Masquerade

Chapter 14: News Gets Around

September 14 - Wednesday

Alex drove her silver Nissan down the street on her way to school. Slowing down for a traffic light, she stopped and sighed. She was going to be late. Quickly glancing at the clock, she saw that she had about fifteen minutes to get to school and, of course, she was stuck at the slowest red light in the history of driving. She looked around to see what was the hold up and groaned when she saw that the walk light was still a fresh walk sign.

In the window of a store near the pole, Alex saw the big words: Supers in Burnsbary?

She remembered the news report she had seen last night and her lips pursed.

Sparrow.

Or, at least, someone who looked like Sparrow. Because of the poor quality of the video, she couldn't be completely positive, but it sure looked like Sparrow. The same mask, and the same feathered attachments that went from his arms to his hips.

Sparrow.

Alex didn't even know what her feelings were. She didn't know if she liked him or not. She didn't know if he was a hero or a villain, though the video seems to back him up as being a hero. She didn't know if he liked her or not.

Seeking her out the day before... It made it seem like he liked her. Or maybe it really just was something that he did; going and seeing how people he saved previously had fared.

She sighed and the light finally turned green.

"Thank God," she muttered.

Her thoughts drifted back to Sparrow, and she found herself thinking about his secret identity. If she knew who he was, would he be different in real life as opposed to his identity as a superhero? Would he still be outgoing? Would he be a nerd? Would he be the school's bad boy? Or the school's shy boy? If only she knew who he was, or a way to contact him so they could talk again... But why did she want to talk to him again? They had only spoken twice, and in that time he had done nothing to endear her to him.

Well, besides going and finding her, and staying with her with the intention of walking her home. That was kind of sweet.

Kind of.

Then he had to go and fight the mystery Super...

Alex tried to remember what the other Super looked like. Big and burly, was all she remembered.

Pulling into the school parking lot a few minutes later, Alex checked her watch again and sighed in relief. She still had five minutes before the warning bell.

She saw Lily run up to her from the doors. "Alex!" she squealed. "I thought you were going to be late for class!"

"So did I," Alex replied, grabbing her backpack out of the passenger's seat. "How long have you been here?"

Lily shrugged. "Just ten minutes or so. It's still nice out, so I thought that I could come out and wait for you. It was getting boring inside of the school. You know, the same old boring chatter and the same old couples making out on the lockers. It becomes so mainstream..."

"Mainstream. Riiiiight." Alex smirked at her before locking her car doors and walking towards the entrance. "Well, I'm glad that you were patient enough to wait for me, my dearest friend."

"Anything for my bestie," Lily laughed. She linked arms with Alex as the two of them headed inside of the school. "Come on. We have a few minutes before the bell, so you've got time to put your stuff away inside of your locker."

"Thanks, Lily."

Walking down the hallways, Alex saw that Lily really wasn't lying. There were more than a few people gossiping about something, and she saw more than one couple kissing... and more.

"Yikes. You were telling the truth, weren't you?"

"Well, you saw the news, didn't you?" Lily asked, her eyebrows raised. "I mean, Supers in Burnsbary... That hasn't been an issue since the days of Tidal Wave and Firewing. You know they were the resident Supers of the city before Firewing was killed or something, right?"

Alex shrugged. "I mean, I've heard of all of that, but I mean, it hasn't been relevant until now, you know?"

"No kidding." Lilly shook her head. "I can't believe this. I mean, Supers are back? They're going to destroy the whole city, I'm telling you. No one should have an advantage that huge over someone else, you know? Did you see what that one guy did? He tore up the entire street in, what, half an hour? If he can do that, what else can he do?"

Alex didn't respond, and instead opened her locker. Supers weren't all bad, right?