Rainbow slowly walked down the corridor processing everything that had happened that day. Gary had threatened her, humiliated her and caused her to miss yet another class, because of her anxiety. Barry had also told her about Gary's plan to tell everyone about her magic and threatened her. She'd had another terrible Valentine's Day. She opened her locker and placed the card, that she'd made in one of her classes, in there. She closed the door locking it and slumped against it.
A flash of Barry hitting her into the lockers flicked through her mind and she quickly opened her eyes again. She felt Gary's aura slowly approaching, it felt less sinister than before.
"Hey!" He called coming over to her and sitting down next to her. She held her knees tightly and moved slightly further away from him.
"Haven't you bothered me enough today?" She mumbled, just loud enough for him to hear. She was too emotionally exhausted to bother putting up a front right now. He frowned at her question.
"I... uh..." He scratched the back of his neck nervously. "I wanted to apologise for earlier..." he explained, she ignored him and stared off ahead of her. "I really didn't mean to embarrass you in front of your friends." He continued, clearly not picking up on the fact that she wanted to be left alone. "Anyway... I... um... I made you this?" He mumbled and revealed a Valentine's card. He passed it to her carefully, noticing her surprised expression. She carefully ran her fingers over the front of the card and opened it.
Dear Rainbow (The Aimes)
I'm sorry that I humiliated you.
I still really want to be your friend, if you'll let me.
I think it would be best for both of us if we tried.
From Gary (The Sheffield)
Rainbow smiled at the handwritten note in the card. She closed it again and thought for a moment.
"Why do you want to be my friend so badly?" She asked, turning to look at him for the first time. His eyebrows furrowed and she studied his face, taking advantage of the fact that his eyes were diverted.
"I want to stop this stupid cycle of Aimes kills Sheffield and Sheffield kills Aimes." He eventually answered, lifting his gaze to meet hers. "Besides... I don't really have any other friends and I've talked to you way more than some of the people that are apparently my friends." He added, eyes flicking from the floor to her as he opened up a bit. She bit her lip in the silence and played with the card that was still in her fingers. Why was she so afraid to let him close? They sat in silence for a couple of minutes until she had reached a decision.
"Wanna be my friend Sheffield?" She asked, her confident front back up, "Prove it." She challenged. He smiled at the challenge she had proposed. He stood up and held out his hand in an offer to her. She smiled but shook her head.
"Challenge accepted Aimes." He declared, and walked down the corridor with a new found determination. Rainbow couldn't help but smile as he walked off. She studied his Valentines card again and closed her eyes as she slipped it between her legs and torso in order to safely hug it. She'd never had a Valentines card before...