Behind the Curtain - Heathers

Yo girl

Bette broke off from Conner at the sight of Megan in the corner of her eye.

"What the hell was that?" Conner said as soon as he got air again.

"I thought you were pretty hot," She said, "And we know you feel the same way about me."

"I have a girlfriend," He said.

"That's never stopped anyone before," Bette purred, "You know you want to."

"Get away from me," He growled and stormed off back to the stalls.

That had always worked with the other guys she'd liked. But then again, she had been with the right crowd then, the desirable crowd. She may as well have been a Heather. She headed back to the stage as the others came back from their drink breaks, though she suspected Babs was the only one who actually went to get a drink, Zee had snuck to see Dick. Zee looked back out at the stalls in time to see Conner storming out of the doors, calling Megan's name. Maybe she shouldn't have done that, but she hadn't expected Megan to see, or Conner to say no. Hindsight, the most useless thing ever.

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That evening Bette sent an apology text to Conner as she got ready to head to the cave with the teen heroes. Never in her life had she imagined this would be her life. Sneaking out late at night, not to do anything illegal, but to train herself in how to control meta abilities she didn't want. She climbed out the window and headed to the travel beams, or as they called them Zeta beams, coming out in the cave to sound of the system announcing her, "Bette Kane B10"

She headed straight to the training room that they had used last night to see the team already there, the archer sparring with Black Canary. The fight ended with a brutal sounding thud as Artemis was thrown to the ground and the system announced, "Artemis, fail."

"I know, I know," She muttered as Canary helped her back up and she moved over to the edge of the mat.

"Bette, you came back," Rocket said, "Knew we could count on you."

"I can't go around setting fire to things," She replied as she came to stand behind the hero, "That wouldn't be very productive."

"Welcome back Bette," Canary said, "Have you been practising?"

"Not really," She admitted, "I've struggled to fit it in, I've been in public all day."

"Understandable," Canary said, "But I understand you don't have rehearsals tomorrow, so make sure to get some in then. You won't be able to nail this unless you practice."

"So, can we get started?" Bette asked, trying to ignore the looks she was getting from Miss Martain.

"Step onto the mat please."

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Babs couldn't focus all rehearsals, and she still couldn't focus on her homework this evening. For years, she'd been hoping Dick would notice her like she noticed him. And then when it did happen, it had been a joke to him. She jumped as her pencil snapped in her hand, drawing her from her thoughts. She threw it in the bin and headed downstairs where she could hear her dad pouring over his latest case, a jewel theft that surprisingly wasn't Catwoman.

"Hey honey, you okay?" He asked as she slid into the kitchen, her fluffy socks causing no friction.

"Just came to grab something to drink," She said as she flipped on the kettle, "Want one?"

"Thank you," He said, "So, want to tell me what's been bothering you lately?"

She looked at her dad in surprise, she thought she'd been able to hide it quite well, but then again, her dad was a detective.

"You know Dick," She started.

"How could I not? He's over here most days," He chuckled.

"He kissed me at the gala," Babs continued, "And I thought that maybe we'd start dating. And then the next rehearsal he turns up with this other girl in his lap, he's not spoken to me since. As if I don't even exist."

"Come here baby girl," Jim said as she came into his arms, failing to hold back tears, "He's just being a jerk. It happens to rich people eventually, once they get used to their station."

"I didn't think it would ever happen to him," She said, "I didn't think he'd turn out so much like Bruce in that way."

"Sometimes the truth is hard, but we can't deny it," He explained, "Now, how about we skip the coffee, make a hot chocolate instead and watch a movie? How's that sound?"

"You're the best dad in the world," Babs got out.

"Right, you go get comfy and pick a film, I'll bring the drinks in."

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Artemis didn't stay behind at the mountain with the others as they sat with Bette. She went straight home, she couldn't deal with the way that Wally was looking at her. She loved him, she'd never thought she would, but she did. And Jade had ruined it. She opened the front door and dumped her bag down in the hallway, turning into the living-room to see a scene she really didn't want to. Jade and mum having a conversation.

"What are you doing here?" Artemis asked as they stopped talking.

"I thought I'd swing by for the night," She replied, "Why? Is that a problem?"

"You fucking told Wally my entire family history!" Artemis shouted, "Yes, it's a problem."

"Artemis, darling, calm down," Her mum cut in but Artemis cut her off, "Calm down! Jade has ruined my life, Wally won't even look at me the same. He doesn't even want to be in the same room as me anymore."

"If you'd have told them sooner, this wouldn't be a problem," Jade said, "So can you really blame me?"

"Get out of our house," Artemis growled, "Now."

"Of course," Jade purred, shouldering her own bag, "I wouldn't want to stay with such disrespect anyway," And she pushed past her younger sister and out of the house.

"Artemis, that was uncalled for," Her mother said, "You have no right to talk to your sister like that."

"She ruined my life," Artemis said, "It's only a matter of time before she tell's the rest of the team and they replace me with Bette."

"Bette?"

"Yeah, she's got a meta-gene, we've been helping her out," Artemis explained.

"You never told me," Paula said.

"It wasn't the most important thing on my mind," She sighed, "Can we just, not talk about this?"

"You have to face it at some point," Paula called after her daughter as she headed to her room.

"No, I don't," Artemis whispered to herself as she closed the door.