Hidden Heroes

T₩£NTY~8

The girl in front of me was not average. She had thin, short, smoky gray hair and large red glasses. Half of her head was shaved and a large scar was visible. Her skin was a dark tan  and her eyes were a pale gold.

Definitely not average. It didn't change the fact that I held a grudge against her. But I couldn't tell her that.

"Your eyes are very pretty."

She smiled and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Thank you."

Maximus came from around the corner with a tray carrying two cups of tea and a glass of water. He handed me a tea while Marcy took the water. I took the chance to distract myself with the color of the tea and tilting the cup around. I didn't want to make eye contact.

"So, what grade are you in, Fable?" Marcy said.

Great, this talk. "We don't really have grades at my school."

"Oh, really? Where do you go?"

"Hero Academy." I crossed my legs and took a sip from my mug.

"Oh," she laughed. "Like Max."

Max grinned, completely love-struck. He was head of heels for this girl. I couldn't tell why.

I licked the tea straying from my lips. "Hah, yeah."

Max patted my back, but it wasn't in a friendly manner. I ushered myself to come up with a question.

"So, how old are you?"

"24," she announced. 24, two years older than Maximus.

"So, did you guys plan on where the wedding is going to be or...?"

Max and Marcy looked at each other, then Max looked down at his hands. His cheeks turned pink while Marcielle had a small smile on her face.

"Not yet," she said. "My parents say it's best to not worry about that for now."Marcy reached over and held Maximus's hand to get him back into his senses.

I chugged the rest of my tea and excused myself to use the restroom. I quickly ran up the stairs and shut the door. I slid the the ground and covered my face. I was embarrassing myself. Why couldn't I just be happy for them?

I felt my phone vibrate and put it back down. Unknown number.

It rang again and I turned off the ringer. It continued to buzz next to me as I put my head on my knees.

"Hello?"

I looked around. Did someone call me?

"Max?" I asked through the door. I didn't get an answer.

"No, not Max." I slowly flipped the phone and picked it up. Unknown was on the line.

"Who is this?" I would just politely tell this guy that I'm not whoever they were looking for.

"Fable?" Well shit.

"No, wrong number lad." I tried to end the call but it wasn't letting me. I tried turning off my phone but it didn't do anything.

Hesitantly, I put the phone back to my ear.
"Um, you can end the call now."

There was a short silence on the other end. "What if I don't want to?"

"Is this a prank? I will call the cops."

"And what are they going to do?" they said. "They won't be able to track me down."

My heart dropped. "W-What do you want?"

"I think you know exactly what I want." My hands were getting clammy and I put the phone on speaker as I wiped them down.
"Plaza at midnight. A week from now."