Girl With Mask #Wattys2016

Chapter Two

"Have you seen the footage?"

Aya glanced up from her locker. "What?"

Bethany sighed. "The footage? You know, of Numeral's last battle?"

"Oh. No, I haven't." Two weeks, Aya told herself. In two weeks, Janet Glover will die, and you can grieve. Just two weeks.

"I was, like, crying when Lady Night gave that speech about honoring Numeral's memory. And did you read her daughter's blog post?"

Aya slammed her locker shut, then remembered her chemistry textbook was still inside. "I did."

"Well, wasn't it sad? And then there were all these comments acting like they felt her pain or whatever, but there's no way they did." Bethany scraped her blond hair into a ponytail. "I actually think school should be closed so we can honor Numeral, but whatever."

"Didn't Numeral do a platform about education?" asked Aya, even though she knew answer. "She wouldn't want school to be cancelled."

"True. You know Lin? She was legit an extra in one of those commercials."

"Hey, guys." Jasper loped up to them as they hurried down the stairs to their chemistry lab. "Lab's still locked. I checked." Aya tried the door anyway, but he was right. They'd have to wait for Ms. Tofer to open it.

"I hate Mondays," Bethany groaned, leaning her head on the wall behind her.

"Me, too," said Jasper. "I did homework all weekend. I didn't even get a break."

"Did you watch Numeral's funeral?" asked Bethany. "Lady Night's speech was, like, crazy powerful."

"I only caught part of it," admitted Jasper. "I was doing homework."

"School sucks! They should have given us a day off," said Bethany.

"You okay, Aya?" asked Jasper.

"Yes," she said. Her voice managed to crack on that one word, and she coughed to cover it. "My throat hurts, though. I think I might have a cold."

"You didn't tell me that," snapped Bethany, taking a step back. The crowd around the lab door was increasing. Aya could hear people talking about Numeral. She even heard a few people talk about the blogger Numeral's Daughter. When Ms. Tofer finally showed up and unlocked the door, Aya thought she might get a break.

She didn't.

Ms. Tofer stood by the whiteboard, her marker in hand, and bit her lip. "Guys," she said, "I want to teach you. I want to talk about chemistry. But I just can't today, guys. I'm sorry. I think we should talk about Numeral instead. I probably won't be the only teacher to do this today. But to teach in the wake of such a tragedy—I can't do it, guys." She placed the marker back on the ledge beneath the board. Alicia, Aya's assigned lab partner, raised her hand.

"Alicia?"

"Can I share my favorite memory of Numeral?" she asked. Ms. Tofer nodded. "Okay," said Alicia, tucking some of her braids behind her ear, "okay. Basically, I just want to say that Numeral was my hero. She had this weak power, you know? But she used it in such awesome ways. Like, remember that time she was fighting those weird twins in Chicago, and she made all these images of herself?" Alicia recounted the entire Chicago story, and then Jasper gave a story, and then everyone in the class was raising their hands, wanting to share in the tragedy.

"I actually met her," said Max, a chubby and shy redheaded kid. "It was actually right before the Fish Queen attacked for the first time. Um, I think I was in seven grade. This weird scorpion villain attacked my street, and Numeral actually went into my brownstone." Everyone in the class knew Max's story, but no one pointed that out today.

"Is there anyone who hasn't shared?" asked Ms. Tofer. "How about you, Aya?"

Aya had thought this was optional, but apparently not. She didn't want to back out because that would look suspicious, so she talked about Numeral's education platform. When the bell rang, Aya almost went to the nurse's office to plead sick. Instead, she hooked her backpack onto her shoulder and strode to her second period class.