Content includes brief mention of sexual assault toward the end. –N

March – May 2007

When Drew told Killigan about his revelation over the phone (Killigan had gone to college abroad, in Scottland) Killigan laughed. "You don't love her," Killigan argued. "You don't know what love is."

"Nnngg. Well you don't know anything."

"S'not true. I know golf."

Drew was tempted to hang up then and there.

He had to tell her, right? It wasn't fair to her not to know … Or maybe it wasn't fair to tell her? Arg, why did love have to be so complicated?

One thing was for sure. He had to ask her to prom. As a friend, even. He knew several people had asked her already – much to Camille's annoyance – and she had turned them all down. But was that because she wanted to go alone?

"Oh Drew? Earth to Drew?" Drew snapped his head up at Sierra. They were doing homework at his kitchen table.

"Do you want to go to prom with me?"

Shit. Him and his big mouth.

Sierra's eyes widened and Drew began to backtrack, "I mean, not if you don't want to, of course, and as friends, I mean, why would it be anything –"

"Drew," she said sharply, and he fell silent. Then she said, "I would love to go to prom with you."

"I – Oh. Ok. Um. Great."

"Great." Sierra gave him a small, half-smile and turned back to her statistics problem. She cleared her throat. "What'd you get for question two?"

Soon enough, prom was around the corner, and with it, college decisions. Drew officially chose MIST, and Sierra chose The Chicago College of Teaching. It wasn't Middleton, but it was closer than he'd expected her to be, and they could see each other pretty often. At the very least, he would still be working with Team Go.

He went tux-shopping with Junior, who insisted on buying Drew a corsage and a tie when Drew said he didn't need those things. "You want to impress your date, no?" he said with a wink.

"I, er, I'm just going with Sierra. As friends."

"Ah, but are you not hoping for something more? I see the way you look at her."

Shit!

Seeing Drew's panicked expression, Junior added, "I will not tell her. And honestly, I think she likes you too."

"She – What?"

"She has not said so much. But I have a feeling."

Drew waved his hand. Disregard that. Junior had his own head so far up in the clouds it was a wonder he hadn't been hit by a plane.

The evening of prom, Junior's father invited them all to his mansion to take pictures and enjoy themselves before the party. Sierra showed up last, her dress dark green velvet, her hair pinned back with a clip and threaded with a flower. Drew almost couldn't catch his breath.

It wasn't until Junior nudged him in the ribs that he cleared his throat and said, "You look beautiful."

"Thank you," she said. "I like your tie."

"See, he hadn't even wanted to get one," Junior said. "And I told him that if he wanted to –" He cut himself off as Drew glared at him and excused himself to see to his own date, Chino of the clique known as The Fashionistas.

As the limo pulled up, Drew felt his phone vibrate against his pocket. He wandered over to the edge of Junior's yard and picked it up with a tentative, "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Mego." Alex. But if he was using his superhero name, that must mean there was trouble …

"Sierra!" he called. He put her on speaker as she joined them.

"It's Flora," Alex said. "Or, I guess now she's going by Motor Edna. Causing chaos at some car show in Los Vegas. I don't think we need you guys, but I just wanted you to know."

"What's the name of the car show?" Sierra asked.

"Uh, hang on." The line went quiet for a second and then Alex said, "Oxproz. What a weird –"

"Zorpox," Sierra said immediately. "That's an anagram for Zorpox."

"A what-agram?"

"It's the same letters."

"Well … That's gotta be a coincidence, right?"

Sierra locked eyes with Drew, who shook his head. Toward the phone, Sierra said, "Just keep us posted."

They hung up, and Drew turned to Sierra. "How did you know?"

"Something doesn't feel right about this whole –"

"Are you lovebirds coming or no?" Junior called, waving them over to the limo.

At the gym, Drew let Zorpox and Kim leave his mind. Instead, he focused on not stepping on Sierra's feet as they danced, him spinning her around and her laughing as she spun back in. Soon, he wasn't even focused on his own clumsy dancing, but on Sierra, on her emerald eyes, on her soft lips –

Soft? Holy shit they were kissing!

But as soon as it happened, it was over. Sierra pulled away quickly, her eyes wide and her hands trembling. "No, wait –" But she had disappeared in the crowd.

He found her quickly, around back, holding her arms as though chilled, even though the evening was fairly warm. She didn't turn to look at him, but he knew she knew he was there. "I'm sorry."

"Go away."

"Can we talk about this –"

"Did you ask me to prom just to hook up with me?"

"No! Of course not. How could you even think –"

She finally turned around. "Why did you kiss me then?"

"I d-don't –"

"Don't you dare say you don't know Drew Lipsky."

Drew fell silent. That was, indeed, what he was going to say. Instead, he managed, "I love you."

Sierra laughed like she had on Christmas before she moved in with the Lipskys, like she could have been a villain. Drew took a step back and Sierra said, "You can't love me."

He frowned. "Why not?"

"Because I'm a mess. I'm a superhero who can't even protect herself from a fucking rapist."

"Here's what I know," Drew argued. "You're strong. You're brave. You're rough when you have to be, but you're much more gentle than people know. You're stubborn and sometimes cruel, but you care so deeply you sometimes hurt because of it. You're fully capable of going bad, but you won't. And I love you for all of that."

Sierra had begun to cry, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. "Drew," she whispered, but then her phone went off.

She wiped at her eyes and checked the caller ID. "It's Jack," she said. Drew nodded, and she answered it. "Hey."

"You guys still in Middleton? Because you were right."

"About what?"

"About Zorpox. He's planning something for tonight. And it's going to be big."