Free Mind Over Easy by Bryan Cohen Page B

times. What's going on?"
    Ted floated the chair and himself back to an upright position and then swiveled to face her.
    "Natalie hates me. The GHA hates me. I still need to ask Erica to prom. I'm overloaded."
    Ted put his head in his hands and felt his mother walking toward him. She put her hand on his knee.
    "Natalie will never hate you," she said. "These GHA people are scared of the unknown. Your father and I are ignoring them, and we think you should, too."
    Ted looked up from his lap. "What do you mean you're ignoring them?"
    Ted's mom sighed and forced a smile. "There was an incident at your father's job. Some of his co-workers are part of the group and they vandalized his desk."
    Ted stood up and set a wide-eyed gaze on his mother. "Why didn't you tell me?" Ted let out a huff. "I can't believe you kept this from me."
    As Ted's heart rate increased, his mother's voice softened.
    "It was childish and stupid. And as I said, we're ignoring it. No need to get your tights in a bunch."
    Ted planted his feet. "I don't have tights, Mom."
    "I really think you should take us up on our offer to make you an outfit." Ted's mom kept a straight face. "It would have a cute red T on the butt."
    Ted let himself collapse on the bed next to his mom and the two of them laughed. A few minutes later, Ted was in much better spirits as he ate his meatloaf. There were four places set at the table, despite there only being three of them. At the fourth spot was a tablet set up with an app running that displayed Ted's sister, Christina. She and Ted were nothing alike, from her golden hair to her outgoing personality.
    She was walking as she spoke to the three of them, and the camera shuddered with every step.
    "You still haven't asked her to prom yet?" Christina waved to someone off camera and continued to walk and talk. "It's in a week, Ted. You're being an idiot."
    Ted combined the meat, potatoes and peas all on one fork and munched on it.
    "I've been busy!" Ted worked the food around his mouth and away from his tongue. "I had to stop a robbery and–"
    "Don't talk with your mouth full," his sister and mother said in unison. They chuckled.
    Ted chewed his food and swallowed with the help of a gulp of water. "I had this elaborate plan, but it kind of didn't work."
    Christina rolled her eyes at her brother. "Guys like you – you know, dorks – are all about these elaborate plans. Popular girls like LaPlante don't care. They're used to football players being like, 'Hey, can I grind on you at the dance?'"
    Ted's father laughed at his daughter's imitation before his wife shot him a discouraging glance.
    "She's not like that," Ted said.
    "Either way. You're not asking someone to marry you. You just want her to go to the prom."
    Ted remembered back to when he'd asked Natalie to homecoming. He'd found a company that printed custom basketballs and had one made up just for the occasion. The look in her eyes was one he would never forget.
    "Just ask her already, Ted," his mother said. "You can take her out to ice cream tonight or something."
    Ted stabbed a pea with his fork. "It just doesn't seem very romantic."
    Christina stopped walking and the camera stabilized. "Save the romance for the dance, Casanova. For now, just get her to commit before some other superhero swoops in and gets her."
     
    After Christina signed off to go to her class, Ted followed the advice and asked Erica out for ice cream. They met up on the east edge of Treasure's Main Street, a strip of restaurants and shops that represented most activities in the quiet suburb. They'd already seen a dozen classmates coming in and out of the coffee shop, the movie theatre and the ice cream parlor. Thankfully, most of them had been willing to leave the resident superhero alone on his date.
    After some polite catch-up conversation, it didn't take long for them to get into shop talk.
    "You know, I've seen my fair share of mobs." Erica took a bite of the top scoop of her cookies n' cream cone. "A