Super University

Chapter One: X-Men

Zenda

“Where the hell are my pants?” I yelled, digging through my closet. How did I know this was going to happen? Of course it has to be that when I’m trying to get my things ready to move into my new school, I can’t find my good clothes. I have to have my lucky pants. I know it sounds completely stupid but on the first day of every school year I wore the same pair of pants. Which says a lot about me…I guess.

I like repetition, having a set pattern to follow. Maybe that’s because I like to have something I actually have control over. I mean, after coming from a stinking mutant high school, almost like I was at that stupid X-Men school or that other school, what was it, Sky High…yeah, that’s it. Then again, at schools like that, sometimes the unexpected occurs. But when someone is like me, the unexpected can sometimes be anything but.

I do not know; maybe that’s why they accepted me into Seville University to begin with. After all, precognitives are desired pretty much everywhere. There are people all over the world who like to know what is going to happen before it actually does.

“Mom, where are my pants?” I yelled again, poking my head out of my door.

“Which ones honey?” Her response came from downstairs.

“The ones I wear every year when I’m going to school.”

Come on, she should know this by now…I mean, we’ve only been going through this same routine for pretty much the past four years, and before that it was my favorite shirt, or my supposedly lucky pair of shoes.

“Zenda, I they are not down here. Why don’t you look in that mess you like to call a room?”

I groaned. This was almost hopeless. Did I accidently pack them already? No, I knew I would be wanting to wear them as I moved into this school. They have to be here somewhere.

Then I moved the bag at the foot of my bag and let out a huge sigh. “There you are,” I said as I grabbed the pair of well worn dark wash jeans. I pull off my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle boxers and slip on the pants. Balling up the boxers I tossed them into the open bag on my bed.

I looked around my room. All of my important possessions were already packed up. Mom had been making sure that I was packing and getting ready weeks ago. She insisted on taking me out shopping and buying me a new wardrobe and a bunch of school supplies. Of course, she was highly disappointed when I headed straight to the men’s section to buy myself some baggy shirts and a bunch of new boxers and stuff. Of course, I did go to the women’s section to buy jeans.

Honestly I have to admit that I really don’t know what to expect from this school. I mean, Seville University? I had heard of the place but it wasn’t like I had heard a lot about the fact that it supposedly graduated some of the world’s greatest superheroes. Yeah, right, like I will ever be one of those people.

But, maybe it could happen.

I have also heard that because of some of the classes students have to take, they end up going down the wrong path. I guess this is how we end up with out super villains. What I honestly love about those normal humans is that they make up all of these superheroes for comic books and movies and stuff like that. Sometimes they actually get decently close to an idea of what goes on but then again, it could just be an extremely lucky guess.

“Zenda, are you ready to go? You’re going to be late!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” I sighed and grabbed my bags, tossing them down the stairs. It wasn’t like there’s anything that will break in them. My more fragile bags and boxes were already out in the van. These ones just held my clothes. I stepped out of my room and pulled my door shut.

Well, this is it. Seville University, here I come.

Okay, so really it is only called Seville University to the public. To those of us that actually know better, it goes by Super University, the school for those with special abilities. The school was founded a couple generations ago by some guy whose name I really don’t care to remember. Apparently his special skill was being able to sense the power in others.

So he created a place for those of us with big bad abilities to practice in an environment where we wouldn’t have to worry about exposure or severely harming some human. I guess it was a good idea and they seem to get enough students applying each year. Due to the demands placed on them and everything else, it is a rather competitive admissions process.

They can only hold a certain amount of people for each ability type each year. I think each class is only about two hundred students, so in comparison to other schools around the country it is relatively small.

Mom said that I was lucky to be accepted. She was worried that because she didn’t exactly have the cleanest record when it came to the use of her ability that she would have to worry about me actually getting in. I tried to tell her that she was stupid to worry about it though; I mean, she has really cleaned up since she was my age. She had to straighten up and grow up, faster than people really expected her to.

The car slowed down and I looked around. Already I could feel that we were close. There’s just something about being near others with abilities that sends a tingle over my skin. So here we were, pulling into what was going to be my home for the next four years, well, unless I managed to finish the curriculum faster. Some students did graduate in only three years.

“Okay Mom, you need to head to Medium Hall. That’s where they’ve assigned me.” I pointed towards the building she needed to park in front of. It really didn’t look like anything special. Actually it looked like most other schools I had seen. A large three floor dorm hall built with large stones or something; it seriously looked like a castle or something.

“What room are you in?” she asked me as she pulled over into the small parking lot and pulled into one of the few open parking spots left.

I looked at my housing assignment paper. “Uh…115.”

She nodded. “Then let’s get you moved in so you can start your life as a college student.” Turning off the engine she stepped out of the van and opened up the side doors, pulling out a few bags and looking at me expectantly.

I sighed. Well at least I had someone to help me move all of my stuff into my room. I knew some of my friends from high school had to move in by themselves, mostly because they chose to go to a human college and their parents did not approve. I got out of the car.

“Welcome to your new life,” I told myself quietly.

But how different would it be? I mean, I would expect it to be rather similar to that high school I went to, the whole ‘you should accept your ability because it is a part of you and you can’t change it’ philosophy. Yeah, I don’t really know about that.

If I had a choice, would I keep my ability? Is it worth it to have visions of the future? I mean, we’re supposed to be honor bound to report it and try are best to prevent it, right?

Stupid ethical and moral issues connected with using an ability.

I would much rather have some sort of active power like telekinesis or pyrokinesis or something like that. It would be much cooler than just having visions. Honestly.

Super-strength or super-speed would be awesome too, especially when packing or unpacking everything. Super-speed would mean that it would only take minutes instead of an hour and super-strength would probably mean fewer trips.

Okay, so maybe I don’t exactly follow the no-personal gain clause…but it’s not really something we have to follow. People just make that assumption. If using my ability would help me in any way, I would do it.

Finally, my boxes and bags were all inside what was going to be my room for this year. Mom sighed and looked at me. “So, I guess I’ll see you for Thanksgiving Break,” she said and handed me an envelope.

I took it from her. “What is this?”

“It’s…well, just in case.”

Oh, of course, money. I’ll never say no to that…the whole broke college student thing comes to mind. “Thanks.”

She nodded. “Well, call if you need anything.”

“I will. Bye Mom.”

No hug, no long drawn out goodbye. She just turned and walked out of the room. I sighed and looked around the smallish space I had been assigned. Well, at least I didn’t have to share the room with anyone.

And the first things to be unpacked, my posters. My walls were soon covered with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Iron Man, Batman, Superman, and, naturally, the Power Rangers. Naturally the picture of Tommy goes right over my bed. He will be the last thing I see when I go to sleep and the first thing when I wake up.

Hmmm….maybe I’ll wait to finish unpacking. It’s not like there’s anything to do all weekend. I needed to get out of the room, for a little while anyway, maybe walk around campus, re-familiarize myself with it.

I nodded. Yep, procrastination. That sounded like exactly what I wanted to do. Procrastinators unite…tomorrow.