“Come on, Auggie! Stop being such a fuss bucket,” grinned Candi, pulling August along into the tea shop. “I come here all the time and the people don’t care that I’m superhuman.”

August shot a glare that could have made a grown man shrivel up in fear, but Candi beamed and laughed light-heartedly. A bell chimed as they entered the petite shop and aromas of sweet, floral teas and the earthy scent of black tea wafted around the place. August loved tea, especially green, but had not seen a teapot in years because it reminded her of good times lost.

August feared her past and this tea shop was an extreme trigger for her, it reminded her of her loving, late father who would take them both for a fresh cuppa every morning. She peered outside the window pane at a construction site across the cleanly paved street as her reflection stared back at her. _Even working as a bulldozer driver would be a better job for me_, August thought.

Candi was trying to convince her to become an employee here at the shop to overcome this irrational trigger, but August knew sometimes even positive peer pressure could go too far.

“Candi, please!” She hissed. “I can’t do this! Even if I did get the job, I’m an antisocial, I hate people.”

“Well, then I guess you’ll have to start liking them!” Candi smirked. “You owe me a favor, remember? This is how you can pay me back!”

“I do not owe you anything…”

“Hmm… let me think. Saving your butt after you snuck away to hide from the cops after you were discovered using your superhuman abilities, very carelessly by the way…”

“It was not careless, I just lost control!”

“Same difference. There was also that one time you left that one store in ruins because you got in a fight with one of those self-proclaimed heroes and I blamed it on someone else, then helped you escape.”

“They charged me, I had to protect myself somehow.”

“Okay, fine, but what about the marker incident?”

“You told me you’d never ever mention the marker incident.”

Candi folded her arms and stopped in the middle of the tea shop, giving August the _dude-you-aren’t-gonna-win-this-argument_ look

August knew it was hopeless, she definitely owed Candi for being a good friend. Maybe she could overcome her fear just for her friend.

“Fine, let’s get this over with.”

Candi squealed and hugged August in pure delight. August couldn’t resist a grin, she could never stay mad at her friend for long. But as she glanced behind her quickly, she noticed a familiar stiletto and her smile vanished quicker than air. She knew she was about to suffer consequences of not paying attention as a fugitive superhuman.