Young Writers Society

Ah.

He probably should have seen that coming.

But in his defense, he wasn't expecting for this person to spray paint as their actual power, and not just through the actual cans.

"Alright," he muttered, feeling more guilty after laughing at The Actor for getting covered. "That wasn't very nice. Sorry for laughing at you."

Ugh, cleaning this out of his suit was going to be ridiculous.

Unless - "This paint doesn't happen to be washable, does it?"

He really hoped so.

"Also, that's not a great stance on spray painting, not when you're negatively impacting other people."

Jeff frowned. How could he try to eliminate any chance of letting this person spray either him or The Actor? He grabbed all of the cans, stuffing them into the nearest can, after checking if they were recyclable or not.

Maybe that would impress The Actor, or at least make up for the fact that he laughed at him?

"How's that?" He said out loud. "I'm pretty sure your cans were close to empty anyway, and maybe this time it'll motivate you to get cans that can totally be recycled!"

The vandal looked unconvinced by Jewel's very passionate and eco-friendly speech, but there wasn't much that could be done thanks to Jewel confiscating all the spray paint. A little, tiny spurt of paint popped out of the recycling bin - hitting Jewel in the face one last time - but it seemed like the vandal had used up all of the paint already.

Wren had already been feeling lucky because of that, but she felt even more lucky when she saw a police officer patrolling near by. Making sure her arms were muscular enough to hold the vandal back, she darted over to the criminal in question.

A few moments later, the vandal had been presented to the police officer - with an added warning about the vandal's powers. The police officer walked off with Jewel and Wren's makeshift enemy; it wasn't long before they disappeared inside of a police car.

Wren returned to Jewel.

"...It was a good idea to recycle the canisters," she said. She tried - and failed - to wipe more paint off of her face. Hopefully, it would come off her and the suit when she shifted back into her actual self later.

She gave up on trying to clean the paint off.

Even though she was no longer distracted by the fight (?) and the paint, she didn't meet Jewel's eyes. Nowhere in her "befriending a superhero who might be her age" daydream had that other superhero laughed at her. It...ruined the illusion, a little. Maybe this wasn't going to work out the way that she wanted.

"I...I need to go," she said, looking off somewhere else in the park. "I mean, I probably should be going. I...I have class first thing tomorrow."

She froze, realizing how weird that sounded coming from the mouth of an adult.

"...at my college!" she hurriedly added, her hurt feelings momentarily forgotten. "Because I'm a...college student. And I go to...class. A...lot..."

...Now she really had to go.

Without giving a Jewel a chance to say anything, she rushed off into the darkness of the park.

Oh.

The Actor was gone.

Jeff still felt very bad for laughing about paint landing on him, even though it wasn’t intentional at all. In fact, he got paint all over himself, and if he wasn’t thinking of the logistics to get out paint spots from his suit, he would have laughed as well.

Not to mention the fact that The Actor talked about classes and college? He would have thought him as in his mid-twenties, solidly landing as an Adult in his mind, but maybe he was wrong? Juggling high school with superhero duties was one thing, but college?

Woah. That was some dedication.

Glancing around the empty park, Jeff decided to head on home. He yawned into a hand before kicking up his speed, hoping to catch a few minutes of a cartoon before he passed out.

Night turned to day. Wren tried her best to forget about the fight with the vandal - villain seemed like too strong of a word - but her mind kept flickering back to how things had gone with Jewel. By the time that the school day ended, she was ready to talk with him again. Maybe it wouldn't be so embarrassing or hurt so much if she prepared for the worst.

...But preparing for the worst just made her nervous.

So instead of interacting with him, Wren found herself doing her very best to avoid him. She even got a point where she was changing her form so he wouldn't recognize her as The Actor. She knew it was silly and that she really needed to work together with him, but her anxiety didn't want to listen to logic. A day turned into a week; a week turned into almost a month.

The one constant was the project that Wren was doing with Jeff. She put her all into the project - she felt better doing it with him than she felt when she was trying to be a hero and avoid Jewel.

And then, finally, it was time for their project to enter its final stage. They had done their research and were mostly prepared to present it after the upcoming weekend. They just needed to see the play and add the actual experience into their presentation.

Wren found herself waiting outside of the theater that night, two tickets in her hands as she scanned the streets for Jeff. The air was surprisingly cool. She probably should have worn more layers, but it was too late now. The show was going to start soon, and the cafe was too far away to ever get there and back in time.

Jeff checked over his belongings, taking his wallet, ID card, and a few dollars everywhere he went, regardless of the destination. With that, he locked his front door and started to do what he usually did: run.

His hair never wanted to do what he asked, so he figured having it be a little wind-stirred wouldn't hurt, and he wasn't going to pay for a ride when he could get there faster on with his feet.

Although, his clothes might be wrinkled, but he didn't want to be late, so maybe that compromise was okay. Jeff slowed down behind a quiet street, keeping an eye out for anyone walking around, then checked his phone.

Well, alright, here went nothing. Two blocks away, then a right turn. Guess he picked the right area to stop in.

He saw Wren a few feet away, right in front of the theater.

"Hey!" Jeff waved, noticing the tickets in her hands. Maybe he could buy snacks for the both of them in exchange. "I've been looking forward to this."

Wren held out one of the tickets and gave him a shy smile.

"I have, too," she said. She tried to resist the urge to shiver; she should have been better with the cold at this point. She tried to make her suit insulated during the winter, but there was only so much she could do to keep warm then. If she had survived that, she should have been able to handle this better. "...I hope our seats aren't too close to the stage."

"Mmh, true. My neck always hurt when I got the front seats in a movie theater. Thanks again for getting the tickets," Jeff said. You've got some connections, huh?" He snorted out a laugh.

Whew, he shivered with the next wave of wind. "Maybe we should head on inside though, 'cause it's kinda cold out here."

"I agree," she said, her teeth chattering a little. She held the door open for Jewel as they entered the theater. The theater itself wasn't anything too special, but the actors that were going to perform were incredibly well-known - even though they were putting on a production of a parody musical. She was pretty sure one of them had even had a very minor role in a recent production of Hamilton.

"I can't wait to see the show!" she whispered, eyes alight behind her glasses.

Jeff thanked Wren for getting the door, then turned to look at the aisles in front of him. Theaters were always so cool to step into.

“Me too!” Jeff whispered back. “I looked up a few songs just to sample them, and they all sounded great, so I absolutely can’t wait.”

All around them, people were shuffling into their seats.

“I guess we should find where our tickets granted us,” he said, laughing a bit.

They arrived at their seats in a few minutes, a moderate pace away from the stage, but not too far into the back rows. Perfect.

“Since you got the tickets,” Jeff said, turning to Wren, “I’d like to pay for any snacks you’d want.”

"You don't have to!" she protested, frantically shaking her head. "I got the tickets from a family friend. I-I can pay for mine."

She wasn't even all that hungry. She didn't usually get hungry when she was out - there was too much to snack on in the cafe, and she always loaded up before she went out. It didn't matter if she was leaving the house as herself or as The Actor. She knew it was always important to be prepared, and it was impossible to guess when hunger would strike.

"Nah, no worries," Jeff said, shaking off her protests. "I want to. This can serve as my thanks for you becoming my friend, even with me being a new student and all that. I appreciate it."

He grinned wide, leaning back into his chair. "Besides, I get hungry quick, and I might have forgotten to eat more than like a handful of chips for dinner."

Her shoulders slumped in defeat; she knew she wasn't going to be able to change his mind, especially after he said that.

"I'm...I'm glad you see me as a friend," she said, blushing and staring down at the ground beneath their seats. "But I'll have to repay you for the snacks later-"

The room suddenly darkened.

Wren looked up to see the curtains pulling away from the stage to reveal the very beginning of the show - it looked like Jeff wasn't going to be able to get the snacks, after all.

She got a chill as the music started. It was so cool finally seeing this in person!

All the reviews were right! This show really was electric. Jeff was held captivated by the lights, the singing, the steps every actor took on stage. Wow.

Midway through the show, however, Jeff spotted someone behaving just a bit oddly, to the side of the stage. During a slower song, he really could see that whatever effects the stage person was doing, didn't seem to fit with the tone, not with fake thunder roars or with an ever-increasing smoke.

Oh. They might be a villain. Uh oh. The folks in the first row of seats were slowly edging away from the person, which meant that whatever was happening must be getting worse.

What should he do? Run home and get changed into this suit so nobody would notice? He was wearing pretty nondescript stuff, but he didn't have a mask on him, and he didn't want anyone knowing who he was, not when he was a high schooler still.

"Uh, Wren, do you, uh notice something weird down there?"

He decided the best first step would be to ask her what she thought was happening. If he was being paranoid, then maybe everything was fine.

She had been so absorbed in the show that she hadn't noticed what the person towards the very front of the theater was doing. Once Jeff pointed them out to her, Wren was shocked that she hadn't picked up on it sooner - and appalled that she hadn't noticed. She was supposed to be a hero; it was her job to pay attention to things like that.

But she wasn't The Actor right now. She was Wren Carter, and Wren wasn't supposed to handle villain fights. She needed to get away from the theater so she could get changed. But where could she possibly go-

Smoke suddenly blossomed from the front of the theater.

...Smoke thick enough to hide a shapeshifting hero.

The smoke spread quickly, propelled by the heating system in the theater. It wasn't long before Wren could barely see a few inches in front of her. She was thankfully the one on the outside of the row - it wasn't hard to get out of the seats and over to the aisles.

"I'm going to head to the exit!" she shouted as loud as she could over the chaos that had suddenly broken out. "I don't know where you are right now, so we should meet up outside!"

Everyone else seemed to have the same idea - she could feel people pushing past her and heard what sounded almost like a stampede of feet heading in the direction of the exits.

She felt bad about making Jeff search for her when she wasn't going to be outside, but it was the only excuse she could think of in the moment.

She pressed herself up against the wall so no one would bump into her mid-change.

Then she shifted.

A moment later, The Actor was standing in her place.

She headed towards the front of the theater.

He blinked at the quick disappearance of Wren in the growing crowd rushing at him.

Jeff followed some of the people outside, naturally going with the flow of things as he knew he had to get back home to get his other outfit anyway. Hopefully Wren would stay safe until he could change a second time once he dealt with this new villain.

Jeff let his mind drift once he broke free from the crowd and ran as fast as he could back to his house. The whole street was quiet, so hopefully few people noticed his rather quick speed. On his way back, he decided to just bring his bag with him, so that in case anyone was around, he could just switch his clothes again.

The last time he probably didn't make the best impression on The Actor, but if he could stop this villain, maybe he'll be forgiven and they can be friendly the next time around.

Jeff stopped in front of the theater, breathing a little heavily. He might have the speed, but he didn't quite have the stamina yet. Okay, he could do this.

With that in mind, he stepped back inside the building, staring at the unexpected back of The Actor once more. Now, he could prove himself! He walked closer, trying to peer through the growing smoke.

"Hello," he whispered, trying to get The Actor's attention and not the person's attention that was currently waiting for them and acting a bit scary. "What can I do?"