Superheroes Don't Eat Veggie Burgers Read Free

journal to the floor. Mr. P bends over and picks it up.
    â€œYou like writing, son?”
    I shrug. “It’s not my favorite subject.”
    He nods. “More of a science guy, huh?”
    â€œScience just makes more sense to me.”
    He smiles, and the cracks and crevices on his cheeks grow even deeper. “I want you to listen to me carefully, Charlie. A true scientist won’t spend time on the things that make sense. He will ask questions about the things that don’t. And even when he’s figured out the answers to those questions, he still won’t be completely satisfied. He’ll always come up with more.”
    I’m trying to make sense of what he’s saying, but the room is getting hot, and Grant’s standing in the doorway, waving at me to hurry up. No one wants to get caught talking to a teacher, especially not on the first day of school.
    â€œMr. P, if I don’t hurry—”
    He holds the journal out to me. “Words can be powerful. Believe in their magic and anything can happen.” His eyes sparkle like someone lit a firecracker behind them. “Do you believe in magic, Charlie?”
    I blink. “You mean, like card tricks and stuff?”
    â€œNot exactly,” he says, moving his toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other. “You better get a move on. No sense in being late to another class.”

 
    CHAPTER
    4
    â€œSo, how was it?” my dad asks as I slide open the door of his minivan and dive in, face-planting onto a leftover veggie burger.
    A voice from the backseat answers for me.
    â€œCharlie got pantsed at school today,” my little sister singsongs, bouncing up and down on her seat. “And … guess what else.”
    â€œHere we go,” I mutter into the burger. Lucy’s only in fifth grade but always manages to know stuff, especially if it’s about me.
    â€œMy brother,” she says, so loud that I bet even the lobstermen down at the wharf can hear, “wasn’t wearing any underwear !”
    Even though I can’t see his face, I’m pretty sure my dad is grinning. “Charlie?”
    â€œI couldn’t find a clean pair,” I mumble.
    â€œI mean, come on ,” Lucy continues. “What kind of moron doesn’t wear underwear to school? Especially middle school !”
    I look up and shoot her my most evil stink eye, wishing for the millionth time in my almost twelve years of life that Lucy Burger had never been born.
    The passenger door flies open, and my older sister climbs in, waving to her gang of groupies like they’ve just crowned her Miss Massachusetts.
    â€œDid you hear, Stella?” Lucy bounces higher, eager for as much attention as she can get. “Did you hear the big news?”
    Oh, great. The last thing I need is the Queen of Coolness knowing about this. “Lucy,” I say, shaking my fist in her face. “If you say another—”
    Stella turns and flashes her bright-white smile in my direction. “Getting pantsed isn’t a big deal, Charlie,” she says. “It happens.”
    Like she would know. No one would even think about pantsing Stella Burger. She’s been on the student council for three years in a row and on the dance team for two. She’s so bent on becoming the most popular person ever to walk the halls of Gatehouse Middle School, I’m surprised she can even remember my name.
    My dad pulls the van away from the curb and looks at me in the rearview mirror. “So … how was the rest of your day?”
    â€œWeird,” I say.
    â€œWeird?”
    â€œYeah,” I say, shaking my head. “It’s just … well, science class wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be.”
    His eyebrows shoot to the top of his forehead. “But you love science.”
    I come from a long line of scientists. My great-grandfather was a chemist who helped create nitroglycerin, which was