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“What do you think?” Jazz asked, looking at him in the mirror.
“You look like a princess,” Nick said honestly.
She laughed as she spun in a slow circle, her dress flaring around her legs. “Is that a good thing?”
“It is. You’ll be the center of attention, just like you should be. Happy birthday, Jazz.”
“Thank you.” She nodded at herself in the mirror before turning around and going to her ridiculously oversized closet, rows of clothes on one wall, shelf after shelf of shoes on the other. She put her hands on her hips as she looked up and down the wall of shoes before settling on a pair of ballet slipper–type flats that matched the green on her dress and the ribbons in her hair. She came back out of the closet and dropped the shoes at the foot of the bed before sitting down against Nick. He spread his legs, letting her get comfortable, back to his chest, careful to keep her dress from getting wrinkled but still positioned so they could see Gibby and Seth. Nick snorted when Jazz pinched his thigh. “You look nice, too.”
“Eh,” Nick said. “I feel a little underdressed compared to you.” He wore a pair of black jeans and a thin, baby-blue button-down shirt, the top few buttons unfastened, sleeves rolled up.
She shrugged as he rested his chin on the top of her head. “You tried. That’s all that matters.”
“Gee, thanks. Just what a guy wants to hear.”
She snorted. “You can wear whatever you want, Nicky. I’m just giving you crap. It’s not as if this is going to be a big party.”
“It’s catered,” Nick reminded her. “And your dad hired a waiter. Mateo told me he’s making more at your party than he does in a month working elsewhere.”
“I told him he didn’t have to,” Jazz said. “I wanted him to be my guest, but he said he’d rather make rent than stand around drinking sparkling cider. I think he gets antsy when he doesn’t have something to do. Sounds like someone else I know.”
Nick sighed. “Can’t argue with that. I tried to get a job for the summer, but Mom and Dad changed their minds. Said they wanted me to focus on training and school prep instead of trying to find seasonal work on top of it.”
She titled her head back to look up at him. “Wasn’t your mom talking about going back to work after your dad resigned?”
“Yeah, she mentioned that a couple of times, but I…” He frowned before shaking his head. For some reason, he’d had the momentary thought that his mom had always worked, but that wasn’t right. She’d quit a few years after he was born, wanting to put all her focus on raising him. “She hasn’t made any concrete plans yet. I think she was worried about Dad and Cap starting up with the PI agency, so I think she put that on hold for a little bit.”
“Makes sense,” Jazz said. “Maybe after you graduate. I bet she’s waiting until you go to college before dusting off her law degree. She’ll need something different to do that isn’t raising you.”
Nick sighed. “I hope that’s not it. I don’t like the idea of her putting her life on hold just because of me, you know? She needs more than that.”
“Which is why she became TK,” Jazz reminded him. “Remember?”
He did. That’s right. He hadn’t worked up the courage to ask her about that decision, at least not completely. She’d been there, standing on McManus Bridge next to Dad, watching as Shadow Star failed to bring Nova City to its knees. Though Nick hadn’t known it then, it’d been her who’d saved him when he’d fallen from the bridge, the metal struts raining down aroundhim. Well, sort of. It’dmostlybeen her, but Nick thought it’d also been his own latent powers manifesting, breaking through the haze of Concentra that coursed through his blood. Which, to be honest, didn’t make much sense, but Mom had told him he still had a lot to learn about powers and being an Extraordinary. She would know, seeing as how she’d been at it for years.
And that had all come out later when he’d found the tape in the attic, the one that’d shown his mother as a telekinetic, manipulating a glass of water to the astonishment of a young Aaron Bell and Simon Burke. When he’d confronted his parents about what he’d seen, they’d broken down, revealing the truth of what she could do, who she’d once been.
Guardian, the protector of Nova City.
“I guess,” Nick said to Jazz. “And she seems good with how things are now. She’s helping me to figure out how to use my powers.”
“She’s good at what she does,” Jazz said. “And between her and Seth, you couldn’t ask for better teachers.”
“Yeah,” Nick said. They glanced at the open bathroom door where Gibby was telling Seth he should just shave his head, Seth grumbling that his head was too lumpy for that. Jazz dropped her voice near a whisper. “Gibby says her parents have calmed down a bit after everything that happened.”
After the rightful honor of valedictorian had been unfairly stripped from her in the aftermath of the Attack on Centennial High, Nick wouldn’t have blamed her for letting it all weigh her down. If he’d been in her position, he didn’t think he’d have handled it with as much grace as Gibby. She’d been angry, sure, but hadn’t let it hold her back. She was already looking beyond school to the future, and what she could do to effect change in Nova City.
Nick shook his head. “Enough serious stuff. Today is about you, and I need to apologize up front because I recently discovered I donotknow how to wrap presents without using six feet of tape. It looks like a football, but I promise it’s not.”
She rolled her eyes. “You didn’t have to get me anything. Itold you that. I’m just happy you’re here. And besides, it’s only going to be people in the know at the party, so if anything, we can try and piss you off to get your powers to work and you can unwrap it for me.”
Nick groaned. “There has to be a better way for that shit to work. I can’t believe I threw your dad against a wall.”
Jazz snorted. “Yeah, well, he had it coming. Cannibal Psycho?” She grimaced. “That was a little much.”
Nick laughed. “Nah. He was having fun with it. It won’t always be that way, but we should appreciate it while we have it.”
Jazz frowned at him. “That was uncharacteristically mature. Quick, think of something stupid for us to do that’ll break at least four laws but doesn’t involve you jumping into a river wearing drag-queen jewelry.”
