Read Not Your Sidekick for Free Online Page A

electronic shenanigans, nothing flying through the air, no chaos whatsoever. It’s been strange, and while the rumors are that Smasher and Shockwave caught them and sent them to Meta-Human Corrections at last, Jess knows better.
    Her parents have no idea where the villains are.
    Even the usual sort of hero-work has declined since Chameleon was introduced, and with the lack of pranks from the Mischiefs, there’s been woefully little for Jess’ parents to do. Her father in particular has been using his extra time at home to focus uncomfortably on Jess’ future.
    At least there were only a few awkward conversations over the weekend. Jess can’t say she’s looked forward to a lot of Mondays, but this is definitely one of them. She hopes, whatever the Mischiefs are up to, that things get back to normal soon.
    School is routine, as always. In her classes, Jess takes notes idly and drifts off into daydreams. She’s fairly forgettable as a student. Freshman year she was known simply as “Claudia’s sister.” Her teachers were all excited at first, exclaiming different versions of “Claudia was so spectacular; I’m so excited to have you in my class!” But Jess fell short of all their glowing expectations.
    Jess hunches down in her usual seat in the back of the classroom. The other kids greet each other as if they haven’t seen each other in ages. Elizabeth Phang sweeps her friend Denise Ho into a hug, and more friends swarm the two girls. The group talks eagerly before the bell rings for third period. Jess snorts; Elizabeth and Denise just saw each other during first period. But it’s not as though when lunchtime comes around Jess won’t be doing the same with her own friends.
    Unfortunately, Emma and Bells aren’t in most of her classes. Now, they’re in AP World History, while Jess is in regular.
    The bell rings, and the class comes to order; Mr. Liu starts by asking questions from the reading last night. Even though she knows the answers, Jess doesn’t bother raising her hand.
    She’s given up trying to stand out. People tend to forget her and remember the Elizabeths and Denises of the world, that combination of confident, smart and pretty that always draws people in.
    Jess is certain she’s none of these things. She could probably pass for cute if she tried hard enough, and smart, well, she works hard for her grades. She’s working on developing confidence, but it’s a constant effort. The only time she’s come close to being “known” was when she accidentally came out as bisexual during sophomore English class while talking about her favorite poem.
    That’s old news now. No one really cares, but it was exciting at the time. Jess had a few overwhelming weeks of curious looks and some intrusive questions from over-curious students until Emma and Bells put an end to it.
    The bell rings, and Jess shuffles off to her next class, only to be accosted by Darryl Flemings, Andover Heights’ most out-and-proud student. He smiles with teeth dazzling white enough to rival an Eversparkle holo. Darryl’s brown hair is slicked back with a copious amount of gel. He waves at her in greeting; his DED display is on, projecting distorted images and messages everywhere, and Jess can read a half-finished AHHS Club Event proposal flickering in the air. She doesn’t say anything, even though it’s incredibly impolite to leave your personal display on when you’re not using it.
    Darryl’s nice enough, but he’s also incredibly intense, especially about the Rainbow Allies club. It’s not a terrible idea for an organization; the twenty-second century isn’t perfect, after all. Jess attended a few meetings freshman year but found, like most of the clubs on campus, it’s more a social organization than a service one. She doesn’t feel too bad about it; a lot of students identify but don’t participate in