CHAPTER 5

Helen Parr had been hoping to pile the kids into her station wagon and get home in time to make dinner. Instead, she was heading to the principal's office. Dash, the Parrs' older son, was in trouble again.

Dash had been born with the Super power of lightning-fast speed. But of course, since Supers weren't supposed to be Super, he was never allowed to use it, and the Parr family had to keep it a secret.

"What's this about? Has Dash done something wrong?" Helen asked the school principal when she got to the office, where Dash was waiting.

"He put thumbtacks on my stool!" Dash's fourth-grade teacher, Bernie Kropp, told Helen. "And this time I've got him!" Mr. Kropp continued triumphantly. "I hid a camera!"

He dropped a disc into a player. Helen and Dash held their breath and stared at the TV screen. There was Mr. Kropp, about to sit in his chair. He sat ... and screamed. No sign of Dash at all. " See? " Mr. Kropp shouted, replaying it.

The school principal looked at Mr. Kropp. The teacher sounded completely nuts. Helen breathed a sigh of relief.

"Bernie ...," the principal said.

"Don't 'Bernie' me!" Mr. Kropp protested. "This little rat is guilty!"

The principal turned to Helen. "You and your son can go now, Mrs. Parr. I'm sorry for the trouble."

As Helen hurried Dash out the door, she could hear Bernie Kropp yelling, "You're letting him go again? He's guilty! You can see it on his smug little face! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!"

"Dash!" Helen exclaimed when she got him into the car. "This is the third time this year you've been sent to the office! We need to find a better outlet."

Dash slumped in his seat. "Maybe I could, if you'd let me go out for sports," he muttered glumly.

"Honey," Helen answered. "You know why we can't do that."

"But I promise I'll slow up!" Dash offered. "I'll only be the best by a tiny bit."

But Helen knew the world didn't want them to be their best, not even by a little bit.

She shook her head. "Right now, honey, the world just wants us to fit in."

"But Dad always says our powers are nothing to be ashamed of. Our powers made us special."

"Everyone's special," Helen sighed wearily.

"Which is another way of saying no one is," Dash said, sulking.

Helen drove the station wagon to the junior high to pick up Dash's older sister, Violet. Helen looked around. Violet was nowhere to be seen — but then, that was one of her talents. Violet had the power to turn invisible. This came in handy when she felt shy around boys, especially Tony Rydinger.

Violet also had the power of generating force fields, but that was only good for fights with Dash. He hated it when she used her force fields.

Violet was invisible now, as she peeked over the top of a bush and watched Tony Rydinger come down the school steps. He stopped for a second and then looked over his shoulder. Seeing nothing, he walked away. Violet shyly rematerialized and blushed. Then she scampered into her mother's car.