No ordinary hero (Keepers of justice # 1) (12 page)

I tell the guys I’ll see them later, and head for the hospital. Some League members are sitting in the waiting room. Dad’s there, too. When he sees me, he waves me over. “Is Shifter going to be okay?” I ask.

“He’ll recover.”

“She could have killed him.”

“Yes
,” he says.

“What are we going to do?”

“The real teacher will have to return from his vacation. Robert will update his mind with everything that happened while he was away, and monitor him.”

As we wait in the room, Dad
talks a bit about the battle in the park. Tells me how important it is for me to work alongside the undercover members to make sure Lindsay is safe at all times. I nod. I totally will. I don’t want anything to happen to her.

“Is Lindsay okay?” I ask. “Safe at home?”

“Snake checked in twenty minutes ago. Lindsay is doing her homework.” Snake is undercover as Lindsay’s neighbor.

Good, that’s good.

Sometime during our conversation, Healer comes into the room and announces that Shifter is as good as new. He’s going to have to take it easy for a little while, but he’s okay.

Later that evening, Dad makes a speech on how dangerous Lindsay is and how important it is that everyone except for me should keep their distance from her. That includes
the members undercover who need to watch out. Most of them claim they’re willing to risk themselves to save Earth. That’s cool of them.

After all that, I go to the hospital to visit Shifter. He seems okay, smiles and laughs and tells me he should have gone to the doctor like I told him to. He also tells me to keep it up with my assignment because I’m doing a great job. I tell him I will, because I really do want to get closer to
Lindsay. Not just because of the assignment.

“It’s my turn to tell you something,” Lindsay says. We’re back on the grass
the next day. It’s after school, not sunny, but very chilly and windy.

I keep surveying the area to make sure no villains are around. Animal is munching on grass nearby
, and other members are scattered across the park. Lindsay’s eyes scan around. Maybe hoping to witness another battle.

“Nah, you don’t have to tell me anything,” I say. She sits up on one elbow and looks at me. Her hair, which I notice has gotten
more golden and long, spills down her shoulder. I swallow as I stare at it, at her. Would she chop my hand off it I comb my fingers through it?

“I want to,” she says.

“I want to, too.” So bad.

“
Huh?”

“Huh? Oh
, I mean you don’t have to tell me anything. It’s cool.” I smile brightly.

She looks at me funny and laughs. Then her face gets serious. “I killed my mom,” she says. “When I was born.”

Even though I know this, it hurts to hear it. I’m about to reach out to her, but stop myself. I don’t know if she wants me to touch her.

“My dad died that day
, too,” she continues. “He collapsed right after I was born. I practically came into the world an orphan.”

My hand acts on its own and strokes her shoulder. Her eyes move from my hand to my
face. They’re watering. “Linds...” I say.

She shrugs my hand off and keeps her gaze on the grass. “I’m fine. I went to live with my grandmother. She didn’t want to take me in. No one did, not my aunt or uncle. No one. But she was my mom’s mother, so I guess she felt like she had to. Anyway, it sucked there. She didn’t care about me or love me.
She blamed me for my mom’s death.”

I know most of this
—I read it—but I’m listening to every word like I’m hearing them for the first time. Lindsay’s trying to keep a brave face as she continues, but any idiot can tell she’s hurting. Bad. I wish I could do something. Why won’t she let me console her?

“She’d go to
work or go out with her friends and forget all about me. She didn’t give me anything to eat and left nothing in the fridge, so I had to dig through the garbage dump outside our apartment building. In the cold, the rain, the snow. I remember shivering so hard sometimes, but I was so hungry. Even after I found scraps of food, my stomach would beg for more as I lay in bed. So I’d go out in the cold again, just to satisfy my hunger.”

She stops talking for a bit, and I’m not sure if she’s finished. But I can see her eyes lost in the memories, and I know her story isn’t finished yet.

She takes a deep breath and continues, “When I was four, Gram went out with her friends, and the woman from the apartment next to mine caught me in the garbage. I must have looked pretty messed up because she called child services right away, and they took me away from my grandmother.” She pulls her knees to her chest and rests her chin on top of them. “I was so scared. She was the only person I knew, and I didn’t want to leave her.” Lindsay buries her face in her knees and her shoulders tremble.

I don’t care that she pushed my hand off her. I shuffle closer and
move her hair away from her face. She’s crying. “Hey, it’s okay,” I tell her. “Forget this.”

She shakes her head, then slowly raises it. “I want to tell you.” She wipes her eyes. “They put me in
a foster home. It was okay, not the greatest, but compared to Gram...I tried to get close to my new family, but I never felt like I belonged. It seemed like they didn’t want to make an effort to welcome me. All they cared about was their checks from the government. They fed me and clothed me and sent me to school, but did nothing else, nothing to accept me like I belonged. My foster siblings gave me a hard time in school. They wouldn’t let me hang out with their friends and they tormented me day after day after day. I didn’t say a word to anyone because I didn’t want to get sent back to my grandmother. I was too scared to do anything but obey their every wish.” She pauses. “Most nights I cried myself to sleep. Sometimes, I wanted to die.”

“Linds—”

“When I was twelve, my aunt and uncle t
ook me in. I went with them. It wasn’t like I had a choice anyway. I live with them now. Aunt Dana acts like I don’t exist half the time and Uncle Aaron treats me like I’m his personal maid. ‘Clean up after me. Get me a beer. Turn the TV on.’ And he beats Aunt Dana, like all the time. He threw me down two flights of stairs once. But he doesn’t really hurt me, because I obey him.”

Thinking back, I did notice some bruises on Lindsay’s aunt that time I was at her house, but I didn’t think much of it.
“Oh, man, Linds—”

“
It sucks. I hate it. When I turn eighteen, I’m moving out.” Her chin goes back to rest on her knees and she whispers, “I’m just so scared to be on my own, all alone. What am I going to do? Where am I going to live? If I want to go to college, who will pay?”

I move even closer to her and wrap my arm around her shoulders. She doesn’t shove me away like I
expect. She actually returns the hug. As she hiccups, I say, “I’m so sorry. Wish I could beat the crap out of all the people who hurt you.”

Lindsay pulls
away and wipes her eyes. “I never trusted anyone or got close to anyone. I guess it’s because I’ve always had to rely on myself. I convinced myself that I didn’t need anyone. Never had a real friend, never even tried to have a boyfriend. I just couldn’t trust anyone. Besides, most didn’t even look my way. I was a leper. An ugly thing no one wanted to be around.

“But there was one guy last year who gave me more attention than he gave to any other girl.”

“Harry,” I say.

Lindsay nods. “He was the only guy who said hello to me every morning and he seemed like a decent human being. So I let my guard down and trusted him. I even allowed myself to love him. It’s stupid, I know.”

I’m about to tell her it’s not stupid at all, but she continues to talk. “We were okay at first. He was nice. I didn’t realize that it was all a game to him. A joke. Looking back now, I guess there were signs that he was a jerk, but I was too naïve to realize. He never loved me. He just wanted to prove to his buddies that he could get any girl to fall for him, even the ugly duckling. And then he took those pictures...

“He touched me when I didn’t want him to. Maybe he would have done worse if Uncle Aaron hadn’t found us and demanded I go to the store to get him more beer.” She shakes her head. “I just want to forget everything and be happy.”

And I want her to be happy. I want her to smile and laugh and have fun. I want to be that person who makes her feel great about herself, about life.

My cell phone buzzes. It’s been buzzing for the past five minutes, but I keep ignoring it. X and Stretch can wait.

“Billy.” Her voice gets soft as she takes my hand. “I never told this to anyone. I never had anyone I can really trust. But you...” Her voice trails off as her gaze moves from my eyes to lower. My lips? They’re back on my eyes now. “You’re different. You’re not like Harry. I treated you like dirt, but you were still nice to me. You...you make me happy. I...I want you to know everything. I don’t want to keep secrets from you. And if you’re weirded out or want nothing to do with me—”

“No. Never.” I squeeze her hand and smile. “I love everything about you. And I’m glad you shared this with me.”
And I wish I didn’t have to lie to you about everything.

Lindsay’s face gets red and her
gaze creeps to my mouth again. “I’m sorry for pushing you away and for yelling at you for touching me and—”

“No, I completely understand. Don’t apologize for anything.”

She gets this look on her face, like she’s concentrating hard, as her hands go to my hair. It’s not long, since it got cut short for my disguise as Billy, but she’s got enough room to run her hands through it. “You’re the kindest, most honest guy I ever met. I think I’m falling in love with you.”

No one’s ever said that to me before. No one’s gotten this close to me. I want to kiss her, tell her I love her, too, and that she’s such a great person and she’s smart and wonderful and awesome. But the words get stuck in my throat
, and I find myself staring at her lips. Then I move my head closer to them. She moves her head, too.

I pull bac
k. My face feels as hot as lava. “I’ve never,” I stutter. “I mean, I’ve never done this before.”

Lindsay smiles and pushes my head toward hers. Soon I feel her soft
, warm lips on mine. She’s hesitant, but then she deepens the kiss. I follow her lead, feeling things I’ve never felt before and in places I’ve never felt before, until she pulls off. “That was...” I start.

“Not gross, I hope?” she asks, playing with her hair.

“No. It was perfect.” Heck, it was better than perfect. The best thing ever. Man, I can’t believe I’ve waited so long to do that! This must have been Premonition’s vision. Pssh, and I was nervous for it?

I look around and see
that the League members are enjoying the show. Ah, screw them. “Can we go again?” I ask Lindsay.

She nods and we do that. There are so many places I want to touch her, but I don’t want to make her feel uncomfortable or be too pushy, so I keep my hands on the back of her neck. Lindsay’s hands are going from my face down my chest, to my back, and then to my hair.

My phone buzzes again, and for some reason the buzzing sounds louder, like whoever’s calling is demanding I pick up. Pulling my mouth off Lindsay’s, I check the screen. A few missed calls from Stretch and X, and a text from Stretch. He says,
major emergency. come to tower asap.

I know this has something to do with Lightning and the
Blades. I stuff my phone in my pocket and bring my eyes to Lindsay. I can’t just leave her here, but Stretch wouldn’t call it an emergency if it wasn’t one. So I say, “Sorry, I gotta go.”

“But, Billy...
”

I don’t want to leave her here
, especially because she trusts me more than she’s trusted anyone, but I can’t stay a second longer. Wish I could tell her everything, explain it all, but that’s impossible. “Sorry, something came up at home. I really need to go. I’ll call you. Promise.”

I turn quickly and rush out of the park because I don’t want to see the look on her face. I didn’t want things to end like this. Didn’t want to leave her hanging. But whatever the guys have to tell me is
important. I need to get home.

***

When I enter X’s room, he shoots to his feet. “About time.”

This better be important, because I ran out on an awes
ome girl, who I just kissed and...yeah. “What’s up?” I ask.

X and Stretch exchange glances. They d
on’t say a word.

“Guys?”

Stretch is playing with the Rubik’s cube and X is staring at the wall before him, arms crossed over his chest. You gotta be kidding me! “What’s going on? You took me away from—”

“Lindsay can wait,” X says in a hollow voice, his eyes still on the wall. “This is more important.”

“What could be more important than saving the world?” The pitch in my voice increases. “You guys are wasting my time. Jealous because I’ve been spending time with Lindsay. Because I can get a girl while you guys only drool after the ones you want.” Man, I don’t want to fight with them. I want to be with Lindsay, to continue where we left off. I want to feel her soft, warm lips on mine again. I want to lie on the grass with her and take her hand. Just be with her.

And that’s where I’m off to now. “Later guys.” I head for the door.

“Where are you going?” Stretch asks.

I turn around to tell him exactly where I’m going, but I shut my mouth. His face is pale. Stretch never gets this white, unless something
really
terrible happened. “What’s going on?”

They look at each other again. Stretch twists the Rubik’s cube some more, avoiding my eyes. X lets out a big sigh and turns to me. “We met with Scar earlier. While you were with Lindsay.”

“What did he say?”

“He...
” Stretch starts, then shakes his head.

“He managed to penetrate the shield on Lightning’s mind,” X says. “He knows what the
Blades have planned.”

“Virus Boy?”

X shakes his head.

“Lindsay?”

“No.”

“Okay, what are those bastards up to?”

Darkness fills X’s eyes. “They’re planning to assassinate your dad.”