Chapter 41

            It seems almost miraculous that nothing happens in San Leandro while Hardwire is away. Zoey is the most relieved because it delays her having to make a debut as Catgirl in a new town. At the same time, Simon is relieved that he hasn’t had to worry about The Spektrum making his return when he’s still incomplete. Of course, that doesn’t change that there’s still stress from school.

            “Get a little lower there, Michaels,” Coach Ashby says.

            Simon squats and goes lower than just before.

            “There you go,” Ashby says. “Make sure you get that low every time or it doesn’t count.”

            Simon nods and keeps up the squats. He makes it through his second set of ten but his legs already feel weak. He can’t believe the difference between his strength as The Spektrum and his normal self.

            Well that’s not true. I can believe it, I just can’t accept it.

            PE isn’t as bad for Zoey, aside from glances from boys. She’d say she’s used to it, but does a girl ever get used to guys ogling her?

            The real stress for Zoey is her science homework. She constantly checks the book, but it doesn’t seem to click. Physics is fine, that’s a mathematical science. It’s more chemistry and biology, knowing how things react and function.

            The human skeleton is the internal framework of the body. It is composed of around 270 bones at birth, but decreases to around 206 bones by adulthood after some bones fuse together.

            Zoey knows from all her studying of cats that cats have 250 bones at adulthood. Of course, the tail has a lot to do with that. But even without considering the tail, Zoey wonders if she has more bones in her body to match.

            The vertebral column is anywhere from 32 to 34 bones. The number of the vertebrae differs from human to human as both the sacrum and coccyx can vary in length.

            Cats have 52 to 53 vertebrae, so that’s a difference of about 20. Zoey wiggles around but it’s not like she’s just gonna feel the bones individually that way. She puts her books aside and stretches out on the bed.

            I’ve seen Neeko fold herself up in countless ridiculous shapes. Let’s see if I can do the same.

            Zoey wiggles and moves her upper half sideways. She looks down at her feet, and is mostly impressed that she can look down at her feet. She goes the other way just to prove she can bend like that both left and right. Then she pushes as far as she can go without it starting to hurt, and is amazed as she goes past 60 degrees!

            “This is so weird…!” she giggles to herself.

            Zoey looks at her legs again, and they’re right where she left them. In fact, her neck being able to crane itself around is pretty neat. Then she gets a really crazy idea, and starts to rotate her lower half the opposite direction. She manages to have her upper half on its back while the waist is on its hip! She can stare at her own butt like this!

            And a pretty cute butt at that, she compliments herself with a smirk.

            Zoey returns to a normal position and reluctantly returns to her homework.

 

            Another Sunday at church comes and Zoey finally gets to talk to her friends in person.

            “It’s been forever since you’ve missed a Wednesday night,” Chloe says. “It was so strange not having you around.”

            “I know,” Zoey says. “But with the extra drive time and homework, it’s not really that easy to get here. It’s probably why the Michaels hardly ever get to be part of it.”

            “I’m sure you could figure out how to make time,” Chloe says.

            “But it’s science homework on top of Pre-Calc,” Zoey counters.

            “You gotta do homework as soon as you get home, instead of being lazy,” Chloe says.

            “I’m not being lazy,” Zoey defends. “I just need time to rest.”

            “You’re going to really fall behind without us making you study,” Marina chuckles.

            “You mean me making her study,” Chloe says. “I have to force you to do stuff, too.”

            Marina grumbles and puts on an exaggerated pouty face which makes her and her friends giggle.

            “Don’t worry, Simon and Cyndi are going to help me this week,” Zoey says.

            “Who’s Cyndi?” Chloe asks.

            “Oh, that’s Simon’s girlfriend,” Zoey says. “Remember, the Spektrum Fan Club president who got the interview with him?”

            “Oh, Cyndi as in Cynthia,” Chloe figures out. “But, wait, did he offer first or did she?”

            “She did,” Zoey says. “He’s not the kind of guy to do that.”

            “But you both will be studying with him?” Chloe asks.

            “Well, yeah, but it’s because we all have Science together, he and I have both World History and Pre-Calc together, and she’s taking Trig, which both he and I took before Pre-Calc.”

            “Wow, you have three classes with him?” Chloe asks.

            “Well, yes, and she and I have PE together at the same time he does. We’re in normal PE, he’s in Weight Training.”

            “Weight Training, you say?” Karina says, finally joining the conversation.

            “I thought you didn’t like him for his Tobey McGuire hair,” Zoey says.

            “Yeah but cut that and get some tone-idge on those arms, he’s like… Well a short-haired, toned McGuire.”

            “Ahem,” Jeff says as he clears his throat.

            “I’m simply saying all this in an advisory role to your cousin, Jeffy,” Karina says with a smirk.

            “Jeffy,” Zoey giggles with her hand in front of her mouth.

            “But when is this little study session?” Chloe asks, getting the conversation back on track.

            “Thursday, because our first test is this Friday.”

            “That seems pretty soon,” Marina says.

            “Well it’ll just be the basics to see where everyone is from last year,” Zoey says, “so it’s supposed to be easy. I hope it’s easy. Like, really easy.”

            “Well if it makes you feel any better, you can still call us for encouragement,” Chloe says.

            “I will definitely do that,” Zoey says with a big smile.

 

            Hardwire stands with Alan and Hayden in front of Brody Bridge’s headstone in a cemetery in Baltimore.

            “I did it, Bridge,” Hardwire says. “I debuted beating those masked guys, and I made it back from a mission overseas. Wish you could’ve been there.”

            Hardwire then turns to his teammates.

            “I’m sure Bridge would’ve been a cool guy to do missions with,” he says. “Imagine two of us with this stuff.”

            Hardwire flexes to show off the wires in his forearm.

            “Bridge was pretty badass,” Hardwire continues. “His team was dead last, but he whooped the crap out of his loser teammates. That move where I threw the one guy on the other guy? That was his move. It was awesome to see it that first time.”

            “Would he have understood more about video games?” Alan jokes.

            “Shut up,” Hardwire chuckles.

            “That would be pretty cool, though,” Hayden says as his nervous energy makes his arm sway. “What would his code name be, though?”

            “Maybe Power Cables,” Hardwire says. “Smart Mouth suggested that as the implant name.”

            “Not bad,” Alan says. “Maybe ‘Cable’ for short.”

            “Nah, that’s a character from X-Men,” Hayden says.

            “Oh, right. Maybe ‘Cabe’? No, wait, ‘Cable Bridge’, cuz those are things.”

            “Doesn’t matter, Bridge burned,” Hardwire says.

            The other two chuckle, but Hardwire is confused.

            “What’s so funny?” he asks.

            “You don’t see the pun in that?” Alan asks back. “Bridge burned after he burned bridges with his team.”

            “Don’t make fun of the dead, dude,” Hardwire says. “Let’s get going, I gotta catch a flight back home.”

            “Finally,” Hayden says as he quickly walks ahead of the others. “Stupid shark DNA driving me crazy.”

            “Yeah, but your teeth are looking sharp,” Hardwire jokes.

            Alan laughs while Hayden walks backwards. He grins to show his now triangular front teeth.

 

            The new school week begins, and it immediately goes sour the moment the Second Period announcements begin.

            “Heeeeeeeeyyy Pirates!” Hardwire says over the PA system. “Look who’s back again!”

            There’s an awkward silence.

            “Say the line,” he mutters to the Associated Student Body in the office.

            They sigh and step forward.

            “Who’s back?” they say in a bored unison.

            “Me! Hardwire! I’ve got some time off so I’m here to make sure nothing goes wrong! And since I don’t have any classes, I’ll be hanging out with the PE classes for the rest of the day! You’re welcome.”

            Many students groan over the thought of cocky Craig Foster hanging around during PE. But oddly, there are a number of students who aren’t so bothered by it. There are some arguments if those students are bandwagoners or just those easy to forgive, but it doesn’t really get anywhere.

            “This is going to suck,” Simon says over lunch.

            “Well, at least you’ll be locked away in the weight room,” Cyndi says. “He’ll probably be hanging around the other classes while we run around and shoot baskets.”

            But as the PE classes sort out, Hardwire looks to join Weight Training class!

            You jinxed it, Cyndi! Simon and Zoey both think.

            Oh no, I jinxed it! Cyndi thinks to herself.

            Simon panics as he tries to figure out how to avoid Hardwire without missing class.

            “Coach Ashby,” Simon says quickly. “I need to use the restroom!”

            “Alright, but try to hurry back,” Ashby says.

            By that, Coach Ashby means the room with the wrestling mats, like for the school’s wrestling teams.

            “Okay,” Simon says as he goes back inside.

            Simon goes to the bathroom to just sit quietly inside a stall.

            Hardwire joins the others in the weight room and shows off as he bench presses all the available weights in one set! The green 10 pounders, the black 15’s, the yellow 25’s, the blue 35’s and the red 45’s, along with the bar being another 45, that’s 305 pounds. Of course, this is only twice his weight.

            “I need more,” he says. “Can we get all the 45’s possible on here?”

            “There’s space for three of those each,” Coach Ashby says.

            The other groups neighboring Hardwire’s give up their 45 pound weights for six weights total. There’s still room, so the 15’s are thrown on. Again, with the bar being 45, this bumps things up to 345, but obviously that extra 40 pounds doesn’t change a thing for Hardwire.

            “Weak,” he says. “Reciprocity has tractor tires, those things are like 400 pounds at least. Of course, they don’t do a thing for me anymore, either.”

            “Well it’s a lot more than any of us can do,” one of the Juniors says. “Good to have you back.”

            “Thanks, Robby,” Hardwire says. “Well, guess there’s nothing left for this. See y’all around.”

            As Hardwire leaves the weight room, Cyndi lurks over to the boy’s locker room. Only Zoey notices, and she follows after Cyndi to figure out what’s going on.

            “Simon?” Cyndi whispers into the hall.

            “What’re you doing?” Zoey asks in a whisper.

            “Zoey? Oh, uh, um… I noticed Simon run in here and was just curious.”

            “About what?” Zoey asks.

            “Just… Well, obviously there’s all that stuff with Craig, right? Trying to expose The Spektrum and saying he was Simon. Simon doesn’t wanna deal with him now that he’s back, again.”

            “Oh, okay, that makes sense. I definitely have people at my old school that I wouldn’t want to be around.”

            Cyndi looks past Zoey and doesn’t see anyone else looking this way.

            “Keep watch here, okay?” Cyndi asks Zoey.

            “Why?” Zoey asks back.

            Cyndi enters the building!

            “Cyndi!?” Zoey says in shock. “What’re you doing?!”

            “Simon!” Cyndi whispers again as she approaches the locker room.

            Cyndi pokes her head inside the locker room, but she can’t see anyone.

            “Simon!” she whispers a little louder.

            “Cyndi, get out of there!” Zoey whispers from the exit. “What if someone sees you?”

            Zoey glances around nervously. Thankfully no one is headed this way, but that could change.

            Cyndi walks back but has a realization when she sees the bathroom door. She goes up to it and knocks.

            “Simon?” she whispers.

            “Cyndi?” he replies. “What’re you doing in here? This is the boy’s locker room! Or, well, the boy’s side, but same thing.”

            “Craig’s leaving the weight room, you might have an opening.”

            “Oh. Thanks!”

            Cyndi hurries outside and both she and Zoey run around the corner. Simon carefully exits the restroom and then carefully exits the building. He creeps up to the corner and looks towards the weight room portable. Craig really is leaving, cutting across the field. Simon waits for him to be mostly away from the weight room before taking a long way around to it.

            Cyndi watches the maneuvering tensely. Craig waves to other students out on the grassy field, and Simon makes it to the portables. Cyndi sighs in relief as Simon rejoins his class

            “That took you long enough,” Robby taunts him as he walks into the room.

            Simon ignores that as he goes back to his station and does his bench press.

            As for Zoey and Cyndi, they’re stuck watching Hardwire show off with a football, running around the field and dodging the students he’s daring to tackle him.

            “Ugh, he’s being such a show-off,” Cyndi grumbles.

            “I know,” Zoey also grumbles.

            “Isn’t he great?” some other girl says.

            “What?!” both Zoey and Cyndi say as they turn to the girl.

            Turns out it’s not just one girl, but a handful of them.

            “It’s amazing that he’s not cold at all right now,” another of these girls says.

            “Yeah, he’s hot both literally and figuratively,” a third girl says. “He still wears short sleeve shirts to show off those arms~.”

            I feel like these girls are sluts, Cyndi thinks to herself.

            “Are these girls serious?” Zoey says out loud. “How can you be attracted to that guy?”

            “Excuse you?” the third girl says as she looks over.

            “How is he not attractive?” the first girl says. “He’s in shape, he’s a great football player, and that was before he had powers!”

            “He doesn’t have powers, he has implants!” Zoey counters.

            “Pff, guess you’d know about implants,” the second girl scoffs.

            “These are natural, you dumb… Dumb bimbo!”

            “Bimbo?!” the second repeats.

            The three Hardwire fans step closer but Zoey doesn’t back down. Cyndi, however, is very worried.

            “We should probably go,” Cyndi says.

            “Yeah, get outta here, you haters,” the third girl says.

            “Wait a minute,” the first girl says. “Aren’t you that Spektrum Fan Club girl?”

            “Well, y-yeah, I am the Spektrum club president, but what does that-”

            “No wonder you don’t like Hardwire,” the first girl says. “You’re The Spektrum’s girl.”

            “What? I wasn’t-”

            “Yeah! The girl who ran out to him when he died!” the second girl says. “The Spektrum’s secret squeeze right here. Bet you squeezed him real good, too.”

            “What?! No!”

            “Don’t you dare talk about them like that!” Zoey says as she steps between Cyndi and the Hardwire fans. “You’re the ones drooling over that… That jackass who thinks he’s so much better than The Spektrum!”

            “He IS better than The Spektrum!” the first girl says.

            “Like HELL he is!” Zoey says, getting closer to that girl. “He will never be better than The Spektrum! He’s just a knock-off lined with LED lights!”

            “Oh he’s definitely better than The Spektrum!” the other girl says. “He’s stronger, he’s cuter, and he’s still alive!”

            Zoey suddenly swats the girl in the face with her hand! It was almost a slap, except Zoey used a closed fist.

            “Whoa…!” other students nearby let out, seeing the hit.

            “She hit me!!” the girl shouts. “That bitch hit me!”

            Zoey glares down at the girl as she prepares to hit her again!

            “Okay, okay!” Cyndi says as she pulls Zoey back in time. “You got her, that’s enough.”

            “What’s going on here?” Hardwire asks as he walks over.

            “This crazy bitch hit me just because I’m your biggest fan!” the girl says as she gets up.

            “No, you’re not! I’m his biggest fan!” the second girl says.

            “No, I am!” the third girl says.

            “That’s not why she hit you,” Cyndi says. “She hit you because you insulted The Spektrum.”

            “Is that true?” he asks.

            “We didn’t insult him,” the second girl defends. “Gina just said he’s dead and you’re not, so that’s why you’re better.”

            “And obviously they’re biased because they’re from his fan club,” the third girl says.

            “Oh,” he says as he looks at Cyndi. “Yeah, I remember you. Club president.”

            Then he looks at Zoey. And up and down Zoey, for that matter.

            “But you’re new,” he says with a smirk.

            The three fan girls scoff that he’d be looking at her and not them.

            “Tch,” Zoey clicks her tongue as she looks away while scowling.

            “But you shouldn’t insult the dead like that, okay?” he says to them. “I know what I said before, but nowhere did I say I was better. I’m just here and he’s not.”

            Cyndi and Zoey are both surprised to hear Hardwire talk so modestly.

            “So don’t fight or anything, alright?” he adds.

            His fan girls nod eagerly while Zoey storms off. The fan girls scoff again while Hardwire shrugs and goes back to football.

            “Zoey,” Cyndi says as she follows after. “Zoey, wait.”

            The two walk through the door to the hall in front of the girls’ locker room before Zoey stops.

            “Wow,” Cyndi says. “You sure surprised me there when you hit that Gina chick.”

            And I was really worried you’d go full Catgirl on her, Cyndi thinks.

            “Sorry about that,” Zoey says. “I just got so angry.”

            “I totally understand,” Cyndi says. “Though, even that surprised me. You weren’t just angry, you were like, pissed off.”

            “I, uh…”

            Zoey can’t really say why she was set off. How is she supposed to tell Cyndi she fell for The Spektrum when Zoey has never met him?

            “I guess I just really admired him,” Zoey says.

            “Yeah,” Cyndi says.

            From what she knows of The Spektrum’s adventures alongside Catgirl, they spent quite a bit of time together. It makes sense for Catgirl to have grown to admire The Spektrum, but something tells Cyndi this is more than admiration. But she can’t confront Zoey because she’s not supposed to know Zoey’s actually Catgirl.

            We should try to find the time to bring that all up, Cyndi thinks.

 

            “I don’t know if we should do that,” Simon says.

            This was after school, after Cyndi and Simon continue past Zoey’s street towards Cyndi’s.

            “Why not?” Cyndi asks.

            “Well, what would the point be? She’s not in Alameda, she’s safe in San Leandro. The shooter probably won’t go after her here.”

            “You don’t know that,” Cyndi says. “And besides, what about her cousins? They’d be in trouble in her place. Aren’t those new guys in Alameda them?”

            “Okay, yeah, that’s a good point,” he says. “But how are we supposed to bring it up? She hasn’t had to be Catgirl since she moved here, and I haven’t been The Spektrum outside of secretly working out at the scrap yard.”

            “Well obviously we’d do it in private,” Cyndi says. “Actually, we could do it during our study session this week!”

            “No, there’s already enough going on with the studying,” he says. “Maybe if we get through that first, we can talk our secret identities after.”

            “Then it’s a deal,” Cyndi says.

 

            Tuesday goes smoothly enough, but Hardwire hangs out during PE again, so Simon has to again fake going to the restroom to avoid him.

            “Didn’t you do this yesterday?” Robby says. “What’re you eating for lunch?”

            “No more than you are,” Simon says as he points out Robby’s gut.

            The other students laugh, though they try to hide it. Robby scowls but has no comeback, so he just goes about his leg workout.

 

            Wednesday is about the same, but the Weight Training class spends its first day in the wrestling mat room. The entire floor is covered in blue wrestling mats, with white lines drawing circles on them. Everyone takes off their shoes and spread out on the mats to do sit-ups. Afterward, they move to working with the weighted “medicine balls” in pairs. Simon avoids Chris to work with one of the other sophomores.

            The medicine ball exercises start with sitting back to back and passing the ball around the pair 20 times. Simon and his partner go pretty fast and are the first to finish by a long shot. The second exercise is to have one partner stand while the other is on the mat in the same position they would for a sit up. But instead of sitting up, the partner on the mat is to toss the ball up to the standing partner, who will then carefully drop the ball for the other to catch. The pairs are to go for 12 and then switch.

            Simon goes first on the mat, as does Robby. They pass the balls up to their partners, but no pair can really speed through this.

            “Oh they’re in here,” Zoey says, seeing them all as she jogs by.

            Zoey and Cyndi stop and back up to watch through the window. Simon notices them, but snaps back to attention when he sees the ball coming back down. He catches it in a panic, and both Zoey and Cyndi realize they almost cost him his ribs.

            “Sorry!” Cyndi says through the window. “O-Okay, bye!”

            She and Zoey quickly wave and hurry off.

            Robby scoffs before passing the ball back to his partner.

            “I’m sorry, are you jealous or something?” Simon says to him.

            “Please, like I’d be jealous of you,” Robby says before he catches the ball again.

            “Yeah, because you’re probably doing something better than walking home with both of them every day,” Simon says. “Or having a study session with both of them after school tomorrow at one of their houses.”

            “Right, like your girlfriend’s letting you spend time around that,” Robby says.

            “I dunno, man, they’re both always waving to him from the window,” Simon’s partner says.

            “Wait what happened to her boyfriend?” one of the girls in the class asks.

            “Not sure, actually,” Simon says. “She’s barely said a thing about him.”

            “Maybe they’re going through a rough patch,” the other girl in the class says. “Didn’t she move here from Alameda?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Maybe the distance has gotten to them,” the first girl says.

            “That could be it,” the other says.

            Maybe I should bring that up before bringing up Catgirl, Simon thinks.

            After the medicine ball exercises end, everyone goes to fetch their shoes. But before Simon can get his, Robby tosses Simon’s shoes to the corner.

            “Wow, what a creative way to mess with me,” Simon says sarcastically. “Throw my shoes to the side, that’ll show me.”

            “Y’know you’ve got a real big mouth for being such a small fry,” Robby says as he steps closer.

            “And you have a small brain for such a big stomach,” Simon snaps back.

            “C’mon, you two,” Coach Ashby calls.

            “Y’know, I heard about what your little blondie and that hottie were saying about my boy, Craig,” Robby says. “And how that little pigtail having one went and smacked my sister.”

            “That was your sister?” Simon says. “She should’ve hit your sister harder, she wasn’t out cold.”

            “Hey,” Ashby says, a little sterner.

            “Blondie and pigtails were upset all because my sister and her friends are fans of Craig,” Robby continues. “They’re more into The Spektrum.”

            “That’s because they have brains,” Simon retorts.

            “Yeah, well, I bet blondie’s only with you because she couldn’t have The Spektrum,” Robby smirks. “After all, a lot of people saw her run to him when he got shot. And they had that private interview. Maybe she’s just settling for second best. Nah, looking at you, more like 15^th best.”

            Simon clenches his jaw. He wants to hit Robby. He wants to hurt Robby. He wants to break Robby. But he keeps himself standing still, shoes gripped tightly in his hands.

            “Alright, enough,” Ashby says, walking over. “Get to the locker room so you aren’t late to class.”

            Robby scoffs again then leaves. Simon’s nose twitches as he glares at the back of Robby’s head.

            “Get your shoes on,” Ashby says to Simon.

            Simon sits down to do just that.

            “Did you do something to that eye?” Ashby asks.

            “Which eye?” Simon asks.

            “The right one. It looks a little red.”

            Simon’s eyes widen, but by the time he looks in the reflection of a window, his eyes are back to normal brown.

            “Huh. My mistake,” Ashby says. “Maybe it was just the lights or something.”

 

            Zoey finishes dressing in the girls’ locker room and head for the exit, but her path is blocked by the Hardwire fan girls.

            “Excuse me,” Zoey says.

            They don’t move.

            “Can I get through?” Zoey asks. “I’ve got to get to class.”

            They still don’t move.”

            “You’re going to be late to class, too,” she says matter-of-factly, because it’s true.

            “So?” Robby’s sister, Gina says.

            “Just get out of the way,” Cyndi says as she comes up behind Zoey.

            “Make us,” Gina says. “You weren’t shy about hitting me before.”

            “Hey, get going,” the teacher shouts at them.

            Gina and her friends awkwardly glance behind them at the teacher then back at Zoey.

            “You heard her,” Zoey says, her teeth starting to sharpen. “Get. Going.”

            Gina reluctantly leads her friends out of the locker room. Zoey calms down and her teeth go back to normal.

            “Thank you, Ms. Tingley,” Cyndi says.

            “It’s fine,” she says. “Just get going.”

            “Right, yeah,” Cyndi says as she and Cyndi head for the door. “And sorry for still kinda giggling at your name the other day. I should’ve said that yesterday.”

            Ms. Tingley sighs as Zoey tugs Cyndi along, ending the awkward moment.

 

            PE on Thursday is therefore very tense. Simon is thankful Hardwire isn’t hanging around Weight Training but he still has Robby sneering at him in the weight room. As for Zoey, she sneers at Gina as much as Gina sneers at her.

            “You two okay?” Mr. De asks them both as they enter the portable. “You both look grumpy.”

            “It’s nothing,” Zoey says at the same Simon says, “It’s fine.”

            “That doesn’t sound fine,” Mr. De says.

            “Well, there’s this girl in PE,” Zoey says as she and Simon take their seats.

            “Right, Robby’s sister,” Simon says.

            “Who’s Robby?” Zoey asks.

            “A friend of… Craig Foster’s. I heard you hit her.”

            “You hit someone?” Mr. De asks Zoey.

            “Because she got in my face and insulted The Spektrum,” Zoey defends.

            “Yeah, Robby wasn’t happy about that,” Simon chuckles. “He’s been getting on me about stuff just because you and Cyndi are always waving hi during PE.”

            “Cyndi?” Mr. De asks.

            “My girlfriend,” Simon says as Zoey says, “His girlfriend.”

            “Oh, so, you’re not…?” Mr. De asks.

            “What?” they both say back. “N-no, no!”

            “I’m not his girlfriend,” Zoey says, turning red.

            “I’m not her boyfriend,” Simon says, also turning red. “Besides, she has a boyfriend, from her old school in Alameda.”

            “Actually, not anymore,” Zoey says.

            “Wait really?” Simon says back.

            “Wait, how did you know about Shaun?” she asks him.

            Simon realizes he let that slip out.

            “Well, y’know, church,” he says. “People talk.”

            “Well, clearly no one told you about the break-up, then,” Zoey sighs.

            “Sorry for bringing it up,” he says.

            “No, it’s fine,” she says. “It was already like a month ago.”

            “Oh. Okay.”

            The bell rings and class goes as usual.

 

            “So, this whole time, you’ve been having to deal with Robby’s stupid sister,” Simon says.

            “Yeah, but her stupid brother sounds worse,” Zoey says. “Throwing your shoes? Is he 10 years old?”

            “I think even a 10-year-old could think of something better than throwing someone’s shoes,” Simon says.

            The two share a chuckle as Cyndi’s house comes into sight.

            Cyndi unlocks the door and lets Simon and Zoey in first. Zoey spots the fish tank in the corner, but forces herself to look away from it.

            “Should we set up here or in your room?” Simon asks Cyndi.

            “We’ll have more room out here,” Cyndi says. “But, uh, Simon, come help me bring some drinks. Is milk okay, Zoey?”

            “Actually,” Zoey says as she still glances at the fish. “Maybe some cola? Doesn’t matter what brand.”

            “Sure,” Cyndi says.

            Zoey takes a deep breath while Simon follows Cyndi to the kitchen. With fish in a tank and drinking milk, she’s worried about her cat instincts taking over. She’s noticed her cat speak, and her ears and tail tend to pop out when she lets her guard down or relaxes. Then there was the other day with confronting Gina. Zoey felt her teeth sharpen that time. She recalls something like that happening at Rachel’s Christmas party, so all these developments are concerns in the back of her mind.

            “Hey, uh,” Simon says while Cyndi pours the glasses of generic cola. “I don’t know if we need to bring up Catgirl right now.”

            “What? Why not?” Cyndi asks. “I thought we agreed if the study session goes well, we’d try.”

            “Yeah, but I just found out Zoey broke up with Shaun.”

            “She broke up?”

            “Yeah, around the holidays. And she took it pretty hard from what I saw at church on Christmas Eve.”

            Cyndi would ask how that matters, but then she remembers Zoey hitting Gina.

            “You might have a point,” Cyndi says.

            “Really? But it was your idea to bring it up.”

            “Yeah, but,” Cyndi says, trailing off.

            Cyndi hesitates because if she’s right that Catgirl has feelings for The Spektrum, that means she has feelings for Simon, and revealing them to each other might complicate things, for Cyndi.

            “The stress of studying and the test is enough,” Cyndi says. “And maybe she isn’t over it, like you said. We can try again after the test.”

            Or maybe once she gets a new boyfriend, Cyndi thinks. Can’t be that hard for a girl like her, with Valentine’s Day on the way.

            Simon carries two glasses while Cyndi carries one, and they return to Zoey in the living room. Zoey’s on the couch and Simon hands her a glass.

            “Thank you,” she says as she takes it.

            Cyndi sits beside Zoey and Simon sits in the armchair near Zoey.

            “Simon, why don’t you sit over here?” Cyndi asks, patting the open space next to her on the couch.

            “Well, I just figured being over here would be easier,” he says. “Zoey and I have Pre-Calc and World History together so it makes sense to sit closer to her.”

            “But what if I need help in Trig?” Cyndi asks.

            “Well, you have my notebook for that, don’t you?”

            “Yeah, but…”

            “He has bad handwriting, doesn’t he?” Zoey teases.

            “No…” Cyndi weakly defends. “It’s just… inconsistent.”

            “Inconsistent?” Zoey repeats. “Let me see.”

            Cyndi hands over the FST notebook and Zoey opens it up.

            “Wow, uh, yeah,” Zoey chuckles. “This is definitely inconsistent.”

            Simon just purses his lips as the girls giggle at his ever-changing letters.

            “Let’s just get to studying these textbooks,” Simon says as he brings out the hefty science one.

            “Okay,” Cyndi says as she takes out her own copy. “The human skeletal system. Don’t look up the answer. The human skeletal system is composed of around 270 bones at birth, but decreases to around to…?

            “206 bones by adulthood,” Simon says.

            “And why is that?” Cyndi asks.

            “It’s because some bones fuse together over time,” Zoey says.

            “Very good,” Cyndi says. “Now, the vertebral column has…?”

            “32 to 34 vertebrae,” Simon says at the same time Zoey says, “53 to 54.”

            “What?” Simon and Cyndi both say.

            “Uh, sorry, that’s cats,” Zoey nervously laughs. “Simon’s right, normal humans have 32 to 34. I mean, all humans. All humans have 32 to 34.”

            Simon and Cyndi would be more suspicious of Zoey’s bad lying if they didn’t already know the truth.

            After Science, Cyndi moves on to FST while Simon and Zoey work on Pre-Calc.

            “Okay, so what have you struggled with so far?” Zoey asks him.

            “Um, I can’t remember,” he says.

            “Well double check your homework,” she says. “We’ll go whatever you still got wrong.”

            “You keep your homework?” he asks.

            “It’s a habit my friend, Chloe, helped me develop. It really does help with studying like this.”

            “Huh,” he says. “Well, we’ve really only been reviewing Trig for this first part. Sine, Cosine, Tangent.”

            “Oh,” Zoey says. “I skipped Trig, actually.”

            “Really?” Simon says. “When did you have Algebra 2?”

            “Just last semester,” Zoey shrugs.

            Simon looks over at her while Cyndi slowly looks up from her own work. They both wonder, is Zoey actually smarter than them?

            “What math did you do in Ninth Grade?” Cyndi asks as she looks over.

            “Algebra 1 and Geometry,” Zoey says.

            “How well did you do in Algebra 2?” Simon asks.

            “Oh, first quarter was an A, final grade was B+. It got tough at the end. What about you?”

            “I, uh… I had to take it twice because I screwed up,” he says. “I got a C then a D the first time, and uh, only improved to a C and a B the second time.”

            “Oh. Well, Mr. De definitely asks more than my old math teachers, so it wouldn’t be fair to compare.”

            Simon nods, but he’s pretty sure she’s just being nice saying that.

            “Point is, let’s go over what we’ve done in homework to remind us where we’ve struggled,” Zoey continues.

            Zoey pulls out her copies, but then feels a little self-conscious showing Simon her mistakes.

            “Okay, so when charting the trigonometric functions in the X-Y coordinates,” Simon says. “All positive in the first, sine in the second, tangent in the third and cosine in the fourth.”

            “A-S-T-C,” Zoey says. “All Science Teachers Crazy.”

            Simon busts up laughing.

            “What?” he says, a big smile still on his face.

            “That’s what my Algebra 2 teacher used as a mnemonic,” Zoey says. “We did very basic Trigonometry preparation at the end of the semester just so everyone would be prepared.”

            “That’s a pretty clever one,” he says.

            “Yeah, Mrs. Patch always found a way to make math fun,” Zoey says. “She was also my Algerbra 1 teacher.”

            “Oh, nice.”

            “Next up is using trignometric functions on triangles,” Zoey says.

            “Trigonometric,” Simon says.

            “What?”

            “You missed an ‘O’.”

            “Trigno- Oh, I did. Trigonometric functions.”

            Zoey giggles and that gets Simon to chuckle. Cyndi purses her lips but they don’t see her.

            “Trigonometric functions with triangles,” Zoey says. “Finding the value of an angle only knowing some of the triangle’s measurements.”

            “You know this one, don’t you?” Simon asks.

            “Yes, of course,” Zoey says. “Sine is opposite over hypotenuse. Cosine is adjacent over hypotenuse. And tangent is opposite over adjacent.”

            “Right, but I was thinking the mnemonic,” Simon says.

            “Oh,” Zoey says before she laughs. “Um, Soh Cah Toa, right?”

            “Right!” Simon says.

            Zoey smiles and giggles again and Simon smiles with her. Cyndi just sips her soda.

            After math is World History, which isn’t so hard, it’s just reviewing the order of everything in a timeline.

            “Okay,” Cyndi says as the studying finishes. “I won’t see you guys until Science class, so I’ll wish you both good luck now.”

            “Yes, good luck tomorrow,” Zoey says.

            “Good luck to the three of us,” Simon says.

            Everyone packs up and Cyndi walks them to the door. Zoey waves as she heads out first, and Cyndi holds onto Simon’s hand as long as she can as he walks off the porch.

            As Simon and Zoey walk up to Science Class the next morning, the First Block class doesn’t seem too bummed walking out of the room. That is a good sign to Zoey about the test.

            Mr. Gugel packs the completed tests away as the students take their seats. He brings out fresh copies and passes them out to the class.

            “Alright, everyone,” Mr. Gugel says. “You have as long as you need to complete the test, but if everyone finishes early enough, we can spend the remaining class time watching a movie.”

            Everyone else murmurs in excitement, but this makes Zoey stressful. The first class must have only been happy because they got to relax after!

            “Zoey,” Simon says. “Just relax. You did great during the study session yesterday, you’ve got this.”

            Zoey nods, and takes a deep breath.

            “Everyone ready?” Mr. Gugel asks. “You may begin the test… now.”

1. The human skeleton starts with ___ bones but ends up with ___ by adulthood.
2. The human spinal column has ___ to ___ vertebrae.

      Zoey makes sure to put “32 to 34” for that second one.

            Zoey gets through the skeletal system smoothly enough, and then the rest of basic biology, like the muscular system, digestive system, circulatory system, etc. Then it’s smooth sailing through Physics with it all being math problems. But Chemistry starts to trip her up because she didn’t even really think anything of it during studying.

 

            Zoey sighs in relief when she finally finishes the test. Simon finished much earlier so he was spending all this time trying not to stare at Zoey as she worked. To Zoey’s relief, she’s not the last person working on the test. The other person finishes up, but the class really only has 15 minutes left. And it takes Mr. Gugel almost five minutes to get the movie set up on the old model DVD player, so the class really only gets about 10 minutes of Star Wars: A New Hope.

            “Well so much for that,” Zoey sighs during lunch.

            “At least you got through it,” Cyndi says.

            “Yeah,” Zoey shrugs as she unwraps her sandwich.

            “The movie incentive was nice, but it’s not like getting the test done faster is what matters,” Simon says.

            “Says the guy who was practically first,” Zoey flatly smirks.

            Simon and Cyndi chuckle, with Zoey joining in a few seconds after.

 

            “Alright, everyone,” Coach Ashby tells the boys while Ms. Tingley tells the girls. “Today is your first Free Friday. That means you get to do whatever you want today. We’ll have basketballs, footballs and a few other things outside while there will be volleyball inside. You don’t have to do these, but you can’t just sit around and do nothing.”

            Simon decides to stay outside, so he doesn’t have to be dragged into volleyball. Luckily, Zoey and Cyndi choose the same, so the three of them decide to stick together and walk around the field.

            “This’ll help me stay away from Craig,” Simon grumbles as everyone can see Hardwire continue playing around with the football.

            “Part of me wishes he’d disappear again,” Cyndi says. “But then part of me worries what happens if Zorb’s people show up again.”

            “Yeah, me, too,” Zoey says. “Hopefully we don’t jinx it.”

            “I’m a bit surprised he was even gone for as long as he was last week,” Simon says. “Where do you think he went?”

            “Maybe Reciprocity headquarters needed him for something?” Cyndi says.

            “Yeah, I bet he does missions and stuff for them like Catgirl and The Spektrum,” Zoey says. “Or, uh, that’s a theory my old school came up with, at least. After finding out about Reciprocity Inc. saying The Spektrum was one of their agents.”

            “Yeah, of course,” Simon says, aware of how bad that recovery was.

            Cyndi could easily poke holes in Zoey’s weak excuse, but she’ll worry about that when she finally brings up Zoey being Catgirl. First, Cyndi has something else she wants to bring up.

            “So, uh, Zoey,” she starts. “Simon told me you and your boyfriend broke up over the holidays? Sorry to hear that, that must’ve been pretty rough.”

            Simon’s surprised and a bit confused as to why Cyndi’s bringing that up.

            “Yeah, it was,” Zoey says. “When did Simon have time to tell you this?”

            “Oh, before we got to studying.”

            “And why did it come up?” Zoey asks, squinting at Simon.

            “It, uh,” Simon stammers.

            The three slow to a stop as Simon looks at Cyndi sternly. She brought it up without warning, so it’s on her to explain. When she doesn’t say anything, Simon’s eyes widen and his eyebrows go up in an attempt to spur her on.

            “Okay, okay,” Cyndi says with a sigh. “I’m probably just being petty. See, it basically stems from-”

            Cyndi stops because of the flash of light from the sky!

            “The Masqueraders!” she shouts as she points to who appeared.

            The Masqueraders stand together as usual in the very middle of the large grass field. All PE activity stops abruptly, leaving a basketball to dribble away and a football to hit the dirt.

            “Back for more, huh?!” Hardwire shouts as he walks from blacktop to grass.

            “No, not us,” M1 says back. “We are merely here to introduce your true opponent.”

            The Masqueraders part like curtains to reveal someone new, wearing a mask of their own. They wear spandex much like the other Masqueraders, but in shining silver with black trim. On his chest is a symbol, a circle with a slash through it.

       “Is that the No symbol?” Hardwire jokes. “Like ‘No Parking’? Maybe it means ‘No Style’, since you’re dressed even more like a Power Ranger than… The Spektrum?”

            Hardwire trails off because he sees this new Masquerader change from silver to black. His costume is all black, and the slashed circle is now stark white to stand out on his chest.

            “That’s not possible,” Cyndi says. “That’s just like The Spektrum!”

            Cyndi, Zoey and Simon do their best to be behind the trees that line that side of the field.

            “That can’t be The Spektrum,” Zoey says, her eyes locked onto the new Masquerader. “Right? It just can’t be him, because… Because he died.”

            Cyndi and Simon look at each other, a mix of dread and confusion on both their faces.

            “Leave,” the slashed circle one says to the others.

            “What?” M2 says. “But-the-boss-told-us-to-”

            “I said LEAVE!!” slashed circle booms at the other five as he looked over his shoulder.

            The other Masqueraders shrink back from the slashed circle one, even the larger M1. They nod and take a few steps back. They press buttons and another flash of light takes them back to Zorb’s ship. But the slashed circle Masquerader is already looking back at Hardwire, his right eye burning red.