Super Girls (Cape High Book 13) (10 page)

"You still can't say it, can you," Aubrey says with a little laugh. I don't want to interrupt, so I should leave, right? Maybe if I leave the building it'll give her some privacy. "It's fine, Jack. I know you do. How is your search going?"

"We had a bit of trouble with our last crowd," I hear the rough, slightly raspy male voice say. "There was another group of Super-phobes mixed in with the regular watchers. They spent the entire time shouting at us for trying to get into their schools."

"You don't DO the school thing," Aubrey says.

"I know that, you know that, but they didn't seem to care. I'm actually a little worried about Vinny," he says quietly. "Don't tell him that, it'd probably offend him. But it's dangerous out here."

"That's why we need to find my healers," Aubrey says. "Jack, are you or my brothers in danger?"

"Nah, not with Mom here," he says. "In or out of uniform, Star Spangled can deal with anything, right?"

"Have you heard from Max's team? I'm worried about Piper, especially," Aubrey says.

"They're all over the place," I hear Jack say with a laugh. "They've got Rocco, so they've been traveling by shadow. Last time I heard from Max, he was somewhere in the islands, taking a day off while Rocco tried to figure out how to get back to America."

"But you do talk with him, right?"

"Yeah, we're keeping close track on everyone still in the field," Jack says. "Even if we don't exactly like one another that much, we still check in. But Max has gotten a little more tolerable since the summer camp."

"I bet he says the same thing about you," Aubrey says. "But has anyone been HURT?"

"I heard Justin got mobbed and kidnapped—but when is that a surprise?"

"Jack!"

"It's true—he gets kidnapped more than all the girls in the school combined. I should start calling him 'Princess.' Wait, I already do."

"Jack, you're terrible!"

"I'm sorry, your princess is in another tower," Jack says. Aubrey starts to laugh. "But look, Aub," he says, his tone more serious, "I'm going to find your healers. I ain't sure what all is going on with this Mother chick, or the sudden super-hating, but I do know we've got a lead. Are YOU safe?"

"I've got Grandpa Superior down the hall and Grandma Tatiana in the kitchen," Aubrey says a bit dryly. "This place is safer than Fort Knox."

"I'd hope so—everyone's heard Rocco's story."

"I miss you," Aubrey says. I suddenly recall that she's obviously talking to her boyfriend. I'm totally eavesdropping on a private conversation. Crap. Maybe I AM meant to be a devious super villain. The guilt has me hanging my head for a second before I get to my feet. I'll go find a different healer. "Is someone out there?" Aubrey asks as I take a step.

Busted.

I hesitate for all of a second before peeking inside. "Hi," I say a bit sheepishly. "I—"

"You're bright red!" Aubrey says. "Jack, honey, I'm going to have to call you back, okay? Love you."

"Yeah, uh, me too," I hear him say before they hang up. I feel a blush coming on, but at least it won't show with my sunburn, right?

"I didn't want to interrupt anything," I say.

"It's fine," she says. "Let's get you healed up." She has a hesitant look on her face, which I can almost interpret.

"Didn't Freddy tell you?" I ask.

"Tell me what?"

"I'm only a D-class. That's why I get sun burns and stuff."

"No, he hasn't said a word that I know of," she says, standing up and tugging me into the room to sit on the bed. She touches my shoulder lightly and her hair starts to float. Her eyes are glowing white, I think, unable to look into them for long. It's mere seconds before I feel cool relief as the burn fades into—

Pasty white again. Yay.

"You ah, couldn't leave the tan, huh?" I ask as her eyes stop glowing.

"Oh, sorry," she says. "You DO have a bit of self-healing. I didn't expect it, actually, and when my healing prompted it, I'm afraid it kicked in," she admits.

"Can you—um—can you fix me?" I ask.

"Fix you?"

"Like, fix my ranking. Boost my abilities. That sort of thing," I say, a hint of hope rising up inside of me. I might have come into this as a D-class, but with a little bit of tweaking I might even be better than my sister!

She hesitates for a second before sitting down next to me. "Cold Steel is my boyfriend," she says. So that Jack guy was Cold Steel? The surprise must show on my face because she lets out a little laugh. "Don't worry, he might be a pain sometimes, but he's actually a really good one. But he was born a norm."

"I think I heard a rumor about that somewhere," I admit.

"Yeah. You see, he got into a very bad situation because he thought he wanted to become a super. He almost died. He would have died if we didn't have technopaths in the school. The metal in his system was wrapping around his internal organs—and heading for his heart."

Well, there goes my appetite for dinner.

"But—" I start out, "It wouldn't be the same for me," I say. "I mean, I already have powers, all you would be doing is a bit of… I don't know, an upgrade?"

"It's dangerous, still," she says. "Jennifer, you were accepted into this school for a reason, weren't you?"

"Because Ace put in a good word for me," I say, looking away. "Which I don't even get—it's not like he's got any reason to like me. All I ever did was either ignore him or make fun of him back in our old school."

"Maybe you should ask him," she says. "I'm sure there's a good reason. Even if there isn't, don't you think you should thank him?"

"Yeah, I guess," I say, wondering if I really feel thankful. But… classes have been pretty amazing, and I'm getting to meet people that most of the world would give anything to meet. "I just… I just wish I actually fit in here."

"Do you really think power level is going to make someone fit in?" she asks.

"Yes."

She just looks at me. I sigh, my shoulders dropping. "You've got more to worry about than I do, though, don't you?" I say. "You know, with your boyfriend out there when everyone's so anti-super. Sure, he's tough, but he's got to have a weakness, right?"

"He does," she says. "Certain frequencies can do a lot of damage to him. The metal in his skin doesn't react well to it—it's sort of like hitting a tuning fork," she admits. "Don't tell people, though, okay?"

"I won't say a word," I swear. "So Justin is his worst enemy?"

"If he knew the right pitch, he would be," she says, "but Jack's too stubborn to admit it. I am worried about him. I'm also worried about the other teams. I mean, I feel so guilty over this entire situation," she says softly, looking down at her hands. "It's all my fault, and all I can do about it is hide." She looks at me, her expression serious. "I'm a borderline Specialized S-class, Jennifer. That makes me a very high ranking super. And yet, right now it doesn't do me a lick of good. It isn't your class that matters. It's doing what you can WHEN you can. Stop obsessing over what you aren't, Jennifer, start asking yourself what you ARE," she says, placing her hands on my shoulders. "You might find out that you're everything you need to be."

Yeah, right. Whatever. Not that I say that thought out loud, of course. But I do feel kind of lame when I think about all the things SHE has to worry about compared to myself. It's probably best just to leave, now. "I should get going," I say. "I bet you've got a lot of work to do, right? Thanks for fixing my sunburn."

"Any time," she says with a little smile. "And Jennifer, Freddy really didn't say a word to anyone."

"Yeah, I guess he didn't," I say as I head out the door.

A bell dings, signaling that dinner will be ready in about an hour. I head for my room, planning on changing my clothes. When I get to my dresser, though, I'm distracted by the sight of a phone sitting there. It's a custom piece, but I guess that makes sense--Nico must have made it for me. I bet it's got a tracker on it. He can probably even hear my conversations, which is seriously creepy—but…

I pick up the phone, staring at it for a long moment. I COULD use my old phone. Do I trust Nico? Do I trust anyone in this school? But if I can't trust them in something like this, how can I LIVE here?

I tap on the phone, checking out the apps and opening the contacts. Andre Harrison is the second on my contacts—contacts that I obviously didn't put in. Aunt Barbara is first. The rest of the list looks to be everyone in the school, I guess. I see a lot of names I don't recognize. And—that says America's Son. I stare at that for a moment, and scroll down. Star Spangled, Mega, Falconess—the ENTIRE Central Hall is programmed into my phone. That's Mastermental right there. I have Mastermental on SPEED DIAL. Not that I'll ever use it—but still!

Wait, I was doing something, right? I scroll back to the top of the list, staring at Mr. Harrison's name for a long moment before tapping on it.

"Harrison speaking," he says. It was only the second ring.

"Um, Mr. Harrison?" I say, feeling a little bit panicked. I should have planned out my thank you speech, I realize. "This is Jennifer—you know, Barbara's niece?"

"Jennifer! It's good to hear from you, sweetie," he says, that sharp tone he answered with turning warm. "How is school going so far?"

"It's… well, it's a little wild, actually. I mean, we've got Skystep as our first hour teacher—I think she's a substitute," I say, "but I have no idea who the first hour teacher usually is. But—I wanted to thank you."

"Oh?" he asks.

"Yeah, Nico told me you were Elidee and my sponsor," I say. "I mean, I should probably make Elidee call and thank you, herself, but I'm the older one, so it's my job, right?"

He lets out a little laugh. "It's fine, sweetie. Just as long as both of you feel comfortable there."

I stare blankly forward, wondering how I can bring up my biggest problem. It's awkward—I mean, the room I'm sitting in, the classes I'm going to, even the food I'm eating in an hour, all of it comes from him. So—"Why do I need to become a super villain?"

I asked that out loud, didn't I? Whoops.

He goes silent for a moment, and I automatically try to backpedal. "I mean—it's fine, I know I'm not impressive enough to be a hero—"

"Jennifer," he says. I instantly shut my mouth. "If you don't want to be a villain, I can't force you to be, but," he says slowly, "you see… this is something you absolutely need to keep to yourself, okay? Can I trust you to keep a secret?"

"Of course you can," I say, wondering what I'm about to get into.

"I need you to be established in the super villain community. That means making a name for yourself, and, if possible, making friends with the trio of villains. You already have a connection with Dragon, don't you?"

"I… guess?"

"Well capitalize on it."

"What for?" I ask, almost silently. There is definitely a super secret reason for all of this, I think as a thrill runs down my spine.

"Because, sweetie, you're going to be the first reporter for VTV--the first villains-only channel in the HTV set-up," he says with a smile in his voice. "That is, if you want to be. I've been following your schooling since you moved here. In fact, with how your aunt brags on you, the entire company has."

My heart leaps into my throat and my hands go clammy. "A—a super villain reporter?" I whisper, trying to ignore how my heart is pounding. I can TOTALLY do that as a D-class, I think, fighting the urge to squeal excitedly.

"That's right," he says. "Nico agrees that you'll be perfect for the sneakier aspects of the job, as well. But sweetie, you have to SWEAR to keep this to yourself. I need you to graduate and I want to set up the channel without my competitors hearing about it. They might be sister companies, but I still like being ahead of the curve."

"I swear! I absolutely swear!" I say, jumping to my feet. "Not a single word!"

"So you're interested?" he asks.

"I'm IN," I say, fighting the urge to strike a victory pose. "It'll be hard to not tell Aunt Barb, but I can do it!" I add quickly. "I need to make sure I take journalism classes—do they even HAVE those here?" I ask, my mind racing. "And I'll need to lose those stupid five pounds—but that shouldn't be hard here. And—"

"You can figure all that out in the next year," he says, laughing.

"Oh! Is Elidee—" I lower my voice, listening for eavesdroppers a bit belatedly, "is she going to be—you know what—as well?"

"I would like her to be, but that's up to her and her mother," he says.

"She'd be awesome, wouldn't she?"

"You'll be amazing, as well," he says. "Don't sell your talents short."

"So—I need to make a name for myself, right?" I say. "So they'll take me seriously."

"Exactly."

"I'll go tell Nico that I'm in," I say, even as the thirty minute gong rings. "He knows, right?" I add, not wanting to make assumptions, even though he's already mentioned a few things that make me think so.

"Yes, he knows. He's the only one I've approached about it, so far."

"Okay, good," I say. "Mr. Harrison, I will do my VERY best to live up to your expectations."