Mason and Ash were bickering even when I reached the den. They hardly saw each other, yet this is what they do when they're in the same room?

"Move over, you don't know what you're looking for!" Ash bumps Mason out of the desk chair, causing him to hit the floor with a loud thud.

"Excuse me but I think I know a little more about super powers than you!" Mason hollers at her, but he doesn't bump her out of the chair like she did to him. He pulls up a rose covered, cushioned chair instead.

Ash is typing furiously, researching faster than I ever had the motivation to. Mason watches her intently, finally giving my ears a break.

"Do you even know who we're contacting? You can't just search 'how to get super powers'. There's a system-"

"That I just hacked." Ash sits back, a satisfied smirk playing on her face. Mason's jaw drops.

"Yup. That's him. Richard Banks. He's the one who trained me." Mason states, his chin lifting a little higher since he recognized the man.

"And who is he?" I finally speak aloud. For some reason they both jump out of their skin. Ash brings her hand up to her chest, like she just had a heart attack.

"Richard Banks is Black Light." Mason says, eyes glued to the laptop screen once again. It's a wonder he has super vision; I'd think he'd have eye problems if anything.

"This helps us how?" Jonas enters the room, startling me now.

Ash huffs, "He's the oldest villain alive. He trained Steel Hawk. He can tell us anything we want to know."

"Why would he?" I squint my eyes in their direction.

Mason and Ash are both nerds. They don't usually have to explain themselves to people of lesser brain capabilities, I suppose. But could they be a smidge more patient?

"Because he loves me like a son. He doesn't have to know I'm a good guy now. I just have to be willing to play villain for a while in order to coax the information I need out of him." Mason finishes his sentence with a 'duh' look, as if I had 'stupid' tattooed on my forehead. I clench my fist, ready to fight my older brother. I may not have been a freaky genius, but I made A's and B's in school.

Ash pipes up, "And if he doesn't, Jonas can read his mind." Jonas smirks and leans back against the beige wall.

Jonas was an only child and his parents were pretty wealthy. His parents seemed to always be on business trips. Their house was elegantly decorated, with simple, wine colored walls. They were rich, not gaudy. One would think Jonas would dress nicer, drive a sports car, or be more popular. While he wore decent clothes and was good looking, he drove a beat up truck so he wouldn't get special treatment or popularity by association.

Perhaps I've been staring at him for too long. Mason and Ash have already started discussing something else and Jonas is grinning like a fool in my direction. Abort mission, abort!

Just as I look away, Ash and Mason are back to bickering over the laptop, pulling on it and pushing each other. Seriously, can Ash get along with anybody? First Jonas, now my brother?

Mason yells at her, "I have to be the one to contact him! He can't know of any trace to another person. I have to see him in person!" He lets go, just as Ash pulls back. She topples over in the chair and Jonas lets out a hoot. I would've thought Mason did it intentionally and would be laughing with Jonas, but his eyes light up in fear instead. Mason reaches down to help her up. To my surprise, she lets him. Zero to one hundred real quick.

"Okay here's the plan," I try to break the awkwardness I'm feeling, "Tomorrow, while we're at school, Mason will go to see this Richard Banks guy-"

"Whoa, not just Mason. I need to go too." Jonas interrupts.

I shake my head, "I would need to go as well, but we have to act normal. We can't all go see Richard Banks. Mickey would go looking for us."

"Mickey? Oh, you think he's the other Red Raven." Mason murmurs to himself. I nod, then turn my attention back to Jonas.

"You can't go, Jonas." I fold my arms over my chest.

He rolls his eyes, "No, we can't go. I can. You and Ash carry on, and Mickey will never know I'm gone."

But Jonas can't leave me. Not in biology, not with Sophia. What am I supposed to do without him in that class?

It's one day, Della. It's just one day. I tell myself.

Apparently I wasn't convinced of this plan in my facial expression. Ash gently pats my back, "It's okay. Jonas is a hero too. I think he can manage one time without you," She glances at him, and his eyebrows shoot up in surprise. She took his side? "Maybe." She finishes.

"Okay, let's all get some sleep. Ash, Della, y'all go to school tomorrow. Jonas, you're coming with me." Mason claps his hands together to finalize the plans.

Ash begins to walk out of the door when Mason clears his throat awkwardly. "Do you want me to take you home?"

My eyes almost pop out of my head. Did my brother just ask my best friend if he could walk her home?

Ash blushes a deep red. "Well if you'd like to..." He smiles like I've never seen before. No, seriously, I don't think I've ever seen my brother genuinely happy.

Mason and Ash head out of the room. I hear her say, "Wait, where's your car?" I laugh when I hear her shriek as they take off into the night sky. Jonas chuckles too.

"Did you see the way he looked at her?" I grab Jonas' arm, shaking him to the point where he looked green in the face.

"What are you talking about?" He finally catches his balance.

I gesture towards the open doorway, "Mason and Ash!"

Jonas squints but laughs in my face, "Those two? You're seeing things."

My stomach has a knot in it all of a sudden. Jonas walks around me, still laughing at my accusations.

My voice is barely above a whisper. "It's the same way you looked at me." I dare to say aloud.

Jonas stops dead in his tracks, but doesn't turn around in the door frame. I feel my heart racing as I wait for his response. How I wish I knew how he felt.

"Wow. Then he must be falling pretty hard for her."

***

I stare at the road ahead of me. Three miles, straight shot. My finger lingers over the watch on my wrist. I let out a steady breath, focusing my energy.

My Nikes are positioned against the pavement in a running stance. Here we go.

In a bolt, I take off for school. The wind tosses my hair around and it probably wasn't my best decision to wear a flowing shirt. When I arrive, I stop the clock. Point two seconds. Ugh. I should be faster by now.

I march into the school building fixing my hair with my phone camera. Ash should be here already. She's always been a morning person.

My stomach growls, reminding me that I forgot to eat breakfast. I tug on the straps of my book bag and begin to walk through the commons area. No one looks at me anymore.

I'm not going to lie, I'm not a popular person. Even when I played sports and now that I'm 'dating' Mickey, I still wasn't labeled a cool kid. I was only invited to parties when Mickey felt like letting me tag along. It was only when it was convient for him that he would mention them.

My mood is brightened and my negative memories fade when Ash comes bouncing up to me. To add to my happiness, she has a McDonalds sausage biscuit held out to me.

"For me? Really? How much?" I ask, bringing out my wallet from my navy blue book bag. She pushes my hand away from the bag, "No, no. It's good!"

My eyes narrow at her, "Alright, you're way too perky. You usually would have told me some news tragedy by now." I unwrap the biscuit and take a huge bite.

She laughs as she brings out her own bacon, egg, and ham biscuit. "Oh, I'm just excited that my ultimate ship has set sail."

"Snowbarry?" I ask with a mouthful of food.

There she goes, laughing again. She is more than happy, she's on edge about something.

"No, Della! You and Jonas!" I almost choke.

"What?!?" I exclaim. Oh, so now everyone in the commons area wants to pay attention to me.

We exit the commons area to the court yard, where she leads us to an abandoned table.

I take a seat across from her. She immediately starts to fangirl.

"You guys were sitting so close, and then we came in and you jumped away! Oh, Della, I'm so happy for you two-"

"We're not a thing, Ash." I sputter out. What she saw was not her imagination, but I don't want her to start making our wedding invitations yet. Jonas and I didn't even kiss.

"So when will you be a thing?" She presses on.

I close my eyes in frustration, "I don't think it's that simple, Ash. A few days ago I was extremely uncomfortable with him slightly touching my arm or accidentally brushing my hand."

She finishes her biscuit and gets up to throw the wrapper away. Since becoming a hero, Jonas and I have spent a lot of time together, more than usual. I don't know what made him touchy so much, though.

"Well, I'm sure you were still thinking about Mickey for a while and that's what made you feel odd. But do you think now that you could really like Jonas?"

"Mickey is a villain, Ash. He cheated on me and I'm pretty sure he's the one who wants to rid me of my powers. I'd say I'm still getting over him but, no, actually I'm ready to beat the crap out of this boy. And as for Sophia-"

"Whoa, girl. Calm down," Ash stops me with a laugh. I may have gotten a little worked up. "I just wanted to know how you felt about Jonas."

My thoughts go haywire for a moment. Do I like Jonas? Is it okay to suddenly have feelings for your guy best friend? Oh my gosh. Is it against the rules to date your sidekick? Whoa. I want to date Jonas?

"Della?" My brain is all messed up. Maybe I should go home for the day. I don't know what's going through my mind right now. Can I possibly like the guy that gives me headaches just by walking in the room?

"Della, you're worrying me." Ash's face flashes with concern. I feel nauseous.

"I can't believe I might actually like Jonas." I whisper while staring at the ground. When I look up, Ash is smiling and I can't help but let out a nervous laugh.

"I get to be your maid of honor." She jokes. Except, I don't really think she's joking.

"Let's get to class." I roll my eyes at her.

She starts to hum "Here comes the bride" as we walk down the hall. Before I can tell her to shut up, we enter the classroom to a menacing looking Mickey. I gulp. What do I do now? Do I sit beside him? No. Why should I? Everyone knows he cheated, everyone knows I know he cheated. I already made it hail on his car, and if he's the real Red Raven he knew it was me. There's no reason for me to take my normal spot beside him anymore. I hold my head up as we walk past him to the empty seats in the back of the classroom. Ash looks scared to death. With that glare of his, I'm not sure I'm all that brave either.

For the rest of the class period, I'm focused on the board in the front of the classroom. Mickey keeps looking back at me. He's probably wondering where Jonas is. I think to myself, my whole body tensing.

When the hour is up and the bell rings, Mickey bolts for the door. In a moment of panic, I turn to Ash.

"You don't think he knows Jonas is with Mason, do you?"

She shakes her head, no. "He's not a mind reader, Della. He's smart, but not psychic."

Then why did he take off in such a rush?

When lunch time comes around, I know not to expect Mickey to be sitting with us. He didn't sit with us yesterday either. Why we haven't made our break up official is beyond my understanding.

Ash and I are about to exchange lunches like always when I'm suddenly pulled back from my seat and pushed up against the forest green wall.

I'm met with Mickey's spiteful eyes, his eyebrows furrowed in anger. I try not to show how nervous I am. Would he dare to use his powers on me in front of the whole cafeteria?

"You think you can just hang up on me? You think you can ignore me and walk past me?" His face is inches from mine, screaming the words in my face.

"Nick, I-" I try to stutter out in my bewilderment. Why is he acting like this?

"Shut up. I know you're with Jonas now, but have a little decency. Cheating on someone is not the right way to break up with someone."

Am I hearing things right? I look over to Ash, who's just as baffled as I am. The rest of the cafeteria gathers closer to our bickering. Well, Mickey's bickering. I'm apparently not allowed to speak.

"Excuse me, but that's not what happened." I snap at him, pushing against his chest. There you go, Della. I tell myself.

His eyes widen at my change of character. I'm not going to coward in the corner any more.

"Everyone knows you cheated on me. I saw you cheat on me! You can stop trying to make yourself look good in front of the school. You, Nick Michaels, are not the good guy. As for what you think about Jonas, you can assume all you want," I've been pushing against his chest the whole time I've been scolding him. He's almost backed up into a wall this time.

"But I haven't cheated on you. We've been done since you made out with Sophia." I shove him into the wall and turn my back on him. The whole crowd stumbles out of the way as I make my way back to Ash and grab my lunch bag. When I nod for her to walk with me, we exit the cafeteria doors, leaving the rest of the cafeteria speechless until the doors close.

"I can't believe you did that," she turns to me, "You just did that!" She squeals. I laugh nervously.

"I guess I did. I was just tired of going on like we were. He just told me he loved me to keep me distracted." The thought of Mickey sickens me now. It use to just be Sophia.

"You stood up to him, though. I can't believe he cornered you and tried to convince everyone you were a liar."

I'm about to respond when my phone buzzes.

Jonas.

I pull my phone out of my back pocket to reveal an alert from Jonas. If caps lock and exclamation points don't scream help and panic, I don't know what does. Except for maybe the content of his text.

We found him, but he spotted me. Running for my life now. I'm on Sophia's road. PLEASE HELP AND COME GET ME!!!

I sigh, "Ash, I've got to go save a damsel in distress."

A/N
Wow this was a long chapter. And I still didn't get in the scene I wanted to write. Ugh, maybe next chapter.

Anyways, what did y'all think about Mickey cornering her? What do you think will happen to Jonas?

Thanks for reading!
Always, Sunny