^^Above: Chapter title credit, song by Led Zeppelin.^^

{Geoffrey}

All I get from Matt when I finally get around to telling him is a big grin and a punch on the shoulder. I think it's meant to be playful, but he's so strong it actually hurts.

"So you and Raina, huh?" He raises one brow at me. "You're gonna have to introduce me sometime, if you two get serious."

"Yeah, sure," I say with a shrug. I'm not worried about him, though. The way I broke the Red Knight thing to him is a pretty good indication of how he takes big news. "After she gets over the Felicia thing first."

He nods, rubbing his hand over his hair. "Still don't know who she is?"

"I've never seen her before."

"Look, Geoff, I tried to get through to Ridley," he says, and his expression tells me it didn't go well. I'd enlisted his help, because he seemed to be the only one who could handle Rid. He had the advantage of being able to defuse the tension of any situation he was in, while I just got more agitated.

"What'd he say?"

Matt shakes his head. "No dice, man. I think he's gonna do whatever it takes to get Raina away from you, even if it means sabotaging your relationship with her."

I furrow my brow at him. "You really think he'd do that?"

"I wouldn't put it past him if I were you." Matt fiddles with his Rubik's cube, matching up the colors and then scrambling them up just as fast. "I'd be careful with Ridley any way you slice it. He's gonna try and ruin everyone's happiness just so he doesn't feel so miserable."

"True," I agree, and then flop back on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. I'm glad I have him around. He seems to know how to navigate this type of thing much better than I do. I get the feeling that if I didn't, I'd have lost Raina a long time ago, even before I got a chance to know her.

≈

When I get a free hour that day, I take a detour to the library and do a quick Internet search of local supers. I have the hunch that Felicia's one, because she has those violet eyes and that weird kind of mind-reading thing. Not to mention that when she touched me, it seemed to make my hormones go crazy.

I scroll past Neon, a super that glows a phosphorescent green and has telekinetic abilities, and Nothing Rhymes, because his suit is a bright orange and he shoots orange bolts from his eyes that can vaporize the target on the spot. I grin at that bit of cleverness.

I keep going, looking for any super that has a reference to purple in their name. Some of them weren't so obvious, like the villain called King Kong. I remember seeing him on the news a couple years ago, when he attacked the White House. But then again, he was a giant gorilla, kind of difficult to even assign a color.

Then I find one — Violet Storm. Honestly it sounds like a fake name, the kind somebody would put on the ID they use to get into bars, or to get into those adult movies. But her description matches. Purple eyes, the power to seduce men, the ability to read minds. Not to mention she was like Superman, with super strength and able to fly. And finally, something that catches my eye. She could summon rain clouds and pelt her nemesis with stinging rain, hail, or sleet. Now her super name makes sense.

The one thing I don't understand, though, is why she's here. Maybe Matt was right, and Ridley's doing everything in his power to keep Raina and me apart. But then what would he want with this super, this Violet Storm?

Something in the back of my mind tells me that I'm going to find out sooner or later.

≈

On the day of the bonfire, I'm actually a little nervous. I know it's supposed to be a fun thing and everything, but I can't help thinking about it being an actual date, like Raina had said. Of course she knows it's a date, but it just feels weird. I've never been on a real date with a girl before, not even back in high school. Dad never approved of any of the girls I'd known there.

So when I go down to her floor to walk over there with her, naturally I'm apprehensive. We'd vacillated between I-can't-stand-you and I-think-I-like-you-that-way multiple times since we'd met, so I didn't exactly know where I stood with her right now. I hesitate before knocking, but tell myself to snap out of it and just take whatever's coming to me. This isn't high school. I could ask her and she'd tell me directly. Probably.

When she does answer the door, I'm momentarily speechless. Not because she's dressed any particular way or that she even looks any different. I think it's because I see the same uncertainty that I feel in her eyes and her manner. It makes me feel a little better, that neither of us knew what in the hell we were doing.

"Uh...hi," I say, in my most un-gallant way.

"Hey," she says, biting down on her lip.

"So...ready to go?" I look down and rub the back of my neck, just to keep my hands busy.

"Yeah, yeah. Just...um...let me get my key and stuff." She backs into the room, but doesn't close the door. I take a peek inside, seeing her roommate's side. She must be one of those inner-city kids. Only child, too. Just by the clothes in the wardrobe, I can tell.

When she's ready, we walk in silence to the elevator, and stand awkwardly across from each other on the trip down. I don't know how I'd start a conversation that doesn't have to do with school, but considering that's the only time I've ever talked to her and we hadn't been fighting, I can just feel the awkwardness growing.

"So...uh..." I start as we get out on the ground floor. "Settling in okay?"

"It's better than being at home," she says, running one hand through her hair once, and then twice. "You?"

"Yeah, same," I say, and that's the end of that conversation. Dammit. This isn't a very good start to the date at all.

"I can't say I've ever been to one of these before," she says after another short silence, after I've held the complex door open for her and we've started walking again. "They didn't do this very often, where I come from."

"Where are you from?" The question's out before I can stop it, and for a second, I think I might have made the biggest misstep of the night. Fifteen minutes in. That's a new record, even for me.

"Small farm town in Iowa. It's called Platte." Her tone is completely neutral and I can't even tell what she's thinking, because her expression doesn't change either. "Population's about a thousand, give or take a few."

"Oh, I see," I say, because I don't know how to respond to that. Dad definitely wouldn't want me dating her. Not only is she not from New England, she's not even from a big city. He'd cut me off from her pretty fast if he finds out.

"And you're from Ithaca, right?" She glances over her shoulder at me, where she's slightly ahead.

"Yeah." I shake my head. I can't remember if I'd ever told her. "How'd you—?"

"My roommate," she says before I can finish, and then blushes when she realizes she cut me off. "Sorry."

"Hey, it's cool." I shrug. "People know more about me than I realized."

She hesitates, and then speaks. "I don't. I didn't even know who you were when I came here."

I nod without saying anything, but in a way, that's kind of nice. I like that she doesn't know my entire life story and what my dad does for a living and how much money he actually has. We're both mysteries to each other, and I appreciate her for that.

"Sometimes I feel like I really stick out here, you know?" she says, continuing on the same thread. "My family doesn't have tons of money, or any connections. I hardly have any life savings. And no one knows who I am. Everyone here seems to know everyone else."

"I didn't think that," I say automatically. "I couldn't even tell."

She bites her lip again, but says nothing. I notice how she occasionally runs one hand over her rib cage, like she's got a sore spot there or something. I don't want to ask about it, because I'm afraid we'll go back to the I-can't-stand-you phase. And it's nice being with her like this. Not talking about school or anything, just two people trying to get to know each other.

By the time we reach the bonfire, right in the middle of the football field, it's dark out. There's already a lot of people here, and I can smell frying food coming from somewhere. It makes my stomach grumble.

"Mind if I buy you a hot dog?" I look over at her.

"I thought they were free," she says, her expression slightly teasing.

I roll my eyes. "Can't you let me be suave for once?"

She smiles finally, and it trickles up into her eyes. "You'll learn pretty quickly that I'm not into suave."

"Fine," I say through a sigh. "Do you want a hot dog or a hamburger?"

"Hot dog," she scoffs, like it's supposed to be obvious. "Of course."

"Why do I even ask." I throw up my hands and roll my eyes, heading towards the line. "How do you like 'em?"

"Surprise me," she says from behind, and even though I know separating from her on the first date is kind of a douche-y move, I also know she's pretty good at rebuffing other guys. Case in point, Ridley.

It's when I've gotten both hot dogs and jumped into the condiment line that I feel a twist in my stomach, the kind I get when something's wrong. Some guy is holding up the line by spreading every single available condiment on his dog, and even though I try to ignore the feeling, it doesn't go away. It gets stronger instead, and I know I can't keep it together for much longer. Either that, or I hope Raina likes plain hot dogs.

She's gone when I finally make it through the line, both dogs dressed with relish, ketchup, and just a squirt of mustard. I hope she's okay with that.

Except I can't see her anywhere, even though I'm sure this is where I left her, right near these picnic tables. The twist in my stomach suddenly sharpens, making itself felt again, and it hits me. She's in trouble.

I drop the dogs and shove through the crowd. Exclamations of "Hey, that's Geoff Cromwell!" follow me, but I don't care. All I know is that I need to get to Raina. I bet it's those dipsticks that were following her back to the dorm that time. I'd put good money on it.

Finally I break out of the crowd and run towards the bleachers, black against the navy blue of the sky. They couldn't have gotten far with her, not if she's a good fighter. A fence rises up in front of me and instinctively I gather myself and leap, my heels clipping the top rail. That makes me trip, and I land sloppily on the other side, turning my ankle. I can't think about it. Instead I recover and keep running, letting my super sense sniff them out for me.

It works. I find them in a few minutes' time, just three dark shapes under the striped shadows of the bleachers. And I'm also right in assuming she can hold her own. Before I can get close, she rams a knee into the guy trying to nip at her neck, right as his hand is creeping up her thigh. He staggers backwards with a high-pitched groan.

"Don't touch me," she snaps.

"Hey!" I peel myself away from the shadows and step into their line of sight. All three of them freeze and look straight at me. "Yeah, you two dipsticks. That's my girlfriend you're harassing."

That stuns them for a good couple seconds, allowing me to jump forward and punch the guy that Raina started on. He goes flying backwards, into the metal supports. I hear her shout something from behind, and I whirl on my heel just in time for the other guy to body-check me and knock me down. He punches me in the face so hard I don't feel my body hit the ground. I spit blood out of my mouth and hit him back, even though when I'm not in my super suit he's bigger than me. He retaliates, punching me again and then jamming his forearm into my windpipe. My vision blurs, and blackness threatens at the edges.

All at once, his weight's lifted off me, and I hear a few more punches. Then Matt's face appears, blurry through my rapidly swelling eye.

"C'mon, Geoff," he says, putting one hand out. "Won't stay KO'ed for long."