Chapter Text
The long continuous halls of the school dragged on as she walked down to class 400c. Metro high. The home of the Kryptonians. Was the school associated with Superman? Nope– unless you count the time he caught a random mugger a couple blocks down the street. Given why Metropolis was boring for Campbell. She loved living here of course– it's just that.. Well.. it's no Central City. The city where the Scarlet Speedster resides. Which– to her, was almost the coolest guy ever. Central City had some weird explosion happen which caused a bunch of normal people to get a bunch of weird powers. And a bunch of new formed grudges. A lot of tragedy happened that night, and it wasn't forgotten. But Central City has the Flash to save them! She droned on through the halls thinking about her hypothetical life in Central City, when all of a sudden a loud click woke her from her mindless day dreams.
“Hu- Jimmy! You can't just take pictures of people!! it's a rule. You of all people should know this...” She huffed as she shook her head, wiping her tired eyes while glancing over at the boy. A little twat he is… a redheaded twat with the same amount of freckles as there are stars in the night sky and harshly blue eyes that have a habit of looking at girls as they walk away.. and are never used for reading up on his literature assignments. That was a harsh view Campbell had of him. It was only because he's got a 98.65 in their English class, while she has a 99.98. In his defense though, he only missed a day for his internship at the Daily Planet which made him slip up on an assignment. The boy smiled snarkishly at Campbell, raising the camera to her face again before the same loud click filled her ears.
“Lighten up Camp. Can’t I take a picture of the head of the school's newsletter? Besides, I have to get photos of all the candidates for the scholarship. You know-” She cut him off.
“Jimmy.. Just shut up.” She glared at him before walking off into her class. That left him standing there with the smile of a man who just won a fight that hadn't even started. For about the entire year, Campbell and Jimmy had been competing for a special scholarship. Of course there were other students involved in the race to be picked.. but they all knew they stood no chance against those two. They're the top people of any and all Journalism electives and clubs at Metro. The scholarship wasn't for college or anything, hell they were only juniors. It was a scholarship to intern at one of the newspapers off a list of a select few. The Daily– of course–, The Star City Star, The Gotham Gazette, and the one and only.. Central City Picture News. Both of them had all previously interned at the Daily, as well as the Star, but neither had gone to Gotham or Central City. Jimmy had really wanted to intern at the Gotham Gazette, although in reality it was all too dangerous for a teen to go alone. And everybody knew Campbell's choice. Tomorrow was the big day, the day Campbell had been dreading. The day they were deciding the results. Campbell’s grades were better than Jimmy’s, and they had basically the same amount of extra outside extracurriculars and internships. But Jimmy had one advantage. Being rich. His Dad was pretty prominent in the school– hell, Metropolis overall. The Olsen’s had been there for decades. So Jimmy has an advantage on the fact his dad donates money to the basketball field, or the prom dance. Campbell believes–no. She knows this is bullshit. Jimmy is academically lower than her, and can even pay to go himself, and yet they will probably pick him anyways. The scholarship she's dedicated her whole junior year to. She slumps down into the uncomfortable plastic chair at the back of the class as the room fills up with students. The class flies by as quick as a snail, math equation after math equation.
A painful two classes later, lunch arrives. She doesn't bother finding her group of people she sits with. Today, she needs to be alone. Take a breather. Breathe in, breathe out… all the way until she finds herself in the back of the school smoking a cigarette. She knows it diseases and kills you, but- she doesn't really have an excuse. She just does it. Let a girl live. She slides down the side of the wall till she's sitting against the wall. The back of the school is remotely quiet, except for the occasional car zooming past. Much faster than the required school ground speed limits, but that's nonetheless her problem. She shut her eyes, breathing in the lively air of Metropolis– mixed with the deathly smoke streaming from the cancer stick between her fingers. Minutes pass, when the bright glow of the sun is abruptly obstructed. When she opens her eyes, she's greeted by the legs of a boy wearing couture jeans and a pristine pair of converse. Looking up, she was met with the grinning face of Jimmy.
“I thought chainsmoking went out of style in the 80s.” He snickered. Campbell looked back down at her cigarette as she stubbed it out on the concrete.
“It did. I don't chainsmoke.” She retorted. Jimmy sat down in front of her, resting back on his palms. They sat in silence for a few moments before Cambell spoke up.
“You’re not talking. I'm uncomfortable. I didn't know you could do that.” Jimmy shot her a teasing glare.
“Ha Ha. Campbell's got jokes.” This only earned him an eye raise from her. She wasn't being sarcastic. She was genuinely concerned something was wrong.
“Um.. whatever. What do you need James?” She asked.
“Formalities huh? You know you're supposed to call me Jimmy- Whatever. Just came to see how you were feeling. I'm doing community service for the poor and all.” He smirked. Her eyes darted away. She hated when Jimmy joked about that. She was broke. He was rich. And he could so easily just pay to go to Gotham or Central city or whatever place he wanted to for an internship. But no. He had to compete with this girl that obviously had no time for his antics.
“Jimmy. Please, just- I really need to be alone right now. I know you're aware of your advantages, but you really don't need to rub it in my face like a complete dick.” She blurted out. Jimmy's face flickered slightly. This almost put into perspective how much emotionally she cared about this, but obviously not enough. Jimmy was still going to be an ass about it.
“Dont cry. I'll send you a postcard-”, he stood up. “Maybe even signed by your dream boy too.” He chuckled, taking one last look at her flustered face before walking off. Campbell was left to sit there frustrated and alone. Before she could even process anything enough to cry, the bell rang. For most people, that would indicate the sixth period. But due to being the overachiever she is, she finished most of her credits in earlier years and gets to go home now, thankfully. She put her earbuds in and started her walk home.
She opened the door to her apartment and dropped her backpack down. It was cold and quiet. And most importantly, empty. Like every other time she had come home. Her eyes were closing themselves and she could barely think. She stumbled to the couch and plopped down, almost immediately going to sleep.
About 3 hours later, she woke up to her phone buzzing in her pocket. She groaned as she struggled to pull the phone from her jeans and answered the phone.
“Hello…?” She muttered. A pestering voice responded back.
“Hiya Campy.”
“Jimmy... Hi.. What..” She murmured. She almost knew it was Jimmy calling her. As sad as it is, the one guy that annoys her the most has been the only person to ever go out of their way to talk to her as of recently. But to most people a person putting their academic life so far in front of their social life is far from saving. But to Jimmy, it seemed to be the perfect target.
“Don't be too excited to hear my voice. You need to keep that energy for the party tonight.” You could just hear the cocky smile behind the phone. If only she wasn't so tired she'd immediately scoff and engage in his stunts.
“No.” And like that, the call ended after a good 49 seconds. She dropped her phone onto the floor and rag-dolled back onto the couch. She counted the spots on the ceiling before she eventually fell back asleep. But not for long, because about 30 minutes later, there was a knock at her door. She didn't bother getting up to open it. She assumed they'd go away at some point. But they just kept knocking.
“I know you're in there!!! Wake up Camp!!” The voice yelled. This got her up. She immediately ran to the door and opened it.
“What the hell Jimmy!? How did you even get my address??” She retorted in a hushed whisper. Jimmy pushed his way into her apartment, patting her shoulder as he got past.
“It's in your portfolio, dumbass.” Her eyes widened before she looked away, embarrassed.
“Oh.”
“Oh is right. You didn't need to hang up on me like that.” He responded, almost upset. This confused her. She’d always get jokingly annoyed tones from him but he seemed genuinely ticked off.
“Didn't mean you needed to come over.”
“Yes, it did. You can't hang up on me in real life, and I wanted to talk to you.” He dropped down on her couch, fixing his hair and glaring at her.
“Are you mad right now? What's wrong with you?” She questioned, almost concerned.
“I'm fine. Riddle me this. You're some big time Flash geek yea?” He leaned in, almost in an interrogating manner. She sat down on the spot next to him, a confused look to her face.
“You could say so. What about it?” Jimmy sat back and kept eye contact. Jimmy seemed on edge, unlike his usual carefree demeanor.
“I- okay you can't call me a crazy person or anything okay? Professionalism. This is strictly journalism.” He narrowed his eyes, way too overly serious for her liking. This type of Jimmy was making her uncomfortable. She almost would prefer if he was being the usual douchey Jimmy that he is.
“Yea… I promise you James.”
“I- I think- the Rogues are...” He paused. He could feel the look Campbell was giving him. The Rogues had left Central City about 6 months ago. No trace, no grand exit, just… gone. And even just the day before they had executed a bank heist and were causing problems throughout the city. There were no signs of why they would just leave, and it has been a mystery ever since.
“James. What about the Rogues.” Campbell demanded. Campbell… she's not just a Flash ‘fangirl’. She's also got a pretty big infatuation with the Rogues. She knows about every instance with any of the Rogues reported to the news, knows almost anything you can find about them, even things that aren't released to the public. She was the person you'd go to if you had any information on them, which is exactly why Jimmy made this surprise visit. But this late at night? It had to have been important. Jimmy took a deep breathe, before he finally spit it out.
“I think they're back in Central City.”