We crouched behind the Wayne family store. Me, Pam, Selina and Harvey. Why we were crouching, I can't remember. Wasn't like we were stealing or anything. Bruce was the only one inside and he would never take anything without paying. Besides, his family owned the store, so it really didn't matter either way.

But in any case, we waited in nervous silence, all stressed for different reasons. Selina's hands were twisting in the hem of her shirt, clearly thinking about her cat. Harvey's eyes were darting about the alley, as even the idea of doing something unlawful gave him hives. Pam was pulling her sunhat down as far as she could over her ears and tugging at the cuffs of jacket with her gloved hands. How Pam could stand to wear all that clothing in this heat, I had no idea, but I'd known her my whole life and had never seen any of her skin below her neck. She was on high alert, baking under the unrelenting sun. I was sitting with my back against the store, my attention alternating between my friends and the dirt. I remember feeling real guilty about this whole thing. Wishing I'd told somebody about Jack's refrigerator earlier. But honestly, I was scared, and wasn't totally sure if killing animals was against the law anyway, so I'd just tried my best to forget about it.

This was my reckoning.

I wasn't the smartest member of the group. Not even close. Wasn't the richest either. Or the most interesting. Wasn't the most anything. But if I could lead this journey, if I could help bring back Isis safe and sound, I could be a hero for once.

Bruce rounded the corner with two grocery bags. "Alright. I've got enough food to last us today and tomorrow, just in case we have to camp out."

"No, no, I can't camp out," Pam was quick to protest. "My parents would never let me go outside again."

"They're gonna put a padlock on your door the minute you don't come home from school, Pam," Selina reasoned. "A few extra hours or even an extra day isn't gonna make it any worse. Let's go."

Bruce stuffed the food into his pack, and he Selina and Harvey started for the main road. Pam stayed behind, paralyzed, it seemed.

"Hey…" I moved closer to her, keeping my voice low. "It's OK, Pammy. Like I said, it's only 8 miles. We'll be back by tonight."

Pam looked at me, real fear in her eyes, and said, "Do you swear?"

"I swear."

"Swear on your mother's name even if it means she goes to hell?"

I cracked a half smile. A reassuring one. "Pinky swear, Red. You have my word."

At 13, a pinky swear was more powerful than swearing on the bible, or any other good book, for that matter. Pam understood my sincerity, and so she grabbed her pack and slung it over her shoulder, adjusting her hat one last time before following the others.

"Hurry up, Harl! You've gotta lead the way!" Selina shouted back at me. "We don't know where we're going!"

She was right! I was the leader!

I hurried to get in front of them, starting at a deliberate pace towards the woods.

Jack had a car, so the trip with him had gone by in a flash. But I figured that if we followed the train tracks, we'd get there eventually. Even if it took all day.

We were all quiet for the first mile, though there was a somber melody in our footsteps on the wood of the train tracks.

"Hey, Selina," I was the first to speak—I'd never been comfortable in silence. My mom told me to shut up a lot. "Where did you get Isis, anyway?"

"She was living under my first foster home back in Gotham," Selina answered, while kicking a rock. "Under the back porch. She was just a kitten. I think maybe her mama forgot about her or something, because she was the only one down there."

"And your foster parents let you keep her?"

"Shit no," Selina scoffed. "That's why I ran away. I loved her the moment I saw her, there was no way I was giving her up to live in some stuffy house with people that weren't even my real parents."

We all knew not to ask about what happened to her real parents, so I resisted the urge to, even though I desperately wanted to know.

"My little sister has a cat," Harvey spoke up, though his delivery lacked confidence for some reason. "She likes it a lot."

We were quiet for a while longer, our footsteps again punctuating the silence.

"…I have two dogs," I offered.

Bruce said, "I have one." And we all kept walking.

After another mile, Pam began to run out of steam. I knew because even though she was our caboose, I could hear her labored breathing all the way from where I was making the pace at the front of the procession.

"I need…I need…"

"Hold up, hold up!" Bruce shouted, stopping me and the others and circling back for Pam. "What's the matter, Pamela?"

"Need—need water," Pam wheezed. She was already drenched in sweat. Harvey was too, but that was just because his hair oil made it impossible for any heat to escape his head. Pam's plight was a little more sympathetic.

Bruce tore his canteen off his shoulder like he was a medic and opened the cap so swiftly he spilled a little of its contents into the dirt. Pam drank greedily, her face beet red. Though, I supposed red was better than green. At least in Pam's book.

Harvey's hands were on his hips. "You're gonna have to take that jacket off eventually."

"Not on your life!" Pam paused her gulping to snap back at him. "I just…I just need a little break."

"We didn't get to finish lunch," Bruce pointed out. "Maybe some food would do us all some good."

Selina was beside herself at the suggestion. "Isis is in trouble, Bruce! We don't have time for that!"

"What good's it gonna do Isis if Pam dies on the way there?" Bruce countered, in a decidedly bold move.

Pam coughed, that kind of cough that sometimes preceded vomit. "I'm not—I'm fine."

Selina deflated, Pam's half-hearted defense a better argument than Bruce's attempt at reason. She looked up the tracks, and then back down at her friend whose sweat was now dripping into the dirt. "OK," she acquiesced. "We get some food in us, drink some water, and then we don't stop again until we're at least half way there. Deal?"

I nodded, even though the question hadn't been for me.

Pam nodded too, as did Bruce and Harvey, and we all left the tracks for the grass beside them.

"I brought those cookies you like, Harl," Bruce said, offering me a bag of the freshly baked chocolate chip ones I'd tried to steal from his store the summer before. He never brought that up with me. Just brought me those cookies whenever he could.

I grinned, plopping down criss-cross-apple-sauce and taking the baggie from him. "You want one, Pammy?"

"I'm allergic to wheat," the redhead mumbled.

Harvey rolled his eyes. "You're allergic to everything."

"I am not!"

"You're literally allergic to the sun."

"I'm allergic to that horse piss you call cologne, Harv," Selina interjected, giggling at her own joke.

Bruce cracked a smile, and I couldn't help myself. "I think I got black lung breathing in the fumes from your hair spray."

"Ah, screw you guys." Harvey shoved my shoulder, flipping Selina off with his other hand. "You're just jealous."

"Your mama ever complain about you hoggin' her bathroom?" I asked with a snort.

"Hey now, hey now," Bruce had evidently decided that crossed a line. "His mama's a sore subject…ever since she caught him beating off in—,"

"Shut up!" Harvey tackled him into the dirt and the rest of us howled with laughter.

Well, not Pam. But she cracked a smile, which was as close as she ever got to laugher. She used to giggle at the stupid stunts I'd do for her. Fall out of a tree…trip over my laces on purpose…but she didn't really laugh anymore since the doctor had come and left. I missed her giggle. And I knew she'd get it back someday. It would just take time. Everything takes time. That's the best lesson I ever learned, I think, and it wasn't one that came easily. But I learned it for me and I learned it for us.

Eventually.