I met a superhero
I lost her
I want her back

The sound of engine roaring loudly in the morning woke me up with a start.

"Katherine Solace!" A voice I recognized as my Mom's yelled as she burst my door open.

I sat up lazily, rubbing my eyes and yawning. "What's up?"

My eyes glanced at my clock beside me, looking at it in confusion. It was minutes before my alarm went off, so I was really unhappy about me being missing a few minutes of sleep.

"Why are you waking me up so early?" I asked in a whiny voice as Mom put a hand in her waist. "And why does it sound like someone's starting a drag race outside?"

"Because there's a boy outside riding a yellow Ferrari," Mom raised an eyebrow. She tried to look strict, but it was hard to take her seriously with her brown hair wound up in a side ponytail and her face covered with a green facial mask. She was even wearing her rainbow robe that I got for her and fuzzy pink slippers. "He claims he's here to fetch you to school. He's also the one who brought you home late at night the last time."

My eyebrows tied up together in confusion, immediately running towards my window to see the driveway. There was in fact a yellow Ferrari with its hood down, and in front of our door was Ryder Rowland.

As if that wasn't bad enough, he was talking to Karl.

I ran away from my window, hoping to take Ryder away from my brother before Karl said something stupid or embarrassing. I don't even know why he was awake at this time.

Unfortunately, Mom had a iron grip on my arm, forcing me to stay in my room and confront her.

"Why on earth do you have two different boys driving you to school these days, huh?" she asked, narrowing her brown eyes at my green ones. "Katherine Belle Solace, what are you up to?"

"Nothing, Mom," I exasperated, desperately wanting to go down. "They're just my friends."

"Oh, no, I'm not dumb," she said, gripping on me harder when I tried to escape. "I'm not like your father."

"Hey!" Dad interjected, marching in my room. I stifled a laugh as he stood beside Mom, studying him from top to bottom. He was wearing the same facial mask, rainbow robe and fuzzy pink slippers. I had no idea what my parents were up to, but they were usually pretty weird.

"Honey, you really are." Mom crinkled her nose.

"If I'm so dumb, then why did you marry me?"

"Believe me, I asked myself that too many times."

They bickered back and forth about whatever that was that I managed to escape. With ease, I stepped out of my room, running towards my brother and the devil himself.

Before I could reach the bottom of the stairs though, Grams blocked my way.

"Not so fast, young lady," she sternly commanded, wagging a saggy but manicured finger in front of my face.

Grams decided to visit us and stay in yesterday to reasons I wasn't quite sure yet. She claimed to miss us, but I still found it kind of odd that she'd visit us out of nowhere. She wasn't the type to drop by unexpectedly since she'd rather make herself known.

She was my mom's mother, and I supposed I got the crazy from her. She loved to gossip and spoil me with things, and I really loved hanging out with her.

"Yes, Grams?" I asked innocently, knowing she wouldn't get mad like my mom did.

She grinned as wildly as her gray hair was. "Just wanted to say that he's really hot. I wish they made boys like that back in my day. They weren't as dashing as they are now."

For some reason, that made me blush. "Oh, hush, Grams. Just let me go."

She stepped out of my way, gesturing exaggeratedly. "As you wish, my little hoe."

I rolled my eyes at her with a small, finally walking towards my brother, who was chatting up Ryder in the living room.

"...and that trick totally works, by the way!" I heard Karl say.

Ryder smirked. "I know, and that's because I made it."

Karl's eyes looked like it was about to bust out of his sockets. "You did that trick?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, but you could see the pride in his face. "Yes."

"You're my idol," my little brother said in awe.

I cleared my throat, causing their heads to turn to me. "Stop influencing my brother, Ryder."

"He doesn't need influencing. He's good on his own." Ryder winked at Karl, making him grin.

"You can go now," I told Karl, shooing him off.

He pouted in disappointment.

"Nah, he can stay," Ryder piped in, making me glare at him. Karl brightened up. "Besides, you need to fix yourself first, sweetheart. I'm driving you guys to school."

His eyes trailed to my chest, causing me to heat up and cross my arms across it. I didn't wear a bra going to sleep, so of course I wouldn't be wearing one now.

"Really?" Karl asked with light in his eyes, not catching Ryder's implication. "You're gonna let us ride that?"

"Why not?" Ryder shrugged, smiling at the sight of my excited brother.

Karl was actually bouncing. He turned to me, pushing me upstairs. "Go and fix yourself, we're gonna ride a Ferrari!"

"But what about Selena?" I asked, going upstairs as he pushed me. "All four of us can't fit there."

He stopped pushing, a frown etched on his face. His body slumped in disappointment. "Oh. Right."

"Can't you just tell her to find another ride?" Ryder suggested as he texted on his phone.

He shook his head sadly. "She'd cut my balls off if I left her. Besides, she has no one else."

I turned to Ryder, my arms still crossed. "Sorry, Ryder, but I just can't come with you to school. You see, I have kids to bring to school."

He smirked at my feigned sadness. "Sweetheart, did you really think I have no other sources?"

With that, another blue Ferrari pulled up in our driveway with Ryder's driver I supposed. Karl's eyes lit up again before dashing outside, probably to call on Selena from next door. I turned to Ryder, who was smiling at my happy little brother.

"You didn't have to do that," I spoke up.

"It's fine," he waved off as Karl dragged an annoyed looking Selena to the car. Once she saw the car though, she beamed. "I don't really have anyone to share my things to, it's nice that someone else can enjoy it other than me."

The look in his eyes made it seem like he was far away from here, his hands running through is blonde hair. I wanted to say something, but no words left my mouth. I simply gawked at him, really noticing his sad, hazel eyes and soft golden hair, just wanting to run my hands through it to comfort him. I wanted to touch his face and tell him that I was here, just because he looked so alone.

I snapped out of my thoughts when I realized that I actually did touch his face. He looked at me in confusion as I did so, making me blush furiously.

His eyes drifted to my lips, leaning closer to me. Just as he was literally a hair away from my face, I turned away, dropping my hand from his face.

"Thank you for doing that for my brother," I whispered softly before running upstairs to my room.

What the hell was that?

*~*~*~*~*

Ryder and I didn't talk in the car at all.

I kept sneaking glances at him, studying the way his jaw clenched and the arch of his scrunched up brows. I wanted to ask what got him so worked up, but judging by the way his hands clenched the wheel, he was going to kill me if I did.

When we arrived at school, people were gawking at us. Usually, I wouldn't care, but they all looked like they wanted to murder me, especially the girls. Ryder seemed to notice that I was a bit agitated since he casually slung an arm around me in comfort despite our awkwardness.

He kept it on my shoulder as we walked in the school. I heard people calling me a dirty slut, a gold digger, a good for nothing whore, and whole lot of repulsive names. Ryder seemed nonchalant about all of this, but his grip on me tightened.

"I have to go," he whispered in my ear gruffly once we reached my locker. "Are you gonna be okay?"

I didn't think so, but I nodded. I was a strong independent woman anyway, and I didn't want being Ryder right now because of my episode a while ago.

He nodded stiffly before walking away. I watched him until the last bit of his mop of blonde hair disappeared in the crowd, letting out a huge gust of air.

Just literally after a few seconds of him gone, I was surrounded by Natalya and her army. I wasn't in the mood for their crazy antics, so I ignored them and grabbed my books from my locker.

"Kath," Natalya called. I turned my back on her. "Kath. Katherine. Kit Kat."

I closed my locker door and proceeded to walk away.

When there was silence, I thought I was finally safe.

I was wrong.

Suddenly, my arm—my bad arm—was pulled harshly, forcing me to let go of my books. It fell on the floor with a loud thud, along with my last bit of patience. Natalya pulled me towards her, digging her well manicured nails on my shoulder when I faced her.

"Listen to me when I'm talking to you, bitch." She snarled, annoyance and anger evident in her stormy gray eyes.

"I'm not entitled to do everything you say, Natty," I seethed, gritting my teeth in pain. Her steel grip on my shoulder made me want to cry out in pain. "Let me go."

She laughed humorlessly. "Wow, you have the nerve, don't you? Do you not know that I rule this place, that I'm the queen?"

"I have no intention to steal your stupid crown, I never did!" I exclaimed, shrugging her hand off my shoulder. "Shove it up in your ass for all I care."

I was about to walk away when she pulled me forcefully again, but this time, she pulled me to the floor, along with my books. I landed on my bad arm, and it took every bit of my power not to grimace in pain.

"You stole everything from me," she sneered coldly, her gray eyes showing so much hatred. "You tell me you never intend for anything bad to happen, but you're nothing but a two-faced bitch who wants everything for herself."

She stormed away after that with a bunch of her minions trailing after her. They gave me death glares as they went away while people around me snickered and made fun of me, no one bothering to help.

I was still very confused about why Natalya hated me. I never did anything to her, she was the one who hurt me and stabbed me in the back. She was the reason why my life started to fall apart, why I was the cold hearted bitch I was today. Before I had the guts to face her, I was just one of her mere followers who'd do anything to please her, just one of her many admirers.

She never even seemed to care about me. All she ever cared about was herself, never anything else. Hating me meant that she cared enough to muster up that much energy, so why did she care so much?

Shaking off my questions, I tried and failed badly to pick up my books. My arms was dead, like really, really dead. One move and everything hurt. I was about to give up and just stay on the floor when Zoe and Jade came running towards me.

I breathed out a sigh of relief, about to burst into happy tears.

"What happened?" Zoe demanded, helping me up. "Who hurt you?"

"Are you okay?" Jade asked worriedly, picking up my books for me.

"Natalya happened," I sighed, massaging my shoulder. "I'm fine, don't worry about it. Thanks for helping me."

I could tell they weren't very pleased with my answers, but they also didn't want to push me. Luckily, the bell rang, so we went to our respective classrooms.

My classes were a blur. I was so lost in thought that I didn't even notice that it was lunch time already. The only thing I noticed was that Logan's still not attending classes, and teachers were getting worried.

As I said, Logan never missed a day, let alone half of the week.

I didn't feel like explaining to my friends what the hell happened with Natalya earlier, so I didn't go straight to the cafeteria. My shoulder still hurt too much that I couldn't even think of eating. I decided to go to the clinic to ask for an ice pack to chill my shoulder out.

As I was passing by the arts room, I noticed a silhouette. Normally, I wouldn't go check it out, but the silhouette seemed like it was dangerously closing to falling of the window.

In the arts room, there was an enormous window showing the school's garden with huge trees and beautiful flowers. Our arts teacher would tell us to look outside the window for inspiration, and it actually works all the time.

So I was surprised to see Logan Peters casually standing on the windowsill, a bottle of beer in his hand when I walked in the room. He was leaning on the side, looking at the inspirational view.

My heart leaped out of my chest when he hunched over, making me scream, "No! Don't jump!"

He jumped at the sound of my voice, almost falling. He actually would have if I wasn't quick enough to grab his free hand and pull him in. I could see the fear in his green eyes when he thought he was about to fall, realizing that he wasn't going to.

"I wasn't going to jump," he frowned. There was an obvious slur in his words. "I was just looking for inspiration."

I suddenly felt really embarrassed. "What was I supposed to think? You were gone for three days without telling anyone and you were standing on the windowsill with a beer in you hand."

He looked dumbfounded. He sat on the windowsill, his legs dangling outside as he took a sip of his beer. It was then I noticed five other empty bottles on the floor.

"Who was I supposed to tell?" he snickered. "You? What a joke."

I sat next to him, snatching his beer bottle and ignoring the jab. "That's enough. You're drunk."

He glared at me, snatching the beer bottle away. "What do you care, huh? I thought you made it clear that your only intention was to break my heart."

Another jab I ignored. I grabbed it away from him, drinking all of its contents. "What do I care? Do you really think I'm heartless enough to watch you just throw your future, your life away?"

"Yes," he turned to me seriously. I noticed the dark bags under his eyes, his brown hair a mess from all the times he ran his hand through it. His glasses were lopsided and had a lot of smudges in the lenses. "I really think you're that heartless."

"Okay, I deserved that," I muttered under my breath. "But still, why are you doing this to yourself? Why are you drinking so much when you know you're a lightweight?"

"You're seriously ask me why?" he laughed humorlessly. "Well, because Kath, you broke my heart, that's why! You knew I'm afraid to take risks, you knew I needed control in my life, you knew I'm afraid to love, and yet you still made me take all the risks, made me lose control, and let me love you! What did I ever do to you that made you do this to me?"

I wanted to give him an answer, I really did. I wanted to tell him it was revenge for all the girls he did wrong, for all the mistakes he did in the past. I wanted to laugh at him and ask him how it felt like to get your heart ripped out by the person you love.

But I couldn't, and I didn't understand why.

Wasn't I supposed to be happy? Wasn't I supposed to feel fulfilled and successful?

So why was I feeling none of those things except guilt and sadness?

"And you think I'm a lightweight?" he continued, a tear escaping his bloodshot eyes. "I'm not. I actually have a drinking problem, an alcohol addiction, but of course I didn't tell you that because I didn't want you to think I was messed up. One taste of alcohol, and I'm a goner. Alcohol used to be my escape for all the times my dad beat me, for every time I was stressed by him. When things got bad, the guys forced me to stop and helped me overcome my addiction, so I had been clean for months until I realized I had to be intoxicated again to help calm Ryder down at the party. The guys actually made it their duty to help me avoid to drink, but they can't always do that. We aren't friends anymore, they broke their promises."

"Everyone just breaks their promises," he ended softly, glancing ever so slightly at me.

I mustered up all my strength to not care because if I did, if I let my emotions in and feel sorry for him, I don't know what I'd do to myself.

Besides, he called me heartless, right? Then I'll show him heartless.

"Sorry, Logan, but life's not always so perfect," I said nonchalantly. "You try so hard to make it be, but it's not. You make this routine of hurting other girls to have some sense of control, when in reality, you're just deluding yourself. Tell me, doesn't it hurt to be left in the dust, to realize all those promises were empty, to acknowledge that I was playing you the entire time?"

"Because that's how all the girls you hurt felt," I continued, ignoring the pained look on his face. "What you're feeling right now is nothing compared to the heartbreak you caused to multiple other girls."

He pursed his lips and was silent for a while before speaking up.

Directly staring into my eyes, he said, "You know, as cheesy as it sounds, I thought you were my superhero."

What he said caught me off guard so much that I didn't know what to respond.

"For starters, you always seemed to save me," he began, chuckling bitterly at the memories I was there for him. "You were always there when I needed someone. You made me laugh and told me the right things. To me, you were better than all the other Marvel heroes because at least you were real."

"Well, that wasn't the real me," I said curtly.

He shook his head. "You can't tell me none of that was real. I know to myself there were genuine emotions, I just lost them. Where's the old Kath, the one who told me jokes and sassed me 'til I laughed? The one who was there for me and who promised a lot of things? Did I actually lose her forever?"

"She's gone," I replied coldly. "And she's never coming back."

It took all of my power to stand up, to actually leave him there where all I wanted to do was to make him laugh and see the dimples I liked seeing again. But if I did that, if I showed emotions, then what was the point of the whole thing? Besides, I didn't want to get attached. I didn't want the wall of my emotions go crumbling down because of it did, I'd go crazy.

"Wow," I heard Logan marvel bitterly as I left the room. "You really are Estella. One cold hearted, disrespectful, lying, manipulative bitch. Not to mention that I wasn't too far off by calling you my tragedy, because Kath, you really are."

As I closed the door on him, I closed my eyes, tears threatening to spill out.

Logan Peters never cursed, not even when he was drunk.

And he just cursed at me.

*~*~*~*~*

I failed badly on my Math test.

Now, don't get me wrong, Ryder and I really studied last Monday night. I even revised with him in the library yesterday. We had a high grade in our drill, which I didn't expect.

Ryder wasn't naturally smart and neither was I, but we managed to work hard together. I didn't even need to force him to cooperate!

But I was in a bad mood.

I couldn't concentrate on my paper because all I could think about was the pain in my shoulder, Natalya freaking Gray, and the drunk Logan I left in the arts room.

After Math class, I struggled to put on my bag. Ryder, who was sat beside me, seemed to notice and carried my backpack from me, shouldering two bags.

I