Atomic Rebooted

13. Outcast

CLAIRE

Somehow, I managed to survive until lunch. When the bell for B-lunch rang, I bolted from my desk in History. With my head down and my sole focus on propelling one foot in front of the other, I managed to make it to the library without having to talk to anyone.

In the library was where I ate with those four closest friends I mentioned earlier, at the small circular table next to the anatomy books and far, far away from the computers at the request of the librarian.

Others liked to eat in the library, too, but they were usually loners or working on projects— not doing it for fun, like we did.

Sitting with her back to the wall was none other than Charlotte Collins, who was in my homeroom and psychology class. While we knew each other all our lives, we weren't exactly friends until the eighth grade, when I had some time to move past my grief and she ended up in some of the same classes I did.

Next to her was Leta Lopez, one of my friends from esports. She was the one who had lent me the leftover hair dye from when she redid her ombré of teal and turquoise to pink last month.

Across from Leta was Grace Waller, who while she wasn't a member of the esports team, was definitely a gamer girl also and one of the nerdiest girls I knew.

The last member of our squad was Stephanie Sanderson, a girl who had only just moved to New Kingsbury during her freshman year and was still somewhat enamored with superheroes in general, as she had a deep love for Spiderman and Marvel films and general as a kid.

I mean, I did too— for DC, as that was more my mom's thing— that is, until the day City Hall burned down.

I stumbled gratefully into my seat and pulled out the lunch that Dad had packed before he went to work. It was something nice he liked to do for me before going to work.

It wasn't anything super special or anything— usually a grilled cheese, some apple slices, and one of those chocolate nutrition bars that Holly had gotten us all addicted to. But because it was a way that Dad had gotten to put a little more of his time into my day, they somehow tasted way better than they had any right to be.

"Oh my God, Charlie was just talking about what happened," Stephanie said as soon as I sat down. "I can't believe you were in a real supervillain attack!"

"Me neither." Despite growing up in New Kingsbury, it was still rare for you to specifically be in an incident with a superhero or supervillain— one of the benefits of being in one of the most populated areas in Montana.

"I feel so bad— I should've offered you a ride home." Leta pushed around her sushi with her chopsticks— she couldn't look me in the eye.  "If I'd known. . . "

"It's okay," I assured her. "No one expected Tenebrous to attack the monorail."

"He has been moving on to bigger and badder stunts," Stephanie pointed out. "I was watching this analysis on YouTube of the fight, and they were talking about how big-scale this was— it was almost on the scale of the fire at City Hall a few years ago, according to this guy!"

A chill went down my spine at those words.

Charlotte, Grace, and Leta all gave Stephanie a look, the kind that said, shut up.

"What?" Stephanie frowned. "Did I say something wrong?"

Charlotte looked to me, but I held my hand up.

Might as well not treat it like it's some big thing. It was nine years ago, after all.

"You know how I mentioned my mom died, in a fire?" I asked. It was just one of those topics that comes up, when you meet new people even if the details weren't important.