Hi there! My name is Ava. I'm a typical teenage girl with short, dark brown hair that skims against my shoulders and piercing emerald-green eyes that sparkle in the sunlight. I'm one of the most popular girls in my school, which isn't hard to see why. I have a lively personality with a keen sense of humor, which people seem to love. But there is something unique about me that nobody knows- I am Sitara, a superhero. It all started when I discovered my strength and ability to fly when I was little, playing with my little brother in the park. Since then, I have been fighting crime and protecting my city, Northshore, from villains. Anyway today is my first day of Senior year…

“Ava, stop daydreaming! Your going to be late for school,” my mom yells from the bottom of the stairs as her voice echoes throughout the hallway.  

 “Coming! " I yell as I grab my light gray sweatshirt and run down the stairs. I can smell the aroma of bacon sizzling in the pan in the air, making my stomach rumble.

As I enter the kitchen, I see my mom flipping pancakes on the stove with my younger brother sitting on a tall, tan stool at the island. He's absorbed in a comic book with a blue and red cover and munching on a bowl of assorted rainbow Fruit Loops. In the living room, my dads sitting on the couch, eyes fixed on the TV screen watching the morning news. 

The news reporter on the TV announces excitedly, "She has done it again! The city owes a debt of gratitude to Sitara for saving the day once more. However, this time, a new villain named Jabez has emerged. Late last night, he attempted to rob the bank, but Sitara arrived just in time to scare him away. This is Sarah Burkey reporting,have a fantastic rest of your day."

"Honey, your breakfast is ready," my mom says as she puts a plate on the table for my dad and hands me a delicious plate of fluffy golden pancakes with sticky brown syrup. On the side there's yellow scrambled eggs with crispy bacon.

My dad turns off the TV and joins us at the table.

 "Good Job last night, Ava bun. You almost caught him," he says while pouring himself a cup of coffee. 

“I was so close to catching him,” I say with a hint of disappointment.

  "But I'll get him next time. You'll see!" I say as I quickly finish my pancakes and gulp down a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.

The sound of a car horn blares outside. I glance out the window, seeing Halle in her flashy red convertible beckoning me to hurry up.

. 

“It's Halle,” I say, grabbing my backpack, rushing out the door. 

Outside, Halle is standing up in her seat. Her blue eyes sparkle in the light with her blonde, thin hair whipping in the wind as she excitedly waves me over. 

“Hurry! We can't be late for the first day of senior year,” she exclaims, her excitement contagious.

I nod in agreement and hop into the car, and sit down on the black leather seats that are cool to the touch. 

“We better get going. Senior year isn't going to wait for us.” I say as I buckle up. 

As she turns the key the engine roars to life, and the radio blares "Party In The U.S.A" by Miley Cyrus. She turns it up, allowing us to sing our hearts out, setting the mode for the day. As we enter the school parking lot, freshmen are scurrying around, trying to get inside as if there's a rush. In the front of the school, a group of muscular football boys are throwing a football back and forth.

“Hey, Halle and Ava! Over here," our friend Zoe calls out, waving us over to her and Sarah.

Halle and I quickly grab our bags and make our way over to them. Zoe is short, with curly brown hair tied back into a high ponytail, and bounces as she greets us with a big smile. Sarah is standing next to Zoe, with her adorable freckles and straight red hair that shines off the sun.

We walk into the school, talking and catching up about our summer. The first bell rings, warning us 5 minutes till class starts. Sarah and I leave Halle and Zoe and we head to chemistry.

As we are walking in the halls with blue lockers on the wall. I say to Sarah,

"I was thinking it would be fun to host a back-to-school party at my house."

"Yes! That would be so much fun, especially since you have a pool. I could help you after school send flyers out. " Sarah excitedly says. 

As we enter the classroom, I notice the room is packed with students, leaving us no choice but to sit across from each other. There are tons of colored posters and a couple of periodic tables on the walls. The desks are neatly arranged in rows, with the teacher's desk positioned in the front of the classroom. 

After school, Sarah gives me a ride over to my house. As we enter the house Sarah's stomach grumbles.

 "I'm so hungry. The lunch at school really sucked today." she says.

"Yeah, same here. It was so disgusting," I replied. "Let's see if my mom made anything or has some snacks." 

We walk into the kitchen and are greeted by the sweet smell of vanilla from a candle that's lit on the counter. My mom is sitting at the counter, typing something on her computer and sipping a cup of coffee.

"Hey honey, how was your first day?" my mom asks, looking up at us.

"It was good. I've got a lot of easy classes, and I have friends in every class.” I say and then ask, ”Do we have any snacks?” 

"Yeah, I just made some cookies, and there's some fruit and cheese in the fridge," my mom says as she hands us a plate of cookies.

Sarah and I grab some cookies and cheese and then head to my mom's office.

  “I already have a flyer made from last night, so all we have to do is make copies. I start the printer, and we wait a while for them to print.” I say to sarah.

“Okay sounds good.” she replies.

After about 30 minutes, they were finally all done printing. 

"I think this should be enough," I say, grabbing the stack of flyers.

"That's way more than enough. You printed 200 copies!" Sarah exclaims.

"Ok, yeah  it's definitely more than plenty," I say, laughing a little bit.

 "We should go hand some out now and do the rest tomorrow at school." Sarah says, and grabs half of the stack.

We head out and one the way we stop by Zoes and Halle's houses, and they join us. As we are walking to the next house, a boy with curly blonde hair, wearing a gray hoodie and black shorts. He looks about our age and is walking his dog towards us. He is so absorbed in his phone that he doesn't notice us and walks straight into us, causing Halle to drop her flyers.

"Hey, watch where you're going," Halle yells at him.

"Sorry, my bad, I didn't see you. I was walking my dog and got lost.” he says apologizing.“I just moved here, and I'm trying to find my way back to my house," he says.

"You're good. Sorry about my friend, we're just trying to hurry before it gets dark." I said as I reached down to help Zoe and Sarah pick the flyers up. "Hey, where do you live?

"I live by the gas station," he replies.

"Oh, that's right around the block. We're headed that way. We could take you there." I offer kindly.

He joins us and we start walking that way.

"Where did you move from?" Sarah asks him.

“My family just moved here from California,” he says. 

"Oh, by the way, I'm Ava, and this is Sarah, Halle, and Zoe. We're all seniors at Northshore High." I told him.

"Cool, nice to meet you. I'm Chase, and this is my dog Ruffus,” he replies.

‘’If you aren't doing anything this friday you should definitely stop by Ava's house. She’s hosting a back to school party and it's going to be so fun,” Sarah says, handing him a flier.

We return home and go to bed. Today excitement fills the air as today is finally Friday, and the night of the party is here. I can hardly wait! While I'm at school, my parents are busy setting up and decorating the house. Despite my eagerness, I make sure I hand the rest of the flyers to Halle and Sarah so they could finish handing them out. 

As I walk into class, I notice Chase sitting in the corner of the classroom  reading a book. 

"Is this seat taken?" I ask him, pointing to the empty seat next to him.

"No, no one is sitting there," he says, and with that, I take off my bag and sit down. 

"Wait, your Sarah, right?" he asks, looking at me quizzically.

"No, I'm Ava. Sarah is my best friend," I respond, trying to hide my surprise.

"Oh, that's right. And then you also have a friend I ran into, and she got all mad. Then your other friend is quiet," he recalls.

"Yeah, the one you ran into was Halle. She can be a bit temperamental at times. And Zoe, who seems quiet at first, can actually be quite talkative once you get to know her," I explain, hoping to clear up any confusion. I'm surprised he knows all this stuff from just one day. 

The door opens, and our teacher walks in.

"Good morning, class. Today, we're going to learn about the Cold War," he announces, and the room falls silent as we listen attentively.

As soon as the bell rings, I quickly gather my things and get ready to leave.

"What class do you have next?" Chase asks as he puts on his backpack.

''I have a study hall with Mr.Carson. Why? What class do you have?" I reply, starting to blush a little. I can tell he's trying to flirt with me. 

"I was going to offer to walk you to class, but sadly, I can't because I have band practice, and it's all the way across the school," he responds, a little disappointed. 

I smile, starting to turn red. "Well, goodbye," I say, and walk to my next class.

After a long day at school, I rush home to change into something more comfortable and appropriate for the party. My mom finishes setting up trays of snacks on the counter. There’s tons of different types of chips, cookies, pop, and other delicious goodies. Outside, my dad's hanging colorful string lights over the pool. Just as everything is about set, the doorbell rings, and I find Zoe, Halle, and Sarah standing on the porch. They are all dressed up and look great. 

"Hey, are you ready for tonight," Halle asks, her eyes gleaming. 

"Heck yeah, I can't wait for the party to start," I reply,  starting to feel butterflies in my stomach, thinking about how I might see Chase again.

As it gets closer to the party, more and more people arrive, and the party begins to get livelier. The music is playing in the background, and people are chatting and dancing, enjoying themselves. Some people even jumped into the pool to cool off from the heat. 

Despite all the fun, I can't help but keep an eye out for Chase. I wonder if he'll even show up. 

Suddenly, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around to see Chase standing behind me. My heart skips a beat, 

"Hey, are you looking for someone?" he asks, his eyes locked on mine.

"No, I was just looking around," I say, feeling my cheeks flush.

"Hey, do you want to go grab a drink with me? I'm getting kind of thirsty," he says, his smile contagious. 

"Sure, " I reply, leading the way to the drinks table.

As the night passed, it kept getting better and better. I hung out with Chase, having a great time. I even introduced him to several people, including my best friends Sarah, Halle, and Zoe. After everyone else left, Sarah and Chase stuck around to help with the clean-up. 

As we were finishing up, Chase suddenly turned to me and asks, "I know this might sound random, but would you like to go out to dinner with me sometime?“

"Sure, that sounds like fun. How about Monday night?" I reply.

Chase seemed relieved and said, "That would work perfectly for me. Thanks again for the party, it was so much fun." He then gave me a warm hug and walked out of the door. 

Finally, after a long weekend, today has finally arrived. I have a date with Chase. I'm so excited. I put on a pair of nice jeans, a cute green blouse, and my white Converse shoes because they are comfy and stylish. I head downstairs and go to the kitchen to grab my keys.

"Hey, you look really nice. Where are you going?" my mom asks.

"I have a date with a super cute boy who just moved here with his family," I reply.

Suddenly, my superhero watch starts buzzing. This watch is not just any ordinary watch. It alerts me whenever there's crime happening in the city, meaning I need to take action.

"That's not good. I'm sorry honey, but you're going to miss your date. You have to hurry and go save the city," my mom says, concerned.

"I really hate this new villain. He is so going down. I finally had a chance with a cute boy, but now I might ruin it." I say, irritated. 

I grab my phone and quickly text Chase, apologizing that I have to cancel because something urgent just came up. I’m disappointed that I can't go, but my duty as a superhero comes first.

I head back upstairs and put on my shiny pink superhero uniform, and open my window, rushing to the scene. The crime is on 16th Street at the Museum filled with ancient artifacts and jewelry. I get there just in time to see the same villain from last time wearing a bright green outfit with a black mask. He is on the roof, and when he sees me he grabs his stuff and runs trying to escape.

"You're not getting away this time. I was supposed to be on a date with a cute boy, but you ruined it, just like how villains always ruin everything," I yell.

"That's where you are wrong. I’m not alone this time, I have backup. We were sent here to finish you off and kill you," He says.

I run at him, knocking him down. I quickly tie my rope around him tight just in time and grab the jewelry from him. I fly down, handing the jewelry over to the cops, and return back up to the roof. On the roof, he got out of the rope and there is another villain standing next to him, wearing a dark blue suit. I run at them and knock the green-suit villain out. The other one charges at me, but I quickly trip him and tie him down. I fly back down and hand the green-suit villain over to the cops, and return back up to the other villain.

"There's nowhere for you to go. I would just give up. The cops already have your friend." I tell him, trying to get him to surrender. But his response catches me off guard.

"I'm not here for my brother. We knew all along that he was going to fail. My father sent him on this mission because it was easy and he just had to distract you. Up until he got caught he was doing well, but since he's still new he ended up messing up, ruining the plan. But either way, I was still sent here to kill you." he says.

My heart sank as I realized the gravity of the situation. This man was no ordinary criminal. He was a trained killer, and I was his target.

He started to charge towards me. I tried to punch him, but I missed. I try to run at him, but he trips me, and I fall, hitting my head on the glass roof. My mask goes flying off towards his direction. I cover my face, attempting to grab my mask. But right as I grab ahold of it, he snatches it away from me. 

Suddenly, he freezes and stares at me as he sees my face without the mask. After a brief pause, he turns around and runs in the other direction. 

"Where are you going?" I say charging after him.

He turned around, "I'm sorry, but I have the wrong person." He says about to fly off.

I couldn't let him get away with that, so I quickly grabbed him, pulling him out of the air.

"I'm not going to fight you," he says, allowing me to tackle him and to get on top of him.

Feeling frustrated, I punch him in the face, causing his mask to fly off. He tries to cover his face but fails and I see that the Villain behind the mask is Chase.  

"I can't believe this. I hate you. Whatever we started, it's done," I say as I yanked my mask out of his hand and flew away.

The next day at school, I avoided everyone, including my best friends. I noticed Chase wasn't at school today, which is good because I hate him so much. Sarah takes me home, and I make something up about how Chase is a jerk and ditched the date. I enter the house and head up to my room. I open my door and standing in my room is Chase.