Chapter Twelve
More Like Partners in Whatever-the-Opposite-of-Crime-Is
"I asked you first," Static defended, crossing his arms in a childish way.
"His name's Noah," I told him, "we're on a date." I explained.
"Why are you on a date?" He demanded and narrowed his eyes at me as he balled his fists.
"It's just as friends, relax," I laughed at his behaviour.
"You're on a date with a friend?" He gave me a look and I nodded. "Is it normal to go on dates with friends? Does that mean I get to take you on a date?" He said in a threatening way.
"We're friends now?" I asked with a smile, "I thought we were partners in crime."
He snorted. "We're not partners in crime. You don't do well with crime. It's more like partners in whatever-the-opposite-of-crime-is."
I raised my eye brows at him "and since we're friends you would enjoy a date?"
He shrugged and smiled. "I'll take what I can get."
I laughed and nodded. "But seriously," I said as I sobered from my laughs, "what are you doing here?"
He just shrugged. "Making sure you're safe. And shit," he added, realizing what he said.
"Awe," I pinched his cheeks while he made a face, "you care."
"I do not," he defended and pushed away my hands. "I just need help catching Slick."
"Mhm," I patted his cheek. "Whatever you say."
He looked around before looking back at me. "I have to go but I'll see you later, okay?"
I nodded. "Okay."
After our encounter, Static was gone and it was just me and the bench as I waited for Noah to return.
Soon Noah came back smiling, his shirt clearly damp with water.
He took the spot right beside me throwing his arm around my shoulder and pulling me closer. A friendly gesture.
He wore a smug smile, "what's up with you?" He raised his eye brows at me.
"What do you mean?" I playfully elbowed him in the chest. "What's up with you?"
"I'm wondering why you're so smiley and flustered," he tilted his head at me, as if he were asking me why.
My smile quickly switched to a scowl. "I am not smiley! And I'm definitely not flustered!"
I brought my hands up to my cheeks just to check, but sure enough they were pretty heated.
"You're getting defensive," he sang and shoved me with his shoulder.
I rolled my eyes at him. He's delusional.
***
Noah dropped me off around seven. He walked me up to my apartment but when Drew answered the door, he went ballistic when he found out we went on a date together and the poor boy was pulled in for questioning by Big Brother Drew.
Eventually my brother calmed down, which meant Noah was free to go. Noah left with a thanks while I rushed to my room where I knew a certain someone would be waiting.
Of course I was right, because the moment I got back I saw Static laying in my bed, going through my Vogue magazines.
"These are shit," Static tossed away my magazines and got up from my bed. I placed my clutch on my dresser and grabbed my Super Suit and quickly changed in the bathroom.
"You ready?" Static asked me once I stepped out of the washroom.
"Yeah," I said and he picked me up in his arms before taking off out of my room.
The ride to his lair was short and peaceful. We didn't say anything to each other, but it wasn't awkward. It was more comforting.
When we got to Static's lair Graeme was already there, typing away at a computer.
I walked over to see him and his eyes left the computer screen for a moment so he could look up at me.
"Hey GG," he greeted me before returning his eyes to the screen.
"Hello Greamina," I ruffled his hair and took the spot beside him.
"Who's Graemina?" He asked me with a smile.
"She is your new alter ego," I told him with a teasing smile.
"Cool," he laughed and we both noticed Static walking over to us so we quieted. It's not like Static would yell at us or anything, and he probably wouldn't even care about what we were doing. Static just gives off a sort of 'bad-boy' vibe which makes him very intimidating when he wants to be, especially since he rarely smiles.
"So before Static went over to get you," Graeme started, his voice going from playful to serious which was most likely caused by Static's presence. "We discussed your shielding power."
I nodded. "Yeah, I have that power. What about it?"
He nodded too. "Well, the other day I was going through some of my parents' old files and found a power similar to yours. I think we could somehow train that power to not only be good for defence but offence too."
"How would I do that?" I crossed my legs and turned to face him more.
He shifted in his too. "Well, right now the shield sort of just bursts. It just quickly goes out and in. We could help you focus on controlling it, so that you could have control over what it does. You'll be able to grip stuff and hold things, or pick things up," he told me and I nodded with a smile.
"So basically I'll have powers like Bella?" I ask him.
"Who?" He furrowed his eye brows.
"Bella Swan," I repeated. "When she became a vampire, she had this shield thing-"
"Yeah, yeah," Graeme waved it away with a smile, "it will sort of be like that except better."
"So," Graeme clapped his hands together, "let's practice."
"On what?" I asked but he shook his head.
"We're not practising on an object. You could break it. We're practicing on a living being."
Graeme and both looked over to Static who was watching the two of us with a bored expressing, but his eyes shot open when he realized what we were implying.
"Wait, you want to practice on me?" He asked with an incredulous expression.
"Yeah pretty much," I shrugged.
"I'm not going to be some test dummy for you two," he spat.
He ended up being our test dummy.
It took some convincing. Actually, we didn't even convince him, we just forced him to let me practiced on him.
But he got time to prepare because the first step was for me to focus on actually trying to control my shield.
"Just focus on spreading the force," Graeme chanted in my ear, interrupting my concentration.
The shield was just bouncing out of my fingers and rebounding, just like usual. I was trying to slow it down and get it to stay focused.
"Imagine it. Picture the force slowly leaving you fingertips," Graeme spoke again.
I tried to picture the force, but my mind would just drift to things like, what colour is the shield? How strong is it? Could I take Bella in a fight?
"Focus!" Graeme snapped at me as he noticed my eyes wandering off. "Just look ahead of you and believe that you are watching the force leave your hands."
So I did just that. I looked ahead of me and at my hands, and pictured the invisible shield leave my fingers.
Graeme slowly waved his hand in front of mine and quickly pulled it back.
"It's working!" He cheered.
I turned to him with a smile. "It's working?" I asked him.
But then I felt a little shock, which meant that the force bounced back into my hands.
"It's alright," Graeme assured me as I sighed in frustration. "You just can't lose focus."
So it tried again. I pictured the force leaving my hands, but this time I could feel it leaving my hands.
"I see it," Graeme whispered in fascination.
I carefully held my focus and looked down at my hands. Surrounding them was a sort of blurry cloud, but it wasn't a blurry cloud at the same time. It literally looked like some type of force.
I smiled and urged the shield to go further. I watched in front of me as the could of force slowly edged forward. I felt like I had more and more control for the longer I held it out.
Finally, my mind felt a little too heavy from all the concentration so I decided to stop. The force flushed back into my body and Graeme smiled widely at me.
"That was amazing, GG," be praised me and gave me a small applaud.
"Skylar," I told him, smiling. "Just call me Slylar."
His jaw dropped for a moment and his eyes held pure shock. It took him a moment to snap out of it.
"Are you sure?" He asked for my permission and I nodded with a small laugh.
"Yes," I assured him, "all my friends call me Skylar."
"I'm friend with a Super!" He exclaimed.
"Yes, yes you are." I laughed.
"I actually met a girl named Skylar a few days ago," Graeme remarked, but then hey eyed me and his eyes lit up.
"No way!" He shouted which caused me to laugh.
"Yes way," I told him.
"You're Skylar from Starbucks?" He asked.
"I am Skylar from Starbucks," I confirmed.
We then got a reluctant Static to join us as I practised on him.
"Okay," Graeme started, "I want you to control the force and get it to squish Static."
"Whoa," Static interrupted. "I never signed up for this."
"We signed you up, though," Graeme shot him a grin.
Static shook his head at us and scowled but obeyed.
I positioned myself so that I was facing Static, and closed my eyes.
I reappeared what Graeme and I did during practice and imagined my shield slowly spread throughout my palms and edge their way to Static.
I felt it moving forward, from the tingling sensations in my fingertips. I pictured my force warping around Static's body, trapping him.
I smirked when I heard him gasp, meaning that it was indeed working.
"Harder," Graeme whispered to me, trying not to interrupt my concentration.
I willed the force to press harder, earning a strangled choke from Static.
"He's so red!" Graeme exclaimed with a laugh.
I opened my eyes to see that he really was red. Very red.
I released him and my shield bounced back into my hands while he gasped for air.
I gave him a guilty smile. "Sorry."
Although he was still struggling to breath, he managed to smile at me. "No worries. It's like real life Star Wars."
***
Static dropped both Graeme and I off at home once we had cleaned up the lair. It was a pretty eventful night.
I opened the door and expected all the lights to be turned off, but the light from the kitchen spilled into the living room and I could hear hushed voices speaking in the other room.
I raised my brows. Drew was supposed to be either sleeping or pit fighting crime. No one else should be home, that is unless Audrey decided to stay the night. She usually does. She doesn't feel very welcome at home.
I slowly entered the kitchen to see Audrey and Drew standing across from each other with the island in between them.
I could only see the back of Drew's head but his hands were balled into fists. Audrey stood on the other side of the island, looking rather flushed, as she pointed an accusing finger at my brother.
"You can't just do things like that-" her voice froze once she saw me standing in the doorway and she let her hand drop along with her angry expression.
Drew turned around to see what she was looking at and when he saw me his rage faltered too.
"Everything alright?" I asked the two of them quietly.
Audrey nodded a flattened her hair. "I'm going to bed now," she told us. "Goodnight."
She shared a look with my brother before trotting out of the kitchen.
There was a small paused and then I turned to my brother.
"Are you sure everything is okay?" I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Yeah," he nodded, avoiding my eyes and exited without a goodbye.
Exhausted, I made my way to my room and plopped down on my bed. I managed to change out of my super suit and into my pyjamas.
Laying in my bed, I turned my head to face the clock. It read one-twenty-nine.
I sighed and closed my eyes but my thoughts were consumed with my brother and Audrey. Was something going on between them? Is it good or bad? I never would have thought they'd have a bad relationship, but now that I think about it, it would be horrible for my best friend and brother to have bad blood.
Suddenly, a noise coming from my left had me sprinting upright. The figure standing in my room froze.
"Static?" I asked and rubbed my eyes.
The figure slowly brought his hands to his aides. "Hey."
He quietly sat down at the foot of my bed, causing it to dip. "Can't sleep?"
I shook my head. "No, not really."
There was a short pause before he spoke again.
"When I was little and couldn't sleep, my mom would take me for a long drives." His voice was soft, and held another emotion I couldn't detect. "She would usually drive out to the quiet parts of the city where I would eventually fall asleep."
Static was opening up to me. He was actually opening up to me.
"Did it work?" I asked him.
"Usually," he nodded, "it was calming."
"So what are you suggesting," I asked him, "that we go for a car ride?"
He shook his head and let out a chuckle. "I don't exactly have a driver's license so there isn't really a way of doing that," he explained, "but I could take you on flight."
I raised my eyebrows. "Would that work?"
He shrugged. "Only one way to find out."
With that, Static swiftly scooped me up in his arms and jumped out the window
"What are you doing?" I asked him.
"Helping you sleep," he answered with a gentle smile.
I smiled back as he continued to fly into the dark night sky.
I looked up to see the stars. They looked to be as if they were dancing in the sky as they looked down at us.
Down below us, the city lights shined up at us. Everything looked so minuscule, almost like it was a model of our friendly city.
Everything felt so familiar and comforting.
"Do you like it up here?" Static whispered to me.
"I enjoy being closer to the stars," I told him as I looked up to the comforting sight.
"I think it do too," he hummed and pulled me closer to his chest as my mind drifted into sleep.