I walk into math with my note from the office. The excuse for today is a dentist appointment. It gets circulated about every six months so it doesn't raise suspicion.
Walking into the band library after school to finalize plans for the leadership retreat, Adrianna is already in there.
"Have fun in D.C.?" She asks, not looking up from her phone.
"I wasn't in D.C. today. I had a dentist appointment." Why would she think I was in D.C.? There's no way she knows.
"Don't play dumb with me Green."
Shit. She knows. "Who said I was playing dumb? I promise you I wasn't in D.C. today. If I was, there's no way I could be back here right now."
"Then would you care to explain this?" Adrianna holds up her phone with a video on it. She presses play and I watch a very familiar scene play out.
~~~
I am in the middle of the Senate Committee room, wind whipping my braid, the same braid I have in now, behind my back. The power radiating off of me, even over a screen, can be called otherworldly.
"This morning the heroes of our country left the world shocked. Hurricane called Senator Tueuer out as the driving force behind the policy to restrict our heroes. Aided by Spark, they found clear evidence for that along with other things she has done while in office. As of now one of that information has been made public, but things may change in the coming days. For now one big question still remains: Who are our heroes under those masks?"
~~~
"There's no way it can be anyone other than you!"
"I've seen enough," I turn and start walking out of the library. "We'll finish planning tomorrow." Then I feel something coming at me. I step aside and water falls onto the floor.
"Why didn't you stop it?" She asks.
"Because I'm not Hurricane! Do you really think I'd be here if I was or that I'd tell you?"
Adrianna gets quiet. "I guess you wouldn't. But there are still some things that aren't adding up here."
Shutting the door, I take a seat across the table from her. "Like what?"
"You forget I live a few houses down from you. There are some strange things that go on at your house, especially around your room."
"And you'll never get the proof that what you think you've seen is accurate."
"Oh I'll get it. I know you're Hurricane and it's only a matter of time before I confirm that and who the rest of your little cronies are," she threatens.
"Well good luck." I grab my stuff and walk out the door. "I'll see you tomorrow and we'll get this wrapped up."
'Shit shit shit. She can't know. Out of everyone who I'd even want to know she's at the bottom of the list!' My mind is racing. I'm trying to hold it together but it's not working very well.
As soon as I pull into the driveway, I activate the teleporter and appear in our base. Quickly changing into a pair of leggings and sports bra, I activate 'Hurricane Training Mode' and prepare for the onslaught from the training robots.
Mini pools of water sit off on the sidelines and I use them to form ice daggers. Careful only to hit the targets on the robots, I take them all down in record time.
Still needing to burn off some energy, I resort to throwing shards of ice at the wall. Straight lines form and I reuse the water over and over again. Finally worn out, I lay on the floor and shut my eyes.
A shadow comes over me. I open my eyes to see Allan.
"Why are you here?" I ask.
"Oh, you know. Just wanted to see what you did to make Adrianna upset." He sits down next to me.
Immediately I sit up. "What did she tell you?"
"Only thing she said to me was asking about Hurricane. Somehow she got it in her head that you're Hurricane and she needs to reveal you."
"I mean she's not wrong there," I admit. "I just want to know why she's now hell bent on proving who I am. She won't gain anything from it."
"Unmasking the leader of the most powerful heroes in the country is a pretty big deal."
"She doesn't even realize what will happen if she lets it leak that she has even the smallest idea of who I am!" I lay down again. "Tueuer will do anything to get her hands on that information with Stelas not too far behind her."
"Then how are we going to handle this?"
"I don't know," I admit. "We can't just tell her who we are."
"Why can't we? It would make things easier between us and maybe humble her down a little."
"Then when will we do it? Tomorrow? Do we call her now?" The idea is ridiculous. Adrianna will just use this for her own personal gain or use our identities to let her get her way.
My question makes Allan pause to think. "I don't really know. Revealing it now, especially right after she confronted you might not be the best of ideas."
"What about the leadership trip? It's the best thing I can think of."
"Why are you thinking then?" He warily asks.
"Because there can be liability plans in case something goes wrong."
"So, murder in the middle of the woods?"
I shoot an innocent smile his way. "No way. Why would you ever think I would kill her?" I sweetly ask.
He raises an eyebrow. "Because you've said that quite a few times when she really pisses you off?"
"Fine. No liability plans." Admitting defeat may be my best choice here. "But we can tell her in Knoxville."
~~~
"Why is this still all anyone is talking about?" I nearly slam my head on my desk in frustration. It's been nearly a week since we stood in front of the panel of senators and it seems to be the only thing the country cares about. My Current Events class is still dissecting what Hurricane, aka me, was trying to get across by causing a 'scene.' We've watched the whole thing what seems like a million times.
"Great question Celeste!" Mrs. Bardot sounds way too chipper for a class this early in the morning. "Everyone is talking about it because Hurricane made history by standing up to the committee like that. No one would dare to speak out against government officials, especially ones as high ranking as those on the committee."
I groan. Of course, the one time I say what's right causes a national debate over what I did and didn't mean.
From the back of the classroom a boy named Austen speaks up. "No one would say what she said to people with that much power unless they have a death wish. What did she want to accomplish by making a scene?"
"At least she's fighting for what she feels is right!"
"But by doing that? What's not to say the end goal is to overthrow the government?"
The class erupts into an argument and I remain silent the whole time. One side of the debate, if you can even call it that, is that Hurricane is protecting the rights of the heroes and that they have the choice to do what they feel is right while keeping their identities a secret. The other side is saying we need to be limited even more or should just be told to stop being heroes and reveal their identities to the world.
"Celeste," Mrs. Bardot calls me out. "You've remained rather quiet on this whole matter. What do you think about what Hurricane said?"
Choosing my words carefully I say, "I feel that what she said is what needed to be said. There was never a problem with any of the heroes going to other parts of the country until recently."
Austen scoffs at what I'm saying, but I ignore him and keep going.
"If I was in her spot," (I was but they don't need to know that) "I would probably have said the same thing. Stelas and Tueuer have caused some problems in the past and getting called out by a prominent figure in society may be what they need to get it together."
"That is very well said Celeste. Now, why do you think Figment said what he said?"
"He said they were family. He said it because they were affected like we would be if someone killed part of our family." Olivia doesn't even look up from her computer
After what feels like an eternity, the bell rings and it's time to go to second period. Luckily, I have band and afterwards is our study hall style period. It's only thirty minutes, but we're using that time to gather leadership and give them all the details for the trip.
I grab my French horn and folder out of my locker and drop them at my seat. Needing some water, I run out into the hall to refill my water bottle. The bell rings but the directors don't mind if we're a little late getting to our seats.
Music is getting the final touches and we make sure everything is perfect. With a concert next week, the music needs to be perfect no matter what.
Several notes of mine come out a little weird, but only because there was spit buildup in my horn. Anytime the horns aren't playing, I stare directly at Adrianna. How she figured me out makes no sense. The only proof she has on me is the clips from Capitol Hill yesterday.
As soon as class ends and our instruments are put away, I make a beeline to the library with Adrianna and Allan coming in not too long after me.
"So leadership is all heading here now. Is there anything big we need to address before heading out there?"
"Unless you have some big secret you need to tell us," Adrianna sends a pointed look at me, "we're ready to do this."
Allan just says, "I'm good. Let's get this done." He stands up and grabs a stack of papers off the table.
We open the door and walk to the large ensemble room (LER) where the whole leadership team is waiting.
Andrew is the first one to spot us. "So what's this big secret we've been called in here for?" He asks as soon as we shut the door.
"It's not a secret so much as it is a trip," Adrianna says.
Everyone starts asking a million questions a minute.
"Where are we going?"
"When was this decided?"
"How much is this going to cost?"
"What about football games?"
"When are we going?"
"Is it mandatory?"
The noise gathers until I can't even hear myself think.
"HEY! QUIET DOWN!"
Well, that's one way to get everyone to shut up.
"Thank you Gracie. Now like we were saying," I begin.
"We're going to Knoxville the weekend before Halloween. The plan is to meet at school at five thirty and leave fifteen minutes later. We should be back around seven or eight Sunday night, maybe even earlier. If you need to, start putting this in your phone. It is kinda important." Allan starts handing out the itineraries we printed this morning. "Attached to the itinerary is your parent permission form. The trip is not mandatory but we suggest you come on it."
"You won't have to pay for anything except for food, but even then most meals will be provided. We're staying in a cabin about thirty minutes out of the city. You will have a roommate, we'll get lists up soon, and it's about three or four to a room. The point of this is to work better as a team."
"So that means, if we see you signed up to be with the same people as always, we will switch you around." I give some pointed looks to people. "Please no funny business and since there are a few couples, we're splitting you up. This is a family friendly trip after all."
That gets some giggles from everyone.
"Does anyone have any questions?" Adrianna asks.
"So I'm eighteen, do I still need a parent signature?" Nicholas asks.
"Yes you do," I answer. "You will be traveling with the school and we need proof that your parents are allowing you to go on this trip in case something happens."
"What about food allergies?" Noah asks.
"That is also on the permission slip. We are doing our best to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible."
~~~
We spend the rest of the time going over what we're going to do and any special things people might need to pack.
Finally, the bell rings.
"If you have any questions, feel free to ask us however and whenever!" Allan announces as everyone leaves the LER. "AND DON'T FORGET FORMS ARE DUE IN TWO WEEKS!"
We grab our stuff out of the library and head to third period. "Well that went surprisingly well," I admit.
"Now we just need to hope everyone gets their stuff in on time."