Chapter Text
Monday came. Claire dropped his son at school before she drove to work. He sat on his desk and carefully dropped his prototype bag beside him. He hurriedly read his notes for today's quiz. Minutes later, his other classmates have arrived. Next to his seat was Becky Botsford who slid at her desk. She placed her stationeries inside the desk compartment, and pulls out her book to study. Both were reviewing for the first period, without looking at each other. The teacher came and their examination began.
As the rest of the period went by, they never made any interaction at all. Tobey glances slightly at her to know what she's doing. Sometimes she would speak to violet between short breaks. Somewhere around the third period, she asked the teacher permission to go to the bathroom and was permitted a pass.
Lunch came and he ate by himself by the cafeteria. He notices Becky along with Scoops and Violet at a table quite far from him. They were engaged in seemingly endless colloquy.
It was around Science period where the students answered a lengthy exam, but the period also finished early, as the extra time gave the students to murmur or loiter along the halls.
Becky gave a sigh of relief knowing that the test was over. She then had time to greet his next-door classmate, who was busy scribbling some notes in his pad.
"Hey, Tobey." she warmly greeted him.
Tobey looked up as if trying to figure where the voice came from before momentarily glancing at her. "Botsford. How's everything?"
"Fine." She responds. "Did you do well in the exam?"
"I believe I did was... satisfactory." Said the boy genius, as he continues to write.
"Satisfactory?"
"Yes. You know what that means, right?"
"Of course. Satisfactory means fulfilling expectations or needs even though not outstanding or perfect..."
"I know what it means, Botsford. However, I am aiming for the top score this semester, so those last words are irrelevant to me." Tobey's hubris vexes his fellow peer.
"By the way..." The blonde inventor adds. "...your Wordgirl attributes are showing."
"Ugh! For the nth time, McCalister , I'm not Wordgirl!" She averts her eyes in response.
"You know I just realized..." Tobey clicks his pen and stopped writing to get her attention. "Wordgirl is a prominent figure and a beloved hero of this city. For someone as I, who claims you are Wordgirl, I thought you would be at least flattered and all by the comparison."
Becky, who was stunned by the sudden remark, gives a light blush. "O-of course not." She scratches her cheek with her index finger. "N-No offense to Wordgirl, but if I was her, I wouldn't take any compliments from one of his sworn enemies, Besides, I don't wanna pretend to be someone I'm not!"
"Ah but she did compliment me yesterday, during our battle." Tobey looks up pretending to be daydreaming. "It was quite a wonderful afternoon too. We had ice cream, and... Oh yes. I believe I won!"
"What?" Becky angrily slams her desk.
The noise attracted some of the students. Becky notices them, and quickly slid back to her chair. Tobey continued scribbling on his notes. The rest of the class return to their business.
"Are you alright Becky?" Asks Violet who was adjacent to her seat.
"Yes. Sorry about that." She smiles falsely.
"Alright, I'll leave you for awhile to check on Scoops. Be right back." They waved at each other shortly.
"I dunno why you reacted that way, Botsford. I only said I won the match against Wordgirl..." Says the boy genius to attract her attention.
She looks back at him with an imposing face. "That's not what I heard McCalister . I'm pretty sure you're lying. There's no way you would win a fight against Wordgirl!"
"Oh, Botsford." says the young boy jotting more notes on paper. "How could you even know the results if you weren't even there?
"B-Because Wordgirl told me all about it just yesterday!" Becky Insisted.
"Is that so?" He scratches his head. "Exactly what did Wordgirl told you about yesterday?" Inquires Tobey.
"First of all, your robot could hardly keep up with Wordgirl. She crashed your robot against a hillside and then used her speed to pummel around it, and followed it up with an uppercut... Wham!" She says with a silght but exaggerated demonstration.
"Such detail..." The boy genius thought to himself.
"Second, Your robot short-circuited, and your remote got burned to a crisp. So there. You lied about the results. McCalister!"
"Are you implying that Wordgirl immediately went to you and told what happened yesterday?"
"Y-yeah. That's how she trusts me as her friend."
"Hmm... Somehow I doubt that."
"Comparing you with Wordgirl, I believe her's is more credible."
The blonde inventor gripped his pen more firmly. Resisting his temper, he took a deep breath to calm down.
"Alright, I admit. I didn't technically win that battle. It was a tie."
"See. Why should I believe you?"
"Fine, does that mean your testimony from Wordgirl is credible?"
"Yup. If Wordgirl told me herself, then my testimony is credible too."
"Really? Is that the truth?"
"Of course!" Insists the adamant girl.
"You promise?"
"I pro..."
Becky immediately realized her mistake. She cupped her mouth and found herself in a state of shock. The boy genius just had outsmarted her.
Tobey slowly stood up and holds his pen in front of her. He clicks it and small noises started to come out of it. With her super hearing, Becky instantly recognized the faint gibberish from his pen. She couldn't help but felt mortified as each sentence was played back to her ears.
"I promise I won't tell your mom about this mess."
"Actually Wordgirl, I prefer if you don't tell anyone else what happened here. I find it rather embarrassing what two people are doing outside the city, alone?"
"Y-you know what? That's not a bad suggestion. Sure, I won't tell anyone!"
"You promise?"
"I promise."
"You may be right about the results, but there's no way you could have known what happened without breaking her promise. Wordgirl herself kept her promise to me. So when it comes to credibility, either you're the liar or she is..."
"N-no..." Shocked, she stood up from her chair and slowly retreats "S-Stay back..."
But Tobey persists to move forward. "Or perhaps, my suspicion was right all along..."
"Get away from me!" She hurries to the nearest exit, but he anticipated her and forced his hand against the door. The other students are noticing their activity, but doesn't want to interfere because of Tobey's infamous reputation.
Her eyes shook in fear. One of her worst villains finding out her secret identity, is a nightmare came true. Tobey is just inches away from her face. His stare is like an empty void as if enticing Becky into a trance. "All this time, you kept denying it. But you can't deny it from me now...
Salty water forms from her trembling eyes.
"That you are..."
She closes them, awaiting to hear the inconvenient truth.
"Heeeeelp!"
Suddenly, a familiar wail has distracted the young girl.
"The Butcher is robbing the jewelry store!" Exclaimed the Exposition Guy, who reared his head in one of the school windows. "Wait, is the police station?"
"NO!" Says the students in unison.
"Oh" he replies "Heeeeelp!" He runs away repeating the same distressed dialogue.
"You better go."
The young blonde diverted Becky far from the distraction caused by the sudden ruckus. She sees Tobey twisting the knob and opens the door.
"You don't want to disappoint them." He said sincerely.
Unhesitant, Becky walks towards the exit and stops halfway the threshold. Clenching down her fists in humiliation, she looks at McCalister and gave a cold sinister stare.
"I hate you."
She blinks out a tear and left the room. Scoops and Violet saw her on the way out and tries to catch up with her.
He closes the door and returns to his desk. He was about to sit down, when he noticed a strange glint refracted by the sun, coming from Becky's desk compartment. He pulls the object and realized it was his glasses from yesterday. All broken and unusable.
"Thank you, Wordgirl." He said to himself, as he retrieved his spectacles and put it in his bag. A loud zooming sound can be heard nearby that quickly diminishes away from the school.
Becky never returned to class, but asked her friend Violet to fetch her belongings. After Violet grabbed her things, she looked at Tobey who was sitting down writing on his notes. She gave him a disappointing stare behind him and left.