by Marisa Logan
“When you get home, you are grounded.”
“Maybe I won't come home, then.”
She hung up the phone before her mother could say another word. The woman sitting next to her shifted uncomfortably in her seat, still eyeing her. Jenny shifted so her back was to the woman. It wasn't any of her business what Jenny and her mother had been talking about, even if she hadn't been able to have the conversation in private.
She stared out the window and watched the world passing her by. Trees whisked past the bus, along with the occasional billboard advertising gas stations, local produce sellers, and tourist attractions. She'd never been this far from home by herself before. It was rare that the family had gone as far as Atlanta on trips, and she certainly hadn't ever gone further than that. Someday, she wanted to travel up north, see New York and Philadelphia. See what it was like in a place where everyone wasn't prejudiced and super religious.
She thought about just running away after the convention. She could find a job in Atlanta. Except that she wouldn't have any place to live. And since she didn't even have her driver's license or any other form of ID, it would be hard for her to find a job, or an apartment. Starting out on her own, without anyone to turn to, would be just about impossible.
She sighed and closed her eyes, starting to drift off again. She slept the rest of the trip to Atlanta, her sleep disturbed by nightmares of her mother showing up from out of nowhere to drag her back home.
Chapter 5
Jenny arrived in Atlanta with plenty of time to spare. It took her over an hour to walk to the hotel where the convention was being held.
When she got there, she was stunned by the huge crowd of people already gathered out front. There were hundreds of people, from teenagers to middle-aged adults, a good number of them dressed in costumes. The most common costumes were from the biggest DC and Marvel properties, with dozens of people dressed as X-Men or Avengers or members of the Justice League. Though she also spotted some characters from some less-known comics. There was one guy dressed up as Atomic Robo from the indie comic by Brian Clevinger. And there was a whole group dressed in some amazing stick-figure-styled costumes, portraying the characters from the Order of the Stick webcomic. Jenny thought for sure they'd win the costume contest. After all, it wasn't easy to make realistic-looking costumes based on stick figures, but they'd done a phenomenal job.
She waited until the doors opened and people were let inside, then headed for the bathroom to change into her costume. The skin-tight black and red leather showed the curves of her body more than anything she'd ever worn, and the top was so low cut she worried she might fall out of it. She pinned her brown hair up against her head and put on the bright red wig, then added the Crimson Star's iconic red-tinted sunglasses.
When she stepped out of the bathroom stall and saw herself in the mirror, she didn't recognize herself. She was completely transformed. No more shy, sheltered, homeschooled girl in a pure, chaste ankle-length skirt. She looked sexual. She looked badass.
She twirled her nightsticks in her hands. She looked like she was ready to kick some butt.
She pulled her backpack back on, wishing she had someplace to put it. It really ruined the vibe of her costume. Though once she found Jeremy, she could ask him to stash it in his room. He'd booked a room for the entire weekend, since he'd driven way too far to head back home without staying the night.
She wandered the main room for a few minutes, taking in all of the people and their costumes. A few people pointed at her and waved. One even snapped a picture, which was both flattering and awkward. She wasn't used to this kind of attention.
It wasn't until she had done a full loop of the ground floor that she realized she had no idea how to find Jeremy. She didn't have his phone number, since they'd only ever chatted online. And while she could search for him by his costume, it wouldn't be easy. She'd already spotted four other Crimson Stars (though none with a costume made of real leather like hers), and six Wizard Wilhelms. She wished she'd thought of some better plan than telling him they'd meet in the lobby. But she hadn't been prepared for the number of people here.
She stood in the lobby, scanning the room. Her sunglasses bathed everything in a red tint. She saw several people meeting up with friends, then heading into the main rooms in small groups. After a minute she saw one man, one of the Wizard Wilhelms, standing off to the side, scanning the room, just like she was.
She stared at him for a moment, wondering. She'd never actually exchanged pictures with Jeremy. She had no idea what he looked like. The guy she was looking at was tall and heavyset, with a generous belly visible under his wizard robes. He held a hand-carved wizard's staff, topped with a red gem that actually glowed, just like the Omega Gem from the comics. Like Jenny, his costume was one of the nicest ones at the convention. She wondered if that made them mega-nerds for putting so much effort into their costumes.
The wizard looked her way and she caught his eye. Taking a chance, she gave him a small wave. He headed across the room, adjusting his long black wig.
“Jen?” he asked, looking at her hesitantly.
“Yeah.” She smiled, looking down at her feet. “Jeremy?”
“I'm glad you made it.” He grinned, looking her up and down. His eyes lingered for just a moment on her rather unavoidable cleavage. “Wow. You...you look great.”
“So do you.”
He shrugged. One thing she knew about Jeremy, after all the time they'd spent chatting online, was that he didn't care much for his appearance. But she didn't care that he was overweight. He was sweet, and he had a cute face.
“You ready to check everything out?” he asked, gesturing with his staff to the main rooms.
“Can I drop my stuff off in your room first?” She pulled her backpack off, holding it by the straps.
“Yeah. Sure. Of course.”
They headed to the elevator, squeezing in with a handful of Star Wars droids and one guy dressed as a zombie in a Star Trek uniform. They got off on the sixth floor, and Jeremy used his keycard to open the door to his room. It was a small room with a medium-sized bed, though it looked cozy. Jenny looked around, laughing when she saw a coffee pot in the bathroom.
“Why do they put the coffee pot in there?” she asked.
“I don't know. But I'm sure not drinking out of it.”
Jenny set her backpack on the ground, next to Jeremy's suitcase. The suitcase was sitting open, and she blushed when she saw his underwear sitting on top.
He flipped the top down to hide his unmentionables, then they headed back downstairs. They wandered the vendor rooms for a bit, browsing through the things for sale. There were comics and graphic novels, action figures, movies on DVD and BluRay, and all sorts of homemade clothing, toys, statuettes, jewelry, and accessories.
While they were looking at a case of jewelry, Jeremy asked, “So, how did your mom handle the whole 'sneaking out to come to Atlanta' thing?”
“She totally flipped.” Jenny ran her fingers over some of the rings, pausing to try on a Green Lantern ring that turned out to be way too big for her tiny little fingers. “She's gonna kill me when I get home, but I don't even care.”
“Well, I'm glad you're here.”
Jenny glanced at him. She tried to figure out if he was flirting with her. She had no idea how to flirt. It wasn't the sort of thing she'd learned in her years stuck in a small house, helping take care of her younger siblings.
“I'm glad you're here, too,” she said. “I can't imagine the drive. You must really be dedicated to come this far for a convention.”
He looked at her, and there was something in his eyes in that moment. She wasn't sure what was going through his mind, but she had the feeling it had nothing to do with the convention.
They moved down the jewelry counter, stopping when Jenny spotted something that made her jaw drop. “Holy crap,” she said. “It's the Alpha Gem.”
“A handmade replica,” the woman behind the table said. “Made with a real ru
by.”
Jenny lifted the pendant in her hands, marveling at it. In the comics, the Crimson Star wore the Alpha Gem, the twin to Wilhelm's Omega Gem. It gave her super powers, enhancing her naturally athletic physique and giving her lightning-fast reflexes and superhuman endurance. It was also the only thing missing from Jenny's costume.
She flipped the pendant over, running her fingers over the golden spirals that framed the gem. Then she saw the price tag.
“Damn,” she whispered.
Jeremy looked over her shoulder. “Wow.”
“I know it's a bit pricey,” the saleswoman said. “But that's the cost for real gold and such a fine gem. Now, if cost is an issue, I have some very nice pieces that are gold plated, with red crystals instead of the ruby.”
Jenny set the pendant back down and looked over the cheaper ones. They didn't have near the quality, and looked like little more than mass-produced junk. Though for $9.95, they weren't bad.
“We'll take this one,” Jeremy said, picking up the genuine one.
“Jeremy, no...” Jenny bit her lip. Even if she'd had a job, the pendant was far more expensive than she could ever afford. She didn't own any real jewelry. The most expensive stuff she had was plastic costume jewelry from WalMart.
“It'll look great on you,” Jeremy said.
“I agree,” the saleswoman said. “The perfect addition to your costume.”
“Jeremy.” Jenny put a hand on his arm.
“It's a gift,” he said, smiling bashfully at her as he pulled out his credit card.
She couldn't argue with him. He paid for the pendant, then helped her put it on. The brilliant red gem nestled alluringly between her breasts, sparkling in the florescent lights.
“Besides,” Jeremy said as they left the table, “we'll be a shoe-in for the costume contest now.”
Jenny slipped her arm through his as they walked, wondering if he'd really bought it just because it suited her costume. She might not know the first thing about flirting, but she did know that men didn't buy a girl such an expensive piece of jewelry without a much deeper reason.
Chapter 6
In the afternoon, Jenny and Jeremy headed towards the showroom where the costume contest would be held. There were hundreds of participants, and the room was quite crowded. They mingled for a bit, which mostly consisted of Jenny gawking at some of the more elaborate costumes and giving shy compliments to the ones she found the most compelling. Though what shocked her the most was the amount of attention she was getting in her own costume.
“Love the outfit!” a girl in a purple wig said as she passed by.
“Thanks!” Jenny blushed, feeling a bit silly. The Crimson Star never blushed.
“Oh, Emm, Gee!” a teen girl said, staring at Jenny with her hands on her cheeks. “Anastasia Star! Oh, you're awesome. And I love the pendant. It looks so real!”
“Thanks. I was worried I didn't have the figure for this outfit.”
“Oh, you so totally do,” the girl said.
“You definitely do,” Jeremy added.
Jenny felt her face heating up again. She covered her embarrassment by posing with her nightsticks in an action stance, trying to stay in character. The girl snapped a picture, then hurried off to ogle one of the other cosplayers.
“God, I'm going to end up on that girl's Instagram page,” Jenny said, covering her face with her nightsticks.
“You should be,” Jeremy said. “You look totally awesome. Your costume must have cost a fortune.”
“I made it at home.” Jenny shrugged.
“Really? No way. I bought mine on eBay.”
“Really. One of the things about growing up homeschooled and poor is you learn a lot about sewing.” She adjusted the tight leather outfit where it rode up a bit. “Though I've never worked with leather before. It was a pain.”
“Totally worth it.” Jeremy smiled, taking her hand.
After the cosplayers had enough time to check out the competition, the event organizers started wrangling them into different groups. There were four categories up for judging: Solo Heroes, for the people who'd come by themselves, dressed as their favorite superhero; Dynamic Duos, for pairs in matching costumes, ranging from Hero and Sidekick combos to Romantic Pairings; Adventuring Parties, for groups of three or more, which included most of the X-Men and Avengers cosplayers; and Strange and Unusual, for people with more elaborate costumes, such as the giant Jabba the Hutt costume that was being operated by four people simultaneously.
The first stage of the judging involved a brief viewing before a table where five judges sat, taking notes. The cosplayers were marched in front of them, one group at a time, and asked a series of questions. When Jenny and Jeremy got to the judging table for Dynamic Duos, they were quickly grilled with the same default questions everyone was being asked.
“Real name and costume?”
“Jennifer Campbell. Anastasia Star. The Crimson Star.”
“Jeremy Pillar. The Wizard Wilhelm.”
“Convention ID?”
Jenny checked her badge and read off the number.
“Now,” the judge said, “show us your best pose.”
Jenny's face heated up. She looked at Jeremy, uncertain what to do. They hadn't practiced poses or anything. She hadn't realized that was a part of the contest.
Jeremy whispered to her, “Issue twelve, the cover.”
She nodded, picturing the comic book in her mind. Jeremy raised his staff overhead and brought it down in a striking motion. Jenny brought up her nightsticks, crossing them to absorb the blow, then dropped down to one knee, struggling to ward off the attack.
The judges nodded and took some notes, then the one in the middle said, “Thank you. Next?”
Jenny stood back up and moved along, unable to tell if the judges had been remotely impressed. She felt like a total dork. But at the same time, she knew she was among her dorky brethren. The next pair in line behind them mimicked one of the dancing scenes from the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If they could get up there and dance, Jenny decided she had no reason to be embarrassed about showing off her action poses.
Besides, she was having fun.
It took quite a while for the judges to go through all of the contestants, but they kept the lines moving at a steady pace. When it was done, there was an announcement that there'd be a short break, then the finalists would be revealed. Jenny and Jeremy headed to the refreshment table during the break, and Jenny got a bottle of Coke.
“I'm so nervous,” she said.
“Don't be.” Jeremy squeezed her hand and smiled at her. “I'm having a great time. It doesn't matter if we win.”
Jenny looked over her shoulder at the crowd of people. “Yeah, but there's just so many people here. I doubt we have a chance.”
“We'll see.”
Before too long, one of the judges stepped up on the stage at the far end of the room. She adjusted the microphone, then started reading off the lists of the finalists in each category. As each name was called, the cosplayers headed up to the stage, forming four groups.
Jenny clung to Jeremy's arm. He patted her hand. “Don't be so nervous,” he said. “Even if we don't—”
“...and for the Dynamic Duo competition, our first finalists are Jenny and Jeremy, with their fabulous Crimson Star and Wizard Wilhelm costumes!”
There was a round of polite applause. Jenny squealed, then remembered that she had to stay in character. She marched up to the stage, holding one of her nightsticks triumphantly overhead. The applause got a bit louder as she marched up onto the stage, where she ended up standing beside a Batman and Robin pair, and a gender-swapped Agatha Heterodyne and Gilgamesh Wulfenbach couple. She grinned at the other contestants and gave them encouraging waves, glad to be a part of the group. A handful of other pairings joined them as their names were called out, until they had a nice little crowd on the stage.
The contestants were introduced one by one, some getting huge applause while other
s got only polite clapping. Jenny clung to Jeremy's arm, her stomach twisted in knots. When it finally came time to announce the winners for the Dynamic Duo contest, she closed her eyes, afraid to even listen to the results.
“And our first place winners,” the judge said, reading from a card into the microphone, “who will each receive a $500 cash prize and an upgrade to VIP status for the rest of the convention...Agatha Heterodyne and Gilgamesh Wulfenbach!”
Jenny clapped along with the rest, disappointed but still happy for the couple who'd won. She had to admit that their costumes were amazing. The man playing the gender-swapped Agatha even had a couple of little metal robots, just like the character from the comic.
She stopped listening to the rest of the announcements, and ended up being surprised when she and Jeremy took third place. She squealed and leapt into Jeremy's arms, giving him a giant hug. They headed up to the microphone, waving to the crowd, and accepted their prizes, a pair of $50 gift cards to an online comic shop and a couple of t-shirts with the comic convention's logo on them.
“Gosh, I can't believe it!” Jenny said, holding the t-shirt in her hands and looking it over. “I've never won anything in my life. Third place is good, right?”
“Out of more than a hundred people? Of course it is.” Jeremy patted his wizard robes, looking for a place to put his gift card, but it turned out his costume had no pockets.
“We can drop this stuff off at your room,” Jenny said, grinning.
“Sounds good. I guess I should have worn pants under this.” He lifted the hem of his robe up to his calves, revealing a pair of black shoes and knee-high white socks.
Jenny laughed. “Well, blue jeans aren't exactly in character for a wizard.”
“Harry Potter wore jeans under his robes.”
“True.” Jenny nodded in agreement. “But he was raised by muggles.”
They headed up to Jeremy's room. Jenny tucked her prizes into her backpack, then pulled off her red wig and sunglasses. “I'm starting to get sweaty under this thing.”