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A chapter filled entirely with flashbacks.
Still in Kori's POV, and then Richard's.
Whoops, almost forgot the put the disclaimer.
I don't own TT or anything mentioned below
Flashback.
Kori sighed and looked out along the June horizon. The sparkling ocean water splashed cool waves onto a group of five friends. Kori sighed again and hugged her knees to her chest.
"If only I could have them as my friends, I could be saved from a summer here in Jump City, while all my old friends are still in Cozumel," she muttered to herself. "Now I have to start school at the beginning of a new year with no one to talk to. And to top it all off, this is going to be the most boring summer of my lifetime,"
"Wow, that sounds harsh," a boy's voice said. Kori gasped and. A good looking, well-built, teenage boy with glittering light blue eyes was standing above Kori, grinning mischievously.
"I... Uh... Ummm..." She stuttered, trying to catch her breath.
"It's okay," he said, holding out his hand for Kori to grab. "Maybe you can have them as your friends," He reached out his hand further, daring Kori to take it. She hesitated before sliding her palm into his grasp. He pulled her out of her wicker chair and kissed her hand.
"Xavier Redd. Let's go meet your new friends" he said, smiling gently and pulling her towards the waves where the five people were playing in the water without a care in the world.
End flashback.
-
Flashback.
Kori had figured out that the five people were a boy and four girls. As Xavier led Kori over to them, she noticed that the boy had light, scruffy brown hair. Two of the girls had bleach blonde hair, one had brown and red, and the last one had black hair. The one with brown and red hair walked over to Xavier and Kori.
She eyed the two. "Hey X!" she said. "Who's your new friend here?"
Apparently, Xavier had realized that he was still holding Kori's hand, because he dropped it like it was on fire. "Kori," he said.
The brunette/red haired girl grinned and held out her hand. "I'm Angelica, but you can call me Ang," she said. Kori shook Angelica's hand and they walked over to the other four.
"I'm Fang," the brown-haired boy said, baring his teeth as if he actually had fangs. One of the blondes let out a huff and stomped up to him. She snatched his hand and clutched it protectively.
"I'm Kitten," she said the name like royalty. "And Fang's my boyfriend, just to let you know,"
Fang rolled his eyes and allowed Kitten to lead him back to where they had once been standing before. The other blonde approached.
"Hey, what's up!? I'm Terra!" She said, jabbing her chest with her thumb. Kori noticed a few scrapes up and down her arms and legs, but knew it was just because of the rocks or sand or something. The black haired girl sauntered up to Kori.
"I'm Jamie," she said. "And if you didn't know, we aren't really known as the best people around here. We're not bad people, honest. We just don't always do nice things. I hope you're okay with that," she finished, walking away, back to her group. Xavier glanced at Kori and joined his friends.
Kori wasn't okay with that, but she had to start somewhere.
End flashback.
-
Flashback.
"C'mon Kori," Kitten scoffed. "Don't be such a goody-goody. It'll be fun,"
Kori was sure it wouldn't be, but who was she to be rude to the people who had befriended her so quickly?
"It's okay," Xavier said, slinking an arm around Kori's waist and pulling her towards his side. "I won't let anything happen, okay?"
Kori nodded. Even though they weren't officially dating, Kori realized she had a crush on Xavier. A little one, but still a crush.
"Hey guys." Angelica said, sliding open the garage-like door to Jamie's basement. "Jamie's mom's asleep. Time to go," She left the door open and slunk away.
Terra grabbed a few backpacks. She handed one to Fang, one to Kitten, and kept the last one.
"Let's go have fun" she said, climbing the narrow staircase to the first floor.
End flashback.
-
Flashback.
"Oh man, that was so fun," Terra panted, out of breath from running.
"Yeah," Kori agreed. It was okay and not really fun, but boy was it thrilling!
The girls heard sirens, and they were getting louder. Terra pulled Kori into an alleyway and they pressed themselves up against the cold brick, hidden by the shadows.
Terra leaned towards Kori. "Have you ever done this before?" she breathed.
Kori shook her head and Terra crept closer to Kori so their sides were touching.
"You should try it more often. Isn't it fun?" Terra asked, cheeks red. "I'm running off adrenaline," she whispered, her breath hot on Kori's ear.
Kori secretly agreed that she too was running off adrenaline, but she would never admit this. Neither girl noticed that the sirens had stopped until a male figure ran into the alleyway.
"Man, are you girls lucky I found you before they did," Fang said, grabbing one of each girls' elbows. "Follow me," he murmured, directing them down the street and into a car.
"Have fun?" Xavier asked from the driver's seat.
"Hell yeah," Terra said, bouncing with energy. "I haven't had that much fun since me and Kitten used our 'discounts' to pick out Sadie Hawkins Day dresses,"
"I do not understand," Kori said. "Why would you have fun with a discount?"
Fang rolled his eyes and leaned around the passenger seat. "Five finger discount, Kori." he said.
Kori was naïve but she wasn't stupid. She knew what the five finger discount was.
Angelica, Jamie, and Kitten had eventually been picked up from their meeting spot.
"Man, that was awesome," Angelica said, sliding into the seat Kori was in. There weren't enough seats in the van, so the four girls had to squeeze. Kitten was in the front seat with Fang.
"Oh shit," Xavier said, looking in the rearview mirror. "Cops," he stepped on the gas pedal and made a sharp left.
End Flashback.
-
Flashback.
"Run, you two!" Fang shouted, sliding into the driver's seat and speeding the car away from the cops. He had dropped Kori and Xavier off on the side of the road to run with the three backpacks.
Kori was gasping for air and her side burned, but she didn't dare stop running. Xavier slid his palm into hers and pulled her along faster. They rounded a corner and dropped down to the grass in a small alley-like courtyard.
Kori began to cry.
"Oh god," Xavier said, putting his arm around Kori's shoulders. "Don't cry. Why are you crying? There's no need to cry,"
Kori continued with her exasperated sobs and tried to complete a sentence. She failed miserably and fell into Xavier's shoulder.
After a while, Kori caught her breath and looked up at Xavier. He smirked.
"Told you I wouldn't let anything happen," he said smugly.
Kori punched him in the arm.
"Ow!" Xavier clutched his upper limb and winced. "What the hell, Kori?"
"We almost got caught! I cannot imagine what my parents would have said if I showed up at home in a police car. And with you! They hate you! That could have been so bad! I never should have-"
Xavier clapped a hand over Kori's mouth and stroked her hair.
"They wouldn't have arrested us, Kori," he said. "We're a pack of teenagers walking around at night, and they got suspicious. But they wouldn't put us in the back of their car. It was just spray paint, it was no big deal. Plus, they couldn't have proved anything,"
Kori rolled her eyes. Sometimes this boy could be so stupid.
"We have backpacks full of empty spray paint cans, Xavier," she said, sighing.
His grin faded. "Oh, right." he said.
End Flashback.
-
Flashback.
"Knock, knock!" Gar said, entering Richard's room without permission. Richard rolled his eyes and slid his sunglasses off his face.
"Good God, Gar," he said. "I thought you were Bruce. You sounded just like him,"
"Ha ha," Gar replied sarcastically.
"So... why are you in my room again?" Richard asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Babs is downstairs and she wants to talk to you. I told her I'd see if you were in here," Gar said nonchalantly, dropping down onto Richard's floor.
"Tell her I'm dead," Richard replied, jamming his glasses back onto his face and lying down on his bed.
"Nah, I already tried that. She wants to explain,"
"Explain, whatever," Richard scoffed. "She's a no-good, rotten whore, and I'm not going to allow her to waste my time!"
"Yeah, I told her that too," Gar sighed. "I don't think she's going to leave, Dick. I think you should talk to her,"
"Yeah, well I think you should talk to Rachel, but you're not going to do that, now are you?" Richard snapped.
"She hates me, Dick. I don't think she'll even look at me ever again," Gar said, his face falling.
"Maybe it's because you haven't apologized!" Richard retorted, massaging his temples.
"She won't ever let me," Gar breathed.
"Try. I'll tell you what, I'll talk to Babs if you talk to Rachel. Deal?"
Gar hesitated and then heaved a sigh of defeat. "Deal," he said reluctantly, shaking Richard's hand.
End Flashback.
-
Flashback.
Richard watched out of the corner of his eye when Gar went to talk to Rachel. As usual, she showed no emotion. Gar looked horribly miserable. Richard smirked.
"My god," he said to Vic. "You'd think they were a married couple," he gestured to Gar and Rachel.
"Yeah..." Vic said, watching Gar begging at Rachel's feet for her to forgive him. "You think Rachel's gonna listen to him?"
"Nah, probably not," Richard said, shrugging his shoulders. "But I promised him I'd talk to Babs if he talked to Rachel"
"No way, man," Vic said, wide eyed. "Going back to Babs again?"
"Hell no," Richard retorted, grimacing.
"Then why tell Gar you were?"
"You know how I love to humor the chick. She thinks I'm actually gonna forgive her for all the shit she put me through," Richard barked angrily, slamming his locker. Barbara was still a sore spot for him.
"Her and Xavier both," Vic muttered.
Richard nodded in agreement.
End flashback.
-
Flashback.
"I promise you we didn't!" Babs cried, grabbing Richard's shoulders and forcing him to look into her piercing eyes.
"Right," Richard snapped sarcastically.
Babs put on her legendary "puppy dog pout" face. Richard blinked behind his sunglasses.
"That doesn't work on me," he scoffed. "No matter who does it, it never works. I don't give in to the 'friggin sad eyes"
Babs dropped the look and delicately placed her hands on her hips.
"Listen to me, it wasn't-"
"I'm not going to listen to you, Babs," Richard said, a blank expression on his face.
"You have to listen to me, Dick," Babs pleaded. "You shouldn't believe everything you hear, me and Xavier were-"
"If I'm not supposed to believe what I hear, then why believe you?" Richard snapped, turning on his heel and stomping down the freshman hallway. He could hear Babs shouting after him, but he ignored her. No use wasting his time any longer. She was out of his life forever. End of story.
Richard reached Vic's locker to find Gar and Rachel arguing again. Vic was holding his head in his hands, exasperated.
"You're such a selfish little prick, Gar! Did you know that?" Rachel cried, shoving Gar back by his shoulders. He made a disgusted face and stood up straight.
"And you're a dark, creepy witch! But you don't hear me complaining!" Gar barked, getting up in her face and staring angrily.
Rachel stared at him with wide eyes. "What IS your problem?" She shouted. People that had been walking down the hallway were now speeding away, glancing nervously over their shoulders at the scene.
"YOU are! I try to apologize and you treat me like I'm a fly buzzing in your ear!" Gar retorted.
"You could have been a fly! You were being so annoying! Didn't anyone ever teach you to SHUT UP AND LEAVE GIRLS LIKE ME ALONE?" Rachel roared, leaning towards Gar, making him slant backwards.
Gar shook his head out of shock. "Girls like you? What's that supposed to mean!?"
Richard rolled his eyes. "Alright, you two. That's enough," he said.
"I could so punch her if I wanted to," Gar growled, glaring at Rachel.
"So why don't you, coward?" Rachel replied angrily.
"Just kiss and make up already," Richard said somewhat jokingly, pushing Gar towards Rachel.
He hadn't expected them to actually kiss. But there it was, the first ever Gar/Rachel lip lock in Jump City history. Even if it was an accident.
They really should put this in the paper. Richard thought. It's never gonna happen again.
The two stayed pressed together for a while. Apparently they realized what was going on, because they both broke free at the same time, looking confused, shocked, and still like they were going to kill each other.
Rachel blushed and quickly turned away, pulling the hood of her blue sweatshirt over her eyes. Gar blinked a few times and scratched his head.
"Umm..." he said.
"This does not mean you're forgiven," Rachel mumbled softly, walking away.
Gar turned around to a thoroughly distressed Vic and Richard and beamed.
"She so just forgave me," he said smugly.
I think I might do another one of these later in the story.
Maybe.
If I feel like it
Well... review?
Please?
