SuperVillain

18

I arrived at Underground Subs approximately five minutes late. Surprisingly, for a Saturday night, they weren't busy. I found my friends quickly and waved. I ordered a sandwich, picked at my chipping black nail polish while I waited, then finally sat next to Mason. "Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late."

"It's alright," Mason smiled at me. "I'm just glad you're here."

I grinned back. You could tell when his smiles were genuine, there was a twinkle in his eye.

Sunny cleared her throat, reminding us she was there.

I turned back to her, she was sitting alone in the other end of the table. "Yes, Sunshine?"

"Any specific reason why you were late?" She seemed kinda mad.

I didn't want to tell her that I left on time, but I got caught up in looking at all the park's leaves turning autumn colors. If you're going to be the mayor, you might as well appreciate the land you lead. That wasn't the embarrassing part, though. The way I found it is that leaves are the same their whole lives, then right before they die they do something awesome. They change and impress everyone. If only humans could be like that. I thought, what if I could be like that? I've been green forever, now I need to turn red, orange, or yellow.

Sitting in my chair, the thought of the color green reminded me of Greed Goblin.

"Leila? Hellooooo?" Sunny waves a hand in front of my face.

Oh right. I was still in a sandwich shop. "Oh, I was just looking at leaves," I mumbled.

"Really?" Sunny was speaking as if she didn't believe me. "So you weren't, oh I don't know, texting your boyfriend?"

I felt Mason tense up next to me. "What? Sunny, I don't have a boyfriend. You know that." 

"Oh, is that so?" She was squinting at the two of us, meanwhile we were awkwardly eating, trying to look at anything but each other.

Finally, she said, "I'm going to the bathroom. Be right back." As soon she was out of earshot, we both sighed in relief.

"She'll catch on sooner or later, Mason. Our Sunny is a smart one." I couldn't help it, I looked at him.

He looked back at me. "I know. I feel like we should tell her. There's not much else we can do." Then, he smiled. "You have a little something right there."

I touched my cheek, trying to get it off. "I'll get it," Mason offered. And with that, he planted one right on my cheek.

We leaned our heads together. "It's getting harder to hide it from her," I said. "She's figuring it out, and it's kinda hard not liking you."

Mason smiled next to me, I could hear it in his voice. "I agree wholeheartedly. I love you kind of a lot, Leila Jackson."

I closed my eyes. "I love you kind of a lot, too, Mason Le-"

Something slammed onto our table. My eyes flew open to find the hands of Sunny. She was looking at us. I guess Mason had closed his eyes too, or he would've noticed her coming.

I stopped leaning on him and quickly went back to stuffing my face so I would've have to talk.

"What is happening?" Sunny sat down, frustrated. "Clearly there's something I don't know."

"We were just.... uh... talking about your birthday present for next year!" Mason ad-libbed.

"My birthday is in 9 months."

I ball up my sandwich wrapper. "Maybe it's a big surprise. You don't know." Oh, the lies. Back again. But it's a good cause this time, right?