Sunny Daze by R.J. Ross Page B

compassionate.  “Sunny, what were you thinking?  You’re surrounded by trees--like you’ve always planned on being--and you knock them down?”
    “I didn’t mean to knock them down,” I say, feeling frustrated because I know she’s right.  “I wish you’d been here.  You would have slapped me upside the head before it got that far.  Are you sure you can’t come down here for the camp?”
    “I’ve already resigned my spot as Cub, Sunny,” she says with a sigh.  “You know that.  If the other super villains hear about me going to a camp for villains, it’ll make them question my resolve.  Both your father and Papa know most of them.  Word gets out.”
    “Yeah, okay, just use the whole logic thing on me,” I complain.  You’re probably wondering what I’m doing, huh?  Well since I’m wearing a mask, people keep waving at me to come over and pick up massive pieces of concrete and metal so they can check for victims.  Every time I pick up something I feel a little sick to my stomach and mentally start praying that we won’t find any dead bodies.  If I accidentally killed someone I don’t know what will happen to me.  Not to mention the very idea of being a murderer makes me feel like throwing up.  Yet I still keep running whenever someone waves to me, repeating the morbid process.  No wonder I’m talking to my girlfriend, huh?
    “I’ll use logic on you, because obviously you don’t use it, yourself,” she says irritably.  “Where was Papa when this happened?”
    “He’s sniffing around for something,” I say, picking up a fallen sign for the next person.  “I think he’s trying to get information.  I mean, he never said anything about bringing us all the way down here when the idea first came up, right?”
    “True.”
    “And why, of all places, in a forest that’s so close to South Hall?  That’s dangerous, right?  Century was on the panel that stuck him doing community service, right?”
    “Yeah, he wanted to burn the uniform after he was finished, but Mama wouldn’t let him,” Adanna says.  “We’ve got it in the basement, in a special display case.  It’s funny, because every time he walks past it he winces.”
    “You and your mama are mean,” I have to point out.
    “It’s how we show love.  Sunny--” she starts out, only to stop.  I let the silence last a few seconds too long.
    “What?” I ask.
    “I… I’ve been thinking…” she says slowly.
    “If you’re going to dump me, can it happen AFTER I make sure I’m not an accidental killer?  I really don’t think I can handle the stress,” I tell her bluntly.
    “Dump you?” she asks blankly.  “No, it’s not that--why would I dump you?” she asks abruptly.  “Have you been flirting with those Texan girls?”
    “No!” I say, accidentally speaking too loudly.  I reach up, touching my ear.  “Sorry, I’m just on the com with someone,” I tell them as I haul up another fallen tree.  For a moment my heart hurts as I pick up on the last traces of life flowing through it.  I feel a little like a murderer, even without finding human bodies, I realize a bit abruptly.  “Sorry, tree,” I whisper, laying it down gently.
    I hear Adanna sigh, but she doesn’t tease me for talking to the tree.  I appreciate that fact.  “I think you need to be careful,” she says.  For a moment I think she’s gone back to the original topic, but she goes one, “those Texan girls are cunning.  They’ll just use you for your pretty face and break your heart.  That would make you used goods.”
    “Used goods?” I repeat incredulously.  “What am I, an Ebay item?”
    “Do you prefer the term ‘secondhand’?” she asks.
    “I’m neither used nor secondhand!” I protest, trying not to laugh.  Sometimes she says the weirdest things.  She’s even funnier in cat form, actually.  “And don’t you DARE say the word refurbished,” I add sharply.
    “No, because that indicates someone fixed you