Lucien followed Ty into the driveway on Monday morning with a quiet sense of resignation, not at all looking forward to the last week of his Sophomore year. He’d chosen a white tee, black hoodie, and denim jeans to show his antipathy toward the start of the week. He understood with perfect clarity that it would be an awesome time for his best friend, and it wasn’t as if he begrudged Tiberius that enjoyment. That did not, however, dispel the personal concerns he had about seeing the classmates he knew only tolerated his existence because of his popular god-brother.

“This week is going to rock.” Ty said as they hopped into his truck, a lo-fi playlist queuing up automatically on the vehicle’s stereo system. “No practice, no pressure, just a week of review and relaxation.”

“That’s optimistic.” Lucien replied wryly, leaning his head back against his seat and yawning. He hated mornings. “You know that at least Clarke and Foster are going to give us mind-melting homework as punishment for our upcoming ‘complacency’ over the summer.”

“Dude, you’re too cynical. Just enjoy the fact we’re almost done with this year, and that we get to throw the king of all parties this weekend!”

Lucien snorted as they pulled out of the driveway and turned onto the road, pulling out his phone to idly scroll through his social media feed. “I’m glad you’re excited, but don’t forget that your Dad is letting us do this. That means there’s going to be an expectation of some restraint, especially when it comes to floor access.” He said this pointedly, raising his eyebrows at his friend.

“Jesus.” Ty responded, not meeting Lucien’s eyes. “I get it. No bedroom access. We can just lock down the staircase and basement and keep the party in the yard and floor level. No worries.”

“That includes you, Ty.” Lucien said shrewdly. “You can’t vanish into the pool house with Jessica for half an hour and leave me alone with your friends.”

“Luc, bro, you’re killing me here.”

“Sure Romeo.” Lucien replied without pity, fully aware of his friend’s thought processes. “Remember this is my birthday party. That means you actually need to stick around. I hate being left alone with your team.”

“They’re your friends, man.” Ty said with exasperation.

“No, man, they’re your friends. They just tolerate me because I’m the QB’s weird sidekick.” Lucien tried to maintain an unaffected air as he spoke, but even he could hear the bite of bitterness in his words.

“Who said that?” Ty demanded immediately, glancing at him with a scowl. “I’ll kick their ass.”

“No one said it.” Lucien said with a dismissive wave of his hand, looking from his friend to the road. “Forget it, I was just being a downer. I know the party’s gonna rock, and this week is going to be great. I’m just nervous I guess.” It was a lie, but only mostly. He was nervous, that much was true, but very likely not for the reasons Tiberius suspected. It had become both easier and more necessary to keep his feelings under wraps as he’d gotten older, and Lucien knew that Ty had long ago stopped being able to tell.

It wasn’t his friend’s fault he was a skinny, acne-ridden loser. Ty didn’t deserve that burden.

“I get that.” Ty said, proving Lucien’s hypothesis about his obliviousness true. “But you don’t need to be. This is how you change your fate, my brother. We throw the best fucking party our grade has ever seen, and we put your name on it. Next thing you know, we go into Junior year as the Kings of First High.”

Lucien bit back the sardonic response that immediately came to mind, and instead forced a weary smile and shook his head, looking away. “Sure man.” He said as convincingly as he could. “That’s gonna be a nice change of pace.”

The pair fell silent after that as Ty drove, listening to the music permeating the truck and retreating into their own thoughts. He could tell by the lingering smile on Tiberius’ face that his friend was still imagining the glorious return to school that awaited them. Despite his discomfort with the whole affair, he couldn’t help but find Ty’s optimism and enthusiasm endearing. It wasn’t as if the other boy was being selfish, really, as much as he was misunderstanding the situation.

Lucien’s life as Ty’s constant companion had become an exercise in acting, as far back as their time in seventh grade when his acne had first started to appear. He could see the looks of disgust in the eyes of his peers when they spoke to him, in the faces of the girls that hung around Ty like vapid leeches looking to suck up some of his god-brother’s charismatic presence. He saw it in the dull gaze of the football players that followed their prodigal quarterback around like loyal dogs, staring at Lucien like he was some weird stray they didn’t quite know what to do with.

He saw it in the way he’d slowly lost any other friends outside of Tiberius, either to the inevitable current of age or — and more commonly — the lack of desire they felt to put themselves in the presence of the elitist ‘popular’ crowd that Ty rolled with. While Tiberius himself would be, and largely was, friends with basically the entire school, his social circle inevitably grew to become an exclusive thing, taking on a life of its own that resulted in the estrangement of any fringe elements unwelcome by those sucked into Ty’s gravity.

The only constant that Lucien understood was that the few times people had tried to speak about ditching him to Ty, his friend had gone from zero to one hundred. If there was one thing that could be said about Tiberius Washington, it was that he was loyal to a fault. He treated Lucien as much like a brother and best friend as he did a charge to be protected, and had given more than one person an acidic tongue-lashing for even suggesting that they be separated. The school had learned not to broach the topic.

It didn’t change the fact that Ty’s circle considered him a nerdy, ugly weirdo.

Lucien had adapted to the situation by throwing himself into books on his phone, brazenly reading physical comics, or deliberately engaging in nerd culture in such a way as to infuriate those around Tiberius. He violated the unspoken, sacrosanct laws of High School, and he often did so with Ty’s enthusiastic participation. Lucien couldn’t deny drawing some sense of perverse amusement from watching The Squad — the colloquial name for the hottest girls in their grade — shoot him withering and infuriated looks when he took Ty’s attention with talk of movies or books they both enjoyed.

It was even better when the football team or swim team would ask their joint captain to go with them somewhere, and Lucien would carefully extricate Tiberius from the plan with reminders of their expected return-to-home time or by tempting him with trips to the hyper-nerdy stores he knew his best friend loved as much as he did.

Some part of him felt guilty, at times, for the blatant manipulation involved.

Then he remembered who it was he was taking Ty from, and the guilt died fast.

Twenty minutes passed in comfortable silence to the beat of lo-fi music, and Tiberius pulled up into the expansive parking lot of New Avalon First High School. Situated within the First District of the world’s first mega city, First High encompassed a colossal amount of space. A football field, soccer field, lacrosse field, two Olympic swimming pools, a recreational oval and over a dozen massive buildings made up the High School grounds. Each grade at the school had a student body of close to a thousand students, creating a population density unheard of elsewhere in North America.

There were cars of all types in the park, from the most ludicrously expensive to the most functional and everyday. There was no poverty in New Avalon; Eckhart Grant had instituted several social programs in the wake of his taking the post of Consul that had created sweeping reforms which all but eliminated homelessness and poverty-line living standards. That didn’t mean, however, that wealth disparity didn’t exist.

Lucien and Ty dismounted from the F350 beside a 2042 Corvette, its fire red body a clear marker that it belonged to Jason Theraux, the captain of the lacrosse team and Tiberius’ unofficial ‘rival’ in First High. Their arrival didn’t go unnoticed, with groups of people from their own grade, as well the years above and below, lifting their hands in greeting or nodding in welcome. Lucien paid them no heed, fully aware that such attention was intended for Ty himself, and that any delusions to the contrary would only result in awkwardness when one of the greeting parties noticed him waving back instead of Ty.

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“Ohmigawd, Ty! I totally saw you on TV yesterday!”

Lucien looked up at the sound of a girl’s voice, and felt himself go from hot to cold in rapid succession. Harper Keen was the most popular girl in their grade, very likely the most popular girl in First High. A natural blonde, everything about her exceeded the normal standards of beauty. A cute, slightly upturned button nose, a pair of naturally rosey full lips, sharp cheekbones, and a defined but feminine jaw gave her an almost regal appearance. Her figure was full and healthy, aided by a Cheerleader’s strict fitness routine.

She was polished, intelligent, beautiful in a way that left other girls looking plain…

“Oh. Hi Luc.” She said flatly, before refocusing on Tiberius.

… and, as her greeting reinforced, an S-Class bitch.

“Yeah, we were in central when Hyperion and Atlas were fighting.” Ty said, oblivious to the hostility between Lucien and Harper, or at least choosing not to see it. “Ended up getting some great shots of it,” he grinned. “Though Mom nearly killed us.”

Lucien caught the look in Tiberius’ eye when he took proper note of Harper, and in fairness he couldn’t blame his friend’s clear approval. Between the red and black pencil skirt and the flattering white blouse, even Lucien couldn’t help but approve. It was a pity he found her detestable.

“Oh my god, that’s so funny.” Harper said with an imperceptibly forced laugh, sending Lucien’s hackles up. Thanks in large part to her intellect, Harper could play the vapid, sycophantic hanger-on better than anyone. “Were you scared?”

“Nah. Takes more than a supervillain to scare us, right Luc?”

Lucien bit back a snide remark, and instead shrugged with disinterest. “Yeah, I guess.”

“You look really good today, Ty.” Harper commented, reaching out to playfully straighten the white and red football blazer covering Tiberius’ flattering black tee. “Digging the colour clash.”

“Thanks,” Ty responded with a pleased grin, giving her the once-over. “You’re absolutely slaying that skirt, Harp. Looking hella fine.”

“Those jeans were made for you.” She replied, smiling at him lasciviously, and wearing out the last of Lucien’s patience.

“I’m gonna head to homeroom.” He made sure to control his voice to keep it even, turning and walking away before he’d finished speaking. Behind him, Tiberius bid a hasty farewell to Harper and jogged over to catch up.

“Bro. Not cool.” Ty said when he caught up, halfway to the massive double doors marking the school entrance.

“What?” Lucien asked flatly, glancing at the taller boy.

“You were a total jerk to Harper.” Ty said, frowning in disapproval. “She’s totally nice.”

“She’s a scheming bitch, Ty.” Lucien replied remorselessly. “Besides, would Jessica like seeing you flirting with her?”

“I wasn’t—!” Ty sighed at the raised eyebrows Lucien gave him, rolling his eyes up. “Okay, maybe I was flirting a little… but dude, that girl is fucking unreal!”

“Then you should date her.”

“Nah…” Tiberius said, glancing behind them to where Lucien knew Harper would be watching their retreat. “Couldn’t do that to Jess… and besides, she and Jason are still a thing. I got rules, man.”

“But you can still flirt, just not fuck her, right?” Lucien said coolly.

“Dude! Chill out.”

A deep breath followed, and Lucien let his shoulders slump slightly. He was being a bit of a dick. “Alright, alright. Sorry, man. She just gets to me, that’s all.”

“Bro I still don’t get what happened between you two. You used to be tight.”

That, of course, was the true source of the issue. He and Harper had been close. They’d grown up as neighbours, and Harper’s mother had been a close friend of his own. Not as close as Vanessa, but in the hierarchy of Lucien’s mother’s friends, Alyssa Keen had been a solid number two. Harper had been his first friend other than Ty. She’d been the one to really invigorate his love for superheroes, and she’d been someone he could lean on when his mother had gotten sick.

She’d even been his first kiss.

After his mother had died, Harper had attended the funeral, and he’d held her hand and Ty’s through the entire event. Then he’d moved, leaving his house to live with the Washingtons. He’d tried to keep in touch, but his life and Harper’s had taken very different routes. He’d become an acne-ridden loser, and she’d blossomed into the full force of her beauty. She’d become the queen of their grade, and he’d become just another face in a sea of nobodies.

Distance, time, and rapidly changing social dynamics had strained their friendship to the limit — and when Harper had decided to date Jason, things had gotten ugly. They’d had the mother of all fights, and she had kicked him out of her house and slammed the door in his face, but not before a last kick in the teeth. She hadn’t yelled, hadn’t screeched, but she’d delivered a deathblow to their friendship regardless. She’d said it quietly, softly, as though she were sliding in a knife. She’d told him she wished she’d never become his friend, told him he was an idiot and a loser, and that being around him made her weak. Made her look bad.

Lucien had left in a rage, unaware until later that it had been his first and only experience with heartbreak. He had loved Harper Keen, in as much capacity as a young boy could love. He’d trusted her with his pain and his hopes. That had just made the whole situation far, far worse.

“It’s in the past.” Lucien said simply to Tiberius, not going into it. He’d never told Ty the specifics. It was one of the few secrets he kept from his god-brother. “What matters is that Harper Keen is a bitch, and I want nothing to do with her.”

“Jeeze…” Was all his friend said, recognising Lucien’s stubborn tone.

The pair of them entered the school alongside the gaggle of other students, the invisible sensors built into the entrance scanning them for any sign of weapons or contraband as they did, though it manifested as nothing more than a faint shimmer of blue light. They shared a homeroom class together, and — much to Lucien’s displeasure — with Harper Keen and Jason Theraux. All four of them had achieved the required aptitude to be placed in the advanced versions of each class, and ranked among the top one percent of New Avalon’s students.

It was easier when your enemies were dumber or more ignorant than you, in Lucien’s experience. It gave more credence to the idea that they were just too stupid to know better, and it allowed him to brush off hostility or dislike as the result of a lesser intellect. It was a lot harder to do that when the people that treated you like garbage were equally as intelligent, and thus very much capable of not being S-Class douchebags. When asinine behaviour was a choice, not a predisposition, it became a lot harder to not take it personally.

“Yo, Eddie! Sam!” Ty’s sudden shout drew Lucien’s attention, and he looked to where his friend was lifting a hand in greeting. Two massive 16 year olds wandered over with grins from where he’d hailed them, greeting Ty with fistbumps and one-armed hugs. Eduardo Cortez and Samuelle Anneteway were members of the First High Titans, the football team that Tiberius himself captained.

“What’s good, fellas?” Ty asked as he greeted them.

“Fuck all, ese.” Eddie responded easily. “Waiting to get this week done, you know?”

Eduardo was a powerfully built boy of Mexican heritage, with cropped black hair and an easy personality that even Lucien found tolerable most of the time.

“Shit dude, I was tempted to just skip out and jam — but my pops would go nuts if he found out.” Sam said with a laugh.

Samuelle was a second generation Arab-American who also happened to be well-known as a drummer in the only amateur band worth listening to in the high school age bracket. Neither of the two new arrivals greeted him beyond a casual nod and a ‘hey’, which he returned as social obligation demanded.

“Boys, I’ve got news, and you best spread the word.” Ty said with a grin, rubbing his hands together. “This weekend is Luc’s birthday—” He clapped his hand onto Lucien’s shoulder, pulling a polite smile from him. “—and we are going to have a fucking insane party to celebrate. Sophomores and the teams only.”

Both boys looked at Lucien, who returned their glances with another forced smile, before looking at each other and grinning, then turning back to Ty. “Awesome.” Eddie replied.

“Fucking sick.” Sam chimed in.

“Go forth and preach, my dudes.” Ty said with a smirk. “We’re going to make Junior year our bitch.”

Another round of fist bumps and one-armed hugs followed, before Eddie and Sam departed, once again offering Lucien only a socially obligated nod and half-smile apiece. Oblivious to the clear disinterest in the birthday aspect of the party, Ty rubbed his hands together. “I’m telling you, brutha. This birthday bash is going to be fucking super.”

“Yeah.” Lucien said with forced enthusiasm. “I have no doubt.”

They entered homeroom a moment later, taking their seats just before the bell rang, and Lucien resigned himself to the reality of his situation. Five days of school, one party and then he’d be free of this hellscape for another six weeks of gaming, reading, and surfing.

Not even the arrival of Harper and Justin could ruin the good mood that those thoughts brought, and he genuinely smiled.