Freshman Babysitter
When the rumors began about the incoming student, and how she'd supposedly gotten kicked out of her last school, Lena wasn't exactly sure what she was expecting when she was informed that she'd have to show the new student around, but she did know that the doe-eyed blonde behind square glasses certainly wasn't it.
Standing in the high school office that smells of a secretary's cheap perfume, Lena does a slight double take. The girl before her, the one she has been assigned to like some kind of Freshman babysitter for reasons beyond her control, the girl that is supposed to be dangerous or crazy or borderline frightening... she's wearing a tight blonde ponytail and a cardigan, with glasses perched on her nose that she keeps fidgeting with.
Lena takes a step closer to the girl, calling for her attention. "Are you Kara Danvers?" Lena says curtly. Helpless as this girl seems, Lena is missing class over this, which kind of takes niceties out of the way.
The girl smiles nervously and extends her hand. "Yes! Yeah. That's me! Uh, who are you?"
"Lena. Student Council. I'm showing you around today. Welcome to our school," Lena says in a voice that very much screams, 'I'm being nice because I have to be!' Not an uncommon voice to be heard in any place where Customer Service and it's importance is enforced.
"I like your shirt," Kara says, and it's so earnest that for a moment, Lena forgets that she probably has better things to be doing than dragging some Freshman around from class to class.
Worse yet, Lena has to bring this girl to all of her own classes. Because apparently, it's not enough to take this girl to her Freshman classes, Lena is actually supposed to take this Freshman to all of her Sophomore AP classes for the day, so she can 'bond' with her or whatever. Evidently, they do actually share three classes, though, despite Lena playing tour guide- a science course for which Kara skipped a grade, and two electives which are mixed between grades. Of course.
A week prior, Lena had been called to the Principal's office during sixth period with no warning. She'd sat down, a little apprehensive, and the Principal began to talk of a new transfer from one of the neighboring districts. "She's going through three of the same classes as you, so I thought you could help her, you know... Adjust," he'd said, pulling at his tie.
The Principal was the kind of man who was nervous at the very prospect of being around teenagers. Like they were combustible, unstable. Like they could hurt him. Which was a lucky thing, if you're a kid, but awfully rough if you're the principal.
Lena didn't bother with the oh-so-cliche moan of a "why me?" It wouldn't have done her good. Adults don't like being asked to justify themselves against the likes of children. But the Principal started anyways, always so nervous and desperate. "Since she has some of the same classes as you, I put the two of you together for every class you share. I thought you'd be a good choice, because you're in Student Council, and, well, you know, she's going to be an outsider here, with all kinds of people talking about her, and, you know, maybe it's something you could both benefit from, Miss Luthor-" She cut him off with a forced smile and sweet nod, because it sounded like he was begging for her approval while speaking poorly of her all at once, and she hadn't wanted to think of her brother- or anything other than Geometry- right then.
So yes, she will be bringing this Freshman with her to each and every hour, like a pet or something. As their shoes click against the tile in the quiet hallway, Lena begins to deduce that the term "pet" seemed vaguely appropriate for Kara. She's almost like a little puppy.
The two girls enter the Chemistry classroom, and the teacher, who is short for a man and absolutely, indisputably awful, clears his throat. Lena hands him a hall pass and moves back to her seat at her lab table, which she usually mans by herself.
“New student. Sit. Over by Luthor. You're her new lab partner,” he demands to Kara, who looks slightly bewildered. He doesn’t so much as ask her name, so she stumbles back to the only available seat, right next to Lena. Because, of course.
As the teacher looks away to prepare a video, whispers begin to bubble up to the surface of the quiet class, most of them about ‘The New Girl.’ Kara shifts uncomfortably in her seat, and Lena feels a little sympathy for her, because by next week the whispers will be about her, instead, just as before Kara came, and so Lena knows what that’s like.
Suddenly, a boy turns around to Kara. “Is it true you got kicked out of your school ‘cause you tried to kill a kid?” He snickers.
Kara chokes on air. “What?!”
“Of course she did, that’s why they sat her next to Luthor’s sister over there,” says a second boy, and the two high-five, like some kind of douchebag mating ritual.
“What the hell are you talking about?!” Kara exclaims, face going red, and it’s the first time Lena’s heard this girl speak above a chirp all morning. And probably the third time she’s heard her speak, period.
Lena almost laughs. This supposedly dangerous, delinquent girl shows up looking like a fairy godmother drove her here in a pumpkin, and then, if that weren't complicated enough of an image in itself, she ends up yelling an expletive in the middle of science class not twenty minutes later.
The teacher whips around. “Did I just hear a cuss?” He spits. Everyone points at sweet, blonde, cardigan wearing little Kara Danvers. She swallows hard. Lena can almost hear her heart sink.
“Uhm,” She mumbles, tugging at her ponytail.
“Detention! After school!” The teacher shouts, and Kara visibly flinches. The teacher pauses. “You, too, Luthor!”
“What?! But I-”
“Detention!”
God, it’d be almost comical, were Lena not fuming.
“I don’t need to be shown around,” Alex says, rolling her eyes defiantly as the shorter girl in front of her crosses her arms.
“Doesn’t matter what you say you need, Danvers, I’ve gotta show you around. It’s a big school,” Maggie shrugs.
“I have a good sense of direction,” Alex retorts.
“And humble, too.”
“Go to class, you’re going to be late,” Alex crosses her arms, too, leaving the juniors paralleling one another.
“So are you, and I'm the one with the hall pass,” Maggie takes a step closer, but then realizes that doing so was kind of a bad idea, because she now has to crane her neck up much further to look at Alex, and, really, it’s kind of inconvenient for this weird, slightly tension-charged power battle they’re doing right now, especially since they’ve known each other for, like, half an hour.
“I’m going to class,” Alex finally breaks their stalemate and begins walking. Maggie does not bother to tell her that she is going in the wrong direction.
Impressively enough, though, Alex still manages to be in first period only three minutes after the bell rang. And Maggie, to be perfectly honest, is a little intrigued.
“My parents are gonna kill me! My sister is gonna kill me!” Kara rambles, smoothing the stray hairs coming out of her ponytail. “I got detention on the first day in a new school.”
“After being kicked out of the old one,” Lena adds.
“Not helpful!” Kara squeaks.
“Sorry, sorry. Listen, Kara, it’s really not such a big deal,” Lena explains with a shrug. “That teacher doesn’t even call your parents or give you a slip or anything, he just expects you to show up. He's really quite awful at his job, if I'm being honest.”
“Really?” Kara inquires.
“Yeah. He’s sort of stupid.”
Kara laughs weakly, which means mission accomplished, at least. Lena continues. “And anyways, it’s not like you’ll be sitting there all alone. He pegged me, too, remember?”
Kara pauses. This feels like some kind of hand in the air, an offering, an extension to the possibility of being more than The New Girl who Lena has to show around.
“Right,” she says, a small smile creeping on her face.
Lucky for Kara, the lunch is divided between the grades, with the first lunch period being of Freshman and Sophomores, and the second being with Juniors and Seniors. Meaning she won't have to face her sister and risk spilling.
Of course, Alex will know. Alex always knows. But Kara can hope for the best, can't she?
Second hour, Alex decides, is wildly different than first hour. English classes tend to be, but now she's sitting in the front row at a two person table with Maggie, and it comes to mind that their teacher is quite the goddamn sight.
She's abstract in a personal manner, with frizzy hair and owl glasses and long robes covered in paint splatters that would make one mistake her for the painting teacher, instead. She claps her hands together.
"Alright, class! In celebration of our brand new student, Alex Danvers, we're going to play a little game!"
The class cheers, and it feels less half-hearted than the average group of dull sixteen-year-olds trying to feign some kind of enthusiasm for the sake of their participation grade.
"Two truths, one lie. For the good of the order, and to get to know each other, since I'm half convinced three-fourths of you don't know all of your teachers' names, let alone your classmates. Meanwhile, I'll be getting coffee. Find me in the teacher's lounge if a fight breaks out- I'd love to watch."
Alex is dumbfounded. "This... this is the class?" She turns to Maggie.
"For today," Maggie shrugs.
"She's just... going to leave?"
"I can't tell if she's great at her job or just extremely lazy, but really, it doesn't exactly matter, does it?" Maggie laughs.
"Alright," A boy who just has the aura of 'popular sports dude' seeping out of his pores starts, "who goes first?"
"I volunteer Sawyer," someone towards the back of the class calls. That's all it takes for classroom unity to appear, and the general, noisy consensus seems to be that Maggie should go first.
"I'm quite popular around here. At least among the guys," she whispers to Alex with a sly grin. Alex just snorts.
"Okay, alright," Maggie waves in the air. "Number one: I once saw seven people in our grade entirely naked in a nonsexual manner. Number two, my ex-girlfriend knew Jennifer Lopez's cousin. Number three, I was accidentally the reason Mrs. Artino quit Freshman year."
Kids raise their hands and answers go flying at Maggie to which statement is the lie, but for Alex, it all just kind of floats by as she finds herself staring at Maggie, holding on to one phrase: 'ex-girlfriend.'
"What day is it?" Lena hums absently as she leads Kara into the empty, dark locker room.
"Uhm- Thursday?" Kara says.
"Swimming day!" Lena announces, running a brush through her hair. "Hope you have your swimsuit, with your name and number all on the back."
"I- I didn't even know this school had a pool," Kara admits.
"If you don't have your swimwear, the coach is gonna be pissed," Lena tells her.
"But it's only my first day, I couldn't have known," Kara tries, tilting on the soles of her shoes slightly.
"Honestly? He's kind of crazy, Kara. He won't care. He's gonna peg you with a detention," Lena warns.
"But... But, I already have a detention! I can't get two detentions in one day! I'm gonna be in so much trouble, how did I even manage that?!" Kara rambles, hand running down her face in distress, then coursing through her tied up hair, only managing to undo her ponytail a little.
To be quite honest, Lena thinks Kara looks near the verge of tears, all big blue eyes and pacing. And it surely can't be easy, distressed and utterly clueless in a brand new place, already in trouble for things beyond your control, with no one there for you out of anything more than vacant obligation.
"..Fuck it," Lena mutters into her locker. She leans back, then shuts it, swimsuit still inside. "Solidarity," she shrugs, and Kara's face softens into a weak but glowing smile. "You go down, we both do." Don't get used to it, Danvers,.
When the coach's neck vein is thick and visible, as he hands out a two pink detention slips- one for Kara, one for Lena- Lena can't help but whisper into the younger girl's ear, "now, this, this is one they're writing home about."
Kara shrinks slightly, but the ghost of a grateful grin still lingers on her lips.
By the time the two girls find themselves in the detention room, the dizzy drizzle has called for a ceasefire and the sun has come out, yellow light spilling across the empty room full of carved on wooden desks.
"Shouldn't, like... a teacher or someone be here?" Kara asks, twirling a pencil loosely between her fingers.
"Oh, absolutely. And yet, and yet," Lena shrugs. "Perhaps it's for the best, anyways."
"I can't believe I got detention. Twice! On my very first day! I don't get detention! I never get detention!" Kara exclaims into the dull quiet of the room.
"Then why'd you get kicked out of your old school?" Lena says, without much forethought. "I mean, uhm..." She begins to backpedal, but decides that would probably only make it worse.
"Well, uh," Kara begins, pulling at her sleeves as if she's about to begin a well-rehearsed speech.
Kara wants to be honest to this girl she met just this morning, but some truths care not to be told.
"We just.. moved a lot closer to this school, because we heard the teachers were better over here. I guess we were wrong," she laughs loosely.
Lena believes this is a pathetic excuse for a lie, but it's comforting to know that this girl is not deceitful.
"Uhm, thanks, though," Kara says. "For taking detention with me, I mean. Both of them."
"The first one wasn't exactly my choice," Lena hums.
"Still. The second time, that was, you know, that was really sweet," Kara says.
Lena shrugs and adjusts in her seat.
"Hey, Lena? What did they mean, those boys, in Chem, when they called you 'Luthor's sister?'" Kara says, as if this is not a fairly personal question to ask someone she's known for less than a day.
But, then, who is Lena to talk?
She laughs dryly. "I have a brother," she shrugs.
"What grade?" Kara asks innocently. "I have an older sister, she's a junior! Maybe they know each other?"
"He's a senior," Lena shrugs.
"Oh, cool, cool..." Kara mutters. "So, what did he have to do with everyone thinking I killed someone?" She asks, tilting her head to the side slightly.
Lena pauses. Then, she almost laughs. "Lex has a track record of misdemeanors here a mile long and the only thing that makes his record look so perfect and clean is my mother's money, and everybody in this school knows it, and they think that means that I'm like that, too, and so of course when they hear a girl got kicked out of her school, then who could be a better match for her than the local delinquent's little sister?" Lena exhales, shrugs, and forces a smile.
Jesus, is Lena really so deprived of human interaction that the second someone is remotely pleasant to her she practically spills her life story? She flinches, mentally berating herself.
Kara is silent for a moment that feels longer to Lena than it realistically is, and then says, with a shrug: "let them think what they want."
And Lena smiles.