Chapter 2
Kara Danvers wasn’t bad at science. She wasn’t great at it either, but she got by. Usually. The thing was, she had a system: do the bare minimum, follow instructions, don’t blow anything up. Simple. Effective.
That system fell apart the day she met Winn Schott.
It was the first week of sophomore year, and Kara had barely dragged herself into chemistry class on time. She was running on five hours of sleep thanks to early morning basketball practice, and the last thing she wanted to do was deal with Bunsen burners and balancing equations. She slumped into an empty seat, barely acknowledging the person next to her as she pulled out her notebook. Then, the teacher spoke: “Alright, class, for today’s experiment, you’ll be working with your assigned lab partners.”
Kara barely had time to register what that meant before the boy next to her spun around, grinning like he had been waiting for this exact moment. “Hi,” he said, offering a hand. “Winn Schott. Aspiring mad scientist. Welcome to my world.” Kara blinked. Slowly.
Then, she glanced at Winn’s hand—covered in smudges of ink and, oddly enough, what looked like faint burn marks. She sighed and shook Winn’s hand anyway. “Kara Danvers. Aspiring person who survives this class.” Winn grinned wider. “You’re going to love this experiment, I promise.” Kara highly doubted that.
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The experiment was supposed to be simple. Just a controlled reaction, nothing too crazy. But with Winn involved, "simple" was a foreign concept. Kara was already wary when Winn immediately started modifying their instructions.
“See, the problem with this formula is that it’s boring,” Winn said, adjusting the beaker on the burner. “But if we add just a tiny bit more of this compound—”“Winn, I don’t think that’s—” “Trust me.”
Famous last words.
The reaction, which was supposed to be mild, turned violent in an instant. One second, everything was fine. The next, their mixture was bubbling aggressively. Then it turned green. Then it started smoking. “Winn—”
“I might have underestimated the reaction speed,” Winn said, taking a step back. The smoke thickened. Other students were starting to notice.
“Fix it,” Kara hissed.
“Working on it,” Winn said, grabbing another chemical.
“This should neutralize it.” He poured it in. The reaction exploded. Not a fireball kind of explosion, but there was a loud bang, and a thick, awful-smelling cloud of green fog erupted from their beaker, filling the entire classroom. Students coughed, the teacher shouted, and the fire alarm blared. Kara and Winn looked at each other
“Well,” Winn said, wiping soot off his face, “on the bright side, we didn’t actually blow up the school.” Kara groaned. They spent the rest of the period in the hallway, waiting for the classroom to air out.
“You know,” Winn said, nudging Kara’s shoulder, “I think we make a great team.” Kara glared at him.
“We almost died.”
“But we didn’t! And next time, we’ll be even better.”
“…Next time?” Winn grinned. “Lab partners for life, Danvers.” Kara sighed. “Great.” But, despite herself, she couldn’t help but smile.
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If science class had been a near-death experience, art class was a different kind of disaster. Kara had only taken it to fill a credit requirement. She figured it would be easy—just some sketching, maybe painting a bowl of fruit. Simple. She had not expected to meet Nia Nal.
The first time Kara saw Nia Nal, she thought she might actually die. Not in a Winn accidentally setting something on fire kind of way. Not even in a losing the championship game kind of way. No—this was worse. She had never had a real crush before. Not one she admitted, anyway.
Basketball had always been her priority, and feelings were just… complicated. So when Nia walked into art class, all bright eyes, paint-stained hands, and that ridiculously easy smile, Kara’s brain just—stopped working. It was humiliating.
Because the second Nia sat next to her, she started talking. And laughing. And being all touchy in a way that made Kara feel like she was short-circuiting. She bounced over to Kara’s seat like they had been friends for years, grinning like she had good news to share.
“Hi! You’re Kara, right? Basketball Kara?”
Kara blinked. “Uh. Yeah?” This was the first time someone actually referenced to her as ‘basketball Kara’. “I love basketball. I mean, I don’t play, but I like watching it. You’re so fast on the court.”
Kara didn’t know how to respond to that. She wasn’t used to people being so… enthusiastic about her, unless it was about a game. “Uh, thanks?” Nia nodded, completely unbothered by Kara’s awkwardness. “Anyway, you’re going to love this class. Art is so much fun.”
Kara highly doubted that. Their first assignment was simple: draw a self-portrait. Kara stared at her blank paper, trying to figure out where to start. She wasn’t an artist. The most she could do was sketch out a decent basketball play.
Meanwhile, Nia was already halfway done, her hand moving in smooth, confident strokes. After a few minutes, she glanced over at Kara’s paper. “Oh,” she said. “That’s… abstract.” Kara scowled at her very misshapen attempt at a face. “It’s terrible.”
“It’s unique!” Nia said brightly. “You just need to loosen up a little. Here, try this.” Before Kara could protest, Nia grabbed her hand and guided her pencil across the page. Kara froze. Not becausr she minded—Nia’s hand was warm, and she smelled like vanilla and paint—but because she wasn’t used to this.
Most people didn’t touch her so casually, like it was nothing. Nia, though, didn’t even hesitate. “See?” she said, her voice soft but excited. “Just go with it.” Kara, for some reason, did.
By the time class was over, her drawing was still bad, but… maybe a little less bad. Nia grinned. “Not bad, Danvers. We’ll make an artist out of you yet.” Kara snorted. “Doubt it.” But Nia just winked. “You’re stuck with me now.” And for the first time, Kara didn’t mind.
But for some reason, she couldn’t take her eyes off Nia after the brunette turned back to her portrait. The way she smiled like everything was exciting. The way she talked with her hands, brushing paint off her fingers without a second thought. The way she just sat next to Kara like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Kara felt… weird.
Oh no.
Was this a crush? Was this what a crush felt like?! For an entire week, Kara spiraled. It was distracting. It was exhausting. It was annoying.
It got worse when Winn noticed. He caught Kara staring—once—and that was all it took. “Oh my,” Winn whispered, eyes gleaming like he had just uncovered the greatest conspiracy of all time.
“You like her.” Kara nearly choked on her soda.
“What? No, I don’t.” Winn smirked. “You so do.” “I don’t.”
And because Kara was an idiot, she actually started thinking about it. Cue the most painful self-analysis of her life. Did she actually like Nia? At first, it seemed obvious. Nia was pretty. Nia was funny. Nia was nice to her in a way that made Kara feel seen.
But the more she thought about it, the more she realized—this wasn’t a crush. Not really. She admired Nia. She liked being around her. But that heart-flipping, brain-melting feeling? It wasn’t attraction—it was overstimulation. Nia was just a lot at once, and Kara wasn’t used to people like her.
So, crisis over.
Right?
Wrong.
Because use now Winn knew about it. And Winn was Winn. The moment Kara sighed and admitted, “Okay, maybe I thought I had a thing for her, but I don’t,” Winn lost it. He laughed so hard she almost fell off the lunch table. Then he immediately told Nia. Which led to Nia also losing it. “Oh, Kara,” Nia giggled, throwing an arm around her. “You thought you liked me? That’s adorable.”
Kara groaned. “It’s not.”
“It is,” Winn said. “This is, hands down, my favorite thing that has ever happened.”
And now, every time Kara so much as compliments Nia, Winn clutches his chest like he’s witnessing history. “Oh no,” he gasps.
“Is it happening again?” And Nia? Nia just smirks.
“Still crushing on me, Kara?”
“I hate you both.”
Winn grins. “No, you love us.”And—annoyingly—he’s right.
Kara still regrets every second of that week-long crisis. But if it gave her two best friends who would never let her live it down? Well, maybe it was worth it. If someone had told Kara at the start of sophomore year that she would end up best friends with a mad scientist and a walking ball of sunshine, she would have laughed in their face.
But somehow, against all odds, Winn and Nia had found her. And she had found them. It wasn’t always easy. There were more disasters, more bad art, more near-explosions. But there was also laughter. Late-night study sessions.
Movie marathons. Inside jokes. And for the first time, Kara had something outside of basketball. Something that felt a lot like home.