Wally West had a problem. Its name was gym class.
It wasn't as if he had problems with athletics. Oh no, far from it. When you can run around the world a few times in a second and not even be sweating, a few laps around the track pose no problems whatsoever. Unless, of course, you're trying to hide a secret identity. Then you're in trouble.
Because it was elementary school, they didn't really run that much. Maybe a couple laps, probably two or three minutes on an average day, just to warm up. But all the same, most people were panting by the end of the warm up. And sweating. And they were slightly red.
So Wally had a problem, and three options. One, he could run really slow (slow as in behind everyone else-slow is a relative term as a speedster) and people would assume he hadn't taxed himself and therefore wasn't tired. The problem with this plan is Wally had a reputation to uphold. He didn't want to be considered lazy, secret identity or no secret identity.
Two, he could run with the rest of the group and try not to be noticed. The problem with this plan was that it was too obvious. People would notice, and he'd still have the laziness problem. They'd ask him why he wasn't running faster if the current pace didn't tax him.
Three, and probably the most realistic, was he could fake it. He could pretend to be tired and pant and all that. This plan is probably the best, although it had its flaws too. It's hard to pant realistically when you don't need to, and he couldn't exactly control his sweat glands or how red he got.
So Wally had almost solved part of his conundrum. Play it cool and pretend. That is, until the gym teacher, Mrs. Cooney, announced that they would be playing the most stereotypical game ever-dodgeball.
Now more problems spouted. To get out or not to get out? How fast of reflexes should he display? How hard should he throw? Wally sighed. It was going to be a loooong day...
After gym finally got out (Wally thanking his lucky stars he hadn't been discovered yet) it was recess then lunch. Recess was not nearly so hard-just try to avoid all that activities, and there you go. No conundrums, no problems, nothing.
Yeah right. As if anything was ever that simple. Practically as soon as Wally started walking towards the swings-swings were nice and safe, as long as he didn't pump too fast-his best friend Harry Williams walked over. "Hey, Wally? Wanna come play tag? Or is something wrong? You were acting kinda weird during gym..."
Wally groaned inwardly and outwardly plastered a smile on his face. If he didn't do this, Harry's suspicions would be up. If he did do this, Harry's suspicions would be up. A lose-lose situation. Well, might as well spare himself the eternal teasing. He turned around, sprinted the tiniest bit, and tagged Harry. "You're it!" He yelled. The he stopped, grinning at Harry's surprised face. "By the way, who's playing?"
"Me, you, Mary Jane, and practically the whole fourth grade!" Mary Jane was the most tomboyish girl in the school (her actual name was June) and she HATED the nickname, which of course made Harry, the main prankster in the fourth grade, call her it on every possible occasion.
As Harry talked, he ran towards Wally. Wally ran backwards. What fun was superspeed if you couldn't exploit it every now and again? As Harry came nearer, he turned around and loped off, going near June. Harry headed after her instead and Wally headed back towards the swings.
Almost all the tag players forgot about him for the rest of recess, though Harry sent a glare his way. Wally smiled and shrugged, and Harry went back to running away.
When lunch rolled around, something Wally had been looking forward to all day, he had an idea. He was close to the front of the line, so he grabbed his trey, devoured his meal (getting him a few looks, but at this point he didn't care) and asked a teacher if he could go to the bathroom. You weren't really supposed to leave at lunchtime.
No matter. As soon as Wally was sure no one was watching, he sprinted off. First he stopped to grab some money from his house-he was pretty sure his parents wouldn't mind, if they even noticed-before, just for variety, heading to a convenient Cheesecake Factory, grabbing a large meal (leaving the correct amount of money, of course) and eating it on the go.
All in all, it took him about a minute. The teacher raised an eyebrow to see him back so soon. Wally grinned impishly and headed back to seat to listen to the recent gossip.
Well, that was fun. He thought. Yes, even though secret identities occasionally got extremely annoying and it was the reason he was so hungry in the first place, super speed rocked sometimes.
That was his state of mind up until Mr. Irving, his regular teacher, announced that they'd be holding a race next week as a reward for good behavior.
Ha ha. Fun fun. Next, and possibly last, I want to do something about a meeting between Wally, Dick Grayson, and Roy Harper, without them knowing each about each other's 'alter egos'.