The Super Jerk Trilogy (Now 3-in-1)

3. Someone New

{Sarah}

Superheroes are hard to deal with. I know that sounds obvious, but it's true. Having dated one, befriended another, and had mixed relations with a third, I didn't realize how nice feeling normal was once in a while.

   Not to mention their abilities, or their technology. Our Sunday afternoon is interrupted by both, when Aline and I are having lunch outside in the sun with a couple other of our friends, including Mimi and another girl from our freshman orientation group. The first thing we notice is a dark shadow passing over us.

   "Did you see that?" Aline looks up.

   I look up too. Above us, flying in a circle, is a thing shaped like an insect. It has two propellers, and two bulbs on the side of the head end that look like cameras.

   "Doesn't look like any bug I've ever seen," Mimi says, shading her eyes and squinting up at it.

   It buzzes as it lowers itself, swiveling as it focuses on all of us. None of us really know what to make of it, watching it as it levels itself out.

   "Look out!" shouts a voice, and suddenly a blue blur collides with the bug, kicking it out of the air.

   Much quicker than I thought, with the hit it took, it recovers and zooms right back towards the super poised on the table next to us – it's Tsunami, the last person I expect. He leaps into the air right as it reaches him, kicking it with both feet. The bug-thing goes flying erratically away, and then comes back, just as quickly. Tsunami suddenly disappears, turning into a water cyclone. The bug-thing attacks again, and is engulfed by the cyclone. The base of it bends dangerously, and then the bug goes flying out of the top of it, hitting the ground once and then twice, pieces flying off.

   I'm the only one that can get up after that. As the cyclone turns back into Tsunami, our eyes meet. He grins.

   "Hey, there."

   I glance over at it, a crumpled piece of machinery. "Did you kill it?"

   "I don't know." Tsunami jumps off the table. "I don't think it was alive in the first place."

   "Then what is it? A robot or something?"

   "Well..." He runs over, picks it up, and turns it over, squinting at it. "Apparently it's a drone, called Wasp."

   "I've never heard of that." I'm aware of the others watching me, waiting to see what I do.

   "It's still mostly intact." Tsunami shrugs, sticks it under his arm. "But let's get you and your friends back to your rooms first. I think there might be somebody watching you out here."

≈≈

He lets the others into the elevator up to their floors, but bars my way as the doors close behind them. I feel a flare of irritation, but he doesn't look like he's going to let me go until we've talked.

   "Can I ask you a personal question?" His eyes are curious.

   I shrug. "Looks like I can't stop you."

   "So you and Blue Bolt...how are things going between you two?"

   "Look, just because you two are friends...or whatever you are to each other, that doesn't mean you have equal access to me. He's my boyfriend, not you." I know it's Zach under there, and I get the feeling he knows it too.

   "Hey, no pressure. Honestly. I was just curious about you. I wanted to find out more about you. And it's Sarah, right?"

   "Yes." I can see his attempt at acting friendly, but it's not really working with me. I know what his real intentions are. "You could have just said that instead of what you actually did."