Disclaimer: I don't own Batman Beyond, the Flash, or any of the D.C. universe.
Resurrecting the Red
Chapter 2: Day Two
Terry slumped wearily down into his seat. His body seemed to ache every where, especially in his ribs. Most especially in his ribs in fact.
Lesson number one for the day: Cybernetically enhanced French guys can hit hard.
"Mr. McGinnis..."
Why the hell was there a cybernetically enhanced French guy running around Gotham anyway?
"Mr. McGinnis."
Must. Have. Sleep. Think later.
"MR. MCGINNIS!"
Damn. Didn't they ever quit?
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David entertained the brief fantasy of sneaking into school that night and burning all the algebra books. Then he could destroy all the math progams on the school computers.
"Mr. Kae..."
Who really needs algebra anyway? It's just a waste of time.
"Mr. Kae."
No, he had a better idea. Instead of burning all the books, he could just steal all the answers! No, that wouldn't work. All the speed in the world wouldn't save him from Uncle Evan's wrath if he got caught cheating. And he would too. Sometimes he wondered if Uncle Evan was telepathic.
No, he usually got caught doing stupid stuff because he always felt guilty and fessed up.
Damn guilty conscience.
"MR. KAE!"
What the...why did she keep calling on him for? Was he wearing some red neon sign that screamed 'Call on Me!' Must be the red hair, damn it this really bites...
"MR. KAE!
Slag it.
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Max peered around the corner of her locker as a certain red head walked by. His ruffled red hair seemed wind whipped, as if a heavy tornado had swept over his head. It looked kinda cute.
"Whatcha looking at?" Dana asked. She knew perfectly well what, or who, Max was watching. Several other girls in the class had been eyeing the new guy as well, including Blade. Because of that, Nelson Nash had been glaring all day at the new red head behind his back. Max grinned playfully.
"Newbie, who else?"
"Have you talked to him yet?"
"Nope." Max grinned again as she placed a hand on her hip. "But I will. Just watch me."
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David's first indication that he had a secret admirer was when a dark skinned, pink haired girl brushed by him. This didn't really surprise him. What did surprise him was when she turned around and winked mischievously at him.
Whoa. Was she flirting with him?
This was new. Damn. What should he do? What should he do?
He stared after Max as she grinned at him before sauntering off. Red Hair really looked cute when he was dumbfounded.
This could be fun.
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Terry rolled his eyes as he attempted to pay attention to the chemistry lecture. Max, who was currently sitting next to him, had been covertly eyeing Red Hair, who was sitting a few rows in front of them.
He cracked a yawn as he eyed the chemistry teacher, Mr. Travinsky. Sometimes one of the students could get him off the subject by talking about the Atom, who had been one of Travinsky's favorite superheroes. Not today though, despite his own failed attempt at topic switching.
Oh great, Travinsky was talking about some German guy named Heisenberg now. Who really cares that he was the father of quantum mechanics? Definitely NOT him.
On impulse, Terry looked down at Red Hair, who was idly twirling his pen in obvious boredom. He wasn't the only one, as most of the other students in the class were either daydreaming...or asleep.
He cracked another yawn. Maybe he should be one of those who were asleep.
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Food! He needed food!
David stuffed a bag of Doritos and five Snickers bars into his bag, next to his lunch. No way was a measly sandwich and a donut going to fill him up.
"Whoa, you've practically got a whole grocery store in there!" a female voice quipped in amusement. David jumped and whirled around. Pink Hair was standing next to his locker.
"Ah...ah..." he stuttered. Smooth David, sound like a complete moron, he thought. Pink Hair peered around his locker door at the various snacks he'd stashed into it. She grinned again before laughing.
"And I thought Terry ate a lot!" Terry? Oh yeah, that Delinquent guy.
"Uh..." Say something damn it! "Umm, my name's David. Who are you?" he asked. Okay, that was lame. But at least it's a start. Pink Hair grinned at him as she playfully tugged on his green jacket.
"Schway jacket. My name's Max." Max? Pink Hair, now identified as Max, waved goodbye as the bell rang.
"See you later David."
Whoa. This was unexpected. He'd completely forgotten about his snack.
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"Okay, now this is just pointless," Terry complained. The faculty had decided that the students needed to watch a drug awareness program. Some "special" traveling group from Central City was doing tours around the country, visiting different middle schools and high schools.
It was the most utterly dumbest thing he'd ever seen.
If the principal hadn't been watching everyone like a hawk, he'd go to sleep.
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David fidgeted from his seat in the back row in the auditorium. This was stupid. As if high school students are actually going to pay attention to a drug awareness program. It was boring as hell.
And the singing? That was overkill.
The young red head looked around in the dark auditorium. It was then he noticed that one of the control panels was in the back of the room. Hmm...
With a quick flash, the young speedster zipped unseen over to the control panel and flipped it off. (And disconnected a wire.) Then in a blink of an eye, he was sitting innocently back in his seat as all the power suddenly went off in the room.
The flashing lights went out and the speakers went dead.
Ahh...blessed silence.
At least until the student body cheered.
Apparently he hadn't been the only one going insane.
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Terry silently praised the angels in heaven. Someone up there was doing a good job. He'd rather have listened to one of Bruce's lectures than to watch that stupid program another second.
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Nelson Nash glared at the newbie by the water fountain. His girlfriend, Blade, had been eyeing him all day. It was time to show this twip who was boss around here.
"Hey!" he yelled. No one was around, so he threw a punch at the smaller red head. To his surprise, his fist slid right past the guy's head. Nelson was sure he'd aimed right for the head. Fine, then next time he'd...
Nash stumbled in surprise as he realized that newbie was no longer in front of him.
"Looking for me?"
Nelson whipped around to see that the new guy was standing behind him. What the hell...
He snarled as he lunged at the red head, but something caught his feet and Nelson found himself crashing face first into the dirty school floor. Why that dirty son of a, he'd pay for that!
The red haired bully jumped up, but newbie was already all the way down the hall.
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David walked into literature class, just barely missing the bell. What had that been all about? Oh well, he supposed that there would have been an asshole at any school he could have transferred to.
A moment after he walked in, Delinquent also stumbled in. But unlike David, he was late. The teacher glared at him but said nothing. He looked around and saw that the nearest available seat was next to David. Delinquent shrugged to himself and sat down next to him.
Was it his imagination, or did Delinquent have a smirk on his face?
Apparently it wasn't, because ten minutes later, he slipped a note onto David's desk.
Saw your fight with Nash. The creep deserved it.
David read the note and quickly wrote a reply.
Nash huh. What's up with that guy anyway?
Terry wrote back.
He's an asshole. The number of people who'd like to kick his ass would wrap twice around the block. I'd be at the front of the line. By the way, my name's Terry McGinnis.
David grinned to himself. Maybe Delinquent wasn't so bad after all. He didn't get a chance to reply right away. Puffers...uh, Mrs. Lenfesty, had noticed their lack of attention. A few minutes later though, he slipped the paper under Terry's book.
My name's David Kae. I'm finding that no matter what part of the country you're in, school really really bites.
Underneath his newest note, stood a small cartoon of Nash being run down by a steam roller. Terry snorted, but managed not to laugh. Mrs. Lenfesty glared over at them, but they stared innocently back. Terry covertly added some new lines when her back was turned.
Put me behind the wheel of the steam roller and it'd be perfect. By the way, you sure moved pretty fast in the hall.
David stared a second at the new part. Uh oh. Delinquent had seen his speed?
Uh, yeah. I guess I am kinda fast. Some of my old teachers tried to get me to go out for track and cross country.
Why didn't you? Terry wrote back.
Most of the guys on the team were assholes.
Go figure, Terry wrote.
"Mr. McGuinnis! Mr. Kae!" Mrs. Lenfesty yelled. "I'll have to ask that you give me that note of yours!"
Uh oh.
David quickly slipped the piece of paper into his pocket and placed a piece of his literature notes on Terry's desk just as Puffers came charging over. She opened the "note", only to see that it was just the lecture notes from her class. The teacher glared down at them, but again she received a pair of innocent looks.
Terry cast a questioning look over at David. The red head grinned at him and slipped the real note part way out of his pocket. Realization hit him and Terry smirked back. How had that guy switched them that fast? Oh well. Terry grinned again.
Maybe Red Hair wasn't so bad after all.