There are few moments in my life that I regret as much as I regret coming early to Mrs Matthew's physics class that Thursday — a notable one being that time Mark, my part-time sworn enemy, and Hannah dared me to eat five jars of Nutella in only five minutes and I went through with it — but looking back, it was that Thursday that ruined everything.
So, I had just left Hannah on her own in the crowded hallway after finding out about her not-so-legal investigating and was already nearing the door to the science classroom. For some reason that I honestly can't figure out now afterwards, I stopped before opening the door and looked through the window.
Mrs Matthew had never been one to be considered weird. She was only in her forties and kept up with the times without any problem. Yet there I saw her with some dark mask in her hand, one of those masks that the supers always wore. She looked at it as if it was the centre of her world. It hadn't occurred to me that I might be closer to the things I hate than I first anticipated.
Although I couldn't actually imagine her being a super, it was the only reasonable thought. Or maybe she was just guarding it for someone else? I hoped that was the case because she was one of my favourite teachers.
Mrs Matthew's attention was snatched away from the mask as I finally decided to enter the room. With a swift movement, she managed to hide the mask in a desk drawer and I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't been looking for it.
"Early as always, MacMillan," she said and smiled innocently at me. With that kind face and flawless acting, she could have been the most successful con artist in history, yet she was stuck as a teacher and possibly a superhero or supervillain as well.
"Wouldn't have it any other way," I answered and smiled back at her, struggling to keep up the act that I hadn't seen anything odd at all. Luckily, she bought it.
Mrs Matthew always called us students by our surnames. Even though all the other teachers just said Sarah, or Darren, or Malcolm, she insisted on calling us after whatever family we were stuck in. I wasn't entirely sure if it was a good or a bad thing.
The book I had brought with me in my bag was the least interesting thing in the world when I sat down. I did try to actually read it, but you know, a word here and a word there, it all escaped me as soon as I read it because my mind was still dwelling on the super scenario.
I had to get a better look at that mask. I had to know what Mrs Matthew was hiding. It was as if I was becoming a second Hannah.
And we're talking about Jamie MacMillan here, the girl who never did anything out of the ordinary, and Hannah was the opposite of that.
It was fortunate that Mrs Matthew's phone suddenly started ringing, bringing me back from my inner thoughts to our dim reality. "Yes? Oh. Are you sure?" She said and then paused, turning to me with an uncertain look. "I have to take this, could I leave you alone for a couple of minutes?"
I nodded, almost too eagerly, and she went off. It was the opportunity I had been waiting for, and weirdly enough it came just before my patience ran out. Honestly, it was a very well placed coincidence if I may say, had I not been focused on the mask at the time I would have noticed that earlier.
Hannah would have been very suspicious, had she seen me like this, because I was enthusiastic. Mark, my part-time enemy (for those who have already forgotten), would have been weirded out by it because I was breaking rules, and not his arm. Just trust me when I say that I was not myself at this moment.
Mrs Matthew had left me and I could no longer see her outside so I went straight to her desk. The first drawer held nothing but a couple of papers and pens, the second was strangely empty and the third had the mask.
Up close, it was rather beautiful, ebony black with clean cut edges and carved details. No signs of any mistakes made while creating it and no damage done to it. While holding it, I felt the weirdest urge to put it on, and I would have given in if it weren't for the stressful factor of Mrs Matthews coming back any minute. I stared at it a bit longer before snapping out of it and hurrying back to my seat with only seconds to spare.
"Oh, hi Jamie, you're early again," stated Marnie Garfield as she entered the room with the regular black bag over her shoulder.
It was a huge relief that even if she saw something, she wouldn't comment it. You see, Marnie and I had this unspoken rule about no matter how weird the other was being, we'd never speak of it. So seeing me running back to my seat in an empty classroom shouldn't really matter.
I liked Marnie. She was this perfect mix of overly sarcastic, realistic and creative. And I had seen her 'round the bad parts of the city so I knew that she was up to shady stuff. She had seen me there as well, but that's where I live so I don't think that says anything. The main reason I liked her, though, was because of that mysterious vibe she gave off, kind of like that dark companion in the comics that you weren't completely sure if she'd betray you in the end or not.
"Yeah, kinda had to be. What's with the crowded halls these days? I could barely get here," I sighed.
She nodded slightly with an almost forced smile on her lips. She was suspicious of me. Not good. "True. You'd think it'd be easier to get around since that half of the students can't make it to school."
"By the way, have you heard of the new super?"
I peaked up at her attempt at small talk, at least that's what I believed it to be, and shook my head a bit. Hannah hadn't told me anything. "Not really. Why?"
Marnie raised an eyebrow. It was at times like these that our agreement was a blessing. It was obvious that she saw through my act of normalness and she wouldn't risk questioning it.
"He's called Black Phoenix. It's a stupid name if you ask me—" And I agreed 100%, not that that's the point. "— but it's spread all over the web in only a couple of hours. He broke into the mayor's mansion." She fiddled with her fingers as she normally did when she was anxious. "Then he set the statue of supers in Frieden Square on fire. Apparently, he's taking on Maximum Fury this weekend as well."
That last bit I didn't know. Hannah must have forgotten to tell me. Or she had been about to when I left her in the hallway. Probably the latter. Either way, she would already have covered it on her blog by now so I'd just have to double check it there later — she wasn't just a fangirl.
"Maximum Fury? Does he have a death wish?"
"If only. Some say he's planning on expanding the villain territories and you know that he only can do so by conquering a hero's land." Marnie looked at me with a truly worried expression. One that I could swear that I had on my face as well.
Center City was divided in two: the villain territories and the hero territories. I suppose three if you counted the land of the lawless and four if you added the city centre, which no one knew who it belonged to. Mainly, though, it was divided in two and the biggest of those two was the hero territories. Villains had tried taking over the city for ages but to claim a part of town as yours, you had to defeat it's "owner", another super, and most supers were pretty damn strong.
The land of the lawless was the parts of town with too many gangs to defeat in order to claim it so no one had tried to conquer them for a long time. I recall that Sapphire Serpent (No. 3 on the "vigilante that makes me question my sexuality" list) had tried once a couple of years back but she only got halfway before she had to retreat with wounds that took ages to heal.
"Isn't our school in Maximum Fury's territory?"
I'll admit that I was afraid of the answer. Not because I was scared of any villain calling themselves Black Phoenix, but even though Maximum Fury was annoying as hell, he had managed to keep his territory for a long time. Our school was one of the few untouched grounds in the city and disturbing that peace would be something new entirely.
Marnie's eyes widened as she came to the same conclusion. "Fuck. It is, isn't it? That means—"
Her reply was unfortunately cut short by the rest of the class, along with Mrs Matthew, finally showing up. I met her gaze one last time in a mutual understanding that if Black Phoenix came out on top, we were so screwed.