"I mean I get that she's worried, that makes sense, but she's basically put me under house arrest with no good reason." Caitlin vented as she and Felicity walked the school hallways on Friday morning.
It had been a week since Star City, almost, and the girls had barely seen each other in that time due to Felicity spending most of her free time with her boyfriend or, more increasingly, Cisco and Winn. Caitlin had also been spending as much time with Ronnie as she could during school, considering she had basically been banned from seeing him outside of school. So now, on a day when they had happened to bump into each other while each looking for their respective friends, two circles that were growing increasingly closer lately, they were finally catching up.
"That's total bullshit," Felicity exclaimed, "I mean, I understand her wanting you to tell her where you're going, but that can't work if she isn't around for you to tell!"
"I know," Caitlin agreed with a roll of her eyes, an action that led to her glancing more directly at her friend and notice a subtle change in the goth's appearance she hadn't caught before. "Did you dye your hair again?"
Felicity, caught off guard by the sudden comment, took hold of the ends of her hair and quickly examined them, taking notice that her usually ebony locks were ever so much lighter than usual, gradually fading into something darker than her natural color but lighter than she would prefer.
"Nope, exact opposite." She said while letting her hair fall back into place, "I guess I've gotten behind in dying it." She shrugged and Caitlin, though she kept her thoughts to herself, thought the lighter color looked better than the dark black.
"So what are the chances my mom would ease up if she met your mom?" She asked, getting the conversation back on topic and Felicity snorted with laughter.
"My mom the stripper?" She asked incredulously, still laughing at the notion.
"Your mom is not a stripper," Caitlin denied with a roll of her eyes but Felicity was still laughing.
"Adult entertainer, or whatever you want to call it." Felicity amended, although only so they could move forward with the conversation. "My point is I don't think your high and mighty mother, who won't trust her goody-two-shoes daughter, would feel much better after meeting a delinquent one warning away from Juvie and her pole dancing mom."
Caitlin rolled her eyes, but she wasn't going to argue. Much as she hated to admit it, Felicity had a point. Her mom can be, and almost always is, a very judgmental person. She would never see Felicity as a friend to Caitlin, only a troubled cause she was saddled with for some honor society service points. The same could be said for every other mentee in the program, plus even if she did somehow get her mom to like them she still wouldn't be allowed to leave the house without running it by the woman first.
"So what do I do?" She asked and Felicity shrugged.
"Well, I assume you're going to shoot down the suggestion of ignoring her."
"You assume correctly," Caitlin said, she wasn't looking to further the rift that had come between herself and her mom.
"Then start with your boyfriend," Felicity suggested, "You're at his house a lot and he's only met your mom once. Go home and talk to her about having him over for dinner."
Caitlin thought over the idea for a second, trying to think if there were any real danger in that plan but ultimately couldn't come up with anything worse than the house arrest she was already under if things went south.
"That's actually a good idea," she said and Felicity smirked proudly.
"You're welcome. Now speaking of boyfriends, I need to find Cooper before homeroom, he's been getting on my case about tech club making me too busy for him." She said with mock annoyance and a teasing look in her eyes that conveyed just how much she thought her boyfriend was over-reacting to her sudden shift in a social life.
Friday night brought about Sara and Leonard's weekly movie/cards night. This time they, after determining that there was nothing worth watching on TV, were seated on the couch with a deck of cards between them playing gin; a game Sara was starting to become exceptionally good at.
"You nervous?" Sara asked after a few hands had passed without conversation that did not pertain to the game.
"About tomorrow?" Leonard questioned even though he knew exactly what she was talking about; there wasn't anything else for him to be nervous about. "A little," he admitted. "Though that isn't to say that I'm not excited."
Sara gave a little half smirk at his answer, "You should be," she said and he smirked back at her.
She was happy for him. After all the hell that he's been through he didn't deserve to be ripped away from his sister, even if it was his choice. She admired him for that, for choosing to send his sister off to a family who will love and care for her in the long run even though it meant he wouldn't be able to go with her. He deserved this much, to be able to see her, and Sara was happy he was getting that.
"You said things are all squared away between you and Laurel?" He asked and she chuckled.
"They are," she assured him, "She called the other day, we ended up talking for almost an hour."
"Good," Len said with a smile, happy to hear that, for once, neither of their sister's was going to be a sore topic of conversation.
They played in silence again for another minute, only speaking when it concerned the cards in their respective hands.
"Thank you, by the way." Sara eventually said, "For pushing me to talk to Laurel."
"Well from what I understand it was her who called you, so I'm not sure anything that I said really helped the two of you with your issues." He drawled whilst studying his cards, glancing up to see Sara shaking her head.
"It did," she insisted. "This past year… I've been so angry at her. I know I'm the one who made a move for the guy she was practically dating, who she is dating now, but she told me my idea for the custody arrangement was crazy. Then we got in a fight… and she told me I was right." Leonard listened carefully while Sara spoke, even though she had already told him bits and pieces of this. "We weren't talking when I left, and I was so angry at her for turning her back on me. I mean… she had been mad before, and I knew she was capable of hating me, but she's my big sister. I don't know how to live without her." She confessed and Len remained silent, "Anyway, you're the only one I've actually been able to talk to about it. If you hadn't helped me move on I might have still been angry when she called, and who knows what I would've said to her. So thank you." She concluded, gauging her silent friend for a reaction.
Eventually Leonard let out a huff of breath. "Well now I'm nervous," he deadpanned and Sara crinkled her brows.
"Why?" She asked but when he gave her a pointed look she understood and glanced down with a sigh of her own. "Oh," she mumbled.
"Lisa's not stupid, she knows I let them separate us. At the very least she's angry and wants to blame me for it, doesn't matter if she doesn't know she's right." He said and Sara set down her cards and leveled a glare with him.
"Leonard," she deadpanned sternly, "Your sister loves you, you said it yourself that she screamed over the phone when you called." He shrugged at her words, discarding his own hand of cards for the time being.
"She's a big sister now," he mused, seemingly to himself, and Sara knew it was her turn to stay quiet. "I keep thinking that maybe because of that… maybe one day she'll understand why I did what I did. But God I hope she doesn't."
Sara hummed in acknowledgement; she didn't need to ask why he wouldn't want that. He was staring down at the ground, lost in a world of "what ifs" and possibilities that tomorrow might bring for him, both good and bad. Determined not to let him get caught up in the bad possibilities, which she knew he would, she reached out and curled her fingers around his hand. He looked up at the contact, his curious eyes meeting hers as she tightened her grip and adjusted to hold his hand properly.
"It'll be ok," she promised him.
"Don't lie to me," he warned with a smirk and she smiled at him, before her face grew serious again.
"I'm not."
Tossing and turning Amaya groaned as she looked at her clock and found that it was well past midnight, meaning that she had been lying awake in bed, being tortured by her thoughts, for over an hour. It was starting to get ridiculous, especially with her date to leave still over a month away, but she just couldn't keep it from eating away at her. Her mind was plagued with images of her village back home, of her mother and grandmother. She thought of all her friends there, and frankly how little she was missing them. Her village was small, so really she only has three or four friends back home and she is almost positive that all of are perfectly fine without her considering she hasn't heard from them since her first few weeks in America. Finally sighing and accepting defeat, for now, she sat up and rolled herself off her bed and marched out of her room. She headed downstairs and into the kitchen, convinced that a glass of water would be enough to ease her troubled mind. When she got there, however, she wasn't expecting to find the refrigerator open, or Ray coming out of it with a take-out box in his hands.
She stopped in the doorway but it was too late, the younger teenager had already seen her and was currently meeting her eyes.
"Oh… hi Amaya," he said awkwardly, clearly he felt as though he were the one who had been caught out of bed. He glanced at the box in his hand before holding it up and looking back at her with an embarrassed grin. "Midnight snack," he explained before shutting the fridge and bringing the box over to the counter where he proceeded to open it and show her it's contents. "Leftovers," he said as she looked at the three chicken tenders and small pile of fries that had been pooled into one container from all three of their dinners earlier; hers, his, and Nate's. "I promise I was only going to eat my share." He swore before she could accuse him of plotting to eat her lunch for tomorrow, but she grinned at his statement.
"Mind if I join you for my share?" She asked and he smiled.
"Sure!" He agreed happily and so with a beaming grin she set about getting the milk and chocolate syrup that he likes so much to put in his while he grabbed two cups, not glasses, but brightly colored plastic cups that came complete with attached straws so that the toddlers they're meant for wouldn't spill.
"You know you can probably fit more milk into an adult glass," she chided him as they walked into the dining room and set the take-out container between their two seats.
"You definitely can," he agreed, squirting some ketchup he had swiped from the fridge. "What's your point?"
"Why do you insist on using these sippy cups?" She questioned as they sat down and began eating their snack, both thinking about how they could've heated the food in the microwave first but neither of them caring enough to get up and do it.
"I don't know," Ray answered with a shrug as he mixed his milk. "You don't have to use them just because I do, I just think they're fun and… I don't know, I guess they just remind me of a simpler time."
Amaya smiled at him before taking another cold French fry and dragging it through the even colder pile of ketchup.
"So, if you don't mind my asking, what are you doing up?" Ray questioned and briefly Amaya debated not telling him, but instead decided that he was probably one of the few people she could trust to consider both angles of her impending decision.
"Thinking about how I have to leave," she replied and his smiling face fell.
"Oh, right." He awkwardly responded, not knowing what else he could say.
For another minute or two they sat in silence, just munching on their chicken and each waiting for the other to say something.
"When I first came here, leaving Zembesi was so hard. I never thought leaving here would be harder." Amaya finally spoke up.
"You could stay, you know." Ray encouraged before pausing to take a quick sip of his milk. "I mean Grandpa would definitely let you stay here, and not only are you just a kid but you also placed second in Judo for the Junior Olympics, so I don't think you would be denied for a green card, and-"
"Ray," she interrupted, pleadingly. "I'm not worried about all that."
"Then what-"
"I'm worried about if I stay, I won't know when the next time I might see my family will be."
Ray was silent at first, his mouth morphing to form an inaudible "oh" as he processed what it was she was fearing.
"That's definitely a big thing," he finally agreed and Amaya pressed her mouth into a firm closed mouthed smile that just screamed, "you think, Ray?"
"But remember, they will always be your family." He said as she began picking at her piece of chicken, ripping what was left of it in half before dipping it into the ketchup.
"I know," she said, "That's why it's so scary to think about not going back."
"I understand," Ray said, "I mean, what if something were to happen while you're here? And you're not there to stop it?"
"Are you trying to convince me to leave?" Amaya half teased with a mock smirk and Ray chuckled.
"Hey, if you wanted someone to tell you to stay you could've gone to Nate or Mick." He taunted and Amaya chuckled.
"I wouldn't say I came to you, I came down for a glass of water and found you with your head in the fridge." She said and they both laughed at the statement, mostly because it was true, and partly because it sounded ridiculous.
"I'm just saying," Ray went on, serious once again. "You can't be in two places at once, and yes you have a family there but you also have a family here, and you're basically trying to choose between them." He said and Amaya couldn't help but frown, because he was right and she really hated thinking about it like that. "Whatever you decide, no one is going to blame you and no one is going to love you any less." He promised her and she looked up at him with a sweet and grateful smile.
"Thanks Ray," she said and soon her smile morphed from thankful to evil. "Now what do you say we split Nate's share of the leftovers?" She asked and Ray grinned a mischievous expression that matched her own.