Chapter Text
///2018///
“Dad! Laurel! Everyone, family meeting!” Sara yelled as she marched through the front door. She threw her school bag in the corner of the room and went to the kitchen. Laurel and her dad, Quentin Lance, were sitting at the kitchen table with mugs of coffee to keep out the bitter fall draft coming from the front door.
“Sara, you didn’t close the door.” Quintin sighed as he made to get up but before he could, Sara had ran to the door and shut it. She sprinted back to the kitchen and slammed a crumpled piece of paper on the table. Sara reached over the table and took a long swig of coffee and immediately spit it back in the cup.
“Hey! What the heck Sar!!” Laurel yelled snatching the cup away, holding it close to her chest almost protectively.
“Wow, did not think it would be that strong.” Sara grunted grabbing her water bottle from her backpack.
“So, what is this family meeting about?” Quentin asked quizzically.
Sara stared down at the wad of paper in front of her, a small grin tugging at the corner of her mouth.
“I have decided that I am going on exchange next year.” Sara straightened out the crumpled mess in front of her to reveal a packet of papers.
“What?” Quintin chuckled.
“I am going to be an exchange student next year. I already started on the paperwork.” Sara was grinning from ear to ear while her sister and dad just stared at her, mouths open.
“How did this come about?” Laurel asked.
“Well, my Geography and Civics teacher, Rip Hunter was talking about exchange and how everyone should do it so I decided I want to go. And plus, I want to get out of this town, it’s so boring.” Sara slumped and leaned against the table.
Quentin sighed and reached across for the papers. He flipped through it, sighed again, and turned to Sara. His brow was creased, portraying deep thought across his clean shaven face.
“Well...I guess we should get started.” He broke out in a grin. Sara squealed with delight and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him on the cheek. She started rambling saying “I am going to get a job and I’m not going to get a birthday present for the next few years and you don’t have to get me any christmas presents. I’m so happy! Thank you thank you thank you!!”
Laurel was grinning and Quentin was happy. Sara was ecstatic. She couldn’t believe that this was actually happening. Sara grabbed another form from her bag.
“We have to get this done tonight, it’s saying that you are agreeing to let me do this. We also have to set up a meeting with one of the outbound coordinators to see if I am a worthy candidate.” Sara wiggled her eyebrows and pushed the paper toward her father.
“Wow, you are on top of everything Sara. I am so proud of you.” Quentin picked up the paper and grabbed a pen to sign the form.
“Wait, wait, wait..I’m going off to college next year, and you are possibly going to be in another country soooo, Dad, you are going to be all alone.” Laurel said resting her hand on Quentins shoulder. He looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he leaned back and put his hands behind his head taking a deep breath and saying “I could use the peace and quiet.” He gave his daughters the classic Lance grin as they giggled and playfully punched him.
“Now, who’s ready for pizza?”
“Mmm, I almost forgot about it!” Laurel said hopping up and putting on an oven mitt to get the pizza.
Laurel grabbed the pizza out of the oven and turned around to Sara, “So, when are you going to tell Ollie, Tommy, Thea, and Nyssa?”
“Shit.” Sara facepalmed her head, of course she had to tell her friends and Nyssa. Nyssa and Sara had been together since freshman and sophomore year at Star City High School but they had been best friends since elementary school. The street that the Lances lived on was full of mansions. The Lance house was a decent sized house compared to the Queen’s mansion just a few houses down. Ollie and Thea lived there and Tommy lived right across the street from the Queens. Nyssa lived in this big old mansion made of dark bricks. Truth be told, it did look like an old, foreboding castle until you got to the inside where it was full of light, laughter, and joy. They were the only kids on the block so naturally, they all became friends. Every night you could count on one of the kids showing up for dinner or with a kickball. Even now, in 2018, Ollie and Thea would come knocking on the Lance door to collect Laurel and Sara to go swimming in the lake a few miles past Nyssas house. They would run across the street to get Tommy and as they past Nyssas house, Sara would run up to the door and pull her down the sidewalk. They would spend days out on the lake laughing, swimming, and playing games. Sara loved all of them and now she was torn. She knew that going on exchange would be good for her and she really wanted to go but she also knew that she had amazing friends. Sara was going to be a junior next year, Laurel and Tommy were going into their first year of college, Ollie was going into his second year of college, and Nyssa was going to be a senior but there were rumors going around that her family was moving back to Asia.
“I didn't think of that, I'm going to miss them so much. And we don't even know if I'm going yet so I think I'll just keep it on the down low for right now until I know I'm actually going.”
“Well, all we can do is wait.” Quentin said taking a slice of pizza.