My cell phone immediately began ringing the second I got off the bus ride home. I contemplated simply heading inside and relaxing before checking what it was about, but something told me that I should look at it as soon as possible. And the second I read the name on the display, my heart leapt out of my chest.

It was Zoey.

Zoey was calling me.

Though I recognize that it was indeed Zoey, the name that appeared on my display read ‘Captain’. This was in order to hide our affiliation should someone find my phone. It was her idea to disguise our relationship, so I was merely following through by making sure nothing would give us away. She also mentioned making a habit of using disappearing messages so that none of what we said would be archived on either of our devices.

It was difficult to admit, but there was a part of me that enjoyed the secrecy of it all. Having this kind of relationship with Zoey was all but a dream come true. Sure, it wasn’t a romantic relationship. It seemed like she was mostly curious about my powers and wanted to learn about them with me. But still, that’s progress compared to where I was a week ago. I could only imagine what kind of fun adventures we’d embark on in the future. But unfortunately, there was another part of me that despised my own happiness. I hated the creepy side of myself that I saw in all of the guys who had been texting her endlessly. It made me feel embarrassed to be in my own skin.

But I decided to repress those unsettling feelings. Because the truth of it is, this was the best thing to ever happen to me. The ability to talk to Zoey whenever I wanted was something I’d always dreamed of, after all.

But before I could get lost in my daze of joy, I decided to press the answer call button on my phone.

“Uh, hello?”

“It seems like the blame for our breakup has shifted from you to Gwen. You did well today.”

Without so much as a greeting, she got straight to business. But still, to receive her praise like that wasn’t a bad feeling at all.

“Thanks, but… I’m still confused about a few things.”

“Oh really? Like what?”

“Like, how did you know that he’d try to blame me for your breakup? And how did you know that he’d blame Gwen if I pushed him in that direction?”

She went silent for a moment, and I heard what sounded like typing in the background. I thought that she must have been working in the club room.

“Ah, apologies. I was responding to an e-mail. I didn’t know that he’d come after you with any certainty, but judging by his text messages to me after the breakup, it sounded like he came to the conclusion that I was convinced to break up with him by a third party. If we also assume that you were the only one he saw having a conversation with me yesterday, then it’s easy to guess what he’d do next. As for Gwen…” I heard Zoey chuckle on the other end of the line. “Well, let’s just say that she brought it upon herself.”

She brought it upon herself, those were the words that Zoey used. Thinking back, the two of them were having a conversation in front of the entire student body.

With how quickly information had been going around, there was no way he didn’t hear about it. I supposed that he might have initially let her off because he was certain it was another guy who got into Zoey’s ear.

“In any case, Tristan. Now that those obstacles are out of the way, we need to continue talking about your abilities. Are you free tonight?”

“Free? Well, I was going to type that paper up tonight, but besides that…”

“Oh, that’s perfect then. Why don’t I lend you a hand while we’re at it? Come spend the night at my place tonight. I’ll let you work on my laptop.”

Her words reverberated on the inside of my head.

It felt unreal to me.

Spend the night…

I couldn’t believe it.

She was inviting me over… to her house?

To her room?

The room from those dreams?

I could only gulp.

“Uh, spend the night? But…”

“But what? You’ve already spent the night technically, haven’t you?”

“W-well yes, but… Are your parents going to be fine with that? I mean, a guy in your room…”

“Don’t worry about the details. I can take care of it. Will you be able to show up?”

“Uh, I think I can manage…”

No, there was no way I could just tell my parents that I was going over to a girl’s house to write a paper without being asked a million questions about it. But there was also no way that I could pass up on the opportunity.

“I’ll text you the address and time then. Later.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Oh, oka-” The line cut before I could finish my sentence.

She must not have been in a situation where she could communicate as freely as she would have liked. The club room was probably starting to get busy. After all, we were only two days from homecoming. It seemed like I would have to be more understanding of her situation as we move forward. Having her number wasn’t actually the same as being able to talk to her anytime I wanted.

Still, her intelligence terrified me.

That she not only figured out that I hacked her after one interaction, but also the way she chased Benjamin off so effortlessly spoke volumes on how much she understands people. All I had to do was follow her instructions and he fell for it hook line and sinker.

She mentioned her strategy in the club room when she was briefing me on what to do. It went something like this: when people suspect you of lying, fight back with as much resistance as possible. This will tire them out even if it makes them even more suspicious. Then, when they feel like they’ve won, release all of the tension by forfeiting and feeding them a much more believable lie. They’ll feel so relieved by their victory that they won’t doubt what you’ve said for more than a second.

She knew that Gwen was a suitable sacrifice for Ben’s anger, and she allowed me to play that hand with the best possible odds by teaching me how to bluff.

It was frightening. The amount of thought that Zoey put into simple conversations was truly frightening.

Frightening, but incredible. My respect for her went up by 5 points.

My phone vibrated and I immediately opened up the text message. In it, she wrote her address as well as the meeting time, 6pm. In other words, in a little over two hours. What surprised me was how close by she lived. According to my GPS, it wouldn’t take more than ten minutes to drive over there.

Just as I memorized the information, she wrote me a second text. She also stipulated that I should bring a change of clothes since she would be driving me to school the next day, a hat, since the day before homecoming at our school was hat day, and, for some reason, a cooler with bags of ice already inside of it. Her last request seemed extremely unreasonable to me at a glance. I was going to have to do a lot of convincing to get this to work. I was exhausted just thinking about how nerve-wracking it would be. However, just the idea of spending the evening at Zoey’s house was enough for me to seriously consider my options.

I opened the front door and the sound of the TV immediately escaped the house. It was a local news story about the rise in petty theft in the community. Seated at the sofa with his back angled at me was my dad, Daniel Collins.

He didn’t seem to notice me coming in, which worked well for me since I could muster the courage to make this huge ask of him. I breathed in deeply.

“Hey, Dad?”

“Oh, hey son. How’d it go? Did you ask her out to homecoming yet?”

“Uh, no not yet. I actually wanted to ask about getting a lift a little later. I’m going to stay over at Lance’s tonight to study.”

“Oh, does that mean the movie’s off?”

I had completely forgotten about our plans to watch a movie. So much was going on that it was hard to keep track of my personal life.

“Uh, you said you could watch it tomorrow, right?”

“Hmmm. Well, I suppose that works. Sure, I can drive you over. Lance, Lance… that was over on Maronille Avenue, right?”

I froze. My lie had already been caught in a snag. I completely forgot that he knew where Lance lived.

“N-no, he moved during the summer. He’s only a few minutes from us now.”

“Oh, really?”

“Also, uh, he told me to fill an icebox up and bring it over.”

“An icebox? Son..” Dad grinned.

I’m not sure what kind of conclusion the icebox had drawn exactly, but if I had to guess, he probably thought that it was some kind of house party. Unfortunately, I had no other lies planned for talking my way out of it, so I planned on telling him the truth had he pressed.

“Well… okay. I guess you two will get pretty thirsty, Is the one in the basement fine? Or should we go grab a new one before we get the ice?”

“Oh, that one’s great. Thanks.”

“Sure thing. Let me go pull it out now, then.” He got up and began walking towards the door to the basement.

The ice box in the basement was a fancy insulated cooler that would have no trouble keeping the ice solid for even a day straight, so it should be fine no matter what Zoey had planned. Although, as relieved as I was that it seemed that things would work out, there was also a part of me that felt guilty for lying to him like this. He’s been nothing but supportive towards me all these years, so to repay him like that felt like a betrayal on my part.

That part of me wondered if that was what it meant to chase after Zoey Brahm. She asked for something this difficult on such short notice. without even a hint of indecision, and I quickly followed through against my better judgment. I wondered if this was what Lance was talking about when he referred to a bad personality. Did Zoey really have one of those? If so, then what was the right answer to that question?

“By the way, dad?” Before he left through the door to the basement, I called out to him.

“Hm? What’s up son?”

I figured out what three other guys my age thought, but I was curious about what an older person would think.

“What type of girl would you prefer to date? A 10 with a bad personality, or a 5 with your dream personality?”

“Son, where do you get off with this number thing?”

“Oh, right… Sorry.” I forgot to rephrase the sentence around dad. He’s pretty anal when it comes to things like that. He’s a textbook male feminist, to the point where he made me feel uncomfortable talking about things like my own sexuality or views on women. But still, I couldn’t resist asking.

“I guess you’re asking if I prefer what’s on the outside or the inside, right?”

“Yeah.”

He thought for a moment. I genuinely couldn’t figure out whether it was normal or fair to prefer a woman’s looks to her personality.

My answer was the same as Law’s, which ended up making me self-conscious about my honesty. The lens that Law views relationships through had seemed so inhuman that I disliked being associated with it.

“Hmm. Well, if you’re talking just dating, then you should go for her personality.”

“Yeah but… we do judge women by their looks right?”

“Yes, that’s true. We do at first. But good looks aren’t going to last forever.”

He smiled and glanced at something behind me before heading down to the basement. When I turned around, I realized that what he had glanced at was a picture of my parents’ wedding day. It suddenly dawned on me what prompted his answer.

As someone much older and wiser than I am, he probably understood human mortality far better than a suburban teen like myself could hope to for a long time. Eventually, both him and mom would get old, and their looks would be nothing but a shell of what was on display in that picture. He was keenly aware of that fact. And yet, he seemed to be at peace with it.

I have to admit, I felt envious of how his life had turned out. A house with the woman of his dreams and a child who he loved. If I could live like that, then I would consider my life a success too.

I wanted to begin my journey of love right that second. And, I believed, this rendezvous with Zoey would be the start of it. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of bond I’d form with Zoey now that we were getting closer.

She still terrified me. Her confident demeanor coupled with her status at school made her figure seem larger than life itself. But she had invited me to her house, so all I could do was follow her lead and hope that the two of us would create a bond as beautiful as the one my parents had formed. After pondering for a moment, my eyes finally drifted down towards the table before me, where I found the Blu-ray case for the movie Dad had mentioned the day before.

It was a movie by the name of Taxi Driver. I decided to take a seat in order to examine it more closely. There was something about the Taxi Driver cover that called out to me. Like a haunting whisper. The image of the man in a mohawk and aviator sunglasses was embedding itself into my mind. Those sunglasses had stood out to me. The air of confidence they oozed were appealing.

I wondered if I could match Zoey’s air of confidence if I wore those. It would be a nice change of pace for the homecoming dance.

And suddenly, an idea came to mind. I decided that once I got to her house, I would ask her out to the dance.

It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I needed to prove to Lance that I wouldn’t always be the Tristan that played it safe all the time.

I could change, and this was my chance to show him.