Line in the Sand Chapter 4, an el tigre fanfic

I actually like this chapter. Quite a bit. It sets up a lot of emotional tumult that will occur in later chapters.

Chapter 4, Love Thy Enemy

Miracle City High School, Tuesday, 9:50 AM

Frida was taking a leisurely walk through the hallways during class time. She often picked this exact time to escape her math lectures when they got too in depth. Or boring. Or when they made her feel sick. She spun the key chain that was the hall pass around her finger, humming her way down to the drinking fountain. She loved when the halls were empty and easy to navigate. It let the music in her head play without interruptions. Reaching the fountain, she leaned over, twisting the knob to claim a refreshing-

"Hello Frida."

Surprised by the sudden breach in silence, Frida twisted the knob far too hard, spraying her face with cold water. Backing up as she wiped away the water, Frida balled her fists and turned angrily.

"What do you want, Zoe?" She stared at her nemesis with no amount of pleasure. Zoe may have forgotten why she hated Frida, but Frida was far from giving up on the source of her grudge. She remembered quite clearly that this madness started all those years ago, when they were just children. She remembered her humiliation as she cried for help, but no one would help get the paint off. "Are you here for another one of your dumb pranks? Geez, don't you have a life yet?"

Zoe scowled at her, hating what was implied. Of course she had a life… sort of. It certainly wasn't the life she wanted. Grandmami had always painted the life of a super villain as so glamorous, so unfettered. Zoe felt otherwise every day.

"I'm just here to pass the time, Frida. I so little to do anymore, and I'll be honest, I'm bored enough to talk to you."

Frida eyed her warily, fully expecting a water balloon to the face at any moment. And just her luck, no security cameras to catch the attack in action. "You expect me to believe that? If you're so bored, why don't you go find Diego and make out?" Frida puckered her lips and leaned forward, making mock kissing sounds in a most childish manner. And it worked; Zoe curled her fingers into fists and growled between her teeth.

"You insulting little…! Diego is little more than an annoyance to me," she spat, giving in to her anger as much as possible without resorting to violence. "Every day he bugs me with something stupid, and every day he asks me if I want to go out with him. And you know what I say? No!"

Frida smirked, dropping a hand to her waist and bringing the other to her chin. "That's not what I heard…"

"What? What did you hear?" Zoe took a step forward, arms shaking with anger.

"Oh-ho, apparently something that's got you hot under the collar," Frida turned away, smiling almost evilly. "But I've said too much. I don't want to make you any more upset. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to class."

Without getting in another word, Zoe watched Frida march back down the hall, proudly swaying her arms in an exaggerated motion. Once she was out of sight, Zoe was able to take a few deep breaths, and her angry expression was replaced with one of malice. She took the voice module out of her pocket and clicked the stop button.

"Too easy…"

Hearing a staff member coming down the hall, Zoe fled to the girl's room before she could be caught without a hall pass. Once inside, she walked to the window and wedged it open. She jumped six feet down the ground, much as she had done once a week for the past three years. High school didn't really matter to her… what was a detention to a super villain? And she was only ever caught when she was unlucky enough to be seen by a random gym instructor. Heading off at her own leisurely pace, she made for the seedy district where she had planned to meet up with M.

Miracle City High School, Room 210, 10:15 AM

Diego looked at the clock again… 10:15. Great, looks like Zoe isn't coming back again. He slumped in his chair, rubbing at his temples. He liked chemistry a great deal, but it wasn't worth being here if he didn't have Zoe to sit next to. He enjoyed her company more than anything else. Well, and that thing she does when… never mind.

Diego sighed, glancing down at the completed sheet that was intended to be a homework assignment. "I hate this place…"

"Is that so, Diego?" He winced when his teacher intruded on his thoughts over his shoulder. She leaned down and patted him on the head. "Well, maybe if you scored as high on the classroom placement test as you do on your homework, you could have been placed in a more challenging class. But until that happens, you'd do well to pay attention."

He sighed again, this time in frustration. "Yes ma'am."

"Very well, then… now class, what is a substance that breaks down into acetic acid?"

When he was sure she was out of earshot, Diego let a bit of himself out from the depths. "Swine…"

But his teacher was not quite that far, and she turned quickly on Diego with a flash of anger in her eyes. "What was that?"

"… Wine. Acetic acid can come from wine."

Silence… though she was sure he didn't say wine, how could she argue? It was the right answer.

Miracle City Outskirts, 11:06 AM

Zoe had stopped at her house to refresh herself for the long walk ahead. It was only a simple matter of keeping out of Grandmami's way, which was becoming very easy in her old age. Finishing off her juice box, the one luxury that was more or less a vice, Zoe tossed it into a gutter taped off for a police investigation. It landed next to a chalk outline, though she didn't really care. The police didn't seem to either after the events of last night; a gang related murder was pretty low priority. Pulling the heavy warehouse door open, Zoe ventured into the now familiar dark, expecting something eerie. When she found herself sitting alone without even a sense of malaise, she thought for a moment that she was once more wasting her time. But maybe if she called out…

"Hello? I'm back with what you told me to get."

A slight echo made it seem as if she were talking to herself. But she didn't want to leave. She had felt good all day after meeting with M last night. She wanted to bring whatever he was planning to fruition. Zoe felt something promising would come of all this effort, this hope.

"I'm going to leave soon…"

She jumped when she heard a door on the opposite end of the room scrape open. Through the door came the silhouette of M, who appeared to be staying in a back room in the dilapidated structure. He pushed the door closed and disappeared from view. There was a pause.

"You're here early. Shouldn't you be in school, or something?"

Zoe raised an eyebrow in sheer curiosity. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, it's just that I was expecting a visit this evening. You work fast," his voice did not sound like it did before. Was he putting on airs for the villains of Miracle City? "I assume you're here because you succeeded, and not because the device is broken."

"It worked. At least, it looked like it did."

She walked into the darkness, keeping her hand on the table to keep track of her location. When Zoe was in what she hoped was his vicinity, she left the recorder on the table and backed up a few steps. She hid herself away in the shadow hoping to somehow get a straight look at this man. She wasn't rewarded with that. The sound of M picking up the recording device came to her almost as soon as she stopped walking.

"So, what do you have planned?"

He was quiet for a moment, though she couldn't guess why. Finally, he spoke to her. "You're going on a date after school, Ms. Aves."

Streets of Miracle City, 3:06 PM

Manny and Frida walked silently down the street. Manny was smiling, Frida was not. He stopped and turned to her, not wanting to go home just yet.

"So, you wanna' go to the arcade?"

"I can't."

"Docks? We could throw stuff into the harbor."

"I can't, Manny."

His smile faded. Frida always enjoyed those two activities. "Why not?"

"Because my teacher told my dad I'm not doing my homework," she said with a frown, crossing her arms. "Why do teachers do that? I mean, I already know I'm not doing my homework. Why have my dad remind me?"

Manny looked to the ground, a little disappointed that the day was over so quickly. It was over because he knew Frida was horrible at doing her math homework. He was too, but his Grandpapi helped him cheat on it, so it didn't matter. They continued to walk to the Suarez residence, where they had to part ways. Frida smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, we can do stuff when I'm finished with my homework. It's not like it's gonna' take… forever…" She sighed when she realized that her optimism wasn't working here, then started towards the door. "See ya', Manny."

"Bye. … Huh."

The walk home was longer when there was no fun to be had. Manny Rivera took note of every boring thing as he trudged along on this wasted, late summer day.

"Hola Manny."

"Oh. Hi Ms. Chichita. Hmm…"

Manny watched the elderly lady just hobble along. He hoped secretly that something would happen to break the boredom wide open. Strange… normally Ms. Chichita had the great misfortune of walking head long into every sort of mayhem imaginable. Instead she just walked into her building without so much as a request for help to cross the street. What was wrong with today? Manny sighed and continued his trek, staring up the walls of the golden colored complex he called home. He pushed the front door open and walked in, barely waving when his father called out to him. Once in his room, he fell back on his bed, staring at the ceiling with the longing to want to do something, anything other than this. Minutes dragged on as though they were hours… for a time it seemed he was going insane. Or falling asleep. In either case, he jolted when the phone rang. He looked at it as though it were alien as it rang a couple times.

"Manny! Would you get that please?"

"Sure dad!"

He picked up the receiver and talked into it tiredly. "Riveras."

"Hey Manny!"

"Frida?" He put the receiver at arm's length and stared at it a moment. "I thought you weren't allowed to talk until you were done with your homework."

There was a pause, the sound of writing, and then: "Done! So, what do you want to do?"

Now he paused. That was fast. He had only been home for a half hour, and it was about ten minutes to her house. "Frida, did you cheat on your homework?"

"It's only cheating if you get caught! Now, pick a place."

"Uh," he stammered, a little caught off guard by her quick handling of her math homework. "I guess… I dunno'."

"Well, if you won't pick," Frida responded, "how about that new place that opened where the puppy orphanage used to be! We can go arcading after!"

Manny smiled. The day had just been spared from the jaws of obscurity. "Alright! I'll be down as soon as I can. See you later Frida."

"Bye Manny!"

He put the phone on the hook with a grin as wide as possible, then set off towards the front door. He waved his hand frantically and forced out a quick sentence. "Bye dad! Going to hang out with Frida!"

Rodolfo looked up as the door closed, thinking about how fast all that really was. He shrugged and continued reading the newspaper, pausing every now and then to reflect on how things had changed in the past day.

Suarez Residence, 4:05 PM

Frida sat at her desk, staring down at the taunting numbers in her text book. She kept tapping her pencil on what she had written on her paper. Number 1… number 1…

"Alright, let's try this again. Sin67 + Cos50/CosX, where X is… what is this stupid circle thing?"

She slammed her head down on the text book, trying to make it all go away by blocking out the light. She lifted her head again and saw the problem laughing at her. Frida slammed her head down again, whining in her most pathetic voice.

"Why do I even need to know this?! What have I done to offend you?!"

The Bandito Parlor, 4:59 PM

Manny stood waiting outside the Parlor, looking up and down the street almost every single minute that he waited. Frida was late beyond all mistaking. It should only have taken her five minutes to get here. Maybe she wasn't as "finished" with her homework as she said. Sighing in despair, he turned around to go home, and was surprised by none other than Zoe Aves.

"Hello Manny."

He flinched when she greeted him, not expecting to be snuck up on so easily. She stood smiling for a moment, waiting for a response. Her smile faded when that response was more delayed than normal.

"Manny?"

"Oh, hi Zoe," he said with a hint of forced happiness.

"… Are you waiting for me to leave?"

"What? No no no, it's not that. It's just that…" He leaned to his left to look down the street again. "I was just waiting for Frida… she said she'd meet me here. Have you seen her?"

Zoe had to force her smile into hiding, had to fake ignorance. "No, no I haven't. How long have you been waiting for her?"

"Oh, let's see…" He looked down at his watch, then frowned. His disappointment was evident in his voice. "... about an hour."

"Well… I'm sure she'll be here soon. But if you want, I can keep you company until then. I've got nothing to do." She slowly strolled past him, slowing to a stop as she neared the periphery of his vision. She glanced back at him and saw his head follow her, and she smiled as he joined her. "I don't usually come down this way… but I heard that this place just opened up. Would you like to join me?"

Manny smiled as he followed her inside. "Sure."

Zoe entered first, letting a burst of air conditioned air out into the street. The chilling blast caught her by surprise, chilling her thighs and arms and causing her to break out in goose bumps. She folded her arms across her chest and started rubbing her cold skin until she could adapt to the change in temperature. Manny wasn't so badly hit by it, as he always dressed like it was only sixty degrees outside. He looked around the dark lounge, glancing at glass tables, odd art that seemed to blend the ethnic and the abstract, and the slender waitress going from the table to table.

"Nice."

"Come on," Zoe whispered, gently grabbing his arm, "let's get a table."

"Lead the way, my pet."

Zoe giggled. It was a little early for him to be calling her "my pet." Although, he never seemed to have much reason to dislike her, especially when Frida wasn't around. She led him across the floor, which left glowing footprints in a neon blue where they stepped. Manny enjoyed watching the prints slowly fade away while Zoe led him to the table she wanted. When they arrived, a loud buzzing filled her ear, and the resulting vocalization of her discomfort garnered Manny's attention.

"What? Are you okay?"

She stared at him for a moment, trying to think up a lie for why she was clutching her ear through her hair. "Why yes, I'm fine. I just went deaf in my ear for no reason. No reason at all. It happens sometimes…"

Unknown Location, 5:03 PM

"I just went deaf in my ear for no reason. No reason at all. It happens sometimes…"

M smiled as he heard her lie over the radio. She was either good, or he was just dumb as a post. In any case, it filled him with mirth to be a part of this insidious plan. From his hiding place in Miracle City, he monitored Zoe's date from a safe distance, pulling the string's that would result in Zoe's ultimate goal: revenge. At least, that's what he told himself.

"Sorry about that, Zoe. A little electrical interference. Now, go on."

The Bandito Parlor, 5:03 PM

"Anyway… waitress!"

When Zoe shouted at the top of her lungs, she gave not only Manny a shock, but anybody remotely in the vicinity of their table. The waitress walked over, smiling a smile that seemed mixed with anxiety, or possibly even fear.

"What can I get for you two?"

"Manny?"

"Uhm…"

"I'll just start you off with water until you have time to decide, then."

The waitress stood smiling for a moment, then inched off without taking her eyes off Zoe. Seemed it was fear that gripped the poor woman. Zoe watched her leave, then returned her gaze to Manny, wearing only a modest smile.

"Perhaps I was a bit too intense."

"Nah, it was fine."

They shared a smile, hitting off the evening of Zoe's first date with the man who had haunted her dreams for years.

Suarez Residence, 7:45 PM

Frida groaned in total defeat. Tireless work, endless torment, and an undying feeling of stupidity. It had been four hours, and how far along was she?

"Number 7 out of 50! Waah!"

She slammed her head against her desk one last time, groaning again with her face buried in crumpled papers far too smudged by her eraser to use any longer.