20.2

Worm, Chapter 20.2 Summary:

Everything’s finally settling, and then this. Greg’s sniffing around Arcadia High, asking about Taylor, and it’s all kinds of inconvenient. Tattletale and Grue are meeting with the Ambassadors, so they’re out. Forrest is too conspicuous for a high school setting. Regent, Imp, or Bitch? No, she’s trying to fix things, not make them worse.

Taylor gets more info from Charlotte: Greg’s been asking around, checking if Taylor’s there. Charlotte approached him, and he claimed he didn’t know Taylor, but seemed too intense for that to be true. It’s Greg, all right. Blond hair, blue eyes, talks a mile a minute.

Charlotte has to go to class, and there’s no time to plan. Taylor tells her to tell Greg she’s not at school but can meet him later. While waiting, Taylor dries a cleaned mattress, then gets a message: Greg’s gone, no drama. Taylor tells Charlotte to go to class, and that she’ll try to track him down.

Taylor feels guilty. Charlotte’s been picking up her slack, managing the territory while Taylor sleeps at her dad’s. She’s earning her pay twice over. Taylor would increase her pay, but Charlotte thinks it’ll arouse suspicion. Maybe Tattletale can arrange a scholarship. They have funds, thanks to Coil’s assets and the Ambassadors’ “gift” for intruding on their territory.

Taylor dresses for a run, grabs her ID, cell, and a knife she hides in her sock. It’s 9:50 AM, and she has until 11:35 to get Greg out of class before lunch starts. She has to leave her territory for this, a minor but potentially major issue if ignored. And how does she even approach it? It’s ridiculous, but going back to school stirs up old anxieties. She stretches on the near-empty bus, shrugging off old burdens.

Arcadia’s been fixed up, new windows gleaming like compound eyes. The front gate’s rebuilt, vandalism cleaned up. But the people are what catch Taylor off guard. Around forty students are outside, split into two groups: those in new clothes, smiling and talking, and those who stayed in Brockton Bay during the chaos, wearing worn clothes and weary expressions.

A guard asks if Taylor’s just arriving. He asks about her weapon, and she hands over her knife. He explains the students outside are “depressurizing.” The principal wants to give them a few days. They’re not enforcing many rules yet. Some kids take breaks, smoke, talk. He thinks the ones who fled are intimidated by the “shithole of a city.”

Taylor heads inside. She’d been here once before, during a life-or-death situation. Now, she has to suppress her powers. She can’t risk a cloud of flies being noticed. There are students in the halls, avoiding socializing. Directions are posted, so she doesn’t need to ask. A note on the wall: “New sudents go to front office”. A typo.

Another set of papers, “Know where you are,” with a crude drawing on Rachel’s. Taylor heads to the office, feeling out of place. The lack of gang signs is unsettling. The only “gang” now is hers and her team. High school is a microcosm of the world, and seeing this impact on a familiar place is surreal.

The office is crowded. Capes are present: Adamant and Sere. A secretary yells for people to form lines. Lines form, but people still push. Taylor studies the capes. Adamant, in a metal costume, was at the Leviathan fight. Sere, in white robes, can dehydrate people. What made them stay with the Protectorate? How would she fight them?

Taylor’s next. She needs to contact someone, but they can’t give out info. She asks about signing up for classes. Core classes are in classrooms, non-core in computer labs. She asks for second-period classes, listing Greg’s: World Issues, Spanish, History, and Music. World Issues is fourth period, History is now.

Taylor heads to the computer labs, using her bugs to find them. The first is a bust. In the second, she spots Emma, hair dyed blond, watching a video with others. Emma notices her, but Taylor moves on. She finds Greg in the makeshift computer lab in the gym, past eleven. Her dad will call soon.

Taylor taps Greg’s shoulder. He’s thrilled to see her. She asks if he’s stalking her or has a vendetta. He says no, he’s trying to help. She cuts him off, saying she doesn’t need his help and is offended he’d say she does. He says, strained, “I know!” about her secret identity.

Taylor says he doesn’t know anything about her. He says they’re similar: not social, like reading and computers. He’s trying not to hurt her feelings by calling them both losers. She lets him flounder, then says he messed up her day. He wanted to help, but she was spooked.

Taylor says she thought he was angry or had a crazed infatuation. He denies the latter, saying it was a small thing a while back. She says she has a boyfriend. A boy stops, noticing their tense atmosphere. He’s one of the ones who stayed. Taylor tells him it’s personal, and he leaves.

Taylor says she doesn’t want to be his enemy, but the last while has been scary. He says he stayed in town, but admits he was on the far side of Captain’s Hill, near a mountain. Not really Brockton Bay. She says he didn’t stay, then, and that she just wants peace and quiet with her dad.

Greg says if he could figure it out, others could too. She asks what he thinks he knows. He whispers, “You’re Skitter.” She denies it. He says it all clicked when he was reading online about people wondering if Skitter was an adult. She says he ruined her day over a hunch.

He lists reasons: her age, location, attitude, trigger event. She asks what that is. He realizes she’s playing dumb. She says capes hurt her dad, twice. She doesn’t want to think about superpowers. He says he can’t talk about it without mentioning capes. She calls it insulting to suggest she’s a villain.

He says everything fit. Fit, not fits. She waits. He apologizes. She says he’s not a bad guy, sorry she’s not who he wanted. He wishes her dad well. She leaves, feeling like crap for manipulating him, but what else could she do? What did he expect? Gratitude for pointing out her identity issues?

Crisis averted. She’ll text Charlotte, then meet her dad. She wants to leave. Nothing for her here but ugly feelings. But now, she feels more like an Emma than a Taylor.

She senses Emma by the front door. Changing routes, she exits through a stairwell. She can’t climb the wall around the grounds without attracting attention. Going through the parking lot exit would take her the wrong way, and she’s in a rush.

She walks briskly for the gate. Emma intercepts. Fuck her. Emma’s playful, blocking her way. A sly smile. Others are watching. Emma asks if Taylor’s avoiding her. Taylor doesn’t reply, unsettled by how her bugs are responding to her irritation. She hates few people. Emma? She couldn’t care less. That’s what unsettles her.