Chapter Text
Class ended in five minutes, and all I could think was, an hour is too short for lunch.
Since the start of the semester, I was excited about Mr. Gladly’s world issues class. My father instilled a healthy love of conflict and politics, which made this class a must-attend for me. It was a shame that the teacher was nothing more than a twenty-three-year-old who never grew out of freshman year.
He wasn’t even teaching anything, which I suppose is a benefit, as his grasp on the material would make a fourth grader cry in disbelief. I mainly spent the time watching the minutes tick by on my phone. There were no new messages from anyone I cared about. Danny was at work, my sister was across the classroom, doodling in her notebook, Mom and Dad’s phones were deactivated a couple of years ago, and Auntie only ever called.
I felt a flick of something light hit my forehead, and I looked to see my sister glancing over at me. She mouthed a single word, “Focus,” before her gaze went back to the teacher. Gladly was talking about a group project about capes on Monday. God… Capes, the only thing people ever want to talk about nowadays. Can’t be a normal celebrity anymore; you have to shoot fire for the tabloids to give a fuck about you. Can’t talk about economics without the ramifications of sucking every parahuman’s dick to keep them on your side. (Or their clit, I guess. Auntie would crucify me if I didn’t make my bitching non-segregated.)
I looked down to see what had hit me a moment ago, a little paper wad bunched up tighter than any normal human can compress it. I sighed and just flicked it to the floor and got up. There was only one minute left in class, and I know Gladly didn’t care about kids leaving the class early.
“Oh, Miss Herbert, before you go, Principal Blackwell wanted to talk to you during lunch. So please head over there as soon as possible.”
I didn’t have the energy to correct him on my last name for the eighth time this month. Fuck it, Herbert it is. Not my first time changing my last name.
I exited the classroom and went to an empty classroom to decompress. The door was supposed to be locked, but a locked door is only as useful as how many people had the key or how easy the key could be replicated… or if the key was even needed at all. I kicked the bottom edge of the door with a mild amount of force, and the door opened. Huh, a bit of my shoe print got marked on there… eh, who the fuck is going to care about that? I know there are shoe prints on the cafeteria ceiling that no one gives a shit about.
I went to the furthest corner to sit down, my back to the wall, my eyes still able to see the door, but no one able to see me. My heart rate lowered a tiny bit as I was sitting on the cool floor. My skirt was definitely going to be covered in dust, but god knows I have been covered in worse. The back of my head rested against the painted cinderblock that made up the school walls.
I set an alarm for fifteen minutes and just closed my eyes.
“Yo, Hebert, Blackwell sent me looking for you.”
My eyes opened slowly once more as I arched my back to stretch. “Is she upset?” I asked the student in front of me. I craned my neck slightly to look at her.
Long, muscular legs she showed off with her skinny jeans, dark skin, and darker hair. Strong brown eyes that pinned people to a wall like a crossbow bolt through their wrist. Sophia Hess, one of only two people I would call a friend.
“Definitely, but she is keeping a lid on it for now.” She sat down right next to me, uncaring about the dust that would get on her jeans. She pulled out her phone for a second and put it away again. “Alright, I say it will take her about ten minutes until she starts wanting to punish us for not showing up.”
“So, we are going to be staying here for twenty?”
She smirked at that. “Nah, thirty. I have some notes to go over with you that our boss wanted you to see. Also, I give fifty-fifty odds that your sister finds you in the next five minutes, and neither of you will want to leave for a while.”
A small smile appeared on my face. “Alright, what does the boss want us to look at?”
“Likely some of the basic bullshit, stuff for the junior members, new people showing up, and whatnot?”
“...You do know there isn’t anyone who can hear us.”
“You never know, there could be a bug master listening in on us as we speak.”
“Eh, you would kick their ass before they could get anything useful.”
Sophia cracked her neck before pulling out her phone once more and swiping a few times. “Alright, since you want to break the rules. Defiant is saying the ward's meeting is being postponed due to a conference on Sunday and Monday. So…” She reread the email. “Next Sunday is our next meeting at our normal time, and it will run for an extra thirty-two-point-four-eight minutes, assuming the standard question ratio and goof-off/derailed average is correct.”
I pursed my lips. “That’s more exact than normal. He doesn’t do stuff to that specificity unless he’s stressed.”
Sophia shrugs, “He’ll be fine. The guild is also supposed to be there, so he gets to be with his crush.”
“Fun times all around. This just a leader meeting or…”
“All hands on deck. So, no protectorate members here for the weekend. “Yikes.”
We stared at each other for a moment before we broke eye contact. “That all?”
Sophia scrolled through her phone a bit more. “He sent a cat video as an MP4 file, if that counts.”
“No. It doesn’t.”
“Then that’s all.” A beat passed.
“Wanna watch the cat video?”
“I already pulled it up.”
The cat video was cute, if slightly repetitive. Same couple of situations and breeds. “Do you think he made an algorithm for the perfect cat video?”
“Nah, probably just downloaded some things Dragon sent him and regifted to us.”
I gave a soft sigh and got up. “Where are you heading?”
“Blackwell might report us if we are gone for too much longer, so we might as well see what the principal wants from us.”
“Probably more shit about grades and other shit. Can’t have the capes in the school flunking.”
“Aren’t you on the honor roll?”
“A-B honor roll, bitch. Just riding the line the Wards want and no higher.”
“...I only need a C or higher.” She stared at me for a moment before muttering something under her breath.
I opened the door for Sophia and let her through in front of me. “How angry do you think Blackwell is at us?” Sophia just gave me a shark-toothed smile as she walked out the door.
“Thirty-eight minutes. Thirty-eight minutes I have been waiting for you, Miss Hebert. And I will not tolerate this blah blah blah.”
I drifted off into another daydream. Blackwell had been chewing me out for the past five minutes, I think. I was just killing time, looking vaguely invested in whatever Blackwell was saying. Vista was the one who taught me this trick. All you really need to do is look them dead in the eyes and give an occasional affirmative when there is a break in their speech, and you can get out generally without being questioned.
Sophia flicked a bit of chewed-off nail at my temple, and I snapped back to focus. Blackwell was sitting back down and pulling out two files from her desk.
“Miss Hebert, Miss Hess. I came to… talk to you about your extracurriculars,” the principal was sweating slightly from yelling at me. The liquid had her bowl-cut bangs stuck to her forehead while her cheeks were red, like in a cartoon. I should have taken a picture. “Do you know if there are any… students that may have had a ‘crisis event’ as of late?”
I raised an eyebrow, “Two Empire kids got into a knife fight about who was more racist in the cafeteria yesterday.”
Sophia softly chucked, “I wish I’d seen that.”
Blackwell scoffed, her thin cheeks puffing out in anger. “Miss Hebert. There are no gang members in this school. Especially not Nazis. Saying such devalues our institution and our skill as educators.”
I glanced over at Sophia as she straightened up in her chair. I saw fire in her eyes. I spoke before Sophia broke her probation like she would Blackwell’s face. “No, there aren’t any recently triggered students that we know of.”
Blackwell looked slightly disappointed. “Very well, Miss Hebert. You are free to go. You as well, Miss Hess.” I quickly ushered Sophia out of the office before anything else could be said or chairs could be thrown.
I got Sophia out into the hallway before she shook my hold on her arm. Sophia took a breath and hit the brick wall next to her hard enough to split her knuckles. The impact left some blood on the wall. “Fucking cunt. At what god damn point does being that ignorant let you be fired?”
“Given the fact that the last principal got fired because they sued the local news for defamation… About when ignorance gets you on TV,” Sophia scoffed at that and put some pressure on the wound on her hand, squeezing the flesh and pressing down.
“Want me to fix that?”
“...Sure.” Sophia held out her hand, not keeping the pressure on it anymore and letting the blood drip freely. I grabbed a small bottle of hand sanitizer from my pocket and rubbed it on my hands.
“God, do you have to use that? It stings like a bitch.”
“If you want to be sent to a hospital, sure.”
“Fuck you, Heber- FUCK!”
I pressed my sanitized finger into the wound and felt muscle underneath. I took a breath and felt the pressure in the tip of my finger rise into it, splitting as well, the blood splurting out into Sophia’s wound. My blood, something I could control just as easily as my fingers. I took my finger out of Sophia’s wound, and my blood started to scab up instantly. I commanded it to.
Sophia shuddered, “That never feels right.”
“It's the best healing we have.”
“I fucking know.” I brought my bloodstained finger to my eyes, watching as no blood came out.
“... why are all my friends fucking weirdos?”
“Talk to a non-cape for once in your life.”
Sophia waved me off. “Come on, Hebert. I’m fucking starving.”
“Do you think we can make it before the bell rings?” Sophia was already running off before I finished the question. “...I’ll take that as a yes.” I ran off behind her.
We did not, in fact, make it before the end of lunch bell rang. Sophia was leaning against the edge of the hallway right before the cafeteria. She was watching the kids pack up and leave. I paused my running and just walked up next to her. “...So, no lunch today?”
“Not today.” Sophia looked pissed. “Fucking Blackwell. Her meeting could have been an email.”
“We were the ones to spend our time goofing off in the empty classroom.”
“You would have had a meltdown if you didn’t decompress. That was needed.” I wanted to retort, but it was correct. If I didn’t have the time to decompress, Blackwell might be a bloody smear on the desk.
“Fair enough.”
Sophia rested the side of her head against the brick wall and pulled out her phone. “Ten minutes until we head out for our side gig.”
I raised an eyebrow, “Side gig?”
“Main gig, I know you don’t have another job.”
I flipped her off. “I know my modeling dreams got slashed to pieces, but you don’t have to be rude about it. Not like you have another job either.”
Sophia smiled. “Come on, Hebert, might as well meet our driver at the back lot.”
We started to walk off when we heard footsteps behind us. The air whistled as something was tossed at Sophia. Sophia caught it without even looking. It was a gala apple, one of Sophia’s favorites. A woman’s voice echoed through the hall, it was quiet and slightly scratchy, as if it hadn’t been used in a while. “I was waiting for you two. I grabbed you both a quick snack before you headed out.”
I turned to look at the woman speaking, she was taller than me with long black curly hair, she had circular glasses and was in a pretty sundress that I got her for her birthday last year. My heart stopped beating for a moment as I moved to give her a hug.
I murmured into her shoulder. “Hey Taylor.”