Journey to Superhero School Read online

  JOURNEY TO SUPERHERO SCHOOL

  Also by Gracie Dix

  Welcome to Superhero School

  Book One of the Vork ChroniclesTM

  JOURNEY TO SUPERHERO SCHOOL

  An Oliver and Jessica Prequel to

  The Vork ChroniclesTM

  Gracie Dix

  TOAST INDUSTRIES

  TOAST INDUSTRIES. 14643 Dallas Parkway, Suite 1050, Dallas, TX 75254.

  JOURNEY TO SUPERHERO SCHOOL: An Oliver and Jessica Prequel to The Vork ChroniclesTM. Copyright © 2020 by Gracie Dix. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner or medium whatsoever without written permission from Gracie Dix at the address above, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Cover by Biserka Design

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

  www.GracieDix.com

  Chapter 1

  Mrs. Fletcher came home one Friday evening to her two 4-year-old kids causing havoc around her lovely home. Mr. Fletcher was screaming and trying to gather his children accordingly, with no luck whatsoever.

  “Honey!” Mr. Fletcher called, “Our kids are doing weird things and they are not stopping!”

  “Oh my,” Mrs. Fletcher whispered. The sight she now beheld was Oliver Fletcher Flying his twin sister, Jessica, around the room while continuing to bump into expensive items in the living room. “Our babies have Powers!” Mrs. Fletcher yelled happily. “Gosh! I remember when we had Powers, don’t you, sweetie?”

  “Never could forget,” Mr. Fletcher exclaimed, nearly breathless.

  “Oh, stop chasing Ollie around the house! He’ll never calm down if he thinks you are playing with him,” Mrs. Fletcher scolded lovingly.

  “Well, maybe I’d stop chasing him if he’d stop Flying around everywhere!” Mr. Fletcher growled angrily.

  “Remember what your anger management counselor said: If the kids get rough, don’t yell, just snuff,” Mrs. Fletcher quoted like she had done countless other times.

  “Stupid anger management counselor. What does that even mean?” he mumbled as he sat down on the couch watching Oliver and Jessica squeal in delight.

  “You know what that means! That means just stop and take a few deep breaths. Hey, why don’t you go wait outside for a bit?” Mrs. Fletcher suggested.

  “Yeah. All right,” he agreed, breathing deeply all the way out the door. Mrs. Fletcher rolled her eyes.

  As soon as Mr. Fletcher had made it out the door, Oliver yelled, “Mommy! Look at me, I’m zooming!” He laughed as he soared into the corner, knocking down an expensive lamp.

  “Okay, Ollie! That’s enough!” she shouted sternly.

  Oliver immediately looked at her in surprise and dropped Jessica. Jessica began to wail. Oliver plopped himself down on the couch and ran over to his sister. Mrs. Fletcher was about to lecture Oliver about not dropping his sister when she saw her son hug Jessica. Knowing Oliver would never hurt Jessica on purpose, Mrs. Fletcher went outside and told her husband everything was under control.

  “I’m sorry, Jess,” Oliver said as he hugged his sister. “I didn’t mean to drop you. I got scared.”

  “You scared me!” she cried, hugging Oliver back.

  “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he whispered in a tone that almost seemed like he was begging her to forgive him.

  “I know, Ollie,” she replied, sniffing. Her crying had settled a bit. “You didn’t hurt me. I just got scared.”

  Oliver hugged her tighter then pulled away. “I love you, Jess,” he stated.

  “I know. Me, too,” she said back. “I always know. I can tell because I can read your mind.” She giggled at the expression on her brother’s face.

  “Cool,” he mumbled quietly. They both sat in silence for a while. Then Oliver said, “Wow, Jess! I can zoom!”

  Chapter 2

  Four years later . . .

  “Kids! Get ready for school!” Mr. Fletcher shouted up the stairway from the kitchen.

  Oliver groggily turned over in his bed and looked at his alarm clock. It hadn’t gone off! Jessica groaned wearily from the bunk above Oliver’s. “Ollie! Wasn’t your alarm supposed to go off and wake up the entire East Coast or something?” Jessica asked, rubbing her eyes.

  “I dunno. I’m only eight, Jess. Eight-year-olds shouldn’t have alarm clocks,” Oliver whined. “Get off my case, sis.”

  “Oh. My. Geez! Boys!” she sighed. She sat up and dangled her legs over the side of her bed, the top bunk. She felt the heel of her foot hit something and heard Oliver yelp. Jessica quickly looked over the side of her bed and saw that Oliver had sat up and was now rubbing his forehead. “Oops. Sorry,” she said, actually feeling sorry.

  Oliver looked up at her and said, “Nothing like an early morning concussion to wake me up. Thanks, Jess.”

  “Kids! Are you up yet?” Mrs. Fletcher asked, coming inside their room.

  “Yeah. Did you have to see it to believe it?” Oliver asked, face-planting into his pillow.

  “Oliver! That is rude!” Mrs. Fletcher scolded. “Now, both of you, get ready! Oliver, you can apologize to me when you get downstairs.”

  Oliver quickly sat up and began to say, “But, mom! I…” The door shut and his mom continued downstairs.

  “OOOH!” Jessica laughed. “Looks like little bitty Ollie is in trouble.”

  “Shut up, sis,” he mumbled. Oliver quickly jumped off his bed to pull his clothes from his drawer, but he suddenly felt dizzy and grasped the bed post.

  “Are you okay?” Jessica asked, coming down the ladder at the end of her bunk.

  “Yeah. Just a little head rush,” he muttered. Once the dizziness had stopped, he continued to get ready, as did Jessica.

  “I’m sorry about hitting you in the head. I really didn’t try to do it,” she said, coming out of the bathroom fully dressed for school. She had on a bright pink shirt and a ruffled, purple skirt. On her feet were sparkly black boots. To Oliver, it looked like a kid ate their own glitter project then threw up on his sister’s feet.

  “Really, it’s fine,” Oliver stated, throwing on his blue T-shirt. “It did hurt though.”

  “I hope I didn’t make you dizzy,” she cried, throwing herself at Oliver’s feet.

  “No! I told you, it was just a head rush. Geesh, you’re so dramatic,” he laughed, ruffling her neatly brushed hair.

  “Jerk,” she sneered, attempting to fix her hair by brushing it down with her hands.

  “Kids! Come down and eat!” Mrs. Fletcher called.

  “Listen to your mother!” Mr. Fletcher added, probably reading the paper downstairs.

  “Last one down gets the top bunk tonight!” Oliver yelled. He jumped in air and began to Fly at top speed out the door and to the kitchen.

  Jessica reached the kitchen last. “You can Fly, Ollie!” she whined, tromping down the stairs.

  “So?” he asked, shoving a forkful of eggs into his mouth.

  “So, you should get the top bunk, and I should get a head start!” she insisted, sitting down next to him at the kitchen table.

  “Well, you know what they say: ‘You snooze, you lose.’ Sucker!” he sneered playfully.

  2.2

  Once the kids arrived at school, Oliver realized he didn’t feel so well. His head was pounding. As he and Jessica were walking to their first period class, Oliver’s head pain suddenly spiked, and he felt himself become dizzy. He had to stop and lean against the lockers.

  “Hold on, Jess,” he said, rubbing his temples.

  “We can’t stop just because you’re too much of a lazy wuss to get to class,” she yelled, still mad at him for the comment he made during breakf
ast.

  For some reason, Oliver felt like he could Sense his sister’s anger—which added to his own anger and the pain he was experiencing. “Jess! Stop! I’m serious!” Oliver called to her.

  She stopped suddenly and turned around. Jessica looked curiously at her brother and somehow felt that he meant what he had said. She could see that he was in pain. She saw Oliver begin to lean away from the lockers like he was trying to stand up.

  “Oh, no! Something’s wrong!” she muttered. She was right.

  “Sis…,” Oliver whispered. Jessica suddenly sprinted toward her brother. As soon as she reached him, he went limp in her grasp. Around the hallway, kids gasped, and one of them ran toward the nurse’s office.

  “No, no, no, no, no!” Jessica cried. “Ollie! Ollie! Please wake up! I love you! I love you!”

  “Jess,” Oliver croaked. He flinched in pain. “My head.”

  The nurse came running down the hall and took Oliver from Jessica. Oliver’s eyes closed once again. The nurse lifted both of Oliver’s eye lids and gasped.

  “Do you have a cell phone, young lady?” she asked quickly.

  Jessica, speechless, took out her phone and gave it to the nurse. As she saw the nurse dial 911, she realized how bad the situation was. She wanted to say something, but it came out as a sob. Her friend Marcy came up behind Jessica and put her hand on Jessica’s shoulder. She shook it off and grabbed her brother’s hand instead.

  Oliver suddenly sat up “Jessica!” he yelled, “I’m okay!”

  “Oliver!” Jessica screamed. “You . . . you scared me!” She threw her arms around him and laughed joyously through her tears.

  “I’m fine, sis. Get off me, would you?” he insisted with a small grin.

  She pulled away, not wanting to push her luck and gathered his backpack for him.

  “Yes. Never mind. He is awake. He’s fine. Thank you so much! Goodbye now.” The nurse hung up and pulled Oliver aside to ask him a few questions.

  Jessica sat against the lockers, still perplexed by what had just happened. Marcy sat next to her.

  “Hey, girly. You okay?” Marcy asked sincerely.

  “I don’t know. Oliver and I fought earlier, and I feel bad for being mad at him now,” Jessica answered.

  “Girl, you should not feel bad. If that boy was mean to you, then you need to stick it to the man!” she exclaimed, snapping her fingers in the air.

  “Marcy, can I be the first to say that’s probably the worst advice I’ve ever heard?” Jessica said, giggling.

  “I knew I could get that sweet girl to laugh!” Marcy chuckled, slugging Jessica in the arm. “Forget that advice. Listen to this: He is your brother! What you need to remember is that he is your family and no matter what happens, no matter what kind of fights you get into, your brother will love you until the end! Even if he were to turn into an evil villain, he would still love you deep within his heart.”

  “Gee. Thanks, Marcy! I know he loves me. Sometimes I just forget it,” Jessica mentioned sadly.

  “Well, don’t forget it, silly girl!” Marcy cheered. “And I know you love him. Don’t ever stop doing that! Remember this: You don’t have to like him, but you should always love him!”

  “Sis, let’s get to class!” Oliver exclaimed, handing his sister her backpack. “We still have a little time in first period. Plus, we’ve got a huge test we need to do anyway. Come on.”

  “Coming, Ollie!” she called after saying goodbye to Marcy.

  2.3

  “Ah! Here he is! The talk of the day.” Mr. Cornelius exclaimed as Oliver and Jessica walked into their first-period math class. “Everyone is already taking the test, but you may start yours now and finish during advisory.”

  “Yes, sir,” Oliver and Jessica said as they headed toward their seats. When they got there, they saw there were already empty exams on their desks for them.

  Oliver saw that the entire exam was about the subjects he had been struggling with most in class.

  “I’m done for,” he whispered to Jessica.

  Jessica was already breezing through her test as if it were the simplest task in the world, while Oliver sat and stared at the first problem. Then something strange happened. The numbers seemed to bounce off the page and hover in midair around him. The more he looked at the numbers and thought about them, the more the problem on the page began to make sense. As he worked through the problem in his head, the numbers in front of him began to move around and reveal a solution according to what Oliver was thinking. In less than thirty seconds, he had been able to solve the first problem on the test.

  “Whoa! Cool,” he whispered to himself.

  “Fifteen more minutes remaining!” the teacher called from the front.

  Oliver smiled and before he knew what was actually happening, he had solved every problem on the exam right before the teacher called time.

  “Done!” Oliver shouted, filled with joy.

  Jessica looked over at him in astonishment as she saw that he truly was finished. As Mr. Cornelius came by to pick up the tests, Jessica said, “Please, sir! I need more time!”

  “I told you to come back during advisory. So, you will,” he stated, dropping her test into the “incomplete” pile. Jessica pouted. Oliver turned to her and stuck his tongue out at his sister.

  “Jerk,” she whispered, astonished.

  For months afterwards, Oliver continued to get amazing grades in all his classes. By that time, he’d figured out that he had a new Super Power, but didn’t know what to call it. Eventually the school called Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher to tell them they were moving Oliver up a grade.

  At first, Oliver missed his sister being in his classes, but then he got used to it. Jessica also missed Oliver. As the kids grew older, they began to appreciate their time at home more and more. Their school separation was bringing the twins closer together as brother and sister.

  Chapter 3

  Four years later . . .

  “Honestly, Jess, seventh grade sucks! You being in sixth grade also sucks!” Oliver announced during lunch.

  “No! Being 12 sucks!” Jessica exclaimed, burying her head in her twin’s shoulder.

  “I can’t believe lunch is the only time during school that we get to be together. I’ve missed you, sis,” Oliver sighed, ruffling her hair.

  “First of all, please don’t ruffle my hair. I’ve already asked you not to. Second of all, you tell me you miss me every day. Third of all, do you think this is what it feels like for the other sibling when their sibling goes off to college?” Jessica asked sighing and fixing her hair with her hand.

  “Firstly, sorry about the hair thing. It’s just that I miss you so much. Secondly, I tell you I miss you every day because I learned from a certain good sister that you can never say it enough. Thirdly, we shouldn’t be even mentioning the word ‘college’ right now. We’re only 12,” Oliver replied, nudging his broccoli with his fork.

  “Ollie, I’m sad,” Jessica said randomly.

  Oliver knew his sister used what she would consider to be “plain words” whenever she was upset, so he knew she was being genuine. Jessica was the only one Oliver allowed to use his nickname ever since he was cornered by bullies in the gym two years ago. They taunted him and laughed at him, using “Ollie” in a mean chant.

  “What’s pulling at your hair, sis?” he wondered, putting his arm around her.

  “Look, I know we don’t like to talk about this, but . . . ever since our favorite cousin, Nick, left, we haven’t had anyone to talk to about our Powers. Ollie, how many friends have you made in your grade since we started middle school?” Jessica questioned, leaning into his shoulder once more.

  “Well, there’s . . . Carlos and . . . and . . . You’ve got a point,” Oliver stammered. “Gosh, Jess. We’re so . . . alone.”

  “Yeah,” she sighed sadly. “It used to be easier for me before Marcy switched schools, but now . . . Fitting in really kills, you know?”

  “Yeah, especially when we can’t do i
t,” Oliver agreed.

  “We have each other though,” Jessica whispered, sounding defeated.

  3.2

  After school that day, Oliver and Jessica took the bus home. Once they arrived, the kids noticed Mr. Fletcher frantically pacing back and forth in the kitchen.

  “What’s up, Dad?” Oliver questioned as he and Jessica walked into the kitchen.

  “Oh, thank goodness you’re all right!” he exclaimed as he turned around to hug his children.

  “Yeah, we’re okay. We’re just a few minutes late, Dad,” Jessica mentioned. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s your mother! Apparently, the building where she works caught on fire somehow. On the news, they’re saying the entrance is blocked off by fallen rubble and the entire first floor is like a furnace!” he shouted, nearly going into hysterics.

  “Oh, no! What the heck? We’ve got to do something!” Oliver yelled.

  Jessica grabbed Oliver’s hand. “Dad, you were going to say more?” Jessica asked quickly.

  “Apparently, there are still some employees trapped in the building! Your mother is one of them, I just know it!” he continued, “She hasn’t called me! She hasn’t done anything.”

  “Oh, no!” Jessica cried. Oliver squeezed her hand.

  “I’m sure the firemen will take care of it! I know it!” Mr. Fletcher whispered, trying to reassure them. “There’s nothing you can do to help right now. Go up to your room please and stay there! I'm sure we will hear from your mom quickly. I will let you know as soon as she calls."

  Oliver didn’t want to go to his room. He began to protest. “But….”

  “GO!” Mr. Fletcher yelled firmly.

  Without another word, Jessica and Oliver went upstairs, hand in hand. As soon as they got upstairs, Oliver let go of his sister’s hand and slammed it into the wall.

  “Whoa! Hey!” Jessica cried. “Please don’t, Ollie.”

  “I can’t believe this at all!” he yelled, “How could Dad just tell us to go upstairs as if nothing is happening?”