“WHAT DO YOU THINK they’re doing up there?” I wave my hand at the ceiling toward Amelia’s room. Where she and Zach currently are. Alone.
It’s Wednesday afternoon. Riley’s sitting across from me at the dining table. “You guys just made up, like, yesterday,” he says.
“Sort of.” Enough that Zach felt comfortable coming over to the house again, at least. “But that doesn’t mean that I’m okay with knowing that they might be… you know.”
Sarah’s sitting at the head of the table, between me and Riley, with her binder open in front of her, since theoretically we’re all doing our homework. “I doubt you have anything to worry about.”
“Yeah,” Riley says. “They’re just watching a movie.”
Me and Sarah both give him incredulous looks.
“Well, they could be.”
“What I meant,” Sarah says, “is that they’re probably not going to do it for the first time with us right downstairs.”
I exhale in relief. “You think? I mean, that’s what I was thinking, but—”
“And they’re probably waiting for Prom night. It’s only a few days away.”
“Sarah.” I gape at her.
“It’s a common rite of passage. And you don’t have to look at me like that. It’s not like I invented it.”
“I’m looking at you like you’re not helping.”
“Can we talk about something else?” Riley says.
“Your brother knows I could kill him, right? I could actually kill him.” I hold up my hands and let lightning spark a little.
“Let it go already.”
“I can’t believe you’re okay with it.”
“I didn’t say I was okay with it. But that doesn’t mean I want to spend all afternoon discussing my little brother’s sex life.”
“Alleged, theoretical sex life that hopefully doesn’t exist.”
“Right, but it’s going to happen eventually. For both of them. So I guess it might as well be together.”
“Wow, great, Perkins. I’m so glad to hear that romance is still alive and well in the world.”
Sarah adjusts her glasses. “I think what he meant was that it might as well be Amelia, because that way if she gets pregnant and they get married, at least you two will be brother-in-laws.”
We both stare at her.
“I just mean it could be worse.”
“That’s… There are so many things wrong with that, Sarah, I don’t even know where to start.”
“New topic,” Riley says.
Sarah nods. “It’s time we got down to business.”
I raise my eyebrows at her. “You don’t mean actually doing homework, do you?”
“I’ve got the perfect mission lined up for us. Now, I know our last one didn’t go so great.”
“That’s an understatement,” I mutter.
“But I’m willing to forgive and forget so we can move on.”
I exchange a worried look with Riley.
“You guys were out of practice,” Sarah says, “and we’d never all worked together before. Of course there’s going to be a little turbulence, especially in the beginning. But our next mission will be better. I hope neither of you has plans for next Tuesday night. I know it’s a weekday, but crime doesn’t always happen when it’s convenient. I mean, I don’t know if it’s happening Tuesday night, either, but that’s when I know for sure no other superhero teams will be patrolling the museum. Well, from one to three a.m. I hacked the League’s database, and it turns out the team that normally has that slot has been reassigned for the night, so the museum will be vulnerable. And if I could find out this information, somebody else could, too, including criminals. Now, we won’t have access to the inside of the building or to any security footage, so we’ll just have to be extra vigilant along the perimeter, and… What?” She glances back and forth between me and Riley.
Probably because I was mouthing, She’s your girlfriend—you tell her, and he was frantically shaking his head.
“What?” Sarah says again.
I clear my throat and jerk my chin toward Riley.
He swallows. “Um, Sarah, I… I don’t know if we’re, um, if we’re ready for that kind of—”
“It’s perfectly safe. Well, probably, unless bad guys show up, but there’s only a low to moderate chance of that, and it’s all at the ground level. It won’t be like last time.”
“Yeah, but we… It wasn’t just… We don’t…” Riley trails off.
I take over. “Sarah, we’re not doing it.”
She frowns. “What do you mean?”
“I mean we’re not doing fieldwork right now.”
“Yes, you are. You’re investigating that stolen painting for school. Riley told me.”
Well, that’s what we’re supposed to be doing, anyway. We have yet to actually start on it, but I guess that’s beside the point right now. “I know, but that’s only because we have to. But other than that, we decided we’re not doing fieldwork.”
Sarah blinks at me. “But you’re superheroes. Well, Riley is, and you’re getting there. Either way, it’s what you guys do. It’s what we do.”
I spread my hands out on the table. “Maybe that’s how it was, but it’s not anymore. I’m sorry, Sarah.”
Her mouth slips open a little. “I… Okay. Okay. If it has to just be me and Secant for a while, then—”
“Sarah.” Riley’s voice is just a whisper.
“It can be just the two of us. Just because Renegade’s backing out doesn’t mean you have to.”
He shakes his head. “We shouldn’t have even been there last weekend.”
“But…”
“We’re not ready.”
“He’s not, you mean.”
Wow. He is in the room.
“Sarah, I’m not ready. I just got my cast off.”
“So? Your leg is healed. And Damien didn’t really even get hurt.”
Riley stares down at the table. “It’s not that simple.”
“You guys are fine. You’re just scared and a little rusty. And the only thing that’s going to fix that is getting back on the horse and going on more missions.”
Riley slides his hands over his face. “I don’t know, Sarah. I think… I think that last mission just made it worse.”
“And you think doing nothing is supposed to help?”
“You don’t understand.”
“No, I don’t. You two are telling me you finally have the chance to be yourselves again, and now you don’t even want to do it. And I’m supposed to understand that?”
“I don’t expect you to understand. I wish you did, but…” He looks up at her. “I just need time.”
“For what?”
“To figure things out. To see if this really is who I still am.” He stares down at the table when he says that part.
“It is,” Sarah says. “It’s who both of you are.”
“And if it’s not?”
“I know you guys, and this is who you are—who you still are—even if you don’t realize it yet.”
“But—”
“It is,” she repeats. And even if she didn’t pick up her pen and start flipping through her binder, like she’s going to actually do her homework now, it would still be clear from her tone that the conversation is over.
Chapter 13
“SO,” AMELIA SAYS ON the way to school on Thursday, “where are you really going this weekend?”
She could have asked me this earlier, but she waits until Melissa and Hilary—I mean, “Hil”—are in the car.
“Because,” Amelia goes on, not even giving me a chance to answer, “I know you’re not staying at Riley’s like you told Dad.”
Melissa and Hil both look properly scandalized by that, and Melissa even turns around in her seat to gape at me.
“No, what I said was that I’m going to be having amazing sex all weekend. If he assumed that meant I’m going to Riley’s, well, that’s his problem.”
Melissa gasps and quickly turn
s around to face the front again. Hil laughs nervously, like she’s not sure if I was joking or not.
Amelia scowls in the rear-view mirror. “That’s not what you told him. And I know you’re going to Kat’s. That’s his girlfriend,” she adds, in case the others didn’t already know that, though I’m sure they could guess. “It’s so obvious.”
“If you already know I’m going to Kat’s, then why did you ask?”
She goes on like I didn’t say anything. “He stays over at her dorm all the time, and my parents pretend like they don’t even notice.”
I glance up at the mirror. “They don’t notice.” At least, I hope not. And if they do… I’m sure I would have heard about it by now.
“He gets to do whatever he wants, but Mom said I have to be home from Prom by eleven. It’s so unfair.”
Melissa’s mouth falls open. “Eleven? Seriously?”
“Well,” Amelia says, “Dad was going to make it ten, but Mom said that was ridiculous. Eleven’s not much better, though.”
Hil sighs. “My mom said I could stay out till one, but everybody else I know has to be home before then, so it’s kind of pointless.”
“My mom actually called Zach’s mom to find out when he was supposed to be home. Can you believe that? They didn’t give me a curfew for Homecoming.”
Of course they didn’t. Back then, Zach was just some random date. Well, sort of. Now he’s her boyfriend and has condoms in his room. Er, not that they know about that last part.
“What?” Amelia says.
It takes me a second to realize she’s talking to me. “What?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Yeah, but… what what?”
“You had a look on your face. I saw it in the mirror. Like you know something I don’t.”
“I was just thinking that after what happened at Homecoming, they probably don’t want you staying out late.”
“Why? Because you might blow up the school again?”
Melissa nods in agreement, and Hil just shakes her head at me.
“I can’t believe they’re even letting you go to Prom,” Amelia says. “And you don’t even have a curfew. And they actually had the nerve to say that if me and Zach were going with you and your friends instead of mine that I could stay out until midnight.”
“Because they know how responsible and trustworthy I am.” Or maybe more like how responsible and trustworthy Riley is.
She scoffs. “More than me? I don’t think so. And I told them no way. We already have plans with my friends, and we’re not ditching them just to get to be out a little longer.”
Hil leans forward, in between the front seats. “It’s because Zach’s your boyfriend now. My sister had this problem last year when she was going out with Ethan. They went to a dance as friends, and my parents didn’t even tell her when to be home. Then a couple months later when they were together, they wouldn’t even let her stay past nine at a birthday party.”
“Speaking of birthdays,” Melissa says, “isn’t Zach’s coming up? Did you ever figure out what you were, you know, getting him?” She says that like what Amelia was thinking of getting him involved a lap dance or something.
Amelia’s face turns red. “You guys.”
Melissa grins. “What?”
“Melissa,” Hil says out the side of her mouth, jerking her chin toward me.
Which is obviously code for “don’t talk about Amelia’s possible sex life in front of her brother.” I think it might also be code for “today would have been a really good day to have gotten a ride from Riley.”
“What?” Melissa says again. “You were just talking about him and his girlfriend, so—”
“That’s different,” Amelia snaps. “And anyway, we’re here.” She pulls into a parking space at school. Then she tells Melissa and Hil to go in without her.
They get out of the car and say they’ll see her in a little bit, leaving us alone.
There’s a really awkward silence. I’m considering pretending I don’t notice it and just getting out and going to school like normal when Amelia turns around to face me. “Damien, can I talk to you about something?”
“No.”
“But—”
“I’m really busy, Amelia. I have to get to school.”
“No, you don’t. We’ve still got ten minutes. It’s about me and Zach, and—”
“I don’t want to hear about it, okay? Like, seriously.” And I really, really don’t want to be here right now.
“But I have to hear about you and Kat all the time.”
“I know, I know. It’s hypocritical. But this is…” I make a face. “It’s none of my business.”
“It’s just that Prom’s this Saturday, and it really seems like the right time.”
“What do you think ‘It’s none of my business’ means? I don’t want to hear about it.”
“But none of my friends have really… It’s kind of a big deal, and I don’t have anyone else to talk to about it.”
Erg. “It is a big deal, but I’m your brother. It’s too weird.” And I already got in trouble from Zach for giving him my opinion. I’m staying out of it.
“Oh.” She sounds kind of dejected. “But, I mean, do you think it’s a good birthday present? Do you think… do you think he’ll be happy?”
“Amelia, seriously. I don’t want to be having this conversation.”
“But you’re a boy, and you know Zach, even if you guys were fighting recently. I just want to know…” She sucks in a deep breath. “I think things are going really well, but I don’t want to freak him out.”
I raise my eyebrows at her. “Trust me, Amelia. You’re not going to freak him out. He’ll be into it.”
“I was thinking about waiting until his birthday next week, but his mom and his friends will be there, and it might be kind of hard to find any time alone, you know? Plus, Prom is more romantic.”
Wow. “Yeah, I get it. You don’t have to spell it out. Geez.”
“Okay, but do you think—”
“I think you really don’t need me for this.”
“But, I mean, I’m really nervous.”
“Oh, look at the time. We only have eight minutes to get to class.”
“Were you nervous? The first time you…? Because I know, in the movies, people are always—”
“It’s not like in the movies. It’s probably going to be really awkward. I mean, at least at first.”
“Oh. But were you nervous? Because you’re never nervous about anything.”
I laugh.
“Well, not stuff like this,” she adds.
“I don’t know. Maybe a little bit? But in a good kind of way. And can we please drop this?”
“But I’m really nervous.”
“Then don’t do it.”
“But I’m really nervous about everything, so maybe that doesn’t mean anything.”
“Look, Amelia, it’s not about how nervous you are. But it’s not something you can take back. So, I mean, if you think you’ll regret it—”
“I won’t.” She sounds pretty sure about that.
“Oh. Okay.”
“But I think I’d really regret it if I didn’t do it.” She grins at me. “So, thanks.”
“You’re not welcome. We never had this conversation. It didn’t happen.”
“Well, even if it didn’t happen, it still really helped.”
The woman who works at the Golden City Museum scowls at me and Riley when we tell her we’re from Heroesworth, doing an investigation for school. She looks each of us over, sort of sneers, and says, “No, you’re not.”
Which really isn’t what we expected.
I glance over at Riley. He glances over at me.
“It’s true, though,” I tell the woman. “We’re supposed to figure out who stole that painting.”
She scoffs. “We’ve already had someone in here about that.”
“The police?” Riley asks. “Because we’re not with them. We go
to Heroesworth.”
“We can prove it,” I tell her. “Show her your thumb.”
Riley starts to hold up his hand, but the woman stops him. “No need. I know who you are. Well, who you are.” She looks right at me for that.
“Then you know that we do go to Heroesworth.”
“I know you got expelled.”
I roll my eyes. “That was months ago.”
“Well, I don’t keep up with the tabloids.” She sniffs.
“We have I.D.,” Riley says. “From school.”
“Fake ones, no doubt. And we’ve already had a couple students from Heroesworth in here, doing the same investigation.”
“What?”
She gets this self-satisfied look on her face, like she just caught us in a lie. “That’s right. They were just here. I don’t know what you’re trying to gain from this, but you picked the wrong day to try and scam me.”
Riley’s mouth hangs open a little. “But we really are from Heroesworth. I don’t know who else was here, but—”
“Maybe your teacher gave you the wrong assignment,” she tells him, in a voice that says she doesn’t believe that we’re from Heroesworth, like, at all. “Now, I need you to leave the museum before I have to call for security.” She signals for another staff member to come over.
“But we really are—”
“Come on,” I say, grabbing Riley’s arm. “She’s not going to listen to us.”
We head out of the exhibit, into the hallway.
Riley glances back inside. “That was weird.”
“Maybe Mrs. Deeds screwed up. Maybe she really did give us the same assignment as somebody else.”
“That’s a pretty big mistake.” He looks at me like that couldn’t be possible.
“So she screwed us over on purpose. She hates me.”
“But she doesn’t hate me.”
Well, that’s true. “Look at it this way, Perkins. There’s no point in us wasting time on an investigation that might have wrongfully been assigned to us. And that we’re obviously not going to get anywhere on.” At least, not until that lady’s shift is over. “So we should probably just go home.”
“Go home? We just got here.”
“I’m not hearing any better ideas. We’ll talk to Mrs. Deeds tomorrow and figure out what happened.” Maybe it’ll turn out that there weren’t enough assignments to go around, and we’ll get to sit out the rest of the semester after all.
The Phobia of Renegade X Page 8