Disclaimer: Seriously, still do not own batman. I seriously only own Sally Galeson, Derek, Roberto, and the plot. DC comics and Warner Bros basically own everything else. Seriously.
NxS: I just want to say thank you to everyone who reviewed, especially Lordlink13 (who I beta for! Check out her Joker story, it's pretty darn good). And onwards to chapter six (which has Hayley, Holly, and Sally).
Chapter Six
Hayley had been distracted all day. She was glad that her team mates didn't try to pull her into conversation. Hayley had been in the middle of stretching when she saw Holly walk in. Their eyes met and Hayley felt some kind of deep connection form. It almost felt like they'd met before, and like they had been really close (like in another life or something). It was strange but a good kind of strange.
Hayley hadn't even realized she was moving until she had stopped in front of Holly. Hayley suddenly found herself unable to keep her eyes raised and looked down. Being that close to Holly just felt really... intense.
"Hey." Hayley said (briefly looking up at Holly). She mentally cringed at how awkward that had sounded.
"Hello, Hayley." Holly said and Hayley looked up to smile, absurdly pleased that Holly knew her name. Holly's return grin caused Hayley's stomach to somersault. The silence after made Hayley feel antsy. She wanted to hear Holly's voice again.
"So, that-was-an-interesting-field-trip, huh?" Hayley said in once breath and glanced away to blush, hoping Holly had understood her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that." Holly apologized with a smile that forced Hayley to look away (before she could do something embarrassing; like kiss her).
"That was a-an, uh, interesting, f-field trip, huh?" Hayley managed to stutter out a bit more coherently (while looking at the floor). Hayley fidgeted nervously (and felt like she was on the verge of hyperventilation).
"Interesting is definitely one word for it." Holly said, sounding very amused. They were silent for a few minutes (with Hayley unable to look at Holly) until Holly spoke again. "Are you alright Hayley? Is anything wrong?" She asked sounded suddenly very worried.
"F-fine. Just, uh, antsy, I guess. Excited for p-practice to, ah, to start." Hayley replied, glancing up at Holly. Holly grinned in an understanding way and Hayley's lips grinned back of their own accord (instinctively). She glanced back and saw that warm ups were starting. Internally sighing she looked back at Holly. "Guess I better, better, ah, get going." She said, smiling ruefully.
"See you around, Hayley." Holly said with a mischievous smile that forced Hayley to look down to hide her blush. She loved hearing Holly say her name. Hayley went over to practice warm ups and could feel Holly's eyes on her. She smirked to herself as she began practice.
Hayley showed off a little bit while Holly had hung around then mentally drifted back to what had been distracting her. She had been doing some research and was 96.7% sure she liked girls. She'd never really thought about that sort of thing before and felt kind of stupid for not picking up on any of the clues.
(like the way she admired Kim's hair but thought Justin's hair was just hair; the way she had wanted to lick Lucy's collar bone; the way she always gravitated towards girls only sports; the way her eyes would linger over her team mates; and of course, the biggest clue of all, Holly and the way she made her feel...)
Hayley was still a little confused and wished she had someone she could talk to. (It was times like these that Hayley missed her Stepmother most of all and that she wished she had a friend like every one else. How was she supposed to figure all of this stuff out on her own?)
Holly was confused by the message Selina had left her. ("Hey there old friend. I hope you don't mind but I really need to speak with you as soon as possible. Please, hurry. Meet me at our old spot back in the school days. We have important things to talk about and the quicker you can arrive the better.") She frowned as she managed to hail a cab and began the drive to Gotham High. Selina had managed to be both cryptic and urgent and Holly felt very uneasy about the whole thing.
She paid the fare and quickly made her way inside. Holly barely even had to think as she made her way to Coach Kyle's office. Holly found her in the hallway outside of her office door.
"Holly! So glad you could make it. Come on in." Selina said happily as she opened the office door and ushered Holly in. Holly was suddenly very confused. Her old coach seemed perfectly fine which was at odds with the message Holly had received. "Sorry about the message." Selina said as she took her seat (almost like she had read Holly's mind or something). Holly sat across from her and tried not to looked confused. "That nosy old drama teacher was eavesdropping." Selina said by way of explanation and rolled her eyes. Holly smiled briefly at that.
"So, what's up?" Holly asked since Ms. Kyle was busy shuffling through papers on her desk and probably wouldn't be getting to the point anytime soon.
"Oh, I need you to supervise practice tomorrow. We've got a competition coming up so the girls have practice all week. You know how that goes, anyway, I won't be able to be there tomorrow. You're the most qualified person I can get so please say that you'll do it." Selina said with the most heartbreaking expression on her face that had Holly saying 'of course' without thinking it through. "You're the best!" Selina said and her face was lit up with a pleased smile. "Come on, you can take a quick peek in and see what tomorrow'll be like." Selina continued while ushering Holly out of the office quickly.
It wasn't until she saw Hayley that Holly realized how very stupid she'd been. Hayley's eyes met Holly's and a shiver went up and down her back. Hayley's face seemed to light up and Holly found herself unable to look away. She watched Hayley walk towards her and felt weak in the knees (really, it just couldn't be help, the way that girl moved...)
"Hey." Hayley said softly as she looked down. Holly was both glad and disappointed that Hayley wasn't looking at her. (such beautiful eyes, Holly always had been a sucker for beautiful eyes...)
"Hello, Hayley." Holly replied. Hayley glanced up and smiled a smile that turned Holly's insides to jello. She felt her stop and restart itself. (But of course she definitely didn't feel anything for the girl, clearly Holly was nervous about supervising and not at all effected by Hayley) Holly tried to ignore the way her heart was trying to leap out of her chest and she grinned back. Holly heard Hayley say something (fairly quickly) but was far too busy noticing how her blush brought out her eyes to hear her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that." Holly apologized, mildly embarrassed, and very nearly sighed when Hayley glanced away. Holly mentally kicked herself ("Illegal!" Her mind yelled at her. "Yeah, like hot wiring cars and shoplifting, and the thousand other illegal things you enjoy." another part of her yelled back. Holly ignored that voice) and tried to listen attentively.
"That was a-an, uh, interesting f-field trip, huh?" Hayley asked (seemingly nervous) and resolutely kept her gaze on the floor.
"Interesting is definitely one word for it." Holly joked, hoping to get Hayley to look up (and smile again). Hayley remained silent and Holly began to worry (what had happened to Hayley when she wandered off? what if it was something bad...) "Are you alright, Hayley? What's wrong?" Holly asked quickly, starting to panic.
"F-fine. Just, uh, antsy, I guess. Excited for p-practice to start." Hayley replied, glancing up. Holly watched Hayley fidget. Then Hayley licked her lips and Holly nearly had a heart attack. (since when had something so simple, so mundane, seemed so sexy?) Holly grinned at Hayley in an understanding sort of way. Hayley's responding smile wreaked havoc on Holly's heart again. Hayley glanced away and looked disappointed. "Guess I better, better, ah, get going." Hayley said with a rueful smile.
"See you around, Hayley." Holly said with a smile, thinking of the next day when she was going to be supervising (well, substituting or whatever) for Selina. Hayley looked down and rushed off for practice. Holly lingered to watch what practice was usually like. She watched to have an idea as to how things were supposed to go ("and devouring Hayley with your eyes definitely helps then, does it?" asked the same voice from earlier and Holly ignored it the best she could). She left soon after that.
Sally paused in the doorway of her office and stopped singing. Something wasn't right. She cautiously entered the room and looked around sharply. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something was different. Sally walked the length of her office. Nearly everything seemed to be in order (even her stack of file requests which the interns usually left in a haphazard pile in the 'in' tray). When she reached her desk she froze. There was a... masculine scent lingering in the air.
She looked at her desk properly for the first time since entering. Someone had moved her files. Sally quickly counted them. She began to really panic when she couldn't find the copy of her employee file. She hastily began shuffling things around, desperately searching. (she vaguely noted that she was making a bit of a mess and she'd have to sort everything out again later) Then her eyes saw something she hadn't been expecting and she found herself shocked still.
Hayley frowned as she closed the door to her father's apartment (not hers, not home, not theirs). She wondered if her father was working overtime (or if he was already half way to hell in some bar). She caught sight of her reflection in the hallway mirror and paused.
"I like girls. Girls make me hot." Hayley told her reflection, only feeling a little ridiculous. "Lesbian, bisexual, gay, girl-lover." Hayley said, testing the words (and titles) out. "Queer. Huh, I like that one. Queer, queer, queer, queerqueerqueer." Hayley chanted and smiled at her reflection.
She began humming to heself on her way to the kitchen. Hayley decided to make supper (since she was starving). She enjoyed her newest revelation about herself and decided to treat herself to steak with rice and mashed potatoes. She usually had to have mac n cheese or cold pizza, so it was a refreshing change.
Hayley made enough for two and set up another plate since her father would be home soon. (she briefly thought about telling him about her new revelation but decided that was an ordinary daughter thing and that he probably wouldn't approve of his weird daughter being 'weirder' anyway) Hayley felt very alive and suddenly restless. It was exciting to her to feel like she was different, special, unconventional. She knew she wasn't the only girl who liked girls (obviously) but it still felt like she was walking outside of the lines and that was one thing Hayley loved to do. Who wants to be boring old ordinary anyway?
Hayley began to sing to herself as she cleaned up her dishes and went off to do homework. She frowned in irritation when her father stumbled into the apartment three hours later. His food was ice cold and she could smell the smell of whatever dive he'd stumbled out of from across the room. The fact that she had cooked for him and he let his food get cold annoyed her beyond explanation.
"Where have you been?" She demanded, suddenly angry. He hadn't even called for Christ's sake, and she'd cooked for him! She had cooked for the abusive bastard and he'd let it get cold.
"None a'yer bus-busin-businessssss, bitch." He slurred and Hayley felt as angry as she had the night he'd destroyed her costume.
"Your food is cold you lousy fucking drunk!" She shouted without thinking. (the entire situation was unusual, she usually just avoided her father when he came home late) He reached out to slap her and was surprised when she dodged.
She managed to fend him off for a while and even got in a few hits of her own (for once) until he overpowered her. He passed out soon after anyway, and Hayley felt oddly triumphant. She wasn't going to be the only one with bruises to cover up for once. The thought made her smile and she laughed herself to sleep that night.
Holly was conflicted about substituting at practice the next day. She didn't have any kind of teaching or coaching degree (or any degree for that matter) and couldn't help but wonder what the heck Selina had been thinking. She said a brief hello to her room mate before going to take a hot shower.
Underneath the soothing spray she privately admitted to herself that she definitely had feelings for Hayley. Holly felt marginally relieved once she had down that and almost purred in relief. She nearly growled as her restlessness acted up a moment later. She focused with a single minded intensity to finish her shower and successfully distracted herself for a while.
Holly was pleasantly surprised to find her room mate had cooked supper for her.
"Aw, Derek. You're too good for me." Holly joked thankfully as she dug into her food.
"Of course I am dah-lingg." Derek joked back in a faux-haughty tone and Holly giggled. "Seriously thought, I feel like we haven't talked in forever. My fault since my darling love of my life Roberto has been monopolizing my attention lately." Derek rolled his eyes but his smile gave him away. Holly chuckled. (Roberto was forever taking Derek out on the most romantic dates and Holly had always wished she could find someone to be like that with, someone fun, and cute, and flexible, and blond......)
"You poor baby." Holly joked sarcastically, trying to distract herself from that line of thought. Derek stuck his tongue out at her.
"So, Ms. Cheeky, what's the scoop on the Arkham breakout?" Derek asked excitedly after Holly had nearly finished her meal. Holly laughed and slowly finished her dinner before replying (much to Derek's irritation).
"From my understanding the Scarecrow has busted out of Arkham." Holly said over her shoulder as she walked into their common area. She heard Derek sigh irritatedly before he joined her. "I really don't know much except that they rushed us out of there pretty quick." Holly admitted and Derek pouted.
"You know nothing important" He complained and Holly wacked him with a throw pillow. "Alright, alright, Ms. Way-Too-Sensitive, what about your friend, Selina Kyle? Know anything about her relationship with a certain sexy millionaire?" Derek asked with waggling eyebrows and Holly cracked up laughing. They stayed up to gossip for a few more hours before heading off to their beds.
Sally stared at the small stuffed scarecrow before picking it up. She frowned as she examined it, trying to figure out where it had come from when it clicked; Crane had been in her office. (she had smelled him...) Sally rushed out of her office and (excitedly) searched through the other empty offices on her floor. She wasn't all that surprised that he was gone, but she was disappointed.
Sally re-entered her office and locked her door behind her. She opened up Dr. Jonathan Crane's file, and nearly had a heart attack when she saw all of the (red) notes. Sally quickly scanned her other files and smiled to herself when she saw they had notes on them too. (she found the color scheme very amusing and let out a chuckle) Smiling to herself, Sally settled into her chair and began to read Jonathan's file.
"Crane seems to enjoy exploiting others fears."A Dr. Malloy had written. "I am certain his chosen name of 'Scarecrow' is a reflection of that enjoyment." He had continued, Sally rolled her eyes. She had always thought that Dr. Malloy sounded like an idiot.
"Dr. Malloy is an idiot who kept asking me 'and how does that make you feel?' my response of 'it makes me feel like smashing your face in' had caused him to scribble on his notepad before saying 'Yes, and how does that make you feel?' An incompetent, irritating, idiot." Jonathan had written and Sally giggled. She felt strangely pleased that they both had the same impression of Dr. Malloy.
There was another note on the next page that talked about a pet magpie he'd had as a kid named 'Nightmare'. That little nugget of information was far more interesting than anything the 'proffessionals' had actually put into the file. It seemed that Jonathan had a string of different doctors over the years.
It never said so anywhere in the file but Sally was certain it was because he kept freaking them all out. Most of them lasted an average of a week, so the file was essentially a lot of the same stuff just said in various ways. Jonathan had a lot to say about each doctor and how unoriginal they were.
Sally eagerly read all of his notes and laughed out loud at a lot of them. He was very witty. It wasn't until she went to read the next file that she remembered her employee file was missing. Sally looked through her desk again to no avail; it was gone. She looked at her new stuffed scarecrow (which she had named Ichabod) and realized that Jonathan Crane, the Scarecrow, had her file. She very nearly fainted and preceded to have a panic attack.
NxS: As usual, I kindly ask for reviews. Please. Haha! And thank you again to those of you who have reviewed!
Sally: Jonathan Crane, the Scarecrow, has my employee file, and you're just going to blather on about reviews?!
Scarecrow: *reading Sally's employee file*
Hayley: Queer. Queer. Holly is hot.
Holly: *blushes* Knock it off Hayley.
Hayley: Aw, but you're so cute when you blush. *winks*
NxS: Ignore them, anyhoo, please let me know what you think! Oh, and don't forget to check out Lordlink13's Joker story, s'neat!
Derek: Reviews, plz, kthxbi. *goes off to make out with Roberto*