Author's Note: Back again! It's almost Winter... which means it's almost Winter Formal! Sort of. I mean, it's gonna be awhile. But stilll :D
After the buzz of the Halloween faded, things started to mellow back to normal. There were tests to take and Winter Formal dreams to plan and sports to.. um... participate in...?
The kids at AV High started to settle into a sort of routine. Wake up, have breakfast (well, most of the time, anyway), go to school, come home, do homework, have dinner, do homework.
Kara and Oliver had started spending more time together, practicing their lines and reviewing blocking as the school play came creeping up on them. Kara had never actually acted in a stage production before, and she was surprised at how much work it was. Alex and Maggie were feeling the pressure almost as much as the cast, forced to learn all of the behind-the-scenes lingo and tech double time.
That was when the yearly (but still never anticipated) bug hit the school. It spread like germs always seem to- fast and deadly, infecting all of the overworked, sleep deprived kids it came in contact with.
Felicity was the first of the daily table group to get sick. She fell asleep during class on Thursday and then woke up with a fever. Her teacher sent her to the nurse immediately, and she wasn't seen again until Monday.
Barry was the next to fall, and it was no surprise when Iris caught it, too. Kids were warned to wash their hands as much as possible and, if they did start to feel sick, to go to the nurse's office and be sent home. So far, the teachers had managed to avoid catching whatever this new disease was, and they wanted to keep it that way.
On Thursday, Julian came to school looking absolutely terrible. Caitlin took one look at him and shook her head. "You, sir, are going to the nurse's office right now."
"Don't be ridiculous." Julian mumbled, burrowing into his giant sweatshirt and sniffling. "I'm not sick, and I'm not going to the nurse. I literally just walked in the door."
"Great!" Caitlin said, steering him down the hall. "Then you can call your parents to come pick you up and they'll barely have to drive because they barely had time to leave."
"My parents didn't drop me off." Julian huffed. "I took the bus." He shook her arm off and began to walk to his locker. "I feel perfectly fine, Caitlin. I appreciate the concern, but I'm going to school today."
With a groan, Caitlin threw up her hands and gave up. "Fine!" She exclaimed. "But if Cisco or I or anyone else gets sick, we are all blaming you."
By the time lunch rolled around, about 3 teachers had already asked Julian if he was feeling okay. He had responded with a forcible "YES" each time, and they had given him a searching look and not pressed the subject.
Caitlin, however, wasn't giving up.
"Dude, you look pretty bad." Cisco said, nodding at Julian as he slumped into his usual seat and put his head down on the table.
"Thank you, Cisco." Julian muttered sarcastically. "I appreciate the support."
"Why won't you just go home, Julian?" Caitlin asked in exasperation. "I promise I will bring you all of your work assignments. You won't miss a thing! And you can go home and get some sleep, and be back in only a few days. You'll probably just miss today and Friday-"
"I don't like going to the nurses office, okay?" Julian burst out. "I never go. Never. Not even when I sprained my wrist in 3rd grade."
Caitlin pursed her lips. "You don't need to worry about that. Nurse Gideon is super nice. I remember when I got mono and came to school anyway, because I wanted to have a perfect attendance record- you know how it is- and she has this great selection of books to read while your waiting for your parents to pick you up. Harry Potter and Agatha Christy and stuff like that. And she explains everything that she's doing, and she treats you like an adult.."
"You got mono and still came to school and your ragging on me?" Julian said incredulously.
Caitlin groaned. "All of what I just said, and that's the only thing you retained?"
Cisco laughed, then regarded Caitlin with a frown. "How do I not remember you getting mono?"
"It was freshman year." Caitlin shrugged. "I don't know how you could forget that." She turned her attention back to Julian. "Anyway, you've got nothing to be afraid of. Look," She took one more giant bite of her PB+J, and then stuffed it back into her lunch bag. "I'll even take you. Come on- no arguing. You look like your going to pass out."
Julian gave Cisco a look that clearly read 'Help me!'
Cisco just shrugged. "It's your own fault. You got yourself into this when you asked her out."
Julian groaned pathetically and let Caitlin drag him out of his seat and toward a nearby teacher.
The teacher let them go immediately- partially from Julian's appearance, but mostly because if they were faking it to get out of work, why would they ask to leave during their break of the day?
Caitlin and Julian walked down the hall in silence only broken by Julian's occasional sniffle. Nurse Gideon was at the door when they arrived at the nurse's office, talking to the parents of a girl Caitlin didn't recognize. She took one look at Julian and sent them in to wait for a couple of minutes.
When Nurse Gideon returned, she looked frazzled. Caitlin had the hunch that Julian was not her first patient of the day. Or her second. Or her third.
Nurse Gideon gave Caitlin a half smile, half strange look as she walked over. "Are you both sick?"
"Oh, no, just him." Caitlin smiled politely. "I'm here for the... moral support, so to speak."
"Okay." Nurse Gideon said, brow furrowing. She let it drop, however, and rooting through a drawer to find a thermometer. She swiped it across Julian's forehead and it beeping.
Nurse Gideon peered at the results. "103.4. You, sir, are definitely sick."
Caitlin gave him a triumphant glance and resisted the urge to say I told you so. Julian let out a sigh, and Nurse Gideon smiled. "I'll buzz the office to call your parents."
Julian straightened up. "There's no point."
"Excuse me?"
"They won't come pick me up, if they even take the call at all." Julian shrugged. "They know me, and they know I can tough it out. I got the flu in 5th grade and they didn't come then, so why would they come now? It's just a cold- I can go back to class-"
"No, you most certainly can not, young man." Nurse Gideon said sternly, seeming perturbed by what Julian had just told her. "I'm sure that your parents will come to pick you up if I tell them that you have a high fever and cannot stay in a school environment where you have the possibility of infecting other students."
With that, she had turned and strode out of her office and toward the secretary's. Julian let out a sigh and shook his head. "I commend her for trying, but she's just wasting her time."
He was right. In a few minutes, Nurse Gideon came back into the room. She looked extremely annoyed, and pointed her finger at Julian. "When you get home- and you will be going home today- tell your parents to give me a call. I need to have... words with them."
Caitlin felt a grin bloom over her face, and even Julian cracked a smile. "Thanks, but it's really okay. I'm sure if I had something really bad they would come and-"
"This is really bad." Nurse Gideon huffed. "And certainly bad enough to pick up their son from school."
Julian started to stand up, rubbing his nose and yawning simultaneously. "So I'm free to go?"
"Certainly not!" Nurse Gideon was starting to look extremely frazzled. "Isn't there anyone who could bring you home?"
"I'd ask my mom," Caitlin spoke up. "But she's conducting an all-day experiment in her lab today and probably wouldn't pick up her phone for anything short of a school shooting." She shrugged, almost smiling at Nurse Gideon's expression. "She gets kind of sucked in."
"What about your father?" Nurse Gideon suggested. "Could he bring Julian home?"
Caitlin's face fell, and Julian frowned. "Uh, her dad..."
"My dad died a few years ago." Caitlin said softly. She cut of Nurse Gideon's horrified apologies and pasted on a smile. "But I could call Cisco's mom. She works from home and I'm sure she would be happy to pick Julian up."
That settled, Nurse Gideon sent a quick call out to Mrs. Ramon, explaining the situation and asking (or pleading, depending on how you looked at it) her to come pick Julian up.
It was almost the end of lunch by the time Mrs. Ramon arrived, and Caitlin's stomach was growling. Julian had tried to get her to go back to the lunchroom, but she had refused. "I said I would take you to the nurse's office. I'm not leaving now."
"If I wasn't so sick, I would kiss you right now." Julian said bluntly, and Caitlin turned bright red, shooting a glance over at Nurse Gideon to make sure she hadn't heard.
She had, but the nurse just smiled and kept her back turned.
After a little while, Mrs. Ramon showed up. She gave Caitlin a hug and led Julian to her car. Before he got in, Julian turned back to his girlfriend and gave her a smile. "Thanks for forcing me into not staying in class."
"No problem." Caitlin responded, kissing his cheek. "Making sure you're not being stupid is part of my job."
He laughed, and got into the car.
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Alex and Maggie were waiting backstage for play practice to start, talking quietly and going over their notes. They were doing a run through of act 1 today, slowly adding on props and set pieces and lighting and backdrops. Alex was nervous, even though she wasn't going to be onstage until her set move in scene 4, when they transitioned into the Beast's castle.
"Hey, I'm going to grab some water, alright?" Alex said, standing up and stretching. "I want to have it set backstage in case we get thirsty during the run and can't leave."
"Alright." Maggie smiled one of her bright, beautiful smiles up at her and Alex felt butterflies erupt in her stomach. "Do you mind grabbing me one, too?"
"Sure." Alex smiled back and quickly walked up the theater steps.
On her way, she passed Emily coming down from the main building. Emily gave her a friendly wave and walked directly over to Maggie. Alex averted her eyes as Maggie jumped to her feet and gave her a huge grin.
It made sense, if Alex thought about it. Emily was backstage as much as they were, and had taught Alex and Maggie almost everything they knew. Maggie had the perfect right to be very friendly with Emily. And Emily was a nice person. She treated them like adults (well, they practically were adults, but still), and managed to be the right fractions of funny, goofy, focused and good at her job. Alex still couldn't stand her.
Maybe it was because Emily was beautiful and confident and perfect for Maggie.
Which was ridiculous, because Maggie hadn't said a single thing about liking Emily. And Emily hadn't said a single about being gay. Still, Alex could help the jealous, aching feeling that went on inside her whenever they smiled at each other.
It's because you were too late. She thought. You didn't ask her to Homecoming. You didn't even try.
Winter formal was the next dance. It was still quite a ways away, but maybe if Alex got her act together, she could figure out a say to build up enough nerve and ask Maggie to go with her.
It wasn't likely, but she could hope.
As Alex came back into the room with her plastic water bottles from the cafeteria, she paused, hearing Maggie and Emily's voices.
"Winter Formal's coming soon, huh?" Maggie said. Alex froze, ducking against the wall. Eavesdropping was something that she was hardwired never to do, but how could she not?
"Yeah." Alex could hear the smile in Emily's voice. "I remember going when I was a senior. I was asked by this super nice guy. We went as friends, of course, but it was still a lot of fun. You have someone you want to ask?"
"Yeah." Maggie said. "Actually, I was going to ask-"
Alex couldn't bare to hear anymore. Guilt swamped her and she made a big show of stomping down the stairs. "Hey, I got your water." She proclaimed loudly.
Maggie jumped, let out a gasp. "I- Alex! Hi!"
Later that night, as Alex lay in bed, unable to sleep, part of her regretted not waiting to see who Maggie was going to ask to Winter Formal.
Had it been her?
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At lunch time on one of the days that Iris was still out sick, Thea and Sara found themselves sitting at their table, alone for the moment.
It was kind of nice, having it just be the two of them. Not that they didn't absolutely love Iris, but the one on one time was reminiscent of previous years of high school- years that both of them missed.
"I had an idea." Thea said as they waited for more people to join their table.
"Should I be scared?" Sara asked mildly, sipping from her water bottle.
"Huh?" Thea squinted at her. "No... at least, I don't think so."
"Okay. Go ahead."
Thea nodded. "Alright. So, we both have probably noticed that we have to boyfriends that are quite similar. You know, antisocial, bad boys, that kind of thing. I was thinking that you, me, Roy and Leonard should go on a double date. The two boys could talk and we could have a nice evening out and all get to know each other a little more."
Sara was smirking. "Um... not that I'm sure they won't positively love that idea, how about we wait until Len and I go on a one couple date, instead of jumping straight to a double date?"
Thea blinked at her. "Wait... you and Snart haven't gone on a date yet?"
"We're not technically dating." Sara shrugged. Then she tilted her head to one side. "At least... I don't think we are."
"You are so dating!" Thea exclaimed. "You brought him to the Halloween party, and you were going to go to Homecoming together, except he stood you up. And anyway, if you haven't gone on any dates, how do you know each other so well? It's not like you guys hang out outside of school, and you're in different years."
"We sit together every day after practice because my dad is always late in picking me up." Sara shrugged. "And we're pretty much friends. Who occasionally hold hands."
"Ahh, so your friends with perks." Thea nodded in understanding. "I see."
"Whatever you wanna call it." Sara shrugged again, and opened up her lunch. "But as to the double date, and can't exactly see Roy and Leonard getting into that."
"Oh, come on. Like they could say no to us! They obviously adore us, Sara."
Sara rolled her eyes. "Look who's got an inflamed sense of her own self-importance," she muttered.
But, after soccer practice, she found herself fidgeting on a bench next to Leonard, trying to figure out how to broach the subject of a double date with Thea and Roy. Or the subject of a date at all.
"You know, if you want to tell me something, you can just say it."
"Huh?" Sara's eyes shot to his. "I, um... how did you know?"
"Your face is an open book." Leonard smirked. "Or maybe it's closed, and it just has a very expressive title."
Sara giggled. Then she wrinkled her nose. "So, it's not exactly something I have to ask you. It's more something that Thea want's to ask you... through me."
"I see. Go on."
"Uh, yeah." Sara played with her watch. "She wants all of us -like, her and Roy and the two of us- to go on a double date all together."
There was silence for a moment. Leonard leaned back in his seat. "And what did you tell her?"
"I said that I didn't think you'd really want to come." Sara glanced at her hands. "And that, you know, we should probably not have a double date with Thea and Roy be our first date."
Leonard was silent for another long moment. "I'm trying to figure out if that's your way of asking me on a date."
Sara's cheeks turned pink and she twisted her hands together harder. "Um... sort of? I mean... I don't really know what we are at this point. I take you to social stuff and we make plans to go to a dance and we talk and occasionally hold hands and stuff, and I would normally immediately assume that was dating, but it's you and it just seems so different."
"I would suppose it does." Leonard said, unhelpfully.
They fell into silence. "So..." Sara finally said. "Are you coming on the double date with me, Thea and Roy?"
"Why not?" Leonard shrugged. "Just as long as I don't have to wear a suit."
"I'm sure you don't have to worry about that." Sara assured him, smiling happily.
"And when, exactly, would this double date be?"
"I don't really know when- why?"
"Because I'd like to take you to dinner before that. Just you. And me."
"You and me?" Sara bit her lip, trying not to squeal. "Sounds great."
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Thea and Roy's discussion about the double date didn't go quite as smoothly. Thea called Roy the night after she had talked to Sara at lunch, figuring that he would agree immediately and she could text her friend to see how she had done.
Not so much.
"No."
"Excuse me?" Thea said, shocked.
"No." Roy repeated, even more emphatically, if that was possible. "I'm not going on some dumb double date with your friend."
"You like Sara!" Thea argued. "You went to the Halloween party in the same car as her! And you and Leonard are practically in the same league of bad boy. You'll get along just fine."
"I said no, Thea." Roy insisted. "I don't want to go."
"Come on, Roy!" Thea exploded. "I already said that you would. Why won't you come? It'll be fun, and we barely go out and do anything together, even though we are dating."
"Yeah, well who's fault is that?" Roy snapped. "You're the one who has an after school activity nearly every single evening, and on the weekends it's all friends, friends, friends! I don't fit in to your "oh-so-important" schedule, so, yeah, we don't hang out that often. That's not my fault."
Thea opened her mouth, raring with a comeback, but the call ended before she could. She cursed angrily and tossed it across the room.
She would give him a couple of days of her completely ignoring him. Then, once he saw what he was missing, he would come crawling back like any other boy she had ever dated.
After a couple of minutes of staring at the ceiling, however, Thea started to feel guilty. She had acted like a total brat, assuming that he would want to do something that she had already signed him up for without asking, and getting mad when he gave her the straight answer of 'no'.
The thing was, Roy wasn't like any other boy she had ever dated. He was special, and she actually cared about him. He wasn't a fling or a phase or something for her own amusement. He was Roy.
Sighing heavily, Thea picked up her phone and sent him a quick text. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have treated u like that. 4give me?
It took him until after dinner to respond (and she only knew that because she broke the "family rule" and kept her phone on her during dinner. This was important!).
Guess so
It wasn't much- Roy was never one for long texts or even using question marks (that annoyed her to no end), but it was something, at least. She just hoped it was enough.
Author's Note: Bit of an abrupt ending... but that is a-okay, because I think this chapter was long enough!
This'll be the last post (of this story, anyway) before Christmas, so Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays, everyone! :)