Tuesday 3rd of July
1:01pm
"Ms. Leal, over here!"
"Ms. Leal can I ask—"
"—or what about—"
"We've been trying to reach—"
"—Mr. Wayne—"
"—the magnitude of your last performance—"
"Please, please, one at a time," Demitri laughed, pulling Cailan close with an arm over her shoulders.
"What were the reasons behind putting a virtual nobody in the leading role of the final performance last week?" someone shouted first.
"Well, I first noticed it during her audition. Cailan's spirit shone through her dancing. When we ran into a little…problem I knew that she was the only one who could pull it off." Demitri shrugged, hoping no one caught the 'little problem' bit.
"What prompted the switch from Ms. Sans in the first place?" some woman demanded.
"A minor setback." Demitri growled.
"Will she star in the next performance?"
Cailan's head shot up at this.
"My, my I can't give everything away," the man teased.
"What does is feel like, Ms. Leal—can I call you Cailain?—what's it feel like Cailan, to be one of the richest young women in America to date, and in just one night?"
She blinked for a moment, looking at the crowd of reporters. "Uh…I-I guess surreal." She finally managed.
"And all of the rumored offers for other troupes and learning under masters Cailan, what about all of that?"
"They're just…rumors," she lied, sending the reporters into a frenzy.
"W-What she means," Demitri quickly covered. "is that there was a great overreaction. Many new parties have expressed interest in Cailan's continued dance, however, there is nothing as yet substantial."
"I think I'd like to get back to practice," Cailan said, slowly backing towards the studio.
There were several light-flashes, reporters frantically yelling out their questions. Demitri was there to take care of them.
She heaved a sigh as she got back inside the building. Demitri was lying through his teath. Well, he wasn't exactly lying. She wasn't quite one of the 'richest' kids in America, not yet. She'd have to sign with someone, get a higher paying gig, or Demitri would have to up her pay which he was bound to do if he wanted to keep her. He loved telling her she was worth more than Bruce Wayne himself, and that always brought an annoyed smile to her face. Wayne was worth more than Bill Gates times, like, ten. She wasn't worth that much, not yet. It would take years—though, with the way everyone was going at it , maybe not many—for her to earn up to Wayne's point. And that was counting on her not becoming injured or some other star not getting better.
But maybe she did have that kind of a price on her head. Eventually, if she did work that hard, if she forced herself to excel, she could have that much to give away and still be worth more than Wayne. If that was what she wanted.
She shivered. July was wonderful and warm, and tomorrow would be great festivals and parties. The fourth would take attention off her. She wasn't going back to practice. Instead, Cailan grabbed up her backpack.
…
Man I hate this stupid alleyway. She thought as she adjusted her pack. Ever since she started using it she felt she'd been watched. She slid her pack around to her front and reached her hand in side, clutching something inside. It was so…girlish but, she was absolutely in love with the little plushie Kaldur had sent her.
It had smelled like him, it still did, actually. She didn't pull it out, but squeezed it tightly inside her bag; she felt, somehow, safer just holding onto it. She jumped at a sound she wasn't sure she'd heard. Continuing on towards a bigger bystreet, she convinced herself it was nothing. Then, why are you still holding your breath? She shivered at her own thoughts and pushed forward, her furtive glances only serving to further distort her imagination. It was broad daylight, what would be hiding here, except maybe a few rats?
Cailan jumped and whirled around, her back now in the direction of freedom. She could have sworn—
No. There wasn't anything there, not that had looked like what she thought she'd seen. There was no orange, no yellow, no red in her vision. Nothing was there. With a breath she continued glancing around her, taking a step back hesitantly. There was still nothing—as if she expected to see something materialize. Why was she still shivering? She held the plushie tighter in her bag, now suddenly afraid to let go of it, as if it were what tied her still to the real world, a safe world.
Inhaling deeply and letting her shoulders fall with her exhale, uttering a cry when she again opened her eyes, Cailan jumped and ran to the wall, pressing her back hard against it. She'd seen that illusive color again, she knew she had. She inched towards Freedom slowly along the wall, her eyes glinting in all directions. She felt crazy, going about things like this. Crazy—no, she felt stupid, like some idiot afraid of her own shadow. She felt like the kind of person that got mocked behind her back for how generally awkward she was.
Counting to ten in her head (though cheating her unseen opponent and running at nine) she darted off for the opening at a wild sprint. Cailan burst forth into the open street, rather unnoticed by most of the other pedestrians, careening around the corner and almost into a now disgruntled old man with a bush mustache. She muttered a sorry and continued walking on hastily.
The whole way out she felt watched.
…
1:03pm
"Don't you think this press-time is against the point of hiding her away from view in the first place?" Barry asked, crossing his arms as he leaned against Bruce's wall.
The elder man sighed heavily. "Yes, it is. However, if she gleans attention on her own it'll make people forget just who helped her out to begin with. When that's forgotten—"
"People quit wondering about the mysterious 'Bruce Wayne', making the danger of any connection—" Bruce glared at him "—much less prominent."
"It might work, if we keep her protected."
"Hm. Has Clark eased up on Conner yet?" Barry changed the topic and walked towards Bruce's always-well stocked fridge.
"No."
"Maybe we should plan like, a father-son day or something, only, you know, not tell him about it?" Barry shrugged as he carried a sandwich and chips and a few other food items back towards Bruce.
Bruce rolled his eyes and walked up towards his bedroom. He needed a little sleep, after all.
…
3:43pm
"Hey!" Wally laughed, splashing Dick back as he belly-flopped into the sea.
Conner regarded the water warily, he still remembered his and Wally's near drowning with Red Tornado's siblings. Megan giggled and grabbed his arm, eager for the coolness of the ocean instead of the heat of the sand. He let her drag him up to his waist, and then dug his heels into the sand beneath him. Megan shrugged and leaned backwards, letting the waters lift her alien weight.
"What do you think Kaldur's doing…down there?" Artemis asked, sitting under an umbrella on the sand, having refused to get into a bathing suit.
Wally looked up, his stomach and chest red from the water and glanced to Dick expectantly.
"Hey, don't look at me," the kid shrugged, his mouth set. "They don't have the same electrical technology we do down there…that I know of…anyway, there's nothing for me to hack."
"Could we visit him?" Megan asked, popping up.
"Uh, that's a negative Meg," Wally said, looking away bashfully from the two-piece-clad girl. "Unless you can breathe under water."
"I haven't actually tried before…" she cocked her head. Shifting her form she took a very feminine version of Kaldur and dove under the waves.
They all glanced at each other and within seconds she came back up sputtering, looking like herself, spitting out the sea water and coughing. "I…guess I don't know enough about Atlantian physiology," she rasped out apologetically.
"So, what would your guess be?" Conner asked Artemis, wading back up just far enough to sit in the waves with his torso mostly out of water.
"…getting a long deserved break." She answered, drawing her legs up to her chest.
"From leading?" Dick asked apprehensively.
"From her," Artemis muttered, she knew only that Conner had heard her for sure.
"I think he's training," Dick said, shoving Wally and then diving into the waves, coming up closer to Megan.
"I'll bet he's catching up with his buddies, the ones that came for Christmas," Wally answered, shaking out his red hair.
"Maybe he was homesick," Megan said, looking distantly at the water. "I mean…I know I am,"
At this Conner stood, as if he meant to go comfort her, but taking in his peers he remained where he was and tried to figure out what to do next. Artemis saw this and her eyes narrowed. She bolted up to her feet and began walking out along the beach, away from her friends. Wally—his gaze having become fixed at the moving waters around his waist—glanced up at her and then decided he was going to follow her, rather than remain with the pink elephant of love between the four of them.
Dick watched him go and with a shrug flung himself into the water. "Swimming to the buoy" he said over his shoulder.
Megan and Conner looked after their teammates, unable to understand why their friends were continually running from the two.
…
"Hey!" Wally called as he ran clumsily in the water after Artemis.
"What?" she asked, slowing her stride by half a pace and letting him just catch up a little.
"Well…uh…" she rolled her eyes and started on again. "Why do you get so angry at them?"
Artemis froze and ground her teeth. "What's it matter to you?"
"They're our family Artemis. You've said it yourself."
"…I don't like how they're so…so…together." She finally spat out, clenching her fists, ready to hear his laughter.
"…yeah…I know how you feel."
"I—wait, y-you do?" she turned to face him.
He shrugged and looked at her disinterestedly. "Well, yeah. I mean, it's pretty obvious that I'm into Megan, er, was into…" he left off at that.
They stood for a moment like that, facing each other.
…
4:03pm
"So, what is it this time?" Tula asked, setting a cup of something steaming in front of him.
Kaldur lifted his brows at her in question.
"Well, the past two visits you have made have been on account of troubles on the surface world." She shrugged.
"…" he thought back to the bracelet that Cailan wore around her ankle, and to the promise he'd made her that day. "It is…a very long story Tula."
"Then you should probably start at the beginning, should you not?"
He looked at her and smiled, slowly shaking his head. "No. I should go to finish it out."
…
Monday, 9th of July
7:09pm
"You want me to what?" Cailan asked hiding her plushie from Demitri's sight; he'd been acting weird.
"I want you to start choreographing your own dances." He stated, irritated, as if talking to a child.
"…I do. On my own."
"I know. We're going to write a performance." He said smugly turning from her.
She hastily shoved the gift into her bag, her swiftness catching his eye. He furrowed his brows at her, eyeing her suspiciously.
"We're writing a performance?" she repeated, feeling like a parrot, her eyes probing his attitude for what he really meant.
"It'd be a hit, a prodigy like you with my name stamped under the title? You'd be making millions after the first night, I can guarantee it, kid,"
She didn't like the way he was talking. There was an…edge to his voice, a strange tone in how he was talking. It was unsettling, like dancing with Blain all over again.
"I'm not sure—"
"I am. Hah, you're a gold mine," he strode over and placed his hands on either side of the arms of her chair. "You're going to make one hell of a troupe member."
…
7:36pm
"I just need you to…mess with her a little bit." She said, crossing her arms and trying to keep her voice calm.
"…I don't get your angle," Blain's eyes narrowed, his mind sorting through her request.
Jennifer sighed. "Look. Just show up here," she handed him a slip of paper. "at that time and…mess with her. You know…what you do with all the pretty little skirts that come your way?"
"Hey now, don't be jealous, as I remember, you dumped me," he teased her, putting his hands on her. She slapped them away.
"You're disgusting. Just…do this, meet her there and freak her out a bit. Or seduce her. Or make her feel terrible, or whatever."
"And why should I?" he demanded, stepping back with a look of disinterest. "I mean, what's in it for me?"
Jennifer knew where this was going. "Do it or I'll have Demitri press all those charges girls have been making since you joined the Gotham Ballet." She quipped smugly. "Now, if I say I want her served up on a silver platter, you're going to tell me…?"
"Medium rare, or well done?" he growled, slamming the door as he strode out.
What the hell? Blain thought as he walked along. I mean, what's the point? She said mess with her…seduce her. And what if the little witch isn't seducible? Hm. I wonder why Jennifer wants me to anyways, I mean, what's in it for her? As he walked he strode past a tv with one of Cailan's many current interviews streaming across the screen and he figured he had it worked out. Ah. Jennifer's jealous. Demitri's attentions are on some new, pretty little thing and she's been tossed to the dust. No wonder she's pissed. Guess she's hoping Cailan will quit if I harass her a little bit…
…
"Alright, I did what you asked. Date, time and place. Yes, she'll be there, I'm sure of it. So, this is it, right? After this, you'll leave me alone? Hello…hello? Damn." Jennifer swore and slammed the phone onto its hook. All she could do now is hope that those freaks would leave her alone…quit showing up at her apartment, quit stalking her everywhere she went. It was all taken care of. She was going to pick the girl up and then dump her off. Blain would meet her, freak her out a little, get her running, confused. Then…
Well, whatever happens to her after that isn't my concern. After all, if something were to happen, it wouldn't be my fault. She'll be the one who takes off, and takes off because of Blain, not because of me. I won't have had anything to do with it. I can say that she must have gotten lost after I dropped her off, no one will ever know the difference. It won't be on my hands.
She was busy reassuring herself, and didn't notice the shadows playing on her wall from outside her window. Jennifer didn't know that she'd become a loose end, and one that would be tied off quickly after they had their prey well within their trap.
…
Wednesday 11th of July,
7:28am
She'd thought she'd have wanted to run to Kaldur and show him the very second she'd completed it. But, now that Requiem had been finished, Cailan just felt empty. It was as if she'd finished a good book, or a new movie that'd just come out. Now that she was finished, she felt…
Like a sellout.
This was Demitri's idea, not hers. She'd just wanted to slip away, like the night slipping into dawn. Now here she was, helping him to create a 'masterpiece'.
She could hear him in the back room now, talking on the phone. "You're a goldmine." Shame rippled through her body. She was back to being an object. Cailan sighed and sat heavily on the practice stage. Kaldur didn't think of her that way, hadn't once looked at her like an object, just something else to be conquered and taken. Her fingers traced the floor beneath her as she thought back.
I haven't treated him well…at all…and he's still taken me back… she thought, remembering yelling at him, lying to him, being snide and rude, acting like—like a real queen bee. He was so patient with her, with everyone. Guilt crept in. She should at least tell him that she'd finished the dance.
Yeah, I'll just…pop over and tell him, just, well, because, he—he was interested, concerned about me finishing it. Yeah, that's it. She told herself, giving herself a reason to go see him, just once more before she split—this time for good.
"Hey!" Demitri barked at her. "Where the hell are you going, we've got a performance to make."
"…I…just need a break Demitri,"
"No, you don't. You need to get your butt on that stage and figure out the sequences. The dance you've got now is alright, but you've gotta put in the chorus dancers, and Blain needs to be worked into it girl. I told you, you're not the only one up here."
"I choreographed Requiem for me, and me alone Demitri. It's a solo dance. It wasn't made for a whole production." She said, bristling and forgetting her intention to see Kaldur.
"Then change it," he said through clenched teeth that were supposed to look like a smile.
"…I can't do that…" she said, her arms crossing protectively over her body; she already felt like a sellout.
He let out a heavy breath. "Cailan, I'm going to say this once. You're going to be the richest girl in Gotham by the end of the month. If you don't want to go back to a nobody by August, you're going to start seriously working on this ballet. You understand me?"
She looked to the ground. She wanted to be a nobody. It was about the only thing she hadn't really been yet.
"Do you understand me, Cailan?" he softened his voice as he walked towards her; she knew he was trying to sound comforting but he only sounded menacing.
"I'm not feeling well Demitri. I think I'm going to go—"
He swore as the phone rang and leapt off the stage, darting for the back rooms. With his back retreating from her she snatched her bag—she was paranoid he'd started going through her things (why he would, she didn't have a clue) so she started keeping it close—and started heading for the back alleyway. She knew, even if it wasn't Demitri, that someone had been through her bag. She'd taken great care to keep the plushie that Kaldur had given her in pristine condition. It was pretty much the only real possession she had, next to the ankle bracelet. Sure, Bruce had bought her nice clothes, but she hadn't really needed anything other than that…and clothes were just clothes. However, when she'd taken it out of her bag a few nights ago, after getting back to Wayne manor, there'd been some kind of smudge marks over the fabric. She knew the smudge marks hadn't come from her.
But it was so paranoid. Who'd want to—
"Cailan!" he yelled; she ran to the door, pretending she hadn't heard him.
…
7:40am
"Mr. Wayne does not like you waiting alone for so long, Ms. Leal," Alfred said as he drove her back towards the lone manor. "Please see to it that you do not needlessly endanger yourself.' His words, Ms. Leal."
"Sure Alfred, sorry to worry you all." She said, her voice feeling monotone. Actually, she wasn't very sorry, not about that. They were all going to be a bit freaked for a while, anyway.
After she split, the Bat and the others were probably going to go ballistic. But they'd never find her. She didn't care that the Bat had immeasurable resources at his disposal, or countless superheroes. She'd been a dumb kid and had been able to avoid media, police, and privet detectives years ago. Now she was eighteen. She could change her name hundreds of times, legal and not. She could get tattoos, piercings if she wanted to. She could buy hair dye and change her hair style whenever she wanted with ease after years of cutting it herself.
She knew where illegals got jobs; she could go there, or just start walking down a highway and hop from one car to another. If she got a radio she could find some kid to mess with it until she could hit the cops' radio frequency, and then she could avoid the highway troopers. If she wanted to. This was America. If she wanted to disappear, this great land would swallow her up into the depths and she'd slip through the cracks like thousands of other people her age. She didn't have to be smart. She didn't need tons of money. She didn't need superpowers.
She just needed two good legs to stand on, and to start walking.
"Ms. Leal?" Alfred said, holding the door open.
"Oh, sorry. I guess I've been working too hard. I'm very tired," she said, stepping out into the blinding sun of the morning.
"Yes. Perhaps you should go and rest."
"Yeah…I guess I should," she murmured as she walked into the big house; she suddenly felt that it had devoured her into another world. Almost a year ago she wouldn't have ever dreamed that this could all have happened to her.
"Ms. Leal, there's a call for you," Alfred interrupted her thoughts when she was half way up the stairs.
"Coming."
…
8:04am
"Oh, hey Jennifer,"
"Hey Calie."
"Sorry. For just leaving today. I'm not feeling well."
"Hm? Oh, no, I'm not calling about that."
"Oh." Cailan paused for a moment. "Then…"
"Oh, uh, I-I'm calling to…to…"
Cailan listened, feeling something was odd about the call. Shivers slithered up her spine. She distracted herself by watching Alfred take her bag up to her room.
"Cailan?"
"Hm?" her attention snapped back to the call.
"I said I'm calling because I need to set up a meeting with you,"
"A meeting, with who…?"
"Well, that's the thing," Jennifer said, her voice getting lower. "It's another troupe. I can't say who…I don't this to get out and ruin you, or him. But if Demitri knew about this offer, he'd quell it fast."
"Then, why are you telling me?" Cailan asked, only half buying Jennifer's reason for the strange call.
"Because kid, this could be your moment to shine. Demitri wants you to himself."
"Why would you care about my career? All the other dancers only care about themselves. Usually, dancers are done by the time they've hit their thirties. You're going to be there before I am, shouldn't you be out for yourself Jennifer?" Cailan asked.
"That's cruel! I might not be a saint but geez kid, I'm not a monster. Thanks for thinking so highly of me." Jennifer said irately, sounding almost hurt even.
"…sorry. I guess I'm just…cranky." Cailan lied. She wasn't cranky, she was suspicious. People were only out for themselves. Except—
Except Kaldur…and the others, they give for others…
"Well…look, do you want this or not?" the woman still sounded mad.
"Yes, of course. You're doing me a huge favor, and I'm sorry I'm such a brat about it. Guess all this…fame is going to my head," Cailan said, hoping that covered it.
"Awh, don't worry about it kid. Alright, how about I pick you up…tomorrow evening say? We'll go out and then meet this party for dinner?"
Cailan thought a moment. No one was expecting her here. She'd just tell Alfred that she was going to practice late and get dropped off by someone else. Then, she could take her bag and tell Jennifer that Alfred would pick her up. It was perfect. They'd waste so much time calling around and trying to figure out the different stories of who was supposed to be taking her where that she'd have plenty of time to get the hell out of dodge and disappear.
"Count me in Jennifer."
…
Thursday 12th of July
5:54pm
"So, we were thinking…you could come back to the clubhouse and we could…you know, maybe play that game you told us about after dinner—Megan's cooking tonight, well, she does every night, but she's making it—"
"I can't Dick," Cailan said, wincing inwardly. "I mean, I scheduled to meet someone with Jennifer today…"
"Oh," Dick nodded; Cailan bit her lips hard, feeling horrible for brushing him aside.
"B-But I can see how early I can get out of it and…maybe call you and still be there in time for a late desert, or…you know Wally, a midnight snack even?" she said, trying to hide the hopeful melody on her voice. She hadn't realized how much she was going to miss them until she'd started seeing them less.
Dick gave an appeased but glum smile. "Sure Cailan, we'll see you around seven, seven thirty?"
He looked tired. He worked hard, on the one had part of the Gotham duo, on the other part of a covert and highly functioning team of kid-superheroes. She felt almost sorry for him as she told him of course and to save her something Megan made for when she got there. He was losing his childhood—flashes of light struck through her memory like a violent stab; tires screeched in her ears, metal grating against concrete echoed in the recesses of her head. Cailan blinked. The visages of the car crash were gone as she walked through the door into the bright, streaming light. Dick had lost his family too, hadn't he?
Yeah, I'm sure he did… she thought back. They'd died, just like her own had. It hadn't been too recently either, she remembered. He's been living with Bruce for a long time. He was probably just a kid when they died…how was it? What happened to them…it wasn't a crash, but an accident… She wracked her memory for the story she was sure she'd heard somewhere. An accident…what had he been before he'd become Wayne's charge? What type of kid had Dick been before he'd become Robin? A shiver ran through her spine, but not one of fear.
It was a lonesome kind of shiver, like walking into a dark, musty basement filled with trunks and boxes of old memories that belonged to people long dead. Artifacts and dust— the former harboring emotions and recollections that no one now could recall from the deep voids of time that'd past—were all that existed in this kind of basement. It was a sad kind of shiver; Dick was no longer the boy he'd been when his parents were alive, nor would he ever be again, nor would that boy have a chance to grow up and become a man. Dick's path, his whole person had changed when his parents had died.
Just like her. If her parents hadn't died, maybe she wouldn't be so reluctant to get close, maybe she'd be better to Kaldur. Maybe she'd be worse; perhaps her parents would have spoiled her in her youth, until it was too late by the time she'd become a teen for the damage to be undone. Maybe if her parents had been alive she'd be in the school's girls' bathroom, gossiping right alongside Amy and Meg. She probably would have given up the tight-rope of image and self-respect a long time ago and gone with image, sleeping with any guy who dated her for longer than a month.
Cailan straightened as Jennifer's car pulled up towards the driveway. Tightrope… Her mind raced back to years ago, she'd been about twelve, really just starting her life on her own. It'd been all over the news they played on window tv-sets, the radio, even plastered in just about every news paper. There had been a tragic accident at the circus that'd come to town—something her parents would have taken her to see, she remembered she'd cried over it. There'd been an accident, a man and woman had died when an act went wrong or something.
"Well, wha'cha waiting for kid, get in! We gotta get going," Jennifer said, waving her arm to the car door; Cailan again heard the edge on her voice.
"Where's the meeting at?" she asked as she buckled herself in, Jennifer already driving faster than she should have down the pristine and mile-length driveway.
"We were supposed to meet him at Johnny Casoni's, you know that restaurant not far from the Modern Troupe? But I got a call saying he was going to be just a little late tonight." Cailan's heart sank at this. She'd probably be even later now, maybe late enough Dick would just leave without her.
"So, where will we be meeting him now at…?"
Jennifer smirked. Dang, this kid sure is nosey. Dumb brat.
"Well, he's in a meeting now so he hasn't been able to tell me just yet. I figure you and I can shop around for a bite to eat and then when he calls be ready to get there, eh?" Jennifer said, glancing in the rearview mirror too much, her eyes darting over to Cailan.
The girl felt the looks and turned her gaze to the window; it didn't help to settle her nerves. She didn't like something about the way Jennifer was acting, though, she had nothing to go on because she'd only know Jennifer inside of dance rehearsal. She could just be worried that Demitri will get angry with her, maybe about what will happen to her partnership in the Troupe. The girl thought.
"Why were you in such a rush to get going, if the meeting time has already been changed?" Cailan was unable to stop herself from asking, finding herself wondering out loud.
Moments ticked by in an uneasy silence. Jennifer swore under her breath, it sounded to Cailan. There was no radio going, so the woman couldn't pretend she hadn't heard what had been asked. But the length between the question posed and the eventual answer that came out of the woman's lips was too long to be true, and both of them knew it. Cailan felt a knot growing in her chest.
"Oh, well, I guess I wasn't really thinking. I'm just so pumped up for you to meet him that the moved back meeting time meaning more time to kill didn't really register, you know?" Cailan heard her speaking through closed teeth and the sliding of paper against paper. In another second there was a clicking sound before a fswish sound; she didn't know Jennifer smoked cigarettes.
"So, who is this guy who's so interested in meeting me?" Cailan asked, clenching her hands in her lap as she turned her head slowly to Jennifer knowing that her voice betrayed her suspicions while still praying that she was a good enough actress that it hadn't.
"Gawdammitkid" the woman swore through an exhale of smoke as she bit on her cigarette.
Cailan heard the click as the electrical locks slid into place where her hand couldn't get to them. "Well, he must be pretty powerful, and a big rival of Demitri, if you can't tell me his name even now that we're alone," Cailan said, smiling at the woman and hoping she was doing a good job of playing dumb. "It's kind of exciting, actually."
She saw Jennifer's eyes dart once again to her face and tried to keep the innocent smile there for a second longer before settling back (trying to make her body comfortable-looking) into the seat and looking again out the window. She couldn't tell if it was working or not.
…
"How does a sub sound?" Jennifer asked cheerfully as she pulled into a street-parking space and leaned through her open window to check the price of the meter.
Cailan's heart was racing in her chest. Is she really going to just let me go? Was I just being paranoid? She locked me into the car—but maybe she just forgot to lock the car door when we left Wayne Manor. But then why won't she tell me who this guy is?
"A sub sounds fine," she lied.
She watched Jennifer hop happily out of the car and was a little dumbfounded when she found she could get out of the car freely too. Her heart now seemed to be like a pack of stampeding rhinoceroses thundering in her chest, so loud the entire street must be able to hear it. This over-reaction made her feel all the more childish. What could she have been thinking—why on earth would Jennifer want to kidnap her, hold her against her will? The thought now rang out as the idle fancies of a bored little girl who still believed in the tooth-fairy.
"Get whatever ya want kid, it's my treat," Jennifer said, a little guiltily. Well, it isn't like its her last meal…or anything…
Cailan followed the woman through the dinging door and looked up at the board above the workers with the long lists of sandwiches. They swam before her eyes like wriggling insects and suddenly she didn't feel very hungry. There was a slight disgust welling up in the boughs of her stomach: a disgust for food, for the hot sunshine of the day, even for being near Jennifer. The feeling, she knew, was caused by the niggling fear she still couldn't seem to let go of.
"I'll take ham on white, pepper-jack cheese, all the veggies you've got there, lots of mayo, spicy mustard, vinegar but no oil, honey mustard, salt, pepper, and…throw on a bit of relish too." Jennifer said.
As Cailan watched she swallowed hard, feeling nauseated at the sandwich being made for Jennifer to bite into and consume. Suddenly she didn't feel well.
"C'mon kid, what'll you have?" Jennifer prodded. She was smiling, but Cailan saw in that smile that her face betrayed something else, some dark taint lurked behind her generous offer and the smile she now wore.
You sound crazy. Just order something you idiot. Faster you eat, faster you meet this guy and tell him you're not interested right now, faster you can leave. Because, that is after all the main objective. You're going to ditch her after the meeting and just disappear. Cailan reminded herself, smiling back at the woman.
"Uh, roasted chicken on wheat with provolone, lettus, onion, salt, pepper, oregano, oil and vinegar, pickles…just a little mayo, please." She'd gotten the smallest size so she could force herself to eat all of it quickly.
"Mmhm. Looks good," Jennifer grinned again; there was something…clownish about her grin today that was disturbing. "Feeling okay kid?" her brow arched at Cailan, her expression telling the girl that she knew Cailan didn't feel well at all.
"Yes, thanks for the sandwich."
Jennifer chewed a few bites then smiled, the food in her mouth making her cheeks poof out; it was a mocking, unmeant smile.
…
6:30pm
"Whew that was good, guess we've got something to burn off dancing now, don't we kid?" Jennifer laughed, a little too loudly it seemed to Cailan, as they got into the car and closed the doors. The locked slid into place as soon as she turned her key in the ignition, making Cailan wonder what the clicking sound she'd heard earlier had been. "Alright, seems we're going to be meeting him at this place a ways out, down 145th street. Looks like we've got time to make it."
Cailan again turned to the window, her brow furrowed. Jennifer hadn't once checked her phone since they'd left the car for food. 145th street worried her too; it was either at one end of the city with the big ritzy houses that were modeled after Wayne manor in size and vast awesomeness, or the other side of Gotham, the main street to the narrows. This was one of the main streets of Gotham and ran right through the city, almost a perfectly straight line that ended in the ocean on the wealthy side and bled out into the highway on the other.
"I'm glad you remembered," Cailan said, letting a smile sift into her voice by pretending she was talking with her friends.
"Hm?"
"Where we're going, you said you couldn't remember because you didn't write it down. I'm glad it came back to you, must be the food," Cailan said.
"Haha, well, everything's always better on a full stomach," Jennifer said, not committing to a definite answer, her voice unsure.
A shiver ran through Cailan; she felt cold all over. She shouldn't have gotten back into the car. Panic struck her now; she didn't know what was going on but Jennifer was lying to her. They weren't meeting any guy, at least, it didn't seem to be that way.
"Jennifer, can we stop somewhere real fast?" she asked, crossing her legs in an attempt to act the part.
"Huh? Why," suspicion rang through Jennifer's voice.
"I…well, it's that time of the month and…I need to, you know," Cailan lied, adjusting herself in her seat and praying that she looked legit.
Jennifer sighed. With the next green light the car lurched forward, sending Cailan back deeply into the passenger's seat. "We'll just have to get there a little faster then, you should have time before the meeting.