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Gift wrapped Secrets

Orion froze, as well as every other student in the class.

Then he smiled.

Here she was, embarrassing herself in front of her classmates, for him. You had to admire Ari's spirit.

It was massively endearing.

Strangely, he could see a bit of Shadowbird in Ari. Perhaps that was why he liked Ari so much.

He twisted his lip. "I know a girl." he began.

"I've known her for a very long time, now." The amused smile gave way to a troubled expression. "She's really smart, and funny, and cool, and I like her. A lot."

He put his head on his hand. "But she doesn't like me back." He had all but accepted it, now. And after what had happened on Friday, he didn't think it was possible for her to like him back anymore.

He sighed. "I think I'm being way too hung up on this."

Orion looked back at Ari. "And there's nothing you can do about it, Shadowbird, no matter how much you try."

If Shadowbird didn't love him, then there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Gift wrapped Secrets

He nodded, a bit relieved that she didn't want to go that way. He did not want to have anxiety about that scenario.

"It'd be so cool to be a hero," she said dreamily.

He almost laughed. She could not be more wrong. How about having the safety of an entire city in your hands? How about hurting and almost killing the person you loved? What about keeping a secret from everyone you loved, in order to protect their lives? What about all the missed sleep? What about all of the stress?

The urge to correct her was very strong. With superhuman restraint, he managed to not say anything.

"It's not you," he said. It was all of the things he couldn't say to her.
"It's not anything, actually."

"But, he said, staring at the stick figures on the paper. She was totally a fangirl. "I like your idea."

He forced his mind to think about the subject at hand.

"What if we did a modern day retelling of it?"

The idea had been done a thousand times, but it was an idea.

He elaborated. "One where they aren't cripplingly stupid, like in the original."

"Maybe they get together, and realize love isn't everything it's cracked up to be."

That was certainly an idea.

"Maybe, after the glamour fades, they don't love each other."

He looked up at Ari. "I'm rambling. Sorry."

Gift wrapped Secrets

"Action and love," he said. "Superheroes?"

He envisioned them standing on a building in downtown Winlock, a shiny camera in Orion's hands.

"Action!" he'd say. She'd read from her script, and try out some basic movements to go along with the words. He might tell a stupid joke, she might laugh. He would tell her to step a bit back, as she was too close to the camera. Perhaps she'd take too many steps back, and fall off the building. Midway through her fall, she'd be caught by a floating Orion, and his cover would be blown to bits.

He blanched.

But what were the odds of that happening, anyway? That situation felt so contrived, so impossible. Things would work out fine.

Gift wrapped Secrets

His breath hitched.

How had he missed that? He wasn't consciously flirting.

"And she looks good in boots and a cape," he remembered himself saying. He winced. Okay, yes, he flirted. A lot.
Shadowbird knew how he felt, and she didn't adress it. But, to be fair, he didn't adress it either.

Hearing it from Ari deflated him. It certainly felt like he had walked up to Shadowbird and told her his feelings, and she had rejected him.

But what did this girl know? Especially considering the fact that she was a casual fan.

Maybe she wasn't just a casual fan. How would one know, or claim to know Shadowbird and Galaxy's relationship by watching the superficial media coverage? One would have to watch the online footage or something, and pay close attention.

"You seem to know a lot about them for not being 'that big of a fan'." he watched her doodle lines on the paper. "Hmm?"

The lines formed into a familiar shape. Orion, the constellation.

Next to the word 'love'.

Perhaps it was an accident, Orion thought. Not many people could draw specific constellations. He only knew what it looked like because it was his namesake.

But he stared at the specific lines, drawn at the specific angles, and knew it was far from an accident.

"You like astronomy?" he asked her, moving the paper towards him.

Gift wrapped Secrets

"Yeah." he said blankly. "I do."

She thought that he was only a fan.
Was Ari one?

He couldn't resist rambling a bit. "I like Shadowbird and Galaxy a lot." He tapped the pen on the paper, leaving repetitive periods on its once pristine surface. "I think they're kind of perfect together."

Shadowbird was smart and sweet and beautiful and strong, and he loved her more than anything. Yes, they'd be perfect together.

He looked at her drawing on the corner of the paper. A bird and a star.

"I probably sound like such a nerd." he gave a curt laugh. He wrote a few halfhearted ideas on the paper. Yet his eyes kept being drawn to the first line of the paper: 'love'.

Was she a fan? Was she the type of person who had posters tacked up in her room? Did she write fanfics? Did she argue with other fans on the forums late at night?

How cool would it be if she was one?

"How do you feel about them?" he asked, more than bit curious.

Gift wrapped Secrets

@Xikari chan
"We're all a bit awkward, I guess." He pulled a paper from his bag, and a black gel pen. In thick, elegant cursive script, he wrote 'Ideas' at the top.

He tapped the pen to the paper, trying to make an idea materialize out of nowhere. The taps turned to scribbles in the corners, which turned to stars. Then, his pen drew little black birds.

"Love is a common element in stories," he said, etching the feathers on a shadowy bird. "I don't think we can go wrong with a love story."

He realized that he had drawn all over the top half of the paper. Birds soared through a galaxy of stars, wings outstretched. He stared at it, transfixed.

Shadowbird's face came into his mind's eye, smirking and confident. Then, he saw a flash of her face, hair everywhere, and mask sitting lopsided. Her teeth were gritted, and blood streamed out of her nose.
Shock and anger and disgust and shame all collided into one.
He crumpled the paper into a ball and chucked it into the trashcan at the other side of the room. Mr. Drake glared from his desk, but didn't say anything.

Another paper was smoothed onto the the wooden desk, and again, carefully, he wrote 'Ideas' at the top. On the first blue line, he wrote 'love'.

He calmed his shaky breaths. "What do you think, Ari?"

Gift wrapped Secrets

@Xikari chan
Almost as soon as Ari had come, she had left because she 'didn't feel well'. He wondered what had happened to her. Glancing at his scraped and bloody forearms, he wondered if he could leave, too. Nah. Drake would ask how he got those, and he couldn't think of a reasonable explanation at the moment.

He found it hard to pay attention for the rest of class.

Orion walked home, the other silent for once. His heavy backpack was slung over his shoulder. Its weight paled in comparison to his heavy heart.

Over the weekend, there were a few crimes, none of them super. He hated normal crimes, as all the humans were so fragile. Shadowbird didn't appear at any of them, which exacerbated his worry.

On Sunday night, he lay on his bed, headphones in his ears. His phone pinged: there was some crime going on. Glaring at the screen, he swiped the notification aside.

The police need to earn their pay, he thought.

Monday morning, he stepped inside the classroom.

He had distilled what had happened to Shadowbird into three possibilities: she was severely injured, she was dead, or she had not forgiven him.

The last one made his stomach lurch.

Mr. Drake announced something about a partner project. He frowned. Just what he needed today. He preferred to work alone. Perhaps he could convince Drake to let him do so? What would be his excuse, though?

Hannah turned around and gave Orion a brilliant smile with her bleached teeth. "Hi," she mouthed.

Orion held in a groan and pretended to not see her.

Ivy, Hannah's crony, stared diligently ahead. However, she snuck glances when she thought that Orion couldn't see.

"Ari Gray, you're with Orion."

Hannah's smile vanished, and she slid back down into her seat.

Orion looked down at Ari, who looked at her friend Cali. At least this was a chance to find out why she had left earlier.

Drake called that the students could begin. Cali left her seat and skipped over to Greg. Orion walked down the stairs and slid in next to Ari. He gave her a curt nod, then read the assignment written on the board.

"Film a short movie that has a plot, story elements, and a set of developed characters. You will show your project to the class and will be graded by your peers."

"Sounds fun," he said to her.

Gift wrapped Secrets

@Xikari chan yes! :) more than okay!

Things that people have said to you.

Ants scare me, but centipedes are fine.

'b-l-o-d-d':blood.

Alex Captor.

Wanna play a dating sim?

What does 'bigger means better' mean?

Get your life together.

It's cool, man.

I love you.

Tactile hallucinations are a thing.

Bona noches.

I'm sorry.

KARMA KARMA KARMA KARMA CHAMELEON

EVERY DAY IS MY SURVIVAL