12/18/17

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Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans

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Cursed

Chapter Twenty Three: Promises to Friends

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Earth 24

September 27, 2008

That night, my dreams are more peaceful. My friend is back too, with no signs of what happened to him the previous night. Tonight we pick flowers in a meadow under a cloudy sky, while a fierce wind whips through the tall grass. We don't talk to each other, as usual, but every so often we glance at each other curiously. And for the first time, I wonder if perhaps I'm not as alone in my dreams as I previously believed.

When I wake up, I feel content. All I want is to go back to sleep and continue our adventure, as uneventful as it was, but my alarm tells me I cannot. Still, last night's events have put me in a good mood, much better than the way I felt when I woke up from yesterday's nap. I shut off my alarm and sit up in bed, pushing my pillows and stuffed animals to the side. There's a manila envelope sitting on the ground in front of the door, which must have been slid under the door last night while I was sleeping.

I climb out of bed and pick up the folder, opening it up to investigate the contents. Inside is a new schedule, and a set of badges. My heart races as I pull one out of the folder, and I gleefully read the inscription.

Junior HIVE Academy

Graduating Class of 2008

I squeal, jumping up and down and spinning in circles. I made it! I finally made it! I kiss the badge and set it and the rest of the package on the desk. I have to get ready!

I change into a fresh uniform and pin the badge to it proudly. I make my bed as professionally as I can manage, and start brushing my hair. Today, I decide to wear it in pigtails as Jade often did. Seeing Roy last night made me realize just how much I miss them, even if they did betray the HIVE, and it feels right to fix my hair in honor of one of the people who helped me become the person I am today. However, I run into a bit of a problem. The pigtails won't stop sticking up.

I wish I was joking, I really do. But I'm not. No matter how much I brush them, no matter how many times I take out the hair tie and redo it, they continue to defy gravity and spring up. I try one last time, but this time it makes things even worse. Instead of merely sticking up, this time the hair ties slide to the ends, letting my hair poof out. I groan, hitting my head on the mirror. I look stupid! It looks like horns!

Or maybe a horseshoe.

My mother always told me that horseshoes were good luck. But only when you turn them up, of course. If you hang them the other way, all the luck will drain out. Maybe that's been my problem all these years. When your hair is down, it's kind of like an upside down horseshoe, is it not? But when it's sticking up like this…

I smile, and decide to leave it like this. Just for today. Who knows what everyone else will say about it, but perhaps I could use a little good luck.

With that in mind I grab my schedule and walk to the cafeteria. After grabbing my tray, I begin to walk to my usual spot when I hear a voice calling my name.

"Hey Mallory! Come sit with us!" Mikron yells, waving his hands in the air.

I smile and sit down next to him, across from Baran. And with that, the loser table feels a little less lonely.

Baran shovels the last of his food into his mouth and asks, "So do you know what you're gonna call yourself yet?"

I feel a little awkward, especially since Mikron doesn't have much food left on his tray either. They must've got here way before I did. As nice as it was for them to invite me to sit with them, it doesn't look like it will last.

I shake my head. "No, not yet. Do you?"

Baran grins. "I'm thinking Mammoth. Me 'n Selinda came up with it when we joined. She was gonna be Shimmer."

There's a twinkle of sadness in his eyes, and I look at Mikron, silently urging him to get the topic off of Baran's sister.

"I don't know. I'll probably go with Gizmo, but it's not cool enough for me. It sounds like something a total weirdo would come up with," Mikron grumbles, crossing his arms.

"I think it sounds good," Baran says.

Mikron rolls his eyes. "Of course you would. You probably need to come up with something soon though. Costume design is on our schedule you know."

"Yeah," I sigh. "I'll probably just have to wing it."

We sit in silence as Mikron finishes up his cereal. He and Baran get up to dump their trays together, and I try to believe them when they promise to come back and wait on me. In the meantime, I chew on my muffin and wish I could come up with something.

"Mallory?"

I turn around and see Seymour. I narrow my eyes suspiciously. "What do you want?"

He rubs the back on his neck. "I just wanted to say congratulations on getting into the graduating class. Angela's pretty jealous she didn't get to move up."

I smirk at the thought of sending Angela into a fit of jealousy. "Good."

Seymour laughs. "That's fair. I guess she's not ready to move up. I had to make sure to fail a few classes just so I could stick with her. She doesn't know, though. She just thinks I'm stupid."

My smile turns to a frown. "Why do you stay with her if she's such a jerk to you?"

Seymour sighs, closing his eye. "I guess I'm just worried about what I'll be without her."

"Why, you got a crush or something?" I tease. Seymour's eye goes wide, and I realize that maybe I shouldn't have said that out loud.

"Please don't tell anyone! I don't know what Angela would do if she found out!" he pleads.

I awkwardly hold my hand out, laying it on his arm. "It's okay. Your secret's safe with me."

Seymour sighs in relief. "Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise."

Seymour smiles, looking into the distance. I follow his gaze and see Mikron and Baran returning to the table.

"I should probably go. I'll see you around."

"See ya later," I say as he walks away.

Baran and Mikron sit back down at their spots as I finish up my muffin. The ground shakes a bit as Baran sits down, and my mouth twitches up into a smile.

"I thought you guys wouldn't come back," I admit.

Baran laughs. "Of course we would. I don't break promises to friends."

My smile widens, and though I know it's foolish my mind begins to wander to all the adventures the three of us will have at the HIVE Academy together. I would've been fine on my own, sure, but I now realize that maybe life really is better with friends.

….

Hey guys! I'm finally on winter break! Well, I'll still have to go to work, but I don't have school for the rest of 2017 so that's definitely something. I'm not sure if that will make anything change for the better writing-wise since I've still got a lot going on, but we'll see. Life has just been… weird this year. It was an improvement on 2016 though, so I'll give it that.

But yeah, I'll try to update once or twice before the end of the year. ;)

Thank you Silver-Infinite for reviewing (This Leo is in fact Leonard Snart, but he isn't THELeonard Snart. I'll try not to spoil anything, but you'll see what I mean in a couple chapters. I'm glad so many people are excited about him, he's a lot of fun to write!), Carley Pie for following, and FrostedFire for following.

Quote of the day!

"Mom! Dad! Look over here! Get a picture of me next to the cucumber in authentic Argentinian garb!" -Junior Asparagus, VeggieTales

(Seriously though, the older I get the more I realize what an absolute treasure that show is)

May the odds be ever in your favor,

~Spectrobes Princess