'C'mon... come on, Vicky....' Jimmy shook The Guys Phone For Illicit Dealings under the table as if that would make a text message shake loose. It didn't. Just the same dumb texts in that taunting green —

  [5:44 AM — (TG)] Fire an' light an' all that is bright. Wonder an' Magic an' beautiful might

  'She was, though...'

  [6:08 AM — (TG)] I didn't mean it like that. I think Rosette is cool :)

  He sighed heavily and put it away. He knew he shouldn't be pulling it out. He knew it needed to still be a card until he was back in The Guy mode. Someone might see it and wonder when he got a new phone. Or worse, recognize it. It was a low possibility, Jimmy knew. He didn't usually target people from his school, but...

  "You want? I've got extra! It's got enough caffeine to resurrect Jesus."

  Beside him, Nate was thrusting a can of something virulent green underneath Patricia's very affronted nose.

  Affronted, presumably because it was bisecting her line of sight of the quantum mechanics books she was engrossed in. Not that they were... studying quantum mechanics in Junior Year physics. But Mrs. M had mentioned 'quantum entanglement' in passing last class and Jimmy distantly wondered whether that had somehow piqued Patricia's interest.

  Patricia slowly slid raccoon eyes from her book to glare heatedly at Nate's own, and she closed her book with a snap.

  In fairness to Nate, Jimmy could see why he was offering. Patricia's eyes looked like they hadn't closed once last night, or the night prior for that matter. They were ringed in dark circles and puffy, and the whites of her eyes looked blood shot. She looked like she was holding them open through sheer truculence.

  "If I wanted to drink radioactive chemical waste, Ned, I would purchase it myself! And if I wanted something thrust under my nose I would buy flowers."

  "I can buy you flowers!"

  Patricia scoffed and raised her reopened book between her face and Nate's glowing one. Her red curls seemed to form an additional barrier on either side of her face. "Save your money. I have obviously not bought flowers."

  Tom snickered. "You're doing it wrong, man. You need to act un-interested. Watch. And Tom looked at Patricia with his own nose turned up, sniffed and said in a snooty voice. "Petunia, your eyes look like you fell into your book last night. We've got an E-drink. You could have it... if you wanted."

  And then Tom turned away as Patricia's eyes turned to furnaces over the book cover.

  It was surreal, Jimmy thought, watching his friends' antics as he hid The Guy's phone back in his pocket — though notably not as a card.

  It was like nothing had changed for them. Like Buck had not just suddenly shown back up after having been absent for almost a week. Like the FBI hadn't just stolen Jimmy's bike. Like a Super Hero hadn't dropped in out of nowhere and Eastwall High was not being turned into a garrison.

  Or, they were. Three seats forward, Angie Klein was asking Billy who was already shaking his head, whether he thought Rosette's appearance changed anything, and plenty of small groups were talking about the upgraded personnel and the continued interviews of schoolmates.... It was just that that was... all it was to them. Ephemeral discussions before Mrs. M arrived. Like fox fire.

  Not momentous. Not world changing. And Vicky, still didn't text. He didn't think it was makeup related....

  In one motion, Patricia snatched the can from Nate's grasp, popped it open with a hiss, chugged it and then flicked it into the trash can by the wall.

  "Done." She made a face at Nate's eager one as if to say 'There! Happy?', but that expression changed to disgust almost before it started as Patricia swayed. "Oh.... This is poison, Norbe —"

  She caught herself against her desk.

  "See? See?!" Nate cackled. "Fit to raise the dead, right?"

  "This. Is immensely distracting. I abhor y—"

  "She means she adores you. See? Act like you don't care." Tom nudged Nate. "Works every time."

  "Hey boys!" Sashaya sat down in front of them grinning widely as she always did. "Hey Patri — Patricia, you're vibrating."

  "Norman and Timothy poisoned me."

  "They did?! Dude, why would you even eat anything they pass you?" Then she reached into her backpack pulled out the same green energy drink, drank half of it, and then pressed it into Patricia's unwilling hands. "Here. I'd say it's to die for.... but really it's life in a can."

  Patricia looked faint.

  "You look almost as dead as Patricia, Jim." Sashaya nudged Patricia "Share it around, girl!" Patricia pressed the drink into Jimmy's hands over his protests.

  "It is... invigorating."

  "No. Thank you. I don't wa—"

  "Quick. Act like you don't care."

  Patricia's mouth twitched once. She turned her back on Jimmy's protests, and he was left holding the green can still mostly full of a liquid that looked and smelled like it should be glowing.

  He looked at it... and shrugged. 'What the heck. I didn't exactly sleep last night either' he thought, and he swigged it.

  And was still choking on all the bubbles flying up his nose as the door opened back up and Vicky, Raven and Miranda walked in all walked in together.

  They were in a huddle, and they paused briefly in the doorway as Jimmy choked and wheezed, then they found seats in the middle row and put their heads back together.

  Through his tears, and Nate's unhelpful slaps to his back, Jimmy could see that they were passing Vicky's phone around and arguing animatedly, if quietly.

  When Mrs. M walked in carrying a stack of papers, Jimmy was still choking, Tom was insisting that no one should show that they care, Sashaya was cackling like a witch and Patricia was looking like she had thoroughly had it with their company and was seriously considering alternate seats.

  "Settle down, class. Settle please. Mr. Wallace, Do you need the Heimlich?"

  "No." Jimmy wheezed into his elbow.

  "Oh good, you can get air. Quiet please." Mrs. M — or Mrs. Millham if you weren't on her good side — raised her voice. "If it's not about kinematics I don't want to hear it. I've got your exams back, and some of you should be focussing far more. Let's see here."

  The class straightened up.

  "Patricia Collins?"

  Patricia gave their group an arch look as she picked herself up to accept her test. She was still swaying.

  Mrs. M didn't hand back assignments in alphabetical order. She preferred to go in order of assignment grade as a kind of carrot and stick in equal measure. Patricia being first meant....

  "Well done." Mrs. M graced her with a small smile, which Patricia returned.

  "Jimmy Wallace?"

  Jimmy's breath hitched. "Here." He croaked unnecessarily.

  There was still energy drink in his throat and he felt the eyes of the entire class on him as he stood and walked the longer than usual trek to the front to accept the test. As it always did, that Notice Me sense picked it all up, and it felt like little prickles going up and down his spine. Patricia's felt like an appraising prickle.

  "You missed the conservation of energy conversion in the last bit of problem three." Mrs M supplied helpfully as he approached. She winked. "But your solution got you most of the way there and your answer was close, so I gave you most of the points. Nicely done. You two —" Mrs. M graced Patricia with her smile again and the rest of the class with a hard look —"are why there's no curve."

  Jimmy smiled stiffly, accepted his test and returned to his seat, trying not to meet any of his classmates' accusing eyes. He was glad when it was over.

  "Camille Sojourn?"

  Patricia twisted in her seat. "Let me see your test" She hissed.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  "No! You'll be judgey!"

  "I am not..." Patricia pondered for a moment.

  Jimmy passed it over.

  Patricia looked it over and snorted. "You know that any non-linear motion problem in this class is going to end in conservation of energy, right?"

  Jimmy glared at her and reached back for his test. "See?!"

  "I'm being helpful! Here's my test."

  She, of course, got full marks.

  "Mrs. M? Why are we still learning physics when people are breaking Newton's laws like they're really Newton's Recommended Practices?"

  Mrs. M, who was in the process of passing out Raven's test, notably with no smile, paused. Then she pressed it firmly into Ravens hands. "And who do you know breaking Newton's Laws, Victoria?"

  Vicky's mouth worked, then she flicked her auburn hair over her shoulder. "I mean, Rosette for one."

  Jimmy winced.

  She was wearing a white turtleneck today and a stylish jacket with a necklace that was catching the Itch's attention more than a little, but Jimmy couldn't help but notice that she most definitely was not wearing makeup and her hair barely looked touched today at all. She huffed. "There are a lot."

  "Amaterasu," Miranda supplied helpfully next to her.

  Raven opened her mouth with a cocksure smirk. "Pretty sure there's this one guy —" But Mrs. M broke in.

  "That sounds far more along the lines of Thermodynamics, Victoria, and not the subject of this class. Jordan Hess?"

  "Well, what about that speedster guy in the UK? He can corner on a dime going at mach Jesus." Jordan asked as he accepted his test. Jimmy could see that there were red marks all over it and Mrs. M had drawn a frowning face at the top instead of a score. "There's got to be Conservation of Momentum violation going on there!"

  "And how's he running that fast without decimating static friction, you know?" Someone else piped up.

  Mrs. M looked frazzled. "Exactly how superpowers work is a subject of much research and not the subject of our lesson." She hissed.

  "But how are we going to catch Super's if we don't understand how they're doing what they do?"

  Mrs. M stopped. "Who said that?"

  No one said anything. "We. Are not going to be catching any Supers." She hissed.

  A girl named Montana murmured. "Well, I didn't mean us specifically..."

  Mrs. M glared at her. "I'm serious. The next person I see who is even thinking about Supers is going to get an immediate 'F' in this class, understand? They aren't cool. They aren't funny. My good friend taught at Enderson, and they are still rooting around in the rubble looking for her body. As far as this class is aware, they don't exist. You all keep your heads down and do not go looking for Supers among yourselves, understand? I don't care what —"

  There was a polite cough by the door.

  "Good morning." The woman smiled cheerfully at Mrs. M, who was looking flustered and clutching the remaining stack of tests in her hands tightly. "I'm Special Agent Walker with Chuck Mannheim's team. I was told James Wallace would be in this classroom?"

  Jimmy froze as all eyes turned in his direction.

  "Speaking of catching supers", someone snickered to their friend.

  "But, I'm nnn —".

  But of course he couldn't say that. So he just sat there, mouth slightly open, still holding Patricia's test with its perfect score, while Agent Walker beckoned cheerfully, and the class all twisted around in their seats.

  Vicky's eyes were narrowed as they looked at him. Raven was smirking, and Billy Winters slouched.

  "Wait..." Billy drawled in a bored tone. "You think Jimmy is the Super?"

  He laughed and adopted a grim face. "Jimmy." He said in mock seriousness. "Did you shwaste Buck Higly and steal his stuff the other day?"

  'It was a joke. He's just joking.' But it didn't change that he'd asked a direct question. It didn't change that a normal response was incredulity and an "Uh... No".

  'Deflect it. Spin —' Jimmy blinked at Billy. "Ah..."

  This morning, Jimmy saw with fuzzy clarity, was not a good morning. It was his Death sitting wetly in his pocket. It was his bike, dangling like a loose thread in his Unidentifiable Somewhere. It was all the whiplash from Rosette's miraculous appearance to his and Vicky's perfect date, to Buck Higly waiting for him at the park, and the FBI setting him up. It was FBI Agent Walker at the door beckoning. It was the class all looking at him with their 82 eyes like a monster.

  He'd simulated this exact scenario many times. He'd practiced for it over and over again.

  Exactly what he'd say. How he'd say it. How he'd raise his eyebrows — because he couldn't do just the one — tilt his head just so and —

  And today, he came up blank.

  It was claustrophobic.

  He hesitated, and that was all it took. The walls of the classroom closed in and suddenly the perfectly normal distance between Nate's arm and his own and Sashaya's book bag and his leg were too close. Too right-next-to-him!

  The air was too thin, his clothes too tight. And everyone was watching him with their hair-fine needles of appraisal.

  'I need to say "I didn't". 'I need to say "Of course not!"'

  'Say it' He begged in his head. 'Say "Of course not!" Say "I didn't"'. 'Two words. Just two words.'

  But the Itch was buzzing hungrily under his skin, and as he reached for those words, trying to drag them forcibly to his tongue, he felt that pulling strain start up as his power went taut. And it was so much more acute than it was at Buck's window.

  "Some known Quirk types include but are not limited to... discomfort telling falsehoods."

  Agent Mannheim knew his stuff. They'd studied people like Jimmy.

  — That loose thread dangled helplessly in his head. A gap-toothed grin.... His missing piece.

  — That Puddle Of Death's Touch was wet sick in his pocket.

  And Kaykes' voice. So confident. "Don't worry, Jimmy. They start rooting for people with 'discomfort telling falsehoods' in high school, they're gonna get so many hits they might as well select based on favorite color." was so very far away now.

  Kaykes wasn't facing down forty students and an FBI Agent! So instead of words, his fingers twisted under his desk, and reached for...

  Brick — For Brick Things

  'What were brick things?'

  It felt solid as — well — a brick and hot, like it had been freshly pulled from out of the sun.

  Three Sticks of Bludgeoning

  Smooth. Solid wood. Comfortable to grip.

  Five Stones Of Reck ...

  Patricia Collins snorted loudly and looked scornfully at Billy.

  Patricia's hair was red, Jimmy noticed again — he was noticing the oddest details. Very red. It curled all the way from the top of her scalp down past her shoulders until it stopped mid-back. And her eyes were bloodshot, but wide from Nate's E-drink, and she practically vibrated where she sat.

  Patricia snorted through her nose and Jimmy felt the regard of forty students suddenly blink. It was like coming up for air.

  "Jimmy just got a Ninety Seven on Mrs. Millhelm's AP midterm, and the next highest score barely brushed a pass." Patricia said acerbically, jerking a thumb in Jimmy's direction. "Jimmy, shwastes Buck Higly at his least intelligent, when Buck Higly is at his most."

  Which, Jimmy thought, said all you needed to know about Patricia right there....

  "Excuse me!" Agent Walkers voice was severe and almost managed to cut directly through Patricia's rejoinder.

  Agent Walker stepped fully into the room, cast a sharp glance at Patricia and then bore down on Billy.

  It was a little bit like being born down upon by a rather fierce aunt.

  Agent Walker had a lined face and frizzy, graying hair, that sort of poofed around her neck and shoulders. It was almost completely gray, but it was made up for by the energy that seemed to crackle like static buildup between the curls.

  She wore a gray pant-suit casually, and would have —Jimmy thought —looked like any office worker anywhere, except that the Itch was absolutely certain that there was something underneath her left arm that was valuable, and something else, oddly enough, in the sole of her shoes, which were flats.

  "You." Agent Walker snapped. "What is your name?"

  "Uh... Billy?"

  "Just Billy?"

  "Winters. Uh. Billy Winters."

  "And Billy Winters, are you a registered member of the Federal Bureau of Investigations?"

  "Ah...." Billy's eyes darted around to the boys sitting next to him who were suddenly far more engrossed in studying their physics scores than they had been a moment ago "No?"

  "A contract member of the investigatory staff? A consultant, perhaps?"

  "No..." Billy was sinking into his seat.

  "A Super Human Response Personnel Team member?"

  "I — no."

  "Are you even a member of this school's staff?"

  Billy didn't even say anything this time. He just shook his head mutely.

  "FWOOOMMM!! You're dead!" Agent Walker thrust her hand forward suddenly as if she was throwing something.

  The class jumped. Mrs. M gasped and clutched at her chest.

  Agent Walker advanced on Billy, her eyes flashing and jabbed him in the shoulder. "You're still sitting." She said darkly. "I just threw a fireball hot enough to melt steel into your chest. So by my reckoning, you should be a small pile of cooked human on the floor."

  Billy slid silently to the ground.

  Agent Walker looked around.

  "Billy. Was wrong." She said in a clear voice. "Jimmy —" She pointed at Jimmy and Jimmy jumped. "Was NOT the one who broke into Mr. Higly's house and assaulted him." She looked around. "Jimmy was the Dragon that has been sighted in Eastwall three times in the last three days. Jimmy barely knows how to use his powers and he was so spooked that Billy identified him that those powers just burst out."

  "And," She panned the frozen classroom again darkly. "The only one who's fireproof here is Jimmy." Agent Walker made a sharp gesture with both hands encompassing the entire classroom. "FWOOOMMMM!!"

  There was a pause....

  "Well? What are you waiting for? You're all dead. Everyone, make like Billy and —"

  "STOP!" Mrs. M's voice was shrill. "Mrs — Agent Walker. This. Is a Classroom! These are students."

  Agent Walker halted her advance and considered Mrs. M for a moment. Then she nodded. "You are quite right." She chuckled. "You can get up now, Mr. Winters. Thank you for playing along."

  Agent Walker nodded, smiling cheerfully at Mrs. M, Billy, and then included the rest of the class some of whom had frozen in the act of sliding out of their seats like Billy.

  "I may have over-made my point. Still not accustomed to being back in school after all these years, you know? Dear me." She chuckled again but then her face hardened. "My point stands though, and I will make it abundantly clear before I leave."

  "This is not a game. Super Humans are not a figment in news articles. They are real, they live among you, and they are dangerous. Some may be friendly. Many are not. And you don't know, Billy, which, if he is one, that Jimmy is. You don't know if Jimmy —"

  Jimmy the Super Human shifted uncomfortably.

  "—is just Midterm Slaying Jimmy. If he's the Dragon from the news, or if he can merely manifest a sword that cuts a mile on a whim. And you don't know where his head's at. Do. Not. Call out. Your classmates."

  The Agent looked around the silent classroom.

  "Do not. Accuse. Your classmates."

  "Do not ask your classmates if they have powers."

  "And for god's sake, do not under any circumstances try to trick your classmates into revealing any. Chuck — Agent Mannheim gave everyone that Super Human Hotline number for a reason. If you have any suspicions, use that, or find one of us, or the nearest stationed personnel, or at bare minimum one of your teachers. Do not handle it yourselves."

  Agent Walker met each of their eyes grimly.

  "Your teacher, Mrs. Millhelm has exactly the right idea. All of you are intelligent children. And NONE of you are qualified to deal with the fallout if you are right."

  The class was dead silent as Agent Walker finished. The exception being Mrs. M, who was breathing audibly, looking very pale, and like she was precisely not the right person to go to for a Super Human threat even in the barest of minimum circumstances.

  "Fwoom" Jimmy heard Tom breath under his breath.

  "Any who." Agent Walker's cheerful grin was back. "Mr. Wallace? Could you come with me please?" She winked at him. "If we hurry, we can probably get you back before the end of class."

  Emberlain's Phoenix by accident....

  Arnavgupta! Thank you very much for that FANTASTIC review! You have no idea how much I appreciate hearing your thoughts on and seeing that you liked it enough to leave a review and one as motivating as that really made my day. Thank you !