The school feels so weird with everyone gone, thought Luke, who'd had to stay behind and tidy the biology lab because a teacher had caught him dreaming in class. As he walked along the corridor towards the lab, he was suddenly struck by something ploughing into him.

"Ugh!" he exclaimed, falling to the ground.

"Why don't you look where you're going?" Bret shouted.

"You did that on purpose," Luke yelled back, trying to get up. Bret pushed him face down on the ground, obviously spoiling for a fight.

"Let me go!" Luke hissed through gritted teeth.

"You're pathetic! Can't you defend yourself like a man?" Bret sneered, grabbing Luke's arm and nipping it up behind his back so fast, there was nothing he could do to prevent it.

"Give up! Give up! I know it's hurting! Why don't you give up? The sooner you give up the sooner I'll let you go!"

"Ow...Okay, I give up," Luke said.

"What else could I expect from you, you pip-squeak?" Bret sneered as he turned away.

Luke wasn't sure what a pip-squeak was, but he didn't like the sound of it. As he got up he realized the strap of his backpack had broken in the scuffle.

"Luke!" boomed an angry voice.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, sir."

"Why are you so dusty and rumpled?" Headmaster Johnson asked.

"Err, I fell," mumbled Luke, trying to avoid the headmaster's gaze.

"You've got to be more careful in the corridors," the headmaster scolded. "Just see what you look like!"

"Sorry, sir."

"Go home and change your clothes," said Headmaster Johnson.

"Yes, sir," said Luke, scuttling off.

He took a shortcut across the rugby field and scrambled over the fence. It was flanked by trees so he was certain no one would see. It was then that the unpleasant realization struck - Bret was right - he was a pip-squeak. Why am I so afraid of everything? he wondered as he slunk along.

Suddenly, he heard a loud voice behind him: "You must help us!"

"What?" exclaimed Luke, getting he fright of his life. A tall, slim man dressed from head to toe in black stood among the trees. His hair was black as his clothing and his skin was very pale. Even his eyes looked unusually black.

"Our enemies have arrived on your planet. They intend to take it over!" he boomed.

Luke couldn't believe his ears.

"Enemies? Take over the planet?"

"You have been selected to stop them," the man in black answered. "You will be our hero!"

"What do they look like?" Luke stuttered. "And why me? And how can I possibly stop them?"

"The magic word is 'Presto'," said the weird man. "Remember it, 'Presto'!" Then, he vanished.

Source

Luke stood there staring at the spot where he'd been. Was he going mad? he wondered. Had he been seeing things? He must have been, he concluded. He'd been upset after Bret's bullying attack and he'd been reading far too many books about superheroes and alien planets recently.

With his mind in a turmoil, Luke ran home. He couldn't believe what had happened to him. Who in the world would elect him to be a hero?

To be continued

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