Author's Note: Another milestone! Chapter 30 everyone. Let's get back to AV High and start school up again!

(also, you may have noticed I didn't post last week... I'm going to start posting a new chapter every other Friday instead of once a week, so that I don't end up catching up to what parts of the story I'm writing now too quickly. Posting ended up going a lot faster than I'd ever expected haha)

"Look, Kara, you've gotta talk to him," Alex said.

Kara, splayed out on her bed, pouted. "But I'm so nervous, Alex! What if he doesn't want to take me back? Or even talk to me?"

"Well, you'll never know until you try, do you?" Alex replied. She felt as though they were going in circles, considering they had gone over this same point already. Three times.

"Yeah but if I try and then it fails I'll know that it's hopeless," Kara argued. "If I never try I'll never be let down."

"...And you'll never get Mon-El back," Alex said slowly, squinting at her. "So either you might lose him, or you'll definitely lose him. Your choice."

Kara buried her face in her pillow. "I hate this," she mumbled. "Why did we have to fight?"

"Every couple fights," Alex sighed, moving across the room to sit on the bed next to her sister. "Every person fights. If you have a strong relationship with someone you're bound to fight with them some time or other. It shows a level of comfort."

"Have you ever fought with Maggie?" Kara asked, turning back over.

Alex considered. "No," she admitted. "Because we aren't close enough for that. I've fought with Laurel plenty of times. Just like you've fought with Winn and Cisco."

"So fighting shows strength in a relationship?" Kara asked, frowning. "That doesn't seem right."

"No," Alex sighed, rubbing her face. "Fighting shows comfort level. You felt comfortable enough with Mon-El to be yourself and to tell him how you really feel. Of course there's better ways to do that then arguing with him but we all make mistakes. He does, too. Which is why you need to apologize when you see him and school starts up again. Got it?"

"Got it," Kara agreed. "I still don't wanna do it."

Alex sent her a look and she rolled her eyes. "But I'll talk to him!" she added quickly. "I promise."

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The first day back after New Years was reminiscent of the first day of school. Thea, Iris and Sara met each other squeals and giant hugs (disregarding the fact that Thea and Sara had seen each other literally the day before), and Thea almost immediately launched into a rehashing of her and Roy's exciting New Years Eve date and life-rescue.

Iris was thrilled. "This. Is. Amazing," she gushed, practically vibrating with excitement. "Do you realize how awesome of a story this is going to be to tell your kids?!"

Sara snorted. "Whooooa, slow down horsey. They just had their first kiss- they're not getting married."

"Yet," Thea grinned, bumping Iris' shoulder.

The talk eventually turned away from boys and toward some new excitement. "2 new kids," Iris informed the other girls as they walked to their lockers.

"You literally just got here, like, 4 minutes ago," Sara said, giving her an incredulous look. "How on Earth do you know that there are new kids?"

Iris shrugged. "It's simple," she replied offhandedly. "I know everything."

"Okay, then spill the tea girl," Thea said, impatient for the news. "Who is it, what grade, names, gender, where are they from...?"

"Well, I don't know where they're from..." Iris started thoughtfully. "But one of them is a Junior and two one them is a Senior. Boy and a girl."

"Names?"

Iris frowned thoughtfully. "Uh... I think the girl is named Sam...? And then boy was... I can't quite remember. Maybe John? James? Jake?"

"Wait, who's the Junior?" Sara asked.

"Sam," Iris said, more confidently.

"Yeah?"

All three girls turned to see who had spoken. There was a girl standing behind them with long brown hair and a grey t-shirt. "Um... you said my name, right?"

"Oh!" Iris looked surprised. "You're Sam? One of the new students?"

Sam stuck her hands in her pockets. "Yeah, that's me."

"I'm Iris," the brunette introduced herself, shaking Sam's hand. "This is Sara and Thea."

"Hi," Sam replied, giving them a shy half-smile. "It's nice to meet you guys."

"How do you like the school so far?" Sara asked, bouncing on her toes. She liked to meet new people but she had a class in like five minutes and was ready to get her sprinting on.

"Well, I've only been here for like five minutes but it... seems nice," Sam replied with another shy smile and a shrug. "It's a nice location and... the people seem nice, too."

Thea smiled widely. "I will take that as a compliment!"

"You would," Sara teased. "Look, hate to cut this short but I've been late to History like five times this year already-"

"Um, Sara, this is the first day back this year," Iris cut in, smirking.

"Very funny," Sara sassed, wrinkling her nose and starting to back away. "But anyway, I don't want Mr. Vandal Savage to murder me. Because I swear I think he wants to. Also, Barry and Cisco always give me disapproving looks when I get there late."

"You better scoot then, girlie," Iris grinned. "You know, since Barry and Cisco are so incredibly scary."

"Hardy har har."

"Send Barry my love!" Iris called after her as Sara turned and jogged down the corridor. She turned to Thea and Sam. "I should actually be getting to class, too. What's your first class, Sam?"

Sam pulled out an already-crumpled piece of paper and glanced over her schedule. "Um... English."

"Okay, then you're with me," Thea grinned, taking her arm. "Come on, I'll introduce you to Kara and Winn!"

They set off down the hallway and Iris turned in the other direction and walked alone to her first class of the morning.

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Kara took a deep breath as she straightened the straps of her backpack and rolled her shoulders. She had just come out of English, where she met Sam, the new student (who Thea somehow already knew), but now she was on to Algebra.

Mon-El was in her Algebra class. Which meant that she was going to have to look at him, sit next to him, and -yes, Kara Danvers, you are doing it, this is non-negotiable- talk to him.

Kara took another deep breath as she reached the door and then walked quickly inside.

Mon-El was nowhere in sight.

Heart sinking, Kara looked around again, just to be sure. Was it possible that he wasn't here today? Would she have to go through another almost sleepless night of stress and anticipation?!

"Can I take a guess and say you're looking for me?"

Kara spun around and let out a giant breath of relief. "Mon-El!" she cried, forgetting to be nervous or awkward. "Oh thank goodness you're here; I really needed to talk to you. Look- I'm sorry. I ruined everything and we missed our first Christmas together. Of course gifts don't matter, it was totally stupid."

Mon-El shrugged, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Honestly, it was my fault," he admitted. "I totally over-reacted. In truth, I'm not used to thinking about other people that much. So getting you a Christmas gift just kind of... slipped my mind. I really should have, though, that would have been the 'good boyfriend' thing to do." He shrugged again. "So I'm... sorry, too."

"It's okay," Kara replied, relived beyond belief that this had gone so well. "I guess we both kinda screwed up. Friends again?"

Mon-El glanced up and frowned. "Friends?"

Kara grinned. "It's an expression," she said, leaning in and kissing him on the cheek. "We are much more than friends. One stupid argument isn't going to change that."

"Good," Mon-El replied, shoulders relaxing. "That's good to know."

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At the end of the day, Kara found herself standing outside of a door on the third floor of AV High. In front of her hung a handwritten sign with the words "AV News" on it.

It had been Snapper Carr's idea for her to get involved with the school newspaper. He said that the report she had written over Christmas break was "surprisingly alright, get on that", and so here she was, ready to sign up.

A little nervous, Kara knocked on the door. She stood awkwardly in front of it, waiting.

Instead of someone coming from the inside, a lean girl with long, dark hair squeezed passed her. "Hi," the girl said, opening the door and knocking it open with a foot. Her arms were full with a pile of newspaper paper, and she had a pencil sticking behind into her hair.

Despite the full load, the girl looked incredibly put together. She was wearing a fuchsia button down collard shirt and high waisted black skinny jeans. Her hair was perfectly parted down the center and flawlessly straight. Kara was impressed. If she had been in the girls position she would have looked a rumpled mess and been incredibly awkward.

"Sorry, we're you trying to get in? I think it was unlocked," the girl continued, already heading inside. "I'm Lena Luther, editor of AV News."

She had already managed to put down her papers and turned around with a practiced smile, holding out her hand to Kara.

Kara shook it, shoving her glasses us with her other hand. "Hi," she greeted. "Uh, I'm Kara Danvers. Mr. Carr recommended that I come and check out the school newspaper so... here I am!"

"Come on in," Lena invited, and Kara scurried inside and shut the door. "Are you a writer?"

Kara nodded. "I like to do interviews," she said. "I like hearing about peoples stories."

Lena pulled a face. "Not a ton of people to interview for a high school newspaper," she told Kara. "But I'm sure we could use you somewhere. People aren't exactly flocking here."

Kara glanced around. The room was pretty empty as a whole, and, as Lena had implied, there was no one there.

"We used to have meetings after school," Lena continued. "But then people got to busy with sports and everything. So I mostly just organize what the paper with look like and then email everyone what they need to supply. We post a new edition bi-monthly, so you have about two weeks to prepare. Sound good?"

"Yeah, that sounds great," Kara agreed. "Here, I can just write down my email for you, one sec..."

She trailed off, looking around for something to write it on. Somehow still incredibly prepared, Lena reached behind her and pulled out a stack of pale blue sticky notes and a pen. "Here," she said, offering it to Kara. "I'll send you an email tonight to make sure it goes through and I'll fill you in on what's going on in the current edition."

She paused, titling her head and looking Kara over as she scribbled her email on the sticky note. "You said your name was Kara Danvers?"

"Uh, yeah," Kara replied, reaching up to straighten her glasses.

"I think that Mr. Carr mentioned you to me a couple weeks ago," Lena said thoughtfully, taking the paper and pen back. "He is the last person to check over our newspaper before we publish, just to make sure I don't miss anything. I usually don't, but there's some sort of school rule that needs an adult to look over everything. Probably a content filter, too, just in case I suddenly got immature and let something inappropriate slide."

Kara laughed a little and Lena cracked a smile. "I'll shoot you an email tonight," she said. "Also, if you know of any good photographers, let me know. We had one for the first semester but she transferred during Winter break. Sometimes I honestly think that people only look at the pictures, so the person's gotta be good."

"Okay," Kara agreed, taking the hint that her impromptu interview was over. "I'll keep my eyes open."

Lena nodded. "Bye, Kara," she said as the blond began heading for the door. "It was nice meeting you. I look forward to your first article!"

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Winn was sitting in the gym, waiting for the bus to pick him up, when none other than James Olsen walked across the room and sat down next to him.

Winn squinted thoughtfully. "Hello..." he greeted. "You... don't look familiar. And that may sound odd but this school is incredibly small and I know like everyone here so who are you?"

"Uh, James," the tall Senior introduced himself. "James Olsen. And yeah, I just transferred here. This is actually my first day."

"Oh, well, welcome to AV High," Winn grinned. "I'm Winn Schott."

They sat for a moment in silence, Winn still secretly wondering why James had come over. Was it because he was by himself? Did he really have an approachable face like Kara always said? Or...?

The "Or" seemed to be it, because James quickly launched into a new conversation. "So... Winn," he said. "I couldn't help but notice that you spend a lot of time with that blond girl."

"Kara?" Winn frowned, confused. "Or Felicity?"

"Uh, the one with the glasses," James shrugged.

"They both have glasses."

"The pretty one."

Winn cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. Goodness gracious, what was it about Kara Danvers that made people fall head over heels for her on sight? "Um... you probably mean Kara," he said, pulling out his phone and showing James a picture for confirmation.

"Yeah, her," James confirmed, face breaking into a smile.

They fell into silence. Almost afraid to ask, Winn glanced over at James. "Uh, so... what about her?"

"You guys seem to be... close," James shrugged.

Winn let out a sigh. He was over Kara (most days, at least), but he was getting rather sick of people asking him about her. No new guy that laid eyes on her was interested in being buds with him... just getting close to her.

"Yes, I'm friends with Kara," Winn said. "She's my best friend and we are not together and we have never been together and we're never going to be together. Answer all your questions?"

James nodded, looking embarrassed. "Do you... get this often?"

Winn shrugged. "More then I should," he admitted. "But whatever man, it's just questions."

Winn's head popped up as he heard his bus number being called. Relieved to get out of the conversation, he grabbed his bad and slung it over his shoulder. "Seeya later," he called to James as he headed towards the door, leaving the other boy to think over the answers he had been given.

Author's Note: Soooo a pretty Kara centric chapter (heh I just wrote episode whoops XD) but I'm just setting up a couple of plots for continuing chapters at the moment.

Poor Winn OMG XD But honestly... he's like one of the only guys POVs I actually do chapters from so HE'S AT LEAST IMPORTANT TO ME XD