| Superhero Academy |

Chapter 32

I sighed and shook everything off.

"As I was about to say, I agree. However, some heroes are just in it for the fame. And may I add that heroes almost never get arrested if they do something wrong?"

"Unrelated." I said briefly.

"It's completely related. You said that heroes want to save people and give them hope, but leaving criminals posing as heroes should not be allowed if people want hope."

"Well seeing as there aren't many heroes in our society I-"

"Taylor are you being serious?" Blake scoffed.

"I didn't mean it like that! I really agree with you." I sighed, admitting a defeat here.

"Different topic! Blake you start this time." The teacher smiled.

"Care to explain why heroes are hidden from society when there could easily be so many heroes saving the world, seeing as there are probably a thousand kids in this school." He said. I could tell he wasn't fully in this debate.

"It would scare people. The people without powers would feel as if they are being overtaken, and would probably start an outburst, which we would obviously win. This would induce fear." I answered.

He started to say something, but stopped.

"It wouldn't induce fear, it would help people in need." He finally stated.

"There would be an overwhelming amount of heroes." I said, getting a little mad. I knew he was right. But I needed an A in this class so I had to stick to my statement.

"There would be more people to help and less crime." He was getting mad as well.

I thought for a moment and couldn't take it any more.

"ARE YOU FORGETTING THAT HEROES ARE THE GOOD GUYS?" I yelled.

"THEY ARE BUT-"

He was cut off by the bell ringing. Students awkwardly shuffled out of the room and Blake walked out.

I went to go talk to him.

"Blake i'm sorry if I said something. I was just really trying to stick to my side." I said as he walked.

He picked up the pace and I started to jog.

"You okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine." He said.

I ran in front of him and lifted his face. I saw tears forming in his eyes. "Blake?" My face dropped.

He disappeared and I widened my eyes. I looked around and thought about where he might go.

The forest is the only place with privacy, and he goes there a lot. He's probably going there.

I ran as fast as I could to the forest, looking around every tree, and every bush.

I eventually saw him leaning his head against a tree, with a couple tears rolling down his face.

I walked over to him and as soon as he saw me he stood up.

"Tell me what's wrong." I said as I inched closer to him.

"I told you I'm fine." He lied.

I continued walking closer and shook my head. "You're not fine."

"Just leave me-" He said, but I cut him off by wrapping my arms around him.

He sighed, and tried to act tough, but he gave in when I started moving my hand up and down his back.

He moved his head into the crook of my neck and started to cry a little more.

I assumed he needed this, so we stayed like this for a while.

He pulled away and I smiled at him.

"If you don't want to talk about it it's okay." I told him. He shook his head.

"I want to tell you. You deserve to know."

He took my hand and we sat down. He took a deep breath and started talking.

"When I was little, my mom was my whole life. She taught me a lot. My father was terrible. He abused me, and my mother. She wouldn't sleep at night, so I would climb into her bed to try and make her feel better. I couldn't do anything, as I was just a child. I know for a fact she tried calling heroes, but they never believed her. The reason being that my dad used to be a hero." He sighed.

I frowned and gave him a look of sympathy, and I caressed his hands to calm him down.

"I tried standing up for my mother, but I always ended up bruised, and so did she. And when I was around 9, she died while giving birth to my sister."

"I'm so sorry." I said, tearing up. A tear fell down his cheek so I wiped it, and nodded for him to continue talking.

"Even though my sister is only 8, she was a demon. She listened to everything my father said. She was never beaten, and she would tell father to beat me for her entertainment. I feel bad for her, but I can't seem to forgive her. I just can't help but feel like she took my mother away from me. It's childish, I know, but it just makes sense to me."

"It's okay. It's normal." I assured him.

"I ran away at 13, but came back a month later. I had nowhere to go. My aunt had died a month before I ran away, so I had nobody. Everything was going bad for me. So when my dad got the promotion, I was excited to be able to go to this school. It meant I could get away. I was slowly realizing I was stronger than him, so when everything was paid for I left and didn't contact him. He couldn't do anything about it. He started calling me, but it's easy to deal with that."

I processed what he was saying slowly. I felt terrible for him. I can't believe he was able to mask everything so well.

"I just want to be a hero. I want to save people from people like my father." He smiled, and I smiled back.

"I know, it's a lot." He said, reading my mind.

"My mother would have liked you." He looked at the ground.

I looked to him, tears slowly falling down my face.

"She would have loved your attitude." He looked back up at me, and I tackled him into a hug.

"I'm so, so sorry." I mumbled occasionally.

"Thank you. I really needed this." He sighed as we let go from the hug.

"I'm always here for you." I smiled.