Today, I think, I will wear a cape.
I won’t wear just any cape in just any place. I’m wearing my fabulous long showy cape that looks quite a lot like Darth Vader’s (I made it myself.) And I’m wearing it to my high school: a place where the popular kids are sharks and just wearing glasses is blood in the water.

But I don’t care what the other kids say. All I need to know is that I’m awesome, and if they make fun of me for wearing a cape, then they’re not.

I grab the cape off the chair where I placed it last night, and fasten it around my neck. Then I stride out for breakfast.

One of my younger sisters looks at me and snickers. “You’re seriously wearing that to school? Everyone will laugh at you! You’ll look so stupid!”

Despite my attempts to tell myself that she’s just a baked potato and her opinion means nothing, it still stings. I don’t reply. I’ll probably think of a half-dozen replies on the way to school, but for now they have deserted me.

I bolt down my breakfast and rush to the car. My siblings take their sweet time. And my siblings are all younger than me so they all go to different schools, all with an earlier start time then mine, so it simply lets me have more time to question my life choices.

Sometimes I think my life would be much sweeter if my moms had sensibly stopped at one kid.

The second I step out of the car, the staring and whispering begins. I desperately attempt to keep myself from turning red, and judging by the sniggers of my classmates, it doesn’t appear to be working.

But I straighten my shoulders and look down on my schoolmates like the worms they are. I am Darth Vader, and I am too powerful to care about their insolent words. I am Supergirl, soaring above the kids on the ground and listening to their taunts through deafened ears.

...Ha. They do not matter. I could crush them with the Force or fry them with my heat vision, but even such a small act is beneath me.

For the first time since graduating to this school, I feel confident.

The kids mostly don’t confront me, as they’re content to whisper and laugh in the background.

…That is, until I get to my locker. The popular clique is waiting for me there.

. There are only three members of the clique-Sonia, the leader, Alisa, her underling, and Caiden, Sonia’s “boyfriend” and “the hottest guy in school.”

Honestly, I don’t see the appeal, but I suppose he’s OK. He never teases anyone, just hangs back and looks pretty.

“A cape? Are you in kindergarten?” Sonia laughs.

“Yeah,” Alisa grins. “You were a mess before but now you just look pathetic!”

I open my locker and rummage through it, attempting to ignore the two. It’s hard. But if I try to fight back they’ll just torment me more.

The two slap me with a few more insults about my clothing, hair, and all-around nerdiness as I stand there, fists clenched, books forgotten, desperately wishing I was brave enough to punch one in the face.

“Hey. Stop messing with her.”

All three of us stare in shock at the speaker: Caiden. I’ve never heard him stand up for a victim before!

He meets my eyes, grins, reaches into his backpack, and pulls out…
…a cape.