Author's Note:
You know how most of my chapter have some sense of time and things tend to go in order.
Well…
This chapter is not going to be like that. LOL.
There's just so much going on at once that I can't possibly try to fit it in chronological order, but it shouldn't be too hard to follow. I was just full warning you!
Also, I'm sorry that this is like a week late. It's my senior year and I just had my last band camp, which lasts all day. I'm exaggerating, I would leave my house at 6 in the morning and come back at 10 at night.
Anyways, this chapter is... how you say... VERY EMOTIONAL.
Be prepared.
Enjoy.
By Day One Way, By Night Another
Chapter 37
After two more streets and a lot of embarrassing cheering from the girls, the boys finally spotted Ivy's brightly lit house and started to sprint towards safety.
"Aw," Kori said sadly, watching the boys pass up the truck, "I was having so much fun."
"It's for the best." Ivy patted her friend's shoulder, letting out a yawn, "Now we can find something to munch on to regain some energy."
"I could use some onion rings." Karen sighed with her eyes closed, "Or, even better, sweet potato fries."
"Thank God we're here." Gar praised as he flopped down on Ivy's lawn.
"You're not going to put on our clothes, slim jim?" Victor chuckled as all the boys started to collect their clothes from the road. "I'm tired of seeing your pale legs. They're whiter than paper."
"I'm tired of seeing your face," Gar muttered weakly from the grass.
"That was the longest run of my life." Garth panted, bending down to put his hands on his knees.
"Good." Ivy smirked as Sarah parked the truck on the driveway, "Now you'll never even think about crashing another one of our sleepovers."
"We promise never to crash any more of your sleepovers." Dick reassured, holding his clothes in his arms, "Is there a place where we can change without flashing the street again?"
Ivy nodded, not mad or annoyed at Dick for hurting her anymore, almost as the old feelings just floated away. "Once you go in, go down the hall and enter the second door. It should be a bathroom."
"Thanks!" Wally dashed to the door just to beat Dick.
"I'm so tired." Toni rubbed her eyes, smearing some of her eyeshadow.
"You're tired?" Roy puffed, "We just ran like a mile."
"And stop rubbing your eyes!" Karen exclaimed, jumping out of the truck bed. "You messing up your makeup."
"I forgot we were wearing these outfits," Jennifer tugged her overalls as a fully dressed Victor pulled down the tailgate, releasing the girls.
"Where'd you get dressed?" Donna laughed as Victor help the girls off the truck bed.
"Behind the big oak." Victor said, "I have a feeling that Wally going to take his sweet time."
"He only does that to annoy the hell out of us." Roy muttered, trying to cover himself with his clothes.
"Sounds like him." Jennifer rolled her eyes, before walking towards the house "I'm going to chew him out some more."
"Ten dollars says that code for making out." Gar nudged Adrienne.
"You're about to lose ten dollars," Adrienne sensed Jennifer's pent up irritation and anger. I never thought I would be using my empathy so much as a civilian, Adrienne thought to herself, watching the amber haired girl storm into the house. "And put on some clothes." Adrienne scolded Gar.
"Oh, right." Gar chuckled, turning red as he grabbed his clothes from the ground and headed towards the house.
"Wanna grab something to eat inside the house?" Ivy offered, "Why still have a bunch of snacks we didn't eat."
"You know the way to a man's heart," Victor said, causing them to laugh as the rest of them started to walk towards the house.
"Not you too." Karen grabbed both Roy and Garth's bare shoulders, "We need to talk."
"Karen, we still aren't dressed." Garth pestered.
"I'll turn around." Karen turned around and watched the front door shut, seeing that everyone was inside, allowing the two boys to get dressed.
"What do you want?" Roy asked as soon as both of them were fully clothed.
"What been going on between you two?" Karen swung around to face them and put a hand on her hip, "And what was Garth referring to when he said you had to tell Donna something important?"
Roy turned to face Garth, "You see what you caused?"
"You're the one who keeps putting tell her off." Garth poked Roy in the chest, "I'm just trying to push you to tell her."
"Tell Donna what?" Karen scanned the boys' faces, which looked like they weren't going to say anything anytime soon, "Come on guys! We can't be hiding stuff from each other. We're a team, remember? Don't you realize how big of an advantage that we have now that we know each other's identities? We can go through things together rather than alone. I bet the Teen Titans haven't even revealed their identities to each other yet."
"I don't think the Titans are ever going to reveal themselves, at least not under Robin's watch." Garth sighed, "I guess you're right about the whole having an advantage thing."
"I know I'm right," Karen threw a smile as she put a hand on each of the boys' shoulders, setting a more comfortable tone. "Now, can ya'll tell me what's going on?"
Roy looked over towards Garth with a sad, but a straight face. "I'm not going to tell her for you." Garth raised his hands, "Even I don't know the whole story."
Roy let out a sigh before looking at Karen, "At the bonfire, out of rage and aggravation, I took some ecstasy and had sex with Jade."
Karen stared at him with a blank expression, blinking. "You're kidding, right?" Their serious looks told her that they were telling the truth, "Jade, as in my Jade? Like pom-poms and strange vibes Jade?"
Roy nodded, "She offered me the ecstasy and I took because she's so serious and mysterious all the time and it looked like she was having so much fun."
"I can't believe she does drugs." Karen looked off the side, "If the principal finds out she'll get kicked off the team and she's one of our best cheerleaders."
"Karen, I don't think you're seeing the problem," Garth said, snapping Karen out of her shock, "He cheated on Donna."
"Oh my gosh." Karen whispered, covering her mouth with her hands, "When are you going to tell her?"
"He needs to tell her soon," Garth shoved his hands in his pockets, "She's not in town that often."
The three of them just stood there in silence, pondering over when would be the best time to tell her.
"I need to tell her now." Roy broke the silence with his coarse voice. "I don't want to, but I have to. I owe her that much."
"Roy," Karen said softly, "It's going to ruin her night. Maybe you should wait…"
"No, I can't wait. I've been holding this secret in for a whole week and it's eating me alive. It attacks me in my sleep, in class, anytime I see long black hair I'm overwhelmed with pain." Roy ran a hand through his short ginger hair. "Plus, the longer I wait to tell Donna, the more it's going to hurt her."
"Are you sure, Roy?" Garth looked at his best friend with reaching eyes.
Roy just nodded, unable to get any words out.
"I'm proud of you." Karen wrapped Roy in a hug. "You're such a good guy."
"I wouldn't say good guy. Maybe, and just maybe, average." Garth joked, adding some much needed comic relief.
"Garth, do you think you can ask Donna to meet me here?" Roy asked, "I really don't want to face everyone."
"Yeah, anything for you." Garth gave him a smile.
"I'll even let you guys use my car to drive back to the tower since ya'll decided not to drive your car here." Karen offered her keys, "I have a feeling that after you tell her you won't want to stay here."
"Thanks, Karen." Roy took the keys that had a fluffy yellow ball as a keychain and handed Garth their car keys.
"We drove to the arcade but left the car there so we could prank you," Garth explained as he and Karen started walking to the front door, leaving Roy alone.
The strong smell of cupcake mix filled the room as Karen swung open the door, "You're cooking cupcakes at 3 in the morning?" Karen raised an eyebrow as the two entered the kitchen.
"Duh!" Sarah said from on top of the counter, "Cupcakes are essential at 3 in the morning."
"Plus they take like ten minutes to bake," Toni said before licking the spoon they used to stir the mix.
"They're almost done!" Gar opened the oven to check on them, " And it's all because of my brilliant idea to ignore the suggested heat and put it at 400."
"I think they're going to taste terrible," Adrienne said with a smug look, earning herself an arm slap from Gar.
"Where's Kori and Dick?" Karen asked, giving Garth a chance to walk towards Donna without drawing much attention.
"They went to walk the neighborhood so they could talk in private," Ivy said as she ate out an ice-cream container.
"So it's either going to end really good or really bad." Victor half chuckled.
"I have faith in Dick." Donna smiled, "I just he'll be able put his emotions into words."
"They're ready!" Toni said as she peeked into the oven and pulled out the tray with a pink oven mitt, catching everyone's attention.
"Speaking of putting emotions into words," Garth softly nudged Donna, "Roy wants to talk to you outside."
"Is this about the important thing you mentioned earlier?" Donna asked with honest eyes and a soft voice as Garth nodded. "Okay." With that, she got and headed to the front of the house unnoticed.
"These are actually good." Karen bit into a half-melted cupcake.
"Dude, you're supposed to let them cool." Gar took the cupcake from Karen's hand and put it back on the tray.
"We have to wait even longer now?" Sarah threw her head back, "Oh the painful wait."
"So Victor," Toni started as she returned to licking her bowl, "What was the thing you had to ask Karen?"
"What are you talking about?' Victor asked, leaning on the counter.
"Oh, yeah." Adrienne pointed at Victor, "You said the reason you crashing our sleepover was to ask Karen about something Jennifer said."
"Oh, that." Victor chuckled.
"Yeah, that." Toni snuck a cupcake from behind Gar's back, "What was that?"
"Jennifer came to this crazy conclusion that I should ask Karen to go hiking with me, but I told her that Karen doesn't look like a girl that would enjoy hiking," Victor admitted easily, trying to play off asking one of his best friend out on a date in front of all his other best friends wasn't such a big deal.
"Hiking? I totally look like a girl that enjoys hiking, don't I?" Karen asked, slightly offended.
"Sure." Sarah held out and added a giggle in the end.
"Don't lie to her!" Garth laughed, "Karen is the most non-outdoor person I've ever met."
Karen threw him a look, crossing her arms and with a flat tone said, "I enjoyed camping."
"You complained the whole about your hair and other girly crap." Gar threw out his arms.
"Don't kick me off the team for saying this," Sarah carefully said as she grabbed a spoon and started to shared Ivy's ice cream, "But you hate everything to do with bugs and sweat and anywhere it's not air conditioned."
"Adrienne, Toni, tell him I didn't complain that much during the camping trip where we were sweating and had bugs everywhere," Karen commanded, seeking help.
"I'm not getting in this," Adrienne said as she dug through Ivy's cabinets, looking for some icing.
"Toni?" Karen asked.
"You didn't complain the WHOLE time," Toni exaggerated the words. "Just majority of the time."
"See!" Garth praised his victory, "I was right."
"I'm going to prove to y'all that I can go through a whole hiking trip without complaining once," Karen held her head high.
"So that's a yes?" Victor asked, confused.
"It's a hell yes," Karen confirmed.
"I don't believe you." Garth dared.
"Yeah, she'll probably just convince Victor to go see a movie about hiking." Toni laughed as she high fived Garth.
"Then ya'll will just have to come with us." Karen gave them a smirk, "Matter a fact, you have to come or ya'll can't say I complain."
"What?" Toni exclaimed, "I never signed up for this."
"Plus we wouldn't want to intrude on ya'lls date." Garth tried.
"Should we be here?" Gar asked but four just ignored his answer.
"That's why we're making it a double date." Karen declared, "Is that okay with you?"
"No, we shouldn't." Adrienne said as she grabbed her container of icing and the pan of cupcakes and started to walked to the stairs.
"Yeah, double date sounds fun to me," Everyone heard Victor say as Gar, Sarah, and Ivy followed Adrienne to Ivy's room.
"I forgot about the mess we made in here." Sarah said as she entered Ivy's room, which had smoke bombs, blanket, clothes, and snacks all over the floor.
"Oh, yeah." Ivy looked over at her dresser that was tipped over on the floor. "It seemed like that happened ages ago."
"Since we threw the smoke bombs, I'll pick them up." Gar gave the girls a toothy smile before getting to work.
"Now we'll leave know the ending of the movie." Adrienne sighed, setting down the cupcakes and container of icing and started to pick up empty snack wrappers.
"Sarah, help me put this back into place," Ivy asked, but Sarah didn't move from her spot by the balcony doors.
"Guys come here," Sarah whispered, waving them over. They quietly crept towards the balcony, hearing yelling and screaming become louder as they got closer to the balcony.
"You're keeping fucking secrets from me!" They heard Jennifer yell.
"And like you're not!" Wally fired back, "You won't tell me anything that's going on in your life! You don't even talk to me anymore!"
"Well, they are definitely not making up out." Adrienne whispered to Gar, "You owe me ten dollars."
"You disappeared! How am I supposed to talk to someone who isn't there?" Jennifer argued, keeping the four glued to the balcony, "And I only keep secrets because I have too! Other than that, I've told you everything."
"I was only gone for two days!" Wally said harshly, "You weren't even speaking to me way before then. And if you're going to used that hell of an excuse then so am I!"
"Well if all we're doing is not talking and keeping secrets from each other then we shouldn't be together." Jennifer's cracking voice rang out into the air, making the crisp air drop ten degrees.
"Oh-kay," Sarah grabbed both balcony doors and closed them, cutting the group from Jennifer and Wally's argument. "We should them their privacy."
"I hope everything is okay," Gar said softly, "That sounded intense."
"Let's not worry about them," Ivy looked around her room, trying to quickly change the subject, "Let worry about fixing this mess."
Xxxxx
"Are you sure you are not tired?" Kori asked as she and Dick walked in the middle of the empty street. "You did just run a mile."
"Nah," Dick brushed it off, "The coaches make us run miles on end sometimes."
"That must be awful." Kori smiled. "But I don't feel bad for you. Karen makes up do so much cardio, it's unbearable."
"At least you get to relax at some points of the football game." Dick chuckled, "When we get pulled out of the game, we just get drilled with plays."
"Karen only gives us breaks every quarter," Kori said, looking up at the stars. "And they aren't very long either."
They walked a bit more, letting a peaceful silence fill in space as they each thought of what to say. "Look, I didn't ask you to take a walk with me so we could talk about football." Dick started, "I need to tell you what happened that night of the bonfire. But I'll only talk if you want me to."
Kori spun to face Dick, searching his sapphire eyes. "I want the truth and only the truth."
"I wouldn't give you anything less," Dick said as they both stopped walking to face each other. Dick looked down at his feet, trying not to seem vulnerable. "Scarlett was tipsy, or maybe even drunk, and she managed to spill her drink all over me and offered to help me and then broke down. She was crying about..." Dick paused. He wasn't used to spilling other people's secrets, especially when he can't even spill his, "about how bad she felt about everything she's done. Calling people names, spreading rumors, hurting Jennifer in dodgeball." Dick watched Kori lowered her head at those words, "She thought there was no hope for her anymore. So I reassured her that people change all the time and it's never too late to change. I think I gave her hope or a spark, and she kissed me and moved my hand to, um," Dick blushed and broke eye contact, "touch her."
Kori looked towards the ground, processing the words. "So you did not mean to kiss her?"
"Oh gosh, no." Dick grabbed her hands, "Why would I want to kiss any other girl in this world when I have, I mean had, you? You were the best thing I ever had, I would never purposely throw that away." He let Kori soak in his words as he searched her face, looking for hope.
"You just wanted to help Scarlett become a better person and in turn, she made majority of your friends hate you." Kori looked straight into his eyes, "Does this not bother you?"
Dick looked off to the side, trying to find a thought, "Yeah, it did. For a long time I blamed it all on her, thinking maybe she did it on purpose just to ruin our relationship… but I have faith that she was just drunk and didn't know what she was doing."
Kori gave him a small smile, "You always chose to see the best in people, that one thing I've always adore about you, Richard." Kori paused, "I will give you a chance because I want to see the best in you, but only as friends. Is this fine?"
"Absolutely," Dick said before wrapping her into a hug.
XxX
"Roy?" Donna said into the chilling air as she closed the front door behind her. She saw her boyfriend's back face towards her as he was looking out to the street, clearly hadn't heard her. She smiled as she quietly snuck up to him and hugged him from behind, "You needed to talk to me?" She nuzzled her face into his back.
Roy was quiet for a moment, "You know that I deeply care about you."
"I know," Donna said softly as she released her hug, allowing Roy turn to face her. "Is something wrong?"
"If you want a shorter answer, just ask me what's going right in my life." Roy gave a half-chuckled as he sat down in the grass.
"I don't want the shorter answer." Donna sat next to Roy. "I'm here for whatever you're going through." She didn't say anything else, trying to give Roy some time to gain some courage.
"I," His voice cracked, "I really messed up. You deserve so much better."
"Why do say that?" Donna put a comforting hand on his. "You can tell me."
"You're going to hate me," Roy admitted, turning away because he didn't have the guts to face her.
"Look at me." Donna softly turned his face towards her, "Nothing you could ever do could make me hate you."
Roy sighed, hoping she wasn't lying. "After you left the bonfire, I took some Ecstacy and hooked up with a girl from the cheer team."
"Hooked up…" Donna repeated after processing his confession, "As in…" She knew exactly what it meant when Roy broke eye contact and stared at the bare street. "Oh."
They sat in silence, caught up in their own thoughts. The silence wasn't unpleasant, but it wasn't exactly peaceful either.
"I'm sorry." Roy finally managed.
"I, um, I'm going to need some time to think about this," Donna said softly, suddenly losing her strength. "I need to think about us."
Roy just nodded understandingly, knowing he couldn't speak with the lump growing in his throat.
"I'm going to go." Donna said sadly, before getting up and heading towards the house. She quietly opened the front door, trying not to gain anyone's attention from the kitchen, and slowly climbed up the stairs. She found Gar and Ivy picking up the blankets they left on the ground earlier and Sarah and Adrienne lying on Ivy's bed, eating cupcakes.
"Are you okay?" Sarah propped up, "You look a little pale."
"Yeah," Donna lied as she walked over to the bed to pick up her bag, "It's just my Mom called with a family emergency and I have to go."
"Awe, but we were having so much fun." Ivy made a frown before tossing a folded blanket on her bed. "We need to do this again except without the boys crashing it."
"Definitely." Donna forced a smile, which she never had to do, "Could you tell the other that I left if they ask?"
"Yeah." Adrienne watched Donna as she slipped into the darkness of the hallway.
XxX
Author's interruption: If you play 'In the name of love' by Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha while reading this section, it becomes ten times as emotional.
Jennifer furiously tapped her foot on the ground as she waited for Wally to finish changing in the bathroom, thinking of different ways of strangling him that wouldn't kill him. She slowly rubbed her temples and let out a heavy sigh, I need to calm down.
The bathroom door quickly swung open to reveal the redhead flashing a flirtatious smile at his girlfriend, "Hey there, beautiful. Miss me?"
Jennifer tried everything in her power not to hex him. Without a word, she grabbed the collar of his t-shirt and dragged him towards the living room. "Woah, easy there." Wally carefully said, but Jennifer's grip only got tighter, "Where are we going?"
"Outside," Jennifer said flatly, swinging open the living room back doors and pulling Wally into the cold night air.
"Am I in trouble?" Wally sensed that he already knew the answer as Jennifer sped up, causing Wally to nearly trip.
"Oh yeah." Jennifer spat, letting go of Wally's shirt once they arrived at a giant oak tree at the edge of the backyard.
"What did I do?" Wally asked innocently, watching Jennifer pace in front of him, "I know you're not still mad about the whole getting caught making out and you seriously can't be this mad at over me pranking you.
Jennifer just scoffed as she continued to pace, trying to gather all her thoughts before she exploded.
"Jenn, I wasn't even for half the week to make you this angry," Wally said, confused why his girlfriend has been acting weird.
"Exactly." Jennifer spat as she stopped pacing, "You just fucking disappeared to God knows where without telling me a single word."
"You were ignoring me! I was just trying to give you space that I thought you wanted!" Wally exclaimed innocently, dropping hands down, "How am I supposed to know what you want when you don't even talk to me?"
"Don't turn this on me." Jennifer said through her teeth, before yelling "And giving me space? Bullshit. How do you get bruises and stitches by giving someone else 'space'?" She angrily air-quoted the word. "You're keeping fucking secrets from me!"
"And like you're not!" Wally yelled back, unable to hold back his anger, "You won't tell me anything that's going on in your life! You don't even talk to me anymore!"
"You disappeared! How am I supposed to talk to someone who isn't there?" Jennifer gave him a look of disbelief. "And I only keep secrets because I have too! Other than that, I've told you everything."
"I was only gone for two days!" Wally separated each word with anger. "You weren't even speaking to me way before then. And if you're going to used that hell of an excuse then so am I!"
"Well if all we're doing is not talking and keeping secrets from each other then we shouldn't be together." Jennifer felt her face burn and a lump grow in her throat as the words passed through her lips. She desperately looked for any answers in Wally's shocked face before letting out a staggered sigh and forcing herself to move back towards the house.
Just as she was about to pass Wally, he grabbed her wrist and swung her so she was only inches from his face and was looking into her brown eyes, "I'm a superhero." He said softly. "That's my secret."
Jennifer blinked, feeling her world spin around her, "Hero?" She whispered as Wally slightly nodded. She felt her knees go weak as everything kept spinning around her. She grabbed onto the only thing she thought was safe and fell into Wally, "I'm so sorry," Jennifer muffled through his shirt.
"Don't be," Wally whispered into her amber hair as he wrapped his arms around her.
"No, you don't understand." Jennifer pushed away from Wally slightly so she could look him in the eye. "I'm sorry because I can't…" Jennifer felt hot tears run down her burning cheeks, "I can't tell you mine."
"It's okay." Wally whispered before kissing her on the forehead, "You don't have to, at least not until you're ready." He let Jennifer fall into him again as he slid down on the ground to lean on the trunk of the giant oak.
"You don't understand how much I needed you these past two days." Jennifer's voice broke as she held back, even more, tears, "It's been so hard."
"Why did you tell me?" Wally asked softly, holding her close.
"I don't want to be weak, Wally." Jennifer looked up into his baby blue eyes. "At least not to you."
"Jenn," He grabbed her hand, kissing the back, "I adore you no matter what. You don't have to be strong for me, plus I'd never think of you as weak. You are a total badass." Wally let a smile cross his lip as felt her chuckle into his chest. "Now, can you tell me what's happening?"
Jennifer nodded as she lifted herself off his chest, sitting up and wiping away her tears. "Scarlett knows something really bad about me." Jennifer breathed as Wally listened intently. "I have no idea how she figured it out, but she did. And now she threatened to tell the whole school about it if I don't keep doing what she says."
"What is she making you do?" Wally tried hiding the anger in his voice.
Jennifer's eyes just feel down to look at her hands.
"Jennifer?" He pleaded as he slipped his hands into hers, making her look at his concerned face.
"She makes me do all her assignments and crap like that." She reassured him, but his eyes dug deep for answers. She let her eyes fall to their hands again, "Sometimes she makes me do terrible things."
"Like?" Wally asked slowly.
"Like stealing stuff." Jennifer looked back up at him, trying to read his face.
He just looked at her with a blank expression. She's not stealing because she wants to. She stealing because she has to...
"Wally?" Jennifer called worriedly, scared that he'd leave.
"I'm going to help you. I'm not going to let you face her alone." Wally whispered sweetly, "I'll even do half the assignments." Wally joked, getting a weak laugh from Jennifer. "But in all seriousness," Wally smiled lightly as he pulled Jennifer into a sweet passionate kiss, "We're in this together."
Jennifer looked at him with glassy eyes before giving him another kiss, "You're too good for me."
"And you're too perfect for me." Wally smiled as he kissed the tip of her nose. She leaned back into his chest as he slid down further into the ground. She stared up at the tree's branches, catching glimpse of the star between the leaves. After what seemed like hours of thoughts passing through her mind, she finally let her eyes slowly close, listening to his heartbeat slow.
"Wally?" She said in the crisp night air.
"Hmm?" He hummed as he half asleep, but managed to pull her closer into him.
"You're the best thing in my life."
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ahhh.
This chapter took me forever because I wanted it to be perfect. What do you think?
Emotional enough?
Anyways, I don't have much planned for next chapter so it's going to be a short one, but I promise I will have a couple of special treats for you!
I love you so much and thank you so much for being patient and taking the time out of your day to read my story!