Chapter 5
I Ship It

I'm currently walking down the hallway with Audrey, on our way to get ice cream. I love ice cream and all, but I don't like the fact that she invited Sam along. So now he's talking our ears off with a story about his uncle driving a truck off a cliff or something like that.

"So he was like, 'oh, would you look at that? I'm going to die!'" Sam moved his hands as he spoke, barley hitting me a few times.

I send Audrey a glare and she smiles back guiltily. I cross my arms in annoyance, when I spot Noah angrily walking down the hall in our direction, with his fists clenched and a red face.

"Noah...?" I ask him as he storms past us. I think I saw tears in his eyes.

He's usually so cheery and upbeat. I don't know what possibly could have hurt him like that.

"Noah!" Audrey calls after him. She tries to grab his arm and hold him back but he just yanks it back without bothering to look at her and continues marching down the hall.

I share a confused look with my best friend. That is absolutely not like Noah. I can't help but feel sympathy for him.

"I'll go talk to him," Sam volunteers, and I'm about to object but he's already down the hall, running after our crying friend.

"I hope he's okay," Audrey mutters as we watch them both at the end of the hall.

"Me too," I tell her.

***

Audrey and I ended up getting ice cream without Sam, which was fine by me.

I ended up getting cherry cheesecake and Audrey got cookie dough. I enjoy them both, but today I was feeling more cherry-ish.

After our treat, we walked back to Drew and I's apartment in downtown. Audrey and I had planned a sleepover tonight, never mind the fact that it a school night. I'm sure a normal parent would care how much sleep their child earned the day before school, but my guardian is Drew, so his reasoning could be debatable.

"Big Bro?" I called once I opened the door to our small apartment. Audrey and I dropped our bags and made our way into the kitchen where my brother sat on a stool, typing away at his computer.

"Hey, Little Sis," He responded, not taking his eyes off his screen.

"What 'ya doing?" I opened the fridge door and grabbed two Cokes, tossing one to Audrey as we both took a spot on either side of him.

"Did you hear what happened two hours ago?" He asked, and bot Audrey and I shook our heads.

"Well," my brother continued, "Apparently Static left a message on the side of City Hall."

We leaned over to see what my brother was talking about. At first, all I saw was City Hall, but then I spotted a few bold words written in black at the side of the building.

DO YOU REALLY KNOW ME? -STATIC

I was slightly confused. Static said he's never done anything bad, but yet it says it was him who wrote this. Or could it have been one of Slick's schemes?

"Do we know anything about him?" Audrey asked Drew, "Do we have at least some type of lead?"

"Not even a lead," Drew sighed, leaning back.

"How do we stop him, then?" Audrey asks.

"At this point, all I can really say is that we don't," Drew gritted his teeth and I gasped. A Super never lets the enemy win.

"How can you say that?" I asked him with disbelief.

"What can I say, Sky?" He asked, running a hand through his hair, "Why don't you two just go have some fun. Get this problem off your mind for tonight-don't worry about fighting, I got you girls covered."

***

That night, we ended up watching all three movies of High School Musical, all while stuffing our faces with popcorn and chips.

Audrey's fallen asleep, and I'm sitting beside her on my bed telling myself one more chapter of my book and then i'll go to sleep, but of course that one chapter turns into more than ten.

I let our a yawn and flip my page. The clock reads 1:38. I should probably get to bed now but ha, that's not going to happen.

I continue reading my delightful story when I hear a knock on my window.

I cautiously look up from my book and put it down, slowly crawling over to my window. I push up the window and catch sight of a golden cape.

"Grayson?" I called, and earned a shush in response as my boyfriend came into view.

"Change into your suit. We need to go." Before I could ask anything, he'd already flown back down to the main entrance of my apartment.

I quickly slipped (more like stretched) into my suit before quickly running out of the apartment and taking the stairs down, making sure not to wake anyone.

I seriously love my suit. It's basically a second skin, because it clings tightly to your body and moves the exact same way you do.

I reached the main entrance and caught up with Grayson, who was pacing up and down in the empty parking lot.

"Gold?" I called to him. He spun on his heels to face me, his features relaxing at the sight of me.

He rushed to my side and roughly grabbed my hand and started to drag me away from the building.

"Gold?" I asked him, trying not to trip over my own feet, "What are we doing?"

"I think I know where Static is," He said with a breathy voice, "We need to find him."

"What a shame. If i'd known then I would have let you find me first." Grayson whipped around, as did I since he was gripping my hand like his life depended on it, to find an amused looking Static, crossing his arms.

"You," Gray growled, "Are a criminal."

"Oh really?" Static raised his eyebrows at him, "I'm the bad guy now?"

"Of course you are, dumbass!" Gray spat.

"Is that so?" Static tilted his head to the side, a smile playing on his lips, "Because a little bird told me that you happened to be cheating on your lovely girlfriend, here."

Grayson froze, as did I. The hand which held mine seemed to tighten.

I then whipped my head to face him, waiting for him to deny it. But all he did was clench his jaw and continue to stare at Static wide-eyed.

"Gray?" I whispered, trying to get him to say something.

"Oh," Static snapped his fingers "I happen to remember that the same little bird also mentioned about something about the name of the girl Grayson was cheating on you with. It was something with a k... Katherine? No, Kaitlyn?" He shook his head.

"Katrina!" He exclaimed, "Yes, that's the girl's name. Katrina!"

"You cheated on me with Katrina?" I whispered slowly. All Grayson did was suck in a breath, he still couldn't meet my eyes.

I yanked my hand out of his and finally Grayson turned to look at me.

"Skylar..." He said in a pleading tone, "You can't possibly believe this guy, can you?"

Suddenly what I saw earlier in the hallway made sense.

"You're just going to stand there and lie to my face?" I shrieked, "I saw Noah!" I yelled, feeling hot tears streaming down my face, "I saw him! He was crying. Don't you dare tell me it's a coincidence that Noah happened to be crying and that same day i'm told you're cheating on me with his girlfriend!"

Grayson shook his head at me. "Come on, Sky," He said, "You have to trust me when I say I didn't do it."

"Trust you?" I demanded, "You cheated on me!"

Grayson bit his lip in what looked like annoyance. Annoyance. "So what if I did cheat on you?" He demanded, "What does it matter? I'm still with you, not Katrina!"

"Oh my God!" I screamed, sobbing at this point, "You just admitted to cheating on me with Katrina and you don't see the problem? You're sick!"

"Fine," He huffed, "We'll talk about this tomorrow," He said before flying off. I stifled a sob.

"I have a feeling you're not going to talk about this tomorrow," Static smirked and I gaped at him.

"You find this funny?" I exclaimed once more.

"Just a bit," he nodded with a smirk plastered on his defined face.

"Is this all you came for?" I demanded with a cry, "To watch me break down?"

"Not quite," He came closer to me, "We still have to go find Slick."

"Even when i'm in a state like this?" I gestured to myself, sniffing.

"You're a Super, you've got it in 'ya," He flashed me a real smile that made me feel a little better, "And plus, you're one tough cookie."

I smiled lightly at his attempt in cheering me up.

Hesitantly, Static picked me up and flew off, but the whole time I couldn't but help and wonder why? Why did Gray cheat on me? Why would he do that? Did he not like me anymore? Was I too boring for him?

It hurt a lot, you know. To find out the person you loved chose some else over you. The worst part is the he doesn't even seem to think that what he did was wrong.

"Are you okay?" Static asked quietly, but not looking down at me.

"Not really," I reply, looking away.

"Everything happens for a reason," he tells me.

"That's the worst advice you could give someone," I tell him but he laughs at my words nonetheless.

"To most people it may seem that way," he meets my eyes, "but you don't know how true it is until things get better."

I took in his words. Everyone talks about going through a hard time and then they say that they got through it, but they never tell you how.

"Look at me," I laughed weakly, "I found out my boyfriend cheated on me ten minutes ago and I'm already a mess."

Static's eyes softened. "You have every right to be."

I didn't feel that way. I felt pathetic. Someone out there has it worse, but here I am, feeling sorry for myself.

"Did you really write that?" I decided to ask him, "on the side of City Hall?"

His eyes darkened, and he nodded. "I did."

"But why?" I asked him, "you told me you've never done anything bad."

"But I'm still the bad guy though, aren't I?" He looked at me. "I'm supposed to be a bad person."

"That doesn't mean you have to be." He didn't answer. Instead we just continued to fly in silence.

Suddenly I got a queasy feeling in my gut, and I thought it was a sign that I had to throw up because of all of this, but then I felt Static tense, too.

"Are they close?" I ask him and he nods.

"They're in Henderson Park," we both look down below us to Henderson Park.

Static starts to lower is to the park. His feet touch the ground and he lets me go.

I look around for a citizen in distress, ready to leave my problems behind for now.

"What do you want?" Static and I turn to the direction of the voice.

We catch sight of boy around our age, with curly blonde hair, backing away from one of Slick's minions.

I take off towards the boy, Static behind me.

I pounce on the guy before he attacks the boy, tackling him to the ground. I pin him to the ground and spit in his face.

"You better leave before we take you down," I warn him, and he nods with fear before I let him run away.

"Holy Crow," the boy wheezed, "that was actually awesome."

"Why thank you," I curtsied with a smile.

Suddenly the boy's features turned fearful, and I followed his graze to Static.

"Gone Girl, save me!" He ran up to me and hid behind my back. Static and I shared a look.

"I'm not going to hurt you, you know." Static said in an amused tone.

"Gone Girl, he's lying! Kill him!" The guy waved his arms frantically and I grabbed them so he didn't hit me in the face.

"Dude, calm down. He's with me," I said, but that worked him up even more.

"That means you're bad too?" He exclaimed and I mentally face palmed.

"No, dumbass," Static said, "it means I'm not going to kill you."

"Oh," he froze before breaking into a smile. "The name's Graeme." He stuck his hand out and I shook it happily, as did Static.

"What are you two doing together?" He asked, but then his eyes widened.  "Oh my god, are you two together? I SHIP IT! A Superhero and Supervillain, on my god, it's perfect! But wait, Gone Girl aren't you dating Gold Cape? Oh well, who cares? I STILL SHIP-"

"We're not dating," I interrupted, wincing at the topic of my ex-boyfriend. But at the same time I realized that if Static knows my identity and he knows I was dating Gold, then that must mean he knows Gold's identity.

"You're not?" He asked.

"No, we're not. But Gold and I aren't together either, as of tonight." I had no idea why I was telling this to a stranger, never mind he's obviously an obsessed Super fan.

"Why not?" He asked shocked. I was about to tell him Grayson cheated when I remembered that the whole city depends on him. If they found out that their City's hero isn't as innocent as they think then how could they trust any of the other Supers? Wow, I could be the next Batman.

"Things just weren't going very well," I say. Graeme nods understandably.

"What GG means by that is that Gold Cape cheated on her," static said for me.

Well there goes my plan.

"He what?" Graeme exclaimed.

"Cheated," Static repeated.

"Oh my god," I pinched the bridge of my nose in annoyance but I think Graeme thought I was going to cry because he engulfed me in a hug.

"There there, Gone Girl," he patted my head.

"Erm, thanks, Graeme," I patted him back awkwardly.

"We should get you back," Static told Graeme.

"Oh, right!" Graeme said as he let me go.

"Stay out of trouble, alright?" I asked him.

"Anything for Supers!" He cheered, and we watched him skip away back to where he came from.