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            Dedicated to AloneInWonderland for the amazing banner to the side :) I love it; thank you so much!

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            “Wow, you’re not in the office this morning?” I asked the next morning, cocking an eyebrow at Chloe as I took a seat next to her at the picnic table situated in the middle of campus.

            She shook her head and bit into her red apple. “Nope.”

            I stared at the apple. It was rare Chloe had breakfast at school, but when she did, it could only be for one reason. “Jennifer, again?”

            Jennifer Morgan was the epitome of a wicked stepmother. Chloe’s mom had died during childbirth, leaving Chloe alone with her father. By the time Chloe was eleven, her dad was remarrying to a woman a few years younger than him. Chloe used to always make a joke that she thought secretly Jennifer was possessed by a demon, but it was no joke, I had realized a few months later. Her stepmother was a total freak, and treated Chloe like crap. If she wasn’t criticizing Chloe on the little things, she was degrading her or her father in someway. Yet Chloe’s dad stayed with her for unknown reasons, and had always chosen Jennifer over Chloe, taking her side in arguments and voluntarily throwing Chloe under the bus without lifting a finger in defense for his own daughter.

            She nodded, rolling her eyes. “Yeah. Who else would it possibly be besides my dim-witted stepmother?”

            “Wanna talk about it?”

            She shook her head. “It’s the same old crap, Vi. Not even worth mentioning.”

            I didn’t press her on it. Chloe was an open person, so if she didn’t want to talk about it, I’d respect that. Instead of demanding answers, I simply nodded and took her apple, taking a bite out of it and then handing it back. “Okay. Well, I’m here if you need me.”

            She turned to me with a large smile, showing her blindingly bright teeth. “Thanks, Violet. So, any unprecedented visits from our town’s super-villain lately?”

            “Superhero,” I corrected easily, and shrugged. “And, yeah, actually.”

            “Wow,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “He seems to really have taken an interest in you.”

            I shrugged. “Maybe he’s just bored and praying on innocent school girls.”

            “Innocent?” she replied, laughing and nudging me with her elbow jokingly. “That’s rich. Anyway, what new information have you gathered?”

            “Nothing new on appearances, but I have a list of his superpowers,” I offered, before listing them off. I ticked them off on my fingers, and, when I was done, I turned to Chloe.

            She finished off her apple and threw it with precision into the trashcan, before turning to me. “That’s certainly impressive. I guess the only thing we can do now is look for unusual behavior around and see if anyone matches the description. You know, if there are any perverts outside the girls’ locker room, guys lifting weights too high, unusually fast runners on the track…”

            “But what if he’s not in high school?” I replied.

            “I was talking about the gym,” she replied, giving me a strange look that told me she thought I was insane. “I thought you said he was too old for high school, so I was thinking of other places.”

            “Oh,” I replied, shaking my head. “Right. Sorry. Duh.”

            “Or I have another idea,” she said, her green eyes twinkling.

            Immediately I tensed. Chloe’s plans were never good. They involved either embarrassment, or something worth never mentioning again. Or they were just illegal. Plain and simple. But they never amounted to anything good. “Uh-oh. What’s your plan now, Chlo?”

            ~          *          ~

            “No,” I replied. “Absolutely no way in hell.”

            Chloe pouted, jutting her pink lower lip out. “Why not?”

            “Um, maybe because it’s illegal?” I said, pointing out one of the many flaws in her plan. Like I said, one of many.

            “Who says?”

            “The law!”

            “How?”

            “I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to stage a robbery, Chlo,” I responded, crossing my arms over my chest and giving her a pointed look.

            “It’s not like it’s real,” she defended. “All we have to do is go to the shady part of town and pretend I’m robbing you. If the Voiceless Stranger really cares that much, he’ll save you.”

            “What if someone calls the cops?” I replied. “What are you going to do, then?”

            “No one will. We’ll do it when we’re alone.”

            “You do realize how horrible your idea is, right?” I asked. Was she aware how insane she sounded right now? “It’s wrong.”

            “When he saves you, all you have to do is rip off the mask and see who’s underneath,” she said shrugging. “Bam! You have your answer, no harm done.”

            I know that I was the one who joined Chloe’s plight to expose him, but doing this and abusing his power felt wrong. I didn’t want to fake a robbery and have him use his powers for no reason other than to satiate my curiosity. Someone might actually need him, and I was using his powers for my own selfish reasons. What if someone was killed because of that?

            “No,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m sorry, Chloe. But I can’t do that.”

            “Don’t tell me you’re getting feelings for him, Vi,” she said, staring at me imperviously.

            “No!” I replied quickly, deflecting her accusation “I don’t even know him, Chloe. But it’s still wrong. We can’t use his powers for that.”

            She crossed her arms over her chest, unflinching. “Don’t you want to know who he is, Violet?”

            “Of course I do. But not like this. This is cheating.”

            “What else do you propose? Do you have any other magical ideas under your sleeve, then, Mrs. Voiceless Stranger?”

            I rolled my eyes at the ridiculous nickname. “No, not yet. But just give me some time. Maybe I can get the answer out of him. If not, we’ll try it your way. But only if nothing else works. It’s a last-ditch effort.”

            “Fine,” she relented, nodding. “Deal.”

            The bell rang overhead, and I stood up, grabbing my backpack. “Cheerleading practice,” Chloe said. Occasionally Courtney would pull us out of our first period classes for cheerleading practice, especially in the weeks leading up to pep rallies and the days before football games, which was tomorrow.

            We walked slowly to the field, and when we reached it, there were already a few girls kitted out in their uniforms. I stripped off my shirt to reveal my sports bra underneath, and shimmied out of my skirt until I was down to my training shorts.

            Courtney clapped her hands together. “Okay, ladies. As you know, the pep rally is next week, and the football game is tomorrow night. Which means we have to give a hundred percent. This is our final year, and we need to kick it off with a good, strong start.”

            She spun around, her blonde ponytail flying around her head. “Okay, since it’s our final year, we’ll start it off simple and get back into the rhythm of things, since some of you didn’t make it to the first practice yesterday.”

            Her eyes flickered to me for a split-second accusingly, before skittering around to see everyone else.

            Chloe hissed under her breath. “How dare she…”

            I grabbed her arm to hold her back. “It’s okay, Chloe. She doesn’t know about what happened that night,” I replied. “She probably thinks I was just shirking my cheerleading responsibilities.”

            “Still,” she muttered, but her voice held less enthusiasm. “Let’s just get this over with.”

            She set us up in the triangular formation we’d used last year for our last pep rally, as a way to warm us up and get us back into the rhythm of cheerleading. I quickly stretched my limbs and stiffened my body, readying myself for the rigorous routine.

            “Ready? Okay!” she yelled, and we clapped our hands together in perfect synchronization.

            We immediately launched into the cheer, and I threw my arms into the air, spelling out the name of our football team, the Sterling Pythons. I kicked my leg up high and bent over backwards, performing a cartwheel, before flinging myself back into a backflip and kicking my legs over my head.           

            Letting out a breath, I pulled myself upright and spun around, throwing my leg up into a ninety-degree angle and falling back into Chloe, who was already in her position to pull me back almost to the ground and hoist me up into a front flip with the right amount of velocity.

            Once I was righted again, I clapped my hands together and threw out my arms, continuing the cheer as brightly and enthusiastically as I could. I stepped out and back, before spinning around and landing in a middle split. Two hands hooked under my arms and pulled me up until I was flung into another girls arms, and the others quickly ran around to form the infamous pyramid every cheerleading squad has tried at least once in their lives. I was second from the top, and by the time my tennis shoes had solidly collided with the hands of Lailah and Riley, Chloe standing by my side, Courtney was being flung up on top. I braced my arms as half her weight bore onto me, and gritted my teeth with a false saccharine smile plastered on my face.

            The jumpers out the front threw their arms out, and the routine was done. After four beats of staying stationary in our positions, the jumpers out the front ran to the back, and without even looking back to make sure everyone was in position, Courtney threw her weight back.

            You see, one thing people don’t think about is the hard work cheerleaders go through. You think it’s easy holding up forty-five pounds of muscle for eight seconds? Wrong! You think it’s easy to have to have complete and utter faith in your teammates and fling yourself ten meters to the ground? No way! We faced rigorous routines, hours of training and muscle exercises, and an unhealthy amount of risk-taking to perfect our routines. It was not fun, my friend. Not fun at all.

            I heard a low whistle come from below me, telling us that Courtney had safely reached the bottom and was ready for the next two—namely Chloe and I—to fall down. It was a signal that we used to let each other know our prompts and when we were safe, and for all of Courtney’s horrid qualities, I knew that she was trustworthy.

            “One…two…three,” Chloe muttered, and simultaneously we threw our weight back. There were a few seconds of weightlessness where we fell down in a matching spiral, and then I was safely being caught by two other girls, Olivia and Jaime.

            Chloe and I whistled and scrambled out of the way towards Courtney, and took up our positions to catch the fourth row of the pyramid as they fell. Once I had caught Lailah and safely deposited her on the ground, we made our way back towards the middle for another hour of grueling cheerleading techniques.

            ~          *          ~

            After being deprived of cheerleading practice for three months, by the time we had completed our routine for the morning, my muscles felt like they’d melt. I took a large swig of water and made my way towards my bag, throwing back on my clothes and letting my long brown hair out of the ponytail it had been tightly clasped in.

            “I gotta head off!” Chloe said, bending down to pick up her gym bag and slinging it over her shoulder. She flipped her red hair to one side and turned to me. “I have Coach Mahoney next period, and I can’t be late!”

            I waved her off and dressed back into my flannel button up and denim skirt, before braiding my hair back so that it hung out of the way and allowed the cool breeze easy access to my sweaty neck. I took a sip of water from the plastic bottle in my bag and allowed it to cool my dry throat.

            I grabbed my gym bag and started lugging it across school, just as the bell rang overhead. I shrugged. It didn’t matter if I was late. I only had Modern History, and Mrs. Vanderbilt didn’t care if you were only late by a few minutes. Normally she had such a massive hangover from the night before she didn’t care much about anything.

            I moved quickly across the green grass and back towards the busy school, my hand riffling through the gym bag in search of the dangly earrings I’d plucked off before practice.

            I swore as suddenly I collided with a muscled, rock-hard body, and went falling back onto the ground, making pain lace up my tailbone. I looked up to see Colton standing above me, looking mildly horrified to see me there. His dark hair was mussed, his jacket askew, and his eyes were rimmed with tiredness. I stood up and dusted myself off.

            “Sorry,” he said, blinking and snapping out of his daze. He shook his head gently, making tendrils of brown hair fall across his forehead. “God, sorry. Are you okay, V?”

            I nodded. “Fine.” I looked at where he’d just breezed through the tall chrome gates. “Late to school on the third day? Tsk, tsk.”

            He grinned and shrugged. “I had business to take care of.”

            I cocked an eyebrow. “Important enough to risk your good grades?”

            He shrugged again, a mannerism that seemed to be a reflex habit for him. “I get by.”

            “How, exactly, is that?” I replied, staring up at him with squinted eyes, trying to avoid the harsh glare of the sun. “I mean, all last year you skipped school, and you still made it through. What’s your secret, Mr. Cross?”

            “Superhuman powers,” he replied with a serious face, before smirking. “Nah, I’m kidding. Just good luck, I guess.”

            “Well, I better go,” I said, gesturing to the school, which was emptying rapidly as people hurried to class. “I’ve still gotta drop this off at the gym before class, and, unlike you, if I’m late to class, my grades will drop.”

            “I’ll take it for you,” he said, holding out a hand in offering. “Unlike you, I don’t mind being late. Just give me your locker number and combo and I’ll drop it off and then go to class.”

            “To the girl’s locker room? Without getting caught?” I replied dubiously, pursing my lips disbelievingly at him.

            “Sure. Should be easy.”

            “All right,” I replied, curious to see this. “Locker thirty-four. Combo eight-eighteen-ten. Have fun.”

            “Will do,” he responded, turning around and beginning to walk off with his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his leather jacket.

            “Uh, Colton?” I said, a small smile upturning my features as he began to walk off.

            He span around with raised eyebrows. “Yes?”

            I held up my gym bag with a small shake. “It may be a little redundant if you go to the girl’s locker room without the gym bag.”

            He grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. “Oh… right.”

            He walked back to me and took the bag from my hands effortlessly, spinning it around and slinging it over his shoulders. He dropped me a wink and then turned around, starting off towards the gym. I bit my lip and smiled, shaking my head slightly to clear it of the cobwebs pervading my mind.

            I turned around and started to walk back towards class, swinging my hands out beside me as I walked, my thoughts still entrapped by Colton.

            When I arrived in class, Mrs. Vanderbilt wasn’t there yet, and by the time I sat down in my seat, Colton was already breezing through the doors, not even looking winded.

            I frowned and stared at him as he weaved his way through the tables. He threw me a cocky smirk and took his usual seat at the back near the window, where he had a good view of the soccer field.

            “What?” I whispered to myself, my face creased in confusion.

            That wasn’t possible. There was no way humanly possible that he could’ve gone that fast there and back unless he ran. But running that far in such a short amount of time would have you winded, and Colton didn’t even look slightly breathless. It just wasn’t feasible.

            What the hell?