Sudden Superhero

12. The Start of the Real Plot (You Were Waiting For It, Weren't You?)

I SHOULD HAVE known that a simple explanation wouldn't be enough for Ben.

The next day at school, he continued to give me strange looks. Maybe he was looking at me to see if I would explode, or to see if I had any bruises, or I was just catching him at weird moments and he wasn't looking at me at all, but I still decided that my superhero thing was going to be a conversation topic for us. Besides, it was nice to have someone to talk to about it all, because I knew that if I kept calling Kavanagh for useless questions that I could probably answer on my own, he would block me.

For lunch, Ben and I sat in the library against the wall, next to each other. We had no meetings today, and although he still had constant studying to do, he'd decided that he could just do it at home. I didn't know what it was, but he was letting himself slip a little, easing up. Not as uptight, but still as dedicated. I was happy for him.

I was holding an ancient Egyptian art book in front of my face, flipping through the pages to act as if I was reading. Next to me, Ben was holding an encyclopedia about world air power during World War II, but he was paying as much attention to it as I was to oddly shaped humans. I know what you must be thinking; why not just hold our phones in front of our faces? More believable, right? Well, phones are small, and let's just say that we were both making expressions that made us look stupid and needed something big enough to hide our faces.

Anyway, I decided that it was okay to talk, because in case someone did hear us, we could play it off like we were talking about a video game. A very realistic video game.

"So what did you do yesterday?" he asked in a low voice. He was biting a carrot.

"Stopped a robbery," I replied, equally as quiet. I was gnawing on a Twizzler, and I was doing it so slowly that I must have looked like an unfocused cow enjoying some strawberry-flavored grass.

"That's so cool," he breathed, smiling.

I smiled, too.

I had already called Jenny, and she'd swung by to pick up the cuff in person. All she'd told me was to watch out for these weapons, that they were dangerous and could do a lot of damage, but I assured her that I would be careful. Besides that, the superhero aspect of my life was going on as I'd expected it to: school, personal life, and occasional saves.

I'd also made a habit of always having at least a piece of my tech or costume with me, just in case. I hoped that I would never have to use it in school and risk getting exposed, but as Ben had told me, I was being more careful now.

Ben groaned.

"What's wrong?" I asked, skimming through a detailed image explaining the process of mummification.

"For the balsa bridge project, I got paired with Queen Edgar," he said, shaking his head. "I have to go to her house."

Ah, that. Ben and I had every class together except for one: physics. He wasn't good friends with anyone in that class; not that it would even matter, because the teacher never let people pick their friends for group projects and such. This morning, Ben had gotten stuck with Dana, and now he would randomly remember that at moments and groan. I forgot, too, all the time, and when he brought it up, I groaned for him in sympathy.

I shook my head. Then I smiled and shrugged. "Sucks to be you."

He yanked the Twizzler out of my mouth and threw it in the trash, raising an eyebrow at me and daring me to say something else.

My lips curved into a smile as I stuck another Twizzler in my mouth.

In all fairness, Dana hadn't bothered either of us since I fell off the rope, but we considered her to be a hibernating bear, or maybe a recuperating bee. We never knew when she'd wake up and decide to sting us again. We were wary, and though we both still considered her our enemy, this was one of those rare moments when she was only Ben's problem and not mine. Hilarious.