Super Girls (Cape High Book 13) (12 page)

"I'm not stealing your gig!" I protest, my irritation showing. "I'm just doing what Nico told me to do!"

"I'M the one that's going super villain archer!" Keliah snarls, her arrow disappearing as she storms over to me. "I've been planning this since I was a kid! But do they even think of that? NO! They just bring you in and hand you all the fancy bows and whistles—"

"At least I get close to the target," I say, knowing it's childish but not caring. "Maybe you should learn to hit things before you start claiming to be so great."

"I've hit things before!" she says. "I blew out a tire!"

"It must have been a whole lot bigger than your target, then," I say cattily. Hey, she started it! I offered to help—you saw that, right? She's just angry, and I'm not going to put up with it—

The fist to the face sends me flying before my brain even realizes it's coming. I grunt as I fall to the ground. She just broke my nose, I realize. It's bleeding. "Looks like your nose is bigger than the--oh--oh my gosh," she says, her cocky expression turning into shock. "Are you--I hurt you? You're
bleeding
--I've never even SEEN that much blood before--" Before I can blink, though, Nico is standing between us.

"Aubrey, can you come to the archery field?" he says, touching his ear. "Keliah, detention. In fact, we're looking at a little talk with your mother."

"I didn't mean to--she's older than I am! I mean I'm sorry--but--I would have sworn--what sort of super
gets their nose broken?
" she asks, looking from me to him and back. "This makes no sense! She's got to have all of her powers already! She's old!"

"There's a reason I've chosen her to be a sniper type," Nico says quietly. "Keliah, I'm not going to say it again. Go inside."

"But—" she stops as she sees his face and gives me one last guilty look before heading into the school building, her eyes gleaming with tears. I glance over as I see Aubrey coming out of our dorm building, running towards me.

"Oh, Jennifer," she says, falling to her knees next to me and reaching up. I force my hands away from my nose so she can touch my face. Her hair starts floating and her eyes glow, but I barely notice it as I feel the relief come.

"She started it," I mutter as I try to wipe the blood off of my face. Aubrey pulls a handkerchief out of her pocket and starts doing it for me. "I was trying to help her with her aim! It's easier if you understand how wind affects—" I groan, feeling like an idiot. "I want to train when she isn't training," I tell Nico.

"I'll have to build you another archery field--although I suppose I should do that anyway, considering I plan on training you for explosives, too." He hesitates. "It might take me a day or two, though, and it would be better if you could keep training here while you wait. But since she's looking at suspension, it shouldn't be a problem."

"If I have to, I'll train after school," I say. "I just want to get to where I can do my job properly, I don't need temperamental little girls getting in the way," I say, feeling surly. "And isn't she Falconess's daughter? Doesn't she have a WAY bigger role to fill than this one?" I demand, getting more irritated by the moment.

"Keliah doesn't like the idea of having to fill her mother's boots," Aubrey says. "I don't think she meant to hurt you this much, but I will definitely have a talk with her about this. We can't allow this sort of thing to go unchecked, even if she IS planning on going super villain."

"She just broke my nose, so you won't hear me disagreeing," I drawl. She sighs.

"This isn't the first time something like this has happened," Nico says, tapping on the air as if it were a keyboard. "We're going to have to make a few rules about fighting or even rough-housing when not under direct supervision. Of course the Liberty boys will just have to take that outside, because stopping them is pretty much stopping family bonding... This should do it--we'll announce it to the class later."

"What did you do?" Aubrey asks him.

"Added it to the rule book. If I'm going to be bringing in weaker, specialized capes, I can't have them dying on school grounds." He waves a hand, and looks at me. "Do you want to talk to her about this?"

"No, but we probably should. Someone needs to have a talk with her about punching people," I say, heading for the school. I turn back a second later and grab Aubrey's hand, hauling her along with me.

***

As soon as I go in, I hear Keliah in the third room down the right hall, mopping the floor. I pull Aubrey to a stop outside the room, motioning for her to be silent. The younger girl isn't alone. It sounds like she's talking to an adult, and I don't recall hearing this voice among our teachers. How did a stranger get in here? IS he a stranger? I mean, I'll be the first to admit I've not been here long.

"I--I didn't MEAN to break her nose, but she's stealing everything! I just--I feel like nothing will ever go the way I want it to. They don't take my plan to be a super villain seriously! They just pat me on the head and secretly expect me to take over Mom's job when I'm old enough."

"Planned or not, you still broke her nose," the man says gently. "Did you expect that to happen?"

"Of course not!" Keliah says. "She's a student in a super school—she should be tough, right? I didn't expect--"

"I'm a janitor in a super school," the man says, answering my biggest question. "I'm not nearly as tough as my own son."

"Well, duuuh," she says. "Your son's Fire Hazard. He's a super, you're not. We all know that—but she's not a super, either! She can't be one, right? I should tell Nico that she's not, and that it'd be better for everyone if a fake super wasn't in the school, including her!"

"You could do that," the man says mildly, "It would settle who the archer villain is once and for all."

"Yeah, I guess--I mean--"

"Except you'd have cheated to get it," he goes on. "You'd always wonder if you really deserved the position."

"I didn't--" she splutters for a moment and I hear the mop stop moving before she mutters, "But... I AM the daughter of Falconess—"

"Ohhhh?" he says. "So your family connections make you more deserving, then?"

"That's not what I was saying!" she protests.

"It sure sounded like it. I thought you already said you didn't want to BE the next Falconess."

"I don't!"

"Then you just don't mind using that title to get what you want, is that it?" the man offers. "I can see that."

"I'm not using it like that!"

"It sure sounded like you were," he says. "But who am I to talk? I'm just a norm that cleans up after you supers."

"You—you are NOT!" she says. "And there's nothing shameful about being a janitor! It's hard, icky work, and you said it's how you can stay out of prison and close to your son, right?" she says, her voice softening.

"That's true," he says. "Do you hold me being weaker than you against me?"

"Of course not!"

"Then do you think it's right to hold it against a fellow student?"

Silence. I look at Aubrey, who looks just as intent on listening in as I am. It's wrong to spy, I know, but I'm seriously starting to like our janitor. I wonder what his son is like.

"No," she says quietly, "but I don't have to like her, right? Not when she's stealing my gig."

"I'm not," I say, stepping into the room. "At least not, exactly," I admit as they both turn to look at me. "Look," I say, my hands clenching for a moment as I take a deep breath, "I can't tell WHY I need to become a super villain, but it's not for the same reason you probably want to be—it's all for a—for a job prospect I've got lined up. One that—that a D-class can do," I say, my shoulders slumping slightly as I come out and say it. “I won't be in the middle of the big fights, or in the movies, or anything like that, not like you will be."

"D?" she repeats.

"Yeah," I say. "One step above a norm, and a short one at that. Even without the Falconess name, you'll still be far above me, but I have something I CAN do. Something I need to learn archery for—"

"And guns," Nico says from behind us, "and I'm thinking rockets, too."

“But—” Keliah says, looking from me to Nico and back. “Why did—why did you bring in a D-class cape? She could be seriously hurt here! And D-class--they should be in regular schools, and live regular lives--they're the only ones in our world that CAN."

“Just because they can doesn't mean they have to,” Nico says, dropping a hand on my shoulder. “Jennifer has several reasons to be here, but the only one that matters to you is
because I feel like it
. And if you have a problem with that, I suggest you keep it to yourself.” I see her flinch slightly and hear her suck in a sharp breath. She didn’t expect that. “If you think that your mother’s name will give you leverage with me, you’re out of luck,” Nico goes on coldly. “Even Mastermental’s kid doesn’t get a say in who I let into the school, and he’s dating my daughter.”

“But—”

“Thank you, Tony,” Nico goes on, looking at the silent janitor with a slight nod. “It’s good to have at least one voice of reason in the place. I see where your kid gets it from.”

“My kid gets it from being apathetic to everything other than cooking,” Tony says dryly. “But I should get back to work.” He gives Keliah a slight smile before walking past us. I turn and watch him leave, wondering what his story is. I guess he just came to work here because of Fire Hazard?

"I'm sorry! I really am--I lost my temper and I--I acted stupidly, okay? But she's taking my job!" Keliah says, tears threatening to fall as her hands fist at her sides. "I always wanted to be the mysterious archer villain, but here she comes waltzing in and is perfect for the job. It isn't fair."

“Life’s not fair,” Nico says callously. “If you really feel so threatened by a no-name super, do you really think you’ll ever out-do your mother?” he asks. “I know EXACTLY how it feels to be in someone’s shadow, Keliah. I’ve done exactly what you’re planning on doing, too. Do you know where it’s going to get you? I do.”

“Where?” she asks.

“Cape Cells has a nice little room just waiting for my replacement,” he says flatly. “Of course I’m training my villains to avoid that ending, but if you’re so blinded by this inferiority complex, who knows what will happen?” She looks down, only daring to glance up as he moves to stand right in front of her. “You aren’t meant to be creeping in the shadows, Keliah. You aren’t built for it, either.”

“Wha--what? Why?” she asks.

“Mostly because your power glows,” he says simply. “Do you really think you can sneak up on someone when you’re glowing?”

She stares at him, dumbfounded. I can’t help the snicker that escapes me. “He’s right, though!” I say. “I mean, even the STUPIDEST of heroes is going to notice when you bring out your weapon. They’ve got really good eyesight.”

The expression on her face is so perfect that I bring out my new phone and snap a shot. “Hey!” she protests. “What was that for!”

“I’m going to commemorate the moment you realized just how stupid your idea was,” I tell her. “This way when you’re famous, I can remind you.”

“You had the EXACT SAME idea!” she protests. “You’re just as stupid as I am!”

“No, because it works for me--you admitted it, yourself,” I say before Nico can. “I can control wind—that means I can change the direction of the arrow, and I don’t have any flashy abilities that’ll catch peoples’ eyes.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she mutters, pouting.

“Now, since she has a reason to use the archery field, and you don’t, we’ll move you to a different self-practice section after your suspension is finished,” Nico says, bringing up a schedule hologram out of nowhere. “We’ll focus on hand to hand combat training—Pan said you needed to learn your basics better, anyway. I’ll pair you up with Malina—”

“She still owes me time,” Aubrey says, speaking up for the first time. “If we can get a ride to the Hall, I’ll take her during first hour.”

“Deal,” Nico says, completely ignoring the protest that Keliah is trying to give. “We’ll pair you up with Malina after the week of suspension and the week of ER work is complete,” he says, tapping on the hologram before looking at me. “That gives you the archery field in the morning.”

I hesitate for all of a second, since I just clearly got her kicked out of what she wanted. “Thanks,” I say. There’s not much else I CAN say. She broke my nose! I have every right to gloat right now, you know? Call it karma—and karma can be a real witch, right? She totally deserves getting the boot. “Oh, look, time for the next class--I've got to go change, first,” I say, turning and walking away as quickly as I can.

I don’t feel guilty. I DON’T.

Really.

"Falconess?" I hear him say behind me. "You need to come in for a bit--we need to have a talk with your daughter and the suspension she just earned."

I jump as I hear a tiny tinkling sound behind me when I walk into the classroom. Freddy. I turn, looking at him expectantly. He’s got a frown on his face, I realize a bit belatedly. “Something wrong?” I ask him. “Did you—”

“I did it,” he says, shoving his hands into his pockets. “It’s dead.”

“Thanks, Freddy,” I say, letting out a sigh of relief. “Not like anyone is going to call me on it—oh, but I need to tell Aunt Barbara I have a new—” I stop as I notice the look of guilt on his face. “Seriously, is something wrong?” I ask him, starting to worry.

“Um, well—” he starts out.

“Class is now in session!” Skye says as she drops through the ceiling with a huge smile on her face. “We’re going to talk about pretending to be a norm today!” she declares proudly. “Clearly, since I’m an adult, I have PLENTY of experience at it,” she adds, sauntering down a row—a foot off the ground. “But since this class is about YOU learning, not me, we’re going to talk about what YOU think is the best way to blend in!”

She’s clearly using us to learn how to blend in. I mean, it’s so obvious that I can’t help the grin that crosses my face. She catches sight of it and points straight at me. “Jennifer!” she says, “you have lots of experience, right? You go first!”

Thank you, Skye, I think darkly, giving her a dirty look. She grins at me, floating in the air as she waves me to the front of the class. “Up front, and center!” she orders.

I get out of my chair and head to the front of the room, looking the group over. I stare at them, trying to think of a way. Some of them are just outright OBVIOUS to anyone that’s actually met a super. “Well, first off, always act like you’ve got somewhere to be and something to do,” I say slowly. “Even if they think you might be one, if you’re gone quick enough they won’t get up the guts to ask,” I say, sitting on the desk. “Now, DATING someone, on the other hand, will take a lot more work—”

The sound of Freddy hitting his forehead on the desk makes me jerk and look at him. There is OBVIOUSLY something bothering him. I stare at him for a moment, until Trent speaks up. “That’s why Nico says it’s easier to date one of our own. You can’t exactly go up to someone and say, ‘by the way, I’m Kid Liberty,’” he drawls.

“You had BETTER not,” Emily says, giving him a look. “Your girlfriend might get REALLY irritated.”

“Would she?” he asks, giving her a wicked grin.

“She absolutely would,” Emily says.

“Well for those that DON’T have a super boyfriend or girlfriend,” I say, rolling my eyes at them, “there are a lot more available norms than supers. You can’t blame someone for falling for a norm, either. People are people, right? Whether they have powers or not. It’s just traditional to keep your secret identity and hero identity separate, right? So at least wait a few months—which means hiding it in the meantime. First—don’t use your powers around them,” I say, holding up a finger. “If it’s involuntary—like hearing, or smell, or whatever, don’t REACT to it. Remember that they can’t hear like you can. And if you can walk on air—DON’T,” I say, looking at Skye pointedly. She’s floating upside down again. At my look she lets out a little yelp and flips over, dropping to the ground.

“Right, right,” she says, straightening her clothes and patting her hair. Her fingers linger on a little hair piece and she smiles slightly. “Well, that’s great advice! Now let’s hear someone else’s take—Justin! You talk!”

“Can’t,” Justin admits almost cheerfully, “I’m an outed super—I don’t have to pretend to be something else.”

“Oh,” Skye says, her face falling.

“Freddy can talk!” Justin says, pointing at the green haired boy.

Freddy jerks, panic clear on his face. “About what? I didn’t do anything—” he says too quickly.

I stare at him, noticing how he glances at me for all of a second before looking away. I’m pretty sure he can’t meet my eyes. WHAT did he do? I have to know!

“We’re talking about pretending to be norms,” Justin prompts.

Freddy stares at him. “How should I know?” he asks finally. “I don’t exactly have much experience.”

“What about before you were captured by Shadowman?” Trent asks.

Freddy’s eyes widen for a second. “Nothing happened before then. NOTHING. I need to go to the restroom,” he says, standing quickly and heading out of the room. The room is silent, and I look around, expecting SOMEONE to get up and go after him. No one moves.

“Is he going to be okay?” I ask hesitantly.

“He doesn’t talk about before the zoo,” Malina says. “We’ve tried—he does that every time.” She motions to the door, showing what “that” is. “Well, he does now that he’s got a door. Before, he would just stop talking for a few hours—sometimes days. We’ve all got… touchy points,” she says, looking at her desk instead of me.

I start for my desk, only to stare at it for a moment before heading for the door. “Restroom,” I lie over my shoulder, closing the door behind me before anyone can protest. I look around, but he’s nowhere to be seen. My eyes close and I let out a slow, heavy breath, holding my hands out.

I hear the sweet little chime first. It echoes like a bullet in my mind. I open my eyes and head out the building, straight for the canyon wall. There, I think, sitting on a rock halfway up the wall, staring at something in his hand. “Freddy?” I say.

“I destroyed your phone,” he says quietly. “But… um…”

I go to the rock wall, looking at it for a moment before starting to climb. It’s a little awkward, since I’ve never done this before, but I manage to scramble up to near where he’s sitting. Why? I’ve had a rough enough day without sticking my nose into someone else’s problems. So why am I doing this?

Maybe it's because even if he’s not my type, and he’s kind of socially inept, I still see him as a possible friend. “You know,” I say when he barely glances at me, “I’m the biggest hypocrite ever.”

“Huh?” he asks, looking startled.

“I mean, who am I to lecture them on how to act normal? I practically AM one—I never had to pretend anything.”

“I’m bigger,” he says after I watch him, expecting him to laugh, or protest or something.

“What?”

“I’m a bigger hypocrite than you ever will be,” he says, holding what’s in his hand to me. It’s a ball of plastic and metal, packed tight. “Here’s your phone, by the way,” he says. I take it, staring at it blankly.

“You weren’t kidding, huh,” I say. “You did a number on it.”

“There’s no fixing it—unless you’re Nico,” he agrees. “But Nico’s the one that told you to destroy it, right?”

“Yeah,” I say, looking at the ball of parts. “What happened before you met everyone?” I ask. “I’ll tell you about my past if you tell me yours.”

“You’re the LAST person I want to tell,” he says, snorting and looking away.

“Did you kill a guy?” I ask.

“No!”

“Rob a bank?”

“No, but I could,” he says thoughtfully. “I mean, it’d be really easy to avoid the cameras and alarms, right?”

“You’re going villain?” I ask, suddenly excited. “No, wait, that’d make you my competition—and I have enough people outshining me already—”

“I was in Juvie,” he says abruptly. “Crap, I was trying to keep that to myself,” he mutters. “As if you don’t hate me enough already.” He runs a hand over his face. “I just kept that a secret for over a year and the moment a pretty girl asks—man I’m stupid,” he complains. “Don’t tell the others.”

“I… I don’t hate you,” I say. “I just was freaked out by the silence thing—but actually I can hear you breathing,” I realize, looking at him. “I just didn’t notice it earlier. I was too busy focusing on everything else.”

“You can hear me breathing?” he repeats. “And you thought I was the creepy one.”

“It isn’t creepy!” I protest. “Well, much.”

“Who’s Matt?”

“What?” I ask, thrown off completely.

“He… Ace said not to tell you, but he tried to call and texted you,” he admits, stretching his legs out in front of him. Here he is, sitting on a small rock on a wall and he looks like he’s lounging on a couch. I’m precariously perched on a rock larger than his, trying not to fall off. So not fair. “He… called?” I ask. Again?

“Yeah, and when I didn’t answer, he texted—but he’s just out to get close because you’re coming here,” he says quickly. I flinch, because that old, nasty hope tried to come up before he said that. He'd called more than once... but I made my decision when he called the first time. “It was pretty obvious. Who is he to you?” Freddy asks.

“My ex,” I say. “What did he say?”

“He was trying to get you to meet up with him.”

“And what did you say?” I ask.

“Nothing! I just destroyed the phone like you told me to!”

“So why did Ace tell you not to tell me?” I demand, climbing closer.

“Aren’t you going to ask how I got in Juvie?” he asks as I get in his face.

“Freddy, seriously—you have a lizard shaped haircut. Am I REALLY supposed to be surprised by that fact?” I say drolly. “I bet you’ve got a tattoo somewhere.”

“Well, not yet,” he admits. “But I was thinking I’d have Ace design me something for my back—”

“Why did Ace tell you not to tell me?” I demand.

He stops, the look of obvious guilt crossing his face once again. Well one thing about the guy, he’s really easy to read. I stare at him, giving him my strictest look. “Well… he thinks that the guy could get stalker-ish,” he says finally, looking away.

“Yeah, right!” I say, starting to laugh as soon as the shock fades. “The entire reason Matt started ignoring me is because I told him I’m a cape! Why would he just do a complete one eighty now?”

“To get Ace’s autograph,” he says. “Ace is pretty famous now, you know?”

I stop laughing. “So you guys think he’s just planning on using me to get to Ace?”

“I wouldn’t!” he says, holding up both hands in a placating manner.

“You have his number on speed dial,” I drawl.

“Well, even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t. That’s just a jerk move.”

I sigh, leaning back as much as I can. “Yeah, but that’s pretty much all I got once I came out,” I admit with a shrug. “Forget about him, he can buy an autograph book and go to the shows just like anyone else does.”

“Er… well… yeah, okay,” he says. I look at him, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

“NOW what aren’t you telling me?” I demand.

“Well… Ace is going to stop by after school,” he says, pulling out his own phone and messing with it so he doesn’t have to look me in the eye.

“Yeah? And what are you going to do?” I demand.

“I don’t know?” he offers. “Something to get rid of the guy—”

“You can’t kill him!” I say.

“We don’t kill! We’d just scare him off,” he says.

“This isn’t about your crush on me, is it?” I demand. His face turns red with embarrassment. “Because if you’re just trying to get rid of him because you think I like him still, you’re wasting your time. He’s not worth the effort.” He doesn’t say anything, just keeps messing around with his phone. “Freddy,” I say, “just don’t do anything stupid, okay?” I say, reaching up and touching his arm. He jerks, looking at me in surprise. “I mean, I don’t want you guys getting in trouble over something that’s already over. I’m starting a new life, remember? New phone and everything,” I add, pulling out my bright blue phone and showing it to him. “Look, it’s got glowing clouds on the back and everything,” I add, showing him. Stupid, I know, but it’s so cute!

“Huh,” he says. “Nico put a lizard on mine,” he says, showing me the bright green lizard on the back of his phone. “But it’s not about—y’know, the crush. It’s just I don’t want ANYONE to be used because of the school. This is supposed to be a safe place.”

“So if you were in Juvie, why were you such a chicken about fighting?” The question makes us both jerk and I almost fall off the wall before Freddy grabs my arm. We were so busy talking that we didn’t notice Justin coming up on us.

“I—I didn’t have to fight in Juvie,” Freddy says, looking over at him. “I was just thirteen when I got in—and I’m really good at getting stuff, so…” he shrugs. “I played lackey for some of the older guys and did just fine. I didn’t start coming into my powers until just a little before I was kidnapped. So… yeah. I guess it’s finally completely out of the bag, huh?”

“I think they already know,” Justin says, walking over and climbing up to us. “Or or at least guessed. It doesn’t matter.” He looks at me. “Nico’s looking for you.”

“What?”

“He says he’s ready for your upgrade.”

“What?” I repeat, since for a famous guy he sure doesn’t make much sense.

“You mean like what he did with Ace before he got his powers back?” Freddy asks excitedly.

“Seems like it.”

“Let’s go!” Freddy says, grabbing my hand and jumping off of the wall. I barely manage to squeak a bit before we land and he’s dragging me to the school buildings. “Can someone explain how a technopath can upgrade—” I stop as we burst into the gym, seeing everyone staring at me expectantly, “me?” I finish stupidly.

“There are two ways,” Nico says, making me glance to my left. The technopath is standing next to a wall of bodysuits and weaponry.