Walking into the cafeteria was like walking into Mean Girls with superheroes. The entire school was separated into different groups of people, with the majority of the separation between heroes and sidekicks. The majority of the heroes were acting like I had thought they would when they were sorted for having a better power then a 'lowly sidekick'. Gwen Grayson and her popular clique were probably the worst out of all the heroes sat around the cafeteria. As we slowly moved forward toward the head of the line for food, it became apparent that even the food was divided into hero and sidekick lunches.
"This mass amount of separation caused by some teacher telling one kid their power is supposedly better then another's is literally why the system does not work." I told Arachnid as we picked up out trays.
"I wasn't expecting it to be the bad. I mean I expected different courses for different students but this is exactly what happened when Jane Elliott did the brown/blue eyed experiment." Arachnid picked up two trays with her bottom and top arms, while the middle arms placed food on them for herself and Roxie, who had gone to get us a table, "I mean this is exactly what happens when people are told they are better then another human being because of something they can't control. Like cliques happen but the system in this school will be legitimately why this school will forever have a major bullying problem."
We both paid for our food (and Arachnid for Roxie's) and we made our way into the mass of people to try and find Roxie. The cafeteria was extremely full with students from every grade. It was amazing to see how many people actually were supers. There certainly wouldn't be a shortage of heroes to save the day in the future if the system didn't create villains due to the amount of superiority complex in this school. We finally saw Roxie and we made our way over to her. She was sitting with Layla and Will and the friends they had made since Boomer had placed the majority of them in the Sidekick track. Arachnid placed Roxie's tray down in front of her and then made her way to the other side of the table as Roxie was sitting at the end. I sat down in between a tall albino clothed with bright yellows and whites and a short African American in all orange with massive glasses.
"Layla," I said wanting to get Layla's point on the conversation, "Arachnid and I were talking about how the whole system of this school reminds us of the experiment that Jane Elliott did with different eye colours. Do you think that is what's majorly off at this school?"
Layla looked up from her food with enthusiastic eyes, "I was just talking about that! It is a total Pharmakon."
"Exactly!" I enthused, "Like it is good that they are training us for our powers but separating us like this is causing more problems than it's worth."
"I hate to interrupt this intellectual conversation, but who are they?" The tall albino asked.
"Oh, sorry Zach." Roxie apologized, "This is Luna and my girlfriend Arachnid." Roxie then pointed each person at the table who Arachnid and I didn't know. The tall albino was Zach, Ethan was the one in orange, and the purple punkish girl was Magenta. Eating lunch with them was actually quite fun and helped me forget the pressure of Power Placement. But like all things lunch had to end and Will and I were to figure out our fate.
I felt bad for him. The pressure for him to live up to his parent's isn't something any teenager should have to endure. And yet Boomer insists that he has some kind of power, even though it seems at first Will doesn't appear to have any. I frowned and vowed to make sure every protest I had would be heard. This school would stop its harmful separation of powers if they liked it or not. As Will got sent to the nurse it became Luna season.
"Hey Panic out at the Disco! Get your butt up here and show us some powers. That is if you do have powers."
I scowled at Boomer. If all the teachers were like this I would happily make their lives hell while I was here. Full on anarchy from the little student who could; I will tear this place apart.
I crack my knuckles and make my way up to the platform. "Alright Gym-Teacher Man. You want me to power up? I'll power up."
"Watch your mouth. You might end up with detention on your first day." Boomer warned.
"Like that would totally be a problem." I mocked, "Oh no! Sent to detention on my vwery frwist day! What will wittle old me do!"
"What's your name delinquent?"
"Luna Abernathy."
"I shouldn't have expected any less from Techna's daughter. You ready to power up or not?"
"Well Boom-Boom that depends on if you got some targets around here."
Boomer shifted his stance and rolled his eyes as he pressed a button. At the opposite end of the gym some targets started to rise from the ground.
"You wanted powers? I'll show you powers." I brought my hands up towards my chest. I could feel the dryness in the air, and the sweet scent of lightning began to fill my nostrils. Boomer scrunched up his face as if the smell offended him. Smirking, I thrust my hands out towards the targets. The lightning buildup from my hands flew across the room in a very storm like manner. It was relatively fast, and only those paying attention saw exactly what caused the rest of the events. The targets, along with the sound waves of the thunder, exploded in a very loud manner. Many fellow students ducked and covered their ears. Boomer was glaring at me. His face was stern and his jaw was clenched. His forehead had that really gross angry vein that bald men can have. I smirked at him.
"Hero." He ground out.
I jumped off the stage and made my way toward Arachnid and Roxie. Roxie looked like she wanted to scold me while Arachnid seemed like she wanted to hug me.
"Before you say anything," I said as I threw my hands up in defense, "That guy needed an attitude check. The way he's been treating people all day has been making my blood boil."
"Yeah, I got that idea as well. Total power trip." Arachnid agreed, clasping a hand on my shoulder.
"I have a feeling this whole school is going to be all 'I'm better then you because I'm a hero' and I think we should do something about it." I explained, "We might need to go all Anarchy Justice Squad on this place."
"I'm so in. This place needs a recall in what they think is right and wrong." Arachnid agreed.
We both looked at Roxie. Roxie looked down at the floor.
"Roxie come on. We can't do AJS without you." Arachnid pleaded.
"I promise we won't do anything illegal. Just protesting. And maybe a little bit of outspoken ideals and pranking. What'd ya say?" I said.
Roxie looked at both Arachnid and me. Her face was filled with concern and worry. Roxie had always been the quiet one out of the three of us. She never liked the way society was run, and how people treated each other. She had been raised under the 'make love not war' era movement, as her parents had been raised before her. Her parents were both the youngest out of the parents in our group (seeing as her family had valued love over everything and her parents and grandparents both had children during their teen years). Roxie was kind and gentle where Arachnid and I were outspoken and at times radical. We pushed the movements with force while she did sit-ins and food strikes. She was the yang to our yin. If we were to change anything at this school we would need her. It seemed like ages before she spoke, but finally we had our answer.
"I'm in."