In Which Valerie Comes to Terms

Because of school and the sheer overwhelming amount of work it would involve, she put the Axion exposure plan on hold.

Speaking of school, she began to wonder if Ms. Spectra might have been right about her. It had been easy to laugh it off after the Fenton daughter's Spirit Week speech, since the woman had disappeared and no one followed her advice anymore.

Yet since coming back after that infamous day the ghost boy and his dog had appeared, it was like everyone hated her.

Well, she allowed, not everyone. That loser, Tucker Foley, had offered to help her out with her current situation. She had declined, of course. Not just to save face but also because she was more than a little bitter at Foley for having stood her up at the dance. And the techno geek had had the nerve to still hit on her without having even apologized! Did he even remember that had happened?

Some people.

She remembered going to Spectra's office. The air had been so cold, she could see her breath. The woman had complimented her on her skills but said, "You have great taste in things but you care too much about the things you have."

"You mean I'm materialistic?" Valerie had asked in horror.

"Mmm, I'm afraid so," Ms. Spectra said with a frown. "You define so much of who you are based on material possessions. Just what would you be if they were taken from you? You know the answer is nothing. So it's a good thing you've got plenty of money."

And here she was, proving the woman right. Every time she accidentally ran into Paulina it was like the other girl had to keep rubbing it in her face that she wasn't rich anymore, by constantly bringing up the things she had that Valerie could no longer afford. It made her stomach churn, knowing that she envied Paulina.

Even when they'd been friends, she had thought that the other girl needed to grow up a bit. When she'd mentioned that she had asked Danny Fenton out just to make Sam Manson jealous, Valerie had rolled her eyes. Those two bottom dwellers obviously had it bad for each other. What was the point in messing with them? They weren't worth the attention. Paulina, though, was the type who loved the drama, who revelled in it, loved how much it proved her superiority. That had been her favorite method of entertainment.

And now Valerie was the cause.

If it wasn't the other A-listers laughing at her, it was other students bringing up how she'd rubbed her wealth in their faces. The sad part was that it was right. What had been the point of that, really? Just parading around with those clothes had made enough of a statement.

And now I can't even do that, she thought, clenching her fists.

That was just one of the activities no longer available to her. A common thing she'd done after school, particularly on the weekends, had been to go to the mall to shop. Sometimes it was only window shopping but the possibility of a purchase had always been there. Now? If she went she would more than likely only be able to get something out of the clearance aisle, if she could buy anything at all. Valerie felt that her current size and shape would not change anytime soon, so there was no good excuse to buy new clothes for the moment. She had enough outfits for school. Maybe Daddy would permit a shopping trip if she was looking for clothes to work in but that was about it.

Oh, and then there was her hair. Mama had done her hair, before she'd died. She had taught Valerie how to take care of it but hair care for her texture had never been one of her talents, which is why she usually just kept it in her usual style. Before, there'd been the times she'd get it straightened, since Valerie had no patience for dealing with natural hair. And now she would be lucky if a haircut was affordable. (Perhaps her father's barber would be good enough?)

So if shopping was out and concerts were no longer affordable, it left her with very little to do other than sit at home. And since she had no friends to talk to, most of that time was spent on studying.

Doing homework was not, in and of itself, that bad. Valerie enjoyed learning. More information was good and, as the old saying went, "Knowledge is power." Especially when you weren't old money and had to claw your way to the proper connections to get into the best parts of society, then any knowledge could be useful depending on the circumstance. This went double now that her family had fallen into disgrace. Besides, she had always liked science classes—the things that could be done, had been discovered, captured her imagination.

Loneliness began to sneak up on her over time.

Now she knew that her friends had never been particularly good friends. They had never been the sort of people she went to about real problems, and they had never confided in her either. The company had been pleasant enough and they had a fair few things in common so that led to Paulina and Star being her best friends, and for a time she'd had Kwan as a boyfriend. Weeks away from their breakup, she now knew things with Kwan would not have worked long term—he'd been nice, she'd had fun, but at the moment Valerie just was not willing to tie herself down. Still, just having him to talk to would have been an improvement.

But maybe she deserved this. Looking back, she hadn't been that nice to the other students. It had seemed obvious at the time—she was at the top of the foodchain, it was her right to behave that way. And yet in what way did that make her different from her father's boss? Wasn't he within his rights to throw Damon away?

Valerie had too many "Do as I say, not as I do" types in her family tree that she'd already vowed to never emulate. To know that she had unintentionally started copying the person who'd ruined her life made her crush a magazine.

She looked it over. Oh, she thought. Ember. She'd been getting more attention lately and last she had heard, Ember seemed to have truly caught on with the public. Funny, since she swore Ember hadn't been a thing until very recently.

Valerie shrugged. The music was alright; her style was pretty nice.

Imagine her surprise, the next day at school when it was like Paulina had suddenly decided nothing had ever happened.

"Val," she said, "I'm so glad you're here."

Valerie raised her eyebrows. "Are you?"

"You bet. You like Ember, right?"

She said nothing.

"Of course you do." Paulina's smile tightened. "I'm willing to give you some of this sweet Ember swag I picked up if you promise to wear it to school tomorrow."

"And what do you get out of it?" Valerie wasn't going to make this too easy for her.

"Val, c'mon. I'm trying to offer you a way back into the A-list."

"What do you get out of it?" Valerie noticed that they had attracted an audience; she kept her features schooled.

"I just . . . Star doesn't like Ember that much, not enough to wear this around me all day."

Ah, so there was the catch. Typical Paulina. Couldn't enjoy herself if she wasn't surrounded by people who met her approval. Valerie felt the temptation to refuse. Make the other girl deal with it. She could stand to have to deal with not getting her way for once.

But she'd missed her.

"Okay," Valerie said. "But don't think I'm not mad at you for ditching me."

Paulina beamed. "We'll talk about that in a few days."

They never did get around to having that talk. Valerie showed up to school in that Ember swag, gave Paulina the attention she so desperately craved, and for a time she was welcomed among the popular kids.

Having it back was something that she barely got to enjoy since it turned out Ember was something of a fake. Valerie struggled to put it into words. But as soon as the teen sensation had shown up at the school, it was like she could think of nothing else. She had even gotten grounded for sneaking out of her apartment to show up at Ember's midnight concert—and it had turned out to be lame, anyway.

Foley singing. Ugh.

As soon as that had been over, Valerie had raced back home, having to take the bus and receiving at least a half hour lecture when she'd returned. Trying to explain herself had left her unable to articulate what had come over her. It was hazy.

Her father had gotten concerned, checked her temperature, had even offered to let her stay home from school. She had declined, insisting that it could not have been so bad.

After the exam, though, she wondered why it was that Foley was apparently the only student who had done well. Something had to have been up with that concert.

And for whatever reason, no one she asked about it seemed to care all that much.

Valerie decided to put it all behind her. If everyone was going to be like that, it was time to go back to focusing on practical matters.

She smirked. Time to dig up some dirt on Axion labs.

Author's Note: Poor Tucker. Valerie is so mean to him. It's not his fault his friend is a jerk who overshadowed him and made him stand up his date. This show makes light of him far too often, comic relief or not.

So, I don't think every chapter will cover the time period of an episode, but Valerie was in this one, for like a second, so I thought I'd cover Fanning the Flames. Oh, and this is one of those episodes that I hate Lancer in. He's only decent in the next one, Teacher of the Year.

As always, all constructive criticism and feedback in general, are appreciated. I'm doing my best to keep this from a vent fic since several of Valerie's tendencies are things I see in several toxic people in my extended family, from the materialism, arrogance, obsession with taking control, etc.