Field trip. Bus en route to New York City. Travel buddies. Regrets. Talks of childhood. Lisa. Camera. Sweaters and parkas. A white journal notebook.
Prologue
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“Good morning, seniors. I know it’s way too early, but we have a full day ahead of us. A few reminders before I discuss our itinerary for this trip: number one, I would be checking your attendance before and after every stop. No foolishness would be tolerated for the duration of this field trip. Number two, always have your phones on hand. We have your contact numbers with us. I will be sending messages throughout the trip to check on you and your friends and to remind you to get on the bus before it leaves. Lastly, your seatmates would be your field trip buddy. You are in charge of one another’s attendance, absence, or tardiness and you are expected to report to me should something happen to your buddy. Now, to proceed with the itinerary…”
Sara stopped listening to Mr. Hunter after he said the third reminder. She looked to her left and saw Leonard smirking down at her.
“So, not only are we seatmates, but we’re going to spend the day guarding each other,” the man casually said. “I told you this is going to be interesting.”
Sara rolled her eyes in return. “I can look after myself. You are just going to ruin this trip for me. I have no plans of babysitting you.”
“We have no choice but to follow the teacher in charge,” Len said as he shrugged.
“Wow,” the blonde said, obviously annoyed. “You spent most of our senior year in detention or in the principal’s office for breaking every possible offense in the school handbook but chose to follow this one unnecessary instruction? Unbelievable.”
Leonard turned his body to the right to face Sara. She’s as fierce as she was when they were younger—never backing down, never giving up. So he smirked to annoy her. “Don’t hurt me, Sara. We were bestfriends when we were little. I think this is the time to rekindle the friendship.”
“First of all, it was your twin sister who was my bestfriend. Not you. And there is nothing to rekindle, Snart. It’s been years and we were kids back then. We were, what, ten? Whatever friendship we could have stopped when you and Lisa moved away. Now is definitely not the time to try and be friends again. I’m going away after graduation and this ‘bonding’ will be for nothing.”
Leonard dropped the smirk and replaced it with a small but genuine smile. He nodded. “I get that. I’m not expecting us to make bff bracelets after today. I don’t want us both to get lost in New York, either. So may I suggest just rolling with this buddy system, forget the shit of senior year, and enjoy the trip?”
He offered his right hand for her to shake, but she just stared at it.
“Don’t make this day hard for me, Snart. It’s the only day I get to be away from everything.”
“I won’t,” he promised. “Now shake my hand so we can take a nap before Stop #1.”
Sara shook her head. “I only trust pinky promises.”
Len chuckled. “Of course. How could I forget?”
He closed his fingers, leaving his pinky up. Sara finally moved her hand towards his’ and intertwined their pinkies.
“Do I still have to kiss my thumb?” Leonard asked, if only to annoy Sara.
But she bit. “Of course. How else are we going to seal the promise?”
---
They didn’t get to have a nap.
Mr. Hunter kept roaming around the bus, checking the seats, taking note of who are trip buddies, until he made a stop at Lance and Snart.
“Mister Snart, are you going to be a headache for Miss Lance here?” the professor asked, an eyebrow up.
Leonard cocked his head towards the older man and gave him his signature smirk. “I pinky promised to behave, Mr. Hunter. Literally. I even kissed my thumb.”
Hunter just sighed and faced Sara, waiting for a complaint or a request to change buddies. But she just smiled. “I got this, sir.”
“Alright then. If you need anything…”
She nodded, prompting him to leave their side.
“I get that all the time,” Len began saying. “That look of mistrust. Suspicion. Started when my old man got chunked. You saw how that went. People kept calling me names growing up so I became it.”
“I know that feeling, especially after last year,” Sara replied. “Is that why you’re telling me this? To sympathize and give me pity?”
“No,” Leonard replied swiftly. “Forget I even said anything.”
The two remained silent for a while. Sara was just staring at the window to her right, seeing the lights pass by. Leonard was taking out the things inside his bag and placing it on the little space they have between them.
An extra shirt. A sweater. Charger. A pen. His wallet. His phone. A stress ball. A flask. And a digital camera.
“You have a jacket and a sweater?” Sara said, tearing him away from his thoughts.
“I’m expecting to be cold. Should’ve brought my parka.”
Sara chuckled and helped him put back the things in his bag, leaving the camera last.
“You still like taking pictures?” she asked.
Leonard shrugged. “Not so much nowadays. No new subjects to take pictures of. I’m already tired of asking Lisa and her cat to be my models.”
“How is Lisa, by the way, since she transferred schools?”
“Happier than I am, thank God,” Leonard replied softly. “She doesn’t need the shit thrown at me to be thrown at her, too.”
Sara just nodded, afraid of asking more questions. She’s afraid that she doesn’t have the right to ask anymore. Lisa tried reaching out to her even after the Snarts moved away. Sara’s dad didn’t allow any contact with the twins, afraid that they’ll use their friendship with his daughter to convince him to drop all charges against Lewis Snart. It broke Sara’s heart, but what broke her more is knowing that her friends needed her, but she wasn’t there.
Years passed before Lisa tried to reach out to her again. It was just last year when she got a text from a random number, asking her if she’s okay and if she wants to grab a coffee sometime to just talk. It was signed with “Lizzie”, but she knew it was her. Sara would’ve said yes, if not for the shame of not being a friend to Lisa when she needed it. She was too embarrassed to admit that she needed a friend.
Seeing the grim look on her face, Leonard asked. “Do you still write?”
Sara turned to face him. “Come again?”
“I know you quit the Literary Club, but do you still write?” Leonard repeated his question. “You had this white journal notebook before, do you remember? You said your goal was to fill every page. Did you finish it?”
Sara smiled and lifted her bag she kept from under her seat. She opened the zipper and dug deep, only to take away the same white journal notebook Leonard was talking about.
“Twenty pages left,” Sara said with the same sweet smile Len remembered from years ago.
Leonard was eating the sandwich Hunter passed around as breakfast for them when Sara took her pen and opened her journal.
She wrote “#1” on the top-left corner and scribbled a drawing of a sun beside it. At the center, she wrote:
“The sun is up, my dear, open your eyes
and see the invisible people throwing stones at you.
Cuts will sting, blood pouring at your demise,
Pick the stones and the bricks and build your own refuge.”
This was initially posted as an answer to an ask. Reposting for a more organized compilation.
A Captain Canary Highschool AU.
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She was still sleepy, but unfortunately, students were needed at the school at their high school before 5AM for their field trip to New York City. Sara Lance was a senior at Atlantic City High School and she, like almost everyone in her year, cannot wait to graduate and go to college, if only to escape the city she grew up on. She has always felt that staying in her hometown is, in a way, holding her back from her dreams. From what she want to be.
After the scandalous rumor that spread about her during junior year, she decided to step away from limelight. One last year, she told herself. She distanced herself from her friends, knowing that they’ll leave her eventually. Better to do it herself than watch all of them go one by one. And the same could be said for her family.
She quit the Literary Club despite the encouragement of their adviser. Now her words, once meant for spoken word poetries, are now only heard by the walls of her room. Not that she minded.
“Mr. Snart! Please, for the love of god, get inside the bus!” Mr. Hunter, their History teacher, yelled.
“Alright, alright,” said the smug young man that entered the bus. “I am going in, Mr. Hunter. I’m just taking my sweet time.”
The bus door closed and he came in, balancing as he finds a seat. And there it is. Beside Sara Lance.
“Sara Lance,” he sat beside her, removing his navy blue jacket. “No lovely girl beside you? Or guy? I heard you love them both.”
Sara deeply sighed before turning towards him. “Leonard Snart. Can’t you sit, literally, anywhere in this bus besides the seat next to me?”
“Well, is this seat taken?” Leonard replied.
“No, but…”
“Then I’ll take it,” he replied. “Come on. It’s not like anybody here is willing to sit beside you.”
Sara felt her eyes well up with tears but tries her hardest to stop them. “I think we both know about the scandal last year and…”
“It’s not about that,” Leonard replied as fast as he could. “It’s because you can beat the living hell out of everyone who tries to mess with you. I remember you beating the principal’s son during sophomore year. That was amazing.”
Feelings now controlled, Sara replied. “Carter Hall was being a dick.”
“Just like more than half the school was with you last year. Why didn’t you beat them all?”
But Leonard was met with silence.
The two of them have known each other from childhood. Their mothers were friends and their fathers were both policemen in Atlantic City PD. They were close, along with Leonard’s twin, Lisa. But things fell apart when Leonard’s mother died. It became worse when his father was jailed by Sara’s father from theft. The Snart siblings moved to their grandparents and him and Sara stopped talking. Ten-year olds who had each other’s backs, erased from each other’s history. They’ve become just familiar faces in the hallway.
Until now.
“This is going to be an interesting trip,” Leonard said, finally settling in on his seat.
Sara rolled her eyes and whispered, “Don’t I know it.”
Ah, if I could finish this one, that would be great.
Former Ottawa Senator Named Commissioner Of The CCHL
Former Ottawa Senator forward Jesse Winchester has himself a new role in hockey, heading up the local junior league he once played and coached in. Winchester was named on Wednesday as the new Commissioner of the CCHL, the Junior A hockey league for Eastern Ontario.
After a fine four-year career at Colgate University, Winchester signed with the NHL’s Ottawa Senators as a free agent at the end of…
Forward Owen Cole has committed to Massachusetts Lowell (HEA) for the 2020-21 season. Cole currently has forty-three (43) points in thirty-three (33) games played this season with the Ottawa Jr. Senators of the CCHL.
Forward Kyle Kukpa has committed to St. Cloud State (NCHC) for the 2019-20 season. Kupka currently has forty-four (44) points in thirty-seven (37) games played with the Camrose Kodiaks of the AJHL.
