This place was fucking packed. And not only was it fucking packed full of people, it was packed full of supers. The best the human race had to offer sat in this room. Some of the most creative thinkers, brilliant strategists, and hardest hitters in the entirety of the human race sat in this room. And I was at the front of it. Fucking hell.

“Alright, students, please, sit down,” a loud voice came over the intercom system. I turned to see a woman standing in the center of the stage in her super outfit. It was an all-white bodysuit with a large V across the torso. It was completed by the red cape and gold trim on both the suit and the cape. She was tall, thin, and had large breasts, which made the bodysuit quite a look for her. Vega had taken the stage. She was a proud Latina who had been headmistress of the school for a little over twenty years. 

“Welcome students, new and old,” Vega said into her microphone as she walked the stage. “I am Headmistress Vega. This year, we welcome a new incoming class of five hundred and fourteen students!” She paused and clap as the students joined her in a round of applause.

“Now, as is tradition, the rank one student from our senior class is going to introduce us to the top eight of our newest class. Rain, would you join me on stage, please?” She began clapping again as a young man from the back of the stage hopped up with a broad smile on his face. He was tall with dark features, including his dark brown hair that he wore in a man bun and his scorching brown eyes. His smile was blindingly bright and contrasted beautifully with his dark eyes. If being a super didn’t work out for him, modeling would be a good second choice. He was extremely muscular and solid, too, which was ironic given his power of liquefaction. Even I knew the great Rain. He could turn himself into water. He also had temperature control over his body. He could swing a glaive of ice where his arm once was or dissolve into steam and reconstitute somewhere else. He waved at everyone and took in the applause as if he was built for it. People weren’t clapping to be polite anymore. They were clapping for him. He grabbed the microphone from Vega and said a silent thank you before speaking.

“Class of 2039, let’s fucking go!” he roared as soon as he raised the mic to his lips. A few rabid responses came from his classmates, as that was his year. The rest of the students continued the applause. “Now, as we welcome the new kids, I want everyone to remember that we were once where they were. We were those scared, new freshmen, cowering in West Hall from the hell that may never come. We were all those students once. And now it’s our turn to make them every bit as scared as we were. To strike absolute fear into the hearts of these so-called supers. To thin the herd. Because only the best survive here at Super University. And we’re going to goddamn keep it that way!” He threw up his fist as the crowd began chanting his name. This was insufferable. I wondered how many times he came close to calling it quits as a super. He talked as if his first year wasn’t all sunshine and daisies. If even Rain questioned his rise to glory, this year was going to be tough.

“But now, let’s give the newbies some credit where it’s due. Let’s meet their top eight. Headmistress Vega has respectfully asked me not to ask the eight to divulge their powers yet as they haven’t had a chance to completely explore them with their teachers. But if they give us a show, who am I to say no? Am I right!?” The crowd erupted again. Shit, was I supposed to give a demo? No fucking shot, right?

“Starting us off at number one is…” he pulled an index card out of his back pocket. Couldn’t even remember our names. Great. Real classy. “Kierra Alpha. Kierra, if you would please, join me on the stage.” The crowd went wild.

The girl in the first chair stood up and stepped up on the stage. She was easily at least six feet tall, and I could see the muscles bulging against her polo sleeves. She had bouncing blonde hair that lay in curls down to her shoulders and strong, piercing blue eyes. She had a hooked nose and was terrifyingly beautiful. Extra on the terrifying.

“Congratulations on being ranked one. I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of each other,” Rain said. He offered his hand to Kierra, which she took aggressively. He kind of laughed and tried to play it off with the crowd, but she did not offer a smile back. She was intense. After he wrestled his hand away from Kierra, he looked back to the card. She stepped into the background on the stage and finally offered a smile as she waved to the crowd.

“Her twin brother, Kenny, is joining us now as rank number two. Kenny Alpha, everybody.” He clapped as he stood off to the side to clear the stage for the large presence of Kenny Alpha. He was a few inches taller than his sister and had the same curly blonde hair, though shorter, and the same piercing blue eyes. They even had the same hooked nose. He was far more muscular than she was, though, with his biceps straining every fiber of the polo shirt he wore. He seemed more relaxed than his sister and not as aggressive, but that could have just been me taking it easier on him because he was so easy on the eyes. He shook Rain’s hand without trying to rip it from his arm, though, and that confirmed it. He was at least a little nicer.

Before I had much time to salivate over Kenny’s muscles, Rain was preparing to announce the next student.

“Rank number three, we have Skip Tuner. Come on up, Skip. Take a bow or whatever you want to do. It’s up to you, really.” 

The crowd started cheering, but the women went ape shit as Skip stepped onto the stage. Ho…ly…shit. It took me a couple of seconds just to take in the sheer unit that was Skip Tuner. He was easily 6’5” and had shaggy black hair down to his shoulders. His face was rugged with stubble that aged him dramatically, a sharp jawline, and a crooked nose. His eyes were brown but burned with such an intensity that I immediately felt something deep down looking at them. But the main attractions were his muscles. He had been carved out of absolute stone. There were veins down his arms, his pecs were huge, and I could count his abs through his fucking shirt. And his forearms were fucking dreamy. Even his legs looked to be sculpted out of granite through his jeans. Sure, he could have been more chill about it and not worn skintight clothes to show it all off. But god, why did he have to wear clothes at all? He shook Rain’s hand and took his spot beside Kierra and Kenny. The Alphas were still playing it up to the crowd while Skip stared directly at the floor in front of him. He wanted no part in being up there. I bet he had a delicious smile.

“Number four, Alysan Holmes!” She grabbed the hand his mic was in and brought it closer to her lips.

“It’s Ally,” she said with a smile before letting go of his hand and waving to the crowd. She was the first of our top eight that didn’t look like some caricature of a god. She was beautiful, but she was at least human looking. Unlike Skip fucking Tuner and the Alpha twins.

“Remember that, everyone. It’s Ally, not Alysan,” he said with a laugh. Ally didn’t seem to mind at all as she slotted in beside Skip. She said something to him that got him to smile a little. Mm. I was right.

“Next up, and guys, please let her hear it; it’s Bella Ace.” The crowd cheered as they had for all of the students, but when she hit the stage, the boys in the crowd turned it up a level. She was head-to-toe perfection. Not a hair was out of place on her blonde head, with her hair going about halfway down her back. She had blue eyes, like the Alphas, but hers were much kinder and softer, like the rest of her features. She had a kind, round face with pouty, voluptuous lips. She was the first of the group to not look like she had any muscle tone. She was fit, obviously, but she wasn’t built like a fighter, which made her stand out even more. She was a little more chesty than the rest of us on the first row, and she had hips for days, but she didn’t seem to realize it from the way she dressed. She didn’t seem to realize she was anywhere near as attractive as she was, actually. She just wore a white crop top and some light blue jeans with little to no makeup. She definitely could have made some of the guys in the crowd lose some sleep if she had worn a skirt. She smiled, and my heart melted. As sexually attractive as Skip was, Bella was every bit as beautiful in another way entirely. If she wasn’t already a model, she needed to be one ASAP.

“We’re in the home stretch, boys and girls. Up next is Chris Lankly!” Chris was sat right next to me, which made him seem even ganglier when he got up so close to me. His arms and legs were just lanky appendages on an average-sized torso. His arms had to be twice as long as a regular person’s! Okay, maybe not that long, but they were close. He had messy brown hair that wasn’t too long and a perfectly egg-shaped head. I’d never seen one so egg-shaped before, in fact. He shook Rain’s hand before taking his place next to Bella.

“Now, final two. You know what that means! These are the kids who, out of tens of thousands of applicants, were deemed good enough to not even have to pay to get in here. Let that sink in for a moment, everyone. So maybe, just maybe, somebody will show me a fucking power already. Introducing, at rank seven, Carly Rae!”

I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as I walked to the side of the stage. I could do this. I stepped up the stairs and found the spotlights that were being used on the stage to be frighteningly hot. How had nobody started sweating up here yet? Upon closer inspection, both of the Alphas and Skip actually had started sweating. I couldn’t see the crowd out in the dark, but I could hear them, and they were all cheering for me. I extended my hand out to Rain, who drew me in closer to whisper something in my ear.

“Please, if you have a flashy power, please use it. I go to a school full of supers, and this has felt like the world’s shittiest modeling gig so far.” I pulled back to look at him, but he just had that patented smile on his face. Fuck it, why not. People were going to see it eventually, anyways.

I held out my hand in front of me and made a gun with my index finger and thumb. I mouthed the word bang and pulled the trigger. When I did, a ray of purple light flanked by an aurora of rainbow colors shot out and flew over the crowd before exploding into purple firework-like glitter. The crowd went nuts. It was as if they had never seen a superpower before. It felt pretty great, truth be told.

“Best hair of the bunch and willing to show me the goods already. I think Carly’s the one to keep an eye on, folks. Finally, rounding off our new top eight, Liro Kaspers.”

Liro walked up on stage, the smallest of all of us, but he seemed to relish in the attention. He waved to the crowd and shook Rain’s hand but refused to show his powers off. Meaning I was the only one of the eight that did. What did that mean for me, exactly? The crowd continued cheering as Rain made his way one by one down the line, starting with Kierra. He was just shaking hands and saying a word or two as he went. 

“Keep the hair; it’s sexy. We’re going to have to catch up sometime,” Rain said as he shook my hand, smiled, and nodded. He then moved on as if he hadn’t said anything at all. What the fuck was he saying to the other seven? I looked down the line, and Ally was sharing a wicked grin my way.

“Alright, students, please take your seats again,” Vega said as she got the mic back from Rain. “And that includes you, Rain. Let’s hear it one more time for Rain and the top eight of the class of 2042!” The crowd cheered, and it felt good. I filed off the stage behind Liro as we led our row back down to our seats. Ally shot ahead of her place in line to stand between me and Chris. I heard some brief back and forth between the two but didn’t catch any of the words. When we sat down, Bella and Chris had both shifted up a seat to make room for Ally next to me.

“What did he say?” she whispered as soon as the crowd noise died down. Vega began talking about something, but I wasn’t paying attention.

“What did who say?” I asked.

“You know who, you slag. Rain. What did he say to you?” She had a smile on her face that spelled mischief, and I wasn’t sure why.

“He complimented me on my hair.”

“That’s all? That’s bloody all?” She seemed genuinely offended. I was confused.

“Yeah… technically, he told me it was sexy if that’s what you want to hear?”

“Well, that’s a letdown. I thought he would have better game than that.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Intentions, love. Rain wants to smash.”

“What?” I blurted out much louder than I meant to. Vega didn’t seem to notice as she continued talking, but I felt the stare of a few students around me.

“Maybe you were picking up what he said to Bella?” I whispered frantically.

“No, it was definitely you,” she assured me. “You would think the top super at the school would have a better pickup line than nice hair. I do like your hair, though. For what it’s worth.”

“Thanks, I think.” I patted my hair. It was just blue. That was the only fancy thing about it. I guess it did make me stand out a little, but not enough to get that much attention.

“It’s everything else about you, love. Gorgeous face, nice tits, fantastic ass. I’d fuck you if that means anything. Oh my god, you should try and fuck Skip. What I wouldn’t give to ride that pony.”

“Then why don’t you try and fuck him?” I asked. Why was this all about who I was sleeping with? And I wasn’t even sleeping with anybody. My face was flushed, and I hoped she couldn’t see me blushing in the relative dark.

“Oh, I’m going to. Try, I mean. But apparently, you’ve got something that even Bella doesn’t have if you’ve already got Rain’s attention. I might have to live vicariously through you. Keep me up to date on the Rain situation. Do you think you’ll end up giving him a shot? He seems nice enough if a little self-absorbed. But who isn’t at a school learning to be a superhero? We’d be accountants if we didn’t believe in ourselves a little too much.”

“I don’t know. I’ve known him for ten seconds. He is good to look at, but he’s no Skip.” She laughed, and it made me laugh along, too. “Besides, he’ll forget about me by the time this assembly is over.”

“I don’t know about that, love. Those intentions I sensed didn’t seem fleeting. I would be shocked if you don’t hear from him again very soon.”

Well, that’s exciting. I hadn’t dated anyone in the last six months due to studying for this damn school. It would be nice to let loose a little. Even if it wasn’t on Skip.