Pam bit her lip, warmth spreading from her fingertips as they brushed against Harley's. She lingered there, for longer than was necessary to pass the stack of assignment worksheets to her.
Harley averted her eyes, unable to contain her grin, and in her fluster dropped the stack of papers on the ground, resulting in an intense blush and a scramble to her knees to retrieve them.
"Everything alright there, ladies?" Professor Gordon asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Sorry, I—sorry," Harley apologized quickly, gathering the papers up and passing them to Selina in the row behind her, who rolled her eyes in response, more or less tossing them to Bruce after taking her own.
Pam turned to face the front of the room, working very hard to focus on what Professor Gordon was writing on the smart board rather than the fact that her girlfriend loved her. And Pamela loved her back. This was what love felt like. Mutual love. Not unrequited yearning, but mutual, romantic love. How wonderful.
"For this exercise, you'll need to be paired up with a partner, but I want you to break out of your usual cliques to better consider beyond your own experience," Barbara instructed. "Pairings are here," she pointed to what she'd written on the board, and Pam found she'd been partnered with…Jonathan. Ugh.
Pam stole a longing glance at Harley, having been craving an excuse to pull their chairs close to one another. Harley had fared far better in her assignment; she'd get to work with Bruce. Selina, on the other hand, was in a considerably more unfortunate situation.
"We're not doing an enemies to lovers arc, teach, I promise," Selina said, upon seeing Talia's name written beside hers. "Spare us the headache, please."
"Sorry, Ms. Kyle," Professor Gordon said, betraying a bit of humor with her smirk. "My word is law. I expect fireworks."
"Bitch," Selina muttered as she stood, filing to the back of the room to take the seat Jonathan had abandoned when he'd moved to sit beside Pam at Harley's seat, Harley shuffling to Selina's.
"Greetings, earthling!" Jonathan said as he sat down, his worksheet already sweaty in his hand.
"…Hi," Pam offered, resigning herself to at least 15 minutes of suffering.
"Each group has been assigned a poem," Professor Gordon called their attention back to the board. "Your job is to translate it."
"They're all in English," Pam felt the need to point out.
"An apt assessment, Ms. Isley," the professor mocked. "I meant into your own words."
"Does it have to rhyme?" Eddie piped up.
"No."
"…Can it? Rhyme?"
"Dickinson? Seriously?" Selina complained. "I have a long list of people I'd rather be homoerotic with. This is propaganda."
"One, you're pushing it," Professor Gordon warned, pointing her smart pen threateningly in Selina's direction. "And two, they're all Dickinson. Get over yourself."
/
"Hey! Hi, hey!" Harley jogged after Pam, artfully avoiding the other students in the hallway.
Pam slowed to a stop once she'd rounded a corner that shielded them from onlookers. "Hey," she said, working to contain her smile as she tugged Harley close to her by the hand, the action causing Harley to blush.
Harley had no idea how everything Pam did still made her feel so squirrely inside. Like, they'd already had sex and stuff, but Harley still felt like she was jumping off a skyscraper without a parachute every time Pam smiled in her direction. And this exceptional creature. This brilliant, beautiful, nightmare of an overachiever loved her. Loved her back! What the heck? How?! Yeah, actually—,
"Why?"
Pam blinked, confused by the question. "Why…hey?"
"What?" Oh shit! Did I not say that out loud? "Why love me?" please get your shit together. "Do you really—how come you love me?"
Now Pam was more surprised than confused. "Why do I…I love you because…" and lost for words, evidently? "Because you love me. And no one's ever—I've never had my feelings…returned."
Harley couldn't stop her frown. "You…love me because I love you?"
"No!" Pam squeezed her hand, obviously embarrassed. "Sorry, I—sometimes words aren't my strong suit. Not when it comes to…emotions. I—," but rather than continuing, she glanced over Harley's shoulder out into the main hallway, and then grabbed the blonde's face, pulling her into the most passionate kiss Pam had ever given her in a public setting, and Harley melted into her, hands rising to tangle in her red locks.
/
"So, practice at 5 tonight?" Talia asked, slipping her binder into her book bag, watching as Selina shouldered her own.
Selina twisted her backpack around to retrieve a tube of lip gloss from the front pocket. "I'm heading straight there after last period," she said, nonchalantly as she applied it. "I usually try to get a few reps in before you all disappoint me with your inadequacy."
Talia rolled her eyes. "My beam routine scored a 10th higher than yours at state."
"How wonderful for you…" Selina wasn't really listening anymore, she was watching Bruce gather his things to leave, and so Talia did the same…until Selina noticed her wandering attentions. "You can meet me there around 3:30, if you don't have anything better to do. Which I imagine you don't."
Bruce would be a better thing to do…but he was so distracted lately. So caught up in his own head. And doing Bruce would require him to be a willing participant. Extra gymnastics reps with Selina seemed a cruel self-punishment, but she really did want to win nationals.
"Fine," she acquiesced. "I'll be there."
"Great," Selina half-sneered. "Harl, are you—," she stopped herself, seeming to just realize Harley and Pamela had already slipped out of the room. "People in love are fucking nauseating."
Talia laughed out loud at the irony of those words leaving Selina's mouth. She'd looked at Selina and Bruce almost every day since the 8th great and felt the exact same way. "Welcome to the outside, honey."
/
Bruce couldn't decide if he wanted to sit or stand. He also wasn't sure why he felt more affected by the stress of Selina's attempt at athletic achievement than his own. Maybe it was because he lacked control in this situation. There was nothing he could do to help besides be supportive, and so that's what he would be. Regardless of the current strain on he and Selina's relationship, she was his friend. Perhaps his best friend, really, and he couldn't stand another year of disappointment for her. Or Talia, for that matter, although she didn't seem to take failure as personally as Selina did. In this context, anyway. Then again, Talia's father was a lot tougher than Selina's parents were, and he had little idea what happened behind closed doors in the Al Ghul house.
"Here," Pam was suddenly beside him, holding out a bottle of water. "You look like you could use this. Please remember to toss the lid in the garbage and the bottle in the recycling."
Grateful, Bruce took it from her, untwisting the cap to break the seal. "Thanks."
Pamela crossed her arms, leaning against the bleachers to watch the Gotham Prep gymnastics team finish their warmups. "Selina kick you out of the locker room as well?"
"Yes," Bruce chuckled. "Called me a distraction."
"You and me both," Pam smirked.
Bruce just nodded, taking a sip of his water. "Dick and Diana make it?"
"Yes," Pam placed her hand on his shoulder to point out their friends in the bleachers. "They saved us a seat."
The two stood silently for a moment, watching Harley's tumbling pass and then Selina's.
"I'm sorry, Bruce."
Bruce raised an eyebrow, glancing over at her. "For what?"
"I was a willing participant," Pamela admitted. "More than that, actually. But I never wanted what you two had, I just…wanted her, and I knew what I was doing."
Surprised by her honesty, Bruce turned to face his friend fully, though he found he had nothing to say.
And before Pam could add anything else, she was being flagged down by a woman in her mid-30s who had Harley's little brothers in tow.
Pam waved back, wearing that smooth, charming smile she reserved for adults she wanted to impress—teachers and administrators and parents. Not her parents, though. There was less confidence in the smile she practiced for them. "So glad you could make it, Ms. Quinzel," Pam greeted. "I reserved your seats just over there," she pointed to the seats below them, the ones with cushions and backs.
"Oh, don't be silly," Ms. Quinzel waved her off. "You'd have to pay for those ones. We're fine with—,"
"It's already taken care of," Pam assured her, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder. "You deserve a comfortable seat."
"Hey, I remember you!" the middle boy exclaimed, looking at Bruce. "You play football!"
"That's right," Bruce chuckled. "You guys want some popcorn? I can send some down a little later."
"Yes, please," the youngest grinned.
"You kids are so kind," Ms. Quinzel said, a twinkle in her blue eyes—same as Harley's, but heavier, somehow. "I mean all of you. What you've done for my Harleen is such a blessing."
Bruce laughed. "I'm guessing you haven't met Selina yet."
Ms. Quinzel seemed somewhat in on the joke because she smiled with an obvious sense of humor. "I keep asking to."
"If they win, I'll introduce you," Pam offered. "If they lose…I'd recommend a cooling off period of at least 6 months."
/
"—we have to execute. That's all that's required of us," Selina said, kneeling down in front her team. "I promise we have it in us, it will just require every ounce of our focus, so are we here?"
The girls nodded, their eyes clear and jaws tight.
"And you want this as badly as I do, right?"
"Yes," Harley and Talia said in unison, while Cass and Roxy nodded again.
"Thank you," Selina whispered, closing her eyes for a brief moment before standing. "Then let's fucking destroy them."
/
Harley shook her legs out before loosening her shoulders, eventually approaching the tub of chalk to the right of the uneven bars.
As she clapped her hands together, she glanced up into the stands, grinning at her mom and brothers near the front row and then searching for her friends who were seated a little further up. After adjusting her wristbands one last time, she walked to the mat, resisting the urge to point finger guns into the stands and instead presented for the judges.
Execute, motherfucker.
/
Selina watched Harley's leg wobble on the dismount, begging to rebel, but Harley fought hard, avoiding a hop.
"Yes! That's it!" Selina cheered, clapping loudly as the crowd applauded.
Harley raised her arms and jogged back over to the bench with a shit-eating grin that was absolutely deserved.
"I think I mighta killed it!" the blonde giggled, the sound manic with adrenaline.
"Don't hold it against me later, but I fucking love you, Harleen Quinzel," Selina said, taking her hand to help her down off the floor. "Talia, you're next on floor and Roxy's on beam. Please don't fall, Curly Sue, I'm begging you."
Roxy was already sweating. "I really don't want to fall again."
Selina placed both hands on the brunette's shoulders, squeezing as she looked her in the eye. "Then don't."
/
"Selina's parents are here, right?" Dick asked, craning his neck to check the rest of the stands.
"I'm sure they are," Diana assured him. "We have to believe it to be true, if Selina senses doubt, she'll falter."
"I don't totally know what you're talking about, but OK," Dick nodded, facing forward again to watch Roxy conclude her beam routine with only a minor deduction for a missed skill connection.
"Thank God," Pam breathed, relieved beyond belief that Roxy wouldn't again be the reason Selina internally deemed herself inadequate.
"Oh, there they are," Bruce said, nodding down to the entrance where Selina's mom was talking on her cellphone…but at the very least in attendance.
"And so we must applaud the bare minimum," Diana joked.
/
Three routines were standing in the way of a Gotham Prep victory. A stellar floor showing from Selina would put them first in the standings, although Kara Danvers from the National City team would require at least a two tenths deduction on her vault, and that might be pipe dream because that girl could really fly. Ultimately, it would come down to Harley's beam routine, which was her best apparatus, so Selina wasn't terribly concerned.
Doing her part right now was what she needed to be focused on, and focused she was.
Selina took a deep, centering breath, approaching her mark on the floor. She could do this routine in her sleep, but today she'd need to perform it better than she ever had before, and she felt up to the challenge.
Mustering every speck of confidence she had, Selina smiled, letting some of her excited energy slip into her expression, and raised her arms in the direction of the judges. In the spare second before she stepped fully in bounds, her eyes flitted to her friends in the stands—Pam and Bruce sitting next to each other, their expressions austere, every bit as invested as Selina was.
She nodded, subtly, and Pam let a small smile slip through, she and Bruce both returning the gesture.
"Bad girls just like to party!" There was the music cue.
I dwell in possibility, Selina thought as she pulled her left foot onto the mat to join her right one, realizing that she might finally understand poetry.
/
"OK, so half a point in deductions from Danvers puts Harley into 2nd for the all-around and locks us into the top spot, right?" Dick asked, frowning at the scoreboard.
"No," Diana disagreed, pointing to the bar standings. "You forgot to factor the Leslie Willis score into the team all-around. Harley only needs a 14 to pass Selina on the individual podium but needs a minimum of 14.4 to move us ahead of National City."
"And her max score for this routine is…15 flat?" Bruce wondered.
Pam nodded.
"So…if the team wins, Selina has to lose."
/
Harley and Selina stood shoulder to shoulder, watching as the scoreboard was updated to reflect Danvers' vault, Harley chewing her fingernails while Selina's hands were posed on her hips.
The math didn't Selina long. Oh…
Understanding seemed to dawn in Harley soon after. "A 14.4 might be a reach…"
"It's not," Selina said, her eyes refusing to move from the digital numbers. "Not for you."
"They should have scored you higher on bars, it's stupid, they're—,"
"Harley," Selina finally turned to her, taking the blonde's hands in her own. "This is what you came here to do. This is why you're at Gotham Prep. And as team captain, it was my job to deliver you to this moment. Do you understand?"
"I—yeah, I think I do."
