True Sidekick - *Sequel to Hero by Day

Chapter 17 - Testing the Bonds of Friendship

"Shh. My common sense is tingling."

~ Wade Wilson (Deadpool)

:Oliver:

It was Monday, the last normal day of school before testing. Our school did testing week like most public schools. One day of normal school for last minute studying, and then the rest for testing. Two classes a day with two hours each for the test. This meant that we had half days the rest of the week, something I was looking forward to.

But, first, I had to get through Monday.

"Morning, Oliver." Ian greeted as I sat down next to him for pre-calculus. He wouldn't look me in the eye, his voice was a bit stiff, and he called me by my full name for once instead of just Olly.

Something was wrong.

"Hey, dude, are you alright?" I asked hesitantly.

He tapped his fingers on his table and shrugged his shoulders. "Not really."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Okay, what is it?"

He turned to look at me, narrowing his eyes. "Where did you go the other day with Elsie and Aden?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

He took a deep breath and looked down again. "You said you were going to finish a project in the library during lunch, but then you come back halfway through AP Biochemistry with ash in your hair."

"So, what? The extra credit project took a bit longer than expected." I defended, getting worrisome.

"I asked the teacher. You never got an extra credit assignment for English, besides, Oliver Storm doesn't need extra credit. You have one of the highest GPAs in the grade. And that still doesn't explain the ash in your hair."

I sighed, playing at ignorance. "I may have a high GPA, but not high enough for certain colleges. I need to be able to get into a good college on a full ride scholarship, you know I do, dude. And the back corner of the library is falling apart, you know that. The dust from the ceiling always rains down on kids."

"Are you sure?" He asked. "Because that same day, at around the same time, White Lightning, Kratos, and Delinquent all fought Inferno downtown. It would make sense, I mean, your boss at the Comic Book Shop was Daniel Jackson, and so I should have seen it from the beginning. Plus, you start inviting that freshmen and his friend to our table out of the blue, right around the time White Lightning got his new sidekick. I don't know what to think, dude."

I panicked. I knew that one day Ian might find out who I was, but it was still unnerving to be faced with the fact.

"You think I'm White Lightning?" I laughed it off. "Ian, you know me. Why would I keep such a big secret from you? Besides, most of the time I'm at work when White Lightning makes his saves. And, remember that time I was literally at your house when it was reported that White Lightning saved a woman form being robbed? I'm not White Lightning, Ian. You're just being paranoid, and the stress from finals weeks is probably just getting to you."

I did have to say, I played it off very convincingly.

Part of being a hero was having good alibis, not just pieces of paper that say you're at work. So, fabricating stories of saves while Daniel and I had alibis was an integral part of keeping our identities safe.

After all, that was superhero rule #1 – Never let anyone know your identity, ever.

Ian shook his head and looked down. "Man, I guess."