Light cut through the curtains and beamed right into my eyelids, like someone had turned the sun on right in front of my face. It ripped me right out of my sleep, causing me to grunt as I turned away, slowly coming back to reality.

  Who turned the sun on so early… I thought, semi-delirious.

  I’d managed to completely tangle myself in the blanket, limbs trapped like a sleepy caterpillar in a cocoon. After a few moments of shuffling about, I managed to turn over before slowly, agonisingly rolling over to block out the sun.

  I didn’t want to wake up. I was just so comfy, and that dream I’d had was so nice.

  Finally, I’d found a good spot where the sun wasn’t blinding me. I reached out blindly for my phone to check the time: 08:00.

  I sighed, before putting the phone back on the floor. That gave me a second to curl back up into the blanket, to sink back into the dream I’d had. That beautiful, tender dream.

  The dream of Elena and I. There’d been a tearful, messy confession from me, then a confession back from her. Fireworks in the night sky. And somehow, fucking somehow, a kiss on the moonlit beach.

  I’d confessed in the worst, most embarrassing way possible, and she’d reciprocated. We’d kissed; I could still feel the warmth of it like it had just happened.

  Yeah, definitely a dream. I thought to myself. No way in hell that actually happened.

  I buried my face into the pillow, groaning softly. More bits from the dream crept into my head: the two of us on a tram through the city, her head resting against my shoulder. Us going back to her dorm on campus. The feel of her hand in mine. Her laugh. Her kiss. It had felt so real, I’d been so happy in the dream, and I’d have never wanted it to end.

  It was so vivid, so crystal-clear in my mind. But I knew my own brain was cruel, it probably just made it all up. Gave me the perfect fantasy and ripped it out from under me.

  Stupid sun. I thought, letting reality slowly wash over me. Why’d you have to go and wake me up?

  I laid there, feeling myself slowly sink into disappointment. It felt like it hurt to wake up.

  I just stared down at the floor. The light from the curtains drew a little line onto the carpet. I followed it with my eyes before-

  Wait.

  I stopped.

  This isn’t my carpet.

  I focused.

  My windows don’t even face the sun.

  I stopped, my breath catching.

  Then…this isn’t my room.

  I turned my head sharply, suddenly wide awake. I didn’t recognise the room at first; the walls were the wrong colour, the layout was completely different. It had taken me this long to realise the bed was two beds that had been pushed together.

  There was a laundry basket in the corner that wasn’t mine. A jacket I recognised, but that also wasn’t mine.

  Where the hell am-

  Then my eyes locked onto something on one of the walls. A poster for a film: Code Seven. I froze. It couldn’t have been…

  Something, or someone, shifted beside me. The mattress dipped slightly.

  I slowly rolled over in bed, heart in my throat as I turned around to look behind me. As I fully turned over, I saw her.

  Elena. She was slowly stirring awake, her hair a mess, mouth open with visible drool stains on her pillow. Absolutely, unmistakably, completely real. Sleeping next to me.

  Slowly, she opened her eyes halfway and looked at me, before a warm smile crossed her face with zero hesitation.

  “Hey,” She murmured, her voice soft, “You sleep ok?”

  I felt myself burn red all the way to my ears.

  “H-hi- y-yeah I slept…great.” I stammered, still processing this. That dream, that can’t have been real, right? Was I still dreaming?

  “E-Elena?” I croaked.

  “Yeah?” She grunted, stretching with a yawn before rubbing her eyes.

  “D-did we…k-kiss, last night?”

  I caught Elena out of the corner of my eye. She’d stopped dead in the middle of rubbing one eye, the other one half-open and looking up at me.

  What the fuck am I doing?! I thought to myself. Asking that felt like I was stepping onto a landmine.

  What if she laughs? What if she freaks out or thinks I’m a creep? What if she doesn’t know what I’m talking about-

  “Wow, you must’ve slept real well, huh?” She giggled, smirking at me.

  Then she crawled over, leaning in, before kissing me right on the lips. I let out a little squeak of surprise, completely frozen. Then I let myself melt into it, just for a second, before she pulled away.

  “Did that answer your question?” She asked, her voice low, still smiling, her face so close to mine.

  It was like it came flooding back to me all at once. The beach, the fireworks, the confession, the kiss. It hadn’t been a dream, it had been real. I’d told her how I felt in the stupidest, most embarrassing way, and she felt the same. That warm and overwhelming joy course through me, letting myself smile. This was real. She was real. We were real.

  Immediately, I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her into a tight embrace.

  “I-I’d…I’d thought it was a dream…” I muttered into her shoulder.

  She giggled before pulling away, looking right at me.

  “Yeah you were pretty out of it by the time we got back here. Didn’t get a chance to watch a film either, you just-” She mimed the motion of someone - me - falling into the bed like a tree being cut down.

  I groaned, blushing. “S-sorry, I didn’t-”

  “Dude, don’t apologise. We’ve got all day to fuck around and watch ‘em, unless you’ve got plans?”

  I shook my head. “N-no I…”

  “Sweet!” Elena chirped, smirking as she rolled off of the bed, kicking into a pair of dark slippers. “I’m gonna go get us some breakfast, so stay put, ok?”

  I just nodded, watching as she bolted out of the door, leaving me alone in the room. I just sat there for a few minutes, letting this all sink in.

  I pinched myself, just to make absolutely sure I wasn’t dreaming. Nope, definitely real.

  Eventually I picked up my phone. I had to let Dad know how it’d gone; he knew I’d stayed over Elena’s, but I hadn’t told him anything about last night. Would he be awake this early?

  Probably. I thought, dryly. Even on weekends he’s an early bird.

  I tapped on his number and waited. The phone rang once, then twice, before-

  “Morning, kiddo!” Dad’s voice crackled through the phone’s speaker.

  “H-hi Dad…” I whispered, my voice still a bit croaky. There was a bit of a pause.

  “So,” he asked, “How’d it go yesterday, all good?”

  “Y-yeah,” I smiled, “I-it went really well. G-got some food, went to the a-arcade and then-”

  “You said you went swimming, right?” His voice sounded slightly worried, “You lived, by the sounds of it.”

  I grimaced, laughing as I remembered the calamity that was my attempt to swim. “Y-yeah I did. T-that didn’t go…great.”

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  There was another pause, then:

  “Did you say anything to Elena?”

  I paused.

  “I-I…Uh-” I stammered. Somehow it was near-impossible for me to just say-

  “Yeah. I-I did. It was really s-stupid, b-but I did.”

  There was a pause from Dad now.

  “And?” He asked, clearly trying to get me to elaborate.

  I felt myself flush, a smile crawling across my cheeks. “S-she said she f-felt the same and uh…w-we-” I paused, getting too wound up.

  Then-

  “We k-kissed.”

  “Attagirl, Skye!” Dad whooped over the phone, laughing loudly to himself. “Knew you had it in you!” He sounded proud. I couldn’t help myself from smiling and laughing, even as I felt my cheeks burn red.

  “What’d I tell you?” He asked, sounding giddy, “It’d all work out fine!”

  “Y-yeah, thanks Dad.” I replied, still smiling.

  “We can talk about it more when you’re back but, god I’m so happy for you, kiddo.”

  I smiled again, not really responding.

  “I take it you’ll want to stay over at hers tonight, right?”

  “I-If that’s ok?”

  “‘Course it is. Plus you’re already at the campus so, feels silly to have you traipse back here just to go back in the morning. I’ll come bring you clothes later plus anything else you need, sound good?”

  “Y-yeah, thanks Dad. I-if I need anything else I’ll just t-text you.”

  “No problem, kiddo. Have a good day with your new girlfriend.”

  Him saying that made me blush even harder. “Dad!”

  I could hear him cackle on the other end. “Love you, kiddo.”

  “Love you too.” I laughed, before putting the phone back on the side.

  Almost as soon as I did, the door clicked open. I looked up, watching as Elena walked in backwards, her foot pushing open the door as she was holding a plate in each hand. The smell of the food wafted over and hit me almost immediately; grilled sausages, fried eggs, toast with a hefty helping of butter, and some cherry tomatoes on the outside.

  She put the plates on the side near her room’s TV, before pulling out a small table and chairs.

  “I’ll be real,” Elena said, placing the plates on the table, “I’ve been outside for like two minutes. Didn’t wanna interrupt you and your dad.”

  I put my head in my hands, blushing.

  “G-good news,” I said, muffled from between my hands, “He approves!”

  “Fuck yeah,” Elena laughed, gesturing for me to come over. “Come on, let's chow down. Then we can start watching stuff?”

  I nodded before digging in. It was so good; the sausages were hearty with a hint of a peppery heat, eggs perfectly seasoned with crisp edges and soft yolks, tomatoes juicy and flavourful, it was perfect. I practically wolfed it down, not realising how hungry I was. I noticed Elena out of the corner of my eye, looking up at me every now and then, eyes warm like she was trying to capture the moment.

  “That hungry, huh?”

  I swallowed the mouthful. “Y-yeah, I guess. D-did you make all this?”

  Elena leaned back, smiling. “Damn right.” She said, sounding proud.

  Once we’d eaten, she stood up, heading towards her shelf of DVDs and filing through each of them.

  “Said you wanted to go for the first one, right?” She asked, pulling it down from the shelf. “Should warn you, it’s a little…dated.”

  I shrugged, “T-that’s fine.” I said, smiling.

  She nodded, putting it into the TV’s player. Almost as soon as she’d pressed play, she bounded over to me, practically jumping onto the bed before snuggling up next to me. I wrapped my arms around her, and the two of us laid there, embracing each other as we watched this old spy film.

  Sure enough, it was pretty dated; the action was a little bit too stiff, some of the depictions of non-Americans were very off. But honestly, I didn’t care. It was just nice, nice to be here with her, doing this and not having to worry about the rest of the world.

  Young Defenders Training Facility, Meritas City. October 20th, 2014, 08:45

  Sleeping over at Elena’s again was so convenient, I realised. No need to panic about getting ready or getting up early, none of that. The two of us had just woken up, gotten ready, had a bite to eat, and were already on our way out of her dorm towards the Special Case class.

  We barely got a few steps forward before I felt Elena’s fingers brush against mine. I flinched a bit before turning to look at her, as she was smiling up at me.

  “Y-you sure?” I asked, “W-what if people s-say something?”

  “One: none of their business,” she said, grinning, “Two: if they do, fuck ‘em.”

  I paused for a second; that sounded like the same thing twice. But, she was right; it wasn’t other people’s business.

  So, still somewhat gingerly, I took her hand in mine, our fingers interlocking with each other. Her hand was warm, and soft to the touch, and I felt her hand squeeze mine as we walked. Sure enough, people barely gave us a second glance as we walked through the campus. Weirdly, I found myself noticing other couples a lot more as I walked, like I was part of some quiet little club.

  Not just that, I noticed almost immediately how different I felt now. There wasn’t that anxiety I normally had when it came to walking through campus, wanting to keep my head down when I was walking and just get from point A to B. Now, I felt a bit more relaxed, more at ease.

  Every so often, I’d look back down to Elena, only to find her looking up at me in return, her amber eyes practically gleaming as she smiled up at me. Naturally, I smiled back, and she’d fully lean into me as we walked.

  As we made our way towards the Special Case room, a thought hit me.

  “W-what about the others?”

  Elena scoffed. “I mean, Maddie definitely had us figured out from the word go, right?”

  “Y-yeah, she knew from our f-first gym class.” I admitted, sheepish.

  “So she’s not a problem. If you’re worried about Jessica, she’s already a general asshole, so being shitty about this wouldn’t make much of a difference.”

  I laughed, probably a bit harder than I meant to.

  “Just be natural, it’ll be fine.” She said, smiling.

  She was right. Best to take it as it came.

  Elena pushed open the door. “Hey gang, how’s it-”

  She was almost immediately cut off by the sound of a news report playing on the room’s TV. Anton and Maddie were sitting in the chairs, their eyes locked onto it. Anton quickly turned to look at us both, waving before turning his head back around.

  “Jeez, what’s the issue?” Elena asked, walking in as I followed behind her. We’d let go of each other’s hands, so she stepped up next to Anton.

  I just watched the screen. A reporter - a middle-aged man in a well-fitting tan suit - was standing about ten feet away from a barrier that had been erected around a van. The van itself had the insignia for the S.R.T. emblazoned on the side, but the back and cab door were all wide open.

  “If you’re just joining us now, police are currently investigating the scene of what appears to be a grisly escape by a group of super-criminals. According to a spokesperson for the Superhuman Response Team, two of them were being transported to The Cage for incarceration when the escape was made. Three people - two S.R.T. guards and one superhero who was on-call with this team - have been pronounced dead.”

  “Jesus.” Elena gasped. “When did this happen?”

  “Early Sunday morning.” Anton responded.

  “It was messy, too.” Maddie interjected, looking down at her phone as she spoke.

  “The Superhuman Response Team has also put out an appeal to help catch any of these super-criminals.” The reporter continued, “If you see any of these three, please call-”

  As he spoke, three mugshots appeared on the screen.

  The first two I recognised instantly: Razor and Twist. Both still wearing their domino masks and outfits we’d fought them in, looking bruised.

  “Come on!” Elena groaned, “We just put those two away, are you kidding?!”

  The third image was a mugshot of someone I didn’t recognise: a young woman - probably about the same age as Razor and Twist, if I had to guess - with messy, strawberry-blonde hair. The thing that struck me the most about her was her face: covered in a tangle of criss-crossing scars that separated her face into different segments, each one a slightly different colour like stitched-together patchwork leather.

  Like Razor and Twist, this third person had an alias below her mugshot: Patch.

  CLACK!

  Something dropped to the ground. I flinched, turning in the direction of the sound.

  It was Maddie. She’d dropped her phone on the floor, and was just staring at the TV screen, at that third image. She wasn’t smiling, her eyes were wide, and her mouth was slightly ajar. She looked like she was about to say something, but the words didn’t come. Then, like a switch was flipped:

  “Sorry!” She chirped, realising we were all looking at her.

  I turned to look back at the screen, then back to Elena. She just shrugged at me.

  “I-Is that someone we need to w-worry about?” I asked.

  “I-” Maddie started, then stopped herself, trying to maintain her signature grin, “No, not at all. Fingers crossed, we won’t ever need to worry about her and she’ll be gone, if she knows what’s good for her.”

  “Do you know who she is?” Elena whispered to Anton.

  “No, I have no idea.” He whispered back, shrugging. “Have never seen her in my life.”

  The door opened with a clack behind us, as Red, Jessica, and Siobhan walked in one after the other. As Jessica entered I…didn’t flinch. No twisting in my stomach, no vice-like feeling in my chest like when I’d seen her before or after she’d insulted me at the arcade.

  That surprised me. Why didn’t I feel anxious about her suddenly? Better yet, why was I complaining? She didn’t pay me much mind, going over to sit at the table that she always sat at, Maddie clambering out of her seat and following her.

  “Mornin’,” Siobhan croaked, her voice sounding like she’d barely been awake for more than a few minutes. I gave her a quick wave back.

  “Skye, Elena, you two got a second?” Red asked, her helmet-screen showing a gentle, pixelated smiling face.

  “Y-yeah?” I responded. Elena stepped over next to me. Red took us to the side of the room, away from the others.

  “You two doing ok? Good weekend?”

  Elena smirked, “Yeah you could say that.” She said, nudging me in the elbow, causing me to blush.

  “Great! Just wanted to give you two a heads-up: you’ll be heading out on patrol Wednesday afternoon, but it won’t be me taking you this time.”

  “O-oh?” I asked, sounding more concerned than I realised, “T-Then who-?”

  As if to answer my own question, I caught Maddie walking towards us, smiling as always.

  “Surprise!” She said as she got close to us. “You’ll have me as your teacher on Wednesday.”

  I didn’t know how to react. Was this another way for Maddie to try and get more out of me for…whatever reason? Had she offered to? Had Jessica somehow put her up to this?

  “Sounds…great.” Elena said, her voice betraying how she really felt a bit too well.

  “Perfect!” Red said, “So, same as last week: meet Maddie in the same place, and you’ll go out together.”

  I nodded. Truthfully, I was glad I got to go out on patrol, at least. Maybe Maddie was different when she was on patrol, give her something to focus on that wasn’t me.

  She eventually stepped away as Red made her way to the front of the room. Elena and I sat at the table with Siobhan and Anton, listening in as Red spoke. Wasn’t really much outside of the ordinary, mostly just standard information about classes, as well as a couple events going on this time of year.

  “Hey, don’t forget,” Red said, her helmet-screen changing to display a jack-o-lantern, “Halloween is next Friday. Costume parties, haunted nights, horror movie marathons, take your pick!”

  “Could be fun.” Elena murmured, nudging me, “Could go full ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’, you could go full Frankenstein.”

  I immediately imagined myself with painted green skin, stitches all over me, hair dyed partially white. Not a bad look.

  “Aside from that, have a good rest of your day!” Red chirped, sitting back down in her own seat.

  We slowly got up, ready to go to our respective lessons, when-

  “Shit.” Elena cursed, digging around in her bag. “Forgot my Phys Ed uniform back in my room. I’ll go grab it and see you back at the gym, ‘kay?”

  I nodded.

  “Sick.” She stepped over to me, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek and a giggle, before bolting out the door.

  I felt myself smile as she left, before I turned around and froze. Siobhan, Anton, and Jessica were all staring at me, different looks of surprise plastered on their faces.

  There was a pause as I felt myself blush, then-

  “When the fuck did that happen!?” Siobhan asked, a surprised smile on her face, as Anton wordlessly handed her a five-dollar bill. “I mean, congrats, but-”

  I laughed without meaning to, before hiding my face with my hands.

  “I-I- w-we had a…a good weekend.”