CHAPTER NINE

Friends?

It was lunchtime. And even though they were serving tacos (my favorite), I didn’t have much of an appetite. I was wracked with guilt about what had happened at the bank.

I grabbed my tray and found a seat. I was so stuck in my head, I didn’t notice I had company. Not until Chloe plunked her tray down right next to me and said, “Hello? Earth to Peter Powers! You here?”

“Hey,” I said, picking at my taco.

Chloe started devouring her mac and cheese. We sat there eating our lunches in silence for almost a whole minute. Then Chloe piped up. “So, are you not going to talk to me or what?”

“I didn’t think you’d want to talk to me after everything that happened yesterday,” I said, bracing myself for her response. I knew what was coming. She was going to tell me I was a failure as a friend and as a superhero.

Make it quick, I thought.

“What are you talking about?” asked Chloe.

“Aren’t you embarrassed to be my friend?” I asked back.

“Not at all,” said Chloe.

“Peter!” said Sandro, putting his tray down across from me. My friend placed a delicious-looking chocolate dessert in front of me. “I got you the last cupcake! Oh man, it looks so good I almost ate it myself. But I feel like you could use the chocolate cheer up.”

“I don’t deserve this cupcake!” I said, pushing the gooey-looking baked goodness away from me. “I put my two best friends in danger! It was a stupid, dumb, terrible idea.”

Sandro made his lip quiver like he was going to cry. “Be nice to the cupcake, Peter,” pleaded Sandro. “It’s the last of its kind.”

Chloe grabbed the scrumptious little morsel and waved it right in front of my face.

“You do deserve it. Eat the cupcake,” said Chloe. “And relax. So you made a mistake. It’s not the end of the world. You tried. You failed. You learned a lesson. On to the next adventure!”

“But I made you two come along,” I said. “You could have been hurt.”

“You didn’t make us do anything,” Chloe said. “We wanted to go.”

“Yeah, you can’t force me!” Sandro said. He flexed his tiny arm muscles. “No one can force me to do anything. Except my mom.”

“Yeah?” I asked. I took a bite of the cupcake. It was delicious.

“Yeah, we’re good, bro,” Sandro said. “But if you’re grounded, you should probably loan me some of your video games. You can borrow some comics from me in exchange.” He added, “But if you want to feel down, that’s okay too. I get down sometimes myself. Hanging out with you guys always makes me feel better.”

I had expected Sandro and Chloe to be mad at me for getting them involved in such a big mess—but they weren’t. They were comforting me, like they always did.

“Are you sure you two still want to be my friends?”

“Duh,” Sandro said. “I don’t share cupcakes with just anyone.”

“Of course, Peter,” Chloe said. “It’s not like we got grounded.”

“You two are my best friends,” I confessed. “Sometimes I worry that my crummy powers will mess that up.”

“That’s not how friendship works, Peter,” Chloe said. “We’d be your friends whether you have dumb powers, superpowers, or a big, rainbow unicorn horn.”

“You should see if you can grow a rainbow unicorn horn. I bet they grant wishes!” said Sandro, his eyes growing wide thinking about it.

Chloe pointed to the little bit of chocolate deliciousness that was sitting in front of me. “Finish that,” she said. “And let’s come up with a plan to get your brother and sister to stop bothering you—but a plan without supervillains.”

I ate the rest of the cupcake. I already felt better, thanks to my friends.