Archvillain by Barry Lyga Read Free Book Online

idea of a Mighty Mike–less school was just too horrifying to bear.
    “Just worry about yourself, not Mike,” said Miss Schwartz, using that tone of voice adults use when they’re finished talking about a certain subject. Kyle loathed that tone of voice.
    After science class, Mairi approached Kyle. “Are you ready to be friends again?” she asked.
    He shifted his backpack from one shoulder to the other. “You’re not wearing your cape anymore.”
    “Yeah, well …” Mairi looked around the hallway. Kyle did, too. Most of the kids had shed their capes by now, although a few hardy souls still trailed them behind as they made their way from one class to another. “Turns out they might be good for flying, but I kept sitting on mine and wrinkling it. And people keep stepping on it. I figure we should leave the capes to the professionals, you know?”
    Kyle laughed and Mairi joined in. It immediately dissolved the remaining tension between them, and soon they were headed down the hall together like nothing had happened.
    “Are you ready for some lunch?” she asked. “It’s Thursday.”
    Thursday! Perfect! At last something was going his way. This was his first Thursday back at school since “the flu.” Thursdays were always good days.
    Every Thursday, the Bouring school system served pizza. It didn’t matter if you went to Bouring Elementary, Bouring Middle, or Bouring High — if you stood in line in the cafeteria, you were getting pizza. Your choice of pepperoni, sausage, or cheese.
    And so, every Thursday since the beginning of time (in other words, kindergarten), Kyle and Mairi had shared a pepperoni and a sausage. That way they each got to sample both pizzas.
    They split their pizzas as usual, sitting alone at a table in the lunchroom. The cafeteria was less crowded than normal — a bunch of kids had gotten permission to go to the media center and look for live streaming video of Mighty Mike on the Internet. So for the first time in a long time, it was just Kyle and Mairi. He could almost pretend nothing had changed. Almost.
    But in reality, everything had changed.
    Halfway through gym, Mighty Mike returned from fighting the tornado in Kansas. It took Mr. Rogers a good ten minutes to get everyone settled down when Mike literally swooped in, cruising low over the soccer field and soaring into the locker room. He emerged seconds later in his gym shorts and T-shirt.
    After the applause died down, Mike took up his spot on the team opposing Kyle’s.
    Kyle’s ambivalence toward sports definitely extended to soccer (it seemed pointless to restrict yourself to just your feet!), but suddenly, he wanted nothing more in the world than for his team to beat Mike’s team. It was the most important thing he could imagine right now.
    “No powers, Mike,” Mr. Rogers admonished.
    “Of course not!” the alien punk said, all wide-eyed and innocent, as though the thought had never in a million years occurred to him.
    Mr. Rogers blew the whistle and the ball went into play. Kyle charged after it. Usually, he just hung back and only touched the ball when he couldn’t avoid it, but now he was going to get that ball and score as many goals as humanly possible.
    And if he had a little “assistance” from his powers, well, what would that hurt? He was pretty sure Mike would be secretly using his powers, too. Kyle would just keep the game balanced.
    Every time Kyle was ready to go for the goal, though, there was Mighty Mike! It’s like the kid was Kyle’s personal defender. Kyle dribbled down the field; Mike showed up to steal the ball. Kyle lined up for a shot on goal; Mike intercepted. Kyle kicked the ball away from an opposing player; Mike appeared from thin air to take it right back.
    At one point, Kyle was driving hard down the field. He had a clear shot on goal. This was it; he was going toscore! He drew back his leg to kick, imagining he was kicking Mike’s perfect face instead.
    Suddenly, Kyle’s legs went out from