Chapter 6 - Dirty Little Secrets

Classes started up in Westchester just ahead of a fresh blizzard, which was kind of aesthetically pleasing to Elin anyhow. All traces of the old year were covered over with a couple feet of fresh snow, and all of the trails that led in and out of the forests around the school were swept clean. It was the very best part of a blizzard after all — how fresh and untouched everything looked once the wind died down.

And though the wind was gone, the snow kept coming in big, puffy flakes that were relaxing to watch out of the windows while she should have been paying attention to her math. She wasn't even with it enough to hear the bell ring, so wrapped up in watching the snow that Scott had to prompt her to move along.

She gave him an almost sheepish grin as she gathered up her books and slipped out of the classroom, only to nearly run face-first into Nolan, who, of course, was waiting for her. "I was hoping to catch you," he said, offering his arm to her as he kept close.

She gave him a tight sort of smile, and, after a moment, she took his arm and tried to get moving to her next class. "Why did you want to catch me?" she asked, frowning at his wording.

"I … thought I should apologize for springing that on you. I got wrapped up. Shouldn't have done it," he said, though to her, she could still smell a slight tang of anger mixed into the rest of his scent.

But she ignored it for the time being and simply nodded before he pulled her into a little alcove and then into a kiss that she absolutely was not expecting. She put a hand on his chest and pushed to get him to back off, and though he did, he didn't seem to want to take his hands off of her — regardless of where they were or who was around.

She didn't say much about it or argue with him about it for the first day or so, thinking that he'd knock it off once he realized she wasn't still stuck on the ring issue, but the closer they got to the weekend, the worse he got. And she was starting to get mad about it.

He pulled his little trick of yanking her into a hidden corner — again — but when he leaned in to kiss her, she avoided him with a growl. "You need to stop. I don't mind a little assertiveness, but you're not listening to me."

Nolan shook his head and reached up to hold her head still while he kissed her anyhow, but that was definitely over the line, and she wasn't having it at all.

Half a second later, she'd hauled back, punched him in the throat, and kicked him across the hall, sending him sprawling even if he wasn't truly injured. "Touch me again, and you won't get it back," Elin growled out. "I tried to be nice. I tried to let you down easy … but you just … ugh."

She spun on her heel and stalked off, growling low the whole way to Scott's office, where she knocked politely and then nearly stormed in when he told her it was open.

"I just wanted to let you know that I got into a fight," Elin said, hands on her hips and still looking like someone was gonna get it.

Scott had clearly not been expecting that, and he looked up at Elin with his eyebrows high on his head. "What happened?"

"Nolan didn't want to take 'back off' for an answer, so I punched him in the throat and kicked him across the hall," she explained. "He's probably still there."

Scott's shoulders relaxed, and he looked back down at what he was doing. "Oh. Well, that's not a fight. You're fine. That's just him learning a life lesson."

"I beat the crap out of him," she said, looking a little surprised at his non-reaction.

"He didn't take no for an answer?"

She shook her head and crossed her arms.

"Then I don't see the problem here," Scott said simply.

She stood there for a long moment, frowning slightly, before she finally took a step back. "Okay then," Elin said slowly. "Do you have time later to go down to the Danger Room with me?"

"Sure. Can it wait until after the team practice I'm running for the senior squad?"

She nodded at that but didn't have anything to add, still in a little shock at him not punishing her for what felt like a repeated behavior.

Scott looked up at last from the intel he had been reading and shot her a small smile. "Actually, I'm glad to hear it. I know Charlie tries to look out for pushy guys, and she's been worried," he said before he got to his feet and pulled her into a hug. "I'm just sorry he upset you — I'm not sorry he got what he deserved."

"You're really biased; you know that, right?" she said into his shirt as she hugged him back.

"Hey, if it had been James pushing a girl, I'd be sitting here telling him he got what he deserved when she beat him up," he pointed out.

"He wouldn't do that," she said with a little smirk.

"No, but I'm just saying — you did what you were supposed to."

"Thank you," she told him, giving him one more squeeze before he let her go. "I'll meet you in the booth after your session, if that's alright."

"See you then."

The junior squad was getting ready for another mission together, once more looking into the cult, though this was a smaller group than the ones they had dealt with before. That was a relief for Krissy to hear, since she was still a little wary of dealing with these guys and had even asked to wear an inhibitor so she wouldn't get targeted this time.

It wasn't like the rest of the team didn't wear masks — since Scott wanted the kids to be able to have normal lives regardless of whether or not they were on the team, and since Chance and Elin both needed to stay off of people's radars. So Scott hadn't argued in the least — and Krissy was ready to go once she was blonde and Chance had teased her about cheating on her with … her.

And actually, it hadn't been that bad — the cultists had scattered when the team showed up, and it was actually pretty cathartic to burn down some of their creepy magic stuff.

Krissy had just stamped out some of the last embers of some burned up old scrolls before she dropped beside Elin and shook her head. "I'm really starting to hate these guys," she said.

"Well, they are kind of asking you to," she pointed out reasonably.

"They… really kind of are," Krissy admitted, watching Sying blow up a few more artifacts as the boys seemed to be enjoying the destructive part of the mission. "But hey, the boys get to blow off steam."

"We have to let them do something so that they feel like they're helping," Elin said with a nod, turning her head to look for any incoming trouble.

Krissy leaned back a bit. "Plus, I think Chance might still be mad at them too," she said. "Shoved him around, carried me off…"

"Yeah, he holds a grudge," she agreed.

"It hit all the white knight buttons," Krissy giggled.

"Which is exactly what you want out of a guy, darling damsel," Elin teased.

"Oh, obviously," Krissy said, smiling toward the boys, who were now joking around with each other, before she turned back Elin's way and hit her shoulder with her own. "You're in a good mood, Ellie."

"Well, I didn't get in trouble for getting in a fight. That has a way of lightening me up a little bit."

Krissy sat up straighter. "What?"

Elin waved one hand. "Not important."

"Umm, yes it is, because if there are people that need stabbing…"

"I am perfectly capable of stabbing them myself," Elin pointed out before she leaned over and bumped her back. "But I appreciate the thought."

"Hey, sometimes I like being the knight instead of the damsel," Krissy laughed. "Seriously. Can't I at least give whoever it was dirty looks? I feel like I'm failing my best friend duties."

"You mean more dirty looks?" Elin asked.

Krissy raised an eyebrow. "Wait. You and Nolan had a fight?"

"Not exactly. I had a punching session."

"Well, yeah, you can wipe the floor with him, obviously, but Ellie."

"What?" Elin said, turning back her way. "You didn't like him anyhow."

"No, I didn't, but… what happened? I thought you were set on screwing around and I was never going to change your mind and then all of a sudden you drop this on me and…."

"Which … was kind of what was happening, until he decided that was all we were going to do. And he didn't want to back off when I told him to. So …" She planted her fist in the opposite palm. "Throat punch. Kicked him across the hall. That's it."

Krissy stared at her for a moment before she broke into a smile. "I'm so sorry, Elin," she said, even though she was smiling wider.

"Why?"

"That's a required line when your best friend has a breakup, I think. I've checked it off the checklist, so I can be happy he's gone now, right?" Krissy asked, grinning even wider.

"You were happy before that, and you know I would never stand in the way of someone's happiness."

Krissy just laughed and then hugged her friend. "You really are the best. You know that, right? And I'm excited for you to move on from Mr. Handsy and find someone you like."

"Right," Elin said, shaking her head. "I'll just be waiting around forever. It's fine."

"Oh please," Krissy said, waving her hand. "You are the second prettiest girl our age. After me, of course. You'll find someone sweet and wonderful and not at all pushy in no time."

"I don't want to," Elin said, shaking her head. "I'm this close to asking your dad for that list of convents."

"He would throw a party," Krissy told her, one eyebrow quirked up. "But then we'd have to change your codename."

"I don't have a codename."

"I know. We need to fix that too," Krissy agreed. "That's our next thing. We'll focus on boys later."

"I don't want to focus on boys," Elin said, shaking her head. "I got mixed up with this one because I got bored."

"Oh, well, that's just unacceptable. If you're ever bored, call me."

"You're busy," she replied.

Krissy grinned at her. "Yes, I am, but still. I like to be the knight sometimes, remember?"

"Nope, not getting in the way of you rescuing your knight," Elin said. "I'll figure it out."

"Actually, he did the rescuing this time," Krissy said.

"This time."

"No offense, Ellie, but I hope it stays that way, because the Summers problems tend to be… awful." She grinned at Elin. "I like saving you from boredom better."

"If I ever get that bored again, I'm jumping off a cliff."

"Oh, don't do that," Krissy said seriously. "At least go tease the Lee twins or something! They need someone they can't read messing with them."

"I'll think about it," Elin said before she let out a whistle for the boys to move on.

Sying was still in a good mood after getting to blow some things up on the mission to bust up some cultists, and he wanted to share the good mood — so when he found Penny curled up with the book they were reading for Kate's class, he climbed onto the couch with her and grinned at her.

"How far are you?" he asked.

"Chapter twelve."

"Great; we only need the first ten for class," he said, grinning even wider, though when he shifted closer and moved to kiss her, she turned back to the book, and he stopped, his eyebrows raised. "What's up?"

Penny took in a breath and let it out through her nose before she put a bookmark in her place and then turned to face Sying. "Did you know Dr. McCoy knows what we've been up to?"

Sying bit his lip and then nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. Super sniffer. And it's not like we've been sneaking around anymore," he pointed out, trying to pull a smile out of her with one of his own, but when that still didn't work, he tipped his head to the side. "What, did he say something to you?"

"He just pointed out that we were young," Penny said.

"Yeah, I got that too," Sying said. He watched her for a moment, the frown still in place. "Look, if you're not comfortable, we don't have to do anything like that — we can just go dancing or something."

Penny bit her lip before she shook her head, looking fairly upset herself. "I don't want to — I don't want to have to worry about what all the teachers — I don't like being in the spotlight," she said, not quite forming the thought or able to meet Sying's gaze. "Your whole family knows everything we get up to, and I … don't … I'm not comfortable with that."

Sying's expression fell as he watched the way Penny was shifting in her seat. "Is it just because they're the staff here? Because… I can ask them to back off or something."

Penny shook her head. "This was more fun when it was just us," she said. "Now it's like the whole school has an opinion."

Sying stared at her. "Penny…"

She got to her feet and took her book with her. "I'm really sorry, Sying," she said - which was true, she was definitely crying, which wasn't helping things at all when he wanted to take her dancing to cheer her up. "I hope you find someone who can handle the spotlight, but I just… can't," she said before she ducked her head and hurried off, leaving Sying sitting on the couch staring after her in pure shock.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there before he felt the overwhelming urge to get out of the house. It had been the same when Chance and Krissy had started dating — but he was a little older now and wasn't going to leave without telling anyone where he was going. He'd learned his lesson twice over on that one.

So he made his way down to where he knew Elin would be down in the gym about that time of day — it was a habit for her at this point now that she didn't have Nolan occupying her time to let out some energy that way instead. He pushed open the door to find that she was, in fact, just doing her cool-down stretches, already sweaty and tired from what must have been a good workout. Which also meant it was later than he'd realized.

"Hi, Sying," Elin sang out. "Wanna run through the uneven bars with me? I kinda wanted to surprise your mom with some flipping skills."

"Not… really," Sying said, though as soon as he had opened his mouth to answer her, he felt hot tears start pouring down his cheeks and had to sit down as the emotions finally hit him instead of just the shock.

She froze for just an instant before she rushed over to him and wrapped him up in a hug. "What happened?"

"Penny broke up with me," he said quietly.

"What happened? Did she figure out you were prettier than her?"

Despite himself, Sying had to smile and shook his head. "She didn't want to date someone whose whole family gets involved… or something," he muttered.

"So she … wait. She's got a problem because people care about you? Or … is it a team thing and she takes issues with you being so amazingly heroic? I don't know which way to get mad here."

"She said she didn't want the spotlight," Sying explained. "You… you don't have to get mad at her." He tried to wipe at his face quickly. "It's not fair — I mean — it's not — but… but we grew up with the whole school on our side. I guess that's a lot of pressure."

"That's a crap excuse, and you know it."

Sying let his shoulders drop and leaned into Elin a little more as he nodded. "I really liked her, Elin," he mumbled into her shirt.

"I know. And I'm sorry for that," she replied, snuggling up with him.

Sying let himself cry for a little bit longer, glad that Elin was there, before he finally tried to get a hold of himself a little more. "I want… I was going to go for a while," he mumbled at last.

"Where did you want to go? I'm sure Moira would let you in for a little while. Just to breathe."

"Maybe," Sying said with a nod. "I just… maybe … I was thinking someplace more tropical. Like that island the Wagners own or the atoll in the Pacific."

"Alex in Hawaii is always a good option, and he bends over backwards to be the cool Summers."

"He does," Sying said with a smirk. "Maybe I'll find him after I clear my head, but I just want to have a good freakout, really. Throw some fireworks over the ocean or something."

"Please, don't forget a few tracers and all the bells and whistles." Elin smiled at him almost sadly. "Wish I could go with you, but I'm on like … bad decisions watch."

Sying smiled a bit at that. "Yeah, me too. That's why I wanted to tell someone first," he admitted. "I promise: I'm not going to space, and I'll bring the panic button and everything. I just want some air. So I don't… hit something."

"Check in, please."

"Definitely. I don't want my favorite aunt to worry," Sying agreed before he wiped his face with the back of his hand and straightened up. He gave her another quick hug and then headed out, sure to grab a comm while he was at it.