webnovel

『#BadDate』

Professor Benjamin Lockwood watched as the dual enrollment student left the room with a mint haired pixie named Paige Moriarty. His eyes narrowed closely. He knew of that student, the girl, she was a recent transfer from Britain.

Glancing over her shoulder, with her stuff all in her satchel, Hekate raised a hand and waved to the man. She watched as he waved back briefly only to begin preparing for his next class.

Within moments they had left the room and were walking down the hall together. They were rather contrast in their choices of clothes. One was bright, and the other one was relatively dark. Some people turned their heads to look at the matching duo, one with mint green hair and the other with an ocean green tie that was just as brightly saturated.

"So where do you want to go?" Paige asked as she was walking beside her. The way she walked, it was rather strict. Each pace was the same length, each clack from her shoe was the same pitch. Her legs seemed stiff in their movement, and she had a strange habit of holding her hands behind her back.

She knew plenty of people who held their hands behind their back to avoid putting their hands in their pockets. Yet this girl walking with her had no pockets. Maybe she was just Quirky? Or did she have sort of militant background?

"Hm... Kentucky Fried Chicken?" Hekate said the full name rather than using the shortened variety that nearly everyone and their mother use. Even the signs used the abbreviated name!

"Sounds Great~" Paige chimed without giving any other suggestions. She appeared happy to go along with almost anything she said first.

It made Hekate feel a bit weird that there was no friction. "Have you ever eaten there before?"

Paige noticed this almost immediately prior to the question and nodded, a brow raised. "Me and my mom ate there the moment we landed. There's one pretty close to the Star City airport."

Hekate smiled blankly hearing her speak of a Star City. From her knowledge, there was no Star City in California, but there was one in Nevada. She memorized the Atlas she had gotten from the Danvers, she knew almost the entire United States like she knew the back of her hand. At least up to the date of the United States that the Altas was printed.

"Star City?" Paige could get the hint of confusion on Hekate's face when she had repeated the name of the city.

"Oh, right. It's up north from here, North from San Jose... San Francisco?" Paige could see that Hekate was still confused on the manner. She didn't quite understand why. She clearly remembered that there was a Star City in California. That's when she paused and scratched her chin slightly.

"I think I rather go to Big Belly Burger," Hekate said with a tone that signified she was rather out of it. She had either missed something on the Atlas or there was no such thing as Star City and this girl was pulling her leg.

"What year is it again?" Paige sudden blurted out a question without taking in Hekate's change of desired destination.

"Two thousand five," Her eye twitched slightly, this felt rather weird to her. What was going on and why was she asking these questions? "Can we go now?" Hekate asked with a hurried tone as they were making their way out to the parking lot crowded with cars. It was around three in the afternoon, so if they took any longer, they'd likely hit rush hour traffic.

"KFC, right?" Paige asked when she was once more on the right track.

Hekate simply stared at her for a few moments, "What's KFC?"

Paige stared at her for a few moments, a very serious face on. "You aren't good with abbreviations, are you?"

She shook her head in response to both of the questions, "I prefer words. Random letters put together can be easily misunderstood. Like For the Win can be considered Fuck the World, with or without context when turned into Abbreviations."

Paige shrugged as she understood what she was saying, but the storefront literally has the abbreviation hanging above the entrance. It was like a trademark and it was easier to say in a short period of time.

"Also I said Big Belly Burger," Hekate narrowed her eyes on the woman as they were now standing in the middle of the parking lot. "Do you even have a car?"

"Uh... Yeah, It's here, somewhere." Paige assured Hekate as she gazed around the lot before taking out her keys. She took the fob into her hand and pressed the unlock button twice.

A small toaster car honked a short musical note, notifying them of its location.

"Your car sings," Hekate pointed out as they walked towards it. The roof was white and the rest of the toaster's main body was a glossy metallic cream orange, like the soda, with a symbolic yellow lightning bolt on the hood. Squinting her eyes at the vehicular creamsicle, she looked over at Paige. "You don't have any other color?"

"You have a problem with Orange?" Paige asked sarcastically.

"I dunno, but police tend to go after bright and unique colors. This one is just asking to be pulled over..." Hekate's eyes were locked on the bolt of lightning, trying to decipher its meaning since it appeared to be some sort of symbol. Yet nothing really came to mind. Her eyes snapped back towards the mint haired Paige, "I just want to go to Big Belly Burger."

Hearing Hekate's whiney voice made her grin slightly. "Fine, fine. Get in," She gestured towards the passenger side door before walking around and sitting in the driver seat.

Hekate just watched her as she moved over to the drivers side, opened the door, and plopped into the seat without much care. She was growing suspicious of this person, but nonetheless believed there was nothing to fear from her.

Walking over to the passenger side door, she opened it and slipped on inside on her own. "So..." She drummed her fingers upon her thighs slightly as she rested her bag at her feet.

"And we're off!" Paige announced as she turned the key and ignited the engine; the car came to life. In seconds they pulled back, narrowly avoiding hitting a car before pulling forward and driving towards the outgoing traffic lane to the central avenue, going about twenty five miles an hour, when the speed limit of the lot was a measly ten.

If Hekate wasn't a Kryptonian and already used to going at sound barrier breaking speeds, she'd definitely be clinging to her seat. She didn't even panic from the close calls with impatient or slow-poke pedestrians.

Paige had taken note of that.

It was clear these two were assessing one another, Paige having given more reason to be suspicious of than the Hekate who merely wrote notes in a different language.

So as the two of them were riding their way over to Big Belly Burger, about fifteen to thirty minutes away depending on traffic, Paige turned some of her attention to Hekate.

"I missed a few things while I was talking with you earlier, but I noticed you were writing the entire time. Would I by any chance borrow your notes?" This question made Hekate raise a brow, Paige seemed undyingly serious with a little twinkle in her eye.

Hekate simply continued to look at her for a good minute or so. It was an awkward drive at that point. "I didn't write it in English."

"Kinda looked like Arabic or Hebrew." Paige stated as she continued to await her answer as she drove. She kept her eyes on the road this time around with a faint smile across her lips.

"It was neither," Hekate said with an oddly defensive tone as if she had just insulted Kryptonian writing system. She kept herself looking out the passenger side window, tracing where they were going. She was growing annoyed almost after the question about the notes came up. "I don't think you'll be able to read it."

Paige furrowed a brow when the girl said that they wouldn't be able to read it. So she pulled over into a shoulder parking space in front of a small cinema building. "Lemme see it then!" She held out a hand towards Hekate.

"Can't it wait until we eat?" Hekate whined at her again, this time she was using her big eyes to guilt her. She just wanted to enjoy their deluxe burger and mix all the beverages in one large cup.

Paige leant over, she looked like she was a viper getting ready to strike, yet her target wasn't a warm blooded breather.

Hekate could see this, she was a genius, one which her parents recognized.

That's when the girl with mint hair struck, her hand moved at unbelievable speeds. It would have been a blur to any other human being, but it was nothing of the sort for Hekate. Reaching out and brushing her hand against Paige's, parrying the hand with ease.

Paige's hand hit the glove box and she cursed out loud, holding her hand before looking over Hekate for a few moments. "How'd you do that?" She seemed to pout, it seemed she only noticed that the writing had been nonhuman.

Hekate's upper lip twitched slightly, getting rather angry that Paige wouldn't wait to get a glimpse of the notes. She was impatient, had a blatant disregard for the thoughts and feelings of others.

In her anger, her heat vision flickered, causing the colored contacts to be virtually vaporized in an instant.

Paige took note of the super speed, she also took note of the heat vision which seemed to have flickered in front of her. From her knowledge there were only two Kryptonians. That's when she squinted her eyes a bit as she thought back to Hekate's reaction of Star City being a thing in California.

"Are you human?" Paige inquired.

Hekate gave her a dulled expression in return for this inquiry, "Improbably," she'd say sarcastically before turning and opening the passenger door. She stepped out with her bag hugged to her chest.

Rolling her eyes, "Wait!" Paige pulled her keys out of the ignition and got out of the car relatively quickly. She then dashed after her at a regular human's speed, catching up with the storming Kryptonian who then turned and vanished around a corner to an alleyway.

"Where the..." Paige began to curse only to look up to see what looked like Cadmus flying in an upward diagonal line before breaking the sound barrier. "Definitely a Kryptonian..." She muttered to herself as she watched the small dot vanish into the blue sky. "Guess I'll see her in class."

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