Blog of a Teenage Superhero

Chapter Seven: Onyx

"I'm so proud of you, Monet!" Percy squeals as I stagger out of the bushes. The cape is folded half-neatly under the gnarled shrub roots, the mask hidden under the thorny leaves. Sunlight dapples the grass in a watery shadow. I rub my ribs, scraping my thumbnail over the tender parts. My eyes roll back in my head. Even they hurt.

"H-Huuuh?" My voice cracks. I turn away from her and cough into the shrubs, blood and phlegm coming up in the back of my throat. Superheroes are tough. I'll heal.

Percy offers me an awkward pat on the shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, fine, fine. What's up?" I kick the mask deeper into the shrubs, hugging my arms around my aching stomach. I turn back around and offer Percy my biggest smile. She flinches. I must look as crappy as I feel.

"You won." When she looks at me, her face is a little green.

"I what?" I rub my sleepy eyes with one hand and my achy back with the other. 

"When Masquerade and the new guy fought!" She rolls her eyes, leans in, and grabs me by the shoulders. She has to stand on tiptoes, and she's already wearing heels. Cute ones, with little pink bows. "Monet! Where were you?"

"Throwing up in the bushes." I hug my stomach. A lump is welling up under my last rib and I hiss through my teeth. "What... do you think I was doing?" The smile feels wobbly at the edges. I'm really going to throw up in the bushes any second now.

"We took a vote. You know, the students were screaming and the teachers needed to do something to calm them down. Congratulations on winning the vice presidency." She bounces. Awfully impressive thing to do in those little bowed shoes. 

I give her a slow nod, still reeling from the fight. Becoming vice president of the student council is the least of my worries, in fact, it's the opposite of them. It's a relief. Something normal is happening to me, for the first time in... ever. Great.

"Oh, uh..." My smile is a little more steady. "Thanks. Are Kaito and Finn good?" She'd know. The other kids are crowded at the front of the school, but Percy is small and charming enough to slip through them. Besides, she knows everything.

She rolls her eyes. "Them? They're being chewed out by the police. Well, the blonde boy is, anyway. Is your stomach better? Oh, I'm sure you'll be okay. Come on!'"

I'm bleeding on the inside is what I want to say. My bruises have bruises and I need a minute to compose myself and keep my insides from jellying up. But the pretty girl grabs me by the elbow and pulls me stumbling through the clipped wet school lawn, and who am I to resist a fellow student?

Max Preston is chatting up Chip Hardwell out by the tape, and the students have settled on the grass, legs tucked underneath them as if they were at a picnic, texting eagerly on their phones and chatting excitedly to each other. Some people are still filming the school. I still haven't checked my phone, but I can feel it buzzing against my backside.

"Hey, Max! Chip!" Percy waves, flashing her manicured nails. The boys look up just as the Dipper Donuts van pulls in front of the school. It's tradition, almost. We're a small school. And sometimes, the superheroes get in the way of our day, so the Dipper Donuts van parks behind the police line, and offers students discounts on pastries for quick sales and good publicity. And it works. The kids are off, distracted and giggling, the teachers scribbling in their clipboards, cupping their faces, shouting, and staring off at the school with expressions that can only be described as pain.  How can you blame them? The school is in anarchy and it isn't even noon.

Max and Chip stride up to Percy and me, Max with a little bounce in his step and Chip with a bored stagger. Kids swarm around the donut van. An ambulance whirs down the crowded streetside.  My heart slams against my ribs. I assume it's for Kai.