Superhero

Chapter 40

Addison woke up early and started getting ready for college. The new tenant was noisily shuffling in his room as she went down the stairs, making her way to the kitchen to fill her flask. No one really ever really spotted the new guy, though he lives there, and he never really left his room much too.
All Addison knew was the fact that he owned an old red Fiat.

"Hey, have you seen the news?!" Jordan exclaimed as soon as Addison got into his car. "Superhero's back!"
Addison chuckled. "I know. He was dancing around, apparently."
"He looked so happy," Jordan chuckled, starting his car. "I wonder if that was before or after he rescued that girl."
"That poor girl," Addison sympathised. "She was shaking. I think she's only around fifteen or sixteen years old."
"Yeah, the world's pretty harsh," Jordan agreed, reversing out of the Kennedy driveway. "Destroys everything that's innocent..."    
Addison nodded in agreement. "That's true... the world is really cruel nowadays."
"Yeah, that's why we have to be careful," Jordan pointed out. "Especially you, Addie. You shouldn't walk home in the night like that."
"I know..." Addison sighed. "It's a good thing Jake picks me up from work now. I still have no idea how he knows where I work..."
"I thought he said you were being chased or something?" Jordan glanced at her as he drove. "Also, why do you come home alone? I'm actually glad that Jake is taking the effort to pick you up. Hey, you do know he has a crush on you, right?"
"What?" Addison asked, surprised.
"You don't know?" Jordan asked in surprise when he stopped at a traffic light. "Seriously? Addie, that dude's always smiling around you."
Addison frowned, realising something. "Oh yeah, I think you're right. He doesn't usually smile, but last night he was grinning."
"With dimples?" Jordan smirked.
"Yeah."
"Yeah, those only appear when he's really happy," Jordan pointed out. "Dude rarely smiles properly for some reason."
"That's kinda sad..." Addison sighed. "Why doesn't he smile much?"
Jordan shrugged. "Not sure. He became more... passive after his father died, back when we were fifteen."
"Oh my gosh, that's really sad," Addison sympathised. "What happened?"
"Skydiving accident," Jordan sighed. "Jake loved to go skydiving with his father, he was an instructor, but never went again after that."
"Oh my gosh..." Addison shook her head. "Poor Jake. It must be because of the trauma he felt after his dad's passing."
"Yeah, I know right," Jordan agreed. "It's also the reason why I never went too. I wanted to go with him during that trip, but something came up, and Mr. Kennedy's parachute failed. I never wanted to go again."
"I never wanted to at all," Addison chuckled. "But wow... poor Mr. Kennedy. Actually, for some reason, I always had a phobia of parachute malfunctions."
"Yeah, same," Jordan nodded, turning into Alford's main entrance. "They say that the equipment are always checked, but I'm not sure."
"I thought there's an emergency parachute if the main one fails?"
"I have no idea..." Jordan shrugged. He parked at a spot and stopped the car. "Guess he was just unlucky. Anyway, come on. Let's grab some breakfast before class."
They got out of the car and made a beeline for McRonald's to grab the breakfast special egg burger.
"So... I have a bone to pick with you, Jordan," Addison frowned, taking a bite of her burger.
"Chicken bone?" Jordan smirked.
"No." Addison shook her head. "A bone. Also, stop saying that?"
"Why not?"
Addison sighed. "Have you been feeding Fiolina with stories to make yourself look more macho?"
Jordan stopped short, his mouth full. "What do you mean?" He mumbled.
"Jordan, you've been telling Fiolina that you were the only one that actually helped save that boy from falling off the building, haven't you?"
"Maybe?"
"Stop that, Jordan... it's not good to lie to someone. Luckily, I didn't tell her anything about it. She seemed so happy, so I didn't say anything. Then again, if I did, I would also be betraying our friendship."
Jordan sighed. "I just wanted her to feel safe around me, with her thinking that I would protect her and stuff."
"By lying to her?"
"Okay, fine, I did. I can't just tell her I was filming before Galante arrived, right? That would be embarrassing! She was prying too, I had to do something!"
Addison snorted. "Yeah, I know how she could be. She loves sticking that tall nose of hers in places where it doesn't belong."
"That's my girlfriend you're talking about there," Jordan chuckled.
Addison playfully rolled her eyes. "She was my best friend first. Keep in mind, you only got to know about her through me. Even that was because she wanted to give you a piece of her mind for ditching me while dating Sierra."
"Oh..." Jordan sighed. "You told her?"
"Like I said, she was my best friend," Addison pointed out. "We always talk."
"That explains why she actually asked me if I still carpool with you. She looked kinda pleased when I said yes."
Addison smiled. "Yeah, she's that protective friend. You should've seen how she walked in when I was telling her about the strange guy that crashed in the shop during my shift. Fio looked like she was ready to fight whatever that was threatening me!"
"Did she kick that weirdo?" Jordan asked, interested.
"No. Can you guess why?"
"Because it was Superhero?"
Addison looked at him in surprise. "How did you know?"
Jordan shrugged. "I heard about the Superhero crashing in a convenience store, then abruptly disappearing. Then the police actually came looking for you, concerning the Superhero. I just put two and two together and turns out, everything clicked."
"You should become a detective," Addison pointed out. "You figured things out so fast!"
Jordan shrugged proudly. "What can I say? They call me Detective Anderson for a reason."
"I thought you were named after a racer?" Addison smirked.
"Yeah but..." Jordan shrugged before eating some of his burger. "Not like my parents knew about it when naming me, right? I don't think he was even a racer when I was born."
Seriously, I never knew that a racer named Jordan Anderson actually existed until I saw him on the news once. I wanted to change this Jordan's name, but it was too late lol. Yeah... looks like I just have to go with it...

Addison and Jordan walked into the Academic Writing hall together this time. Galante was already there, drinking from his large water bottle.
"Good morning, Sir," Addison greeted as she slipped into the front row, much to Jordan's surprise.
"He-Hello, Sir," Jordan greeted, seating himself next to Addison. This was actually the first time since he actually came this close to Galante after the falling incident.
Mainly, it was because this was the first time Jordan was this early.
"Hello to you too, Jordan," Galante said, much to their surprise.
Jordan smiled and put his tote bag on the table. "This is the first time you're saying my name right, Mr. Galante."
Galante chuckled. "Really? I thought Giordano was close enough?"
"It might be what my name translates to in Italian, but it's still not my name, Sir," Jordan politely stated, even smiling. "I go by Jordan, unless I choose a nickname myself."
Galante simply nodded and waited for the rest of the students to appear before starting.