Author's note: Thanks for the very kind words in reviews. I'm as much of a praise whore as anyone else. It might be some time before I add another chapter. I wrote 1, 5 and this one and filled in the others. I've got a last paragraph but I'm not sure how I'll get there.

Wally's mind raced that night thinking about the interview for the next several hours. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! Who'll speak to me? One of them? A couple? All of them? What'll they ask? What should I say? Should I bring anything else with me? He felt like ultra hyper Wally of the end of 5th and start of 6th grades, barely able to control his newly super speed infused body.

But he was almost 15 now, a young man not just a kid. Deep breaths!. Deep breaths, he reminded himself. Relax your muscles. Relax every muscle. Feel the looseness go all the way out to your fingertips and to your toes. Ahhhhh. He let his thoughts roll on. Will I . . will I have to prove my speed to them, give them a demonstration? Nah. That's silly. Cyborg saw me doing recon at the Jump City College Xinothium storage facility. He knows what I can do. But what will they want? What am I supposed to do at a-at a job interview? There was only one solution to literate Wally.

He changed into his Kid Flash uniform and super sped to the library and its business books section. There were 3 books totally or partially about job interviews. From 11:10:00 pm to 11:10:05 pm, job applicant Kid Flash read them. He read them over again a few seconds later and again a minute after that. Now, he felt like he really had a handle on how to comport himself. He felt like he would go into the interview with all the savvy of a high powered middle aged corporate exec.

The next day was the last day of school. But for Wally, with the prospect of becoming a Teen Titan, it wasn't just the last day of 8th grade. It might be his last day of school ever, at least of that kind of school. He was lost in thought on this subject all during the raucous bus ride in to school. I have nothing to lose, he realized. Nothing at all.

He went off in his very first class. First, Mrs. Levy gave everyone their final grades in honors english. She went from desk to desk talking to students, pointing to a grade on a sheet of paper with all of them listed after checking her book to see what the next student was getting. She finished with Mary Wohlers and walked to Wally's desk pointing at A+ with her pen before looking at his face for the expected smile. She saw no smile. She saw anger. "Wally, what's the matter? You couldn't get a better grade". He said nothing. After finishing with the last few students, Mrs. Levy started a lecture on Shakespeare. At least, she tried to start a lecture on Shakespeare.

"Allright, class. I know there're only 40 minutes more of 8th grade english for you-"

Some of the boys clapped and whistled.

"-but how about we have one more class. I want to talk about Shakespeare and his-"

"No"

"-and his, um, excuse me, Wally but sit down, about Shakespeare and his-"

"No"

"Wally! Sit down." she said plaintively. But he looked oddly energized standing there beside his desk. She had an inkling that he wouldn't listen.

"No. I've had enough. That's it. No more lectures. No more . . no more any of this crap. Whose idea was this?" he asked holding his arms out as if gesturing not to the room even but the whole school. "Whose idea was this that in 2005 we should be doing this? This is insane!" he nearly shouted and the class broke down largely on the basis of gender with boys grinning and girls looking at him nervously but grade grubber boys and grrls switching sides. "This-this whole stupid arrangement was invented in the 19th century to prepare kids to stand by a damn machine in a mill all day long bored out of their minds while making sure the power loom stayed on track. I read about it. This doesn't make any sense any more and probably didn't then, either."

"Wally, why are you so upset. You got the best grade in-"

"I don't CARE about my grade! Didn't that get across from the fact that I dress like this and don't write the things that all of us know you want to read in our essays and don't try and suck up to you like him and him and her and her" he said pointing to the obsequious teacher's pets in the class. The boys were smirking and chuckling and clapping with every line now.

"Wally, what's the matter?" said Mrs. Levy trying to stave off complete anarchy.

"What's the matter is this stupid system we follow out of habit flushes down a rat hole the tremedous energy we all have."

"You have energy?" shot back one of the girls he'd identified as a suckup. "That's a laugh. You sit there practically comatose every day and have to be called on three times before you notice"

He nodded as some kids laughed. "That's right. But I'd love to feel engaged in what we're doing. I'd love to be reading something in here that really interests me. But whether or not anything we talk about interests us is somehow irrelevant here. Why? We're not 6 year olds. We're 14 and 15. We're people with fascinations and predilections and manias for things that, if the system allowed us to follow we'd do three times as much work on as we did on this crap we were forced to read"

"Now, Wally, I have a degree of sympathy for you, with your background but crap?"

"My background?" he sighed angrily. "What's that got to do with anything? I'm poor. So what? Did our reading choices interest any of the other guys in class? How 'bout it guys? Let's see a show of hands. Did anyone want to read any of the books assigned to us?"

Mrs. Levy looked around the room. Some of the boys laughing and smirking at his rant not only didn't raise their hands. They leaned over to touch their palms to the floor. She looked, hopefully, to the two boys he'd identified as suckups. But even to them, this seemed to provide an interesting opportunity. One sat on his hands. Levy turned to the other. "It was all girl crap" he muttered and grabbed the steel tube of the desk frame as the boys broke into whoops and cheers. Even him!

"Hey, I didn't like the junk we read either" said one of the grrls. "Don't put it all off on us" Other girls jumped in as well, taking shots at the things they read. The girl who'd fired back at Wally was going to say something in defense of Emily Dickinson and the other readings but feared all the other kids would gang up on her and kept her mouth shut.

"And what's with all the stupid training wheels reading? God! What does this symbolize? What does that symbolize? Enough with the effing symbolism and the foreshadowing and spoon feeding to us themes and what every story's supposed to mean. Just let us read stories that interest us. Let us put ourselves into our work. We can do better. Just let us."

"Yeah!" the boys and then girls too broke into shouts and cheers. The teachers from the rooms on either side of that one came to the doorway to check and see if everything was okay. They were surprised to see Wally West in the front of the class and Mrs. Levy seated off in a corner but she told them it was allright.

Wally went on to his next class and gave Mr. Hopkins, the history teacher both barrels as well, with the same result. All the simmering resentments the kids in class had exploded to the surface and Hopkins sat stunned while Wally West and occasionally Wally's former friend, Aaron, told him all the things they thought were wrong with his class and the school in general.

On the way to his third period study, Wally was being cheered in the hallway like a liberating revolutionary. When he got to his fourth period class, the teacher looked at him coming through the doorway as though Wally might produce an Uzi from under his floppy shirt and shoot him. Wally led the charge against the way Mr. Campbell slavishly followed the chemistry book and his other faults but there were a dozen other kids ready to jump in now. Campbell was reduced to looking skittishly around the room and apologizing.

Fifth period was Mrs. Corcoran's pre-calculus class and the word had obviously gone out through the staff room by this point. She looked at Wally as though he was a wild beast who might leap to her desk and then rip her jugular from her throat at any moment. The school's vice principal walked in before class began and took the empty seat behind Wally's.

"I hope you don't have another little demonstration in mind, Mr. West"

"Oh, I do sir" said Wally cheerily and he smirked at the vice principal recoiling slightly. Class began with Mrs. Corcoran always keeping an eye on Wally. Kids were giggling in anticipation. She made one open ended remark about feedback and Wally stood up. He detailed all the ways that he thought her class could be improved.

"Get out of here! You're done for the day, mister" said the vice principal pointing to the door. Wally did as told, walking to the door but excessively slowly, getting another two minutes to complain about the general nature of the school and how classes were run. Kids clapped and cheered as he was led out by the vice principal. In the hallways, kids came peeking out of doorways as Wally went past.

"Give it to da man, West!" shouted one kid so that it could be heard down the hall and this was met with laughter and more shouts so that kids were coming from every room as he passed now, on the way to his locker. While he walked, Wally tried to engage the vice principal in a debate on how the school ran but the man didn't even try to hold up his side of things. He only growled a few commands to get going. "Anyone hear him defend all this? Did any of you?" laughed Wally as the vice principal pulled him along down the hallway. At the doorway out the building, the vice principal gave him a shove with a score of kids just over his shoulder and noted "This will all go on your record, West"

"You know what you can do with that record" said Wally to cheers and laughter before spinning around and walking home. What a catharsis. How he hated that place. Even if just for half a day, to speak up about what a waste of human potential it was felt great.

Wally smiled all the way home, but had already moved on in his thoughts. School was the past. The Teen Titans were the future. He was in his Kid Flash uniform in his room at home at 8 the next morning. The excitement was too much. He couldn't stand to still be in his baggies and knit. He ran through, in his mind, all the advice of the business books, again. But he didn't feel 100 sure of how to handle a few things. He vibrated through the wall of his bedroom and sprinted to the library at super speed. The library wasn't open yet but he just vibrated through their walls, too. He found the 3 books he wanted and took a few seconds to read them again. He sighed with satisfaction. Okay. I've got this nailed.

He did some light patrolling, really not much more than pleasant sightseeing of the region and arrived 10 minutes ahead of the appointed time. He was buzzed inside and sped up the stairs to the 11th floor lobby as instructed, brimming with confidence that he knew how to handle this situation. He slowed at the 11th floor door and entered the lobby at normal speed and took a deep breath. There, waiting for him were Robin and Raven. He shook Raven's hand first.

"Thank you for giving me some of your time" he said.

She just nodded.

He took a step to one side and said the same thing to Robin. They shook hands, red and green gloves both squeezing as hard as they could. Their eyes met.

Hate.

Maybe it wasn't quite hate, perhaps strong antipathy or unmistakable mutual dislike. All Wally's plans suddenly evaporated. He felt unsteady on his feet. What I can do for the organization! What my skills are! How my skills will make your other employees better! How I can grow with the company! And more, it all disappeared in a split second. He did not like Robin. Robin did not like him. It was absolutely certain on both sides. It was just one of those things. Maybe he was making the same face back at Robin, the uptight jerk, the same slight narrowing of the eyes and odd downturn of the mouth. He wasn't sure. He'd lost all his bearings.

Wally tried to recover his composure from the realization that one of the two people who would determine his fate was against him. He followed them into a conference room off the lobby and sat down at a long rosewood table as directed. The room was silver and navy blue, the predominant Tower color scheme. The chair in which he was directed to sit could have fit three of him, it was so much wider than his hips. He felt small. Robin and Raven sat opposite him. Their chairs seemed higher than his adding to the feeling. And Robin pressed a button on a control. Horizontal blinds opened behind them letting the sun shine from behind them at him.

In a pattern that continued throughout the interview, Raven said nothing but looked questioningly at her teammate. He gave a very small nod.

"Well" began Robin. "We get a lot of applications. You'd be surprised how many people think they're good enough to be a Titan. At least you had a Justice Leaguer's reference. Why do you think you're good enough?"

Wally tried to ignore his dislike of Robin's scratchy voice and took a deep breath. "I-I hope I'm good enough. I mean, I think I can help the team. It um, it was very um kind of Flash to send a recommendation letter"

"Why do you think you're good enough?" repeated Robin through clenched teeth.

"Um, well, I-I have an ability, super speed that is, that is, um, very rare I-"

Looking at Robin was disconcerting to him. He couldn't get past the intensity of their mutual feeling of dislike. Robin's expression might have been considered neutral. But there were all sorts of little markers of hostility. Eyes slightly narrowed, brows slightly knit, jaw clenched, muscles flexing. He decided to speak to Raven instead. While not looking sympathetic or friendly at all, she at least seemed impartial. There was an odd quality to her gaze, so intense that it seemed like she was seeing to the very core of him but it was certainly preferable to Robin's which didn't want to see any of him.

"-I think I'm one of um only two people who have it. There are other speedsters but not like Flash and me. I can run across the country and back, east coast to west coast to east in under a minute. In addition to being able to do anything at super speed, I can vibrate my molecules and pass through solid objects. I can vibrate my molecules in a different way and make the object that I pass through explode with kinetic energy a moment later. I can be a terrific recon guy for a team. If a call comes in about a location in Jump City, I can speed out of the tower and circle the area a dozen times and report back before anybody else has even left the tower"

"Do you have any experience working with a team?" Robin sniffed dismissively.

Kid Flash's mouth opened but nothing came out. Why is he angry with me? Again, Kid Flash had to look at Raven to answer. "Um, well, no, not a team like the Titans. But I have worked with Flash and I recently worked with Speedy and Cyborg to stop the apparent Brotherhood of Evil scheme to steal Xinothium from Jump City College."

"What are your weaknesses?"

"Um, well, " he turned to Raven again. "I wish my stamina was a bit better. If I'm exhausted I can't super speed and I'm vulnerable. I-I fight pretty well-"

Robin let out an unimpressed sniff. Kid Flash glanced at him.

"-pr-pretty well but just through using super speed. I-I really should take some martial arts training"

"Why haven't you if you know that's what you need?"

"My-my family doesn't have the money for that sort of thing"

"Can you prove that?"

"Pr-prove that we don't have money? I-I'm not sure how I'd . . "

"Oh wait" said Robin flipping through a thick file and producing an eight and a half by eleven copy of a tax assessor's photo of the extremely modest West home. "Is this where you live?"

"Yes. That's where I live with my family"

"We'll take your word about no money"

Kid Flash clenched his jaw as he slowly exhaled staring at Robin. You fucking bastard.

Again, Robin got a questioning look from Raven. Again, he nodded and continued.

"Well, have you done anything to improve your skills aside from simply using them. Did you make any effort to augment them?"

"I read a library" Wally answered. "I mean, I read all the books in the local City library"

"That's impossible. Don't make ridiculous claims"

"It's not impossible! I-I did"

"That library has 25,000 books. At 300 pages a book and 3 minutes a page it would've taken you . . fif . . teen . . thousand-"

"Six hundred twenty five days. Just short of 43 years"

Robin's expression only slightly changed at Kid Flash doing the math even quicker than him.

"But it would only take that long for someone experiencing normal time. I-I could leave this room between your pronouncing two syllables and experience what would seem like a week's time between your saying "im" and "poss" in the word impossible. The term Flash used was 'subjective time frame'. At super speed, my time frame isn't the same as everyone else's and I can do things that normally take a week while everyone else is blinking. I don't mean to brag. It's fascinating, especially at first, but it's a bit lonely too. Anyways, I read all those books to help out in my patroling to know science and history, armaments and utilities and everything else that I could that would help. It-it made school even harder to deal with, though, even more boring"

"Ah, your school record"

"You have my school record?"

"Yes, we do" said Robin flipping past pages of school photos of little orange haired Wally, past california achievement test results always in the 98th or 99th percentile and past exemplary grades to comments from teachers under the most recent picture, him in a red and yellow knit hat, orange hair completely covered. The comments in the elementary school section had been pretty boring. "Wally's very rambunctious but essentially a good boy". Somewhere around the end of fifth grade and beginning of sixth there was a change. "This boy fidgets at 100 mph! You have to see it to believe it. Ritalin!", "This boy is the reason ritalin was invented. Highest dose allowed by law, please!", "I think I need to take ritalin just for having watched this boy 45 minutes each day!" and "Still a good boy but something is physically off with Wally!". But there was nothing in the record of him ever having taken a single pill. Despite that, a year or so later they all start commenting about him as "withdrawn" and "unaccessible". "Went from caffeinated to comatose" said one teacher. "Never seen a boy change like this!" says another. But his grades stayed up or even got better even as the comments got worse.

"And I have to say that your record of character there is . . um . . spotty." Robin told him with a faint smile.

Wally pleaded his case to Raven. "I-I've always been bored at school. It's always been too easy but-"

"Do you have to be 'sullen and distant' because it's easy?"

"Excuse me?"

Robin read from teacher comments in Wally's file. "Wally is sullen and distant and shows only minimal interest in anything at Junior High". He picked up another sheet. "This is from a gym teacher. 'Very uncoordinated and unable to function at all as part of a team"

"That's not fair" Wally pleaded to Raven. "I mess up on purpose in gym class so that no one suspects that I'm Kid Flash"

"Is that why you're quote 'hostile to the point of complete disrespect' unquote according to another teacher?"

"I dont' know which teacher said that but I don't think I've been hostile or-or sullen. Maybe distant but-"

Robin chuckled. "So, you'll admit to distant but not sullen"

Wally sighed. "I admit that my attitude could be better. I admit that I'm not friendly at school. But I'm not . . hostile. It's unpleasant for me, extremely unpleasant at times but I control myself. Hell, I-I got a serious hazing leaving school last week and I didn't beat them up at super speed or take off at mach 3. I took all this paddling and crap because my civilian identity would"

"You know that if you were living here you'd be more cut off from your family and friends"

Kid Flash quickly nodded. "The demands of patroling have driven my friends away, for the most part anyway. At least here I could talk about what I do with someone else"

"And if you live here you'll have to stay away from drugs" said Robin. He pressed a button on the control and the blinds closed. The wall to Wally's right opened to reveal a 42 inch plasma tv screen. Wally was stunned. Drugs? Me? What-what footage is this going to be?

"This is you, isn't it?" said Robin and not well enough lit footage played that Wally still immediately recognized. It was the area outside the rave he'd been to in March. There he was in his ultra baggies, gray shirt and dark red knit beside Zach and Khalid.

"Biometric measurements are a wonderful thing"

"I don't deny it. Yes, that's me . . and . . two friends . . it was one of the last times we did something together before my patroling pushed those guys away, too. They saw that I was feeling down about my-my family"

"Were you still feeling down after this?" smiled Robin and the footage played to show someone giving Wally a pill that Wally quickly swallowed.

"How often have you taken ecstasy West?" demanded Robin as the lights came back on and the blinds reopened permitting the sun to shine in his eyes.

"I took that one pill that one time. I didn't even know at first. That's all, that one time. I don't drink or smoke. I had 4 beers once, wine another time and smoked a joint with 3 other people once but that was months and months ago."

"You'd take a drug test?"

"Yes"

"You know that what you did was illegal?"

Wally sighed. "My friends gave me a pill that they thought would make me feel better. I only realized afterward that it was ecstasy. I-I'm surprised that's not sort of under the radar screen. How'd you get that footage anyway? Why would somebody bother to film that?"

"We put your biometrics into the computer and searched versus any recorded footage. There was a federal investigation of ecstasy trafficking that included filming that rave you attended"

Just jealous because you're too much of a stiff to dance, thought Wally to himself.

"We've also got information from your file from the city police, West." chuckled Robin. "They really don't like you, do they?"

"That's not true. I get along great with almost every officer I've met. But there are two captains in something called a meta-human task force with whom I had an argument. They explicitly said that their intention is to get people like us, as well as villains, out of the city"

"That's not what this report says. It says you were disrespectful and belligerent. Kinda sounds like hostile and sullen, again, doesn't it?"

"Was it signed off on by officers Colavito and Strickland. Those guys were there, too and I've worked on cases with them. They wouldn't sign off on a lie like that. It was just an argument."

"Yup. Colavito and Strickland" ad-libbed Robin just to see his reaction. Kid Flash slumped back in his chair open mouthed.

"Oooooookay, West" chirped Robin, a smile at the corners of his mouth as he stood up and extended a hand. "Don't call us, we'll call you"

It's over? That's-that's it? Kid Flash could barely make himself rise in response. He limply shook Robin's hand, the green glove now almost crushing the red glove. "Thank . . thank you for your time" he offered not looking him in the eyes. He shook hands with Raven as well, thanked her and shuffled to the door.

He stepped out into the lobby where Beast Boy was waiting, pacing.

"Hey! Kid Flash! So they were doing your interview?"

"Yeah"

"How'd it go, dude?"

"It's-it's hard to say with these things" said Kid Flash unable to make eye contact. "Excuse me, please, I-I've got to go"

He sped off down the stairwell and then across the water to Jump City.

B O O M !

A tremendous sonic boom followed him because he chose not to vibrate his molecules to prevent it the way he normally would. It was like a customer peeling out as he left the parking lot of a business that had mistreated him. He stopped at a state park observation area across the water and looked back at Titans Tower, screaming "Damn!" at the top of his lungs. "Damn!" he repeated and he paced back and forth swearing a blue streak, many of the epithets interspersed between the words "boy" and "wonder".

Beast Boy heard the sonic boom and snickered. "But sometimes it's easy to say how it went"

Robin emerged from the conference room, file in hand, trailed by an agitated Raven.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" said Robin blandly and continuing to walk on before Raven tugged at his shoulder.

"Talk about hostile! Have you met him before?"

"No"

"Are you sure?"

Robin chuckled. "I think I would remember a kid with orange hair and that attitude?"

"What attitude?"

"It's subtle. It's in the way he carries himself or at least how he did till the interview"

"Oh. So, you were putting him in his place?"

"Dudes!" Beast Boy interrupted. "How bad was this?"

"He was completely unfair to our orange haired applicant" said Raven turning to him. "He disliked him from the second he met him"

"It just happens sometimes. It wasn't planned"

"It happens with every animal" offered Beast Boy.

"He dislikes me, too, doesn't he?" asked Robin in defense.

Raven sighed. "Yes. It completely threw him. He had other things he wanted to say to us and never did because you wouldn't let him be at ease. You just had to keep chipping away at him"

"He should keep his cool better"

"The Flash and Cyborg say he keeps his cool fine on missions. But a kid ten days short of 15 probably hasn't been to many job interviews. And what was that cheap shot with the picture of his family's home"

"It was evidence" Robin said trying to sound innocent.

"What was this, dude?" Beast Boy asked of Robin, but Raven answered.

"He made fun of Kid Flash by showing a picture of his family's dilapidated little home. That was low."

"It was corroborative"

"It was cheap! He's poor. And he's embarassed about it. And you rubbed his face in it"

"Dude! You made fun of the kid because his family's poor?"

"I-I . ." Robin tried to regain his composure. Was I really that bad?

"Lying to him about what was in his police file!" she shook her head. "And that thing about the rave?" she continued shaking her head.

"Dudes! He's a raver? That's so cool!" chuckled Beast Boy and he searched for a play on words to do about her name but let it drop to watch their argument.

"He did something illegal"

Raven sighed. "You didn't tell him that you had the FBI's lip reading transcript of every word he said on camera and that it went like this-" she said snatching the file from Robin's hand and flipping through to a sheaf of stapled pages. "Oh, you already highlighted it. Good. So we know that you knew exactly how innocent his use of ecstasy was-"

"Ecstasy! Dudes! Kid Flash uses ecstasy!"

"He claimed he's only used it once and I judge that he was being completely truthful. Here's how it went, Beast Boy" she said holding the transcript out and reading it. "Subjects numbers 36, Clash shirt, 37, orange hair and 38, shirt with message in farsi, approached the tent where target's employee was selling the product. 37 and 38 continued past to urinate near the embankment. 36 started to follow but quickly entered the tent, presented a bill to target's employee and left with approximately 6 pills. 36, 37 and 38 walked back toward the warehouse entrance and spoke with their backs to the camera for a minute, then turned toward the parking lot.

37: It's my stomach

38: I thought you said it was your head?

37: Allright, allright. It's a-a family thing. Sorry. I'm kinda wound up about it

36: Well you can't be all depressed at a rave, dude. Here, try this? (offering ecstasy pill)

37: What's that?

36: Just a pep pill.

37: Zach. I can't have caffeine. I get nutty, there's something um funny about my metabolism. I-

36 Relax. It's a caffeine-less pep pill. Gingko or garlic or something

37: (taking pill and swallowing) okay. Thanks

"Oooooo. Real dangerous intent there, Robin. Regular orange haired french connection that number 37, huh?"
"It was still illegal. If any of us took ecstasy, even just once, it'd be illegal, too"

Beast Boy's eyes went wide. He looked to the ceiling and whistled briskly.

A flummoxed Robin continued. "The-the point wasn't to pin him on the charge of one harmless use of a pill-"

"One use? Completely harmless!" seconded Beast Boy with a dramatic "safe" gesture of his arms.

Robin looked at him as he tried to regain his train of thought. "The-the point was to see if he would tell the truth. I thought he was evasive"

"Evasive? He told you the truth"

"But he tried to minimize it"

"One use. Completely harmless!" repeated Beast Boy.

"You didn't want him to have a chance" said Raven. "You showed all the interpersonal abilities you attribute to Batman in there" she said and walked off.

Robin wanted to retort but his voice caught in his throat. He was left looking confused in the lobby beside Beast Boy who leaned toward him before leaving. "Completely harmless!" he whispered.

Kid Flash went home and lay on the bed in his civilian uniform replaying everyone's words in his head over and over. He got a brief diversion from mowing a neighbor's lawn. As he left, the neighbor asked if there was something wrong. He said he'd never seen Wally do the job so slowly. Wally thanked him He trudged back home and another thought occurred to him. He would be part of the same school system next year, the school system that saw him as a dangerous revolutionary. This will all go on your record, West. Damn. Half the teachers'll go out of their way to slap me down. Damn. Worse than getting cheated on his grades was the prospect of another year of mind numbing lectures. Oh god. He let his head fall limply backward as he walked along.

He went from putting the mower away in the garage back to his room. He tried to work up some enthusiasm for The Abstract of Physical Security Systems or The Forensic Ballistics Handbook but couldn't. All he could think of was the interview. Don't call us, we'll call you. You motherf . . ! That's just rubbing my face in it. That's spiking the ball in my face and then doing a touchdown dance. Don't call us, we'll call you! Why not just do a riverdance jig on my application form? Why not just cut the application into 3 inch wide strips and tape them to the end of a roll of toilet paper and put it in the public bathroom at the tower, while you're at it. Don't call us, we'll call you!

He forced a sigh again, trying to calm himself but it just wouldn't happen. He considered pulling on his red and yellow and patrolling to burn off all the anger he was feeling but decided that this could actually be one of those times like that fake blond woman, Captain Doyle, had referred to, of him going out patrolling in a terrible mood and doing something wrong.

He had no appetite and barely ate at dinner, only five bowls of cereal, before retreating back to his room and staring at the ceiling some more. The process had advanced to his reproaching himself now as he beat himself up for every stammer, every disconnected phrase or poor choice of response.

"I-I hope I'm good enough" he mocked his own words by pronouncing them in a girlish sing-song cadence. "You frigging idiot. Maybe you should hope to be smart enough and for, doggone it, people to like you too while you're at it! How could I say something so frigging weak as an opening line! Good thing you read those three books you idiot. Couldn't have come up with a leadoff statement like that without lots of prep, yessirree! And um . .um . . um . . um . . um . . um . . ! I must've sounded like a stuttering fricking moron."

Beside himself, he had renewed anger at Robin. Hair gel jockey. Probably gets it the same place as the guy in There's Something About Mary! "We'll take your word about no money" and that smile. That effing smile! God! What a pathetic little prick! He snarled out 6 and 7 epithet prefixes for the boy wonder. "And miss debutante ball mask or whatever the hell that is, turning up his nose at my fighting ability! I'll show you fighting ability if you ever cross me you asshole. See how weak your kung fu looks going against super speed you asshole! I'll give you a hundred hooks from each fist in a second, miss fighting snob." He imitated the little sniffing sound Robin had made when he'd said he was a good fighter. We'll see if the doctors can find enough to wire together for a jaw for you if you fight me"

He calmed a bit with a sigh and considered some more implications of this. Four more years of living here. Four more years of little brat sis. Four more years of Mom and Dad's indifference. Four more years of being made fun of for where I live. Four more years of not being able to tell most any of the people around me about what's really happening in my life. Ugh. He felt flattened, as though he'd been dropped from a high building.

He recalled the thought that had been running through his head all the previous evening, the hope that Jinx would call so he could share his excitement about the upcoming interview and just to hear her voice. His wish was completely the opposite now. Please don't let Jinx call me now. Please. Not now. I'll look like the weakest lamest wimp if I have to talk to her now. I'm supposed to be strong for her and help her make a transition to a better life and here I am, crushed.

He turned the situation around, upside down and over and over looking at it from every side and all possible implications of it till he absentmindedly looked over at his cracked in half clock radio. 11:45. He glumly pulled off all his clothes and slipped under the covers. He realized his eyes were getting watery as he stared up and decided that the strongest thing to do was to just let it happen. So, he lay there a while feeling salty tears run down his cheeks onto his pillow. The only way there was to make everything work and now it's impossible. What the hell do I do now? I don't know how much more of this life I can take.

He stared idly out the window at the stars, feeling out of place beneath such a beautiful night sky.

Over in one second. The moment we met. How ridiculous is that?

While he was looking out the window, he heard a sound from outside and then saw Empress, the neighbor's little abyssinian land in the open window before jumping down onto his bed and then walking to sit in a low pose atop the fastest boy alive's bare chest, purring furiously. Wally pet her under her chin and then behind her whiskers, atop her head and down her back.

"Oh, Empress, girl. I didn't want to leave you. You didn't bribe Robin with some nip to turn me down, did you, Empress, huh, Empress?"

PurrrPurrrPurrrPurrrPurrrPurrrPurrrPurrrPurrrPurrr

"Not gonna talk huh? A wise choice when being interrogated by a superhero detective type like Kid Flash"

The cat lay down contentedly on his chest, luxuriating in the warmth of the speedster's body. For minutes, Wally stared at it. Empress didn't know that he was poor, didn't know that his parents didn't have any love at all for him, didn't know how stupid school was, didn't know that some of the cops didn't want to give him credit for his work or what a jerk Robin with his fem glued on mask was. The idea that the importance of these things was optional pleased Wally. He bunched up the old quilt at both sides of his body to try and keep himself in place as he slept and let Empress stay atop him.