A/N: sorry for all of the editing and switching. The wrong chapter was uploaded first for some reason. Please be patient with me while I get things sorted and please remember to review. Thank you so much for reading!

[Ten months ago…]

Aug. 13th, Friday 3:30pm:

"C'mon guys, it'll be a blast! We get out of the 'layer', away from all the estrogen, have some fun and…lookathotgirls…what could be better?" Wally laughed, trying not to blush from admitting his ulterior motive behind inviting the other guys to the pool party.

"Wait a second—this is totally bout that one girl, isn't it?" Dick questioned, giving Wally the stink-eye. "The one from school, what's her name?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the former boy protested shrugging innocently, tossing a towel over his shoulder."

"What girl," Conner questioned, his interest peaked; Megan had been aloof and distant from the team lately, and he had begun to think that he'd done something wrong.

"Oohnly the most popular and untouchable girl in school." Dick leered at Wally, tying his swim-trunks. "Uh, Katie…Kerry…Carly—"

"Cailan Leal." The red-head snapped, irritated that Dick had gotten it wrong.

"Yeah, her!"

"You, like her Wally?" Kaldur asked gently, smiling.

The other boy groaned and nodded, walking towards the portal to the outside world. "She's perfect—like, beyond perfect!"

As the four walked towards the outside, and then proceeded normally down the street, Wally and Dick filled the other two in on Cailan Leal.

…

She was a cheerleader—though, from what the two said she was a walking contradiction. Her freshman year she had tried out and bumped several older girls out of their positions. Her sophomore year she was co-captain of the team, and was currently the captain. She attended Wayne academy on scholarship. She knew everyone, and by everyone they meant, truly, everyone. What was more, she never had anything bad to say about anyone.

Cailan—Calie as she went by—was on the dance team and gymnastics.

"—but, the best part is that she's so nice." Wally said, enthused.

"Tch. Right, maybe she acts nice, but she's really just like all the other cheerleaders Wally. She's probably stuck-up and only cares about her hair and nails." Dick laughed, rolling his eyes.

"She is not! Mrs. Sanders made me get a tutor during lunch and I ended up having Calie and…she was… What?" he asked, eyes wide.

"You, my friend, are what we call infatuated." Kaldur laughed good naturedly.

"I'll bet you'd never talk to her on your own," The boy-wander teased, nudging Wally in the ribs as they walked to the backyard of a ritzy house and down to the patio.

Wally didn't get to answer. They were greeted with waves and calls from other friends; when Wally said party, he didn't know that it would be half the school there. Kaldur—Kal—and Conner were quickly introduced and left to fend for themselves as they were swallowed up by underclassmen girls ooing and awing at their muscles and chiseled looks.

Kaldur took full advantage of being in the water; it was not as pure as the ocean, like he was used to, but even pools gave him a sense of being home.

…

"Dude, just go talk to her, seriously. I'm getting kind of tired of wiping your drool off my seat," Dick harassed Wally; Kaldur toweled and looked around, spying Conner trying to lose some hang-on girls at the food table.

"I will…I mean…just give me a moment."

"So, which one is this Cailan you are so taken with?" Kaldur laughed, sitting down with the other two.

"She's over there," Dick nodded back behind him to a group of girls, all in bikini bathing suits, and all looking remarkably similar. Except that, behind the long, tanned limbs and highlighted hair and designer suits, Kaldur saw a girl who almost didn't belong. "The one in the green suit,"

"…oh…" was all Kaldur could say.

There wasn't much else for him to say; the girl was pretty, just as the two had said. He glanced again at the grouping of girls when he heard a tittering of laughter; a few were looking at him bashfully and whispering hurriedly to Calie. From the corner of his eye he saw her blush and glance over, and then shake her head softly.

"Hey!" she laughed, arching; someone had splashed her from behind.

Kaldur watched her bend down and splash back and talk with some guys. There was a slight drop inside Aqualad's mind; he supposed she would be one of those girls. He watched her walk over and get a volleyball, tossing it to the guys she'd been talking to; water polo. As she walked back Dick pushed Wally into her, almost knocking her into the pool.

"Woah!" she stumbled, catching herself on Wally's arm. "Oh, hey Wally,"

"I am SO sorry I—I d—didn't mean…uh, hi," Kaldur tried to keep from laughing as he listened, he took note that she'd remembered his friend's name.

"It's cool, I'm not made of glass," she joked; she had a sweet, lopsided smile. "It's cool to see you here,"

"T-thanks, yeah, my friends and I were kinda just cruising around, figured we'd grace the place ya know?"

"Ah, so you're crashing eh?"

Beside Kaldur Dick rolled his eyes and got an ornery look on his face; before the leader could do more he'd entered Wally's conversation.

"Yeah, Wally and I were making this bet," he'd started saying, "Only he had to chicken out 'cause he doesn't know how to dive so we were thinking you could teach him."

"Oh, sure—"

"Calie, what are you doing?" Another boy walked up and stood close to her, squaring his shoulders out.

"…heh, talking Jake, what does it look like?" she laughed it off.

"Hey, why don't you come play chicken with us, leave the…uh…kids, to their bet?"

"…hmmmm…" Kaldur narrowed her eyes as she purred, turning to him. "That does sound pretty good, but—"

There was a loud splash and the two boys stood shocked. "I think that you need to cool off first." She finished, smiling at the edge of the pool. "C'mon Wally, still wanna learn to dive?"

Kaldur admired the way she turned to his friend and took his arm gently; she'd had no reason to do what she'd done.

…

"Uh, hey," Kaldur turned at the words, not sure who to address; the girl from before—Calie—stood behind him.

"Hello,"

"You're Wally's friend, right? Heh, I really like your tattoos."

"My—oh, uh, thank you."

"…uh, I'm Cailan—Calie, friends call me Calie." She let out a nervous laugh and then looked up and looked him in the eye.

"I am Kal." He stopped short, knowing his name was strange on the surface world.

"You don't go to Gothem Academy, do you?" she asked, shaking his hand.

"No I do not. Wally and I met…uh, through Dick, actually." Kal rolled his head to the younger boys.

"That's cool; I don't really know Dick, he's kind of aloof sometimes, but Wally is really sweet. He seems to know everyone." She smiled and nodded to the chair next to her, a question to sit down.

"Of course," Kal gestured to the chair. "You know, it is funny; they say the same about you,"

Aqualad knew that he was testing the waters; he wanted to know this Calie for himself. Wally saw only with eyes clouded in admiration and Dick held everyone in a suspicious light. Kal wanted to assess her for himself.

"Really? Heh…I guess I do talk with a bunch of people—I hadn't really noticed I guess. I'm just a people-person." She was smiling across from him; he heard a genuine tone in her voice. "So, you're older than the other two…how is it you know them?"

"We have the same hobbies, and are in…clubs—outside of school. I met the two there." It wasn't a lie, exactly. Being a super hero wasn't a club, but it was exclusive.

"Swimming one of them? You looked really good in the pool, you on your school's team?" Conversation came easily to this girl and she was relaxed no matter who she was talking to or what they were doing. She had a simpleness about her that Kal felt relieved to be around. She didn't need to fidget or ramble or to be surrounded by everything at once. Sitting and breathing seemed enough for her, and talking was an added pleasure.

"Uh, no, not exactly. I suppose for me swimming is…more of a way of life,"

"Hah, I get it. I feel that way about dancing," she said; he knew she'd misunderstood, but how could she not? It wasn't as if he had 'I'm amphibious' tattooed across his face.

They both shared a chuckle, relaxing in the fading sun of the evening. She hugged her towel closer to her shoulders and crossed her legs; Kaldur noticed a thin band around her ankle. It looked to be of silver, but closer inspection lent that it was indeed of green hue and the same consistency as string. There were mother-of-pearl beads on either side of the band—he now noticed it was braided—and in the center of these was a very distinct and very rare pale, blue shell. Kaldur felt himself pause and stare hard at the anklet she wore; he knew it was, and yet, it couldn't be.

The craftsmanship was remarkable, and rightly so. Atlantian jewelry was impeccable in every sense of the word. What he couldn't figure out was how she'd gotten her hands on it.

"…Kal?" she asked, for the whatever-th time—he couldn't be sure—snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was…admiring your jewelry…it is very finely crafted. Where did you get it?" he smiled at her, longing to read the reaction of her face for lies or secrets.

"Huh? Oh! Are you in jewelry class or something? My friend, Sam, asks to see it all the time. Actually, I don't remember where I got it—I've never taken it off. Honestly, the only time I ever even untie the strings is when it's gotten too tight because I've grown."

If she was lying he was unable to see it in her action or her words. "It must hold a great deal of value…"

"…well, none that I'm aware of. I mean…heh, it's gonna sound stupid but…I like to pretend that my parents left it to me when I was a baby. All that it's worth—to my knowledge—is a few memories that I'm not even sure are real memories."

"Your parents—"

"Calie! Come play volleyball!" "Yeah, we need even teams!" "Only if it's on our side—" "No way, your team's full!"

"Wanna come play Kal?" she asked, their previous conversation left to the past.

"No, I think my friends and I will be leaving soon," Kaldur was looking to Conner, whom he could see was getting more and more irritated with the girls harassing him and guys sizing him up.

"Oh, alright, well, tell Wally and Dick I'll see'em at school…and, maybe I'll catch you around…"

Kaldur watched her smile and leave, heading towards the group of people who looked the same, to where she almost didn't fit in.

…

"Hello Megan!" the young Martian said, hitting her forehead. "We can just use their cell's phone-signal to find them!"

"Find who babe?" Kidflash asked, zooming next to the redhead, already dry from his day at the pool.

"…well, no need for the trouble now," Artemis said, rolling her eyes at Wally's attention to Megan. "Where did you guys go, anyway?"

"Rob and I took these two awkward ducks to a party to show them how we normal folk live," Wally winked, making light of the situation.

"Gee, thanks for inviting us. What was the point of that, anyways, it isn't like they'll—"

"Superboy and I may be joining Robin and Wally at Gothem Academy," Kaldur said, indifferently.

Artemis arched an eyebrow. "You mean you'll be joining US at G.A." she said haughtily, not appreciating that she'd been left out.

"He said maybe, didn't he?" Superboy said, rummaging in the fridge.

"You went to a party?" Megan asked, her tone indicating that she felt left out.

This, of course, put Wally in a slight predicament; he liked Megan, and yet he'd taken the guys to introduce them to the girl he couldn't get enough of at school. He looked around at the guys for help, hating to let Megan down.

"Just, ya know, some guy-time. Don't you girls have that…uh…ya know, chick thing you do?"

"Girl's night out?" Dick supplied him with.

"Yeah!"

"…Oh, hello Megan!" the alien said, grinning. "We should do that, Artemis! You could teach me how to be an Earth girl!"