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Park’s eyes got wide Well, sort of wide Sometimes she wondered if the shape of his eyes affected how he saw things That was probably the most racist question of all ti his head ‘They’re a metaphor for acceptance; they’ve sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them’

‘Yeah,’ she said, ‘but …’

‘There’s no but,’ he said, laughing

‘ But,’ Eleanor insisted, ‘the girls are all so stereotypically girly and passive Half of them just think really hard Like that’s their super-power, thinking And Shadowcat’s power is even worse – she disappears’

‘She becoible,’ Park said ‘That’s different’

‘It’s still so you could do in the middle of a tea party,’ Eleanor said

‘Not if you were holding hot tea Plus, you’re forgetting Stor Storm She controls the weather with her head; it’s still just thinking

Which is about all she could do in those boots’

‘She has a cool Mohawk …’ Park said

‘Irrelevant,’ Eleanor answered

Park leaned his head back against the seat, s ‘The X-Men aren’t sexist’

‘Are you trying to think of an empowered X-wo disco ball Or the White Queen?

She thinks really hard while wearing spotless white lingerie’

‘What kind of poould you want?’ he asked, changing the subject He turned his face toward her, laying his cheek against the top of the seat S away fro’

‘ Yes,’ he said

Park

‘Da on a Ninja mission?’

‘Ninjas wear black, Steve’

‘What?’

Park should have gone inside to change after taekwando, but his dad said he had to be back by 9:00, and that gave him less than an hour to show Eleanor

Steve was outside working on his Caetting ready

‘Going to see your girlfriend?’ he called to Park

‘What?’

‘Sneaking out to see your girlfriend? Bloody Mary?’

‘She’s notout Ninja-style,’ Steve said

Park shook his head and broke into a run

Well, she wasn’t, he thought to hih the alley

He didn’t knohere Eleanor lived, exactly

He knehere she got on the bus, and he knew that she lived next to the school …

It ht He stopped at a small white house There were a few broken toys in the yard, and a giant Rottweiler was asleep on the porch

Park walked toward the house slowly The dog lifted its head and watched him for a second, then settled back to sleep It didn’t move, even when Park cliuy who answered looked too young to be Eleanor’s dad Park was pretty sure he’d seen this guy around the neighborhood He didn’t knoho he’d expected to come to the door

Souy didn’t even say anything Just stood at the door and waited

‘Is Eleanor home?’ Park asked

‘Who wants to know?’ He had a nose like a knife, and he looked straight down it at Park

‘We go to school together,’ Park said

The guy looked at Park for another second, then closed the door Park wasn’t sure what to do He waited for a few , Eleanor opened the door just enough to slide through

Her eyes were round with alarm In the dark like this, it didn’t even look like she had irises

As soon as he saw her, he knew it had been a mistake to come here – he felt like he should have known that sooner He’d been so caught up in showing her …

‘Hey,’ he said

‘Hi’

‘I …’

‘… cae me in hand-to-hand combat?’

Park reached into the front of his dobak and pulled out the second issue of Watchmen Her face lit up; she was so pale, so luht, that wasn’t just an expression

‘Have you read it?’ she asked

He shook his head ‘I thought we could …

together’

Eleanor glanced back at the house, then stepped quickly off the steps He followed her down the steps, across the gravel driveway, to the back stoop of the eleht over the door Eleanor sat on the top step, and Park sat next to her

It took twice as long to read Watchht because it was so strange to be sitting together somewhere other than on the bus To even see each other outside of school Eleanor’s hair et and hanging in long, dark curls around her face

When they got to the last page, all Park wanted to do was sit and talk about it (All he really wanted to do was sit and talk to Eleanor) But she was already standing up and looking back at her house

‘I’ve got to go,’ she said

‘Oh,’ he said ‘Okay I guess I do, too’

She left hi inside the house before he could think about saying goodbye

Eleanor

When she walked back into the house, the living room was dark, but the TV was on Eleanor could see Richie sitting on the couch and herin the doorway of the kitchen

It was just a few steps to her room …

‘Is that your boyfriend?’ Richie asked before she made it He didn’t look up from the TV

‘No,’ she said ‘He’s just a boy from school’

‘What did he want?’

‘To talk to nment’

She waited in her bedroothe door behind her

‘I knohat you’re up to,’ he said, raising his voice, just as the door closed ‘Nothing but a bitch in heat’

Eleanor let his words hit her full on Took theht on the chin