Gambling Time: Chapter Four
Seeing Katie's car turn onto the street ahead of me, I finished putting out the last feeler. Despite being in a time crunch I most likely wouldn't see any replies until later this afternoon, at the earliest. Which was fine. I was going to be trapped in Arcadia for a good part my daylight hours anyway.
Getting in the back of the car when it stopped Sam asked from the driver's seat, "What's the word?"
"Supply run. Sam, I appreciate what you said earlier, but there's no reason for you guys to get involved and ruin things. I can piece together a burn team easily enough."
"Let's just pretend you didn't say that, alright?" Sam grunted before holding his hand out, "Shopping list?"
"Fine, yeah, here," I sighed, handing him the paper Uber gave me. "Danny's going to be very upset with us if this deal goes sideways and we all get pinched."
"They have to catch us first," he muttered.
"Here," Katie said handing me a bundle of clothes from the passenger seat. "Penny figured with the sudden meet you wouldn't have time to come back to the house. Sent us with your stuff for school."
"Thanks," I said relieved, taking the bundle. "And thank Penny for me when you get back please."
"Will do."
Setting my clothes to the side, I took the go bag Katie handed to me. Thankfully it had all my hygiene supplies for when I didn't have time to stop by the apartment.
"Lots of stuff here," Sam noted while I tended to the necessities. "Quine."
"That's what I was thinking."
"Any idea on where we're working?"
"A few," I hedged. True be told, I didn't really have much of an idea yet. Uber's suggestions might pan out, but I preferred doing my own homework. "I'll know more later. If I have to I'll ask Circus for details, but I'd rather leave them out of this one if I can. I don't know their employer and most likely they'd have to use him to get what we need."
"Yeah, some pockets are harder to get out of than others. You know we're going to need a crew. What's our time frame?"
"Wednesday night."
"Not much time. Off the top of my head, we're going to need a couple of Frank Martin's, a handful of Jacks and an Avalon."
"I'll talk to Chubster," I answered the unspoken question. "He knows a few good guys who are hungry. As for Avalon, the docks are littered with them. Just need one that suits."
"Sounds good." Finished with the paper, he pocketed it. A quick tilt of the rear view mirror to give me some privacy preceded putting the car into drive. "Any standouts?"
"One. What's Penny doing today?"
Joining the conversation, Katie answered. "Said she was going to the Boardwalk to get a feel for what kind of opportunities she might have with the tourists here and see the sights. She also wanted to check out some of the fresh seafood vendors to see what there was to work with."
That sounded like her. "Can you ask her to swing by Brockton Memorial for me?"
"Sure. Any reason?"
"Yeah," I answered Finished with cleaning up, I removed my shoes so I could change. "Uber and Leet are interested in a kid there on the seventh floor. I'd like to know why."
"That doesn't sound bad, at all," Sam muttered.
Nodding to his point, Katie said, "I'll let her know. I'm sure she'll enjoy working over one or more of the doctors there for information."
"Penny would," I chuckled despite the dark overtones the conversation had taken. "Either way, what she finds out might change how this job ends."
"Shit," Sam cursed. "Damn right."
Looking out the window gave me a sense for how little time I had left to finish getting ready. However when I came across the shirt Penny picked out for me, I could help but sigh.
Turning it so Katie could see the front I asked, "Really?"
Smiling, Sam's girl shrugged. "What did you expect?"
"Remember how I told you to thank her for me earlier?" I said sourly. "Don't."
Sam's smirk confirmed that he knew about this. Payback was going to be a bitch later. For both of them.
"Even the devil on my shoulder sometimes whispers, 'WTF are you doing now?'", I read aloud. "This isn't what I had laid out this morning for my first day of school."
"Penny," Sam chuckled while keeping his eyes on the road.
"And where is my coat?" I groused.
"She said you weren't supposed to wear your work stuff at school," Katie answered seemingly just as amused by my reactions as Sam. "According to your deal with the Protectorate. She sent this coat for you though."
Looking at the object she held up, I slumped in my seat. "That's not my coat."
"It's warm," she said. "And leather."
"Not the point, Katie." Resigned, I put on the shirt Penny sent. It had the benefit of being clean and it wasn't like Penny gave me any options. "Not my style."
"I think that was the point, Renee. You're the one who said we're not supposed to make any waves."
"True," Sam added. "We're supposed to be walking the line till they lose interest. Since we're pulling a job, we'll have to be extra circumspect to avoid attention that's going to fall on us anyways once shit goes down."
"Fine," I sighed knowing they were right. Taking the stupid coat, I put it on. It was warm.
Still wasn't my style, but I'd make due.
When Sam turned on the street Arcadia was on, I took the little mirror from Katie as well as my makeup bag. It was almost showtime. Thankfully by the time Sam pulled into the parking lot, I just added the finishing touches.
"Sam, do you think you can pick me up around three?"
"Sure," he answered. "I can do that. Danny has us working a half day today. Training."
"Excellent. See you guys then. Thanks for the helping out this morning. You too, Katie."
Sam nodded with is usual smirk while Katie smiled. "No problem."
Getting out, I started making my way toward the entrance. Other arriving students made a nice crowd to move through. Didn't take much to lose myself in the press of adolescent humanity surrounding me.
Despite my thoughts on the outfit Penny forced on me, it helped to blend in. I was just another teen in the crowd until I got to the steps where Dennis was waiting for me.
He put some effort into his appearance today, which was thoughtful if needless of him. Next to him was another guy I'd seen hanging out with Dennis a few times. Well dressed in that casual rich boy way. That meant he was Dean, Dennis's sort of best friend until recent events.
Well, before me would be more accurate. I suppose I should have felt more guilty about that, but I didn't.
Looking bored, Dennis nodded along to whatever Dean was saying before he spotted me, eyes locked on mine. A warm, if slightly concerned smile greeted me as I moved from the crowd toward him.
"Bonjour, Dennis."
"Hey, Renée," he said. "You look really nice today."
"Sweet talker," I complimented before leaning in to kiss him on the cheek.
Turning away from the blushing teen, I greeted his friend. "Bonjour, Dean."
Like Dennis when I was approaching him, Dean stared right into my eyes. Unlike Dennis, Dean didn't seem to appreciate the view.
"I've been better, Renee wasn't it?"
"Oui." How cute, like he didn't know who I was. "I'm sorry about your car."
"Thanks?" he muttered. "I guess."
"I mean it. It was a really nice car."
"It was, yeah," he said, seemingly even more off balance the longer the conversation went on.
"Just so you are aware," I continued as if noticing nothing. "It wasn't personal. I didn't know that one was yours when I took it. I just needed a fast car and it was the closest."
"Okay…"
"If it helps at all, it gave its life for a good cause."
"You know what, it really doesn't," he almost growled. "I'm… trying. Yes, apparently you saved a girl from being kidnapped but couldn't you have jacked the explorer in the next spot!?"
Who would steal an Explorer when there was a Camaro available?
Plus, if you're going to steal a car, steal in style. But, I didn't say it outloud. No need to rub salt in the wound and he already seemed pretty pissed about the whole thing.
"It's not unsalvageable, Dean. If you wanted to restore it, I know some people who do body work. Straight cash though, no checks or cards and I wouldn't recommend asking too many questions, but they do excellent work. By the time they're done, you'd never know it was totaled."
He blinked at my smirk for a moment, and whipped his head as if trying to shake off what I'd just told him. Seemingly having had enough, Dean sighed before turning to Dennis, saying, "See you in Trig, man."
"Alright," Dennis replied while failing to hide his amusement at the situation.
"Have a good day, Renee," he said, with just enough cordiality to be polite while simultaneously implying that he would love to punch me in the face.
Huh, I guess he really was the gallant type. None of my friends could have pulled that off.
"That went well," I noted, watching Dean walk away seeming torn between anger and befuddled confusion.
"You're such a troll," Dennis laughed.
"I have my moments," I said, not arguing the point. "I just thought it would be better to just rip off the bandaid. Get it over with."
"That you did."
"Think it will help?"
"I doubt it."
"Yeah, you're probably right."
"Nice try though. Also, very funny. At least for me. I thought it was hilarious."
"Thank you. I do like to make a good first impression. For what it's worth, I am sorry. He was an ass and completely deserved it, but I didn't intend for it."
"Sure you didn't."
"Just a happy coincidence."
"Trust me, I doubt Dean will ever believe that," he laughed.
"See, this is why I rarely tell the truth," I pouted. "No one ever believes me."
"Yeah, I'm sure that is the reason." Hearing the bell ring, Dennis asked, "What's your first class?"
"Remedial English," I answered. "I apparently have problems with American English syntax and sentence structure. Which I will admit is an issue. Not a skill I really needed before. It's not like I'm the kind of villain who likes to leave notes to taught the police or heros."
Ignoring my point, Dennis stuck with the prior topic asking, "205, Ms. Strauss?"
"Yes."
"I'll show you where it is," he said before picking up his backpack and leading the way inside. "A friend of mine has the same class for the same reasons."
"And the fact you get to walk me to class has nothing to do with it, hmm?" I asked knowing better. "Fishing for a goodbye kiss, chéri?"
"Nope, not at all," he answered. His tone of fake innocence was worse than his poker face when he turned to me. "I'm a complete gentleman. No ulterior motives here, no ma'am."
XxXGambitXxX
The day passed in a series of classes, teachers and my peers. The classes themselves wouldn't have been so bad, except that while each seemed interesting on paper the reality of living through them differed greatly.
In short, they were boring. The subject matter distilled mostly into raw data that did little to hold my attention. There was also how my various teachers tried to present the most information for the subject at hand into the allotted time of the class allowed didn't help matters either. A situation made worse by my mere presence. A patterned repeated in every single class I was in. Even the hallways didn't provide much of a break.
Then again, I figured it was going to be like this. For a while anyway.
I imagine my situation wasn't much different for Glory Girl and Panacea when their powers kicked in. Teen interest for heroes in a world like ours was always high and being open about it in a social trainwreck like a high school was bound to create some issues. That said, after a period of adjustment, things settled down. That was what my research said, anyway.
For me, the first hurdle, and the most noticeable as I knew it would be, was my eyes. I was done with contacts, at least for things like this. My decision was made, I am who I am, and I felt no shame in being who I was. While that was similar with one of New Wave's philosophies it added a twist to the situation.
Namely, word got around fast and it wasn't unusual to catch people craning their necks to get a look at me. Never openly, always in the corner of my eye while I walked through the halls. In classes, it was more peeks, or out right stares by the those who either didn't care about being rude, or were just socially awkward and didn't know better. Or maybe just plain surprised.
In all fairness, I had to give that it was a toss up if my situation had to do more with the fact I was the weird outsider with the funny accent, the teen cape with the devil eyes, or, as information was traded people connected the dots, that I was the new girl who Glory Girl blew up at.
By my last class before lunch, I didn't have an answer, but it didn't escape me that most likely it was that all three were in play. Judging by how many teachers reprimanded students for having their phones out in class, I bet Parahumans Online had an unexpected high spike of traffic as people tried to figure out who I was. It was likely to get worse at lunch when people started looking for details on Gambit because there wasn't any hiding that tidbit. Assuming it hadn't already done the rounds.
It went without saying that little actual work was done by anyone in my classes. Much to the teachers ire, which explained all the homework that was thrown at us.
Despite the novelty, I was banking it would die down once people got used to me. As time passed, I would cease being the new girl or the new cape at Arcadia. Hopefully. Dennis did say that a lot of people here seemed to make a thing about Ward age capes, and trying to figure out who was who. Not a deal to me, but it still set up this place as kind of like a live Parahumans Online page. Just with all the awkward and asinine high school drama associated with a place like this. At the sound of the lunch bell, I packed up my notes before heading to the cafeteria.
Ignoring the not so subtle gawkers I got my lunch finding a table out of the mainstream which, luckily enough, I didn't have to share.
"Hey," Dennis said, sitting next to me. "How is your first day of school going?"
"I can see why all my friends dropped out."
"It's not that bad," Dennis chuckled.
"Hmm," I returned noncommittally. "So you say."
"Any problems, other than the stares?" he asked.
"Nothing I can't handle, mon'ami."
My endearment earned me a slight pause in setting up his lunch. As well as a smile and faint blush. Though that could have been the apple I'd set in plain view on the table when I noticed him standing in line.
Clearing his throat, Dennis asked, "What do you have left for the day?"
"Geometry and self study," I answered.
"Great. At least we have one class together. Unfortunately I have English next but then I have my own self study. Meet in the library? I can help you with stuff, if you needed it."
"Sure, cher," I said fondly. "I'd like that."
While Dennis made inroads into his double cheeseburger, I started on my salad with no less gusto. By silent mutual consent, neither of us looked, much less acknowledge the looks we were getting Victoria's table.
While I was willing to rile up Dean a bit for his part in past events, riling up Glory Girl hadn't historically worked well for many people. And if I'd had to write apology letters to people for just being who I was, I would have been upset too. So, it wasn't like I didn't understand what her deal was. What I didn't get was the dark looks from the mousy girl sitting at the same table.
"Who's that," I asked, subtly pointing her out to Dennis. "I've seen you hanging out with her a few times."
"Who…oh. That's Amy Dallon. Surprised you didn't recognize her."
"Ah," That made sense now. "Her press doesn't do her justice. She looks a lot different without the robe. Doesn't seem like I'm not making many friends in the Dallon camp."
"It helps that you didn't actually get into a fight with Victoria," Dennis commented. "Amy's very protective of Victoria. Funny enough though, I overheard her arguing with Vicky about how you were right about the thing that happened. So don't assume she's against you. Give her time. Amy takes some getting used to, but she's good people."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"It also helps that you're picking on Dean."
"Hmm. It's true that mutual enemies have spawned many great friendships," I half joked.
"I wouldn't go that far," Dennis chuckled. "But she doesn't like him much."
"Probably because he dating her sister," I said. Dean was getting similar looks that I was from over the binding of her book. It was the only thing I could think of that fit the situation.
"Most likely. She didn't have a problem with him until then."
"Drama."
"Welcome to the Highschool Life."
"Charming," I drawled. "I'm starting to think getting into a cape fight is preferable to this lifestyle."
Before Dennis could do more than chuckle, a shadow fell over the table. The person it belonged to belonged to a redheaded girl I'd actually knew.
"Ashley," I greeted warmly. "I didn't know you went to school here."
"I could say the same about you, Renée," she replied. "I thought Jessica was pulling my leg when she told me you were going here today."
"Non. Today is my first day actually."
"How's it going?"
"Awkward, but it was expected," I answered easily. "I only know a few people here and half of them think I'm planning on robbing the place."
"Are you?" Ashley asked, smirking.
"Not at the moment, but the day is young, no?"
Laughing, she shook her head.
"You probably know each other, but have you met Dennis?"
"We share third period Science class," Dennis said. "Hey Ashley. I didn't know you knew Renée."
"Hey. Yeah, she's been hanging out with my Troop. Met her at our last meeting when she talked Triumph into letting us tie him up. Hey, some of us were thinking of starting a self defense class for the girls. Anyway we can get you to teach it? Instructors are expensive and you probably know more about it than they do anyway."
A bit surprised at the sudden question, I considered it for a moment before shaking my head. "My style isn't something most people can learn, chérie. It takes a lot of dedication, not to mention flexibility. It's not something most easily can do."
"Yeah, I get that but there's other stuff you can teach us though, right?" Ashley half begged. "After what happened to Angelia, a lot of the girls have been asking about something like this. Not just the younger ones either. A lot of us think it would be an awesome idea. Hell, even my Mom's asked me to ask if I saw you again."
"Seriously," Dennis chuckled. "Your Mom wants to take a Gambit self defense class?"
"Pfft, like you don't," Ashley shot back. "Besides, Kailey said you live out on Lexington Ave. That's on the outskirts of the Empire. You know what this city's like."
"True," Dennis agreed easily.
Seeing that I wasn't getting out of this one easily, I shook my head at the weirdness. "Alright, I guess there's a couple of things I can show you guys to defend yourself."
"Yay," Ashley squealed. "Jessica and Mom are going to be super excited. Can we do it tomorrow night?"
"Tomorrow's bad for me," I said regretfully. I had a date with a warehouse and probably a few other places. No way I'd have time for this too. "Wednesday's bad too, but I could do it Thursday."
"Sweet! Hang on a second, I need to check with Mom real quick but I think we can get everyone together then."
"And the legend of the Girl Scout Mafia grows," Dennis joked seemingly far more amused than he had any right to be while Ashley dashed back to her table. "I can't wait until people get wind of you teaching them how to fight. Also, how is Triumph getting tied up by girl scouts not a thing? More importantly, why haven't I heard about this yet?"
"You're not exactly the last to know, Dennis," I said, rolling my eyes at his pout. "He asked, and the girls agreed, that it would just be between them. It was his one condition to being the practice dummy."
"You're telling me this story later. I need details."
"I'll think about it."
"Well, then I'll just have to think about not inviting you to a party I know about on Friday," He tried haggling. "A friends parents are going out of town for the weekend and I heard a couple of guys are bringing a keig."
"And absolutely nothing can go wrong with this scenario," I laughed. Still, might be interesting. Nothing sped up getting accepted like a party. I know, Sam and I trashed several crash pads when we were getting started.
And afterward, but less said about some of those, the better. Never did figure out where that baby hippo came from but I'm pretty sure whatever the story was, it wasn't exactly legal.
Also possibly unethical, which was why we didn't look too closely at it. Just dropped it off at the zoo when we found the little guy.
Either way, best if the topic never came up.
"Alright," I caved. Seeing Ashley coming back, I continued. "Later though."
"I'll hold you to that."
"Sorry it took a bit," Ashley apologized. "Had to message my sister back. She's been blowing up my phone all day asking if I saw you yet and she want's details."
That matched up with the little chatterbox I remembered. "How is she?"
"Annoying," Ashley said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, it looks like Thursday is a go. Also, since Jessica was absolutely sure you went here, she snuck this into my backpack for you."
My curiosity bloomed into a full smile when Ashley handed me the baret.
"It's even my favorite color," I said appreciatively. "Green."
It looked like it took every bit of Dennis's self control to not start howling when he saw it. The nice solid green was only broken by the patch on the front. As typical of these types of berets, the Girl Scouts crest stood proudly complete with a G.S. inside the clover. A pin on the left had a B.B. to affiliate locally. The best part however, was that the all of that existed over a fan of playing cards. All of them aces' just like the relief carving on my watch.
This had Angela written all over it. Or Marcy. I wouldn't put it past either of the sly girls to have orchestrated something like this. They'd been begging me to take over the troop for weeks now and I'm pretty sure they weren't joking about staging a coup. Looks like they decided to stage one of their own while I was healing.
I immediately put it on, tilting it slightly for a roguish look. Whatever self control Dennis had left was lost when I turned to get his opinion.
"Perfect," I said, chuckling at his reaction and ignoring the sudden attention our table received, I turned to Ashley. "Thank you very much. I love it."
"Awesome," Ashley gushed. "All of us got one to give you last week so don't be surprised if you get drowned in hats once people figure out you back in the open. I can't believe I was the first one to find you though. I thought for sure it would have been Angela or Marcy. We all pitched in you know, but it was originally their idea."
"Somehow, I am not surprised," I said getting a giggle from Ashley that was lost to Dennis's continuing laughter. Every time he about got it under control, he would look at me and it started over again. Mumbling to himself about how someone named Missy can never know.
If even half my days here went this well, maybe this high school thing wouldn't be so bad after all.