"Henry, this is crazy!"

"You offered to help us - well, this is how you can."

The two teens walked into Junk 'N Stuff while they argued. Charlotte was still struggling to wrap her mind around what Henry had asked, but in the meantime he had informed her Captain Man wanted to talk immediately.

Part of Charlotte was terrified to meet the famous superhero. What would he say to her? What would he do? Henry had mentioned something about 'memory wiping.' She wasn't sure if it was even possible, but that was definitely not her idea of a fun Friday night. Another part of her was just conflicted about Henry's idea. She wasn't even friends with Henry, really. She had entered into this secret world with no warning.

"So, this might scare you a bit, but this is how we get to the Man Cave…" Henry gestured at the elevator, watching his classmate with a raised eyebrow.

Charlotte shrugged and walked in beside him. What could be scary about an elevator?

"HENRY-"

Charlotte's stopped screaming as they finally reached the Man Cave. Henry helped her off the elevator, not able to hide his smirk. She glared at him.

"Hey, Ray, this is Charlotte. Charlotte, this is Ray."

"Also known as Captain Man," Ray boasted, looking up from the bag of popcorn he had been devouring. "Henry told me everything that happened before the attack already. What I need to know is, are you gonna go around exposing our identities to everyone?"

"She's really smart, she wouldn't do that," Henry answered for Charlotte, reaching around Ray to take some of his popcorn.

"What Henry said is right." Charlotte glared at him out of the corner of her eye. She didn't need anyone to answer for her. "I would love to help you guys with anything you need."

"Not really. You won't be my fake girlfriend," Henry interrupted. Ray chuckled and glanced between the two of them. Charlotte looked like she could explode any second, while Henry was completely unfazed.

"Fake girlfriend? What's up with that."

"There's been so much craziness lately in Swellview I haven't had time for my family and friends, girls, or school. I feel like it's way more noticeable right now how flaky I've been. If I had a fake girlfriend, it could be my excuse for acting weird, and help keep the Kid Danger thing under wraps. Charlotte knows my identity now, so she can cover for me and won't be mad at me for not doing boyfriend stuff because she knows the truth!" Henry clapped his hands together and turned towards Charlotte expectantly.

Ray stroked his chin. "Sounds like a pretty solid idea to me."

"Okay, whatever, but what would I get out of this? Sounds like this only benefits Henry," Charlotte snapped. "Maybe if I could get a nice afterschool job I'd be more inclined to go along with the fake relationship." She settled into the couch that was in the middle of the Man Cave and stared intently at Ray.

"Ray?"

"Let's see if she passes the test," Ray answered. He went around to the back of the Man Cave and came back with a jar of pickles. "This jar is closed super tight. If you can open this, I'll hire you." He laughed and turned around to slap Henry's shoulder. "She'll never-"

Before Ray could even finish his sentence, Charlotte threw the jar to the ground, causing it to shatter into tiny pieces. "There's your pickle."

"I'm gonna introduce you to my family as my girlfriend-"

"What, we're just gonna jump into it like that?" Charlotte paused outside of the Hart home. "And, Piper already knows me. I designed her Cactus Con dress. She knows that we're not even friends."

"So? Let's just say we've gotten closer and started dating," Henry unlocked the front door to his house, "which is actually kind of true." Henry dropped his voice to a whisper. "I had to tell you my secret, and now we're gonna spend way more time together because we both work at Junk 'N Stuff."

"Shoot, I didn't consider that when I asked for a job.."

"Charlotte!"

"Henry?" Mr. and Mrs. Hart were in the living room watching the evening news. Charlotte could tell that his mother was confused when she saw her.

"Great, you're both here. This is my girlfriend!" Henry wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to his side. She winced. Hopefully his parents wouldn't notice that.

"Is this why you've been so busy lately?"

"Yes...I'm...all in love and everything." Henry gulped, and noted for the future that he was not as good at lying as he thought. He could practically feel the judgement rolling off in waves from Charlotte. "Her name is Charlotte. We met at school."

"It's nice to meet you," Charlotte greeted the Harts, discreetly elbowing Henry to unwrap himself from around her. It was obvious she needed to step in. "Henry and I have gotten closer recently, but now it's official. I'm his girlfriend." She shook their hands before turning back to Henry, and linking their arms together. "Hen?"

He blinked. Wow, she even came up with a nickname right on the spot. Charlotte really was a genius. "Is Piper here?" Henry asked.

"No, she said something about some limited edition popup store."

"Awesome," Henry exhaled. Everything was always easier when Piper wasn't around. She was more of a concern than his parents when it came to someone finding out his secret. His little sister was smart, loved to gossip, and didn't care about invading his privacy.

"Don't sound so thrilled," Charlotte griped, tugging on his arm.

"Right, right." Henry waved to his parents and walked over to the stairs. "Charlotte's gonna help me study for my math test tomorrow."

"Make sure studying is all you do!" Mr. Hart sang. He pulled down his reading glasses to give them a knowing look.

"Trust me, you guys have nothing to worry about," Henry deadpanned.

"Nice work back there."

"Hey, I understand sarcasm! You're really rude sometimes." Henry threw himself onto his bed, shielding his eyes dramatically.

"Whatever. We should go over some things. Like what are we gonna tell Jasper?"

Charlotte sat down at the edge of his bed with her legs crossed.

"I've actually wanted to tell Jasper about the hero stuff for a long time now, but Ray won't let me. The only reason he didn't freak out about you knowing is because it was out of necessity."

"Well, we could tell him about us dating, but say it's a secret." Charlotte looked around Henry's bedroom, and noticed that it was surprisingly clean. She had expected a total mess. "If he doesn't tell anyone - especially if he manages to keep it from his boyfriend - you can use that as proof for Ray that he's trustworthy."

Henry sprung up. "Charlotte! Yes! That's an amazing idea." He held out his fist to her and she instinctively bumped her fist against his.

"Jasper is probably my best friend. No one else likes putting up with me always disappearing and canceling plans."

"He's a good friend," Charlotte agreed. "You and I not getting along has always bothered him so he'll be pretty pumped that we're 'dating.'"

"That's true." Henry reached underneath his bed and pulled out his laptop. "Well, since we're here, you wanna write my English paper?"

"Henry!"

"I had to try!"