August 26th, Monday, 8:00 Am
"I cannot believe we're stuck in school already!" Wally groaned across the desks to Robin.
"Relax. It's not that long of a day. Besides, we might get out early for…well, appointments and stuff later on." Dick stretched his arms behind his head and yawned. If he needed to he could hack into the school system and give himself the day off—Batman might not like that, but he'd never gotten into trouble…at least, not yet.
"That's easy for you to say," Wally grumbled slouching in his seat; he was smart, sure, but school was suffocating. Not to mention that, once he could see her every day, he couldn't stop looking for Calie in the halls.
"You heard anything about Kal or Conner—they gonna come or not?" Wally hissed, leaning as far as he could over the bar of the desk.
"Wally, if you must talk you can do so with the principal." The teacher barked from the front of the room, squeakily writing down some notes on the board.
…
"Hey! Artemis!" Dick called, tossing his hand in the air.
"How's it been going?"
"Alright. Wally can't seem to adjust though," the boy laughed, giving her a side glance.
"That's not surprising." Artemis rolled her eyes. "The others?"
"…heh…they're talking it over with the League…"
…
"My King," Kaldur started, giving the proper motions of respect," SuperBoy, Miss Martian and I have a request to ask of you and the other League members,"
As leader it was Kaldur's place to ask permission for his team.
"We're listening," Batman's voice echoed gravely.
…
"Hey Calie," Wally rushed out as he hung at the older girl's locker.
"Wally! Hey, sup man?" she laughed, tossing her books on her shelf and grabbing a binder.
He noted she was in AP Chem, Physics one, College prep and she'd closed the door of the little tin closet before he'd noticed more.
"Eh nothing much, what class ya heading to?" he asked, stepping to as to walk with her. She didn't seem to mind.
"Right now I'm heading off to lab for Mrs. Wilkens. How 'bout you hon?"
"Gym,"
"Haha, is it regular, team games or—"
"Its team games," he smiled, grabbing the door to the stairs before it swung closed, bowing smartly.
She giggled and did a mock curtsy, thanking him as she stepped through.
"Soooo…uh, what do you lab for? Class, I mean…" Wally asked, trying to make small talk as they walked down the flight of stairs past staring peers and stood outside a class room.
"Freshman English, advanced; I love literature, and I wanna get other kids to love it too, ya know? It isn't all about grads and GPA's. I mean, we've got life outside that stuff too…hah, sorry, I'm rambling. You'd better get to class 'for your late Wally," She waved and was inside before he could say goodbye.
…
"You wish to go to the surface school?" Aquaman asked, curious as to his apprentice's behavior.
"…the three of us do, sir." The boy supplied, motioning to his friends and looking from his king to the other League members.
"You realize it would be conspicuous if you were to all be pulled from school, at the same time? How long do you think it would take people to realize that you're the teens battling villains in the street. Not to mention that you and Supe—er, Conner, don't wear masks and are therefore recognizable; it wouldn't take anyone long to figure out who you all were." Batman said; his number one priority was keeping Dick safe. He wouldn't lose another Robin.
"Robin is a master hacker sir; he could supply the office with any number of excuses. Not to mention that public schools are riddled with students who simply skip. And as to the problem of our being recognized…"
"…I've discovered I have a new power…" Megan interrupted, bashfully stepping forward and keeping her gaze down and from her uncle. "I…I can make someone look…different. It's a phase-shifting property…I think. After someone walks away from Conner or Kaldur, they won't be able to remember exactly what either of them looked like. And we don't need to worry about me being recognized; I can look like any earth girl!"
"When did you learn this new skill Megan?" the Martian questioned, cocking his head.
"Never mind that now. Hacking into the school? Relying on a child's focus to keep you hidden? Do you three realize that you would be risking not just yourselves but your other teammates and the rest of the League with this, if it were to go wrong?" Superman stepped forward this time, crossing his arms.
The three bowed their heads, shoulders slumping.
"Hold up you two. What's wrong with these three wanting to learn more? Clark, you walk around with nothing but a pair of glasses and a suit disguising you during the day. All I have to do is pull my hair back and people hardly look twice as I walk down the street. Besides, maybe it could be beneficial to have the whole team in one place.
"Not to mention the cabin fever these three must be getting. They've got nowhere but that island to go to; you remember trying to keep every member of the league in space all the time—anyone would get stir-crazy staying in one place for so long." Wonder Woman spoke up, hands on her hips as she looked at the men, Bruce in particular. "I think," she looked at the three before her "We should at least give them a chance."
…
6:26pm:
"No way! You guys are coming to school!" Wally punched the air in victory.
"There are, of course, some conditions, but yes, we will be joining the three of you at Gothem Academy shortly. Robin, we'll need you ready at any moment to get into the school's database to come up with excuses and passes, in case something comes up. Also, we'll need some histories and records…"
"Done and done. Give me something hard," the boy wonder laughed, tossing his head back.
Only Artemis seemed weary of the three joining G.A. "What about your webbed fingers Kaldur, don't you think people will notice? Or Megan's green skin, or Superboy's strength—sorry Conner, but your temper could get us all in trouble if you lose it and punch through a wall."
Wally stared at her in disbelief. "You're joking, right?"
"No, I'm not. I don't want my identity and my family in danger because someone else messes up."
"There are ways around this; I can request permission to wear certain gloves during the school day. No one has to see them. Conner can wear glasses, like Clark, and if he's careful his strength won't be an issue. And, if you forgot, Megan can shape shift; she could look like anyone, even you." Kaldur said, slightly irritated.
"…right…" Artemis looked away and grabbed her bag. "See ya tomorrow then."
"What's wrong?" Megan asked as the blond left through the portal.
"Don't worry about her, do you know what you're going to look like for school?" Wally asked, eager to see what she'd look like.
"Hm…what about this?" she martian asked instantly changing.
…
September 2nd, 12:14pm
"Hey Wally, wait up!" Wally's dream was coming true; Cailan Leal, the most popular girl in school, had called out to him.
"…uh…h-hi Calie," he stammered, almost forgetting he was holding his tray of food.
"Hah, hey. Can I talk with you for a minute?" she asked, smiling and tilting her head the way he loved, her hair falling just slightly to the side.
"Of course!" he said a little too loudly, mentally shaking himself. She smiled and said great, following him to the table he, Artemis, Conner and Kaldur all sat at; Dick and Megan had the first lunch period. "Uh…here,"
He shoved his backpack to the ground with a thud and offered her a seat across from Artemis. She smiled hi to the other three, waving to Kaldur. "Hey, Cal, right?" she addressed him. "Cool to see ya again." he nodded through a bite he was tentitivly taking of the school's lunch.
"So, uh….what—what did you wanna talk about?" Wally asked, blushing and trying not to be proud that an upper classman was talking to him, possibly about to make his dreams come true.
"…well…okay, don't laugh?" she asked, partially cringing; he shook his head fervently that he wouldn't. "Okay, I took physiscs this year but I think I totally gave myself too much credit. I'm not doing well, and if I can't get my grades up I'll lose my captainship of the dance team, cheerleading, and maybe even get bumped from my place at the gymnastics competitions. If it drops bad enough—" she blushed; she caught herself before she drowned him in a pity party of a poor girl and didn't say she could lose her scholarship to school. "Sorry…it probably sounds really stupid to be worrying about those—"
Calie had been ignoring Artemis' scoffs and snorts as she rushed out with her explanation, trying to pretend she didn't see Wally shooting glares. Kaldur was elbowing the blond to get her to stop, but he was only halfway productive.
"—but they mean a lot to me. And, I know when I tutored you with English last term you kept saying you were really good at sciences and you've already taken physics…and…I was wondering if you could maybe tutor me this time round?" she cringed a little; Kaldur noted her behavior: she expected to be laughed at for needing help and fully expected Wally (who had the biggest crush on her) to reject her plea for help.
She'd hardly gotten the words out before Wally nearly jumped up in eagerness telling her that yes, yes he would be more than happy to help her out of a jam anytime she needed him to. Her shoulders relaxed and she smiled; it was hard not to see the earnesty written on her face.
"You have no idea what a life-saver you are. Just one thing…I have a lot of commitments with school: my teams and tutoring at lunch; would it be alright to meet up after dinner once a week? There's a cool coffee house not far from here…"
Kaldur could see the ecstasy streaming over his friend's features. There would be only one problem: training, and Wally's commitments to the League.
"Not a problem, never a problem!" Wally said, grinning.
"Cool," she confirmed. "Sorry for stealing Wally you guys, I didn't mean to interrupt your lunch," she apologized to the other three.
Conner shrugged and smiled; he was forced into being social and found it wasn't so bad. Kaldur said it wasn't a problem. Only Artemis had an issue, it seemed; she didn't respond. Calie recognized the cold shoulder and withdrew soon after, saying it was nice to meet them and thanking Wally again.
"What is your deal!" He demanded of his arrow-shooting teammate as soon as Calie was out of earshot.
"What? You swoon after anything with legs and I'm supposed to treat her like some Goddess? I don't think so. She's just like all the other girls; I'm not going to act like she's some queen bee and fawn over her cause she's Ms. Popularity here."
As she stood and dumped her tray, Kal gave Wally a gentle warning. "Do not stretch yourself too thin my friend."