Chapter 24: Viral

Kara could hear every conversation that went on in the school, or for that matter in all of Milford and for miles around. She tried to respect people’s privacy — especially after some acute embarrassments early on — so she didn’t listen in unless it sounded like someone was in trouble. Even so, she couldn’t help picking up fragments.

She wasn’t sure when it started that morning, but not too long after homeroom she had to notice: the other kids were talking about her. And as the day went by, more and more of them were. What she heard was unsettling.

“…Kara Kent…”

“…Supergirl…”

“…glasses…”

“…it’s true?”

The kids were looking at her, too. They glanced at her then hurriedly looked away. Even the teachers were starting to stare. During Social Studies Mr. Ordemann’s eyes kept straying in her direction.

Finally, anxiety drove her to listen in, and what she heard was the rumbling sound of the ground giving way beneath her feet:

“She looks just like her!”

“You can look up her name on the Internet.”

“She came out of nowhere right before Supergirl did!”

“Did you hear? Kara Kent is Supergirl!”

She was numb when she joined her friends in the cafeteria, and they only confirmed what she’d overheard. No one knew who’d started it but it was everywhere: how one of the fictional Supergirl’s secret identities was Kara Kent, and how Kara herself looked very much like Supergirl.

“I did everything I could to make fun of the idea,” said Bailey. “I said it was silly to think Supergirl would go to school here. But everyone thinks it’s true.”

“I said it was a common name, and maybe your parents were Supergirl fans, but no one was listening,” commiserated Megan.

“They don’t have any proof,” offered Kevin in consolation.

Kara wasn’t sure that mattered.

• • •


Mike Hooper was about ready to pack it in. He’d gone over the problem every which way, but to make further progress either he’d have to recognize her — which he hadn’t — or he’d have to resort to the paparazzi approach and stalk her. That was not something Mike was willing to do. He was a reporter for a respectable news organization, not a tabloid muckraker. He had no doubt that if his suspicions proved true people like that would be oozing into town in short order, but he wasn’t going there.

He was taking a break at the bakery, enjoying an afternoon coffee — he’d become fond of the place. His enjoyment was diminished as he pondered how he was going to explain that despite his suspicions, the trip was a bust. The simple fact was the rules were different for minors and that had made tracking her down impossible.

His ears perked up at the sound of young voices; he looked up. A group of boys and girls from the middle school was headed his way, but none of them could possibly be Supergirl unless she was a shapeshifter. He took a big sip of coffee and winced; it was still a little too hot.

They seemed quite agitated, and as they drew closer he couldn’t help overhearing their conversation.

“… she totally is! She looks just like her except for the glasses and hair!”

“So what? People look like celebrities all the time. Katy Green looks just like that girl on iCarly.”

“And then there’s her name! I mean, come on. Kara Kent?”

“Supergirl used lots of names. Linda Lee, Linda Danvers… they never even used Kara Kent much in the comics, just on TV. I never would’ve noticed except they talked about it on TV the other night and I was like, oh, that’s weird, there’s a Kara Kent at school.”

Mike’s attention was fully engaged.

“But, like, glasses? Get real!”

“Well they worked, right? Until we found out about her name. Did you notice she looks like Supergirl before you heard?”

“Umm… I guess not.”

“Do you think Emily Jordan made the costume?”

Mike was typing furiously.

“Did you see her and Caitlin when school let out? She was totally freaking out. Caitlin was holding onto her like she was gonna take off. Get it? Take… off…”

“Ha ha. That doesn’t mean anything. With everyone talking about it she’d be freaking out anyway.”

At this point the kids made a turn into the bakery and the topic changed. “Do you think they still have mango sherbet?”

Mike was already on his smartphone. He didn’t need to look up Kara Kent — he was already familiar with the name from his background research on the fictional Supergirl. He tried looking up Emily Jordan in an online phone directory but failed, swearing under his breath. Either she didn’t have a land line or it was unlisted. He tried Googling “Emily Jordan Milford Delaware.”

She was listed as a doctor on staff at Milford Memorial Hospital. There was no photo.

He paused to take stock. If he was understanding the gossip correctly, there was a student at Milford Middle School named Kara Kent, whom the other students now suspected of being Supergirl. She had some kind of relationship with a doctor at the local hospital and another girl named Caitlin.

He still couldn’t go on air with this; it was just hearsay. If it was wrong he’d make the network and himself look foolish. You only got to do that once.

But it sounded like things were starting to heat up on this story. He needed to be here when it broke open.

Mike took another sip of his coffee. Now, it was just right.

• • •


Emily sighed. “We knew this day might come. No, we knew this day would come.” She tightened the arm she had around Kara. The three members of the family were huddled together.

“I guess,” said Kara. “But… I was kinda hoping it wouldn’t happen for a long time. Not till after I got to go home. I didn’t think it would take this long for my parents to find me.” She sniffled. “Now I’m wondering if I’m going to be stuck here forever. What if I never get to go home?” Her voice broke. “What if I never see my family again?” She looked up at Emily. “You and Caitlin have been so nice to me. You’ve been a family for me here and I love you both. But…”

Emily hugged her and Caitlin took her hand. “Honey, we understand.” Emily squeezed a little harder. “I love you too, but I would never try to replace your mom or dad. Don’t give up. I know your parents are going to find you, you’ll see.” She stroked Kara’s hair.

“What are we going to do? Everyone knows! What’s going to happen?”

“Everyone doesn’t know. Everyone suspects,” said Caitlin. “If you can keep Supergirl separate from you, and not give them any confirmation, it may blow over.” She shrugged. “Or it may not. But we still have a chance.”

“‘Confirmation’? I’m not going to admit it!”

“I mean don’t get caught doing anything super; be extra careful. If things go long enough without proof people will start to wonder if they were imagining it. I mean, it’s not like someone’s going to shoot you to see if the bullets bounce off.”

“Caitlin!” scolded Emily. “Don’t even talk about something like that!”

“What if they don’t give up, even if I don’t get caught?”

Emily sighed. “Then we’ll have to live with it. You’ll be a celebrity. Lots of famous people survive that. It’ll be different from what you’re used to but life will go on.” She hugged Kara again. “I just hope they don’t take you away from us.”

“I won’t let them!” said Kara firmly.

“I’m glad you feel that way, honey.” Emily frowned. “But I think we’d better let our handlers know what’s going on.”

“Do we have to?”

“They probably know already. Remember, there’s a Secret Service team a few doors down the street. Besides,” she added, “maybe they’ll have some ideas.”

• • •


“Mr. Douglas,” said Emily, one hand on her forehead and the other holding her phone, “I appreciate your concern, I really do. And I understand the risk to Caitlin and myself. But I’m not ready to take that step yet.”

“Dr. Jordan, we really feel it would be best if you all had 24/7 Secret Service protection at this time. It’s not just the risk to you, which is bad enough. If someone thought to use you or your sister for extortion against Miss Kent…”

“You do realize she’s hearing this conversation?”

There was a short pause. “I do forget that sometimes. My apologies, Kara. Still, it doesn’t change my point.”

“What we have right now are suspicions and gossip. If we’re seen walking around with bodyguards that will just confirm it. There’s really no evidence right now, and if there isn’t any people may think they were mistaken.”

“I understand. We feel that odds are the secret will come out, though.”

Caitlin spoke up suddenly at the same time. “Could we do some kind of misdirection?”

“I didn’t catch that,” said Mr. Douglas.

“Just a second, Caitlin said something about misdirection. What did you mean, honey?”

“Like, could we find a double or something? So that people could see Supergirl and Kara Kent together?”

“Caitlin is asking if we could find a double for Kara, so Supergirl and Kara Kent can be seen together?”

There was a moderate pause. “Things would have to get significantly more difficult for you before we could try that. Otherwise, why would Supergirl come to appear with Kara Kent? How would she hear about it? Still, it’s not a bad idea. Maybe we could come up with some other form of misdirection or misinformation. We’ll get to work on it.

“Regardless, your safety is paramount. We’re willing to wait a little longer, but if there’s a risk to any of you, you’ll need to have protection at all times. The consequences don’t bear thinking about.”

• • •


The next morning in homeroom she and Bailey were talking about their science homework while waiting for the bell. Kara heard the heartbeat of the boy sitting behind her suddenly increase in tempo; other heartbeats in the room followed suit. She turned around just in time to see him reaching for her hair with a pair of scissors.

“Craig!” she screeched, whipping her hair out of the way. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

“What’s going on?” asked Mr. Kroum, looking up from his desk. He got up and came over.

“Craig was trying to cut my hair!” said Kara indignantly.

Mr. Kroum turned to the boy. “Mr. Leighton?” He held out his hand, and Craig reluctantly turned over the scissors. “Just what were you hoping to accomplish?”

The boy couldn’t meet his eyes. “I was just trying to see if I could, you know… Cut it, that is. Everyone’s saying she’s Supergirl, so…”

Kara hadn’t even thought of that; her own heart started to pound. She’d only been thinking that he was trying to butcher her hair. She hadn’t had her powers long enough to realize immediately that the scissors would break. She’d almost been exposed.

“Mr. Leighton, you and I will be taking a trip to the principal’s office.” Mr. Kroum looked around at the class. “This goes for everyone. I don’t care what you think about Kara. I don’t even care if it’s true. We have rules here; please try to remember them.”

He jerked his head towards the door. “Craig, let’s go. The rest of you, please read chapter nine until I get back.” Craig got up and glumly followed Mr. Kroum out the door as the bell rang.

Kara noticed that everyone’s eyes were still on her. Suddenly, she felt as if Craig Leighton had just cut the ribbon and declared hunting season officially open.

• • •


After her close call Kara made sure to listen for kids talking about her. Surprisingly, most of those didn’t seem interested in exposing her — they were just gossiping. Some were actively plotting but were stymied on what to do without getting into serious trouble. Poking her with sharp objects, attempting to cut her hair, throwing something at her; anything like that would get a student a trip to the principal’s office, or even suspension. No one was curious enough to risk that.

One student had the idea of tripping her to see if she got hurt; bullies got away with that often enough. Kara simply avoided his ambush. She got in the habit of looking through every door before she went through it, through every corner before she turned it, just to make sure nothing was waiting.

During lunch, she heard an anguished scream for help from the athletic fields. She looked through the wall and zoomed in on the bleachers, where she saw a group of kids, one of whom had a camera. One girl put her hands to her mouth and yelled for help again; she didn’t look the least bit distressed. Kara fumed and turned her attention back to her lunch. Her friends wondered why she was abusing her meatloaf.

When she got to the end of the school week without anything happening she dared to begin to hope. A smile came back to her face and she walked home with her foster sister thinking that the weight she felt on her shoulders had lessened just a little. Caitlin and Kevin were right: no one had any proof. Maybe Mr. Douglas would come up with a way to fool everyone into thinking they were wrong, and school would get back to normal.

Meanwhile, the students didn’t just gossip amongst themselves. They tweeted, they texted, and they posted on Facebook, including photos of Kara.

• • •


Mike heard his smartphone ring and pulled it out. “Hooper.”

“Mike?”

“Hey boss. What’s up?”

“The Kent girl… her classmates have been talking about it online, and it’s starting to spread all over the Internet.” There was a pause. “Whether she’s Supergirl or not… there’s a story now. The other news organizations are picking up on it and we think Milford is going to get very busy very soon. We want to be out in front, so we’re going to run the marina rescue story later today, together with something on the kidnapped girl; that’s stuff we have no one else does, yet. Can you get us a location piece from the school to go with it?”

“Sure, just send a crew and have them meet me there. What about her name?”

There was a pause. “It’s all over the Internet, but it’s still just a rumor and she’s a minor. No name or photo. Yet.”

Mike felt a pang of guilt. When people got exposed in this business it was for doing something bad, or at least something viewed as bad. He’d never been involved in exposing someone for doing something universally considered good. Not just good, admirable. He couldn’t condemn the girl for wanting a life other than flying around and saving people.

Her name and photo wouldn’t be on the air yet, but his intuition told him it was a matter of days at most. Still, he was a reporter and this is what he did.

An hour later he was standing in front of the school with a camera crew. “This is Mike Hooper reporting for CNN from Milford Middle School in Milford, Delaware. Rumors are swirling throughout this school and the surrounding community that one of the sixth graders here may in fact be Supergirl, the world’s first real-life superhero…”

• • •