{Raina}

I can't believe I was stupid enough to think that Geoff was somehow different. How we might have had some sort of connection. And if there was something special about me that he didn't see in other girls, and even with his killer looks, that we'd find a way to make it work.

Like I said, I was stupid to even entertain the thought.

El, of course, notices it right away. When she gets back on Sunday evening, having spent the day out with a couple of her fellow New York high-society friends, she comes to stand over my bed, looking down at me.

"You okay, Rains?"

"Fine," I say, sitting up and looking away.

"You don't sound fine to me," she says, and her tone tells me she's crossed her arms and isn't moving until I tell her the truth. "What happened?"

"Nothing." I wish my voice wouldn't crack.

"Rains, come on." The bed sags a little when she sits on it. "Tell me what's wrong."

"It's nothing, I swear." I blink to clear my blurry vision, but I feel tears emerge.

"I'm not leaving until you tell me." She sighs. "Please?"

"It's Geoff," I say finally, and my throat tightens at the mention of his name. I've been trying to get that image out of my head, that girl with her legs wrapped around Geoff's waist, their lips locked together, the grunting noises he was making as he kissed her. But I can't. Nothing I've tried works.

"Geoff?" El sounds surprised. "What'd he do?"

"I saw him," I say bitterly. "Kissing another girl."

"Rains—" she says, but that's as far as she gets. I burst into tears, covering my face and pressing my knuckles into my knees. She gets up to sit next to me, sliding an arm around my shoulders. I don't even know why I'm crying. I didn't know Geoff that well anyway. We hadn't dated, or kissed, or anything. He's not even my boyfriend. But for some reason, this hurts like he's rejected me even before we've gotten a chance to get acquainted.

She waits until I've caught my breath, and then she pulls back, pressing some tissues she'd had in her purse into my hand.

"Here, Rains," she says, when I just look at them. "Blow."

I do, and then drop the entire wad next to me.

"Raina. Honey. What did I tell you about guys like Geoff?" She leans down to catch my eye, tucking some hair behind my ear to get it out of my face.

"That..." I take a shuddering breath, and some more tears come out. "I'd get my heart broken..."

"Exactly." She rubs circles into my back. "He might look like a supermodel, but underneath, he's just another douche, like they all are."

"But...I thought..." I swallow hard. "I thought he was...different..."

"This is real life, Rains, not a romance novel. And Geoff's not going to change, okay? He was probably the same way back in high school. Like they say, you can take the tiger out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the tiger."

I shake my head. "But...I..."

"Hey. How about this. We'll go get some dinner tomorrow night, and I'll introduce you to Dawson and Callie and the rest. There's a really good sushi place they want to try, and I'm sure they'll be happy to meet you." She gives my shoulder a squeeze. "Does that sound okay?"

I nod, rubbing my eyes.

"That's a girl." She wipes a few of my tears away with another tissue. "It'll be a good time. You'll see."

≈

I'm glad I don't see him at all the next day. I'm afraid I might start crying again, or I'll do something I regret, like slapping him across the face. El was right, as she so often is, and now I realize that growing up in a small farming town so far removed from everything isn't doing me any favors.

After I've sat down and gotten some homework done, El takes me through her wardrobe, to see what I could wear tonight. It isn't that I don't have any clothes, I just don't have the right clothes to go out to an upscale restaurant with kids from high-society families.

"Look trendy, but not like you're trying too hard, that's what I always say," she says, flicking through the hangers. "But you don't want to look like a Sandra Dee either, you know what I mean?"

I shrug. "I never saw the movie, but yeah, I guess."

"You never saw Grease?" She turns her head to look at me out of the corner of her eye.

I shake my head. We'd only had one movie theater in town, but it didn't get current movies. At any given time, whatever it was showing was eight months old already.

"No major loss there, at least not right now. Aha. Here we go." She picks out a soft gray sweater and a gray-and-yellow plaid skirt. "And you can borrow my camel-hair coat to wear over it. Very neutral-chic."

When I've changed into them, I have to agree with her — I'm about as close to stylish as I can get. The sweater clings to me a little more than I'm used to, but the addition of the coat makes up for that. El grins when she sees me, inspecting her handiwork.

"Look at you, Rains. You're ready to take the night back."

We're picked up around six, by a couple of her friends that introduce themselves as Darren-and-Sherri, and El has to explain to me that they've been dating for a few years now. Two halves of a whole, as a summary. Somehow it makes me feel like an intruder, somebody trying to make themselves look more fashionable and sophisticated than they really are. Underneath I'm still scarred, a product of a broken home, damaged goods.

The restaurant's downtown, and that's where I meet the rest. Callie's a redhead with a chin-length bob and a taste for gothic clothing; Dawson's tall, thin, dark-haired, and has an affinity for bright colors and patterns, and Mickie could be a dead ringer for Molly Ringwald if her hair wasn't so dark. And they all carry themselves with the same big-city confidence that I see in El.

"So Raina, huh?" says Callie when we've all sat down and been set up with menus. "Where're you from?"

Something in the back of my mind says I should tell the truth, but the rest of it pushes it away. I say the first thing that pops up. "Chicago."

Callie's eyebrows go up. "Ooh, the windy city. I've always wanted to go."

"What about you?" I ask. "Just out of curiosity."

"I'm a New Yorker, just like El there." Then she leans closer, across the table. "Can I let you in on a secret? It's not all it's cracked up to be. East Coasters are way too stuck-up."

The conversation flows a little easier from there. I let it wash over me, immersing myself in it. If I tried really hard, I could make it seem like I'm a big-city girl, who knows what she wants and almost always gets it.

We're more than halfway through when there's a distant boom, making our plates rattle and the lights flicker. The Darren half of Darren-and-Sherri stops with a California roll halfway to his mouth, and I see Mickie's eyes darting around suspiciously.

"Did you guys hear that?"

We don't get time to answer. It happens again, closer this time. The noise of the restaurant is interrupted briefly, as other customers try to figure out what's going on. Then from outside, I hear a crunch, a car alarm go off, and a shattering of glass.

I poke my head around the booth just in time to see a big red super roll himself off the roof of the car and launch himself upward, at the threat. It's the Red Knight.

"Whoa, what's that?" says a voice behind me. It sounds like Dawson.

I see it after a second. There's a viscous black mass inching down over the front of the restaurant, and a few of the customers scream. I see tentacles flicking in and out, but other than that, it doesn't look like anything. Just a blob.

Then the window blows in, and somebody next to me yanks me back just in time. Broken glass shreds through the paper lanterns covering the lights, and now I can hear a loud crackling noise, followed by a high screech. It sounds like nails on a chalkboard.

"What's going on?" I shout over the noise, but everyone else just shakes their heads. No idea.

A splintering of wood punctuates that sentence, and the Red Knight goes flying past us, bowling chairs and tables over like dominoes. Just as quickly he disappears, but I see a red laser beam shoot out from where he was, and it occurs to me that he must've turned invisible. I hear the nails-on-chalkboard screech again, and I have to cover my ears.

That's followed by a squelch and then a noise that I could only describe as a slither, and after that, nothing. I raise my head enough to look over the tabletop, and I see the Red Knight appear.

"I'll have this cleaned up ASAP," he says, raising both hands. "Sorry for disturbing your dinner."

Then he's gone, and we all straighten up. Darren's mouth is gaping open, and both Dawson and Callie are blinking like they've just seen a ghost.

"Why didn't we ask for his autograph?" she says finally. "He's my favorite super."

I say nothing, but that's the least of my concerns. I'd been too busy watching the blob, and how he'd very obviously been trying to fight it. And how I now know what the papers say is true. Wherever the superheroes are, the villains are too, and we've just seen both.

≈

He's there again when the police arrive to get us all out so they can inspect the scene. As soon as we step outside, I see him leaving the officers he's talking to and pick his way over to us.

"You kids okay?" he asks, and even though I can't see his eyes, I feel him looking at me.

"Mr. Red Knight!" Callie's the first to jump at him. "Can I have your autograph?"

He sighs and endures his fans, but intercepts me at the very back of the group when they straggle back towards their cars.

"You okay, Raina?" he asks, and the concern I hear makes my facade crack.

"I'm fine," I say quickly, because I don't want him to see how much I'm hurting. Not just because of what I saw Geoff doing, or what Ridley's done to me, or even how much I stick out in this crowd of rich big-city kids. It's because deep down, I know I'll never be enough for them. The sooner people know that about me, the better.

"Sorry if I ruined your night," he says, and he sounds genuinely apologetic. "Villains tend to do that."

"What was that?" I notice the grayish slime streaking the ground. "The blob, I mean."

"Not sure yet." He sighs, a deep exhausted sound. "I personally like the Black Lagoon until we can come up with a better name, but whatever."

"Was it trying to kill you, or what?"

"No killing yet." He shrugs. "Just teasing. Last time I saw it was with Hammerhead."

"Hammerhead," I echo. "I recognize that name."

"Do you?" I can hear an eyebrow raise in his voice. "It's good that you do, actually. Now you know to look out for him. I don't know what he's up to yet, but it's probably not good."

"Rains!" El calls from across the street, and I see her waving. "Come on! I have class at nine tomorrow!"

"I should go." I glance back at him. "See you around, I guess. And good luck with Hammerhead."

"Yeah. See you later, Raina."

When I hurry to go meet El, she gives me a small smile. "Took your sweet time."

I shake my head. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Admit it. I think the Red Knight likes you."

"I don't even know him, El." He isn't there when I look back at the spot we were standing in.

"Well, he doesn't know that, apparently." She winks at me. "It's better than having a villain like you, at any rate."

≈

I finally run into Geoff coming out of my Intro to Econ class at the beginning of the week, with a tall, broad-shouldered blond guy following him a little ways behind. And, with a plunge of my stomach, Ridley. I didn't think they were that close.

I try to pass him without looking at him, but he hurries after me, calling my name. "Raina! Wait!"

Automatically I walk faster, but he catches my arm. I whirl around and slap his hand away. "Don't touch me, Geoff."

A brief hurt expression crosses his face. "I just wanted to see that you're okay."

"I'm fine," I snap at him. "Why do you care, anyway?"

"Is this about the other night? With Felicia?" It seems to occur to him all at once.

"So she's got a name now?" I cross my arms and glare at him. I'm being unfair, I realize, but at the moment I don't care enough.

"Yeah, of course," he says, sounding surprised. "I'm sorry, Raina. It just kinda...happened. You know. She walked me inside and then things got out of hand."

"Looked like it." I let out a hard exhale. "Do you really just kiss any girl who comes on to you like that?"

He rubs the back of his neck. "I might have been a little drunk."

"So you blame the alcohol now, is that it?" Dad did too, once. I still remember his hands on me, rougher than normal, his alcohol-soaked breath blasting me in the face. I'd been old enough then to confront him, taking my shirt off in front of him and guilting him with the bruises. But it didn't make me feel better. I just felt worse, that I'd sunk to his level.

"Yeah." He scuffs his foot on the floor. "Look, Raina...I like you. I really do. I'm sorry you had to see that. She just kinda...drew me in, I guess. Won't you let me make it up to you?"

I sigh. I suppose he does deserve a chance, considering we're not a couple or anything. "Sure, why not. What'd you have in mind?"

"Well, there's a bonfire, just for first-year students. The RAs are putting it on, I think. I was gonna go with Matt, but I thought I'd ask you instead." He looks up at me, just his eyes flicking up. "I don't think he'd like knowing it's because I couldn't find a date."

I blush, despite everything. "You're asking me out on a date?"

He shrugs one shoulder. "I mean...yeah. And an apology."

"I didn't mean to get so angry, Geoff, I just—" I stop abruptly when I feel him close to me, closer than he's ever been. "I—"

"Look, I'm an idiot, okay? I accept it. But I really like you, like I said, and I think if we just give it a chance, I'll do my best to not be one. Could we do that?" His expression is hopeful, one eyebrow slightly raised.

I take a deep breath, trying to keep it steady. Despite what El told me, I still feel an electric charge in the air whenever he's around me, one that I can't resist. And despite the fact that I'd slapped his hand away before, when he touched me I felt heat spread over my skin. But instead of looking at him, so he doesn't see all these mixed emotions, I concentrate on the floor, pushing my hair out of my face.

Finally, I answer him. "Yeah. We could."

"Then...I guess...I'll see you when I see you?"

"Yeah." I bite my lip, and I don't look up until I'm sure he's left. But my eye catches Ridley's, who's lurking in the rapidly emptying entrance hall, scowling at me. An uneasy feeling settles in my stomach. Something about that look makes me nervous.