12. B3

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    Throughout the day, Midas was accosted by more and more students as news of the interviews spread. In algebra, Rachel, who had again sat in the desk next to Midas, leaned over slightly to chat while Mrs. Ortiz droned through the lesson.

"So the SVE Club has auditions, huh?" she whispered. "Who's judging?"

"Are you trying out?" Midas asked doubtfully, not taking his eyes off his notes.

Rachel tossed her dark hair over her shoulder and leaned her head to the side.

"Maybe," she said. "You gonna answer my question?"

"Me and Sam. Mr. Lee if he shows up," Midas answered. "You have a talent?"

Rachel pressed a finger to her lips. "It's a surprise."

"And I'm in utter suspense," Midas said sarcastically.

"If you're not, you should be," Rachel said. She leaned forward. "I'm gonna blow all of the other competitors out of the water, just you wait."

Midas smirked. "We'll see about that, won't we?"

    Mrs. Ortiz snapped her fingers.

    "Midas, Rachel, no interruptions please," she ordered crisply.

    Midas glared at Rachel as they turned to face forward. Rachel only grinned determinedly, cracking her knuckles in anticipation.

<><><><><><><>

Later, during Miss Vanover's English class, the teacher herself interrupted the lesson to speak to Midas.

    The class was working quietly when Miss Vanover tiptoed over to Midas' desk and crouched down to speak quietly with him.

    "Pst, Midas?" she whispered.

    "Hm?" Midas muttered, not bothering to look at her.

    "I've heard about your club. The SVE club, right?" Miss Vanover said.

    "Yeah?" Midas said.

    "Yeah, it sounds really interesting, especially the part about interviews. That's true, isn't it? That there's interviews?" Miss Vanover asked anxiously.

    "Uh-huh," Midas answered.

    "Well, I know the club is mainly for students, but would you consider letting staff try out as well?"

   Midas looked at her for the first time. "You want to join SVE?"

    "Not just me!" Miss Vanover backtracked. "I was just curious if this particular club was exclusive to students."

    Midas considered this for a moment before replying, "I guess if you want to try out, you could, but-"

    "Oh, how terrific!" Miss Vanover exclaimed, clasping her hands.

    Half the class turned to look at the young teacher as if she'd gone completely bonkers. She sheepishly nodded her thanks to Midas and walked back to the front of the room. The rest of the day, she could be found glancing at the clock, wishing for the time to pass faster.

<><><><><><><>

    "But surely you understand that this approach is very... unorthodox?" Mrs. Hayes asked Midas as they walked down the hall. Midas was finally headed to see room B3 for the first time during his lunch period. Mrs. Hayes had happened upon him by chance and was peppering him with questions.

    "What do you mean 'unorthodox'?" Midas asked.

    "Cherokee North is about inclusion and unity. There's never been a club for which there were auditions," Mrs. Hayes replied.

    Midas stopped walking to face Mrs. Hayes. "You guys have a competitive football team, right?"

"Yes?" Mrs. Hayes said, wondering where he was going with this.

"And does the coach let just anyone play? Just because they might get their feelings hurt if they're rejected?" Midas asked.

Mrs. Hayes bit her lip and tried to come up with a response.

"SVE is serious. If someone who doesn't have what it takes joins, they could get more than their feelings hurt," Midas said, turning and leaving a tongue tied Mrs. Hayes in the middle of the hallway.

Midas managed to reach the basement entrance without being approached by any more students or teachers. As he descended the stairs, he shook his head, still wondering how so many people had gotten interested in SVE. At least a fourth of the school, it seemed, was going to try out after school.

Midas quickly found room B3; laughter rang from the room. The door was open and he could see Sam sitting on a table and someone else sitting in a chair near the front of the room, that origami guy, Evan. It seemed that one of the two had just said something very funny; both were laughing hard when Midas walked in, so hard that Midas had to rap on the door frame a few times before they finally saw him.

"Hope I'm not interrupting," Midas said dryly.

"Oh, hey Midas," Sam said, her face red from laughter. "Evan was just telling me this funny story about his uncle from Spain."

"He was a very clever man," Evan chuckled. Sam nodded her agreement.

"You've met Evan, right?" Sam said. "I asked him to help us out with rearranging."

"I realize this doesn't make me part of the club," Evan said, "but rest assured, I will show up for the interviews."

"Alright," Midas sighed, stepping into the room. "We don't have all day. What do we need to do?"

"Well, we need to rearrange these tables for interviews. The room could use some cleaning too; it hasn't been used in years. I know it's kind of shabby, but what do you think?" Sam asked earnestly.

Midas looked around the room for the first time. There were no windows. The white walls were bare and a layer of dust covered the chairs and long tables in the room. The linoleum floor was dirty and scuffed up.

"It's perfect," Midas said with a slight smile. "Let's get to work."

    Working together, the three of them began moving the tables and chairs around. Sam hummed happily as they worked.

    As Midas and Sam pushed a long table against the wall together, Midas gave Sam an odd look.

    "Why do you care so much about this?" he asked. "I've done everything to make you stay away and you're still here. What's your deal?"

    Sam grunted as they finished pushing the table. She sat on the table and gave him a shy smile.

    "I'm kind of obsessed with heroes, if you hadn't already noticed," she pointed out.

     "But why?" Midas wanted to know.

    "I owe my life to them," Sam stated. "I've been saved by heroes twice. A lot of people have told me that it's 'bad luck', that I'm an accident waiting to happen. I don't believe in luck, but if I did, I'd say it's pretty good luck that the two times I was in trouble there was someone around to help me."

    Sam chuckled. "Once, when I was a baby, a Curasese called Chemoclad rescued me and my family from a burning hotel. And just a couple years ago, White Flame totally saved my skin back when Opal Empress was trying to gas the outlet mall. I mean, before he quit the hero game."

    Sam sighed and fluttered her eyelids. "Ah, White Flame, where art thou White Flame?"

    "Your celebrity crush?" Evan said, sweeping a broom around.

    "Yeah..." Sam sighed. She looked at Midas suddenly.

    "Hey, hold on a minute!" she exclaimed. "White Flame went to ISH! Do you know him?"

    Midas, who had been scooting chairs around while listening, answered, "Never heard of him."

    Sam frowned. "Maybe you've seen him around? He had white blonde hair, and a white and red suit, very distinctive. He was a Dynamopsych like you, although only a class B. You sure you don't know him?"

    Midas shook his head. "Have you looked him up in the hero archives? Maybe he was a freelancer."

    Sam hopped down from the table. "I did, but I couldn't find anything. Nothing in the news either. It's like he just fell off the face of the earth."

    "It's a mystery," Evan muttered.

    "The real mystery is how long these interviews are going to take," Midas said, changing the subject. "We must have half the school heading down here today and-"

    Ka-SHUNK!

    Suddenly, there was a sound of metal and glass being crushed. Faint screams could be heard along with amplified shouting.

    "That came from outside!" Evan exclaimed.

    Sam looked rapidly around, as if something might burst into the room that very moment. "What is it?"

    Midas grimaced. "I think I know."

    With that, Midas rushed out of the room, Evan and Sam hot on his heels.

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