Julio Escala doesn't think of himself as an observant person, even though he often notices things the others don't, even though his upgrades give him heightened senses. Smart people like Ruby and Duncan are observant. Flinch isn't. He's an idiot; everyone more or less says so, and honestly, he doesn't really care.

When he's training with Matilda, the team's other not-smart-but-still-somehow-a nerd, he decides to tell her about what he's observed.

"Have you noticed anything different about Ruby lately?" he asks.

"Nope." She swings a flashlight - today's weapon of choice- at him. "What do you mean?"

Flinch dodges quickly. "Well, ever since Heathcliff came back, she hasn't really been herself."

"Really? Hadn't noticed."

"And she was like this when everyone thought Heathcliff was dead, too. Do you think we should talk to her about it?" He starts running, trying to get a good start for when she inevitably starts flying and he has to jump to get her down.

"About what?" Matilda presses the button on her inhaler and suddenly she's ten feet in the air. "Heathcliff isn't one of us anymore. Especially after trying to kill Duncan. If Ruby's upset that Choppers isn't on the team anymore, that's her problem. I'm not talking to her about it."

"So you think that's what's bothering her, too?"

"Probably." She dives down, hits him once across the face. "You don't walk home with Ruby after school. Most of the time she's quiet, but when she does talk, half the time it's about something stupid one of you guys did. Mostly Jackson now that he's on the team. Used to mostly be you. Sometimes she talks about Duncan-" Matilda frowns, only for a second, but long enough for Flinch to notice - "and a lot of times, it would be about Heathcliff."

She tries a kick, but Flinch is ready this time. He dodges, reaches for her sleeve, pulls her down. She aims her other inhaler at him, and he's forced to let go to get out of the way.

"Anyway," she continues, "when she's talking about Heathcliff, she does not let it go. Always repeating it, always telling me what she wanted to say but didn't. If she wasn't so angry I would've thought she had a crush on him."

Julio blinks. That's something to think about.

He lets the discussion drop, and puts his focus back on the training itself, where it should be.