Location: Keystone High
Date: Sep 16th
Time: 12:31
Emmy was not in a good mood. She was changing into her red keystone shorts and white t-shirt because the PE teacher was having them do actual exercise today. She was, unsurprisingly, not enjoying school. The week had been increasingly irritating, and today had been the crescendo of her frustration. Zara had been ignoring her in chemistry even though Emmy kept trying to talk to her before and after class. Sage and Hunter were both annoyed with her because she had gone on a Code in Canada last night and hadn't been able to make them dinner or help with their homework. Mr. Taylor had given her a C on her paper about the Civil War which was bullshit because it was a good paper. He hadn't given any reason for the points that he took off, and she was convinced he was still just mad at her and taking it out on her grade. Trent had been trying to get her alone and she had muted his contact in her phone because he kept sending her desperately flirty texts even though she told him she wasn't interested a few days after he kissed her. And Emmy was incredibly jealous of Megan and Connor who were skipping school today to prep for their undercover mission that started tonight. That all added blended together to put her mood in a prickly doomsday cloud.
Jessie had started eating lunch in the gym so she could practice her basketball moves before the season started, she was trying to get her coach to put her as a starter, so Emmy had been hanging out with her in the gym all week to get a reprieve from Trent's manhunt. She had no experience with ball sports of any kind, but Jessie enjoyed having another person around and had even taught Emmy a few things. Jessie insisted that teaching the moves helped her have a better mastery over them, and Emmy didn't mind learning a new skill. Even if she was proving to be an abysmal basketball player. She was good at getting the ball in the basket, aiming is just applied trig, but she could not dribble and move at the same time for the life of her.
When she asked Jessie why Trent was still coming on so strong after she turned him down, the tall girl had laughed harshly and said that he wasn't used to being told no since Jessie and Emmy were the only two non-lesbian girls at school who didn't want him. Emmy had huffed and stomped toward the changing rooms to get ready for PE. She blew a piece of green hair out of her eyes at the hundred little things going wrong in her week and walked into the gym for PE. Emmy was met with a pair of familiar green eyes off to her right. She nodded at him casually.
Shockingly, Wally had not been one of her problems this week. They hadn't really talked since their 'start-over' sparring match, but they had toned down the aggression and had spoken once or twice before English and Chem. Emmy felt a little odd being around him after the weird tension they'd dealt with during the fight, and Wally seemed to feel the same way because they had both been keeping their distance. Her brain had calmed down and moved her dirty dreams back to random celebrities, thank God, but every now and then he would do something that reminded her of the cursed dream or Bialya, and she'd have to quell her rage and remind herself that she wasn't allowed to be hostile to him for no reason anymore because they were trying to be friendly. She was also very mad at herself because his uncharacteristically domineering 'he didn't kiss you like I did' comment had made her feel some type of way and she was blaming it completely on post-sex-dream hormones and refused to let her cheeks get hot whenever it came to mind. There was an uncomfortable air of something unsaid between them at the moment and avoiding each other was the easiest way to get it to go away.
Brandon followed Wally's nod and glared at the green-haired girl. His misplaced sense of loyalty to Wally did not appreciate her kissing a guy in front of his friend, so he had decided to be angry at her. Alright, fine, so maybe he was less mad to protect Wally's honor and more mad because she was a random chick who had somehow managed to edge him out for the internship he had wanted for years.
Brandon turned to Wally, "I just don't get it. She's not even in our calc class how could she have possibly beat me out for it?"
Jacob and Andre sighed, having heard this argument dozens of times in the past month, and Wally ran a hand down his face.
"Dude, you've got to let it go. It's not her fault that Wayne chose her," Wally patted Brandon's shoulder.
Brandon crossed his arms angrily, "Since when are you on her side? I thought she was a 'giant pain in your ass'?"
"I'm not on her side," Wally furrowed his brow, "We're just trying to, you know, be civil."
"Right," Brandon drawled out unconvinced. "First she gets some pity spot on the Wayne team. Then she uses Trent to mess with your head, and we're just supposed be to cool with her?"
"She did not mess with my head," Wally said defensively, glaring at the snickering Andre and Jacob when Andre muttered 'tell that to my soggy ass lunch last week'.
Brandon turned a little irate, "You know what, I bet she can't even do calculus. I'm calling her over here."
"Wait, don't-" Wally tried to stop the skinny boy, but he was already calling Emmy's name and ushering her over. Wally sighed. Things with them had shifted from viciously combative to vaguely awkward. Their comments from last Sunday were supposed to be erased from memory, but Wally kept thinking about how close he had gotten to kissing her, and then he'd get pissed at his hormones for getting so worked up when he and Emmy barely liked each other as teammates let alone anything else. They had just flirted with each other as power plays to get the upper hand during the match, but it was still strange to be around her after that.
Emmy raised an eyebrow at the scrawny boy's convulsive waving. Wally looked very unpleased by his friend's ushering, so she walked over with a smirk. If anything could make her slightly less angry about the quality of her week, it would be inconveniencing West.
"What?" She asked bluntly when she got to the foursome of boys.
Brandon gave her a condescending smile and gestured at the group with his phone, "We're all in AP Calc right now, but my older brother is in Calc 3 in college. He's having a problem with one of his online homework problems, but none of us can figure it out." His grin was a little too saccharine and he clearly thought he was setting her up for failure. "I thought that since you're on Wally's little genius team you might be able to help us out."
Emmy smirked and held her hand out for the boy's phone, "I'll take a look."
Wally looked panicked as Emmy glanced at the photo for a few seconds. There was no way Emmy would be able to answer the question that Brandon's brother texted them. It was a triple integral for finding the volume of a right circular cone. They hadn't even covered single integrals in Calc yet, they were still working on derivatives and limits. She was about to blow his internship cover and Brandon would freak out and-
"It's 12 pi. He reversed the domain values on the integral with respect to theta. That's why he was getting it wrong," Emmy said casually while handing the phone back to a stunned Brandon.
Wally was gaping at her, "How did you know that? You aren't in AP Calc."
"No, I am," Emmy smirked at the four stunned faces. "I'm just in the BC one."
"They only let seniors take that class though," Jacob objected.
"Yeah, they made an exception since it was the only class at the school close enough to my placement test score. It's a total blow off, unfortunately, but they said I had to take an AP class before I could take the online college ones," Emmy's eyes took a dangerous glint as she turned to Brandon.
"Did Wally mention that I have a deaf brother?" Her voice was light but there was a threatening tone underneath. Brandon shook his head with wide eyes. "I've gotten a little practice lip reading," she stepped into Brandon's personal space, "I didn't get the internship over you out of 'pity'. I got it because I am way out of your league. Both in general, and intellectually."
She backed away with a smug expression. "You should have warned him, Wally," she taunted the bewildered redhead, and walked over to talk to Jessie. That definitely improved her day a little.
Wally watched her go with annoyed astonishment. She was ahead of him in math? He glared at her. How was that even possible? She hadn't been to school for half a decade! Brandon relayed that his brother had just submitted Emmy's answer. It was correct. Jacob and Andre immediately started ribbing Brandon for getting thoroughly shown up by a girl. Wally's eye twitched. That made no sense. The internship was just a cover. He was supposed to be the smartest person on the team in math and science. She's bad at physics, just hold onto that. He found himself torn between being impressed that she solved a problem he couldn't in ten seconds and being furious that she solved a problem he couldn't in ten seconds. He just could not catch a break with her. She was always doing something unexpected.
Emmy and Jessie were talking about ways to improve Jessie's aim when the PE teacher arrived.
"Alright, listen up," he called into the crowd of 60 students. For some reason, the schooled blended all grades into the PE classes because they had too many students and not enough coaches willing to run gym class on the side. "Here's what's going to happen. You're going to run the two-mile path around the high school. Once you finish, you're done for the day and can have study hall until your next class."
Half the gym was complaining about the two miles and the other half was cheering about the prospect of ending early.
"Now partner up and start running," the coach yelled over the clamor. Emmy and Jessie had just fist-bumped their partnership when their teacher screamed again, "Oh, and do boy with girl." He moved to the side and started flipping through his football playbook.
Jessie and Emmy sighed, and the taller girl partnered up with some guy Emmy didn't know and headed out the door. Emmy had just started to look around the gym for a possible partner when a shadow loomed over her from behind.
"Well, New Girl, looks like we finally get our chance to get up close and personal. Lucky for you, I'm single at the moment. Trust me, it won't last long."
Emmy turned around and saw a guy who looked vaguely familiar. He was about 6'1, black hair, brown eyes, tan, and muscular. Oh, yeah. Douchey Jockstrap from my first day. She hadn't really seen him around since he interrupted her conversation with Wally.
She was about to tell him to get lost when another voice came into play. She wished that only other sophomores were in with her so she wouldn't have to deal with her partial stalker.
"Hey, back off, Zeke," Trent's 6'5 frame got between her and Jockstrap. "She's mine."
Zeke raised his hands in surrender, "Hey, my bad, Bro. I didn't realize she was your girl."
Trent nodded and went to throw an arm around Emmy's shoulder, but she knocked it aside. Any enjoyment she got from thwarting Wally's friend was gone, and now she was officially pissed again. Who did these Neanderthals think they were? Making claims on her like she was an object. She didn't even understand why they liked her in the first place. Emmy knew she wasn't ugly, but she certainly wasn't attractive enough to warrant all this random attention from her classmates when she went out of her way to be unapproachable most days.
"Hey, let's get one thing straight, Jackasses," her jaw ticked to the side for a second. "I am not anyone's girl. You, Jockstrap," she pointed at the Zeke guy, "I am not the property of some boy, so if you're going to apologize to anyone for getting in my face, it should be me and not Mr. Can't-Handle-Rejection over here."
She jerked her thumb at Trent before wheeling on the basketball player. "And you, Dude, what is your problem? I already said I wasn't interested."
To her fury, the boys just looked at each other and started laughing.
"Wow, she is a feisty one," Zeke smirked.
"I know. Isn't it so cute when they play hard to get?" Trent chuckled and nudged Zeke with his elbow.
Emmy's eye twitched. Were they seriously talking about her like she wasn't even here right now? They were the misogynistic cherry on her shit sundae of a week. She snarled and was raising her fists when an arm wrapped around her shoulders and stopped her from moving. She smelled cinnamon and oranges and immediately knew who it was.
"Wanna partner up, Sunrise?" Wally called down to her. His casual amusement made her jaw clench, but she supposed she should let him stop her from attacking.
"Sure, Sunset," she clipped out as he dragged her out of the school while she glared at the surprised boys in front of them.
Once they hit fresh air, she snatched her arm out of his hand. Wally started guffawing. The visual had been hilarious. Two giant guys had been towering over Emmy's on-the-shorter-side frame and she had been about to attack them, and the best part was that Wally knew both boys would be out within seconds if she had.
"What is so funny?" she threw her hands on her hips.
"You looked two seconds away from murdering them," he grinned widely. "You do know that you'll 'lose the internship' if you kill two future frat boys, right?"
Emmy grumbled, moving out of the way of a few pairs of students starting to run around the high school. Wally jerked his head toward the path.
"Lucky for you, I have to go slow. Try to keep up, Katherine," he called over his shoulder. Emmy jogged after him with a snarl.
"Not in the mood today, West," she glared at him slightly when she caught up. He was going faster than she would have preferred, but still slower than some of the other students.
"Why not?" he raised an eyebrow, taking their deal to be less unfriendly to heart. "I'm the one who had to learn that you're ahead of me in math. What could possibly top that inexplicable injustice?"
Emmy rolled her eyes, but her lips twitched slightly. "You really wanna know?"
He shrugged and nodded.
"Fine," she snapped in general instead of at him. "The kids are mad at me, a girl I thought was going to be my friend is avoiding me, Mr. Taylor gave me a bad grade on a paper just because he doesn't like me, Trent is up my fucking ass, and that's not even the thing that's really pissing me off!"
Wally raised his eyebrows in amused surprise while she continued her rant. "You know where Meg and Connor are right now? They're prepping for an undercover mission, and where are we right now?" she pointed between them. "Oh yeah, Fucking gym class."
Emmy threw her hands in the air for a second as they rounded the first corner of the school. None of the other pairs of runners were in earshot of them so she was comfortable carping out loud, "Bats is such a liar. He gave me this hole spiel about how important education is and how I had to go to school, but suddenly he's having our teammates skip who knows how many days of class to go on a prison mission that the League could pull off on their own! They have more than one shapeshifter, you know."
She wasn't used to talking much while running, she only did her singing training during the punching bag and weights, so she was starting to get a little breathless which just made her even madder, "And to add insult to injury, Connor is a hotter blonde than I am! That was incredibly upsetting to learn because I don't even like blonde guys, but he looked really good in his disguise and how the hell is that fair?"
Wally's cackling interrupted her complaining. She huffed with mild shame at the last, shallow part of her tirade.
"You're having a week, huh?" Wally grinned at her out of the corner of his eye.
"I guess," Emmy agreed between her quiet pants. Wally looked so unfazed by the jogging that he might as well have been sitting down, which only added to Emmy's exasperation with the world.
"Wanna ditch for the rest of class?" He nodded his head at the fork in the path up ahead. "Left takes us on the school path, but right goes to a park."
"Right it is," Emmy said. Wally looked around for a second, they had hit a point where no one else was around. Emmy's stomach dropped when he produced goggles from his shorts.
"Wait-" A flash of white teeth and she was zipping along the ground at neck-breaking speeds. They stopped behind a few trees. Wally plopped her down, smirking at her wind-blown hair as he put his goggles back in his pocket. Emmy leaned against a tree hoping to get her stomach to stop churning.
"Would it kill you to give me an actual warning before you do that?" She glared at him.
"You damsels in distress are so demanding nowadays," his eyes twinkled with mischief.
"You are the distress!" Emmy slapped his shoulder lightly.
"Ow," Wally rubbed his arm with an overdramatic wince. "You know, if I slapped your arm, I would be an asshole but it's totally fine when you do it."
Emmy snorted at him, "One, that was a very gentle slap. Two, you've punched me before, so I don't know why you're complaining."
Wally narrowed his eyes, offended, "I only punch you during sparring. You make it sound like I just hit you for the abusive hell of it."
Emmy rolled her eyes as she got rid of the knots in her hair with her fingers, wishing she had put it up in a ponytail before Wally got to her. "I'm so sorry to hurt your delicate constitution with semantics. Why are we here again?"
Wally perked up as he remembered their detour and walked out of the tree line into a large park. There was a big playground to the left, and a few couples were having picnics on the green grass. There was an expansive pond on the far side of the playground, glittering with refracting light as ducks and geese languidly paddled through it. The dirt path from the trees turned into a maze of sidewalks that covered the park and passed a bathroom building, water fountains, and tables with umbrellas over them. The sun was shining but there was a cool breeze that made the weather perfect. Emmy sighed as she automatically relaxed in the idealistic setting. She had never seen a park so clean and nice before. The ones in Gotham and Bludhaven were always worn down and used needles and condoms were strewn about carelessly. She would have to take Sage and Hunter here sometime.
Wally smiled as the tension in her shoulders eased some. "This is one of the smaller and less popular parks in the city, but it's my favorite."
"I can see why," Emmy nodded as she observed the laughing children playing on the pristine jungle gym.
"Oh, not because of that stuff," Wally grinned and pointed to a small cart down the sidewalk. "Because of that."
Emmy arched an eyebrow, "An ice cream cart?"
Wally shook his head, "No," he drew out defensively, "A sno cone cart."
He had expected Emmy to scoff or pull one of her equally dismissive moves, but to his surprise she immediately brightened.
"Really?" She asked with a wide smile and bounced on her toes slightly.
"Y-yeah," he stuttered out a little dumbfounded before recovering, "Uncle Barry owns a sno cone cart company with one of his college buddies, so I eat at all the locations for free."
He had expected Emmy to make a crack about how that must kill their profits, but she once again drifted from his predictions. She just laughed, grabbed his arm, and tugged him toward the cart. Wally could have easily overtaken her, but he found himself letting this strange girl drag him forward at a measly six mile per hours. She pushed him in front once they reached the cart and started looking at the flavor options on the side of the stand as though they were instructions to dismantle a bomb. He chuckled at her intensity and turned to the guy working the stand. Central City Cones had 15 carts around the city, and Wally knew all the workers by name.
"Hey Jack," Wally waved at the old man working the stand. He was a retired cop Barry knew from work who started working at the cart so he wouldn't be bored. "How is Myrtle?"
"Wally," Jack chortled at the teen. "Ah, my Myrtle is as lovely as the day I met her. She's babysitting our granddaughters right now. They're coming by later to see their old Pop-Pop. What can I get for you today?"
Wally hummed, "I think I'll start off with a Kid Flash."
Emmy snorted from beside him. The first two choices on the menu were 'Flash – Wild cherry, pomegranate, and lemon' and 'Kid Flash- lemon, pineapple, and tiger's blood'.
She grinned teasingly at the boy beside her. "How come you don't have a Rainbow Dash option?"
Wally's cheeks turned pink, and he elbowed her.
"Oh, hello, Dear," Jack smiled at her through his thick grey mustache. "I didn't see you over there. What would you like?"
Emmy twisted her lips to the side as she bit the inside of her mouth and considered her options. The 'Iris- watermelon, pina colada, and kiwi' option sounded good, but she was drawn to the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle- grape and green apple'. She was a big fan of those feisty, badass turtles.
Wally smirked at her, "Don't think too hard. I'm starting to smell smoke."
She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes and Jack chortled again, "It's never a good idea to antagonize a pretty lady, Wally."
"Yeah, Wally, have some decorum, sheesh," Emmy turned to Jack and decided on her order. "I'll take a TMNT please."
Wally quirked an eyebrow at her while the old man smiled and started making their cones. "Your use of the acronym implies that you're a fan."
Emmy rolled her eyes, but the small smile that had been on her face since he said 'sno cones' remained, "The kids and I always wished we had an extra sibling so we could dress up as the full group. I wanted to marry Raph when I was eight. I still kind of do if I'm being honest."
"Figures you would like the one with anger issues," Wally scoffed despite being entertained by the revelation of her fangirl status.
Emmy looked at him appraisingly for a second, "You like Donatello best."
He sputtered for a second, "How did you…?" Any time the turtles came up people always assumed he liked Mikey best. He was a big Mikey fan, but Donnie just barely edged him out.
"I'm sure you like Mikey second best, but the brains of the team would definitely be your favorite," Emmy shrugged like it was obvious, because to her it evidently was. "Also, the TMNT here is made from green apple and grape, and purple is Donnie's color. I'm assuming you helped create and name some of the options, so Donnie's gotta be your favorite."
Jack was handing them their sno cones before Wally could process her casual deduction and they moved to sit on the grass underneath a nearby tree. Emmy ate her sno cone happily, and Wally noticed that, for the first time, she looked young to him. She usually had steel in her eyes and ice in her veins. She was always on alert. Even when she was in the cave laughing at something her siblings or the team said or did, the tension of vigilance remained in her spine and shoulders. He knew that she was a little older than him at 16, but most of the time she could pass for someone in her twenties, especially when she was lecturing Sage or Hunter about eating vegetables or doing their homework. The way that she carried herself and the depth in her eyes made her look older than she was. But now, sitting cross-legged under a tree in school-issued gym clothes and munching frozen slush, she looked like a content kid. Wally was confounded by the change and only snapped out of his musing when a small chunk of ice fell on his hand from the tilted orb leaning over the boundary of his wax paper cone. He quickly slurped it off his thumb and began eating.
"So, what happened to Trent being able to recognize disinterest?" Wally asked in a minor taunt.
Unfortunately, the mention of their classmate made Emmy huff and the steel returned to her eyes and body language in an instant. Wally immediately regretted opening his mouth.
"Evidently, because I am one of the few girls not interested in him, he thinks he's in sexist-1950's-love with me," she sighed and leaned against the tree.
Wally chuckled sympathetically, "Yeah, some of the player boys really like the chase."
"You don't say, Megalicious," Emmy droned sardonically.
"Hey, I am not like them," Wally glared at her.
Emmy thought for a second. He could be a bit of a pig every now and then, but so could she if she were being truthful. At least Wally had never ignored her rejection and then tried to call dibs on her like she was the front seat in a car. She eventually tilted her head in agreement, and they ate in silence for a minute while observing the people in the park.
"So, you want to know my advice for your crappy week problems?" Wally offered.
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye but shrugged, "Pourquoi pas?"
He assumed them meant 'why not' and started, "Your siblings will get over whatever they're mad about so don't worry about it. You should confront the girl ignoring you and see what's up. Mr. Taylor is probably still torturing you because I'm assuming you never apologized for the scene you made in his class when you were trying to get expelled. Trent is a stereotypical jock dumbass so to get him to leave you alone you either have to completely humiliate him or tell him you already have a boyfriend," he looked at her with a smirk, "and you're just going to have to accept the fact that you are not and will never be as hot as Connor, whether he be blonde or raven-haired."
Emmy blinked at him in shock. She had not considered that he actually listened during her rant.
"And I'll be honest," he grinned at her, "I am thoroughly enjoying how annoyed you are at being benched for the undercover mission because that sense of boredom and uselessness you're feeling right now is the exact same way the rest of us feel when you fly off on a lantern code while we're waiting around for Batman to give us our next mission like hungry puppies waiting to be fed."
Emmy hummed contemplatively while licking her cone. The green and grape had blended to a muddy purple color that looked like a fresh bruise, and the sun peaking through the leaves above their head coupled with the heat from her hand had started to turn the block of ice into a slushie.
"Well," Emmy paused, "I suppose I could be less showy when I head off for a Code in the future."
Wally waved off her suggestion, "Nah. Even if we're a little jealous in the moment, it's nice to know that at least one of us is out there making a difference."
He finished his cone and asked her if she was ready for another one yet.
"I admire the way you figured out how to achieve every teen's dream and eat yourself," she quipped.
"See! See this right here is what I was talking about," he swirled his pointer finger in her face. "Dirty mind. Shame on you, there are children present."
Emmy just shrugged and drank the last bit of her melted sno cone. "Kids gotta learn about the world sometime."
"You're a horrible person," Wally deadpanned as they walked back to the stand.
Wally got a 'Speedster Breeze- coconut, lemon, and lime' while Emmy looked at the menu again. After a few seconds she swore to herself quietly. He raised an eyebrow in question.
"You're not allowed to say anything," she threatened under her breath, before turning to Jack and asking for the flavor she wanted.
Wally stayed silent, but there was a smirk on his face as they returned to the tree. He waited until Emmy was a quarter of the way done with her cone to ask his question.
"So, Emerald," He leaned toward her, lowering his voice, "how do I taste?"
Emmy glowered at him, lips still on her Kid Flash flavored ice. It sounded like a good flavor combination, sue her. She was about to snap about how her warning was serious when a different idea came to her. Emmy held eye contact, took a long, slow lick of her ice, and huskily replied, "I believe I've already answered that."
Wally's eyes went wide as he remembered that part of their make-up fight. Emmy had a smug look on her face as she snickered, so he pushed her while shaking his head. "You always have a damn retort ready."
"You may have the speed advantage when it comes to feet, but I'm the comeback queen," she smirked at him.
"Is that your stripper name?" Wally wiggled his eyebrows.
"No, unfortunately, your mom already took it," Emmy shrugged. "I had to go with Rocket instead."
"Rocket?" He arched an eyebrow.
"Yep," Emmy batted her eyelashes at him, "because for an astronomical amount of money I can take you out of this world and back in under an hour."
Wally choked on his sno cone and Emmy patted his back until he could breathe again.
Wally chuckled one last time as he shook his head, "You know what? Fine, I'm man enough to admit it. You might be the wittiest person I know. Don't tell Rob."
Emmy smiled at the praise. "You keep up with me better than most," she admitted freely.
They ate the rest of their second cones in amicable silence. Round three consisted of a 'Flash' for Wally and an 'Iris' for Emmy. He glanced at his watch. They had about 20 minutes before they had to go to their next class. He would typically be on his fifteenth sno cone by now, they hardly had any calories, but he found that he was actually enjoying Emmy's company and had slowed his eating pace to match hers.
"What's your deal with sno cones, by the way?" He asked after a while of innocuous conversation. "I've never seen you get excited about anything like that."
Emmy smiled a little, "Well, first of all, sno cones are far superior to ice cream. Unfortunately, my children prefer the latter, so I have to just suffer and watch them eat cold cow cream when I could be having fruity ice chips."
"How dare you disrespect ice cream like that," Wally threw a handful of grass at her and smiled when she chuckled. "Sno cones are light, fun, and airy, but ice cream has depth, reliability, and substance. They both deserve love and appreciation."
"Nice poem, Sappho," Emmy rolled her eyes with amused exasperation and went back to her sno cone.
"What's the other reason?" He prompted.
"Hmm?" She tilted her head at him.
"Usually when someone starts a sentence with 'first of all' it's because they have multiple points to make," he pointed out.
Emmy looked at the ground for a second. How could she explain it without sounding like she was looking for pity or sympathy and without revealing too much?
"I-" she paused and absentmindedly ate her ice. "So, I don't have a lot of, uh, nice memories of childhood."
Wally glanced at her. She said childhood like it was eons behind her, perhaps it was.
"But I have a lot of good memories about sno cones," she smiled at the grass in front of her softly. "Gotham gets super-hot in the summer, and there was this really shitty 24-hour diner down the street from my house. The owner had this ridiculously outdated shaved ice machine, and whenever the weather was miserable and sweltering, he would tug it out and sell sno cones for fifty cents."
Emmy's eyes were far away in melancholy remembrance. The sno cone memories were hard for her because they were actually good ones. Her mother would trade her needles and powders for giggles and hugs, her father would trade his hits and slurs for smiles and jokes, and they would go get shaved ice in ridiculous flavors until their tongues were neon colors and their chilled bodies were fighting the heat successfully. It was tradition that they never trained on Sno Days. It continued when Sage was born, but Emmy had escaped with the kids before Hunter had a chance to come to one. The Sno Days were excruciatingly bittersweet, because for three or four days a year, her parents were the kind of people that she always wished they would be. But then Dale would put away the ice shaving machine, the enchantment would end, and they would return to their normal, toxic selves. Emmy never understood it. Why they could pull themselves together for such short periods of time. It gave her hope that there was humanity and goodness and love in them every single time, and then, without fail, the next morning her mother would be in a drug-induced-haze and her father would either be back with his actual family or sparring with her on concrete so that each fall was painful enough to make her never want to fall again. Emmy released a long, trembling sigh. Wally saw that her face was scrunched up in an old, deep pain. He felt bad for accidentally prying. Dick rarely talked about the circus and his family, and when he did, his expression often turned into one similar to Emmy's. Wally couldn't even imagine how big the hole in his heart would be if he lost his parents.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"
Emmy shook her head at him but kept her gaze on the grass, "So, on the hottest days, my parents and I would drop whatever we were doing and loiter at Dale's. My parents were…very stoic people, but on sno cone days they were all smiles and giggles. We called them our Summer Sno Days because they were always in the summer, unlike, you know, the actual Snow Days you get during school."
Her voice was careful, quiet, and reserved as she talked about her family. Wally realized that he had never heard her say anything more than the occasional 'my parents are dead' and that was just when she was trying to make someone, usually him, uncomfortable.
"I wish Sage could remember those days," Emmy confessed barely above a whisper. "If I could pick anything for her to remember and anything for Hunter to have experienced, it would be those days."
Her story blew away on the breeze, and Wally felt an odd sense of honor that she had trusted him with it. They ate in silence until Wally saw that they needed to get going back to school. He relayed the information to Emmy, and they both stood up with a sighed lament. He downed three more 'Kid Flash's' on their way behind the tree line to Emmy's mild entertainment.
He popped his goggles on, "Does this count as enough warning, distressed damsel?"
Emmy rolled her eyes, "What's the quote again? I'm a damsel. I'm in distress. I can handle it. have a nice-"
Wally picked her up and zoomed her back to a tree near the school entrance. She groaned as the fruity water sloshed in her stomach. Wally smirked at her as he set her on her feet.
"Can't say I didn't warn you that time."
"Take a bow, Kid Fastidious."
"Whatever you say, Samantha."
"Nice try, Lacey."
"Lacey?"
"Yeah, because your full name is Wallace."
Wally groaned with grudging amusement as they walked back into the gymnasium. "I actually have not gotten that one before."
"Really?" Emmy arched a brow. "First thing I thought was, 'Ironic that his name includes an adjective for the lingerie he'll never see'."
Wally sighed deeply and shoved her with a faux betrayed expression on his face, "And after I gave you such a good Sno Day."
He paused in panic, hoping that he hadn't disrespected her parents' memory and pushed a boundary.
"It was a good Sno Day," Emmy smiled genuinely at him for a second before returning to her typical taunting one, "Just not good enough for you to get a free pass."
She winked at him dramatically, he rolled his eyes, and they parted ways to change into normal clothes for their next class. When she left the locker room for calculus, Emmy was in a good mood.
-This was supposed to be a quick opener for the Homefront episode, but then it got longer and now it's its own chapter. C'est la vie. Shoutout to gm3161 and ukitakeitalialover041757 for reviewing.
Until next time,
TheDarkAbyss
