Chapter Text
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Kara had always loved painting. It was something she had done she was a kid, before she could even write or read. Her mother had taught her everything she could about the different types of painting, and they would go to art galleries and museums together, spending hours upon hours discussing particular pieces. One of her first memories were from herself crawling around the room her mom had occupied in their house for her art, and she would just sit on the floor, studying her every brush stroke across the canvas.
Painting became even more important for her after her parents passed away. When the Danvers’ family adopted her, Jeremiah would always make sure that she had enough pencils, enough paper and canvas, enough paint, and that she would never run out of it. Eliza would hang up some of the finished pieces on the walls in the living room, eventually replacing the art they already had hanging there. Alex didn’t draw, she couldn’t do it for the life of her, but she would encourage her sister, and often sit in the room with her reading or studying whenever Kara was deep into her artwork.
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Starting high school was a good experience for her, for the most part. She didn’t have many friends, but she had her art, and she quickly became friends with Winn Schott in their freshman year. They became thick as thieves, and Kara thought of him as the brother she never got.
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Kara could paint anything she said her mind to. She could paint people, rooms, abstract pieces, but her favourite were landscapes. She loved painting sunsets, mountains, woods. It was how her memory of her childhood home still lived on. She couldn’t remember much on her own, but thanks to her art, she could remember the tree outside her bedroom window, and the view from the cabin her parents would take her to during the summer.
She was in her after school art class on Tuesday, blending the colors for the ocean she was working on, when she felt someone hovering beside her. Kara looked up into a set of piercing green eyes and a kind smile.
“Is this seat taken?” the girl asked, and Kara shook her head no. The girl sat down, and propped her canvas up on the easel in front of her. Kara stole a quick glance, and saw the outline of two kids, and then she averted her gaze and went back to mixing the colors until she finally had the perfect shade she was looking for.
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The girl sat down next to her on Thursday as well. They didn’t talk, but Kara decided that she liked her. She had kind eyes and a smile that lit up the room.
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“Please come and speak to me after class,” the note at the bottom of his test said, next to the big, red, circled F, marking his grade. Mike sunk down in his seat, flipping the paper over, staring blankly at the blackboard while the teacher went through the correct answers for their first chemistry test of the year.
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When the bell rang, Mike flung his bag over his shoulder, and walked up to the teacher’s desk.
“Mr. Matthews,” the teacher started. “You got one of the lowest scores on this test in your class. Considering how your grades were last year, I would recommend you getting a tutor.”
Mike fought the urge he had to roll his eyes, and just nodded instead. “Sure. I don’t know anyone personally who can help me though.”
“I’ll ask around in your class,” the teacher said, and Mike nodded. “You’re dismissed.”
As fast as he got out of the classroom, Mike ripped the test in several pieces, throwing it in the trash, before making his way to his locker.
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Mike sat down next to his teammates on the football team in the cafeteria, and opened his lunch bag. He tried to pay attention to the conversation, and come with comments himself, but all he could think about was how his father would react when he got home that afternoon and found out his test result, and it made every bite taste like paper, and made it even harder for him to swallow.
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Winn was the stereotypical quiet computer nerd. He never had many friends, not until Kara. The girl had opened up so quickly to him during homeroom the first week freshman year, and she sat with him in lunch every day from then on. Winn was a foster kid, and that along with him being a nerd had made him an easy target for bullies, but as long as he was around Kara, he never had any problems. Kara was the kind of person who radiated positive energy, which made it impossible for anyone to come with any remarks when the two of them were together.
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“Mr. Schott, could I please have a word with you?” the chemistry teacher asked after the class had been dismissed on a Friday in October. Winn waited until everyone else had walked out of the room, before walking up to the desk.
“What is it, Mr. Reid?” Winn asked.
“Mr. Schott, do you think you could tutor one of your peers?” Mr. Reid asked. “You don’t have to give me an answer right now, but you’re the best student in your year, and I think he could really benefit from your help.”
Winn nodded. “Of course. I’ll do it.”
“Excellent,” the teacher smiled. “His name is Mike Matthews, you have chemistry and physical education together.” Winn nodded, the name ringing a bell, but he wasn’t sure he knew who it was one hundred percent. “That will be all, Mr. Schott.” Winn left the classroom, hurrying to the cafeteria to meet Kara in the lunch line.
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Alex was running zigzag between cones, dribbling the soccer ball with her feet. The coach was delayed to practice this Monday, so the team captain, Maggie Sawyer, was responsible for warm ups, and she had ordered them all to do different running drills.
“Danvers, pass the ball!” she heard Maggie call, so she did, and the captain juggled the ball between her feet a couple of times before passing it back. They did that standing still for a while, before they started running back and forth on the course, passing the ball between each other.
Not long after, the coach arrived, and ordered them to get the practice started.
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“Nice works today, Danvers,” Maggie said in the locker room after practice, and Alex smiled.
“You too, Sawyer,” she said, and Maggie flashed her a smile back before walking out of the locker room.
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Alex didn’t consider them friends exactly. She didn’t know what they were. But they would team up for activities during practice. When Alex would sit with the soccer team instead of with her sister and their friends during lunch, her and Maggie would always sit next to each other. And when they had away games, they would sit together on the bus. It was an unspoken agreement between them.
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When Alex got home, she dropped her bag in the hallway, and kicked off her shoes before walking into the kitchen where her mother was making dinner.
“Hi mom” she said, and Eliza looked up from the casserole she was stirring in.
“Hello sweetie,” the older woman said. “Could you go to your sister from her art room and tell her dinner will be ready in ten minutes?”
“On it,” Alex said, already making her way towards the stairs.
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Losing her brother was hard. Losing all her friends was even harder. For the second semester of sophomore year, Lena had to be homeschooled. She spent all her time on the school work, becoming the best she could be, and she picked up art as a hobby to express her emotions when she didn’t find the words to do so. She went back to high school for her junior year, and she started in the painting class as her after-school activity, against her mother’s wishes. She also took extra business classes, which her mother was more accepting of.
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Lena was happy when the kind girl in the painting class let her sit with her. She had observed the girl since the beginning of the school year, and the girl was always completely lost in her own art and painting, always seemingly unaware of her surroundings. Lena often sat in a corner by her self, and she enjoyed watching the girl’s canvas gradually filling up.
She didn’t know what gave her the courage to ask the girl if she could sit next to her one day. Lena kept to herself most of the time, as most of the students either stared at her with wide eyes in the hallways, or refused to even look at her. They would all whisper about her behind her back though.
The girl seemed different than the others. She radiated kindness, and she was more approachable with her patterned dresses and cardigans.
The second week that they sat next to each other, Lena learned that her name was Kara. It suited her.
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Her parents never accepted her. When she had learned the meaning of the word lesbian from a tv-show at the age of 13, Maggie had told her mom right away, not even thinking twice about it. She was just happy to find out who she was.
Her mother had slapped her. It was the first and only time she had done that, but it had said enough for the young girl. Her mom didn’t talk with her for the rest of the day, and when Maggie went to bed that night, she could hear her mother talking and crying to her father in the kitchen. Maggie never felt happy about being gay after that.
But she sure as hell never stopped being proud of herself.
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Her dad was more accepting, but he didn’t understand. He never stood up to her mom whenever she would yell at her about her sexuality. And that was just as bad as what her mother did, in Maggie’s opinion.
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She had played soccer since the first grade, but after things went bad at home, Maggie started playing more sports. She started baseball, and when she started high school, she started wrestling as well. When she learned that the National City High School didn’t have a Gay-Straight Alliance club, she started that during her freshman year, doing her best to create the best possible environment for all the students at the school, especially the LGBTQ+ kids.
She didn’t want anyone to feel as alone and unhappy as she had.
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