Rule #17: Never take a day off. As soon as you take a day off, things go bad. Villains never sleep (okay, I don't know for sure but just go with me on this) and the second you get complacent the second the villains get the upper hand. So put off that vacation until after you fake your own death to get out of the superhero game.

For the next few weeks, all I did was train. I'd go to school, spend time with my family, and do my homework but my entire life was always devoted to training. Dan had continued to let me work on my own, which was nice, but he didn't give me the chance to get complacent. He would leave notes for me in the lair with things I need to accomplish by certain times so we could stay on track and I had no choice but to follow them.

Part of me wanted to ignore the notes and do whatever I wanted but I knew that would be stupid. Dan wasn't giving me these instructions to annoy me or in an attempt to control me in any way, he wanted to keep me alive. Also, we'd have to present my progress to the heroes again at some point and if we embarrassed ourselves (or if I embarrassed both of us), we'd be in deep shit. No, it was better to ignore everything else around me and focus on training rather than condemn the city to ruin. Yeah, I wasn't feeling the pressure at all.

It's a wonder that my grades didn't completely drop during that time. I was still doing my homework but I wasn't actually learning or absorbing anything, I might as well not been there at all. Luckily for me our public school system has become completely test-centric and I could take tests pretty well, it was all just memorization. My one problem was Miss Fetzer's class, where we were being assigned a project. This would require a lot more attention on my part, especially since we were supposed to work in partners and I couldn't be the guy who made his partner do everything.

This is where the teen angst part of my story comes into play.

(I'm sorry, I know we already talked about this stuff but I also know that you guys are tired of this. But just so you know, we're more than halfway through our story and this teen angst part will lead directly into the end and be very important. So please hold on a little longer, I'd really appreciate it.)

You guys remember me talking about Miss Fetzer before, right? Evil bitch teacher who hates me? Cool, then we don't need to recap. If you don't remember, then just go read near the beginning, it's there somewhere. Then come straight back here once you're done. We'll wait.

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Everyone caught up now? Good.

Anyway, Miss Fetzer was a special human being who never wasted an opportunity to make me (or anyone else miserable). Usually she'd do this by preventing me and Ike from pairing up, because she knew we only really wanted to work with each other. But now, since she had noticed that Ike and I were on bad terms (it wasn't hard to notice), she decided to flip the script on us. It was kind of an obvious choice but it was devious all the same.

"Matt," she said, as everyone rushed around the room to find their partners. "Don't choose a partner, I've already chosen for you."

"What?" I said.

She shot me a look. "Don't look at me like that, as the teacher it's my right to choose partners for my students if I want. Besides, I think you'll be happy with my choice."

"I will?" Stupidly, I started to have a little bubble of hope growing in my belly. Maybe Miss Fetzer wasn't going to be a completely bitch this time. Maybe we could turn over a new leaf.

"Yes, I think you will. You'll be working with Ike."

Or not.

Immediately, you could tell that Ike was pissed. He knew better than anyone that Miss Fetzer was not someone you could negotiate with but he tried anyway. She let him say his peace, smiled, then promptly ignored him. I wasn't that upset, the situation wasn't going to be fun but at least I'd actually get to spend time with Ike, but I put on a pissed face as well so Miss Fetzer would leave me alone and so Ike wouldn't feel like I was getting anything out of this.

After class, I went right over to Ike to start figuring out the project. I did this partially because I needed to get it done as soon as possible but mostly because I knew it he left the classroom then I wouldn't be able to find him the rest of the day. He didn't look up when I reached his desk.

"So when do you want to work on the project?" I asked, trying to make my tone sound sort of annoyed, like I was as inconvenienced as he was.

"I don't know what you mean," he said.

"You heard Miss Fetzer, we have to work on the project together."

"Technically," he shoved his binder in his backpack, "We just have to turn the project in together. There's no way she can know that we actually worked together."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll do my part of the project, you do your part, and then we turn it in. Easy."

"But we have to work together."

"We have to get done. I don't want to work on it with you."

"I know," I said. "But she paired us together so we're stuck with each other."

He rolled his eyes as he stood up and moved toward the door. "We're stuck with each other, all right."

I grabbed my stuff and went after him.

"You do realize we didn't resolve anything, right? I didn't agree to work on it separately and you didn't agree to work on it together."

He spun around to face me. "Fine, how about this: I do all the work, ALONE, and you get half the credit."

"Ike, I'm not going to let you do that."

"Why not?"

"Because that's not fair to you!"

"Since when do you care what's fair for me?"

"Since always."

He snorted.

"Ike, I really want to make things right with us. And I know that's never going to happen if I let you do all the work."

"That is true."

"So?"

He smirked. "So you should do all the work, if you want to try to make things right."

"Will that actually help things? I'll do it if it will actually help."

"Do the work, then we'll see." He tried to turn away again.

"Seriously?" I said. "THAT'S how you're going to be?"

"Yes, that's how I'm going to be."

"Please, Ike, just work on the project with me. You can come up with all the ideas and I'll do the work exactly how you want me to. Just work with me on this."

He hesitated for a minute then said: "Fine, but it's on my terms."

"Of course. When do you want to meet?"

"Tomorrow, my house. If you want to work together, you can come to me."

I was so happy that Ike was willing to be in the same room with me that I didn't care where we met. I didn't care if I had to do all the work either. All I wanted was to make things right between us. Besides, I could fly so what was the harm in going a few streets over?

But when I got to Ike's house, I had to knock several times before he'd answer the door. I swear, it was at least five minutes before he'd grace me with his presence. And once he did, he wouldn't let me in the house.

"I changed my mind," he said. "I have too much to do, you're going to have to handle it." The effect of his words was ruined by the sound of the TV blasting Game of Thrones, but I decided not to point that out.

"Come on, let's just work on it, okay? I don't have to stay long."

"Nah, I'm good."

"Do you really have to be such a dick?" I asked.

"Did you really have to lie to me about everything?"

"You know I did."

"And you know that I do have to act like this. Because of anyone's being a dick, it's you."

"Whatever, I'll do my part and you'll do yours."

"Fine."

"See you at school."

I was answered by him slamming the door. So much for some reconciliation.

I had turned around and stomped down the steps when I heard someone calling my name. I turned back, thinking that maybe Ike had reconsidered, but I instantly realized that it was a female voice and that Faye was leaning out her window at me.

I waved halfheartedly. "Hey."

"What's up?"

"I was supposed to work on my project with Ike but he's decided that he's too busy."

She frowned. "That sucks."

"Yep."

"Do you want to hang out?"

"Nah." I knew it was rude to just blow her off like that but I wasn't in the mood to be friendly.

"My parents aren't home."

Don't get me wrong, on any other day I would have bucked right up and ran right into Faye's house. I am a red-blooded male, after all. But this was no ordinary day, I knew I wouldn't be able to go in that house without saying something completely rude to Faye at some point. I couldn't put her through my anger.

"Faye, I'm super sorry but I have to go home. I'm just having a bad day."

Her face fell but she didn't seem mad. "Oh, okay. I'll see you tomorrow?"

I forced a smile. "Definitely."

So instead of hanging out with (and possibly hooking up with) Faye, I went back to my lair and basically just sat around and ate junk food. I was probably supposed to do some training but why would I do that when I could be lazy? Rachel showed up at one point, looking as annoyed as I thought she would be, and just watched me for a while.

"What?" I finally said.

"You're an idiot," she replied.

"I know."

"All boys are idiots."

"Yes, they are."

Then she left. She's such a lovely person.