Unsung

Chapter Forty-Two

 "My turn?" Garrick asked suddenly, as if the last few minutes hadn't even happened.

"Your turn," McKayla responded, taking Garrick's lead and jumping back into the game.

"Sweet!" he said, leaning over and using both his hands to give the bottle a hearty twirl. "No whammies, no whammies, no whammies..."

And then it stopped—on me.

We both looked up from the bottle and our eyes met. Garrick's lips curved into a grin, while mine dropped opened in shock. The others watched, thoroughly enjoying the moment.

"Hmmm, what to ask, what to ask," Garrick said, tapping his pointer finger to his lips as if he were deep in thought.

"Yo, if you need some ideas, I've got a few you could ask her," Ty offered up.

I began to panic.

"Nah," Garrick said slowly. "I've got this."

"Sometime today would be nice," Ris said with a sigh.

"Okay," Garrick said, turning to face me. "Now, answer truthfully—"

My palms started to sweat.

"If you could be any superhero, who would it be and why?" he asked seriously.

"Come on!" Ty exclaimed. "I get drilled about my sins and she gets a softball like that?"

"Dude, you asked McKayla if she wanted to bone you," Austin retorted with a snort.

"And that was a legit question," Ty said. "Inquiring minds wanted to know."

"Yeah, we were all just dying to find out if she was into you," Austin said.

"You know, you don't have to go easy on Kida just because you like her," McKayla said to Garrick, ignoring the boys' argument completely.

"McKayla!" I hissed at her, without thinking.

"She's tougher than she looks," McKayla continued, ignoring me. "She can take it."

My mouth closed abruptly at the compliment. McKayla wasn't in the business of handing them out, so I knew she had to believe it. And this actually proved more telling than any question I could've asked her. I continued to stare at her, slightly stunned, but she refused to look my way.

"I know she's strong," Garrick agreed easily. "That's why I stand by my question."

Now it was my turn to look at Garrick in surprise. He thought I was strong? It wasn't a word that I'd ever heard anyone use to describe me, and for a second I wondered if he was joking.

But one look at him and I could see Garrick's question for what it was: Carefully crafted perfection.

It showed that he'd been paying attention when we'd talked, but kept things light in front of the others. As comic enthusiasts, we both knew that the question was much more loaded than one would initially think. With a single wink, Garrick told me that this would be our little secret.

"You guys are hopeless," McKayla muttered.

The others were already losing interest, so with a surge of courage, I cleared my throat.

"Uh, okay. I guess I'd be, uh—" I started.

"It's not a difficult question," Ris said.