When the final bell sounds Ryaan heads toward the bus. He always tries to avoid taking the bus home because he’s at the end of the line and it takes almost two hours to arrive. Because of the weird route it takes he can walk home way faster.

Scanning the crowd heading toward the bus, he sees her. Mina’s walking while talking to a couple girls he doesn’t recognize. They look around her age. She’s smiling but as soon as she sees Ryaan standing around she makes an excuse and walks over toward him. “I didn’t know I was going to see you again today. What’s up?”

“We have some things to talk about. Do you want to walk home together?”

She shifts uncomfortably, putting a hand behind her neck. “I guess that’s cool. Usually my parents wouldn’t want me walking home with an older boy but I don’t think they’d mind with you. I mean, they’ve known you for years.”

Ryaan nods and leads Mina toward the front of the school. It’s a nice day, starting to warm up. As they walk he says, “Something’s going down over on Beach Street tonight. Some guys were talking about it in my auto class and I overheard. Apparently they’re on watch duty. Sounds like something drug related but I don’t know for sure. I think I should probably check it out and see if I can figure out what they’re up to but I don’t really know where I’m going. It might be good to have support. Is that something you’d be interested in?”

Practically beaming, Mina nods and smiles. She leans into his arm, not seeming to realize she’s doing it. After a moment she practically shoves him away, her face turning crimson red. “Sorry, I’m just excited. I wasn’t sure how serious you were about letting me help you. I’d love to though, I owe you for saving me. What do you have in mind?”

He thinks, trying to find how she can help. “Can I call you if I have questions about directions or anything like that? Stuff to Google basically if I’m not in a position to check it for myself.”

A hand goes on her chin as if she’s thinking. “We just need to get you a headset or something so I can be in your ear. Do you have anything like that?”

“I have a Bluetooth headset my dad got me. Not sure how well it’ll stay on my head if I get in a fight but it’ll probably work. I’ll need directions and maybe information about whatever it is I see or hear.”

She grins. “I can do that. I’m good at finding things fast. I’ve also been working on a new suit design for you. Your pants are fine but you need a way cooler mask. We can also improve your shirt, something we can make a few of so you don’t have to worry so much if it gets damaged. I have an idea that I can make. It just might take a couple weeks.”

“That’s awesome. I threw mine together in a couple hours. If you could keep the color the same though, that’d be awesome. I really like the color.”

“That color looks really good on you,” Mina says before turning bright red again. “I’m just going to go jump off a bridge if that’s okay with you,” she says under her breath.

“It’s okay, I know what you meant.”

“I guess that makes one of us.”

The pair take a moment to exchange phone numbers and make sure they’ll be able to get ahold of each other once Ryaan hits the streets. He promises Mina a call when he sneaks out of the house. Now he just needs to figure out how he’s going to do that.