I know it has been a long time, I am very sorry about the wait. College and work have been taking up all of my time for the past couple months. This chapter will be around 1500 words which is about twice as much as I was doing each chapter. For the next month I have a lot more free time so I will try to post at least once a week for the time being.

Wally's POV

"The thing is," I started hesitantly. "I would appreciate it very much if you could be there for Artemis. Her family has already emotionally scarred her and she has no other friends like you, which is why I believe she would be much better off if you would be there for her."

I kept my eyes closed the entire time I was talking in order to prevent myself from crying. "Why can't you be there for her?" Zatanna asked in a confused tone. Her response took me by surprise enough that I opened my eyes to look at her. One look at her face told me everything, Artemis had not even told her about this yet.

"So she seriously didn't tell you?" I fumed. This whole situation was making me so mad! Goddammit! "Look the thing is Artemis and I broke up."

Zatanna was so surprised by the news that she fell out of her seat and landed on the ground. "What do you mean you two broke up?" She cried out. "You two are perfect for each other!"

"You should know about this, it happened a week ago already!" I raged at her.

"What do you mean I should know? Do you think that I'm some sort of mind reader or something? Maybe you shouldn't have done whatever you did!" Zatanna shouted out.

"Yeah, you're right I guess I shouldn't have saved her from drowning in the p…" I started. Before I could answer I felt a sharp pain on my left cheek.

"How could you say that?" She asked. "What the hell is wrong with you? You sound like a complete and total piece of shit right now. Is this the real you then?"

At her words I couldn't help breaking into tears myself. "Do you really think that I would say that?" I asked. "Do I seem like that type of a guy to you? Anyways I wasn't the one who said it…..she did. Also, I am moving on so I won't be hanging around the three of you anymore at school." And with that I took one final look at her face before walking away. I know that I probably shouldn't have mentioned that incident, but now Zatanna knows she's going to have no choice but to stay by Artemis's side. After the long day today I need a shower and then I need to grab a small snack before bed. Things at school were going to start changing and I was basically going to be on my own from here on out at school. Or at least that is what I thought, little did I know that things wouldn't turn out as I had originally planned.

Zatanna's POV

I have been so caught in school and my own drama that I had no idea anything was happening with Artemis. A week went by since she had broken up with Wally and I had no idea. I guess she was trying to put up a front so that I wouldn't worry. It is decided then, tomorrow is Saturday so I'll ask Artemis to hang out so that we can clear the air.

A couple of weeks had gone by and the scene at school was completely different than usual. Instead of Artemis, Dick, Wally, and Zatanna all walking together throughout the halls happy as can be, Wally was noticeably absent. The group itself also looked less than happy as they made their way around school every day. No one knew how or why but it was obvious to everyone in school that Artemis and Wally were no longer a couple.

Wally's POV

Every day for the past two weeks I have been keeping a low profile and staying as far away from Artemis as possible. It sucks that I can't see Dick as much, but it is for the best that I stay away from Artemis. I need some time apart from her so that I can get over her. I was not on board with breaking up, but holding Artemis back wasn't the right move either. Barbara and I have been pretty close as of late due to the fact that we are both going through the same thing. Dick pretty much rejected her even if it was unintentionally whenever he started getting close to Zatanna and because of this Barbara has been keeping her distance. The three of us have been close ever since I started here so I am glad that the two of us are close again.
"Hello? Wally? Are you listening?" Barbara asked with a smile as she pushed my arm with her elbow. No longer lost in thought I looked at her to let her know that she had my full attention. "That's better, I have been trying to talk to you for a couple minutes now but you didn't answer the whole time."

"Oh, sorry that's my bad. I was just deep in thought," I muttered with a sigh. The break up was still bothering me and it was hard not to think about it.

"Anyways," She started with a smirk on her face. "I have a great idea that will suit both of us." Something about the way that she said that along with the look in her eyes told me that she was up to something.

"Alright, my interest has peaked," I answer nonchalantly. Truth be told I was deeply curious about what she had to say but I didn't want her to tease me so I acted like it didn't matter to me.

"Ah come now there's no need to lie to me. I can tell from the look in your eye that you really want to know," She teased. "Well here it is, I know that when you first started here you decided to make a deal with Linda to start dating."

"Yeah, because neither of us had done that before. What of it?" I replied with a confused look on my face. Where was she going with this?

"Well I think we should do the same thing," Barbara requested with a puppy dog look.

"Wait what? You want to date me? You do realize that I just went through a break up and you also indirectly got rejected recently. Neither of us should be in a relationship right now and definitely not together!" I countered while completely baffled. Does she see me like that? Where did this come from?

"Well if you would have let me finish," She chided me. "I was going to say that we should date but it would be just for show. The best way to see if someone likes you is by using jealousy." Once she said that the pieces started to fit together and I was starting to understand what she was saying.

"Oh I get it, so you want to pretend to date me so that Dick will get jealous and realize that he likes you as more than a friend and Artemis will be jealous and try to win me back. Is that what you were saying by all of this?" I reasoned.

"Now you are getting it, do you see how this would be mutually beneficial towards us?" Barbara asked.

"I understand and I agree with the plan. When should we start then?" I inquire. This was definitely something only someone in love could come up with, I couldn't help but feel bad for her. Dick is really missing out, too bad he's too blind to see what is right in front of him.

"Right now," She responded and with that she grabbed my hand to hold it in hers as we walked around the school. Immediately after people saw us a murmur started going around the school. People were wondering why Barbara and I had stopped being part of the original group and now they were putting a story together in their heads. By the end of the day the story was that Barbara left the group first because the two of us were secretly dating and I was only with Artemis because of her standing in the school. However, I decided to stop the facade after she starting to become suspicious and broke off our relationship. Then after all of these events played out the two of us were able to make our relationship public. I am not sure how they came to such a weird and messed up conclusion but one thing is for sure. Artemis, Dick, and Zatanna had all heard the news by now and were all in complete and utter shock. None of them had seen this coming which was exactly what Barbara had been counting on. Now the only thing that was left to do was to make sure to keep up our facade at all costs. Which is why Barbara and I decided that the two of us needed to go on a date over the weekend in public so that Artemis, Dick, and Zatanna would believe our charade.