Wonder Woman had flown all the way from Paradise Island, stopping only to lend a helping hand and for an occasional snack. She flew across serene seas and angry oceans, over mountains and valleys, through the Serengeti Plain, and along the Great Wall of China. But Wonder Woman had yet to encounter anything as epic, amazing, and scary as what she now saw directly below her.
High school.
Choreographed chaos commenced when a loud bell sounded. Instantly, throngs of students who had been milling about outside crashed through the doorway in a rush to get into the school. By the time Wonder Woman landed, only a few stragglers remained.
“Excuse me.” Wonder Woman approached a girl dressed in layers of delicate faux-fur-lined cloth. She admired the ice-blue hair that swept the girl’s shoulders. “Can you tell me where I might find Principal Amanda Waller?”
The girl looked Wonder Woman up and down and smirked at the newcomer’s strange Amazonian warrior gear.
“Travel far?” the girl asked. Her eyes lingered on the small golden tiara with the ruby-red star nestled in Wonder Woman’s messy hair, and she stared at the gleaming cuff bracelets on her wrists.
“Yes! I came all the way from Paradise Island,” she answered. “I’m Wonder Woman!”
“Frost,” the girl declared, clearly unimpressed.
Wonder Woman felt a sudden chill in the air. Frost tossed back her hair and pointed to the massive brick building. “Up the stairs, through the door, to the right, then to the left, and left, then right, then turn around and go back out again.”
Wonder Woman blinked a few times. “Excuse me?”
“Kidding, just kidding,” Frost said, dramatically tossing her hair once more and offering up a brilliant white smile. “Go inside and ask someone who cares.”
“I’ll do that!” Wonder Woman said brightly. “Thank you!”
“I’m Hawkgirl. May I help you?” the hall monitor asked. Her tidy brown hairdo matched her efficient personality. With a tilt of her head, the gray-feathered wings on her back folded close to her body. Wonder Woman admired her metal belt and harness with the head of a hawk carved in its center.
“Yes, please,” Wonder Woman said. “Can you tell me where I can find Principal Amanda Waller?”
“Down the hall, to the left,” Hawkgirl informed her as she holstered her mace. “I’ll take you there. Follow me.” With that, Hawkgirl’s wings opened once again to lift her off the ground and propel her toward the main building in the middle of campus.
“Thank you for caring,” Wonder Woman called as she flew after her, smiling. Everyone was so helpful…and already hard to keep up with.
When she first entered the office, Wonder Woman slammed into a large bookcase. But she soon realized it wasn’t a bookcase at all.
“Excuse you,” Principal Waller said when she turned around. Dressed in a black power suit that complemented her dark skin and accentuated her strong shoulders, The Wall was an imposing figure. When she saw her newest student, the principal tried smiling warmly, once again giving off a look of digestive discomfort rather than welcome, before returning to her stern professional demeanor.
“Wonder Woman, let me be the first to welcome you to Super Hero High,” Principal Waller said.
Wonder Woman didn’t want to tell her that Frost had already been the first.
“Follow me,” Principal Waller said, walking briskly. “We don’t want to be late.”
Principal Waller led Wonder Woman into the grand assembly hall. When Wonder Woman took a seat in the back, most of the kids in the auditorium turned around and stared at her. She was tickled to recognize several faces from the recruitment video. Not knowing what to do, Wonder Woman waved and then tossed her hair, as she had seen Frost do.
“Ahem!”
Principal Waller didn’t need a microphone. As she stood onstage, her booming voice reached all the way to the back corners of the room and spilled outside to the student garden. When she spoke, students sat up and squirrels scattered.
“Today we are here to name our Hero of the Month,” Principal Waller began. “As you know, this prestigious award goes to the teen super hero who has shown helpfulness, selflessness, and acted as a role model for all who attend Super Hero High School.” Several students nodded confidently. Some wore elaborate super hero costumes, while others wore what looked almost like regular clothing. Wonder Woman admired a pale girl with flowing auburn hair and a vine of ivy woven through an elaborate side braid. The girl smiled shyly back, then motioned that Wonder Woman should be watching the stage.
“This month’s Hero of the Month is…Bumblebee!”
A graceful teen with bronze skin and golden wings flew toward the stage as the audience broke out in cheers. Bumblebee’s rich honey-colored boots matched the streaks in her curly brown hair, and her black leggings were accentuated with fancy patterned knee socks. Wonder Woman found herself applauding, too.
A video began to play. It showed Bumblebee shrinking to the size of an insect and projecting sonic blasts that mowed down a band of criminals intent on robbing Super Tunes music store, tutoring students in how to dodge bullets, and working in Principal Waller’s office. The video ended with a teacher, Liberty Belle, saying, “Bumblebee’s enthusiasm for learning is genuine. I only wish we had a whole hive of Bumblebees here!”
Wonder Woman saw the star logo at the close of the video and wrote on her to-do list Become Hero of the Month. Who wouldn’t want that? She looked at the students sitting near her. The girl to her right was covered in silky fur with sleek spots. She stretched out slowly, as if bored. Wonder Woman smiled but was ignored. Thinking that perhaps she hadn’t seen her, Wonder Woman poked the girl and said, “Hi, I’m Wonder Woman.”
The girl glared at her and growled, “I’m Cheetah, and don’t ever do that again.”
“Okay!” Wonder Woman said, glancing over at the girl on her left. She recognized her from when she’d first landed.
Frost let a small smile slip out before she blew a freezing-cold blast of air at the green boy in front of her. As he sat frozen, Frost said, “Oops! Sorry. My bad,” and laughed.
“Stop that!” someone ordered. An Asian girl leapt to her feet, chopping some of the icicles from the boy’s clothes with her sword. Her jet-black hair was cut at a sharp angle, as if it had been sliced with a sword, too.
“Leave me alone, Katana,” Frost said.
“You leave Beast Boy alone,” Katana said, brandishing her gleaming silver sword. Wonder Woman could see her reflection in the blade.
Frost created a shield made of ice and held it up.
The two girls faced off in the aisle, glaring at each other as Beast Boy shape-shifted into the form of a penguin and said, “I’m all right, K-k-k-katana. I can handle the c-c-c-cold.”
“Ahem!” Principal Waller called again.
“Great, now The Wall will be on our case,” Frost whispered to Katana. “This is your fault.”
“Students!” the principal bellowed. “You know the rules. No superpowers and no weapons during assembly. After-school detention for all of you!”
The teachers looked bored as they walked up and down the aisle, collecting wayward weapons in large metal bins. Amid the clanging sounds of swords and arrows and ammo being surrendered, Frost and Katana stewed and Beast Boy returned to his natural green form.
“Your belongings will be returned when you submit an essay on why it is a bad idea to bring your weapons or use your powers during assembly,” Principal Waller said wearily before perking up.
“And now for some exciting news! The one hundredth Super hero Super Triathlon is taking place this year. I believe this is Super Hero High’s year to shine. I won’t go into details yet, but I will introduce the newest member of our student body. Wonder Woman, please join me.”
Surprised and thrilled, Wonder Woman leapt into action, heading to the stage while waving and tossing her hair.
“Our newest student is a one-of-a-kind catch!” Principal Waller continued.
Catch? Wonder Woman thought. Was she supposed to catch something? She looked up in the air just as a student stuck her leg out.
“Who will catch you if you fall?” Cheetah asked with feigned innocence.
Wonder Woman stumbled, rolled into the fall, and jumped back up in one fluid motion. Students applauded. Cheetah scowled. Wonder Woman took a bow.
“Not the result you were expecting, is it?” someone sitting nearby said to Cheetah.
“Listen, Star Sapphire,” Cheetah said. “If that girl thinks she’s going to rule the school, she’s wrong.”
“You’re right, of course,” Star Sapphire said, toying with her shimmering sapphire ring.
Both looked at Wonder Woman, who had paused on her way to the stage. Cheetah was still scowling, but Wonder Woman only saw kindness on the other girl’s face.
Soon enough, Wonder Woman was standing on the stage next to Principal Waller.
“We are all aware of your achievements, Wonder Woman,” Waller was saying. “Most recently, rescuing those second graders. But what we are really looking forward to is what you can bring to Super Hero High to help inspire us. Would you care to say a few words?”
Wonder Woman looked out over the sea of super hero students. “It is I who came here to learn from all of you,” she said earnestly. “There is so much good we can do in this world, and teaching each other is the first step.”
Waller led the applause as Wonder Woman waved. Then the principal called Bumblebee back up to the stage. “Your first assignment as the current Hero of the Month is to show our new student around the school,” she told her.
“Gladly!” Bumblebee said, offering Wonder Woman a warm, welcoming smile.
As the students jammed the hallways after the assembly, Bumblebee tried to weave in and out of the crowd, but her wings kept getting in her way. “You don’t mind if I shrink, do you?” she asked.
Wonder Woman wasn’t sure what that meant, but, not wanting to be rude, she said, “No. Please, go right ahead.”
She watched as Bumblebee went from the size of a teenage girl to the size of—well, a bumblebee. As the Hero of the Month skillfully flew around the students who were ahead of her in the Flyers Only lane of the hallway, Wonder Woman found it difficult to keep up. Speed was not an issue, but flying while taking notes and pictures proved to be dangerous. “Sorry,” she said when she veered out of the lane and knocked students down. “Oops! Sorry!”
“That’s the library,” Bumblebee said, pointing left. “That’s the dining hall,” she said, pointing right. “And those are some of the fifty-six emergency exits,” she said, pointing in all directions.
A swirl of gold and white skated past Wonder Woman. “Coming through!” the girl said brightly. Wonder Woman brushed some snowflakes off her dress and marveled as a sheet of ice appeared in front of the girl each time one of her skates touched the ground.
Wonder Woman caught up to Bumblebee, who was saying, “That’s Golden Glider—” Wonder Woman wasn’t listening, however. She had snapped into high alert.
A boy was heading straight toward her with his hand out. Was this an attack? In a lightning-fast offensive move, Wonder Woman rushed at him, grabbed his arm, whirled him around twice, and then tossed him down the hall, where he fell and skidded to an unattractive stop against the lockers.
Bumblebee circled, grew back to full size, and asked, “Um, why did you do that?”
Wonder Woman was still in her fighting pose, prepared for any other unknown enemies who might try to attack. “Just protecting myself, and you,” she said, reaching for her Lasso of Truth before remembering that all weapons had been confiscated.
Bumblebee made herself small again and buzzed in Wonder Woman’s ear, “He wasn’t trying to hurt you. He was just going to shake your hand. Hal Jordan can be self-centered sometimes, but he’s a Green Lantern and good guy.”
This was confusing to Wonder Woman. He didn’t look self-centered at all. If anything, he looked like he was only in the center of the floor. “Why would he try to shake my hand?” she asked. “There’s nothing wrong with it.”
“It’s what polite people do when they greet each other,” Bumblebee explained.
Wonder Woman felt silly. In a flash she was leaning over Green Lantern while he tried to sit up. There was going to be a big bump from where his head had hit the locker. Boys are so strange, Wonder Woman thought as she stared at him. She had never seen one up close like this before. His short, thick brown hair and dimpled jaw were accentuated with an attention-grabbing mega-zit. Do all boys have pimples?
Hal saw Wonder Woman staring, and he started to cover the zit when she suddenly grabbed his right hand.
“So sorry for that,” she said. “I’m Wonder Woman. Nice to meet you.”
Super Hero High’s newest student shook Green Lantern’s hand vigorously.
“Ow, ow, ow!” he cried, taking his hand back and examining it for bruises.
Wonder Woman looked at him expectantly. What was he trying to tell her? Did boys speak in code? Ow, ow, ow?
Embarrassed, Green Lantern said, “Ow…um, ’ow are you?”
Wonder Woman smiled. She liked the way he talked. “I’m just fine!” she said. “ ’Ow are you?”