After the bell signaled the end of fourth hour, Zoey stood outside Frieda's classroom, waiting for the girl to appear. Frieda was always the last one out of the class, talking to Mr. Johnson about some assignment.
However, instead of waiting impatiently like she usually did, Zoey was off in another universe. Her mind kept wandering back to the comic shop on Saturday, when Static and Gears' gooses had almost been cooked by Hotstreak. The whole scene looked like something straight out of a movie, with people running and screaming in terror as flames consumed the building. She could not believe that this was the kind of world her friends had lived in for the past couple of years, yet they seemed pretty at ease and content in their city. Especially Virgil and Richie, who didn't seem the least bit concerned about potentially being attacked by bang-babies on a regular basis.
Speaking of meta-humans, she also remembered what Static had said—show her drawings to her friends. After all this time, she had never actually admitted to them that she was an artist. She may have mentioned that she liked art a while ago, but she had never told them she worked on entire projects, like the one she had worked on this past weekend, one that she was particularly proud of.
She felt somewhat apprehensive about showing the drawings to her friends, even though Static and Gear appeared to have liked her artwork, which meant that her friends would probably like it as well. If Dakota's most renowned heroes thought her artwork was good, then why wouldn't they? Also, she had promised Static that she would follow through, and like the loyal friend she was, she intended to keep that promise.
As if on cue, Frieda walked out of the classroom with an armful of books and other school-related items. "Have a great day, Mr. Johnson!" she called behind her as she walked out of the room. Seeing her friend was waiting for her, Frieda smiled. "Hey, Zoey," she said. "Ready to get some lunch?"
"Sure am. I'm starving."
When they reached the cafeteria, Zoey and Frieda found an empty table in the corner of the lunchroom and sat down, waiting for the others to arrive. Sure enough, within the next minute or so, the friends spotted Daisy, followed by Virgil and Richie, who were discussing something rather animatedly with her. Wonder what that's about, Zoey wondered to herself.
"Guys! Over here!" Frieda hollered, waving her hand in the air, trying to attract their attention.
Even over the noisy chatter of the other students, the friends were able to hear Frieda, loud and clear. At the sound of her voice, they turned and saw Frieda and Zoey sitting at a table in the corner of the lunchroom.
"Hey!" Daisy returned the wave, and started heading in their direction, with Richie and Virgil trailing closely behind her.
"Do you think we were able to pull it off on Saturday?" Richie whispered to Virgil. "Do you think she suspects anything?"
Virgil shook his head. "No, there's no way she could have. Plus, that thing with Hotstreak was distraction enough if you ask me. Not that it matters anyways, since Ebon knows."
The whole thing with Ebon had kept him up all night on Saturday, and he hadn't slept that much better Sunday night either. What if Hotstreak was telling the truth? And what if Ebon was planning to do something really bad with their secret? He couldn't count the amount of times he had checked on his pops and Sharon in the middle of the night, just to make sure they were okay. Needless to say, it was eating at him.
As usual, Richie took a more logical standpoint.
"Chill out, V, we don't know that for sure. We don't have any facts to prove that he does. All we know for sure is that he's been following us, and we still don't know why."
"Right, but he's obviously made a connection. If he went after us, then went after Static and Gear, then he obviously suspects something."
"Aren't you guys coming?" a female voice said. The boys looked up to see Daisy was already halfway towards the table.
"We'll talk about his later," Virgil said. Richie nodded in agreement.
When Daisy, Virgil, and Richie made it to the table, Frieda eyed them curiously.
"Hey guys, what took you so long? Is everything okay?" she asked, her eyes focused on Virgil and Richie.
"Yeah, it's just Monday," Virgil said, faking a yawn. "Didn't get enough sleep last night." At least that was partially true.
"I know right?" she replied, sympathizing with her friends. "I think I'll write my next article on how teens aren't getting the proper amount of sleep, therefore schools should open later."
Virgil nodded, relieved that Frieda's attention had been directed elsewhere.
On that note, Richie stood up. "Well, I'm going to go get some lunch now," he said. "I think I'm in the mood for a hamburger."
"Right behind you, bro," Virgil said, quickly standing up as well. He did not want to fall victim to Frieda's scrutiny a second time.
If it had been any other day, Zoey would've sensed something was off about the boys, but on this particular day she was preoccupied with the thought of showing her friends the picture that she drew in her sketchbook, which was currently laying on the lunch table, stacked on top of her other stuff.
She glanced at the book a final time, her mind made up, before she followed Virgil and Richie to the infamous high school cafeteria lunch line.
When the three returned to the table, conversation continued as normal amongst the friends, except for Zoey, who was unusually quiet. From across the table, Richie eyed her curiously, noticing she had not touched her food yet.
"So Zoey..." he began, knowing he was treading dangerous water. "...how was your weekend?"
It was a test to see if she let on anything about her trip to the comic book store, something to confirm if she suspected anything regarding their secret identities.
Zoey lifted her head and met Richie's gaze, her expression unreadable. "Fine," she said. "I went to the comic book store, which you guys were too busy to go to."
The boys exchanged uncertain looks. "Sorry Zoe, it's just we had so much homework this weekend," Virgil said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. He knew she probably wouldn't buy it, but what else could he tell her?
"And we were helping out at the community center," Richie added.
Virgil nodded. Why hadn't he come up with that? "Y-Yeah, my pops needed help, so me and Richie pitched in for a few hours."
They watched her intently, waiting for her reaction, however, the girl's facial expression remained unchanged. Instead, she looked down at the table, lost in some other world.
"Is everything okay, Zoey?" Frieda asked, a hint of worry in her voice.
Zoey's eyes remained glued to the table. "Yeah," she replied. Finally, after a few more seconds or so of silence, she looked up at her friends, except this time, enthusiasm reflected in her bright green eyes. The shift in demeanor was almost startling.
"Listen, I wanna show you guys something," she said as she reached for her sketchbook.
The four friends exchanged uncertain glances as the new girl started flipping through her notebook almost frantically. It wasn't until she had found the page that Virgil realized what she was doing.
"I was afraid of showing you guys this, but it wasn't until a certain superhero convinced me to share it with you."
She held the book out in front of her, then passed it to Virgil, who had been expecting to see the same picture he had on Saturday. Instead, he was pleasantly surprised to see a picture of Gear and him, surrounded by Hotstreak's flames. It was an action shot, one that seemed to portray the heroes much more gracefully than they remembered being when the scene had actually unfolded.
"Wow, Zoey, this is really good," he said. "It looks just like Static and Gear."
Richie who had been preparing to act as though he had never seen the drawing before, was left speechless when he saw the new artwork. Like the analytic he was, he was able to pick out the variety of colors and shades she had used, therefore was able to appreciate the art from a technical perspective.
"A-plus in my book," Richie said, adjusting his glasses. He then passed it to Daisy, who stared at the drawing in amazement.
"It looks exactly like them!" she exclaimed.
Frieda, who couldn't keep her curiosity at bay, peered over Daisy's shoulder. "How come you never told us you could draw like that?!" she said, sounding almost offended. "We really needed that when we were decorating for homecoming."
Zoey smiled, suddenly feeling a tad bit embarrassed. "I just didn't think it mattered that much, you know?" she said. "But since you guys are my friends I wanted to share my passion with you. Static told me I should when I visited the comic shop the other day. That's where I got the idea for this drawing. I based the picture off of the showdown between Static and Gear and Hotstreak."
"Very cool," Virgil said.
"Yeah," Richie agreed. "You should draw Static and Gear more often."
Zoey chuckled at Richie's teasing tone, almost like he was talking about himself. "I do draw more than Static and Gear," she said matter-of-factly. "I'm not obsessed with them."
"You keep telling yourself that, Zoe," Virgil said, joining in on the humor. "But if you were I wouldn't blame you. Static is pretty awesome."
"And dreamy," Frieda added, softly sighing. Daisy nodded in agreement, giggling at the mention of her favorite hero.
"Hey, Gear's not that bad, either," Richie said. "I know girls who'd go crazy for his blond hair and his super smarts. Not to mention I hear he has an excellent sense of humor."
Frieda and Daisy rolled their eyes, most likely because they suspected Richie was referring to himself instead of Static's infamous sidekick. They probably thought Richie was nowhere cool enough to compare himself to Gear.
Zoey, on the other hand, was once again struck with a certain amount of familiarity. Something about Richie's remark reminded her of someone. However, she was too busy basking in the spotlight to give it much thought.
"Yeah, I kinda figured that when I met him," Zoey replied. "Gear certainly has a knack for humor."
After the laughter amongst the friends had quieted down, Virgil turned to Zoey. He still felt slightly guilty about Virgil and Richie not officially being able to go with her, and about having to lie to her about where they had actually been.
"So Zoey, I hope it was okay we didn't go after all. Sounds like you had a good enough time without us," he said.
Zoey laughed. "It's okay. I did miss you guys though," she said. "You should've been there—it was insane." She went on to explain the events that had taken place at the comic book shop. Virgil and Richie listened patiently, however, unbeknownst to Frieda and Daisy, the guys could've guessed what Zoey was going to say already.