“That wasn't me,” Maddie snapped back, her voice rising a little. No new rumors had been spread lately and with the chaos surrounding everyone's freak powers, the heat had died down as far as people harassing Maddie about being the gossip queen. That was one good thing she was thankful for.
Of course, she should've known better to expect someone like Nick to forget so easily. “Kinda funny you still haven't gotten into any trouble for stealing that space heater, isn't it? You must've known that when you posted the supposed rumor about yourself.” It wasn't fair that Nick had gotten away with that. Maddie's dare hadn't intentionally meant to get her in trouble, but it was annoying that everyone was ignoring it. She would've expected the evil cow who worked on Security to at least do something.
Catching sight of Nick's expression, Maddie crossed her arms over her chest and glared off to the side. Was it really so unbelievable that she'd help a lost kid? Maybe it was. Maybe everyone expected her to be heartless and uncaring. She barely wanted anything to do with the kid her sister was taking care of.
“Careful. Your face might freeze in that expression. And yeah, I helped him. Whatever you and everyone else thinks about me, I can be helpful.” Most of the time she chose not to because there wasn't much she was actually capable of doing. Casual observers referred to it as lazy. “Besides,” she added sullenly, “it would've sucked if he'd somehow managed to get outside the gate, or fell in the river.”
Her friend? Maddie moistened her lips and cast a glance over her shoulder, where Ledger and Vienna had long since disappeared. “I guess,” she answered, turning back to face Nick. “He thinks so, anyway. He's not so bad. Not whiny like other kids I've seen.”
Maddie smirked when she struck a nerve. Good. Nick wouldn't be the one with the advantage in this conversation after all. “Too bad, Runt. Now that I know the name, you'll be hearing it all the time.” She made a mental note to talk to Zach about his use of the name Munchkin. The last thing she needed was a battle of the childish nicknames. “The nickname suits you, since you're all scrawny and runt-looking. Didn't people used to drown the runt of the litter?”
“Thanks for the tip. I'll remember that when I come back to sell drugs to the kid.” Apart from Nick and the two people she was just with, they were the only ones Maddie had seen out and about so far. The playground had seemed like a good idea at the time, but of course it had been stupid to think that. Shaking her head, she started to walk away. For Caitie's sake, she was trying to not start anything with Nick, but that was a lot harder to do with Nick standing right there.