Don't Be The Hero

Twenty

Nina pov

Eventually we made it back to the school. I hurried up to my room and took a shower, changed my clothes, and sprinted to Jack's room. He was in the shower. "I'm borrowing your laptop!" I yelled through the door. "'K. Don't break it."

I laughed to myself. I texted Annie, and within minutes she was on the screen. A tanner than normal Annie was in front of me, in a pink and white striped bikini, a slight breeze ruffled her blonde ponytail, and I could hear the crash of the ocean. There was a trace of those raccoon eyes you get when you wear sunglasses.

"Waz up, from the west coast!"

"Hi Annie."

"Wait," she examined her screen. "Your still at the mansion?! I thought you would be long gone. What happened to summer plans?"

I smile "Nope Im still here. My plans kinda... imploded. But I'm going to Canada next week."

She squealed. "Who's comin' with? The usual people?"

I shook my head. "Logan got an offer to help train some rangers in Texas. Because of the 'I've been in more wars than you can count' thing. He's gonna be gone all summer starting next week."

She had a sly grin. "Oh, so it's a romantic vacation, eh?"

I laugh trying not to snort. "No Annie, I have to bring Jack and Victor."

She was still smiling. "So? Victor scares the living crap out of people. Leave him in the woods, go have dinner, and-"

I cut her off. "How's your vacation?" She held up a hand. "Matt! Can you get me a hot dog? Only ketchup!" She turned back to me. "It's going good. Beach everyday, plenty of sun, plenty of food, beach parties. Billions of shirtless guys." Jack came out of the bathroom drying his hair. He came around and looked at the screen."Hey Annie, how's California?"

Annie looked at Jack and smiled, then looked back at me. "Looks like you've got your own." She laughed a bit, and then asked, "Hey Jack, have you been working out?"

I look over at Jack, and indeed, he was shirtless, in a pair of jeans, his hair still wet enough to drip on my shoulder.

"Yeah, why?"

Matt joined the picture, holding two hot dogs. He was also tanner than normal, sunglasses on the top of his head. He looked like he lived there.

The amazingly tanned Matt handed a hotdog to Annie.

"Hi Nina, loving the beach. We should get one back at the school." He looked at Jack. "Dang man, you ain't messing around with the weight room."

Jack smiled and took my hand. "This girl, right here before you," he paused for dramatic effect, "benched 250 for a solid hour and a half. And then ran 15 miles." Matt's face lit up. "You go girl! Show them buff dudes how its done!"

Jack kept talking. "I'm serious, the other day I lost count how much, but none of the others in the room could lift it over two inches." Matt was cheering. I spoke up. "It wasn't really that hard..."

Annie turned to Matt, "look sweetie, Nina and I have important school related stuff to talk about. So could you just call Jack, and get me another hotdog. With barbecue sauce?"

Matt sighed, nodded, and pulled out his phone before leaving the screen. Jack's phone buzzed from the nightstand. He picked it up, and ran out down the hall, but not before kissing me.

"So, about that romantic vacation."

I stared her down.

"Fine, fine, school. Your dad filled me in about your trip, and I told him about your missing stuff, and he said you could do the survival training there, in Canada. Logan Talked to the professor about the 'nina must be with someone at all times' thing. He said he would pass both of you even though its normally just one person by themselves. You just have to spend three days alone no other person can interfere. Survive on your own, nothing but your powers."