Mako's Message: ...The only thing I can say about this chapter is "I regret nothing."

I'd now like to direct your attention to the awesome cover art submitted buy Coasting. He(or she) is the current PC Cover Art Champion and will recieve a fic with the subject/plot of their choice, provided it doesn't spoil the ending of this story. Anyone who submits a better(Higher quality, more appropriate, more eye catching) picture, will also get a fic and credit in the description. Same deal for anyone who subits a better picture than THAT one.

Or nobody really cares/is that ambitious and we'll just keep this one up for the rest of time. Either way is fine with me.


Today was...surprising.

But in a good way. I guess. Which was nice, since the buzz I had from being able to cut loose on Halloween been dying a slow painful death. Pretty much from the moment Dave called Riley it'd been all downhill.

Well, not ALL downhill. The next day one of my classmates was bragging about Hit Girl saving her and her friends from some some lunatic who had been chasing them. And this other guy was telling second hand stories about how his older brother was saved by Hit Girl from a guy who was about to fire bomb the bar he worked at. They both thought she was awesome, which had me feeling pretty good about myself.

Angela, however, had to ruin that buzz by saying, "Well, Mindy saved me and Jessi from one of those wackjobs herself!" So I had to spend the rest of the day being as modest as possible and saying that I just panicked and swung when the guy came at us and got lucky.

Maybe it was unnecessary but I spent the rest of the day looking for opportunities to trip just to add a little extra layer to my deception.

Anyway today we were hanging out at Atomic Comics since today was one of the rare days that Dave and I don't go out AND Dave doesn't have to work. (He usually likes to go out on his days off from work, since he can actually rest before patrol) And I was sitting with Dave, but not as close as I usually would, because...it was almost torture. I could sit right up next to him if I wanted, in private he'll let me sit on his lap, on Halloween we probably could have slept in the same bed. But being that close to Dave and knowing that I was never going to get any closer to him, not while I'm a "pre-teen" and especially not while he has Riley, just fucking hurts. It feels like I'm trying to break through a brick wall.

So we were just sitting and bullshitting about stuff and generally having a good time, and I went up to get another drink, and started looking through some comics while they were making it, when someone came up behind me and said, "No wonder you want him. He is a cutie."

There was absolutely nothing threatening in what she said, but the implication that anyone had figured out I was interested in Dave, or worse, my secret identity, was enough to make me freeze up.

I turned and there was a woman leaning back against the racks opposite me holding her hands up in front of her, "Don't hit" she said, "It's just me."

I feel kinda stupid for not recognizing her, and I probably would have figured it out if I'd had a few more seconds and hadn't been freaking out about one or more of my biggest secrets being found out, but I didn't realize who it was until she said, "Does this help?" and flipped the hood of her jacket up so that it hung down in front of her eyes.

Yes. White Mage. The member of Justice Forever with the least concealing costume, and I didn't recognize her.

I should have known it was just from what she said. Nobody who could have figured out I like Dave wouldn't have known what he looked liked, and the one person I did tell only knew us in costume.

She asked, "We okay?"

And I said, "Yeah, but did you have to sneak up on me like that?"

Then she smirked at me and said, "What should I have done? Said, 'Hi Hit Girl, nice to see you?'"

I grudgingly had to admit that she probably had picked the best way to introduce herself.

So then she asked how things were going "on the Dave front" and I was about to tell her about homecoming and what a disaster that'd turned out to be when I realized that there were regular customers around that might hear. And since I'm not just a regular but a pretty unique one they'd be sure to recognize me and of course they new Dave. And since he's usually here with me I think most people just assumed I was his sister or something and I had no desire to make people start questioning our relationship by letting them overhear my pathetic attempt at seduction.

So I took my drink and asked if she felt like walking around the block with me.

She didn't say much, but by the smile on her face I think she thought my plan to win him over by showing up at the dance looking all done up and pretty was cute. She half laughed and half cringed when I told her about Riley, which made me want to step on her foot, but she was my only ally in this so I decided against it. Even if I was just playing around. Sorta.

When I finished telling her about the dance, and about Dave calling Riley(who we refer to as BBS, for Blond BombShell) right after the meeting on Halloween how he'd stepped away from me to have talk to her about things that were obviously not about her safety she said, "Well, I doubt this would have helped, but I think you made a mistake trying to be Cinderella at the dance. You should have tried to be...'Hit Girl In A Dress', I guess. Your uniqueness is your biggest strength. You're different from pretty much every other girl on the planet, so you shouldn't try to blend in with the others. At least, not where Dave is concerned."

I told her, "'Hit Girl In A Dress' sounds fine on paper, but I was trying to avoid wearing something that might give away my identity. I already have a reputation for kicking ass, and I'm kind of the star of the cheerleaders-" and that was when I knew I'd said too much.

She covered up her snicker pretty fast, but I still heard it. When I looked over it seemed the only thing she was trying to not do was laugh out loud. She was standing there covering her mouth with both hands, shaking in silent laughter. Finally she pulled her hands away long enough to blurt out, "Youracheerleader?" before covering her mouth again.

I glared at her until she stopped laughing, then I said, "Yeah. But it was to get my friend on the team."

She still seemed far too amused for my liking, but she was trying to figure out how that worked so at least she wasn't laughing at me any more. Finally she gave up, "Okay, how exactly does joining the team get her a spot on...you joined on the condition that she'd get a spot too, didn't you?"

I...half grinned half grimaced(Is there a word for that?), and said, "Yup. They saw me warming up with her, and even though I wasn't trying out they decided that they just had to have me, and she just missed making the team so I took advantage."

"That's really cool of you." she said.

I thanked her and said, "It's kinda fun, but it ends up being more trouble than it's worth most of the time. I mean, even with all the shit Dave caught when it was going around that he was screwing me I still catch guys checking me out. It's annoying."

She laughed and said, "Well, if there's one thing that's nearly impossible for the teenaged male to ignore it's a nice pair of legs, regardless of how young they are."

I snorted, "Maybe they should take lessons from Dave. He doesn't have any trouble ignoring me."

Then she looked at me for a minute and said, "Have you tried prancing around in front of him in your cheerleading uniform?"

I'll be honest, I hadn't considered that. I usually try to forget that I'm a cheerleader since it just seems so...shallow and vapid. Our team is actually pretty cool though, Cameron's a real leader and not just an Alpha Bitch with a bunch of...sycophants trailing along behind her. She's actually interested in cheerleading as a sport, so she doesn't put up with prissy bitches who just want to look pretty and be popular.

Once she suggested it though, I started wondering how I could arrange that. But then I remembered Riley. So I told her, "Thanks for the suggestion, but even if I really am pretty up here," and I drew a circle in the air around my face, "this" and I drew a bigger air circle around the rest of my body, "isn't going to lure a guy away from a girl who could be a Victoria Secret model."

She laughed again and said, "You ARE pretty. And you don't need to go exaggerating things like that. You'll only discourage yourself."

I said, "I'm not exaggerating. She got an offer from them."

She stopped so suddenly I honestly though she'd walked into a pole. She said, "Wait. What? Seriously?"

So I explained about the impromptu fashion show she'd put on with Angela at the mall and how the regional manager was going to try and set her up with an audition.

She looked at me and said, "You poor girl. Don't worry though, you are pretty, and once you fill out a bit you'll have a phenominal figure. And your hair is amazing, how do you fit all this under that wig?" It looked like she was going to try and reach out to touch my hair, but she stopped once she realized what she was doing. I probably would have let her though. It's kind of like Dillon taking photos only more objectifying, like she sees me as a doll or something.

Anyway, I answered her question with a grin and, "It's my only super power."

She laughed and said, "I miss having long hair. I kept it cut short while I was over seas and just got used to having it short. I don't know if I could go back." Then she shook her head and said, "Point is, I'm sure if you just keep trying you'll get your man eventually. But if you start getting impatient and want some suggestions feel free to ask."

I smiled and said, "Why are you trying so hard to help me?"

She smirked at me and said, "Because if there's one girl in this whole city that deserves a good dicking it's you."

And to think I was worried about confiding in this woman.

By then we'd circled around the block and were coming back to Atomic Comics. Dave was standing outside looking around and he jogged over when he saw us and said, "Todd said someone walked off with you. I-" and then he stopped, and I think he decided to say something else because he kept looking at her, "I didn't believe him, but, here you are...safe and sound so, uh...you want to introduce me to your friend?"

I think he recognized her a lot faster than I did, but he was assuming she didn't know who he was. She held out her hand and said, "Alice."

So I said, "She was trying to talk me into ditching you as a patrol partner. She was making some convincing arguments. You're gonna have to step up your game if you want to stay my partner."

Dave's expression was priceless. He didn't even know where to start with that. It took him about a minute to pull himself together and he finally said, "Well...then I'll just team with...uhm...shit..." Then he snapped his fingers and said, "The Guardian!"

And my eyes shot wide open and I said, "You wouldn't dare."

And so he said, "Well I'm sure as hell not going to downgrade."

I glared at him and said, "Are you implying that he's better than me?"

I don't know what Dave would have come back with because Alice chimed in then with, "Aww. You two are so cute. You fight like an old married couple." complete with tilted head resting on folded hands. Then she said, "Well, it's been fun meeting you two oh-oh-cee, but I only stopped in here for a quick cup of coffee and need to get going."

So we said our goodbyes and went back into the store. Before we got to the table he asked how she figured us out, and I just shrugged and said, "I recognized her and I just felt like saying hi."

I don't think Dave believed me, but he didn't call me on my lie either.

From there on the rest of the day was unremarkable. We hung out a bit longer, we went home, I did homework, I worked out, and I texted Angela and Jessi. Woo.