Superheroes Suck

Chapter 14: He Definitely Stole My Dunkaroos

I awoke the next morning to my phone vibrating. At first, I thought that if I ignored it long enough, the buzzing would stop and I'd be allowed to drift to sleep without distraction. The problem was that it didn't stop.

The next thirty minutes of my life were spent trying to drown out the buzzing, as I was far too sleepy to simply shut the phone off.

Eventually I gave in and rolled over to grab my phone to do just what I mentioned, shut the damn thing up. That is until I saw all of the messages from Mary telling me to check out the news or The Advocate's website or any damn media outlet, even Twitter if I was feeling desperate.

I chose to check out The Advocate's website, seeing as I'm interning there. It's also one of the most accurate, it's known to report superhero events as they are. Many of the other local papers have a bias either for or against superheroes making them a little unreliable.

That was where I found it, the first thing on the webpage. My photo, my photo was right there.

A beautifully artistic and journalistic snapshot of Spitfire's fiery fist flying straight through Stromer's face.

Holy shit.

I checked Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and there it was, and more photos. I went back to The Advocate's website and noticed a gallery of images had been uploaded to the website. Taking no time, I flipped through it, reading my name under every photo, save a few of Harry's from the Ball itself.

And one of me on Spitfire's arm.

Holy shit.

"Have you seen my photos?" I called Penn, he is my best friend after all.

We had a good talk, he asked if I was okay and then we launched into a discussion on how impressed Penn was by my photos. It was through him I found out that I had made the front page, the front page.

I almost rushed downstairs to grab today's paper but I had another call I needed to make before I could that.

"I did." Murphy didn't exactly sound excited for me, if anything there was a sharp undertone to otherwise joking voice. "You shouldn't put yourself in danger like that Nova, imagine what would have happened if Spitfire hadn't made it in time. If he had been a few moments too late? You'd be dead right now."

"Ouch."

"Penn must have been far worse than I was." Murphy shot back.

"He was actually excited for me, he congratulated me for having my first big break as a photographer." I never expected Murphy to get so mad at me for something that I had no fault in. "It's not like I asked to get in the middle of things, and it ended all right for everyone."

"But what if it hadn't?"Murphy argued back. "What if that stupid fireball hadn't made it in time? Or, if Stromer had dropped you just for the hell of it rather than dragging it out."

"You know what," Does he think that I don't know that? That I don't know I am so lucky to even be alive? "I don't want to hear this right now. I'm hanging up."

The nerve, I cannot believe Murphy chewed me out for something that wasn't even my fault. It wasn't as if I had waved my arms up and down and yelled for Stromer to come after me. No, instead I just had the sort of luck that begged for near-death experiences to plague me.

If anyone, it's Spitfire's fault that I had been lifted away. Stromer had only done so because he saw the attention that Spitfire was giving me and decided that I was some sort of weak spot for him.

As I continued to stew over Murphy's words, a realization dawned on me.

Murphy had called me Nova.