Invincible (15 page)

Once I’m outside, she follows after me, closing the door behind her.

“Thank you, for helping me,” Taylor says.

I wasn’t sure what she meant by that. Was she referring to the studying or the advice about Rick? Either way, I was happy with both.

“Anytime,” I say.

I began to walk down the steps, when suddenly, Taylor stops me.

“Wait.”

I turn around to face her.

“I’ve been lying to you,” she says, walking towards me. “I’m sorry, and I know we promised we would be honest with each other, so I’ll be honest now.”

I walk closer to her, trying to figure out as to what on earth she was lying about.

“I didn’t bring you here to study. That was only an excuse so that I could spend time with you.”

Her words linger in the air for a while, and then as they begin to make sense, I look at her curiously, hoping this is where I think it was going. “Why would you do that?”

“Because,”
she says nervously, “I like you.”

The warm feeling returns, stirring inside my body as I take a step forward, our bodies now inches away from each other.

“I’m sorry,” she laughs, shaking her head in embarrassment. “I shouldn’t have said that…”

“No, it’s okay,” I say. “I…I like you, too.”

Taylor pauses for a moment, absorbing my words, and then raises her hand, placing it gently against my cheek. She slowly leans forward, and I do the same. At that moment, our lips touch, and I am unable to control myself.

This was my first kiss, and a very lingering one at that. As she starts to grab my hair and pull me closer to her, my super-hearing starts by itself, listening to the sound of our racing heartbeats, our gasping breaths, and the whole world around it. But it didn’t
hurt, distracting me in anyway.

Nothing hurts anymore.

She pulls away, and my super-hearing stops abruptly. We then look into each other’s eyes, unable to say anything. And I was happy we didn’t. I couldn’t put into words how I was feeling, having this moment with her; being with her.

We kiss again, more aggressive than the first time. My super-hearing gets even louder, to the point of it actually causing me pain. But I didn’t care. We pull each other closer as I became lost in my own little world. Not caring about my past, future, my powers, school, anything. All I cared about in this moment was Taylor, and Taylor alone.

We pull away from each other, and after a brief moment of silence, we laugh. Taylor, her face a now effervescent glow, simply nods her head and walks up the stairs to the door. Before she steps through the door, she pauses and turns to face me.

“Bye,” she says, and then disappears into the house.

The feel of Taylor’s lips were still prevalent on mine, touching them as I walked a few miles from her house. I couldn’t believe all this happened. It was just too good to be true. Just admitting my feelings for her alone was a miracle. But knowing that she liked me, too, was enough to make me smile, make me dance, make me jump for joy.

Once the coast was clear, I flew straight into the sky. As I twirl, spin, and flip through the air, I

continue to smile, and hoped that it would stay on my face, for always, and eternity.

In the past three weeks
, I’ve been as happy as can be.

It seemed unexpected, really. Before, I used to stare at the stars, wishing mine weren’t as separated as the others out there. But now, they were slowly aligning, and I didn’t have to constantly look after them. Fate was now in my hands.

I looked back to the time Taylor and I were the talk of the school. It was the morning after our kiss, and it seemed perfectly normal when I arrived to school that day, but it wasn’t until Taylor walked over and kissed me that everyone’s attention was focused on us. I looked at Rick, who, for a moment, didn’t seem the least bit angry. But it wasn’t until I kissed her back that I started to notice his face harden, and his skin shading a scarlet red.

Of course, J
ack was the most shocked of all.

“So, you and Taylor,” he asked during English. “You two kin
d of a thing now or something?”

I nod. “Yeah,” I said. “I guess so.”

“Whoa,” Jack gasped. “I’m shocked. I mean, I sensed that she liked you, but I just thought it was all in my head-”

“You knew?” I interrupted. “How?”

“Well, you
both
were pretty obvious. The way you guys look talking to each other, and how you look when you’re apart. I mean, any person that hadn’t known you could’ve seen that. And why else would a girl sit at an empty table, filled with only two socially awkward teenagers?”

Jack’s statement had thrown me off a bit. How oblivious was I towards Taylor, and from what he

explained, her feelings towards me? Was her presence really that blinding?

Even though I was spending more time with Taylor,
that didn’t mean I couldn’t make time for my superhero duties, which I sometimes did while at school—thanks to my gullible teachers for letting me go to the bathroom at every request. While all the vigilante talks and man hunts from the police slowly died down, Ryan and I had begun to team up, putting criminals behind bars, and helping others in need.

The relationship between us was uncanny. The way we would talk to each other, following orders
so willingly without question, treating each other as if we were one of the other’s peers, or even superiors. It was almost as if we worked together for years.

The news still couldn’t get enough of me. I wasn’t a mega superstar anymore, but they would still discuss me on the TV and in the papers every now and then. Not that the citizens minded. They were in love with me as much as the media itself. Even gave me a name—Lion-Man. They gave me that name because of my courage to stand up and fight for justice against a corrupted system. I didn’t mind the name. I mean, it was better than anyone I could’ve thought of. The only one I could come up with was Crime-Boy.

My relationship with Brad was still the same: untrustworthy. I still wasn’t sure of his intentions with me, and sometimes I wished he’d just spit them out already. It felt like at any moment, he would get tired of using me as a surrogate family, and kick me to the curb. But I could never be sure, his demeanor hiding away any visible signs that it constantly kept me on my toes.

Talk about tensions at home.

Whenever I wasn’t spending time saving the world, or being with Taylor or Brad, I made time to

hang out with Jack. His father and I had gotten along pretty well, much to Jack’s dislike. But i
t wasn’t like I meant to do it.

Well, actually, I did, because as much as Mr. Colfer was interested in me, I was more interested in his job, and it wasn’t for any of the normal reasons one would think.

I always tried to hear him when I visited his home, desperate for updates on the man he’d ordered to be captured, but lately hearing nothing of it. Maybe he’s got it under control and doesn’t want to speak of it, pretending as if it never happened. And who could blame him, really? I mean, discussing a disastrous secret amongst other people would be far more dreadful than just keeping it to themselves.

But either way, it was suspicious. Why does this man need to be found? Why was this so big of a secret?

Today, during lunch, while Taylor discusses her upcoming article for the paper, Jack asks if I wanted to tag along with him to visit his father’s lab.

“It usually gets boring there,” he says. “I just thought that if you might want to, you could.”

“Y-yeah,” I say. “I-It kind of would be nice to see what y-your dad does in person.”

This was my chance. My chance to find out what the big secret was. My chance to find out who this mysterious man is. I know it's somewhere in the lab. It just has to be.

Jack sighs under his breath, frustrated with my response, not wanting me to hear it. But unbeknownst to him, even the slightest pulse couldn’t avoid my ears.

And with an irritable tone in his voice, he responds. “Cool.”

After school, Jack asked Mr. Colfer if I could tag along with them to the lab, and when he saw no reason why I couldn’t, he agreed.

We drove through the rough city traffic for a while, and finally reached to the middle of the city, driving towards a cold, blue monolithic skyscraper. I knew in that moment we were arriving at ColferTech Industries.

We get out of the car and head towards the building. A guard politely opens the door as we walk inside, entering a beautiful reception room, with marble floor and sliver statues on pedestals.

From there, we walk into an elevator, guarded by two more men. Mr. Colfer pushes one of the buttons as the doors close, and
we are immediately sent upward.

The doors open a few seconds later, and as we exit, step into a medium-sized lab, with about thirty people inhibiting its space. They were walking around in white lab coats, passing out tubes, and other objects to each other, talking in a language that someone at my age couldn’t completely comprehend.

“What do you think, Troy?” Mr. Colfer asks.

“I think it’s pretty interesting,” I say, my voice breathless at what lies before me, the many dedicated workers all servicing this one powerful man. “You get to see this every day?”

“Sure do, kid,” he responds proudly.

Of course, I don’t turn to see Jack’s reaction, knowing the slightest sight of my excitement would start up an argument. The only places my eyes could wander were either to Mr. Colfer or the commotion of the lab in front of me.

Mr. Colfer was about to give us a tour until he pauses at the sound of a voice.

“Mr. Colfer!”

Suddenly, all three of our eyes gaze towards a thin, dark-skinned man running towards us, his face expressing a certain panic.

“Mr. Colfer!” he says, walking beside Mr. Colfer, looking to him, and then Jack. “Hello, Jack.”

“Hey,” Jack says, his voice mumbled.

The man then looks at me. “Who’s this?”

“This is Troy, a friend of Jack’s,” Mr. Colfer says. He looks to me and tilts his head towards the man. “Troy, this is Dr. Lawrence Walker.”

“Nice to meet to you,” he says, shaking my hand. He immediately turns back to Mr. Colfer. “Sir, there’s an emergency in the lab.”

A worrying look strikes Mr. Colfer’s face. “What kind of emergency?”

Dr. Walker looks at us for a moment, and then leans over to Mr. Colfer’s ear. I knew it had to be something important, so I turned on my super-hearing to listen in.

“It’s Dr. Davidson, sir,” he whispers.

At that moment, Mr. Colfer’s body stiffens. “Are you sure?” he says aloud, not caring as to who would hear him.

Dr. Walker nods his head. “Positive. You have to come now. We’ll discuss it on the way over.”

“Okay,” Mr. Colfer agrees. He then turns to us. “Listen kids, there is some important business I have to attend to. I will be back as soon as possible, but until then, just stay
here and…don’t touch anything.”

After that, he nods to Dr. Walker, and then they walk alongside each other as they exit out of the room.