“Dude, are you alright? You’ve been out of it all morning.”

I regarded Jackson with a mirthless laugh. Out of all the subjects I was forced to sit through at school, Business Studies and Economics was by far the most boring. Maybe I could develop an AI to do all my homework for me, then I could completely ignore this class.

“I didn’t sleep very well,” I replied, scribbling circles in my textbook. “I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

That was putting it lightly. The raid on the meatworks was tonight and Sam was still sussing things out with Springsong to ensure we had a solid plan to remove Grim from the equation. If we couldn’t get him to leave then the whole operation would fall apart. I wasn’t sure if that would stop Anomaly and that was the scary part. He clearly wanted to save his friend and he was willing to go through Grim to get her.

I was antsy. I had gone over my place in the plan with Alex last night and she really didn’t like how we lacked a solid strategy to deal with Grim. She gave me a few suggestions but there was no guarantee that the guy would fall for the bait. Whatever they were up to, it was enough to get the shadowy murder cloud off his ass.

“Anything you wanna get off your chest?” Jackson asked. “Always willing to let ya vent. God knows everyone just needs to explode sometimes.”

“Nah,” I brushed off easily. “It’s just the usual shit. Existential crisis stuff. Mom, my future, life. You know. I’m worried about how she’s going to cope with me moving out after I graduate.”

A misdirection of the truth. Worries that still plagued me but clearly not the ones that were weighing on my mind right now.

“I getcha. We can talk shop about our DnD sesh if you want to get your mind off that stuff,” He chuckled lightly. “Beats listening to Mr. Tanning drone on about ‘competitive advantage’ or whatever the hell he’s on about.”

I chuckled. “Well, you’re not wrong about that…”

I quickly zoned out, my eyes found a nice place on the wall to observe for the last ten minutes or so. I hadn’t kept counting but every so often I’d look at the budget analog clock slowly ticking. With each second that passed, the assault drew closer. Was I ready? Was all my gear up to standard? I had taken Sam’s advice and added as many modules to my suit as I could feasibly allow. I didn’t have much time left so I had to be cautious with what I chose.

Shock absorbers.

Power capacity.

Magnetic holsters.

Fire resistance.

All of that was barely scratching the surface of what I wanted to add as well. The thought occurred to me to add retractable blades to the arms of my suit in case I needed an emergency melee option. It was doable but the steps required were a bit too pricey to get finished before tonight’s operation so I had to flag it. Hopefully, I wouldn’t need them seeing as Sam wanted me on overwatch.

Hopefully, that target practice I got in over the week was going to pay off otherwise I’d be having a very awkward conversation with Sam after all was said and done.

The bell rang and I looked over at Jackson just as spaced out as I was. We packed up our things to head to the next class.

“You’re not passing this class, are you?” I chuckled.

Jackson just shrugged wryly. “It’s not a core subject so I don’t really care. I’ve done the math in my head, I can let it slide if I’m feeling lazy. I bet I can squeeze through with a C if I cram before midterms. I’m not too worried.”

“You, study?” I rolled my eyes. “I’ll believe it when I see it. You played DOTA every night last year before our end of year exams. I don’t know how you managed to pass the year.”

“Oh, come on. Don’t act like the exams last year were hard. We all steamrolled them. I barely needed to study. Abby and Chris only used flashcards and they pretty much snoozed through every paper,” Jackson dismissed my concerns. “Lucy was the only one who over prepared for them. She said they were way easier than she was expecting.”

“The only subjects she didn’t perfect were scholarship science and computer studies.”

Jackson snorted. “She still complains about that, doesn’t she?”

“I make a point not to bring it up when she’s around. It really pisses her off,” I remarked dryly. The night all the results came through, she had dinner at my place and talked Mom’s ear off about how useless some of the graders were. She actually had the gall to complain that they were unqualified for their position and that she’d do a better job marking and grading her own tests.

“You sure you don’t need to get anything off your chest?” Jackson asked as we walked. “You’ve been in ruts before. We’ve all had them but this has been going on for a while now. I’m not the only one who’s noticed. Abby mentioned the other day that you just seem sorta… I dunno how to say it. Distant?”

Everything about school felt so pointless in the grand scheme of things and I suppose that was coming across in my attitude.

As things were now, I wasn’t sure if I was even going to have the opportunity to go to university. I’d certainly try but everything was just so uncertain. Would I even need to go to university? Life drastically changed when you had powers.

“I don’t really know what you're talking about,” I lied. I didn’t feel as guilty as I thought I would after the words came out of my mouth. “I feel like I usually do.”

“Alright,” Jackson said easily. “Hit me up if you ever need to talk. I gotta go, Calculus is calling. Pray for me.”

We went our separate ways and I headed toward Social Studies in a haze. It took a solid nudge to my shoulder to bring me out of it.

I looked up to see I had passed Pete’s crew. Strangely, they were missing their head honcho.

Weird.

I couldn’t remember a time when these guys walked around without trailing after Pete like lost little lambs, but it was between classes so it probably wasn’t a big deal. The guy that had nudged me glared but didn’t engage. The rest of them were chatting up their girlfriends, some of which gave me disgusted side eyes.

I won’t miss this when I graduate.

I found my seat in Social Studies and relaxed a bit as my peers began filing in. Lucy caught my eye when she walked in, strolling over to the seat next to me.

“Hey. Are you ready for today?” I wracked my brain, wondering what she meant by that. It must have shown on my face because she continued. “Uh, Max? The assignment? You brought our stuff today, right?”

A pit formed in my stomach. I had been so consumed by preparing for the raid against the Cains that I had neglected to finish my part in the project. The pit in my stomach turned to dread as a cold sweat broke out across my skin. I had never been so careless before. I wasn’t the most diligent student but I had always been onto my assignments.

“Fuck.”

Lucy’s shoulders slumped. “Tell me you're joking. Max, please… this is the second biggest project this class has this year. I— we can’t afford to miss out on the credits!”

Words failed me as I fumbled internally, trying to think of a way I could explain. When nothing came to mind, I was forced to settle for the embarrassing last resort.

“I’m sorry—”

“Oh, my fucking god,” Lucy hissed under her breath, looking away from me. “Of all the times to screw up, it had to be now?”

I had promised I would get it all finished and I hadn’t delivered. She had every right to be upset. It wasn’t like I was just talking to Jackson about how seriously Lucy took her studies and here I was, screwing that up for her.

We sat in silence as the class started.

Ms. Elise called each pair up to present. It was embarrassing that everyone but us were prepared. Even worse, some of the other projects were actually interesting. A few did Gaea and the Mountain as was expected, while others picked more interesting supers like Bayside’s ECU Captain, Ionizer, or a Canadian super from the seventies called Starseeker who could get vague predictions of the future by staring at the night sky. Apparently, he used his power to make millions gambling and was the first of many like him that led to the massive decline of casinos worldwide.

What really made my guilt worse was that none of them sounded as interesting as Cyberspace.

“Next please. Maxis and Lucy?” Ms. Elise looked over at us. She was a young woman, one of the newer teachers. She was passionate about the subject she taught and overall tried to make.

Out of the corner of my eye, Lucy glared at me. The rest of the class turned when they noticed neither of us stood up.

“I…” I started, trying my best to ignore the stares I received. “...forgot my stuff at home. Sorry.”

Snickering erupted all around me.

“You’re aware the deadline is today, correct?” Ms. Elise asked. I shrugged helplessly. Her gaze flickered between me and Lucy before ultimately sighing and writing something down in the book she had in front of her. “See me after class, please.”

I slumped in my chair as the class moved on. The next forty minutes were the most awkward of my life. I could practically feel Lucy’s anger rolling off her and the moment she was able, she’d put as much distance between the two of us as she could.

I definitely need to make that AI.

I couldn’t kick myself enough for this blunder. Before getting involved with Sam, my secret super life was relatively mundane. There weren’t many distractions and I was able to confidently keep my focus on school. Now it felt like it dominated every waking moment and I barely had time for anything else.

How do you do it, Sam?

It was a stupid question, really. Sam admitted the only reason she was at Eastworth Girls was to scout for potential recruits and to keep an eye on the undercover teachers. I had never asked her what her social life was like or if she even had any friends there. What did she actually do to pass the time while at school? Gold probably did most of the heavy lifting when it came to academics. Mentalists, apparently, cheated like that.

As the bell rang for lunch and everyone was packing up to leave, Lucy and I remained seated. When the class emptied, Ms. Elise gave us both a curious look before gesturing for us to come up. Numbly, I got out of my chair and ambled over to her with Lucy trailing behind me.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Would you like to explain yourselves?” She asked, her tone a bit more sympathetic. “This kind of forgetfulness isn’t something I’d expect from you two. I know you are both high achieving, hardworking students.”

“It’s my fault,” I said. “Lucy gave me all our research notes and I promised to put it all together. I just forgot.”

It was a terrible excuse but it was the truth. There was just so much else on my mind and all of this just felt so meaningless. People like Mirage were out there messing and hurting people. Grim was doing only God knows what, Masquerade was probably helping him, and here I was getting chewed out for forgetting a school social studies project.

It felt like the whole world lacked any perspective and I was the only person who understood what really mattered.

Is this what Abby feels like all the time?

“I’ve been reminding the class every day for the past week, Mr. Troy,” Ms. Elise said, shaking her head. “Unless you’ve been zoning out in my classes, that’s no excuse. Ms. Kim, do you have anything to add?”

Lucy’s angry look faded a little when she turned to face our teacher. “Are we going to fail?”

Ms. Elise sighed and pursed her lips. “The head of department has explicitly said on multiple occasions that projects like this are not allowed extensions. They are time consuming to mark and grade, especially with midterms around the corner. Without a doctor's note or another valid reason, I’m not allowed to give an extension.”

I felt my heart sink. Lucy would have to score close to perfect results in the next project and in the mid and end-of-year exams if she wanted to get a decent grade. Even then, missing this project was like shooting yourself in the foot.

“However,” Ms. Elise pinched the bridge of her nose. “I can see this is a clear case of one person dropping the ball more than the other. Coupled with the fact that you two aren’t ones to usually do this. If you see me after school on Monday, I’ll let you two present to me in private. This is not without consequence,” she was quick to squash my sudden surge of hope. “Whatever mark you receive for this project will automatically lose twenty percent. That is the best I can do.”

That was significantly better than outright failing. A quick look at Lucy showed that she was beyond relieved.

“Thank you so much,” Lucy breathed. “I am so sorry.”

“Ms. Kim, I do not think you are the one that needs to apologize,” Ms. Elise’s gaze turned back to me. “Detention, Mr. Troy, next Tuesday after school. You can meet me here.”

I cringed a little. I couldn’t remember the last time I had actually had detention.

“Alright.”

We left class together and Ms. Elise went the opposite direction with her things tucked under her arm. I released a sigh as Lucy nudged me. I turned to find her angry expression back. I had to admit, I was rather surprised to still see her here. I was half expecting her to have walked off the moment she was given the opportunity.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on or am I going to have to pull it out of you?” Lucy asked. “I didn’t want to pry since I know you’ve had it rough recently but what the hell. You promised you’d have our project sorted. What, did you just sit there and jerk off for the whole week?”

“I’m just—” I stopped myself and shook my head. “Look, I’m sorry, okay? Like you said, I haven’t had a good time recently. My head’s just been in a weird place.”

“You should have said something!” Lucy glared. “If you had, I would have just done the assignment myself.”

I scowled. “That’s not fair on you. It’s a group project, I need to pull my weight.”

“Yeah? Funny how that turned out. Can I even trust you to finish it in time for Monday?” Lucy asked. It was hard to ignore just how scathing her voice sounded. “Look, Max. It’s fine if you aren’t feeling it. I can carry us through this if I need to. You’ve had a bad time lately, I get it. It sucks. Just tell me if you can’t do it.”

“I can do it just fine!” I shot back, frustrated. “I just forgot, okay?”

Lucy stared at me, her eyes narrowing.

“I seem to remember you promising me that you’d tell me everything; that you wouldn’t be keeping any more secrets,” She lowered the volume of her voice, likely knowing that this could be a touchy subject. While the hallway we were in now was empty, the lunch bell had rung and I could hear the menagerie of students outside the building. “Is there anything you want to tell me? If something’s going on, I’d like to know. I can help you Max.”

No, you can’t.

I miss one homework assignment and Lucy suddenly thinks there’s something going on. She was right, of course, but I couldn’t help but wonder why she had come to that conclusion so quickly. Jackson I could understand, I had more classes with him than I did with Lucy but this interrogation was going to get old very quickly. Maybe I looked more out of it than I realized.

“Nothing’s going on. I just slipped up. It happens.”

She opened her mouth to retort but stopped. She shifted on the spot and slowly crossed her arms.

“You’re lying,” she laughed and I could feel how bitter the words were. How did she know I was lying? Was I that easy to read? “I can’t believe it. You’re really going to stand there and just lie to my face like that. I’ve known you for over twelve years. I know when you're trying to bullshit me.”

I rubbed my face in aggravation. I didn’t know what to say that would satisfy her. The truth would only hurt her. She’d find a way to get herself involved and I could barely protect myself let alone someone else. The last thing I wanted was the Cains going after Lucy. I couldn’t have that kind of distraction. I couldn’t give Mirage, Grim, or anyone that kind of leverage over me.

“I don’t know what to say. It’s just a mistake. I screwed up, it’s just that simple.”

“It’s not that simple,” she shot back immediately. “If it was, you wouldn’t have completely forgotten to finish and bring a project worth a third of our grade. You don’t forget things. I’ve never known you to forget things, especially school assignments. You’ve always been reliable so somethings up and I want to know.”

“So what? I screw up this once and suddenly there’s something wrong?”

“You’re getting really defensive for someone claiming there’s nothing going on.”

“Because you keep assuming there is!” I snapped. “I already said that I was sorry. I’ll fix it for Monday and we’ll pass with flying colors. Being penalized won’t even matter.”

Lucy sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Just fucking tell me, Max. What’s going on? You get your ass kicked, car stolen, start picking fights with Pete and his friends, and you’ve been moping around for weeks. I’m not stupid, something’s got you rattled and before you start I know it's not Eleanor, I’ve asked her if she’s doing alright. So something’s up and it’s been getting worse.”

So she had noticed, just like Jackson and Abby.

Alex had already known and had been feigning ignorance but she had seen my spiral starting and had offered to help. Lucy… I could trust Lucy. She had always been there for me, even in some of my worst moments. I wanted to trust her. I did trust her. I trusted her far more than Sam. If I could just stop her from involving herself—

She already knows something is going on.

My eyes met hers and she stood, patiently waiting for a response.

She’s going to start digging if I keep trying to hide things.

I inhaled and steadied myself. I gently reached out and took Lucy’s arm, leading her over to a corner in the hallway behind some lockers.

“What’re you doing?” Her tone took on a whole different meaning as I placed her in the corner. She backed up against the cool metal, her face flushing a little. “This is awfully forward of you. Are you going to tell me now? Is… did Eleanor not tell me something? Is she sick? Max—”

I knew she wasn’t going to stop so I shushed her.

She scowled.

I poked my head out and scanned both ends of the hallway. There were students moving outside both ends but no one had come inside. Technically, it was against the rules to be inside the classroom buildings during lunch unsupervised. The only place students were allowed in during lunch breaks was the library and the computer labs for study.

“You’re being a total weirdo. Why are we hiding?” Lucy complained as I turned back to her. Her eyes widened a little as she leaned back, her head tapping the side of the metallic lockers. “If you kiss me I’m going to kick you.”

I wrinkled my nose at her insinuation. “What? No.”

“What’s this all about then?”

“I have powers.”

Lucy’s mouth opened and bobbed a bit. Her impression of a goldfish was spot on. Finally, she swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat and I watched the color drain out of her.

“Oh.”

I saw realization suddenly surge across her face. The initial shock was short-lived as she started rubbing her temples, mumbling incoherently under her breath. As I waited for her to get a hold of herself, I considered my options carefully. If I could trust Lucy not to do anything crazy, then I needn’t tell Sam about any of this. I didn’t need a lecture from Gold.

“That would explain… a lot,” Lucy started. “How long?”

“About a month now.”

“Okay.”

She sounded like she was torn between relief and terror. Both of us knew what it meant to be a super. We had known Abby since intermediate school so it wasn’t like she was unaware of what being a super was like. Since I wasn’t already with the ECU, I could imagine Lucy was slowly figuring out what I was doing.

“You weren’t going to tell me, were you?”

My heart ached at her tone. She sounded defeated.

I looked away.

“I was, eventually,” she didn’t look convinced. I didn’t blame her. I didn’t sound convincing. “My awakening wasn’t one of the nice ones, it was stressful. You remember that night I called you from the hospital, when my mom’s chair broke, she fell out of it and almost fractured her hip? It was around that time. I’m not really sure at what moment it happened but I was trying to fix her chair in the hospital parking lot. Mom was in pain and I couldn’t get the shitty thing to cooperate. I just made things worse.”

Lucy solemnly nodded. “Yeah, I remember. That was a bad night for you.”

“Yeah. Next morning I woke up and I was a super. Since then I’ve been debating on what to do with my powers. I started to experiment with them and… well, I drew some attention. Now, I’m not exactly in the heroic line of business. I’m trying to figure things out as I go so I’ve been really distracted lately and… and—” I paused when I noticed she was staring off into space, completely unfocused, like she wasn’t listening at all. “—Lucy?”

She blinked, her focus returning in a flash. “Yeah, what? I’m listening.”

“You completely spaced out there.”

“No I didn’t,” she defended quickly. “Do Alex and Eleanor know?”

Right back to the questioning. Talk about whiplash…

“Mom doesn’t and… I’d like to keep it that way. Alex knows but I didn’t tell her. She just… figured it out, I guess. I think she knew from the start. Don’t ask me how.”

I was met with silence.

She spaced out again and she looked like she was staring right through me.

“You’re doing it again,” I felt myself getting nervous. “Come on, say something.”

She reached out and lightly pushed me away so she could step out from the corner. I watched as she took a few slow steps into the middle hallway, looking unsure as to where she should go. I waited for her to turn around so I could see her again but as the seconds ticked by, all I could see was the flat of her back.

She wouldn’t face me.

“Are you… okay?”

Her alien behavior was starting to bother me. I was expecting anger, maybe even some angry crying. This… I didn’t know what to call this reaction. It wasn’t indifference. I knew what that looked like. Shock was obvious but I had seen her when she was properly shocked before. This… this was all new.

She turned.

“I’m… fine.”

I was almost certain that was code-speak for ‘I’m not fine.’

Before I could question any further, she started walking away.

“Hey—!”

I reached out to stop her but she turned and smacked my hand away.

“No! No,” I could see moisture building up in her eyes and it threw me for a loop. “Just— I can’t. I can’t do this right now. Sorry, I… I need to be alone.”

Her walk turned into a jog and I felt all my desire to chase after her wither and die.

I watched as she ran out of the building, passing some of the students outside. They took one look at her and gave her a wide berth to let her pass. I just stood in a daze, trying to piece together the confusing series of events.

Of all the reactions I had been expecting, I could confidently say that this wasn’t one of them.