HERO ↠ ( BILLY BATSON )

one

BEING PUSHED UP AGAINST THE WALL WAS ALL LAINEY REALLY COULD REMEMBER. She was sitting in the white chair in the nurse's office as the nurse there began cleaning the cut on her cheek. Thankfully, it was not a big cut like last time. It was a tiny cut but it would bleed a lot, so much that Lainey's teacher was afraid she would pass out during class. And the teacher was not wrong, Lainey could have passed out due to the amount of blood.

"All done," the nurse said, flashing a smile at Lainey, but the teenager did not smile back. Instead, she nodded her head and got up. She was left with a small band-aid on her right cheek, "but you didn't tell me what had happened to you, Lainey."

The brunette froze in place, "Um..." was all that came out of her mouth. She didn't want to tell the nurse that some bully pushed her into a locker and cut her cheek with a pencil. Why would she? The nurse isn't a counsellor or a principal, after all. She shrugged her shoulders and grabbed her backpack off the ground.

The nurse sighed and shook her head, "I-It's fine, you don't have to tell me if you don't feel comfortable," she then flashed Lainey another big smile, "be careful next time, though!"

Lainey didn't even want to turn around and say goodbye, she just wanted to go back to class and sit down. Although few hours of school remained, Lainey felt as if it was longer, due to the fact her "bully" is just a few seats ahead of her.

"Ms. Willow, I'm glad you could join us today," the teacher said as the whole class turned to look at her, "care to explain what had happened?"

The glance Lainey got from her bully gave her the chills. It sent shivers down her spine and of course, Lainey did what any other scared victim would do; make up a fake story, "I-I scraped cheek against the locker," she made up an excuse. It wasn't something you could easily make up. After all, no one can fall down the stairs and just get one tiny scratch on their cheek.

"Oh, be careful next time. Take a seat, please." Lainey nodded and walked to her assigned seat...in the back where no one noticed her. It was her favourite spot, the best spot for a loner...and Lainey was the very definition of a loner. She fiddled with her pencil as the teacher spoke, it was something she always did when class got boring. As the brunette looked up at the teacher, she noticed Freddy Freeman staring right at her. I mean, who wouldn't want to stare at her? She was always lonely and walked into class with all sorts of injuries everyday. He smiled at her, she gave him a blank stare and then looked away. As you can imagine, it was quite embarrassing for Freddy, but he's been through much worse.

The last period of the day ended and Lainey was walking down the stairs of the school to walk home. Her earbuds were in and her phone was blasting her all time favourite song. She put her hood over her head and began walking down the path in silence.

"Freddy! Come back here!" a female voice yelled behind Lainey, but she ignored it and kept walking.

"Hold on, Mary!" Once again, Lainey ignored it and kept on walking. But someone placed a hand on her shoulder which made Lainey stop, pull out her earbuds, and turn around...only to meet face-to-face with him again.

Lainey gave the boy another blank expression and sighed, "Yes, Freddy?"

"Wanna do the project with me?" he asked with a smile on his face. He was exactly like a five-year-old to the teenager.

"Wait—what project?" asked Lainey, tilting her head slightly. Maybe the teacher forgot to tell her since she missed twenty minutes of class.

Freddy gave Lainey another big smile, "Oh right, you were in the nurse's office when she told us we had a project. Well, everyone has a partner and you and I are the only ones without one...so? What do you say, partner?"

At that point, what did Lainey have to lose? She knew she couldn't do the project alone whether she liked it or not, "Sure, whatever," she sighed once more as she spoke.

"Cool! When do you want me to come to your house?" Lainey froze, she couldn't let him come to her house. The brunette's foster mother was really protective over her, no way in hell was she going to let Freddy in her house.

"Y-You can't come to my house," Lainey stuttered but carried on, "my guardian doesn't like it when people come to our house. Can't I come to yours?" the teenager asked.

"Oh, sure! Today at 5:30, cool?"

"Cool."

★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★

"Seriously, Lainey!" exclaimed her foster mother, Victoria, as she walked after her adopted daughter, "You have to tell me why you're getting injured everyday!"

Lainey just rolled her eyes and slammed the door to her room. She threw her backpack on the floor and fell onto her bed, tired and wanting to just fall asleep on her comfortable bed. But she had to leave in thirty minutes and if the brunette did take a nap, she would oversleep.

Instead, Lainey got up and walked to the kitchen to grab a snack. She opened the cupboard and took a granola bar off of the shelf, quickly unwrapping it and rushing to eat it.

"Why are you rushing?" the voice of Victoria came from behind her. The brunette turned around and stared blankly at her foster mother, the exact same way she did with Freddy when they were in class.

"I'm going to someone's house soon," said Lainey, throwing the wrapper away, "he's my partner for a project."

"He?"

The teenager secretly rolled her eyes and grabbed her phone, "Speaking of, I have to go. Bye, Victoria," and with that, Lainey left her house and began walking to Freddy's house. Her walk consisted of blasting the same song over and over again on her phone until she couldn't listen to it anymore.

After a few minutes of walking, Lainey had finally made it to his house with a slight frown on her face. She just wanted to stay home and sleep but of course, she had to have the most obnoxious partner. Lainey walked up to the door and knocked on it.

The door swung open and revealed a lady with a bright smile painted on her lips, "Hi, I'm Rosa. You must be Lainey! Come inside!" she exclaimed, ushering Lainey inside the house.

"Nice house," muttered Lainey enough for Rosa to hear her.

"Thank you. I'll take you to Freddy's room," Rosa locked the door and began walking ahead of the teenager, "follow me."

Lainey walked right behind the short-haired lady until they finally stopped at a bedroom door. Rosa knocked on the door, waiting for a voice to be heard for permission to come inside the room.

"Come in."

The brunette opened the door and stepped inside. She examined her surroundings cautiously, observing every little thing in his room.

"Oh, Lainey. Hi," Freddy smiled as Rosa left the room, closing it behind her, "I didn't think you would actually come."

"Now that I'm here, let's get to work." Lainey placed her backpack on the carpeted floor and sat down on the bunk bed, the lower bunk. The teenagers went to work right away, typing away on Lainey's small laptop and doing research. It was all normal, just two students doing their project for school, normal.

Two hours later, it was time for Lainey to go back home before Victoria started panicking. She got up and grabbed her stuff, said bye to Freddy, and exited the house.

As Lainey walked out the door, Rosa was there exiting the car, "Lainey, leaving so soon?" she asked the teenager.

"Yeah, I have to head home."

"Oh, walk home safe, dear!" The brunette nodded and walked pass them, heading straight back home.

Home.