Chapter Text
Gal was so done.
She dodged another one of Grilla’s attacks, silly 12 year old chili pepper attacks developed into complex molten lava bending and fast fiery crusades. A genuine threat for both injury and even death if Gal wasn’t more careful as Dudepow. Especially in an abandoned building where the nearest fire department and hospital was miles away.
Luckily, Gal had evolved more too.
Her dodges were more smooth and her attacks more powerful than ever. Dudley had advanced her training. Sure it was a pain most of the time and takes up too much time in her opinion, but it really paid off in moments like these, where the stakes were high and the fight tense.
”Really can’t stay put for more than a week, ey Flame Face?” Dudepow huffed as she flipped over a spear made of fire with perfect precision.
Grilla simply rolled her eyes before stomping on the ground, the pavement cracked with the magma that spread from her and rapidly approached Dudepow. Gal managed to fly up, just missing the magma that almost grabbed her foot by a hair.
Dudepow pulled out her tie-whip, wrapping the blue and black fabric over her palm before slamming it at her enemy.
Grilla, for her part, smoothly evaded the whip, grabbing it with her palms and sending fire crawling up to Dudepow's hand. Gal cursed as she hastily unwrapped the fabric and let it turn to nothing but pure ash. It was easy enough to recreate, thankfully. Dudley wouldn't be too dissapointed.
Gal subtly glanced to the back where Maizy, in her improved supersuit she got last year, was silently climbing the walls with the climbing gear, a fishing-net-trap wrapped securely over her waist.
She looked back and made a "go on" gesture, Gal immediately understood what she needed to do.
"Ever thought of working the grills instead of causing mayhem, Flame Face?" Dudepow flew downwards, pulling out her box-cutter laser at the same time Grilla rubbed her hands and let loose a mass of pure lava that molted semi solidly, the blazing blue that came out clashed harshly against a mound of a volcano probably even more unstable than the one Maizy made at the science fair on a whim (which was saying a lot since that one ended up being a safety hazard to the other safety hazard projects), thus exploding.
Grilla huffed, smoke came out with it. “Why cook slabs of useless meat when I can simply burn everything?” ‘Including you’ went unsaid, but it didn’t need to be spoken out loud.
Gal gritted her teeth, using the armband shield wrapped protectively over her sleeve to protect herself from the explosion. Fire bounced off the walls and flooring, making the inside of the building humid from the fire. The red, orange and yellow blazing coloring contrasted like a swirling inferno against the peeling old white walls of the building, making it almost adjacent to a lava lamp appearance wise. It would've been almost blindingly beautiful to view from an outside perspective, but Dudepow found that being inside of the now burning building wasn't the best way to admire it.
She panickedly searched for Maizy, immediately relaxing when she saw her best friend already high enough on the wall to just narrowly avoid it. Maizy was very clearly startled but held herself quiet and poise. Gal couldn't imagine what she would do without her.
But taking that moment to search was proved to be a mistake as a scorching fist made its way into her chest.
Dudepow felt all the air get knocked out of her chest, feeling the subtle sizzle of the firey knuckles digging into the fabric of her supersuit, not too deep thanks to the sturdy material, but definitely enough for the impact to be felt.
She wasted not another second of grabbing the villain's wrists, nails digging through the gloves she wore and into the hot flesh of the meta. Dudepow grunted and threw her upwards, trying to slam her into the ground hard enough to immobilize her long enough for Maizy to drop the net, but Grilla thought just as fast and pressed her full body weight into her feet, hitting them just a silver away from Gal's chest before twisting fast enough to plant her knees there instead.
Dudepow stumbled but kept her grip firm, dodging again as Grilla sent another wave of fire her way, she finalled managed to flip Grilla by the wrists and throw her at the wall. There was a loud crash and an even louder yell.
Gal looked back to see what had happened, briefly wondering if the fight was over or if she knocked her unconscious, but Grilla was already running at her at full speed once more with what looked to be a blade made of molt and lava, almost similar to the lipstick laser Shezow wielded if Dudepow remembered correctly.
But trying to recall that detail had to be cut short as she swung her box-cutter laser against the fire blade, both sizzled loudly as the elements of the weapons worked against each other in a overlapping cacophony of bright red flares and blue energy, sparks of purple igniting after particularly harsh clashes.
”Seriously, what is with you?” Grilla was always one of the more hotheaded (heh) and stubborn of the villains that Dudepow had to deal with, but even this seemed more overkill for her than usual.
Grilla remained silent, keeping her focus on the dueling blades as she dug her heels deep into the floor. A loud screech-like scraping sound emanated as the blade’s flames grew bigger and brighter, Grilla’s brows were furrowed in deep concentration as she commanded the fire.
As the red and orange embers licked against the blue power of Dudepow’s own laser, she looked back at Grilla to try and decide her next course of actions. But a second to decide became another as she noticed something inherently strange about the firey villain.
The red, orange and yellow lighting of the fire filled room reflected off of her own flame-made appearance. She could make out where there were more yellow patches on her orangeish red skin, mainly over her cheeks and nose. Her hair, which was made of literal fire (would it burn if she touched it?), flickered over her shoulders, a bit wildly due to the current battle (which she should really be focusing more on—) which left her with the mental question if the (literally) firey locks of hair would gently move if she were in a more calm situation. Would the embers of hair stop moving or sway gently against her shoulders, giving the black fabric of her outfit a slight light?
Gal paused.
When had she ever cared about stuff like that before?
She bent her knees and dodged a surprise slash from the fire blade, focus girl, the hair of your enemy isn't that important. She managed to deflect another slash, getting her head back in the battle. She grinned and saw Grilla's blazing eyes narrow.
The fight went on, Gal occasionally making a subtle glance upwards as she saw Maizy slowly crawling over the ceiling, trying to find a moment where Grilla was still and distracted enough for her to drop the net. The battle took longer than any of the others they had together, even compared to the ones Dudepow had with other villains, yet time seemed to fly out of their grasp like sand sprinkled over spread out fingers.
Grilla gritted her teeth, clearly having lost her patience, she brought her sword back and crushed the molt with one hand, letting the fire swirl wildly in her palm. With her other hand, she grabbed Dudepow, nails digging into her chest with clear frustration.
But as Grilla’s patience stopped, Gal’s entire world did aswell.
Gal watched as one of her longtime enemies, one of the people that she considered the most frustrating to fight, absolutely sparked with rage. The warm colored lighting made her absolutely glow, just as she was radiating with rage. She could see it with how her eyes, the color of volcanic rocks, sparked dangerously, her mouth curled in a tight snarl, and brows furrowed so angrily that it sent a shiver through her spine. Even the fire in her hand had its colors reflecting off of her in a way that reminded Gal of sunlight through stained glass, or whatever went into her head about it when Kelli explained anyway.
Her heart just about stopped, her grip on the box-cutter laser going limp. The macho and maybe bit overly confident facade that was Dudepow just about dropped, leaving Gal Ellie Hamdon out in the open, wide eyed and flushed for reasons beyond the heat in the fire-filled room.
And it was also that time Maizy pounced.
She didn’t just drop the net, no, she saw her best friend in possible danger and not reacting fast enough and straight up launched herself off the ceiling, letting out a war cry as the net exploded and dropped on Grilla. The villain screeched. “I FORGOT ABOUT THE OTHER ONE!” Maizy huffed at only being remembered as that.
”Quit struggling—you're not gonna get out of here!" Maizy held onto Grilla's wrist, jamming it inside of the net as the villain struggled. She kept her knees pressed firmly against her back. Her eyes flickered back to Gal. "Dudepow! C'mon, give me a hand here."
Gal was practically a statue with how still she was, all her nerves were screaming and her heart was pounding what could've been a thousand beats per second. She let out some haggard breaths, lifting her free hand to gingerly brush her fingers over where she was grabbed, which coincidentally was just over her heart. She could feel, almost hear, the rapid pounding and swore her cheeks felt warmer.
What just happened?
"Dudepow!" Gal snapped out of her haze and saw Maizy coughing from the smoke, still restraining Grilla. "We gotta get out of here, now." Her tone was urgent.
Gal opened and shut her mouth several times, looking at Maizy, then at Grilla, stopping for a second too long for her own comfort, and back to Maizy. “Right.” Dudepow tried her best to stomp the feelings down.
Dudepow went over and picked Maizy up, flying out of one of the open windows. “Wait, we need to tighten the net—“ the rest of Maizy’s words got blended into the air as Gal just flew faster and faster. Maizy hooked her hands around her neck and held on for dear life.
What the hell happened back there?
————
As the two went back into the lair, Maizy ran to the trashcan to throw up. Usually she had no problems with either heights nor speed, but the sheer speed Dudepow was going at was something entirely different to be sick from on its own. Kelli watched and winced in sympathy as the girl gagged violently.
"Gal! What the hell was that?!" Kelli snapped his attention towards Gal with an angry look, black and purple locks of hair falling over his face from the hairclip he was using being too loose. "You completely ignored net capture procedure, she must've gotten out by now!" He gestured chaotically.
"So? She would've gotten out either way, the Megadale Police Station clearly isn't as good as it makes itself out to be if I fight her on a consistent schedule." Gal rolled her eyes, hoping desperately that her heart stops pounding from the earlier fight. She let out a half-hearted "He-yeah" and detransformed. She walked over to one of the blue sofas and flopping over it, groaning into one of the throw pillows.
Kelli stared at his sister in stunned silence. He had never seen her act this way after a battle before. Exhuasted? Yes, maybe even mad or frustrated, sometimes even sad. But never like...
He watched as his sister pouted and hugged a pillow to her chest, her eyes were so unfocused yet concentrated at the same time. He couldn't even tell what she was thinking, which was a first. Even if twin telepathy was technically a myth, he liked to think he understood what his sister was thinking regularly or at least a fraction of what she's going through during current events.
"Ergh, oh god..." Kelli looked back at Maizy, who looked a little less sick now, thank god. "Geez, what’s got your tights in a twist?" Maizy looked at Gal with a slightly irritated look, but it shifted into concern as she saw the state her best friend was in. "Gal, what happened?"
"Nothing!" Gal winced as she realized she spoke too quickly and a bit too sharply: "Nothing, I just.. nothing happened. I think I just got ill or something." She blew some hair out of her face.
Kelli and Maizy made suspiscous eye contact.
Dudley then butted in. "I can do a scan over to check for any signs of starting illness."
Gal yelped, dropping the pillow. "Nope! It's okay, I just, uh.." She got up and hopped off the platform. "I just gotta drink some water! It was super hot in the building, yeah? Must just be some dehydration!" She ran off, leaving the lair completely.
Maizy blinked. "I've been thirsty before, but never enough to do something like that?" She turned back to Kelli for a sort of second opinion.
"She already had her water bottle here, too..." Kelli looked at the abandoned ashy red colored bottle.
"Oh, believe me." Dudly had a wide grin. "I believe she just found a drive for something she didn't even know she had."
————————
Gal rushed up the basement steps, she went into the kitchen.
She got out a glass and filled it with teeth-chattering cold water and chugged it, despite the small prickling in her throat from doing so.
"Honey? You okay?" Droosh walked inside the kitchen, he had his drums tucked under one arm.
Gal swiveled around, hand gripping the glass so hard it would've broke if she didn't wanna alert her dad, her face redder than his hair.
She coughed into her fist. "Yup! Uh, just... thirsty." She eyed the glass again, momentarily thinking about the contrast of the water's coollness and how hot the building felt while it was on fire, and decided to refill it and drink more.
Droosh blinked, glancing around. "...Did you not bring your water bottle with you when you went to hang out in the basement with your brother and Maizy?"
Gal froze, whoops, she forgot about that. Hopefully Maizy and Kelli did too (they didn’t).
”…Uh,” She looked away. “I… ran out of water?” She tried not to cringe at the clear lie, her water bottle was filled to the brink incase she was absolutely dehydrated from battle when she got back.
Her dad’s eyebrow was raised so high it could practically hide in his curly red hair.
”I’m gonna go to my room, now! Lots of homework to do!” Gal slammed the glass onto the sink and rushed out, passing her mom on the way who just barely dodged her.
Boxanne watched in confusion as Gal bolted up the stairs. “Well, isn’t she lively today.”
————————
Gal ran into her room and closed the door shut, she went over to her desk and picked up an old notebook that was supposed to be for studying, but currently mostly filled with drawings of not particularly recognizable figures doing skateboard tricks, other miscellaneous drawings, and some guitar notes for funsies.
She couldn’t believe she was doing this, she opened the notebook and began scribbling intensely into it. Trying out equations, questions from various classes, even a coherent guitar track, just anything that she could remember that wasn’t that.
Volcanic rock colored eyes and the heat of flames far too close to skin.
NO! NOPE! No more!
Gal slammed the notebook shut in frustration, she barely got anything new through her head but she just needed to get away from any of her thoughts right now.
She grabbed her skateboard and went back down. Maybe this’ll really clear her mind.
—————————
She only came back during dinner time. Gal sat between Maizy and Kelli like always, prodding at her food. It was spicy food.
”I got this new recipe from one of the men at my cooking class!” Droosh beamed. “It took some convincing, but they eventually relented and told me how to make it. I’m so happy they did, it’s to die for!” He laughed.
Gal stared at it in mild horror, so much for not thinking off—She’s not even gonna think her name. No homo thoughts during family dinner.
”Duncepow didn’t hold the villain down properly by the time my team got to the location.” Boxanne huffed as she spoke about her day. “The entire place was practically ash, ash and more ash inside. Some of the fires didn’t even die. All there was left on the scene was a tangled blue net.” She rolled her eyes with an annoyed look.
Gal held back her flinch of guilt. Her grip tightened on her form ever so slightly. She felt Maizy secretly pat her back and untensed ever so slightly.
”Sounds rough, mom.” Gal mumbled blankly. Kelli glanced at Gal who was still just staring at her food. He raised an eyebrow.
“I mean, maybe something bad happened?” Maizy suggested. “Like his cape got on fire, or an emergency outside of the hemergency so bad he had to leave immediately.”
”Yeah, Dudepow wouldn’t just let a criminal escape.” Kelli nodded. All three of them tried to ignore the fact that was exactly what Gal did that day.
Boxanne let out a deep huff of laughter. “Better been a damn good one! He was lucky that building was already abandoned.”
Droosh sighed and then looked at Gal, frowning more in worry. “What do you think, Gal?”
Gal blinked, snapping out of her haze that totally wasn’t filled with thoughts of sweltering fire and heat. “Huh?” She sees that everyone is now staring at her, Kelli and Maizy subtly nodding towards Boxanne. “Oh, yeah, probably, I guess.” She mumbled halfheartedly as she continued to poke at her food.
”Do you not like the food your father prepared?” Boxanne seemed more concerned now, seeing as Gal hadn’t even nibbled at her meal.
”Uh, it’s not that.” She puts the fork down and lightly pushes the plate forward. “I’m just not really that hungry.”
Droosh blinked in surprise, leaning back a bit. “But you’ve been skateboarding all afternoon, surely you can’t take at least three bites?”
Gal frowned, then she saw her dad looking upset and didn’t want that look on his face any longer. She sighed and took back the plate, picking up her fork and hesitantly taking a pitifully small piece of the spicy food that definitely didn’t remind her of anybody in particular at all. She took a bit.
It was good. Really good. A bit cold now since she spent all her time poking and prodding around it instead of actually eating. But it was still really tasty.
She did like spicy food. That wasn’t a lie nor a secret. But right now that fact felt heavy in her chest as she remembered being temporarily caught in jalapeño cages two years ago, followed by the memory of wild flashing eyes and flaming hair that moved wildly.
Her shoulders sagged as she took another small bite.
She could remember adamantly saying after the first time it happened, that she could never enjoy spicy food the same way ever again. Kelli quipped at her, she quipped back, Maizy let out a laugh and fell back on the couch.
It still tasted so good. It tasted like admiration and regret.
She took a third bite.
She remembered caving in after a week when her dad made his special spicy chicken stew for dinner. Kelli’s smug “I-told-you-so” gaze as she subtly kicked him under the table, almost launching his chair into the kitchen with the force of it again.
Ah, what she would give to go back to that moment where Kelli’s smugness over him being right was the worst of her problems.
She put the fork down. She really wanted more, but she couldn’t even stand getting a whiff of capsaicin without regretting her newfound hopefully-not-crush and wishing she could go back in time and Run the moment she caught sight of that flame-haired girl before she could ever get the chance to fall.
”I’m gonna go to my room now.” Gal couldn’t meet anybody’s eyes as she got up and left the dining room so quickly that nobody even had the chance to respond.
Kelli frowned, Maizy moved to get up and try to follow after her. Boxanne seemed bewildered. "What happened?" She asked the other two teens. The teens in question froze.
"Uhm..." Maizy looked away. Kelli stared down at his plate. "I'm gonna go after her, Kelli you can explain." She bolted away, Kelli sent her retreating form a betrayed glare.
Kelli then looked back at her confused, expectant parents.
"Teen girl stuff." She deadpanned.
"Oh," Boxanne let out involuntarily, Droosh covered his mouth with his hand.
—————————
"Gal!" Maizy burst into the room without knocking. They had done it to each other a plethora of times for both of them to not be bothered about it anymore, but this time in particular looked like it got on Gal's nerves.
"Could you not?" She glared from where she was laying down on the floor with her feet propped on her bed, the guitar she got on her 13th birthday laid lazily over her torso.
Maizy ignored that and went over to her, plopping down right next to her best friend's sprawled out form. "What has gotten into you?"
Gal looked straight at the bed, ignoring Maizy's gaze. She absentmindedly played a chord. It came out wacky and verbatim, making her wince a bit. "Nothing, I just didn't have an appetite." She lied through her teeth.
But Maizy clearly noticed if the way she was staring at her in disbelief was any indication. Sharp dark eyes narrowed and a single brow lifted up, her mouth curled into a frown. "Right, and you didn't totally freak out at the abandoned building Grilla was burning."
The moment Grilla's name was mentioned, a loud, ear piercing chord on the guitar played as Gal's hand slipped. Her face turned bright red at the name she was trying to avoid even her mind getting mentioned so casually. She jolted up. "I didn't freak out!" Her voice echoed through the house, possibly even the neighborhood, and she immediately regretted it.
Maizy got up afterwards, despite the inital cringe as the yell cut into her eardrums. "See! Exactly like that. And you totally freaked out. Why else did you just grab me and fly off like a racecar on a time limit before properly tying the net?" Gal was getting real sick of how right her friend was, though she still couldn't find a single bone in her body to be properly mad at Maizy herself.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She laid back down, this time on her side to face away from the taller girl, her guitar clutched in her arms.
Maizy let out a huge sigh, adjusting herself to sit on her knees and gently pat Gal's back. "Listen, I just wanna know what's got you so worked up so we could try to work through it together." She explained more softly. Gal found that it was worse as she started feeling bad about containing this and reacting so brashly. "If you aren't prepared to explain right now, then that's fine. I just want to know so I could find a way to help, and, well, you're my best friend. I want to know what's bothering you." Maybe if Gal kept lying down enough, the ground could just consume her. That would be a million times better than having to deal with these new weird feelings and the guilt of keeping her best friend out of the loop.
"I'll leave you be now, but please promise to tell me when you can." Maizy pleaded.
Gal sat up, staring downwards for a second before looking up and meeting Maizy's concerned eyes. "I promise."
Maizy smiled and got up, brushing off her skirt. "Oh, and I told Kelli to tell your parents an excuse, by the way. So expect him to tell you what he said soon."
Gal felt a different sort of dread. Oh god. This could range from stomach problems, to a weird explanation, to the worse third option.
She couldn’t even verbalize it in her thoughts.
“Ugghhh…” Gal groaned, head in her hands. Maizy laughed and walked out the room.
”Don’t worry, I don’t think he said anything too strange!”
—————————
Kelli really thinks he should’ve specified what the teen girl stuff was.
He watched as both his parents stood outside his twin sister’s room, muttering to each other on who should go in and talk to her.
Maizy had left around half an hour ago, something about practicing for a roller derby race. When had she ever signed in in the first place was beyond the boy. She was always more Gal’s friend than Kelli’s. Maizy went up to offer Gal to watch her practice before the race, but she declined. Maizy seemed mildly disappointed but accepting as she left after saying her goodbyes.
The most annoying part about this was that they still didn’t know what the hell was wrong with Gal. Which meant that whatever their parents are gonna ask her about in the next five or so minutes will likely be wildly out of whatever loop she’s currently in.
Kelli buried his face into his hands, suppressing a groan.
”I’ll talk with her.” Boxanne decided, squaring her shoulders. Droosh nodded. Kelli wondered if he could jump out the window fast enough to avoid the tsunami of confusion that will break out.
"Goodluck," Droosh whispered as Boxanne went forward and knocked on Gal's door.
"Screw off, Kelli." The teen girl grumbled. Boxanne pursed her lips.
"Gal? Can I come in?" She spoke up. Kelli held back a snicker as he heard Gal curse to herself from behind the door before letting out a hum of acceptance. Boxanne went through the door and Kelli prayed harder than he had ever, ever prayed before.
——
“Gal, what’s going on?” Boxanne carefully shut the door and walked over to her daughter, sitting beside her sprawled out form on the bed.
Gal sighed as she felt the mattress dip slightly with the added weight of her mother/biggest opposition off the battlefield while in costume. She tugged the guitar closer to her chest and turned away.
Normally, or at least two years ago, she’d rant about anything to her mother the first chance she got, especially with a situation as weird as this, but currently? She just wanted to wallow silently and probably devour a tub of ice cream or annoy the hell out of Kelli by “accidentally misplacing” his action figurines around his room in a haphazard manner, or maybe all of the above in that order or another order or whatever.
Boxanne waited for a few more seconds before realizing that her daughter wasn’t just collecting her thoughts before speaking and in fact refusing to speak to her intentionally. Maybe it’s the Dudepow attitude rubbing off on her in civilian form or just some unspoken natural change in behavior that everybody gets but she never heard about.
”Gal?” Boxanne tried again. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”
’Yeah, besides what this funky blue ring on my finger that somehow nobody pays attention to can really do’ She snarked in her mind in her Dudepow voice, now wildly improved into sounding like an actual guy’s thanks to unfathomable days of voice training with Dudley. She’s been through the wringer these past two years with all this training.
”Mhm.” Was what she actually replied with. She didn’t have to look back at her mom to know that she was frowning.
”Mhm?” Boxanne repeated. “Is that all?”
Gal sighed, finally sitting up, black and faded red dyed locks of hair falling over her face. She should really touch up on the faded dye soon, Kelli’s managed to consistently redo his purple streak for months at a time. Too bad she isn’t a complete perfectionist like her neat freak of a brother (she ignores the fondness that lies in the mean little insult that’s been growing back since their uncle’s death).
She stared shockingly defiantly at her mother, yet a hint of pleading lingered behind her gaze. “Look, I just don’t wanna talk about this right now. I don’t even know what’s going on with me. It’s just teenage stuff or whatever.”
Yet Boxanne kept pushing through. “I was a teenager once, too. Just tell me and I’ll try to help out, okay?”
Gal’s scowl matched her mother’s moments prior.
Both sat in equally argumentative silence until Gal’s shoulders sagged. Who was she kidding? This was her mom.
”I’m not even kidding, I genuinely don’t know what’s happening to me or why.” She crossed her legs together.
“Really?” Boxanne replied.
”Really.” Gal nodded and then frowned as she attempted to collect her thoughts. “It’s just… what’s it called when you, like…” She thought of any possible way to explain it without revealing the actual dilemma involving her superhero identity (whom her own mother hated, sadly). “When you really don’t like someone, like really close to hatred but also annoyance, but one day they just seem.. weird?”
Gal groaned. “Like, you know? Really weird?” She let her back hit the bed once again as she stared at the ceiling in frustration. “Like suddenly you’re focusing a lot on them but also like really weirdly specific stuff. Like hair and eyes and shit.” She ran a hand over her face. “God, it’s so embarrassing to explain…” She mumbled to herself.
Boxanne was pretty quiet. “Is this person a girl or a boy?”
”A real hindrance is what the hothead really is.”
Boxanne rolled her eyes. “No, really. It might be a typical crush. It sounds similar to what I felt when I met your dad.”
The cop immediately sensed she likely said the wrong thing as she looked back and was met with Gal’s look of sheer horror.
“No.” She stated simply. “Absolutely not!” Gal jumped off of her bed with the same amount of jumpiness of a cornered alley cat. “This is not a crush nor is it anything like that.” She began very clearly talking to herself as she tossed her guitar that she usually treated with such care onto the bed without a glance. “This is just.. a temporary annoyance. Something I can fix by beating her ass a few more times…”
”Do not beat people up, Gal.” Boxanne suddenly felt ten times more tired.
Gal was about to open her mouth and say that she couldn’t tell her what she could do, but promptly remembered she wasn’t in Dudepow form and instead said; “Are verbal fights still on the table?”
Boxanne stared straight into Gal’s soul before another gentle knock sounded on the bedroom door and Droosh’s gentle voice followed shortly after. “Are you both done with girl talk?” Gal cringed. Hoping to god that he wasn’t listening in.
“Uhh, yeah?” She responded. Boxanne gave her a stern but not unkind “we’ll talk about this later” look as she got up and went to leave the room.
Droosh peeked inside with a smile. “Alright, that’s good. You know you can tell us anything anytime, right, honey?”
Gal sighed. “Yeah, I know.”
”Good, just reminding you.”
Gal watched as her dad left, spotting Kelli watching from the corridor with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.
”What?” She suddenly felt insecure, bare, even.
”Nothing.” Kelli responded in a tone that made it clear that it very much wasn’t “nothing” and walked away to his own room.
Gal just stood there and then let out a load groan. This was totally gonna mess up her rhythm as a hero and just her thoughts in general. But it wasn’t a crush. It couldn’t be a crush, right? She’s been fighting Grilla for two years now. Two whole years of hating her and her villainy and stupid hat and stupid eyes and stupid hair and stupid—stupid stupidness or whatever.
This whole situation was so stupid that even stupid didn’t feel like a real word anymore!
Gal carefully shut the door, as she wasn’t to slam doors when her parents were home, she very much would like to live. She then stood still for a few seconds before burying her face in her hands.
She’s in trouble. She’s in sooo much trouble. And not even the normal kind. This freaking sucks.