Sudden Superhero

11. Maguire and Something Else

BEN STARED AT ME, open-mouthed, looking me up and down as if that would help him understand better. "You...you're...what..."

I felt about as flustered as he looked. I stood there awkwardly, wondering if I could pull off the lie that I simply decided to cosplay Red Soldier, and that I happened to bring my costume with me to a museum.

To stall for time, I took my backpack from his hands and took as much time as I possibly could to put everything inside and zip it up. I felt like a turtle as I shrugged the straps on and placed my Yankees cap on my head. Unable to put it off for any longer, I finally looked him in the eye and swallowed. "Why are you here?" I asked nervously, my eyes flicking to the side as if I expected other classmates to pop out of nowhere.

He had been staring at me the entire time, and now he blinked and shook his head a little. "I decided to wait for you to get the gum off," he said, still sounding awed, "but then you ran and I tried to follow...but I lost you...and I came out here...I saw your cap sticking out of this shrub, and I thought maybe you wanted to clear your head and that I'd wait for you, but you just came dressed like Red Soldier."

I said nothing.

"Holy mackerel, Peter," he said, his voice lower this time, "are you Red Soldier?"

I bit the inside of my cheek. I really messed up, letting my secret get exposed this easily. I had to be more careful from now on, but there was no salvaging this situation, so I nodded.

He looked like he was about to laugh, or maybe give a little shout, but I spun him by the shoulder and started walking him back inside the museum. We'd lost enough time already gaping at each other. "I'll explain later," I whispered next to his ear, looking over my shoulder to make sure it was just us.

He nodded, and then he smiled. "You've been active for only two days, Peter," he said, chiding me, "and you've already blown your cover."

"Shut up," I said, but I laughed.

For the rest of the tour, Ben was clearly not paying attention. Neither was I, but at least I tried to act like I was. I took pictures when everyone else did, but I never really focused on what I was taking a picture of, and although Ben would occasionally nod along to whatever the tour guide was saying, he spent most of the time giving me strange looks. I really couldn't tell if he was just curious or if he thought this was weird.

We were eating lunch on the grass next to the museum when the police abruptly showed up. The curators and the tour guides told our teachers that the tours were over, because there had been an attempted robbery, and Red Soldier had showed up and already left. Ben looked at me, one eyebrow raised. I just shrugged and licked the peanut butter off my finger.

Monday afternoon was a stark contrast from Monday morning. As the buses pulled out of the museum to head back to school, from where we'd go home, those rambunctious teens that had been so quiet in the morning were now ear-splitting loud.

I exchanged a glance with Ben, mouthed the word "later," and then put my music's volume as loud as it could go without making my ears hurt. I leaned against the back of the seat, turning my head to look out the window. I was thinking about a lot of pressing issues, and the combined noise of the loudmouths' chatter and my music did nothing to help.

Issue number one: the cuff that was currently sitting in my backpack. What if it exploded? It hadn't sparked or turned hot or anything for the few minutes I'd been holding it, but I consistently looked down between my feet to make sure my backpack hadn't caught on fire. Issue number two: Henderson Technologies. I had to contact Jenny and tell her that I'd found one of their missing pieces, and that the thieves had gotten away. Issue number three: Ben. That would be taken care of soon enough, but a knot still formed in my stomach as I tried to figure out how to explain all of this to him without making myself seem delusional.