Once they were both dressed, and a brief discussion had been had, Kara and Lena decided to bite the bullet and tell Eliza that not only were they not engaged, they weren't even dating. Given how off course their friendship had gotten due to deceit, honesty seemed the best policy. With subdued moods and a touch of nervous energy, the duo descended the stairs to be greeted by the smell of cookies baking and Eliza elbow deep in a box of Christmas ornaments.
"Oh, you're decorating?"
Smiling up at Kara's question, Eliza shook off the garland that clung to her pajama sleeve as she stood. "Of course! I've got kids home now. It's the second best Christmas present I received. You know what the best is, don't you?"
Eyeing each other with shared anxiety, neither Kara nor Lena responded.
"A happy daughter," Eliza said as she advanced on Kara, hugged her, and rocked her back and forth. Then, grabbing Lena in a hug, Eliza repeated the motion and said, "And a happy future daughter-in-law." Stepping back, she placed a hand on either girls' shoulder. "You girls, the two of you together, are the best present I could have received. Everything in your families says you shouldn't be a couple. You shouldn't even be friends. Yet here you are beating the odds. You're showing that faith, and hope, and love are stronger than anything. I don't think I realized how much I needed that until I had you both in the kitchen with me this morning and it felt just...perfect." With a squeeze, Eliza sighed happily. "Thank you for this gift."
As Eliza smiled, both girl instinctively joined hands.
Running a hand down each of the ladies' arms, Eliza took their free hands into hers. Her smile faltered as she looked down, examined the hands in hers, then the ones they held clasped together as best she could, before looking back up. "Girls, where are your rings?"
"Oh...uh...Well, actually, the things is, Eliza—"
"In negotiation," Lena interrupted, breaking her hand free from Kara's and combing through her hair with practiced ease. "You see, the diamond I want for Kara is proving a bit of a sticky wicket. I have my heart set on domestic, and as you likely know there are no real U.S. mines anymore. Plus, it has to be perfect." Lena smiled up at Kara sweetly. "Just like her."
As Kara swallowed hard, Eliza pushed forward eagerly and asked, "What exactly are you trying to get?"
"Oh, have you heard of the Strawn-Wagner Diamond?" Lena asked casually, glancing down at her fingernails before looking up to see Eliza's head shake. "No? I'm not surprised. It's a bit of Americana, but an amazing find nonetheless. The Crater of Diamonds is located in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. It closed down for commercial mining in the early 1900s, but tourists can mine there for just a few dollars. They keep anything they find, though most find little of value. However, in 1990, Ms. Shirley Strawn found a 3.09-carat diamond. After cutting, it was reduced to 1.09carats."
"Oh, well that sounds lovely," Eliza said smiling sweetly.
"Actually, it's flawless," Lena said, gaze flashing to Kara, who watched her warily, before returning to Eliza. "It was graded a perfect 0/0/0 by the American Gem Society and graded perfect by the Gemological Institute of America. It's considered to be one-in-a-billion. It's not quite as rare as Kara, but..." As she turned toward Kara, Lena gentled. Her smile became easy, and her voice soft as it flowed between them. "...I suppose it will have to do."
Kara smiled back just as sweetly, her mood so swept up in what was perhaps just Lena's affected affections that she was slightly startled when Eliza spoke.
"What about Lena's ring. You are both getting one, aren't you?"
Blinking rapidly, Kara said, "Saturn."
"Saturn?" Eliza and Lena replied together.
"Uh...surprise?" Kara said plastering a smile on her face as she nodded at Lena, then turned to her foster mother. "You see, Eliza, Saturn has these enormous lightning storms that generate elemental carbon. You know like graphite. It descends into the atmosphere, and at deep atmospheres, it's crushed into diamonds. So, floating in Saturn's atmosphere in a liquid hydrogen-helium fluid there are diamonds. The real trick is getting to them before they get closer to the core of the planet and are melted into liquid diamonds."
"Kara, that's fantastic!" Eliza exclaimed.
"It is rather," Lena said without the awe and wonder in her voice.
"Yeah, well, Miss Luthor here may be all about domestic, but Supergirl is all about exotic." She winked at Lena.
"And how is Supergirl planning on getting this exotic diamond from Saturn?" Lena asked.
"Hmmm?"
Eyebrow raised, Lena crossed her arms. "Unless my brother's research on your cousin's abilities was lacking, and I find that laughable, Supers still require oxygen. How exactly are you planning on getting there?" She smiled a bit wickedly. "Exactly how long can you hold your breath?"
Glancing back to Eliza nervously, Kara shook her head and said, "I have a friend."
"A friend with a spaceship?"
"Well, sort of but...I have a friend of a friend who's capable of interstellar travel. He can go to Saturn for me and bring back diamonds, so we can find something that will be worthy of you."
"You have a friend who can...Who?" Lena demanded.
Hands on her hips and head tilted back, Kara said, "Green Lantern. His ring is amazing. With it, he can travel through space, solid objects, time, and even dimensions. He's a friend of my cousin Kal. He'll do this for me, no problem."
"You have a friend who can travel through time? You have a friend who can travel through dimensions?" Lena asked.
"A friend?" Kara smirked. "Lena, I have friends. Luthors may have money, but Supers have power." Kara held up an arm and flexed her bicep.
"Mmmmm." Squeezing Kara's muscle, Lena said, "Those cardigans certainly do hide a lot, don't they, Miss Danvers?"
Before Kara could respond, a buzzer went off in the kitchen and Eliza turned and said, "That would be the next batch of cookies!" She turned and fled the room.
As soon as she was gone, Kara and Lena wheeled on each other.
"A perfect diamond?!"
"A diamond from Saturn?!"
"You can't just make up stuff like that, Lena," Kara complained. "She can google that, you know. In five minutes, she'll find out it's fake."
"She would if it were fake. It's very real, and unlike a diamond from another planet, I could make a few phone calls and have it here by the end of the week!"
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Oh, don't you try me, little miss, 'I know a superhero who can get me space diamonds'", Lena said making air quotes. "You have no idea how ridiculous that sounded."
"It only sounded ridiculous because you only like to hear the sound of your own voice. I do know the Green Lantern, and there are diamonds in Saturn's atmosphere, and I can make a phone call and get him to grab me some, and if you keep pushing me—"
"Girls?" Eliza walked back in from the kitchen, looking down at a long, narrow piece of paper. "Will you two do me a favor?"
With hands clasped together and matching smiles, Kara and Lena nodded.
"I was not expecting to be feeding Kara this week. The downstairs freezer was unplugged, so I plugged it back in this morning when I saw the car out there. I think I have maybe one bag of chips in the house unless Kara ate them already when I wasn't looking."
"Not yet."
"Well, that's a Christmas miracle. I made up a list of what I'll need to cook and bake for a few days. I don't know how long you two intend to stay." Eliza waited expectantly.
"Actually, Eliza..." Kara looked over at Lena who nodded encouragingly. "...We don't have any plans as to when we'll be leaving. J'onn is covering things in the city for me. Lena and I both plan to work remotely for a little while. If there's an emergency with either of Lena's companies or with the world in general, we'll have to go. Otherwise, you could be stuck with us for a while."
"Really?"
Kara nodded. "We're on vacation."
"Oh, my. I wasn't expecting—"
"We can get a hotel," Lena offered. "We can go anywhere in the world, literally, anywhere. We don't want to be an imposition. We can leave right now." Lena backed up, trying to make her way to the stairs, but her hand was still entwined with Kara's, and it wasn't being released.
"Lena." With a disapproving frown, Eliza approached the young woman and watched her for several seconds before hugging her again and assuring, "That's nonsense. You're family. You can't possibly leave. You are home."
"I..." Lena didn't manage another word as the backs of her eyes burned and her throat constricted.
Finally letting loose Lena's hand, Kara clasped her own together in front of herself and watched the other two women with a smile.
Stepping back and immediately returning to her grocery list as if nothing truly meaningful had just happened, Eliza flipped it back and forth in her hand as she examined both sides. "All right, well this will have to do for now. Kara, I trust to you add to this in any way you want. Lena, I'm not really sure what you eat."
"Gross green stuff."
"It's called food, Kara. Eating something that isn't a blend of bleached white flour, fats, and sugar wouldn't kill you, you know."
"I don't know, so let's not take any chances," Kara said as she shrugged and then plucked the grocery list from Eliza's hands. "We'll take care of the grocery shopping. You need anything else while we're out?"
"Something to hang the outdoor lights? It's been years since those have been up."
"Sure thing." Studying the list, Kara said, "That's a lot of potatoes and applesauce. I like them both, so no complaints, but any special reason?
"Latkes."
"Yes!" One fist above her head, Kara jumped nearly high enough to touch the ceiling before she lightly touched down again.
"Excited?" Lena asked.
"You will be too once you taste them." Smiling sheepishly back at Eliza, Kara nodded once. "Well, I guess we'll just hit the grocery store then maybe the hardware store if we need to for the light hangers."
"What's wrong, Kara?" Eliza asked.
"Nothing?" Kara's voice was a bit high-pitched.
"Kara." Stepping forward, Eliza ran a thumb between Kara's brows. "You can lie to me, but the crinkle cannot. What's wrong?"
"Darn crinkle." Kara rubbed the spot between her eyes.
Stepping forward, Lena said, "Dr. Danvers, Eliza, the thing is—"
"The top drawer on my dresser broke. We'll get something to fix that while we're at the hardware store." Kara's gaze flashed over to meet Lena's briefly.
"You broke your dresser?" Eliza asked.
"It just broke."
"It just broke?" Eliza asked, clearly not convinced. Her gaze shifted to Lena.
"Spontaneously," the young Luthor confirmed. "What is workmanship in this country coming to?"
"I see." Arms crossed, Eliza smiled. "Well, seeing as how you have an eye-witness to this spontaneous furniture deterioration, Kara, I suppose I should be grateful that you girls got here when you did to notice and repair it."
"You're very welcome, Eliza. I suspect you'll find us here at just the right moment for a number of timely household repairs. Lucky you." Lena smiled.
"I suspect you're right. Well, I'll try and test all of the lights while you're gone, so we'll know if we need to replace any of those. I'll keep baking while you're out."
"You're the best, Eliza," Kara said hugging her foster mother. "Love you."
"Love you too, sweetheart. Be safe."
"We will," Lena assured. As they stepped outside, she added, "What did we just do?"
"It could be worse. We could be on our way to pick out cards for invitations," Kara said.
"Or to taste all the different kinds of cake options for our make-believe wedding."
As Kara stumbled over her own feet, she asked, "What did you just say?"
"Just get in the car, Kara."
"Wait, they let you taste the cakes beforehand?"
"Get in the car!"
<><>
Kara and Lena ended up at Vons grocery, one of the large chain stores, after Kara drove by Whole Foods despite Lena's repeated pointing, calling of her name, sleeve-tugging, and eventual sad sigh.
"What's wrong with Whole Foods?" Lena asked as she closed her car door with a bit of extra force for emphasis.
Walking toward the grocery story, Kara replied, "It has weird stuff in it. I need food I can eat."
"Have you actually been in a Whole Foods, Miss Danvers?"
Nodding emphatically, Kara replied, "I went with Maggie. Like half of the ice cream was vegan, and she bought me peanut butter that was just squashed peanuts, no sugar or even salt. Lena, if I wanted that I'd just squish up my own peanuts." Kara slapped her hands together, making both Lena and herself jump from the near-thunderous noise that couldn't possibly be passed off as a normal clap. After looking around to make sure no one else had noticed, she whispered, "Squishing stuff is the best part."
"Hrmmmm." Lena held out a hand. "Give me the car keys. I'm driving back."
"Why? I'm a good driver. You said I could drive."
"I said you could drive here, and you did. You also ignored my shopping request." Wiggling her fingers, Lena said, "Hand them over."
"But I know the area, and we still need to go to the hardware store."
"Because you broke your dresser."
"Mean." As Kara dropped the keys in Lena's hand, she asked, "You didn't talk to Alex about my driving, did you?"
"No, should I have?"
"Hi, there. Happy Holidays." Kara smiled as they passed an elderly couple who were leaving the grocery store as they were coming in. She pulled out a cart from the row and pushed it over to Lena, then grabbed another for herself. Launching into grocery store dialogue, Kara ignored Lena's question. "Okay, I'll take root vegetables, any canned foods, frozen foods, and beverages in my cart. You can take vegetables, chips, pasta, and baking supplies." Pulling out the list, Kara examined it on both sides briefly. "We might have more room in your cart. Are you okay with taking meat?"
"Do we really need two carts? How many guests is your foster mother planning on having over?"
"Some folks will probably stop in, and Eliza will want to bake things and drop them off with people. Mainly, it will just be the three of us." Without further explanation, Kara pushed her cart through the double doors that entered the main shopping area of the store.
"You know, the store isn't that far from the house. I didn't mean to upset you by taking the car keys back. You're welcome to drive again if you want, Kara. You can come back into town and shop anytime."
"You're the best." Kara beamed.
"I just mean, we could make do with one cart full of groceries, don't you think?"
"No. This is how Alex and I always used to do it. I'd get the heavy cart of stuff, and she'd get the less heavy cart of stuff. She got all huffy and wanted to do it the other way once, and we had to switch when she took a turn too wide halfway around the store and knocked over a pickles display. She was lucky no one was watching and that I have..." Kara leaned close so she could inconspicuously add, "Really good reflexes."
Lena grinned. "Nearly a cleanup in aisle five, huh?"
"Yeah. Oooh, marshmallows, chocolate, graham crackers...s'mores!" Kara grabbed each item, two of the multi-pack of chocolate bars and threw them into Lena's cart; then she went back for a second pack of marshmallows as she said, "These are for in the car. Make sure they go into the front with us."
"You're going to eat in my car?"
"I won't make a mess." Making no note of Lena's look of skepticism, Kara pushed her cart into the produce section. "Okay, lots of green stuff here for you. I'm going to get some potatoes, sweet potatoes, and onions. I'll...where are you going?"
Pointing, Lena said, "To get some kale and broccoli."
"First of all, ewww. Secondly, you just passed it."
Stopped several displays down, Lena gestured at the kale. "This is organic."
Kara squinted. "And like twice the price. It can't be that much better for you."
"You pay for quality. It's even more important in root vegetables since they sit in the soil, and chemicals and pesticides leach into them. You should buy organic vegetables."
"I'm not paying twice as much for them."
"I'll buy them."
Head shaking, Kara said, "Lena no. I can buy my own food."
"But I want the organic vegetables. If I'm demanding certain things, I should be willing to pay for them."
"No, Lena, I can—"
"Just the vegetables, Kara. You can pay for whatever...soda you want. I won't drink that. Let me buy the vegetables. Deal?"
Kara seemed to consider it for a moment, then stuck out her hand. "Deal. I need a lot of potatoes, though. I mean, a lot of potatoes. Eliza's latkes are out of this world."
Letting go of Kara's hand, Lena asked, "Literally?"
"No." Kara laughed, adjusting her glasses. "I think potatoes only grow on Earth."
"Well, good reason to keep the planet around."
"Yeah, it has a few things I really love...like...things I...I'll go get the potatoes," Kara said turning her cart away suddenly as she went off on a quest for tubers.
After produce was a natural section where Lena got some nuts, seeds, granola, and quinoa. Kara examined each container with growing unease. The next aisle was prepared foods. Kara got several multi-packs of macaroni and cheese, and packages of noodles in cheese and butter sauce that just needed to be microwaved. It was Lena's turn to cast a suspicious eye on her friend's food choices.
"Happy Holidays," Kara said to two young men in aisle three who looked up from soup can options as the duo walked by. The men smiled, responding in kind before returning to their discussion of which brand to buy.
In the ethnic food section, Lena put a few things in her cart, including a small bag of brown rice, before joining Kara who had gigantic jars of pasta sauce, five-pound bags of pasta, and a bag of rice that looked like it belonged in a Chinese food restaurant.
Lena eyed Kara's food cart appraisingly. "You know, food shopping with you is an eye-opening event. I always thought you could eat a lot, but I feel like I don't know the half of it. Exactly how many calories do you consume a day?"
"Well, it all depends on how much effort I have to exert but...about 10,000?"
"Ten...!?" Blinking, Lena was speechless.
Gently squeezing Lena's arm, Kara asked, "Are you all right? Your face is sort of doing a thing. It's like a...Well, it's more like a lack of a thing. You're not having some kind of episode, are you?"
With a small laugh, Lena shook her head. "Not, it's fine. That's just the face I make when I'm refraining from uttering a series of profane curses. I'm sure my board of directors is quite familiar with it."
"Oh...uh..." Picking up a jar of something from Lena's cart as way of a subject change, Kara asked, "What's this?"
"Hoisin sauce. It's a plum sauce."
"Oh, sure. What are you going to eat it with?"
Picking up a piece of produce, Lena held it out.
Frowning, Kara said, "Lena, something's wrong with your lettuce."
"That's because it's a cabbage, Kara."
"Oh, well, that's even worse. You eat cabbage?"
"You eat cabbage."
Frown deepening, Kara replied, "No, I don't."
"You want to bet?"
"I know what I eat. I'm very good at it."
Placing the cabbage back in the cart, Lena asked, "So, that's a yes?"
"Sure, what do you want to bet?"
"A million dollars."
"Lena." With a sigh, Kara shook her head, but she smiled. "How about five dollars or winner gets to choose the movie tonight or something. I don't have a million dollars."
"You will." Lena smirked.
Kara's eyes narrowed, and she hesitated but asked, "When?"
One eyebrow raised as she pushed her cart down the aisle and away from Kara, Lena replied, "After the wedding. Come along, Mrs. Luthor."
Kara did not swallow her tongue, but it was close.
Lena and Kara continued aisle to aisle, each making their selections and gathering the items from the grocery list. They smiled, laughed, and their easy banter continued. It was more like the Kara and Lena of old, except now there were fewer secrets between them. The bandaid had been ripped off with pieces of scab and hair along with it. There had been pain, and time was needed to let the wound heal, but they seemed to be on their way now.
As they moved down another aisle, both of their carts more than halfway filled, Kara said, "Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas! I love your sweater."
"Thanks." The man wearing the green sweater with the reindeer, bright red nose on the front, smiled back at Kara.
"Does the nose light up?" She asked.
His smile grew as he reached under the front hem of the sweater, fiddled with something, and then WHAM! Not only did the nose light up red and bright, but small green LEDs around the collar and sleeves turned on.
Gasping as her hands landed on her cheeks, Kara turned to her right. "Lena, we need to get—"
"No."
"But it's the most amazing—"
"No."
"Aw, come on. Where's your holiday spirit?"
Eyes shifting from Kara to the now glowing man, Lena said, "Excuse me, but do you know where the eggnog is?"
Smiling, he said, "Sure, that would be aisle twelve."
"Thank you, and Merry Christmas to you and your wardrobe. Come along, Kara. It looks like my holiday spirits are in aisle twelve."
"That's not..." A touch of a whine escaped into Kara's voice as she pushed her cart after Lena's. "That's not what I meant."
"Oh, I know what you meant, Kara. I haven't spent a Christmas sober in years, and this doesn't feel like the year to start."
"But Lena...Reindeer!" Kara exclaimed, her mood instantly bright again as they passed two children in a car-cart made for kids. They looked to be an older sister and younger brother, perhaps four and two years of age, and they wore matching brown hoodies with antlers. Kara smiled at the couple behind the cart who were likely mom and dad. "They're adorable. Prancer and Dancer?"
The woman laughed. "It felt like that when I was pregnant. Luckily the antlers come out after their births."
"Merry Christmas." Kara waved.
"Merry Christmas," the couple replied, waving back as they walked away.
As they turned down the next aisle, and Kara pushed her cart next to Lena's, the Luthor chuckled. "Small towns indeed. Do you know everyone here?"
"Hmmm?"
Lena gestured back behind her with her head. "Like those people with the kids and everyone else to whom you've spoken. I've lived in National City for over a year, and outside of employees, and now your friends, I don't think I know as many people as you've greeted since we've walked in here."
"Oh." Kara chuckled. "I don't know any of them. I was just being friendly."
Tensing and stopping her forward motion, Lena grabbed Kara's forearm. "Wait, are you telling me we've been talking to...strangers?"
"Uh, I guess. They're not strangers anymore though. We talked to them, so now they're acquaintances." Kara beamed, obviously proud of her reasoning.
Releasing Kara's arm to run a hand through her hair, Lena blinked rapidly. "Good Lord, Kara. What are you thinking? Is this some sort of invulnerability thing? Is that why you think it's okay to speak to strangers?"
"What are you talking about? I'm just being friendly."
"Friendly? Sounds more like being foolish to me. If some stranger were sitting in the back of their shady van and offering you candy to get in, would you?"
Leaning toward her friend, a very serious look on her face, Kara asked, "What kind of candy?"
"Ugh!" Pushing her cart forward, Lena said, "And now we know how Cadmus defeats Supergirl. Where the hell is that eggnog? I think I'll need a double."
<><>
After buying groceries, the duo headed off to the hardware store. They'd need wood for the front and sides of the drawer where Kara had broken the joints, and they'd need new stain and wood glue. The hardware was salvageable, and there were some screws and such of varying lengths in the workshop at home. When they arrived at the store, more of a Mom and Pops place but Kara promised it sold everything that they needed, they decided to divide and conquer. Lena went off to get glue and stain, and Kara went to get the oak boards cut to length.
With a bright smile on her face, she approached the man in the green apron and said, "Excuse me. I need three boards to repair a dresser drawer that..." As he turned, she stiffened.
"Well, if it isn't Danvers the younger." He said with a sly smile.
"Jake," she replied coolly.
Jake had been the starting quarterback and captain of the football team when Kara went to high school in Midvale. He had a bad case of 'big man in a small town' syndrome. He was a bully with little to show for his life except being able to throw a football further and more accurately than others in their town at that time...present company excluded though Kara kept a low profile. Their interactions had been few and far between and poor on the few occasions their paths had crossed. Though Kara got along with almost everyone save supervillains, she did make exceptions.
"Someone grew up...nice." Jake leered.
Instead of rising to his bait, Kara said, "I need some wood."
Jake guffawed. "I thought you'd never ask. Your place or mine."
"Um...my place?" Kara's brow furrowed as she held up a piece of paper covered in measurements. "I have a broken dresser, and I need some wood for it."
"Oh, so you need some wood in your bedroom, is that it, Kara?"
"I guess. Why are you saying it like that?"
Forearms on the counter, Jake said, "Hey, you're the one who came into my store asking me to whip out wood and get it to your bedroom. I'm just clarifying."
"I didn't say whip out. I just said..." Sighing, Kara adjusted her glasses. "Look, can you get me what I need or not?"
"Oh, I can get you what you need, babe. I always could. It's nice that you're finally asking so directly instead of just staring at me from across the lunchroom."
"The word you're looking for is glaring," Kara corrected.
"Whatever, Danvers. Don't tell me you don't want this." He said flexing muscles that though still present were no longer in their prime.
"I don't want this. I want some pieces of wood to fix a broken drawer at my house." She dropped the list on the counter. "Now, are you going to help me, or should I go to Home Depot?"
Jake snorted. "Homo Depot? That sounds about right for your family. How's that sister of yours anyway?"
Kara's hands immediately bunched into fists, and she had to force herself to relax consciously. Luckily, a voice from behind drew her attention away.
"All right, I have the stain that matches this drawer front and some wood glue. I know you said we had plenty of wood screws at the house, but I picked up a few just to be on the safe side. How are you coming along with the lumber?" Lena laid her finds on the counter as she looked back and forth between Kara and Jake.
Jake straightened, then pressed a hand on the counter, smiling at Lena, "Hey, I'm Jake."
As her gaze shifted from him to Kara's anxious state and back again, she pointed at the tag on his chest. "Thus says your apron. Are you getting our lumber?"
"Oh, you want my wood too? Good thing I have enough for the both of you." He leered again, eyebrows moving up and down while he nodded.
"Ah, now I see." Lena turned, placing a hand in the middle of Kara's back. "Kara, darling perhaps you'd be kind enough to introduce me to you...friend."
Kara's frown stayed plastered in place for a moment but suddenly dropped away as she stepped closer to Lena, sliding an arm around the other woman's shoulder. "Of course...babe. Lena, this is Jake. He uh...works here? Jake, this is my fiancée Lena Luthor. She, well, she's amazing and my best friend. She's pretty much perfect."
With a light laugh, Lena placed a kiss on Kara's cheek that brought a touch of color to the other woman's face. She rested her head on Kara's shoulder and said, "She's also the luckiest woman in the world."
"Oh, yeah, I read about that." Jake nodded, his voice sounding as if he were stretching the resources of his mind to pull up that information.
"You read?" Kara asked full of innocence.
Both Jake and Lena turned to her in surprise, Lena failing, though she didn't seem to try very hard, to keep the smile off of her face.
"Hey, I read!" Jake argued.
"Jake, you got an F minus on your English Lit final paper. I didn't even know an F minus was a possible grade. How is that possible?"
Muscles in his neck tensing as his face darkened, Jake pointed accusingly at Kara. "You know how! You know I got screwed, and you know who did it! That wasn't my fault!"
"Jake, take some responsibility for your mistakes," Kara said gently. "Not taking responsibility is what got you into that mess, wasn't it?"
"An F minus? What's the story behind that?" Lena asked.
Eyes flashing in warning, Jake snatched the paper with the measurements for the wood from the counter. "I'll go cut your wood. I'll be right back."
Jake had gone about ten feet away when Lena said, "Oh, and Jake?" When he turned, she said, "I do hope you're better at math than at English Lit. Remember, measure twice, cut once."
Face somehow managing to turn a shade darker red, he spun away again and stomped off.
When he was out of sight, Lena turned back to Kara as she stepped away and asked, "Okay, fill me in on the story behind the F minus."
"It's about what you'd expect," Kara said with a shrug. "Jake was a bully. He was bullying kids into doing his work for him. One of the other kids found out about it and stepped in, offered to do Jake's English Lit final paper for him because he was such a 'hero to the school'. She was a great student, great writer, and he took her up on it. He got the grade back and went ballistic, but she wasn't someone he could bully."
Arms crossed, Lena smiled. "And was her last name Danvers?"
Smiling back, Kara said, "Yes, but her first name was Alex. My sister has always been a hero. Alex stood her ground against Jake, refusing to be bullied and refusing to back down against the whole football team when he wasn't able to go to states. She said he didn't deserve it if he had to cheat his way there. Then..." Looking up toward the ceiling, Kara's face became unimaginably bright. "Alex made copies of the report she had done for Jake and passed them all around the school. It had his name on it, and he became the laughing stock of the school."
"What was the report?" Lena asked eagerly.
"It was on Moby Dick," Kara replied. "But Alex wrote it on the Disney cartoon version of Pinocchio."
Lena blinked, momentarily stunned, before she managed a garbled, "What?"
Still smiling brightly, Kara nodded. "The opening line of his report was, 'Call me Geppetto'."
The sound of Lena's melodic laughter could be heard ringing throughout the store.