The Super 4 : Dark Death (8 page)

I smiled as I walked home.

I forgot all about the creepy boy and his
shadows. But I didn’t forget my parent’s yelling, when I arrived
home an hour late.

I texted Harrison as soon as I got to the
confines of my room.

Me: Hey Harrison

Harrison: Hey Jake, whaddup

Me: A lot! grades bad. might need 2 go 2
summer school!

Harrison: WHAT!

Me: ik! i’m gonna ask darryl to tutor
me!

Harrison: WHAT

Me: STOP IT! Ur not helping!

Harrison: Sorry. what should i
do?????

Me: I dunno? tutor me in math?

Harrison: sure. i got an a in that! but mayb
ask kaminski 2 switch math teachers

Me: ok

Harrison: c ya l8r

Me: bye

I switched off my phone and got out my biology
book again. This time I managed to read all nine
chapters.

Mom found me and hour later sleeping with the
book on my head.

Carly

XI

“
Wake up Carly! Carly, Carly,
Carly! Wake u-.” Groaning, I switched off my alarm clock. It was a
gift from papa’s company O-CoolTech. He was their number three
inventor.

I made my way to the dining room. Eirik had
made another traditional Norwegian cuisine, that consisted of open
sandwiches and homemade cloudberry smoothies. I wolfed down the
food and got ready for the day. Today was report card day! The week
went by so slowly, but finally it was here!

I was so happy! I had worked really hard this
year! Last year I had gotten an acceptable B. But the University of
Washington Cheerleaders excepted only a GPA of 3.5. And unlike most
schools it started in eighth grade. I was so pumped out!

I literally flipped through the day. At the
end of the day I told Coach Irene that I had sprained my ankle, and
put on a fake limp, favoring my left leg.

Once I was out of sight, I sprinted home. I
yanked the door open and raced to Papa’s office. He was sitting
reading a letter.. A big smile sat on his face. “Here. Read it!” He
said. I took it from his hands. It read:

Report Card for STUDENT:
MARTINSEN, Carly Anne

MATH:

Teacher: Mr Wharton Grade: A-
Percent: 90 Position: 5th

ENGLISH:

Teacher: Ms Murph Grade: A-
Percent: 90 Position: 4th

HISTORY:

Teacher: Mr Lin Grade: A Percent:
95 Position: 2nd

GEOGRAPHY:

Teacher: Ms Roberts Grade: A+
Percent: 101 Position: 1st

PHYSICS:

Teacher: Mr Tibbs Grade: A-
Percent:92 Position: 4th

BIOLOGY:

Teacher: Mr Yamin Grade: A
Percent: 95 Position: 1st

HEALTH:

Teacher: Mr. Carter Grade: A+
Percent: 102 Position: 1st

MODERN LANGUAGES SECTION FOR
QUARTER 3:

GERMAN:

Teacher: Mrs Abbing Grade:A+
Percent: 100 Position: 1st

PERFORMING ARTS:

BAND:

Teacher: Ms. Chang Grade: A+
Position: 2nd

PHYSICAL EDUCATION:

Teacher: Mrs. Breedlove Grade: B+
Position: 9th

OVERALL ACADEMIC SCORE:
96%

OTHER SUBJECTS: 90%

GPA: 3.74 GRADE: A

Congratulations! Your child has
been promoted to honors class! This is active at the start of the
new academic year!

Yours sincerely:

SKamininski
DougTurn

Middle School Principal:
Superintendent:

Shari Kaminski Douglas
Turner

Northview Academy

Filii hodie, et imperantes
cras!

Children today, Leaders
tomorrow!

I screamed.

“
Bravo! Carly you earned a treat!
You can invite four of your friends to a pizza party. Here’s a
hundred dollars! Keep the change!” He smiled his wide-tooth smile
as I squealed and hugged him and kissed him.

Then, I raced to the room I shared with Hilde.
I found her on her bed. She jumped up when I came in.

“
You’ll never guess what happened!
I was promoted to an Honor’s Class!” We yelled in sync.

We screamed. Holding hands, we jumped around.
I then performed a series of flips, while Hilde did a series of
cartwheels around the room, ending in a splits. When we were
finishing our routine, papa walked in.

“
Hi Papa! Heh heh!” I said
pathetically.

“
Hi onkel Andreas!” Hilde
said.

“
Hi girls. Anyways, Have you guys
invited your friends yet?”

“
Just doing it.” We
replied.

We both grabbed our phones and texted our
friends. I invited my best friend Alex- she hates the name
Alexandra- Jake, Darryl and Harrison.

Two hours later, though it seemed like longer,
happened at The Pizza Place. As kids everyone always had parties at
The Pizza Place. It was so much fun!

Darryl arrived first, then Alex, followed by
Harrison and Jake. As soon as they walked in, I waved over a
waiter. The guy had shiny black hair and dark deep eyes. He also
had a stud earring. Alex practically fell over him. I rolled my
eyes.

“Hi! Can we have five glasses of Sprite and
two large pepperoni pizzas?” I asked, putting on my best fake
smile.

“Anything for two beautiful ladies!” He said
in a fake Italian accent.

Alex blushed and flipped her dark hair. She
gazed adoringly at him, batting her large green eyes. Her tan skin
turned pink, as she smiled and giggled at him.

“OMG! He’s so cute!” Alex squealed, as he left
the table. We all rolled our eyes and sighed. Alex was like this a
lot. It was a wonder that she hated drama.

Ten minutes later, we were digging into the
greasy, unhealthy, oily, delicious pizza. We devoured it in less
than eight minutes. Darryl would probably say something
smarty-pants. Like, we consumed it in seven minutes and forty-eight
seconds. Then, he would go on to say that the probability of us
eating brownies and ice cream was one hundred percent.

Alex and I had strawberry, Jake had rocky road
and Harrison and Darryl had chocolate.

Darryl wiped his mouth and cleared his throat
before asking, “So, Carly, what’s the special event?”

“
We got our grades back and I got
a three point seven four!” I replied, excitedly.

“
Neat! I got a four point o.”
Darryl said, with no show-offy tone in his voice.

I couldn’t help but feel envious at his
natural smartness. I brushed my hair out of my face and stared at
the floor for a while, before I composed myself.

“So, you guys, how did you do?” I asked the
rest.

“Okay, I got a three point three” Harrison
said.

“I got a three point two!” Alex said,
enviously.

We looked at Jake expectantly. “Oh. Uh...I got
a two point nine! heh...heh…” He trailed off slowly.

I immediately sensed he was lying, and judging
by the looks on Harrison’s and Darryl’s faces, I guessed they knew
to. I quickly changed the subject to sports. Alex launched into a
full description of her gymnastics performance. I tried to pay
attention, but my thoughts kept wandering to Jake. In the end I
gave up and just nodded occasionally.

I pushed him against the wall and stared at
him accusingly. “Why did you lie?”

“What are you talking about?” Jake asked, so
innocently I almost believed him. Almost.

“You know what I’m talking about!” I said
furiously.

“Okay, fine!” He surrendered.

“So, what did you get?”

“A 0.12” He said meekly.

“What!!”

“Could you say that a bit louder please? I
don’t think Chile heard you that well!”

“Oh. Sorry.” I apologized, lamely. “But are
you serious?”

“No Carly, I’m a giant clam!” He said,
frustrated.

“Be serious!” I yelled.

“Yes, I got a 0.12! Are you happy
now?”

“OMG! I’m so, so sorry Jake!”

“
It’s okay! I’ll be fine.
Harrison’s tutoring me in math!”

“
If you’re sure.” I said,
uncertainly.

“
I am!” He replied, a huge fake
smile plastered on his face.

I glanced at him uncertainly. “Okay. If you
say so.”

“
Let’s go back to the
others!”

“
Okay.”

We walked back to the others just as Darryl
was explaining the habitats of brown bears.

“
You see, scientists do suspect
that some grizzly bears still roam around in Washington. However,
there is no proof of brown bears inhabiting Washington. So, unless
you were visiting the zoo, you wouldn’t see a brown bear in it’s
natural habitat. Or in any other habitat.” Darryl said, finishing
his lecture on brown bears.

Alex looked at
me, like ‘
please save me! I’ll do anything
for you
.’ I smiled cruelly at
her

From what I gathered, I guessed Harrison had
tried to impress Alex with talk about seeing a brown bear in the
woods. Then, Darryl scoffed at him, proceeding into a ten minute
long lecture about the habitats of brown bears. I stifled a laugh,
as I remembered the look on Alex’s face.

“
What are you smiling at, Carly?”
Alex asked me.

“
Hmmm?” I asked, before realizing
that I must of succeeded in not laughing but failed in not smiling.
“Oh, nothing.”

“
If you say so.” She said. We were
sitting on my bed talking. “By the way, you know that cute guy we
met at the pizza place?”

“
You mean the one you blatantly
flirted with?” I asked, sarcastically.

“
Yeah! That’s the one! So,
anyways, he asked me out! Like, on a date!”

“
Alexandra Grace Stevens! He’s
like, nineteen! You’re like, fourteen! Five years difference!” I
shouted.

“
So? We like each other! Besides,
my Dad is like nine years younger than my mum.” She said,
angrily.

“
Older or younger?” I
asked.

“
Older! You know what I mean!
You’re just trying to change the subject, ‘cause you’re
jealous!”

“
I’m not jealous! Why would I be
jealous?”

“
Because I have a boyfriend and
you don’t!” She said, sticking out her tongue, like a six-year-old.
How immature.

“
Uh...buh...Argh!” I said, angry
that I couldn’t think of anything to say.

“
You’ve just been chasing Jake
around since fourth grade! And by the way dummy that’s the year you
came to this school!” She said.

“
Well, don’t come crying to me
when it doesn’t work out!” I retorted.

“
Don’t expect me to. And by the
way, this little best friend thing is over!” Alex said, her eyes
shining with either anger or tears, I couldn’t decide. Maybe
both.

“
Fine!”

“
Fine. And don’t bother trying to
make up! This isn’t some little fight! I have my life! Don’t try to
be some queen, lording everyone about!” Yep, definitely
anger.

“
I don’t lord everyone about!” I
said, furiously.

“
Do too!”

“
Do not!”

We fought for a while.

Alex pulled my hair and I yanked on her ear.
We rolled over and clawed at each other.

Soon, blood was drawn. But we didn’t
stop.

We were still fighting half an hour later when
a knock came at the door.

Alex immediately jumped up and brushed herself
down. She took of her hair ribbon and put her bloody nails behind
her back. I did the same, but also grabbed a brush and began doing,
my hair.

“
Come in!” I called.

Papa’s red hair poked through the door. “You
girls okay?” He asked.

“
We’re fine dad!” I
answered.

“
All good, Mr Martinsen!” Alex
said, putting on a fake smile.

“
Okay. Alex your Dad is here to
pick you up.”

“
Okay, thanks.” She said, leaving
the room.

“
Bye.” I said, fighting to make my
voice as neutral as possible.

“
Bye.” She responded.

“
Carly, aren’t you going to show
your guest to the door?” He asked.