Guitar Hero (Cape High Series Book 12) (2 page)

“Probably.”

“Call him,” I say, sitting down. When did I stand up? I don’t even remember. I feel someone reach out and pat my hand and I look up at Malina. “Thanks, but I’m fine.”

“Just wait until your band hears about this--you’re supposed to pick them up at the next stop, but I doubt they’ll come along,” Tom says.

“Unlike you, they KNEW I was what I was,” I tell him, feeling a headache coming on. “I didn’t realize you were this prejudiced.”

“Senator Herold is right about you,” Tom says. “You’re out to get into our schools and take our kids--”

“You don’t even have kids, Tom! You’ve just got three ex-wives!” I practically yell.

“Well if I did, I’d keep them far away from you!” he yells back.

“We aren’t out to take YOUR kids, we’re out to get OURS!” Malina yells, getting to her feet--which isn’t really all that impressive, I’ve got to admit. I won’t mention that fact to her, though, because this is the first time I’ve ever seen her stand up to someone. “You--you stupid man!” And then she turns bright red with embarrassment, but goes on, “We just want them to be somewhere safe--somewhere away from people that hate them like you obviously do!”

He snarls at her, daring to get in her face, and instantly the rest of the bus is standing between them--with me right in the center. “Don’t you dare,” I say quietly, looking him straight in the eye. “Bus driver, have you found a spot to stop yet?” I call up to the black suit in front.

“Yes, sir,” he says.

“Then do it already, we’ve got a schedule to keep,” I say. “Tom, if you DARE try to sue me for wrongful termination, or whatever you want to call it, realize that this entire place is wired. There’s a good chance we got it all on camera--your prejudice, your assault on one of our kind, and I’ll happily have it put on television for the entire world to see.” I’m bluffing. Well... Maybe I’m bluffing. This WAS put together by Nico, and he has the entire school hooked up to cameras, so there’s a good chance the tour bus is, too.

“Ha! Like I want to have anything to do with a bus full of freaks!” Tom says as the bus pulls to a stop. “You’ll regret this, Justin--you’ll regret this more than you ever imagined!”

“Get off before I throw you off,” I tell him coldly. He gets off the bus. For a long moment there’s silence, and I turn to look at the others. “I’m sorry,” I say. “I didn’t realize he was a super hater.”

“That comment about Senator Herold is what bothers me,” Falconess says, sitting back down and crossing her legs. “That little speech the old man gave on television seems to have had a wider impact than I thought.”

“Are we freaks?” Malina asks softly.

“Sure we are,” Emily says before I can reply. She crouches down in front of the other girl, grinning wickedly. “We’re freaks, we’re different, we will never fit in, Malina--and I’d rather be all of those things than a jerk like that guy, any day, wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Malina agrees with a smile, “definitely.”

“I’m going to need a new agent,” I say, dropping down in my chair again and sighing. “There’s also a really good chance that Tom will put the word out that I can’t be worked with.”

“Rather than Double M--maybe we should call Grandpa,” Emily says.

“Superior?” I ask.

“No, my other grandpa,” she says. “Bus, call Grandpa Andre,” she orders. A screen comes down behind my head. I have to turn to see the large black man. Now, think about it here--Emily’s as much an orphan as I am, from what I’ve heard, yet here she is related to THE Superior, and the owner of Hall TV, not to mention a future Liberty girl. I won’t lie, I’m a little jealous—well, I mean, other than the Liberty girl part. I'm not built to wear a stars and stripes mini skirt. You know what? Forget I said anything.

“Good morning, sweetie,” Andre asks. “I thought you were starting your mission today.”

“Justin’s agent turned out to be a super hater,” Emily says. The instant she says it, there’s a look of shock on Andre’s face.

“An agent?” he repeats.

“Yeah.”

“That doesn’t usually happen... at all, actually,” he admits. “In our business, it’s always about the green. Did something happen?”

“We were just being ourselves,” Emily says with a shrug. “Sure, Freddy climbed the Hall, and I might have let Ditto out--but it wasn’t anything to freak over.”

“Huh,” he says, a frown playing on his lips. “What’s his name?”

“Tom Macow,” I say.

“I’ll see what I can find out,” Andre says. “So what are you going to do now?”

“Can you send us a replacement agent? Nico can send you all our paperwork and contacts--he’s the one that set up the tour,” Emily says.

“Well, that’s the problem--my agents usually only deal with super work,” Andre says. “Our contacts are strictly interested in stories about supers. Unless you’re willing to be outed as a cape, Justin, I’m not sure how good one of my people will be for you. Supers are as much a genre as any other.”

“But they won’t freak out on us, right?” Malina says to me.

“You’re asking a lot, though,” I admit. “Sure there have been rumors about me being a cape, especially since I screwed up, but--”

“I can pull some strings and find you a norm agent,” Andre offers. “It’s up to you.”

“I was going to have Malina do her water dance--that’s as good as admitting I’m a cape, already, isn’t it?” I realize. “And if I admit to it, there’s a bigger chance of the hidden capes coming to the show. I pretty much outed myself a year ago, after all. Send us one of yours, please.”

“I’ll send a few camera drones as well,” he says. “Where should he meet you?”

“We’re picking up my band in Kansas,” I say. “They’re still a bit irritated by that, but they’re used to traveling to strange places.” I rattle off the address and he nods.

“I’ll send them right over.”

“Will they be a super?” Malina asks.

“He’s a D class,” Andre says, “but if you’d prefer a norm, I can send one.”

“Either’s fine,” I say, looking at Malina. “As long as they don’t care we’re supers, we won’t care if they’re norms, right?”

She nods, but I can see that the whole Tom thing threw her off guard. I look at Freddy, who’s frowning in thought. I don’t like this. I don’t like how all of a sudden there’s this big, ugly feeling of “Us vs. Them.” I can’t change what happened to the zoo kids--they were captured by a norm, right? But he used a super to do it, so really, shouldn’t they be paranoid about EVERYONE? Not just norms? Not that I want them to be paranoid about anyone. I just...

I feel guilty because I should have known about Tom and his super hating. But DID he use to hate heroes? I don’t remember him ever freaking out or even saying something when I watched the news. There are a lot of heroes on the news. “Something seems wrong,” I admit.

Falconess looks at me. “How so?”

“He never came off as a super hater before,” I explain. “He would watch them on the news and everything, and never said a word about it. Every once in a while we’d even have one come to one of the shows, and he never complained. I don’t get it.”

“That does make you wonder,” she agrees. “Well, regardless, it looks as if we’re to our destination.” I look out the window as the bus pulls to a stop. There’s a group of three guys standing on the corner. They’re all around my age, and have all gone the hipster route, I notice blankly as they load their instruments and climb on board.

“What’s with the beards?” I demand as Lonny gets to me. He grins, pulling me into that bro hug where you slap each other on the backs. I repeat the move with Brian and Cole before introducing everyone.

“Hipster is in,” Lonny says, dropping down next to Emily and giving her a wicked grin. “Hi.”

“I’m dating Kid Liberty,” she tells him flat out. He falls off the bench, grasping his heart.

“That’s got to be the most impressive example of ‘shot down’ that I’ve ever seen,” Cole comments. “Is this bus big enough for all of us?” he asks me as he looks around.

“It gets wider if you push the big red button,” the bus driver calls back to us.

“Hey, you’re a black suit, right?” Brian says, heading to the front. “What’s your name?”

“Alphonse,” the driver says. “A pleasure to meet you, my daughters love you guys.”

“Cool! How old are they?” Brian asks.

“Thirteen and twelve.”

“Still cool,” Brian says with an easy grin.

“Hey, we got a call from Tom,” Cole says, dropping down on another chair, “he seemed to think we didn’t know you were a super.”

“Yeah, we’re getting a new agent,” I tell him. The three of them shoot me shocked looks.

“Wait--are you guys heroes, too?” Lonny asks Emily.

“Yeah,” she says with a grin, “we’re all capes.”

“Even the little cute one?” Brian asks, motioning to Malina.

“She’s a cape,” I say.

“She has a name,” Malina mutters under her breath.

He gets down on his knees in front of her, digs through his pockets almost wildly, and pulls out a candybar. “Will you marry me?” he asks. “I would have used a ringpop, but I ate my last one.”

“No hitting on either of the girls, moron!” I say, trying not to laugh.

“Would you prefer a ho-ho?” he asks Malina. I hear a tiny snort escape her before she’s laughing her head off. “I’m not a headliner, so I don’t make enough to buy an actual ring. But I’ve always wanted to be married to a super!”

“You’re a dork,” she tells him, grinning widely, her legs swinging absently. He grins back at her, shamelessly, and I can’t help but feel relieved.

“Guys, I have to tell you something,” I say, making them look over, “I’m going to be outed as a hero for this tour. It’ll be covered by HTV and everything, and our new agent will be a D-class super. If you want me to find a replacement for you--”

“Heck no! This is going to be awesome!” Lonny says. “Besides, everyone already knows you’re a super--unless they’re in denial like Tom must have been. This way we can meet all the super hot hero chicks! Speaking of which, 
hell-ooo
,” he says, leering cheerfully at Falconess.

“That’s Falconess,” I have to point out.

“Oh, whoops, sorry ma’am, didn’t--” Lonny stumbles over himself as Emily and Malina start rolling with laughter. “Don’t kill me, please?” he whimpers.

“Are you seriously dating Kid Liberty?” Cole asks Emily. “I thought it was a joke.”

“No, I’m seriously dating him,” she says. “I’m Divine Justice, and technically I’m the leader of this mission--we’re just using Justin as a front man.”

“Hey, I saw your debut! You went up against Dragon, right? Is he really hard to get along with?”

The entire group of heroes look at me. “Ah, well,” I say, hesitating as I try to find a way to put it, “you have to keep this to yourself, okay?”

“What, you’re secretly his stalker?” Cole teases.

“No, but he is my best friend,” I say. The three of them look at me in shock. “He’s a great guy, although he keeps leaving his crap in my dorm room because he’s too lazy to take it back to his place, and we have the same taste in girls,” I make a face, because he actually got Morgan on his team, so there’s a chance he’ll actually confess that he likes her.

“You’re so screwed,” Cole says bluntly.

“Yep.”

“I mean, sure you’re a famous singer--but he’s DRAGON.”

“I know, trust me, I know,” I say dryly.

“Poor Justin, out-done by a super villain,” Brian says, sadly.

“It’s not because he’s a famous super villain!” Malina protests. We all look at her, watching as she turns bright red at the attention. “It’s... It’s because Ace is a nice guy,” she says, looking down at her lap.

“So basically, I’m still out of luck,” I say with a shrug. “I can’t even hate the guy, because like I said, he’s my best friend. Sure he hangs out with Max and Jack a lot, but...”

“We’ll find you a new girl!” Emily says. “Maybe Jack or Max can check out the debuts they’re going to get, see if there’s anyone cute.”

“No thanks,” I say. “I’d rather not trust either of them with picking a future girlfriend.”

I hear Freddy snort and look up, realizing that he hadn’t drawn any attention to himself since the band came. “Freddy, come out, would you?” I say quietly.

He slowly peeks out from the upper bunk. Freddy is a pretty interesting looking kid. All of the supers are distinct looking, often good looking, but once in a while you find one like Freddy. Freddy has a long, narrow face with a long, narrow nose, and eyes so green that it looks like he’s wearing contacts. He’s emphasized that package with several piercings and letting Ace do his hair--it looks like a lizard clinging to his head, and is dyed bright green. Ever since Ace did that, I’ve sworn he’d never touch my hair--EVER. Freddy loves it.

“Guys, meet Freddy, the last of our team,” I tell them, reaching up and bumping knuckles with him. “He’s a wall-climber.”

“As in ‘he’s really hyper’ or--” Cole asks.

“I can climb on any surface,” Freddy says, reaching up and touching the ceiling of the bus. Soon he’s crawling across the ceiling and stopping in front of Cole. “See?” he asks, looking up--which is down for us--at Cole.