Not Your Villain (Sidekick Squad #2)(21)
Between homework for his AP classes, and writing articles and doing layout for the yearbook holo, and going on assignments, Bells barely has time for sleep. He’s managing by staying up late or waking up early to squeeze in time for homework.
The assignments are boring, but they’re going to ask him to do actual hero work soon, he’s sure of it. Harris keeps mentioning a recon mission. Kingston sent Bells a personal message telling him, if he played his cards right, Bells could be the next Captain Orion.
At lunch, Emma brings up Jess’ possible internship, and Bells has no idea what they’re talking about. He’s missed so much. Apparently, she has an interview. Bells makes a note to ask Jess about how it goes, but he’s working the entire afternoon and the dinner shifts at the family restaurant.
Jess comes into the restaurant and tells him she got the job with Monroe Industries and starts on Monday afternoon, which coincidentally works with Bells’ schedule for independent hero work. Great, he can follow Jess to her new job and make sure she gets there safely.
The next afternoon Bells rides downtown to Monroe Industries, parks his motorcycle, and tries to think of an eye-catching person that Jess would find trustworthy. A pretty woman, he decides, maybe one that looks a bit like her crush, Abby, but isn’t Abby.
Maybe the disguise is a little too over-the-top, but Jess is so nervous about her interview that she doesn’t seem to notice, and Bells walks her to the building and then disappears, shifting to a nondescript businessman to watch her go inside.
It goes on his reports as a general good deed. It’s been slow ever since the Mischiefs disappeared. Bells is running out of people to help cross the street. And he’s not keen on finding more cats to rescue.
Bells keeps an eye on Jess during her afternoon walks from the bus to her work, but soon Abby starts driving her. He’s busy, but Jess and Emma are too: Emma with volleyball practice and Jess with her new job keeping her from afterschool activities.
Bells hasn’t had much time to hang out with his friends, either. He’s been looking forward to marathoning The Gentleman Detective with them, especially since it’s the first time in weeks he doesn’t have any hero work scheduled on the same day. But Harris sticks him with a last minute assignment that keeps him busy the entire afternoon. It involves taking the hovertrain all the way to Middleton and pretending to be Mr. Ooze, who doesn’t fight so much as just sit in muddy puddles and make terrible puns about soil at his arch-nemesis.
That evening, every muscle in Bells’ body is screaming at him to stop moving; he hasn’t been this tired since that week during training when Sasha and Tanya challenged him to a pushup contest every morning. He’s had an awful day, an exhausting day, and to top it all off, Emma is mad at him.
He thought showing up late to her house would be fine, but she snapped at him and Bells snapped back and Jess just stood there looking sadly at both of them and he couldn’t stay there anymore.
Emma’s voice echoes through his mind, the sharp way she said, “I just—I feel like you don’t trust us anymore.” She just looked so hurt, the way she looked down at her feet and then behind Bells, as if she wanted to look anywhere to avoid meeting his eyes.
The words cut like stinging barbs. In the moment, in all his frustration and bone-aching tiredness, he snapped at her and then stormed off, but the moment is over, and he’s got nothing but guilt now.
His DED died during his afternoon stint making puns in the mud; now, fully charged, it’s blinking with the notifications he missed all afternoon.
3 missed calls from Emma Robledo
2 new messages from Jessica Tran
8 new messages from Emma Robledo
Bells opens his messages from Emma; each one makes him feel worse. The thread is filled with snippets from her day, comments about school and a cute cat that she thought would make Bells laugh, how she thinks Jess is dating Abby but doesn’t know it yet. Then there’s just one message, two hours ago, asking if Bells is going to get there soon.
He groans. He’s never felt less like the little, hopeful happy face at the end of the message.
*
Bells can’t believe he wasn’t invited to Captain Orion’s event at the Museum of Modern Art. The tickets sold out three months ago, but he has an in now. League won’t even comp him a pass, because of: museum regulations, number of attendees, fire hazard, they can’t make an invitation out of thin air, blah, blah. Blah. Bells is more than a little miffed, because after he asked about getting a ticket, they offered to sell him a pass for a thousand credits.
Apparently, all the cheaper tickets were sold months in advance to the Captain Orion Fan Club. The League can’t even get him an official introduction. She knows who I am. I even have a message directly from her! I’m Chameleon! We’re both heroes! In the same League!
Since he doesn’t have hero work scheduled, Bells works at the restaurant all Friday afternoon.
Bells doesn’t fret about missing the event until Abby bails at the last minute and Jess asks him if he wants the extra ticket. Of course he wants to go, but he can’t now because he took Sean’s shift.
Bells wipes down the counter with more force than necessary. He could have asked Simon to take his shift, but his brother already had plans with his boyfriend in Crystal Springs. What’s the point of having siblings if they are never around when you need them?