Sidekick: The Misadventures of the New Scarlet Knight Read Online Free PDF Page B

never mistake a school kid for the superhero. Maybe it was time to make some adjustments and reclaim my identity. Hell, I might even be able to make friends who didn’t strap on long underwear to knock around bad guys.
    I considered that, but the more I stared at the facade in the mirror, the more it felt right. My “un-cool” persona fit like an old, battered pair of shoes; it looked like hell, but it was too comfortable to let go of. Maybe when I went to college I could reinvent myself, but for now, why argue with perfection?
    “Lookin’ fine!” I said to the mirror. And for once, I didn’t mean it in an ironic way.
    ***
    My return to Harbor City High was not completely unnoticed. It was mainly the teachers and administrators who took the time to greet me and make the old “if there’s anything I can do” offer, knowing full well there wasn’t anything they, or anyone else, could do. The kids in homeroom made a bunch of meaningless comments in an attempt to make me feel better, which I appreciated.
    The day dragged on, like most school days did. I was grateful I hadn’t missed too much actual work, and it wouldn’t be hard to catch up. I breezed through the day, tolerating all the “well wishing,” and was in such good spirits I almost didn’t hear the announcement summoning me to the guidance office.
    Having gone through a butt-load of guidance counselors during Pop’s drifting years, I’d come to the conclusion there had to be a farm somewhere in the Midwest where they bred and raised them like cattle. Either that, or they were the result of some horrible cloning experiment. They looked the same, talked the same, and I’d bet one of my professional colleagues with super-olfactory abilities would confirm they all smelled the same. Therefore, I’d concluded that Mrs. Carr wasn’t a guidance counselor, but either a strange alien or a desperate criminal on the run. Whatever she was, she couldn’t have been a guidance counselor because she, and her advice, were helpful.
    “Bobby.” She greeted me with that tilted head people used when pretending to be sincere since a smile would be inappropriate. “I’m so—”
    “You’re so sorry for my loss and want me to tell you if there’s anything you can do. Right?”
    That brought on the inappropriate smile, which was what I’d wanted all along. “Can’t fool you, huh?”
    “I usually start memorizing phrases after hearing them sixty times. By the hundredth time, I can recite them in my sleep. No offense, but you’re obviously not the first person to greet me that way today.”
    “ Touché .” She motioned for me to sit, and I happily obliged her. “You do realize I actually mean it?”
    “You’re probably the only person here I would believe meant it. So, what’s up that you called me? Other than the canned platitudes?”
    “A few things, actually.” She opened her file on me and leafed through it. “First off, I’m not sure you’re really going to be in the mood for this, but there’s another college junket in two weeks. Johnson County University. I wanted to know if I should schedule you for it.”
    I grimaced. I had been at one of those campus-visit sleepover trips when Uncle Jack died. I’d spent a whole two days blaming myself for not being there for him, but honestly, there wasn’t much I could’ve done, anyhow. I wouldn’t have been on patrol with him that night; I would’ve either been fast asleep, reading in the library, out on the town, or with one of the other sidekicks. Then I’d shifted guilt gears and blamed myself for cutting out on the sidekick gig or else I’d have been on patrol with him and had his back. That bit of self-pity had consumed the better part of the third day, but I’d managed to force it aside. I might’ve come up with a few other reasons to blame myself, but the funeral and sudden news from my new colleagues had intervened. Still, I’d have to fight back the urge to sink back into self-blame and