The Calm Before The Storm

"Finals are only a week away, Felix, and you mean to tell me that you left all your study materials at a friend's apartment?" Professor Dietrich looked at Felix with no small amount of suspicion in his gaze. "Listen, Felix. I've remained quiet for a while now, but I've noticed that your grades are gradually slipping."

The pair of them were standing in the classroom after class had ended, with Felix having appropriated some pens and papers from the professor's stash. Dietrich had asked to see him after class was over, and it looked like it was turning out to be an impromptu interrogation, of sorts.

"They're all still A's and B's, though, right?" Felix asked, concerned that some new grade had been put in the gradebook.

Luckily, the professor nodded. "Don't get me wrong, your grades are excellent, but you started this class with nearly perfect marks on your tests and quizzes. Now? You're lucky to stumble into an A with a 90%. Is something going on?" The concern lining his otherwise intimidating features was genuine. Felix felt a pang of guilt for having to lie to the man, but he suppressed it.

"No, Professor. I've just been getting overwhelmed by coursework from all my classes lately. I'm lucky that the semester's coming to an end, honestly. Hopefully, things will reset next semester," Felix explained, his voice not betraying him in the least. Felix noticed that fact regretfully. He'd become too good at lying: something he'd never wanted to get accustomed to.

Professor Dietrich nodded, accepting the explanation. "Do you plan to take Differential Equations next semester?"

"I do."

"Good!" Dietrich's face lit up. "I hope you'll wind up picking me up for another semester. Your little speech in the beginning of the semester really lit a fire under some of your peers. You think you could do it again?"

"Are you trying to convince me not to take your class again, Professor?" Felix grinned, amused at Dietrich's flash of worry before he caught on to the joke.

"Very, very funny Mr. Hale. I'll take that as a yes?"

"With any luck, you'll see me again next semester, Professor."

After engaging in some more small talk – some of which had somehow got on the topic of whether corgis or beagles were cuter – Felix left the classroom. Looking at the notes he had in his hand, he shook his head. They were god-awful; they'd barely help with studying for finals at all. Of all times to forget his stuff, last night was pretty terrible timing.

He buried his notes in his jacket, pulling the hood over his head to protect it from the cold. His pocket began to vibrate with the fury contained only by his smartphone. He shouldn't have dropped it so many times: maybe it'd have been less angry. Felix answered the phone, Harper's voice immediately blasting into his ear.

Having adjusted the volume, Felix asked her to repeat herself. "I've got the stuff you left behind. Meet me at the bar tonight?"

"Thanks for picking them up; yeah, I'll be there. See you then?"

"See you then."

Felix breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't particularly want to deal with Johnathan's brother at the dojo. One of them was plenty enough; two of them were probably tactless enough to cause the Queen of England to faint in horror.

Instead, he took the opportunity to get some real studying in. Between English, Calculus, and the other three classes he was taking, he needed to actually devote some time to it. Texting Thomas, knowing that the guy would be down to study English – he was almost as hopeless as Felix himself – Felix beelined to the library.

Shockingly, Thomas was already there, deep into his third cup of coffee. "Woah man, easy on the caffeine," Felix teased, walking up to the otherwise empty table. Thomas looked up from his laptop with bloodshot eyes. Oh, he'd been here a while.

"I've got a final paper due in like six hours and I've got maybe a quarter of it done. Stupid history classes, man," Thomas hissed, burying his face in his hands. "You want to help?"

"I guess it'll help with studying for English," Felix said slowly. It wasn't exactly what he had planned, but hitting two birds with one stone was always a good idea.

"Studying for English? We have a final in that class?"

"Yeah, she told us last class, remember?"

Thomas cursed. "What do they even test on an English test? Every English class ever is about writing some stupid papers on topics no one will ever want to read. This is the last time I don't read the reviews about the professor," Thomas complained, waving for Felix to sit down next to him.

For hours, they labored over Thomas' paper, with Felix taking the occasional break to make a coffee run. The library's coffee shop easily made enough to pay all their workers for the day off of Felix's purchases alone. How people did anything before the invention of coffee was beyond him. As he carried the latest batch of the bitter drink back to the table, he caught a glimpse of someone he recognized on the silent television screen in the lobby. Johnathan was on the news for something.

In his Lift – that was his superhero name – costume, Johnathan was hovering over the wreckage of a car. He tried desperately to lift the thing, utilizing his powers to generate additional upwards force. With the help of a couple of bystanders, he managed to overturn the thing. Not hesitating, he went to free the occupants of the ruined vehicle, both of which were knocked out… or dead. Felix kept hope for the first.

Like a superhero from the comics, Johnathan waved to a few of the people who called out to 'Lift.' And then, suddenly, someone tossed a plastic bottle at him. The closed captions on the TV provided context. The thrower, a middle-aged man in a business suit, was screaming, "freak!"

A few others joined him, the closed captions struggling to keep up with all the voices. Johnathan looked absolutely surprised, as he doubtlessly was. He flew away, and the TV cut to the news desk. The news anchor spoke, pulling up other clips. Each of them was about some would-be superhero being harassed by onlookers. The final clip was about large protests across the world, the participants all waving signs that cursed Supers.

Felix tore his gaze from the television. Thinking about this kind of stuff would do him no good. He could wait until after finals week to consider things like what the world thought of him. Thomas waved for him to bring the liquid energy, and Felix resumed his mission to help his friend.