Mama Bear looked down into the mug of coffee. "The scientific taxonomy of Advanced Humans is dry. You're a Baseline Advanced Human, I'm a Polymorphic Advanced Human. Poppy is a Zoological Advanced Human. It's all a mouthful and not very fun," Mama Bear said.

"I prefer Monstrous Advanced Human or the traditional Beast Folk. Cuz I'm a beast," Crested said.

"Of course you are sweety," Mama Bear said.

"I'm not a Child of the Titans?" Flat said.

"Baselines are the Children of Heroes," Mama Bear said.

Crested walked off to Gyaru's room. She came back with a book. "Gyaru won't mind if you read this," Crested said.

“Baselines: The Children of Heroes and Tricksters, by Doctor Robert Ford,” Flat said reading the title. “Who are the Children of Tricksters?"

"Speedsters," Crested said. Mama Bear paged through the book.

"You and Jenny are both Baselines. She has speed. You have strength. But Jenny is twice as strong as a male, and you clock about twice as fast. Both of you are Baselines," Mama Bear said.

"I can't have kids. She's a third-generation speedster. How? Her mother’s a Baseline?" Flat said.

"Speedsters don't have the same problems," Mama Bear said.

"I don't see them having any problems," Flat said.

"Hunter's broken," Crested said.

"Don't say that in front of Go-Go," Mama Bear said.

"Broken? What's wrong with Hunter?" Flat said.

"She can't zip," Crested said.

"She's a Speedster? I didn't know she had powers," Flat said.

"She’s up here, she has powers that never fully manifested. Imagine if you had strength but no invulnerability," Mama Bear said.

"I don't get it," Flat said.

"You'd rip your arms off your shoulders picking something up," Crested said.

"That would suck," Flat said.

"Unbalanced is what Doctor Ford calls it," Mama Bear said.

“Hunter can't zip?" Flat said. Mama Bear took a long sip of coffee.

"She has the nervous system of a speedster but its always on. Things look different to her," Mama Bear said.

"She lives in a slow motion world. A lot of girls never become Heroes. They don't have the right skill sets," Crested said.

"Where do Florida and Maple fit in?" Flat said.

"Their Special Advanced Humans. More support than combat so their not Mean Girls," Mama Bear said.

"They prefer, Sibyl," Crested said.

"Specials are a big category. The energy manipulators and Sibyls are a small part," Mama Bear said.

"And don't call them witches," Crested said.

"Witches?" Flat said.

Mama Bear swirled the last of the coffee. "People can understand being strong. It's useful. Talk to the trees, and they start looking for pitch-forks and torches," Mama Bear said.

"It wasn't long ago my mother would have been shunned for having a beast child," Crested said.

"You can't be serious," Flat said.

"She is. We don't get invited to the nice parties," Mama Bear said.

August 28th, 2020.

Mecklenburg Girl's Academy's pace increased as students arrived to fill the school. Facilities replaced the mattress before the chaos.

"And this is Room Six, where we store the Mean Girls," Puddles said, playing tour guide. Several new girls from the upper floors followed her.

Gyaru and Flat were reading on the couch. Crested lay on the floor with headphones to watch the television. Colby walked in behind Puddles.

"This is Gyaru, Crested and Flat. And this is Amanda, Jody and Colby," Puddles said.

"Colby?" Flat said, closing the book.

Colby stepped around Puddles in the school uniform. Flat couldn't remember Colby wearing a skirt; it showed off her thick legs. Her dark brown hair pulled back into a bun and jabbed with a pencil. The school blazer gave Colby a professional appearance.

"Hey, Flick," Colby said.

"Bark. It's Flat," Crested said.

Flat pointed to Gyaru. Gyaru flipped Flat off and went back to her book.

Go-Go zipped in and bumped the couch, "I'm Go-Go." She zipped out.

"She moves around a lot," Puddles said. 

Flat hugged Colby. "Why are you here?" Flat said.

"I said I'd be there for you. So I applied," Colby said.

"What? How? What Superpowers do you have?" Flat said.

"None. I'm your sidekick," Colby said.

Go-Go zipped back, arms out to separate Colby and Flat. "Honey, time out. Sidekick? Flat gets a sidekick?" Go-Go said.

"I don't have a license," Flat said.

Gyaru got out of her seat. "You haven't done anything."

"I filled out the paperwork, my grades qualified and I passed the interview," Colby said.

"Bark."

"What are you going to do as my Sidekick?" Flat said.

"The Intel and Comms internship, it's paid for by North Carolina," Colby said.

"That's why she's up here with us. Colby will even go out on patrols," Puddles said.

"Intel and Comms? The State is sending you to a private Hero boarding school for you to surf the internet?" Flat said.

"Yes. The sidekicks are also operations specialists, they do the office work," Colby said.

Gyaru turned back around. She leaned over the arm of the couch.

"We never get assigned Ops people at this level. How many Heroes can you support?" Gyaru said.

"Eight," Colby said.

Go-Go zipped back. "Honey, you'll write all the reports?"

"Yep," Colby said.

Go-Go smiled.

"I'm still making the coffee. The rest of you suck at it," Flat said.

"Bark?"

Tuesday, September 1st, 2020.

On the first day of school, the students gathered in the gym. The teachers lined the stage as Principle Coy gave the commencement address.

"Welcome to the 2020 school year. Welcome to Mecklenburg Girl’s Academy, also known as South. I am Principle Mark Coy. This school is part of the Piedmont Atlantic Hero Association's education program. And part of the North American Hero Association's Junior Hero Program.

Regardless of advanced humans or not, Heroes sacrifice for the community. No one else will understand this sacrifice. You will have injuries. You will face toil and boredom. By random chance, the weakest among you will face insurmountable odds. The strongest may never get called. I pray none of you will have to pay with your lives. But the world is what it is.

Many of you will never develop powers. You've seen your parent sacrifice, and now follow as you can. A few of you may become titans that walk the earth. Tread carefully. Vanity and hubris will burn you. And all will be called to sacrifice. No one is here alone. Anyone that threatens our city will find a nest of hornets. We are South." Coy said.

"We Are SOUTH!" came up from the room.

The school year began with the educational grind but different from what Flat had known for the last ten years. The coursework was accredited to receive high school and college credit. On graduation, Flat could have an associate's degree in general studies. And delighted to find out about the lack of homework. Where they could, classes were lectures with reading assignments. They had tests every Friday done all at once in homeroom.

The school streamed classes for later use by the students. If anyone in the high school did have grades slip, Maple would take the time to chat about study habits. And a referral to the infirmary. The school nurse would issue the NoNap drug with weekly monitoring. Unlike Maple and Florida, students used NoNap to get through a rough day.

Once out of Homeroom, Flat could get away from the Mean Girls. The first class had Ms. Kline, the lead math teacher. A tall hawkish woman, she looked down her nose through a pair of red-framed glasses. Kline sent Flat to test for math placement.

Flat and six girls, all first years, sat in a side room for the test. The younger girls fidgeted in their chairs until the test started. No one wanted to make eye contact with the Mean Girl.

Flat focused on the test as it worked up to calculus; she did not want to repeat trigonometry. Finally, with the test finished, Flat logged out of the terminal and stretched. The other girls around her finished and waited for the period to end.

"Are you from the third floor?" A girl said.

"Yeah, I'm Felicity," Flat said.

"I'm Alana; this is Kelly. We're both on the sixth floor," Alana said.

Kelly sat behind Alana and kept a distance from Flat. The girl slumped over the desk and hid her face with her hair.

"Are you a Mean Girl?" Alana said.

"I started last month. I'm not mean," Flat said.

"Are you friends with the werewolf?" Kelly said from under her hair.

"I'm in her dorm," Flat said.

"Does she eat first years?" Kelly said.

"Not that I've seen," Flat said.

"She's mean to us during the morning runs," Alana said.

"I'm not having a good time with it either. Who told you Gyaru eats people?" Flat said.

"The dog girl," Kelly said.

"Oh," Flat said.

Ms. Kline returned to place three girls in trigonometry. Next, Alana and Kelly tested for advanced algebra. Kline waved to Flat to stay as Kelly and Alana walked off to their classes.

"Miss Fisher, you can go on to Calculus, but there is an accounting track," Kline said.

"Accounting?" Flat said.

"You marked it as an interest in your file. You can receive college credits over the next two years. It's possible for you to graduate with an associate's degree in general studies. And get started on a minor in Accounting," Kline said.

"This is high school?" Flat said.

"We don't waste time at South," Kline said.

"I guess not," Flat said.

"Heroes pay taxes as do some villains, and it can get complicated. They prefer their own. As a backup plan, consider it," Kline said.

"I will," Flat said.

"Also, I'm the resident music teacher; are you trying out for the band?" Kline said.

"Definitely. I'm a percussionist," Flat said.

"Good. I can make use of you. The two girls you were talking to, Alana Cope and Kelly Winston, are also joining. Help them out as an upperclassman," Kline said.

"I will," Flat said.

Two days later, Flat walked into the first band meeting early. She understood her responsibility as an upperclassman and a Mean Girl. Flat saw Alana and Kelly taking a chair behind them.

"Hey," Flat said.

"Miss Flat," Alana said.

"Call me Felicity, I'm here to be me for a while," Flat said.

"We're supposed to use the Mean Girl’s code names," Kelly said.

"I'm undercover. I go by Felicity," Flat said.

"Sure, Felicity," Alana said.

Ms. Kline stood at the conductor's podium. She tapped the conductor's wand to get everyone's attention.

"We have twenty girls this year. Everyone’s exhausted from the physical conditioning. So the marching band will do a static field performance," Kline said.

Flat slumped back in her chair.

Flat had hoped something here would be magic and gumdrops.

"The grand piano will be out of storage to its usual place in the Grand Atrium. And I've reserved the Grand Atrium for us all year from five until quiet hours for jam sessions.”

"The marching band will be lackluster. It happens every year, but we have to get ready. South is hosting the Prom this year. We are going to build a swing band that will knock them dead," Kline said. Flat smiled.

Kline started to organize the brass section, which had the most girls and sounded the best. Flat sat off to the side with Alana and Kelly.

"What are you using?" Alana said.

"A Glock," Flat said, holding up the music case.

"They let you have a gun?" Kelly said.

“A Glockenspiel, a steel Xylophone. What are you going to play?" Flat said.

"Snare drum, I had one in middle school back home. I don't know what to do for the swing band," Alana said.

"We can have dueling conga drums," Flat said.

"That would be fun. Kelly, have you picked something?" Alana said.

"No. I'm new to the band. I don't know what to play," Kelly said.

"Cymbals," Kline said.

"Yes. Then we can move her, to the Tambourine or Triangle," Flat said.

"Cymbals?" Kelly said.

"How long were you in Choir," Kline said.

"Six years," Kelly said.

Cymbals will be easy for you to learn, But I have other plans for you, Miss Winston," Kline said.