by Dee J. Stone
Eventually, some people leave, but a few reporters stay. Dad pulls Mom to the door and they enter the house. Mom rubs her temples.
“What happened?” Matt asks.
“The nerve of them. They think they could gather around our house and ask us questions. I threatened to call the police and that seemed to work. I’m sure they’ll be back soon, though.”
“I’m really sorry for everything,” I say. “Shuda never done the whole superhero thing.”
Dad shakes his head, patting my arm. “It’s not your fault, Nick. Don’t blame yourself.”
It kind of is. I learned I had powers, and I knew I had to use them for a good cause, but I should have foreseen Nicole betraying me like that. Was I blinded by love? Were there signs I refused to see? Yes, she loved being in the spotlight. Was that a hint I missed? I really should have listened to Maddie.
“We’ll get through this,” Dad says.
I nod unsurely. “Do I have to go to school?”
“No one is going to school today,” Mom says.
Kaylee’s ears perk up. “Really?”
Mom plays with her curls. “Everyone is going to stay in the house until things cool down.”
“So no school tomorrow, either?” Kaylee asks, her eyes shining.
Dad says, “No, you’re going to school tomorrow, but your mother is going to go with you and we’ll ask the school to watch over you.”
She makes a face. “I’m not scared.”
“Then do it for Mommy and Daddy.”
Once everyone has eaten and Kaylee and Matt go up to their rooms, I’m left in the kitchen with my parents. “Do you think someone is going to hurt Kaylee, or any of us?” I ask. “Does she really need someone to watch over her at school?”
Dad throws his hands up. “The press can get very aggressive sometimes, even when dealing with a little girl. We want to try to do everything in our power to keep you all safe.”
All this is making me feel even guiltier for all I’ve done. At the same time, I’m glad I was able to help those in danger, like that woman and abusive husband, and the student gunman.
Dad’s not going to work, so after he and Mom clean up the kitchen, they go to the living room to watch the news. I push the curtain aside slightly and peek out. There are still a few people loitering around. Most must be getting bored, though.
I go up to my room and decide I’d better work on my homework. Even though school should be the last thing on my mind, I don’t want to fall even more behind.
Chapter Twenty-Six
When a few hours pass, I feel like my brain is going to fry. I know Mom and Dad said not to leave the house, but there’s someone I’ve got to talk to. I’m gonna go insane if I don’t.
Making myself invisible, I fly out my window and float outside Maddie’s room. Good thing it faces her backyard so no one can see me. It’s after three. Maddie should be inside. Her curtain is drawn, and I can’t see.
I hold out my hand toward a pebble on the floor, then send it at Maddie’s window. It makes a soft thump before dropping to the ground. I do it a few more times until the curtain is pushed aside and Maddie’s head sticks out. She looks to her right and left, most definitely noticing the reporters outside my house. She then pulls her head back in before I can say a word.
I throw a few more pebbles, and once again, she sticks her head out.
“Maddie,” I whisper.
She looks right in front of her, then around, like she’s not sure she’s hearing right.
“Maddie,” I say a little louder. “It’s me Nick.” I turn my hand visible to prove it. “Can I come in?”
Without a word, she pulls her head in and walks away from the window. I climb in and shut the shade. I make myself visible. She’s on the bed, reading a book. She doesn’t look my way.
I step closer. “You were right.”
Her head lifts, but she doesn’t say anything.
“About Nicole and everything. She’s the one who did all of this.” I swallow and avert my gaze. “I came here to apologize. I was a jerk and I’m sorry. I guess I’ll go now.” I move to the window.
“Wait.”
I turn around.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
“For?”
“For what happened.”
I nod. “Thanks.”
I turn to the window.
“You don’t have to leave.”
I face her again. “You don’t hate me?”
“Why would I?”
I shift from one foot to the other. “Because I chose her over you.”
She bites her lip and looks away.
“I’ll go now,” I say.
“You don’t have to.”
“Do you want me to?”
She’s quiet for a few seconds before, “I want you to stay.”
I remain where I’m standing. A few silent minutes pass, with the two of us staring at one another.
She bends the book she’s reading. “I’ve missed you.”
“Really?”
She nods. “I’m sorry I was such a jerk about Nicole. It’s just that—”
“We don’t have to talk about it.”
“But I want you to know why I was so against the whole thing and why I said she was a bad person.”
I laugh lightly. “I kinda see that for myself now.”
“I know, but I should have told you why. Maybe all of this wouldn’t have happened.”
I don’t think so. Don’t think anything she could have said would have made a difference. I sit down next to her on the bed.
“I don’t want to go into too much detail,” Maddie says. “But girls talk in the locker room and I heard her say not so nice things about certain people. She said something about you that really made me mad. You, you, I mean. Not Blue.”
“What did she say?”
Maddie shakes her head.
I shrug. “I’m over her.” Or at least I’m getting there. “So whatever she said won’t hurt me.”
She looks into my eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Yep.”
She crosses her legs beneath her. “Um, she was talking to her friends about the guys in school she would never date, not even if there was no one else left on the planet. You were one of the guys. She named you and a few others and said other not so nice things.”
Oh.
“You know, forget I said anything,” she quickly says. “Can we just forget about her?”
“I don’t see how, since I’m gonna have to go back to school eventually.” Mom won’t let me stay home for good. “How was school today?”
She hesitates. “Everyone was talking about it. Nicole, um…she told everyone that she only pretended to like you and get close to you so you’d reveal yourself to her and then she’d expose you.”
Another dagger to my chest, but for some reason, it’s not as strong as the other one. “You think she never liked me?”
“I think she did, but she was too embarrassed in front of her friends. She probably figured the truth about your identity would get out and she didn’t want anyone making fun of her, so she exposed you and invented this whole lie.”
I get that she has this reputation to keep, but at my expense? She’s got no clue what she did, not only to me, but to my family. Things will never be the same now.
I look at Maddie. “Are we okay?”
She smiles. “Yeah.”
“I’m really sorry for pushing you aside for her. I talked to my parents about it and my mom has this crazy idea that you like me. I mean, we’re best friends. Of course you don’t like me.”
Her face gets red, the reddest I’ve ever seen. My heart skips a beat and a breath gets stuck in my throat. “You—you do?”
She blinks a few times. “Of course not.” Her face is still red.
“Mads—”
“I don’t, okay?” She’s lying. Maddie is very good at hiding her emotions, but not from me. I can read her like a book, most of the time. This is one of t
hose times.
I take her hand and sandwich it between mine. This electric bolt passes through me and I nearly jump to the ceiling. What the heck was that? It never happened when I touched Nicole.
Maddie pulls her hand out, dropping her gaze to the bed. Did she feel it, too?
I look at her—really look at her. The way her hair is so dark and her eyes are so blue. I realize that on this day, when everything got all messed up, there’s only one person I want to be with. And that person is her.
I reach forward and press my lips to hers. Another bolt of electricity, a huge one, shocks me so strong that I’m pushed back, toppling over her bed and crashing to the floor.
Maddie scrambles off the bed and holds out her hand. “You okay?”
That never happened when I kissed Nicole. Kissing her was great, but kissing Maddie is like fireworks on the Fourth of July. Cliché, yeah, but it’s the truth.
She raises both eyebrows. “Nick?”
I shake that feeling away. “Huh?”
She holds out her hand again. I take it and she hauls me to my feet. I shove my hands in my pockets while she tucks some hair behind her ear.
“Sorry,” I say.
“For?”
My eyes flick to her lips, then away. “For, uh, you know…”
She steps closer to me. “I’m not.”
My whole body feels hot and cold at the same time. Her mouth is only a few inches away from mine, and it’s getting closer. The next thing, her lips move against mine in this way that feels so good and so right. She wraps her arms around my neck and I place my hand on her cheek. It’s so soft and warm, like her lips are.
She presses her forehead to mine. “I don’t care if you don’t feel the same,” she whispers. “But I want you to know that I’ve been in love with you since we were kids.”
I play with her hair. “I’m not sure how I feel.”
“That’s okay.”
I drop her hair. “It’s not. Maybe I’ve loved you all along and never realized it. Maybe because it was just the two of us, so I didn’t have to analyze my feelings. Now that we’re here, alone, I don’t know. You’re the one I go to when I need someone to talk to. You’re the one I feel most comfortable telling everything to. And when we were fighting, all I wanted was to talk to you again. So you see, maybe I do like you that way.”
“And the kissing is always good,” she jokes.
I laugh. “Sure is. But I don’t want this to be all about kissing.”
“I know, but you’re not sure if you want to be my boyfriend, so we don’t have to look too much into this. We can have fun, if you want.”
I plop down on her bed. “I’m not sure about anything right now.”
She joins me, placing her hand on my thigh. It tingles there. “That’s okay. You have time to figure it out. I’m here for you whenever you need me. Always and forever.”
I kiss her. I may not know what’s going to happen next, but I know one thing. Maddie’s the only person I want to talk to, the only person I want to laugh with and play video games with. If this doesn’t mean I don’t like her—love her—then I don’t know what does.
“I think I love you,” I find myself saying.
Her eyes get huge. “W—what?”
I stare down at my hands that are trembling. I don’t know where those words came from. “I…uh…” But it’s the truth. “When I fell off my bike when I was ten, I didn’t want to see anyone but you. When Kaylee was born, I came to you to complain that my parents would love her more than they love me. When I got bullied, you were the one who gave me the strength to move on.” I take her hands. “And now with all that’s going on, I snuck out of the house and I’m hanging out with you. I…I love you, Maddie. I think I always have, but I never realized.”
Tears fill her eyes. “You really mean that?”
“I do.”
She laughs awkwardly as she swipes her tears away. “This is lame.” She hates crying.
“Not lame at all.” I bend in for another kiss, but she presses her palms to my chest.
“As much fun as kissing is, maybe we should talk.”
I nod. “Sure.”
Quiet.
“About what?” I ask.
She waves her hands around. “I don’t know. We’ve kinda been ignoring each other for a few days, so I was wondering if anything interesting happened.”
“Other than the whole world—oh, yeah. There’s something very important I need to tell you.”
Her eyes fill with curiosity. “What?”
I swallow. “This is gonna sound crazy, but my parents told me I was adopted.”
Her mouth drops. “What?”
I nod. “I thought the same thing. But it makes sense, why I have these powers and no one else does. I bet my biological parents have these powers, too.”
“Do you know who they are?”
I shake my head. “No one does. My dad found me in a train station when I was, like, four.”
She stares at something in front of her. “Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“Are you going to look for them?”
“My parents and I discussed hiring a private investigator, but I don’t know. I kinda don’t want to deal with it right now.”
Maddie lays her head on my shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. It’s sorta a big deal, but I don’t want it to be. I don’t want anything to change between my family and me. They’re my parents.”
“Yeah.”
“At the same time, I kind of want to know who I am and where I came from. Why I’ve got these powers.” I rub my forehead. “I don’t know. I’m really confused about how I feel and just want to forget about it for now.”
She kisses my cheek. “I’m here for you.”
“Thanks.”
My phone beeps. I peer at it. “Mom found out I slipped out of the house and she wants me home. She needs to have her eyes on me at all times.”
“Okay.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’ll talk to you later.”
I get to my feet. “We still needa play Death at Night.”
She stands, too. “I’ll hold you to that.”
I kiss her gently, and move to the window. I then go back to her and kiss her for another time, for longer. The electricity is still there.
“Bye,” she says.
Our hands clasp, and as I move away, her hand slides out of mine. It takes all my willpower not to rush back to her.
I climb out of her window.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Two days later, Mom decides it’s time for me to go to school. Matt and Kaylee went back yesterday, and it went okay. Kaylee had a teacher with her all day, so no one bombarded her. Matt wasn’t bothered, either, just by a few kids who wanted answers. The reporters are still here, but the police are doing a good job at keeping them away.
It’s time for me to step back into the world. I’m nervous, but I guess I’ve got to do this at some point. For now, the Blue Masked Hero is taking a break. Nick needs to get his life back, which means catching up on schoolwork and hanging out with Maddie and my family some more.
Mom’s worried I’ll have a hard day, but I’ve reassured her a million times that I’ll be fine. I’ve got Maddie with me. We’ve texted, but I didn’t go to her house because my parents wanted me home. They were happy when I told them that Maddie and I are a thing now. I mean, I guess we’re a thing. We never really made it official. And yep, my parents and I had lots of talks.
We’re all eating breakfast in the kitchen, even Dad who was supposed to go to work early today. He probably wants to make sure I leave the house in one piece and am not harassed by reporters.
“Matt,” Mom says. “Drive your brother to school.”
Matt groans, like someone’s pulling out his teeth.
“Actually, I told Maddie we’d fly to school.”
All four of them turn to me. Kaylee’s eyes are filled with excitement. I flew
around in the house with her yesterday. Mom didn’t like it, but I reassured her I’d take good care of my little sister. Also, it’s hard to say no to Kaylee.
“Don’t worry,” I tell them. “We’re gonna be invisible.”
“You know we don’t like you flying,” Dad says.
“I’d never drop Maddie. We’re going to be fine. Trust me.”
My parents look from one to the other.
“Please,” I say. “Maddie’s really looking forward to it.” I turn to Dad. “You know how important it is to impress a girl. Please let me to this.”
Mom rubs her forehead. “All right.”
“Thanks.”
When I’m done eating, I leave through the front door and at once, people come out of nowhere, shoving mics in my face. A few have pads of paper.
“Nick McGuire,” one guy asks. “How do you feel about the world knowing your true identity?”
“Are you done being the Blue Masked Hero?”
More such questions are asked, but I ignore them. They’re blocking my way to Maddie’s house.
“I have one thing and one thing to say,” I say. More people and mics are in my face. “Leave me alone and leave my family alone. We don’t want to talk to anyone. We just want to go about our lives like we did before. I don’t know if I’m going to continue being the hero. As much as I want to, my first priority is schoolwork and my friends and family. Now, I’m leaving.”
I vanish, because there’s no way I’ll be able to get to Maddie’s without them following me.
At her window, I knock on it, waving one visible hand. I hope the reporters don’t know to look here.
Maddie smiles, inviting me in. “I saw what happened out there.”
“Hopefully they’ll get bored and leave me alone. Are you ready to go?”
She slings her book bag over her shoulder. “Yeah.”
As she passes me, I take her hand. “Mads, remember when I asked you to fly when I was learning and you got mad at me?”
Her eyebrows scrunch. “I didn’t get mad.”
“No, but you got really uncomfortable. Why? Did I say something wrong?”
She pushes some hair away from her face. “Because I liked you and it seemed—intimate. Like something a boyfriend and girlfriend would do.”