers like the Doctor and Marvelous Man signed comic book deals over a year ago, which helped sales of the shop a ton. Everyone wanted to read the stories of their favorite supers.

I was trying to do a particularly hard pre-calculus problem when the bell above the door ringed. I was surprised to see that it was Elise that entered.

"Hey, Elise." I smiled, even if I was a bit confused as to why she was here."

She smiled back. "Hey, Olly."

"What are you looking for? We've got every comic book from DC Comics to Supers Revealed."

Elise shrugged. "I don't know. I was looking for something for my little brother. It's his birthday tomorrow, and I haven't gotten him anything yet. But I do know that he is obsessed with Captain Impossible and White Lightning."

I smiled at that. I always loved to hear it when kids looked up to us. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

"Alright then. We actually do have some Captain Impossible merchandise near the counter if you wanted to give him some." I pointed to my left, where a rack advertised things such as Captain Impossible capes and coffee cups.

Elise shuffled through the merchandise and ended up buying a Captain Impossible outfit in a child's size and a couple comic books that I recognized from one of the bankrupt comic book companies, Marvel.

(Yeah, no one really wanted to see movies about fake heroes when we had real heroes right in front of us. The Marvel Company went bankrupt trying to make every last one of their characters into a movie franchise.)

I waved goodbye to Elise and went back to the hard pre-calculus problem.

Maybe I would actually get an afternoon off of super hero work today.