Raven & Josie - Chapter 15

Cedric and Oscar exchanged one of their usual fist bumps before Cedric slid into the worn driver's seat of his dad's black Chevy. “See you later, man.”

Oscar, his pumped-up friend – who was even more muscular and taller than Cedric, but also had slightly fewer brain cells – stepped up to the car as Cedric slid the window down. The late afternoon sun glinted off Oscar's still-sweaty biceps as he leaned into the open window, his crooked smile stretched across his face. “So, everything is still cool with us if I decide to romance Kim?”
“Hey, romance all you like with her, man. She’s nothing more than a passed chapter to me.” Cedric tossed his bag over his shoulder, making it thud on the backseat.
Oscar sighed, taking a swig from his water bottle. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before speaking. “She talks about you, you know. A lot. And I know, because my niece is part of her posse.”
“Well, lucky her than. Perhaps, she can score Queen Bitch a drink someday if she’s fortunate and be promoted to head servant.”

Oscar scowled. “She’s not all that ice-cold.”
Cedric gave his friend a knowing glare.

“Okay, perhaps she is!" Oscar guffawed like a walrus. "But that’s what I fuckin like about Kim! She’s so… so…”

                Cedric perked his ears, eager to hear what his friend had to say about his ex.

“Aaaaw, fuck!" Oscar slammed his hand on the car. "I just want to fuck her so badly! I would even fuck you if it was the only way for me to taste a slight of her.”
Cedric threw a bag full of disgust at his friend with his glare. “Okay, I’m out of here.”
He revved the engine of his car, making it roar with a low rumble as he prepared to drive away. He pressed on the button and watched as the window of his car rolled up as he drove away.
Oscar moved in his eye-line, running along with his car. With a labored breath he stuck his head through the closing window. “Hey! Her number! I need her number!”
“Score it yourself, hotshot!" He shoved his friend's head out the car. “Or better, ask your niece!”
Oscar stopped running and scratched his head with a sappy look on his face. “That… is actually a very good idea!”

Roofed by a purple and orange twilight sky, Cedric cruised through the downtown area while contemplating many things in his head. While driving with one hand on the wheel, Cedric placed his other next to him and was surprised to feel the touch of a bag he had not noticed earlier. He looked puzzled as he saw the sportsbag he borrowed to Raven some time ago.

When did that get there? Cedric glanced down at the bag on the passenger seat, surprised to find it there.

He could not recall Raven giving it back to him, and yet here it was.

He paused his car and unzipped the bag. He groped about until his fingers closed around something soft. His brows rose when he realized what he had in his hand—the black overall Raven had worn while she rescued the passengers from that van who were busy to plunge into the river.

A smile swept over his mouth as he remembered the name she had come up with on the spot during the bridge interview: Kim Kelso? What the hell, Raven?

Cedric brought the overall to his nose and inhaled deeply; it smelled faintly of fabric softener. His dad never went to that much trouble to launder his overalls; in fact, Cedric couldn't remember him ever washing them.
Raven must have cursed him for making her wear something that was still redolent of old sweat.

Allowing himself a small smile, Cedric concluded that Raven no longer needed the overall and had chosen to give it back to him. There was no need for her to hid her face anymore, not after what her sister had done.

Cedric felt a twinge of pity for Raven; her desire for anonymity shattered thanks to her sister's frolics.

Cedric shook his head in disbelief as he clicked off the radio. All he heard were stories about Raven & Josie, the superpowered teen gals. They were hard news, their exploits splashing across headlines.
Every journalist wanted to have a piece of them.
People were desperate to know where Infinity Woman was, the world’s beloved superhero.

The last time she was seen in a public forum, she had declared that she was taking an extended break - a sabbatical. It concerned the world that the girl's mother was still absent.
You’d think that the mother would have shown up already to reprimand her daughters for their careless behavior. And yet, she did not. No one knew where Infinity Woman was. The world had to deal with Raven and Josie by themselves.

And in Cedric’s opinion, they weren’t doing a really good job. It was never a good thing to harass a family by allowing a swarm of journalists and protesters to camp in front of their house all day and night. It forces people to live in seclusion, which can never be conducive for their mental health.
No one has heard for days of neither Raven or Josie after the latter caused a spree of unfortunate events that impacted many nations, including her own. It riled certain people up when you bluntly put their supplier for diamonds or oil out of commission.

Cedric gave a good yank to the wheel and made his Dad’s Chevy screech through a sharp bend. A flashing bright light, coming from an immensely huge screen attached to a building pulled his attention. On it, he saw some newsflashes being broadcasted about the two girls. An immense picture of Josie was being broadcasted, it looked liked to be a portrait shot at school, where Josie had her hair pulled up in a ponytail.

“Ugh, did you know I’d asked the photographer that day to delete this picture and take another one instead where I had my locks flow loose around my shoulders?”

Cedric almost grazed a car in shock when Josie's voice spoke up as if she were sitting right behind him, which she in fact was. He looked over his shoulder, and his eyes widened with astonishment as he saw Josie sitting there on the backseat, smiling at him.
“Hi!” She waved energetically.

“The hell girl?!” Cedric recovered from his stupor and nervously shifted his gaze between the rearview mirror and the road.

He flinched when Josie suddenly materialized right next to him. “That better?” she asked. “Is gentler to the neck, isn’t it?” She winked.

Cedric glanced at her incredulously. “H-how did you do that? I’ve never seen Infinity Woman do a thing like that.”
“What, teleport?” Josie's expression softened as she curled into a comfortable position, landing shamelessly her dirty sneaker on the dashboard. She shrugged lightly. “Its pretty easy actually. Just knew I could do it just a few days ago. Here, look.”

In the blink of an eye, Josie was gone and suddenly reappeared in the middle of the road a few dozen meters ahead of Cedric’s car, standing with her hands on her hips, looking totally unfazed as his car rushed up to her. Instinctively, Cedric slammed on his brakes, skidding his tires over the road while attempting to stop before hitting Josie.
“And now I’m here again!” Josie materialized next to Cedric again, smiling, right before the front of his Dad’s car was about to hit her full on the chest. “Ha! I should do that more often! you should have seen your face!” She clapped her hands enthusiastically. “I should definitely teach this to Raven someday.”
“Where’s Raven anyway? It's been days since anyone has seen or heard from her, like she’d disappeared off the radar. Just like you. Is everything alright between you two?” Cedric accelerated past a car with a powerful pressure on the accelerator, entering the freeway.

“Aaaw.” Josie lovingly caressed Cedric’s arm and gave him a sunny smile. “Aren’t you the sweetest? All caring and concerned about us. That’s a lot better than all those vultures loitering around in front of our door.” Josie's sunny expression transformed to a dark cloud ready to strike lightning as she thought about the throngs of journalists and other onlookers swarming in front of their house, peeping through windows and calling them names.

“There was even one guy who threw eggs against my window while calling me a zoo-sadist, whatever that means. Can you believe it?”

Cedric sighed. “You cant blame them now, can you?”

Josie swiveled her head, annoyance in her eyes, tensing Cedric. It made him regret his words, and not because he had remorse of hurting her feelings, but for vexing her. For some reason, Cedric thought it wise to not vex Josie at the moment. “Really? You too? You sound just like my sister and dad, ugh!”

“Hey, listen.” Cedric’s hand found Josie’s, intertwining his fingers with hers. He immediately felt that his touch was soothing her anger. Unknowing to him, It sent a warm tingling sensation through Josie. “While I must admit that it was shocking to see, I understand why you destroyed that bridge. Kim can be a real bitch sometimes.”
Josie snorted, looking out of the window, the light of lampposts illuminating her face. “Whatever.”

“I know you’re not a bad person, Josie. And your Dad and sister knows that too. You just need some proper guidance is what I believe.” After a moment of silence whereby Cedric had to pull his car for a red traffic light, he turned towards her. “When is your mother coming back?”

“I need some air.” Josie freed her hand from Cedric and pushed a button to open the window and made the wind breeze through her blond locks after the traffic light hit green.

“Why did you come here to find me, Josie?” Cedric asked.

“Well isn’t that obvious?” Josie said somewhat louder than she intended. “Because I’m a fuckin mess, that’s why! And I thought that by seeing you it would make me feel better, but guess I was wrong.”
“Hey.” Cedric placed his burly hand on Josie’s thigh as he noticed she was about to open the door. “Don’t go.”

Josie’s eyes found Cedric. “Sorry about the shove, by the way. I almost never know my own strength.”

Before Cedric could react, Josie opened the door and jumped out of the car while it was riding at least 80 miles an hour on the freeway, before blasting up into the air where she’d vanished in the sky.