Location: Keystone High
Date: Oct 28th
Time: 09:39
Wally gnawed his bottom lip and looked at the empty seat to his right. As far as he knew, Emmy was still on Earth, so he wasn't sure why she was missing today. They had a substitute who had chosen to forgo the continuation of the English syllabus in favor of flicking off the lights and playing a movie. The sub was on her phone with her feet on the desk, and only one or two people were actually paying attention to the film. Brandon was snoring with the back of his head precariously leaning on Wally's desk, and the speedster was absentmindedly reading an article about microscopic analysis of photonic nanostructures in blue tarantulas. He was beginning to wonder if he should text Emmy when a triagonal slice of light from the hallway temporarily cut through the darkness of the classroom.
The girl in question trudged to her seat and plopped down with a sigh. She had a large smoothie in her hand, no backpack, and was wearing sparkly pink sunglasses which looked out of place against her black jeans, black combat boots, and long sleeve olive green shirt. Even in the dampened light, Wally could see that her knuckles were covered in a layer of concealer to hide violet and sapphire bruises.
"What happened to you?" He leaned toward her with a raised eyebrow.
"Calculated the Jersey to Missouri time difference in the wrong direction," she muttered before taking a long drink from the smoothie.
Wally frowned a little. Jersey? Emmy typically got to class before he did, an irony she took great pleasure in pointing out to him, but each morning this week she had been arriving later and later. Night patrols would explain her absences.
"You shouldn't go to Bludhaven without backup," he murmured disapprovingly.
"I had Rob last night," Emmy rolled her eyes behind the glasses and missed Wally's pout. "Good thing too." She tugged her sunglasses on top of her head and showed him the poorly veiled bruising underneath her left eye.
She had been doing recon on Sparks in Bludhaven each night this week. Someone had to know something about Bobby's newest business endeavor, and Emmy needed to find that person before Bobby found her and her siblings. Megs caught her leaving the cave and joined on Monday, Artemis tagged along on Tuesday, and Rob had insisted on coming last night. Emmy was functioning on a marked lack of sleep as she abandoned her warm, luscious bed for the cold, rain-slickened streets of Bludhaven. The desecration of her sleep hygiene had culminated in her accidentally powering down her ring and falling directly into a goon's fist in her civies. She sighed and sucked on her straw. Rob laughed at her for three minutes before he managed to get his breathing back to normal and help her move the thugs to the parking lot of the nearest half-decent police station. The night had been yet another waste. No one they followed or fought had any useful information, and they spent most of their time breaking up gang fights and muggings.
Emmy got back to the cave right as the kids woke up for school, so she didn't have time to stay powered up long enough to heal the kaleidoscope of bruises around her eye. Sage took one look at her and immediately started slapping concealer onto Emmy's face and hands. The grey-eyed girl enjoyed Emmy's grimaces at the rough prodding a little too much, but Emmy was just glad that Sage was speaking to her again. The East trio had gone through six hours of highly unpleasant therapy with Canary on Sunday.
Emmy apologized to Hunter about her extended absence after getting her ring, explained that she needed the extra month to train, and promised to take him to Oa with her one day. He smiled, hugged her, and all was forgiven in five minutes. Sage had been less receptive, but after hours of 'controlled discourse' as Canary called it, the two sisters finally broke down all their problems to one issue: Sage wanted the full truth about their lives, and Emmy refused to tell it until Sage and Hunter were older.
Emmy gnawed on the inside of her cheek, "I am sorry that you felt like I was 'running away to Oa again', but stealing my car was incredibly dangerous and irresponsible. Hunter was in the passenger seat. You don't know how to drive. Your little act of rebellion could have gotten you both killed, and the idea of you two getting hurt terrifies me, Sage."
"If it terrifies you so much then why are you always leaving?" Sage glared. "You used to only be gone on the weekends when we were asleep, but now you're gone for days at a time."
Emmy faltered for a second, "I never leave you two alone. You always had a League member watching you, and when that stopped being sufficient, I agreed to a partial guardian system."
"You left us alone for four months!" Sage's grey eyes narrowed even more, "Actually, it was worse than that because you left us alone with the Ramirez's."
"I have already apologized for that, Sage," Emmy turned her body toward her sister. "I can't do anything to change the past, but I've already changed my behavior for the future. The Todd's wouldn't be anywhere near you if I hadn't."
"Don't diss the Todd's," Sage folded her arms. "They've never lied to me."
Emmy groaned again. All of Sage's complaints came back to the same thing, "What do you want from me, Sage? It's not my fault that you can't remember anything."
"You could answer my questions, but you don't. And when you do, you lie!" Sage pointed a finger in Emmy's face accusatorily.
The lantern swatted the finger away with a frown, "Whether you like it or not, I'm the only person left in our family to protect you. That means that I need to censor certain things for you because you're a child."
"I am not a child!" Sage snapped. "I'm the same age you were when you decided to play mother. Why do you think I'm so much more immature than you are?"
"I want you to be more immature than I am," Emmy cracked back.
"What?" Sage frowned in confusion.
Emmy rubbed her temples again. They had been in therapy since noon, and so far, all they had done was argue about Oa, the ring, and Emmy's 'failed attempt at parenting'. She was too tired to keep this up any longer.
"I don't want you to be mature. I don't want you to make hard decisions or be in charge of Hunter's and your safety," Emmy stared at a crack in the ceiling. "I want you to gossip with friends, and go to birthday parties, and toilet paper someone's house in the middle of the night, and complain about homework."
Emmy ran a hand down her face and looked at Sage, "I want you to be a kid, Sage. I want you to have a future and not turn out like me."
"And why do you think it would be bad if Sage ended up like you, Emmy?" Canary asked. "You're an intelligent, compassionate young woman who handles interplanetary responsibility with grace."
The praise rolled off Emmy's shoulders like a raindrop sliding down a leaf, but it resonated with Sage. The younger girl bit her lip, "I know that you do your best to keep us safe even when you're helping other people. But I just…I just don't understand why you won't tell me what it was like before the fire. I feel like if you really cared about me, you would take away the mystery hanging over my head."
"I don't want to tell you because I care about you. Once you know something, you can't un-know it, Sage," the lantern spoke after a loaded pause, "I promise that when you are 18, I will tell you everything, but I need you to have a childhood, okay? Because if you don't get to be a normal kid then I have failed you the same way our parents failed me, and I honestly don't know if I can handle that."
"How did they fail you?" Sage asked quietly.
Emmy's stomach lurched as she lied again, "They failed me by not being here to take care of me."
"It's not their fault they died, Emmy," Sage frowned.
Emmy sighed, "And it's not my fault that you don't like being parented by me. I would love to have a regular sibling relationship with you, but that's not how life has worked out for us. I've been acting as your mom for years, and I'm sorry I'm not perfect. But I have done everything I possibly could for you, so please, for the love of God, cut me some slack."
Sage observed her sister for a minute, "I will stop being mad at you if you let me get a tattoo."
Emmy blinked at her blankly, "Excuse you?"
"And I want you to tell me everything when I turn 14," Sage added.
Emmy looked down her nose at her sister for a minute, "Pierced ears instead of a tattoo and 16."
"Deal," Sage smiled and held out her hand.
The lantern tiredly shook it.
"I don't like that you don't talk to me about a lot of things," Sage softened a little, "but you have not been a completely terrible fake mom."
Emmy turned to Canary wearily, "Good enough for me."
Sage's efforts to cover the black eye had not been incredibly effective, so Emmy threw on Sage's Barbie sunglasses and got her siblings in the car (which now only started from Emmy's fingerprints). She dropped the kids off at their schools and promptly decided that procuring caffeine was more important than making it to first period on time. It took a while to make her monstrosity of a drink, and she was unable to care when she realized she was getting to class ten minutes before it ended.
"Find anything?" Wally asked, pulling her away from her reverie and back to reality.
Emmy exhaled heavily and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Her body language conveying a clear 'No'.
"That's what happens when you try to go somewhere without the Wall-man," Wally chastised teasingly. "No leads and black eyes."
Emmy snorted slightly, "Of course, what was I thinking?"
Wally snagged her smoothie and took a giant gulp as he thought of a response. His efforts were shattered as a wave of bitter, acidic, artificially sweetened, carbonated fizz attacked his taste buds and blended horribly with the tropical fruit amalgam he had come to expect from Emmy's typical smoothie order. He hacked loudly and grimaced at the rancid metallic aftertaste violating his mouth.
"Holy shit. What the hell did you put in that, Emmy?" Wally fanned his tongue in a feeble attempt to blow away the flavor.
"Uh, two Monsters, three Red Bulls, and four shots of espresso, I think?" Emmy quirked an eyebrow at the cup.
"Ew. Emmy. No," Wally held the smoothie out of her reach with a grimace. "Why? Just...why?"
"I'm tired, you judgmental tool," Emmy half-heartedly reached for the cup.
"I cannot in good conscience give this back to you. It's a heart attack in Styrofoam," Wally overdramatically gagged and gauged the angle and force he needed to chuck the offending beverage into the trashcan behind them.
"I can either drink this or you can be personally responsible for moving my unconscious body between classrooms all day," Emmy kicked him lightly and scooted closer in an attempt to grab her toxic sludge.
"I already keep you awake all night in your dreams, so I think I can handle keeping you awake all day too," Wally smirked.
Emmy quirked an apathetic eyebrow at him and snatched the drink back, "How are you keeping me awake at night if I'm dreaming?"
Wally ignored the plot hole in his previous taunt and poked the bruise under her eye just hard enough to make her wince. He used the distraction to dump the contents of the cup into the trashcan behind them.
Emmy wacked him with the sunglasses as he returned to the chair, "Slimy bastard."
"Right because trying to keep you alive makes me an illegitimate, French child," Wally rolled his eyes.
"Hey, you ingest some of the nastiest things I have ever seen and not once have I dumped your food into the trash," Emmy poked underneath his eye in retaliation.
Wally sent her a vaguely amused look, "I don't have a bruise, but nice try. And alright fine, I will buy you one of those iced coffees from the vending machine after class, okay, Princess?"
"How does not wanting my property destroyed make me a princess?" Emmy countered.
"It doesn't," he waggled his eyebrows at her. "It's the handsome, charming, dashing prince saving you from yourself that makes you a princess."
Emmy widened her eyes and put her hands to her face as though wistful, "When does the handsome, charming, dashing prince get here? I need more rouge for my cheeks."
Wally shoved her with a smirk, "You already have a black and purple eye do you really need red cheeks too?"
Emmy slid the sparkly pink sunglasses back onto her face with a yawn. Wally realized that he had seen Sage wear them before and chuckled as it became clear why they were a little too small for Emmy's head.
Stacy glowered at the couple chatting behind her. Wally scooted New Girl's desk closer to his, offering his shoulder for a short nap. The coupled continued to quip and argue about something Stacy couldn't hear even as the green-haired girl rested her head on Wally's bicep. Stacy gritted her teeth and glared at the interloper. New Girl had been in her business since she first showed up. A few too many of the guys were into her, but Stacy was fine ignoring that. There was room for more than one pretty girl at this school, and it was obvious that she was way hotter than this 'Emerald' chick. Stacy hadn't even planned any retaliation for New Girl refusing to join the cheer team, but then the bitch made the mistake of getting involved in her affairs with Zara. Stacy's frown turned into a smirk as she looked at the two losers getting cozy. If New Girl is going to come after me, then maybe it's time for me to check in on Wally again.
Location: Keystone High
Date: Oct 28th
Time: 12:31
Wally sighed as Stacy approached him while he waited in line to pay for his food. She had the vile habit of 'checking in' on him periodically. The first few times after the breakup had been rough because he thought she genuinely missed him, but it had quickly become clear that it was just some ploy to see if he still liked her and boost her ego. He had not cared about Stacy in a long time, and he was more than happy that she had not spoken to him in a couple months. Wally sighed in exasperation as she invaded his personal space as he paid the lunch lady.
"Buenas tardes, Wally," Her shrill voice cut through the air as she twirled a piece of hair around her finger and ran her fingers down his arm. "Do you remember what the reading assignment was for English today? I, like, totally forgot."
"Chapters 5 through 7 by Monday," he replied blankly before moving toward his table.
To his chagrin, she followed. None of his friends had reached the table yet, so he was stuck alone. She leaned her hip against the table right next to his left hand. Wally made eye-contact with Jacob in the lunch line and swiftly blinked 'SOS' in Morse Code. Jacob moved to ask the people in front of him if he could cut ahead of them, and Wally's call was left momentarily unanswered.
"You know," Stacy purred, "I am, like, really having a hard time understanding 'The Crucible'. Maybe we could," she bit her lip, "study together."
Wally paused mid-bite of his first pizza slice and looked at her skeptically.
"Come on," she smiled at him coyly, "it'll be like old times."
Wally repressed the urge to gag dramatically and tried to be diplomatic, "I don't think your boyfriend would be happy to hear you say that." Not that she was known for respecting the boundaries of having a boyfriend.
Stacy seemed to think that response indicated interest because she leaned even closer to him, "I won't tell him if you won't. Besides, you can't honestly be happy studying with that South girl, can you? I mean going from me to her is liking trading out the Mona Lisa for scribbled crayon on the back of a kiddie menu."
Wally frowned in confusion. South girl? Wait, does she mean Emmy? "Yeah, no thanks. I think I'm good."
The tiny brunette invaded his space further and ate one of his grapes in what he guessed was supposed to be a seductive manner, "Come on, mi amor. You know I can make you feel better than she can."
Wally pinched the bridge of his nose in tired disgust and thanked the universe when his flummoxed friends chose that moment to join the conversation.
…
Emmy snorted at Zara's bright red cheeks as Jason invited the girl to his family's Halloween party this weekend. Jessie smirked and sent Zara a sly thumbs-up. The basketball player had a fondness for Jason and had informed her friends that he would be the best choice if one of them wanted to date someone at the lunch table. Emmy was not interested, but Zara appreciated the insight.
Trent's chuckle brought their attention away from teasing Zara and Jason, "I see Stace is back to her old tricks."
Jessie sighed, "She needs to just leave him alone. It's cruel to keep talking to him and giving him hope."
"If he thinks there's any hope left, then he's not as smart as he claims to be," Johnny cackled.
Half the table laughed with him, but Zara frowned. Emmy followed Trent's eyeline and saw Stacy leaning on Wally's table.
"What do you mean?" Emmy quirked a confused eyebrow.
"Oh, yeah," Jason drawled uncomfortable. "You're new, you don't know."
"Don't know what?" Emmy cocked her head. The table exchanged glances before Tom leaned froward.
"So, West and Stacy dated freshman year," Tom started. Emmy raised her eyebrows at that information. "Thing is, she cheated on him the whole first semester, and he was like, basically the only one in the school who didn't know."
Tom and Chad snorted, Zara sighed sadly, Jason nudged her shoulder gently, Jessie slapped the back of Johnny's head, and Trent gave a slightly sheepish grimace. Emmy's bruised eye twitched in thinly obscured rage. Stacy was the ex-girlfriend Lynn had been talking about at the diner?
"She mainly did the football team, but she made an exception for our Trent-y boy here," Chad wrapped an arm around Trent's neck and rubbed his knuckles onto his head.
"Even though you knew she was Wally's girlfriend?" Emmy glared at Trent.
He shifted a little but smiled at Emmy, "I mean, they were barely dating. You know how West is. He's a total geek."
"Excuse you?" Emmy narrowed her eyes dangerously and stood up with her palms flat on the table.
"We only made out," Trent winked. "No need to be jealous."
"Of what? The fact that she also had to endure your disjointed slobbering?" Emmy huffed and started walking away, Trent's offended noise drowned out by the laughter of the table.
Emmy was livid and not entirely sure what she was doing but she was walking. She got to her desired table and shoved Stacy out of the way. Wide green eyes looked at her astonished.
"Did you really date her?" Emmy inquired bluntly, throwing a thumb in Stacy's direction. Wally stuttered slightly.
Stacy stumbled back to the table, straightening her cheer top with a smirk, "What? Did he not tell you? Oooh, por qué no, Wally? Didn't want to admit that you still have feelings for me?"
"Did I ask you, you vapid bitch?" Emmy spat out at the shorter girl. A small portion of the lunchroom had gone silent as soon as Emmy shoved Stacy, but now it was filled with immature, "Oooooo's" and "burn's".
Stacy frowned, "What did you just call me?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot that you pretend to be Latina," Emmy's eye glinted dangerously, "I should have said, you puta insípida."
Wally traded alarmed looks with his friends.
"Tell me, Esmeralda," Stacy ticked her jaw, "has Wally taken you on the star-gazing date yet?" She winked at the flustered redhead. "He does love to do his 'I can point out the constellations blind folded' trick."
Emmy glared a bit, thinking of the way he used the stars to distract her from starting the process of looking for foster care parents for Sage and Hunter. She looked at Wally out of the corner of her eye. So, he had done that before. Wally put his hands up in a gesture of surrender.
"I-I don't…" he trailed off, very confused by what was happening.
"Tsk tsk, Wally," Stacy taunted, "Everyone knows that if you don't mention your ex it's because you still want them."
Emmy cocked an unimpressed brow at the squeaky girl, "Not necessarily. If I had one as hideous and vacuous as you, I'd keep it to myself too."
Stacy stomped in anger and shoved her hands on her hips. She hissed under her breath, "I warned you to watch your back. You come for me, and I'll take your boy toy."
Emmy snarled at the girl slightly, "The only thing you can 'take' is your mom's Xanax."
Andre leaned toward Wally, his bewildered eyes remaining on the girls scowling at each other, "Are they…fighting over you?"
Wally's own eyes were darting between the girls, "I…I don't know," he hissed back.
He seriously doubted that. Stacy didn't like him. She just enjoyed torturing him, so she would occasionally stop by to talk to him, hoping that she still had a hold on him. She didn't. He had long ago stopped feeling heartbroken when she popped by, but this time was the first where he hadn't felt anything at all by her presence. Not anger, not betrayal, not embarrassment. Nothing except annoyance. He was completely and thoroughly over her. He had been about to ask her to leave when Emmy appeared out of nowhere, nearly knocked Stacy over, and angrily questioned him. Wally had no idea why Emmy was mad, except maybe that he hadn't mentioned his ties to Stacy during the phone incidence last week, nor did he have any idea what was going on right now.
Stacy scoffed, "That's tough talk from someone who seems to only go after my sloppy seconds."
Emmy raised an eyebrow.
"First you kiss Trent," Stacy tapped a long pink acrylic nail against her chin and pouted with false sympathy, "And now you're hanging out with Wally? Since you like to copy me so much, are you going to cheat on his pathetic ass too?"
Wally watched in slow motion as Emmy snatched the cake Brandon was absentmindedly eating from his lunch tray as he gawked at the girls and slammed it into Stacy's face. The lunchroom erupted, and Stacy screamed while wiping the dessert out of her eyes. Emmy glowered at the cheerleader.
"The only pathetic thing I see is a whiny dumbass who realized she cheated on an amazing guy a little too late and still hangs around his lunch table a year later like a lost puppy begging for scraps," Emmy snarled at Stacy.
A circle had crowded around the table and a "fight" chant was echoing through the cafeteria.
Stacy screamed indignantly, "You stupid whore! I'm the queen; you ruin everything!"
"Queen of what?" Emmy matched Stacy's steps forward, "The estúpidos?"
Stacy launched at Emmy, but Wally was on his feet and between the girls in a second.
"Calm down!" Wally turned his face to Emmy and his back to Stacy, "Both of you."
"Stay out of this!" They snapped at the same time.
"What, you need your boyfriend to keep me from kicking your ass?" Stacy taunted. "I'll come over there and bruise your other eye so you can have a matching set."
Wally snorted at the idea of Stacy kicking Emmy's ass, but Emmy bristled, "You couldn't kick my ass with a stepstool, a map, and a tour guide!"
A pause, "And he's not my boyfriend!"
Wally overlooked her belated rebuttal and focused on the teachers breaking up the circle around the girls. He tugged Emmy through the crowd and out the backdoor into the fresh air. Then he picked her up and flashed down the street to the park he took her to on their Sno Day.
"What the hell, Wally!" Emmy snapped at him as soon as he put her down.
"You were about to get in trouble," he scowled at her. "You should be saying thank you!"
"Thank you?" She threw an arm in the direction of the school. "For what?! Protecting that-that," she struggled to find a word, "unfaithful harlot?"
Wally's momentary anger dropped. He laughed with his whole chest and his head thrown back. Emmy fury grew.
"What?" She huffed at the sky. "What is so damn funny?"
He grinned down at her, "So, this is what it looks like when you defend my honor?"
Emmy crossed her arms with a scoff, careful to avoid hitting her shirt with the frosting on her fingers, "You didn't think to mention that you knew her when I was helping Zara, Mr. 'I Only Had A Few Classes With Her?'"
Wally shrugged sheepishly, "It's not exactly something I enjoy revisiting."
Emmy relaxed her shoulders a bit. She could understand that. It also wasn't really any of her business who he dated. She scowled at him slightly, "You could have just told me that you didn't like the jocks at this school because they're fucking shits, you know." She ran the non-frosting hand through her hair. "I've been hanging out with them for almost two months."
"Hey, you were the one who told me it was none of my business who you 'hooked your talons into', remember?" He smirked at her.
Emmy groaned in frustration. "How are you so cool about all of this?"
He shrugged, "It was a year ago, Emmy. I'm way over it."
She glared at the ground. He grabbed her hand, quickly sucked the frosting off, enjoying both the sugar and the startled blush that crossed Emmy's cheeks, and put it over his heart, "Cross my heart and hope to die. I dodged a major bullet with her."
Emmy gazed at her hand on his red sweater. His heartbeat was steady under her fingertips, even if it was fluttering at his elevated hummingbird rate.
"You wanna tell me why you went ballistic on her though?" She could feel his eyes on her, but she kept her focus on their hands. He had a long, thin scar from the tip of his right, third metacarpal to the base of his thumb that she had not registered before.
"I didn't go ballistic. I didn't even hit her," Emmy grumbled and took her hand away. Wally let go quickly, he hadn't realized he was still holding it. "I just," she bit her lip for a second and crossed her arms, "They were just so…" Wrath returned to her face, "they made fun of you for what she did and-"
"Emmy," Wally smiled at her. It was funny to watch her deal with school bullies for the first time as a 16-year-old used to life and death situations. "Those morons are going to make fun of me if they want to. It doesn't make a difference to me."
"Well, it makes a difference to me!" Emmy threw her hands in the air and turned her back on him.
Wally frowned. It happened to him, why did she care? Was it a team pride thing like the dodgeball? He heard a small sniffle masked by a loud throat clear. He zipped in front of her and was stunned to see that her blue eyes were slightly wet.
"What's wrong?" He asked, concerned.
"Nothing," Emmy frowned at her slight voice crack and blinked quickly. "It's just…she must have really hurt you."
Her eyes were dry, but they held an array of emotions ranging from pain to ire. Wally was beyond surprised. She was angry because she was worried about his feelings? He felt an uncomfortable lump in his throat. His friends had done their best to support him when the shit show went down last year, but none of them had really known what to say or do. And none of them had seemed hurt by his pain. Wally hastily wiped away a tear threatening to fall. He didn't care about Stacy anymore, but the embarrassment and the betrayal still hurt every now and then. He objectively knew that her actions were her own choice and not a reflection of him, but it was hard to know that someone he had trusted and almost loved stabbed him in the back without a second thought. Wally hadn't let those feelings come up since freshman year, but Emmy was looking at him with so much concern and not-directed-at-him rage that he felt his throat tighten and his cheeks get wet.
Emmy sent him a sympathetic look a millisecond before she scooped him into a hug. He put his nose in the crook of her neck and focused on breathing slowly. Wally tried to stop too many tears from falling because even if they were friends and teammates and whatever else they were, she was still a girl, and he was still a guy, and he knew that it was unhealthy to repress your emotions, but he still didn't want to cry very much in front of her.
He eventually pulled away and wiped his nose on his right sleeve. His eyes were a little bloodshot, but everything else looked normal. Wally sent Emmy a jaunty grin to cover his slight mortification, "You can stop crying about it. I am totally fine, and all is well."
Emmy rolled her eyes but played along for his benefit, "I don't need you to comfort me over your bad breakup, Moron."
"Really?" He grinned down at her. "The snot on my shirt would beg to differ."
She shoved him away lightly, "I did not get snot on your shirt!" She was the one with a noticeably wet clavicle where his face had , she did probably get snot on him at the beach so maybe it was only fair if he got some on her.
He laughed again, "You do know that everyone's going to think we're dating now, right?"
Emmy snorted, "And why's that?"
"Uh, you shoved cake into my ex's face and called her a vapid bitch?" He explained slowly like he was speaking to a child.
Emmy rolled her eyes, "Hey, if she wanted a clean face, she shouldn't have hurt you."
He looked at her contemplatively. Emmy had a déjà vu moment about seeing that look in the desert and shifted on her feet uncertainly. The movement returned Wally to the present.
"Let's head back to school now that the inferno in your eyes has calmed down to its usual flicker," he chuckled.
Emmy punched his arm softly. He picked her up bridal style.
"So, what was this about me being the 'best guy ever in all of history'?"
Emmy looked at him down her nose, "I did not say that."
He grinned and flashed back to the school.
Location: Central City
Date: Oct 28th
Time: 15:45
Wally's mind had been racing as fast as his feet usually did since lunch. He sneaked Emmy back into the school and headed toward his next class only to pass Stacy of all people in the hallway. She had blue frosting in her hair and on her chin, and she was stomping away from the Principal's office and muttering about 'Gibbs refusing to punish Emmy for an alleged cake mishap'. She had to take out one of her contacts because Emmy managed to get the dessert into the shorter girl's left eye as well as on her cheer uniform. This left Stacy in her light purple, thick-rimmed glasses, light blue jeans, and an old Star Trek t-shirt she kept in her locker for emergencies. Her hair was longer and shinier, she was thinner, and her lips were sparkly pink and housing bubble gum, but she looked remarkably like the Stacy he had signed up for when they first started dating.
"I'm sorry, okay?" Stacy grumbled at him as she yanked another chunk of batter from her hair and threw it into a trash can. "I should have just left you and the slut alone."
"She's not a slut," Wally frowned, "but yeah, you should have left us alone."
"Whatever," Stacy dejectedly turned to walk away. "It won't happen again. Just forget it."
"Why did you-?" Wally called after her and she halted. "Why did you do it?"
Stacy sighed deeply. She knew he wasn't talking about today. She turned around and looked genuine for the first time in a year. "I was just so tired of it, Wally. You knew me then. I was a total loser. I got tired of being teased for my hobbies. Tired of not having many friends. Tired of not being invited to parties. Tired of people calling me a nerd, geek, dork, and more. I had a shot at popularity and a social life, so I took it. I was tired of people seeing me but not caring about me. I mean, doesn't it bother you?"
"No. It doesn't," Wally shook his head. "I'm not ashamed of who I am, and I would rather have a few close friends than a hundred superficial ones." He walked toward his next class while she stared at a spot on the floor. "And for the record, Stacy," she looked up at him regretfully, "Before all this, back when you were just a girl with frizzy hair, an affinity for science fiction, and a failing astronomy grade, I cared about you."
…
Wally finally understood why so many people talk about closure. He had talked to Stacy, and he saw that she was just an immature, insecure, selfish kid who was too self-absorbed to fully register how she hurt him. He'd faced her, and now he didn't have anything but sympathy for her. It had to be hard to dislike yourself that much. His mind drifted in a different direction. He was in the kitchen collecting nacho ingredients when his mom got home from work early. He didn't hear her say hello when she walked in with the mail. Mary had been about to say hello again when she saw her son's brows furrowed in concentration. He turned to the fridge and absentmindedly waved at her. She was very curious about what was keeping her mouthy child quiet for so long but waited for him to speak when he was ready. Mary pulled out the vegetables for tonight's dinner and began to cut them.
"Hey mom?" Wally finally broke the silence.
"Yes, Sweetie?"
"Did you ever get into a fight for Dad?"
"What?" She laughed in confusion. Wally had a propensity for asking questions she didn't know how to answer, but they usually circulated around theoretical physics and drawing the 3D images representative of triple integrals.
"Never mind," he rushed to open a jar of jalapeños.
Mary West hummed to herself, "Did something...interesting happen at school today?"
Her son's hands paused for a second before returning to his precipitously increasing mound of chips. "Yeah, um," he coughed, "Emerald almost got into a fight."
"Really?" Mary frowned uneasily. She knew a little of her son's teammate's past. The girl had grown up an orphan in a fighting ring. While it was horrible that she went through that, Mary wouldn't lie, she was uncomfortable with the idea of her only child spending so much time with someone who had such a violent past. Batman had chosen her for the team himself, so he must have thought she was rehabilitated, but Mary still wished that the girl didn't go to school with Wally and see him every day. Mary really missed the days when Robin was the only hero her son hung out with regularly. He was hyperactive, a mischief, and a little sloppy, but at least he didn't have a history of crime. "With whom?"
"Stacy," Wally said as he tugged on the queso lid.
Mary was surprised by how casually he said her name. Her mama bear heart growled as she remembered the depressed cave he dug himself into after the debacle with that horrible girl last year. "Oh?" Mary feigned a relaxed interest, "Why?"
Wally deemed Mount Kiliman-charizo cheesy enough and turned to face his mother. His eyes were far away and there was a dopey grin on his face, "She found out about the whole Stacy deal."
Mary raised her eyebrows at that. She may have misjudged Emerald. Mary tried to seem casual, "Did Emerald get any good hits in?"
"Nah, I stopped them before a catfight broke out," Wally shrugged with a grin, "Emmy would have killed Stacy in seven seconds."
Mary went back to cutting her bell peppers with a repressed smile, "You should have given her six then."
"Mom!" Wally yelled scandalized. "I am a hero." He put his hands on his hips dramatically. "My job is never done."
Mary rolled her eyes at her child.
He grinned far away again, "She did call Stacy a vapid bitch and slam a piece of cake in her face though."
Mary turned to grab a zucchini and coughed to hide her chortle. She didn't like cursing, but she was happy to make an exception.
"You should get that before it falls over," she nodded at the sliding tower of nachos. Wally added another plate on top for a grabbing hold and turned to go to his room. "Oh, and Wally?"
"Yeah?"
"You should ask Emerald if she wants to come for dinner sometime."
Thanks for reading, and FYI you won't have to wait another 2.5 weeks for the next update.
Until next time,
TheDarkAbyss
httpstress: Thank you :)
Boomer1125: I don't have a tumblr anymore, but I have an email for my fanfic account that a few people have sent fanart to if you want me to post that. I love Lydia Martin and Harley Quinn, so I am here for those vibes. If you like the school scenes, then you hopefully liked this chapter lol.
KirikaAndo: Thank you so much ;) Hey, it's tradition to have a love hate relationship with all slowburns.
Ukitakeitalialover041757: Glad you liked it. There are a few things from Emmy's past that are about to resurface, so we're definitely reaching a slight direction change.
Kate: I appreciate the well-wishes. He got out of the hospital on Wednesday and is doing well so far. Thank you for the compliments! I was worried about making her a Mary Sue, so I've been trying to avoid the "she is perfect in every way' tropes that annoy me in other fics.