How Many Colors?

•Part 2•

"Hey Jaime! How ya doing! Long time no see!" Jaime grinned when he saw his best friend, besides Tye, Tess Richards, running toward him. During the spring and summer, the Richardses lived in Duluth, Minnesota, and during the fall and winter, they lived here in El Paso, Texas. It was September 5, so she was back in El Paso. 

"Hey Tess! How was Minnesota?" 

Tess sighed. "Terrible. Troy Taylor still flirts with me. I told him I'm not interested in him, but he doesn't listen. It was nice being able to hang with Evie though," Tess said. Jaime smiled and hugged his friend. Evie Jones was Tess's best friend in Minnesota. 

"Anyway, how's the team? I haven't been able to come in lately because of moving," Tess asked. She was Artemis's successor, taking the same name as her mentor. Tess liked to refer to herself as Artemis II, because she said Artemis Crock was the best Artemis, and she wasn't equal with that yet. 

"They're good. It's still hard dealing with the loss of Wally though." Jaime sighed. Tess gave him a sympathetic look. 

"Jaime, it wasn't your fault. Wally wouldn't want you blaming yourself. None of us could've known. Wally sacrificed himself for the team. He died a hero, and he wouldn't have wanted it any other way." Tess gave Jaime a tight hug. Jaime hugged her back, burying his face in her shoulder. It was still hard, knowing there might've been something he could've done to prevent it. 

"I know what you need. A Big Belly burger. That always cheers you up. I'm buying. Well, actually, Dad's buying, but I have the credit card, so who's actually buying?" Tess looked confused. Jaime laughed. Tess confusing herself was one of the things he liked most about her. "Well either way, you're getting a Big Belly burger, k?" 

"Sure, sounds good." 

As they walked side by side to Big Belly Burger, Jaime kept glancing at Tess. She wore cute designer clothes and her hair was styled perfectly, like a Hollywood actress'. Another thing Jaime liked about Tess was that her family was rich, yet she was so down to earth, you probably wouldn't guess she was rich. He smiled and looked away.

The two kept walking toward Big Belly Burger, heading through the park as a shortcut, when Jaime spotted a little boy about to pick up something metal and orange. The orange scarab, his scarab told him. 

"No! Don't pick that up! Don't even touch it!" Jaime hollered. The boy looked up, startled, his fingers inches away from the scarab's metal body. Tess ran over and picked up the boy, his eyes wide with fear. Jaime picked up the beetle, immune because he already had one. 

"How did that get here?" Tess asked, concern edging her voice. The little boy, about 4 or 5 years old, stuck his sandy thumb in his mouth. 

"Why can't I play with it?" he asked, pouting. 

Jaime sighed. He self-consciously rubbed his back. "Because it's a mean, dangerous, alien bug," he told the little boy. He mentally added, and extremely sassy and sardonic. The five-year-old's eyes widened.

"Bad bug," he whispered.

Hope y'all liked this chapter! I haven't had much inspiration for EAH stuff lately, so I'm updating my Young Justice story and starting a Rogue One story. Hope you guys like them!

-AlohaGirl27 🤓🌺