Ted taps his clipboard. “Any time now.”
I feel locked in place. I can’t move. And even if I could? There’s no way I’m humiliating myself in front of Ted. He doesn’t get to see how freaked out I get just from lifting off the ground. That’s reserved for friends and… well, for family who actually care.
“So, that’s an F?” He sounds too hopeful about that. And not at all surprised.
I slip my phone out of my pocket and hold it to my ear, pretending to have a call. “Mom? Slow down. What happened? Oh, my God. Are you— No, it’s nothing I can’t miss. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” My hand shakes as I put my phone back in my pocket, which wasn’t on purpose, but I think it really helps sell the situation. “I have to go. Family emergency.”
Ted shakes his head, dismissive. “Your phone didn’t ring.”
“I had it on vibrate.”
“You didn’t even hang up.”
“She hung up first. I didn’t need to.”
“A family emergency.”
“Yep.”
“You’re really doing this?”
“I can’t control when emergencies happen.”
He writes something on his clipboard. “You’ll have to do a make-up test, or you’ll still fail first year. You haven’t gotten out of anything.”
“I’m not trying to get out of anything. My mom is—” I swallow. “Look, I have to go, okay?”
“You have to check out at the office. And someone has to actually come pick you up.”
I start to leave. I have to get out of here.
“Damien?” Ted says. “One more thing.” He waits until I look over at him. “You’re ruining my brother’s life.”
Chapter 5
MOM TEXTS ME WHEN she gets to Heroesworth to pick me up, but when I get outside, I see my grandparents’ car waiting for me. Grandpa’s in the driver’s seat.
Great.
He opens the passenger door. “Get in.”
I just stand there. “Mom texted me.”
“I know—I told her to.”
“So that was… what? Another lie?”
“I just want to talk, but I didn’t think you’d come out if you knew it was me.”
I adjust my backpack, pulling it higher onto my shoulders. “I can walk home.”
“You can’t avoid me forever. Get in the car.”
“Fine.” I get in, but I make sure to slam the door.
He checks for cars before pulling out into the street. “I deserve that. The attitude, you not wanting to see me…”
“You think?”
“But this has to end. We’ve got to be able to talk to each other.”
I fold my arms and slouch down in my seat. “I don’t owe you anything. Not after what you did to me. So if you’ve got something to say, then say it already. And you can drop me off at the park. There’s no way you’re coming to my house.”
“The night of the gala, you told me you didn’t want to lose me. Well, I don’t want to lose you, either. But that was two months ago. Your grandmother said I had to give you your space, so that’s what I did. But there’s space, and then there’s never speaking again. Maybe that’s what you want, but that’s not okay with me.”
I glance over at him. “It’s not. I mean, it’s not what I want, either. But, Grandpa, you lied to me. You used me. And you made me lie to other people.” I clench my fists and press them into the seat. “You didn’t kill anyone at that gala, but you still did all that other stuff, and you’re still the leader of the Truth. That means you’re torturing superheroes, and doing who knows what else. I don’t know how to trust you anymore.”
He’s quiet for a second. Then he says, “I’m trying to make things right.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I shouldn’t have let the Truth come between me and my grandson.”
“It’s a little late for that.”
“We’re not torturing heroes anymore. Not unless it’s someone we know for sure has done the same to us.”
I raise my eyebrows at him. “Am I supposed to be impressed? That you’re only torturing some people?”
“I’m trying, all right? You don’t know how hard it is to lead a revolution, and doing it without bloodshed…”
“The League made excuses, too. For why they had to torture villains.” For why they’re still doing it. They might not be grabbing random villains off the street anymore—not since the city put its foot down—but they still have the authority to arrest criminals, and I’d hate to be a villain in League custody.
Grandpa pulls up to the park and finds a space. “The Truth isn’t the League. No matter what you might think.”
“I get that people are going to get hurt, but you hurt me. You put everyone I care about in danger. If I hadn’t been at that gala, if you hadn’t been going to attack…” I rub my face with my hands. “My best friend almost died.”
“Damien, I never meant for that to happen.”
“No, that’s right, you didn’t. Because if you’d had your way, there wouldn’t be an almost in that sentence. He’d be dead. My other friends would be, too, and my family. Maybe you didn’t know my friends would be there, but you knew my dad would be. The whole city knew that.”
“The plan wasn’t to kill anyone.”
“But that’s not how it would have played out.”
He doesn’t argue with that. We both know it’s true. “If I could take it back—”
“You can’t.” I unbuckle my seat belt and open my door to get out. “And maybe I don’t want to lose you, but I can’t just forgive you, either.”
“What I did… It’s in the past. I can’t change it, but I can promise it won’t happen again.”
I look him in the eye, not sure if I should believe that. He sounds like he means it, but he always sounds like he means it. And maybe he really does, at least right now. He might change his mind tomorrow. “Too bad your promises don’t mean anything.” I get out of the car.
“Damien, wait—”
But I don’t wait. I slam the door and walk away.
Chapter 6
“I WAS THE BEST one,” Amelia says at dinner, stuffing a complimentary roll into her mouth. She chews it for, like, only half a second before continuing. “I mean, there were only two other people with the same power as me, but they just did easy stuff, like teleporting a pen. But I summoned up a chair. One of the heavy wooden ones from the library.”
She means she was showing off, but instead of calling her on it, Helen and Gordon give her warm smiles, like that’s a great story.
The whole family’s at a restaurant downtown, celebrating me and Amelia passing our superpower tests. Gordon must not have heard that I left school early, or that I was supposed to take a flying test—I guess he and Ted aren’t that close—because as soon as he got home from work, he said we were going out to celebrate. He and Helen exchanged knowing looks, like they’d been planning this surprise. They didn’t even ask if we passed our tests, they just assumed, and I didn’t have the heart to tell them what happened. Though, to be fair, technically they’re celebrating me passing my lightning test, which I did. They just don’t know it won’t be enough for me to pass first year.
“Mrs. Cunningham—she’s the one who was giving the test—was super impressed with me,” Amelia says. “I could tell.”
I poke at my baked potato with my fork, mashing the scoops of butter and sour cream into it. “But you weren’t in the library.”
“So?”
“So, you couldn’t see the chair you took. What if someone was sitting on it?”
A look of horror washes over Amelia’s face. Her mouth hangs open a little, and her eyes dart over to Helen. “I didn’t think about that!”
“It’s okay, honey,” Helen says. “I doubt anyone was sitting on it. And if they were, I’m sure they didn’t get hurt.”
“Yeah,” Alex says, “you probably would have gotten in trouble if they did.”
Amelia c
onsiders that, not looking very reassured.
Gordon drops a hand onto my shoulder, startling me. “What about you? How’d your test go?”
I look over at Jess, who’s happily eating individual kernels of corn with her fingers, with no obligations or expectations, and kind of wish we could switch places. “I zapped things.”
“Come on, son. There had to be more to it than that.”
“Not really. There were moving targets. I had to zap the ones that looked like bad guys and avoid the ones that looked like old ladies. Which I think was kind of discriminatory, especially since all the ‘bad guys’ had Vs on their chests. And who says old ladies can’t be criminals? But I passed.”
“Well, that’s great.” Gordon sounds like he means it. “I know the year’s not over, but you’ve only got a couple months left, and I’m just so proud of both of you. And, Damien, I know this has been a tough year for you. There were times when I wasn’t sure if you were going to…” He clears his throat. “You could have decided Heroesworth wasn’t for you, and I would have understood. But you stuck with it, and you didn’t let anything keep you from succeeding.”
“Dad, you remember I got expelled, right?”
“I know that. But you negotiated your way back in.”
“I also ran away to live with Grandma and Grandpa and missed two weeks of school.”
Gordon’s smile falters a little. “Yes, that’s true, but the point is, you came back. You’re working hard to make up for what you missed. It would have been so much easier to give up, but you didn’t.”
“He’s right,” Helen says. “You had more challenges to deal with than everyone else. It can’t be easy, being the only half villain in a hero school, especially after what happened with the Truth.” She glances over at Amelia, then back at me. “I know the other students have been…” She searches for the right words.
I help her out. “Complete and total jerks?”
She nods. “I can’t even imagine how difficult it’s been for you, but you stayed in school, your grades are improving, and you’re almost done with your first year.” Helen reaches across the table and puts a hand on my wrist for a second, looking me in the eyes. “I don’t know how to express how proud we all are of you.”
Guilt squirms in my stomach. I wish they’d given me a chance to tell them the truth before they whisked us off to dinner. But then again, maybe it’s better this way. Everyone’s actually happy, and it’s not like Amelia didn’t pass her test, but if I’d told them what happened, they might have changed their minds about coming here.
I’ll tell them later, after we get home.
Amelia squints at me, then at Helen and Gordon. “What about me?”
Helen smooths her hand over Amelia’s head. “We’re proud of you, too.”
“This is just like what happened before. He’s a screwup, so even though I’m doing way better than him, he gets all the attention.”
“That’s not true.”
“You’re both getting all the attention,” Alex mutters.
Everyone ignores him, except Jess, who flings a kernel of her corn at him. I’m not sure if it’s to shut him up or meant as some kind of consolation prize, but I kind of love her for it either way.
“Nobody ever cares about how good I’m doing,” Amelia whines. “It’s not fair.”
Helen and Gordon exchange a conspiratorial grin.
Whatever’s going on, I’m pretty sure I don’t like it.
Amelia notices them being weird, too. “What?”
“We got you something,” Gordon says.
“Both of you,” Helen corrects him.
Gordon smiles at me. “You wouldn’t let me get you anything big for your birthday, so…” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a set of car keys.
I press my hands against the table. “Dad… This isn’t—”
“It’s for both of you.”
Amelia blinks at him. “You got me a car?!”
“To share,” Helen says. She takes the key ring from Gordon and pries one of the keys off, then hands one to each of us.
“You got me a car, but I have to share it with him?” Amelia makes a face. “Are you punishing me for something?”
“You both have your licenses now,” Gordon says. “It’s used. We couldn’t afford two of them, but there’s no reason why you can’t both use it.”
“Is it here? Can we go look at it?!”
Gordon laughs. “It’s at home. I parked it a little ways down the street, so it would be a surprise.”
I stare at the key in my hand. “And this is because I passed my superpower test?”
“Not just for that. It’s for everything. Like I said, I know it’s been a—”
“I’m dropping out of school.”
Gordon sputters, not finishing that sentence. “Damien, you’re… You’re what?!”
“I passed my lightning test, but the school wants me to pass a flying test, too. We all know I can’t do that. It’s impossible, and I don’t see the point of humiliating myself, or of repeating first year all over again. Not when the same thing’s just going to happen next year. And let’s face it, I don’t even know what I’m doing at a school like Heroesworth. So, thanks, but no thanks.” I set my key on the table and slide it toward Amelia. Then I get up, even though I haven’t finished my dinner yet. “If anybody needs me, I’ll be in the car, re-evaluating my life choices.”
I’m sitting in the back seat, texting Kat, when Gordon comes out to check on me.
“I didn’t leave so you’d come after me,” I tell him, glancing up from my phone. “I’m not Amelia.”
He slides into the back with me anyway. “We have to talk about this.”
“Not right now we don’t. You’re supposed to be eating dinner. You should at least get to celebrate having one kid who’s going to graduate.”
A text from Kat pops up on my screen. A car?! What color?
It doesn’t matter, I type back. It’s all Amelia’s. I’m not keeping it. But then curiosity gets the better of me. “What color is it?”
“What color is what?”
“The car.” I hold up my phone. “Kat wants to know.”
“It’s green. Listen, Damien…”
“You said you’d understand if I quit school. Well, I’m quitting school.”
“I said I would have understood. But now? You worked so hard to be there. I just don’t get why you’d throw that away.”
“Of course you don’t. Flying’s easy for you. Imagine if you had to pass a lightning test.”
“That’s not the same thing. I don’t have lightning power—you can fly.”
I shrug. “Not the way I’d need to to pass the test. Ted was the administrator. Did you know that?”
“I know he’s done it in the past. He’s a professional flying coach.”
“Well, he hates me. You should have seen the look he gave me today. And then he told me I was ruining your life.”
Gordon runs a hand through his hair. “It’s not true. He shouldn’t have said that.”
“I couldn’t do it. I mean, I knew there was no way I was going to get through the freaking obstacle course he had set up on the ceiling. But I couldn’t even try. Not in front of him—not in front of someone who so obviously wanted me to fail.”
“Now, Damien, I’m sure Ted didn’t…” But he can’t even finish that sentence. We both know Ted’s not exactly my biggest fan.
“I got out of there. I didn’t even fail the test—I just left.” Well, I faked a family emergency first, but whatever.
“There are make-up tests.”
“That’s not my point. Besides, it’s more than just the test. Fieldwork was the only part of school I actually liked, and I don’t even get to do that anymore. I know I’d get to next year, if I made it that far, but the thing is, I’m not sure I even want to. It’s a relief not to be doing fieldwork. And if I don’t like the one thing that made going there feel like the right choice, despite how hard it wa
s, then… what the hell am I doing?”
Gordon’s quiet for a second. “Do you really think you’d be okay with just quitting?”
“No, probably not. But I don’t know if staying feels right, either.” I wait for him to tell me I’m being stupid and that there’s no way he’s letting me quit school. I almost actually want him to.
But instead he says, “You and Amelia both deserve the car, whether you stay at Heroesworth or not. I’m still proud of you.” He presses the key into my hand.
“Dad, what should I do?”
“You should come back inside and eat dinner with us.”
“No, I mean about Heroesworth.”
“That’s up to you, Damien. You’re the only one who really knows what’s right for you, and you’re the one who has to live with the consequences. Now, let’s go, before our food gets cold.”
Which is basically no help at all.
Chapter 7
SATURDAY NIGHT, I’M IN my Renegade X costume, sneaking downstairs to go meet up with Riley and Sarah. It’s past midnight, and I’m not really expecting anyone to be up—except for Amelia, but I know she’s in her room, talking on the phone with Zach—so I’m a little startled when Helen comes out of the kitchen. She has her bathrobe on over her pajamas, like she couldn’t sleep.
“Going somewhere?” She folds her arms and raises her eyebrows at me. “It’s awfully late.”
Not really. It’s not like I have school tomorrow or anything. “I was just going for a walk.”
“Uh-huh. In your superhero costume?”
Gordon and Helen disapprove of our extra-curricular superheroing. Or at least Gordon does. I’m not actually sure what Helen thinks, though judging by the way she’s tilting her head at me, she’s not too crazy about it. And I know I should be annoyed that she’s busting me and not letting me leave, but mostly I just feel relieved. “Everything else was in the laundry.”
She sits down on the couch and pats the spot next to her. “Talk to me.”
“Um.” Busting me is one thing, but can’t she just let me go back to my room now? I’ll text Riley and Sarah, tell them I can’t make it and that they can’t do it without me—and that Riley should be off the hook—and then I’ll see if Kat’s still up. We’ve been watching bad movies together over the phone. Up next on our list is Attack of the Killer Robot Zombie Slaves, which looks particularly terrible. I’ve really been looking forward to it.
The Phobia of Renegade X Page 4