Avery won't stop apologizing, the next time I see her.

  ??She's rambling, in a hushed voice, curled in on herself, hands animated despite the way she spoke. I listen for a while, going through my locker, before I finally shut it and turn to her. She's been crying, from the way her cheeks look and the redness in her eyes. I look at her face, sigh, and hesitate for a moment before finally holding her hand. It's wet, and sort of sweaty, but I give it a firm squeeze.

  "It's okay."

  "You died 'cause of me. 'Cause I didn't know how to hit the - "

  "Avery, I'm serious." I cut her off and that startles her. "It's fine."

  ??Truth was, I don't feel much about yesterday. It's not like I didn't care, but I was sort of worried that if I sat and thought too much about it, I would end up more closed up than I had been. I drop her hand, wiping the side of my skirt. The entire night, I had laid in bed, trying to process everything, before finally blinking awake to my alarm blaring, and the back of my head throbbing.

  The dread that fills me makes me sick to my stomach, so it was better to just... shut it out. Ignore it.

  Avery wipes her face, sniffling a few times. "Promise?"

  "I promise."

  "Pinky promise?" She's smiling a bit, her lip wobbly, but I agree, and she laughs.

  "Let's talk after class, okay?"

  "Bet!"

  ??The school day goes as well as it usually does. I just feel different. Fiddling with the pine cone shaped pendant around my throat. I had a lot of questions, but they could wait. Each class dragged on slower than the last, and my whole body ached with the memories of the day before. If I stepped a little too far, my leg would spasm, and if I could hardly raise my right hand. Still, I managed to make it through the rest of the day. Math was easier, if I could count the fact that Avery was there, face clean, and chattering my ear off when she should've been paying attention. It takes the teacher calling her name twice, before she finally slumps in her seat, nose scrunched, and lips pursed into a pout.

  Seeing her made my chest lighten, strangely. I don't quite understand why, but it's enough for me to put aside and think about it later. For now, I just go about the day, as I usually do. By the end of the day, my arm was throbbing, and I had an awkward walk that Avery comments on when she catches me by the parent pick-up. I don't usually go home with my Aunt-I either catch the bus or walk home, depending on the weather. It is usually safer walking. But other times, I ride with Avery or walk. Her older brother was usually the one to pick her up, if she wanted it.

  ??Instead, when I'm in earshot, she says:

  "We need to go patrolling."

  My leg cramps instantly at that. "I don't think that's a good idea."

  Avery shakes her head. "Can't really choose not to, ya know? Once you're in, you're in."

  ??My shoulders slouch. I want to say no again, but she's already grabbing my wrist and pulling me. Each step is painful, but it was fine with Avery there. I liked her company.

  "How long have you been doing this?" I ask, trying to keep up with her. She glances at me, sighs, then glances away.

  "... Since last month. "

  ??I stop. Avery gets a foot ahead of me before she realizes I've stopped following, turning around to face me. A month. It explained a lot-The fact she couldn't hit even when she hit them. The way she acted. That light feeling in my chest returns, and I sigh, shoulders slouched.

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  A month. Fighting alone.

  ??I do not have the energy to follow her, but I will. Who knows what happens if I don't? Next thing I will find out is that she's diving head first in battles without much of a thought for herself, considering how the last one went.

  "Okay. How do we do it?"

  I'm sure it would bite me later, knowing I have given up so easily, but I don't care. I don't want my friend to be alone, I do not want her to fight against beasts that can and will kill-Not with how I felt dealing with one, no magic, no weapon, and her trying to help me.

  ??Avery dives into this huge spiel about the monsters, and how to find them. She uses different social media apps, and the news to figure where the sightings have been. She shows me an app called 'Monster Track.io' that has ads popping up every third time she swipes the screen.

  "There's like, a few close to us."

  "..."

  Avery huffs. "Oh, come on, like this isn't interesting!"

  ??It was. I was just more concerned about the fact she was spending her days buried in this world when we still had classes to go to. The world did not stop, and no one would know she was a hero, no matter if Dionysus told me or not. I'm tempted to point out that she is an idiot, that she is going to get herself hurt. What if the powers got stripped from her? What if she just stopped being a... 'magical girl'? Did she ever consider that?

  But she is smiling, and excited, and I...

  ??Cannot bring myself to say something to make her stop smiling. It was bright and contagious, even if I feel like I'm not smiling, I know I am.

  "Alright. You're going to tell me why you can't land an arrow, right?"

  "I so can?!"

  "The monster wasn't hurt..."

  "I'm still new at it!"

  ??Avery tries explaining it to me as we walk on the sidewalk, past others walking and a vendor selling fresh mango, that Avery mumbles to me that we could just always pick from the trees in the park. I then remind her that it was considered stealing, if we did that.

  "Don't be boring."

  "Land a hit."

  "You're not going to let me live that down, are you?"

  I won't. But I'll let her believe it.

  ??The rest of what she said just seemed to be basic knowledge. When a Monster attacks, the police don't shut the area down right away, because any instance of entering the lock-down places usually resulted in more damage. They had to wait a full day before they could go in, so during the first twenty-four hours, it was best for scavengers or 'monster hunters' to go in and take what they needed. Be so pictures or just... stealing.

  Most times, Avery had explained, the monster would leave the area itself in a few hours, or like the snakes, make it a home.

  "When they do that, usually, we go in and kick their butts!" Avery chirps when she says this, jumping up on a bench, hands out, as she balanced and walked over it, then jumped down. I keep a steady pace beside her.

  "We?"

  ??"Yeah! There is more of us! Ugh, you have no idea how excited I am. I kept seeing a future where we would be like, super-heroes and it happened!" She spins mid step, to just drag me into a tight hug. It hurts, everything in my body screams agony, and I make a noise that has Avery jolting and pulling back. "You okay?"

  "..." I rub my shoulder. "No. The thing you fought yesterday..."

  Her expression twists. It goes from light to uneasy, her lips pressing together and eyes zeroing in on my arm. She hesitates.

  "Are you going to be okay?"

  "Yeah, it's fine."

  "...Not really." Her tone has dipped, concerned. Almost self-pitying, if I tried to nitpick. "Maybe we shouldn't go out and fight things. You're hurting."

  ??I didn't want to go back and rehash the 'it's not your fault' conversation again. I debate for a moment, thinking maybe we can just push on, and everything will be okay, but I don't have the energy. It was way too soon-I can't face something when I'm recovering. I look back at the bench, and sit down, rubbing my ankle. Avery follows soon after, and we both sit in a long silence, her hands wringing together. I can see the way she looks, like she wants to say one hundred things, but all she can muster are looks towards me, pleading. For what?

  What can I say that she can't?

  I roll my foot, wincing at the stretch, the pull of my muscles.

  ??"You said you've been fighting for a month." I lean back against the bench. There's an older man next to us, hunched over and poking at the pamphlets left on an old stand I can't quite make out the reason for. I make sure to lower my voice, leaning my shoulder against hers. She's very hot. It makes me jolt back to the side-afraid she had a fever. But her cheeks aren't flushed from the heat, only the flush from being a little weepy. Avery doesn't notice, too busy looking at her hands with that expression as before. "... And that you saw us as superheroes. Is that why you became my friend?"

  Avery sits up straight at that, turning to me with a look of complete horror. "What?! No way! I became your friend because you looked so... so... !" Her hands throw up in the air, and she makes a series of noises I can't quite understand. "Oh my Gods, do you not know how cool you are?!"

  I'm not cool, I go to say, but Avery pushes on, her voice stern.

  ??"You never take crap from our teachers. You always talk up when no one else can. Everytime you write, it's soooo pretty. And hello, don't you know what everyone says about you?! They think, 'oh whoa, Noe is so cool, she always has a smile on her face'!"

  I touch my lips, blinking. "I do?"

  ??"Yeah! You always have such a nice face on, even when you're upset. I can tell, because when you're upset, your bottom lip does this." She purses it, giving it a fake wobble. "But you always act like your life is so hard, I don't get it. You're not as bad as you make yourself out to be."

  Hearing her say that feels strange.

  "Why are you telling me this?"

  ??"Because you need to stop acting like everything is so fricking hard." Avery is still stern, but it cracks into more irritation the longer she talks, her hands balled into fists at her lap. "I know stuff isn't easy, but every time you bring yourself down, it makes it super hard to defend you when people say mean things about you. You're my friend, and I know you're sad. But like, sometimes, it's too much."

  It hurts.

  ????A lot of what she's saying hurts. My chest hurts, and my stomach has twisted into these unpleasant knots. She looks at me again, her shoulders slouched.

  "But you're still my bestest friend." She stresses, grabbing one of my hands. Her touch burns, almost like I was touching a lightbulb. But the longer she touches mine, the more it cools, and the ugly feeling in my chest is replaced by that familiar lightness I got around her. "My only friend, Noemi."

  "You're my friend too." I say, softly, after a moment. "I'm sorry?"

  "Nah, don't be. You're not as bad as that weirdo James from my history class." She grins. "You're just you."

  "Yeah."

  "Yeah!"

  ??We sat in silence, her hand in mine, and my gaze turned up to the sky. The sun was out, but surprisingly, it didn't hurt to glance at. It was almost as if the sun was letting me see itself for the very first time.

  I felt nice.

  "... We should fight some monsters." I say, after a long moment of silence. Avery gasps.

  "Really?"

  "Really." I pause. "Show me how to be a magical girl."

  "Hell yeah!"