Not Your Sidekick (17 page)

Jess opens her eyes.

Abby is sound asleep with her arm curled around Jess' waist, holding on to her tightly. Under the covers Abby threw a leg over her, like an anchor. There's a faint smile on Abby's lips, as if she's dreaming of something special.

Sometime during the night, Jess' pajama shirt rucked up. Abby's hand rests on Jess' bare skin, and Jess stares at it. Abby's fingers move a bit every time she takes a breath, and every brush seems to radiate to Jess' core.

Downstairs there's a loud thump, and Abby stirs, curling closer to Jess. Jess closes her eyes and takes shallow breaths, not wanting to break the spell—

Her alarm sounds like blaring foghorns; her DED shines colored lights all about the room as it bounces on her desk.

“Gah!” Abby jolts up and falls off the bed, taking all the sheets and covers with her. “Abby!” Jess calls out, peering over the edge of the bed. “Are you okay?”

“Ah, just surprised. That alarm is… really something,” Abby says, turning bright red as she looks at Jess. “Last night, did we finish the bear movie?”

“You fell asleep. I turned it off; you looked like you needed the rest.”

Abby blinks. There's a pillow crease on her face, and her hair is everywhere.

The alarm horns are still going; the DED vibrates in a furious rhythm before it falls onto the jumble of blankets on the floor. It continues to make muffled shrieks until Jess reaches off the bed to flick the manual off switch on the display. The DED's holos flicker weakly as she checks the time. The battery must be drained.

“We've got an hour before school starts—”

Abby gets up. “I can drive, so we have enough time.”

“Do you want to borrow some clothes?” Jess gets out of bed and from her closet picks out a button-down shirt that's loose on her. “I'm not sure they will fit.” Pajamas are easy, but Abby's hips are wider, her shoulders are broader, and she's taller too.

Abby takes a look at the shirt Jess has picked out and shakes her head. “Thanks, but I'd probably pop all the buttons off that one. Boob problems.”

Jess glances and then quickly looks away, shaking the idea out of her mind. In the back of her closet, she finds a bigger T-shirt, a Captain Orion one she wears to sleep sometimes.

Abby takes it, and she doesn't wait for Jess to leave the room before she shucks off her pajama top.

Jess turns away from the sight of Abby's bare back, grabs her own clothes, and runs for the bathroom. Her face burns.

Jess changes into her outfit—jeans and a T-shirt that's seen better days—but whatever. Thinking about Abby changing in her room makes her a bit lightheaded, but the night spent together makes her happy, and she can hardly believe it was real.

She finds Abby tying her hair back in a simple ponytail, wearing her basketball shorts and the Captain Orion T-shirt. She turns to Jess and smiles.

“Hey, thanks for letting me stay the night,” Abby says.

“No problem. What are friends for?”

Abby laughs. “Oh, here. Your DED fell on the floor during that terrible alarm.”

“Thanks!” Jess attaches it to her wrist, noticing that it's at half-battery. Huh, it must have had more charge than she thought. She realizes that she's being a terrible host. “Oh, is your DED dead or anything? You can charge it while we eat, I mean it won't be much but—”

“I'm good, thanks,” Abby says, waving her own wrist. Her DED is fully charged, judging by the strength of the projections.

“Your batteries must be amazing,” Jess mutters.

Abby shrugs and follows Jess out the room.

Li Hua has already left to take Brendan to his college, and Jess grabs a box of Captain Orion's Favorite
TM
Breakfast Pastries out of the pantry. “Chocolate or strawberry?”

“Oooh, chocolate,” Abby says.

Jess toasts two chocolate pastries, and then they're off in Abby's shiny Mercedes.

“I'm sorry that, um, you have to wear my clothes. I know you usually like to dress up for school.”

Abby shrugs. “It's no big deal. I mean, this year I've thought a lot about things and like… it's hard work, being student body president and captain of the volleyball team. I mean, people expect so much of you, and I always have to be
on
all the time, and then earlier this year… um… well, my mom got sick…”

“Oh. I'm sorry. Do you know… Do you know what it is?” She remembers Abby's parents were at a conference, or maybe it was just Abby's dad?

“No, not yet, but it's serious. It's why I quit the president gig and stopped playing volleyball.”

“Don't worry about it. The pressure stuff. You're doing you, you know? I mean, taking time for yourself is important. I know.”

Abby pats Jess on the arm.

They arrive at school and Abby parks. Jess trails behind Abby as they enter the campus.

Abby walks ahead, as confident wearing a T-shirt and shorts as she is in any of her designer clothes. They get a few looks but no one says anything, and then Jess spots Bells.

“Hey, I'm gonna get to class, I'll see you later,” Jess says.

“See you later,” Abby says, and she steps a little closer, as if she's about to say something.

The bell rings.

Abby steps back and gives Jess a small smile and a funny little wave before she walks away.

Jess watches her go and then rushes to catch up with Bells so they can get to class.

“Oh my God, did I just see what I thought I saw?” Bells asks, his eyebrows nearly reaching his hairline. “You and Abby came to school together!?”

“Yeah, she gave me a ride. I like your hair today, it's blue! When did you dye it? Did you have to do a complicated thing with bleach or something, because it was purple yesterday.”

“Don't change the subject.” Bells grins wildly. “My hair always looks amazing. Now okay, maybe I might buy that your new friend gave you a lift to school, but, but, but! She is also wearing your favorite T-shirt. Explain that!”

Jess shrugs. “We were working late on Rhinehart's assignment last night, and Abby stayed over, no big deal. You and Emma stay over all the time. You have totally worn my clothes before.”

“Okay but, you don't want to date me or Emma,” Bells says, bouncing a little. “Oh my God, please tell me all the details.”

Jess turns red as they walk into the classroom. She whispers, “Later, at lunch.”

They don't get to talk
about it at lunch because Abby's already joined them. She's in an intense conversation with Emma about Captain Orion and Lilliputian, Emma's favorite superhero.

Abby grins and waves at them. “Hey, settle this, Jess, you're the superhero expert. Caption Orion or Lilliputian?”

“Captain Orion,” Jess says.

Emma gasps. “No way. Lilliputian can shrink to the molecular level. That is way cool, okay?”

“Yeah, but she can't fly. And it takes her forever to get anywhere in that size! She always needs assistance when she's at the atomic level, too. Her power is practically useless. And you forgot that even at the A-class, Lilliputian can only use her powers for about three hours a day, so whatever she does has to be planned out perfectly.”

Abby hands Jess her lunch tray, complete with steaming hot tater tots. “For you, I got extra.”

Bells laughs. “Oh man, I should get a girlfriend, too!”

Abby doesn't say anything, just hands Jess the ketchup.

Jess' cheeks heat up but Emma turns the conversation away from Bells' joke toward volleyball.

On their way to fifth period, Jess coughs, taking advantage of the hustle and bustle of the crowd leaving the open quad to have a private conversation. They're away from her friends, at least. “Hey. I'm sorry if that was weird, Bells calling you my girlfriend.”

“Why would it be weird?” Abby asks.

“I, uh…” Jess stops in her tracks. “Because we… um…”

“I'd be pretty lucky to be your girlfriend; I don't think there's anything bad about that statement,” Abby says. “It was cute.”

Jess is frozen to the floor; it's as if time has stopped. Students walk past them trying to get to their classes. Most of them have already filed into the buildings, but there's a mad rush to make it before the tardy bell rings. Bodies move in a hurry, and the noise of conversation fades to nothing more than a dull roar. The sky is a bright, bright blue. Her heart thuds, still beating; blood still rushes through her veins. Jess is breathing, but she can't move. Abby's smile is overwhelming, and Jess is too big for her skin, as if she might float away in the exhilarating possibility of the moment.

“Oh, you, um,” Jess says. “I would love to ask… if you, do you want to…”

The bell rings, and Jess' heart sinks. Could she work up the courage to ask again later? It was hard enough trying now.
It'll be fine to be friends.
Last year, she couldn't have imagined being friends with her crush, and now they hang out all the time. “Never mind,” Jess adds in a small voice and starts to walk away. “I'll see you later.”

“Jess!” Abby calls back. “To what you were asking—yes! I'll go out with you! That is what you were asking, right? Otherwise I'm gonna feel really dumb.”

“Oh!” Jess blushes and nods. “Yes, I um, okay. A date. Yes?”

Abby chuckles. “Okay, we can talk about it on the way to work, yeah? Make plans then?”

Jess nods and watches Abby rush off to her own class, wearing Jess' T-shirt.

Jess walks on clouds for the rest of the day.

Ch.9...

Abby is humming when they meet in the parking lot. She bounces on the edges of her feet when she sees Jess. “Ooh, okay, so do you like plays? Or museums? We can go to the modern art museum downtown, or the national history museum has this really neat butterfly exhibit. Have you ever had the chili cheese fries in that new diner off Seventh Street?”

Abby even opens the door for Jess to get in the car, which makes her giggle.

“Uh, yeah, all of that sounds awesome,” Jess says. “Actually, I've been wanting to go to this thing—Captain Orion is coming to town and she's giving a speech at the Andover Museum of Modern Art. There are a limited number of tickets, but I managed to get two. Do you want to come with me?”

“Captain Orion is going to be here? In this city?”

“Yeah! It's awesome! It hasn't been announced publicly yet, only to those in the fan club but—”

“When?”

All the warmth and excitement has gone out of Abby's tone, and Jess' heart sinks before she says, “Friday night.”

Abby starts the car. “Oh, I'm sorry, I think I… might be busy then.”

They drive to Monroe Industries in silence, and Jess steals glances at Abby. She'd been so excited about the date a few moments ago, but now her face is taut. Unlike their other rides when they've laughed or joked, Abby pays attention to the road and not much else.

Maybe Abby regrets saying yes. Maybe it was a spur-of-the-moment decision and then when we tried to make it official, make plans, it wasn't really what Abby wanted
.

Abby parks in the Monroe Industries parking lot, and they walk into the building. It's so awkward; clearly Abby is consumed by some dilemma.

Finally, in the elevator, Jess manages to say, “It's okay, we don't have to go out, if you're second-guessing it.”

“No, it's not that, I just… guh, it's not you…” Abby looks at her feet.

“It's fine.”

Jess rushes out the door as soon as it pings. She goes right to her office, shuts the door, and presses her head against it. She takes a deep breath; her disappointment surges.

“I'm not going to cry,” Jess says to no one.

People are rejected every day. Maybe having that little glimmer of hope was worse than if Abby just outright said no.
Why didn't Abby just say no to begin with?

Jess starts with the first item on her task list instead of taking the usual few minutes to settle in and check messages. She hasn't seen M yet, but that isn't unusual. Sometimes M will come in and say hello, sometimes not. Jess enjoys their conversations, but she's not in the mood right now. She doesn't want anyone to see her.

Jess hiccups and hastily wipes away the stray tears that leaked from her eyes when there's a knock at the door.

“Come in,” she says.

M, visor dark and devoid of any lights, lingers in the door; her mecha-suit casts a long shadow into the office. “Hey.”

“Hey. I'm almost done with this box, and then I have some—”

“Okay, that's not a priority right now,” M says. “I want to talk to you about something. Something important. The future of this division of Monroe Industries. And the future of the Mischiefs.”

“Oh, sure.” Jess sits up taller. She looks up expectantly, and the panel in M's face starts to glitter with bouncing red lights. Jess hasn't seen red before. “Is this for everyone in the lab? Do we need Abby?”

“I already talked to Abby.”

“Oh.” Jess fiddles with her ponytail. It would seem more efficient for their supervisor to tell both of them at once, but Abby probably doesn't want to see her right now.

“So, I have heard that Captain Orion is going to be in town this Friday,” M says. She steeples her fingers and the metal's clinking echoes in the room. “I have reason to believe that Orion's DED or MonRobot has important information that we need. I have developed a plan to commandeer one or both of those during this fan event.”

“We're stealing Captain Orion's DED?” Eyes widening, Jess leans forward.

“I think it's necessary. I know that you've expressed admiration for the superhero, and I certainly respect that, but I know she knows
something
and if I don't try, I'll regret it forever. Please. Will you help?”

Jess is stricken by the emotion in M's voice, the desperate plea. She's never heard her sound like this; the electronic voice is different, much more human.
Is it a voice modifier that M has to consciously control and sometimes forgets?

“Are we going to give it back?” Jess asks. “And why do we need it?”

“It's… I'm looking for someone. Two someones. They went missing a while ago, and it's not something the Collective's police could help with. I just know that Orion knows something, and I need to find out what.”

The desktop projector next to Jess sparks; holos blink out of focus as if there's interference in the signal, and M coughs. “I'm sorry, I'm a bit on edge over this, it might be our last chance, that, um, well, Master Mischief left specific instructions while they were gone, that Orion was likely to be involved, and if she was nearby, not that I should go steal it, but I just need to know.”

Jess has come to think of M as a friend, too, but she's been so wrapped up in getting to know Abby and hanging out with her that they haven't had many conversations in the office lately. Jess feels guilty about that. And these missing people—they must be important to M.

But stealing? And looking through someone else's DED,
Captain Orion's
personal information? She can't do it. Sure, she thought signing up to work with Master Mischief was a fun act of rebellion, but Captain Orion is a hero. She's Jess' hero, always has been. There's no way she could be involved with M's missing people.

Jess thinks of the date-that-could-have-been. Abby would have teased her for knowing all the trivia, and they would get autographs and take photos with Captain Orion, and Captain Orion might smile and wink at Jess and recognize her from the articles she's written for the fan club. And then Abby and Jess would have wandered through the museum, maybe holding hands, taking photos in front of all the exhibits, and had ice cream afterward.

“I'm sorry, I…” Jess shrinks backward. “I just don't think I could do it. Captain Orion's a good person. I know it.”

“Look, there's
something
going on, and you're just on the cusp of seeing it, if you could only—” M throws up her hands. She gestures, and a holo projection appears in her hands. Jess can't see a DED, but it must be a part of the mecha-suit. The projections flash, images and videos and articles, one after another: proof of the changed history of Gravitus; the strange pattern of all the public fights broadcast on the news; and then just articles, from smaller town newsholos all around the NAC. There's one from the
Gazette
that remarks on the lack of activity from the Mischiefs, then a report from Turner City that Plasmaman hasn't been seen in five months, and another brief mention from Redwood County that Tree Frog hasn't gotten up to her usual hijinks.

“Yes, I see, but it doesn't mean Captain Orion is at the heart of it,” Jess says. She takes a deep breath. She doesn't have the energy to figure it out; can't she just wallow in her misery? “I know that the Mischiefs were suspicious but like, isn't that just like a hero-villain thing?”

M's visor panel blinks red, once, and then it's completely dark. “A hero-villain thing,” she says flatly. “I thought you—Jess, I thought you were different.”

M turns around and shuts the door. It clicks with a solemn finality just as Jess says, “M—”

The apology dies on her lips as the door closes.

Great. Her friend M is upset, and Abby doesn't want to go on a date with her.

Jess gets back to work.

Jess is at her wit's
end. She tries to focus on schoolwork, but didn't realize how intrinsic Abby was to her day-to-day school life until she suddenly isn't there. Every moment stands out to Jess, like the vivid colors of a holo projection, constantly dancing in front of her. Abby is absent from the lunch table. She still sits with Jess during English, but there's barely a nod of acknowledgment—no more glances during class or shared smiles over Rhinehart's jokes. Abby doesn't ask Jess if she wants to work on their project as they normally do on Thursdays. She isn't waiting outside Jess' sixth period when the day ends. Jess finds herself standing in the hallway, waits until she realized Abby isn't coming, and then shakes herself and rushes to catch the bus home.

She did more research on the missing villains that M brought up; her doubt grows as she finds even more. There aren't any specifics on any of the incidents, just a vagueness that Jess finds unsettling. Tree Frog, the colorful climbing villain whose signature move is to scale the redwoods in the Northern California region and hang ludicrous signs, hasn't put up a new sign in over seven months.
It is probably coincidence, right? Maybe the inactive ones aren't missing; they're in the Meta-Human Corrections center.
But there aren't been any reports of Tree Frog being captured, or even fighting with the local Redwood City hero, Arête.

Jess finishes her homework and finds a message from her dad that her parents are downtown for a meeting with the Associated League and to take care of dinner for her and Brendan.

Brendan is in the middle of an experiment, but gladly shouts out his expensive and ridiculous requests for food through the door. Jess refuses to drive all the way to Las Vegas to pick him up a steak, and they argue until compromising on an order of jambalaya from the Broussard restaurant.

It's quiet today, so Jess just slides into an empty booth and waits for Bells. “Just two orders of jambalaya to go,” she says, slumping in the seat

Bells sits next to her. “Thought you hung out with your girl on Thursdays.”

“Not today,” Jess says, laying her head on the table.

Bells doesn't push, just throws an arm around her shoulders. After a moment, he blurts, “Do you want some cheesecake?”

“Dessert before dinner.” Jess laughs. It's a small, mirthless sound. “Sure.”

Bells comes back with a slice and two spoons, and they eat silently until Bells starts talking aimlessly about the gossip surrounding
Vindicated 7.
It's easy to relax with the sweet dessert and his comforting voice, and soon enough Jess sighs and places her spoon on the empty plate. “I, ah, I asked Abby out on a date yesterday.”

Bells nods, his spoon in his mouth. “Good job. Knew you could do it.”

“She said yes… but then she freaked out once we started making plans.” Jess buries her face in her hands.

Bells licks his spoon. “Well, we're out of cheesecake, but I'm sure I could find you some pie.”

“Thanks, Bells.”

The hug is a lifeline, and Jess clings to it, breathing in the spicy scent of Bells' cologne.

“That's not the only thing bothering me,” she says when they let go. “I don't even know how to say it. I, um, I signed a non-disclosure agreement.”

“For work?”

“Yeah. My coworker asked for help on this project, and I couldn't… I mean, it's technically stealing?”

“Oh. Like corporate espionage?” Bells quirks his eyebrows. “I mean, picking the teenage intern to do it is genius, by the way. No one would think to look at the kid, right? Is it Hale Tech? Oh, right, you can't tell me. Blink once if you're sneaking into Hale Tech, blink twice if you're going for—”

Jess huffs and bumps Bells in the shoulder.

“Well, sometimes the wrong action for the right reason can be right,” Bells says. His eyes are glassy and it seems as if he's quoting someone.

“What's that from? Some vintage superhero movie we haven't watched yet? Bells, you holding out on me? You've got your own contraband media?”

“Shut up, you know I wouldn't watch those without you guys.” Bells scrunches his face. “Well, is stealing the only way to get the thing? I mean, that's kind of a lot to ask. You've only been there, what, a few months?”

“Not really stealing a thing,” Jess says. She's thought about it for a while. “More like getting information I wouldn't normally have access to. But getting that information could help people.”

“Hmm. You know that the NAC sees everything, right? On our DED's, all our messages and what we search and all that. All that information is out there for the government to look at any time, as well as for anyone clever enough to try and get it. What's the difference between you reading something you're not supposed to and the NAC looking at all the weird cat holos I send you?” Bells gives her a knowing look. “Look, is it like a personal secret?”

“No. I think it's company stuff.”

“So, there's a big difference; it's not like if I told you—”