by Laurent Linn
Doug wheels around. “You got a problem?”
He backs down.
Pushing from the ground, Buddy’s up on his feet. He clutches his side, eyes wide.
Doug turns and punches him in the stomach.
“Oooh!” Buddy doubles over.
I run at Doug. “Stop! Just stop!”
He glares at me.
“Doug, listen. Enough.” I glance back at Kobe, take a quick breath. “Enough. God, I can’t believe I’m saying to not kick Buddy’s ass, but . . . enough.” I look in his eyes. “Right?”
Buddy’s hunched over, grimacing, watching us.
I check over my shoulder at my friends. Everyone stares.
I focus on Doug.
Nothing moves, like the earth stopped turning.
Doug peers over at Kobe. Then me. He puffs up his chest, turns to Buddy and the other football guy, points at each of them. “Move out.”
With baffled scowls, Buddy and the other guy slump off to where they came from, away from the gym, toward the stadium. Doug follows them.
I realize I’m standing with my hands on my hips in some cliché superhero pose.
Doug turns back one last time, looks at me. I give him a little nod.
He flips me off.
So I flip him off.
He disappears into the shadows.
I TURN FROM WATCHING DOUG disappear around the back of the building.
Audrey, Trent, Kobe, and Lev all gawk at me.
“That was, like . . . whoa.” Trent stands at full height with his arms out to his sides.
“Guys?” Audrey gestures toward the parking lot. “Let’s maybe move into the light?”
More and more costumed kids pass by. Some look our way but don’t care.
I grab Lev’s arm. “You okay?”
He pushes his hair out of his face. He’s pale. “I’ll be—yeah. You?”
Still catching my breath, I say, “Yeah.”
I look down at my costume. “Dammit! That asshole.” My knee armor is crushed, shoulder puffs practically ripped off. I’m sure the A symbol on my face is smeared beyond recognition.
Kobe stares at me. “What the hell just happened here?”
I study his face. “You look better.”
“Oh, please. Bullshit.”
“You do. I mean, you’re here . . . and why are you here?”
“After whatever the hell just happened, wish I wasn’t.” He flaps the mummy bandages that dangle from his hand toward Audrey and Trent. “It was their idea.”
Audrey raises her voice. “Come on, people, let’s move away from this spot.” Now that I really look at her, she’s gorgeous, dressed up more than I’ve ever seen.
Lev turns. “Wait, I can’t leave the ladder and all that stuff. What if—”
“Trent,” I say, “help us move this?”
He, Lev, and I grab it all and drag it into the lot, in full view of everyone hanging out at the gym entrance. The doors are open now and a thumping beat bounces across the pavement.
I touch Lev’s arm. “Let’s just leave it all here. Get someone else to deal with it. You’re done.”
He nods. “That’s for sure.”
The five of us stand in a little huddle under the big parking lot light.
Audrey glances back at where we came from. “What just happened?”
“Buddy attacked Lev, and then Doug and that other guy showed up.” I look at Lev’s side where he hit the ground. “You hurt?” I probably should have let Doug pummel Buddy into oblivion.
Lev pulls his hair behind his ears and wipes his forehead. “No, I’m all right. Just knocked the wind out of me.”
He scans my face, then takes hold of my shoulder. “You. Are. Awesome.” He kisses me, full on the mouth—the best sweaty, electric, freaked-out kiss I’ll ever know.
Oh, man.
After ten high-voltage years go by and he pulls back, I exhale.
“Oooooh.” Audrey fans herself. “Gettin’ hot out here.”
Trent studies his black-fingernail-polished hands.
I put my arm around Lev and look at everyone. “Main thing is we got them off our back.”
Audrey points at me. “You got them off our back, Graphite. I don’t know what all that was, but I’m scared a’you, superhero.”
Graphite. I hold up my ripped fabric. “Yeah, well, not very ‘super’ now.”
Trent scans my costume up and down, nods. “I like what I think you were trying to do.”
Lev squeezes my arm. “You’re a superhero no matter what you wear.”
Kobe grunts dramatically. “Oh, god.”
I turn. “Okay, let’s get the hell inside the gym.”
“No way, I’m outta here.” Kobe looks at Audrey. “Please take me home? Maybe Kerosene would be ready for this. But I’m not. Bad idea.”
Trent nods. “I’m with the mummy dude.”
“No.” I face Kobe. “You have as much right to be here as anyone. We all do.”
Kobe flaps his fabric hands. “Nuh-uh. I can’t.”
I point to the side yard. “Well, I can’t let those assholes get away with it. If we run and hide, they win. Right?”
“Amen to that,” Audrey says.
Kobe blinks. “I’m not so—”
“Look,” I say, “we earned it. This is our school. This is for us. We deserve a fucking dance!”
“Yeah!” Lev says. “And wait till you see the decorations. They’re awesome.”
Trent cracks up.
Audrey rolls her eyes. “Let’s get inside. This girl is ready for some fun. Enough drama.”
I drape my fabric over my shoulders. “All right, head in. Let’s TAKE this school.”
“Oh, please.” Kobe sighs. “Fine. But do not tell anyone who I am.”
With Audrey’s help, he rewraps the strips of gauze like a mask over his face so he’s not recognizable. He only leaves a slit for his eyes to peer through the fabric.
As we start walking toward the gym, I take in what Lev’s wearing. His cape is hanging off one shoulder and his costume looks like . . . “Are you Prince Charming?”
He smiles. “Oasis.”
“Really?”
“Okay, it is Prince Charming, but it was the closest thing Party City had left that looked like what you drew.”
I grin. “Prince Charming works just fine.”
“Ugh,” Kobe mumbles. “Get a room.”
Audrey laughs.
I turn to her. “Hey, weren’t you supposed to be at that wedding? You look amazing. Like, holy crap.”
Her elegant, low-cut sapphire-blue dress has a long skirt with a slit up the side. It looks like it’s made of a hundred separate satin panels. Her hair is dramatically piled on top of her head and she wears dangly silver jewelry.
Strutting in her high heels, she says, “Don’t you recognize me? I’m Sultry, bitch.”
Kobe cracks up as much as he can wrapped in gauze. “Ooooh, you sure are.”
She smiles. “Okay, I did come here directly from the wedding ceremony—and yes, you’d better be appreciative that I’m skipping the reception to surprise you instead. But I think Sultry would wear this, yes?”
Beaming, I nod. “She will now.”
She looks down at herself and frowns. “Even though this color makes me look as big as a house.”
“Audrey, it doesn’t.” Lev lowers his voice. “And you have three gay boys here telling you you’re hot. Believe me, you turned it out.”
She waves him off but stands a bit taller.
We get to the crowd forming a line at the gym doors and pull out our school IDs.
Ahead of us, a couple jocks are lamely dressed as cheerleaders. Sexist, homophobic pricks. They notice me, take in what I’m wearing, and bust out laughing.
Audrey glares at them. “If anyone gives you trouble, Adrian, just remember—I’m trained to use a high heel as a weapon.”
“Ooh,” Lev says, “teach me.”
“So.” I spin my finger
in a circle. “How is it you guys—”
“We all talked behind your back,” Audrey says. “Not so unusual, I might add. We decided to surprise you. So, surprise!”
“Guess who I am?” Trent says.
I study him, fully in black as always. “Hmm, new coat, right?” It almost touches the ground and has little silver skulls running up the sides and sleeves.
Trent slowly turns in a circle. “I call it Willow-inspired haute couture soup du jour.”
“I . . . Wow.” Overwhelmed. “You guys are . . . Wow.”
The line moves forward.
I spot a guy and girl looking at my costume. Oh, great, why don’t they just—oh. They both give me a thumbs-up. Cool. I give them a thumbs-up too.
I turn to Kobe. “I’m really glad you came. And I love the mummy look.”
He grunts. “I went for the irony. But then thought I could be Mummy Dearest.”
Lev laughs.
I squint at Kobe. “What do you mean?”
His shoulders slump. “Oh, my god, you really need to brush up on your gay references.”
Lev touches my arm. “You do.”
As soon as we’re through the doors, we step into the gym and pulsing music.
Ghosts hang from streamers, spinning lights splash colored spots on the walls and floor, fog machines make the air thick and spooky, and “Hey, look at all your bats!”
Lev smiles. “You like?”
I tap his shoe, yell over the noise, “This is wild.”
My insides flip. Wow. My first dance with a boyfriend.
In fact, my first dance and my first boyfriend.
Lev blushes. He must feel it too.
The crowd pushes around us, so we all keep walking.
I spot Kathleen through the mass of costumed kids across the foggy room. It’s hard to miss her—she’s dressed in a bright-pink full-body leotard and tights with a little kid’s plastic chair strapped on top of her head.
“What is she?” I ask Lev.
He peers at her. “You got me.”
Audrey hooks Kobe’s arm. “You doin’ okay?” she says over the music.
I barely make out his words through his face fabric. “Maybe let’s hang over in that corner?”
Trent elbows Audrey. “Check out who’s coming through the doors.”
We all do and it’s Manuel, barely dressed in a toga. Whoa.
Audrey’s eyes pop, and then she turns and stares ahead to the drinks table. “They wouldn’t happen to serve Chardonnay at this thing?”
Kobe pulls her arm and starts walking. “I wish.”
We get drinks (of the non-Chardonnay kind) and sit on some chairs against the wall off in a corner.
Kathleen comes over and says to us, “There you are!”
Attempting to not bump the teetering child-sized chair strapped to her head, Lev gives her a hug. “I don’t know what you are, but it’s cute.”
“Wait,” Trent says loudly, “let me guess. You’re the naïve, idealized dream supporting the mass education of innocent youth before it crumbles into a hollow shell and dies.”
“Um . . . no.” She spins around. “I’m bubble gum that someone stuck under a chair.”
Trent shrugs. “Okay, that works too.”
Lev whispers to Kathleen that the mummy is Kobe. She gasps, but Kobe doesn’t notice. He’s gazing at the crowds, taking it all in, after everything he’s been through. Can’t imagine.
I clear my throat. “Hey, mummy dude. Welcome back.”
Kobe blinks, nods.
Kathleen bounces, the wobbly chair-hat practically taking out her eye. She tightens the strap. “Come on, y’all, let’s dance.” A little group has already started dancing in the middle of the gym.
Lev and I look at each other. My heart beats louder than the boom from the speakers.
Okay, the Adrian? he mouths.
I smile. “Okay.”
Before going over, I try to fluff my ripped costume as best I can. “I look like a mess,” I yell. “You can’t even tell who I’m supposed to be.”
“Don’t worry, Nurse Piper.” Kobe’s eyes smile at me through his wrapped bandages. “We know who you are.”
“Truth,” Lev says. “Now, who’s dancing?”
Kobe sits back, shakes his head.
Trent settles in the chair next to him and salutes us. “Have fun, kids.”
Lev and Kathleen go toward the dance floor and Audrey grabs my arm. “C’mon, I wanna dance my ass off tonight.”
So we do.
“YOU THINK YOU CAN HANDLE it this time?” Audrey eyes my BBQ turkey burger with Boo’s special sauce.
It really is massive on the little plate in front of me. “Sure. What could possibly go wrong?”
“Gravity,” Trent says, biting into his quesadilla.
Lev and Kathleen crack up.
We’re all five at a table against the wall near the front of Boo. The usual Sunday-night dinner crowd chatters all around us and funky music drifts through the air.
“Hold on. Let’s get a photo before you pick up that burger and make a mess.” Audrey goes for her purse, but it slips off the back of her chair. She reaches down to get it and grunts.
“Here.” Trent scoops it up and hands it to her.
She arches her back and winces. “Next time, remind me not to wear brand-new heels to a wedding and a dance, okay? That hoedown last night almost knocked me flat.”
Kathleen wipes pasta sauce from her mouth. “Why didn’t you just take off your shoes?”
“At school?” Audrey arches an eyebrow. “I ain’t that tacky.”
“And,” I say to Kathleen, “in heels she’s taller than Manuel. It’s a power struggle thing.”
Audrey gives me the Audrey Eye and, from her purse, whips out her phone and takes my picture.
A waitress I don’t recognize refills our water, then moves on.
I sigh deeply. “So surreal being here again. They haven’t changed anything, but it looks so different. Smaller.” I gaze out the front windows. No one’s hanging in the parking lot, and in the setting sunlight, all looks peaceful.
But that nightmare is seared in my brain.
I still can’t wrap my head around what Doug did before the dance last night. I mean, obviously he doesn’t want to be the villain. And he wasn’t. But he wasn’t a hero, either.
No matter what, things are different now.
So this morning I made the choice—I deleted that balcony video. It no longer exists.
I let my shoulders roll back against the old beat-up seat.
Lev squirts ketchup on his fries. “Can’t believe Kobe actually came last night. That was awesome.”
“Wish he’d come back to school for real, though,” I say.
Audrey purses her lips. “Maybe he will.”
“Wonder what he’d say about your new coif?” Trent stares at my head. “It’s growing on me, pun intended.”
I smile and run my hand through my hair, now all buzzed on the sides and spiky on top. Taking my time this morning, when I was fully awake and of sound mind and body, I carefully cut my hair. Even though I still can’t get that Graphite flip in the front, it turned out pretty awesome.
Lev bumps my shoulder. “I think it’s cute. Even in the back.”
“Why? What’s wrong with the back?”
“Oh, nothing.”
I run my hand over my scalp and look around the table. “What’s wrong in the back?”
They all glance at each other and grin and shrug.
“Really, guys, what—”
“It’s not so bad,” Audrey says. “Just a bit, um, uneven?”
Great.
“Anyway,” Lev says, “I want to tell you something. I kind of miss seeing Oasis on your site.”
“But you had me take it down.”
“I know, but I was thinking maybe you could draw some new stuff that could be more public. Like, I don’t know, Oasis saving an endangered species or something.”
Lea
ning close to his ear, I whisper, “But I’ll still draw some new stuff for your eyes only.”
“Oh, get a room,” Kathleen says.
To my right, the wall here has a great open spot, not yet covered by what anyone’s written.
“Hey, Audrey, can I have a pen?”
She fishes a blue one from her purse and hands it to me.
While everyone talks and eats, I draw Graphite in a power pose, his paintbrush brandished in the air. I sketch the flowing fabric so it swirls around the other doodles and writings that surround him, integrating Graphite into the space.
I sign my name and drop the pen on the table. There, freakin’ at last.
Trent nods. “Awesomeness.”
Audrey eats another fry, then readies her phone. “Go ahead and eat. I’m ready to document the mess you’re about to make with that turkey burger.”
I smirk, pick up my fork and knife, and cut it into pieces. With the fork, I stab a chunk of turkey patty and twirl it in the BBQ sauce, then hold it up to her. “Ha-ha. I’m not even going to use my hands at all.” I bring it to my mouth and—
“Crap!” A blob of sauce lands right in my lap.
They all crack up.
I quickly eat the bite and drop my fork on the plate.
Audrey wiggles her phone. “Got it!”
“Do not post that!” I say.
Damn I need a phone. Here’s hoping that job works out.
I sop up the blob on my pants with a napkin. Not too bad.
I eye all the happy faces around me. “Hey, Trent, your arm’s the longest. Take a selfie of us.”
He’s on the end of the table, so we all scoot and lean in from both sides. Put our arms around each other. We’re all linked.
“Okay,” he says, aiming the phone at us. “Ready?”
Audrey speaks up. “Everyone say ‘Graphite!’ ”
We scream it out loud together as he hits the button.
Click.
Acknowledgments
If not for the real superheroes who populate my world, Adrian’s life and adventures would not exist. I am so thankful to the cast of characters that helped bring this book to life:
Superhero name: THE BUNNY GROUP
(a writing critique group like no other in all the galaxy)
Real names: Kathy Bieger Roche, Stephen Alan Boyar, Gail Carson Levine, Selene Castrovilla, Roberta Davidson-Bender, Karen DelleCava, Michelle de Savigny, Sheila Flynn DeCosse, Alice Golin, Emily Goodman, Michele Granger, Deborah Heiligman, Sherry Koplin, Patricia Lakin, Arlene Mark, Sheila Nealon Ramsay, Judy Rosenbaum, Vicky Shiefman, Marcia Shreier, Erika Tamar, Susan Teicher, Seta Toroyan, Pat Weissner, Niki Yektai, and Adrian’s first “mom,” Margaret “Bunny” Gable