The Permutation

Results (Part 7) Jordan

Monday 3:30 p.m. October 3rd

Where is she?

Mrs. Essex had taken it upon herself to call Jordan's mother and inform her of their little "incident" in class today. She then had the gall to "suggest" that her daughter not ride the bus today, so that Delilah could administer the appropriate discipline. School had ended at three and now it was three thirty and her mom was nowhere in sight. Jordan wasn't thrilled about the conversation that was bound to happen on the car ride home "Jordan, you had to do this today? You couldn't have waited a week to stand up for yourself? I don't know how I'm going to explain this one away to Mr. Reuter." However, she didn't relish the thought of waiting outside for them to find the handprint she'd left on the wall. She prayed that the whole thing had fried the cameras, but with her luck, she found that outcome unlikely.

At this point in the day, all that remained were kids that stayed after school for extracurricular activities or academic probation, neither of which were Jordan's crowd. If I had a crowd. A kid broke from the pack of academic probation kids waiting for their parents, a kid with a tie dye backpack, Derek, and he was heading straight for her. She'd positioned herself behind one of the massive blue pillars on either side of the school's front doors in an effort to escape the attention of her peers, but that didn't matter at this point. His big, hazel eyes were locked on hers, and he had ear-splitting grin plastered to his face. The Sun glinting off his braces highlighted the boy's face as if he was radiating positive energy and excitement. He knew.

He looked over his shoulders before approaching Jordan. By the time he stopped moving, Jordan could feel his hot breath on her cheek. "I know why you don't talk to anybody," he whispered followed by another furtive glance over his shoulder.

"I don't think you do." she said taking a step back from him.

He took another step forward, "You've got a secret."

This time, she felt her cheeks flush when his breath passed over her, "You don't know what you're talking about. I'm a normal kid."

She turned away from him, so he couldn't see her biting her lip. Jordan couldn't lie if her life depended on it. Her dad had used to say she bit her lip when she was lying, because if she didn't, her mouth would just blurt out the truth of its own volition.

"You're not normal," he said his voice gaining in volume.

"Shhh, please be quiet," she hissed.

"Then admit it," he said even louder unable or unwilling to contain himself.

"Admit what?"

"That you're a superhero!" he exclaimed.

"Superheroes aren't real. I don't know what I am."

"Don't worry I won't tell anyone," he said putting a finger to his lips, "I can be your sidekick. I know what to do. I have lots of comics."

Jordan rubbed the space between her eyes trying to contain her growing anxiety. She couldn't afford another incident in a public venue, she already felt like the main attraction in the freak show; the last thing she needed was to become a lab experiment on top of that.

"You're right I'm a superhero, but right now I'm off duty. There aren't any villains in Lancet Falls, so no need for a sidekick," she said in an effort to placate him.

"I don't believe you! There's got to be a reason you're here. Superheroes don't come to Idaho unless something is going on. Heroes are only ever in big cities, so there must be something special happening. Let me help!" he said.

Derek's eyes glowed with unbridled enthusiasm, and Jordan found she wanted to tell him what he wanted to hear. Anything to keep him around; Even if he only wants to be around me because I'm different. No matter what she wanted, Jordan knew a friendship based on a lie was doomed to fail.