A Child's Promise (BBRae AU) [COMPLETED]

XI

XI
The Best Night in Highschool?
~~~

The wind picked up as Gar sat down on the stone wall surrounding a large bed of budding flowers outside the school.

Late April/Early May was one of Gar's favorite times of year. It was beginning to warm up, the plants and trees were almost fully in bloom, and shorts and flip flops weren't an absurd thing to wear anymore.

As school let out, Gar watched people get into cars, walk down the sidewalk either left or right from the entrance, or walk out of school with some sort of sports bag to their car or parent's car with a uniform on. Almost everyone had something to do.

Except when it came to people like him. The ones who lollygagged behind either waiting for someone to come, or waiting for something to happen. The ones who had time. The ones who didn't have anything to do. They'd sit at the outside tables or on ledges or on benches people watching rather than being on their phones. In no rush to get anything in particular done.

It certainly was a very do-nothing-day. The sun was shining bright in the sky, illumining everything around him, feeding the creatures of Earth and giving them the life each and every one so desired. There were just enough clouds to provide some shade every once in a while as the passed under the sun, plunging the area under it into it's shadow. And the people themselves were very lackadaisical, drowsy from school, the people who weren't in a rush moved slowly and methodically akin to a turtle or someone at the age of 80 or above. And even the people that did have somewhere to be seemed a little laggy compared to usual. The weather had its effect on everyone.

Gar checked his phone for the time, 3:02. School let out at 2:49, so he had been waiting for over ten minutes now. Not that he had anywhere to be on this Thursday afternoon. Because of his performance in the recent tournament against the Gotham City Chimeras, Gar was promoted to be the 3rd captain of the Manticores. "Normally," Myra had said, "Someone must be a part of the team for 2 years before becoming a captain. But everyone is content with where they are. And since Jack will be graduating this year, I'll need a second next year.

"You have potential Gar. You're not a follower like everyone else. You're a leader, and it's obvious in the way you play."

"Not in how I act?" He asked with half seriousness, raising an eyebrow in jest.

"No, your outward personality is quite different from your play style. You always choose a warrior-type of character. High defense, strength, and stamina. In game when you lose your defense you're as vulnerable as a snail sans it's shell. But out here, if you lose your defense, you keep on going. You're not completely vulnerable. Your resolve acts like a secondary defense, a barrier of some sort."

He actually disagreed a lot with Myra. He felt his choice of character resembled him a lot. He was strong when he was confident, ready for anything thrown his way, but without his confidence and happy (sometimes) facade to defend him, he was weak and vulnerable. Any attack from anyone could break him down once they stripped him of that. That's how he felt, and because that's how he felt, that's how it was.

Being a captain had its perks, he was allowed to not come every day for practice, but in turn he must do some practicing at home on his own time, should his level of play drop as everyone else's rises, Amber can bump him back down.

At the end of the day, no matter how much of her power Myra would use, the girl was still his equal.  And he would make that clear should she step over any lines. He could tell that she wasn't one to stray away from asserting her position, so he would do the same. He had to establish himself as more than just his username. And not just on the team.