Helga G Pataki: Hillwood's New Superhero

by KlutzyMaiden123

As if my life hadn't already been difficult. I already had to watch the love of my life, Arnold, make goo-goo eyes at little Miss Perfect, Lila Sawyer, while completely ignoring me. Now, I have to juggle school, keeping my feelings for him secret and battling evil dressed in a skimpy bathing suit, all the while keeping my lifestyle as a superhero from my nosey classmates.

9. Little Miss Perfect and the Chaos Queen

Finally, got this chapter out-Jesus, this took so long. I expected this to be shorter but it's only a few pages shorter then the Wonder Woman chapter, which is currently the longest one in the fic. So . . . yeah, just grab yourself a snack.

THANK YOU to Madi Anivar, NikaLionHeart, Sargentakpompi, thaynes09, miladyswords and Winter Valentine for the most recent follows/favourites! Your support is amazing!

---

The scent of rain hung in the air.

Dazzling craters of rainbows glistened from the wet concrete and dew slid from the greenery around the railings. My pink fingers were trembling so hard that my shoelaces kept slipping through them. Ghostly chills collected across my skin and I shuddered, releasing a noise from my throat.

"C–C–Criminy."

I loved this sweater. Truly, I did. But it was very little to protect me from the cold morning air. I thought I was being smart by wearing a sweater instead of a jacket. The body was supposed to heat up during a jog so I figured I should wear something thinner. But it was freezing right now. The wind hit my shivering form and goosebumps raised beneath my sweatpants. I squeaked, hopping up and down, and wrapped my arms around my chest.

My hands rubbed up and down my arms, trying to get some friction, and I jumped onto the balls of my feet.

"F–F–Fuck, it's f–f–freezing."

Why the hell did people decide to get up this early?

The sun peeked through the haziness to paint the sky a molten grey.. I tried forcing my limbs into some stretching poses, but the wind made me shrivel back up with another squeak.

"Oh, f–f–fuck it," I mumbled.

Tapping the tip of my shoe, I was about to head out when the morning's newspaper caught my attention. It was placed on the bottom step, underneath the cluster of green from the bush's branches.

I hopped down the steps and crouched to read it.

Hillwood's Wonder Woman Sports a New Look?

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, criminy."

Reading the rest of the article was a true testament of my patience. It barely talked about what actually had happened—y'know, the fight, those two Mutants, Serec—and instead paid special attention to Blue Jay's uniform. Or 'costume', as it kept being referred to as. It was mostly bemoaning for how unattractive this one was, and how tragic it was that Blue Jay was 'hiding away' those beautiful, golden locks.

I didn't even make it halfway before rolling my eyes and kicking off to start the jog. Mist hung in the air and the chilliness slid to the back of my neck. As my runners kissed the concrete, a warmth shot through to loosen my muscles. The urge to fly was stronger than ever. Everything just moved so slowly in the morning. But I figured that it'd be a tad bit distracting, even if most people were still asleep at this hour. And, you know, completely against the point of getting up to jog in the first place.

Slipping a hand into my pocket, I retrieved my phone and earbuds, selecting a random from my playlist. The sound of a guitar being shredded, and the voice of my favourite artist, electrified and pushed me to run faster.

The city crawled by as I ran down the streets, occasionally running into others with bright headphones. The sun was rising higher in the sky, but I couldn't shake that article from my head. Why did they have to make everything about my appearance? Yes, I was aware that Blue Jay was inhumanely hot, even with that mask, but she was more than her face.

Still, I mused as I turned a corner, it's not like my uniform change didn't deserve some notice . . .

---

"We need to talk."

Nel blinked, taken back by how serious and steady I sounded. "About what?" she asked cautiously.

I pulled the object I'd been fiddling with from my pocket and chucked it across the room. It landed with a light thud on the carpet in front of the bed. She looked at the pin I'd thrown at her then turned to me with confusion.

"My uniform," I said simply.

Surprise met her face, and she bolted upright. "What?"

"My uniform—it's horrible," I shrugged, placing my hands on my hips. "It's really unsuitable for my job."

"How so?"

The way she said it, I knew she was challenging me. And I knew that convincing her that my uniform needed a change wouldn't be a quick task. But thankfully, I'd already prepared with a mental list of reasons.

"Well, for one thing," I began, holding up my fingers to tick off my pre-meditated reasons, "running around with my bare thighs doesn't protect me from attacks."

Her initial reaction was to simply and apathetically roll her eyes. "Well, you should be quick enough to avoid—"

"Long hair is easier to grab," I interrupted without a beat.

"Well, perhaps we could shorten—"

"The wonder twins need to be supported."

"HELGA—"

"—my arms need more protection then those dumb, stupid braces!"

"Now, wait a minut—"

I slammed my foot down onto the bed a few inches from her nose. The cat shut up immediately and glanced from my leg down to my foot. Her mouth dropped when she saw the ugly, red spots, the blisters, some of which were bleeding.

"Heels—are—impractical," I stressed to her slowly. "They're hard to walk in and tire me out faster."

Nel didn't respond right away. Her attention was lost on one blister in particular, a bright pink spot on my little toe that burned far more than the others. There wasn't enough blood for it to start trailing down, but I moved my foot from the bed anyway, unwilling to risk it.

Nel looked back up at me, this time appearing more defeated. "Your uniform," she eventually said, "is a traditional statement—"

"Tradition can kiss my ass, Nel!" I shouted and threw my hands up in frustration. She jumped slightly, surprised either by my sudden movement or my language. "You said it yourself—I need to become a formidable soldier. How many soldiers do you see charging into fights wearing bikinis? Name one cop who wears heels on the job."

Dismay crossed her face and Nel lowered her gaze again, signalling that I had won this discussion. And a huge part of me was happy about it; that uniform had been nothing but a thorn in my side the moment I first wore it. The idea of designing something new that was more functional than it was a fashion statement made me practically giddy with excitement.

But another part of me was seized with guilt, one that swallowed me whole in one mighty gulp. I didn't know Nel's background, or even her relations with these traditions, but I could tell that it meant something to her.

I swiped my pin back up from the ground and sat down next to her. Nel didn't look up; her gaze had moved to the other side of the room. I didn't look at her. I knew I was inches from her but I decided to give her some space to think what I said through. Instead, I traced the wings on my pin and stared at nothing.

I tried ignoring the guilt curling in my chest. I didn't want this getting too personal. I didn't wish to speak over and trample whatever attachment Nel may have to this—whatever it was. But if she wanted me at my peak, she needed to work with me.

"Listen, I'm sorry if I'm trampling over this tradition thing, but let's face it—" I turned back to her. "Our first priority should be fighting these fuckers. Defeating them. I need to be in my top shape and its hard to do that in a uniform that fights against me."

She didn't look back at me.

My words hung in the air as I waited for a response that would never come. I released a breath and turned back to my window.

The sun had since set so the city was soft and wet. Its glow had swollen against my window as stars crackled in soft swirls. Titling my face, I basked in the peacefulness of Hillwood. It felt like it'd been so long since the city had been allowed to just exist, without threats.

As I sat there, I considered Nel's silence. The idea of changing the uniform really had an effect on her, in a way I hadn't anticipated. Sure, I expected for there to be a debate, a moment that I'd really have emphasises that the cons outweighed the pros, but I hadn't expected for her to appear so . . . lost about it. I wondered what this uniform exactly meant to her. It couldn't simply be 'just cause it's tradition', there had to be an emotional tie here.

A white flash shot through the window. It made me pause. There was the sound of an engine starting up as wheels turned in gravel. A car sailed passed and I understood that it had been Olga, officially setting off for college.

Good riddance.

"You're right."

My gaze snapped back to Nel. Her expression had hardened, eyes pressing into a determined frown.

"Alright," I grinned and punched the air victoriously. "Score one for Pataki!"

---

I skidded to a stop when I caught sight of Lila's house.

I pulled out my earphones, rock music still blaring as they hung from my neck. The bright red door, which led to her set of apartments, was surrounded by several people dressed in beige coats and hair tucked into fluffy hats. Gloved hands stretched above the crowd, carrying expensive–looking cameras, which were pointed at the shut door.

Were those reporters?

Fancy–looking, beautiful women spoke into microphones as overweight men shoved cameras into the windows. They all spoke over one another, their voices becoming a mangled mess, so it was hard to make out what it was they were actually reporting on. But I overheard Blue Jay's name a few times and the switch immediately went off in my brain.

Oh, you got to be kidding me. Was this over last night?

I suppose, in a way, I understood the desperation to speak with Lila. She had, after all, gotten in between Blue Jay and the infamous but mysterious Serec. In one night, she had managed to stand out to a villain who could control ice and witnessed Blue Jay's powers up close. She'd even shared personal words with the mysterious superheroine. Reporters must've been eager for those exclusive words.

Still, they were up quite early.

I looked over at the sky, where the clouds had melted away from the sun and the mist had begun to clear up. The light was turning warmer as birds began to awaken, some weakly singing groggy tunes.

Well, whatever. Lila's predicament wasn't my problem.

I meant to continue my jog when I felt a vibration in my pocket. I pulled out my phone from my jacket and read the text I had just received.

Are u outside my place?

It was Lila.

I frowned and slowly typed out a response. What. How'd you see me?

Doesn't matter. Her response was instant. Just stand outside my window.

In the alley?

Yea

What.

Just please?

Honestly, I just considered leaving. I hadn't signed up for this—whatever it was that she was asking. I'd only wanted to jog for a bit before heading back home where I could sleep in for a few hours. Nel and I had both agreed that, after last night, training wasn't strictly necessary and that I'd deserved some time off to take care of myself.

But a small amount of guilt shrivelled up in my chest when I remembered last night. Lila had been there for me, in ways she probably wouldn't understand. But her faith in my abilities, her unwavering support that she gave to not just Blue Jay but me, well, it reminded me that I did owe her.

I sighed, throwing back my head to glare at the sky as if someone were watching me. Good job, Pataki, you just had to go and catch a niceness for someone.

Pulling up my hoodie, I shoved my hands deep into my pockets and crossed the empty streets. The reporters were so wrapped up in their investigations that they didn't notice the teenager slinking off into the alleyway.

The walls were even higher then what I remembered. I couldn't see the sun anymore, just the blue sky spotted with white, fluffy clouds, as the air become colder. I pulled my hoodie closer to my skin and looked up to find Lila's window. But honestly, the last time I'd been here I'd been severely sleep deprived and it'd still been dark. So, I remembered fuck all, basically.

I stopped outside of what I hoped was her window. But it was several stories above me and the curtains were drawn, so it essentially was a blind guess. I sighed and tapped my foot impatiently, pulling out my phone again.

Criminy, what was with this girl?

But instead of a text, I heard a hushed, "Pssssssssst—Helga!" from above me.

Lifting a brow, I looked up—and my next vision was of something dark plummeting to my face. It slammed into my eyes and the force sent me flopping down onto my ass. The back of my head slammed into something metallic.

Stars were dancing in front of my eyes when I came too. Pushing myself back up, I rubbed the back of my head, which hurt the most, and looked over my shoulder. Fuck me, that metallic thing I'd hit had been one of those stupid trash cans. Jesus, could they not find somewhere convenient to place these things instead of in my way?

Looking down at my lap, I was surprised that the dark item that had slammed into me was a backpack.

What?

A tiny whistling caught my attention and I looked up—

Plop!

—when a banana peel landed on my face.

I growled, muttering a particularly offensive word, and chucked it over my shoulder. There was a slimness that it left behind, which I quickly tried wiping away.

I looked over at the reporters to make sure the commotion hadn't gotten their attention. Thankfully, they were so loud and invested in their potential scoop that they hadn't yet noticed me. Rolling my eyes, I breathed a loud sigh and leaned back against the fallen trashcan, soaking up as much warmth as I could.

Then, a dark shadow passed over me.

Frowning, I looked up in time to catch a smaller body plummeting for my form. I screamed and felt the air whoosh from my stomach as a foot bashed straight into my cheek. My head slammed back into the trashcan as the body fell on top of mine.

Blue eyes blinked at me.

"Oops, sorry, Helga—" she grunted and jumped to her feet.

Lila's hair was tied back in a French braid that ran down her shoulders. She wore a green, flowery dress which fell to her knees. And looking at her worn, brown boots only made my cheek hurt more.

"That went over better in my head—oh, hey—" her eyes lit up in recognition. "You caught my bag. Thank you."

She reached to grab said bag from my lap and slipped it over her slim shoulders. I could feel myself bristle at how casually she was acting.

I stood to my feet, ignoring the slight wooziness, and placed my hands on my hips. "Why, you little—"

"Quiet," she whispered and pressed a finger to my lips, motioning to the reporters. "They've been there for ages."

My mouth dropped as she moved her finger. What was wrong with her?

"I—I don't care—" I stuttered, seriously questioning this girl's sanity. "You just jumped onto me—"

"I'm sorry!" she suddenly burst, slamming her hands together in a prayer formation. "But I could've hurt myself alone."

"So, you decided to use me as a landing pad?"

"I'm sorry, it was all I could think of!"

"Oh, well, then that changes things!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands into the air and stepping away. "Oh, look! The bruise on my cheek is clearing up—it's a miracle!"

Because, honestly, with the way my cheek was throbbing, I didn't even need a mirror to know that a bruise was already developing. This inkling alone filled me with enough rage to strangle this girl, let alone the fact that she almost killed me.

"I said I was sorry!"

"Um, Ms. Sawyer?"

"WHAT?!" We both shouted and whipped around to glare at the unfamiliar voice. But we froze when we realised that the voice had come from one of the many faces that now surrounded us.

The reporters must've finally noticed us because they now were perched here, rather then the entrance to Lila's apartment. There were so many of them that they were squished against the tight walls of the alleyway, effectively blocking us from leaving. Multiple made up faces stared, blinking in confusion, as they flashed cameras and microphones like swords.

Lila and I both exchanged panicked glances, our faces morphing into something very similar looking. Until I saw something light up in Lila's eye, a spark that lifted her brow and tugged at the corner of her mouth. I wanted to groan, scream and cry, because I didn't trust this girl and her ideas, not as far as I could throw her.

So, without any explanation, she quickly grabbed onto my hands and pulled me forward. We fell to the ground and crawled beneath the reporter's legs, who cried in surprise and dismay. The women who wore skirts in particular cried out as everyone moved out of our way, not bothering to stop us as we crawled away and out of the alleyway.

"C'mon, Helga!" Lila shouted as we stood up on the other side. She grabbed my hand again and yanked me out of the alleyway and into the street.

"Ms. Sawyer!" we heard one of the women shout.

We bounded down the streets like cheetahs, our sweaty hands entwined and swinging. The breeze shivered in my ears and I could hear the reporter's exclamations as they followed us.

My legs felt tangled as we ran, like I hadn't done so in years, and my face flushed red. Blue Jay was keeping me fit, but even still, I'd been jogging for a while before.

But I was surprised by how fast Lila's legs moved. She was a short girl, only slightly taller then Phoebe, yet she moved like a bullet. To the point that I struggled to catch up with her. And her grip was strong and warm, wrapped tightly around my hand, she was practically dragging me like I were a puppet.

Her face was also flushed, but a large, wicked smile graced her lips. She threw back her head, her braid flapping about like a rope, and let out a dazzling laugh.

I didn't know what to make of her mood when she suddenly yanked me around a random corner. I'd barely registered we'd made it into the outskirts of town when she shoved me into a nearby shop and slammed the door behind us. We pressed our bodies against the door, ducking underneath the large window, and held our breaths.

There was a rush of noise from outside, a trampling of office shoes and tangled cries as the reporters passed by the shut door. We heard them still shouting as they passed but didn't release our breaths until we were sure they were gone.

"Did you see that?" Lila asked when we couldn't hear them anymore. She slumped forward over her knees and wiped her sticky forehead.

"How could I not?" I said, sucking in as much breath as I could. I snuck a peek out the window just to check that they were actually gone. "Did you see that guy's face?"

"The one with the green tie?"

We both tried replicating the particular look of the guy in the green tie and burst into loud, dry giggles. I wrapped my arms around my stomach and bent over, wheezing.

"He looked like he was holding a pencil between his cheeks!" I laughed.

"Helga!" Lila gasped, slapping her hands together and chucking back her head, cackling.

Someone behind us cleared their throat and we turned to a tall brunette, staring at us with irritation. She was dressed in a black button–down and her hair was pulled back in a sleek low bun.

Her red lips dipped in displeasure. "Can I help you?"

Lila and I both paused, scanning the store we'd found ourselves in. The walls were a glossy black and golden mirror stretched right up to the gleaming roof. A warm, fluorescent light filtered down and bounced off the tiles, hitting each of the mannequins.

My jaw dropped.

The mannequins were dressed in a very revealing, very skimpy lingerie. Thin, black straps wrapped around the plastic torsos, cups were perfectly moulded to emphasis roundness and lace rested on top of the nippeless breasts. Tiny pairs of underwear were folded neatly in the display trays and I spotted several colourful vibrators along the far wall behind the register.

Lila gaped at me and I felt myself turning red.

Well, shit.

---

The door slammed behind us sharply.

"I don't even like this type of lingerie," Lila sighed, peering into her small bag. I was surprised by how unashamed she was about holding it in public. I mean, yeah, it wasn't that big, but it was just so bright and pink and there. Personally, I could never carry that around so casually, people would think I actually had reason to wear it.

"Well," I crossed my arms, "no one was forcing you to buy it."

The sun was bright and burned my eyes. I shaded my eyes and squinted up at the sky. The clouds had completely vanished, leaving the sky so clear that you would never even guess that there had been a fog.

"Are you kidding me?!" Lila spun around with large eyes. "Did you see how she was looking at us—she wanted to tear us apart with those six inch claws! I saved us by getting this!"

Oh, brother. Talk about an exaggeration. Sure, that woman had been scary–looking, but I doubt she would've harmed us for not buying something . . . I think.

"Yeah?" I lifted a brow challengingly. "And what're you gonna do with it, then?"

In hindsight, I realise how stupid this question was.

Lila frowned, looking back into her bag. Her forehead wrinkled as different thoughts ran through her mind. I rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone again, checking the time. Yeah, this was much later then I'd planned on being out.

But when I was looking back up at Lila, she was watching me with scheming eyes and a creepy smile. Whatever was going through her mind, I knew I was going to hate whatever came out of her mouth. "Hey, Helga—"

"No."

I turned around to leave her when Lila suddenly jumped in my way. Her eyes were panicked, and her arms spread out as if this tiny midget could possibly stop me.

"Please!" she begged.

"Look, you bought it, you keep it," I told her, trying to side step out of the way. But alas, for someone so delicate–looking, she was fast and blocked me.

"But it's not my type!" she insisted. "It'll go to waste!"

"Uh," I paused, blinking. "What is your type?"

Again, in hindsight, this question was stupid.

Sure, Lila wasn't as annoying as what she'd been before, but still I wanted to keep some distance between us. Distance which included not discussing what type of lingerie she wore.

"Mostly bodysuits," she said, oh–so–casually. "Or something corset–y."

"What's that, then?"

"Just a bra and panties," she said, shrugging.

I shuddered. God, I hated that word. "What's wrong with that?"

"It's the wrong type of panties," she frowned, winkling up her nose. "It's a lacey thong. I hate lacey thongs."

Jesus, why was I even having this conversation?

"Then, why'd you buy it?!" I demanded.

"It was the first thing I reached for!" Lila said then shoved the bag into my hands. "Just take it!"

I gaped at her. "What makes you think I'd wear it?!"

"Can't you just give it a go?!"

"No!" I fired back. "You give it a go, you bought it!"

"Yes!" Lila surprised me by yelling back, throwing her hands onto me. "And now I'm giving it to you! And it's ever so rude to deny a gift, so just take it!"

"No!"

"Take it!"

"Never!"

"Take the stupid—"

"Lila?"

Our eyes snapped over to a familiar–sounding voice. Both Arnold and Gerald stood a few feet from us, watching us oddly.

Inwardly, I cringed. When had they gotten there?

Gerald was wearing a bright, orange shirt and jeans that had too many holes in them. His fingers were tangled in a pair of keys that were now forgotten by his side. And Arnold—I stifled a groan—was back to wearing his ugly, warm-toned flannel.

The way they stared us made me conscious of the position Lila and I had fallen into. During our argument, Lila had shoved me against the wall, and I had pressed my foot against her chest to keep her at a distance. And her hands were stretched out for me, still holding that stupid bag.

Oh, geeze, was this the position to be caught in.

Arnold's eyes turned to Lila's hand and widened considerably. His mouth slightly dropped as his gaze swept from Lila to me and I could feel my face burning.

"Uhh, t–t–this isn't what y–y– you think!" I stammered, shoving Lila away and holding up my hands. Gerald gave me a flat look and Arnold stared at me weirdly. "W–w–w–we were j–j–just—"

"For a friend?" Gerald asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes!" I snapped my fingers and nodded. Then paused. "Wait, no—that's not what I meant!"

Gerald burst into a fit of cackles, which only made me more embarrassed. Blood roared in my ears and I couldn't resist looking over to Arnold. The poor guy looked how I felt, his face turning red as his eyes shifted away from both Lila and I.

Speaking of whom, that stupid redhead was also laughing, cupping her mouth with the hand that held the bag.

Great, thanks Lila, I thought bitterly. If they weren't already aware, please hold up the bag that shows we were just in a lingerie shop.

I looked away from the bloody traitor and thrusted my finger at both of the boys, who blinked in surprise. "Well, w–w–what are you d–d–doing here, then?" I demanded, well, tried demanding. Honestly, I'm pretty sure Peppa the fucking Pig sounded more intimidating then I did right now.

Gerald paused in his laughter to shoot me an extremely smug smirk. I felt my blood boil just looking at him. Criminy, I just wanted to punch that stupid look off his face.

"Actually," Lila said, smiling gently with twinkling eyes. "I organised to meet up with them."

Um.

"Huh?"

---

"So, you jumped out of a window just to get away from them?!"

Lila shrugged, unbothered with Gerald's alarm, and crossed her arms, leaning back in the bench.

"Yes," she nodded, propping her right leg over her left, "they were ridiculously relentless."

Arnold leaned over in concern and further away from me, which I wasn't sure how to feel about.

"You weren't hurt, were you?" he asked. Lila looked at him, her eyebrows raised, and he flushed when he realised the little amount of space there was between them.

Irritation—that's how I feel about this.

The air was heavy with sunlight and a breeze moved past us to throw leaves into the trees. The four of us were sat at one of the benches at Tina Park. It was one of the many benches that faced the fountain, which as it spouted water upwards into the sun, painted the air in a fine mist that made it glimmer like beads.

Lila had been explaining what had happened and as she did, Arnold exchanged concerned looks with Gerald. The more they did, the more irritated I became. I took my anger out on the fountain, glaring at it like I could shoot laser beams from my eyes. Unfortunately, that wasn't a part of my list of powers, so I was left looking like a dingus.

Lila was sat between the boys, with Gerald on her left and Arnold on her right. I chose to sit on the bench arm, next to Arnold. Now, regardless of what Lila herself may believe, it wasn't for whatever feelings she liked to accuse me of having for him. No, it was because I'd much rather sit next to Arnoldo then Gerald. Not that it stopped Lila from sending me extremely unsubtle looks whenever Arnold glanced in my direction.

"No," I snapped, feeling my eyebrow twitch. Arnold turned to me, but I kept my glare on the fountain. "Cause it was me she landed on."

"You were her landing pad?" I didn't even need to look to hear the stupid smile in Gerald's stupid voice. Seconds barely passed when he burst into another fit of laughing. "Is that why you have a bruise in the shape of a foot on your face?"

Oh, so when it was Lila, he's concerned, but when it's me, it's a laughing riot?

Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't hurt that Gerald carried on, oblivious to the way Lila frowned at him. Nor was I bothered that he laughed so hard that he had to wrap his hands around his stomach. No, the matters of tall hair boy were of no such concern to me. But what did bite was when Arnold, so concerned before, also laughing.

His mouth twitched but he at least tried holding back his amusement. I chose to ignore that he needed effort, and mentally thanked him none the less for having some. But then he shared a look with Gerald and they both were left cackling.

I glared at Lila, who sheepishly smiled at me, then turned back to the boys.

"And that's how we ended up in honeywear," she continued over their laughter. "We had to outrun them, and it was the first place I spotted."

I nodded. "Yep, and Lila only bought that stuff cause she's an idiot—"

"Hey!"

"So—" I stood to my feed to face the boys, who looked up with mild levels of confusion. "You can just get rid of whatever idea you were thinking! I would never buy something so—" I wrinkled my nose "—weird."

Arnold and Gerald exchanged glances; Gerald mostly looked weirded out but Arnold seemed confused. Lila just raised her brow at me and leaned back, crossing her arms. She was grinning, which made me nervous, and I had a feeling her mind was conducting something I most certainly didn't want to be apart of.

"It's okay, Helga," Arnold said, turning to me with a smile that made my heart flutter. "We know you'd never wear something like that."

My jaw dropped. Um, ouch.

Was that supposed to comfort me? Because I didn't feel comforted. In fact, I felt insulted. Very much so, in fact.

Lila's eyes widened as she turned to Arnold, but he seemed oblivious to the backhanded nature of his comment.

"God, can you imagine that? Pataki wearing—" Gerald suddenly choked. "—lingerie!"

His eyes then burst out like he had a wild thought and he laughed over his knees to keep laughing. He laughed so hard, he slapped his leg and tears welled up from the corner of his eyes. And I couldn't lie, as he continued to laugh, it did begin to sting. Not that I cared particularly what Gerald thought, but . . . was it really that funny to imagine me like that?

Even Arnold, sweet and kind–hearted Arnold, couldn't stop the guffaws that fell from his shaking lips. Lila's mouth dropped and she glared at him in particular, placing her hands onto her hips. He looked away, slightly ashamed, but couldn't shake away the smaller bursts of laughter.

Wow, so this was my life.

"Hey, guys," Lila said, clucking her tongue in disappointment. "It's not that funny."

But the boys continued laughing. Gerald leaned over his side of the bench and Arnold had to suck in shallow breaths.

And so, it was because of this—two immature, giggling boys, and my extremely hurt pride—that I did something I hadn't woken up thinking I would today.

I leaned forward and snatched the bag of lingerie from Lila's hands.

The laughter stopped. Blood burned my cheeks. I couldn't look at either Arnold or Gerald and instead glanced over my shoulder.

I could feel their gazes though.

"On second thought," I muttered, cheeks puffed out. "It doesn't seem that bad."

Gerald's jaw dropped so cartoonishly I expected there to be a sound affect as his eyes popped wide open.

"H–Helga," Arnold stuttered, blinking down at the bag. "Y–You're actually gonna take it?"

"Y–Yes," I cleared my throat then continued. "Is it really that hard to believe?"

The way his widened eyes traced up from the bag to my face made something dance inside of me. His face morphed into something similar to Gerald's, his jaw falling right to his collarbone as his eyes stuck to mine. Butterflies moved in my chest and I had to look away. Criminy, was I ever going to get over this?

Lila almost knocked me over as she jumped up to throw her arms around my shoulders. I yelped and tried pushing her away, but she was surprisingly quite strong.

"Aww, Helga," she grinned, squishing her cheek against mine. "I'm sure it'll look lovely!"

Criminy.

"S–Shut it!" I shoved the redhead away and dusted off my sweater. She hardly seemed bothered and continued grinning at my red face. "Now, if you all don't mind—not that I care—I'm just going to continue—"

"Lila?" A voice said form behind. "Guys!"

Lila looked over my shoulder and a smile lit up her face.

"Oh, hey!" she shouted, sticking up her hand to wave the person over. "What took you so long?"

Rolling my eyes, I looked over my shoulder and felt my breath stop. It was the girl from the library! The one who had—I growled slightly—been flirting with Arnold.

She waved back at Lila, not noticing me, and moved around the fountain to get to us. She wore a white tank top that hugged her figure and a pair of tight–fitting jeans. Her shaggy bangs were pinned back, and her hair ran down her back.

She was so effortlessly pretty that it hit me that between her cuteness and Lila's everything, Arnold wouldn't be looking anywhere near me.

Great.

The girl beamed like she was a diamond.

"Sorry, the buses changed their schedules," she leaned over her knees to catch her breath. Her hair fell over her shoulders and I noticed the butterscotch freckles on her skin. "I missed the regular one and had to wait for the ne—YOU!"

I started when the auburn–haired girl suddenly stood straight and pointed at me. She looked like I'd just murdered her dog then stolen her wallet.

"Um," I blinked and pointed at myself. "Me?"

She turned to glare accusingly at Lila. "What's she doing here?"

My jaw dropped when she pointed her thumb at me. Did she just ignore me?

"Sorry," Lila smiled at her apologetically and shrugged. "I ran into her."

Ran into me?

"I thought it'd be cool if she joined us," Lila continued and wrapped herself up in her bare arms.

"Cool?" I parroted.

"Joined?" the girl demanded. She glared at me again and I stepped back. Geeze, this girl could give Serec a run for his money. "How's it cool to hang with, well, her?"

The smile on Lila's face shrunk as the girl made a wild gesture towards me. "Well, for one thing—she did save us yesterday, including you . . ." Lila trailed off, looking pointedly at the girl. The girl turned to her with a hard look, communicating her downright disgust with the idea of sharing my air. "Don't you think we owe her one?"

The girl clamped her mouth shut, like she wanted to argue, but Lila still had a point. She looked between us, her face hardening when she turned to me, then let out a small groan.

But I was more focused on what Lila had just said.

"Save you—what?"

I mean, I remembered my encounter with Lila last night. Who didn't? But . . . that had been as Blue Jay. And, furthermore, I hadn't even met this girl who, for whatever reason, hated my guts.

Both the girls turned to me with looks similar to what I imagined I'd receive if I pulled a headlamp from my purse.

"Um, yes?" Lila frowned, stepping towards me. "You saved us yesterday . . . from that thing, remember?"

She raised her eyebrows, as if trying to get some secret meaning across. But honestly, I still had no idea what she was talking about and just stared at her. Finally, she sighed and muttered under her breath, "At the library."

"Oh, right!" I snapped my fingers. I'd completely forgotten all about the library incident. So much had happened since then.

Wait.

"It took your pen, didn't it? I gotta go get it."

God, had I actually said that? Christ, why didn't I grab her shoulders and shout, 'Yeah, I'm not normal! Hence why, after encountering some weirdo creature, all that I'm concerned with is your fluffy pen!' Honestly, I'm surprised she hadn't seen through that.

But looking up, Lila was watching me suspiciously. Her eyes traced my face and her brows slowly drew together. The air suddenly felt chilly on my shoulders. I could tell that my reaction didn't read as normal.

"I, um," my mouth moved without my knowing, "forgot?"

Yes, good job, Helga. Now, if she wasn't suspicious enough, straight up telling her you forgot about a super weird encounter won't set off any alarm bells.

"Well, despite how I may feel about you, Lila is indeed correct," the girl begrudgingly admitted, oblivious to the tension. "You save my life yesterday. So, I guess I'll learn to tolerate you for the day as a thank you. After all, if there's one thing I'm not, it's ungracious. Even if it's involving you, Pataki."

I was surprised by how much hate she managed to pour into my name. Especially with, glaring aside, how non–hateful she appeared.

"Ditto," I nodded. "Um, you."

Both girls stared at me incredulously.

Ugh. Don't tell me—I said something stupid again.

"Um, Helga," Lila suddenly appeared by my side, which surprised me considering how far she was a few seconds ago. Her breath fanned over my ear as she laid a hand on my shoulder. "You don't recognise her?"

"Uh, no," I said, confused. "Should I?"

Lila—of all people—actually facepalmed.

"Oh," she groaned. "Oh, Helga . . ."

There was a loud thunk! as the girl slammed herself onto the floor. She was on her hands and knees, facing away from us, and her hair covered her face. I didn't know if it was just me, but I swear that an anguished aura had just fallen over her.

"S–She . . ." her voice was heavy, "She doesn't remember . . ."

Right, well, there's my answer—I had said something stupid.

I leaned over to Lila, who looked up tiredly, and whispered from the side of my mouth. "Oi, Lila, do I know her?"

"You seriously don't remember her, Helga?" Lila asked, looking at me like I was the dumb one. And I didn't appreciate how extremely patronising she was acting towards me.

"Well, if I did," I snapped, placing my fists on my hips, "I wouldn't ask, would I?"

But Lila only sighed.

"Savannah Lester!"

We both turned to the auburn–haired girl, who had picked herself up onto her feet to glare hotly at me. She had her brows pressed over her eyes and her fists were red by her sides.

Of course, me being 100% caught up and not lost at all, responded with a, "Huh?"

On the bright side, it's not like I had to worry that Lila would connect me to Blue Jay anymore. The way she was looking at me now, she wouldn't believe me even if I transformed right in front of her eyes.

"My name—it's Savannah Lester," the girl continued. She then smirked and crossed her arms, raising her chin. "Remember me now, Pataki?"

I blinked and looked up in thought.

Lila's jaw dropped and Savannah made a strangled noise in astonishment. It was a noise I could only describe as being between that of a bear and a . . . hippopotamus. Lila buried her face into her hands and let out another groan from the back of her throat.

"No," I said weakly, not that it mattered at this point.

Savannah raked her hands through her hair and turned herself away from us. "She's even more heinous in person!" she screeched, though I think it was more to herself then anything.

"Did I chuck a spit ball at her?" I asked Lila.

Lila didn't even bother looking up at me. "Oh, God . . ."

The girl—Savannah—turned back to me. "Good morrow to ya miss," she said in a sudden Scottish accent. "Can aye interest you in some chocolate turtles?"

. . . oh.

"Camp fire lass!" I blurted out, pointing a finger at her.

She rose a singular eyebrow, which honestly scared me more then any of her glares. For safety, I took a step away from her and slunk behind Lila. Not that it did much, considering how much shorter she was then me. The redhead looked up with a tired sigh and wrapped her hands around her elbows.

"It's Savannah," Savannah said, without the accent this time.

"What happened to your accent?" I asked, frowning.

"Oh, does it matter?" Savannah snapped, throwing up her arms and stepping forward. Automatically, Lila and I both took a step backwards. "You beat me up in an alleyway and took my uniform!"

Oh.

Right.

"Yeah," I rubbed the back of my neck and looked away to hide my disappointment. Sometimes I forgot how many lives I tormented, ones that weren't just Arnold's. "I'm sorry about that."

Savannah paused, eyes large and mouth hanging open in a warped kind of shock. Lila slowly turned to look up at me, her own expression like Savannah's.

"What?" they both asked in unison.

"I'm sorry," the words felt weird coming from my tongue. But honestly, it's not like Savannah, or even Lila, didn't deserve to hear them. I passed Lila my bag as I stepped around her to approach Savannah, who narrowed her eyes. "I was in an, err, pickle and saw your uniform as a window of opportunity. I didn't stop to think about the person wearing it. It was stupid and selfish and disgusting. I'm really sorry that I did that to you, Savannah."

The response wasn't immediate. I don't think either of them fully processed anything past my saying 'I'm sorry'.

But the way I was being stared at made me uncomfortable, so I shuffled my feet and looked away. Some withered leaves were spiralling in the soft wind and my hoodie fell from my head. The sun's rays were harsh on top of my head, curling around my ponytails, which wrapped around my neck.

"Helga . . ." Lila's hand fell on my shoulder as she looked up at me, impressed. I rose an eyebrow at her, unable to understand why she smiled like that.

"Did I say something wrong?" I asked.

"No," she shook her head. "In fact, quite the opposite. I'm impressed."

Her response only made me more confused. Call me biased, but I didn't see the big deal in me apologising for being an asshole in the past.

"I don't forgive you," Savannah spoke up and stepped forward. She crossed her arms as her hard eyes bore into mine.

"Nor do I expect you too," I admitted with a shrug. Then, I did something that surprised us all—I smiled at her. "Just know that I'm sorry for what I did to you, Savannah."

Silence settled around us as Savannah gaped while Lila watched oddly. I'm not sure if it was over the apology or simply the smile.

Savannah blinked, her mouth opening slightly, and something crossed over her face. But she turned away and muttered a small, "Whatever," underneath her breath. But I could spot a slight pinkness to her cheeks.

For a moment, I wondered what brought on that reaction. But shrugged and turned back to Lila, who blinked in surprise. "Well, since I probably won't be allowed to leave anytime soon," I said, turning back to Lila, who blinked in surprise. "What're we doin' today?"

"Hm? Oh! Right!" She snapped her fingers and beamed at the both of us. "Well, we don't really have a plan. But we were supposed to head to Bigal's for breakfast—" she checked her watch "—of course, I'm fairly certain that it's lunch at this point."

I nodded and gestured for Lila to hand me back my bag.

"Right, alright," I said and swung my hand over my shoulder, holding the bag down my back. "Let's go then."

But before either Lila or I could move, Savannah held up a hand to stop us.

"Actually, before we go, I've been meaning to ask, but—" she pointed over our shoulders and we followed her line of sight. "—are they okay?"

We both let out choked noises.

The boys were still frozen in their positions on the bench. Their expressions were mortified, wide eyes staring at where I'd once been standing, like we had hit the pause button on their forms.

Irritation flooded me.

"Okay," I snapped, crossing my arms. "Now it's getting insulting."

---

Bigal's was the colour of forget–me–not blue.

The bright kind; the blue that was bold yet delicate, like a burst of optimism from tiny flowers. The walls were painted this type of blue, but were covered in photographs of men and women from the 50's. The golden sunlight fell through the windows and jazz music poured from the speakers.

The gentle murmur of voices were swallowed by the stomach churning sound of the coffee machine as it struggled to produce the steaming liquid. And despite this—sitting in the middle of a bubbling place with cheeriness that bounced from the blue walls—I was sitting in an awkward silence.

We'd chosen one of the bigger tables that was right next to a window. I was sat between Lila and Arnold while Gerald and Savannah were across from us. Lila happily sipped on her strawberry milkshake and bobbed her head to the music.

I looked over to Arnold, who stared out the window with his jaw in his hand. The sunlight poured around him and outlined his high cheekbones. I could count the light dusting of freckles on his cheek and had to resist the urge to touch them.

I turned down to our hands. They were so close, rested up on the table. I just needed to budge, and I would be . . .

Gerald released a satisfied moan as he dug into his omelette. I suppressed a shudder; there was a spot of sauce on his shirt and egg hung from his chin. Christ, you'd think the kid hadn't been fed in a month.

A deep growling caught my attention I found myself staring at a very agitated–looking Savannah. The sun glared through and cast a dark shadow from her now unpinned bangs. Her coffee was forgotten, as her chin rested on her folded hands and her eyes glared at me.

I turned back to my chips and poked them with my fork. They'd since gotten cold since I didn't have an appetite right now, despite not having eaten since last night.

"You didn't have to buy me lunch, y'know," I muttered, cupping my cheek.

"Don't be silly, Helga," Lila waved me off with her hand. She placed her milkshake back on the table and beamed at me. "You saved us all yesterday, a couple of dollars pales in comparison."

Oh, criminy, this again?

"Do you have to keep bringing that up?" I asked, rubbing my forehead. "It was nothing."

All eyes snapped towards me in alarm.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

Conversations around us halted as curious and annoyed customers turned to stare in our direction. My fellow, err, lunchmates didn't at first realise this, so focused on what I'd earlier said. So, clearing my throat, I motioned towards the staring people and, when my lunchmates looked around, they at least had the decency to look embarrassed from how loud they'd been. And I wouldn't lie, seeing Gerald flustered did make me feel a lot better.

Arnold's face lit up with a hot flush and he looked away until the customer reluctantly returned back to their conversations. Sensing that we were no longer the centre of attention, he looked back to me.

"Helga," he whispered, his face still slightly warm. "You saved us from that thing."

Surprisingly, Savannah nodded in agreement. "Yes. By not only pushing us out of the way—"

"—but stabbing it in the neck!" Gerald continued, stabbing his fork into the air. I rolled my eyes at him; apparently he'd gotten over his earlier mortification.

"It was truly an astonishing sight," Lila added.

I opened my mouth to protest against their claims. I mean, sure, I pricked the Mutant, but it was hardly anything in comparison with Blue Jay . . .

. . . then remembered that a) we were still in public and this really didn't require a debate and b) remaining so nonchalant about it would only make me look more suspicious.

"Whatever," I finally muttered.

But this apparently wasn't the best response either. Gerald's mouth dropped, exposing me to his nasty chewed up food, and Lila rose an eyebrow.

"Your modesty is astounding," she noted slowly.

I heard a snort and turned to Savannah calmly sipping from her mug. But I didn't miss the hard edge to her eyes as she watched me from over the rim.

"As is your lack of bruises," Arnold said, and I felt him leaning in closer to me. Looking up, I saw how his narrowed eyes were on my neck, scanning for bruises. My cheeks heated up when his breath washed over me. "From what Gerald told me, that, um, thing held you pretty tight . . . yet you look fine. No discoloration or anything . . ."

Fuck.

I turned away back to my fries. Not that it was the smartest move. Looking away only gave Arnold easier access to my neck which, as he'd pointed out, had no discoloration. Normally, I was more than grateful to have faster healing reflexes. But, as of right now? They sure weren't doing me a whole lot of favours.

"Yeah," Gerald agreed, and I looked up to him stroking his chin. Again, I rolled my eyes; I recognised that look in his eyes. It was his conspiracy eyes; the ones that lit up whenever his brain was putting together one of his dumbass theories. "Not to mention the way it slammed you into the table. Was kinda rough, to say the least."

That's what she said, I thought in my Steve Carell voice. Of course, thinking in his voice instantly made me want to laugh. So, I bit down on my tongue to hold it back. Because right now wasn't the time to start giggling to myself.

"Wow, I didn't realise I was in the presence of some of Hillwood's greatest detectives," I snapped. Arnold blushed, closing his mouth, and looked down at the table. "Is it that difficult to believe that I'm just a fast healer?"

Which, technically, wasn't a lie. It was just a partially hidden truth.

"Says the girl with a giant footprint on her face," Gerald said, lifting a brow at me.

I glared hotly at him which he hardly seemed effected by. He narrowed his own eyes and scowled at me. Oh, he is so lucky I only used my powers for good and not evil.

Arnold shifted uncomfortably. Right, I forgot how much he hated tension. Especially when it came from Gerald and me.

"So, um, Lila—" he cleared his throat, turning to the redhead, "—was there anything you wanted to do today?"

Yeah, of course he'd ask her that.

"I'm not quite sure," Lila admitted with a shrug. "I guess I just needed to escape that house."

She leaned forward to wrap her lips around her white straw. Her neck bobbed as she took long, delicate sips from her milkshake. Her eyes shut in satisfaction and I opened my mouth to make a Steve Carell joke, when I noticed Arnold's sudden switch in behaviour.

He squirmed uncomfortably as his gaze slid from her neck up to her lips. His face became even redder when he looked at her shut eyes. I watched as his hands moved down to his seat but didn't need to follow where they landed. Because, unfortunately, I could guess exactly what was running through his head.

And I wasn't sure how to feel—uncomfortable that I was next to him or upset that it wasn't over me.

Gerald must've recognised the look on his face too. The darker boy leaned forward and raised his eyebrows in a saucy dance. Arnold blushed even deeper, looking down at the table, which was surprising since I'd figured the blood would be rushing elsewhere.

"I wouldn't mind," Lila continued, wiping her face of any of the milk, "continuing our biolg—"

"Oh, that reminds me, Lila," Savannah interrupted with a snap of her fingers. Arnold, Gerald and I released relived breaths, thankful she cut Lila off before she could finish that thought. "On the way here, I passed a hot dog stand and I think they were giving out keychains of that anime character you like."

Lila's eyes lit up, but Savannah was oblivious and looked up in thought. "What was it—Amelia? No, Am—"

"Ami?!" Lila demanded. "From Shugo Chara?!"

I stared in astonishment as a gleeful smile took over Lila's face, right to the tips of her ears. It wasn't like her other ones—either polite and distant or encouraging and friendly. No, this was impish; it glowed from the inside out as her eyes popped open.

Savannah blinked, leaning back as she watched Lila with surprise. "Uh, yeah," she said weakly.

Lila suddenly jumped up from her seat, rattling the table. Gerald swore and Arnold quickly steadied his chocolate drink. I grabbed onto Lila's milkshake, which looked like it was about to fall over the edge. Thankfully, the milk remained in the cup, as she'd had quite a bit beforehand, but I still turned to glare up at her. "Oi, Lila—"

"Where?!" Lila grasped onto Savannah's shoulders and thrusted her face mere centimetres from her own. "Where'd you see it?!"

"O–On the other side of town," Savannah stuttered, leaning back. But Lila's grip must've been strong because she wasn't able to move far. She shot each of us silent panicked looks, but we all shook our heads at her. Yeah, no, Savannah was on her own. "Near the Kiska. But I think they were only giving them to the first few hundred cust—"

"Right!"

Letting going of Savannah, Lila snatched the milkshake from my hands. This time, some of the pink milk actually managed to splatter over my fingers. Thankfully, Arnold offered me a couple of napkins with a small smile. My cheeks burned as I accepted them, mopping up the drink from my hand.

I opened my mouth to yell at Lila but paused when she threw back her head to chug the milkshake down at an impressive rate. I rose my eyebrows and Gerald let out an impressed whistle as we watched the strawberry milk disappear. She slammed down the cup onto the table and thrusted her finger at me. "Grab your coat!"

I blankly stared at her as she threw money onto the table. "I'm not wearing on—HEY!"

Before I'd finished, Lila hooked her hand around my bicep and pulled me from my seat. Some customers looked up in alarm as the small girl dragged me for the door.

"Hey," Gerald said from his seat. "Where're you going?"

Lila stopped which prompted me to run into her. The back of her head slammed into my chest, which fucking hurt. I grumbled to myself, massaging the hurt away, and ignored the way we were being stared at by the waiters. They looked irritated, to say the least, that we were blocking the doorway, but if they had a problem with it, they could talk to Lila about it.

"Isn't it obvious?" Lila asked Gerald, tilting her head. I don't even think she'd noticed that I'd run into her. "To get that keychain."

Gerald, Arnold and Savannah each traded confused stares with one another. Honestly, I wished I was over there with them, but instead I'd been chosen as Lila's prisoner.

"And," Arnold began with a frown. "you need Helga because . . . .?"

That, I decided, was an excellent question.

He then looked at me apologetically, like he were afraid I'd taken his question the wrong way. But I brushed off his concern with a shrug and half smile; he was right.

"I'm a vegetarian," Lila answered simply. "I need someone to eat the hot dog."

I frowned at her. "But I just ate—"

"Just meet us at the arcade," Lila interrupted with a forceful nod. Well, unintentionally. Again, I don't think she'd even been aware I'd said a word.

"Um, actually, can I come with you?" Savannah asked as she stood up. Gerald and Arnold watched as she shoved on her denim jacket and threw down some coins. "I'm not particularly fond of video games."

So, I tried again. "Then, can I just—?"

"Sure," Lila cut me off with a smirk. "Just try to keep up."

I gaped at the both of them. Was I just invisible?

"I was a camp fire lass and a part of the track team," Savannah said with a shrug when she approached us. But she didn't even acknowledge me and kept her eyes on Lila's. "So, I wish the same for you."

A silence passed over as the two girls shared a competitive grin. Tension filled the air and I could imagine lighting zapping between their gazes and meeting in a bright flash.

I turned to look at Arnold for help, but he seemed just as puzzled as I was. He turned in my direction and shook his head, shrugging. Gerald kept scooping more of his omelette into his mouth, his eyes trained on the girls like he were watching a movie.

Rolling my eyes, I turned back to Lila and tried inputting my opinion. "Um—WHOOOOOOOA!"

When I was swept off my feet—literally.

Throwing the door open, the girls broke out into a run. But, as Lila's arm was still wrapped around me, she dragged me behind her like I was a god damn flag. There was a sharp sting of air against my face and my stomach shot up into my throat.

"WHAT," I shouted over the raging in my ears, "THE FUUUUUUUUUUU—"

---

Arnold watched as Lila and Savannah whooshed out of Bigal's like two miniature cyclones, dragging poor Helga behind them. He wasn't sure how to feel as the door slammed behind them with a sharp whack! On one hand, Helga had appeared quite distressed and confused to the idea of leaving with Lila to collect the keychain she so desperately wanted. But on the other hand, even he couldn't deny how funny it had been watching Helga's eyes practically pop out of her skull as the petite Lila swung her around.

After the surrounding customers ducked their heads down either in their food or conversations, Arnold and Gerald both turned to each other with odd looks.

"Well, that was weird," Gerald said, lifting up one of his shoulders in a half shrug. And honestly, Arnold couldn't disagree with him. Everything about this morning had been weird; from running into the girls fighting outside of a lingerie shop, all the way to downright bizarre their lunch had become.

"Yeah, weird," Arnold agreed, nodding his head. Gerald continued to scrap the last piece of his omelette from his plate as Arnold drank the rest of his milkshake. He peeked out the large window, to catch one more glimpse of the girls, but they had long disappeared.

A large part of Arnold was impressed; he'd never known Lila to be such a fast runner. She always struck him as someone who didn't have an interest in such an activity. She was such a delicate girl, always speaking politely, remaining at a distance from everyone and dressing quite conservatively. Granted, the girl had always shown a wild energy when it came to certain anime, which she shared with Gerald, but Arnold had gotten used to that.

He almost felt like she'd changed as much as Helga had over the past week.

Helga.

Arnold's mind kept running in circles, trying to figure out what could possibly be running through that girl's head. Like Lila, she had always kept people at an arm's length, only in a different way. She put up walls around herself and wasn't afraid to tell someone to leave her alone. He'd tried getting through those walls when he was younger, but it became very apparent she didn't want that.

But . . .

Then how was it that Lila could so easily break through those very walls? He had spent so much time as a child, so much patience, trying to get through to Helga, yet it had apparently only taken Lila a mere week.

But, then again, it was Lila.

"You think they'll be alright?" Arnold couldn't help asking Gerald.

The darker boy paused, looking up in surprise. Arnold's mouth twitched at the egg that got caught in the spare hairs above his lips. Gerald had recently grown an obsession with growing whatever facial hair he could, to match his brother. Unfortunately for Gerald, it apparently took a while just to grow a light stache.

"Yeah, probably," Gerald shrugged carelessly

Arnold nodded in agreement, "Probably."

---

"—UUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCC—omph!"

Lila suddenly halted, pressing her heels down into the dirt and sending jets of dirt sprouting into the air. But, even though she managed to stop herself, I, on the other hand, did not.

And over the park bench I fell.

I flipped over the back and landed on my shoulder blades, the world spinning before my eyes. My stomach heaved and I had to work hard not to let my lunch back up. My body was still buzzing from that run—I hadn't known Lila, or any human, could do that.

There was panting on my right, but it didn't belong to me. I assumed that it was Savannah, who had somehow managed to keep up with Lila.

"How—" she coughed, "—long's the line?"

I opened my eyes to a very playful spark lighting up in Lila's eye as she grinned at Savannah. She stood over me, blocking out the light, with her fists on her hips.

"Not that long," she said with a nod. "Come on."

But I didn't.

I was much too tired and still was seeing double of everything. So, I just lay here in the dirt, my arms spread out over the ground, as I tried sucking in as much air as I could.

Lila merely rolled her eyes and grabbed onto my foot, dragging me across the ground. I screeched and felt people turning around to look at us strangely. When I yelled at the dumb girl, she only giggled, which pissed me off further.

She then offered to pay for my hot dog and let me in front of her in the line. Now, I know I hadn't been that ecstatic before, but that'd been before she'd dragged me across town. Now she really did owe me.

So, grumbling to myself, I agreed and slid in front of the two of them. I ignored the dramatic bow I received from Lila as I passed her but flared my nose when they both giggled.

The actual hot dog stand was set up on the street across from The Kiska, in one of the smaller parks. It was one mostly older people went to because of how tiny it was compared to the others. It only had a few park benches, which were all surrounded in vast purple flowers.

Beams of sunlight glowed on my skin and the delicious smell of hotdogs and burgers made my mouth water. Children were running around as their parents stood in line, talking amongst each other.

Faintly, I heard music from the speakers. I didn't recognise the lyrics, but the song was very indie–sounding.

"Hey, don't you love this song, Lila?" I heard Savannah ask. I looked over my shoulder to a smiling Savannah leaning over Lila's shoulder. But Lila barely acknowledged her; her arms were tightly crossed, her fingers tapping on her biceps, as she glared up at nothing in particular.

"Mhmm," she stiffly nodding, not looking at Savannah.

I wanted to laugh at her sudden mood swing.

Savannah looked over my shoulder and frowned. Following her line of sight, I almost groaned—the line was long.

"I'm going to grab a bench," Savannah decided with a nod. "I'll pay you when you get back, Lila."

Lila didn't take her eyes off the van as she nodded. Savannah smiled and left to find a free bench.

I purposely didn't look at my phone the entire time we waited. I knew that whatever time it presented to me would make me want to cry. Because it took a while for us to get served and, by the time we did, my stomach sounded like a motorcycle.

But, finally, I was met with the smiling face of an overweight man with a fluffy, brown beard. The way he beamed at me reminded me of Santa Claus, but I was pissed, hungry and tired. So, I stared at him blankly and said, "Just a regular. Ketchup only."

He nodded and leaned forward over the counter to hand me a keychain. It was of a miniature girl with pink hair and a matching cheer costume. I raised my eyebrow—this was what all the fuss was about?

"You get the last one, miss," he told me happily.

I nodded and examined the keychain. What the hell was so special about—

Wait.

"The last one?" I repeated.

A cold sense of dread washed over me from behind and I heard a thump. Gasps came from surrounding faces and I turned around. Lila was on her hands and knees—in a similar position to Savannah—with her hair covering her face. She muttered to herself in a voice that made her sound possessed, but it was too low for me to understand what she was saying.

People stared at her in bemusement, wondering whether they should help her or call a priest. So, sighing, I bent down next to her and held out the keychain. "Uhh," I hesitated, unsure of what was happening. Lila looked up at me with misty eyes. "You can have it if you want."

Her hands slapped around mine as a wet smile spread across her red face. "Really?!" she demanded, her eyes twinkling with hope. "You really mean it?!"

Jesus, you think I'd just offered to pay her rent.

"Uh, yeah?"

"Thank you!"

The hot dog vendor looked all too happy when he handed us our orders. I don't think he appreciated how overly dramatic Lila had gotten. Not that I blamed him. She looked like she'd walked straight from The Exorcist.

Lila was overly cheerful as we headed for Savannah; she sung along to the lyrics of the song playing from the speakers and swung around her keychain on her finger.

I rolled my eyes.

Savannah was sitting on one of the benches in the shade, texting on her phone. Lila planted herself in the middle and handed Savannah her hot dog. As the two chatted away—about the weather, how cool the music was, something about anime—I sunk into silence.

I mused to myself how I had vowed, so long ago, to separate myself from everyone. Even before I'd become Blue Jay. I had told myself that I had to get over Arnold and, for that to happen, I needed to cut off all contact. Which had included his friends, which wasn't necessarily hard as they had never really been mine.

But—I looked at Lila as she laughed with Savannah—why was I surrounded by more of them?

I was pulled from my thoughts when my side began throbbing. Finishing my hot dog, I muttered that I was heading for the bathroom and didn't wait for a response. Thankfully, no one was inside when I entered so I was free to pull up my shirt.

I'd been meaning to change my wound wrappings today from last night. But I'd figured that I'd be home much earlier, which would've given me more time. The bandages looked dirty, no doubt from being dragged around everywhere and pulled across the dirt.

The door behind me opened, and I quickly pulled my shirt down. I switched on the water and washed my hands, facing the mirror. Savannah's face popped next to mine in the mirror as she glared at my reflection.

But she didn't speak at first. Not until I had shut off the water and wiped my hands on the paper towels. "I'm not falling for it," she declared.

I paused, looking up at her reflection. "What?"

"This phoney act, I'm not falling for it," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I know who you really are. As do they. I don't know why they're treating you like this."

I raised an eyebrow challengingly.

"Oh, really?" Spinning around, I gripped the sink and nodded at her. "Well, please, enlighten me—who am I really?"

I don't really wanna sit down
Not now, not now, not ever
Speed me down while you slow me up
I'll be here all night, take me down

"A bully."

Two simple words.

But they were punches straight to my gut.

The hate in her eyes burned straight through me. I turned my face to the dirty tiles, but I could still feel her loathing oozing from her pores.

"You've done it to every one of us. Made fun of us. Taunted us. Beat us. Made us feel like shit," she spat out. I drew in a gulp of oxygen, feeling my grip on the sink tighten. "You may have saved us yesterday, Pataki. But that will never erase those years of abuse we've suffered from your hands."

My throat tightened with emotions. So much it became difficult to breathe. Her words tore against me like a knife on my wounds. Savannah watched as I absorbed what she said with hard, cold eyes. I kept my gaze down, so she wouldn't see my reaction.

The silence between us grew until eventually she scoffed and left, slamming the door behind her.

When i saw you a fire
Started in my heart
I looked at you again
Yeah you've burned from the start

I shouldn't have come.

---

We didn't leave until the afternoon.

Savannah expressed her regret for essentially ditching the boys. But Lila assured that they loved their video games, so they likely weren't too bothered.

The sun had begun sinking when we finally left the park and shadows fell across the ground. Savannah and Lila both planned on grabbing dinner with the boys, but I figured I'd instead head home. I planned on doing so as soon as possible, right after I found a bus stop.

Unfortunately, the closest stop wasn't for another twenty minutes. I wasn't even sure of that, considering how quickly the night was falling upon us. But, as we walked down the streets, I recognised some of the alleyways and suggested we cut across them. By doing that, I knew we'd shave a good ten minutes off our walk.

Savannah protested against this, but Lila pointed out that if we stayed out for too long, we might run into trouble. And, given how the streets we were walking down were full of vacant warehouses instead of bustling cafes, even Savannah couldn't argue otherwise.

So, pulling up my hoodie, I led them both down the alleyway. The walls cast dark shadows that bled across the wet bricks. The girls were silent, but I noticed the way Savannah's eyes darted around.

A group of seven boys turned the corner, joking loudly amongst themselves. Their shadows were large and deformed as they headed our way. They were laughing and punching each other's arms. I pulled both the girls to the right of the sidewalk to give the boys room. Hopefully, they wouldn't pay us any attention.

"Hello!" one of them hollered as we passed. I didn't know who out of the three of us he directed that too, but, when I looked up, his smile lingered on Lila.

Looking at them, I realised how close they looked to Blue Jay's age. These boys weren't stupid teenagers, they were adult men, looking like they just got off a shift from work.

Lila and Savannah kept their head down, huddling together. The way each of the men leered at them made me shudder. I glared at them, wrapping my hands around both the girl's wrists, and pulled them with me.

"Hey, wait!" the same one called after me.

When we finally rounded the corner, I let out a sigh of relief even as I heard them laughing. We were on a sidewalk leading past the backs of several sombre–coloured warehouses. The south side of the street had no sidewalk, only a chain–linked fence topped with barbed wire.

Lila turned to me, "Helga—"

"We keep going," I said in a low voice. "It's not much further."

It was getting darker. The clouds were finally returning and piling up on the western horizon. The eastern sky was still clear, but greying, and shot through with streaks of pink and orange.

The air was getting colder. A sudden shiver made me let go of the girls to cross my arms over my chest. I looked around, hoping to find any other person, but realised that this place was completely empty. I frowned, why wasn't anybody out? It's not like it was the middle of the night.

Unless . . .

Was it the attacks? There'd been a lot of them recently. Maybe people were choosing to get home earlier as only bad things were happening on the streets now.

The sky darkened further. As I looked over my shoulder to glare at the clouds, I realised that four of the men were walking quietly twenty feet behind us.

Fuck.

I hadn't even brought my pin this morning. I'd figured it'd be a short twenty-minute jog. One so short that the chances of an attack would be slim. But now that I was out several hours since, I realised how fucking stupid that decision had been.

I listened intently to their quiet footsteps. It didn't sound like they were speeding up. I had to remind myself to breathe, I'd faced worse than this before. But that had been when I was transformed. I still retained some of Blue Jay's abilities as Helga, but only a small amount of them, which definitely didn't include my forcefields.

So, I took a closer corner with an exhale of relief. Hopefully, there would be people or at least cars once we got out of this deserted street. I rushed around the corner with a grateful sigh—

And skidded to a stop.

The streets were lined on both side with blank, doorless and windowless walls. I could see, lounging against the western building and midway down the street, were the other three men from the group. They watched with excited grins as I froze dead on the sidewalk.

We weren't just being followed—we were being herded.

"There you are!" the same man from before shouted at us. The light glinted off a part of his mouth, which I realised had a silver lip ring. He grinned, shoving his hands into his pockets, and swaggered over to us.

I held onto the girls and darted to the other side of the road, but a sinking feeling told me that this was a wasted attempt. The footsteps were louder now.

"Where's the fire?"

Growling, I whirled around to give lip-ring a piece of my mind, but Lila's shaking palm on my shoulder told me otherwise. She looked up with alarmed eyes, her jaw trembling.

Shit.

Seeing this side of Lila—another one I wasn't used to—only made me angrier. Growling at the shadowed men, I barked at them, "Piss off!"

"Don't be like that, darlin'," one of the men called, and the raucous laughter started again.

I shoved the girls behind me and spun around to glare at them. But as the shadows poured around us, I couldn't tell them apart. They were still laughing as they closed around us, some mocking me in girly, high–pitched voices.

I braced myself, feet apart, and tried remembering everything I'd learnt over the past week. I wasn't Blue Jay, but I wasn't useless. I'd still managed to take down monsters twice my height without my powers. There were a lot of them, but maybe I could take on these men.

Savannah's eyes widened. "Helga, look ou—"

Something zapped out and struck me in the nose. I reeled back and slammed against the wall. And, before I could blink, a cold hand wrapped around my neck and squeezed tight. I choked on the shallow air, my eyes watering, as blood ran down my lips.

Two more hands wrapped around my wrists and held them above my head. They were strong and a gust of awful-smelling breath washed over my face.

"There you are," the man choking me leered. He was the one with the lip ring and red hair stuffed into a dark beanie. I looked away from him, realising two other men had pinned down both my hands on either side of me. One of them, the right one I think, also had a baseball bat.

"Yeah," another heavier–looking man laughed. He approached Savannah, who shrank like a wilting flower, and slid his hand down her face. She looked down, trying to move her face away, but he grinned wider. "We had to take a little detour."

Another man, dressed in a suit with a bald head, smirked at Lila, raking his eyes down her body.

"You're a pretty one," he decided.

She looked away from him, wrapping her hands around her shoulders. I caught her gaze and felt my stomach shrivel with the sheer helplessness in her eyes.

"Unlike your friend," Lip-Ring chimed in, chuckling. His thumb drew circles against my neck as his tongue darted out to wet his lips. The fucker was actually aroused by our position.

The heavier–set man gripped Savannah's waist and took her jaw between his fingers. "C'mon, love," he purred, lowering his face to hers, but she kept moving away. "Why don't you give us a little lovin'?"

He was suddenly shoved away as Lila moved herself between him and Savannah. She spread her arms out to protect Savannah and glared up hotly at the man. "Don't touch he—"

He reeled back and let his fist smash into Lila's cheek. My eyes bulged and Savannah gasped in horror as Lila crumbled to the ground. The chilled streetlights fell over her shocked form as her fingers moved up to her face. Blood pumped down her cheek from the cut and fell over her fingers.

Her eyes widened when she looked down at her hand and Savannah fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around Lila. The man glared down at her, his large eyes poking out from beneath his hoodie, as he rubbed his fist.

"Dumb bitch," he hissed.

Lila's eyebrows drew together.

Fire boiled in my system and I launched forward and bit down hard on Lip–Ring's ear. Blood coated my tongue and he released a shattering scream. He let go of my neck to shove me away and my knee jerked up into his groin.

As he collapsed, I stepped onto the toes of the man carrying the baseball bat. His fingers left my wrist and I jabbed my leg up into his stomach, swiping the bat from his hand. Clipping the last man in the stomach, I swung around the bat and held it out at the gaping men.

"Touch either of them again," I barked out in a low voice, "and you'll regret it."

Lip–Ring clutched his ear in his hand as blood trailed down his neck and shoulders. His teeth ground together as he glared up at me.

But the other men laughed.

"Ah, man, I like this one!" one of the men said. He was dressed in a white button down, his green tie was loose around his open collar.

He approached me slowly, a disgusting grin on his face, and laid a hand on my shoulder. "C'mon, babe, put that down before you get—"

My palm knocked into his nose.

"I'll try to restrain myself," I told them calmly over his screaming. The man clutched his nose, spouting out salvia–covered curse words. The smiles fell from the men's face as they watched their friend reduce himself to a crying baby. Lila and Savannah both gaped at me, huddled together in the streaked light. "But I can't promise you anything."

"You bitch!" one of the guys screamed at me.

His face screwed up with lividness as he charged at me. Adrenaline went through my arms and straight to my knuckles. I swiped my phone from my pocket and chucked it towards Savannah. She yelped and clumsily caught it.

"Call the police!" I told her, ducking beneath a fist. I swiped up and connected the bat with his groin. He screamed, his hands flying to his wound, and I slammed my forearm into his temple, knocking him down.

"W–What—"

Another man lunged at her with his fists held up in the air. Savannah screamed, shutting her eyes, and clutched the phone to her chest. But before he could touch her, I jabbed my fist straight into his eye.

The impact was a burning sensation on my knuckles. I had to bite down onto my tongue to hold back my instinctual screams.

"Call the police, damn it!" I growled out.

I threw the bat at Lila, who quickly caught it. She blinked, looking at me like she was ready to take commands.

"Protect her!" I told her.

I saw her nodding before the hairs on my neck stood straight and I whirled around to a suit–wearing man throwing a punch. I jerked out of the way and his fist glanced my chin. I lunged forward and, grabbing the back of his neck, pushed his head down. My knee slammed into his face and blood splattered everywhere. The man cried out, holding his bloody nose, and I threw him across the ground.

There was shuffling and grunts from behind me, along with frantic mumbles, and I spun around. Savannah was crouched in the shadows, avoiding the men around her, with the phone pressed to her ear. Her face was red and stretched with panic as she yelled out the directions into the receiver. But . . .

It was Lila who surprised me.

The men were so much larger than her, yet she didn't appear afraid as she fought back against them. They lunged at her, trying to land a blow, but she slipped through their attacks with a speed I barely registered.

I watched as she slammed the bat right into the face of one of the men, then used her palm in an uppercut under his chin. The man staggered then fell to his knees, blood slipping between his fingers from his tongue.

For a moment, I felt disconnected.

Lila, she . . .

I noticed too late the tight fist full of gravel until my vision was overtaken with a gust of dirt. I reeled back and rubbed my eyes, screaming from the dryness. I heard a laugh before fresh ripples of pain travelled through my torso. The force behind his punch wiped me from my feet and onto the ground.

I moaned and my hands found their way to my torso. It was hot, much too hot, and I could feel something leaking. Opening my eyes, I realised that this asshole had managed to nail a blow onto my still–healing wound.

Fuck.

I looked up into his smirking mouth, the moonlight reflected from his teeth. He was the man that had earlier hit Lila. He pounded his fist into his palm, a move that normally would've had me laughing were it not for my injured side.

He went in for another shot, when—

SMACK!

Something struck out and smashed into his jaw. Salvia and teeth flew from his split lips as the man fell to his knees then onto his face. I turned to look up at Lila, her smile wicked.

The moonlight pressed in around her curves as she propped the bat onto her shoulder. Her other hand gripped her hips as she looked down at the man without an ounce of her usual empathy. Her hair burnished bright red in the white light and fell around her shoulder from the air.

I watched as she turned her gaze onto me. Her smirk softened into a grin, one that could melt stones, as the adrenaline drained from her face.

My tongue felt like sandpaper when I spoke. "Lila—"

A manic scream cut into the air and we looked up at the last man still standing. It was Lip–Ring; he charged at us like a ferocious animal, his eyes large and wild. An electricity fizzled between Lila and I, like whispered words, and suddenly we knew what to do.

She reached down and I grasped onto her hand, jumping to my feet. The pain in my side throbbed as Lila swung me to her left. I jabbed out my leg and my knee slammed into Lip–Ring's nose. Blood sprayed as he reeled back, and Lila slid out her foot to trip him.

He slammed into the gravel, dirt curling around his silent body. A chilled silence fell, only disrupted by the crickets and the sound of our panting. He lay down next to the suit–wearing man and I realised that the rest of them surrounded us at our feet.

My hand as still in Lila's.

"I—" My eyes found hers. "We tried to warn you."

---

Bright, gumball red, and deep blue flashed and lit the defeated face of arrested men. Silver glinted from around their wrists as cops lead them to the back of an open van.

Adults dressed in uniform approached one another in the shifting lights. Hats fell over their eyes as they whispered to each other, trying to get the story straight. The moon was high in the sky and I realised just how long I'd been out.

I growled and flung off the worn blanket from my shoulders. Damn it, this was the fourth time someone had thrown that onto me.

My stomach grumbled and I stood to my feet from my sidewalk. Dusting off my arms, I slipped through the darkness, ducking from the curious glances thrown my way. I'd already answered their questions and even had my knuckles wrapped up for the bruising. All I wanted right now was to go home.

But a tap on my shoulder stopped me.

I turned around, expecting it to be one of the cops, but met the bright eyes of Savannah. She quickly dropped her gaze to her dirty tennis shoes and wrung her hands. But I noticed, even in the shifting light, the way her cheeks glowed.

A couple stood a few feet from us, both dressed in thick woollen jumpers. The woman watched Savannah with worried eyes as the man looked at me sceptically. They must be Savannah's parents, still shaken by the events.

Seconds passed with neither of us saying anything. I almost broke the silence to demand why she'd stopped me, but my throat was stuck in my throat. Something about how small she looked held me back from voicing my irritation.

Finally, she let out a loud sigh. She shut her eyes and reached into her pocket. She chucked the object which I caught easily with my unwrapped hand. Looking down, I realised that it was my phone.

"Thanks," she said in a heavy voice.

"You're welcome," my own voice came out strained. The tension in the air was uncomfortable and Savannah shifted awkwardly.

I cleared my throat. "Well, I'm—uhh, I'm just gonn—"

"Thank you," Savannah interrupted, looking up at me. Her cheeks flared red but her eyes were set on mine.

I blinked. "I—what?"

"Thank you for, um, saving us—me again," she admitted.

For a moment, I didn't know what she was even referring to by 'again'. But a flash reminded me of what had happened not even yesterday.

"I, well, it's—erm—" I stuttered, unsure of how to act. I was used to Blue Jay receiving the praise, but this felt raw. It was bare and I didn't have a mask to hide behind. "It was nothing."

Kind of.

My side still stung, but I'd tucked my leggings high enough and zipped up my hoodie so no one could see it.

"Nothing?" Savannah repeated, her eyebrows rising into her bangs. "But you—"

"I may have been the one to fight them," I interrupted, folding my arms across my chest. "But you were the one who made the call."

She blinked, her lips parting as my words sunk in. Then her eyebrows pressed together and she looked away.

"What I did was hardly celebratory," she scowled.

"How isn't it?" I shrugged. "You're the reason they're in cuffs right now. Potentially, you've saved another girl from being attacked. Don't underestimate what you did, Savannah."

She blinked at me. "But I—"

"Are you hurt?"

"Well, no."

"Then, that's all that matters." Stepping forward, I laid a hand on her shoulder and realised how shaky she was. Tilting my head, I forced an encouraging smile. "Be happy that Hillwood is safer because of you."

Slowly, I watched as the hesitation faded from her face. Her eyes traced my face, a smile tugging at her mouth, and her cheeks glowing again. Looking over her shoulder, I could see how much worried her parents were growing.

"Um, Helga—"

"Your Mum looks close to fainting," I told her, taking back my hand. "You may wanna get her home."

Savannah looked over her shoulder and shared a small smile with her worried mother. "Of course," she mumbled.

She turned around and went to head for her parents when something occurred to her. She stopped to look at me over her shoulder.

"Pataki—" she paused then a sly smirk lit up her blushing face. "You're different then from what I remember . . . I don't know what's with you, but—" she smiled "—you're not half bad anymore."

I blinked.

And she left, sinking into her parents' embrace.

"Um," I blinked again. "Thanks."

I looked down at my phone and turned it on. I groaned when I saw the time.

"Hey, Helga!"

Oh, come on.

I glared over my shoulder.

"What, I just wanna go—" I froze when Arnold's eyes flashed in the red. A grimace played on his lips as he slowly approached me. "Oh, Ar—I mean, football head, what a surprise!"

Was I too happy sounding? I felt too happy sounding.

Arranging my face into my usual scowling formation, I placed my fists onto my hips and feigned what I hoped was confidence. "When'd you get here?" I asked in a deep voice.

My tone made him pause for a moment, but he shook his head and looked at me with a determined frown.

"As quick as we could," he said. "Lila sent us a text."

"Oh," I frowned, unable to help the jealousy that surged through me. So, it had been Lila who messaged him. But as soon as I noticed it, I shook it from my head. Because Christ, now was not the time. "Well, uhh, where's Gerald?"

The space next to him was empty. Normally they both stuck to each other like glue. Gerald was like a cloud that refused to leave Arnold's shoulder.

"He's with Lila right now," Arnold nodded his head in a random direction. "He's being all protective best friend."

"Oh."

I couldn't help noticing his features had hardened and his fists were wrapped around his flannel hem. My mind spun with reasons why he had taken such an agitated pose. Was it the situation? Or was he jealous that Gerald was with Lila?

A silence settled over us. It unsettled me. I still felt jittery talking with Arnold. And I hated myself for it. I regularly had conversations with cats and threw up magical shields. And I still couldn't talk to a boy without getting stuttery.

"Listen, Helga, I—" his beautiful green eyes found mine, so passionate and bright, but turned downwards. He rubbed the back of his neck as he shifted his weight. "I'm sorry we weren't here to protect you."

I nodded along with his words. There he goes again, being Arnold. Being the most perfect specimen poss—

Wait.

"Protect me?" I repeated. "Were you not listening to the cops? I beat those motherfuckers to hell and back!" I paused then added, "And Lila helped."

"I know," Arnold shrugged, but still seemed uncertain. "I just hate that I wasn't there for you girls. Those men almost . . . they could've . . ."

He was shaking. It was hard to see in the flickering light, but his hands were jittery and his voice broke as he trailed off. The colour had drained from his face and his eyes narrowed.

He was really bothered with what almost happened. Not that I could blame him. Arnold had the most golden of hearts, of course tonight's events would greatly upset him.

Releasing a breath through my nose, I forced my heart to calm its racing. It hurt to say this, but Arnold was really upset.

"They didn't harm her," I told him quietly.

His face snapped up and his eyes found mine again. His lips parted but I couldn't tell if it was from what I said or my tone.

"I mean, one did hit her—but don't worry," I hastily added, rubbing my forearm. "I made sure he regretted it."

As did Lila, to be fair.

He blinked, his eyes following the movement of my hand. Looking down, I realised that it was because I was practically flashing him my injured knuckles. Granted, they didn't hurt as much anymore, but they certainly looked far worse than what they were.

I hid my hand behind my back and cleared my throat awkwardly. It made him jerk his gaze back to me, face slightly red.

"Ah, then that's relieving," he admitted somewhat sheepishly and rubbed his neck.

"Yeah . . ." I looked down, unsure of what to do. The words he spoke, the way he immediately relaxed, it all passed through me like a hurricane.

"But she's not the only person I'm worried for," he added, voice softening.

I looked up and was surprised by how fixed his eyes were on mine.

"Huh?" I asked dumbly. "Oh, Savannah? Don't worry, I got her out as soon as I could. She's the one that made the call." I rolled my eyes at him. "Seriously, weren't you listening, football head?"

"What?" He frowned and tilted his head. "No, Helga, I meant—"

"Helga!" Two thin arms wrapped around my neck and a body suddenly slammed into mine. A chin rested on the back of my shoulders and long hair tickled my neck. "You okay?"

"I was!" I growled, swinging around to find Gerald watching us in bemusement. "Until you got here! Get off me, you looney carrot-stick!"

"Awwww," I could feel Lila's pout as she reluctantly hopped off my back. Standing straight, I scowled at her and dusted off my shoulders. "Is that any way to speak to your partner in crime?"

I blinked at her. "We weren't committing the crime, you dunce!"

Lila winked and stepped closer.

"Ah," she waggled a finger between my eyes, "but you didn't deny us being partners."

My jaw dropped at her conclusion.

she burst out laughing. She wrapped her hands around her stomach, for once not cupping her mouth, as she cackled. The sound of her laughter lightened the weight in my chest, and I found myself smiling softly.

Then I noticed her cheek.

A slab of white had been slapped onto the high point, stretching from beneath the inner corner of her eye right to the tip of cheek. It didn't take a genius to know that underneath the bandage was the actual cut. But the skin that flowering from the edges was a deep red that eventually become a purple.

She paused, noticing my silence, and looked at me. A sly grin spread across her face as she pointed to her damaged cheek.

"Look, now we're matching," she teased.

"What?!" I shouted and touched my face. "You're kidding—it's still there?"

"Sike!"

She giggled at how I glared at her which only infuriated me more.

"Why, you . . ." I muttered as I held out my hands towards her neck.

Arnold suddenly let out a choked noise. He clutched onto his stomach and slapped his knee as he burst out laughing.

"You guys," he stuttered, his face red, "are so weird together!"

I blinked, unsure of how to respond.

"You can say that again," Gerald mumbled. I looked over my shoulder and our eyes locked for a moment. A small smile suddenly graced his lips. "Good job, Pataki."

"Um, I—well—" I cringed. Geeze, I was so used to Gerald and I fighting that a moment like this left me a blabbering mess. "Uhh, t–th—"

Something itchy and slightly damp was flung over my shoulders. Looking down, I realised it was that ugly fucking blanket again. I growled and snatched up the disgusting thing, looking for perpetuator.

"Who the fuck," I shouted, "keeps putting this stupid blanket on me?!"

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Arnold, Gerald and Lila laughed at my expense. Well, Arnold at least had the decency to try covering it behind a weak cough when I looked at him. But I saw the smile that twitched at the corner of his mouth, I knew that coughing fit was as fake as Nadine's interest in men.

A deep chuckle suddenly came from behind me.

We all turned to a very familiar man grinning at us.

"It's for shock," he explained, his hands on his hips. "You were involved in quite the stir up, Ms. Pataki. It's only natural to assume you'd need it."

I felt my eyes widen.

This man . . .

"Get on the ground—NOW!"

He was the officer from last night. I was sure of it; he had the same dark brown hair and the same handlebar moustache. His skin was aged, that of a man in his mid-forties, and dots collected underneath his eyes. He stared at me softly with a warm, crooked smile.

I suddenly felt extremely jittery. Those eyes had glared so deathly at me last night. He'd made it very apparent that he wasn't a fan of mine.

"Um, right, well," I could feel my hands shaking as I rubbed my palms together. "I'm not in trouble, am I?"

I meant that as a joke. I'd never met this man before, as Helga at least, so I shouldn't be afraid of him. And yet the way that'd come out, so timid and fearful, was the exact opposite.

My cheeks flushed hot when Arnold and Lila looked at me strangely. I lowered my chin but kept my eyes on the Chief's face.

He laughed, a warm and welcoming sound. One that would've charmed me had the circumstances been different.

"You kidding?" He guffawed. "Nowhere near it—it was all in self-defence. Besides," he nodded towards Lila, "it saved her, didn't it?"

Looking at him, I noticed things I hadn't last night. Like the beer belly that spilled over his belt, the dark hair on his thick arms and the roundness of his face.

"I guess so," I muttered with a shrug. I lowered my gaze to my feet, unable to keep looking at this man. The gunshots ran through my head like screams, the bullets they'd aimed at both Serec and me. I hadn't had my powers back yet, so had it not been for my instincts, I would've been killed.

This man had almost killed me.

My heart began hammering like I was on the battlefield again. I pushed for my face to remain blank, but behind my eyes was an entire war.

"Can I give you a ride?" he suddenly asked me.

Again, I panicked. He was nice enough to me, but I just couldn't shake last night away. I didn't exactly want to me stuck in a car with him, especially not alone.

"Uh, no, it's okay," I stammered, raising my hands and looking up. "It's a short walk from here."

False.

It actually would be close enough to an hour. But honestly, I would rather chance the dark, the cold and the unknown.

"Walk?" The Chief asked, raising his eyebrows. "Where're your parents?"

I simply shrugged and looked away. My eyes caught onto Arnold, who also raised his eyebrows at me. He tilted his head, narrowing his eyes in a way that somehow communicated, 'are you okay, Helga?'

Oh, great, talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place.

"Well, I won't allow you to walk alone in the dark," the Chief said. I turned back to his moustache stretching across his face as his mouth turned up in a smile. "Especially considering what happened here."

"But, I—"

"As the Chief," he insisted.

I wasn't sure which option to take. His offer was tempting, it would shave a good forty minutes from my trip. And it's not like he could possibly connect me, a dumb teenager, to Blue Jay, vigilante extraordinaire. But, c'mon, who wanted to get into a car with their potential killer?

Granted, killer was kind of harsh. But hey, so was being shot to death.

But still, I couldn't shake that he was right. After what happened here, was it really smart to go out alone? I still didn't have my pin, so it wasn't like I could just transform and swing back home.

"Okay," I said, but it came out like a squeak.

I caught sight of Arnold watching my arms and realised that I was shaking. His eyes trailed up to my eyes and his mouth dipped down with displeasure. I didn't want him worrying, and likely drawing attention to me, so I wrapped my arms around my chest and tried making it off like I was simply cold.

But he didn't look convinced.

"Good," the Chief nodded, then turned to the boys. "How about you boys? You got rides?"

"Yeah," Gerald answered, pulling out his car keys. "I'm dropping Arnold off."

The Chief nodded, satisfied, and faced Lila again. "I just gotta get some loose ends tied and then I'll be ready, honey."

My gaze snapped back to them.

"Okay, Dad," Lila nodded with a grin. She looked up at him softly with a sense of familiarity I hadn't noticed before. "Take your time."

My jaw dropped.

He bumped her chin with the tops of his knuckles. Lila giggled and battered away his fist. He laughed then turned to leave, approaching another group of cops.

"Dad?!"

Everyone's eyes turned towards me in surprise. "Yeah, he's my Dad," Lila said slowly to me.

I didn't know how to react, so I didn't.

Instead, I ran my fingers through my hair and looked down to my shoes, trying to process everything. He was her Dad. He—the man who almost murdered me last night—was Lila's Dad. The girl who self–identified as my friend and insisted on following me around like a lost puppy.

Fuck.

"Didn't you know her Dad was the chief of the police?" I heard Gerald ask in an amused sort of way.

"What?!" I looked at him with wide eyes. He stepped back, holding up his hands like I was about to bite him. "No, of course not! Why would I?!"

Shit.

I forgot he was the fucking chief.

Great. So now the father of the girl who wouldn't leave me alone was also the boss in charge of people who also wouldn't leave me alone.

Grade. Fucking. A.

"Because they look similar and share the same last name," Gerald said flatly, rolling his eyes.

"So?" I squeaked. "Sawyer's a common name!"

"They're both redheads!"

"So?!"

Arnold burst out laughing again. "Oh, Helga . . ."

"Don't you 'oh, Helga' me!" I snapped. He raised an eyebrow but continued to softly laugh. "I can't help it if I'm not fluent in Hillwood's little gossip sessions, I'm more focused on myself then others!"

Again, Gerald rolled his eyes. "No kidding."

I growled and swung around to him. "Why you—"

"Ah, look—Dad's ready!" Lila interrupted, grabbing onto my arm. Her warm breath washed over my face as she grinned at me.

I swiped back my arm and scowled at both her and Gerald. "Mazel tov," I bit out sarcastically.

Gerald rolled his eyes and I became very tempted to march up to him and show him a thing or two. But Lila tugged back onto my arm, preventing me from doing such. "C'mon, Helga—"

"Wait, Helga," Arnold interrupted, placing a hand on my other shoulder. I stood frozen as his warm, green eyes turned on me. The wind left my lungs as my stomach did a stop, drop and roll.

I'd forgotten how much taller he'd grown compared to me. The top of my forehead reached the tip of his chin, so I had to crane my neck back. His breath washed over me as he smiled down handsomely.

My heart was racing as he kept his gaze on me and reached behind to pull something from his pocket. Lila quietly gasped and grabbed onto my arm again. I cast her a confused glance then remembered how actively she supported the thought of Arnold and I.

Ironically.

Arnold held the object out to me in his hand. I frowned, unable to make out what it was until light fell over the familiar pastel bag.

Oh, you have got to be kidding me.

"You forgot this at the café," Arnold said quietly. I blinked and looked up at him. I was surprised with the sly way he grinned at me and even more so when he winked. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll look cute in it."

Something hot and intense seared my cheeks. My stomach became a marshmallow and got all wiggly and gross. And when I say I saw God, you better fucking believe it because, for a moment, my vision was overtaken by white as angels shrieked into my ear (though, to be fair, that might've just been Lila).

It felt like everyone held their breaths as they awaited my reaction. And I was more than happy to give them such. Because between how soft Arnold's eyes were and the fact that he was telling me how good I'd look in lingerie proved too much for my system to handle. And, as such, I . . .

Thunk!

"Helga!"

. . . fainted right away.

"Quick—someone get her a blanket!"

---

The wind was harsh on my eyes.

Mr. Sawyer had winded down the windows halfway the moment he'd started the car, going on about how I need the fresh air if I was going to go 'fainting everywhere'.

Ugh.

The shame pressed in on me like a dark cloud. I'd actually fainted. Collapsed. Passed out. Right in front of Arnold. Right as he was telling me . . . that.

My cheeks glowed. I'd spent years of my life convincing everyone I was tougher then what I was. That I was this macho girl who oughta not be crossed, not if you didn't want to meet her oldest friend, ol' Betsy. But the moment Arnold battered his stupidly beautiful lashes my way, I'd turned into a simpering sissy.

Gerald hadn't stopped laughing when I woke up. His dark face had turned a rosy shade as he clutched his stomach, kicking up his leg. He laughed so hard that he almost collapsed himself. And I was damn near close to fighting him when Arnold laid a hand on my shoulder and asked if I was okay. Only I was still groggy, and he was so close and the concerned way he looked at me, just set me off again.

So, I screamed in his face that I was fine and ran away.

Yes, that actually happened.

Lila managed to eventually catch me, wrapping her arms around my waist and lugging me into her Dad's cop car. I was so broken as a human being that I didn't even yell at her for touching me. I just allowed her to direct me, ducking my head when I passed by Arnold again.

The moment we'd entered the car, Lila had silently banned his name from being spoken about. Mr. Sawyer had immediately opened his mouth, but Lila shot him an extremely serious 'don't you dare' look and immediately clamped his mouth shut.

And the ride had been silent since.

And much, much too long.

The blanket was itchy on my shoulders and did little to actually comfort me. If anything, it made me feel worse. It was like a dead weight that gnawed into my shoulders.

Lila watched me from her side of the car, but I didn't acknowledge her. I couldn't look anyone in the eyes again. So, I simply stared out the half–open window and watched as the city passed us by.

But a sixth sense told me that Lila was ready to strike up a conversation. Which she did. "Helga," she started awkwardly, "are you sure you're o—?"

"Fine," I interrupted without looking at her. I could sense Mr. Sawyer looking up into his rearview mirror. But I wasn't ready to look at him either. I didn't think I was ready to look at anyone in Hillwood anymore. Instead, I'd rather curl up underneath a nice, thick blanket of snow.

"It wasn't that bad, Helga," she said sympathetically. But I knew Lila at this point; I knew she was the type of person to say something wasn't as bad even if it was, in fact, that bad.

Which I didn't appreciate.

"They were getting ready to revive me with CPR," I finally turned to glare at her. "And I'm pretty sure Gerald filmed some of it."

And, instead of sticking up for me or trying to reassure me, Lila softly laughed at the memory. "Yeah," she agreed, her eyes crinkling.

My jaw dropped. Okay, I stand corrected. Maybe Lila wasn't the type to convince you that something wasn't as bad as what you thought. No, she was the type to convince you that something was worse.

I drew the blanket closer and scowled at nothing in particular. The fabric was still irritating, but it was better than her.

"So, I was thinking that," she continued, fiddling with her clothes and lowering her voice. I raised an eyebrow suspiciously at her, "we should meet up for another study session tomorrow."

It took me a minute to understand her words.

"Um—what?" I stuttered.

Mr. Sawyer's eyes found mine in his mirror for a second. "Lila, you were almost raped in an alleyway," he said, flicking his gaze between her and the road. "I don't want you going out so quickly."

"Yes," I frantically nodded. "Listen to your Dad!"

Then he turned to me with a welcoming smile. "Michael, sweetie," he corrected, in a much gentler voice.

I was taken back by his sudden change in demeanour and didn't react right away. "Um, right, well—listen to Michael!"

Lila's expression hardened. "We are only allowed another day to finish our assignment because school was cancelled tomorrow," she told me calmly. So calmly that I reeled back, silently smacking my shoulders against the door. "If it was not for that, we would be showing up with no notes. I think we should use our little time to get something together."

Looking at Lila, I felt like my tongue had swollen three times too big. She sounded so serious, something that I never, ever associated with her. I couldn't formulate a response, not with how she was looking at me. It was like last night, when she'd defended Blue Jay from her Dad.

"But I—uhh, shouldn't be out!" Grabbing onto the blanket around my shoulders, I held out the ends to her. "See—blanket!"

Disappointment twisted in Lila's lips. "Helga," she said, "It's worth 35%."

Fuck.

She had a point.

Truly, I wasn't bothered about Biology. I rarely tried in my classes aside from English. But it was a pair project; I had a partner. Even I'd feel shitty if I dragged Lila's grades down where mine currently lay.

I opened my mouth hesitatingly. "Well—"

"No," Michael suddenly interrupted. Lila and I both looked up at him in surprise. Shadows curled around his face as he glared out the front window. I sat directly behind him so I couldn't see his face, but his eyes in the mirror were furious.

"But, Dad," Lila said, frowning. "It's for—"

"I don't care, Lila," he snapped. Streetlights momentarily broke through the darkness and lit up his anger.

"You don't care about our grades?" she demanded, leaning forward to scowl into the rearview mirror. My heart raced in panic as the two Sawyers glared at one another.

"Lila, you were almost raped in an alleyway tonight," he snarled. I shifted my gaze down to my hands which were twisted like ropes. "I'm not about to let you out again. What were you thinking? I thought I raised you better than that."

"You did, bu—"

"Obviously not enough if you're foolish enough to go into alleyways in the dark," he argued. "How can I trust your judgement now if you make dumb decisions like that?"

I sucked in a sharp breath, looking up at Lila. Her eyes widened, looking shinier, but she quickly clamped her mouth shut when she briefly glanced back at me.

Guilt pierced my stomach. It'd never even been Lila's decision to go that way.

"Dad," she bit out in a forced voice, "we weren't actually—"

"You almost were!" he shouted. I don't know if it was the sudden rise in his voice or what he was suggesting could've happened, but I couldn't stop myself from jumping. His eyes flickered to me and I looked out the window, allowing the wind to wrap around my face. I heard him give a heavy sigh. "Listen, I'm sure you guys can figure something out. Helga can come over to ours, but I don't want you going out. Not until I trust you."

"But Helga would be with me!" Lila pleaded, thrusting a hand in my direction. I looked down the moment her eyes returned to me, wishing I could sink into the seats.

Michael's face scrunched up and he opened his mouth to yell back when he caught sight of me in the mirror. He held my gaze before releasing a breath that deflated some of the stiffness in his shoulders.

"No, Lila," he bit out, turning back to the road.

"But Dad—"

"Lila, I said no."

My chest tightened to a point that it got hard to breathe. The air was hitting my face, but nothing sunk into my lungs. I leaned my head against my seat and shut my eyes, struggling to regain control.

Don't fight. Don't fight. Don't fight.

Fuck.

I blinked hard, willing my tears back. For fuck's sake. What was wrong with me?

The rest of the ride suffocated me with its silence. The air was thick with tension, it was like ice had been rubbed raw onto my skin. It was obvious that the two wanted to continue yell out their sides but were restraining themselves because of my presence.

"Well, here we are!" Michael announced with a false cheeriness once we reached my place. He twisted around in his seat to give me a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Home sweet home."

I smiled at him quickly and opened the door. I made sure to leave behind that stupid blanket as I climbed out of the car. "Thanks, Mr—" he gave me a playfully pointed look "—erm, Michael."

"Don't mention it, honey," he said. For a moment, I was taken back by the tone of his voice. I'd never heard a voice so soft and warm like that from a man. Not addressed to me, that is.

But I didn't want to appear awkward, so I forced a smile and turned to Lila. Her back was facing me, her eyes glued to her window, and her palm cradled her chin.

"Um," I mumbled, suddenly feeling really shy. "Seeya, Lila."

"Bye," she said, not looking up.

The frostiness in her tone was like bricks to my spine. I'd never known Lila to ever outright dismiss someone like that.

Then, again, I had put her in this mess.

Maybe she truly did blame me for tonight. Not that I could blame her. I was the one who insisted on going down that stupid alleyway tonight. It was only because of luck that we'd made it out.

Silently, I nodded even though I knew she couldn't see it and shut the door. I caught Michael glaring at Lila over his shoulder. My fingers tangled with the bag straps as I made my way for my home.

"Actually!" Lila's voice jumped over my shoulders and I turned to meet her frantic gaze. She shoved her door open, keeping it wide open with her arm, as she watched me from the seat in the car. Slowly, she pushed her mouth up into a smile. "Thanks, Helga."

But this smile was different; it was hesitant and forced. It was something I recognised because I often used it. It was the type that one would use to cover their tears.

I smiled back at her, in a way I hoped was reassuring. Their gazes chilled through me as I climbed the stairs to the front door. My fingers shook as I jammed the keys into the slot. Lila hopped back into the car, shutting her door, but Michael didn't drive away until I opened the door.

A weird feeling hit me in a way that left my head spinning. It was so odd, I wasn't used to being . . . protected. Not like this.

But the feeling went away, replaced with disappointment that spread across my chest like hot water, as I stepped inside. The lights were shut off, bathing the house in darkness, save for the kitchen light and the television in the living room.

Bob was sat in his stupid armchair, his feet up on the rest, as he shouted profanities at the television.

"1945!" he yelled, leaning forward. I looked around for Miriam, but she didn't seem to be here. "It was 1945!"

I wonder if he knew that shouting wouldn't do anything, I thought to myself, rolling my eyes.

"Um," the TV showed the nervous face of a middle–aged man, dressed in a salmon–coloured suit. "1943?"

Bob let out a frustrated growl and settled back into his chair. The plushiness of the seat curled around him, covering his face from me, but I spotted the can of beer that shook in his grip.

"I'm sorry, Jeremy," said the man with fluorescent teeth and orange skin, who I assumed was the host. "But that's incorrect. The correct answer is 1947!"

"Baloney!" Bob screamed and leapt to his feet. The light hit his bulging body and shadows stretched across the floor to the ends of the room. His fist tightened around his can so much that the metal crushed between his fingers. "Complete and utter baloney! This show is rigged!"

Oh, criminy.

I rolled my eyes and pulled the door shut behind me, extra loud. Bob paused in his rantings and glanced over his shoulder at me.

"Oh," he sat back down, turning back to the TV. "Hold your fanny, little lady, I needa talk to you."

I lifted a brow and folded my arms. "Yeah, what is it, Da—?"

"Hold your horses—wait for the commercials!" he barked, waving his hand.

Again, I rolled my eyes and sighed. My stomach then growled—right, I forgot, I hadn't eaten since lunch. I headed for the kitchen, making sure to keep the lingerie bag away from Bob's sight. I opened the cupboards, but they were empty, save for the few crackers in the corner. I growled and slammed the doors shut, turning for the fridge. But there was only an egg carton in the fridge.

"The hell?" I muttered, gazing down at the carton, which only held three actual eggs.

"Ah," I looked up to Bob scowling at me from the arched opening between the kitchen and the living room. The familiar ring of commercials played on the TV over his shoulder. "See you beat me to the punch."

"Dad," I said, crossing my arms, "where the fucks the food?"

"Hey, watch the language!" he barked, eyebrows snapping together.

Jesus Christ.

Sighing, I placed the eggs back in the fridge and tried again. "Where is the food?" I asked in a calmer voice.

"We ran out," he answered simply. I frowned—well, duh. "Listen, Olga—"

"Helga," I corrected.

"Whatever," he shrugged without missing a beat. He dug into his back pocket and pulled out his leather wallet. "I need you to go pick up some groceries—"

"It's nearly eight!" I burst. Was he actually serious?

"So?"

"So, the shop shuts at eight–thirty," I retorted. "And all the buses stopped like an hour ago!"

He blinked, taken back. He put his money back into his wallet and cradled his jaw between his thumb and index finger, looking up in thought. "They never used to stop so early," he muttered in confusion.

I felt a bubble of anger rise within me. "Well, there never used to be fucking attacks every night!"

I didn't mean to keep cursing at him. But—just—his ignorance and lack of concern was hitting harder then usual tonight. They were filling me up with anger that made my insides curdle. And it clearly didn't help that I'd just gotten out of a car of a man who had shown more fatherly concern for me then my actual father.

"Oi, watch your damn language!" he shouted back at me. I shut my mouth but stared up at him defiantly. He huffed, shifting his hands back to his hips. "Fine, whatever—you'll just have to walk."

"Are you serious?" I laughed bitterly. "Dad, I'm not going to make it in time!"

"Well, not if you continue to stand here arguing about it!"

I stared at him, seriously stared at him. Was he actually suggesting what I think he was?

Michael wouldn't have asked you, an inner voice told me. His warm, fatherly smile flashed before my mind and my stomach tightened.

"Why can't Miriam do it?" I asked in frustration.

"She says she isn't feeling well," Bob shrugged.

"Oh, well, poor bloody Miriam," I muttered. When was that woman ever feeling well?

"That is no way to talk about your mother!" Bob snapped. It surprised me that apparently he still gave a shit about his wife. It was no secret that my parents' marriage had been one gigantic mistake. Like everyone else, I'd assumed that they had stopped caring about each other years ago.

I clamped my mouth shut and looked away. I didn't have time for this. If his groceries were that important, so fucking important that my safety was a concern, then fine, I'd get them. Going outside would get me further away from this place anyway. I'd just transform and swing by the shops.

"Now, you don't seem to have a problem wondering around the city today," Bob said, nodding at my bag. I rolled my eyes; yeah, of course he wouldn't recognise a lingerie shop, he clearly had no need for it. Bob dug into through his wallet and plucked out a wad of fifty–dollar bills, "so getting groceries shoul—"

"Ohhhhhhhhh, Helllllga!" Miriam suddenly appeared from behind Bob and pushed past his warm to wobble over to me. Bob's jaw dropped, his money now forgotten, and we both watched her in mutual confusion. "Arrrrre you allllright? D–Did they d–do annnnything to harm you?"

"Jiminy cricket," Bob sighed and looked down to rub his eyes. "Helga, what's she talkin' about?"

"I don't know!" I barked, avoiding one of Miriam's sloppy hugs. "Miriam! Would you quit it?!"

"Miriam!" Bob exclaimed over her wailing. "What's this about?"

A petty part of me wanted to throw his words back in his face. To remind him not to speak to Miriam like that. But I knew that would only unleash a whole new can of worms that I honestly didn't want to deal with.

Miriam turned to Bob, distraught. "Why, the—the car! S–she—H–Heeeeelga . . . she came out of a—a—" she shook her head. "—she came outta a cop caaar."

My eyes widened.

Bob looked up, a new tightness in his face, as Miriam threw her arms around me, pulling my face down to hers. "Oh, my little Helga—a—aaaare you . . . are you okay? You're—you're not hurt, are you?"

She yanked my jaw to the side to examine my face for . . . I don't actually know. But she seemed to not find it and let out a breath of relief. Inwardly, I gagged—those drinks she kept chugging wasn't doing any favours for her breath.

I gripped Miriam's shoulders and shoved her away. She let out a surprised noise as her eyes popped open behind her glasses. "I'm fine—stop slobbering over me!" I growled.

But I could feel Bob's gaze burning straight through me like a blade. Fear stuffed itself down my throat as I turned back to him, meeting his twisted glare.

"Cop car?" he repeated in an even voice.

The way he spoke was as if there was a ticking time bomb in him. "Yeah," I swallowed. "Lila's Dad decided to give me a lift."

"Who the heck is Lila? And why were you in her Dad's cop car?" he broke off with a horrified look of realisation. "What did you do?"

"Me?!" I shrieked, pulling my hands to my chest. "Why the fuck do you think its my fault?!"

"I dunno, you were the one in the cop car!" he fired back and slammed his hands down on the table. The sound was like thunder and both Miriam and I jumped back. "Criminy, we're not made of money! We can't afford your problems!"

The wind felt like it'd been knocked straight out of me. A hole opened up in my chest and sucked up my shrivelling lungs. Drawing in a gulp of oxygen, I tightened my hands into fists, ignoring the stinging.

"What?" I asked quietly. It was so quiet that, if you weren't looking at me, you would've missed it. Miriam turned to look at me, her speckled eyes sinking into my own, as a line between her brows appeared. She scanned my face with a look I couldn't recognise, before trailing down to my injured fists. She quietly gasped and I quickly pulled my sleeve down to hide it, but it was too late.

"Criminy, how could you be so stupid, girl?!" Bob ranted, unaware of our exchange. "We never had this problem with Olga!"

My throat tightened up. Like it did in the car. Only in a way that felt so raw that I could taste something metallic on my tongue.

"Are—" I breathed. "—are you serious?"

My fists were shaking. Anger swirled in my chest like fire; it travelled down my arms and I could feel it cracking at my fingers.

"Oh, I'm deadly, little missy," he growled, unsympathetically. "Now, out with it, what was it you did? Rob someone?"

"No," I bit out.

"Beat someone up?"

"No."

"Join a gang?"

"No, Dad, what the hell?" I demanded, stepping away from Miriam to fling out my hands. Her eyes widened slightly, and she raised her hands as if I was the unstable one. "Why would you think I'd do any of that stuff?"

"Christ, cause you've always done stuff like that!" he shouted back then slapped his forehead in realisation. "Oh, I knew this day would come."

My whole body went numb. I couldn't feel anything from below my neck. And yet I found myself still screaming at him. "I'm sorry I'm not perfect like your precious Olga!"

His lips curled with cruelty. "So am I!"

And just like that, his words were like a baseball bat to the ribs. I gripped onto the counter so tightly that my palms burned. I turned down to the floor, my head hanging low, as water burned in my eyes.

I didn't know what he saw on my face, but something flickered across his own face in response. A wicked silence settled over us that only made the hole in my chest ache more. I saw Miriam step forward, but I turned away from both of them and left the kitchen.

As I marched up the stairs, I could hear Miriam hiss, "B!"

"D–Don't give me that look, Miriam!" Bob stuttered as I stomped down the hallway. "She's always been a delinquent—"

I slammed my bedroom door shut with a loud whack. Nel, who had been sitting on my window sill, jumped up with alarm and turned to me.

"Goodness, Helga," she panted, "was that necessary?"

"Sorry," I muttered. "Did I interrupt your beauty sleep?"

Her eyes flashed and I turned away to my close to chuck the stupid bag into a dark corner. I didn't know what to do with myself, with all this anger flowing through my veins, and settled for glaring at that stupidly pink shopping bag.

I heard Nel jump down from my window and slowly crawl over towards me. She sat by my feet and looked up curiously.

"Are you alright, Helga?" she asked calmly.

"Alright?" I spun around and laughed without amusement. "Oh, I'm fucking fantastic!"

I tried swallowing my anger as if it were a seed, but Nel's question made it burst like a flaming dragon. I marched across the room for my vanity and glared into my red–laced eyes. But they were the same colour of . . . his.

"Except for the fact that I'm standing under the same roof as a fucking ASSHOLE!" My hands struck out and swept everything off my vanity. Glass smashed onto the floor as nail polish splattered across my legs and shoes.

Nel jumped defensively. "Helga—!"

"BASTARD!" I screamed and kicked over my chair. Every second stung and fuelled the fire that burned inside me. I grabbed a hold of it again and threw it across the room. It clattered loudly into the wall and tangled up in my curtains. My nails dug into my bed as I pulled it apart; sheets were ripped from the mattress as pillows flew across the room.

My knuckles were pounding, the bruising still hadn't healed, and for a moment I was worried I'd torn the skin. Looking down, heat sunk into my stomach when I saw the red that spread across the wrapping. I roared and pulled back my fist to bury deep into the wall when Nel finally spoke up.

"No—NO!" she shouted. "We can't afford you putting holes in the walls."

Even in my blind rage, I knew that she had a point. So, I groaned and turned back to my vanity where I kicked it repeatedly. My toes burned but I couldn't stop it. Burning rage hissed through my body and I gritted my teeth together to keep back my screams.

I don't know how long I kept this up, but eventually I was left in a totally wrecked nightmare of my room. I collapsed in an entanglement of quivering limbs and raked through my hair. My breath was shallow, I could feel some of the blood threading through the blond tendril which burst from their ponytails and fell against my shoulders.

"Better?"

I scowled at Nel, who had calmly sat from her spot outside my closet. Her face was scrunched with concern, but her eyes were hard. I stood up and began pushing my bed and moving it across my room.

"What on earth—"

"They're not coming in," I muttered.

"What?"

The bed slammed against my shut door and I leaned on the frame to catch my breath. The walls were beginning to spin, and my lungs felt tight.

"Not that they'll care," I muttered and slid down the frame until I was back on the ground. "But they're not welcome."

My knuckles were stinging. I looked down and yanked the useless wrap from my hand, chucking the bloody things over my shoulder. My pale hand was coloured with purple bruises, especially along the knuckles, and thin lines of red trailed from the small cuts.

I grabbed the closest article of clothing I could reach for—a pink, oversized T–shirt—and wrapped it tightly around my fist. I hissed, the pain only increasing from the pressure, and slammed the back of my head against the bed frame.

"How are you feeling?" Nel asked me softly.

"Fucking peachy."

"Helga," she scowled, and I looked up at her. She was so tiny, but the way she spoke, it was like she was even bigger then me. "You've torn apart your room and your hand is bleeding, what brought this on?"

"Don't act like you couldn't hear that bullshit downstairs," I scoffed.

"I want you to tell me what happened though," she insisted, her ears flattening. Confused, I raised an eyebrow at her. "It's a much healthier alternative to yours."

"Fine, you want me to talk about my feelings? Fine!" I jumped up to my feet and started pacing. "I was almost fucking raped tonight—Lila and Savannah were almost raped! Because I was a fucking idiot!"

"What?" Nel demanded, her eyes widening. "Raped? Helga, what happe—"

"I wanted to fucking leave! All I was thinking about was myself—so I made them come into this alleyway and they were almost hurt! No, Lila was hurt!" I kicked my vanity again and let out a strangled sob. "Some twat hit her—she has a fucking bruise cause of me! They were almost raped cause of me!"

A short silence followed, Nel looking down to take in the words that I spat at her. Slowly, I sank down to my knees, trying to gulp down air, and gripped my elbows. The walls began shaking, the roof spinning, and my breath echoed in my ears.

"Helga," Nel said in a low voice. "If it wasn't for you—"

"They wouldn't have been in that alleyway to begin with," I mumbled, my voice hoarse. I looked away, turning up to the mirror, where I saw how red my face had turned. Seeing how my eyebrows pressed down over my sharp eyes, I realised how much I resembled Bob.

"You're being too hard on yourself—"

"Am I?' I laughed bitterly. "What if I wasn't Blue Jay—what if I hadn't learnt to fight? Would I still be 'too hard on myself?'"

As expected, Nel fell silent and her face drained of any assurance.

"Exactly," I finally said, clucking my tongue. "Let's face it, when people are thanking me—it's really Blue Jay they're talking too."

I got up to my feet, ignoring the wooziness that almost sent me tumbling back down. I slowly moved to my vanity where I yanked open the second drawer. The pin greeted me from the messy assortment of ugly, stripped underwear.

My fingers shook as I grasped the pin in my hand. The hole in my chest burned as I dragged up the pin to stare into the birds eyes. They were nothing special, just a dull brown colour, reminiscent like mine, but it felt like they were alive.

Tracing the ring that was wrapped around its feathers, I realised the tiny letters that had been carved so delicately. They weren't of English, but I recognised the strikes and criss-crosses; it was the same writing that was on my knife.

"I may not have been her, but . . . it was her strength, her slugging them . . . Blue Jay was what got us out of that mess, but Helga—" I broke off with a shaky sigh. "—Helga got us into it. Da—Bob's right. I'm a . . . stupid delinquent. Nothing more."

Nel's eyes went wide before she pinned me with a glare. "That's not true," she told me.

I sighed, turning to sit down on my vanity, and laid my hands down onto my lap. "Nel—"

"It's not true," she snapped. She moved suddenly, jumping up onto my vanity to sit down next to me.

"Listen, Helga, from the short week I've been living here, I've come to realise that Bob—while not a bad man—is nowhere near faultless," she said. "He's neglectful, insensitive and incompetent. Remember that when he throws abuse your way."

I had to look away when she said that word.

I remembered when we were younger, and I finally opened up to Phoebe about my home life. She used that word to when describing my relationship with Bob and offered her home to me if I ever needed it. While I'd been surprised and warmed that Phoebe cared so much that she would open her door for me, her defining my family like that had angered me. I couldn't understand why since, by all accounts, I didn't have a good relationship with anyone in this hellhole. But something about that word made me want to defend them.

"I—I understand that, as he is your father, you've come to value his opinion, even if you don't want to admit it," Nel continued, this time in a quieter voice. "I understand that—but, Helga, never call yourself what he does. You're not a delinquent. And you're certainly more then Olga's sister.

A strange feeling bubbled within me and I turned to look back at Nel. She offered me a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes, they were much too ripe full of emotions.

"Well, what do you know?" I found myself snapping. "You dum—"

"You're Blue Jay."

"Yeah, I know," I said, rolling my eyes. "She's a fucking golden child, but—"

"No, Helga," Nel shook her head and stood on all her fours. "You're not listening—you are Blue Jay."

I stared at her incredulously. Did she really think I was that dumb that I hadn't put that together yet?

"Are you—"

"No, I've listened to you," Nel snapped, but in such an even voice, despite the edge of finality in the tone. It was a voice that commanded me to sit still and shut my mouth. "Now, you're going to be the one to listen for once in your god damn life."

My mouth opened as I found myself being glared at by this tiny black cat. One that looked at me like I was a student who had been caught misbehaving in her class. But I couldn't force myself to say anything, so I settled for silently nodding along.

"Good," Nel nodded and sat back down, the tension draining from her form. "Helga, do you know why the pin chose you?" I shook my head. "Neither did I. Not at first. When I had first met you, I'd thought of you as rude, pompous and selfish."

I frowned. "Hey—"

"Shh," she interrupted me without a pause. "But then . . . I saw how hard you pushed yourself. You were so scared the first night and declined it all right away. And yet . . . you still did it. You dried your tears and accepted your role. You didn't even let your powers vanishing stop you. You were still scared, but . . . kept reminding yourself of those who you loved. You reminded yourself what you had to fight for. You reminded yourself of what would happen if you gave up."

She looked at me in a way that I knew she wanted me to repeat those words that had slowly become my motto. "If we don't fight," I recited with a deep breath, "how can we win?"

"Yes," she nodded. "I didn't think you'd take it so literally, but I'm glad you did. Because it has been your perseverance, and stubbornness—" she broke off with a slight, forced laugh, "—that Earth hasn't been invaded. We're only here because you stood against those beasts."

Something about my words was making me feel uncomfortable. I turned my face to the moon that hung high outside my window. It was tranquil and majestic, despite appearing broken.

"And yet, I'm nothing more then a delinquent in my darling father's eyes," I said dryly. "Listen, Nel, thanks for trying to cheer me up, but, face it, even if I am so great as Blue Jay, no one will ever know that about Helga. I'm never going to be anything but a second best to Olga."

We sat in silence for a moment, just drinking in each other's presence, before Nel gave a quiet hum.

"The only one who can decide your worth—is you. If you want to earn something, you need to reach for it," she told me. "That's how it works. To make your ambitions come true, you have to take risks."

Slowly, I turned my head to look back at her. I was surprised by how bold her eyes appeared, more then usual. The rich, amethyst colour drowned in hope, crisp and cool.

"We're—" I felt woozy. "We're not talking about being Blue Jay anymore, are we?"

"You already do a great deal as Blue Jay by helping people. But you have an even greater potential in helping people if you help yourself first," she said, smiling. "You must be good to yourself."

Her words burned into my skin as the hole began aching again. But it wasn't the same like before, where it made me want to punch and scream until my throat was raw. Instead, this time it made me want to cry, not from despair, but relief.

My eyes began burning as my earlier despair fell around me, dying and decaying. "Thanks, Nel," I said, breathless. My voice was heavy, my throat raw from the emotion that swirled inside me, and I quickly wiped away the mist from my eyes.

She nodded, with a smile that reminded me of butterscotch.

But something must have occurred to her because her smile quickly vanished as solemness took over. I held back a groan, recognising that look. It was the one that suggested we had to get down to Guardian business.

"Oh, and that reminds me, that—well, I'd hoped that I could tell you under better circumstance, but—" she shifted uncomfortably. I raised an eyebrow, wiping my nose with my sleeve, and she cleared her throat. "—well, I've managed to locate the next Guardian."

"Really?" My eyes flew wide open and I sat up straight, my heart in my throat. "Well, that's awesome, Nel. Who is it?"

She took in my eagerness with blank eyes.

"Lila—" her words were slow. "It's Lila, Helga."

---

DUN DUN DUN!

Yeah, I know, it's not a twist. Y'all already my girl Lila was going to become a Guardian. But yayyy, Helga doesn't have to be alone (kinda!)

Anyway, yeah, I'm gonna try coming back sometime this week to tidy up the last third, cause I can't stand it. ALSO Y'ALL I FINALLY GOT TO WRITE SOME SHORTAKI! Granted, it was kinda small, but he did tell her she'd look nice in lingerie, so like . . . gotta count right? Sorry, I'm just focusing so much on Helga's development and building up the other Guardians. Speaking of which, who do you think the rest are? I'm curious to know if y'all already figured it out.

Anywhoozies, let's move onto the reviews:

Guest: Thanks, darl! Hopefully you enjoyed this chappie too!

WonkoTheSaneUK: Thanks, mate! It shall be noted!

dvd123: Girl, you're so consistent and I love you for it! I'm definitely glad you pointed out that pen thing cause I'm actually gonna bring it up again a little bit later! So, thanks a lot for that, darl! Yes, Lila is amazing and we all need one! Thanks so much, your reviews always make my day! 3

Sargentakpompi: Hey, thanks man! Appreciated!

acosta perez jose ramiro: Thanks man, the battle scenes are the worst to write! XD Wow, you really hit the nail on the head with that! Yeah, Helga has major jealousy issues and a bias against attracrive women because of it. She also would have some interalised misognistic habits, such as brushing off Wonder Woman as nothing more then a man's wet dream, which I'd love to deconstruct! But yes, thanks girl, your review was so exciting to read!

JayDogg187: Awwww, thank you so much! This just melts my heart! Yes, Helga is one of my favourite characters I've honestly written the perspective from! She's just such an interesting, cynical gal! But thanks for you review!

Guest 2#: I was so happy to see your review, darl! Hopefully, I can get another one out soon! But thank you, it was greatly appreciated!

Okay, so that's me done guys! I'll start working on the next chapter as soon as i wake up (I pulled an all nighter rip). But reviews make me work extra harder, so :D

Also, if you have any questions, DO NOT hesitate to ask on my tumblr! I love interacting with y'all! But anyway, see y'all next chapter!

Song(s): Fire by Diskopunk