Already Getting Threats

I froze. He froze. Realization dawned on his face that I knew exactly who he was. Mr. Gunner Crook, my science teacher freshman year. What a fitting name. The bell rang and he grabbed onto my arm, tossing me into a supply closet. I went to yell but he was there in a flash, staring me down to where no noise escaped me.

"You! You stupid girl." he shook his head, digging his hands deeper into my skin, "Don't you know the trouble you caused Bill and me?" I could only nod in response.

"You speak one word of this, we won't hesitate to kill you." I swallowed.

He then tossed me into the hallway. I collapsed onto my knees, my eyes wide. Mr. Crook passed by me, heading to his class. I scrambled to my feet and ran to my class, which was located upstairs. I pushed open the door to Mrs. Honey's Art class and everyone turned to look at me. I kept my gaze down and went to take my seat in the back only to see someone else sitting there.

"Oh! Ms. Dale, that is our new student. His name is Blaze. You may sit to his left for today until I make a new seating arrangement." Okay cool, a distraction.

I take a seat to his left like Mrs. Honey said and pulled out my art folder. I took out my lion I had been trying to draw for the past week. I then steal a glance to my right to see Blake? Blaze? Oh whats his name again? Blaze! That's it. The guy is clueless on what this project is about so I decide to help.

"Um my name is Hope. Yeah, I know, strange to name your daughter after a feeling you wish to have. Your name is Blaze right?" I stick out my hand in his direction, wishing he would shake it.

His grey almost silver eyes cast over my 5'2 height before looking down at my extended hand. Blaze's blonde hair feel into his eyes and he moved it to the side. He cautiously grabbed my hand and shook it before replying to my question.

"Yeah, the name is Blaze. Moved from Miami, Florida."

"Wow! All the way from Florida? Why did you move to New York?" I question.

"My mothers mom is getting sick so we moved out here for the rest of my Senior year." Blaze's gaze goes back to his desk as he fiddles with his fingers.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." I shift in my seat deciding to strike up another conversation. "Need help with the project?"

"Please."

The hour flew by quicker than I thought. Turns out Blaze is a lot funnier when you get to know him. I rounded up all my art supplies and stuffed it into my book sack. I also found out Blaze shares my English class with me too so I volunteered to show him the way. We passed all the buzz from the students, luckily for me, I didn't bump into any. Unfortunately, Blaze bumped into almost everyone. We entered the English class and I gave a small wave to my Uncle. He ended up being my English teacher this year.

"Hi Uncle Doe!" He looks up from the papers scattered all over his desk, grinning when he sees me.

"Pumpkin! How are ye? Oh, who might you be young man?" Uncle Doe pushes his glasses farther up on his face to make out Blaze.

"Uhm, Blaze Sir," He stutters out.

"Well nice to me yer! Have a seat, anywhere you choose. I don't like that assigned seating bullsh-" I coughed, covering his language. "Oh sorry pumpkin."

I motioned for Blaze to pick a seat to which he chose to sit in the middle. Students then came flocking into the class with loud chatter. I had Victoria, the queen bee, in this class. I scowled as she pranced into the class like she owned the place. The boy I saw earlier is now attached to her by the hip. I see why people fall head over heals for her though. She's captain of the cheer leading and volleyball team. Her platinum blonde hair and her dark green eyes stand out to a crowd. Her standing height of 5'6 makes her hard to miss. Victoria is honestly a walking model at our school.

She takes a seat in the front row. Two seats in front of me. She can't see it, but I glare at her from behind. Then, the person I now despise walks in. Samuel A. Moore. His demure is relaxed as he laughs with a few of his friends. Samuel is a tall fellow. Standing at 6'3, he makes a great addition to the Football team. Shockingly, he has turned down being the captain since his Sophomore year. His green eyes and brown hair match his well fit frame. To think I used to be friends with this jerk. His eyes wander the sea of students till he stops on me.

"What's up hop scotch?" Sam says, making his way over to Blaze and I.

"Can't you go annoy someone else today? I'm not in the mood." He chuckles for a second before coming to a sudden halt.

"Who the hell are you?" Blaze's eyes widen for a second before growing a sly smirk.

"My names Blaze." He sticks his hand out for Sam to shake. "You must be Samuel as dear Hope said earlier," Samuel's jaw clenches, grabbing onto Blaze's outstretched hand and shaking it .

"Nice to make your acquaintance," Sam seethes before dropping his hand and walks to the back of the class.

I sit there, dumbfounded at the boys exchange but shrug it off as Uncle Doe calls for role. I mutter a 'here' when he calls my name then I start making up my math homework I never got to complete. I snap out of my work when I hear my name announced.

"Hope. Will you please inform us what I was talking about?" I blush, knowing he caught me. Everyone is looking at me. Blaze with concern, Samuel with amusement, and Victoria who sees me as trash. I scowl in response.

"It's okay but next time please pay attention." I nod in understanding.

"But we will be doing this assignment in pairs of three." This captures my attention. "This assignment will be 80% of your grade this semester, so don't mess up! Anybody have any ideas on what its about?" A girl named Madison speaks up.

"Is this the bucket list project?" She questions.

"Okay I didn't suspect you to get it on the first try," He scratches the back of his neck. "But yes, it is. Some of you might already know what this project is but for the students who don't, let me explain." Blaze and I share a glance, waiting for Uncle Doe to continue.

"Who remembers the project you kids did last year where you completed a bucket list over the school year?" A few kids raised their hands. Me included. "Okay that is better than I thought. So those list were created by the Seniors last year. This year you will be making those list for the Juniors. This assignment is due next week so let me call out partners."

Everyone groaned in response. Uncle Doe never pairs friends together. I still don't understand why but that's just how he rolls. I attempt to finish the last page of my math until I hear my name get called out.

"-Hope and Blaze in a group," I smile at Blaze but he isn't looking at me. He is staring at Samuel who is looking right back at him.

The boys intently stare at one another for another five seconds until Blaze breaks eye contact and looks over at me. He even had the tendency to smile as if nothing happened. My eyebrows scrunched together in curiosity. Blaze then speaks up.

"Well, it looks like its the three of us." I nod in response, then whip my head up as it clicks.

"Wait, three of us?" I exclaim.

"Yeah, the Samuel guy is also in our group. Didn't you hear?" I mumble out a no. Well, this project is going to be interesting.

The bell rings right after I replied and Uncle Doe kept repeating to have it done by next Friday. I hurriedly packed my bag and headed to my locker. This day has been a mess. Running into Mr. Crook, the guy who wanted to blow my brains out. Meeting Blaze who seems nice. Samuel wanting to rip Blaze's throat out. What else could happen in a single day?

I unlock my locker and shove my English book inside. Then taking my calculus book and stuffing that into my book sack. I then proceed to slam my locker closed and whip around to go meet Tyler and Kate in the cafeteria. As I wander the halls to the cafeteria, I see Blaze and Madison talking. I smile a bit, glad he is making friends.

When I enter the cafeteria, the aroma of garlic bread and chocolate hit me in the face. The sounds of peoples chatter over the sizzling of the cooks in the back. My eyes scan the tables, looking for my redheaded friend. I then spot her near the middle and head in her direction. I plop down by Kate, Tyler who sits in front of her.

"Oh hey Hope! Look at this! There's a new super villain!" I roll my eyes. Kate has been obsessed with Supers since she was 12. All because they looked awesome. Now Tyler and I get told practically everything.

"Watch this video! It shows him carrying a girl and digging through her wallet!" She shoves the phone into my face and I hit play.

As the video starts, it shows a little boy explaining he has saw something. The video then turns to look at a figure dresses in black spandex with a matching cape run by. I rewind the video slightly to get a closer look at the figure. I gasp when I realize its the same guy who saved me. I continue watching the video in shock. The little boy filmed the figure walking into the shadows and minutes later, appearing with an unconscious girl- wait is that me? When I see the girls hair color, I know its me. I watch as he pulls my wallet out of my back pocket and vanishes into the night sky with me. Kate takes her phone back and squeals.

"Isn't that so cool! Tyler honestly thought the girl looked like you at first-," She stops herself, "Hope are you okay? You look kinda pale,"

"Who was that?" I breath out.

"The villain goes by Double S," she states.

I decided to spill everything that happened to them. Starting from when I left Tess cafe and heard my voice be called, getting held at gunpoint. I left out the part where I was stabbed but I did explain I ended up waking in my bed at home. I also left out that the man with the gun is Mr. Crook. They stared at me for one minute, then two, then five before Tyler spoke.

"So your tell me, well us, the girl in that video is you?"

"Yes!" I exclaim. "That, that guy came and saved me then took me home like nothing happened!"

"Whoa! You were saved by a super villain! I wish that could have been me!" Kate pipes in.

"No! You do not want that to happen. What if he kidnapped me and killed me?" I shuddered at the thought.

"Was he at least handsome?"

"Kate, Double S wears a mask. How the heck am I supposed to know that?"

"Uhm, you can try getting his attention again then pull of his mask and expose him to the world!" She smiles at her idea.

Kate has been addicted to trying to figure out these Supers identities. Both Red Wing and Golden Fox wear a mask so they can keep their identity safe. Kate has also made some very strange ideas who those people under the mask can be. Once she said it was a dog. Don't ask how she came to that conclusion because I am not sure myself.

"Okay nobody is getting a super villains attention. That is a dumb idea," Tyler pitches in.

"Awe, but I wanna know if he's hot or not," Tyler looks away with a scowl on his face.

The bell rings, signalling that lunch is now over. The three of us throw away our food and make our way to the math hall. Kate follows behind me while Tyler leads the way. When we arrive, we wish each other good luck and enter the one place that makes school hell.

I managed to finish my test ten minutes before the bell. Faster than everybody else. I waited until somebody else got up to turn in there paper before I went to turn mine in. What? It's a nervous habit. I plop back into my seat and check if my wallet is located in my pockets. Nope. My book sack? No. Could it be in my locker? I would have put it there this morning but I didn't visit my locker till lunch. I conclude I left it at home when Mrs. G announces that we have all finished our test. My phone buzzes and I sneak a look at who it was.

Kit Kat: So how did u peeps do?

TyTy: think I did pretty well actually.

Hop: It was okay

Sent

I glanced up to check if Mrs. G was paying attention but she was too busy with grading our papers. The scowl on her face was defined. Okay maybe we bombed this test worse than I originally thought. The school bell rings, signalling the end of the day as students excitedly jump out of their chairs and rush out the room. Tyler, Kate and I finish last and walk down the hall together until I remember I have to check my locker.

"Oh shoot, I'll catch up with you guys later. I have something to do," I say as I start jogging to my locker. Kate gives me a thumbs up and continues chatting away to Tyler.

As I try to make it to my locker, I push past students who are trying to leave the school. I narrowly dodge a girl with a skateboard but run into somebody else. I let out a quick sorry and continue on with my mission. About a minute of fighting the crowd, I make it to my locker in one piece. I punch in my combination and scan the inside of my locker. Science book, gym clothes, random jacket but no wallet. I let out a groan and slam my locker closed.

"Whoa, what did the locker ever do to you?" Samuel says from behind me. I turn around to look at him but come face to face with his shirt. I look up to see him smirking down at me. I glare.

"Why are you even here Samuel?"

"Here for Football shorty. Want to come watch? You can see the guys without there shirts on" He grins cockily.

"Sorry, I don't want to ruin my appetite." His smirk falters.

"You still mad at me hop scotch?" I whip around and point my finger at him.

"Yes! You shunned us away! Why? What did the three of us ever do to you? You can't just come waltzing back into our lives like some superhero okay?" I jab my finger into his chest, trying not to flinch. Does he really have to work out? "We still have to do the stupid project and that will already be enough time to deal with you."

"One, I had a reason for leaving you guys in the dark. I still can't explain it. I promise I want to tell you, but I can't. Two, we still need to make those plans for the project and third," He pauses. Sam checks left to right, the continues in a whisper, "Was that you who was kidnapped by the super villain?" I blink. That last sentence throwing me off course. I let out a weak yes and turn to leave. Samuel grabs my arm, turning me back to face him.

"I won't tell anybody, I promise." I pull out of his grasp and this time, Sam doesn't stop me.

I wait about five minutes on the steps of the school until Michael rolls up, honking his horn. I throw my book sack over my shoulder and wander down the steps. The beeping of horns and the whizzing of bikes can be heard as I slide into the passenger seat. I end up making light conversation with my brother. When we arrived home, I tossed my school work to the floor near my bed then went to my room and laid down on my bed and thought.

I want answers about last night and the only way to do that was to find Double S.