Here is the next exciting installment of High School Heroes!
So, what happens when Christine actually uses her powers to help people? Will it turn out all right, or end in complete disaster? Find out by reading on!
Enjoy!
Chapter 15
When The Skies Fall
What is it about snow that gets everyone so excited? I wondered as I was forced to walk to school in it… again. It was only fluffy droplets of frozen rain, slowly falling down to Earth and piling up. It was wet and cold, and I really had no time for it. That was, unless they cancelled school, which they hadn’t.
The bright side was that my mother only had a few weeks left in her first trimester, so hopefully no more morning sickness. Then she could take me to school again like a normal mother. Making me walk in the cold was cruel and unusual punishment and if she wasn’t my mother, I’d probably sue her.
I dialed my cell phone again. It was early, but he had to be awake. It felt like I’d dialed the number a thousand times over the last week and a half. It rang once and went straight to voice mail. I hung up. It was still turned off.
“He still won’t pick up?”
I nearly jumped out of my skin—again. When will I ever get used to that?
“No.” I stuck the phone in my pocket. “By the way, would you stop sneaking up on me?”
“No.” Ethan laughed. He wore a heavy jacket with a wool hat and big thick gloves. It was amazing he could run at all wearing a coat that size. I could hardly move in mine.
He had a cut over his right eye. As I looked at it, he pulled his hat over it. We walked for a while in silence. I pulled my coat collar over my face, so it would have been impossible for me to talk anyway.
The parking lot was full of idiots throwing the snow that hadn’t been shoveled. I dodged out of the way as Lance or Kyle chucked several in my direction.
It was a joy to step into the warmth and safety of the school building. Shrugging off my coat and gloves I bid a hasty goodbye to Ethan. I wanted to catch Sam before he went into his first period class, which was Spanish. I needed to say something, and it couldn’t be the yelling that I really wanted. I still needed to apologize for being insensitive to his feelings, like I tried to convey in the thousand voice mails and text messages over the last week and a half.
I waited outside the foreign language classroom. The halls filled with students rushing in from the snowball fight to make it to class on time. I waited, careful to stand against the wall and remembering to breathe deeply.
Finally he showed, appearing quite happy. He looked like he was talking to someone. I caught glimpses of the mystery person through gaps in the crowd. It was Samantha. She was laughing at something Sam said. The only time I’d ever seen her laugh was at my expense. They stopped at a locker. She opened it and pulled out a couple of books. Sam waited for her, all the time talking.
Then, as she closed the door, he leaned down and kissed her. My head spun.
When they broke, Samantha ran off the way they’d come. Sam continued toward me. I needed to move, but my feet refused to budge. I stood there, dumbfounded, until he was right in front of me. He stopped walking. “Oh. Hi, Chris.”
“Hey, Sam.” Should I ask him about what I just saw? I decided that would be a poor idea.
“Look,” he said, there was no anger in his voice, or sorrow, like I expected. “I’m sorry I haven’t called you back. I’ve sort of been… busy.”
“Oh.” I let the syllable hang in the air. “Well, that’s okay. I just wanted to apologize for the other day.”
“Oh… good.”
It was the most awkward conversation I’d ever had with him. We were usually so compatible. It was strange not knowing what to say.
The bell rang and the halls quickly cleared.
“Well, I need to get inside.” He motioned toward his class. Then he passed, leaving me alone in the hallway.
The trek to Math took forever. It was like someone had stretched out the hallways so there was a mile between every classroom.
He sure got over you quick, the voice in my head was quick to comment.
I ignored the voice.
The truth was, I didn’t know how to feel. Sam was my friend. I should have been happy that he was happy. Yet, I couldn’t stop wondering how much he actually cared for me if he could change his mind so quickly. And Samantha Diddle of all people. It was like the world had gone insane.
My rational mind could not make sense of it all. Only last week, he clearly had feelings for me. Now, all of a sudden, he was kissing Samantha in the middle of the hallway. Did he really like me? Was it all fake?
No! I answered. Sam was my friend. He wouldn’t do that to me. But that would mean that he genuinely liked her, and she him… which was a mathematical impossibility.
Maybe he was trying to make me jealous. He knew I hated Samantha. Dating her would be the perfect revenge. Convincing Samantha to date him for that reason wouldn’t have been hard. That has to be it.
I knew it wasn’t.
I just needed to make sense of everything. I didn’t have time for that. I was about to get yelled at for being late… again.
****
By the time school let out, several inches of snow had fallen. The wind had picked up, making it feel even colder. Luckily for me, my mother was waiting in front of the school. I dodged a few snowballs, flung by some overly excited baboon, and practically jumped into the vehicle.
As I buckled up, my mother said, “Mrs. May is closing the store for tonight because of the storm. You don’t need to work.”
I groaned. I was supposed to work four hours that night. That was thirty-two dollars less I’d be making. My mother was just about to pull away when there was a knock on my window. Ethan stood outside, looking like an icicle in a winter coat. Someone had obviously caught him by surprise with a few snowballs. I rolled down my window.
“Mrs. Carpenter,” Ethan said politely, how he always addressed my mother. “Would you mind if I caught a ride home with you?”
“Not at all, dear.” My mother shot me a wink. She still thought we were an item. “Just push that stuff in the back out of your way.”
I turned around and saw what looked like a stockpile of food. I wanted to comment that I wasn’t aware a nuclear holocaust was coming, but didn’t bother.
Ethan slid into the backseat and we were on our way.
“Would you like me to take you home, dear?” Mom asked.
“That’s okay, Mrs. Carpenter. I can come to your house and have my dad pick me up after he gets out of work. It’s on his way home, anyway.”
“Okay.”
Again, no one asked me if I wanted a guest for the afternoon. I wished they would stop treating me as if I wasn’t there. I suddenly became very aware of the music playing on the radio. My mom had on her oldies station. Diana Ross was playing. I wished she’d have some courtesy and shut the music off while Ethan was in the car. It was embarrassing. Thankfully, the ride only took a few minutes.
I opened the door to another blast of cold, snowy air and ran as fast as I could to my front door. It came as no surprise that Ethan beat me there.
Kids, my mother thought as she laughed at what she considered to be a race.
I headed into the kitchen. “Want a snack?”
“Sure.” He followed close behind.
There wasn’t much in the pantry. Then I remembered my mother had just gone food shopping. All the food was still outside in the car. Damn.
My mother, never one to miss a cue, shouted from the front door, “Christine, you going to help me with these bags?”
It wasn’t a question. We both knew that. I threw my arms in the air and prepared myself to face the bitter cold outside once again. Ethan thankfully helped so what would have been probably six trips, only took three. Soon, I’d unpacked a few bags of chips and ran upstairs to the computer.
“You have a nice house,” Ethan commented as I plopped down in the computer chair.
He looked awkward, like he wasn’t sure what he should do. “Folding chair’s in the closet,” I told him.
He grabbed it and sat next to me. By the time he was sitting, I was already checking my email. Nothing good. Then I went to Google and stopped at the search page. “So, why did you want to come over today?” I asked Ethan, hoping for a particular answer. “You could easily have run home in a minute or two.”
“Ever hit a patch of ice at the speed of sound?”
Of course. I do it all the time.
“I haven’t and I’m not eager to find out. The question is, why don’t you ever want me here?”
Yup, that was just what I wanted to hear.
“I never said I didn’t want you here.”
“You act like it.”
I heaved a deep sigh and stared at the computer screen, wondering what it was I should search for. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
At least he was noble enough to accept my apology. He was right. I did tend to not want him around my house. I think it was because of my mother and the things she thought about the two of us. It was almost like I was trying to prove her wrong. She was wrong, but I needed her to know that.
I finally turned to look at him. “So, why do you want to come here?”
It was Ethan’s turn to look away. I saw him flush scarlet a little. I kinda like you.
That was the answer I was looking for. “Thanks.” I smiled.
He looked back up at me in a moment of incomprehension.
I pointed to my head. “Mind reader.”
“Oh. Right.”
Another awkward silence. Apparently, his secret was out. How he’d managed to keep it from me, I didn’t know. I must just suck at reading “thoughts of attraction”. Or maybe I try so hard to block my friend’s thoughts that I miss it when they’re thinking about it.
“So, what are we looking for today?” Ethan pointed at the Google search page.
Nice change of subject.
I didn’t know what to search for. It was just a force of habit that I pulled up the webpage. I had no agenda. “Nothing actually,” I admitted. The thing that had been bothering me all day came back. “Did you hear about my friend, Sam?” I hadn’t mentioned it earlier. I thought if I didn’t bring it up, it wouldn’t be true.
It was thinking about me and Ethan that brought it bubbling back to the surface of my thoughts. With its reemergence, came the same shaky, hurting feelings that I had felt before.
“No,” Ethan said. “Why?”
How could I say it? He’d just admitted he liked me. If I were to tell him I felt jealous of one of my good friends, he might freak too. Why do I do this to myself?
“I wanted to apologize this morning, because I found out he liked me, and I accidentally hurt him, and he hasn’t been talking to me, but when I saw him this morning, he was with another girl, I mean with with her, ya know? He hasn’t ever…”
“Chris. Take a breath.”
“Oh.” I stopped to regain my composure. I just felt so—agitated, betrayed, jealous—I don’t know. Maybe it was a combination of all three. “I’ve told you how much I hate Samantha Diddle, right?” I said after a minute.
“The evil cheerleader? Yeah.”
Oh God. I’d even used the term “evil cheerleader” in front of Ethan.
“I saw her and Sam kissing by her locker this morning.”
“Sam and Samantha.” Ethan laughed. “That’s funny.”
“What is?”
“Your friend is dating someone with the same name as him.”
I hadn’t even made the connection. I didn’t find it funny at all, though. It was more disturbing than anything else. “That’s not the point.”
“So, what’s the problem?” Ethan slipped back into his serious personality (if he even had one).
“I think he’s dating her to make me jealous.”
“So? Are you?”
“Yes. No... I don’t know. It’s all so confusing.”
“Well, look at it this way. Let him date whomever he wants. If he genuinely likes this girl, then you should be happy because he’s your friend. If he’s doing it just to make you jealous, he’ll stop when he sees it’s not working. So, I say, let it go.”
Who would have thought Ethan would be the voice of reason? It was Sam’s life. He could do whatever he wanted. I shouldn’t have a say in it. And since I didn’t actually like him like that, I had no reason—and no right—to be jealous at all.
“Thanks,” I muttered, then turned back to the computer screen.
“Superheroes,” Ethan said.
“What?”
“Search for superheroes. It’s what you were doing for a few weeks ago in the library when I interrupted you.”
He remembered that? I hadn’t even remembered until he mentioned it. I was about to click on a link when he walked in and all hell broke loose.
It hit me and my fingers flew over the keys.
Ethan read what I typed into the search box. “World Superhero Registry.”
“Yeah, I forgot all about it. Thanks for reminding me.”
The search page came up and, as if by magic, it was the first site on the list.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know. I never got to look at it.”
I clicked the link and waited as the website loaded. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Awesome,” Ethan said.
At the top of the page, prominently displayed, were the very same words I’d clicked on: World Superhero Registry. Underneath the words appeared the picture of a thirty-something year old man dressed in black and yellow spandex. He wore a mask and a cape and stood in front of what I assumed was his garage, in his best superhero pose. The caption under the picture read: The Hornet.
My head started to hurt again.
As I scrolled down, there was a whole write up on him. His jurisdiction: Seattle, Washington. His status: Active. His team affiliation: The Rockers. It went on and on, straight down to a quote: I fight because I must. Until the mantle can be taken by someone more worthy, I will be out there.
This was serious. Not some kind of sick joke to amuse others. This was a real person who went out and fought crime dressed in yellow spandex. I pictured him coming up on a mugger. He either got himself shot, or prevented the crime—but only if the mugger dropped dead from laughter.
As I looked on with my usual cynicism, Ethan looked on in amazement. He grabbed the mouse and scrolled down to the next hero. Madame Hood, a lovely lady dressed in black clothes and a purple cloak. Green Armadillo was next. I won’t even go into what his outfit looked like.
They were all just a bunch of sad people who couldn’t get over the fact that there was no such thing as a real superhero.
Then, Ethan scrolled to a man named Captain Falcon. He dressed in black with a large grey bird on the front of his costume. A mask covered all but his nose and mouth. This man carried a long black staff that I assumed he used to beat would-be thieves.
“Look at where he’s from.” Ethan jabbed a finger on the screen.
Yeah, that figures. He was from Pittsburgh. The idiot was probably one of the dressed up cretins at the Convention a few weeks back. The really, truly sad thing was, without even looking into his head, I knew Ethan wanted to meet him. And he’ll be dragging me along with him.
“Look, he has a website!” Ethan exclaimed, already clicking on the link.
I turned the monitor off. I couldn’t take looking at a superhero’s self-made website. Why the hell did he have a website anyway? Weren’t superheroes supposed to be selfless, and their identities a secret?
“What did you do that for?” Ethan dropped the mouse on the desk.
“Because you’re insane.” I went into my whole tirade about how sad and pathetic all those people were. Ethan listened without comment. As cool as he thought it was, deep down, he knew I was right.
The phone rang downstairs.
“It just goes to show you though,” Ethan said. “How many people wish they could be like you and me. How they wish they had the power to help others.”
This time I didn’t comment, because he was correct.
“Yeah, Dad. I’ll go get her.” My mother was coming up with the phone. Apparently my grandfather wanted to talk to me. “Yeah, she has that boy over.” She said it was with excitement. She couldn’t get over that just wasn’t my boyfriend. Not yet anyway.
“My mom’s coming,” I mentioned. “Enough for now.”
She entered holding the phone out. “Your grandfather’s on the phone.” Then looked at Ethan and smiled. “Just bring it down when you’re done.” She turned and left.
“Hey, Gramps.” I couldn’t help wondering why he wanted to talk to me.
“Hey, darling, how are you?”
“I’m fine.”
“I was wondering…” There it was. He wanted something, maybe to see if I would come up for a visit for Christmas break. He’d probably tell me how lonely he and Grandma were and ask to spend a few days. He’d promise to take me out and to do a bunch of fun things.
As much as I love to do that, I had my job and my friends here. I didn’t want to leave them to spend time at my grandparents’. Especially if it meant taking those extra days off from work.
“Did you read my journal?”
I almost asked, What? Then I remembered the beat-up old book he’d given me on Thanksgiving. I hadn’t even thought about it. I’d put it on my end table and forgotten it.
“Yeah, I did,” I lied. I felt bad about lying, but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. I had no real reason to read it. “It was interesting.”
“No, you didn’t.” He was angry. How did he know I lied? “If you’d read it, then you’d have questions. Please, read it. It’s important.” He hung up.
I put the phone down, confused. What was that all about? What’s so important about that journal? He’d given it to me as a gift. A memento. I couldn’t understand why he was being so insistent. It was like it was some guide to unlocking all the secrets of the cosmos. But it was just a dusty old book that my grandfather had written almost seventy years ago.
“Something the matter?” Ethan asked. I’d forgotten he was there.
“It’s nothing,” I said, and really hoped it was.
Chapter 16
Moment of Weakness
My grandfather’s journal was incredibly boring. The first few entries were essentially about him and his buddies going through basic training, and my grandfather talking about how much he missed my grandmother. There really wasn’t much going on. So, after two nights attempting to read it, I again laid it on my end table next to my bed.
“It’s so boring,” I told my friends at lunch. “It’s like he’s trying to torture me.”
“I think it’s sweet,” Tiffany commented. “He’s trying to pass his legacy down to you or something.”
Ethan’s mouth was full and he practically spit the food out on me when he said, “If you hate it, then stop reading it.”
“Actually,” Savanah interceded, “if he was that insistent on it, then it must be important. Or at least there is something he thinks is important. I think you should read it.”
“But it’s so boring!” I reiterated, as if that might change the facts. I looked at Peter, expecting a comment from him. As per usual, he remained the silent observer.
“I agree.” Tiffany looked at Savanah for approval. Her agreement didn’t mean too much to me. If Savanah told me to jump out of a plane and tear the journal up on the way down, I am sure my friend would have agreed with her.
As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. Who would have expected Savanah to be the voice of reason? Hell, who would think she would offer any advice whatsoever?
“Fine,” I grunted. “I’ll give it one more shot. But if I die of boredom, I’m haunting both of you for the rest of your lives.”
“Oh get over it, Loser.” Savanah stood from the table. “Loser” didn’t have quite the same meaning as it used to.
“Okay, Prissy,” I countered.
“I’ve gotta run to my locker before class,” she informed us. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As Savanah walked away, Tiffany shouted, “Wait a second, I’ll join you. I need to get my science book anyway.” With that, she was gone, without so much as a goodbye to the rest of us.
It was so sad to see how clingy Tiffany was on Savanah. If I didn’t know any better, I would say she was in love with the girl. What made it so sad was that everyone at the table knew she already had science class.
Peter finally spoke up. “Anyone doing anything tonight? Or this weekend?” He looked directly at me when he asked.
“No,” I muttered before Ethan had the chance to clear the food from his airway. “I’m still sort of grounded. So unless you come to see me… and that’s not an invitation,” I added for Peter’s sake, “I’m not doing anything but going to work and coming home.”
Honestly, I hadn’t even realized it was Friday. When you go home and stare at the computer screen for hours on end, time blurs until you have absolutely no concept of it anymore.
The good news was, being Friday, that meant I didn’t have to sit in classrooms for two solid days, and that it was only one more week until Christmas Vacation. Life was looking good.
“Okay,” Peter said.
He didn’t ask Ethan if he had any plans. That meant Peter must still be infatuated with me. I could have read his mind to find out, but I really didn’t want to know. “Well, I need to hit the head before class, so I’ll see you later.” Again the statement was addressed only to me, as if Ethan were a nonentity.
“Bye,” I said as he walked away.
Ethan shot me a knowing smile. Then we both laughed. “I seriously don’t know how you put up with him. I felt like I could read his thoughts.”
“I tuned them out. Actually, I think I’m finally able to tune everyone out. I don’t even hear the static anymore.”
“That’s good.”
“It’s better this way, anyway. I mean, it’s sort of an invasion of privacy. People’s thoughts should be their own.”
“So, you’re just not going to use your powers anymore?” He sounded skeptical.
“Oh, no. I just meant I can turn them back on when I need to. Need, being the key word here.”
“Explain to me when you might need to use them.”
Without saying anything, I looked over to the cheerleader’s table. Sam sat there next to Samantha and her friends, laughing and having a great time. Over the past couple of days I’d considered confronting Sam and forcing him to tell me what was going on, or even forcibly pulling the information from the depths of his thick skull.
Ethan followed my gaze. “I thought you decided to drop that.”
I looked back at my friend, whose demeanor had turned serious. “Yeah. But I still want to know if he’s trying to mess with my head or not.”
“Can’t you just accept that he might actually like her?”
“No.”
“You’re hopeless.”
We sat and talked for a few more minutes. It was truly amazing how comfortable we were with each other and how our conversations flowed without awkward pauses. We really knew each other. We were meant for each other. Since the other day in my computer room, I knew we shared some of the same feelings.
My heart skipped a beat as I realized one thing. My mother was right. He is like my boyfriend.
I wanted to move to that next step so badly. “Wanna come over tonight?” I asked before I lost my nerve. “I’m only working ‘til eight. I’ll get my mom to rent a movie on the way home for us to watch.”
He didn’t answer at first and looked as if he were deep in thought. I was afraid he might say no. Every second that ticked by was maddening. I put myself out there and he wouldn’t respond.
Then he gave me a mischievous grin. “You aren’t going to read my mind, are you?”
He’s toying with me? I’ll kill him!
“I hate you.”
“You ask me on a date, and then say you hate me?”
“I never said it was a date.” Though the meaning had been implied, I didn’t want him to think that in the event he said no.
“Chris, I’ll come over anytime you want me to.” He gave me a much nicer smile. “I know how much house arrest sucks.”
I tried not to let my excitement show even as my insides jumped for joy. Yes! Yes! The peasants rejoice!
“Wait a second.” I stopped the cheer squad in my head in its tracks. “You’re calling me Chris now?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “So?”
I considered it a moment and realized for the first time, I really didn’t care. “Okay.”
The bell rang and the cafeteria cleared out. I threw out my lunch tray with Ethan close beside me. I don’t think I could have been happier than at that moment.
We walked through the hall toward Mrs. Fletcher’s art room. Ethan had History next, and my class was on the way, which I enjoyed. Though, that afternoon I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts, mostly about what I would wear, and what movie to rent from the video store, that I didn’t even notice Ethan wasn’t walking next to me anymore. By the time I noticed, I was a good fifteen feet ahead.
He was staring up at one of the monitors usually turned to one of the news networks. It was Mr. Philmore’s idea to keep us up to date with current events. I don’t think anyone really ever paid attention to them though.
Ethan seemed hypnotized by what played on the screen. I walked back to try and snap him out of it. I reached out to shake him a little, but his hand was faster. He grabbed my chin and turned my face to see an aerial shot of Pittsburgh. It was obviously taken by a helicopter, and as it zoomed in I saw it was one of the Downtown banks. The caption at the bottom of the screen said: Hostage Situation at City Bank.
“No.” I wasn’t concerned about hostages, or the people whose money was in the bank, or even the bank robbers themselves. I was concerned about me. “Not a chance,” I told Ethan.
“But we could—”
“No!” I cut him off, and began walking away before he could mount a defense.
Before I made it two steps, he was standing in front of me. “Come on, Chris. We can do some good.”
“Are you retarded? We don’t know anything about what’s going on in there. We could get killed.”
“But those people…”
I decided he was indeed retarded. If not, then he was more insane than I gave him credit for. “I’m not listening.”
I tried to walk around him, but again, I was no match for his speed, or his reflexes. “Come on, Ethan. We’re both gonna be late for class.”
“So what? Get your priorities straight.”
“Don’t make me fry your brain.”
“You won’t.”
“I might.”
“But you won’t.”
He is so infuriating! I considered just giving him a little fright so I could get away, but decided against it. I didn’t want to go down that path again.
“Ethan, I’m not a superhero, and I don’t want to be. I don’t know how to make that clearer to you. Can I go to class now?”
He sighed—looking sadder than a puppy that had just been smacked by a rolled up newspaper—and stepped aside to let me pass.
“Thank you.” I continued toward Mrs. Fletcher’s room.
I didn’t make it more than five steps when he called, “I’ll see you later.”
Normally, I would take that to mean he would—indeed—see me later. After all, school was almost over. However, this time, the meaning behind the words was different. He intended to go to that bank with or without me.
I spun around and stomped toward him. “You better not!” I shouted, catching the attention of several students that passed by.
“I better not what? See you later?”
“You know what I mean.”
“This is something I have to do, Chris. I was born with these powers, and I’ll be damned if I’m not going to do something with them.”
“Can’t you just run a marathon or something?”
“You already know the answer to that.”
That was true. I knew he wouldn’t change his mind. I also knew I couldn’t let him go through with it. He couldn’t just run off every time there was a problem. Not only would I never see him but there would come a time when he wouldn’t come back. I couldn’t live with that.
“I hate you.”
“You said that before. Once more and I’ll begin to believe it.”
“I hate you,” I repeated.
“I hate you, too.” He looked in my eyes and smiled. I could have stared into those deep abysses forever. It actually felt like an eternity before I was pulled back to my senses.
“Get a room, you two!” either Lance or Kyle shouted from directly behind me, causing me to jump about ten feet in the air.
I laughed, more for their benefit than because it was funny. After they passed I turned back to Ethan. “So, how are we getting there?”
“We?”
“If you think I’m letting you go off alone...”
It was my moment of weakness. I cared too much to let him run off and get himself killed. At the very least, I would have his back, which is what I’m sure he was counting on.
At that moment, I got a whiff of something terribly foul, like used floor cleaner. I wrinkled my nose and looked around for the source. “Smell that?”
“Smell what?”
The odor quickly passed. Scanning the emptying hallway, I couldn’t find its source. “Nothing, I guess.” Then I gazed up into Ethan’s eyes and reiterated, “So, how?”
He considered it for a moment, even though he already had an idea. “I’ll carry you.”
“I thought you said it was dangerous.”
“When did I say that?”
“Your skin could rip off… Ever hit an ice patch at the speed of sound?” I repeated his words.
“Oh, that.” He waved a hand. “I was exaggerating.”
“Uh-huh. Suuuure.”
“Look. I’ll start off slow and work up to a speed you can handle.”
“Fine,” I groaned.
Luckily, I hadn’t put my jacket in my locker that morning, because as soon as the word escaped my mouth, I was whisked into his arms and we were on our way.
Chapter 17
Ten Minutes
The first time Ethan ran with me, the trip was short. So short, I didn’t have time to feel the sensation. The first thing I noticed now was the wind. It was like being caught in a tornado. I was pretty sure my eardrums would pop from the roar beating down on them. Everything around us, even the ground, moved so fast I couldn’t see anything more than a mix of colors that formed an ever moving, yet dull grayish blur.
“Are you all right?” Ethan had to yell so I could hear him, even though my ear was only a few inches from his mouth.
I nodded. I wasn’t sure what would happen if I opened my mouth. The speed we were traveling already had my stomach doing back flips. I hated to see what might happen if I vomited at mach-one.
It didn’t take very long to arrive. Ethan couldn’t have been running for more than two or three minutes before the constantly moving gray came to a halt and we found ourselves on a rooftop in the city. He was breathing a little heavier than usual, but still looked like he had hardly broken a sweat.
I suddenly felt very dizzy and collapsed to my knees as soon as Ethan let me go. The rooftop spun. Though my body stopped moving, my stomach definitely hadn’t.
“Wow!” Ethan exclaimed. “I didn’t know I could do that!”
“Do what?” I asked weakly.
“Go that fast.” He peered over the side of the building. “You didn’t see?”
“I couldn’t see anything.” It was then I realized his eyes must have been equipped to see at a much faster rate than mine.
“I ran right up the side of the building!”
“Good for you.” I managed to get the words out just before my lunch revisited the outside world. Ethan knelt beside me and pulled my hair out of the way. It was so sweet.
I felt better after I retched on the rough concrete rooftop. I managed to stand, though on slightly wobbly legs.
“Well, at least with nothing in your stomach, we won’t have to worry about you doing that on the return trip.”
Daggers shot from my eyes. It was insensitive, but honestly... Sweet one second, a total idiot the next.
The building was surrounded by police cars. The people looked like multicolored ants. The ones in black were pushing the others onto the sidewalk opposite the building. Not only had Ethan run us up the side of a building, he’d placed us on the roof of the bank that was being robbed. Cops scrambled about, dealing with the criminals in the building, while trying to keep the people behind the barricade.
“So, what now?” Ethan asked.
If I was ever close to killing someone, it was at that moment. “What do you mean, so, what now? This was your whole stupid idea to begin with!”
“Yeah. But everyone knows you’re the leader.”
Oh yeah, I am going to kill him.
“We’re not a super team!”
“But we can be.”
He was so calm it caused me to pause. I had been yelling and screaming and he had barely raised his voice above a whisper. I just didn’t understand him sometimes.
Why is he so eager?
“Because I’ve never been anything special and…” He stopped and looked at me with a mixture of shock and confusion. “You didn’t say anything, did you?”
I shook my head, afraid to speak. No one ever heard what I was thinking before. I felt so exposed.
“That’s so cool!” Ethan was way too excited for my liking. “You can do anything, can’t you?”
“It’s not cool!” I shouted back. “I don’t want people reading my thoughts. They’re private!”
Ethan looked at me angry now, as if I said something to offend him. “But it’s okay for you to read other people’s thoughts?”
Caught somewhere between confusion, anger and fear, I couldn’t think of a good comeback. “Ethan. You know that’s not it.”
He turned away. “Why do you think I try so hard to block out other people’s thoughts? All thoughts are meant to be private.” I approached but he moved away. “You’re powers are good. You can run faster than anything. But mine are a curse, Ethan. You have no idea what it’s like hearing people say one thing and think another all at the same time. I’d rather not know what anyone is thinking. At least then, I can trust them.”
He looked over the side of the building again.
“I hate my powers!” I screamed, just wanting to get his attention.
He still didn’t look at me. But I stopped shouting, defeated. How can I convince him I’m telling the truth? I didn’t even understand why he was so offended in the first place.
“I know,” Ethan said finally. His voice was a little hoarse, like he was trying to keep himself from crying. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I said, coming down from my momentary high of frustration. “It just caught me off guard is all.”
He turned back to look at me then. There was no longer anger in his face. His eyes were red. So, I apparently wasn’t the only one of us to get emotional. Before I knew what was happening, before I had the chance to react, his warm arms spread around me and his lips pressed against mine. They were chapped and cold from the air and felt like sandpaper. I was sure mine were no better, but I am also sure I will always remember it as the best kiss of my life.
It was over too soon. He pulled away. I tried leaning in to kiss him again, but he stiffened his arms to hold me away. Am I that bad a kisser? I didn’t have any experience in the kissing department, so I could have been horrible. So horrible, in fact, that he never wanted to kiss me again.
“Let’s just wait to do that again until you’ve had the chance to brush your teeth. You taste a little like vomit.”
The most romantic moment of my life was ruined because of a little throw-up. Well, what did he expect? I had only just spewed my lunch a couple of minutes ago. It wasn’t as if I carried mouthwash with me.
“Okay.” He turned on his business/superhero voice. I hadn’t realized he had a superhero voice until that moment, but it was deeper with a tone that sounded like he was about to kick some butt. “You need to listen in on the thoughts down below. I need to know how many hostages there are.”
My mind instantly flashed over to superhero mode itself.
Okay, Christine. Time to open your mind.
I began pulling down all the barriers I’d erected over the last couple of days, and relaxed my mind so I could hear every single thought flooding in around me. There were a lot of them; the headaches I’d experienced over the last few months came back in an instant. In the jumble of thoughts, the same two phrases kept popping up: Fifteen hostages and Two minutes.
I repeated the phrases to Ethan. “That must mean they’re going to break in, in two minutes.”
Ethan nodded. “That doesn’t give us much time.”
There was a door on the roof. We could use it to go down into the bank. But what could we do once we got in? I’d never been to that bank before, and I was pretty sure Ethan hadn’t either. We also didn’t know how many armed men there were inside, or where they were keeping the hostages.
I heard Ethan’s idea before he spoke. “Chris, you need to get into one of the men’s heads downstairs. See through their eyes like you did with Tommy.”
I hadn’t been able to do it since that episode. “That was an accident,” I explained.
“Well, you’ve got to try.”
I sighed and did as he said. I heard the thoughts of the thieves in the bank mixed in with the other voices flowing through my head. I closed my eyes and concentrated on one of the voices.
They look like they’re up to something out there.
I grabbed his thought pattern and pushed my consciousness inside his head. I got a blurred and rather skewed image and began to feel lightheaded, much like I imagine a boxer felt after being whacked on the chin several times.
I pulled back into my own head because the dizziness and nausea returned. I looked at Ethan and shook my head.
Try again, Christine, he thought.
And I did.
A second thief’s thoughts were more excited. It’s ours. I can’t believe it! By this time tomorrow, I’ll be retired on a beach in the Bahamas.
I grappled his mind and pushed through again, concentrating with every ounce of brain power I could muster. This image was a bit clearer. It wasn’t as sharp as I would have liked, but I was at least able to see. I was inside the bank… on the first floor, because I could see the doors to the outside across the room.
The man whose mind I was attached to was nervously pacing in what I would guess was the lobby. He looked down several times, and being that I am no expert, I could only tell that what he was carrying was a very large gun.
Three other men were in the lobby with him. No sign of the hostages.
I pulled back to my own head for a breather. But soon, I was seeing through another set of eyes. As this person looked around, I realized I hadn’t invaded a man’s mind after all. It was a woman.
She stood near one of the offices in the back, looking out across the large room where the tellers usually worked. I saw a total of six men, along with her, making seven. There could have been more, but knowing there was at least seven was good. Each carried a gun. The sizes varied, but they all looked pretty dangerous.
C’mon, c’mon, she thought. We’re already passed schedule. Let’s get out of here.
As I thought I had gleaned enough information from her, I began to pull my consciousness back into my own head. At that exact moment, she turned and I could see into the office she stood beside.
Inside were a group of men and women. Some dressed like my dad, in business suits, others were more casual, with jeans and jackets. All were cowering on the floor. The hostages.
I came back into my head quickly. There was less than a minute until the police busted in. I felt a mix of agitation and excitement from the men officers down below.
We didn’t have much time. But I knew Ethan would be up to the challenge. “They’re in a corner office, near the back,” I informed him. “Seven gunmen.”
“All right.” He was already gearing himself up for what might have been the race of his life.
“Be…” And he was gone. “…careful.”
The rooftop door seemed to swing open all on its own. Before it could slam shut again, Ethan was back with one of the hostages. A second later, another appeared. Both were incredibly confused and disoriented. He’d grabbed an old woman, dressed in a casual dress, with one of those large hats that old ladies wear, and one of the bank tellers, apparently named Rich, as it was written on his nametag.
I tried to read their thoughts, but I couldn’t get a clear read on them, I must have overexerted myself. They both appeared to be in a state of shock and panic, and knowing the sensation they’d just experienced, completely understood.
A second later a third appeared on the roof, then a fourth, and a fifth.
Most of these people were dressed in business attire. The fifth one, a bald man, looked a bit cross-eyed as he plopped on the ground next to the others, clearly confused. I couldn’t help but wonder how many of them worked in the bank and how many were customers who just happened to walk in at the wrong time.
Six, seven, eight…
Ethan was a blur as more and more confused and terrified men and women appeared on the roof. He moved so fast, and at times carried a tremendous amount of weight. Person number nine looked particularly hefty, in a business suit that looked like it might fit a small bear.
“What’s going on?” the old woman Ethan had first brought up asked.
“Where are we?” added a college kid who was stupid enough to go outside in sub-zero temperatures in a pair of khaki shorts.
Ten, eleven, twelve…
I ran up to where he was setting the people. “Everyone stay calm,” I yelled over them. “You’re safe.”
I wasn’t doing a very good job. I’m not sure half of them noticed me.
“How did I get up here?” an older man said.
They were more concerned with their sudden removal from the small office they’d been huddled in. I’m sure some of them thought they had died, but with my mind reading powers on the blink, I couldn’t be sure of that.
Thirteen, fourteen…
“We’re on the roof of the…” I tried explaining, but before I could finish, a woman cradling a baby began to scream.
“No! No! Shhhhh.” I tried to keep her quiet, even going so far as to cover her mouth with my hand, but she slapped it away.
Fifteen… sixteen?
Ethan collapsed totally spent. There were sixteen hostages. But the police officers said there were fifteen. Could they have been wrong?
Ethan was breathing heavily. Sixteen trips up and down those steps must’ve been too much strain. As I crouched next to him to see how he was doing, a loud bang got everyone’s attention.
The cross-eyed bald man, in probably one of the most expensive suits I’d ever seen, stood above the other hostages. He no longer looked bewildered. He held a handgun over his head. It was still smoking from the shot. “What the hell is going on here?” he sneered.
Having never actually been in a true life or death experience before, at least never by a madman with a gun, I was not only speechless, I was frozen to the spot.
My companion was no help, still heaving on the ground, desperately trying to get air into his lungs.
When the man shifted his gaze to me and then also shifted the gun, I knew I was about to die. The sad part was, my life didn’t flash before my eyes.
The hostages cowering at the man’s feet looked back and forth between him and me to see what would happen, like it was a movie and the next scene was on the way.
“Little lady, you better start talking, or someone is going to die. You wrecked a perfectly good heist.”
Instead of answering, I tried to dig out his greatest fear and turn it on him. But I got nothing but static in return. Damn! What a time to not have my powers.
“Maybe your friend here has an answer.” The man pointed the gun at Ethan, who had only just managed to raise his neck to see what was going on.
“No!” I shouted.
The man didn’t waver. If anything he became more insistent with his gun-pointing. He took a few steps toward Ethan.
“Hmm, looks like the little lady likes you. What shall we do about that?” The sneer on his face entered his voice as he grinned down at Ethan.
He’s going to kill Ethan.
“So, trying to be a hero,” he continued, turning back to Ethan. “You know what happens to heroes in the real world, kid?” He pressed the gun against Ethan’s forehead.
Ethan didn’t answer. Probably he couldn’t.
“Answer me!” Spittle rained down on Ethan’s face.
“N-no,” my friend said weakly.
“They get killed!”
Move, I thought. Move! Ethan needed to hear my thoughts. He needed to. He had to find one tiny ounce of strength.
“You and your little friend have just cost me a lot of money!” the man continued, all the while pressing the barrel of his gun harder and harder into Ethan’s forehead. “You know how long I planned this day? Do you know how much insurance I’m covered for?”
“Wait… what?” It just came out. The last statement was so absurd it made my mind spin circles. Then, through the haze, I got two words, almost like a splash in the face. Bank owner.
You’ve got to be kidding me. The retard was robbing his own bank and planning on collecting the insurance money? It was like a really bad movie plot. My fear was replaced with anger at this moron and his idiotic plan. Like the police wouldn’t notice the millions transferred to his account in the Bahamas, or Switzerland, or wherever.
“You own the bank? What kind of a heist is this?”
He was momentarily stunned. His grip loosened on the gun. “How did you know that?” Then his resolve returned; he swung the gun around and pointed it at my head. “How. Did. You. Know. That?”
The movement of the gun startled me and I took a step back. I debated telling him I could read his mind, but that seemed like a poor choice. There was no way I would let up on him, though. He was close to breaking; I could hear it in his voice.
“How did you know that?” he said more slowly, as if I hadn’t heard him the first two times. His voice cracked ever so slightly this time.
“Give it up,” I pressed on, taking a step in his direction. “You’re not some criminal mastermind. You’re just some loser who hates his job.”
When he actually backed away from me, a thrill shot through me that I was able to accomplish this. But I still wished I had the power to delve into his head. It would be over in a matter of seconds. But I still couldn’t get through the haze.
“Get back or I’ll shoot.” The threat would have been a more impressive if his hands weren’t shaking like a Chihuahua.
“You’re joking, right?” I took another step toward him, which he countered with another step back.
Anger flashed in his eyes and then, for a half-second, his nervousness was gone. It returned though as he spoke, “I don’t need to be talked down to by some little girl.”
I laughed. He called me a little girl. Meanwhile he was the one quaking like a kid who’d just seen a monster in her closet. It was very amusing.
“This is your last warning. Get back or I’ll shoot.”
“No you won’t,” I said calmly but menacingly, praying I was right. “If you were going to shoot me you would have already.”
“I’ll do it! I swear!”
Ethan was up on his knees finally. “Christine,” he said with a hint of warning in his voice.
“Relax, he’s bluffing,” I assured him, praying I was correct. “He probably doesn’t even have bullets in the gun. They’re probably just blanks.”
“No they aren’t,” the man interrupted.
“Then shoot,” I insisted and took another step. “I dare you.” This time he didn’t step back.
As a matter of fact, he stepped toward me and pressed the barrel of the gun to my forehead. Uh-oh. He wasn’t shaking anymore. His confusion must have passed. My window of opportunity was closed.
“Christine!” Ethan stumbled to his feet.
I closed my eyes and prayed again that I was right.
Something went bang, but it wasn’t the gun. I didn’t open my eyes, but a loud and forceful voice voice said, “Police! Freeze!”
Oh crap!
There was another bang. I’m not sure what it was, because the next thing I knew a gust of wind whisked me off my feet. When I opened my eyes a few seconds later, I was looking into Ethan’s worried gaze. Around us was that same moving gray I had associated with his running from before. Thank God he got his strength back.
He wasn’t running as fast as he had on the way there, but still fast enough. “You’re insane,” he yelled. “You know that, right?”
“Someone had to do something,” I explained. He either didn’t hear me, or he didn’t deem the statement worthy enough for a response.
He slowed down long before we got back to the school, but only returned to normal human running speed once we were inside. He put me down on what seemed like the exact spot we’d left from. The hallway was completely empty, and as I gaze up at the clock I saw that we’d only been gone for about ten minutes.
“You all right?” he asked me.
“I could ask you the same thing.”
I buried my face in his chest and felt him wrap his arms around me. It felt so nice and warm in his arms. More importantly, it felt safe. All the fear and nervousness of the last few minutes threatened to barge through the floodgates. It took all I had to hold them in check.
“Are you sure you still want to be a superhero?” I whispered.
“Mmm hmm.” He nodded. “You?”
I answered before thinking about it. “Okay.”
After today, I wasn’t going to let him run off without me. I wouldn’t lose him because he went off to do something stupid without someone watching his back. I could never forgive myself.
I don’t know how long we stood there. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes though. We were interrupted by something on the TV overhead: my name.
“We have an unconfirmed report that two children were the saviors today. One of the hostages told police that a boy and a girl, around fourteen or fifteen, rescued them from the assailants. Reports are coming in that the female hero was named, Christine.”
Oh crap!
The reporter went on to say how we escaped amid the hysteria and that police were looking for any information on us and that further reports would be coming as they got them. The reporter ended by thanking us and calling us the only true heroes in a city of helpless people.
I was so engrossed in the news that I didn’t even hear someone come up the hallway. I jumped when I heard his voice.
“Ms. Carpenter. Mr. Everett.” It was Mr. Quinn. Looking down at us as he normally did. This time though, there was an unnatural gleam in his eye that told me we were in deep trouble. “I hope you enjoyed your little field trip.”
Oh crap!
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