Chapter 19: Speaking My Language

Angelwood Elementary School

Bellwood, California

August 30th, 1999

7:55 am

It was the first day of school and there were so many things that Gwen should have been thinking about. Things like her schedule and books and teachers as she threaded her way through the crowd so she could get to her locker and get some of the books out of her backpack before her spine telescoped.

All of that and more called out for her attention, but instead of focusing on any of it her world shrank down to the phone that she could feel buzzing against her kidney.

She only had a few minutes before her first class started and Gwen knew that she shouldn't. Not after everything that happened just because she answered a few texts at the end of last year. Even having the phone turned on tempted fate considering Mrs. Adams was her homeroom teacher this year and she always walked the halls before the bell rang.

But really, what was she supposed to do if the Doofus wouldn't take the hint and kept calling her? Ignore him? She wished she could, but that never worked before and Ben had a habit of getting twitchy when she didn't text or call back. It was for his own good, really. And hers. It kept him from going hero and racing in to check on her. She shot another look at the mob that was filling the halls and she didn't even have to imagine what they'd do if a dinosaur or a big bug showed up from out of nowhere.

That was the only reason she answered. It wasn't like she enjoyed listening to her dummy chatter away like the world was ending.

" - even old Squid Face was this horrible! This is torture! I know it is, they said it was on the news!"

"Poor baby," Gwen snarked back because this was karma and magic. "Do you want me to get you a blanket? I can't even imagine how hard it must be to get up a whole hour earlier. Oh, wait! Yes, I can! It's when I've been getting up since forever!"

"Yeah, but you're weird," Ben said after he blew a raspberry into his phone, which just proved how gross he was.

Gwen just sniffed into hers because she was a lady and respectable. Sniffed and didn't grin, not at all. "And you're the one who wanted to go out last night!" Heroing at midnight. They really were crazy.

"We weren't spending the end of summer in bed, you dweeb!" Ben laughed and she just rolled her eyes. Maybe she did it as she yawned, but if she did then he did, too, but that didn't stop him. "Not when we had bad guy butts that needed kicking and a smoothie gift card that still needs spending!"

"We didn't get that as a challenge, Ben!" Gwen hissed as she ducked her head and looked everywhere at all the people who weren't paying her the slightest bit of attention. Some part of her knew that they couldn't hear the Doofus on her phone - she could barely hear him - but he was never as careful and even with the chatter around her and his…

There wasn't enough chatter on his end. Gwen slipped to the side and against the wall as she added, "Where are you? I know that you're allergic to school, Doofus, but - "

"I wish, but the teachers here aren't that blind. Not like they were last year. Middle School blows. You're so lucky you don't have to deal." The words didn't mean a thing, but the way the boy sounded like he was going to spit as he said them? That was enough that she could relax at least a little. Enough that she could start walking again even as her attention split between the voice in her ear and avoid the sea of kids meeting up with each other and hugging and telling stories and sharing gossip. "I just made it to my next class before anyone else, and I swear if hanging out with you is turning me into a dweeb, too…"

"We wouldn't be so - " Gwen gave up on the act and let out a grin that she wished he could see. It was such a nice thought that she almost walked right into Marci and Blair as the two stood there talking about something and eyeing the school like it was theirs while Olivia came running up. That was normal, too, and so was Gwen's scowl as she ducked behind someone else as she came in so the three couldn't see her.

Grandpa was right, out of sight really was out of mind and Gwen wanted the three of them as far from her mind as possible. She didn't want to remember how they humiliated her before summer started, or what Marci had whispered in her ear in that hurtful voice of hers.

She didn't want to, but wanting didn't stop her from doing it.

"Gwen? You okay?" Ben's voice came from nowhere in her ear and she jumped as his worry hit her. She blinked, tried to remember how many seconds it had been since she last said anything. But her head wasn't counting Watch Time, so she only had a vague guess.

"Fine," Gwen said. "Just...getting past the harpies."

"Oh. Them." Ben spat the word out. "I've got time yet, I could change it up and zip over there. Give them the JT and Cash special that I've been saving up."

Gwen had to giggle at that and all the possibilities that came with it as she brushed her hand at her hair. "Thanks, but you'll want to hang on to that for yourself. I know how to handle them."

"If you're sure…"

"I'm sure," Gwen said, hoping that he calmed down even as she cooed the one word she knew would drive him crazy. "It's so sweet of you to care, Ben! Trying to make up for how badly you were flailing with horseback riding?" And he had when they went out to the ranch with her mom and dad to go visit Morfar and Mormor. He'd run on feet with trackballs and flown on two kinds of insect wings, but riding a horse just about killed him and she had the pictures to prove it.

"Evil!" Ben snapped, his worry gone in a heartbeat. "Wicked, wicked witch."

That got the cackle it deserved. At least until the bell rang right as she reached her locker, and Gwen sighed. "That's my cue. Got to go, Ben. Please don't fill my phone up with messages on the first day back."

"Don't make me have to," he countered with a chuckle that didn't last as long as it should, and he didn't sound as happy as he should have either as he added, "Jamie and the guys are here anyway." His voice got distant then and she knew he'd let his phone drop away from his mouth. "You losers better have brought your game today, because you're not going to believe -"

Gwen sighed as she listened to the Doofus and his friends talked about one of their stupid games for another few seconds before she ended the phone call. It wasn't like she could really hear him anymore anyway. Not as more and more people poured into the hall around her and their babble filled the air. She couldn't make out any of the words, not even from the two girls who had the lockers on either side of hers who had their backs to her and squealed like dolphins as they talked to their friends when they weren't handing out hugs. The boys weren't any better, not when their shouts bounced off of the walls and their shoves jostled everyone around them.

The talk of summer and school and the 'how are you's washed over her as she checked the piece of paper that she'd gotten in the mail to get the combination to the new locker. It opened up, an empty metal box, and she dropped her fall jacket into it and a few of the books that she'd left in the top of her backpack before closing it shut again. She felt the weight of the phone in her hand, a lifeline to her cousin and her friend who was nearly half the city away from her…

And pressed her forehead against the cool metal of the locker as she wondered when she'd started to miss having him around. Not that she'd be missing him for long. Not with Karate just a few hours away, and if her first class was anywhere near as good as she hoped she'd be teasing the Doofus in a whole new way when she saw him. One he'd never match. She just wished…

Her smirk just got bigger when the bell rang a second warning and told her that she had to move. She closed her locker with a bang that was just one of the dozens as she tossed on her backpack and slipped the phone back into its pocket as she ran.

It was a move she practiced dozens of times since she got the thing and she could have found the pocket blindfolded if she had to mainly because of the rough reddish-brown rock that she'd made into a keychain and hooked onto the pocket's zipper just in case there was ever trouble.

And there was, just not the kind she expected. "Gwendolyn Tennyson to the office, please. Gwendolyn Tennyson to the office."

Gwen stood there frozen until the announcement stopped echoing. So did everyone else around her, and the sudden silence was almost creepy before it turned into whispers and stares that weren't any better.

If she wasn't a Tennyson she might have hid. Instead, she met every eye as she turned and went back the other way. It wasn't like she was in trouble. Not before the first bell, even the Doofus couldn't manage that. She knew that someone had a delivery they wanted her to make for a teacher, or one of the office ladies needed a hand, or -

"Teacher's pet," a boy coughed as she went by. If she wasn't a Larrson and a hero…

But she was a Tennyson, too and her hand went to her hip as she snapped. "Do you want to show me the way, Flint? You've been there a lot more often than I have, but my father doesn't have to write a check when I go."

She didn't even try to hide her smirk as she watched the boy go red, which only made the red bumps on his forehead stand out more. Giggles burst out all around them, but Gwen didn't let herself look or smirk. She just kept walking as she glared at the pig who still didn't look like he washed his hair, but now he greased it up into little spikes like any of the teachers were going to let him get away with a fire hazard like that. Those words were just waiting as she watched the smirk spread over his face and she waited for whatever he threw at her.

Which wasn't much. Not when she was used to going up against the best.

Waiting for anything but the way Flint leered at her and said, "I could, but you don't need to go all the way to the office, Tennyson. You can be my pet anywhere." His voice cracked in the middle of it, but it didn't matter, the whole hall went quiet.

Especially her. Gwen felt her mouth drop as she shuddered at the words and how gross his stare made her feel, but there weren't any words. Not even after all the arguments she had with Ben, he never…

She didn't know what to say, but her mom taught her what a lady did. So Gwen sniffed as she shoved her nose in the air and kept walking. Being a lady and a Larrson were the only things that kept her from blushing as Flint's whistle and everyone else's laughs followed her, but it didn't keep her from walking faster. Fast enough that she heard the click of her Mary Janes hit the tile floor even over all the other noise and made her wish for her sneakers. Fast enough that it was almost a relief when she got on the other side of the office door.

Almost, except the room inside wasn't just as much of a madhouse with ringing phones, a line of parents with their kids, and four women on the other side of the counter trying to take care of it all. A madhouse that Gwen just stared at until Mrs. Rodrigues finally looked up from her computer and pressed her phone to her chest so she could say, "Oh, good, Gwendolyn! You can go right on in. Mrs. Coldwell is expecting you."

"The Principal?" Gwen heard the words slip out of her mouth and she still didn't believe them. She'd met the woman before for pictures and awards, but there weren't any of those. Not today. Not on the first day. Not even she was that good. And if she wasn't up here because she was good…

"Is her computer acting up again?" Those words slipped out, too, as she looked at the clock just as the bell rang again and her stomach fell. She was already late for homeroom, and she was not going to miss her first class. "Is it bad? I know that she needs it, but I have - "

"No, no," the short woman said as she lifted her phone again and shooed her with her free hand. "You don't have to be our little miracle worker. Not today. Go on in."

Gwen just swallowed and nodded as she made her feet move. They carried her past the desk and down the hall that Mrs. Rodrigues guarded. She couldn't believe how slow she went, or how intimidating the door at the end was with the fancy letters splashed across its nameplate either. Not when she'd fought aliens and monsters.

But she never did that alone.

Her mind made up for her feet and raced. Raced over everything; the library book she forgot to return for a good week a couple of years ago, all the times she ate lunch in the classrooms as she helped one teacher or the other even though all the rules said she couldn't, and of course, all the times she disappeared so she could go hero with her dummy. She didn't think anyone ever caught her, but if they had…

It was wrong, it was so wrong, but people needed them and the Doofus had gotten so much better at that. Especially after he made them their…

And she knew.

"I know that we aren't allowed cellphones, Mrs. Coldwell," Gwen erupted as she shoved open the door and marched in. She fought to keep her voice level, but it wasn't fair! "But the first bell hadn't even rung yet and - !'

And the woman wasn't alone.

"I didn't -! Mrs. Rodrigues told me - !" Gwen choked on the rest of her apology as she stood there and stared. Not at the severe-looking woman who she'd interrupted mid-sentence and was staring at her and looking lost, but at the other three in the room.

Three kids who all had backpacks at their feet as they turned in their chairs so they could look at her. There was a girl who looked old enough that she had to be in Gwen's year or the one above it and two boys who looked so young as they fidgeted in their seats.

The youngest was in the middle and he wasn't even wearing pants yet - just the shorts and the polo shirt that the boys got to wear until second grade - and the other who was all elbows and knees and looked so cute in his sports jacket as he pulled at his tie like he'd never worn one before. He was taller than his brother, tall enough that he didn't have to kneel on the chair to see over the back of it, and his eyes were so big as he stared at her.

Gwen stared right back, stared at them both and for just a second…

Then she blinked away the flash of red hair she imagined and turned to the other girl because that was easier. She barely even noticed the girl's skirt and blue sweater after all the years she'd seen them in the mirror, but she couldn't ignore all of the bracelets on the girl's wrists - some were just strings of bright beads and others had charms - and the black knee socks that looked so much more comfortable than the tights that Gwen was wearing, but if she couldn't wear pants then she'd wear the next best thing.

She saw all that in her first glance. The second said that the three had to be related. They had the same olive skin and were watching her with the same dark eyes and they all had hair as dark as maple syrup, even if the boys' were cut short and the girl had hers pulled over her shoulder and done up in a braid so fancy that Gwen couldn't even imagine having and long enough that the end of it brushed her lap.

Gwen glared at that hair for just a second until she heard papers crunch and saw the girl's eyes twitch as she met them. They didn't twitch away - not even a little as the girl sat a little straighter - but they didn't hide the worry and the lost look behind them either.

That was the look that made Gwen smile, just a little. And the smile turned into a grin as the smallest boy reached over and tugged on the girl's arm as the other boy gave her a wide-eyed stare from over the back of his chair. "Michelle? Who's that?"

"I don't - " the girl started as she leaned in close to the boy but kept her eyes on Gwen.

"Ah, Gwendolyn," Mrs. Coldwell cut in as she stood up from behind her desk with a smile of her own as she waved away the apology. "I'm so glad you could make it. I was hoping you could do me a favor. These are the Hallams. Due to events beyond their control, they just got into town yesterday, so they missed all the orientations. I've already made arrangements for Elias and Matthew, but Michelle is in your year and I was hoping that you could show her around."

Gwen jumped at the words. Then the fight and nerves drained out of her and she made her hands unclench. but she hid it behind a smile and a nod because she knew this. "Of course, Mrs. Coldwell."

"Good, good." The woman didn't smile at that. She treated the words like someone just told her that the sky was blue, they were that expected. She just nodded and saved her smile for the other girl. "Ms. Tennyson here is our best student, Ms. Hallam, and I know she'll take good care of you. The guidance counselor has had some car trouble, but he'll call for you the second he walks through the door so you can finalize your schedule. Until then, I took the liberty of putting the two of you in all the same classes. If that's okay with you?"

The other - Michelle's eyes flickered away from the principal and back to her again as her hands went to her braid. "Sure."

"Excellent," the principal said as she leaned over and scrawled out a quick pass and held it out. "You're my hero, Gwendolyn. Here you are. Feel free to skip homeroom if you want to show her some of the sights, but I expect you both to make first period. Off you go."

Gwen just nodded as Michelle stood up and hugged her two brothers. "Be good, you little monsters," she whispered as she pressed a kiss into both of their hair and the oldest boy made a face…

Gwen knew that face. She'd shot for it so many times and she grinned just like the girl did when she got it. From Ben and from…

Her smile slipped a little like it always did when she woke up from those dreams, but it came right back when she saw the boy blush and hide behind the back of his chair with a "Gross!"

"Jerk," Michelle sighed as she ruffled the boy's hair and stood up. The squawk that she got sounded familiar, too.

The little dance she made as she juggled her papers and her backpack looked just as familiar. Familiar enough that Gwen didn't hesitate to rush forward and take the papers. "First period isn't for another ten minutes. We've got some time," Gwen said as the girl just gave her another look and nodded as she threw on her backpack, but she wasn't anywhere near as eager to take back the paperwork.

They were almost to the door when the principal called out, "And when you see your father tonight, Ms. Hallam, I do hope that you'll tell him how thankful we are for his service and we're honored he picked Angelwood for you."

Something flickered in the girl's eyes at the words and the papers in her hand crinkled in her grip, but none of it touched her smile or her tone as she said, "Yes, ma'am. I will." Maybe it would have if she said a single word after that, but she didn't. She just followed Gwen through that door and down the hall to the next.

The office was still crazy, but the main hallway was a different world when they stepped out into it. It almost felt abandoned now that everyone was in class and empty enough that she could see every poster and award case that was lost in the mob before. The ones she always wanted to show… "Come on, I can give you a quick tour before - "

"You're the principal's hero?" Michelle cut her off as she just stood there with her hands pulling on her braid. Her voice was almost flat as she asked, but her eyes weren't. They were just huge chocolate-brown pools.

Gwen couldn't help wincing. They were the words that she'd been hearing for years now. Those and ones just like it just because she wanted to learn and she liked to help. Words she heard from everyone until they needed a tutor and then she'd hear again the second the test was done. Words she didn't care about, that she didn't let herself care about, that came from girls just like…

No.

Ben wouldn't think like that. He was a doofus because he didn't and it got them in so much trouble, but he gave everyone a chance. That was why he was a hero, not that she'd ever tell him that.

And he wouldn't let out the avalanche of words that Gwen could feel building up on her tongue either. The explanations that always ended up with people looking at her like she was crazy or annoying. He wouldn't explain and he didn't apologize, he was just him. People could deal or not and he didn't care.

God, if he was turning into a dweeb because of her, then he was making her a doofus, because only a doofus would grin and say, "Yeah, but you can't hold that against me," instead of something intelligent.

"Hold that…" Michelle echoed and stared at her for long enough that Gwen's grin got shaky, then her hand went to her mouth and it didn't do a thing to hold back her snort or the giggles that followed. "You're crazy."

Gwen was going to kick her cousin. Hard. She rubbed her arm and tried to keep the smile on her face even as the girl kept giggling. "Only a little."

And it was all because of him.

"Is everyone here like you?" Michelle asked as she finally calmed down a little and she waved a hand down at their uniforms. "Because when mom handed me these…"

"No," Gwen said as her smile cracked. Sometimes she wished, but they weren't. Even without the magic and the heroing they weren't. "One and only."

"Nuts," Michelle sighed as she put a hand to her forehead, but there wasn't any heat behind the words and her eyes were still glittering when she let it drop down. Eyes that went up and down the hall before they went back to Gwen and she stood up straighter, but her hands didn't leave her braid as she kept pulling on the end of it. "I was promised a tour, Gwendolyn, and we're just standing here..."

"You were," Gwen said with something like a real smile, "but it's just Gwen." Gwendolyn was a beautiful name and she loved seeing it written out but, "The only time I ever hear the whole thing is when I do something wrong." Michelle grinned again at that. A grin big enough that Gwen couldn't help making one of her own as she waved her hand back to the main entrance. "All of our classes are going to be in this wing of the school, your brothers will be in the other. We're not supposed to wander around, but…"

"Gwen." Some of the tension left the girl then and her hands slowed down. "Good. Mom really wanted to be here for the rugrats' first day, but… Well, she'll be happy to know I can check up on them when they try to blow something up."

There wasn't anything forced in Gwen's smile now. "They do that a lot?"

"You have no idea, but enough about them. What about our wing? Please tell me that there's something that makes up for uniforms?"

"There's a lunchroom and a library and I can show you where your locker is if you tell me your number," Gwen admitted as she slid into step next to the girl. "Beyond that? Angelwood has about as many sights as Bellwood."

"Don't tell me that!" The other girl moaned as she leaned her head back and there was a hint of something in her voice even as she held out her crinkled up papers without even looking at them. "This is California!" Michelle sighed as she spun around and threw her arms wide and made her skirt twirl around her hips. "There are movie stars and explosions and earthquakes!"

"Earthquakes, sure," Gwen grinned as she caught the giggling girl's hand and took the papers that were shoved into hers. Took them and uncrumpled them like she did for all 'notes' that her doofus brought for their study dates. "The rest? That's about ten hours south of here."

"Beaches?"

Gwen made a face as she glanced at the girl from over the top of the paperwork, but it wasn't anywhere near as crestfallen as Michelle's was. "Rocks and you need a wetsuit because the water is freezing. But there are lakes and springs that are way better!"

They were, too, and so was the hope in Michelle's eyes as she looked up. Hope and a dare. "How much better? I'm used to some pretty nice beaches."

"How nice?" Gwen asked as she stared at the papers. She thought it was just a schedule and her locker number, but it wasn't. It was everything. The whole packet that the school always sent out with reading lists and everything. Including the address printed across the front page. Words her eyes almost slid off of before she realized - "Your house is only a couple of blocks from mine?!"

"It is?!" Michelle shouted right back with something that sounded like a squeal as she leaned in close. "Then you can show me! I want to see the lakes that are better than the Riviera!"

"The Rivi - You've been?! " Gwen started as she forgot all about the papers and class and everything else and finally heard the faint accent that was coloring everything the girl said. "What are you doing in Bellwood?!"

"Only a couple of times," Michelle admitted with a grin, "but it was beautiful. It's just about the only good thing about the Colonel being stationed in Germany since I was eight. Or he was until he…" her smile faded at that, and there were so many questions running through Gwen's head. Questions that died as the girl added, "but the army always needs more bases, and the Colonel can't… So they sent him here to build one." The girl made it a couple of more steps before she realized she was making them alone. "What? It's better than Kansas. That was where they were sending us to first. That or some creepy old base out in the desert that they were going to try and reopen."

"Not that! The new army base…" Gwen started before she swallowed hard and pushed her hair out of her eyes. It was the biggest news in Bellwood for the last month, and her daddy still couldn't believe that they hid it so well. There wasn't even a hint out of city hall before someone spotted the surveyors right after the Fourth. She still had the Army Corp of Engineers badge that the Doofus stole when they went to check out the strangers in the woods who weren't talking to anyone. The news screamed about how wonderful it was, but - "My aunt and uncle… They've been protesting it ever since it was announced and I…"

And she went with them once, just to see what it was like. Mostly it was hot and loud with Ben bringing most of the loud as they walked back and forth in front of a sparkling new chain link fence and held signs. She was ready for the glare that she was sure was coming, so the smirk and the shrug she got instead was a shock. "So what? I've snuck out and done it, too, a couple of times. It's fun! Until people start throwing things anyway, that kinda sucks."

"You - ?"

That got a shrug and another side look as Michelle's hands went back to her braid and her hands pulled at the end like she was trying to climb up her own hair. "Everyone does it. Don't you have anyone in your family who signed up?"

"Just my Grandpa, but he's - " The words stopped there because Gwen didn't know. Finding out if the Plumbers were a part of the army was just one of the questions she'd been dying to ask, but it wasn't the most important. It wasn't even in the top one hundred.

"Grandpas don't count!" Michelle said with another snort as she pushed her braid back over her shoulder so she could wrap her arm around Gwen's instead. "But if you really feel bad about it, then you can make it up to me by telling me more about these lakes. And the shopping! Please tell me you have a mall! I've missed them so much and we need one 'cause holding us up for two weeks so the Colonel could shake hands wasn't bad enough. No, the army totally lost our stuff again, too, and if the school wasn't holding our uniforms for us…" The way Michelle's nose crinkled as she looked down again.

So did Gwen's as she looked down at her uniform and tried to imagine not having anything else. Just the thought…

That thought led to another one. A better one.

Shopping with the doofus was fun just from seeing how crazy he'd get waiting for her and the stupid game he came up with. Even if some of the clothes he found were so mind-meltingly ugly that she would have worried about him if she wasn't laughing so hard as she posed in them, but doing it with someone who wanted to be there? And who didn't think that orange and green should go together? The grin came easily enough when she looked up. "We can't have that. I know the perfect - "

The bell cut her off and drove out any more mall thoughts. Gwen felt the rumble of everyone getting up from homeroom and she let out a little squeal as she pulled on the girl's arm. "Come on, I'll show you your locker after! I've been waiting all summer for this!"

"For what?!" Michelle asked with another laugh as she ran, too, and the noise of their shoes disappeared as the horde poured out into the hall.

- o - o - o - o - o -

"French class?"

Gwen nodded and bounced on her toes as she looked at the blackboard and the words she almost recognized from the hours she spent looking in the dictionary. Not that she was going to admit that. Not again. Not when the other girl was already giving her a look. "Foreign languages aren't required until high school, but - but it's French!" A part of her melted at the idea because it always sounded so elegant when her mother rented movies.

The rest of her was thrilled because she was going to be able to insult Ben in two languages and it was going to drive her doofus crazy.

This year was awesome already.

"You really are crazy," Michelle said with a shake of her head. "No wonder the principal likes you so much." The words were a tease. They sounded like a tease, anyway, but Gwen wasn't sure and she didn't get a chance to figure it out before another voice broke in.

"Gwen? Gwen!"

Gwen felt her breath catch even as she spun around. They weren't alone in the room. It was all the way at the end of the wing and almost full by the time they got through the crowd, but she didn't really look around. She was too excited.

She should have looked. Maybe if she had, she would have seen the harpies before they sprang up from their desks and came running over.

"You're here!" Marci said as she caught Gwen up in a hug and kissed Gwen's cheek. She didn't move until Gwen did the same to hers. Then and only then did she slip away as her hands went to her heart and her smile melted away into a frown that was every bit as fake as she cooed, "We heard all about what Flint said and the announcement and we thought -! We were so worried when we didn't see you in homeroom! "

"So worried," Blair echoed as she took her turn and there wasn't a hint of a sneer in her voice, but there never was. It didn't change anything. "What a horrible way to end your summer. You must have been so embarrassed. A pet."

Gwen swallowed at the words as her eyes flickered back and forth and her hand pushed her hair away from her face because that was what ladies did. "Like I even noticed what that Neanderthal said."

"So brave," Olivia sniffed as she took her turn. She'd grown another half a head taller in the last three months and her hug made Gwen feel like she was back in kindergarten again, but not as much as she did when the girl cooed, "Who's this? Did you make a friend?"

Those were the words that finally brought heat to Gwen's face as she looked at the girl she's forgotten about. The girl who was watching them all and frowning just a little even as she squeezed the straps of her backpack. Hands that twitched from the attention before she smiled, too, and waved. "I guess? Hi, I'm - "

"And you didn't introduce us?" Marci asked with a gasp that cut Michelle off. "What would your mother say, Gwen?"

"This is Michelle Hallam. She just transferred in," Gwen said and her tongue felt like lead in her mouth. "Michelle, this is - " The harpies. That's what she wanted to say. That and a lot more things that were a lot worse and all the more true, but she didn't.

Mainly because the blond girl never gave her a chance. "Hi, I'm Marci! And this is Blair and Olivia. You have to forgive Gwen. I swear, she forgets all her manners. Let me guess, Mrs. Coldwell has her giving you the tour? Well, this is French class, and it's going to be so nice. Come on, I heard Ms. Robere wants us all to sit in alphabetical order, and since you're a Hallam that means you're right between me and Blair!" The words were a rush as Marci pulled the olive-skinned girl into a hug and then caught her arm and tugged her away.

It all happened so fast that Michelle barely got out a, "But - ?" As she shot a look at Gwen, but she didn't fight the pull.

Gwen did. She took a step forward. "That's not - !"

Olivia and Blair got in the way like they always did. "You're a T, silly! You would think someone as perfect as you would know how to spell your last name by now!" There wasn't any hiding the sneer in Blair's voice now as she pushed Gwen towards the last row.

Or the smirk on Olivia's face as she tossed her hair. "Don't worry. We'll take good care of your friend. We'll tell her everything!" That was all that she said and all she needed to. Gwen felt her heart sink as she shot another look at the new girl, who was already giving her a look as Marci kept prattling on, the words just as much a spell as any of the ones in her book.

Spells that didn't do a thing when she needed them.

"Good," Gwen said even though it wasn't, but at least it would give her more time to study. She didn't really want to play tour guide today anyway. That thought to her to the desk by the window and the kids around her that didn't even give her a glance as she sat down.

Which was fine.

She didn't glance at them either as she set her back down and dug through it for her textbook and notes and found the little purple journal instead. Her fingers brushed the leather cover as she looked up just in time to see the new girl sink into her seat while Marci perched on her desk and laughed like they'd been friends for years. A laugh that ended in a squeal that went right across the room as Michelle pulled her braid over her shoulder again and Marci pounced, "That's so pretty! Did you do it yourself?"

Marci's hair would be in the same braid by lunch, Gwen knew that just as well as she did every word in the purple journal that she made herself let go of. It was all for the best anyway. She spent too much time hanging out with her doofus this summer. Enough that she'd barely even glanced at all of her new books and she needed to catch up.

And talk Ben down, probably. Knowing him there were probably a half a dozen new texts waiting for her complaining about everything. "Baby," she whispered to herself as she put the French book on the class and sat up straight because nothing was going to ruin this class for her.

But it was a relief when the bell rang and everyone rushed to their seats as Ms. Robere flowed into the room. The woman wore a blue dress and had a beret perched on her head and looked like she belonged in a movie and not a classroom, but she smiled at them all anyway as she said, "Good morning children," she said with a little smile and in a voice that tasted like butter. "This is a French class, so we're going to be speaking in French as much as possible because that's the only way you learn. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Gwen said because it was obvious and her voice should have been lost with everyone else's, but it wasn't. Maybe three other people spoke up and Gwen shared the teacher's sigh. She knew that it was the first class of the first day, but still. It was like being in a class full of Bens.

She didn't know why that thought made her grin, but it did.

"Very well," Ms. Robere sighed as she perched on the edge of her desk and the taste of butter went away with her smile. "Small steps. I'm assuming that if you signed up you know something of the language, so we'll see how right I was by starting with the homework that I sent out with all of your - " It really was like her doofus was here, the groans that went up at that sure sounded like him, but this time Gwen was right there with them because who gave out homework for the first day? The woman raised a hand and the noise stopped. "Now, now. Writing one sentence about your summer didn't kill any of you. I just wanted you to try. We'll start with you, Mr. Anderson. Just do your best. Please bear in mind that French is a beautiful language. Try not to hurt it too badly."

Jacob stood with the same pinched look on his face that he always got when the teachers went alphabetical. Maybe it was a little more panicked than usual today as he coughed and looked at his notebook. "My family rented a house in the summer. I have it only on the beach."

Gwen blinked and didn't know what was more embarrassing; the fact he'd said it in English or that he'd managed to screw up screwing up that badly. The same sick curiosity that made her watch as her cousin poked whatever goo they found sent her eyes back to the teacher for the explosion that always followed.

Only it didn't. To her surprise, the woman just nodded and said, "Not bad. Thank you." The boy gave the teacher a very uncertain smile and sat down as quickly as he could. "Next."

The girl who sat behind him might have blushed, but it was too hard to tell because her face was sunburnt and peeling and she squirmed from the attention as she said, "Uncle had to spend the summer on my farm."

Gwen frowned at the words, and that turned into a scowl as Ms. Robere's hand went up so she could cover her laugh. "I asked about you, not your uncle."

The girl laughed even as she squirmed more. "What?"

That wiped the smile off of Ms. Robere's face and her hand went to pinch the bridge of her nose. "In French please."

"What?"

"Never mind, next."

Gwen shook her head because the next two didn't do any better before she tuned out. Most of the teachers she knew were patient, but she couldn't believe that Mrs. Robere was letting everyone get away with not even trying. Gwen dug the tip of her pen into her notebook just under the words she spent hours finding and trying to arrange. Hours that she wasted on an assignment that not even the teacher cared about. No wonder she had a headache. One that throbbed more and more until she covered her eyes and wished that she could cover her nose, too, as the smell of butter got stronger and stronger until it stank.

"Is something wrong, Ms. Tennyson?"

"No, ma'am! I just have a bit of a headache," Gwen said automatically as she dropped her hand. Then she blushed and stammered out, "I mean..."

Instead of looking angry, Mrs. Robere looked surprised before she waved her hand. "No, no. That was correct. I'm sorry you're not feeling well, but would you like to go next?"

Gwen really didn't, but she stood up anyway. She gave her notes a quick glance that didn't help at all, not when she could feel every eye on the class on her. So she closed her eyes and went from memory. "I went to the karate exhibition in New York with my family."

Finding the words had been simple. The grammar was a little harder and she still wasn't sure if she had everything in the right order until she said them. Then she knew that they weren't as her face burned as bright as her hair, the hair that she wished was long enough that she could hide behind it because nothing she said was in French. "I'm sorry! Let me - !"

"No, no! That was very good!" Mrs. Robere said as clapped her hands like Gwen making an idiot of herself was the best thing ever. Maybe it was because the rest of the room went as quiet as she ever heard it. Quiet enough that Gwen knew she'd never hear the end of this. Never ever ever. "Your accent. How long did you spend in Paris?"

Gwen stared at the woman and wished that she could just sink away instead of standing there. She'd heard Ben go off about his teachers and how horrible they were because they were always trying to embarrass him so many times, but she never…

She owed the doofus such an apology. "I - I've never been. I mean, I've always wanted to go, but..." But not even Grandpa could pull that off. She didn't even know how he could.

The horrible woman didn't let it go at that either. Somehow she managed to keep the sneer off of her face and look shocked instead as she kept going. "Then you must have watched a lot of French cinema."

Gwen shrugged and squirmed as she felt the stares turn into glares like any of this was her fault. "A few, my mom likes them."

"Only a few?" the teacher teased. "Thank you, Gwen. You can sit down."

Gwen did, as fast as she could. The glares didn't go away even as Ms. Robere's attention went back to the other side of the room and tortured someone else who butchered the English language. She half-listened even as she seethed and fought down the urge to storm out. It was bad enough that the class was a waste of time, but a jerk for a teacher, too?

She had enough in her life already, and that only became more true when she heard Blair say, "I spent it the country traveling like Gwen did!"

"That sounds like fun!" Ms. Robere said because of course she was in on it. "Ms. Hallam?"

Gwen knew that she should just sit there because it didn't matter, but her hand shot up anyway. "Ms. Robere? Michelle's family just got into town yesterday and she just got all her paperwork this morning. I don't think that she had time - "

Every eye was on her again as the woman cleared her throat and leaned back so she could brush her fingers over the notes on her desk. "Ah yes. That's right. Thank you for reminding me, Ms. Tennyson. You're excused, Ms. Hallam. Ms. Hunt - "

"It's okay, I'd like to try," Michelle piped up before she could finish and her eyes stayed on Gwen even as she pressed the back of her hand against her eyes. "I moved halfway across the world because of my father and I don't even get to see Yuri Lowenthal." The snort that those words got out of Ms. Robere almost hid the giggle that slipped out of Gwen. Almost. Michelle just grinned wider at it as she dropped her hand.

"Excellent work, Ms. Hallam! Extra credit. And I know that accent, too! Are you Syrian?"

"Close. My mother is Lebanese," Michelle said and she glowed as she did. "She made sure that my brothers and I could speak it so she could yell at us in public. She makes sure my friends can, too." She glowed even brighter as she said that. Bright enough that Gwen couldn't help smiling along as the girl looked at her.

At least until Marci spoke up when she was called next, the words bored and pained as she wrinkled her nose. "I spent the summer watching my sister make out with her new cousin."

Mrs. Roberte hid her mouth behind her hand even as Gwen shot a look over. "You better check the dictionary again, Ms. Hunter. I believe you mean boyfriend."

"Did I?!" Marci gasped as she slapped a hand over her mouth. "But I asked Gwen and she thought it was right!"

Ms. Robere said something that got lost as a hissing sound filled Gwen's ears and she felt the mana surge around her. A few months ago, the lights would have done more than flicker as she let the storm she made wash over her even as she stared at the blond girl who used to be her friend, who used to invite her over for sleepovers when Ben was still a total doofus. The girl gave her the same grin now as she did back when they used to play with their Barbies together. It didn't do a thing to hide the sneer in the girl's ice-cold blue eyes as everyone else shifted until someone from the back gasped. "Little Miss Perfect?!"

There were more gasps and Ms. Robere said something that didn't matter. Not as the lights flickered again. The rest of the class was a blur as Gwen tried to remember every calming exercise that the Sensei taught her and only ended when the bell finally rang again. There wasn't anything neat or orderly in the way she shoved her stuff back in her backpack or rushed to her feet, and she felt everyone's eyes on her.

That was why she didn't run. She didn't dare, but she didn't stop either. Not even when she heard someone call her name. She just joined the rush out in the hall and wished…

She felt a hand grab her elbow, and it wasn't the alien claws she hoped for. Reflex and training kicked in and she felt her hand twist for a palm strike that she was going to drive through a perfect little nose before she realized…

"Why didn't you tell me you could speak French?!" Michelle chirped as her hand slid down to Gwen's and gave it a squeeze.

Gwen just looked at the girl and waited for the joke as her heart hammered, "I can't."

"You're a good fake then. Why don't you just admit it? It's not like they'll take the A away just because you already know the language." Michelle teased like they were friends before she frowned. "They won't, right? Because that's the only reason I'd stay."

Gwen wanted to scream, fight, run, hide and more as she shook her head and waited for the joke. Not that it ever seemed to come in all the words that the other girl was saying or the looks she kept getting. Looks that almost seemed…

"Michelle!" the harpy squawked behind them and Gwen froze. It took her a second to realize that Michelle did, too, before she turned them both around as Marci stood there with her lampreys at her back and a grin on her face as she waved. "Come on. We'll give you the tour and show you where all the best parts of this school are. I'm sure that my Bestie would try, but she doesn't have a clue."

And that was it. Those were the words that would make the other girl stop pretending like Gwen knew that she was. "Thanks!" Michelle said instead with a wave of her left hand as she gave Gwen's another squeeze with her right. "But I'm good."

It was so weird seeing Marci look as shocked as Gwen felt. A look that didn't last long before the sneer came back. "You can bring Little Miss Perfect along, too! We have a lot to talk about! Don't we, Bestie?"

The mana was there again, just waiting for her to form it with a touch and a word, and Gwen wanted to. She wanted to so bad that her fingers twitched, but Michelle just squeezed her hand tighter as the speakers rumbled to life again and a man's voice called out, "Michelle Hallam to the Guidance Counselor's Office, please. Michelle Hallam to the Guidance Counselor's Office."

"It sounds like fun," Michelle said as she let out a shrug, "but you heard the voice in the sky and Gwen's already promised to show me the way."

This time the shock didn't fade. It just turned cold as Marci sniffed and turned away. "Fine. Come on, you two. We'll catch up with them later." Blair and Olivia followed after her, but there wasn't any hiding the look that they gave Michelle before they did, not that the new girl seemed to notice.

"Anyway, if I had to get up this early, I sure wasn't - "

Gwen had magic, her doofus had an alien watch that made him match and her Grandpa was a secret agent and she still couldn't help staring at the girl next to her. The girl who blew back a hair that somehow escaped her braid before she gave Gwen another look, a look that had so many questions and she didn't ask a single one. Not one that Gwen expected anyway. "Are you OK, Crazy Girl?"

"I'm not crazy!" The words were automatic as she smelled butter again and despite it all her stomach rumbled because whatever the cafeteria was making was going to be good.

"Sure you're not. That's why you're telling me you don't speak French in French." Michelle teased as she elbowed Gwen. "It's a good thing you promised to tell me where to find fun in this town. Unless..." Her voice went low and she looked around in barely concealed and massively faked horror. "There isn't a violent anti-French mob in town, is there? I've heard stories..."

"No!"

"Then don't deny!" Michelle said with a laugh as she nodded over at another group of kids. "I mean, you don't see them pretending they don't speak Spanish, do you?"

Gwen glanced over just in time to see a tall boy blush and shake his head as the rest of his friends chanted, "Julio's got a crush!" At least that was normal! That was the only thing that was.

"They're n-" Gwen started as the idea startled a laugh out of her. A laugh she choked on because that gang always spoke in Spanish when they weren't in class. For as long as she could remember, until…

Her breath caught and her mind raced as she tried to remember the last time she'd heard someone speak anything other than English, but she couldn't. Not even when they were in Reno or New York and now that she noticed it she knew just how impossible it was. And impossible only meant one thing.

"Earth to Crazy Girl!" Michelle laughed and that should have been it, the insult she was waiting for, but it wasn't. Not when the laugh didn't seem mean and her tone…

Her tone was almost like the doofus's when he was calling her a dweeb.

"Michelle Hallam to the Guidance Office."

"Lucky me," Michelle sighed as she gave Gwen another look and the buttery smell faded away. "Wanna show me the way before they have a stroke, or is that a state secret, too?"

"It is," Gwen finally said because that was what her doofus would do, "but I guess I can let you in on it." That got another laugh as Gwen grinned and tugged her down the hall.

The guidance office was close to the main one and it wasn't much, but the door flew open the second Michelle knocked on it. "Ah, Ms. Hallam! I'm Mr. Stebbins! Come in, come in! I'm terribly sorry I wasn't here when you arrived this morning, but my car just wasn't feeling it," the big man said with a laugh that Michelle tried to match even as she shot Gwen a look. A look that lost a little of its worry as Gwen mouthed He's okay at her and the grin came back. Especially when she was caught. "Thank you for that, Ms. Tennyson. I try my best. And for bringing Ms. Hallam here. Mrs. Coldwell said that you were giving her the tour, but this might take a while. Why don't you head off to class and I'll - "

"Actually, is it okay if she waited?" Michelle broke in as she gave Gwen another look and squeezed her hand. "I don't have a clue where anything is yet and I don't know what I'd do without her."

The man gave Gwen another look and shrugged as he waved at the bench that was waiting just outside of his office door. "Very well, I'll write you both a pass. You can wait out here while we go over her schedule, Gwendolyn, but this might take a while..."

Gwen just nodded and sank into one of the waiting room chairs as the man ushered her friend into his office as the bell rang and everyone else disappeared. "We saved spots for you in all the classes we thought that you might be interested in, Ms. Hallam. It's the least we could do for your father - so the sky's the limit."

"I don't know," Michelle said as Mr. Stebbins closed the door behind them. "I kind of like the one I have - " The rest of it was lost as the door clicked, but it didn't matter.

Gwen was grinning anyway even as she moved. Her eyes shot up and down the hall and she curled up around her phone as she hit 2 and speed dial took care of the rest. Her stomach roiled as it rang and it didn't stop even when she heard Grandpa say, "Gwen? Pumpkin, is everything okay?"

She never used to be nervous about calling Grandpa, she never wondered if he was home or if he'd even answer. Not until a few weeks ago and she didn't know what he'd say or do as she asked, "Why can I speak French?"

- o - o - o - o - o -

" - far as all my first days go, this one was pretty good!"

Gwen's face ached, but she smiled again anyway at that - that and the feel of the arm hooked through hers as they hurried down the steps - even if the words did make her frown just a little. "All? How many first days have you had?"

Michelle didn't stop in her tracks, but she did blink hard at the words before her nose scrunched up and she waved her free hand. "I don't even know. The Colonel's always us dragging somewhere new. How about you?"

Gwen just shrugged and waved her right hand even as she swallowed down a spike of worry. "Just the one - " she started when she heard something buzz in her backpack. It took her all of a second before she realized it was her phone, and barely more than that before she had it in her hands and had it flipped open. Some part of her - most of her was sure it was Grandpa saying that something came up and she felt sick at the idea.

She missed him. She'd been missing him since he disappeared and how could he? None of the eight weeks made that bit any smaller and it didn't go away, even after she read; Grandpa and I are here, so get your butt in gear!

"Look at that grin!" Michelle cooed in her ear. Then she let out a little gasp. "Who is it? Is it a boy?! Can I see?!" She asked even as she grabbed for her phone.

"No!" Gwen flushed at the words and the memory of how the summer started made her jerk the phone away, but it was the wide-eyed shock on the girl's face that surprised her.

"S - sorry," Michelle stammered as she dropped her hand back down to her side. "I didn't -! I was just…"

"It's okay!" Gwen almost shouted as she flipped the phone shut and felt sick. "I've had - Its just my doofus of a cousin and - "

And Ben wasn't a boy boy. He was just Ben and hers and she wasn't going to share him, not even with Michelle - Were they friends? She really hoped so and of course she screwed it up. She looked at her phone again. She would have given up magic and dance just so she could forget what happened, but she couldn't. "Last year M - some of the girls grabbed this and read all my texts out loud just so they could…"

She didn't know what the girl next to her would do with that. Being knocked five feet back with a hug wasn't even on the list. It was only her balance that kept them both from hitting the ground, and only luck that kept them from plowing into everyone around. "Those bitches!"

"Michelle!" Gwen gasped, as much in shock at the arms that were around her and were squeezing her so hard as the word. She should hug back. She knew she should, but…

"Sorry!" Michelle said as she slipped away, embarrassment and worry and guilt all flickering over her face. "For the hug and grabbing for your phone, not the… Well, they are!"

"It's okay!" Gwen shouted again, and this time the words felt real in her mouth. As real as her grin. "You just took me by surprise and…" she took a breath and held out her arm again because no one ever got mad like that for her. Almost no one. Michelle grinned and slipped hers through as Gwen gave her phone another look. There wasn't anything bad on it. Nothing about heroing, but her heart still pounded as she held it out. "He was just telling me that my Grandpa's here. You can - "

"Sure he is! That's okay, you can keep your boyfriend to yourself."

Gwen felt the heat rush into her cheeks again at the idea, "He's not - !"

"Sure, sure. He's your 'cousin.' I believe you," Michelle laughed as she reached over, closed the phone and squeezed her hand all at the same time. A dozen denials were right there, but she knew that none of them would help, so she slipped her phone back into her backpack before she found her friend's arm again. "But don't get me wrong, I'm totally grabbing this thing when we need a pizza or something for lunch, which we so will! I can't believe that your parents let you have one, lucky girl!"

Only a lifetime of practice kept Gwen from falling on her face after those two words. She was sure that the truth was written all over her face as they weaved through the crowd and maybe it was, but Michelle wasn't looking at her. She was looking at a red van parked just up the road. One that made her sigh as she saw it. "Mom's here. I could give you a ride home, if you want, since we're almost neighbors and everything if you wanted to ditch your family," Michelle said as they got close and she grabbed the door handle, her every step saying that was just what she wanted to do. "I mean, I'm sure the map you drew and the directions you gave will get us there, but if you don't mind going shopping with us..."

It was tempting. It was so, so tempting. Especially when she heard a boy shout through the open window, "Yeah! She can sit next to me!"

Gwen grinned, and that grin only got bigger as Michelle yanked the door open and ducked inside so she could shout back, "Shut it, Elias! Both of you booger magnets can sit in the back!"

Gwen just smiled into her palm as she watched them, and she almost said yes when the girl sank into her seat with puppy dog eyes. Then she heard a honk that meant the world to her and sighed, "Sorry. I really want to, but I've got to get to karate practice. I'll see you tomorrow?"

She didn't hold her breath as she said those words, and she certainly didn't want to cheer when Michelle rolled her eyes at her as she dropped into her seat and said, "Duh! I need my sherpa! And I have to hear all about karate, but the mall awaits!"

"Tomorrow!" Gwen promised as Michelle waved after she closed her door and her mom drove off. She waved back until the van disappeared.

"You had a better day than I did," Ben said from so close behind her that she jumped before she spun around and smacked him hard on the arm.

"You doofus! You scared me! What are you doing here?"

"Worth it," Ben grinned at her even as he rubbed his arm. Then he shrugged. "You tell me. Grandpa called and said he was taking you to karate and he asked if I wanted him to pick me up, too. I swear he spent too much time driving around alone this summer if he thinks he has to ask. So what's up with that girl? Is she why you called Grandpa? Do we have to - ?" He asked even as he lifted his watch arm.

"What? No!" Gwen shouted as she grabbed it and shoved it back down. "She's just new and I was showing her around! There's no hero time! I just - Why would you think - ?!"

"I saw her braid," Ben smirked at her, "and anyone who spends that much time on their hair has to be evil!"

"Doofus!" Gwen sniffed as she smacked his shoulder and eyed the mess on the top of his head, the mess she knew looked like that ever since he rolled out of bed that morning. "Just because you're allergic to combs and style doesn't mean that everyone is!"

"Oh please," Ben shot right back with a snort as his gaze flickered up with the care that he gave his history book. "Like you spend all morning on yours!"

"I - " Gwen choked in shock as her hand shot up to her bob. "I spend all the time I need to!"

"Exactly!" He said like he won.

"Shut up!" Gwen grumbled at him as she ran her fingers through her bangs. "It's cute!" And practical! And - and - "

"Hero's hair," Ben said with a nod before he let out a bark of a laugh as he looked at hers. "Or sidekick's."

The only thing that kept her from kicking his shin was that Grandpa was right there when she looked up. She saw his grin through the Rust Bucket's windshield and waved back. He looked so happy before it all disappeared in a huge yawn as he got up from the driver's seat. One she'd only seen a few times over the summers when he drove through the night after some serious hero time...

"We're out of school," Ben grumbled, his smirk long gone, as he elbowed her hard enough that he almost shoved her onto the grass, "you can stop thinking now."

She would have elbowed him right back for ruining her train of thought if it wasn't for his tone and the fact that enough people were staring already. Ben always stood out, but right now...

She walked a little bit faster as she realized just how forced his jokes were. "Today was that bad?"

And just like that, even his fake grin went away. He just hunched over a little and glared at the brick building he didn't even go to. "I should have let the universe go boom."

"Ben," Gwen said as she rolled her eyes even though she knew it probably was even before he shot a look at her.

"I thought the babies in elementary school were dull, but the only thing I heard about today was what everyone was wearing and how torn up it was and how much it cost and no one knows style." He pulled at the black stripe that ran down the front of his shirt, his lucky one that he'd been wearing for as long as she could remember, and for once she was glad that her school had uniforms because he sounded like he was going to spit. It didn't stop everything, but at least she didn't have to put up with anyone showing off blue jeans that were already torn up before they ever wore them. When did that become a thing?

Not that she said any of that. Instead, she rolled her eyes and said, "Poor baby." She waited for him to give her a shove before he started in on her clothes or her school and she couldn't wait.

Ben jammed his hands in his pockets and kicked at the sidewalk as he ducked his head. "Shut up."

"That's not…" Gwen said in surprise. Then she elbowed him again before she grabbed his arm and pulled just to make him keep walking. "Come on, tell me I look like a nerd or something! Play the game!"

"Nerd," Ben repeated as his eyes flickered over her, but his heart was so far out of it that it might as well have been in orbit.

Worry made her give up on pulling him and sent her hands to her hips, as she glared at him even as people walked around them. "Spill, Ben." She should have known something was up when he only sent her six texts all day.

Ben didn't back down, either. Not even when she started to tap her foot. Not until one of the kindergartners went running by. That was when he muttered, "I miss the babies."

"What?"

"Middle school blows," Ben growled as he rubbed at the Omnitrix. "And having this doesn't help. Even if Fourarms or Diamondhead could show them who the real shrimps were."

Gwen's foot stilled as his growl rolled over her. One that she felt catch in her chest and grow there. "Who?"

"It doesn't…"

"Who?" Gwen repeated as she glared into her doofus's eyes and she felt her fingernails dig into her palms. Then her voice went still as she answered her own question. "JT and Cash." She knew where they lived. She'd looked it up last year, but she thought that they'd learned their lesson back in April and heroes didn't…

But maybe sidekicks could.

She almost didn't believe him when he shook his head, but his snort was way too bitter to fake. "Those jerks had their own problems. Today was just…" he blew a breath out through his nose before he reached out and caught her hand. Then he gave the big brick building that they were standing next to another look before he gave her a tug. "It doesn't matter. Come on, Scary Spice, I've had enough of school."

Part of her wanted to bug him until he told her everything, but she didn't. She just let him pull her to the Rustbucket where it was safe. Where it should have been safe, but it didn't feel right.

Not since their second summer ended and Grandpa left. She didn't even know why not, but that wasn't what made her stop again when she got inside and saw the man standing in the back by the fridge. "We've got some time until you have to get to the dojo. I could whip you both up a snack, this octopus isn't as fresh as I'd like, but…'

Grandpa sounded like himself, even if he did look so tired. It was the dark circles under his eyes that made her choke on her words now just like they'd been ever since he got home a few days ago with a smile and a cheer like he'd gone out for groceries instead of disappearing for a month and a half and coming back looking like he didn't sleep for any of it.

She had a hundred questions and choked on them even as Ben made a face and slipped between the man and the fridge before he came out with two water bottles in one hand and a box of chocolate snack cakes in the other. "I got those for you and your cousin, Ben."

Grandpa Max looked tired, but that wasn't what bothered her. She'd seen him look tired before after he did an all-nighter. It was the way he looked at Ben and her, the way his voice caught as he said that stuff about the cakes. It was the fact that he bought them at all when he usually just made stuff he swore was dessert.

Unless she was just imagining things because he left.

"She can get her own!" Ben snorted as he raced for the dining booth and dumped his stolen loot across the table so she could get to it, too, before she even had a chance to pout.

Not that Grandpa noticed. He just sighed and shook his head before he smiled at her and she saw her Grandpa Max again. "What about you, Pumpkin? Do you want me to make you something while you tell me about - "

"Why can I speak French!?" Gwen asked again and she felt her heart hammer in her ears as she did it. It wasn't the question she wanted to ask him, it wasn't even in the top one hundred, but she had to know. "You said you would tell me after school, and…!"

Gwen couldn't believe she was glaring at the man she always looked up to, the one who swore she could tell him anything and didn't tell her anything. The man who just left and as she watched him look back at her, as she watched him rub the back of his head she knew. "Forget it. You're not - " she said as she spun away and tried not to scream or cry even as she stomped up to her Doofus, who was just staring at her with his mouth a thin line but didn't say a word as he made room for her to sit down next to him.

"They're called Translator Microbes," Grandpa said behind her. She froze and looked back with wide eyes. "They're like little robots - kind of - that are in your head and they're what let you - "

"She has Upgrades in her brain?" Ben asked as she sank down in the booth next to him and he gave her a wide-eyed worried look even as he reached over to poke her forehead. Gwen swatted his hand away even as she let out a nervous breath of her own.

"They're not like Upgrade," Grandpa Max said as he walked over and sank down into the booth across from them. His eyes studied them both even as he tried to rub a hole into the back of his head, he was rubbing it so much. "Not exactly. They're more biological than he is, and a whole lot smaller."

"Bio…" Ben's worried look vanished in an explosion of laughter. He laughed so hard he fell out of the booth. "You've got cooties!" he managed to force out between guffaws.

"Not helping! You wouldn't think this was so funny if you had them, too!"

"As if."

"He does."

Gwen would have laughed right back at any other time. Now she just looked at her Grandfather in horror even as Ben jumped to his feet and shouted, "What!"

Grandpa held his hand up to hold them off. "And so do I. All of the Plumbers do."

"What!" Ben and Gwen harmonized.

Grandpa Max shrugged like it was nothing, or like he regretted saying anything to begin with. "It's standard technology. We traded for them back before I joined. They're harmless."

"They're harmless?" Gwen echoed in disbelief even as she dug her fingernails into her scalp. How could anything be harmless when they were in her brain? Hers and the Doofus's. And she liked his brain the way it was. Besides, he didn't have any to spare if Grandpa was wrong, and neither did she.

"Completely." Grandpa Max nodded. "They're nothing, really. I was going to mention them, but..."

"But?" Ben asked as he sank back down next to her again and started rubbing at his head, too.

"It kind of slipped my mind. Besides," Grandpa said with a shrug, "well, I thought you'd figured it out years ago. And since neither of you said anything I didn't think it was a problem."

"How on Earth could we have figured it out?" Gwen asked as calmly as she could. It was still shrill enough to make Grandpa Max wince.

"I thought it was obvious after you met Tetrax."

"Why would it be..."

"It was his first time on Earth. Did you really think he spoke English?"

Gwen's mouth moved for a second before the words caught up. "YES!"

"Oh." Grandpa Max looked away in embarrassment. Which he should be, Gwen thought. Unless he was embarrassed for her. Which was not a thought she liked.

"How?" Ben asked. He'd forced himself to stop scratching, but his eye and his hand twitched as if he still really wanted to.

Grandpa Max shrugged. "As far as I can tell, you got them with the Omnitrix, Ben."

Ben glanced down at the device on his arm and poked it a few times. "You haven't given me anything else, have you?" If it did, the Omnitrix wasn't saying. It didn't even beep when he tapped it against the table.

Gwen shook her head. "And me?"

Grandpa Max got up and started walking up to the driver's seat. "I really should be getting you kids to the dojo. I have some errands to run before - "

"Grandpa!"

Grandpa stopped and put a hand on the seat as he let his head fall. "You got them the same night that Ben got the Omnitrix, Pumpkin."

Gwen's eyes went wide as she stared at the alien watch on Ben's arm and yanked her arm away from it. The night was a blur between the forest fire and the drone attack and her cousin becoming every bit the freak she always knew he was, but she remembered watching him poke at the Watch and the split second he let her brush her fingers over it. The metal felt so cool, but it didn't bite her or anything. "I barely even touched it! How did it get me, too?"

"It..." Grandpa started to say before he stopped and sighed. He turned around and sat down again, but he didn't look at either of them. He grabbed up one of the water bottles that Ben had grabbed and opened it, but he didn't take a drink. He didn't look at them either.

"Did it hurt her?" Ben asked, his voice cold as he glared at the watch.

"No. The watch didn't do anything," Max said. He reached up and rubbed at the back of his neck. "I might have... It was just a little injection, honey."

"You INJECTED me?"

"It's not like you noticed. You didn't even wake up."

"You injected me while I was ASLEEP?" Gwen tried to wrap her mind around those words and she couldn't. She just felt cold as she stared at him.

"...sorry?" That was all she got. That was the only thing Grandpa said even as he shrank away from her gaze.

"You had to be able to… There were already people after Ben and you needed every edge you could get, Gwen. I was just doing what I thought was - "

He was right and it didn't matter. "You could have asked! You could have - !" She screamed at her Grandpa even though her school was right outside, but she would have even if she didn't know that the Rust Bucket would keep anyone from hearing a word she said. She shoved herself up anyway. "You could have - !"

She didn't know. She shouldn't have had to know. She…

She didn't know her Grandpa at all.

"The night I got - ?" Ben started as he stared down at the alien watch.

Gwen didn't know her Grandpa at all, but she knew her cousin, and that was why she grabbed his hand and squeezed it until he looked up and met her eyes and saw enough guilt that she sucked in a breath. "Don't be a doofus," she murmured to him.

"I'll be whatever I want to be," Ben said right back as he tried to smile. Then he looked across the table and gave their Grandfather a look so dirty that Gwen could have hugged him for it. At least until he opened his mouth and said, "What I want to know is, why does the Dweeb get to cheat at school while I can't?"

"I'm not cheating, Dummy!"

"Oh, please. You know French and whatever it was that Tetrax was saying..."

"And Chinese, German, Russian, Navajo, Japanese... And all the alien languages we know. Gwen's knows more human languages, and yours knows more alien, Ben, but the bugs learn if you wait long enough," Grandpa began before he saw the glares he was getting and sank back down. "Right. I'll just be quiet."

"She can cheat and I can't. So not fair."

Gwen shook her head. She couldn't help it even though she knew exactly what he was doing. "You can, too, Doofus."

"I think I would have noticed."

Gwen snorted and grabbed the television remote from its spot on the back of the dining booth. It only took her a moment to find the channel she was looking for. One she'd heard him talk about way more than he should have.

"Telemundo!" Ben grinned. "I love this channel!"

"And did you ever notice anything?"

"What? No. What?" He just looked confused even after Gwen pointed at the bottom corner of the screen and the English words that were stamped there. Spanish Television. There was a long pause. "I always wondered about that."

Gwen shook her head, but it was just as much at herself as at him. She should have known better than to think that he was reading the subtitles. "So now we can speak any language."

"That the microbes know," Max allowed.

"But when I was doing my homework last night, I had to look up all the French words."

Grandpa shrugged and showed her his hands. "Spoken languages only. There are ways around it, but nothing that can fit in someone's head. You'll have to learn how to write the old-fashioned way. Sorry."

"So, we're genius illiterates," Ben said with a shrug as he got comfortable. Not by sitting like a normal person though. No, he had to lie down in the booth and use her leg as a pillow as he pulled his portable Gamestation out of his pocket. "Easy B then."

"I knew you'd say that! Don't you care?" Gwen asked as she glared down at his mess of brown hair and fought the stupid urge to...

But it would be so much fun to watch him jump, the sweet jerk.

"Eh." Of course he didn't.

But she did.

"So from now on, I'll either hear everything in English or in gobbledygook until the bugs figure it out?" She felt her lip quiver even as her fingers found her cousin's hair. "I wanted to learn French."

Grandpa reached over and patted her on the shoulder. "I'm sorry, Pumpkin." She knew he meant it because he was too much like her doofus that she could see the guilt in his eyes, too.

He told her the truth and she wished he didn't, so she leaned over and banged her head on the table over and over again. "I have bug brains."

"That's what I've always said. Glad you're finally coming around, " Ben said without looking up from his game, but that didn't hide his smirk or how distracted he was as he missed a jump that she'd watched him make a dozen times.

If he wasn't, he would have noticed Gwen grabbing the bottle from Grandpa before she dumped it on his head. He sputtered and gasped as the cold water hit him and tossed the console onto the table so he could grab for her, but she was so much faster and back on her feet before she even got any water on her skirt.

That was the cake and the half-drowned boy glaring at her was the icing on it. She cackled as she tossed the empty bottle into the sink and danced away as he sprang up after her.

There wasn't any guilt or worry in his eyes now, just an evil gleam as he grabbed for her and she danced away from his outstretched hands. She didn't know he wasn't aiming for her until she heard the kitchen faucet go full blast and when she spun around again he had the sprayer in his hand and a wicked grin on his lips. "Don't you dare!" Gwen shrieked and laughed as she tried to run, but Grandpa was right behind her.

For a second she forgot she was mad at her Grandpa and just hugged him close as he hugged her even closer and turned her so he was between the two of them, but his warning only went one way. "Ben…"

"Hiding behind Grandpa," Ben snorted as he let the sprayer go and turned off the water as more dripped off of him and onto the floor. "I remember someone saying that only losers did that."

"Only because it works," Gwen sniffed as she peeked around Grandpa because it was obvious. She saw him narrow his eyes at the reminder and she got ready to say she was sorry again.

Then Ben pulled off his soaked shirt right there in front of her and the words caught in her throat. He shot her a glare as he stood there and dripped. "You have our gis, right Grandpa?"

Grandpa said something, Gwen knew he did, because she heard the air rumble with the words, but she didn't have a clue what. She just stared at the Doofus as he stood there, at his bare chest that he didn't even bother to cover and…

And she'd seen him without a shirt before. They'd gone swimming often enough that first summer - and not at all the one that just went by. They'd meant to, but other stuff just kept coming up - but back then he didn't…

He had muscles now, hints of them, and…

And they were glistening and wet with drops of water tracing the lines of them that her eyes locked onto like they were the words of a spell or something the bad guys threw at them.

"Laugh it up, Dweeb!" Ben growled, his voice a thunder that shattered her concentration. She jumped as her eyes shot back up to his face and she felt the heat burn in her face. He leaned in closer and it so didn't help, not that he noticed as he poked her shoulder and smirked, "I'm putting you on the mat for this! Just watch!"

Gwen should have laughed as the doofus stomped to the back, should have set him straight. She should have said something to Grandpa as he followed after to get a towel so she could clean up her mess, that she was sorry or found a way to blame it all on Ben, but she didn't.

She couldn't. Her mouth was too dry as she stared at Ben's bare back until he yanked the curtain closed behind her. Her mouth was dry and the room felt like it was spinning as she sank back down in the booth. Somehow she forgot about the water until she felt the chill of it soak the back of her skirt.

"That's one way to do it," Grandpa grinned at her as she jumped up with a shriek and her face burned. Grabbing the towel and cleaning was almost a relief just because that was normal. As normal as the way the man kissed the top of her head as he went up front. As normal as the way the engine roared as he started it. As normal as home.

Those were the only things that were.

"I really do have bug brains," Gwen whispered as she sank back down again and stared at the wrapped cakes in front of her.

Stared and took one. The wrapper crinkled as she opened it, and then normal came smashing back as a brown-haired menace in a white gi all but shoved her over so he could fit in the booth, too, and swiped the cake right out of her hand and stuffed it in his mouth. "Hey!"

"My bugs are hungry, too!" Ben said with a spray of chocolate crumbs as he grinned at her. Crumbs that covered the front of his gi.

She knew he'd brush them off before they got in the dojo, but her hand itched anyway as she eyed them. "You can't blame them for you being a pig, Ben!" Itched until she had to reach over.

"What about for you making friends with Charmcaster?" Ben said as he sat still for a whole five seconds before he slapped her hand away. "And I think you got them all, Dweeb."

"I - " Gwen started because she was sure that she missed one. Then she heard what the doofus said and forgot all about his chest. "What? No, I didn't!"

"I saw you!" Ben crowed as he leaned back. "Getting in a car with strangers, Gwen?"

"Michelle's whole family was there! Her brother's six! What do you think Charmcaster did?"

"Evil Greymatter!" Ben said, his eyes glittering before they shot wide. Then he whooped and sat up straight as he hollered, "Follow that van, Grandpa! It's the new Negative 10! They only missed summer by a day! Still counts!"

Gwen's head sank into her hands at those words. It was the only way she could keep her Doofus from seeing her grin and it didn't work. Not when her giggle gave her away. So she gave it up so she could shove him instead. "You are such a Doofus!"

"You love it," Ben crowed at her as he grabbed another cake. There wasn't any care taken with the wrapper, but this time he broke the cake in half and held it out to her as he wolfed down his.

Gwen felt her brain bugs buzz as her fingers brushed his and her mom was right. All the sugar and preservatives in the cake so didn't help, but at least now she knew why her fingertips tingled. And the bugs making her feel weird wasn't anything compared to the way he glared at her school as they drove by even if that was normal, too.

So was the way he went still as she tucked her feet up under her and curl up against her Doofus just to tease him. The stiff fabric of his gi wasn't as comfortable as his lucky shirt when she laid her head on his shoulder, but it was worth it just to feel him squirm. In a minute she'd have to get changed anyway, and then she'd be kicking his butt across the dojo no matter what he thought.

In a minute, but not even her wet skirt could make her move now. Not when it was so easy to tease him. "You know all about my day, Ben. Tell me about yours. And I want to hear everything this time!"

"Even about the jerk who spilled water on me even though I didn't do nothing?"

"Everything," Gwen repeated with a smirk as she wrapped her arm around his before he could elbow her again because she knew him. He sighed at that. Sighed, sagged against her, and started talking. The bugs must be working on him, too, because his face looked flushed when she looked up, but they already had cooties, so what did it matter?

Besides, what was she going to do? Ignore him?

Please. Like she ever could.