Sudden Superhero

8. Peter Maguire, Jessica Jones, and Other Bookshelf Characters

MOM WAS ON a roll: she had successfully predicted the weather for the past few days. Rain, rain, and more rain. Spring showers, I supposed, but May better have some really good flowers with all the rain April was giving us.

During the short walk from my bus to the front door of the school, I got completely soaked. As I went to my locker, I ran my hands through my brown hair to dry it and wiped the rain slick off my jacket, but all it did was make my hands—and the floor—even wetter.

So I sat in math class, cringing at the recurring squeaks of sneakers in the hallway, distracted by that but by something else, too. Mrs. Castro hadn't sent me anything, and Kavanagh hadn't called, and I couldn't help but run his words through my head over and over again. Do whatever you need to. When he said that, was he telling me to go out? To start hero work? Or was he just telling me to wait?

I sighed and returned my attention to the textbook. Morning math was a killer, but morning math when it was dark outside and the soft sound of rain was lulling you to sleep? Ten times worse.

During lunch, we sat in the gym and listened to Kelsey as she went over the preparations and décor for the dance. The check-in table would be right by the double doors. The snacks table would be against the wall next to the bleachers, which would be folded and put away to make space for the dance floor. I was put on decoration duty, which meant staying after school next Friday—a week before the dance—along with Ben, Fei, Kelsey, and others to set up.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Ben suggested that we—him, me, Fei, and Ayomikun—get food after dismissal. The rain hadn't let up any, so we formed a huddle as we walked to Ludovico's, a sandwich shop a few blocks down the street from school.

We sat in a booth by the window, and as we waited for our sandwiches, Ben brought up the Academic Convention. "It's in Boston this year," he said, scrolling through the information on his phone.

The Northeast Academic Convention was the next step after the Academic Bowl. If this team won this Convention, it would move on to Nationals in D.C to compete against the winners of the other regions in the U.S.

"When?" Fei asked.

"The Saturday after the dance," Ayomikun grumbled. "We have to leave at five in the morning."

"Who's going?"

"The usual," Ben replied. "Us three. Kevin. Others are still signing up," he grinned, "but I think everyone will have their own seats on the bus."

"Bless!" Fei exclaimed. "I hate being squished."

A little background on Fei: she had four younger siblings. She knew what it was like to go road tripping in a small car, squished between little kids who don't respect personal space.

"You can come if you want, Peter," Ben said. "To watch."

I bit my lip, considering. I'd never gone with the team to a competition as far as Boston, and did it really make sense for a lowly supporter to tag along on a school-funded trip? And, to be completely honest, waking up at five in the morning after the dance sounded...unpleasant.

And still, I shrugged. "Why not? I'll ask Mom first."

"Great," Ben murmured, typing my name onto the list on his phone.

Our sandwiches arrived, and we ate them mostly in silence. Only when Fei showed us a meme on her Pinterest feed did we break into a short burst of laughter, apologize to the other people in the shop, and then go back to eating, trying not to make eye contact with each other because we'd definitely start laughing again. My throat felt like it was closing up with the effort to not laugh, and I made the fatal mistake of looking directly across from me at Ayomikun, whose face was twitching.