4
Cindy’s Big Plan
“We are not going to kill Dogboy,” Cindy screamed across the desk in the A-V room at Woodrow Wilcox Junior High.
It was summer, which meant there weren’t many people around. Mr. Lee (her media teacher) and Principal Kane (her principal, of course) trusted her enough that she came in any time she wanted.
She was yelling at a guy named Axle and his friends through the window. His friends, Nuncio and Jennifer, poked around the camera equipment scattered around.
“I’m not saying we kill him,” Axle said. “We just put him down for a bit. You saw his moves. Kid is crazy. He ain’t gonna let us do what we gotta do, and we gotta do it.”
“You’re right,” Cindy said. “He’s not going to be okay with it. If we work it right I think I can get him to help us even. His powers would work with ours pretty well. He’s not the bad guy. We don’t need to fight him. He’s a nice kid, and he went through a lot. We don’t need to give him another war to fight.”
Axle twirled his index fingers around each other, a bolt of electricity suspended between them. He looked over at Nuncio, who inspected one of the ancient TV cameras they used for the student news program.
“What do you think, brother? Think she can handle the dog?”
“Let me talk to him. He don’t even have to know. I’ll trick him into helping us,” Nuncio said. “Think about it. We could be flying around all like ‘WOO WOAH WOW.'”
He held out his arms, zooming around the room, until he bumped into the lens on one of the big studio cameras in front of the desk.
“This thing even work?” he asked.
“Don’t mess around with that,” Cindy said.
“Too late,” Nuncio replied. He grabbed the camera lens. The whole camera convulsed, morphing into a weird metallic jelly that bubbled like soup on the stove but somehow didn’t drip on floor.
The blob hardened, transformed into a high-end digital film camera with the lens cap still on.
“Nuncio!” Cindy yelled as she ran over to inspect what he’d done. “How am I supposed to explain this to Principal Kane? This is an $8,000 camera easy. It’s—” She flipped a couple of the switches. “It’s really, really nice.”
“Aw, give him a break. You don’t ever have a little fun with your power?” Jennifer asked. She held a small handheld mirror in front of her face, sculpting her short blond hair that she’d stuck straight up with some hair glue.
“There’s nothing fun about this, Jenn,” Cindy said. “I can’t go around zapping everybody’s memories. What if it causes brain damage or something?”
“She’s got a point, prima,” Nuncio said. He grabbed the camera, shifting it back to its original shape.
“There. Good as new,” he said.
Cindy bit her bottom lip, her teeth popping out below her crunched up nose like an angry rabbit’s. She fancied the new camera, but it was probably for the best.
“Enough goofing,” she said. “Let’s see what we can use. For example, I kept this key card when I escaped.”
She pulled out a card with a picture of Chester (the mayor’s personal assistant) out of her pocket and slapped it on the desk in front of them.
“What about you guys?” she asked.
Nuncio placed a cell phone on the desk.
“It was a walkie talkie when I took it, though,” he said.
“So we can, like, get in, right?” Jennifer asked, grabbing her bag off the floor. She opened it and pulled out a small laptop.
“If you get me in I’ll use this thing my brother gave me to control their computers from wherever. We can, like, find out when to strike or whatever.”
She stuck a thumb drive into the computer and tapped a few keys. After a few seconds the computer beeped and she pulled the drive.
“There,” she said, “all I need to do is install this on his computer then run this registry file so it loads up every time they start the computer.”
“Whoa there. Hold up,” Nuncio said. “I know it’s been a minute but you think they’re gonna let us up and walk in there after we all broke out?”
“Good point,” Cindy said. “I’m out for sure. They came here. Talked to me right in this room actually.”
“And you were going to tell us this when?” Axle asked.
“Calm down. I took care of it. As far as they know I’m going to play nice and stay quiet. Nuncio is right, though. If they recognize us we’re done for. Wait. Jenn, try this on for me.”
Cindy vanished behind the racks of equipment, emerging a few seconds later with a long blond wig. “I know it’s your color, but the length should change the shape of your face enough to throw them off,” she said.
She handed the wig to Jennifer, who slipped it on.
“Opinions, please?” she asked.
The others looked at her then looked at each other and nodded.
“You look amazing,” Cindy said. “Disguises are a good idea actually. Maybe we should all think about hiding our identities. Works for Dogboy most of the time. We could even—”
The door opened. A tall boy with red hair walked in.
“Bugs, get out of here,” Cindy said.
“I will,” Bugs said, “as soon as you tell me why you have a bunch of weirdos in here. It’s summer break. No kids allowed. Wonder what Principal Kane would think about your little party room.”
“You think I’m scared of you?” Cindy asked. “I’m allowed to be here. For real. What about you, Bugs the Scrub?”
“I… uh… um…” Bugs stammered. His cheeks went flush, hot air blowing out through his nose.
Cindy opened a folding chair, placing it on the floor next to Bugs.
“Don’t worry, buddy,” she said. “We aren’t going to rat you out. You’d have to be a real jerk… a real awful person… to do that. No, I think we can figure this all out.”
Axle walked up behind Cindy and shot a bolt of electricity back and forth, right hand to left hand. A little dramatic for Cindy’s liking but hopefully a powerful enough image to change Bugs’ mind.
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