And what a surprise, Dastan Vega was nowhere to be found on Monday.

"Angela!" Hayden called me when Cheyenne and I were walking down the hall after second period since Nik was missing too. "I waited to pick you up this morning, but you weren't answering your phone and then your dad eventually told me that you left with Sebastian."

"Sorry...my phone died," I lied. I saw him text me a few times, but I ignored them because I was so busy with my wandering thoughts about Dastan.

"Oh," he breathed. "Well, you know I can take you to school from now on, right?"

"Yeah," I managed to smile, although my mood didn't really want me to because I was in such a bad mood from Dastan's absence. Why did I care so much? "I'm just used to riding or walking with Cheyenne or Sebastian."

"Wait," Cheyenne smiled. We both looked over to her. She gestured between us. "Does that mean you two are...official?"

Hayden smiled, grabbed my hand to lace our fingers, and then brought them up to his lips for a light kiss. Cheyenne squealed in excitement and then Mickie showed up beside us.

"Did you hear that, Mickie? Hayden and Angela are official," Cheyenne smiled to her.

"Everyone already knows that," Mickie hissed at her. However, her face changed when she looked over to me and flashed me a smile. "Chad, Vega, and I are going out to the movies later. Do you want to come?"

"Dastan's going?" I asked. However, I already knew that Dastan warned me about his affairs at the movie theaters. I certainly did not want a first seat to see him and Mickie make out. Not to mention if they were going out, he was surely in good enough help to come to school. So then where was he...and why was he skipping when he wanted to talk to me?

"We're not going," Hayden decided before I could decline it myself.

"But we're going to go see—"

"It doesn't matter. We're not going," Hayden hissed down to her with a menacing tone. "I don't want to see Vega and neither does Angela. You already know that so stop trying to force it, Mickie."

Force it? He says that as if she's invited us to other things. I didn't even comment on how I actually did want to see Dastan, but Mickie shot me the same glance that she had when she blatantly told me to be a bitch and fight for what I want. I think we both knew what that was, right now...however, I wasn't fighting.

The tardy bell sent an awakening into my thoughts and then I realized that I should really get off to class and stop worrying about this now. Mickie sent me another look as Cheyenne left, and then Hayden towed me away to yet another class Dastan wasn't in.

Halfway through learning about exponentials and logarithms, by learning I mean sleeping, I felt my not-so-dead phone buzz and I checked it while my teacher was busy at her desk.

'We r going out' Mickie said.

'Hayden said we're not,' I replied.

'Well then itll have 2 be another secret from him, huh,' she immediately texted back. I froze. How did she know about secrets? Which secrets was she referring to?

'What are you talking about?' I asked her innocently.

'you know what I mean' she said.

From there, she didn't text me back  and that worried me.

Was she talking about me secretly ignoring Hayden's texts? Was she talking about my lies about not wanting to see Dastan? Was she talking about me talking to Dastan in the first place? Was she talking about my interaction with the Proliator?! Who knew!?

It had me thinking the entire time, which made me backtrack into the thought about me and Dastan. He gave me hell, but I wanted to talk to him whether Hayden wanted that or not. I'd just have to be upfront about it. They were best friends as much as they wanted to deny it; they can't just hate each other that fast, could they? 

***

"Kylie? What's wrong?" I asked her. She was calling me right at lunch, as if she knew I had just stepped out of class.

"Uh...he's here," she answered.

"Huh? Who's there?" I asked her, confused.

"The Proliator," she answered. I paused mentally, but physically I was rushing into the nearest restroom.

"What do you mean he's there?" I hissed at her. How was that possible? It wasn't his first time there, but why was he back? He couldn't be looking for me...oh no. What if he was looking for Kenneth...? "What happened? Why is he there? Where's Kenneth? Kylie? Hello?"

"Do you really not trust me?" a familiar English accent inquired through the phone, sprinkling a glaze of charm over his words. Well, I hope it was that charm, or why else would I be smiling to myself in a bathroom corner...

"It's not that, but—"

"I was kidding," he said, letting me hear his breathy laugh that made my mood brighten. Suddenly, I realized something.

"I thought you said you were done with me."

"I never said that," he immediately responded, as if angered that I accused that of him. Really? Then why was there absolutely no trace of him left but the feelings in my heart? Not even Larry was left in my room, making me fear that I had lost something that didn't even belong to me. "I said I can't keep coming to you like I was. I could never ever be done with you, now."

It was romantic...in an I-can-never-actually-be-with-you sort of way. I just wanted him to sense that I couldn't get over him either. It was a ridiculous thought considering I really didn't know him.

"Why are you back in Frankford?" I asked him, suddenly.

"'Back'..." he repeated. "I'm guessing Kenneth told you the story about what happened four years ago."

"Yeah he did," I said. "Why were you and those guys there? And why did you let my brother get credit for—"

"Are you mad?" he asked me, making me wonder if he meant angry or crazy. In what way? "There are people all around you."

Oh. He thinks someone might overhear? Yeah right.

"No there's not," I denied.

"You're at school," he reminded. "There are more people, especially at lunch time."

I paused.

"How do you know my schedule?" I asked, suspiciously.

"Because I obviously—" he cut-off by himself. "...have people there, remember?"

"Right..." I said, unconvinced. "Why don't you admit that you go to my school?"

"Because I don't go there anymore," he answered. What? He went here before?

"Why's that?" I asked.

"I'm moving," he answered. I sort of gasped in a vain moment. I didn't want him to move. I wanted him to stay here...with me. Pssh, because who else could save me from drunken frat guys and stoned horn-dogs? ...No; it was more like 'who else could make me feel the way he makes me'...

"Why are you moving?" I asked him, even though he made it clear that we shouldn't be talking about him over the phone. Superheroes shouldn't be allowed to move. Manhattan, New York is his city. What would it be without him? Even more dangerous?

"Don't worry about that, sweetheart," he soothed. "I'll explain everything the next time I see you."

"And when will that be?" I asked, sort of angered. There was no immediate answer like before. "Will I be getting harassed by some thug or kidnapped or maybe hanging from the Statue of Liberty? What will it take for me to see you without you having to leave or me getting called away by someone?"

"A date," he answered.

"A...what?" I asked like an innocent, confused girl.

"A date. You know, a romantic outing between two people," he elaborated.

"But I'm going out with—"

"I don't give a f*ck about Hayden," he growled. "I cared about you and Kenneth, and that's why I waited to court you. Only because I knew you cared about him, but Hayden? Hell no."

"So when—"

"No one's really two-timed Hayden before, but I'm glad the first time it's with a superhero," the snarky voice of Mickie said, emerging from the bathroom stall. Shit.