Michelle "MJ" Jones

Ten more minutes, I thought to myself.

That was how much time I had left until I was done with this shift. Over the last several days, my boss was really testing my patience. I was constantly getting yelled at for uncompleted tasks that weren't assigned to me to begin with or being rushed when I'm already working as fast as I could. On more than one occasion, I had to check myself before I lost my cool. Quite a few times, I caught myself looking at him while he was walking away, thinking to myself that I could beat his ass if I wanted to. Well, to be fair, that wasn't exactly a recent occurrence. The difference, though, was the fact that I was 100 percent confident in that belief and I was more than a little willing to follow through. I had to remind myself of the likely consequences. I'd likely be arrested, I'd lose my acceptance into ESU, and I'd likely end up back on Damage Control's radar after Yuri went the extra mile to get them off of my back. So, of course, I had to take the high road and keep my emotions in check.

Story of my life.

So, during the last ten minutes of this shift, I spent it trying to rub out this rather stubborn stain on the counter with a rag. Emphasis on "trying" – I gave up five minutes in. I dropped the rag on the counter with a huff as I stared down at the spot.

"Fuck it, you can stay there," I grumbled. "It's not like this job pays me enough." I then paused when I realized that I was speaking to a stain on the counter. I closed my eyes and rolled them before I opened my eyes and looked around the place. There wasn't anyone there. I turned my head towards a certain seat at the counter.

It's been some weeks since I broke up with Peter. It wasn't a decision I took lightly. The two times Peter did call after things were over between us, it took a lot of willpower not to answer. To both my relief and chagrin, he didn't try again a third time.

Things weren't good between us. There was no denying that. The American Idiots group chat was dead. Peter hasn't been wearing the Black Dahlia suit. I haven't been wearing my Black Dahlia necklace. Beyond the two times that Peter tried to call, we made no contact with each other. The only time I saw Peter was in the news, while he's underneath the mask. He wasn't himself. He's gotten more violent and more serious. It just gotten worse since that time Peter was standing across the street from Ned, seeing me with Brad.

I shook my head. Just thinking about it was a fucking headache. A part of me wanted to reach out to Peter and talk to him. Despite how things were between us, I still cared about him. But there was also a part of me that could care less. He broke a promise to me and was about to walk all the way out of my life permanently just a few months ago. Plus, we're not together. Who was he to care about who I was with and why?

"Fuck him," I muttered. I felt bad about feeling that way, but that's what it was.

I was about to get ready to leave when I heard the bell from the front door. I suppressed a sigh. I was hoping I didn't get a last minute customer. I looked over at the front door in time to see Kitty walk up to the counter. Just like that, I was no longer annoyed. I smiled. I was happy to see her. That smile faded when I saw the look on her face. She was looking distraught.

"You okay?" I asked.

"No, I'm not," Kitty replied bluntly as she took a seat at the counter – the very same seat that Peter would sit on. "I know it's kind of last minute, but is there any way I can get a cup of coffee? I don't care if it's stale or cold."

"I got you. Don't worry about payment."

I went about getting her that cup of coffee. Fortunately, there was still quite a bit of hot coffee left. Once the coffee was poured into the paper cup and I put that same cup into a cardboard sleeve, I walked back towards Kitty and handed the drink to her.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem," I replied. I frowned. "So, what brings you to the neighborhood?"

"You." I raised an eyebrow. "Scott wants to meet with all of us tomorrow night. It's extremely important."

I narrowed my eyes. "Is it really that major?"

Kitty took a sip of her coffee before she looked me in the eye. That's when I saw how red her eyes were. "I haven't slept in three days, MJ. The past few days have been a shit show. So yes, it is major." I nodded, a bit dumbfounded by Kitty lacking sleep. I then realized that if Scott wanted to meet everyone, that meant Peter would be there. A part of me wanted to make an excuse as to why I couldn't come, but something told me that I needed to know what was going on, especially if the reason behind this meeting was the reason Kitty hadn't slept in days.

"I'll be there," I said. "When and where?"

"Seven o'clock at The Bunker."

I nodded. "Got it."

"Good." She nodded towards me. "I'll let you close up." She stood up and made her way to the door.

"Hey Kitty," I called out. She looked back at me. I was about to ask how Peter was doing. I decided against it. "Get home safe, okay?" She stared at me for some seconds. I wondered if she knew that wasn't what I wanted to say. Much to my relief, she nodded before she exited.

Later on, after a training session with Colleen, I made my way home, snacking on a protein bar along the way. Once I reached home, I got changed into my house clothes and went about doing my homework and studying in my room. Halfway through studying, my phone went off. Liz was calling me. I picked up the phone and answered the call.

"Hey Liz," I said.

"Hey, MJ!" she greeted back. "How's everything?"

"Everything is everything."

"Okay, Lauryn Hill." I scoffed.

"So, what's up?"

"Oh, I just wanted to know if you're doing anything tomorrow night. I was thinking we can hang out since I'm going to be a bit busy afterwards."

"Yeah, I'm preoccupied." I leaned back in my seat. "Why are you going to be busy?"

"I'm just going to hitting the city hard for jobs. I'm going to be in New York City for a long while, so I might as well find ways to make money."

"Makes sense."

"Yeah. So, what about you? What got you so busy tomorrow night?"

"I'm just doing a group project. We're really trying to get an A in this class." I felt bad that I had to lie to Liz. But this was something she couldn't be a part of. "Sorry."

"No worries, MJ. If anything, I should have remembered that you're trying to make sure you get into college. Well, I'm going to get going. I might as well get as much relaxation in before I get into the job market."

I smiled briefly. "Good luck, Liz."

"Likewise. Goodnight, MJ."

"Goodnight, Liz."

After studying some more, I went to bed. I didn't go to sleep yet. Against my better judgment, I scrolled through Twitter. I saw Spider-Man trending. I was tempted to see what that was about. I huffed out a breath. I didn't need this. I went through my settings until I reached my muted words. I started adding to the list – "Spider-Man", "Spiderman", "Spooderman", and other misspellings of Spider-Man. Once I was done, I put my phone off to the side.

After that, I tried to go to sleep. I couldn't right away. I was wondering about this meeting tomorrow. What was it about? And why did it involve all of us? Did it have to do with Justin Hammer? Or maybe Damage Control was on my trail again? A part of me wanted to just skip the meeting altogether. Of course, I didn't plan on doing that. Scott wasn't one to go around wasting everyone's time with a meeting over something that could have been explained in a simple text. Plus, Kitty looked like hell when I saw her earlier. Unless something crazy happened, I was going to be there.

The next morning, I was getting ready for school. Once I was fully dressed, I checked my calendar. I wasn't looking at today's date per se. I was looking at the days left until Spring Break. It was going to be a rather important time. That was when I was going to New Orleans to have sessions with Dr. Drumm. It was also when my folks will see Gayle. It made me nervous. It could all go extremely right or extremely wrong.

What the fuck?

I grabbed my bag and made my way out.

I took the subway to school. When I took a seat, the train car I was in was rather empty. I pulled out my phone and ear phones. Once my earphones were plugged into the phone and the buds were in my ears, I started to let the music play from Spotify. I bowed my head and listened to the tunes that were playing. This was my morning routine. It helped me clear my head before I went to school. It helped me keep my mind off of certain things… and certain people. I was about four songs in when I felt one of my earbuds being taken out of my ear. Slowly, I raised my head. Just as slowly, I turned my head to the right to see some guy smiling at me. I didn't know how old he was. I didn't care. At that moment, I was just trying to figure out what made him think what he just did was okay.

"Hey beautiful," he greeted.

I swallowed. "What do you want?" I demanded, not even trying to hide how annoyed I was.

"I saw you across the way, and I figured I'd say hi."

My eye right twitched. "…And… you thought the best way of doing that was to pull one of my earbuds out of my ear?"

"Well… yeah. You're looking cute, and I just wanted to know if I could chat with you, maybe even get your number."

"Yeah, no. Please me alone." I grabbed my dangling earbud. I was about to turn away, but then he grabbed my wrist. I looked at him incredulously. I tried to pull my wrist away, but he was holding on tight.

"Come on, Sweetie. Don't be that way!"

Yeah, that did it.

Without warning, I sent my forehead into his face. I heard the crack. His nose was broken. I pulled away quickly as I stood up. I adjusted my stance, just in case this turned into a full on fight. He backed away in his seat, holding his nose as he looked at me with wide eyes. Around me, I heard people murmuring. I looked around, seeing that was a lot more people in this car than there was when I got on it. I saw some of them recording. Internally, I sighed. The last thing I was for to go viral again. I looked back at the creep and sneered.

"This is a teachable moment. The next time you see someone out in public with their headphones on, you should leave them alone and not touch them or their stuff without permission. And maybe, next time, you can go about your day without getting shit rocked. Now get the fuck on before I show you how much worse your day can get!"

He removed his hands and sneered at me. I saw the blood running down from his nose. I didn't feel the least bit bad. I stared him down, waiting to see if he wanted to test his luck.

"Bitch!" he spat out before he got up and walked up quickly, shouldering past onlookers who were in his way. While I was annoyed at that insult, I didn't dwell on it. He was gone. Still, my peace disturbed. So, as I sat down, I stewed for the rest of the subway ride.

My mood was sour for the whole day. At lunch, I didn't eat in the cafeteria or on the roof. Instead, I was eating in an empty classroom that I knew wasn't going to be used until last period. I didn't feel like being around anyone else at the moment. When lunch was over, I went to class took a seat all the way in the back. My classmates filed in. Most of them avoided sitting next to me. I guess I gave off an air of anti-sociality. Of course, when Ned arrived, he sat down next to me without hesitation. Eventually, the teacher came in. He started taking roll.

"Edward Leeds?"

"Here," Ned said.

"Cessily Kincaid?"

"Present," a girl said.

"Everything okay?" Ned whispered. Without looking at him, I shook my head. "What happened?"

"Some creep on the subway thought the best way to get my attention was to pull out one of my earbuds," I explained in a low tone, not hiding my disgust. "He grabbed my wrist when I told him to leave me alone, so I broke his nose."

"Yikes, dude! I'm sorry that happened."

I sneered. "I'll get over it."

From the corner of my eye, I saw Ned nod. "Well, I'm glad you're okay."

"Thank you."

"No problem. …So, are you ready for tonight?"

I scoffed. "Fuck no. But I'll be there."

"I wonder if it's an intervention for Peter."

I gave him a sideways glance. "Why?"

"I don't know if you notice this, but Peter hasn't been himself. He broke someone's legs last night, you know?"

I looked forward. "They wouldn't need you, me, or Betty for that." I ignored the feeling of worry I had in my chest. So that's why he was trending last night.

"You're not worried about that?" Ned asked incredulously.

Luckily, our teacher started class proper at the very moment. I could see Ned giving me a look before he shifted his attention to the lesson. I felt relieved. This wasn't the time or place of this conversation. Then again, I didn't want to have this conversation, period. I wasn't in the mood or headspace to want to deal with anything Peter-related.

When school was over, I went straight home. After the day I had, I just wanted some time alone. Once I was at home, I went straight to my room, kicked my shoes off, and lay on my bed. I looked up at the ceiling, earphones in as I listened to music.

Take everything from the inside

And throw it all away

'Cause I swear for the last time

I won't trust myself with you

I shook my head. I needed a break from all of this. But that wasn't going to come anytime soon. Maybe after New Orleans I'll get one, I figured. Then again, that's assuming that tensions have cooled off between my folks and my sister. Even then, that wasn't guaranteed. Things have been cold between them since she was kicked out.

Low key, there was a part of me that felt like I was at fault for it.

"I hate this," I whispered to myself.

What the fuck?