— Darius —

"Did you hear about that new hero girl?" A boy in the class said with an excited grin.

"The Atom Eve girl? Yeah, I've been keeping up with her, and she's been doing good work for a start." Another boy nodded with a thoughtful frown.

I listened as the two spoke with my head down and my eyes closed. Eve had made her debut a couple of days ago and word of her hero identity has been widespread around the city.

It wasn't hard to see that she was a kid playing hero, which drew the attention of many people.

As I observed Atom Eve, a wave of disbelief washed over me. How was it possible that no one else had connected the dots? A young, unmistakable ginger girl in our city, and yet, no one seemed to even suspect that she could be Eve. It was even more perplexing considering that those who knew her well referred to her as Eve.

I glanced at Eve and saw her looking at me. She immediately looked away when she saw me and hid her face from my view.

Did she suspect that I knew something? No, that shouldn't be possible. It's not like I've outwardly shown anything.

I stared at her for a while and blinked at the redness of her ears. Did she end up getting hurt while out doing hero work?

*RING*

And just like that, the school day came to an end. I stood up, immediately feeling Mark wrap his arm around my neck. The boy looked at me with a grin and showed me a new comic page. The newest issue of Seance Dog was released yesterday, and of course, it was this guy who had managed to pick it up before me.

"Wanna read later?"

"Of course." I returned his grin.

We walked out of the classroom, but not before waiting for Eve to grab her things and follow us.

Today, William, Mark, Eve, and one of Eve's friends, Bethany, were coming to my house. The main reason was that Mark, William, and I wanted to hang out, but Eve also wanted to come but wasn't brave enough to say it, so Bethany asked on behalf of both of them, and I didn't mind.

We saw Bethany standing in front of her and Eve's bus. She waved her bus pass at us with a wide smile, and I looked at Eve to see she also had a bus pass. I was a bit surprised to see she managed to get one considering she would need her parents permission, and while I didn't know what her parents thought of me, knowing her dad, he likely didn't want Eve associating with us.

So, if I had to guess, I'd say Eve must have forged the bus pass by mimicking her father's handwriting or just outright using her powers to make a bus pass with his exact signature.

Either way, I didn't care. As long as she had fun.

We hopped on the bus and I took the second to last seat with William and Bethany beating me for the back seats. I watched as Mark walked over and hurriedly slid into my seat, grinning at me as he tapped his new comic.

Eve stared at us for a moment with a saddened look and then sat down in the seat beside us.

What made her upset? Did she want to sit with us as well?

"Mark." I said, managing to get his attention off his comic. "I'm gonna sit with Eve, we can read when we get to my place."

Mark blinked and looked at me with a face filled with betrayal for a moment before he glanced at Eve and saw her looking away from us. He could tell that something was wrong and gave me a small, hesitant nod. I slipped by him and sat down next to Eve. I placed a hand on her shoulder, gaining her attention and smiling at the widening of her eyes.

"Turn that frown upside down, Ms. Wilkins. Today you get to experience a ride on the greatest bus this school has to offer." I held up a finger and grinned at her. The girl continued to look at me in surprise before a small, almost unnoticeable smile tugged at her lip.

"...Thank you, Darius."

— Later —

The bus ride was eventful, with us doing a bunch of different things, like singing all the songs the bus driver played, much to her annoyance, and when she turned off the music, we all timed our jumps to the bumps on the bus.

That…wasn't a good idea.

But no one got hurt!

We got out of the bus at my stop and the two girls with us took a moment to marvel at my house.

"Woah, you live here?!" Bethany asked, her eyes quickly shifting over the exterior of the place.

"Yeah." I nodded and walked forward. "My dad has a nice job. Though, fair warning. The inside isn't anywhere near as nice as Mark's."

Those words made Mark raise an eyebrow, but he didn't say anything as I pulled out my key and unlocked the door. We all walked in, making sure to take off our shoes as was proper in my house and made our way up the stairs. My mom was at the store, and my dad was working his normal job, so we'd be alone for a while.

"You lied, the inside is nice!" Bethany accused me when we got into my room. She placed a hand on her hips and frowned.

"I didn't lie about anything." I held my hands up in defense. "I said the inside isn't anywhere near as nice as Mark's."

She narrowed her eyes but decided to drop it and take a seat on my bed. Her eyes roamed around the room and eventually locked on Eve who she waved over.

The ginger girl timidly walked over to her friend and before they started talking I spoke.

"I'm gonna grab us some drinks and snacks. I'll be back."

As I made my way out of the room, I felt a hand grab my forearm. I turned to see that it was Bethany. She was looking away from me, hiding her face behind her blonde hair as she held onto me.

"D-Do you need help carrying everything?"

A small smile crossed my lips as I nodded. "I'd appreciate that."

The girl looked at me and returned my smile with red tinting her pale white face.

…Oh no.

As we walked downstairs, sweat dripped down my brow. I looked over at Bethany who was walking closer to me than necessary.

Oh God…t-this can't be.

Have I reached the age where crushes become widespread like a plague?!

I forced down my discomfort at the thought and continued grabbing the snacks with her. I realized quickly that there was no way I would have been able to do this in one trip by myself with my little hands, so I was secretly glad she came to help.

"Alright, that should be enough, ready to head back up?" I asked her. She didn't answer, staying silent as she looked at me.

Oh dear god, no!

"B-Before that-" Please, No! "I-I wanted to ask you something."

I barely talk to this girl! A few months ago, before Eve came to the school, I helped her study for a test. Beyond that, we would exchange greetings in the hallway. How the hell did this happen?!

"Alright." My lips twitched downward as I put down the snacks and drinks and gestured over to the couch. We made our way over and sat down, with her sitting just a bit closer than necessary.

How the fuck do I reject a twelve-year-old girl's feelings?! I'm not built for this!

We sat in silence for a while as I stared at the black screen of my TV.

"D-Darius…"

Here we go.

I looked at her and saw her squirming with a red face.

"I-I-" She stuttered out, I could see her palms growing sweaty and it just made me feel so much worse for what I'd have to say. She took a deep breath and looked up at me.

"I like you!"

I stared at her in silence for a moment before placing my hand on hers. She nearly pulled it away because of how sweaty it was, but I gripped it with just a bit more force. I felt bad for having to do this, but the least I could do was make it as painless as possible.

"Beth, I'm sorry."

Her eyes widened in surprise, and I could see the pain filling them.

"You're amazing," I added quickly before tears could fill her eyes. "It's just…I have so much going on in my life right now. My friends, my training, school…we both know how stressful school is." I smiled slyly at her, making a small smile appear on her face.

"Yeah…I g-get it."

"Trust me when I say-" I tightened my grip around her hand and smiled warmly at her. "You can do way better than me."

She didn't respond to that, and we sat in silence, our hands intertwined.

After a minute of silence, she stood up, forcing our hands to separate.

"T-Thank you." She whispered before running upstairs, leaving me alone in the dark room.

I had to admit, I got lucky. It was a good thing she only had a crush on me. If she actually loved me, something that simple would never work as an adequate rejection, but knowing that I wasn't in her life enough for her to gain a crush on me tells me she'll get over these feelings she has in a couple of weeks at most.

I let out a sigh and stood up from the chair, about to make my way when a realization struck my mind.

She left me to bring up everything!

— Chapter End —

Beta Reader: Basilisk Dragonboy1