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The last day of school before winter break was either smooth as butter or cathartic in chaos. There’s no in between. Most teachers just want to chill and not deal with the students any more than they must, some even turning their eyes from the mischief just so they won’t have to deal with detentions or have to make empty threats. This philosophy applies even more strongly for seniors because they literally couldn't care less about school rules when they’re this close to get the hell out.
That’s why Ms. Grant, the Writing teacher, was so baffled when principal Luthor demanded her to watch over detention.
“On the last day? Who the hell got themselves in that much trouble to be sent to detention?”, she asked, perplexed and lowkey annoyed.
“Clark Kent and Barry Allen.” was Luthor’s somber answer.
Now that just can’t be right, Cat thought. Clark Kent was one of the most quiet, chill students of all senior year. Boy didn’t even sneeze too loud, for crying out loud! And yeah, maybe he still is having a little trouble fitting in, only hanging out with that freshman, Jimmy Olsen, and his classmate, Lois Lane. However, her Cat would almost expect to see at detention. God knew how many times that girl from the journalism club had found herself in detention. But Clark? Sweet, shy, a transfer student from nowhere Smallville Clark Kent? Impossible.
And Barry Allen ? Sure, Barry had his fair share of warnings with his sometimes class clown tendencies but overall, he was a very diligent student. Easily the best Science student at the whole school, the kid even won those nerd awards. Cat never saw too much of him since he didn’t enroll in Writing, choosing those advanced sciences subjects instead, but even she knew Barry never got himself in anything even close to trouble, too focused on his grades or making something blow up in the science lab while sporting a huge smile on his face.
“Damn,” she whispered in awe, “what did they even do?”
But Lex refused to answer, clearly too annoyed at how this whole ordeal was making him stay even a second late on the last da of school. Cat could relate.
“They need to set their heads straight”, was all Lex said on the matter before he left Cat to deal with this mess.
For fuck’s sake, now Cat would have to babysit two teenagers when she could be catching up with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for three hours on a Saturday when everyone else were enjoying their Winter break! Honestly, if the two of them were any other students, Cat would straight up demand Lex to find someone else to waste their time like this. But she was too curious to learn what it was all that about, and you know what they said about cats and curiosity…
Saturday
7am
Clark sighed, already done with this whole day and he just got in school. His parents weren’t notified about his detention, thank god, considering he had lived alone since his transfer, but the uncomfortable feeling of letting them down still plagued Clark like a thousand needles scratching his skin.
As he made his way to the detention room, head low and his 6’2 stature hunched, Clark remembered his best friend’s, Lois Lane, words.
“Deny everything and don’t say a thing! They can’t prove anything against you, and it wasn’t even your fault, Smallville!”
“What Lois is trying to say,” Jimmy quipped, “is that if you keep your head low, they won’t have anything to make you stay there even more than what you need to. It’s your first time in detention, right?”
It wasn’t comforting at all, but even so the memory brought a smile to Clark's face. His friends were too funny sometimes, especially when principal Luthor was breathing down their necks. That bald prick had a bone to pick with them, it was the only explanation why the newspaper club members get sent to the principal so often over so little things. This is the first time Clark ever got a detention, but Luthor gave him his fair share of warnings over “tardiness” and “late homework”.
Still. Clark didn’t regret a thing, that jerk had it coming.
Remembering what happened was still grave on Clark’s nerves, like a rash that just won’t go away. It’s not even that Clark got in trouble, but the whole picture. Iris’ look of horror, Lois’ shouting and Barry’s frustrated and so heartbroken face.
Shaking his head to get rid of those uncomfortable memories, Clark knocked on the classroom’s door where detention was being held. Ms. Grant was already there, a look of absolute boredom featuring her pretty face.
“Great, you’re here. Mr. Allen is already on his seat, so knock yourself out.”
Barry lifted his face when his name was mentioned, locking eyes with Clark for the first time since principal Luthor found them and for one moment, Barry’s blue eyes were all Clark could see, desperately trying to find out what was happening there. Worry? Fear? Disgust? Shame? And… Is that a hint of respect? Or maybe Clark is just overthinking too much, and Barry was simply looking at him.
Should he sit close or away from him? If Clark sat on the next seat, Barry might feel annoyed that he’s too close. However, if Clark sat too far from him, Barry might feel offended and think something absurd like Clark hates me now or oh so he’s too good to be near me now, huh . Playing safe, Clark decided to sit on the second chair after Barry’s. This way, he’s close enough to be available and show he’s not angry or disgusted by Barry but still maintaining a respectful distance if Barry is angry or disgusted by him .
Satisfied, Clark only lifted his face when he heard Ms. Grant talking again.
“Alright, since this is your first time in detention I guess I should explain how things go down. We’re gonna be here for three hours in absolute silence. Usually you guys just do your homework to pass the time but you two should’ve thought better than to start trouble on the last day of school. Just sit there and reflect on your wrongs. Yes, Allen?”
Startled, Clark looked to his left, where Barry had his hand raised, a calm but playful twinkle on his eyes.
“Excuse me, miss, but what will you do on this fine Saturday? Reflect too? Did the principal Luthor want to punish you?”
Clark choked a little with the audacity and with an unholy amount of strength he didn’t laugh.
“ I will supervise you two hooligans,” Ms. Grant narrowed her eyes at them, the picture of annoyed, “and you two won’t utter a sound until we’re all free from Lex’s tyranny!”
Barry opened his mouth to say something else, but Ms. Grant was quick to shush him.
Immediately, Clark wanted to snark something witty and funny, but Barry and he weren’t exactly friends, he didn’t want to impose, and also he didn’t want to test Mrs. Grant patience. So Clark kept quiet and stared at the ceiling, trying to will time to pass faster.
Mrs. Grant said for them to reflect, anyway.
Clark had been in the same class as Barry since freshman year, when he transferred and they never talked outside of school. Sure, they were friendly when they saw each other, but it wasn’t friendship . Their paths just never met much until sophomore year, when Clark joined the newspaper club. Lois basically forced him to join after their shared essay about journalism and current events. It was already hard saying no to someone so pushy like Lois, but it’s especially hard when she’s the club president. Surrendering, he joined and found Iris West there. She was a cute, friendly girl but Clark didn’t miss the sparkle of rivalry in her eyes every time Lois and she talked. It was a friendly rivalry, something to keep their journalist spirits pumping, or some other nonsense. Iris was cool and her best friend, Barry Allen, often checked out on her there. Be it to talk about random nothings, help her with scientific details for her stories or her physics homework, or just straight up eat lunch together on the clubroom (together is a strong word, Barry eats his lunch and stares at Iris’ until she gives her lunch too, Clark swears he does not know where all that food goes). So yeah, Clark knew Barry, they every so often share the same place and talk among themselves, but rarely talk to each other. Clark didn’t know why. They just never had a reason to.
That is, until yesterday.
Saturday
7:30am
Barry was so bored, he already counted all chairs in the classroom, divided by the number of times he ate chocolate this month and tried to find all prime numbers following the answer. It was the most insane math calculation he ever did in his life, but Barry wasn’t trying to find an answer, he was just trying to do something so he wouldn't lose his mind.
Poor Ms. Grant must be as bored as him, because the woman just wouldn’t stop staring at them with dead, hollow eyes. Poor woman, condemned to watch over them instead of the guys responsible to put them in detention in the first place. Barry was so bored, he rather babysits Iris’ toddler nephew. Even the prospect of changing diapers was better than this.
It was then that Ms. Grant finally gave up on staring at them and went to stare at the clock instead. Not wanting to let this opportunity slide, Barry didn’t even care that Clark and he hadn't spoken a word to each other since yesterday. Very so slowly, not wanting to startle the teacher, Barry opened his backpack and retrieved his old English notebook. Ripping the first blank page he saw, he wrote:
Two bucks she’ll start watching something on her phone under the table in five minutes.
And without thinking twice about it, Barry folded the paper and threw it at Clark’s head.
Clark snapped his head towards him so fast, Barry feared he had hurt his neck. His eyes were wide behind the glasses, as if Barry took him out of his own little world so abruptly, he needed a few seconds to recover. Just when Barry started regretting this whole thing, Clark opened the paper and smirked. With a mischievous look on his face, Clark wasted no time to take a pen from the back pocket of his own backpack and wrote an answer.
Excited, Barry barely could contain his joy for having something to do , tapping the floor with one foot so fast, it was a miracle Ms. Grant didn’t spare Barry another annoyed look. And then, without warning, Clark threw the paper back at him.
Oh no, first she will try to look serious and respectful and get so bored she’ll fall asleep. Then she will start to watch something under her table, to keep herself awake
Muffling his choked laughter, Barry raised his eyebrows back at Clark, who looked way more confident than Barry ever saw him in class.
Dude that’s way too specific. How do you know??
Please, I’m a journalist. I know people.
That… Should not have sounded hot on Barry’s mind voice. Blushing for absolutely no reason, Barry spared one more look at Ms. Grant. She was now staring at the ceiling instead of the clock, but Barry didn’t miss how her right hand was inside her purse. She was probably debating with herself if she should use her phone in front of two bored teens.
Paying attention to his teacher as Barry never had before, he waited while holding his breath.
Saturday
7:57am
While waiting for Ms. Grant's next move (will she or won’t she turn on that cellphone in her hand!?), Barry let his mind wander. Clark and he chatted via scribbled notes a little more until Mrs. Grant got suspicious and stared at them again. With nothing to do again , Barry started thinking about his (quite handsome) detention companion.
Clark was… quiet. He tried to not stand out too much, which was funny considering he was easily the biggest guy in the whole school. They rarely spoke to each other simply because they didn’t have anything to say besides usual school stuff or sometimes “hey have you seen Iris/Lois?”. That’s why Barry was so surprised yesterday, Barry didn’t think Clark would care that much. Which, he guessed, was a little unfair to the guy. Of course anyone would care when someone was being bullied right in front of him.
Sparing one more look at Ms. Grant— wait a second.
“She’s sleeping?!” Barry whispered-shouted.
“Told you she would get sleepy. She even tried to turn on her cellphone but then she gave up and closed her eyes,” Clark murmured, laughing a little.
Barry laughed too but soon the silence got awkward. The elephant in the room was too big to not address it now and Clark was being too much of a gentleman to still not mention anything about yesterday but there was a limit of small talk that Barry could take. Like ripping a band-aid, he just wanted to get it over it and snapped.
“You didn’t have to do it, you know.”
Another beat of silence. Barry was avoiding looking the taller teen in the eye, but he could guess Clark was thinking very carefully about what to say.
“You mean, I didn’t have to punch Thawne so hard he passed out in the middle of the newspaper club?”
Barry cringed. “Yeah.”
“I know. I wanted to, though.”
And Barry didn’t know what to say to that, because he wanted to punch Eobard too. Very quietly, Barry whispered “I guess I owe you an explanation about all that, right? You’re only here because of me.”
Clark frowned, opening his mouth to argue but Barry stopped him. He needed to think and sort out all his jumbled thoughts in a coherent way. Usually, Barry just kept it all to himself, not wanting to bother anyone else because this is his problem.
Eobard was his problem.
But there was just something about Clark. Be it his kind blue eyes, his non-judgmental face or the fact he knocked out Eobard with one single punch. Whatever it was, there was just something in him that made Barry want to spill his heart out for someone . That’s why he decided to get up and sit on the chair just next to Clark, this way he could speak directly to him in a low voice, so they wouldn't disturb Ms. Grant.
“Eobard doesn’t like me very much.” He started.
Clark raised his eyebrows as if saying no shit, which was endearing and cute.
“I’m not sure what his problem is, I’m not even in the track team anymore like him! I left after one semester in freshman year because he just wouldn’t leave me alone! I’m just a little faster than him and somehow that was enough for him to decide to make my life a living hell. He even—” and then Barry stopped himself.
He had never told anyone this, he had no proof yet and Eobard was always his problem, his bully and tormentor. No one else should have to deal with this shit, but... Clark was looking at him with so much patience, so much understanding. Everything in him screamed you can trust me and even if they barely talked until today, Barry just knew this was true. You could always trust Clark Kent.
“I don’t have any proof yet, but I think…” he lowered his voice so much, it was barely a whisper “I think Eobard is stalking me.”
Clark widened his eyes, shocked.
“I change the password of my locker once a week and somehow the books are always… Different. Like someone rearranged my books. Someone keeps calling at my house but when I answer, it’s just silence. He’s doing it just to mess with me and I just know it’s Eobard.”
“I believe you” was Clark’s quiet answer.
Which was good. It was enough to warm his heart because Barry was kind of tired thinking he was crazy and paranoid.
“Yesterday was the last race of the track team. Eobard lost and somehow that was my fault.”
“Is that why he went to the newspaper club room looking for you?” Clark asked.
“Yeah. And you saw what happened next.”
Friday
4:21pm
“Shouldn’t you be at the track field, Iris?” Clark asked as soon as he entered the clubroom.
“Why bother?” was Iris' playful answer “Thawne will either win and grace us with a trophy as big as his ego, not needing anymore encouragement or he will lose and mope that we immortalized his defeat.”
Fair enough. A little mean, but fair.
“I guess there is better ways to spend your last day in school.” was Clark’s wise reply while he went to his table.
Lois asked them to clean the tables and take everything back home, so the club won’t have to worry about principal Luthor throwing all their research and drafts away. Iris and Lois were already there, Clark got a little held up in the library because he had to return a few books. And soon after Clark started getting his things, a blur of long, slender limbs and neat blonde hair suddenly appeared, opening the door so hard and fast, he almost got the door off the hinges.
“Hey Barry!” Iris happily greeted. “You didn’t have to come running, I’m almost done here.”
“Hey, Iris…” was Barry's less enthusiastic response. “Uh, so, listen, about the race—”
That’s when Thawne showed up, slamming Barry against the wall. Clark was so shocked, he didn’t even move, horrified. Iris screamed. Lois made a beeline for their baseball bat, in the back.
“It’s all your fault!” Eobard screamed, “If you were on the team, we could have won!”
“You kicked me out of the team, you psycho!” was Barry’s angry response.
And that’s when everything went to chaos.
It was like the world suddenly stopped and Clark could see them in slow motion. His mind raced with infinite thoughts, most of them incoherent screaming. His eyes widened when Eobard punched Barry so fast, in a blink Barry had a swollen eye and was bent over his stomach. That’s when Iris came, holding Thawne’s arm while still screaming.
Everything was going so so fast, Clark could barely react. And that was his mistake, the thing that haunted him that night before bed. He didn’t move, horrified, until he saw, helpless, Thawne pushing Iris away from him. Making her hit her head on the corner of the table. Drawing blood.
That’s when the world came rushing back all at once, as if he was finally getting out of underwater. He saw Lois running, a baseball bat held high, and with one hand he stopped her in place. With two steps he wasn’t even aware he was taking, Clark was right in front of Thawne, for the first time since Clark ever transferred to this school.
“Hey, jerk!” was Clark’s only warning before punching him right in the jaw.
It was obvious Thawne only worked out his legs, as he was knocked out with a single punch. His reddish-brown eyes only had a second to widen before rolling inside his skull, knocked out.
For a second, nobody breathed. Lois still held her bat, Iris was holding her forehead and looking at Clark as if he grew a second head and Barry—
Barry looked at him as if he was a movie star.
And that’s when the principal came, looking for his failed star. Luthor looked around, a sneer in his face and Clark could pinpoint the exact moment he saw Thawne’s unconscious form. His eyes widened, his mouth slack with shock for two whole seconds before Luthor narrowed his eyes back at Lois and Clark, the only ones still standing.
“Principal Luthor, I—” Lois started before getting interrupted.
“Thawne came here and assaulted both Barry and Iris! Out of nowhere!” Clark frantically shouted, suddenly nervous.
All that calm that had washed before him when he punched Thawne was suddenly gone.
“And you decided to fight fire with fire, Kent?” was Luthor’s cold reply.
He was only looking at Clark’s bruised knuckles, ignoring Lois altogether. Good. She had nothing to do with this. Suddenly, Clark grew very aware of that annoying thought that he was going to take the fall that day. Not Lois. Certainly not Thawne. He was okay with that.
No, that’s wrong. He was not okay with that, but he resigned himself to his fate.
“I started it, I was the one who pushed Eobard. Clark was only trying to defend me.” Barry’s voice came in a groan from behind them.
Both Luthor and Clark turned around to see Barry leaning over the wall while holding his stomach. His right eye was red where Thawne punched him and Clark’s heart hurt to see it. Clark opened his mouth to protest, to insist he was the only one besides the school’s star that grew violent. It was the goddamn truth, for god’s sake!
“But Barry—“ Iris' voice sounded so faint, still on the floor.
However, one look from Barry was enough to silence both Clark and Iris. Barry would not let Clark take the blame for something he clearly considered himself guilty over.
Clark wanted to say Barry had nothing to feel guilty over, that it was Thawne’s fault for being a sore loser and clearly having unresolved issues about the science kid. Clark wanted to scream this was unfair, the school had to take measures and not let this assault on both Barry and Iris go unchecked. He said nothing.
Luthor sighed, pinching his nose. He clearly didn’t want to deal with a fight on the last day of school.
“You brats clearly have too much free time on your hands if you’re throwing punches at each other. Look, this is the last day of school and frankly? I’m in an awful mood for seeing my star just lose the most important race of the year and when I go after him to talk it out, I find him goddamn unconscious! ” He took a breath, calming himself. “You guys will have the whole winter break to reflect on your actions. Since this is the last day and this is you two first offense, I’ll let you off with a warning.”
“No.”
Clark didn’t even know he spoke until Luthor’s cold eyes laid on him.
“ No? I’m letting you off the hook and you’re saying no? ”
But Barry was staring at him and somehow… Somehow Clark just knew what he had to say.
“Is Thawne getting a warning too?” Clark calmly asked.
Luthor scoffed, as if the idea was ridiculous.
“And stain the track team legacy? Of course not, I’ll just talk to him in private when he wakes up.”
It wasn’t lost on Clark how Luthor was completely indifferent about Thawne’s well-being, not even retrieving his unconscious body from the floor.
“Then I refuse your ‘warning’, Mr. Luthor. I won’t take any part of your clear favoritism over students instead of caring about their well-being. This is clearly not the first time Thawne bullied Barry and not even once he got punished for it, not even now when he just assaulted him. So no , principal Luthor, I rather take your punishment for knocking that prick out. That way I’ll know you have at least some sense that actions always have consequences.”
Lois was staring at him as if she never saw him before, her mouth agape. She was lowkey proud, he could tell from the sparkle in her eyes, but also very very worried. But really, Clark could only see Barry’s red face, that awe still in his bright blue eyes and for a second Clark couldn’t care less if he got expelled because Barry was looking at him like this.
“Very well,” Luthor’s cold voice rang in the clubroom as loud as gunshot in the silence that fell “in that case, you, Mr. Kent, are—”
“Wait!” Barry’s desperate voice shouted “Clark is right, I’ve been complaining about Eobard’s bullying for years and you never did anything because he was giving gold to the track team! I fought today because I thought at least once Eobard would not go unpunished. If not the faculty, then I would take this over with!”
“And you think just because you managed to use your fists now it’s all over? I’m afraid this is just the beginning, Mr. Allen. When you start thinking you can solve your problems with your fists, then you’re no better than the common rascal.”
There was something in Luthor's smug voice that just rubbed Clark wrong.
“No, I know fights won’t take us anywhere. But as you said, sir, this is the last day of school. And Clark and I will reflect on better ways to fight for ourselves alone without using our fists.”
“Then maybe you two can come to an agreement over detention tomorrow morning.”
“What!” Lois shouted “This is completely unfair and—”
“I would think very carefully about your next words, Ms. Lane. I’m sure the general would love to see you in detention again on the last day of school.”
The threat didn’t land and frankly, it was basically a taunt. Luthor knew very well how Lois didn’t care about her dad’s disappointment. But he was right, and Clark wouldn’t be a good friend if he let her in the mess he made.
“Lois.” was all Clark said and thankfully that was enough for her to shut up.
Detention was way better than expulsion, and considering Clark was already thinking how he would break the news to his parents he got himself expelled in his senior year of high school, a detention was way better.
“Alright, sir. We’ll be there.” Barry said, looking straight at Luthor with so much bravery, Clark couldn't not recognize how handsome he looked.
Saturday
9:21am
“I’m so sorry this is happening to you. I wish I could do something to help.”
And Barry knew Clark was being honest.
After talking about the events yesterday, Barry tried to liven up with a joke about becoming a cop just to get rid of people like this and be able to finally find the clues and proof to back him up. Clark smiled but didn’t laugh. It was ok, it’s a great smile too.
“You don’t have to do anything, like I said, this is my problem and honestly? Can’t wait to gather enough evidence to call for a restraining order.”
“I can help with that.”
Barry raised his eyebrows and Clark laughed, looking mock offended.
“I’m an investigative reporter, you know! Together, you and I can finally lock that jerk away from you.”
Barry tried not to blush about the “you and I”. What the hell was wrong with him? Yeah, Clark was handsome and looked something akin to a Greek god when he punched Eobard and then took Luthor head on but c’mon now! Barry could not have developed a crush on him after so many years knowing Clark and barely talking to him! Then just one deep, emotional and raw conversation after he literally knocked out his tormentor and defended truth and justice with so much confidence, he risked expulsion just to prove a point, was just that enough for Barry to fall?
Of course not!
Maybe.
“Hey, thank you for being so nice with all this… I’m sorry for info dumping all this on you all of a sudden.” Barry said sheepishly.
Clark blinked two times, surprised. “Oh no, don’t feel bad! I’m glad you trusted me enough with your worries.”
Barry smiled, relieved Clark wasn’t thinking anything bad about him.
“Besides, I guess this is my time to share my own dark past.” Clark added as if it was an afterthought.
“You don’t have to—”
“I know,” Clark smiled. “but the same way you trusted me, I trust you.”
Clark took a moment to collect his own thoughts, staring at the clock on the wall. It said 9:35am. Silent, Barry let him have this moment. And if Clark decided that he actually didn’t want to share anything, he’d be ok with that too. He was about to say that when Clark suddenly averted his eyes back at Barry.
“The thing is, recently I’ve found that I’m—” he took a deep breath “adopted. My parents don’t know who my birth parents are and why they left me at the fire station that day and I’ve been… Doing my own search, let’s say. It’s not that I don’t love my parents, because I do - with all my heart, but I just…”
“You have to know” Barry completed in a whisper.
Clark looked relieved he understood and there was so much constricted pain hidden behind those glasses, all Barry wanted to do was hug him.
“And I know my parents would be devastated if they knew about my searches so I just… Never told them. It’s my search, you know?”
Barry nodded. He knew exactly the feeling of wanting to solve your problems on your own, not wanting to bother and worry your parents about anything.
“I can help you though.” Barry offered without thinking twice. And as soon as the words were out, Barry knew it to be true. “I’m a scientist, you know? I can help you gather enough evidence about that day to track them down. It’ll be a trade! I help you, you help me, and all that jazz.”
Clark smiled again, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“I’m pretty sure my birth parents aren’t Americans either, we might be setting ourselves to a dead end. They didn’t leave any traces besides a pendant and a blanket.”
The unsaid I’m probably not here legally either was there, flying around them. But Barry didn’t care and didn’t mention it.
He just couldn’t handle those sad blue eyes, it should be a crime. Barry reached his hand to Clark’s, squeezing his large hand on his own. Clark looked surprised, if a little flushed, but didn’t push him away. Barry took that as a good sign and didn’t let go.
“I don’t care. Like you said, you and I? We’ll be unstoppable, Kent.”
“Clark. Call me Clark.” he said. They were still holding hands.
“ Clark,” Barry tested the name, rolling it off his tongue. He liked it. “does that mean we’re friends now?”
“Well, Barry , I’d like that very much.”
“What about partners in crime?” Barry asked, now twisting his hand so he could properly hold Clark’s.
“I don't know about the crime part,” he laughed, interlacing their fingers. “what about just partners?”
Clark’s eyes were a little glazed, staring right at Barry. He didn’t want to think how red his face must be, or how his heartbeat is beating so fast, the whole classroom could hear it loud and clear.
“Maybe more?” Barry whispered.
“If you want.” Clark whispered back. “When we’re out of here, wanna go have brunch?”
“What, just you and I, Clark?” Barry teased. “How bold of you! Did they teach you that back in Kansas?”
“I have my moments” he teased back.
“Okay, time’s up.”
Ms. Grant's voice ringed on the room, scaring both boys. Barry let go of Clark’s hand as if it eletructed him, turning his body back to where their teacher was sitting. Oh my god, how long was she awake?
“Allen, since when were you next to Kent?”, she asked.
Okay, so not long.
“Since the beginning, Ms. Grant”, he lied with a straight face.
She raised an eyebrow, not impressed but also not looking so sure herself.
“Were you now?”
“Yup. We were reflecting about how wrong we acted and how much we deserved this detention.”
He felt Clark kick him lightly on his left leg. Okay, so maybe he was overdoing it.
“ Riight . Whatever, we’re officially on winter break, just get out of here and try to stay away from trouble.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Clark nodded.
Barry had to go back to his own chair to retrieve his backpack, putting his notebook and pen back inside it. He was doing it as fast as he could, scared that if he lost sight of Clark, it would fade away like a dream. But when he looked at the door, Clark was there, his own backpack on his shoulder and smiling at Barry. Waiting for him.
“ByeMsGrantseeyounextsemester!” Barry said while running to Clark’s side.
Completely oblivious to his teacher, Barry didn’t waste time to hold Clark’s hand again and squeeze it tight. Together, they left the school building, not even once their smiles dropping.
Saturday
10:06am
Cat stretched her body, feeling her muscles lightly protest about having to sit in such an uncomfortable manner. Damn, that was brutal. Maybe she should go back to the gym…
Whatever, it was worth pretending to sleep to get some gossip about her dear students. And she even got to hear a teenage love bloom right before her eyes! Well, ears.
Cat took her cellphone, checking her new messages. Nothing interesting or urgent. Too bad she couldn’t watch Mrs. Maisel in those past three hours, but it was a necessary sacrifice. She knew those two wouldn’t utter a word to each other if Cat had been looking awake.
It was good to know about what exactly her boss was hiding, no wonder he didn’t tell her. Luthor knew he was in the wrong here. Allen said he would reflect this winter about his behavior, yeah well, maybe Cat would do her own “reflecting” about Eobard Thawne and the principal.
Maybe she would even help that dream team over there, if they asked. Nothing like collecting some good evidence that only grown ups could and wait for the eager teenagers come asking for it.