Ch 8 Week 6

“What’s with you?” Glory asked Lola Tuesday morning before they left for class. The newspaper lay between them on the table while they ate--Richard Wyler’s wife was filing for divorce before he had a chance to give away her alimony. The story was all over the place--Glory didn’t know what to make of it.

“Mid-term blues?” Lola suggested, but Glory knew her friend was lying.

“Try again.”

“I don’t know,” Lola admitted with a sigh, letting Glory in for once, tired of secrets. “I just feel…empty. Alone.”

“It’s my fault!” Glory exclaimed, guilt flooding her system. “I’ve been running around doing my super hero thing, bragging about my costume, about Valkyrie and Romeo--of course you feel left out!” She should have known immediately. Lola didn’t make friends easily--Glory was probably all she had in this new place, and she’d more or less forgotten all about her.

“No, Glory,” Lola tried to say.

“You don’t have to deny it--we both know its true,” Glory continued. “I have all of these new friends and you never mention anyone--”

“I’ve met a few people,” Lola protested. “Um, three. Sort of.”

“I’ll tell you what--I do have to go to my meeting Saturday afternoon, but I’ll tell KP I’m busy, and you and I can stay in and have a proper girls’ night, okay?”

“I’m--” Lola was about to tell her no and Glory gave her a glare. “Yeah. That sounds like a great idea. Are you sure you don’t mind blowing off your date?”

“Friends have to come before boyfriends,” Glory assured, meaning it.

*****

“I saw her again,” a girl whispered to her friend behind Lola in the middle of Psychology. She was good at tuning people out, but the next thing caught her attention. “The blond girl in the mask.”

“Yeah? A friend of mine has a class with the blue one. She got special permission--no one knows what her real name is and she wears a mask all the time.”

“Weird.”

“I know. Anyone in this room could have secret powers.” Lola thought about using her secret powers to shut them up.

“I dare you to talk to one of them next time you walk by Memorial Hall. That‘s where they hang out and why no one else ever has classes there. it’s like, League headquarters.”

“The only one I want to talk to is Romeo Avenger.” There was an eruption of giggles from the two girls and the professor gave them a sharp look. “Or Dark Lothario,” her friend said, triggering more giggles. Lola put her head on her desk and groaned.

Lola knew she should have been jubilant in the days following her successful brainwashing of Richard Wyler. The day after her visit he called a press conference and announced he was giving away his fortune to save the rainforest. The city had gone crazy--the story even bumped Dark Lothario off the news for a few days. She was thrilled that her plan had worked, but she hated that no one knew that she was the cause of his new personality. As she drove her BMW to school she felt like she was driving a clunker, and she when walked across campus she felt invisible. She had changed the world a little bit that day, but no one knew except her minions. She knew that was as it should be, but it still bothered her, leaving her in a rotten mood. Once she had finished school she could take on her super villain persona full-time, but that was years and years away….

To make her day even better when she exited the classroom Lawrence Lawrence was waiting for her. “I don’t want to deal with you,” she said. “Go away.” She began to walk, but Lawrence followed behind her.

“Just give me your name,” he pleaded.

She turned around to look him in the eye. “Go away,” she repeated, this time ordering him. He faltered and blinked, as though he were fighting some sort of internal conflict.

“Not until you tell me your name.”

Lola nearly screamed with frustration. “It’s Lola, okay?”

She started walking again, moving as fast as her high heels would let her. “Lola, huh?” Lawrence said, still behind her. “That’s a good name. It’s nice to put a name with the face after all these weeks. Look, I wanted to--”

“Take me out to coffee, I know,” she said, slowing down to consider. Here was a guy who had managed to resist her on two occasions. That was interesting. She’d never met anyone--especially a male anyone--who’d been able to do that. She stopped walking in the middle of the hall, forcing everyone else to swarm around her. Lawrence surprised her by grabbing her hand and pulling her to the side before she was run over.

“Are you okay?”

“Just stress,” she offered. She studied him, looking into his soft, pleading eyes. “Okay. We’ll go out for coffee.”

*****

Lawrence sat dumbfounded and amazed, staring at Lola drinking coffee with him. Him. It was incomprehensible. He could understand America’s draw to the Kinetic Professor. He was a super hero, and she was so sweet and innocent. Lola didn’t know the meaning of either word. Why someone like her would give him the time of day was impossible to guess, but he wasn’t going to complain. She sat sideways in her seat with one knee crossed over the other, revealing long beautiful legs in grey tights under her black sweater dress.

He was staring at her legs when she realized his coffee cup was trying to float off the table top and grabbed the handle before Lola noticed.

“Are you still undecided?” she asked him. “On your major?”

“How did you--”

“We’ve been here before,” she said, her voice deadpan.

“Right. I’m a little fuzzy over--”

“Don’t worry about it.” She had the most commanding voice, and it seemed the most natural thing in the world to simply do what he told her.

“Well,” Lawrence said, “I’m thinking I might like to teach. I like the idea of always having summer vacations, you know?”

“What level?”

“Definitely college,” he said, shuddering at the thought of teaching children--or teenagers. “I just haven’t really decided what subject…”

“From what I’ve taken so far, Psychology is fun, but Neuro-engineering is much more challenging. I’m going for a double major.”

“Psychology and Neuro-engineering?” She was beautiful and brilliant. How lucky could he get? He tried not to think about America. Because Lola, Lola was amazing.

“I’m very interested in the human mind,” she said. “I want to cover both the psychological and physiological aspects. Really, they go hand in hand.”

“That’s fascinating.”

“My roommate thinks it’s crazy.”

He laughed. “Well clearly, your roommate is an idiot.”

“I love her dearly,” Lola said, “but she is simple and naïve in her ways.”

“That’s too bad.” Lola sighed. “So what’s really wrong?” he asked her. He had a distinct feeling the only reason she had agreed to come with him was because she didn’t have the energy to say no.

“What do you think about going to school here?” she asked instead.

He shrugged. “The weather sucks.”

“I mean, with the League being here and all.”

He shrugged again, trying to be non-committal. Officially there was no training program at the University Noir, but everyone knew about it. “I guess it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

“It doesn’t bug you that there are people running around with super powers, but no one knows about it?” He shrugged again. She looked so serious holding her coffee cup with both hands. “I could have super powers, and you’d never know.”

“I think I would have noticed you running around in a mask.”

“Lola could be my secret identity. I could be anyone.”

The way she was looking at him made him nervous. He laughed to shrug it off. “And Lawrence Lawrence could be mine.”

Her laughter was real. “I couldn’t imagine a cute little thing like you fighting crime,” she said, standing up. “I’m going to get more coffee. Do you want a refill?”

*****

“A quick announcement,” Romeo said as Glory took the place between Chameleon and Cloud in the front row for their Saturday training session. “Instead of your usual meeting with Stone and Valkyrie on Wednesday you’ll each have a separate meeting while they assess your powers.” Everyone looked around at each other.

“A t-test?” Torch stuttered, and Glory looked around to see what was going to catch on fire. Above Romeo a basketball hoop burst into flames. It burnt out before anyone rushed to the fire extinguisher, bits of charred net falling to the floor in front of him.

“Calm down,” Romeo said. “You won’t be graded. The league just wants to see what levels you’re all at. Some of you might have an expert sitting in to help assess.”

“What if we don’t do well?” KP asked.

“It depends.”

“We wont be kicked out, will we?” Glory said, raising alarm.

“No one will be kicked out of the program, so you can all relax. Just see me before you leave so I can give you your assessment times and locations.”

Glory watched KP during their training with Romeo Avenger that night. They were learning how to spar and Romeo had teamed them up by height, so KP was working with Torch and Glory was paired with Chameleon. KP had barely looked at her all evening, and she was beginning to worry. “Pay attention!” Chameleon said when Glory narrowly missed being hit in the face by her friend. “With your super-speed you should be avoiding me no problem.”

“Right. Sorry.”

“How do you feel about the aptitude test next week?”

“Oh.” She’d nearly forgotten about that. “Fine. I’m actually curious to see how fast I really am. It’s never been measured.”

“I’m a little nervous.” Glory couldn’t see why. Chameleon was a very difficult person to spar with--she was the color of the bleachers behind her, and Glory found herself focusing more on her clothes to gauge where she was. “I know I’m really good at blending,” Chameleon continued. “It’s the unbending that concerns me.”

“Well, how important is that in the long run?”

“Very important, when it comes to being normal.”

They both paused at the sound of a small explosion and turned. KP and Torch were standing six feet apart with a scorch mark on the floor between them. “I’m sorry,” Torch said, his voice tiny, making him look even smaller than he normally did.

“Normalcy is overrated,” Glory said, staring at the burned floor.

She caught KP later as he was coming out of the men’s locker room, his hair damp from the shower. “Hey.”

“Oh, hey America.”

“Where’s your brain been today?”

“Trying not to get blown up,” he replied.

“Before that. You’ve been distant all day.”

“School stuff.”

“That‘s what you said last time I asked you if there was something wrong. Don‘t lie to me.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s real life, secret identity stuff. I’ll be better.”

This is why identities are a bad idea. They lead to secrets. She did her best to smile. “You’d better be better,” she said. “I know I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”

He smiled, and it seemed sincere. “Yes, you are.” He pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead.

“I have bad news though,” she said, watching for his reaction. “I have to cancel our date this weekend.”

“Why?”

“Girl issues. My best friend needs me. You understand.”

“Of course.”

He didn’t seem upset enough. Was their relationship over already? He had hardly given it enough chance to begin.

*****


It was just coffee, Lawrence told himself as he left Memorial Hall that evening, watching America go off on her own. She only walked a few paces before she was off in a blond flash, disappearing across campus. It was two cups of coffee--he’d met again with Lola on Thursday. Lola didn’t seem to have any interest in Lawrence beyond friends, but he was going to take whatever he could get. I’m not doing anything wrong. He stared down the quad after America. It wasn’t cheating if nothing happened.

“KP?” Lawrence turned and saw Torch, hands behind his back. He was still wearing the fire-proof outfit Mim had found for him. Torch wore it all the time now, Lawrence noted, even under his clothes. Lawrence had seen him changing after practice--there were burns all over his slight frame. The suit protected him from himself.

“What’s up?”

“I just wanted to apol-apologize for nearly setting you on f-fire today.”

“It happens,” Lawrence said, trying to pretend it wasn’t a big deal. The truth was, it had been a slightly terrifying experience.

“I know it h-happens,” Torch said. “It always happens--that’s the p-problem.”

“You’ll learn to control it,” Lawrence said, trying to be gentle. If Torch didn’t calm down he was going to set something else on fire. “That’s why we’re here.”

“P-people have tried to fix me before you know,” Torch said. “Psycho therapy, drugs--”

“I’m sorry.”

“It never worked. They had me in a stain--a stainless steel room before I came here.”

“You-you were institutionalized?”

“That was the only place I couldn’t hurt anyone but myself. I should g-go back.”

“No, no,” Lawrence said. “It’s not your fault that things catch on fire.”

“If I c-could c-control my emotions b-better it wouldn’t happen.”

“That comes with time,” Lawrence said. “Look at Chameleon or Cloud.” The former was a different color every time Lawrence looked at her, and the latter spent most of their training sessions with Romeo floating several inches to several feet above ground.

“But they c-can’t hurt anyone.”

“Not true,” Lawrence said quickly. “Cloud kicked Righteous in the head the other day, remember?”

Torch cracked a smile. “It was f-funny.”

“And I can’t control my powers very well either,” Lawrence said, finishing.

“I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen you d-do anything,” Torch admitted.

“That’s because I’m not very good.” He didn’t like admitting it, but he knew it was the truth. He wasn’t looking forward to the aptitude test the next week at all. “But powerful emotions do seem to send things flying around the room.”

“So how do you avoid it?”

He remembered his floating coffee cup earlier that week. There had been a few near misses since that first cup of coffee with Lola. “I try not to feel anything.” And until America and Lola, that hadn’t been a problem.

******

Glory came home from her training that Saturday with her hands full of grocery bags. Unable to reach for the knob, she kicked on the door until Lola opened it. Lola had obviously been home for a while--she was wearing sweat pants and a tank top with no bra, her hair wet and wrapped up in a turban of a towel. “You look gorgeous,” Glory joked and handed off some of her bags.

“What did you do?” Lola asked, looking in the bags, “Rob a grocery store?”

“We need snacks for a girls night. Did you order the pizza?”

“It’ll be here in fifteen minutes. And look what I got.” She dumped Glory’s bags on the table and held up two 4 packs of wine coolers.

“How did you get those? We’re underage.”

Lola gave her a slightly wicked grin. “I can be very persuasive.”

“It’s against the law.”

“So does that mean you don’t want any?”

“I didn’t say that--lets put a movie on.”

*****

“I’m okay now,” Lola told Glory half way through their John Hughs marathon. The pizza box sat open and empty on the floor in front of them, and both girls were sipping on wine coolers.

“Will you tell me what was wrong?”

“I’ll tell you what’s right,” Lola said instead, ignoring the question she would like so much to answer. “I went out for coffee with a boy--twice.”

Glory let out a small squeal. “Excellent, Lola!”

“It’s not like that--he’s just a friend.”

“If it wasn’t ’like that’ you wouldn’t be telling me like its some deep dark secret. What’s he like?”

Lola mused. “Like a puppy,” she said finally. “Like a geeky little puppy.”

Glory, stifling a laugh, snorted. “That’s not your usual type.”

“My type?”

“You know--twenty-somethings with two hundred dollar haircuts and accents.”

“Not true.”

Glory rolled her eyes. “There was that guy over Christmas break last year--”

Lola smiled a little. “Antonio. That was in Italy.”

“And that French guy--”

“Jean-Luc. That was the summer of ‘09.”

“You’ve only ever had vacation boyfriends,” Glory said. “You never had one in school before. This is good for you.”

“The boys at school were lame.”

“Of course they were. Do you know how many times I had to defend you at our high school?”

“No one liked me but you,” Lola said, turning sober.

“I’m your best friend. I kinda’ have to like you.”

“I guess I was never lonely before this year because having you was enough,” Lola said, and she knew immediately that it was true. She was always so much richer than everyone else, and that put up a barrier that became taller and wider as she grew older. It wasn’t as though she didn’t have friends--she did--but Glory was the only one who really cared.

“I’m sorry I’m so busy all the time.”

“No--you’re doing exactly what you need to be doing. You always knew you were destined for greater things.” She had no right to complain about anything Glory did, when she was the one leading the lie. Glory would hate her if she knew…

“Glorious things.”

Lola smiled. “Yes. Glorious. You need to go on being Glorious. I’m fine.”

“You’re sure.”

“Yes. Besides, now I have Lawrence Lawrence to keep me company.”

Glory laughed. “His name is Lawrence Lawrence?”

******

A/N: So I've been informed that there is already a "Mindmistress" running around the internet as a webcomic, so Lola needs a new name. I want something vaguely BDSM-y, you know? Gold star to anyone who can come up with something good.

You guys got a treat this chapter--it's 3000 words long. Cool, huh? I have a feeling a lot of you are going to get mad at Lawrence in the next few chapters....but I'm having a blast with him, so dont get too mad.