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Geek Fire: Dragon Girl Book 1
13. An exposé about Dragon Girl

13. An exposé about Dragon Girl

With the pool still broken, swim practice was still on dry land. Since everyone knew that, they all had come prepared to run this time. Coach said the public pool across town would be available as soon as they got lifeguards scheduled.

That day, they started with a short mile and a half run around campus and through the neighborhood. The sky was overcast but sweat dripped in her eyes as Emma pushed to catch up to Sebastian. She now had the perfect excuse to get him to jailbreak her phone and put the semi-legal police scanner app on it.

His long, brown legs flashed even as she pumped her arms to catch him. They ran down through the subdivision with streets filled with girls’ names. Wendy. Candace. Olivia—though Olivia Street didn’t fit Ollie at all. The flower boxes sitting under the windows always made her laugh.

Emma pumped her arms harder, pushing past the heavy feeling in her legs.

“Hey!” Emma gasped as she closed in on Sebastian.

“Hey, yourself.” Sebastian slowed his long even strides so Emma could keep up. Usually, she spent most of the run trailing behind him, but ahead of the main pack.

“What’s up?” Emma asked, catching her breath through the long strides.

“Working on a big article for the paper.” His teeth flashed white as he smiled at her. He seemed relaxed despite the hard-for-her pace.

“Yeah?” Emma asked. That was good. Him talking about the paper would make asking for help with her project easier.

“An exposé about Dragon Girl.”

“Who?” Emma’s heart leapt into her throat. She’d heard that a couple times already today and she didn’t like the name.

“The super who saved your cousin.”

Emma took a ragged breath. “What’s there to write about?”

“Not much yet, but she’s perfect after all the bad stuff about supers in the news. I need to find out who she is.”

Emma’s eyes stung. No way could she have him publish who she was in the paper. She better change the subject. “I picked journalism for my ‘My Future Project.’”

“Glad they’re letting you make that up. I’d hate to miss you in honor’s English next year.” Sebastian smiled at her again for just a second.

“You don’t think I’m spoiled?” Emma’s feet pounded the ground.

“You?” Sebastian snorted. “Yeah right.”

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Maybe smart kids deserved second chances, too. They emerged from the neighborhood onto the frontage road between the high school and the freeway. Big rigs dominated the freeway. What would one of her fireballs do to a big rig?

The steady pounding of her feet on the ground gave her space to think. “I was hoping you could help me with the project, since you’re all about the paper and journalism.”

“Sure! What do you want to know?”

“I was hoping maybe you could jail break my phone with the police scanner app… you know like you did on yours.” Emma swatted at the sweat on her forehead.

“I guess.” Sebastian’s voice was flat.

Left. Right. Left. The next part was a bit more major. Maybe she could turn his article to her advantage. She did need to do an investigation for her project. If she could pretend to help Sebastian with his research, then she could steer him away from her.

“Maybe I could work with you on your superhero investigation to pay you back?” Emma swallowed.

“That would be great. The more people on it, the sooner we’ll find out about her. Aren’t you dying to know who the girl that saved your cousin is?”

“I guess so.” Emma made herself spit out the next words. “I mean, I know everyone's wondering who she is, but what if she doesn’t want to be found?”

“Why wouldn’t she?” Sebastian asked.

Emma didn’t say anything for a while. That big EastTech man terrified her. Then with everyone saying she had the obligation to save people. But the government was looking for supers, and she didn't think they were going to play nice when they found them.

Sebastian slowed their pace again, probably thinking that that was why Emma wasn’t answering.

Right. Left. “Ollie and I met a man on campus today whose job it is to look for the super that saved Hannah yesterday. He’s working for the government or EastTech or something.” Left. Right.

“So, he’s trying to write my article for me.” Sebastian laughed. How could he just laugh? His uncle had been deported when the government had come looking.

“What do you think the government will do to her when they find out who she is?” Emma shivered, despite how hot she felt. Not like they would give her a medal for saving Hannah when they were trying to say supers were a hoax.

“Probably catalogue her powers, maybe run some tests, and let her go. I mean, they’re not going to punish a citizen for being a good Samaritan.”

She didn’t want the granite man guessing who she was at all. She didn’t think it was as simple as just cataloguing her powers.

They turned the corner again, finishing the long side of the run. Just the two short sides of campus now. Past, the parking lot where Emma’d saved Hannah then past the front of the office.

Emma still didn’t say anything, just struggled to keep pace with Sebastian. She glanced at Ms. Range’s spiderwebbed window and the cordoned off area of yellow tape. The school would have to have someone fix the damage she’d done.

“You going to be ungrounded in time for the masquerade?” Sebastian asked.

“Don’t know. Nan’s really had it in for me.” Emma glanced at Sebastian, but she got another eyeful of crater where she’d saved her cousin. Her mouth went dry.

“Too bad.”

They were reaching the last corner before the final run past the office, the old gym, and finally to the pool. “Can I take your phone home with me tonight then?”

“So you could jailbreak it?” At least one thing was going right.

“Yeah.” Sebastian picked up the pace. “You’ll help me look into that super?”

“Yeah.” Maybe she could convince him to keep her identity secret. Or convince him to report about the supers without revealing their identities. Otherwise, Sebastian’s article would be doing that EastTech man’s work for him.