So this came about as part of a discussion about a high school alternate universe in the letter page discord. I decided to run with it and created this first chapter to see how it went.
In terms of the setting, some superpowers are toned down a little to fit closer to a low power setting (Legacy and Heritage can only hover instead of full flight and their super strength is toned down, Tachyon is just inhumanly fast rather than faster than light, etc.) as well as other changes to make the setting work as a whole. I’ve tried to keep the theme of the characters on point however. There will also be a lot of real name use early on at least, whilst we’re still getting into the setting and superpowers kept on the down low.
Anyway, I’ve wasted enough space explaining things enjoy.
Chapter 1
Felicia sighed as she stared out the window of her dad’s car, it was the one loss in the discussion she’d had last night with him and her mother. He had been upset after discovering that someone had been spreading rumours about her in school, he had been more upset when she pointed out that it was because he was the principal.
So they talked and debated, with her mother acting as the mediator as always, and he had agreed to lay off doting on her in school, and she had agreed to not get so mad at him, but he had stuck out on the car issue.
“Now Felicia,” he had said in his ‘I’m being reasonable’ tone, “Whilst you do have your license and your own car, there’s no point in us driving separately to school. It’s just a waste of fuel and bad for the environment.”
Her mother had come to the compromise that whilst he would drive her to school, he would at least allow her to get out the car a couple of blocks from school and walk the rest of the way.
She sighed again and tried to think about when to get out the car, she was roused from her thoughts by her fathers cough, she blinked and looked over at him.
“You know that I wasn’t allowed on the school president candidate selection committee this year don’t you?” he asked a frown crossing his face.
“Of course I do dad,” she replied turning to look out the window again, “But the kids spreading these rumours just don’t care, just like they don’t care that Maia didn’t buy her way on, or that Ryan isn’t a charity case.”
“Do you know who they are?” he asked, it wasn’t the first time the question had come up since he had found out.
She shook her head before sitting up straight.
“Hey dad?” she said pointing to a little girl sniffling in the street, “Isn’t that Vanessa’s little sister?”
“Oh no, not again,” groaned her dad, “She needs to stop following Vanessa to school.”
“Let me out here,” said Felicia, “I’ll get her to her own school, then make my own way to school.”
“Are you going to make it on time?” asked her dad glancing at the dashboard clock as he pulled over.
“It’s a couple of blocks away,” laughed Felicia, “Besides, I’m the second fastest girl in the year after Meredith remember?”
“All right,” smiled her dad, “Just make sure Vicky gets to school on time. I’ll let your tutor know you may be running late.”
Felicia watched her dad drive off before she went over to the crying girl and knelt down next to her.
“Hey Vicky,” she said in her best soothing voice, “Did you try to follow Vanessa again?”
The little girl tried to gulp back her tears before starting, “I wanted to go school with Essa, but I lost sight of her, and now I’m lost.”
Felicia rolled her eyes slightly before smiling and effortlessly picking the little girl up. “Let’s get you to your school ok,” she said, “You can spend time with Vanessa after school.”
The little girl nodded and Felicia began to walk towards the nearby middle school carrying the young girl. They’d only gotten half a block when a white convertible flew past them, the noise and rush of wind causing Vicky to cling tighter to Felicia. Felicia didn’t think much about it and carried on walking until the car pulled up alongside her and sounded its horn.
She looked over to see Meredith behind the wheel with a grin on her face, another friend, Dana, was in the passenger seat.
“Hey there madam president,” laughed Meredith, “Did you get stuck babysitting Vicky again?”
“She got lost following Vanessa again,” said Felicia, “Besides, any excuse to avoid my dad driving me all the way to the staff car park again.”
“Get in,” said Dana pointing to the back seat, “You don’t want to be late for a school do you?”
“Well,” said Felicia remembering the last time she got a lift from Meredith, “So long as your at least keeping to a reasonable speed with a kid in the car…”
“Trust me,” said Meredith who hadn’t lost her giddy grin from the speed she had been doing when they first past Felicia.
Felicia groaned inwardly already seeing the folly of her choice, but she got in the back and made sure Vicky and herself were buckled in.
“Hold on tight,” said Meredith as she gunned the engine and sped off, Felicia groaned as Vicky laughed at the speed they were going. It was already another busy day, and she hadn’t even gotten to school yet.