Monday after swim practice, Hannah stood outside the rear passenger door of her pink Escalade. The bruises from the Dragon Girl incident had faded from purple and black to green and yellow. Hannah’s mouth pinched like Nan’s did when she was unhappy. Must be that she’d had to drive the four blocks over to the pool, which wasn’t even out of her way home.

Kyle scowled at Emma from the passenger seat.

“You’re in the backseat tonight,” Hannah said, after inspecting the towel Emma had wrapped around her wet hair and deciding that Emma was dry enough to get in the car.

“Nan said Monday dinners are only for family.” Emma glared at the back of Kyle’s head as she climbed in. Even his hair was perfect, too.

“Kyle and I have been dating for three years.” Hannah’s tone didn’t allow for any argument and Emma wasn’t Nan. Nan would tell Hannah that Kyle coming to Monday night dinner wasn't okay. Hannah could deal with the repercussions.

Emma smiled at the thought of Hannah getting hers.

When they entered the big house, as always Emma stared up at the double stairways into the second story. Why did Hannah get to live in this palace when Emma was stuck in a gross trailer?

Not bothering to wait for Hannah and Kyle, Emma hurried out of the entryway, careful not to knock into any of Aunt Beth’s fragile collections with her duffel bag or backpack. On the other side of the wall, the fake wood floors and ornate couches where Nan and Aunt Beth sat still made her feel like the country mouse, but she felt a little better than being a tiny speck under the stairs.

“Are you ready for dinner?” Aunt Beth asked.

“Of course.” By the time dinner rolled around most nights—especially on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with two-a-day workouts—Emma was starving and could eat whatever was put in front of her.

“I’m glad you decided to come, Kyle.” Aunt Beth said with a smile.

Nan’s lips turned into a puckered white line. “Mondays are only for family.”

“I said he could come.” Beth ran her hand over her face. “We need some testosterone to balance us out since Frank’s working late again.”

“Is he still working on that Jamal Robinson case?” Emma asked.

“Yes.” Aunt Beth stood and headed towards the dining room. “But now that Speedster and a couple other wannabe superheroes are causing problems.”

“Really?” Kyle asked, leaning forward.

“Frank says supers are making so much more work for the DA’s office. Criminals come gift wrapped.” Aunt Beth shook her head. “But with no evidence, they have to release them again. So, what’s the point? More cases and more paperwork, but with no evidence to back it up… it means more time working for the DA’s office, but the criminals are back on the streets in no time.”

Emma frowned. That didn’t seem right. Were superheroes even making a difference?

“I think they’d be better off if they just arrested all the supers,” Nan said. “They’re dangerous.”

Emma shrank further into her seat. She didn’t want to talk about any of this. Would Nan still say that if she found out about Emma’s powers?

The table wasn’t really any more crowded than usual. But with Nan glaring at Kyle on one side of her and Hannah staring at him all moon-eyed on the other, Emma didn’t know what to do. So, she didn’t say anything and shoveled salad into her mouth. She reached for a helping of seconds, half oblivious to the conversation between the rest of the family and Kyle.

“The underclass masquerade is coming up,” Hannah said. “Who are you going with?”

Emma shrugged. “I’m still grounded.”

“Mom, you’re not really going to keep her grounded through the end of the school year, are you?” Aunt Beth winked at Emma.

“This is not appropriate conversation with someone who’s not family,” Nan snapped.

“Kyle’s practically family,” Hannah said. “We’ve been dating since freshman year.”

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Emma rolled her eyes.

“Half the school knows about Emma crying in geography and well…” Kyle looked down at his hands. “Hannah told me about Emma’s… extra time on her project.”

“I’m still doing the work,” Emma blurted. Her feet dangled like a little kid’s, so to keep her emotions from getting the better of her, she let them swing. She hadn’t argued the grounding with Nan. She deserved it. Even if Ollie said it wasn’t her fault, it was. Emma hadn’t turned in the project. Autism or not, it didn’t excuse her from hard work.

“If you don’t let her date, how will she find a man to take care of her?” Aunt Beth asked.

“School is more important than finding a man,” Nan said. Her voice was hard and cold.

“That’s not how you raised me.” Aunt Beth smiled like the cat who ate the canary. She glanced up to the vaulted ceilings and towards the elaborate kitchen.

“That was a mistake.” Nan shook her head. “What if something happens to Frank? I thought your dad was enough, but…”

Emma swallowed hard. Nan never talked about Pops. His heart had given out shortly after Emma’s parents’ accident and Nan had been left with all the bills and no income to support them.

“That’s not going to happen to me,” Aunt Beth said. “Everything’s paid for and the winery makes a profit even past the DA’s office. Besides, Frank has a pension and life insurance. You have to make sure to prepare for everything, sweetie.”

Kyle choked. Hannah might think he was practically family, but it didn’t sound like he was quite ready for marriage and supporting Hannah. The two of them started whispering back and forth.

Nan shook her head. “School is important, and if she’s got too much going on, then the extracurriculars will go so she can focus on what matters. No fall sports either.”

“Come on, Mom. Go easy on her. High school’s overwhelming and even you told me she’s meeting her modified schedule.”

“I am! The new schedule makes more sense to me and I actually like—” Emma glanced at Kyle and Hannah. They didn’t need to know about her diagnosis. She was normal or normal enough. “That class with Ms. Ngo is nice.”

Nan frowned at them. “What is this? Try and talk an old woman out of parenting night?”

“It’s not like that,” Emma said. The tension was building in her jaw. She hadn’t practiced any fireballs since their long run on Thursday. If her emotions got too big, she didn’t want to accidentally gleek-sneeze one out in Hannah’s dining room. “I just… I’ve been working really hard and I’ve been grounded for almost a month. It would be nice to be able to go with my friends.”

“You should have thought about that before you didn’t turn in your project.”

“Mom, she gets it. She’s a good kid,” Aunt Beth said. “Besides, you knew Rosalie had her—”

“Ollie’s been wanting to take me dress shopping!” Emma blurted, cutting Beth off before she said anything about how her mom had her diagnosed as a little kid. “Even if I can’t go to the dance, it would be nice to help her pick—”

“See, Mom, she wants to do normal girl things. If you let her have a social life, then maybe it won’t matter that she’s—”

“Aunt Beth!” Emma cut her aunt off and interrupted Hannah’s whispered conversation with Kyle.

“She’s what?” Hannah asked.

“Nothing.” Emma’s cheeks burned, radiating heat throughout her body. “I’m nothing.”

Her jaw ached. She didn’t want Hannah to know. And definitely not Kyle. No one should know. She’d told Ollie because Ollie would understand. Hannah didn’t need to know. She was such a bitch to Emma already. “Can I go get the next course?”

“I’ll think about it,” Nan said, even as Beth nodded and Emma slid off the tall chair.

“What about you two?” Aunt Beth asked. “You have big plans for prom?”

“Me and Kyle are running against Summer and Hunter for king and queen.”

“Isn’t that hard? Running against your best friend?” Nan asked.

“Pretty sure people like us better. Especially after Hunter almost hit me with his car.” Hannah gestured to her face. “Besides, prom’s a month and a half away. This should be gone by then.”

“No one’s seen that Dragon Girl since,” Kyle said. “She’d have stopped that robbery last night if she were going to do anything else.”

“Geek Fire,” Emma said, returning with a serving plate layered with steaks.

“What?” Kyle asked.

“She’s called Geek Fire.” Emma set the plate on the center of the table and turned to go back to the kitchen for the side dishes.

“Where’d you hear that?” Kyle laughed. “She breathes fire. Everyone’s been calling her Dragon Girl.”

Only one dish. Aunt Beth had put the green beans and mashed potatoes on opposite sides of one casserole dish. Emma’s stomach turned. She hated when food touched that wasn’t supposed to. Maybe she’d just eat extra meat and not touch the sides. Wait, was that an autism thing?

“Her wiki page calls her Geek Fire.” Emma picked up the dish. Should she eat the sides so she wasn’t acting autistic? “It says the fire doesn’t start at her mouth and—”

“Yeah, right. She’s the Dragon,” Hannah said.

“Why would you call someone who breathes fire anything other than a dragon?” Kyle asked. “That’s just weird.”

“He’s right, even that Super Commission guy called her the Dragon when he interviewed me about being saved,” Hannah said.

Emma sat the dish on the table and climbed back into her seat. She didn’t want to talk about that EastTech guy or any of that.

“You’ll really think about it, Nan?” Emma asked, returning to the earlier conversation.

She didn’t want to tell Hannah and Kyle she was Geek Fire and that she didn’t breathe fire. If she admitted that she knew how the fire worked more than the wiki page said when Hannah had been there and had gotten saved… If she pushed it more, then… Even though, the uStream videos of her saving Hannah made it clear the fire started a bit away from her face, if she pushed it they'd suspect she knew something. She couldn’t push it anymore.