8:26 am.
That was it. She was just about ready.
And 34 minutes on the clock to make a 20 minute journey all the way to school.
That was and is the power of planning.
Every moment accounted for.
She had plenty of time left.
Plenty.
And as such, she could afford to take her time on the way.
But... no.
She would rather not make such egregious errors.
After all, she still had to make it there.
However, even and so as all this was the case...
... she would first and foremost give the entirety of her room a look before she left.
Dishes washed, windows closed, food packed up... back to where it belongs.
Yep.
She was sorted.
That much she knew.
As for heading to school, well...
... there remained many ways to do it.
On foot, taxis, and et cetera.
Hypercity was by no means a poorly developed city.
As a matter of factly, getting to school was by far the least of any student's problems...
... to say nothing of any working person attempting to get to where they may have to go at any time.
And to Tiffany Chang, well...
... there was but one answer.
One she used pretty much every time she needed to get on and going to school.
Her eyes turned towards the door and a sigh escaped her mouth.
That one thing would not leave her mind.
Maximillian Hunter.
What was she to do about him?
Her eyes turned to the back of her room, not too far from her own bed.
There it was.
Her bicycle.
A normal looking bike.
Not one too pretty to look at on the outside.
Also, not one too particularly gorgeous or grand looking in the sense of being an expensive or "gourmet" bike.
That much was true.
She walked up to it, house keys in hand, bag pack at her back, and still...
... thoughts on her mind.
It was...
... concerning.
A problem she could not ignore.
After all, the very boy in her mind would soon be...
... nope.
That wasn't the main concern at the moment.
Her main concern was now this.
Just what was Maximillian Hunter anyway?
Just what...
... was going on in his mind?
Step by step, she approached her bike.
Her thoughts simply failed to slow down her pace.
That was just her.
8:27 am.
Just what was he thinking?
Just what was he feeling in his heart?
These thoughts followed through in her heart.
But also, in her heart, a sort of...
... odd concern.
It was...
... peculiar.
This kind of... care...
It was not as though this teenage girl was oblivious to the idea of caring for others.
Nope.
In fact, she herself had many she cared for.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
After all...
Even so, this was Maximillian Hunter.
A guy she'd met just a week or so ago.
Actually, exactly a week ago.
And yet...
... she cared this much?
Truly, she had fought with and alongside him.
Sure...
But...
... this much?
Her bike was simply no ordinary bike, as one would call it.
Sure, on an outward glance, it did look ordinary.
But on the other hand, it was build for two things.
Durability, to last longer.
And also... speed.
Six steps.
Six steps from her bike.
What of...
... Max?
He would soon become a member of the team.
That much was exceedingly likely.
After all, what else was she to say?
Had he done anything wrong?
Of all the things she could say about him, ...
... well, there was...
... that whole lying thing.
Lying about who he was.
And also, maintaining that lie.
It wasn't so much that he'd said it.
After all, it was his mother that said it.
Not him...
... or anybody else.
However, he did not correct them.
So he did lie.
However and also, she was her.
And living the life she lived, ...
... seeing the things she saw, ...
... well, it would be hard for her to call that a reason to remove him from the team.
As a matter of factly, that did not even track in her mind as a reason to say no to him.
That was just her.
Four steps.
Four steps from her bike.
He is...
... interesting.
Unpredictable...
..., and a bit...
... no, very bull-headed.
That much was fully certain.
But still...
Three steps...
He was new in school.
And knowing Hypercity High...
But... no.
No.
He would survive.
This she believed.
She knew he would...
... for the simple reason that she had seen first hand how gutsy he could be.
After all, who among school teens would reject protection from a jock?
Who would?
And come to think of it...
... as her own mind perceived this...
... was that the reason as to why she...
... did not dislike him?
Because he stood up for someone else?
Was that it?
She wished her heart would say yes.
But it...
... sadly...
... did not.
Two steps...
What he said that night...
That...
"I'm the only one in the world like me."
... sentence.
She knew deep down.
Max meant that to the deepest side of his core.
So much so, that she understood it at once.
So...
... was that the reason as to why she felt the way she felt at this point in time?
Honestly...
Not really...
And that, bothered her more...
One step.
One step and she would grab her bike.
This was it.
It wasn't like she hated Max or anything.
Even more, had she ever disliked him?
The first time she met him, she hadn't thought too much of him until...
"Oh, and also, he saved my life."
... Rose said that.
He saved her.
And considering that...
... was it because he was the kind of guy to do that?
Really?
Because he was like them?
Because he used his powers to rescue her?
Was that it?
Also no.
Zero steps.
Now, all she had to do was reach for it.
To the common eye, her bike was nothing special.
But to a bike connoisseur...
... it was a masterpiece in engineering.
Built for speed and ingenuity.
The real secret lay in the alloys used to make it.
Both hard and light.
Thereof, it was the kind of bike Tiffany could rely on in any situation...
... no matter how dire.
Be it riding, be it, well...
... anything.
All that was left now, was to reach for it.
Maximillian Hunter.
Why was she so bothered by this?
Why did she...
... care so much?
That to her was the perplexing thought.
The one that made her pause right at her bike...
... hand outstretched.
Why did she care?
Just... why?
There was a reason.
She knew it deep down.
Somewhere somehow...
... in a week, she'd gone from not caring...
... to thinking about his wellbeing for a night over.
But... why?
Why did she feel this care for him?
Just... why?
It was...
... strange.
Why did she consider the conclusions of his thoughts so much?
Why...
Just why...
Did she care so much?
Did she...
Why this... "looking over his shoulder" care?
Why...
This thought remained in her heart before she simply and curtly cut it from her mind.
Not that it was not a necessary concern, but rather...
That she knew full well that getting to school was of a certain importance.
This teenage girl had a good track record.
A real good one.
Spoiling it would be foolish...
For a number of reasons...
And come to think of it, given her current "subject of her thought's" actions in the previous week...
She would probably have to deal with detention that day.
It was obvious.
Her lips let a soft sigh escape as she lifted her bike in the air and took it with her outside.
She knew full well...
Principal Richard Valencia...
That man does not forget.
Not that she hated him...
But rather, she had had to make a mental note of that for a long long time.
He simply does not forget.
Well, he does...
But she knew what that meant.
Next were her house keys...
A simple bunch...
A small set of keys set for her house, the main apartment building itself, and a few other things...
All set together with a small key chain...
A small metallic one.
And with that, she checked her room once more...
8:28 am...
And was well on her way downstairs to head directly to school...
After closing the door and locking it properly.
She knew she still had time.
Plenty, in fact, and that was for two reasons.
One being, that she was wise enough to know to give herself ample time should anything go awry on her way there.
But secondly and most importantly...
... there remained this!
She was Tiffany Chang.
Or rather, that speeding up on her way to school would be an easy feat for her.
Childsplay, in fact.
And so, getting to school was never a worry.
Instead, the worry remained him.
What would she do about him?
What would she say?
That was the million-dollar question ringing in her mind.
After all, meeting him was and is and would absolutely be...
... 100% unavoidable.
Still, she went...
... fully and utterly focused on the road.
It wouldn't be the first time she'd travelled a long distance with something on her mind.
And of that bike ride...
... it was largely uneventful.
A few cars here and there...
A person yelling in some angry manner towards another at least once...
That was Hypercity...
The city she herself chose to move to.
That was that, and that was that.
8:49 am.
She made it in time to school, obviously...
And of it, the gates were wide open.
Yep.
Crystal clear for all to see, were the gates of what many children would call, well...
Not anything kind, one will have to absolutely agree...
Wide open.
And she entered them...
Hearing a voice she had long gotten used to.
Voice: You good, girl?
Name: Lars Shepherd
Age: 35
Description: A tall and yet only somewhat well built looking man, although with a bad posture.
Occupation: Gate guard
Fact: He once had a coffee drinking contest with his buddies. Good ideas. Good ideas.
Tiffany: Yes, Mr. Shepherd. And good morning.
Lars: Good morning to you too!
He tipped his hat off to her as she left.
This was their daily routine.
Everyday...
He would say that to try and sound cool...
That was just him...
Not that he was trying that hard to look good in front of teenagers...
But...
That was just him.
Tiffany on the other hand, simply walked into the school doors...
Where she would find a few students...
Those by the very most arduous of parents already ready for their first classes.
8:51 am.
As for Tiffany Chang, well...
... she simply got to her locker.
And as for her team, well, she would simply wait.
After all, she knew by experience that she was never the first amongst them to arrive.
In fact, she knew exactly who would be first.
And also, she knew from experience...
That while Rose was very likely on her way...
And Luke would be the very last to arrive...
That Max...
