Double Down (Lois Lane)

by Gwenda Bond

  As I paused in the kitchen threshold, it was clear.

  My future was here. Metropolis. Someday I’d graduate from the Scoop to the Daily Planet, working alongside Perry. I’d look out over that killer view of the city from upstairs in the Daily Planet Building every day.

  My heart soared. This vision might be a reality someday.

  If Perry didn’t fire me when he found out my efforts on behalf of James’s dad, that was.

  Speaking of dads, mine loathed Thai food, for unfathomable reasons since it was delicious. But it was unassailable fact. We only had Thai when he wasn’t going to partake. Which meant this was the perfect chance to return the lock pick set I’d borrowed.

  I did my best not to keep things more than a couple of days. No need to arouse suspicion or run the risk of him catching me. I hurried up the hall and into his study, removed the key from its hiding spot behind the photograph frame, and scurried over to the cabinet. There, I replaced the handy tools that had gained me access first to Boss Moxie’s abandoned building, then Donovan’s creepy lab.

  Hesitating, I wondered if there was anything I’d need for the days ahead that I should grab while I was here.

  But then Mom called out, “Lois? That you?”

  She was upstairs. But she was looking for me. If I needed the lock picks again, I’d come back for them. Better safe than sorry. Hastily, I secured the cabinet door, darted across the room to re-stick the key to its hiding spot, and continued out into the hall.

  “Here! Just got home!” I called back and made a beeline for the kitchen.

  Mom bounded down the steps just as I reached the threshold. She wore her fuzzy gray bathrobe over pajamas. “Hi,” she said, “big date tonight?”

  “Um, no,” I said, embarrassed despite how ridiculous the question was. “It’s Wednesday night. So, homework, research for a story I’m working on, the usual. Sorry to disappoint.”

  “Have your secrets,” Mom said.

  I stopped myself from protesting that I didn’t. Because I did, as evidenced by my mad dash to keep from getting busted in Dad’s study. And there was the game meet-up with SmallvilleGuy and the even more mysterious TheInventor later. Lying would only make her suspicious. She might be the less uptight of my parents, but that didn’t mean Mom was a pushover. Her lie detection skills were finely honed. I must have inherited mine from her.

  “Where’s Dad?” I asked. The soaring feeling I’d had before evaporated completely, as I had a terrible thought. “We’re not moving again, are we? You guys promised. I thought he was going to travel less.”

  “He has a quick business trip,” Mom said. “Out and back for a couple of days to…” She paused on the way to the fridge.

  This was the first travel he’d done since we arrived in Metropolis, but before we’d come here Dad was always going somewhere or another, even when it didn’t involve a move.

  Still, it made me nervous. The pattern of my life to date had been move, move, and then move again. This was my home. Already, I felt it. I wouldn’t leave.

  “Somewhere,” she said, opening the fridge and pouring herself a glass of white wine. “I know this is horrible, but I’m blanking on the place’s name. He’ll be back either late tomorrow night or the next night. A quick trip, like I said.” She faced me. “We’re not moving again. We promised.”

  Dad had promised all of us. I hadn’t known Mom was sick of rootless existence too, until the moment he’d said that at our family meeting a month and a half ago. We’d been gathered around the kitchen table, expecting simply the latest itinerary, when he’d told us the move to Metropolis would be permanent and acknowledged we deserved to be able to stay in one place. Especially if it “helped Lois behave herself.”

  Oh well, couldn’t have everything.

  “Good,” I said.

  “I just took a bath, and figured I’d take dinner upstairs. Hot date with a cheesy TV marathon, since your dad isn’t here.” She lowered her voice conspiratorially and took a step toward me. “That is the one thing I miss from all the travel and moving. He has no idea some of the awful shows I like.”

  “I’ll never tell,” I said, smiling. “Our secret.”

  “You want to join me? We can watch whatever you want.”

  I didn’t have anywhere to be for a few hours. “Tempting. Maybe I will.”

  I loved endless movie and TV marathons with Mom and usually Lucy. It had been a while. We liked to watch everything from cerebral dramas to fashion reality shows together, taking turns picking. Occasionally I was even able to convince them to watch my favorite mystery series, which starred an awesome woman detective in the 1930s who prevailed in the face of impossible odds and people underestimating her. Lucy semi-liked it too, but Mom always fell asleep.

  Tonight, maybe we could watch that old movie Lucy had referenced in her piece on journalism: His Girl Friday. “Is Luce home?” I asked.

  Mom nodded, and started to load up a plate. “I’ll knock on her door on my way up and alert her. Although, I interrupted her unicorn game earlier and she wasn’t happy about it.”

  “I’m in,” I said. “And I’ll get Lucy.”

  Seeing how Maddy and Melody related to each other—it made me realize I never wanted that to happen to my sister and me. I could afford this time to help make sure it never did.

  CHAPTER 20

  I slowed at the top of the stairs and paused in front of Lucy’s door. Taped to it, a hand-lettered sign drawn in black marker said Keep Out. The sign was new. So new if I touched it, marker might have come away on my fingertip.

  It made me smile. I remembered creating a similar sign of my own at her age.

  Besides being somewhat tricky with our parents when it suited our purposes, Lucy and I shared other traits. Stubbornness was among them.

  I knocked softly, preparing to gently coax her if she was truly mad at Mom. Even if that didn’t come easily to me.

  “Lucy, can I come in? Even though there’s this sign that says not to?”

  “Very funny,” she said, stepping aside to admit me. “That’s for Mom and Dad. They think they can just barge in whenever they want.”

  I tapped the knob as I entered. “Use the lock when you need privacy.”

  “Oh!” As if it had never occurred to her.

  Lucy’s room was a mass of contradictions, a perfect reflection of its inhabitant. She was on the cusp of moving from childhood to teendom, and her room was too. There was the pastel color scheme she might never have been into, but had agreed to, and several unicorn posters I was positive were ironic after my discovery about her renegade band of friends in the holoset game she played, Unicorn University. In support of my theory, the pinkest, prettiest unicorn of them all had a pirate eye patch drawn on in marker.

  “So… what’s up?” she asked.

  “Did you get a good grade on your paper?” I went over and eased down onto the side of her bed.

  “An A,” she said, with a small smile. “And the teacher made this whole big deal about not having realized I was related to the Lois Lane who wrote that story about Principal Butler.”

  Teachers would love that story, wouldn’t they? Even the ones who taught elsewhere could probably read between the lines and guess what he would be like as a boss.

  “Will you sit too?” I asked.

  She shrugged, but with a suspicious squint.

  I patted the bed beside me. “I know sometimes I make assumptions. But you’re too important for me not to check mine about you. About us.”

  One bare foot padded in front of another, bringing her closer. She sat down, a little farther away than I’d patted. “What is this about?”

  “When I expert consulted you the other night, it was because a friend of mine and her sister don’t get along at all. I was talking to her about why today, and I wanted to make sure I don’t ever do the same thing
. So… I wanted to check and make sure that I haven’t already.” I paused. “Do you ever feel like I’m sucking up all the attention?”

  “I told you I wrote that article because I was proud,” she said. Before I could begin to respond, she blurted, “It wasn’t because I want to be you.”

  I was making a mess of this. Lucy had been happy with me when I’d knocked on her door.

  “Little sister, believe me. I’d be way more worried about you if you did.” I wrinkled my nose, the way she usually did when she disapproved of something. She softened a fraction. “I have a habit of doing things the hard way. And for you, I want things to be easy.”

  “I don’t need things to be easy,” she said.

  “I know that. We’ve never had things easy. Not really.”

  She nodded.

  “So,” I said, encouraged, “I just wanted to talk to you and tell you that we’re not going to grow apart here. Now that we have a permanent place, to grow roots and all that stuff Dad and Mom talked about. I know I’ve been really busy since we got here. But you are important to me.”

  “What have you done with my sister?” she asked.

  “Funny,” I said. “I’m being sincere.”

  “I know, and it’s weird.”

  “Tell me about it,” I said. “But Luce? I want you to know two things. Even though I’m kind of a monster for not saying this stuff before now.”

  “Monster is a little strong.”

  A little? I stifled a grin at the qualifier. “You don’t even know what I’m going to say. Anyway, number one, I will always be your sister. I am always here for you, even if you’re mad at me. No matter if we live far apart from each other someday. We’re sisters. Forever. Got that?”

  “What’s the second thing?”

  “I know you don’t want to be me. But I’d hate for you to ever feel like you’re in my shadow. You’re not and you never will be. You are awesome, and there is some kind of amazing future waiting for you. You know how I know?”

  She shook her head no, her small chin swiping through the air back and forth. “What if there’s not?”

  “There is. How could there not be? I know because you’re pretty amazing already. I don’t think you’re going to get less amazing when you grow up. In fact, let’s make a pact. You think?”

  This interested her. Lucy liked bargains and deals and bets. Another thing we had in common.

  “What pact?”

  I stuck out my hand, and after a second’s hesitation, she placed hers on top of it. I repeated the gesture with mine, and she laid her second hand on top of the pile.

  “We do so solemnly swear by this very important pact that the Lane sisters will always be sisters and friends and only get more amazing, the older we get. We will…” I tried to think of something appropriate… “We will show the future who’s boss. I swear it as your sister.”

  “I swear it as your sister,” she repeated.

  And the room went quiet, as if we’d sealed the pact in blood.

  We dropped our hands, both embarrassed by the sincerity of the moment. But I was learning. Sometimes you had to put it all out there, no matter how hard it felt to do so. When the people in your life were worth it, so was the risk.

  I said, “There’s Thai food, because Dad’s on some trip.”

  “I know,” Lucy said.

  “And Mom is in for a TV marathon night. You too? I thought we could watch that old movie you mentioned in your essay.”

  She didn’t hesitate. “Yes!” She paused. “As long as I get to drive the remote?”

  “We wouldn’t dream of anything else.”

  I had a pang—I should probably go check in with SmallvilleGuy, let him know I would be MIA for a bit in case he needed me. But…

  I’d told him I would show up a little early tonight, and I’d have plenty of time to. The next sighting wasn’t until tomorrow night. And I had to wait for James to catch his dad trying to do something dumb, like attempt to leave their house or send James’s mom wherever the evidence was. Then I could make a renewed effort at convincing him to cooperate with us. But I fully expected him to make me wait a few more days. My fingers were crossed Melody could survive the waiting too.

  “Lois? You coming?” Lucy said in the doorway.

  With everything else in a state of delay anyway, it was a no-brainer that Mom-and-sister bonding night should take precedence over plotting and planning for now. “One sec,” I said, and I pulled out my phone and tapped a quick message into the app.

  SkepticGirl1: Having movie night with Mom and Luce if you need me before game time.

  I joined Lucy and nudged her to the top of the stairs. “Last one down is a rotten sister!” I said.

  We pounded down them together, laughing, and reached the bottom at the same time.

  For my part, that was on purpose.

  *

  Two hours later, Mom was doing her drowsy, about-to-fall-asleep thing, while Lucy showed no signs of flagging. We were upstairs in Mom and Dad’s room in full slumber party formation, propped on a mixture of pillows from their room and our own.

  We hadn’t done this in so long. It had been fun. Part of me didn’t want it to end, but the rest of me had been quietly obsessing the entire time about inviting TheInventor into our secret place in Worlds and how to deal with the boards drama over the flying man and clones and my friends’ sibling rivalry and how we were going to get the info we needed to fix Melody’s problem and how quickly James’s dad would come around…

  “We do have school tomorrow,” I said as the music swooped up and the credits for the black-and-white movie rolled.

  Mom’s head snapped up, and she consulted the clock. “It’s only nine forty.” She blinked to full awakeness. “The movie’s over, but we can watch an episode of something if Lucy wants to.”

  “Lucy wants to,” Lucy said, and hefted the remote to click over to the instant watch menu. She scrolled through the menu and settled on a cop show she and Mom liked and I didn’t mind. It was slightly gruesome but lightened by fun banter among the characters.

  “All right, then,” I said, giving an exaggerated yawn. That should set the stage for me to make my exit soon.

  His Girl Friday had instantly joined my favorite movies of all time—and had me wishing people still wore hats every day. The reporter heroine, Hildy Johnson, sported classy ensembles while talking as fast as I usually did and pressing for the truth without cease. She’d wanted to quit reporting to get married, but she couldn’t leave her real love: journalism. Not to mention, she re-fell in love with a newspaperman, a dreamy, suit-wearing newspaperman. Men should still wear suits like his too.

  The cop show episode began, and my phone buzzed in my robe pocket. I scooted back against the headboard where my every move wouldn’t be quite so visible to Mom and Lucy.

  I pulled out my phone as discreetly as possible and casually checked the screen. I had a new message in the app.

  SmallvilleGuy: Movie night still going? How much longer?

  I tapped out a response, as on the down low as I could manage.

  SkepticGirl1: I shall attempt Mission Self-Extraction in five mins. Wish me luck.

  SmallvilleGuy: Break a leg.

  SkepticGirl1: I’m not an actor.

  SmallvilleGuy: Coulda fooled me, drama queen.

  SmallvilleGuy: Kidding! ;-P

  When I looked up, Mom was watching me with a barely concealed grin. “Still no boyfriend?” she asked.

  Lucy whipped around, instantly distracted from her show’s latest body discovery. “Really? You have a boyfriend?!”

  I couldn’t tell whether her tone was more excitement or accusation. “I do not.” He wasn’t my boyfriend, and we’d never even met. No matter how much I might wish for both of those things.

  “Then who are you texting with?” L
ucy asked.

  “Um, James, about a story,” I lied.

  Mom seemed surprised. “I thought he was the one you semi-couldn’t stand.”

  “He is,” I said, regretting that I hadn’t said I was texting with Maddy. “He was, I mean. We’re friends now. Just friends.”

  “If you say so,” Mom said, with a shrug to Lucy. They exchanged conspiratorial grins.

  I leaned forward, picked up two potato chips from our feast of snacks, and tossed one at each of them. They just laughed.

  Lucy restarted the show. On second thought, it might not be a bad idea to check in with James, make sure he was watching his father as closely as I wanted him to be. So I texted him:

  Anything risky yet? You are tailing your dad, right?

  The response came about half a minute later.

  I am, and it’s a little weird following him around the house. He’s almost caught me twice. Nothing unusual.

  “I think I might go to bed,” I said in a vaguely irritated tone. Hurry it up, ex-mayor.

  “We didn’t mean to offend you, Lois,” Mom said.

  I suppressed a sigh. Lying to the people I cared about was not my favorite. “You didn’t. I promise. Tough story to crack, and it’s majorly resisting. I should probably get some sleep.”

  “Then good night,” she said.

  I ruffled Lucy’s hair as I left. “Night, brat.”

  “Night, monster,” she returned.

  “My sweet, sweet girls,” Mom said, thick with irony. Lucy threw a chip at her.

  The part of me that had enjoyed tonight—so much—wished I could stay with them, here in this uncomplicated space, watching TV and eating too much food and simply hanging out with my mom and sister. But I’d probably overindulged the length of this hiatus as it was.

  What would it be like to be normal? To not always be worrying about what needed to happen next?

  “Deathly dull,” I said, answering my question aloud as I entered my room and locked the door behind me.