Someone had texted her McFistPad in the middle of the night.
It would have been alarming anytime else, but this time it was understandable, she guessed. Except, it wasn't one of her many friends, wanting to know how she was faring. It was a boy. U ok? It read. One of the numerous boys who wanted to date her, to...well, do things with her, which she wasn't at all willing to do. She was too focused on her schooling and future as a reporter to mess with stuff like that. It would only distract her. Not to say she didn't flirt, but...
She ignored it.
Heidi was a teenage girl, wrought with hormones and growing pains as any other, which meant that she thought about boys. It was natural, though she didn't think less of a handful of girls she knew who thought about other girls. She tried to be supportive of everyone, even those most of the people in her school didn't hold in very high regard, including her brother and his best friend. Howard and Randy had always been a strange, distinct pair in the halls of Norrisville High, since their arrival not even a school-year previous.
They were freshmen, and in spite of their constant whining and disappointment that they couldn't quite squeeze their way into any social groups aside from the loner introverts, they were more known than they were aware. Students openly watched them walk by, expectantly, listening in to whatever outrageous conversation they were having at the moment. What they said never made sense, the two boys were perpetually stuck in their own little world, blind to everyone else around them.
"So what's the plan today, Cunningham?" Howard would ask, shrugging his backpack a little to the left of his back for better comfort, locker clicking shut. She could imagine it as clearly as if it were happening right in front of her.
Randy glanced at him, he was staring intently ahead at his own reflection, as if trying to determine who he was. Heidi was imposing her own new feelings toward him in her daydream ('feelings,' her mind echoed, but that was a bit too far, wasn't it? For one, he was younger than her), she realized, but it seemed to fit, "None so far, Howard, but we're getting there, there hasn't been a robot attack for two days, I'm kinda anxious..."
Robots. Monsters. The Ninja. Howard and Cunningham's prime obsession. They had been totally fixated on the larger-than-life figure since childhood, in the way some kids loved dinosaurs or horses. It was like they were experts on anything going on even slightly related to the Ninja, and Heidi had met some hardcore fanatics in her time interviewing people. She didn't think that was strange, it was one of their signature characteristics together. The Ninja had always been special to Howard, but with Randy, especially as a little kid, it ran deeper.
That hadn't changed, with the way they were these days, it only appeared to have intensified.
Maybe she could find a path into their daily routine in that manner. Express an interest in the Ninja. It wouldn't the be the first time she'd faked something in order to get into peoples' good graces. That sounded bad, but she never meant harm by it. Besides, it wouldn't be particularly fake, either. Everyone in Norrisville cared what the Ninja was up to, usually because what he was doing was basically always for their sakes. She could manage that.
If anyone deserved a new friend in a time like this it was those two.
She settled into her usual seat in the family car and yanked her schoolbag onto her lap. Her parents were both in the front seats, this morning was a special occasion. Howard sat beside her, quiet. They had driven this route dozens and dozens of times in the past, it was the road to Cunningham's house. There was something different about this time, though. It had an air of relevance.
Nobody spoke on the ride there. When they parked on the curb, the front door of the yellowish home opened immediately. The car's engine slowed to a standstill and Heidi, on impulse, was the first to open a door. Her feet touched sidewalk, and she was tempted to walk straight across the lawn grass, but that might be rude. So she followed the concrete walkway and said, rather audaciously in her opinion, "Hi, Mrs. Cunningham. I just..." her bravado flickered, "I wanted to thank him for finding me."
Her father and Randy's mother had spoken on the phone the night before, late at night. Ava Cunningham was a tall, thin woman, with her son's purple hair but not his blue eyes. They were hazel, and layered with different emotions, one of the foremost being exhaustion—her usual ponytail was looser than she liked to allow it to be, and Heidi thought she knew her pretty well, as much as a kid can know some other kid's parent, that was—but she nodded anyway, "I understand. I still can't believe he did that," the last sentence was more aimed at Heidi's approaching father than Heidi herself, "I'm proud of him."
"I think you should be," said her father. Howard hung around behind.
Ava called inside, "Randy? They're here." There was a shuffling sound, a silhouette coming closer, visible through the screen door. Heidi's breath hitched, seeing him again woke memories of the coldness, the unfamiliarity of waking up somewhere she didn't know. In a second he was standing next to his mom, facing Heidi. He blinked as the morning daylight reached his eyes, she could see his pupils adjust.
"Hey," he said, features bright with alertness, hands shoved in his pockets, "It's nice to see you're doing okay."
"I really wanted to thank you, I didn't get the chance to before," she began. He listened, "I...uh...I want to be your friend. I never paid much attention to you, before," she rambled, then stopped, winced. A wave of amusement washed over the six of them. He looked surprised at first, thrown. Then he grinned. A small grin, too benevolent to be a smirk. She thought his eyes flicked to her brother.
"It's okay. You have your own life, and stuff." His next words seemed to catch him, like he didn't know what to say, "I wouldn't mind being friends at all. I know you have a busy social life," Which I still have because of you. You and the Ninja, but how am I supposed to thank the Ninja? This was the closest she was going to get, "And...yeah. That would be great. Right, Howard?" He met her brother's eyes pointedly. Everyone looked at him.
Howard was unprepared, "Uh, sure. Of course. After all that..." he let it hang.
In hindsight, she guessed it was silly to think he would accept without checking with his biffer first. She smiled, her first true smile since yesterday. This was the start of something new.