Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

Warmth radiates on Wally's face from the piercing light now flowing through the curtains. Slowly emerging from his slumber he sits up and stretches his limbs in an exaggerated manner. He opens his eyes and is startled to meet similar emerald eyes staring back at him. Wally quickly grabs the covers that fell off his shoulders and uses them as a shield to hide his bare chest.

"MOM! What are you doing in my room?" His eyes, once drowsy, were now on high alert as he watched his mother do a sweep of his room. She moved from his bed to the curtains to open them up more. Wally lifted his hand to shield his eyes from the intense light that the summer sun emitted.

"Good morning to you too Wallace-" Wally winced at the use of his full name "-aren't you forgetting what today is?" He looked at his mother with a scrunched up face. It was the middle of summer. That meant he had no stupid assignments to take care of and no annoying alarm clock to wake him up for school. What could he be forgetting?

Mary West sighed at her son's puzzled look before gesturing to the wall adjacent to his bed. Following her gaze he looks up to his hang in there kitty calendar: a present from is aunt that he couldn't take down. A big red X marked up the four boxes of July and a few days over a note he quickly jotted down. Wally returned to look back at his mom with his expression not changing from earlier. She softly chuckles and moves to exit her son's rather messy room.

"It's actually the 16th sweetie and I'd hurry if I were you." Wally's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. His head whipped back to the calendar and searched for the date hoping by some miracle his time didn't run out. In bold red letters it confirmed his fears.

First day of marching band! noon.

'CRAP!' Wally rips the covers off his body and jumps off his bed before tripping on his action figures. Falling to the ground he groans as he picks up his tired body. This is going to be a long day. . .

Bruno Mars blasted through Wally's radio as he sped towards his destination. The wind flows through his auburn hair as he sings off key to The Lazy Song. Finally pulling up to the school he couldn't help but to get a bitter taste in his mouth as he dreads the fact that his summer was practically over.

Turning off the engine Wally exits his yellow beater car. She really was something. Most are surprised she can even run, much less go over 60mph but she does. Not as fast as he would like but she got the job done. Wally opened the trunk of the car and grabbed his backpack and instrument case. Mr. Smith was so going to rat him out for not practicing over break, but Wally knows that it was out of care. Or at least he thinks so. Looking at his watch he quickly starts making his way over to the football field where they are most likely starting.

Wally was half an hour late but in marching band, especially Mr. Smith's marching band, that was pretty much a death sentence. He can practically hear Mr. Smith's monotone voice in his head going, "early is on time, on time is late, and late means you are running laps." Wally is usually late to rehearsal but he doesn't mind the extra laps since he was a runner and loves running. He walks up to the field in a leisurely manner seeing how he was already late so there was no avoiding the laps he will have to do. Looking around he spots new and old faces to the marching band program. It was always exciting the first few days to figure out who joined and who dropped since the last season. His eyes then trail over to his favorite spot: the color guard.

A love-stricken smile appears on his face as he makes his way over to the group who seemed like they were taking a break. He can hear Megan's cheerful voice across the field as Wally walks towards them. Upon closer inspection he notices that she was talking to a smaller figure. The other girl was holding a flag and practicing a few moves in front of the bubbly senior. Wally couldn't help but to be impressed on how well she handled the toss. She had midnight black hair that was short but not short enough to be considered a pixie cut. Her back was towards Wally so he couldn't see her face but he was able to appreciate her other assets. His dream-like trance was only broken after he heard Megan yell out his name.

"Wally!" She waved him down and he slowly jogged towards her to close the distance. When he made it to where she was he placed his case down next to him. Wally flashed his iconic smile as he greeted his not-so-secret crush. He was facing the freckled teen so he accidentally ignored the other female next to him. Not that he noticed or meant to. It's not his fault that Megan was breathtaking.

"Hello Megan. How are you doing today beautiful?" He reached over and kissed her hand and smiled as she giggled at his flirty attempts. Megan knows Wally likes her and he knows that she knows. She isn't exactly leading him on seeing how she thought they sorted things out last year. Even though they talked things out it still didn't stop Wally's heart from racing or the compliments from spilling out of his lips. What can he say? She appreciates the compliments and Wally likes giving them, so what's the harm?

Megan retracts her hand from Wally and places it at her side. Her eyes then drift over to her right and land on the person patiently waiting to be noticed. Megan's eyes widen a bit as she hits her head lightly with the heel of her palm.

"Hello Megan! I forgot to introduce you to my new friend." She moved to the side of her companion and placed a loose arm around them. Wally turns to look at said friend excited to see what the cutie looked li-

"-WAIT YOU'RE A GUY!?" His eyes expand in shock and the color once on his cheeks seemed to fade off his face. The other guard members, and a few band members, look over to see the commotion. When they realized it was just Wally they turned back to whatever they were doing before. Megan's own expression was priceless. Her eyes were as wide as his and her jaw almost fell to the floor. If this was a different situation he probably would have laughed. The flustered redheads contrasted with the rather exasperated raven-haired male. He had his hip cocked out and his arms crossed. Wally couldn't seem to get a read on his eyes due to how tinted his sunglasses were, despite that he could tell he was pissed just on his aura alone. For the first time in the entire exchange the other male spoke to Wally.

"My name's Dick by the way but it seems to fit you a lot better." A cocky grin adorned his face as he uncrossed his arms. Wally's face went from pure shock to offended in a matter of seconds. He raised his eyebrows almost to challenge the shorter male as he took a step towards him.

"Excuse me?" Wally's tone was hostile and that's what broke Megan's trance. She stepped between the two boys and stuck her hands out to create some space. She gave her best smile in hopes of calming them down.

"Uhh Wally I think Mr. Smith wants to talk to you-" she gestures over to the stoic adult standing in front of the press box "- and Dick you should probably head back to your section, break is almost over." Dick and Wally both back down and look towards their future destinations. Dick then turns to Megan and smiles at her sweetly. Wally almost couldn't believe how quickly he was able to switch attitudes.

"Thank you Megan for letting me play with your flag for a while. It was fun." When Dick backed down from his earlier mood Megan couldn't help but to mimic his actions.

"Oh it's no problem Dick. If anything I want to say thank you for helping me with my forty-fives. I had no clue I was falling short." Dick genuinely smiled and nodded his head. He then clapped his hands startling Wally a bit.

"Well I better head on over, I'll see you around Megan!" His tone then became neutral as he addressed Wally "Wallace." With that he waves with a sort of childlike energy as he makes his way back to his section. Megan didn't notice Dick's change of tone but Wally did. And he did not like it.