Chapter 56

             Duha runs at The Spektrum but The Spektrum easily side steps aside and brings up light ropes. Duha runs into them and rebounds backwards into a waistlock for a German Suplex! Duha hits the ground with his shoulders and neck as The Spektrum gets up.

            Tulo runs at Catgirl, she swings a roundhouse kick, but he slides under and gets around behind her. She swings a back hand, but he leans back in time to avoid it. He stands back up and brings a foot up to boot at her, but she swats it away to follow up with a left jab and right uppercut. Tulo staggers back and she follows with a back heel kick!

            Catgirl looks at her fingers as she notices something on them to make the skin shiny.

            “Eww!” she says. “Is this guy all greasy?”

            “Yeah, he’s pretty much a slime ball,” The Spektrum says. “Just try and ignore it while you kick him around.”

            Tulo gets up as Catgirl spins around.

            “Neko-Neko style- AH!”

            Tulo tackles Catgirl down onto the grass while she’s spinning!

            “Cat!” The Spektrum shouts.

            He heads her way but Duha clobbers The Spektrum from behind. The Spektrum staggers but stays standing, and Duha keeps on him with fast body shots from both sides! Duha hits The Spektrum about ten times in as many seconds with his super speed, but The Spektrum turns around and back hand CHOPS Duha hard in the chest.

            Duha is out of breath for a moment and The Spektrum steps for the Flash Kick. Duha reacts by putting his arms up to protect his face, but The Spektrum doesn’t follow through.

            “Sucker!” he shouts before he mule kicks Duha in the knee.

            Duha doubles over, clutching that knee, and The Spektrum hits him with a Famouser leg drop!

            The Spektrum turns to go help Catgirl, but she’s already kicked Tulo away. She’s up and Tulo scrambles to his feet, but he runs into her thrusting a knee and it gets him in the chest. He sputters to breathe but Catgirl follows up with a right hammer fist to his head and a long swinging uppercut, also with her right hand. Tulo stays on his feet so Catgirl goes at him with a low sweeping back hand. This gets Tulo in the knee, and while he falls over, Catgirl follows with a back handspring kick! Her foot gets Tulo under the chin and he fall backwards!

            “Good work!” The Spektrum says. “Now cover him for the pin!”

            “What?” Catgirl says, hands back in disgust. “No, he’s all greasy!”

            “Well, okay you don’t have to be on him like normal,” The Spektrum says. “There’re other ways, like- AGH!”

            Duha knocks into him with a high speed shoulder!

            The Spektrum stumbles and falls over and Duha stomps him with super speed! Duha stomps, stomps, stomps, stomps, stomps, stomps, stomps then kicks The Spektrum in the side. Then Duha kicks and kicks and kicks, until The Spektrum turns onto his side and catches the foot!

            “Dragon screw you!” The Spektrum grins.

            The Spektrum kicks off the ground to spin and he twists Duha’s leg! Duha barks out in pain as he falls over. The Spektrum holds onto the leg and uses it to turn Duha over onto his stomach. The Spektrum lifts the leg and smashes Duha’s knee into the dirt!

            “As I was saying,” The Spektrum says as he steps on Duha’s leg while walking towards Catgirl. “There are other ways to pin. Not that it matters, he’s crawling away.”

            “What?” Catgirl says as he turns to look. “Hey!”

            Tulo is indeed crawling in a quiet retreat towards a trash can. He looks over his shoulder to see them looking at him, and he starts crawling faster.

            “Slimy little chicken!” The Spektrum shouts as he runs over.

            The Spektrum stomps Tulo while he’s down, then grabs the trash can. The Spektrum swings the can into Tulo’s head and the plastic gives off a hollow *DONK*. He drops the trash can to jump up into the air and drop a knee on Tulo’s chest!

            “Okay here’s one way to pin,” The Spektrum says as he shifts his legs to sit on Tulo’s chest.

            “One,” Computer counts. “Two.”

            Tulo kicks with his legs and that gets The Spektrum off him and a shoulder off the ground.

            “Sitting on him is a pin?” Catgirl asks.

            “Whatever keeps the opponent’s shoulders down is a pin,” The Spektrum says as he keeps his eyes on Tulo.

            “But now your pants are all greasy,” she says. “Not that I was looking at your butt! I was looking at the grease.”

            “Better on our pants than our hands, right?”

            Duha hobbles over and The Spektrum steps over Tulo. The Spektrum eggs Duha on with more beckoning fingers and Duha swings on him. The Spektrum blocks the punch and pushes that hand away. Duha tries again but gets a roundhouse! Tulo stands up, and The Spektrum spins towards him for a spinning mule kick. The Spektrum spins back the other way to forearm Duha then keeps spinning to give a roundhouse to Tulo!

            “Impressive,” Catgirl says with applause.

            “Here,” The Spektrum says as holds out his hand.

            “High five?” she says as she gives one.

            “That, and a tag,” he says. “You take on the speed demon, I’ll take the slime ball.”

            “Okay,” she says.

            Catgirl stands in front of Duha as he gets up, and The Spektrum stands over Tulo.

            “Get up,” The Spektrum says as he kicks tauntingly; not so hard that he’s doing serious damage, but enough to be felt.

            Tulo grumbles as he gets up. The Spektrum puts up his light ropes to keep Tulo from going too far away. Tulo uses the ropes to stand up and The Spektrum kicks him hard in the thigh! Tulo starts to kneel, but he uses the ropes to stay up, only to get another hard kick!

            “C’mon you slimy,” The Spektrum says, “greasy, slimy, creep!”

            The Spektrum emphasizes “slimy,” “greasy,” “slimy,” and “creep” with a kick! Tulo’s leg can barely support himself on that leg now, so he leans on the ropes. He’s left completely open and The Spektrum gives him a Flash Kick! Tulo flops against the ropes, and the elasticity flings him forward, into another Flash Kick! And then the process repeats for a third Flash Kick in a row! Only then does The Spektrum let Tulo flop to the ground.

            “Suck on that, ya gross little worm,” The Spektrum says.

            The Spektrum looks over at Catgirl as she takes her fighting stance against Duha. Duha swings a fast one-two then a low left kick, but Catgirl keeps up with each of them, blocking the left punch, right punch and raising her leg to avoid the kick. She comes back with her right hand and spinning forearm, but he also has the speed to keep up.

            The Spektrum lurks at a safe distance as Duha avoids Catgirl’s knee thrust. The Spektrum can feel the limits of the ropes and the corners around them. It’s just as it was in his fight against Siro, except it’s invisible. He can’t see it, but he knows where everything is, as if he can.

            Duha jumps and spins for a back kick but Catgirl swats that way. Duha lands, spins forward for a roundhouse, but Catgirl blocks that. Duha’s speed translates to force and that makes Catgirl take a step back. Duha spins back again and sweeps the legs! Catgirl twists as she falls to catch herself with her hands, and even pushes back up for a handstand. But Duha stands up to sweep her arms out! Catgirl lands hard on her stomach and chest and The Spektrum steps closer.

            “No, I’m okay!” she says.

            The Spektrum stays back as Catgirl flips onto her back and kicks from the ground, hitting Duha in the knee. Duha kneels and Catgirl kicks from the ground again, this time getting him in the head! Duha is dazed while down on his knees, and Catgirl basically boxes his head with a swatting right-left-right! Duha is even more stunned and Catgirl tops it off by bringing her hands together, stepping her right foot back and pivoting on her left, to come around and THRUST her right elbow into Duha’s face!

            “Nice one,” The Spektrum says as he hurries over to Duha.

            The Spektrum covers for a pin and Computer counts, “One. Two.”

            Duha kicks out and The Spektrum gets annoyed.

            “Are you serious right now?” he shouts as he stands up. “Get up!”

            The Spektrum drags Duha up and back hand chops! The smacking impact echoes out and Duha staggers backwards. The ropes appear right where The Spektrum knew they’d be, and he hooks Duha’s arms onto the top rope.

            The Spektrum shakes out his hand, takes aim, and puts even more into his next back hand CHOP! Duha falls to his knees, hands clutching the stinging spot on his chest. The Spektrum grabs Duha around the shoulder and pants and throws him through the ropes, and holds onto the arm. The Spektrum kicks the middle rope and it jams into Duha’s throat.

            Duha sputters and coughs and The Spektrum drags him back through the ropes. The Spektrum has Duha around the head for a reverse headlock, and with Duha dangling off the middle rope, The Spektrum drops for a DDT! Duha’s head hits the dirt with a thunk! The Spektrum then turns Duha over for a cover.

            “One. Two.”

            Tulo jumps onto The Spektrum! Tulo throws sloppy hammering hands, but Catgirl runs up to kick him away.

            “Aaagh…” The Spektrum grumbles as he gets back up. “I think his grease is in my hair now…!”

            The Spektrum rushes at Tulo, and Tulo feels the ropes at his back. Tulo scrambles up over the top to run away, but The Spektrum grabs him by his greasy hair. The gloves help The Spektrum keep hold, and he pulls Tulo back to the ropes. The Spektrum “hotshots” Tulo off the ropes, using the elasticity to snap him off like a rubber band. Tulo stumbles and staggers as he turns around, and The Spektrum uses the ropes to slingshot over the ropes themselves!

            “You’re done!” The Spektrum shouts as he grabs Tulo’s head with both hands.

            The Spektrum falls to the ground and drives Tulo’s face into the dirt with a “facebuster!”

            “Ha ha!” The Spektrum laughs as he turns Tulo over.

            But before The Spektrum covers, he sees Usa getting up from where they left him earlier.

            “Craaap…!” The Spektrum groans. “I forgot he didn’t disappear with the stupid dumb thing because they came down instead…! Uuugh…”

            He stands up and drops the ropes completely.

            “C’mon,” he says as he waves Catgirl over. “We’re gonna have to kick the big red one’s ass again.”

            Catgirl’s ears point back as she walks over and frowns at him.

            “What?” he asks, squinting.

            “I don’t think I like Green,” she says.

            He takes a long and certainly exaggerated gasp before saying, “What?” in a hushed tone.

            “Well, I mean, you kinda have this attitude,” she says.

            “Attitude?” he says with a squinting frown. “What attitude?”

            Duha gets up and The Spektrum groans.

            “Stay down, speed bump!” The Spektrum shouts before he Flash Kicks Duha in the face!

            Duha wobbles, doubles over, and props himself up with a hand. The Spektrum then brings Duha around and lines him up with Usa. The Spektrum brings Duha up onto his shoulders powerbomb style, and runs at Usa! Usa is on his feet when The Spektrum throws Duha off him, and Duha bounces off Usa like a ball off a wall. Usa just looks down at Duha on the ground.

            “That didn’t hurt me,” Usa says.

            “I know, ya big doofus, it was supposed to hurt him,” The Spektrum says as he points at Duha with his chin.

            Usa grumbles as he quickly reaches down and picks Duha up. Tulo walks up behind the heroes.

            “Are we really going to take all three of these guys on by ourselves?” Catgirl asks.

            “I know, seems kinda boring, huh?” The Spektrum says. “Why didn’t all five of you come after us?”

            “Because he didn’t think we’d need to,” Tulo says with a sneer.

            “Who didn’t?” The Spektrum asks. “Siro? He didn’t think I was worth all five of you?”

            The Spektrum looks up, seeing only rolling clouds.

            “Is that what you think, ya knockoff?!” he shouts.

            Tulo runs up behind The Spektrum, but Catgirl intercepts with a jump kick. Duha runs in but The Spektrum put the ropes back up. Duha runs into the ropes and is sent backwards. Duha rolls backwards, returning to his feet, just as The Spektrum steps between the ropes.

            In one smooth motion, The Spektrum puts his right foot on the bottom rope as he brings his left leg through, and uses the elasticity to springboard himself forward.

            “Get over here!” he shouts in a low, dramatic voice as he grabs Duha by his shoulder.

            The Spektrum uses his weight to pull Duha down to the ground, and Duha lands face first. Usa storms over, but The Spektrum brings Duha up and finally returns to Silver. The Spektrum one-hand shoves Duha at Usa. Duha has a solid collision with Usa, who catches Duha. The Spektrum gets around Usa and shovels the red giant onto his shoulders for the Electric Chair!

            “Whoa~…!” Usa says as The Spektrum’s legs start to wobble.

            “Don’t-drop-me!” Duha says quickly.

            The Spektrum can’t get Usa up and over, so he drops forward, for an Electric Chair Facebuster! And with Usa still holding onto Duha, Duha gets squashed under him! The Spektrum avoids also going face first under Usa by dropping to his knees and letting Usa slide off his head.

            “Duha?” Usa asks as he gets up.

            “Ow…” Duha groans.

            The Spektrum gets under Usa to bring him onto his shoulders again, but in a fireman’s carry. The Spektrum turns and starts tipping Usa towards Duha.

            “SILVER SLAM!” The Spektrum shouts as he throws Usa down onto Duha!

            “AAAGH!” Duha lets out as he’s against squashed under the red giant.

            The Spektrum then turns to see Catgirl swing a kick, Tulo duck it, but then Catgirl ducks Tulo’s kick to catch him in the hip with a spinning back kick. She then kicks him to make him stand up straight again, and she gets him with a left heel kick! Tulo takes a tumble towards The Spektrum. Tulo sits up, to get a low-flying Flash Kick!

            “Jackknife bridge!” The Spektrum says, back to Green.

            The Spektrum somersaults along Tulo’s legs, bringing Tulo’s legs up.

            “One. Two.”

            Tulo pushes up with his arms, but The Spektrum tips to one side to stand up, Tulo draped off his back.

            “Kick him!” he says to Catgirl.

            She boots Tulo in the side of the head and The Spektrum uses that momentum to swing Tulo while spinning around. Then The Spektrum stops and lets Tulo continue go around head first, around The Spektrum’s own body. The Spektrum catches Tulo’s head under his right arm, keeps hold of the left leg, and drives Tulo down into the ground with an “Air Raid Crash!” Tulo not only hits neck first, but his body is scrunched up, butt in the air!

            “Get his other leg!” The Spektrum says.

            Catgirl hurries over and keeps Tulo’s left leg down with body hands.

            “One. Two. Three! Catgirl and The Spektrum win!”

 

            “AAAAAAARRGH!” Siro yells, his eyes filled with rage looking at the screen.

            Siro goes back to hammering a couch cushion, but now with both hands.

            “Hey! Hey!” Zorb says. “Calm down, calm down!”

            The teleporter brings Usa, Duha and Tulo back to the ship, still slumped on the ground.

            “I feel like all the boss hired us for is to lose,” Tulo mopes.

            “Pagkabigo! <Failures!>” Siro shouts at them while storming over. “All of you are failures! Usa, you are literally a GIANT failure!”

            “Siro, just relax,” Zita says. “No one expected The Spektrum would get a new color.”

            “I’m not going to relax until he’s dead!” Siro seethes.

            He then turns to Lima.

            “Tomorrow, before there are even classes starting,” Siro says. “You are going to go down there and finish this! He is not going to make it to-”

            “Actually, no, you can’t,” Zorb says at roughly the same time. “Siro, listen to me.”

            “What?!” he snaps.

            “You won’t be able to use the teleporter tomorrow,” Zorb says. “We tried to explain this to you before. The teleporter has limited energy per day, and we used it three times. That is the maximum.”

            “It’s why we didn’t keep using it again and again every single day on The Spektrum before,” Zita adds.

            “That does explain why you sometimes took days off,” Siro mutters. Then in a full voice, “But then how long will it take to get back to full power?”

            “Literally all day tomorrow,” Zita says.

            “So we won’t be able to do anything until Wednesday?” Siro says.

            “If that’s the Earth word for the day two days from now, then yes,” Zita says.

            Siro clenches his fists and tightens the muscles in his arms, arms up like he wants to hit something, but then he never does. He takes a deep breath and puts his arms down, biting the inside of his lip. After that, he simply storms off to his room.

 

            “Well,” Catgirl says, looking around for any more flashes of light. “Guess that’s all?”

            “Yeah but we’ve got to get back to being ourselves,” The Spektrum says, changing back to Silver.

            The two look around at the crowd, which doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.

            “Come on,” a school security guard says. “Everyone clear out. Go back to class.”

            “But it’s lunch time,” a student counters.

            “Well, then just give the superheroes some space,” the guard says.

            The students don’t listen to the lone guard and keep taking pictures of The Spektrum and Catgirl.

            “Okay, let’s try this,” The Spektrum says as he steps up.

            He turns around to face Catgirl and he holds out cupped hands again. She understands what he’s thinking and steps into the hands. He uses his strength to give her another huge boost, and she flies over the crowd! She braces herself as she nears the ground and lands on her feet as easy as stepping off a staircase. And with everyone in awe of Catgirl flying through the air, The Spektrum makes a run for it to C Hall.

            “Hey!” a student says as they spot him, which gets the attention of several others.

            The Spektrum gets inside and hurries upstairs. Meanwhile, Catgirl gets into the stairwell from the Science Wing and changes back to Zoey Mizaki as she goes up a floor.

            On The Spektrum’s end, he reaches the top of the stairs and runs right into the men’s restroom. Once he sees he is alone, including the stalls, he changes back to Simon. He quickly gets out of the restroom before anyone arrives, and hurries down the hall a few feet. As people rush upstairs in search of The Spektrum, he appears to just be coming from one of the classrooms.

            “Where’d he go?!” someone asks him.

            “The bathroom!” a girl says as she barges in.

            “Did she just…?” another person says.

            Simon is just as surprised and perhaps worried as the rest of them, but he manages to slip around behind them as the search continues down the hall.

            For Catgirl/Zoey, she walks out of the stairwell but sees students heading out of Room 205, the fan club room. She quickly ducks into the doorway of 202 and lets everyone pass by. The Science Wing doorways are deep, too. And when the coast is clear, Zoey turns the corner of the doorway, only to bump into someone.

            “Oh,” she says as she steps back. “Sorry, Cyndi, I should’ve looked.”

            “No, it’s okay,” Cyndi says. “Nice leap, by the way. Did you two practice stuff like that?”

            “Oh, that? No, no,” Zoey chuckles. “We came up with that on the fly.”

            “Good one,” Cyndi says with a weak chuckle.

            “Huh?”

            “You said ‘fly’ and you flew through the air,” Cyndi says, a little confused.

            Zoey thinks about it a moment.

            “Oh, yeah, I did, huh?” she says, laughing. “Well obviously, pun not intended. But no, really, we just kinda came up with that during the fight.”

            “Oh, wow,” Cyndi says. “Well, good thing it worked out.”

            “Yeah,” Zoey says.

            “Also,” Zoey continues as she points a thumb over her shoulder and glances back, “you’re kinda… behind everyone else.”

            “Oh, yeah, well,” Cyndi says. “It’s not as exciting when you know the answers, right?”

            “Right, right,” Zoey nods. “Okay, um, see you after lunch then.”

            “See you then,” Cyndi says as she continues on.

            With Cyndi following the crowd down the stairway Zoey just came from, Zoey goes to the far side to make her way down.

            “Oh I didn’t know there was an elevator here,” she says.

            Zoey presses the button and the elevator comes up. She enjoys it all to herself as she rides it down. She exits then sees a path around the back of the Science Wing, which is right by the parking lot. She uses this to avoid being spotted.

            Simon exits C Hall and returns to the bleachers and his friends.

            “Finally, I get to eat,” he says as he sits back down.

            He takes big bites of his sandwich to get through it faster.

            “Careful you don’t choke,” Alex jokes.

            Zoey comes around the corner to the right of the bleachers and steps up to simply walk down the way.

            “Oh, before I forget what it looks like,” she says to Simon as she sits down. “I’ll draw that logo you had… on your butt.”

            “Yeah, we heard you guys shouting about it,” Michelle says as she chuckles. “That was weird.”

            “Did you… get a good look at it?” Erin asks, trying not to smirk.

            Zoey only responds with a pursing of her lips.

            Zoey brings out a notebook and a pencil then doodles a circle and two lines.

            “So that,” Simon says, “was on my butt?”

            “In bright yellow on green,” Zoey says.

            “Oh I see what’s going on,” Simon says as he puts a finger on the doodle. “This empty space here looks a little like an S. S for Spektrum.”

            “Well, I suppose it’s fine to be selfish when it’s on your butt,” Zoey says, making herself giggle with a big smile.

            “If you want to make the lightning bolt hands for the group, we can make it for the group,” Simon says. “Is that fine with you?”

            “Well,” she says as she picks up her own lunch box. “I suppose. We can talk with the others about it on Wednesday.”

            “Alright,” he says. “Wait, why Wednesday?”

            “Because that’s when youth group meets,” Zoey says, a bit confused as to why he’s confused.

            “I know that,” Simon says. “But I wasn’t even sure I was going this week.”

            “Why wouldn’t you go this week? You went last week.”

            “Because of the circumstances,” he says. “We were training together because of Siro, so I was already in Alameda. But things have started returning to normal. Well, the kind of normal you get with superpowers.”

            “Oh,” Zoey says as she puts the notebook away. “Well, I just thought that we could spend time together that way.”

            She glances over at him as he rummages in a Ziploc bag for a Cool Ranch Dorito. She wants him to want to spend more time with her since she wants to spend more time with him. But she doesn’t want to be so bold as to basically ask him out to youth group like it’s a date because that would be weird to do.

            “We can still spend time together on the other days of the week,” he says.

            “True,” she says, seeing a flaw in her strategy. “But I was also thinking we could spend time with my friends. Sunday service has a schedule, but Wednesday is more open so that you can really get to know them.”

            “I guess so,” he shrugs. “I guess I can go, since you’ll have your cousins come and get you anyway.”

            “Okay,” Zoey smiles big and bright.

            Simon’s friends look at him and Zoey while he munches his chip and she takes a smiling bite of her own sandwich. They can see what’s going on, but wonder why Simon doesn’t. Simon does notice them looking at him, though.

            “What?” he asks.

            “Nothing,” Bryan says for the group as the others look off in different directions.

 

            The rest of the school day goes by without incident, even with the tension during PE. But nothing comes of it, even as Simon and Robby bench press near each other, and even as Gina and her friends give the stink eye to Cyndi and Zoey.

            After school, Zoey and Simon walk home together as before.

            “Do you want to do homework together?” she asks. “Like, not just over the phone, but in person.”

            “Oh, um,” he says, caught off guard and now a bit nervous. “I guess so. Whose house would we go to?”

            “Which house is closer?”

            “Umm…” Simon says as he thinks. “The way I used to go had extra turns because I would get off of Bancroft on Elsie, but then there’s at turn at San Rafael and another on Evergreen. Yeah, I think it’d be easier just to go to your house on Maud, that’s just one turn. Although…”

            “Although what?” she asks. “Are you turning red?”

            “What?” he asks, looking down at his clothes.

            “Sorry, I didn’t mean Code Red,” Zoey says. “Your ears were red. Were you blushing?”

            “Uh…”

            “Why were you blushing?” she asks with a curious smile.

            “Well, I just thought, maybe your dad would be concerned if you were alone with a guy.”

            “It’ll be fine,” Zoey says with a dismissive wave of her hand. “He’s learned to trust me after having Shaun over.”

            “Okay, but what if he doesn’t trust me?”

            “Well, he’ll trust you because I trust you,” she says. “After all, I trusted you to throw me into the air.”

            “Yeah, that was pretty crazy improv, huh?” he chuckles.

            “Y’know, I meant to ask you,” Zoey says, “but with classes and all, we couldn’t really talk about The Spektrum.”

            “Yeah, and even though we sit next to each other, Mr. De would’ve caught us passing notes or something. Though, I’ve never been very good with note passing anyway.”

            “Me, neither,” Zoey chuckles. “But anyway, to this new Code Green of yours. Obviously everyone was talking about him.”

            “Obviously,” Simon chuckles back.

            “But I don’t think anyone really noticed how he behaved,” Zoey says, looking at Simon with a wry smile. “What was all that?”

            “I dunno…” he mumbles.

            “Silver is rather charismatic,” Zoey says. “Red is mellow for being so fast. Which is funny, because mellow rhymes with yellow, but Yellow had a bit of this energy to him. Blue is serious. Like, really serious. And of course, Code Black is aggressive and... angry. So where does Green fit in? And why Green first? Where are Orange and Purple?”

            “I really don’t know,” he says. “I never made more than the original five in my pro-wrestling game. Though, I’m not sure why there are other abilities. Red is fast but why does he have Overdrive? Yellow is smart but why does he have Analysis? Blue is tough but why does he have a force field? What about Silver and Black? Do they have special abilities I haven’t unlocked yet?”

            “Okay, okay,” she says with a hand up. “Relax.”

            Simon realizes he was getting worked up and takes a breath.

            “Sorry,” he says.

            “It’s okay,” she says. “Your powers are very confusing and that’s stressful. Compared to all these mysteries, I guess I shouldn’t be so worried about cravings for more seafood.”

            “Back to Green’s mood,” Simon says. “I do admit that was me with more of an edge. Not as much as Code Black, obviously, but he’s, or I am, in this grittier head space, where I’m just kinda…”

            “Grumpy,” Zoey says, followed by a giggle. “Grumpy Green.”

            “Ha ha,” he says sarcastically. “Though, that probably is a nice way of putting it.”

            “Maybe you’re Mean Green,” Zoey says, giggling more. “A mean, green fighting machine!”

            “‘Mean Green’ sounds like something Hulk Hogan would say,” Simon chuckles.

            “What?”

            “Well let me tell you something, Mean Green!” Simon says in a gruff, burly voice.

            “Was that your Hulk Hogan voice?” she laughs.

            “Yes,” he says. “That was the best Hogan voice I could do as a skinny teenage boy.”

            The two laugh, then cross the street. After that, it’s just another block before turning right and going down Maud.

            As Zoey and Simon go up the stairs to her front door, Zoey’s phone buzzes. She takes it out and checks the caller ID.

            “Oh, it’s my friend, Karina,” she says.

            She takes out her phone at the same time she gets out her keys.

            “Hey, Kari-chan,” Zoey says as she holds her phone between shoulder and head. “I just got home.”

            Zoey puts her keys in the door and unlocks it.

            “I wish I could’ve called you earlier,” Karina says. “We were all just hearing about the fight during lunch period.”

            “Oh, well, yeah,” Zoey chuckles as she lets Simon in through the door. “I was thinking about calling you guys about it.”

            Simon carefully puts down his things as he sits at the arm chair.

            “You guys had some good teamwork,” Karina says. “At least, from what video has surfaced.”

            “Yeah, flying through the air was really cool,” she says as she sits on the couch. “Did you guys at least see the end of the fight?”

            “Sorta,” Karina says. “There were some people in the way, but you, er uh, Catgirl kicked the guy and The Spektrum swung him around?”

            “Yes, that Catgirl did,” Zoey says. “The Spektrum drove him down on his head. It was like a weird headlock thing. I’m not sure what you call it.”

            “It’s usually called an ‘Air Raid Crash,’” Simon whispers.

            “Air Raid?” Zoey says. “Why is it called that?

            “What?” Karina asks.

            “Oh, sorry,” Zoey says. “Simon’s with me because we’re doing homework together.”

            “Oh…!” Karina says, starting to smirk.

            “Stop smirking,” Zoey says.

            “You can’t see my face, you don’t know that I’m smirking,” Karina says.

            “But I know you, so I know you’re smirking,” Zoey says, starting to laugh. “We only just got here anyway so we haven’t started yet. What about you?”

            “Oh, yeah, just arriving ourselves,” Karina says. “But it’s just me and Onee-chan. Tennis practice is doing weekdays now so Marina is there. Chloe was asked to help the Events Committee real quick with something, too, but she wouldn’t know what until later.”

            “I’ll be sure to call her later then,” Zoey says as she gets her notebooks out with one hand. “And I’m sure you talked to my cousins today.”

            The two girls giggle, and though Zoey doesn’t see it, Simon smiles. He’s starting to think Zoey’s laugh is cute, too.

            “Well nothing happened here today,” Karina says as Alicia turns off the car. “Jeff’s getting bored. But he and Seth just headed home after school, too, so I’ll talk to him after dinner or something.”

            “Okay,” Zoey says. “Oh, if you don’t, it’s okay, but let him know that on Wednesday, when he and Seth pick me up for youth group, Simon will be joining us again.”

            “Oh, wow, really? I’m kinda surprised, since last week was his first time joining the youth group, right?”

            “Well, yeah,” Zoey says, a little uncomfortable talking about Simon with him nearby.

            Though it wouldn’t be fair to talk about him when he isn’t around, either, she thinks.

            “I am starting to see how hard it is to get from San Leandro to Alameda, though,” she says in his defense. “That extra half an hour of travel becomes an hour taken out of the day.”

            “That is rough,” Karina says as she opens her car door. “Well, hopefully you two can still make it. Talk to you later.”

            “Talk to you later,” Zoey says.

            Both girls hang up their phones, and Zoey starts on homework with Simon.

           

            After taking care of science, for Zoey’s sake while Simon was around to help, they move on to Pre-Calculus.

            “Okay, problem number five,” Simon says. “In parenthesis, 2X plus 3Y, cubed. I got… 8X cubed plus 12X squared Y plus 18XY squared plus 27Y cubed.”

            “Very close,” Zoey says. “The outside terms are right, but I think you missed the triple multipliers.”

            “Huh?”

            “It’s the binomial pyramid,” Zoey says as she shares her work. “Squared binomial expansion is a pattern of 1-2-1, so therefore cubed is 1-3-3-1.”

            Simon sees Zoey even has a reminder of that at the top of her work.

            (x + y)³ = 1 3 3 1

            (2x + 3y)³ = (2x + 3y)(2x + 3y)(2x + 3y)

            (2x + 3y)³ = 1(2x)³ + 3(4x²)(3y) + 3(2x)(9y²) + 1(3y)³

            (2x + 3y)³ = 8x³ + 3(12x²y) + 3(18xy²) + 27y³

            (2x + 3y)³ = 8x³ + 36x²y + 54xy² + 27y³

            “Oh, I feel so stupid,” he grumbles. “And I’m going to need to rewrite some of this…”

            He grumbles more as he carefully and thoroughly erases what he wrote.

            “You’re really smart, you know that?” he says.

            “Thank you,” Zoey smiles. “But it’s not like you didn’t know what to do. You only forgot a part.”

            “Yeah, I tend to do that,” Simon sighs. “I forget things and then don’t understand why I got it wrong.”

            “That’s why I’m not the best with science,” Zoey says. “There’s so much more to remember in biology and chemistry.”

            “Yeah but you did better this time,” he says.

            “Because you’ve been helping me,” she says. “So, thank you.”

            “Y-You’re welcome,” he says with a shy smile.

            The two look to the windows as a car can be heard pulling up to the house. Zoey goes to the windows on the corner and peeks outside.

            “Oh, my dad’s home already,” she says.

            They both check their phones for the time.

            “Wow, it’s already 4:30,” he says. “I should probably get home then.”

            “But we haven’t finished Pre-Calc,” she says.

            “It’s okay,” he says as he starts packing. “I can call you if I mess up again.”

            “Oh,” she says, a little down. “Okay.”

            Zoey opens the door for her father as he walks up the stairs.

            “Hi, Dad!” she greets.

            “Hey, there,” he says. “I’m half expecting your friends to be over, but there’s not nearly enough noise.”

            “Heh, yeah,” Zoey chuckles.

            Mr. Mizaki reaches the top and gives his daughter a hug before going inside and seeing Simon zip up his backpack.

            “Oh,” Mr. Mizaki says. “Hello.”

            “Hello, Mr. Mizaki,” Simon says nervously.

            Simon picks up his backpack and slings it on his arms while Zoey and Mr. Mizaki walk back inside.

            “When did this start being a thing?” Mr. Mizaki asks Zoey.

            “We were just doing homework,” Simon says, also nervously.

            “It’s fine, Dad,” Zoey says. “This is Simon Michaels from church.”

            “Ah,” Mr. Mizaki says with a nod. “Well, nice to see you, Simon.”

            “Nice to see you, Mr. Mizaki,” Simon says. “I’ll be going now.”

            “But he’ll be coming by on Wednesday,” Zoey adds as Simon heads for the door. “Seth and Jeff will pick us up for youth group.”

            “I see,” Mr. Mizaki says. “Well, alright then. I guess I’ll see you Wednesday.”

            “I was also thinking of spending time at Simon’s house tomorrow to do more homework,” Zoey says as Simon reaches the door.

            “Really?” Mr. Mizaki says at the same time Simon says, “What?”

            “Well, Simon’s been over more often than you think, Dad,” Zoey says. “But I’ve only been over to his house once so far. It wouldn’t be fair for me to always be hosting him.”

            “How many times has he been over?” Mr. Mizaki asks.

            “Practically all last week,” Zoey says. “Except for Friday. But what do you say? Can I spend time with you at your house tomorrow?”

            “Um,” Simon says, nervously glancing between her and her dad. “Y-Yeah, sure. That’s fine. A-And it does make sense, to be equal.”

            “Okay,” Zoey smiles. “See you tomorrow at school then.”

            “S-See you tomorrow,” Simon says.

            He finally steps out of the house and hurries down the stairs.

            “Well now that he’s left,” Mr. Mizaki says, closing the door, “I’ll ask again. When did this become a thing?”

            “It’s not a ‘thing,’ Dad,” Zoey says. “I mean… Not yet.”

            “‘Yet,’ is it?” he says with a sly smile.

            Zoey gives a sarcastic smile back before going back to the coffee table.

            “Okay, brush it off as ‘Dad being a dad,’” Mr. Mizaki says. “But after what happened with Shaun, I wasn’t sure when you’d be ready for another relationship.”

            “I wasn’t really, either,” Zoey shrugs. “But, y’know, I guess God really does work in mysterious ways.”

            “Well just because he goes to church doesn’t always mean he’s a good kid,” he counters.

            “I know, Dad,” Zoey says as she puts her things away.

            “Does he suspect anything with this Catgirl stuff?” he asks.

            “Um… Funny you should bring that up,” Zoey says with a nervous laugh.

 

            “He’s The Spektrum?”

            Zoey’s father sits down in his armchair as he tries to comprehend what his daughter just told him.

            “And got that dress for you in Vegas?”

            “No, Tiger, the sleazy guy, got me that dress,” Zoey says. “Simon got me the little mask I’ve been wearing. Simon helped me fight the sleazy guy and beat him up.”

            “Well,” he says. “Okay. Um… I mean, we have to tell your mother now.”

            “Can we wait on that?” she says. “We’re not together yet, so I don’t think we need to worry Mom about both Simon and me being superheroes fighting together, until we’re together.”

            “Okay,” her father says reluctantly. “Wait, do your friends know this stuff?”

            “Umm…” Zoey says as she looks off to the side. “I’ve still got some homework to do so I’m going to go do that.”

            Zoey then scampers downstairs, not bothering to sling her backpack and purse over her shoulders.