This time when I hit school, the stares weren't furtive and cautious, they were open and obvious. It felt a little strange; especially since most of these people had already seen me once before. Instead of whispering behind their hands, a lot of them actually shouted over to me; all I could do was awkwardly wave back to them and move along. So many smiles! Consideration I wasn't used to; admiration I don't think I'd ever had. Not like this. Not outside of dreams anyway.
"Hey, Taylor!" I heard from much closer than usual after fourth period, a boy approaching me, weaving between the bodies crisscrossing the halls and giving me a smile.
"Uhh. Hi." I replied. "Is there something you need?"
"Hey, why the cold shoulder. Don't you recognize me?" He asked, pulling out a pair of reflective red sunglasses and setting them on his face. It was easily the biggest dork move I'd seen in a long while, but-
"You're-!" I started, before clamming up.
"I'm Chris, in case you forgot. Keep it cool, right?" He said as he pulled off his shades and sniggered. "Didn't see you at lunch yesterday. Did something come up, or were you just making plans to make off with a hundred tons of boats?" he said, crossing his arms as he looked up at me.
"It was more of a sudden decision. My friend really needed some... materials."
"Oh yeah, your friend. Too bad I missed her. It's always fun to meet a fellow "Shop kid." he said, practically putting airquotes around it. Was that supposed to be a codeword? How the heck had nobody figured him out yet?
"Well, I didn't really know she'd need that much. But she just kept telling me to go back for more ya know?"
"Yeah, that's how it goes. Can't ever have enough materials. Have you seen your PHO thread?"
"My
What?" I blurted, instantly feeling a bit stupid to have asked it. Of
course I had a PHO thread, almost everybody did, I just kinda figured it'd start up after I had a proper debut instead of just going to school normally and maybe conducting some marginally legal near shore salvage.
He plucked a phone from his pocket and flicked through to his browser, holding it up for me and brushing his thumb along the screen to go down the entries.
BassMonkey221 said:
"Oh god no." I whispered.
Mentalmiss (Cape Groupie) said:
Anyone know who that big guy with the dreads is? I think I may have a fresh crush.
PorousTreasure said:
Never seen them before, Brockton Bay is getting all kinds of colorful capes these days though. Who'd have thought? This group has a really fun theme though, I hope they aren't a gang or something.
I seized his phone suddenly and sped through the thread. Of course somebody had managed to catch some photos of us; although Tin Mother pounced on anything that revealed our faces too clearly, it was pretty silly thinking that my identity wouldn't get out when I was known around Arcadia. The best one was of Bismuth and I walking side by side while I held that monstrosity of a steel ball above my head, one handed. Peridot wasn't in frame, standing on top of the huge metal wad holding it together with her magnetic abilities, but there were a few frames of her too. Like it or not, I was going to have to start thinking about public relations... maybe I should make a cape profile and get it verified. That wouldn't be too hard after all. I'd at least be able to get out ahead of any speculation... the only problem was I wasn't sure exactly what to tell them beyond "No, we're not a gang." because the truth would be to amend that with "Just some alien space rocks."
"Ugh." I groaned as I passed the phone back. "As if I needed more attention."
"Hey, Taylor!" Another voice, this one a bit more familiar, approached quickly, a blond blur pulling Chris into a playful headlock. "Is this guy bothering you? Do I need to pound him?" Vicky teased, as Chris feigned suffocation unconvincingly.
"I don't think Dean would appreciate that." A redheaded guy said from nearby. Vicky laughed and released Chris.
"I saw what you did at the boat graveyard; why didn't you tell me you were going out power testing? We could have played catch with a whole fishing boat." She grinned.
"It wouldn't work. They kinda just..."
"Fold right up? Yeah, it's so disappointing the first time that happens. Boats, cars, anything big and heavy that isn't just a boulder or something. Super strength woes." She sighed. "Come on, you're not ducking out of lunch today wondergirl, you still owe me hair care tips." She insisted.
"Uhh. I don't really know if I should- I've really got to study to catch up since I transferred at such a weird time."
"Aww, c'mon. I gotta know~ I wanna use it on Amy and see if we can tame that frizz." She said, delivering me some world class puppy dog eyes. Something far too familiar- My heart clenched for a moment and then there was a collective gasp as a big pink bubble wrapped around me instantly.
"Sorry! It's uh. Kind of a reflex." I said, looking around to make sure nobody had been bounced away too hard. Luckily it seemed like it lacked any particular offensive ability, since even Chris had only stumbled back slightly from impacting it.
"Ya know if you only do that for me people are gonna talk." Vicky laughed as she half skipped, half floated away down the hall. "I'll wait for you in the cafeteria." She said, waving off. My bubble popped again, leaving me in a hollow circle in the crowd. I chewed my lip for a moment; I wasn't really sure if I liked Glory Girl at this point, but I don't think she really meant anything bad by her insistent attitude. More likely she was just used to getting what she wanted, I thought acidly for a moment. But she wasn't Emma. That wasn't fair.
"You know that bubble thing is really cool." the redheaded guy said from nearby. "Does it stop peer pressure too?"
I rolled my eyes. "I wish. Wish I could do it on purpose too, so far that's two for two that it just popped up like that. Wonder what the deal is."
"Yeah, it's too bad that you don't have a bunch of cape friends to talk it over with or something." He shrugged, waving himself off to follow Glory Girl down the hall toward the waiting food.
"Wonder who he was." Chris said, with that same weirdly unconvincing tone.
"Oh, sorry I bounced you a little there."
"It's fine. It didn't hurt a bit. Felt like getting hit with a huge marshmallow." He laughed. "I'll see you around Taylor." he said as he chased after the others, the milling crowd gaping at the cape dispersing for the promise of veggie burger and fries day. Honestly... that didn't sound bad. I took a deep breath and followed them.
--------------
The veggie burger really was actually pretty good. You wouldn't think it, but it did a pretty good job scratching that burger-itch without actually trying to taste much like beef. It helped that Arcadia they apparently actually grilled them instead of just reheating something frozen in a steamer or something. I chewed thoughtfully while Victoria filled the air with what I believe was
deliberately inane patter to give me some sort of social permission to stay silent. It did at least keep other people from approaching, and so far I'd avoided smashing the table with a rapidly expanding force field.
"Now come on spill it!" She finally said. I didn't quite realize for a moment what she was talking about, but after I swallowed I'd more or less figured it out.
"Oh, that. Well I just use baby shampoo, mixed with about half water."
"What, seriously? To like, make it stretch further?"
"I have a
lot of hair." I shrugged, running my hands through it as if I had to demonstrate; when it uncurled it went
long. I'd kept the same length proportionally but I was a lot taller now; if you pulled my hair out straight it was probably six feet long or more. "I use organic conditioner too, and that's really it... oh, and I have to brush it, a lot." I said. Although last night it hadn't been me doing it, but Pearl. She'd just sort of started, and she looked so happy about it that I didn't have the heart to stop her. Never missed a beat in lecturing me out of my philosophy for dummies textbook either... Okay, I admit it, it also felt really nice. It reminded me of nicer times.
"Seriously? That's all? Johnson and Johnson's extra gentle and elbow grease?" She said with a bright giggle.
"That's it. Although it's kind of just keeping up the habit now. I don't know if my hair even can get dirty anymore. Everything just kinda slides off me with a little water now." I said, sipping from a juice box.
"Hmph. I dunno if I believe you, but fine~ Keep your secrets." Victoria faux pouted before leaning over toward me. "Hey, ya know if you're thinking about forming your own team you should talk to my mom and Aunt Sarah." She suggested chipperly.
I blinked a few times. I actually hadn't even considered whether I could do that. But it was pretty obvious if I thought about it. Me, Bismuth, Peridot, and Pearl already outnumbered several of the gangs in the area by ourselves. New Wave hadn't been active very much lately, outside of Glory Girl and Panacea of course, but they still had the experience advantage and knew all about being independent. If I didn't join up with the Protectorate and become a Ward I could just... set up shop on my own. "Huh... would you really introduce me? That'd be really-" I began, before a familiar rumbling began to shake people's trays on the tables. "Oh no..." I half whispered as I leaned back and caught the falling gem.
It was purple, and felt a bit more heavy and sturdy than any of the previous ones, really stiff and solid in a way that's hard to describe.
"Uhh. What the heck was that?" Vicky asked as she peered down at the stout little stone.
"Uhh.. Nothing. Look if it's alright can you not tell anyone about-" I started, attempting to stow the little stone away quickly before too many people saw it. Then it started glowing brightly. "Oh come on, already!?" I whisper-shrieked as it trembled and yanked it's way out of my hand.
It had barely been more than a few seconds; all the others had at least taken a day. But whatever was up with this one it apparently didn't feel like waiting to start mixing my life up. The entire cafeteria was dead silent but for the gasps as purple light bathed the room and with a whipping sweep of long, thick hair, a short, stocky little gem formed right there on the surface of the cafeteria table, already mid-yawn as if she'd just woken up from a nap. She had the same star-pattern motif that many of the others wore, with tight ripped faux jeans around her short legs and something somewhere between a wife beater and a leather jacket with a subtle pattern of skulls with a mix of gems and stars in their eyes; her big cloud of thick white hair tied back loosely, leaving her bangs flowing loosely around her face; a distinct slightly puggish look with prominent lips.
"Mmmm. Jeez, that feels like it took forever! Where the heck am I?" She asked as she looked around the sea of gaping faces. Then, of course, somebody snapped a photo, just as our eyes met, one of hers wider than the other. Unlike the others, she didn't ask if I was Steven, she just took one look and her face fell a little. "Oh. Hi."
"Hey... So, uhh... We should probably, like..."
"
Oh. My. God." Victoria hissed out from behind her hand, floating nearly five feet off the floor.
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AN: I don't know how girls hair works Don't @Me.
I also don't know how the heck people do full PHO interludes, that tiny segment at the beginning took me longer to put together than the entire rest of the chapter put together.
