Free Please Don't Tell My Parents I Blew Up the Moon by Richard Roberts Page A

figure out. I’d shown off my superpower in first period. All the other kids had to keep their powers secret. Whatever they felt about me going all Tesla in Science class, they must have felt a lot of it.
    Which suggested that most or all of the kids giving me the eye had superpowers. That included Marcel, and Sidney, and Eshe, and one of the girls that always hangs out with Marcia, and the girl with the dark skin and bright red hair, and the big guy, and…
    More than half the class gave me looks ranging from admiring to wistful to angry. I felt like a bug in a glass, and I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not.
    I certainly felt relieved when the lunch bell rang. Still, the one person who hadn’t been staring at me during English class was the one person I absolutely knew had superpowers, and the person I really wished I got along better with: Claudia.
    Seeing Claudia was different after meeting Mourning Dove. They were both totally serious about fighting evil, and they both had terrifying powers but still fought by stealth to wring every last advantage out of a fight. If it were possible for a cyborg zombie like Mourning Dove to have children, I’d wonder if Claudia was her daughter.
    Mourning Dove had recognized we weren’t bad guys. I had to keep trying with Claudia.
    With that in mind, the first thing I did when I walked into the cafeteria was stop at Claudia’s table. She sat all alone, so we weren’t likely to be overheard. I didn’t take a seat, but I did put my lunchbox down on the metal tabletop and lean over to say…
    What?
    I blurted out the first thing on my mind. “What do you think of Mourning Dove?”
    She gave me a guarded stare, not quite blank. Her voice conveyed the same emotion, flat and just a bit suspicious. “So you were there.”
    “She reminded me a lot of you.”
    I’d meant it as a compliment, but the moment the words came out of my mouth, I knew I’d messed up. Claudia’s expression didn’t change, but her arms and shoulders trembled. Her answer came more bleakly emotionless than ever. “I don’t kill people.”
    “That wasn’t what I meant…”
    Claudia wasn’t listening. She picked up a spoon, her dark eyes staring up at me in disgust. “Your power is cute and fun, Penelope. I have to work day and night not to kill people, not to destroy everything I touch.” She bent the spoon in her fingers, mashing it into her palm, and then dropped the lumpy, rolled up ball of metal into her empty milk carton. No one else noticed. She might as well have been squishing a french fry. “I try. She doesn’t.”
    So much power. “Criminy. Did you inherit that? Is your dad a superhero?”
    I’d meant to ask about her mom too, but I didn’t get the chance. Claudia interrupted me. “Everyone tells me not to get personal. If it’s none of my business who Bad Penny’s parents are, it’s none of your business who my father is.”
    I stammered, “I’m not trying to get personal. I mean, I am, but in the normal way. We could be friends, Claudia.”
    She picked up her fork, and went back to eating mashed potatoes, not looking at me at all. Her expression had turned colder than ever. No, that was wrong. Now her cheeks were flushed. She looked like I’d punched her in the face, except I’d break my fist trying that.
    I picked up my lunchbox and moved on. This had been about the same as the last couple of times I’d tried to make friends with Claudia, only this time the subject had been superpowers.
    “Struck out again?” Ray asked as I sat down at our table.
    I nodded.
    “Then let me be the first to change the subject,” said Claire, her voice airy and sweet, and her eyes sharp with mischief.
    I waved one hand while the other set my lunch box to unfolding. “I’ve had enough talking about Mourning Dove.”
    Claire just grinned wider. I could tell by her pale hair that she had her power completely turned off. She leaned forward, spinning her spoon in her fingers and looking like a