I'm going to skip ahead here. I know you're all DYING to hear about everything tiny little thing I thought or did, but too bad. To summarize what happened next: I lay low at school for a couple weeks, not attacking anyone else with jump ropes. At home I knit like crazy and practiced. And of course I kept it to myself. What kind of superhero doesn't?

Anyway, things were kind of getting back to normal. Until math literally came and kicked my butt.

"Hey mom, is it okay if I use some of this yarn for something?" I asked, holding up a ball of bright green yarn. Mom bit her lip and shook her head.

"No, sorry. Inventory is tight right now. Besides, don't you still have some leftover from last time?"

I shrugged, deciding not to tell her I'd accidentally shredded an entire roll of yarn in my ceiling fan. She sighed in defeat.

"We'll hopefully restock next week. Then I'll see how much extra we have."

I nodded, retreating to my room. Something she had said kept nagging at me though. Inventory was tight? Hopefully restock? That didn't sound good. Maybe there was a reason she was looking more and more tired lately.

I loaded up with a bag of chips and a jar of salsa before shouldering open my bedroom door.

I've seen many strange things in my room before. Two alleycats once climbed the fire escape and curled up on my bed . A flock of pigeons had taken up residence in my closet before.

But the unfamiliar girl sitting on my bed definitely took the grand prize. I froze, one foot in the room, the other still in the hall. The girl was looking down at one of the many watches strapped to her wrist. She tapped one of them in a satisfied way, then pulled out a sheet of paper and began to scribble something down.

"Arrival time 4:53. Well within the margin of error, though a little later than the overall average," she muttered.

I nervously set down the chips and salsa, feeling as if I was an intruder in my own room. She finished writing and looked back up at me. My stomach did a weird flip as I realized how pretty she was. Short auburn hair curled around her freckled, heart shaped face. Large brown eyes framed by long lashes looked calculating at me. She stood up and approached me.

"Aaron Adams. Sorry for the rude entry, but there's a 75% probability that I wouldn't be able to talk to you outside, and it would be a statistical anomaly for you to leave your window unlocked. Given the outdated, but efficient cameras in the hallways and lobby, this seemed the best option to speak to you."

I took an involuntary step back. This girl sounded like my math teacher and James Bond rolled into one.

"Please don't run or try to raise an alarm," she said calmly. "My intentions are simple. I want to talk to you and find out how it happened."

"How what happened?" I asked, a sick feeling that she knew everything creeping into me.

She smiled, those intense eyes crinkling into something almost playful. Without saying anything, she pointed to the piles of yarn around my bed.

"So I like to knit," I snapped, rounding her to shove it under my bed. The door clicked closed behind me. I spun around. She stood in front of the closed door, eyes drilling into me.

"Did you know that approximately every 6 months a new superpowered individual is created?" she asked quietly. "There are certain hotspots, and the science is far from perfect. But Gotham city is past due for a new anomaly, and I've been keeping my eyes, and mind, open."

Her eyes flicked to the yarn.

"There have been rumors of a man who can animate objects. He was a pretty small-time villain, not enough to get on the League's radar. But I notice and track every possibility. And I can't help but notice his mysterious disappearance. His disappearance from this store."

My heart plummeted. There was no way. This girl didn't know anything. Apart form the jump rope incident, all my powers had only been used in this room... the room that she knew would be unlocked.

My mouth got very dry.

"When did you find out?" I croaked.

She shrugged modestly. "Ever since the night of his disappearance. I knew he was gone, but had no idea his powers would transfer like that. It seemed a very low probability anything had happened to you. Until I snuck into your school that is."

My mouth dropped open.

"You did not-"

"I did," she admitted. "Frequent hand twitching, failure to pay attention in class, isolation form previous contacts. All are tell-tale signs of a secret power. And of course, the jump rope was a dead giveaway later. By the way, you are definitely in an abnormally low weight percentile. Age to weight ratio is-"

"Yeah, I know I'm skinny," I growled. "Why are you bugging me anyway? I haven't done anything!"

She tilted her head to look at me. I felt my face turn red. This was longer than any cute girl had maintained eye contact with me since... well ever.

"I'm intrigued," she said. "At risk of sounding arrogant, I've been blessed with an incredible analytic mind. I can spot patterns, solve complex equations, and calculate several probable outcomes of any given event. And for some reason or another, my interest is on those who have been blessed with something far greater."

She walked closer to me.

"Superpowers fascinate me. They provide a whole new level to this world and the possibilities. And I can find them before the League 9 times out of 10."

She turned abruptly and opened my bedroom window.

"Your mother's business is failing. I estimate it will survive only 4 more months unless you decide to do something about it. I know people who can help,"

She swung out the window onto the fire escape.

"Wait," I called, leaning out the window. "How will I know how to contact you? What's your name?"

She leaned against the fire escape railing, eyes twinkling.

"My name, as I've calculate you have no way to find me, is Hayley. And I will find you."

She leaned over the edge and fell out of sight. I shoved myself through the window and ran to the railing, worried about what I might see below.

there was nothing but a loose rope swinging in the breeze.