Open Secret
Henry comes in the door looking simultaneously thrilled and exhausted, and Charlotte knows. She feels like kicking herself for not realizing it sooner.
She feels like kicking Henry, too. "You know," she says to him, "we're friends – we're not supposed to keep secrets from each other."
"Secrets?" he echoes, nervousness obvious to anyone with ears driving his voice up an octave. He's walking past her into the next room – she supposes it's easier for him to lie to her when he's not looking at her. So she gets up from the couch and follows him.
"Don't lie to me, Henry, you're awful at it," she says. "I know you're hiding something."
"OK, fine, you want the truth?"
"Yeah." Here it comes, Charlotte thinks.
"I'm a jazz musician."
She manages not to laugh out loud, and rolls her eyes at him. "Try again."
He walks away, hemming and hawing, and again she follows. By the time they get to his room, he's come up with another ridiculous lie, and she's realized she can't bear to hear it. So when he starts, "OK, OK, the truth is – ", she cuts him off.
"Henry, stop. Just stop. Nothing you say is the truth anymore. I'll help: You're Kid Danger."
He laughs, all nerves, and it rings falser than any of his lies. "And you must be Beyoncé."
"Beyoncé's not in middle school, Henry."
"I – " he starts, and then stops, sighs. "Even if I were Kid Danger, I wouldn't be supposed to tell you, would I? I mean, that's kind of the whole point of a secret identity."
"Yeah," she agrees, "but if Kid Danger's friend figured it out for herself, then he didn't technically tell her, and he didn't technically break any rules, right?"
"I guess not," he replies – then finally meets her eyes for the first time since he walked in the door. "If I were Kid Danger, I'd be lucky to have a friend like you. To have somebody who had my back, who could help me make excuses when I had to run off to save the day." He pauses. "I mean, if I were Kid Danger, which I'm not."
The look on his face, pleading with her to understand, says everything he can't.
Charlotte laughs. "Henry," she says, "you're lucky to have me anyway."
"True," he admits with a smile, conceding the point.
Suddenly, his watch starts beeping insistently, and he's halfway out the door in a flash. "I gotta go," he says. "I, um – I think I hear my mom calling me." With that, he's gone.
"Seriously, Henry? That's what you're going with?!" Charlotte shouts after him; then she shakes her head, laughing. "That boy really does need to work on his excuses."