Wyatt dragged the towel over his head again, yet his hair remained stubbornly wet. He could feel the drips of water still oozing down his neck and dropping on his clean shirt.
Experience told him that his hair would probably be dry by the time the meeting started, but he didn't want to take that chance. Walking in with a dripping wet head, he might as well wear a sign on his chest that said 'I don't belong here." It was sure to draw everyone's eyes right to him. If everything went right, he would blend in seamlessly with the other captains and vice captains.
At least until he found his footing. Then he would start making some changes around here.
Until then, he would quietly disappear into the crowd.
He'd purposefully worn his nice shirt today, the button-up one with the tiny polka dots on it. It was nice, without being too formal. Or so he hoped. He wasn't sure what the dress code was. He had tried to ask William that morning but all he had gotten out of his roommate was that it wasn't in costumes.
This was good to know, Wyatt didn't want to show up in street clothes when everyone else was dressed for superheroing (or, ugh, vice versa) but it still hadn't calmed Wyatt's nerves at all. Were they dressing up? Wearing t-shirts? Should he bring a tie just in case?
His thoughts were disturbed when another drop of water slid down Wyatt's neck. He gripped his hands into fists. Did his hair always take this long to dry after a shower? Was his hair trying to spite him?
He exhaled slowly as he focused his attention back to the present. Class had ended almost twenty minutes ago and he still wasn't ready for dinner yet, let alone the meeting. Ignoring his hair for a moment, he turned his attention to pulling his socks on.
There were only a few others in the locker room at this point. Today's class had been much smaller than usual consisting of only squads 12 and 3. The schedule had said that this week would have purposely very small group sizes so that Achilles could get a better look at each person's progress.
Wyatt had had to trudge through their simple exercises while Achilles gave feedback to each person.
He had been effusive in his praise of Sally, despite her showing very little progress. William had also merited some compliments, despite the fact that the boy's guard was dropped more often than it was up. He had given both of them some pointers but they were so basic Wyatt hadn't bothered to listen to the exacts.
Mariah had merited a quiet word or two from the man as well. It had been too quiet for Wyatt to hear though he was very curious what the comments had been. He could see no particular problems with her form himself but the exercises they had been doing weren't too strenuous and weren't exactly hard to perform without making glaring mistakes.
He himself was curious to know more about the obvious skill she had shown in their sparring match a few weeks ago, but the simple punches and blocks they were drilling today weren't exactly a great showcase to glimpse one's true skill through. He tried his best to look for the telltale details of a truly skilled fighter in her movements, but all he could see were the simple motion of the strikes.
How did a girl like that bust out the kind of skill he had seen during their fight? Weird and irritating though she was, Wyatt made no contest of the fact that she had trounced him. Sure, he didn't have his sword with him, but sword or not, she had been very impressive. He couldn't count on always having his sword with him; fights could happen at any time and he had to be ready.
The class had been almost over by the time Achilles made his way to Wyatt and, predictably, he had gotten hardly a word out of the old man.
Achilles had simply looked at Wyatt quietly perform the routine, nodded a few times, and then walked away to reexamine someone else. He had looked at Wyatt for maybe twenty seconds total.
Not that Wyatt minded; the whole workout was extremely basic but he might have appreciated a few words of encouragement. Considering all of the good things he had said about Sally, who was still probably unable to fight someone in a full-body cast, a few words to someone who actually knew how to fight might have been nice.
"Hey Wyatt," William called over, breaking William out of his reverie. "Are you ready for the meeting?"
He was dressed in probably passed for casual for William, he had a slightly oversized sweater over his traditional polo shirt.
Had Wyatt made the wrong call on the dress shirt? William's polo collar made it look kind of dressy and sweaters were, in general, leaned that way too. However, William's sweater had a sort of lived-in look to it that implied it wasn't one that you were trying to impress people with.
Wyatt bit his lip. For about the thirtieth time today, he wondered if he had dressed all wrong. Maybe he should have just worn a t-shirt after all...
"Are you sure it's okay if I go like this?" Wyatt asked again. "Is this shirt okay?"
"Of course," William said, "you look fine. We've got to hurry though if we want to eat before the meeting."
Wyatt nodded, throwing his shoes on as he joined the other boy on their walk to the cafeteria.
"So what exactly happens at these meetings?" Wyatt asked, reaching his hand up to his hair again.
"Not much," William explained. "We mostly just sit there and get briefed on different things going on in the school. Plans the faculty are thinking about doing or questions Mr. Buckingham or Diverman have for us. And then they ask us for feedback. It's pretty simple."
Wyatt nodded. It didn't sound too complicated. He could do that.
But his spirits were dashed when they rounded the corner and saw the cafeteria line spreading all the way out of the cafeteria into the hallway. Wyatt's worrying and vain attempts at hair toweling had cost them too much time. Every kid in school was probably lined up in front of them. By the time they showed up to the meeting, it would be ending.
They'd never make through the line on time now.
William, however, didn't seem the least bit concerned.
"Excuse me," he said to a small group of students in front of him," we're going to the squadleader's meeting and we need to get through."
Wyatt almost rolled his eyes in frustration. In his experience, your spot in the line was borderline sacred here. Wyatt wasn't exactly sure why. His middle and high school hadn't been like this. There were hungry kids there sure, but at Chiron, if it looked to someone like you were going to try to take their spot, they likely to get very defensive.
Maybe it was because the food was one of the only means of entertainment the school provided. Or it could just be the fact that the school was full of constantly exercising teenagers.
So Wyatt was shocked to see the long lunch line dissolve before them. When people heard that they were going to the squad leaders' meeting, the crowd seemed more than willing to let the part and let them through without any fuss.
Wyatt practically had to pick his jaw up off the floor as the crowd parted for him and William.
William, for his part, seemed not even to notice the minor miracle, walking amiably to the front as if this was the most regular occurrence in the world.
Wyatt was left supposing that that's just how life was for squadleaders.
They grabbed their food and snagged a seat at one of the still empty tables. Since there were very few people who had gotten their food yet, it was quite easy to spot other people going to the meeting around the room.
Two tables to Wyatt's right, he could see the Crow tear into a corndog with what Wyatt would call an air of calm efficiency. Everything the guy did seemed to have an air of calm efficiency. He somehow seemed like he was a military man at parade rest, with their back straight and their hands held behind them, comfortable but still ready to move at any time. Only the Crow was able to have that same energy all of the time. He was like black, American James Bond. Restrained, methodical. He almost expected the guy to eat his corndog with a knife and fork.
Out of the corner of his eye, Wyatt could see the captain of squad 5, the girl that had turned into a giant bear and chased him halfway across the game area during the squad competition. It really was a cool power even if she had been a bit of a jerk about chasing him so aggressively. At least he had had the ball when she'd tried to take him out, which was more than he could say for the rest of her squad.
He'd heard that they'd all been gotten in trouble for starting all of the fighting during their phase of the games, but he didn't actually know what that had ended being.
Did they do detention here at the school or did they just give a slap on the wrist 'you should feel bad' lecture? In Wyatt's experience, either everything at the school was either stupidly strict or so loose Wyatt was surprised they didn't all get an award for just waking up.
Judging from previous experience, this was probably one that landed on the side of treating them all like they were preschoolers.
But then, what good would detention even be when the whole school was basically detention? he scoffed to himself.
Bear Girl didn't seem to notice Wyatt watching. Or at least if she did, she didn't care. She seemed thoroughly uninterested in any of the goings-on in the room around her, lazily glancing at her phone, though she stopped every so often to take a disdainful bite of her corndog. Her loose, shoulder-length, black hair just flirted with the top of her sleeveless arms.
She often seemed to wear tank tops, today's was black. Wyatt thought it was a bit of an odd move, given it was still winter. Though maybe, the whole point was to highlight her obviously muscled arms. The thick swell of her arms was impressive, with thick biceps that made it obvious that her hobbies included more than scrolling through her feeds.
"So," William said, pulling Wyatt's attention back to their own table," have you ever done anything like this before?"
"Like what?" Wyatt replied confused.
"Had a meeting with other heroes like this," William replied.
"Um, not really," Wyatt said, taking a bite of his corndog. "It's more of a solo thing normally. You occasionally meet up with other heroes, but that mostly happens randomly. Since we all have secret identities, it makes it hard to meet other heroes unless you happen to meet them when you are out actively in costume."
"You seem nervous," William said matter of factly "You don't have to be nervous. You'll be fine."
Easy for William to say. He had been at the meetings since their inception. He already knew everyone there. If Wyatt knew anyone, it was by reputation only.
They would all know each other's names and it would be Wyatt stuck not knowing anybody.
He could just picture himself, everyone greeting each other by name and him just standing there like an idiot not knowing anybody's outside of his own squad. Well, his own squad plus squad one. And Amy of course.
Wyatt wondered if he would see her at the meeting. He knew Amy wasn't a squad leader but maybe she would be chosen as the vice-captain like he was. It didn't seem super likely, Amy had not been a superhero that long from what he remembered, but she seemed fairly competent, about the same level as most people here. It would be up to the squad leader of course, but Wyatt would have picked her.
Not that he knew much about Amy's squad leader, or about any of her squad really. He'd only barely found last week that Amy and Mariah were roommates. Amy just never seemed to talk about other people with him. Maybe that was just part of her confidence she had so much of. She never felt the need to worry herself too much about what other people might think. He wondered how she did it.
If he was her squad leader, he definitely would have picked her.
He thought about looking around the cafeteria for her squad leader but he had no idea what they looked like, even if they were one of the few people already in the cafeteria.
"So, have you met many other heroes? In all of your years of experience, I bet you know tons."
"I know a few, we still don't get together often. We're still secretive and it would never be a big set committee thing like this. Usually, it was us meeting up to do something specific. Whoever's thing we were working on would take charge. Usually, it was just me and Todd and one or two other people."
"Todd? As in Diverman?" William asked popping a few of the bland green beans that served as a side to the corndog into his mouth. "That's right, you said before that you're friends with Diverman. What's that like? He seems so important here at the school. What's he like to just hang out with?"
Wyatt bit his lip. William seemed so sincere in his question. Wyatt could feel his hackles lower. He had been treated with such suspicion or disregard when he tried to talk about his experience before coming to the school that he was impressed that William seemed to really want to know more.
"He's really cool," Wyatt responded. "We've been friends for years now. He's really patient. We're basically brothers, at this point." Wyatt said growing introspective.
"So Flyerman and Diverman, huh? I guess it makes that you guys would go together."
"Yeah, we used to have this joke that all we needed was a Driverman and we'd have all kinds of transportation covered."
William shook his head.
"I still can't believe you have done this for years. I can't even imagine what that must be like. The months that I've been doing this feel like an eternity. It's so exausting. I mean, extremely fulfilling but exhausting. You must have so much experience."
Wyatt felt torn. He didn't want to get distracted. The meeting still loomed in the near future. He had to be ready. But he couldn't stop his face from splitting into a grin. William was saying the exact words Wyatt had been waiting to hear since he arrived here. Finally, someone was acknowledging all he had been through.
"Yeah, I've been through a lot," Wyatt said honestly. "It's been hard, but I'd do it all again in a heartbeat."
Well, he'd do most things again. Some things, some mistakes, lingered on the edge of his mind. Times when he'd been a bit too slow. A bit too careless. But William probably didn't want to hear about that. And Wyatt wasn't really sure he wanted to talk about it.
"That must have been hard, being a hero all those years on top of everything else. Your grades must have suffered. How did you stop your parents from realizing what you were doing?"
"Todd and I told our parents that we were in an after-school band program. It was a much better excuse for Todd than it was for me though. He actually was taking band during the day so he could actually play an instrument. Todd taught me just enough trumpet to look convincing.
"Later, I told my parents that I had gotten a part-time job in the evenings. They didn't seem to question it too much."
"-too much," William said along with Wyatt. "But didn't you ever think about telling your parents?" William asked. "I kind of wonder if it wouldn't all be easier if I just told my mom what I was doing."
"It might be easier," Wyatt said with a shrug. "I almost told my mom a few times. It almost felt wrong to keep something that big from her. But the more people that know your secret, the more likely it is that it will get out. And what parent wants their kid to go start picking fights with muggers or stopping bank robbers? Or fighting supervillains?"
Wyatt shook his head.
"My parents would have shut me down before I even started."
He took a drag from his pint of milk, ignoring the taste of cardboard taste of the carton on his lips.
"I almost told her once," Wyatt said. "Right before she... Before she died."
Wyatt could barely believe that he was saying this, to William of all people. But somehow, he felt comfortable at this moment. He could tell William was listening. His body posture was facing Wyatt on the narrow bench. His facial expression was one of openness. Wyatt could see no judgment in his eyes.
"She looked so weak," he continued," all strapped into the different machines the doctors had her connected to. She was practically delirious. I figured she couldn't do much to stop me at that point. And it was pretty obvious that she wasn't... That she didn't have long."
"Her last round of chemo didn't take, but they had that figured going in so it wasn't a big surprise. At that point, she had started babbling in Swedish most of the time; she probably wouldn't have remembered it anyway. That's the point of bedside confessions, right? The thoughts were in my mind ready to go: 'Mom, I'm a superhero. I have been for years." But somehow, I just couldn't. Maybe I'd just kept the secret for too long and I couldn't tell anyone even if I wanted to. I just sat in silence with her until my dad came back in."
As the words spilled out of his mouth, he felt better. He'd thought many times about sharing this story, imagined himself telling it to people. But somehow he'd kept the story wrapped up inside of himself. Until know.
Wyatt glanced at William to see if he was still listening. Wyatt was a little surprised that he looked like he was.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that," William intoned quietly. "How long ago did your mom pass?"
"Last April," Wyatt replied.
It seemed strange that it had been a whole year now. In Wyatt's mind, it still seemed so fresh. Like it had happened yesterday.
"Anyway, back to your question," Wyatt said," after my mom passed, my dad stopped asking me where I was every night, so I haven't really needed an alibi. So I guess my best advice is just to have a parent with a healthy case of apathy towards you."
He'd meant the last bit as a joke but William didn't look like he had taken it that way. His face looked like it was caught in a cross between a wince and pity.
"Come on, let's get out of here," Wyatt said with a sigh. "I don't want to be late."
William was quick to agree and the both of them rose from the table, joining the trickle of kids heading towards the door.
Wyatt felt a little embarrassed about having shared that much about himself with William. He hadn't even told Todd that story. But he had to admit, he did feel a little better.
It wasn't until he saw the open door of the conference room that he remembered to put his game face on.
A large black table, rounded at the edges and surrounded by rolling chairs, peeked out the door. It seemed to take up most of the room. People seemed to be talking congenially inside, greeting each other as if they were friends.
Hopefully, there would be enough vice captains that no one would pay any notice to Wyatt.
"Don't be nervous," William said. "You've probably got more experience than all of these people combined. We're just all novices compared to you."
That was probably true, Wyatt admitted. But the thought didn't seem to do much to help his mood.
"Wyatt," William said, "if anyone deserves to be a vice captain, it's you. All of Squad 12 is behind you. Mariah, Sally, and I all have your back. We are a family and we look out for each other."
Wyatt nodded. He drew in a deep breath, steadying himself. Finally, he nodded at William and the two of them walked into the conference room.