“How do you know?”
“Maggie, you have a plan for everything. You always have your MetroCard ready to go so you don’t hold everyone up at the subway turnstiles. You carry your keys poking out of your fist so that you can stab someone if you have to. You do homework every day at the same time—from four to six every afternoon, don’t even try to deny it. You keep rain boots in your locker in case it rains. Trust me,” Roux concluded. “You have a plan.”
I had no idea she paid attention to any of that stuff. Roux was usually so busy talking, laughing, flailing, and demanding that I never thought she noticed anything subtle or sly.
“I don’t have a plan,” I protested, then added, “yet.”
Roux grinned. “That’s my girl.”
“I just have to prove that my parents didn’t do anything,” I said. “It can’t be that hard.”
“But what if the Collective tries to stop you from proving it?”
“I don’t care what they want!”
“That’s the spirit!”
“I’m serious. Even if we get kicked out, at least I’ll know that I tried to clear their names.”
Roux was quiet for a few seconds before speaking again. “What if they want to stop you, though? Like … really stop you?”
“Jesse’s afraid they might try to kill me.”
“Jesse has become my psychic twin. The world doesn’t even make sense anymore.”
“They’re not going to kill me,” I told her. “You two are just scarred from the whole Colton Hooper experience. That was the first time you ever experienced something like that. Trust me, run for your life a few more times and you’ll be able to tell the good guys from the bad guys.”
Roux looked unconvinced, but then her face slid into a slow smile. “Hey, remember when I punched him and broke his nose?”
“How could I forget? You never stop mentioning it.”
“Ugh, that was so amazing.” Roux threw a few small jabs in the air. “So. Getting back to you and your weird problems.”
“They’re not weird, they’re …” I couldn’t find a word that described the situation.
“They’re weird,” Roux said. “Trust me. And honestly, I’m not surprised. I could tell you were getting bored.”
“I’m not bored. We live in New York. It’s not boring.”
“C’mon, Mags. It’s me, okay? I know you well. You are so bored. How could you go from being an international safecracker to sitting in history class, pretending to learn facts about cities you’ve already lived in? I’d die of boredom and I’ve never even been anywhere.”
“Are you kidding? High school is agonizing! Give me a safe any day!”
“Exactly.”
I stopped short as I realized my Freudian slip. “I didn’t mean it like that,” I said. “I just meant that it’s difficult. I’m not bored.”
“But it’s not what you’re meant to do.”
The certainty in Roux’s voice stopped me and for the first time, I admitted to myself that I was bored. I was so bored. I loved Jesse, loved Roux, loved my parents, but nothing changed. The scenery was the same, our house was the same, the risk was the same.
“You spin imaginary locks between your fingers,” Roux said gently. “You do it all the time. Stop lying to yourself.”
I took a deep breath. I was pretty sure we were way late for our SAT prep class. “If I could have everything at the same time, I would,” I told her. “You and Jesse and my parents and Angelo and our house, and then I’d just work nights and weekends.”
Roux grinned. “Like Batman!”
“Just like him.” I laughed. “Same outfit and everything.”
“You definitely need those little pointy ears,” Roux agreed. “Okay, then, so what’s the plan? What are we doing?”
“We?”
“Duh. Of course we. What’s Jesse doing? Let me guess, standing around and doing that pouty thing he does? Because that’s always helpful.”
“He does not pout! He just … okay, maybe he looks a little pouty every now and then.”
“Ha! You knew I was right.”
“But it’s a cute pouty thing! And he’s doing nothing and so are you. Nothing,” I added as she started to protest. “You are both civilians in this one. I’m not dragging either of you back into danger.” I didn’t tell Roux, but I still woke up some nights gasping for breath, seeing Roux and Jesse run behind me and then disappear into the earth below, falling so fast that I was unable to grab them.
I could feel Roux’s glare even from behind her sunglasses. “Are you being serious right now?”
“Stone cold serious. Wait, is that a wrestler’s name? It sounds like a wrestler.”
“You’re just going to solve this whole thing by yourself?”
“That’s pretty much the plan, yeah.”
Roux sat very still for a moment and I steeled myself for the outburst.
Sure enough, I was right.
“That’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said!” she cried. “So what, you’re going to go do your job without Jesse and especially without me? What am I supposed to do then? Do you think I like reading all those spy novels? If I have to read the word ‘Moscow’ one more time, I’m going to smother someone with a babushka!”