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

14. The Cure

{Sarah}

I get a text from Kaelie later in the week, with one line: I've got big news, Campbell.

   Only five words, but it's what stops me in my tracks.

   Hit me with it, I reply, and she does, less than ten seconds later.

   Cam's back on the map. He called me this morning to tell me so.

   That makes me stop to think for a second. Cam's back. Like back back. He escaped Mayor Green and he's coming back. That's a feat in itself. But thinking of him makes me think of Zach at the same time, and even though they'd gotten considerably friendlier over the past few months, I could still sense tension between them when they were together. I have the sneaking suspicion that it's me that's causing it. I can't seem to escape it, as much as I want to.

   Really? Where from? I ask, not only because I'm curious, but maybe that could give us a lead on where he might have been taken.

   They stopped in a cafe in Springfield. Hitched a ride from Colorado.

   They? Who's they?

   That's the other piece of news. He's not alone. There's another super with him.

   Another super. That's both a godsend and a target. All the supers have targets on them. But at least now we have another ally. I can't think of a reason to want to work on Mayor Green's side unless he promised something that couldn't be refused. Then again, I could think of a few exceptions. Gremlin being among them.

   Sounds like you want to say something else, I type in, because even though I can't see her face, there always seemed to be a way I could tell. You're holding back. What is it?

   It's Ellis. He kissed me the other day, just completely out of the blue.

   I pause and read that again. We've all known that Ellis liked her. I saw it in the way he looked at her, and Zach had told me what had happened in Raleigh. But I don't think any of us believed he would actually act on those feelings. Today's just full of surprises, I suppose.

   I didn't think he'd be spontaneous that way, I answer after a while.

   Neither did I, but I think it's kinda hot. That's followed by a blushing emoticon.

   Rawr. Go get 'im, tiger.

   I can hear the eye roll when her reply comes back. Shut up, Campbell.

≈≈

"So I have two pieces of news," I say to the boys when I join them in the student lounge after class ends that day. Trevor's sitting in a beanbag chair reading The Flash, while Zach's lying on the couch scrolling through his phone aimlessly.

   "Really," Zach says, as a statement and not a question, as I approach him. "What's that?"

   "Well..." I take a deep breath, trying to wonder how to best phrase this. "Kaelie texted me the other day, and said Cam's back on the map."

   "What?" Zach's phone drops out of his hand, slides off the couch, and hits the floor with a smack. "Seriously?"

   "He is?" Trevor sits up, something I didn't even think was possible in a beanbag chair.

   "Yeah. She said he called her from a cafe in Springfield, to tell her he's on the way home." I sit down on the couch, where Zach's feet were a second ago. "I was just as surprised as you are."