8

Chapter Text

MON FEB 14

Sleeping on the weekend's problems didn't really help. I knew I had to help Dinah, but I had no idea what went into forming a team. I couldn't just post up want ads for capes, that does not good team cohesion make... I decided to just get Amy's advice, the next time I saw her.

That only took... my entire morning weight routine to decide on. Geez I was bad at this... no idea why I'd make a good leader. Maybe I wouldn't? Maybe we'd find another cape who'd make a better team leader, or something. No use thinking about it until it happened.

I was out the door running to school when my thoughts turned to the other offer/demand I'd gotten over the weekend. Who the hell was Old Sue, anyway? She'd seemed nice the week we'd spent working together, even when I pushed her buttons she got more matronly than outright prickly. The one thing I could be sure of was that they weren't part of a cape gang. They'd had some pretty nasty things to say about all the gangs, even the Asian one, and Jake at least had my senses to corroborate the truth in his poor opinion of them. So what the hell was going on?

By the time I'd made it to school, the only thing I was sure of was that even if it was a trap, I could handle it. So before I made my way into the building, I headed off to the side away from the entrance and stopped to dig out my phone and Sue's number.

She picked up on the third ring with a mixed-language greeting that seemed habitual. "Hey, Sue? It's Taylor." Now how to phrase this... "Um, Jake said you wanted to talk? About what?"

"Oh, Taylor. You call me about that today? You never know when an old spinster like me might have a hot date tonight." Sue deflected, causing my cheeks to turn red. Then I thought about it. Why would today be-

"Aw, shit. It's Valentine's, isn't it?" I did not want to deal with this shit today.

"Oh, no worries." Old Sue laughed. "Go find yourself a nice boy for the evening, you can talk with Sue later in the week."

"I'm not really... interested..." I grumbled.

"Oh-ho, so a young lady would be more your preference?"

The old bint was laughing at me. "No! I'm straight, dammit!" I yelled into the phone, drawing a few eyes from the early-rising students. "Why does everyone think I'm gay?"

"It's because you walk like a man."

"What?" The surety and confidence in her voice threw me, when what she'd actually said was processed through my mind. "No I don't."

She chuckled. "You have a very masculine air about you. You keep your hair nice, but you don't wear makeup, cover your curves in baggy clothes-" I bit back the scoff at the notion of having curves. "-you don't show off your legs, and every time you move it is with purpose, not elegance. You walk like a man, dear." I tried to find words to refute hers, but she continued when I couldn't find them. "In my experience, there are two reasons a woman walks like a man. Either it is dangerous to be considered a woman," And oh wasn't there a lot of that in the bay, her tone said. I couldn't help but agree. "or it is because a masculine air makes one listened to more, like men are in most cultures. I sensed a bit of both in you, and it is part of what drew my interest in you." Now that sounded a touch ominous. "I have seen it before, you behave like the runt of your litter. You shy away, like you're afraid of reprisal, but when you are confident, you have a drive to be the most confident thing in the room; to bark twice as loud as others, because that is what you must, to be heard."

Well... shit. That last part actually sounded about right.

"It is that second type that makes people think you might not be straight. Some broadcast masculinity to indicate they are receptive to a more feminine person in a relationship, regardless of gender. Others are sometimes looking for this, and may see it where it isn't. Not just feminine girls liking masculine girls, either. Some masculine boys like masculine girls, masculine boys liking masculine boys, or masculine girls liking masculine girls. The world has all types." I could hear the shrug in her voice.

"Yeah, but... I'm not interested in anything right now." I plead, willing forth some guidance from the old fortune-cookie woman.

"It's Valentine's day on a school day. Sucks to be you, then." Oh goddammit, Sue!

"I could always skip." I muttered.

"I have had your father's number far longer than yours, dear." Shit.

"Yeah, but what do I do?" I groaned.

"Tell all the nice boys and girls who fancy you no. If they don't take no, you slap them. If they still don't take no, you put them in hospital. Not rocket science."

"Some fortune cookie, you are." I groused.

She scoffed. "Fortune cookies are for tourists and idiots."

That had me laughing a little. "Alright, I need to get a shower and head to class. When did you want to meet up?"

"Ehh, seven tomorrow? Can have dinner and tea." She gave me an address, which I wrote down. "Now I need to get to work, then I can come home and watch Casablanca with my cats." She sounded excited, so I was happy for her. I chuckled and said goodbye, hanging up and making my way down to the gym's showers.

---

The halls were festooned with pink livery. ...well okay, so there were just a couple streamers up in a few of the halls, it still felt like far more than the school should've done. Or rather, since it was probably clubs or a couple students staying after class to do it, than the school should've allowed to be done. The notion that they were celebrating this, forcing the celebration on others, of having someone else shoved into your life whether you like it or not, all for some nebulous, supposed happiness in the future?

It was exhausting. And I hadn't even gotten my morning shower, yet.

While the shower helped, I still felt... squeezed. Hemmed in, by the holiday. I decided to opt for the hoodie today. For all that I might be trying to put a better foot forward at Arcadia, clothing-wise, I still felt much better in more concealing garb. With any luck, people would just ignore me, and everyone could just get on with their week.

After a few minutes roaming the halls, waiting for class, I started to feel a little better. With my hair down the back of my hoodie, the hood up, and my new lack of glasses, it appeared no one recognized me. I watched little gifts and cards be exchanged from a distance, heard the cheer throughout the halls as the holiday spirit took the more exuberant students, saw young couples forming and mingling in the halls, even the one explosive breakup that happened before classes started was met more with playful jeering than anything else. It actually felt... nice... to be invisible in the middle of all this.

I kept my hair down the inside of my hoodie in class, always ready to just flick up my hood and leave. A trick that helped a bit during the worse weeks at Winslow. I knew it wasn't great for my hair, so I'd only used it sparingly; even there where I could convince myself I was protecting my hair from something worse. This was the first time I'd bothered here at Arcadia, so I was surprised when it only lasted through second period.

"Hey Taylor, wait up!" I heard behind me. One of the boys had followed me out of our last class. Kyle... Hayner? Hastings? Hayden? I was sure it was a 'Ha-' name... It was a lot harder to learn people's full names in a school where the teachers actually cared enough to learn their student's faces, to not need to call names for roll. I'd started a month into the semester, after the good teachers had already had the names down.

"Yeah?" I managed to mutter. It was too quiet to be heard over the hall, but he knew I'd addressed him now.

"Are... you wearing contacts? It looks really good on you." My head tilted a bit, not entirely sure what I'd done to warrant the... compliment? I'd liked my glasses. They reminded me of mom's. "I was wondering..." His hand went up behind his head, nervously. Was this happening? "If you'd maybe..." Oh god this was happening. "like to go out later? If you don't have plans today, I mean."

Kyle and I had swapped homework notes a couple times, and I'm pretty sure he still owed me a pencil, but I knew absolutely nothing about him. He was reasonably handsome, about my height, dark brown hair, slightly less pale than I was before I'd started running, making him a touch pastier than I was now...

None of that stopped the shiver of revulsion that crept up my spine, causing me to shrink into myself a bit. "Nnnnooo?" I half-moaned, half-whined, shying away from him. I took a breath and shook myself out. Now was not the time to be consumed by nerves, he'd probably take that as assent that I was free if I left things there. "I don't... I'm sorry, I'm still getting used to things, settling in, I don't..." I could see the hurt in his eyes, now. "I'm just really not in a 'relationship' headspace right now. Maybe next year?"

Oh geez, now he looked devastated. He muttered something and trudged off. I wasn't sure what I'd said or did, so I just leaned against the wall for a second to gather myself after that.

"Wow, you absolutely crushed that dweeb." I turned to see Cassie grinning behind me. "What'd he do to you?"

"Nothing!" I squeaked, "I didn't... he... I didn't mean anything?" I was falling apart, it seemed.

She smirked and raised a brow. "You just told him to wait until next year. At the rate High School socializing works, you might as well have told him to wait until you're 30."

"What?" Oh no. "I just... I was thinking about Valentine's and..." I groaned.

She laughed. "You're such a spazz sometimes, Tay."

"Look, boys are hard, okay?" I snapped.

"Almost constantly, yes." Was her droll reply.

It only sank in with the tittering of the students passing us by, and my face grew red and I groaned again. I'd walked right into that one.

"I'm just no good at romance." I muttered.

She shrugged. "It's not about romance for a lot of these chucklefucks, but I see your point."

"I just need a good excuse..." I thought out loud. If I just had some good reason to turn people down for today, I could get through this. I wracked my brain for something to do when my eyes alighted to the bemused, if somewhat confused countenance of ms Herren. "What're you doing for today?"

Cass scoffed. "What, are you asking me out, now?" There was an underlying hostility to her words, much more strongly apparent to my enhances senses than my normal ones. "Not into girls, if you hadn't noticed."

"No, no." I waved my hands negatively. "I mean... I'm just looking for something to be busy with for the rest of the day, is all. Easier to lie about being busy if I'm not lying, you know?"

She hummed, and thought for a bit. "You know, it has been a while since I've blown off some steam... maybe I can help you out, there."

"Really?" I was hopeful, but also suspicious. Even I could tell Cass was a fairly attractive girl. She had to have a boyfriend if she wanted one, right? Why wasn't she already busy today?

"Sure. You know the old industrial park?" I nodded. It was an area full of old factories, warehouses, and office buildings in the southwest that, while abandoned, weren't nearly as dilapidated or outright condemned as the ones in the docks tended to be. Probably helped by the general lack of squatters. All of the gangs treated the homeless differently- the Merchants welcomed them, the ABB ignored them, but the E88 in the south? It didn't matter if they were white, a lot of the Nazis considered the homeless just as 'subhuman' as they did other races. The minorities in the south at least had their homes to retreat to, the homeless just migrated east to the downtown slums, or north to the docks and the trainyard. "Cool, meet me at Oak Ridge and Burnside at 6. Make sure you wear something you don't mind getting grungy, and I'll take care of the rest."

And with that, she was off, giving me an over-the-shoulder wave, and leaving me feeling incredibly confused about what was going on.

The next time someone stopped me was after another couple periods, when I was on my way to lunch. Someone called out for the 'new girl', and being the only one I knew of, I stopped to see what they wanted. It was a tall, lanky boy. Handsome in that pretty-boy way I was never really into- sure some people could make it work, and this guy was certainly trying, but someone putting that much effort into their appearance tended to spark that they were a threat in my head, these days- he was white, with light brown hair, narrow features, and high cheekbones. He looked aristocratic, with a calm self-assurance that told me he was used to getting what he wanted.

Emma would've been all over him, which turned me right off.

Nothing about him gave me any idea as to good reasons he'd be seeking me out, and I'd already decided I didn't like him. By the time he'd caught up to me, I was frowning, huddled in my hoodie, preparing for the worst.

"Hey there, you looked a little lonely, dressed up like that." He smiled winningly, and held out his hand. "Jim Hawkins" When I didn't take his hand, he continued. "Thought maybe we could hang out later today, get to know each other a little better?" There was that confidence again, couldn't he see I wasn't interested?

"I'm busy today, sorry." I stated, starting to turn away.

"Hey, don't be like that." He cut in, drawing me back. "I just thought you deserved a good time. You never know, I could be your Valentine~." He actually sung out the last notes of his sentence a little.

I grimaced away, finishing my turn and barking out a quick "No."

His face scrunched up into a sneer when I couldn't 'see' it, and he reached out toward my shoulder. He was saying something, but I wasn't paying attention at this point.

I whirled around, arm outstretched and two fingers pointing less than an inch from his nose. "No." I stated more firmly. I wasn't sure if it was the tone, or the proximity that had him flinching back. Probably both.

"Fine, whatever." He said, backing away. The wind brought the quiet 'bitch' he muttered to my ears, and I kept my senses on him as he turned away.

He started scanning the crowd in the hall, and it took me a moment to realize he was looking for marks. He'd wanted to find someone desperate, butter them up with a nice 'date' and then guilt them into 'having fun' afterward. I wasn't playing his game, so he was looking for someone else to use.

I couldn't help the shudder of revulsion that ran up my body. I edged over to the wall and leaned against it, hugging my arms to myself. I felt dirty just thinking about it, and felt bad that as far as I could tell, there wasn't anything I could do about it, besides hoping the other girls he tried to talk up also told him off.

With my arms around myself, trying not to hyperventilate or tear up, I realized I needed help. Someone, something, any sort of distraction to break my mind away from this.

I wanted a hug.

That thought caused me to hiccup a little with the intake of breath it brought. How long had it been since I'd wanted something like that? I shook my head, trying not to think about it. This wasn't the time or place for wallowing. I stepped out into the slowly thinning masses, letting the current draw me towards the food and crowds of the lunch room.

After I finally made it to the cafeteria, I made a beeline for the familiar presences I felt seated in their usual place. "Amy," I whined as I collapsed into one of the empty chairs beside the girl sitting at the edge of her sister's little fief. "Save me." I fell into her side and latched my arms around her waist like a limpet. She let out a trumpet-sounding noise between a harrumph and a raspberry as she blushed and stiffened under my grip, her heartbeat spiking. Most of the table was looking at us now, but I was having trouble caring. These past couple weeks had reintroduced me to hugs after more than a year's dry spell, and I'd started feeling clingy when I got as moody as I was now. It reminded me of when I used to do this to Emma whenever someone would pick on me in middle school, and for once I didn't push the thought away, instead clenching my grip tighter as I shoved my be-hooded head into the crook of her neck. "Boys keep asking me out."

I could feel Amy's wide eyes and clenched teeth as she met the gaze of half the school's socialites."That sounds like a personal problem." She spat, getting more agitated, but still not making any move to dislodge me. "And what happened to you being straight?"

"Still straight." I whined quietly into her shoulder. "Just scared."

I felt her tension unwind, both in my senses and my grip, and she turned her head to look down at me with a soft look. "Oh, Taylor..." She muttered in a long-suffering, kindly way. Her hand reached up under my hood to rustle my hair a bit, her heart-rate climbing again. Honestly it felt like she was angry with me, furious even, but she sounded and acted like she didn't mind at all? I was very confused, but also very comfortable. We stayed like that for a moment before she started to push my head away from her. "Get off me, you doof." She chuckled.

I giggled nervously as I let her push me away, shifting about more than properly moving into my seat would really require. I was blushing a bit now, too. Especially after I caught the eyes looking at us with my own. It just felt so much more visceral to see it instead of just feeling it... Most of them were wide eyed and various levels of stunned or nervous. Vicky was the obvious exception, simply a bundle of energy excited that we were still getting along well enough that I didn't get mauled for touching her sister. The worst affected was a paling sandy blond sitting near Victoria, whose mouth was rather notably agape as he stared at the two of us. My eyes were drawn to him by the feeling he gave off in my senses- shocked silly, knocking out most of the tells with their lack; but otherwise agitated and even a little... afraid? Our eyes met, and I could hear his jaw shut when he closed it.

Vicky must have noticed, because she decided to introduce us. "Taylor, this is my boyfriend Dean. Dean, this is Amy's friend Taylor." I could feel a spike of pain and hesitation at her words implying I wasn't her friend, but none of it showed in her manner or voice. If nothing else, she'd make a good actress. "Isn't it nice that Amy's making her own friends?" Her chipper tone brooked absolutely no argument from anyone in earshot. This I could tell she actually felt fairly positive about. She loved her sister, and wanted Amy to be happy. Vicky just also wanted to be everyone's friend, even mine. Maybe I'd been a bit hard on her? I should call her later this week and see if she wanted to hang out.

"Uhh, yeah." He drew the words out. "That's great." He added, much more concisely.

It took a beat before I worked up the nerve to actually talk to them, but I managed it before the silence started to grate. "So what are your plans for today?"

Vicky squealed quietly- I wasn't even aware that was a thing people actually did- and floated over to her beau. "We're going out!" As if there'd been any doubt. "We're flying down to Boston for a show, then we have reservations at le Charmante, and then we're going out for a movie!" Was that french? it sure sounded like it, especially the way she said it. Did she speak French, or just like saying fancy names? Dean just chuckled and nodded along to his girlfriend's enthusiasm. I turned to Amy, to show who I expected to speak up next.

She shrugged. "I got nuthin'." She waved over at her still floating sister. "Their plans are too fancy for the stupid double-dates-" Vicky cried out indignantly at that. "-they drag me to, so I'm off the hook. I'm supposed to avoid the hospital though, since it's Monday, so I need to find something to do." She turned back to me, appraisingly. "You wanna hang out?"

"I, uh... I'm hanging out with-" I almost said Cass, but hers might not be the best name to drop here. "-another friend, later on. I'm free for a few hours after school, though."

I could see Amy's eyes narrow, and her jaw set. She knew who I was talking about, and she didn't like it. "What, I thought you said you didn't have a date?" She asked, waspishly.

"I don't!" I said, raising my hands in surrender, "I just didn't want to have to lie when I told boys I was busy already, and I didn't know what you were doing today, when I made the plans."

Her demeanor softened with a small huff. "Fine, I'll take a couple hours." She turned away. "I can head home and read or something for the rest of the night."

Well, she was still a tad frosty, but she'd calmed down a bit. I'd make it up to her later. "So what about the rest of you?" I asked our still mostly quiet spectators.

"Why don't you go get food first, then we'll talk about all that." Vicky cut in, only now floating back to her own nearly-forgotten food. It sounded like a good idea, so I headed off to get in line.

---

My day picked up after that. The food helped, as did the excitement the others had for their plans for tonight. Everyone seemed to be doing something, even if it was just dinner or a movie. A group of dateless teens were heading down to a couple of clubs tonight for 'singles specials' going on, or in the hopes they'd get lucky. The excitement was infectious, and pretty soon even Amy was getting into it, lashing out to tease 'dateless shmucks' and flustered young lovers alike.

It was... nice.

Tiring, though. I meandered through the next period, recovering from the social exhaustion, buoyed by the lingering excitement from earlier.

It seems word got around, and no other boys tried to approach me today. That didn't stop the girls, though. A tiny, pug-nosed, but otherwise cute Asian girl came up to me to give me a card before last period. I told her that I wasn't really into girls, and she seemed to take being let down well. I still felt like I'd kicked a puppy afterward, though.

"So, let's head to the gym." Amy said, when I met her after school.

"Why the gym?" She seemed a tad flustered, but was hiding it well.

"They've got mats and things that clubs can use, I figure no one'll be there today, so we can use them." I... guess that made sense. It didn't feel like she was lying, but her hesitance seemed to indicate this wasn't everything. Maybe she really was upset a little about being left out of the whole dating bonanza going on?

I decided to leave it for now. "Sure." I followed her over, and sure enough there were students making use of the weight sets, and a few sets of mats set out, though not all of them were being used. Amy was probably right about the usual clubs being more busy than usual, there. A few words to the assistant coach watching the gear, and we had one of the mats to ourselves.

By the time we were done brushing up on falls and working our way through kata to check her form, word had spread that one of the school's capes were showing off in the gym. Students trickled in, and many of the ones who'd been busy were turning eyes towards us, or giving up on their prior activities entirely to watch.

I had no idea what was so interesting. They went to school with Amy every day, right? It's not like we were wearing skimpy training outfits, we both still had shirts and pants on, no 'shorts and training bra' skin showing to draw people, and neither of us were big enough to be titillatingly jiggly as we moved and mock-fought. Amy's bust had to be at least twice the size of mine, but as long as she was wearing a bra, there wasn't any proper 'boob physics' on display there, either.

The less time spent thinking about mine, the better, in my opinion.

It still felt like the number of people sparsely dotting the bleachers had gone up by a factor of eight or ten, by the time we were halfway into our sparring, but it mercifully slowed after that. Didn't these people have dates to get to!?

"Hey girl, you been holding out on us?" a perky voice called from the sidelines.

Amy groaned, and I turned to look. The girl who'd spoken was a dusky blonde with hair down to her middle back. She had a bottom-heavy figure, wide hips and thick thighs, a slightly paunchy waist, and a somewhat average bust. Way above myself or Amy anyway, but not quite up in the 'busty' league with Vicky and some of their other friends. She looked very... soft.

My quick glance to assess her drew up to her round face full of laugh lines, and shining brown eyes.

Which she used to wink at me.

Given my previous thought process, I couldn't help the blush that tore across my face.

"Go away, Kara." Amy groused.

She pouted. "When you haven't even introduced me to your cute friend properly yet?"

Now I know she had to be making fun of me. Cute? Me? Not happening. My senses telling me she was being honest must need more work, what with the foam mat I was standing on.

Amy sighed, but complied. "Kara, this is Taylor. Taylor, this is that lesbian slut friend of Vicky's I was telling you about."

She clapped excitedly, ending with her hands pressed together in front of her wide grin. "You do talk about me!"

I'm pretty sure Amy was screaming internally, rigidly tense and wheezing out quietly whistling breaths as she tried not to explode. "Do I need to get the spritz bottle?" Amy said finally. "Because I'll get the spritz bottle."

Kara raised her hands in defeat. "No no, no need for that." Were they... actually serious? "I just wanted to stop by and see what all the fuss was about. It's good that you're taking your self-defense seriously. You know we worry about you." The heartfelt way she said it led me to believe she was being honest. I'm not sure if Amy didn't trust it, or heard it too often for it to have an impact, but she hardly reacted. Kara turned to me next. "If you're up for it, I think a few of the other girls would love to have someone teach them some basics. Most of the instructors these days are handsy boys." She shrugged helplessly, then winked again and made a grasping motion with both hands. "Handsy girls are a different beast entirely~." she sang.

I blushed again. I heard Amy mutter "Fuck it." and move over to her backpack.

"Anyway, I think it'd be a good thing to do after school, if you want. I'd be fun, and I'll be there." She huskily whispered the last part. Amy was glaring at her from where she as squatting by her backpack. "I've got to go, though, I have a long day with the girls to look forward to." She backed off to a safer distance before she added, "And then a long night after that~."

That was when Amy whipped a tiny blue bottle out from her bag's pouches, spraying streams of water at the surprisingly nimble Kara, who dodged most of the shots while cackling happily on her way towards the doors.

I let that entire exchange sink in for a few moments, before I turned to Amy. "You really have a spritz bottle to ward off horny lesbians?"

"The word you're looking for is 'thirsty'." Amy grinned wickedly. "I have a spritz bottle to chase off thirsty lesbians." I raised a hand to refute the wording, my mouth working to try and find words, when she turned it my way and fired, splashing it into my mouth and nose. I sputtered and coughed, trying to choke the taste of stale tapwater out of my mouth while I wiped the wetness away from my face with my hands. "It seems to work just fine."

"You bitch!" I yelled, leaping at her to tackle her back to the mat. I used my undeniably superhuman strength to mostly ignore her struggles as I fisted handfuls of her blouse and used it to wipe my hands and face dry. We were giggling and wrestling on the floor for a bit after that, much to the glee and catcalling of the crowd. It would've gone on longer if they hadn't started with that.

We rather deliberately moved into showing Amy new forms, strikes, and counters after that. Moving slowly to give the gawkers little to watch. By the time we got close to finishing an hour later, more than half the students had left, I thought.

"So what do you think?" I asked when we'd gotten to cool-down stretches.

"About what?" was the gruff reply.

"The thing Kara was talking about. Helping other girls with martial arts after school."

She hesitated, pausing in her motions to think. "I don't know." She felt unhappy with it, but I couldn't tell why. "It sounds like a self-defense class, but there's a bunch of those around town already."

I knew there were places that did that sort of thing, but they were all dying off in the bay. The only civic center I knew was still working was downtown, just south of the boardwalk. Still too far north for the people in the slums south of there, where the buses didn't run and no one had cars anymore. An hour's walk to and from anything in that part of town was suicide. Then again, if people could survive the slums, they probably had self-defense down, by now. All of the martial arts studios and dojos dad and I had looked into were dodgy these days, either they'd been burned down, subsumed by the gangs, or seemed desperate for paying customers. Our guess was the gangs harassing their patrons, which didn't bode well for me trying any of them. The women's shelters around town could help, but with the Empire putting pressure on the ones in their territory to only accept 'the right sort' and the terrible things that'd happened at the ones set up in the other gangs' territories?

It seemed like the only part of town getting any help was the one that didn't need it.

"It's up to you, though." Amy continued. She didn't show it outwardly, but she was getting frustrated, anxious, stressed. "And... you do need to socialize a bit more..." she grumbled. Her breathing picked up, working her into a foul mood. "You're meeting Herren soon, right?" She hissed, low enough the other students wouldn't hear.

I nodded, not sure where she was going with this, but not wanting to set her off by saying the wrong thing.

She must have noticed me shutting down a bit, waiting for her to explode. She let out a deep breath in a quiet sigh, and her features softened. Her heartbeat sped up, but all her other mood indicators said she was calming down. "I'm just worried about you."

"Hey." I reached over and took her hand, and she blushed a little. Must be embarrassed, me doing this in front of a crowd. "I'll be fine." I whispered. "You know my powers, they're great for running away. She could lead me straight to Hookwolf, and he'd never catch me."

"Yeah," She muttered, pulling her hand from mine and chuckling ruefully. Her stress tension was going back up as she turned away from me and added, "she's no Hookwolf."

"You still haven't told me why you dislike her so much." I stated, giving it a beat. "It can't just be the gang thing, their girls don't fight." Modern Nazis they might be, they were still incredibly misogynistic. Only Hookwolf's branch really used female foot soldiers, all of them the brawny or scrappy types that fought in the fighting pits he ran. Cass didn't have any of the marks that'd bring, and her long hair wouldn't survive it anyway. Even if she was a supporter, even if she was working for the Empire, she couldn't be one of their real gangsters, in my mind.

Amy sent a glare past me to the remaining milling crowd. They'd started dispersing further when we started our conversation, but some had stuck around. This drove home that we didn't want to be listened to. Or, since she started heading toward the locker rooms, followed, apparently.

She stormed into the room, with me following behind. There were a couple girls changing, and a few more lounging around chatting with them. Amy slammed her fist into one of the lockers by the door, catching the eye of every girl there, and pointed with her thumb out the door we'd come through. I was standing behind her, but the glare on her face must have been legendary. The girls took a few seconds to finish putting themselves together in a publicly decent way and left with only a few muttered imprecations Amy's way.

I followed her partway into the room, then watched her check the showers and behind the other rows of lockers, before motioning me into the shower area. She got into the near one, turned the shower head as far towards the wall as it would go and turned it on, dodging the spray as she led me to the back of the room.

Finally, she crossed her arms and huffed. "I can't."

Frustrated semi-truth. A very strong won't. "Can you tell me why?"

She looked at me like I was an idiot. "No. I can't."

I shook my head and rubbed at my face and hair, trying to alleviate my exasperation. "Is this going to be a problem?"

She chuckle-scoffed, waving her hands to indicate the room. "It's already a fucking problem."

"Why can't you just trust me to be okay?"

"Why can't you just take me at my word?" She snapped back. "That's my fucking problem. You don't trust me!"

I wanted to snap, to lash out, but instead I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and held it. I let it out and took another, not bothering to hold this one.

Then I started taking my clothes off.

Hey, I needed to change for Cass' thing anyway, and we were already in the locker room, so why not?

The look on her face as I stripped down to my panties and sports bra was almost enough to make me break out laughing. That wide-eyed blush and slightly agape mouth. What was going through her head? What the hell did she think I was doing? I shook my head with a smirk. It didn't matter. She was still worked up, her heart beating fast now, but it didn't matter if she was still angry. I had a point to make.

"I do trust you." I said as I folded up my clothes. "I trusted you with my powers, I trust you to be my friend. To do what you think is right." I stopped and thought, slipping into my jogging pants. "That might not always be what I think is right, and that's okay." I was gripping my ratty running shirt and the old hoodie I'd worn all day. "It's okay." I wasn't sure if I was trying to convince her or myself, at this point. "It's okay." I strained hard against my muscles, to not simply tear the clothing apart.

I sucked in a breath, sniffled, and let it go. I turned to Amy, who looked startled, anxious, and sad. I threw the shirt on before I could do something I regretted to it.

"I trust you, Amy." I threw the hoodie on next, then stared her in the eyes. "I trust you as much as I'm capable of trusting another person."

I grabbed up my thermos, slipping its strap over my head, before grabbing my bag. I turned back to her one last time, and added. "I'm sorry if that's not enough for you."

Then I left.

I was still mad, frustrated, sad... but also exhausted. I just didn't want to think right now, so for the next half hour or so, I really didn't. I was just past the towers, riding the bus that mostly existed to serve that area past it, to the commercial area southwest of it, where the old industrial park was. That was when I got a text. Just a simple two words, from Amy.

'I'm sorry'

I stared at it for almost a minute, before I replied.

'Me, too.'