The Betrayal of Renegade X (Renegade X, Book 3) by Chelsea M. Campbell

any awards.”
    “You know, on second thought, you’re right. It is perfect for him.” And even more perfect will be rubbing it in his face that he was wrong and I was right.
    Sarah grins and heads over toward the line for the checkout stand, which is so long, it wraps partway around the store. “That’s two presents down. No, wait, three. I forgot I got Heraldo that giant rawhide bone. I was going to wait to give it to him until Christmas, but he found it in my closet and chewed the wrapping paper off already.” She hesitates, counting out the number of people she still needs to buy gifts for. “I only have four to go, unless... Do you think I should get Kat something?”
    Do I think she should get something for my girlfriend who hates her guts and who actually refused to work with someone at school whose name was Sara-with-no- h because it was too much of a reminder? Yeah, I’m going to have to mull that over for a while.
    “What did you get her?” Sarah asks.
    A still from one of her favorite movies, Vampire Aliens Attack . It’s from the best part, when the vampire aliens face off against the werewolves trying to defend the earth. But I don’t tell Sarah that because I don’t need her getting any ideas. “Listen, Sarah. About Kat.”
    “Her grandparents want her to call more. You should tell her that. I emailed her about it, but she didn’t respond.”
    Kat’s grandparents happen to live at the supervillain retirement home Sarah volunteers at. Since finding that out, she’s made it her mission in life to become BFFs with them. Which has not improved the “Kat wants to kill her” situation. “I don’t know how you haven’t noticed this, but you and Kat? Not friends. Not even a little.”
    “Not yet. She’s going to come around. Eventually. And a Christmas present from me might help that. As a sign of goodwill.”
    “It won’t. Kat doesn’t want to be friends with you.” Kat’s never been crazy about Sarah, since Sarah and I went out for, like, two seconds while me and Kat weren’t together. And then Sarah broke into Kat’s dad’s company this fall—while she was messed up from the effects of her personality enhancer going wonky—on her mission to entrap villains, who she was sure were all criminals. Then there was Homecoming, where she actually shot Kat with a homemade shockwave gun and sent her to the ER. And there was the incident at Vilmore, where she almost destroyed a generation of villains and also tried to kill me, and I can’t say any of that went over well with my supervillain girlfriend. And even though I’ve told Kat that Sarah wasn’t herself when she did any of that, I can still see why Kat can’t just shrug it off and pretend it never happened. She doesn’t really know Sarah—not the real Sarah—and Sarah’s desperate attempts to make it up to her and become her bestest friend have only made it worse.
    “But,” Sarah says, “that’s only because she thinks I hate supervillains, and I don’t.”
    “That’s a reason. I wouldn’t say it’s the only one.”
    “I’m really improving on my open-mindedness, so if something happens and I go crazy again, I won’t try to hurt any villains. Or you.”
    “Sarah, that’s not going to happen.” The line moves forward, like, an inch. I check the time on my phone. “It was my fault, and I’ve got control of my lightning power now.”
    The woman in front of us kind of glances over her shoulder when I say that. I see the moment of recognition in her eyes when she sees who I am, though she tries to hide it. She pretends she’s being super casual as she hurries to get out her phone and starts texting someone.
    “It was my invention,” Sarah says. “And my biases about justice. Maybe you won’t trigger a malfunction again, but something else might, and I have to be ready for it. I’m really trying to change, and to make up for what I did.”
    “You don’t need to change. Or to make up for anything.”
    “But if I