Incognito

With or Without You

Campus// vampire weekend

Then I see you

You're walking cross the campus

Cruel professor

Studying romances

How am I supposed to pretend

I never want to see you again?

^^^^^^^^

The gas station next to my school is the first place I visit when I forget to eat breakfast before school. I know how bad it sounds to go to the gas station instead of some fast food, but it isn't perilous or anything. In fact, it is large and open, being recently modernized thanks to the help of the richest company in town, Hesper Labs. In return, the station sells small sorts of memorabilia in the back from the Laboratories and promises the funding for new experiments. Anyhow, today, like most days, I am too late to eat at home and automatically go to buy something there instead. As soon as I walk in, I see someone I'd never thought I'd see again. Ryder. There he is, in his incredulous costume and mask.

I know it's him from the instant I walked in because, well, I made his costume. I won't lie and say that I am surprised that he still has it intact and not ripped to shreds from combat. My eyes trail down to the frail kid in his grasp, his grey hood falling off his head to reveal a blunt haircut. Change falls from the teenager's pockets, which I assume was stolen from the cashier not too long ago. I stand my ground that this gas station isn't sketchy. I grab a coke and a bag of Cheetos, my favorite combo, as nonchalantly as possible, then pay the shocked guy at the register and head towards the school like I never saw Ryder or that wanna-be criminal. Why is Ryder even here? He should be at the Big Apple saving model-worthy people in expensive apparel. He should be saving people's lives there, not two yards away from my high school. Oh my god. What if he goes to my school now?

"Did you see the new meta in town? They're calling him Ditto Incognito." Alexander informs me. As the intern of the local news channel, — the one I was watching on my way home the other night — Alex is always the first of us to know about current events. Usually, I wouldn't know what he's talking about and that's why he goes on ahead and tells us anyway.

"Yeah, I know. I met him."

"What? Seriously?" Julie, my partner in crime, blurts out, joining the conversation.

"Yep. He, uh, saved me from getting mugged." I don't make a big deal out of it like most people would normally do, due to my constant exposure to supers. It's hard to remember that I have to keep the act going. Alex, for example, is a metahuman like Ryder. Though, his abilities are entirely different.

"That must've killed you." Alex smirks, knowing how I feel about being saved. He learned that lesson the hard way, I won't go into much detail but he almost left without an arm that time. He cringes in remembrance every time I bring it up. "But, did he, you know, have good intentions?"

By "good intentions," Alex means to ask whether the so called "DI" decided to go rogue or be a hero. As he hasn't broken down the truth to Julie, she still remains oblivious to all of this and so we have to talk in code. As of now, she is probably too fixed on Alex's facial features or what he's wearing than his conversation with me. Julie, from what I've gathered over the years, hasn't had much interest in superheroes. She says they're too mainstream or something.

"I don't know. I barely got a word out of him before he disappeared." I explain, eyes going back and forth from Julie to Alex to Julie again. I've been wondering how long it will take until she realizes what's going around her surroundings. We don't get much more time to chat as the bell rings to indicate that first period is about to begin. After splitting up, I head to class. First period is AP World History and I get to chow down my Cheetos. Julie sits next to me, fortunately, and even if I won't admit it out loud, I admire her because she is literally perfect in everything she does, including hot yoga.