++++++ Just a quick FYI-letting you know I'll be on holidays for five days come Friday so there will be no updates.

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I hope you enjoy.

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Thirty-Four

Today was just another regular day.

Barry and I were hanging out at CC Jitters waiting for Iris to finish and we were heading to the pool once she was done. Central City was in the middle of a weird funky heatwave, at first Barry and I had suspected a meta-human but the weather was weird all up and down the coast.

Today was pool day and I was looking forward to it.

"Charlie would you stop bouncing around like you're on crack cocaine?" Barry asked me. He was sitting back drinking a coffee like it wasn't 95 degrees.

"I'm bored can we just go already?" I frowned, flicking a serviette over in his face. "Bullseye." I was wearing a bikini underneath the sundress I wore.

"Grow up, Charlie," Barry muttered.

"I'll be done in a minute guys!" Iris called out from over behind the counter. "Hey Starla, you and Scarlet should go sit with Barry." She was talking to two young women standing in the doorway. Sisters…yeah most definitely sisters with that matching blonde hair and matching blue eyes-only difference was the younger one had purple tips in her hair and her head was buried in a tablet.

The two women came over and the taller of the two-Starla-sat down beside Barry and Scarlet slumped down in the beanbag beside me. "Hello," she smiled. "You must be Barry and Charlotte Allen? I'm Starla Lee and this is my sister Scarlet-Scarlet say hello."

"I'm participating in an online discussion board about meta-humans," Scarlet answered, her fingers floating over the tablet screen, "and what effect they have on society as a whole."

"Is that a Central City University backpack?" Barry asked the girl.

"Yeah I go there," she shrugged, "what's the issue?"

"How old are you?" I asked her.

"Fifteen," she replied.

"Wow," I muttered. "Nice to meet you, Starla. Everyone calls me Charlie. Do you go to uni with Iris?"

"Psych major," she answered, smiling. "Scarlet is studying forensic science and criminal psychology as well as societal anarchy."

"I wasn't aware that that was on the syllabus," Barry laughed.

I rolled my eyes as the two of them talked. Getting up from my seat, I took our cups back to Iris who was signing off. "Forgive me if I'm wrong but this is clearly a set up," I suggested.

Iris rolled her eyes. "Barry needs to get out there on a date. So does Starla. I figured that they would be an adorable couple."

"Iris," I frowned, "we grew up together, wanna tell me what the catch is?"

"There's no catch!" Iris objected.

I raised an eyebrow. "Iris?"

Iris sighed. "Fine. Starla has a boyfriend. They're high school sweethearts. His name is Kyle Bishop. He's a controlling, abusing bastard. I've spoken to dad about it but he said they can't do anything. If Barry can convince her to be interested in him then maybe I won't be attending her funeral."

I frowned. "I don't see any bruises."

"He's an emotional abuser," Iris frowned. "She won't listen to me so I want her to listen to Barry…let her know there's other guys out there besides Kyle-" she stopped talking as a buff guy came in through the side door.

"Hey Iris." The speaker came over dressed ready for the beach making me realise that this steroid asshole was Starla's boyfriend.

"Hey gorgeous," he grinned at me. "Name's Kyle."

"In your fucking dreams," I replied. I turned and walked back to the tables we were sitting at. "I'm gonna go wait in the car. If the roid user at the counter hits on me again I'll kick him in the nuts."

Starla looked up. "Oh-hello Kyle."

"I'm coming with you," Scarlet spoke up, following me outside. "So Iris told you huh?" she asked me. "I told her it was a stupid plan."

"Hey I'm in on this now," I replied. "Operation Breakup has commenced and will shortly be followed by Operation Love Boat."

"You're super lame," Scarlet snorted.

"CANNON BALL!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Iris and Starla both screamed as the water splashed over them. "I didn't come to the pool to get wet!" Iris yelled at me.

I waved at her and disappeared under the water. Closing my eyes I took a deep breath, sure you could get past the chemical taste the water had but it was still water. It still worshipped me as its rightful queen…Speaking of Queens…I missed mine. She'd gone back to her boyfriend and to uni a few days ago-it was weird her not being here and Amber was starting work after Iris left. And there was no way in hell that Leonard would be caught dead in a pair of board shorts with sunscreen…the very thought made me giggle. After a few minutes I decided to come back up least everyone think I died.

"What the hell are you doing?" Barry hissed in my ear. "People will start talking."

I reached up and grabbed the back of his neck to pull him into the pool. Barry shrieked when he fell into the pool. Iris started laughing and Starla was giggling.

Barry surfaced. "I'm gonna get you for that, Charlotte Nora Allen."

"Oh the whole name?" I smirked. I dove back under water and sure enough Barry found me.

"You can go get us some drinks," Barry grinned when we surfaced.

I climbed out of the pool and let the water sit on my skin. "Scarlet I could totally use a hand," I smiled as Starla and Kyle walked off.

Scarlet got up and followed me to the kiosk. She had her head stuck in her tablet the whole time.

"Can I asked you a question?" I frowned, stepping away from the kiosk after we'd gotten the drinks.

Scarlet shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"

"Why can't your sister leave?" I asked her. "I don't mean to pry but I'll try and talk to my dad and see what he can do to help?"

"Because he's in our house!" Scarlet argued. "Mum and dad willed us the house when they died. He won't leave our house and Starla's frightened of him." Her nose started to bleed.

"Scarlet?" I frowned. Suddenly the drinks in my hands exploded. Scarlet gasped and stepped back. "You're a meta?" I asked her.

"Please don't say anything!" she pleaded. "Starla doesn't like me to use my powers!"

"Don't worry," I grinned, flicking my wrist. The spilt drinks on the floor lifted up a little before I dropped it. "You're not the only meta here."

Her eyes widened. "Oh my god, you're Pisces?"

I winked. "That's me. Another question-why don't you like use your powers on him?"

"Because I don't want Starla to be disappointed in me," she answered. "I'd kill him, I'd scramble his brains so quickly that they won't know what hit him but then what better am I than the other meta's that you and your partner take down?"

I patted her shoulder. "Good girl. Now I gotta pee." Scarlet stepped away to buy more drinks whilst I went to find the ladies. Coming around the corner, I could hear Starla arguing with someone-oh look it was Kyle. "Something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Kyle replied.

"Of so you just take your girlfriend behind the toilets to have kind words with her?" I asked him. "After you hit on me." I looked at Starla, "I can kick his arse for you if you like?"

"Please just stay out of our problems," Starla warned her.

I cocked and eyebrow. "Yeah no. It's not your problem when your friends are worried about you. Hell Iris even went to dad to see if he could help you."

Suddenly a hunk of earth slammed into me.

Kyle was a meta-human.

A bad meta-human.

I picked myself up. "That's not very nice."

"Kyle!" Starla snapped. "Don't!"

"Oh you picked the wrong girl to throw rocks at," I grinned. I slammed my hand down on the watch face and let the nanobots take control. "I'll pretend that you didn't just try to kill me." I flung my hands out and the water gushed out of the pool and swirled around me like a protective ball.

I spun my body around and threw the water at him as Kyle tried to threw stones at me. Tendrils of water snapped out and destroyed them. "Water always beats out earth no matter how long the wait."

There was a flash of lightning and Barry flew past, knocking Kyle to the ground. He appeared beside me in the Flash suit. "Thought you needed a hand."

"I could have handled him," I told him. "But thanks dude."

"No problem," he replied as he flashed off again. He knocked Kyle's feet out from underneath him. "Stay down, chuckles." He punched him in the face several times and he was soon out.

Starla looked at the two of us with shaky lips. "Does Iris know?"

"No," we both replied.

I stepped over to her and let the suit melt away. "I hate to be the nasty voice on your shoulder but your sister wanted to kill Kyle. Maybe instead of focusing on him-you should have focused on your sister. Both of you come to STAR Labs tomorrow morning. Don't be late."