Voltage ϟ Adam Davenport ϟ

ϟ 15 ϟ

NIGHT OF THE LIVING VIRUS

ϟ 𝐓𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐃𝐀𝐘, 𝟖/𝟐𝟖/𝟏𝟐 ϟ

WHEN Ellie walked into school on Monday morning, she was exhausted, to say the least.

Niche had trained her harder than ever the night before, making sure that Ellie was fit to fight in her suit with Ajax. Fighting in your everyday clothes is one thing, she told her, but to fight in a new suit with an unfamiliar weapon is a death wish.

Ellie wished she even had it in her to complain, but she knew that she was closer now to being a her than ever. How could she?

Her father, however, found delight in complaining. Yet again, she was yelled at instead of greeted when she got home. More buffoonery about how she wasn't a normal girl, she was out in public too long, she didn't need to exercise so much.

For months, she had managed to disguise her superhero training as simple exercising with her teammates to train out of season. Somehow, her father had believed it. She wasn't exactly surprised, however; her father was never the involved type, so it was easy to excuse her absences as simple school activity.

But he was growing tired of wondering where his daughter was. It seemed, in short, that he was ready to shorten the leash.

Ellie tried to abandon all thoughts of her personal life as she walked in school. This was a place for her to study. She could focus here.

Or could she?

She spotted Adam before he saw her, leaning against her locker while he pushed his long sleeve up so that it bunched just below his elbow.

"Morning," she spoke with a smile.

"Morning, Ellie," he responded, redistributing his weight off of her locker.

"What's up?" she asked, opening her locker and situating her lunch inside. She tried her hardest to act casual, hoping that Adam didn't see her peeking at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Bree said she was having a slumber party or something. I told her I'd invite you for her so she could pass out invitations to other girls," Adam smiled.

"Do you . . . have an invitation for me?" Ellie asked slowly, not seeing anything in Adam's hands.

"Wait, is that what the card was? I thought she was just giving me a snack for helping out," Adam asked.

"Wait, you ate it?"

"Of course not. People don't eat paper," Adam ridiculed.

"Oh, thank god. I thought you-"

"I licked all the ink off and then recycled it," he finished.

Ellie stared at him with a confused look, but the boy had an unfazed smile on his face.

"At least you recycled," Ellie mumbled. "I'll just ask Bree about it during lunch. Thanks for letting me know."

"Oh! And I was wondering if you would come to the library with me tonight and you could help me study for chemistry?"

"Is this you wanting to actually study or you just wanting to hang out again?" Ellie asked shyly, her cheeks heating up as she realized how bold her comment was.

". . . Can't it be both?" Adam asked after a brief pause to think about his response.

"I guess," Ellie teased, her adrenaline ridding her of all exhaustion.

"6:45?" Adam asked expectantly.

"6:45," Ellie confirmed, grabbing her book out of her locker. "See you later, Adam."