Chapter 11

              Later that day, Catgirl’s victory over the high school thugs and strange super villain was the focus of the local news. Zoey’s friends had come over again to watch with her, even Karina’s sister Alicia.

            In Zoey’s room, the girls had several bags of chips, a few plates of cookies, and plenty of soda.

            “Too bad no one got pics of you, Zoey,” Karina commented. “America’s still wondering what you look like. Well, at least how your pretty face looks.”

            “I know,” Zoey replied. “I’d love to see how I look on camera.” 

            Zoey did a couple sexy poses, hands on hips, winking, sticking her bust out to accentuate it.

            “Ah, the humble Zoey Mizaki,” Alicia sarcastically stated as she put her drink down. 

            “Thank you for the compliment, Alicia,” Zoey said jokingly. 

            The group of girls laughed at their nonsense.

            “But if you think about it, The Spektrum would be able to see you, too,” Chloe slyly supposed, nudging and winking at Zoey.

            “Please, I’m sure The Spektrum has another girl on his mind,” Zoey said with confidence.

            “Please, like any other girl can compete with Catgirl,” Marina declared.

            “What?” Zoey exclaimed in confusion. “What’re you talking about?”

            “For one, you’re a superhero,” Karina reminded her faux-redhead friend. “If you think chicks dig supermen and guys love super girls, then a superman would love a super girlfriend!”

            “Well, okay, but what else?” Zoey raised an indifferent eyebrow.

            “Duh, the next reason is right under your nose,” Chloe said.

            “Or is that, reasons,” Karina clarified, smirking.

            “You mean… my breasts?” Zoey was really uncomfortable with where her friends were steering the conversation.

            “No, Zoey, we mean your shoulders,” Karina said wryly. “Yes we mean your breasts!”

            “Yeah, what was your size again?” Alicia joined in. “Was it D? Double D?”

            “They’re only C’s,” Zoey more annoyed than amused by this subject.

She tried to hide them by crossing her arms over her chest, but that only squished them, making them look bigger.

            “More like C plus,” Karina teased, the others giggling.

            “C double plus,” Alicia added, followed by more giggles.

            Zoey pouted until her friends stopped.

            “Okay, okay, so these,” Zoey pointed to her boobs, “could win The Spektrum over, if he was a superficial jerk like Shaun’s friends.”

            “Well, assuming The Spektrum’s the deep, romantic type, then your adorable and charming personality will work on him, too,” Chloe assured. “Plus, big boobs or not, your face is so adorable, no lies. Right, Neeko?”

            Zoey’s pet black-and-white cat merely looked up from her special basket bed and blinked at the group of girls.

            “Oh, well…” Zoey was rather flattered her friend thought of her so kindly.

Then a thought popped into her head, and she squinted at them with suspicion.

“Wait… You girls are up to something.”

            “What’re you talking about, Zoey-Neko?” Karina innocently denied.  “We’re just saying that you could easily get The Spektrum as a boyfriend--”

            “Which means I’d be getting rid of Shaun as my current one!” Zoey was once again upset with her friends.  “Are you girls trying to say that I should dump Shaun for some guy I don’t really know?!”

            “No,” Chloe defended.  “We’re just implying that this is an option in case you ever meet The Spektrum.”

            Zoey stood up on her bed, outraged by her friends.

            “Shaun isn’t a bad guy! Why should I break up with him?”

            “Well, it’s not like he’s very responsible or anything,” Chloe pointed out.  Her words reminded of Zoey’s talk with Shaun the other day.

            “Yeah, he doesn’t keep his friends in line, and he always teases me about being small,” Karina whined, although it was true.  “They’ve has used every nickname for being small: pipsqueak, tater tot, small fry...”

            “Karina, they‘re only teasing you because you‘re my friend and I‘m Shaun‘s girlfriend,” Zoey assured, sitting back down.

            “Then as the friends of your boyfriend, they should know that I don’t like being teased!”

            “And speaking of friends, his friends are the ones we can’t stand,” Marina said before munching on a chip.

            “Right, like his buddy ‘X’?” said Alicia. “‘Look at me, I’m X and I’m excellent, I’m extraordinary, I’m extreme,’” Alicia mocked Xavier and his over usage of adjectives with the letter X in them.

            “Yeah, extremely obnoxious,” Karina said as she laughed.

            “Girls, I can’t break up with Shaun just because his friends aren’t as nice as him.”

            “Why not?”

            Zoey’s friends turned to her. Zoey was gloomier than they’d ever seen her.

            “He and I just had an argument about how he doesn’t keep his friends under control and all sorts of other stuff. Then he said I sounded like I wanted him to get rid of his friends--which I kinda want to happen--or else I’d dump him, which I really don’t want to happen. I just want him to tell them what is and isn’t okay. He made it sound like… like… I don‘t love him!” 

            Tears began to well up in Zoey’s eyes, and her friends went into a flustered frenzy.

            “Oh, Zoey, don’t cry, Shaun knows you love him!” Chloe came close to her long-time friend and gave her a comforting smooth of the hand on her shoulders and back.           

All four of Zoey’s friends knew that Zoey had a crush on Shaun the minute they met back in Elementary School, that it was her dream to be with him, and she had to wait for years until she finally caught his eye. For those eight years between the day they met in Kindergarten to the first day of the 8^th grade, she quietly admired and adored him, all the while being his friend, and all the while keeping her crush a secret from him. Even now, Shaun didn’t know that Zoey had such feelings for him, he just thought they liked each other for these last two years. He had no idea of the depth of Zoey’s devotion to him. And now, her friends felt ashamed that they, too, had overlooked it.

            “Zoey, it’s okay, there’s no need to cry.” 

            Alicia may have been Karina’s older sister by blood, but in a sense, she was everyone’s older sister, having been a part of their group for as long as Karina has (almost a whole decade the girls have known each other) and for a long time, Zoey, Chloe, and Marina had come to Alicia when they needed advice or help. Now Alicia took on the role of the “comforting older sister,” as she held Zoey close, propping her pigtailed head on her shoulder. 

            “Shaun knows you love him, but he was just defending his friends.  At least that shows he’s loyal. I guess.”

            “Yeah. But to assume I would just dump him because of his friends…?”

            “Well, there are couples that break up over less,” Chloe pointed out.

            “True,“ Zoey admitted, “but I’m not gonna dump him just because of his jerk friends! That would be totally unfair to Shaun!”

            Zoey‘s friends agreed with that. It wasn’t Shaun’s fault Xavier turned into a jerk when puberty hit. But that didn’t mean Zoey had to be with a guy who wasn’t going to whip his friends into line, which in itself was a sign that he didn’t care for her as much as she did him.

            “But,” Zoey eventually spoke up, “I did put my foot down. Unless he gets Xavier to act appropriately, he and I won’t be moving on… ‘intimately’.”

            Chloe blushed a bit, and Karina raised an eyebrow.

            “You threatened him with no boob touching?”

            Marina jabbed Karina in the side, and she let out a small whisper of pain.

            “Hey, I know what’ll cheer you up, Chloe suggested excitedly, “let’s see if there’s any news about Catgirl online.”

            “Yeah!” the other girls agreed as they turned on Zoey’s computer.

 

            Simon was sitting in his room, surfing the web on his computer, seeing if there was any news on any of the strange occurrences that had happened since the power surge.

            The most recent news was that Alameda’s Catgirl saved the day, and her school, from a mad genius who called himself “Citrus-C.” The news article said that the man had “used scientifically modified oranges and orange flavored foods to take control of most of the students and staff of Encinal High School.” That’s so stupid it has to be real.

            Luckily for the school, and perhaps the entire city, one of the few not caught under the ‘citrus hypnosis’ was the local super teen, Catgirl, who made quick work of Citrus-C, and discerned a way to “release the students and staff from his mind-control.”

            Unfortunately, the online article didn’t have pictures or video to show people what Catgirl looked like, much to Simon’s dismay. Even if he was becoming… interested in Cyndi, he was still very curious about Catgirl. The mystery attracted him to her, made him crave the answers to his questions, and compelled him to keep his eyes and ears eagerly open for information about her.

            “There we go!” Simon exclaimed as he found a set of blurry pictures. 

The date of the pictures was from a few days ago, the night the reports came in from all over America.

            Though blurred, he could tell that Catgirl had pink hair, and her cat ears and tail were black, and it matched her attire of pink short shorts and black T-shirt. Though, even those were a blur. But Simon still thought they looked great on her. Simon looked closely at the pictures and caught himself staring at her chest. He cleared his throat and backed away from the screen.

            With the blurred Catgirl picture still open, Simon planned how tomorrow would go, and how he’d meet Cyndi as The Spektrum. 

            “I’ll store my things in my locker, then transform into one of the Codes right at the beginning of lunch, then make my way to Room 243. Simple as that.”

Simon felt confident in his plan, and hoped it’d go as easy in reality as it sounded in his head. He smiled at how happy he was going to make Cyndi, talking to her as The Spektrum. He imagined how her face would glow with excitement, her eyes would sparkle, and how she’d probably even giggle and squeal with glee. Of course, it wasn’t for sure at all, since he was imagining it. But he hoped that he’d see her as happy as she was today when she hugged him. He even dared to hope that she’d hug him.

            Simon glanced back at the pictures of Catgirl. Again, the comparisons flooded his brain. One shot captured Catgirl’s profile perfectly: a slender build; strong and beautiful legs; and yes, a rather impressive bust. Unfortunately, her face was blurred, so he couldn’t 100% say Catgirl was more attractive than Cyndi. Either way, he believed that she was attractive from head to toe. Not that Cyndi wasn’t, but still.

            Simon made himself feel awkward and conflicted. Cyndi was his friend, who he somehow had formed a crush over, but he was being captivated by some hot, part-feline stranger. But it was only a crush he had on Cyndi, so it shouldn’t be such a big deal that he’s falling for another girl.

            “Well, whatever, I’m single anyway, so it’s fine if I just have crushes on two girls, right?”

He contemplated an answer to his own rhetorical question. Simon pushed these worries aside, to debate it more at a later time. For the rest of the afternoon, he decided to relax and watch television.

 

            “What ethnicity do you think The Spektrum is?”

            Zoey was scrolling down the page of a news website when Karina asked her question aloud. The group of Alameda girls had yet to find any close ups of San Leandro’s superhero. 

So far, they had found long shots of him, so at least they knew his build.  He wasn’t much bigger than Shaun, if he was bigger than Shaun at all. Code Black’s costume showed off his muscles most, so they ascertained that he was at least 120lbs; Shaun was a little over 125. Since these were costumes, the girls had assumed none of the five colors were his natural hair color. Of course, that’s because no one has natural blue, red, or yellow hair. In the case of the red and yellow, they were too bright to be confused with the red-orange redheads have, or the yellows that blondes had.

Silver hair was probably not it either, because it would be too noticeable in his normal form, which left black as the most likely reality. But again, they had no idea what his face looked like, since none of the pictures got the right angles, and the cameras were too far away to begin with. 

            “Well, it’s obvious he isn’t African-American,” Marina pointed out.

All the girls could see that from the first picture.

            “Is he tan?” Chloe asked.

The girls looked closely at the screen, and could see that he was assuredly not pale, but he wasn’t dark either. He was somewhere in between, like… peanut butter. Well, maybe lighter than peanut butter, but close.

            “So he could just be a Caucasian with a good tan,” Karina said.

            “Or he’s some kind of Asian ethnicity, but he’s pale,” Chloe countered.

            “Why should it matter?” Alicia brought up. “He’s a guy, that’s the important part.”

            The girls laughed, making light of the conversation they’d just had a few minutes ago about Zoey x Spektrum.

            “But wouldn’t it be cool if there was another Asian-American superhero in the Bay Area?” Karina questioned. “Even if Zoey doesn’t want him, I’d take him. Blue is my color.”

Karina leaned on the desk, supported by her elbows.

“Him being either whole or part Asian is just a plus, y’know? Something we have in common that can break the ice.”

            “Yeah,” Marina said. “And it’s not like we’re fans of his only because he’s Asian, assuming that’s even the case.”

All the girls completely agreed.

            “Yeah,” Zoey spoke. “We like him because he’s strong, heroic and there’s an 85% chance he’s attractive.”

            “85%?” Chloe turned to Zoey with curiosity.

            “How do you figure that?” Karina asked, still leaning on the desk.

            “He’s fit. Not muscular, but fit. He looks to be about average height for guy, and appears to be properly proportioned.”

Zoey’s friends giggled at the double meaning in there.

“Shut up, I’m not done. Finally, he‘s a superhero. And how many super heroes do you know that aren’t at least a 5?”

            The girls thought these details over, Karina and Marina still giggling at “properly proportioned”, and all came to an agreement that Zoey’s assessment was correct: The Spektrum was most certainly greater than a five--maybe a seven--out of ten. 

 

            “The Spektrum is a perfect ten!” Cyndi decreed dreamily as she plopped down on her down comforter. “I can’t wait till tomorrow!”

            Cyndi envisioned how The Spektrum’s visit to his fan club would go. He’d come in as Code Red, no, maybe Code Silver, and walk up to her. He’d look into her blue eyes with his… whatever color his eyes would be, and ask when she was available.  And she’d respond, “For you, whenever.”

            Cyndi laughed out loud at how much her fantasy sounded like a clichéd romance novel, complete with innuendos. It was both so corny and dirty that she couldn’t help but laugh. Obviously, she was going to make sure her interview with The Spektrum was on a weekend that both of them were free. Probably not this Saturday, since that was too early, so she decided to go with the following Saturday. Also, she’d invite him to her house since she couldn’t outright know where he lived, and anywhere else was public, so there’d be no privacy.

            At that moment, Cyndi had a massive realization: she’d be alone with The Spektrum. In her house! Not her bedroom, but somewhere. Suddenly she was very anxious. 

            “No, it’s too sudden for us to get all romantic,” she told herself. “I’m stupid for thinking even that! We’re only going to talk, nothing more.”

            But as she said those words, Cyndi couldn’t help but imagine her wrapped in The Spektrum’s arms, his silver (or red, or even blue) hair brushing against her forehead as he moved in to kiss her.

            “No, no, no,” she said, blushing and shaking her head. “That’s just a silly fantasy! Stop thinking like that!!”

            Cyndi rolled over, grabbed a remote, and turned on the television to her favorite channel.

            “I need to get my mind off of kissing The Spektrum. It’s too soon to think about heroic romance.”

            Cyndi shut her brain off as she watched cartoons.

 

            The next day--a Tuesday--came soon enough. Cyndi was still incredibly excited by the fact that The Spektrum was going to come to Room 243 to meet her to arrange their private interview.  She was taking frequent glances at the clock all morning, counting down the minutes until lunch.

            Simon felt the same way in his morning classes, so excited that he’d make a casual appearance as The Spektrum that he had a hard time deciding on which Code to use. He felt it would probably be best to use Code Red, since Code Silver had already been used for the reply announcement, and he felt the others were not quite suited for such a casual thing as arranging meetings: Blue seemed to give of a feel of frankness and maybe even indifference, and Black emitted those sentiments on an even higher level; Yellow was only the second best choice because of his interesting attire, aka his cowboy pants. Chaps were for rodeos, not a small meeting. Therefore, Yellow would not do.

            So it was settled: The Spektrum would meet with Cyndi during lunch in Room 243 as Spektrum Code Red.  

            “Assuming he keeps his promise and shows,” students said; among them were even some of Simon’s friends.

            During Zero Block, in between songs, Alex and Michelle talked with Simon on this issue.

            “Well, he said on the PA he would,” Michelle countered, thinking positively.  “Which makes the club student leader really lucky. They get to be the one who has the first official interview with The Spektrum.” 

            “Hey, who is the club’s student leader?”

            “Cyndi,” Simon answered quickly, the only one making sure the trio didn’t miss the teacher’s instructions for the next song.

            “Whoa, no way, the girl you’re--” Michelle was interrupted, as everyone else’s conversations were, by Mr. Reese raising his arms.

Everyone either took out the pages for the next song or brought their instruments to the ready positions, and the San Leandro Wind Ensemble rehearsed the medley.

            Simon liked the second part in the three part medley, Canzone D’ Amore, a love song. He liked it because it was a love song.

            “Cyndi, the girl you like, is interviewing The Spektrum?” Michelle restarted her question when Mr. Reese stopped the band to correct one of the brass section’s mistakes.

            “I don’t ‘like’ Cyndi,” Simon denied, knowing what Michelle implied. “But I am glad that she gets to interview him. She seems to really idolize The Spektrum.”

            “You’re not jealous that Mr. Superhero could steal your girl, are you?” Alex asked.

            “No, because Cyndi is not ‘my girl’,” Simon quickly retorted, since Mr. Reese was sure to start up the third song.

            “Sure, whatever you say,” Michelle and Alex said together sarcastically.

            As Simon had guessed, the third song was cued up, and the band began to play.

 

            After Zero Block, the others of the group met up with Simon, Alex and Michelle by their favorite spot, the bleachers, and were informed of just who was going to interview The Spektrum.

            “Ooh, you mean the girl Simon likes?” Bryan asked.

            “I don’t ‘like’ her,” Simon denied again. “We’re just friends.”

            “Not from what we saw the other day,” Alex pointed out.

            “Do you remember the st-stuttering?” Julian joked.

            “I didn’t stutter,” Simon corrected. “I hesitated.”

            “Stuttering or hesitating, it was because of Cyndi,” Bryan pointed out.

            Simon was deep in thought over what his friends said when the morning bell rang, and the group separated, Simon heading alone to Ms. Graffito’s room near the shop buildings.

 

            Lunchtime came around, and Simon decided to put his plan into action.  He put his backpack and lunch inside his locker, and made his way to the restroom on the second floor of the Science Wing.

            Simon opened the door and passed through the threshold, and entered the restroom to find none-other than Mr. Anti-Spektrum himself, Craig.

            Crap! I can’t transform in here! Simon shouted mentally. He already saw me transform once, now he’ll definitely have a way to get proof.

            Simon quickly exited that restroom and hurried to the next closest one, downstairs in the nearby hall of the Main Building. He got inside only to find he had been pursued by Craig.

            “Hey, hero, what’s happening? Didn’t wanna go in the other bathroom?  Or should I say, you didn’t wanna change into your costume with me in the same area?”

            “Craig, knock it off.”

            “Why?”

            “Because you don’t have a camera to record my transformation.”

            “Ha!” Craig exclaimed. “I DO have proof!”

Craig pulled out a new cell phone.

            “So? Now that I know you do have a video phone, I’m not going to transform.”

            “Who said anything about video?” Craig said as he flipped the phone open.

It was set on Audio record!

            Crap! Simon shouted mentally again.

Craig replayed Simon’s words again, a look of enjoyment on his obnoxious face.

            In a flashing scan of red, Simon changed into Spektrum Code Red, and rushed at Craig as Craig was running away. With Code Red’s speed, he caught up to Craig and snatched the new cell phone.

            “Hey, man, give that back!”

            “Don’t think so!”

            Code Red threw the phone one the ground and stomped on it. It didn’t break, so Red prepared to stomp it again. Craig shoved Code Red away, and picked up the phone, then ran for the door. Code Red scrambled and caught Craig just as his hand reached the handle.

            Code Red reeled Craig in like a fish on a line, and tossed him at the sinks.  Craig let go of the phone, and it fell to the floor, and slid under one of the stall walls.  Both Craig and The Spektrum scrambled to where the phone stopped, Craig going underneath the stall’s wall while Code Red used the stall door. Code Red got to the phone first, and put it in the toilet bowl.

            “No!” Craig screamed as Code Red pushed the lever, flushing the toilet.

Water and phone swirled down the drain. Craig pulled his arm out from under the wall and hurried to the door, only to see the end of the whirlpool.

            “Damn you!” Craig roared as he grabbed The Spektrum by the collar.

            “What’re you going to do?” Code Red asked. “Punch me? It won’t hurt much.”

            Craig decided it didn’t matter, because he slammed his fist across Code Red’s face. But as Code Red had said, it didn’t do any damage, because he didn’t fall or even move. 

            Craig stormed away, and Code Red brushed off his clothes and left cheek. As Code Red exited the stall, someone exited the one on the far end of the room. Code Red couldn’t react in time and the mystery man made eye contact with the hero. 

            “Alex?” Code Red blurted.

He couldn’t believe one of his friends was here, and had overheard all that just happened.

            “Simon?” Alex asked in confusion.  “Are you really…?”

            Simon hadn’t planned on telling his friends his secret, at least not anytime soon.

            “Alex, don’t--”

            “Tell anyone outside our group,” Alex said as he moved to leave. “I got it.”

            “No, don’t tell anyone at all!” Simon urged, still as Code Red.

            “Well, I can’t do that, it wouldn’t be fair,” Alex smirked as he kept going.

            “Fine, but ONLY tell our group! That means only Julian, Bryan, maybe Michelle--”

            “And Nick?” Alex interrupted.

            “Uhh… Yeah, Nick can know, too, but no one else!”

            “Got it,” Alex said with a nod and a smile as he exited the restroom.

            The Spektrum stayed inside a few moments more than his friend Alex, calming and composing himself so that he can properly talk to Cyndi as The Spektrum, not Simon pretending to be The Spektrum, which Simon was confused as to whether or not that could be possible, since he was both Simon and The Spektrum. This confusion almost undid the recomposing he had just accomplished, so he went out into the hall without giving the identity issue another thought.

            He was lucky that no one was in the hall at the time, or the stairway leading back to the second floor, or the little bridge connecting the main hall with the Science Wing.  The Spektrum made it to the second floor of the Science Wing without running into students who would further delay his lunchtime appointment with Room 243.

            He hustled up to the door, and peered through the little window to see who was and wasn’t there.

            There she is.

            Simon spotted Cyndi, sitting at her usual table near the front of the class, but facing the window in case Zorb or his henchmen showed up in the quad. He put his hand on the door handle, taking one more breath to calm himself. He knew there was no reason to be nervous, he was The Spektrum. He’s beaten alien criminals with his bare hands, so talking to a girl his own age should be nothing. Once again resolute and confident, Spektrum Code Red entered through the doorway of Room 243.