-Maia POV-

 

After lunch, Tessa and I parted ways. She seemed nervous, but after a quick hug, she went to her next class.

[Anytime you need me, I’ll be there for you.]

{Mm.}

In my class, though, I was bored. The teacher was absent for the day, so there wasn’t anything to do. I idly scrolled through news and memes on my phone. There was a story about a CEO’s daughter starting a new company to conduct research on powers. Another story was about that sinkhole girl that was on the news last night.

I kept scrolling, until one story caught my attention.

Vigilante Fights Evil: Who Is She?

I was reminded of the news from yesterday, and the woman in the suit.

Sure enough, when I looked at the story, it was about her. Apparently, she had been busy today, interfering in fights and capturing people that were using their powers to hurt other people. The article had actually been published only five minutes ago, and it had videos of her included.

[Hey Tessa, you busy?]

{A little, but I always have time for you.}

[Damn that was smooth.]

{Ehe. So, what’s up?}

I told her about the news article.

[They’re even calling her Vigilante, like a superhero or something.]

{…Does it say what she’s doing now?}

[Oh? Does someone have a celebrity crush?]

Although I teased her, I had to admit that I was kind of interested in Vigilante. In all of the videos, she seemed almost playful, and she was exceedingly good at fighting. She was so strong, I was willing to bet that her power was some form of super strength. Plus, she was hot.

Of course, I had Tessa, so I wasn’t that interested in Vigilante. Mostly.

Unexpectedly, though, rather than the usual flood of embarrassment, all I got from Tessa was a twinge of discomfort.

{No.}

Hm. I… wasn’t actually sure what that meant.

[The article says Vigilante is still fighting, and it’s really recent.]

Instead of a response, I felt concern from Tessa.

[Tessa? Is something wrong?]

{No, everything’s fine.}

Okay, I definitely had to ask her about this later.

 

-Tessa POV-

 

After school, Maia asked around until we found the music appreciation club room. Tom was standing just outside the room, hand raised to the door.

Reese threw the door open from inside, saying, “Tom! Tessa, Maia! Come in!”

The club room was… not how I expected. Colorful rugs covered the white tile floor, and all the desks were pushed to the wall in favor of several bean bag chairs scattered across the floor. Large curtains were drawn across the windows, casting the room into half-darkness. An old animated movie about a robot was playing on the projector screen at the front of the room. Sprawled out on the bean bags were Jamie, David, and a pile of pink slime.

“Um, why is there-“ Maia began, before being cut off by the slime forming into the shape of a person. Then, with a quiet pop, Cass was sitting on the bean bag in place of the slime. She held up the remote, pausing the movie.

“‘Sup.”

Seeing Maia’s expression of pure confusion, I giggled. Then I looked at the floor because everyone was staring at me.

They stopped solely looking at me, though, when a tired voice came from the back corner of the classroom.

“Oh, hello. Are you here to join?”

“Just some friends here to hang out,” Reese quickly cut in.

“Oh. Well, make yourselves comfortable.”

Reese gave us a thumbs up, then jumped onto a bean bag. Tom shrugged and gently sat down on one. Cass unpaused the movie and appeared to melt back into a blob of pink slime.

[…So Cass can turn into slime, huh.]

{Yup.}

[…Is it weird that I’m getting used to surprises like this?]

{We’re in the same boat there.}

[Hmmm.]

When Maia flopped down on a bean bag near the back, I had an idea. I followed suit, flopping down on top of her.

“Oof.”

“Hehe.”

The only one to look over at us was David, who smirked before turning back to the movie. I shifted until I was sitting in Maia’s lap.

[…You’re kind of heavy.]

{Rude.}

I smiled, though, leaning back against her. She squirmed a bit until we could see each other’s face.

{We’re probably about the same weight.}

[I dunno…]

Following where her eyes were pointed, I realized she was looking directly at my chest.

I felt my face instantly heat up, and I half-turned away.

[I could just reach out and touch them.]

{Aaa.}

[And since it’s dark and we’re sitting in the back, no one would know.]

{Aaaaa.}

Now I was certain I was beet red. I slowly turned around to look at her.

And she was doing her best to stifle a laugh.

I lightly punched her arm, and this time she did laugh. I crossed my arms and turned away.

She wrapped her arms around my waist, pulling me back to lean against her again. I sighed, feeling her against my back and uncrossing my arms. She smelled nice, like all the good smells of a forest.

Her hands unclasped.

{…Maia?}

One of her hands reached up to cover my mouth.

{Maia?}

[Hehe.]

And her other hand poked me in the chest.

A very muffled Eep! escaped me.

 

-Maia POV-

 

As the credits of the movie rolled, I released Tessa, who rolled off of me while blushing furiously. Luckily, it seemed that no one had noticed what Tessa and I were doing during the movie. Jamie stood up and turned the lights back on, while David rolled up the projector screen and turned off the projector. Tom went over to the corner to talk to the teacher.

Tessa tried to stand up, but I grabbed her hand. She flushed bright red again, and I had to stifle another laugh. I pulled on her hand to help myself stand up. Realizing that that was all I was doing, Tessa somehow got even redder, out of embarrassment this time.

I held onto her hand and we went to the teacher’s desk in the corner of the room.

“Ah, hello. Welcome to the music appreciation club. You can call me Mr. Johnson. I’m the faculty advisor.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Tessa, and this is Maia.”

I was distracted and not really paying attention to their conversation, looking at what Tom was doing instead. He seemed to be filling out a form of some sort.

Noticing my gaze, he said, “I have decided to join this club. Do you two intend to do the same?”

When I glanced over at Tessa she gave a short nod, so I responded, “Sure, why not.”

Tom slid two more forms to me from the stack near him, then handed me a pen from his pocket.

“Oh, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

[Want me to fill out your club membership form?]

{Mhm.}

Wow. She didn’t even pause her conversation with the teacher to answer me, which was kind of impressive.

After I filled out the forms, I handed them to Tessa, who handed them to Mr. Johnson.

“We’d like to join.”

“Oh, that’s great, that’s great.” Mr. Johnson said, peering at the papers through his glasses. “We have meetings every day except Fridays, but you don’t have to come for every meeting.”

Evidently, Reese overheard our conversation, as she bounded over to the teacher’s desk.

“Ooh, tell them about the trip!”

“…The trip? Oh, right. Let’s see here.”

He pulled out a large stack of papers, then slid it over to us. Upon closer inspection, the stack turned out to be several stapled packets of forms and waivers.

“Now that you three are joining, we have enough members for a school-sponsored trip in a few weeks.”

Before he could continue his explanation, though, Reese grabbed four packets and ran over to the rest of the club members. It almost sounded like she squealed, too, but I couldn’t be sure.

Mr. Johnson chuckled, then continued his explanation.

“The packet is mostly the standard fare for school trips; medical release forms and the like. However, there are also multiple pages about this specific trip.”

He then went on to explain the details of the trip, pointing to various sections of a packet with his pen.

It was going to be a three-day wilderness retreat of sorts. There would be hiking, kayaking, and other activities one would expect for a trip in the spring this close to the equator. Luckily, rather than having to camp in a tent, accommodations in a hotel-like building would be provided.

The reason this was all planned out already was because multiple clubs would be participating in it, but only clubs with five members or more could participate.

“And, of course, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

“On the contrary, I look forward to it,” Tom said, picking up a packet. “Unfortunately, however, I must return home now. Today has been fun. Good day.”

Checking my phone, I realized that it was getting late. Tessa was still flipping through a packet, so I tugged on her wrist.

[Time to go.]

{Oh. Right.}

Tessa grabbed two packets while I collected our belongings. We said our goodbyes to the rest of the club, then walked home.

Marissa wasn’t home yet when we got there, so we went to our room. I logged into our desktop computer, which we hadn’t done in a while, and looked at more articles on Vigilante.

In the time since I last checked, it seemed that she had been living up to her alias. She had fought and captured both people that were breaking the law and those that were combating crime, seemingly without pattern. Stranger still, the captured people would show up handcuffed outside police stations a while after their capture.

There were other articles as well, about various people with powers that had appeared and were acting as superheroes and supervillains. They even had names like out of a comic book, like Slip for that bank robber on TV the other day, or Conflagration for Michael, that lava guy from the mall.

Strangely, though, my thoughts kept going back to Vigilante. The way she would always smirk or wink at the cameras, the ease with which she took down her enemies, the almost flirty way she established her opponents. All of it played over and over in my head.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. Curious, I looked over at Tessa, who was sitting on the bed and seemed very invested in something on her phone.

Tessa, my love, the light of my life, my other half, my favorite person, the most important-

Ahem.

She probably caught at least some of that, from the way she blushed.

I looked back at the video of Vigilante fighting.

Vigilante was… well, if she asked me out on a date I wouldn’t hesitate to say yes.

Hmm. It was an odd feeling, but it seemed…

It seemed that I had a crush. I couldn’t really deny it any longer. And maybe it was unfair when I already had Tessa, but I couldn’t help the way I felt.

I noticed that Tessa was no longer looking at her phone, and our eyes met. She had stopped blushing and now seemed confused and concerned about something, so I stood up to walk over to her.

At the same time, she also stood up.

{What was that.}

Best to just get it over with.

[I think… I have a crush on Vigilante.]

{You…}

She trailed off, and I felt a confusing mix of emotions radiating from her. She felt… guilty? And also worried, as though she had made a mistake.

She had stiffened where she stood, unmoving with her eyes fixed on some point far off in the distance.

For the first time ever, her mind seemed… opaque, for lack of a better term. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking at all, but she was clearly having trouble with something, and it had to do with me. With that little to go off of, I took a wild guess.

[Is it… a secret?]

A wave of relief answered me. She nodded, visibly relaxing a bit, no longer tensing in distress.

Feeling her mood shift, I approached her again. She was standing close to the wall next to the head of the bed, which gave me an idea.

Smirking, I placed my hand on the wall next to her head.

“So, what’s the secret?”

Tessa started breathing heavier, but instead of blushing, her face crumpled as though she was holding back tears. Startled, I retracted my hand. Clearly, I had misread her, and badly, from the way her anxiety kept growing.

I pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back.

[Hey. Hey. I’m sorry. I’m here for you.]

She just stood there, not hugging me back, but not resisting either.

[What’s wrong? Please, talk to me.]

{I… You need to know, but…}

She was beginning to hyperventilate now. I let go of her, and she looked into my eyes. I took a few steps back, then sat on the bed, guiding her to sit next to me.

[Take your time. Deep breaths.]

Her breathing calmed, and the conflicted look in her eye slowly went away.

She swallowed, then said in a whisper, “Marissa is Vigilante.”

…What.

The.

Fuck.