HERO

19 / The Truth Will Out

Bren was walking in front of Thomas, so he didn't see the speaker. He didn't need to. He recognised the voice. He just hoped the boy was alone.

"You wanna move, kid?"

At least Thomas was no longer the only 'kid', though he didn't know how Stan, Billy Almington's friend, would react. While it might have been a term of pending endearment for Thomas, it was dripping malice when aimed at the bully.

"Don't think I do, bitch."

"Oh, little boy knows big words. Good little boy."

Bren had stopped, forcing Thomas to stop too. He still couldn't see Stan and couldn't, at first, understand why. The he realised. Bren had, somehow, grown. She was bigger than him to begin with, anyway, with her being a little older, but now she was closer to adult sized. From what he knew of Chameleons, they could only really change their appearance to match their surroundings. They couldn't usually change their form. He'd seen that she could do this to a certain extent by flattening herself to the point she was essentially flat against a wall and practically invisible, but she would still have had the same body mass.

The Bren standing in front of him, however, was more than she had been.

Was that possible, even with the amount of practise she'd confessed to doing?

It wasn't an appropriate time to ask her. Stan lived in Billy's shadow much of the time. He did the other's bidding as, being with him meant the notoriety rubbed off on him. He was feared by association. Whether it was because he was as intimidating didn't matter. If Stan was there, Billy was usually not far behind, so fear was the best policy.

In this case, Mr. Bancroft had Billy, so Stan was here alone. It did nothing to instil any confidence in Thomas, but at least he'd only be set upon by one of the terrible two, not both of them.

"No point in making yourself bigger to try and scare me," Stan said in his best 'I ain't afraid of you but you'd better be of me' voice. "It won't work."

"Who said I was doing it to make you scared?"

"I don't give a fuck. Just shift it, so I can get to that shit hiding behind you."

"I'm not hiding," Thomas said, stepping to the side.

He would have happily remained behind Bren if he'd have been able to. She didn't know Stan, so had no idea that she should be wary around him. Thomas was sure she could handle herself against him, if it came to it.

Stan sneered at Thomas when he saw him.

"There you are, you little fucker. I knew you'd do a runner. I didn't know you hid behind bitches like this, though."

"I'm not..." Bren started, but Thomas spoke over her.

"She's not a bitch, she's my friend. And I said I wasn't hiding."

Being with the girl did give him confidence, albeit a shaky one. Stan was a TeeKay, but not a very good one. He'd been able to roll a pencil off his desk once, and had caused 'Bangers' freshly made mug of coffee to tip over just as the teacher was sitting down, so was drenched with the hot liquid, but anything more was beyond him. He let Billy flaunt his powers and kept his mediocre ones reserved for stupid tricks to entertain himself with.

Bren glanced at Thomas when he called her his friend. Her face was unreadable and she turned away before he had a chance to look more closely. She'd stopped growing, too. She was now easily as tall as his father.

"You make me wanna puke," Stan said, feigning vomiting sounds with his hand over his mouth. "You're disgusting."

"Well," said Bren. "You know what 'disgusting' is."