I didn't see Tulip in the morning, her giggle fit, and her hasty leave from the previous night's work left an uneasy feeling that I couldn't shake no matter how hard I tried. The dread of arriving on my second day of school didn't help. I mean countless hours for my mind to wander.

Since yesterday I learned it much harder to pay attention to the teacher when you know everything already. This was 5-grade level stuff, Literally! 

I took my seat, and stared up at the ceiling, trying to pretend the rest of the classroom didn't exist, my mistake.

"Hey, how are doing today?!" Elizabeth's sudden and loud appearance scared the shit out of me. 

"Gezz Liz, don't scare the shit out of her!" You can say that again, buddy! Eraser was behind Elizabeth, with a look of annoyance. 

Elizabeth gave a bow, "I am so sorry!"

Why was she bowing? Was it because I'm Asian? "Why are you bowing to me?"

"In Anime people bow like this when apologizing to girls they've accidentally seen naked. Don't they!? That's like your culture or something!?"

Girls they've seen naked? What was this girl watching? Also startling me and seeing me in the nude by accident are two, totally, different things. "Ok stop. I'm not Japanese ok. A simple I'm sorry will do fine."

Elizabeth straightened herself up. "Oh, so Chinese then?" This was the part where I reminded myself that she was still just a kid and likely just doing what she thought or possibly even thought, was best went handling people who looked different from herself. 

"I'm American."

Elizabeth looked somewhat stumped by this answer.

Looking over I could see Eraser was about to fall off of his seat with laughter. Did he put her up to this? Knowing that she didn't know better. That's mean even by asshole child standards. Elizabeth seemed to realize this too and turned on him with a look that could make you laugh harder. I think she was going for killer, but it just went wrong for her. Looking more like a chipmunk with too many nuts shoved in its mouth.

Holding back some laughter of my own. I thought Eraser needed to watch his back in the future because women always eventually mastered killer. 

Oh to be young again. Oh, wait...

Eraser was saved from Elizabeth's chipmunk impression when Mrs. Sander's entered the room. "All right, everybody take your seats."

California was known for being a very dry state, but that reputation came mostly from the fact that it seemed to always be on fire. This was late September meaning the start of its rainy session. So when recess came, of course, it was raining, which meant we had to stay inside.

Something I should have been fine with, but of course that made me an easy target for Elizabeth and Eraser. Well, mostly Elizabeth.

"Hey!" She said sitting backward in her seat pounding her hands on my desk. "Did you see the video of the Magical Girl on the internet?"

"Um, Magical Girl?" I looked to Eraser "What is she talking about?" 

Elizabeth didn't even give Eraser the chance to answer. "Give me your smartphone!" Elizabeth demanded. Eraser was just sitting there without a care in the world resting his head in his hand and elbow on his desk, watching everything play out. So he happily handed over his phone without complaint.

She played with the phone for a bit before shoving my way. "Here!" It was a video of me. Of me!? It was from the perspective of a squad car dashcam, but it was most definitely the chase from last night. I had a feeling this footage was not something the police would be so willing to just hand over to the press. How did this get online?

I watched my very impressive hurtle over the unmarked car. All the way, to my disappearance in the alley. Wait, they got that on camera! I knew they were on their way because I heard the sirens approaching but I guess my concentration on my warp caused me to misjudge just how close they were.

Elizabeth must have noticed my astonishment. "See isn't that cool! A real Magical Girl!"

I didn't want to rain on her parade but... "Yeah, that's fantastic CGI."

"See! I told you!" Eraser finally spoke up. "Totally fake."

"It is not I can tell!" Elizabeth shot back.

They went back and forth like that till the end of recess. 

Lunch eventually came. This time I had insisted on bringing my own lunch. Pinkzilla then insisted right back that she had to be the one to make it. As a result, I had a PB&J an apple and a grape juice. I didn't want to complain, because it was better than the school lunch, but this carnivore was hoping for something with meat in it. Y'know?

Hearing familiar voices approaching I looked up from my lunch. Once again the dynamic duo had signaled me out. Why did they, or rather Elizabeth, like me so much?

This time the discussion wasn't about me or rather the Magical Girl, but something far more horrifying. She wanted me to come over for a sleepover this weekend. All weekend!

"I don't know about that." I tried letting her down easy.

"Awww, come on please, it'll be fun!" 

"Look, I just got here and I hardly know you."

"If you come, then you can get to know me better!" I have to say, arguing with the logic of a child was like sawing through a log with a butter knife.

"Liz I don't think she wants to..." To Erasers credit he tried to save me, but Elizabeth wasn't having it.

"You know what day that is right!?" She asked Eraser, giving him her killer chipmunk look again. 

Eraser didn't laugh this time. Instead looked at me. "Look, just come over ok."

Did she corrupt him somehow? 

With two against one, I eventually caved. I wasn't proud of this, but they're one so much, sad little girl eyes, one man can take. I went home that day with an address written on a piece of paper, and the hope that I won't regret this later. When I told Pinkzilla about the invite she was overjoyed. Of course, she was, her little girl just made a new friend.

Later that night Tulip and I went out on patrol, the previous nights' events and stories about me on the streets and internet, must have sent all the scum into hiding because I only stopped 2 crimes and bag 3 people. for a total of 5. I suppose I should be glad it was quiet like this. After all, a peaceful city is a safe city, but that was no good for my goal. Not at all. 

The rest of the week all the way to the weekend was quiet as well. When the weekend came, I had a grand total of 70. I was going to Elizabeth's place on Friday which meant taking a break from crime-fighting. Tulip didn't mind this, in fact when I told her about the sleepover she hardly reacted at all.