Jason knew full well how dumb his expression was, but he couldn't help it. He kept staring, praying to God no one noticed. The object of his fascination was a tall, willowy girl with glossy black hair and the bluest pair of eyes he'd ever seen called Laurel. Slolwy, he realized he wasn't the only one staring at her; every guy currently in gym class had stopped playing dodgeball just to see her tie her hair up. Jason was pretty sure the coach was staring too, creepy as that may be. Unfortunately for him, the blond guy from a week ago happened to be in his class. Worse still, he wasn't staring at the girl.

The red ball hit Jason square in the face and sent him flying. Everyone turned to look at him. Jason groaned out loud when he realized she was staring at him too.

Kyle. That was the one person who could help him out of his misery. Kayle was this quiet girl anyone could talk to about everything. She was what Barbara called 'adorable', although Jason was beginning to have his doubts; before he joined Gotham Academy, she had practically ruined a cheerleader's life because she was making fun of the fat girls. He was surprised Kyle hadn't turned up as a vigilante yet.

He set out to find her during lunch, doing his best to navigate through the cafeteria without tripping over people, and possibly getting food on his uniform. He found her sitting on the stairs just outside the cafeteria with an apple in one hand and a book in the other. She didn't look up, even when he sat down next to her.

"Help." He choked. Her eyes flickered from her book to him and then back at the pages.

"Where's the body?" She asked casually.

"It's not a body. Not that kind of body." She raised one eyebrow, still not looking at him.

"So no one's dead. Good, I was running out of hiding places." Jason prayed to God she was being sarcastic; her face was too still to betray it.

"Never mind that!" He nudged her impatiently.

"Fine, fine. What can the Great Guru do for you today?" She laughed, unknowingly pouring relief all over Jason; he was becoming too jumpy with all the messed up villains lately.

"It's Laurel."

"Laurel, who?" She wrinkled her nose. "The cheerleader?"

"There's another one?!" The look Kayle gave him was enough to get the message across. She scooted away from him for emphasis; Kyle was nothing if not dramatic.

"What'd she do to you?" She closed her book and set it on her lap; Freeing The Natural Voice by Kristin Linklater. Of course she'd be into theatre.

"Nothing, I just..." What was he doing here, anyway? Sure, the name Laurel was filling his mind and giving him headaches lately, but there was no reason Kyle should know; she wasn't a matchmaker for crying out loud!

"How many classes do you have with her?" Kyle asked and took a bite out of her apple.

"All...all of them." Jason winced under the scrutinizing look she gave him.

"And when did you acknowledge her existence?"

"Two weeks ago." Kyle shrugged.

"You're in love." Jason was thankful he hadn't taken anything to eat; he would spit in right in her face.

"No I'm not!" He yelled. A group of latecomers glanced at the two sideways, but he didn't care.

"Well, let me put it that way; you fancy her,she fascinates you." She looked at him straight in the eye, her own glinting with mischief. "You wanna get in her panties." Jason just barely contained himself from pushing her off the stair.

"NO!"

"Oh, yes- don't look so appalled, we've all been there. I'd be more worried if you spent your high school career without any heartbreaks."

"Oh God..." Jason leaned back, his head touching the steps. "What do I do?"

"You can always ask her out..." Jason shot up faster than a Jack-in-a-box. Kyle was trying to drown him in his own insecurity, there was no other explanation.

"What? Never heard of the concept? Only a couple hundred movies and songs about it..." Kyle turned her attention to her apple, as if what she was suggesting was completely normal.

Jason did not date. He never had, he never will. Because if he did, he'd probably have to ask Dick for advice, and the asshole would lord it over him for the rest of his days.

"No, seriously. You're more or less in her league. So, unless she has a boyfriend I don't know about-"

"Just how many people talk to you about these things?" Kyle rolled her eyes and grimaced in a way that reminded Jason of a turtle- how she did that was beyond him- and calculated. "Everyone." She shrugged.

"How do you think I got everyone to turn on that bimbo last year?" Ah, there it was. The incident Jason kept hearing about.

"You're evil."

"No. I'm a genius." She held up a finger. "Now can you go skulk about your love somewhere else? My apple's been flirting with me for the past five minutes, and I'm falling quite hard."

On his way to class, Jason was thinking over Kyle's words. He was in love. And he should ask Laurel out. Ragnarök was more likely to happen.

"Hi, Jason." He froze, almost dropping his books like the gigantic dork he was at the moment. He turned to see blue eyes framed by black hair and all the blood in his body went to his head.

"Hey, Laurel." Inwardly, he thanked every single deity that may or may not exist for not stuttering. The things that came out of her mouth were like tiny shard of ice piercing him. She was suggesting they go grab a coffee after school. She was asking him out. In his daze, he half-expected Kyle to suddenly appear behind Laurel and flash him that mischievous grin of hers; there was no way in Heaven or Hell that wolf-in-sheep's-clothes wasn't involved.

"So, what do you think?" Like an idiot, Jason nodded vigorously. Laurel smiled at him and left.

"Why is it that bad? And why are you dragging me?" Kyle complained as Jason lead her through the crowd.

"You told her, didn't you?" He accused when they reached a spot no one would see if Jason decided to murder her.

"That you're in love with her? Of course not- don't you point at me with those sausages!" She huffed and slapped his hand away.

"Then why did she ask me out?" Jason had never felt so confused. Disarming a bomb was easier than this.

"Maybe it's because she likes you too? I just asked her about her love life, you were never mentioned." Kyle assured him.

"Whyyyyyyyy?"

"This is perfect; you're love-struck by a hot, nice girl who just asked you out!" She looked more mystified than him. "Why are you crying?!"

"I'M NOT!" Jason decided that moment that he didn't want anymore of puberty, or the emotional breakdowns that came with it.

So, this is the belated oneshot I promised, with a bunch of more words than usual. Kyle and Laurel are my OCs that I might never use again; I kinda like Kyle though; evil geniuses that like theater, what could go wrong?

Little useless fact, 'wolf-in-sheep's-clothes' is a reference to my other Jason story, although Kyle stays here for now while Elpinora never appears in this story. EVER.