The Great Pretender

23.2: Teenage Beer Drinking Party

"Um, Cherish? Here's the drinks you asked for."

There stood Batman, two plastic cups of beer in hand; Cherish could only blink at him in confusion. After a moment of recognition, she grinned, "Right! Very good, Slave-man, you can have a treat!" As she took the drinks from him and waved him away, Seven was the only one who didn't look at her like she was completely mad. Ignoring her friends, she handed Seven one cup and drained the contents of hers in a series of large sloppy gulps.

"O Em Geeeee!" she squealed imitating several of Ari's friends. "That was so nummy!!"

"She looks like Cherish... she sounds like Cherish... the only explanation I can think of is government cloning."

"Who's Cherish?" she looked at them all with an equally blank stare. "And why is she impersonating me?" As Ian hit her with what remained of the roll of paper towels, Cherish's demeanor cracked, and she cackled, "How dare you assault Lady Malice! Exile him, Lord Severin!"

"You're gonna have no court left if you exile them all, Your Fruity Highness," it was Delia's turn to be on the receiving end of the blank stares. "What? Her name's Cherry."

"Heh... Cherry... heh... Fruity... heh."

Cherish blinked up at the Batman again, hadn't she waved him away? And who the heck was he? Even her friends seemed confused, as was evident by Harper's, "Who...?"

Seven glared at the boy, in much the same way he had done earlier, while his hand inched its way around Cherish to rest on the outside of her hip. "Run along," he said threateningly as he pulled her into his side all too easily.

The boy matched Seven's glare, "I'm sure if she wanted me to leave, she'd ask me to... since she's free to speak for herself."

What? Since when hadn't she been free to speak for herself? Seven pursed his lips and set his jaw, his fingers tightening his grip on her waist. She glanced at him for a fleeting moment before remembering what he'd said in the parking lot and she flushed red; he looked quite angry. Nodding his head at Cherish leaning into the crook of his arm, Seven raised a brow, "And you would know this how?"

"Ari."

Cherish felt the light bulb going on in her head; he was one of Ari's friends, and it appeared Seven had already known that. That explained the angry that Seven was throwing like knives at the boy. It also explained how Batman knew, despite all current appearances, that she was free to speak for herself.

"Well she was wrong, no?"

Seven's friends watched him in curious silence as he challenged the boy in the Batman suit with his harsh tone and angry stare. Cherish could see Juss preparing himself to join Seven in a fight if necessary, though he was clearly confused as to what the fight was about. Chancing another glance at Seven, Cherish saw the dangerous expression he wore, his smooth jaw clenching and un-clenching with more than just anger.

"I don't think so," Batman said and Cherish knew he was being awfully daring by the way Ian tensed up beside her. Really, he didn't seem like that bad of a guy; he'd been nervous when asking her to dance and he'd actually bought her the drinks she'd so rudely commanded of him. He was also right to assume that if she were in fact dating Seven, as Seven was so willing to let him think, Ari would know about it. But in all honesty, what would a boy like that have in common with her? And he'd gone and said something stupid like "I don't think so" and almost dare Seven to smash his face in; he was quite a dim-witted boy.

She furrowed her brow and then looked at him, "No. No, he's right. Ari's quite wrong about that matter."

For split second, Batman wore a surprised expression, and then he returned to being annoyed. Since she wasn't looking at Seven, she could only assume he was making some sort of smug face at the batboy. Sure enough, he squeezed her side once again, this time with a slight affection, "Run along now."