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Title: The Unbreakable Heart: Undazzled
By: Vandagirl
Summary: Jessica Fischer. Regular 7th grader. Terri Gordan. Not-so-regular 7th grade super heroine. When the two meet, Jessica suddenly becomes something that she thought would be dazzling, until she realizes how hard the superhero life can really be. Read and review. I’ve been working on this storyline for almost five years. Bits and pieces were in comic form or summary form at first, but now I’ve finally decided to post it on fictionpress. Enjoy.
A young blonde girl, wrapped up in her warm winter coat, hid behind a dumpster in a dark alley, watching a fight. But not just any old fight, oh, no sir. It was a fight between another girl and a horrific looking creature.
This other girl was no ordinary girl, obviously if she was able to be in a fight with a creature such as her opponent. She seemed to be gifted with agility and trusted with a mystical bow and arrow. She fired with rapid ease, but it did not seem to affect the creature too much. Her energy quickly drained from her body after taking hits from her enemy. Scratches, scrapes, bruises, the works, all over the girl’s body. She only resumed fighting as she brushed her brown wavy hair out of her face. She had had it. She fired one last bow into the creature’s chest. It screamed in deep pain and torture. Eventually it withered away and its dust blew away in the brisk wind. Victory was hers.
After she took the last look of her enemy’s remains, she fell to her knees in weakness. She looked cold in her black rubber mini-skirt jumper, black gloves, black tights that covered most of her legs, red ballet slippers, and red long-sleeve shirt. She shivered. She lifted her head towards the sky to reveal a black mask, most likely worn to keep her identity secret. She mumbled something to herself, but not even the blonde girl spying on her could hear her.
The girl in the alley wanted to help her, so she stopped hiding behind the dumpster, ran up to the heroine, and offered her the coat she had been wearing. The heroine had only glanced at her in fear, told her to stay away from her, and ran away.
The blonde girl watched her run in confusion. Why be scared of a civilian? Perhaps she was an alien, or some other outsider. Maybe she just didn’t like people. But whoever she was, the blonde girl was determined to find her. She was a hero, and deserved to be more well-known than she was then.
1
Chapter 1: New Identity“Jessica! It’s time to wake up for school!” a woman shouted the next morning.
The blonde girl, Jessica, slowly rose from her laying position and grumbled. Mondays. Oh, how she dreaded them. “Just five more minutes…” she replied to her mother.
“You said that five minutes ago! Now wake up and have some breakfast! You’re going to be late!”
“Fine. I’ll get up.” She slowly dragged her feet on the hard-wood floor and laid out some clothes. “Last thing I want is detention with brats who couldn’t control themselves even if they were offered 300 billion dollars to do so. Just goes to show that kids are getting more immature as the decades fly by.” She sighed to herself and dragged her feet towards the bedroom door.
BANG! The door flew open on her face. She screamed, “Ow!” as she backed away from it.
“Hey Jessica! I was gonna scream in your face to tell you to wake up, but I guess hitting you with the door works too!” exclaimed a younger boy, most likely about nine or ten.
“Joey! I was already awake! If you hear non-mumbling voices, it means that I’m awake and I don’t need your stupid wake-up calls!”
“Blah, blah, blah! That’s all I hear coming out of your mouth! Oh, by the way, I ate the last bowl of Count Chocula. Just to make your Monday morning better. See ya, princess!” He skipped down the stairs immediately descending from the bedroom doorway.
“I’d push him down the stairs, but the last time I did that he got a black eye and I got grounded for a week,” Jessica said to herself as she followed him down the steps.
After Jessica put on her winter clothes, the doorbell rang, and she immediately opened the front door. Behind it was a girl with long red hair pulled back in a ponytail with sharp green eyes. “Hey Kathryn! I’m ready!”
“Great! I’m freezing! And there’s not even snow on the ground! Come on, Josh is waiting,” she said, pointing to tall skinny blonde boy standing on the sidewalk.
“He’s not sick anymore?” she asked, seemingly excited.
“Thank God. If he asks me for a big bowl of ramen noodles one more time…”
“Oh, he couldn’t have been that bad,” Jessica tried to reassure Kathryn as they stepped down from the porch. “I mean, what’s so bad about getting Josh a nice warm bowl of soup? Isn’t that what a sick boy really needs?”
Kathryn only looked at Jessica with a straight face. “You don’t live with him. He’s not your freakishly tall Irish twin brother. You don’t know how bad he gets when I have to be the one who takes care of him!”
Josh, who at that moment was met by the girls, only stared down at his younger sister. “Well, sorry I can’t move around the house when I have a fever.”
“For all I know I could be getting sick too!”
“So I’m contagious! Eventually we’re all going to get sick anyway. No one never gets sick during this weather.” They began walking towards the school.
“Correction,” Jessica interrupted. “Jon never gets sick.”
“That’s true,” Josh admitted.
“How come he never gets sick? I don’t ever remember him being a germaphobe or anything,” Kathryn stated.
“He’s not and never was. Probably never will be,” Jessica mentioned. “All I know is that one day when we were eight, we stood out in the rain waiting for my parents to pick us up from school, and I got a fever and the sniffles, and he was perfectly fine.”
“He’s not from this planet,” Kathryn convinced herself.
“And that’s not the only proof we have, either,” Josh joked. “Remember last week when he knocked himself out hitting his head on his locker multiple times?”
“Yeah…” the girls answered unanimously.
“Guess who got an A plus on the giant math test that he didn’t study for the next period?”
“Jonathan Malcolm Burke, the super genius who got dropped on the head too many times as a small child,” Jessica stated in an “official” tone.
“Does he really deserve those grades?” Kathryn wondered.
“Technically, as long as he doesn’t cheat, he does deserve them,” Josh answered. “It’s just beyond all of us as to how JON of all of the obliviously insane weirdoes we know can get such high grades. Who gets it? I certainly don’t.”
“Tell me about it,” Kathryn nodded as the school entrance became closer.
In the distance, another young girl with black pigtails raced towards the others. “Hey!” she shouted.
“Ruth!” Kathryn hollered back. They ran towards each other and embraced. “You’re back from Michigan!”
“Why I’m surrounded by mushy girls 24/7 is beyond me,” Josh mumbled to himself.
Jessica, having understood his mumbling, answered, “Oh come on! We don’t have cooties! That’s so kindergarten!”
“You have cooties when you act like… them,” he gestured towards Kathryn and Ruth, who were still hugging and cuddling.
“You have sisters, Josh. You should be used to it.”
“Easy for you to say. I guess I can say that at least you’re not really the type to do that sort of that thing…”
“So you do like to hang…” Jessica interrupted herself as she spotted something in the distance.
“What are you looking at?” Josh asked.
Jessica began wandering towards the other direction where she spotted a girl of shorter stature and long brown wavy hair walking toward the doors. “She looks familiar… I’ll catch you later, Josh.”
“O…kay… see ya,” Josh responded, a bit confused.
Jessica ran towards the front entrance when this girl entered through the double doors of the building. Jessica followed her through the doors but she was nowhere to be seen afterwards. “Where did she go?” she asked herself in wonder. She sighed, figuring that following this girl was a pointless mission that couldn’t be accomplished. Suddenly beginning to enjoy the heat indoors, she wandered towards her locker and headed to her homeroom.
1
“Jon... Earth to Jon...” Josh whispered to his curly blacked haired semi-dark-skinned friend sitting next to him in the classroom. Or more like slouching with his head on the desk next to Josh sitting in the classroom.
“Leave me alone... I had a weird dream last night and I want it to finish up...”
“Jon, the teacher’s glaring right at your face.”
“WHAT!” he exclaimed as he immediately sprung in an upright position. His blue eyes, even when relaxed, were as large as bagels, except right now when his eyebrows made them frown. “Ha, ha, funny. Great way to spoil my day.”
“And you’re a poet and you didn’t know it,” joked Josh.
“Shut up. I’m hungry.”
“Yeah, yeah. I woke you up for a reason.”
“It’d better be a good one...”
“You know how the other day you were mentioning that all our transfers this year were either steroid-filled jocks of anorexic cheerleaders?” Josh mentioned.
Jon looked at him blankly. “What, is there a cheerleader with breast implants this time? Because if there is, I’m not even going to look.”
“Actually, she’s something else...” Josh pondered. “Just look at the front of the classroom...”
Jon did as he was told. His bagel-sized eyes immediately grew larger. “HOLY...”
“Shut up! You don’t want the whole world to hear!”
“I know, but... look at her!”
“That’s what I freakin’ told you to do! I’ve already seen her. It’s not a big deal. She just... dresses different from...”
“SHH! The teacher’s about to say her name!” Jon demanded desperately.
“So anyways,” the thin teacher began, “we have yet another new student this year. This is Katerri Gordan, and she just transferred here from Ladyville Academy in Eastfield.”
“Please,” the new student began, sounding slightly annoyed, “call me Terri.”
The majority of the class was discretely staring at her. Yet while her physical features were on the prettier side, they were not staring at her, but rather at her clothing. Unlike what almost the rest of the girls in school wore, which summed up to tight-ass jeans and cleavage-revealing belly shirts (even in winter), Terri wore a long-sleeved white oxford with a long burgundy skirt. It was astounding to these people to see modest dress clothing in their school.
“Well then Terri,” the teacher started, “find a seat and you all can converse until the bell rings.”
Jessica had been sitting in the back the whole time, thinking to herself, “That’s the girl I was looking for! But why does she look so familiar?”
In front of Jessica were Kathryn and Ruth. An empty seat was next to them, so Terri placed herself there.
Ruth, as part of her rude disposition, turned to Terri and remarked, “Hun, it’s 2019, not 1872. Button down your shirt and cut your skirt, then you’ll at least look like you’re from this century.”
“Ruth!” Kathryn elbowed her. “I know she looks... different, but...”
“What? I’m only trying to give her some fashion pointers! Whoever said that there was something wrong with that?”
“I know, but the way you said it...”
“For your information,” Terri interrupted, “people from 1872 dressed even more modestly than this, believe it or not, and I don’t need to dress like a whore to be better than you are. So either you shut your trap or I’ll do it for you.”
“Oh man, what’s a pretty little proper lady going to do to a big bad bitch like me?” Ruth teased.
“Ruth, don’t start a fight!” Kathryn demanded. She turned to Terri, “Look, I’m sorry she’s...”
“Don’t even bother. I bet all she did was take those words right out of your mouth.”
“Now, hey! I would never!”
“Yeah right. That’s a load of bull. Just stay away from me and we’ll all be happier.” That was when the bell had rung and everyone else got up from their seats and out into the hallway.
Jessica walked with Kathryn and Ruth. “Damn, she’s got attitude,” Jessica stated. “She must practice at home or something.”
“She must have been stuck at that snobby rich private school for way too long,” Kathryn guessed. “I mean, this school is so dramatically different, I’m sure.”
“Stay away from her? She’d better stay away from me first!” exclaimed Ruth. “She thinks she’s so great just because she doesn’t dress like the rest of the world! Big deal! Like that’s the most important thing in life! ‘Oh! Look at me! I’m modest, so that makes me better than you and every great and holy person you know!’ I hate attitude. If you have more attitude than me then you need to take a damn hike and stay away from me!”
As they each opened their lockers, Jessica cocked her head to the right to see Terri unpacking her bag and organizing her belongings. “Just stay away from me...” thought Jessica. “That long brown hair, that voice...”
“Oh... my... GOD!” Jessica exclaimed with joy and happiness. She jumped and squealed, “This sucky day just got 300 billion times better!” She slammed her locker shut and ran up to the new girl. “Terri! I can’t believe it!”
As Terri turned her head her face was blank, but as soon as she saw Jessica’s face her small brown eyes immediately grew in fear. “What the hell are you doing?! I thought I told you to stay away from me!”
“But Terri...”
“We’ll discuss this later!” She quickly shut her locker and ran to her next class.
Jessica only shifted her weight to her right side and crossed her arms. “That’s so weird. Why doesn’t she want to talk to one of her fans?” she asked herself. “And I know she has to be...”
“Jessica!” Kathryn called from the distance. “Come on! We’re gonna be late!” She approached her. “What are you doing talking to Terri anyway?”
“I think she’s... do you know about the downtown heroine that fights strange creatures?”
“That’s just a dumb rumor.”
“No it’s not! I saw her last night fighting! She was fighting this horrific creature, and she kept firing arrows at him, and she was taking all these scratches and scrapes and hits, and then she finally fired one last arrow at the enemy in the chest, and then it withered away and turned into dust...”
“Why were you out so late last night in the cold?” Kathryn asked, interrupting Jessica’s story.
Jessica looked around the area innocently. “I don’t know, trying to catch her fighting, I guess...”
“How did you know she was going to be out at that point?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, instinct, I guess...?”
“I still think this, ‘Downtown Heroine’ is just some stupid act.”
“How can you say it’s an act if I saw some real fighting for myself?!”
Kathryn shook her head. “Jessica, I’m sorry, but you’ve seen things before that weren’t real. I’ve seen things before that were just some stupid joke too. The whole turning to dust thing... with today’s technology that’s highly possible to make effects like that.”
“But...”
“Believe what you want, but I’m going to class. And I really wouldn’t bother Terri if I were you. Chances are, she probably doesn’t know a thing. I think we’ve bugged her ego enough today.” She turned around and headed towards the opposite direction.
Jessica hung her head low. “Man, if Kathryn doesn’t believe me, who will? This isn’t fair. What’s the point in getting Terri to spill if I’m not going to benefit from it? She probably wouldn’t even benefit from it.” She only sulked to her next class.
1
Class had ended, homework was assigned, and students were in the hallways yet again after their third period, just before lunch. Jessica stood behind her locker door and watched Josh as he passed by her to go to the cafeteria. “Dang,” she thought. “Why won’t he ever ask me to eat with him? I mean, I know I’m kind of hidden behind a locker, but don’t you think he’d look for me and want to talk to me for a little bit?” She only sighed as she yet again realized that she just had to eat with her girlfriends, which was nothing new or exciting.
“Hey,” a voice behind her whispered.
Jessica, after feeling startled, turned around to see that it was Terri. “Uh... hey,” she replied.
“Come with me. I need to tell you something.” Without another word, she wandered towards a corner where no one else could be seen. Jessica followed her, slightly confused but internally excited to do anything or answer anything she asked her to do.
When they both met up while no one else was in sight, Jessica finally asked, “What do you need?”
“Where were you last night at about nine o’clock?” she immediately asked.
“Watching…” Jessica began, “Watching a fight. Outside. Downtown by the grocery store.”
“How did you know to be there?”
Jessica paused and thought for a moment. “I… really don’t know. Instinct, I guess? I wasn’t even doing anything downtown. I just thought I would be able to catch the fight there last night.”
“So you just knew to come?”
She shrugged. “I guess so.”
Terri glanced around to see if the coast was clear. No one was in sight, since everyone else was in the cafeteria, so she finally asked, “You figured it out, didn’t you?”
“You mean about you…?”
“I was the one you saw fighting last night. You offered me your coat, but I didn’t want you to see my face, in fear that you would recognize me later. When I first saw you here, I figured I should have just run home despite my need of rest.”
“Why would you be afraid of me?”
“Don’t you know?” Terri asked surprisingly. “If a superhero has a secret identity, they can’t just reveal their faces to people! Who knows what could happen to me or any of the people I know and love if an enemy were to discover who I really am!”
“But you wear a mask…”
“You were still able to figure out who I was! Luckily it was just you, and not an enemy in disguise. I know Superman just had a pair of glasses to hide his true identity, but that was just a comic book and a few TV shows and movies. This is real.”
“A real life superhero…” Jessica hopped in utter excitement. “This is the coolest thing ever!”
Terri only rolled her eyes at her naivete. “Come to my house after school. Tell people you’re going to help me with my wardrobe if they ask. In the meantime, let’s have lunch. You can sit by your friends, I’ll go eat in the corner by myself until I can find a way to cope with them.”
“Oh, come on! Ruth’s not that bad…”
“She’s rude, hostile, and has a colorful vocabulary. If you witnessed today’s argument, you would notice that we don’t exactly see eye to eye. And we probably won’t unless we have lots of time to just get used to each other. Besides, I can be just like her if I want to be. Two people like that in the same area is going to be a scene. Quite frankly, Ruth is ruthless.” Terri headed towards the cafeteria. “I’ll see you after school.”
“Ok, if you really want to sit by yourself, that’s… fine by me.” Jessica only shrugged at her unique suggestion. “Who likes sitting by themselves? I mean, I figured she wouldn’t be a social butterfly, but… she needs a group of friends too…” Jessica only sighed as she entered the lunchroom to find her friends.
Vandagirl
