Hero by Day

Chapter 18 - White Knight Syndrome

"They may suspect me, but they'll never see me. They may chase me, but they'll never catch me. Never, never, ever catch me."

~ Selina Kyle (Catwoman)

Following the unexpected visit from MASKED, I was on edge. It had been a week since the incident, and nothing out of the ordinary had happened. No rouge villains had attacked me during my rounds, or the city for that fact. The only super villain attack had been by some dude called X, who was taken down by the Super Task Force in a matter of minutes.

Maybe Andromeda's strategy was to make me feel as safe as possible before she struck again. Maybe this was all some huge strategy to lure me into a false sense of security.

But if it wasn't, I was totally confused as to why my work had been cut in half regarding the safety of the city.

It was all the better for me, though, because our work at school had been doubled. It was the year of the SATs and ACTs, and our teachers were freaking out. Eldredge Academy was a nationally ranked school. If the students weren't as good as the school claimed, the rich and powerful parents that enrolled their kids into this school would pull them out immediately. The school needed to produce amazing results.

It was why we were taking our lunch as an impromptu study hour. There was a rumor of a surprise test in AP Biochemistry next, and I was intending to pass.

(Yes, our school offered Biochemistry as a course)

(An AP course no less)

The teacher might've been as cool as they come, but he was required to give us rigorous tests on the material. Even the best teachers gave hard tests.

"Olly, what did you get on number thirteen?" Heather asked from across the table.

I looked at my paper. "Umm . . . I got A, it was about that thing he taught yesterday, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Thanks"

Heather had finally taken my offer all that time ago to heart. She was now a permanent resident of our lunch table. Her normal entourage was only a couple yards away against the wall of the cafeteria. They were just staring silently ahead. I wondered for a moment when they ate or went to the bathroom. I'd never actually seen them eat a proper meal while at the school guarding Heather.

Ian had thankfully stopped bugging me about Heather's supposed crush on me. It was mostly because of the fact that Elise and I had officially become a couple.

"Olly, remind me again why we have to go to school." Ian complained, staring at his own paper with a blank expression.

"Isn't it obvious?" Mary huffed. "We go to school to get a good education to make it into a good college so we can get good jobs and provide for ourselves in the future. God, Ian. If you fail, I will murder you, mark my words."

Ian smirked lovingly at her, "Yes, but then you'd have to put up with mom and dad's constant whining about why you had to kill their favorite child."

"I am older than you, Ian. Remember the power I hold over you."

Ian chuckled, "Yes, such power my terrifying sister has over me. I can just feel myself waning in the presence of such detrimental power."

The table laughed at Ian's antics and Mary ignored her brother, furiously stabbing a piece of lettuce with her fork, per usual.

"At least I'm not a maniac obsessed with finding out the identity of every super in existence," Mary fired back.

"Really?" Heather piped up, interested.