job, Miss Rice. Your observations were very…shrewd.”
My heart explodes. Again. Millie thinks I’m smart! Ahhh! But before I can thank her, she’s off, followed by Teddy, who makes a point of making eye contact with me just so he can shoot me a jealous stare. Geez. I don’t let it faze me; I see it all the time when I beat people at school, even Demi. But I shouldn’t have to feel bad for doing a good job.
Only Joy is left behind as I start cleaning up the breakfast no one touched.
“Thanks for that,” she says, bending down to meet my eyes.
“Oh, no problem. It was nothing.”
“Uh, no it wasn’t. It was everything. I mean, did they really think I was going to wear a hot-pink bathing suit to fight crime?”
I laugh a little. “Well, some of those guys seemed to be thinking with their other brain.” She rolls her eyes in agreement. “Of course, they weren’t wrong in that you could totally pull that look off.” My skin burns the second the words leave my lips. What?! Claire! Why did I just say that?!
“Oh…” She trails off, pulling at the ends of her golden hair. “Really?”
I wish at this very moment Earthquake could swallow me up in one of his classic sinkholes, but the ground stays sadly intact. “Yeah, well, it’s still a weird choice, and you obviously don’t need all that since you’re…I mean…look at you, you’re…” I gesture toward her beautiful sun-kissed face, the image of her curvaceous, flirtatious alter ego tickling my senses. CLAIRE! Get yourself together! Instantly sweating, I feel more exposed now than when the entire room was staring at me. “You know what? I’m just going to shut up forever.”
A pretty pink blush spreads across Joy’s cheeks as she says, “Well, I hope not forever.”
“At least for the foreseeable future, because I am a hot mess right now.” I stack up the rest of the unused coffee mugs, unwilling to meet her gaze while these thoughts are running through my head.
“Okay, killer, cut it out.” Joy puts her hands on top of mine, soft skin pausing my frantic cleaning. “Let’s be real: I need someone like you here. Someone who’s not gonna bullshit me into a bad situation. Those guys back there? They just wanted to turn me into a hot piece of ass. And hey, I don’t blame them—I would look damn fine in that suit.” I swallow hard. “But not for fighting crime! God!” She presses a finger into my shoulder. “You had the guts to speak the truth.
“And honestly? You were right about what you said before: I don’t know anything about this world. And I don’t want to make a total fool of myself. Maybe you should be my personal assistant, help show me the ropes.”
My heart leaps at the possibility. “Really?”
“Only…I’m too afraid of Millie to ask.”
“That’s fair; she’s terrifying,” I say, calming down a little now that my attraction to her is not the topic of discussion. “Did you know WarNats call her the Mousetrap? She may be small, but she can definitely take your head off.”
Joy laughs, loud and throaty. It’s kind of an ugly sound, but it’s real. It’s her. Not some twisted patriarchal fantasy of female beauty. Better, because it’s true. I like it.
Uh-oh.
Chicago WTF?
WarriorHunt.usa
Have you all noticed that’s something’s off in Chicago lately? Besides Blue Streak randomly retiring, I’ve been tracking the city’s recent crime stats, and they have almost doubled from this same time last year. Nothing crazy—some vandalism, minor assault, petty theft—but still. Weird? Or no? This new Girl Power chick is gonna have her hands full I guess.
@SillyMouseTrap
dunno. Feels like people always go nuts in the summer tbh
@hot4heroes
it’s so humid maybe their brains are melting
@greatestheroesintheworld
that chapter is soft—come to NYC and we’ll show you what’s up
@SillyMouseTrap
not a comparison, man! God
@greatestheroesintheworld
well then calm down bro
“THANKS, EVERYBODY, THAT’S OUR SHOW!”
My sister takes a bow alongside her comedy group as the audience breaks into applause. The intimate, fifty-seat theater is packed, except for the one next to me, where Matt was supposed to sit. He promised he wouldn’t miss opening night of Becca’s new show, Watch Out, It’s a Trap!, but as always, something came up. I know there’s been a rise in villainous activity these past couple weeks, but tonight was going to be it: our breakup, for real. Guess I’ll have to rob a bank or set something on fire to get his attention.
Once the house has cleared, I scoot backstage,