"Damn!" Jugo's body moved on its own.

He dashed forward off the side of the tower. He sprung towards the falling girl at high speeds, colliding with her in mid-fall. Jugo wrapped his arms around her, twisted in mid-air, and shielded her with his body as they collided with the pavement across the river. He lifted her out of the small crater he'd made with his crash landing, setting her down gently.

The girl was older than Jugo had first assumed. Her small stature made her look younger than she actually was, but up close, she looked closer to his age. Her hair was only medium length, coming down to her neckline, curling where it ended. Its color was somewhere between a light brown, and dark blonde. She had bright chestnut brown doe eyes that looked up at him in what he guessed was surprise over what just happened. Her skin was pale, and appeared to be unharmed during the landing. Her yellow sundress seemed to flow around her; also unmarred by their crash landing.

"Hey, you're not hurt, are you?" Jugo asked her.

The girl surprised him by giggling in response, which promptly irritated him.

"Do you always laugh after someone saves your life?"

"No, it's just that..." And with that, she started floating from where she stood. "I can fly, so I wasn't really in trouble." She did a little twirl in air with her hands behind her back to emphasize her control over her ability.

"Right, my mistake," Jugo said with a mental eye roll.

Sirens began to wail in the distance as first responders made a break for the bridge, no doubt in response to the stunt this girl just pulled.

"Uh-oh, we should probably go," she smiled nervously looking back in the direction of the bridge.

She didn't have to tell him twice. A run in with the police was the last thing a wanted criminal needed. The two teens sprinted in the same direction, running down the street while bobbing and weaving between the crowds of people. Nobody seemed to pay much attention to them even as they ran by; it was the big city after all. They ran down several streets, only stopping when they reached a small plaza with a war memorial in the middle of it. They both plopped down on a stone bench, the girl trying to catch her breath while Jugo glanced around to make sure they weren't pursued. But people continued to mill about without a care in the world, not noticing them in the slightest. No sirens wailed towards them in the seconds that followed, meaning they were probably in the clear.

"That was fun!" The girl said suddenly.

"What were you doing up there?" Jugo demanded when it was clear she'd regained her composure.

"I was just trying to have some fun," she said with a shrug. "There's just something liberating about being up in high places."

"Well, ability to fly or not, it's dangerous to be up there. And because of that stunt you pulled, I won't be able to hang out there for a while."

"Everyone treats me like I'm so delicate," she huffed indignantly. "And if being up there really is that dangerous, then maybe you shouldn't be up there either."

"I think we both know I'd be okay," Jugo shot back.

"Yeah, how did you get so strong, anyway?"

"It just happens naturally." This conversation was the most Jugo had socialized with someone his age in months. There was something oddly discomforting about it. It made his body feel jittery. His mind felt hyper aware of his surroundings. What if people noticed someone like him having a conversation with a normal girl like her?

"Wow, what do you call a power like that?" The girl seemed oblivious towards what he was feeling.

"Call it?" he gave her a quizzical glance.

"A lot of people like to give their powers nicknames that describe them better than what they're officially documented as," she explained.

"Oh, well, I don't have a name for it. Never thought to give it one." With that, Jugo stood up abruptly. Maybe it was rude to get up and leave in the middle of a conversation, but talking to a strange girl in the middle of a plaza wasn't on his agenda for today. Besides, it was potentially dangerous to hang around her (for several reasons).

"Well, it was nice meeting you, but I gotta go. Take care." He started towards the crosswalk on the street corner without looking back.

"Hey, wait!" The girl sprinted to catch up to him. "I didn't catch your name."

"That's because I didn't give it," he responded flatly.

She looked at him with an equally flat expression.

With a sigh, he said, "My name is Jugo-" Shit, I blurted out my real name! "Anderson. My name is Jugo Anderson."

She beamed at him, apparently not finding anything suspicious about his name.

"Pleasure to meet you, my name is Elena," she said back with a head tilt.

Just Elena? "It was... interesting meeting you too. Maybe I'll see you around."

Jugo started walking across the crosswalk with the small crowd, hoping she wouldn't follow, but to his dismay, she did.

"Hey, wait a second, I want to thank you," Elena said as she kept pace with him.

"Thank me for what?" he asked back.

"You know, for saving my life."

"I thought you said I didn't save your life because you can fly," he gave her a suspicious look.

"It's the thought that counts," she shrugged.

Jugo felt the need to point out that she might not have fallen if he hadn't called out to her in the first place. And besides, he never expected nor wanted anything from her to begin with. 

"It's fine, alright? You don't owe me anything."

"Come on! You did something nice for me, now let me do something nice for you!"

Jugo had a feeling she wasn't going to be deterred easily. He could snap at her, tell her to get lost, but something about how she acted, and how she carried herself kept him from doing that. He'd done it before with some of the classmates from his old high school, but Elena had a quality they didn't that kept him from pushing her away. What that quality is, though, he wasn't entirely sure.

"What did you have in mind?" he relented.

"Let me take you shopping!"

"Absolutely not," Jugo shut that down instantly.

"Aww, why?"

He'd always heard that shopping with girls was a nightmare for one of two reasons: they're either really into it, or they're really not into it. Girls who weren't into shopping drag their feet the whole time, but Jugo suspected Elena was in the former category. Girls who love shopping will spend hours upon hours going from store to store. And they tend to go overboard with the spending. But he probably shouldn't say that out loud.

"Shopping involves spending a lot of money, and there's nothing wrong with my wardrobe as it is."

"You know the shirt you're wearing is super messed up in the back, right?" Elena pointed out.

Truthfully, Jugo hadn't noticed. His plain black shirt was scuffed up in the back, covered in dust and dirt, and even featured a few tears in the fabric. It must have gotten messed up when he jumped off the bridge tower.

"It's just a cheap dollar store shirt, no big loss."

"Okay, fine, just one store to replace your shirt." Elena tried to compromise. "No more, no less."

Jugo sighed, "Fine, but just one store."

***

It was not just one store.

Elena dragged Jugo to a big, dome shaped mall with two upper floors, and another three floors underground. This being his first time in a mall ever, Jugo was shocked by the sheer amount of stores. There were dozens of clothing stores, as he expected, but there were also candy shops, a game store, a book store, a couple of liquor stores, and even food market.

As promised, Elena bought him a replacement outfit. Not just the shirt, but the whole outfit. She took the liberty of picking out a new pair of jeans, a belt, a black jacket with a popped collar, and pair of shoes later on. The cost of it all nearly made his eyes pop out of their sockets. Then she insisted on buying even more clothes for him. He insisted that she'd already done more than enough for him.

"Nonsense! I was going to come here anyways, but shopping is boring when you're by yourself. So you're technically doing me a favor." She gave him a wink as she ducked into another clothing store; though this one was a more geared towards women's clothes.

"Doing her a favor..."

At first, Elena said she just wanted to replace the sun umbrella she lost after falling off the bridge. Then she spotted some clothes she wanted to try on, and it spiraled from there. For some odd reason, she asked for his opinion of every outfit she tried on. The cycle repeated for several hours into the day: Elena would see something she likes, try it on, model it for him, and then ask for his honest opinion. Jugo knew just as much about fashion as he did quantum mechanics, which is to say, next to nothing. He thought she looked good in everything she tried on, so he just said which ones he liked the best.

She ended up buying most of the ones he liked.

It was five o' clock in the evening by the time Elena called it quits.

"I am beat! You feel like grabbing something to eat, Jugo?"

Jugo felt awkward as hell carrying about a dozen different bags which must have contained about sixty pounds worth of clothes altogether. And only roughly ten pounds of them were his. Going out to eat sounded awesome to him, but he knew that Elena had already spent what must have been a small fortune already. He figured she must have come from a wealthy family, but to depend on her for a meal felt like using her.

He was about to decline when his stomach let out a gurgle that betrayed his intentions. Tch, traitor. A honeybun from a vending machine was all he had today, so he should have figured.

"I guess that answered my question for me," she said with a cheeky smile.

Elena ended up taking him to a hibachi restaurant only a block away from the mall. They opted for a booth instead of seats at the grill because of all the bags they carried. The booths were spacious, allowing plenty of room in both the seats and under the table for their shopping spoils. But yet again, Jugo felt like he was going to have a heart attack upon seeing the prices on the menu. Just about everything except the appetizers were over fifteen dollars. There was not a moment in his entire life when he could afford to eat at a place like this.

"You can order whatever you want, I'll take care of the bill," Elena assured him.

Jugo wasn't exactly proud to depend on her like this. It wasn't a matter of some weird male pride in the belief that the man should make more, or have more money that the woman. Or that the man should be the one to pay when they go out to eat. It felt shameful because he wasn't sure he was deserving of this level of kindness. He was a villain, whether he wanted to be one or not, and he's done some pretty bad things since going on the run.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I can think of a way for you to pay me back," she flashed him another cheeky smile.

Then something clicked in his mind.

"Elena, what did you say your powers were again?"

"Hmm?" she looked puzzled by his sudden inquiry. "I can fly, like I showed you earlier."

"But that's not all, is it?" he questioned her. "Earlier when you showed me you could fly, there was a faint yellow glow outlining your body. It was hard to see in the sunlight, but not impossible. And throughout today, you responded to the store clerks, and employees when they approached you before they even got a word out. So be honest, are you a psychic?"

Psychic SuperHumans were uncommon, but not unheard of. Unlike other SuperHuman powers, psychic abilities tend to be consistent in what they're capable of: telepathy, telekinesis, and a whole lot more. SuperHuman powers are rarely straightforward, super strength being a prime example. A person could utilize super strength by increasing muscle mass, shapeshifting, absorbing, or evolving like how Jugo's power did for him. Sometimes psychics had little specialties, like pyrokinesis, the ability to light fires with their minds. But for the most part, all psychics had the same basic set of talents.

All this begs the question of whether Elena has been reading his mind throughout the day. If she did, then there's no telling what information she'd gleaned from him. If she knew who he really is, does that mean she planned on turning him in? Or was she thinking about blackmailing him for something? Jugo was certain that she hadn't brainwashed him, or manipulated his intent, but that doesn't mean she hasn't done some poking around without him knowing.

A small smile settled on Elena's face as she set her menu down.

"You're really clever for figuring that out," she said.

"Have you been reading my thoughts?"

"No," she replied hastily. "It's not like that, I promise. I'm an esper, but I didn't tell you because I didn't of the social stigma around psychics. People see us as manipulative, and untrustworthy, so they're afraid. I don't have a whole lot of friends because of this, they just don't trust me. And they won't give me a chance to earn their trust.

"But I don't go around reading people's thoughts! My dad hired a psychic tutor to teach me how to use my powers, and the proper etiquette for them. That was lesson number one, don't read somebody's mind without their permission. And when it comes to brainwashing, I don't even know how to do that!"

"Then how did you know what I was thinking just now?" Jugo asked.

"It's a special talent of mine," she said sheepishly. "Espers have the ability to sense emotions, but it comes especially easy to me. It's kind of passive, I don't really even think about it. Since it's always on, I can more or less guess someone's intent."

Her explanation sounded legitimate enough. If she really were poking around inside his brain, she would have caught onto his lie about who he is sooner.

"That's why I wanted to hangout with you today," she said as she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "I mean, I don't usually spend my day hanging out with people I just met. But I could tell you're a good person. When you jumped off that bridge tower, you were honest in wanting to save my life. And I could tell you were honest about not wanting anything in return. I wanted to know more about you, I'm sorry if that sounded corny."

Elena sounded genuine enough. Truth be told, he felt an odd sense of solidarity with her now. They were both outcasts, albeit in different ways. Without meaning to, Jugo found himself opening up a bit more with her. They kept the conversation light as they ate, mostly sharing stories and talking about things going on in the world. They didn't talk about their home lives very much; for Jugo's part, talking about his deadbeat dad, and useless excuse for a mother would just bring the mood down.

It was a few minutes passed six by the time they'd finished eating. Between the conversation, and the food, it was by far the best meal Jugo has had in years.

When they left the restaurant, they found a car waiting for them outside. A man wearing a dark suit in his early twenties leaned against it. He perked up when he spotted the two of them together.

"Lady Elena, I've been looking for you all day," the man said, sounding rather cross.

"Ever wonder if there's a reason for why I ditch you?" she said back.

"Who is this?" the man asked, ignoring Elena's remark.

"He's a friend I met up with to hangout," she said defensively.

"Um." Jugo wasn't sure what to do in this situation.

"Huh? Oh, sorry." Elena glanced at him apologetically. "Jugo this is Alex, my body guard." She sounded less than thrilled announcing that. "Alex, this is my new friend, Jugo."

"I see," Alex looked like he could care less. "Regardless, your father insists that you come home for the night. You need to catch up on your summer reading assignments."

"Alright," Elena replied through a sigh. She then turned to face Jugo. The bags carrying her clothes were lifted out of his hands and hovered into the trunk of the car.

"I had fun today, I hope we can get together again sometime." 

"Yeah." It was lame, but that's all he could manage to say at the moment.

She then started walking slowly to the backseat of the car where Alex held the door open for her. But she paused before getting in. She dug around in her purse until she found a small slip of paper that she scribbled on, then she ran over handing it to him.

"My phone number," she explained, "incase you decide you do want to meet up again." Her cheeks became rosy even as she waved goodbye before going back to the car. She looked back one more time, "Oh, do you need a ride home?"

"No, that's okay, I don't live too far from here," Jugo replied.

Alex closed the door behind her, hopped in the driver's seat, and a few seconds later they were gone.

Jugo stared down at the phone number as he began his walk back to his temporary home. He had lied about it being close, it was probably an hour long walk from where he was, but that was fine with him. He could use the time to think.