[Third Person Pov]
Danny, Sam, and Tucker sat together at their usual lunch table, bright, pleased smiles lighting up their faces as the final-day energy of the school year finally settled in.
"Finally!" Tucker praised, actual tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. He looked at his two best friends as though he had just achieved nirvana. "The day we've all been waiting for has come at long last!" He clasped his hands together dramatically. "You two should come over so we can celebrate the last day of school together properly."
The smiles on both Sam and Danny's faces faltered the second they heard his request. They exchanged a quick, apologetic glance before looking back at him.
"What? Why are you both looking at me like that?" Tucker asked, dread already creeping into his voice.
"Yeah… we unfortunately can't come over," Danny explained, his expression heavy with genuine regret. "Bruce is holding a charity gala tonight, and I have to attend. No excuses."
"Same reason I can't make it either," Sam added, leaning her cheek against her fist. Her voice carried the same reluctant dread. "My parents are forcing me to go. Full formal wear and everything. It's going to be painful."
Tucker just stared at them both with a major frown, shoulders slowly sinking. "Why am I only learning about this now?"
"I honestly assumed Sam would have told you," Danny said, looking over at her.
"Me?" Sam tilted her body away from them, motioning between the two boys with one hand. "Why would I have told him? You two are the closer best friends."
"No… it's alright. I understand," Tucker said, his voice cracking as he held back exaggerated, mock tears. He sniffled for dramatic effect, dabbing at the corner of one eye with a napkin. "I understand that my economic and social status is simply nothing compared to the both of you."
"Tucker, come on, man," Danny said sympathetically, reaching a hand across the table toward him.
"No! Don't touch me!" Tucker recoiled in exaggerated horror, withdrawing his hand as though his touch might contaminate Danny. "I wouldn't want to affect you with my peasantness!"
Sam watched the entire exchange unfold with a completely flat expression. "Are we being serious right now?"
Tucker pulled his legs out from under the table and turned his entire body away from them, clutching one hand to his chest like a wounded romantic lead. "I didn't get it before… but I understand it now. Our worlds… we're just too far apart! This could never have worked out!" He stared off into the middle distance as though performing on a Broadway stage.
Danny immediately launched into full theatrical mode. He leaned all the way across the table, feet lifting off the ground behind him, one dramatic hand stretched desperately toward Tucker. Tears glistened in his eyes. "Tucker! Come on, don't say that, please!! We can work this out if we just talk to each other! It doesn't have to be this way!!"
His outstretched hand trembled theatrically. "We can always look past our differences!!"
At that exact moment, Barbara and Dick stopped a few feet away with their lunch trays in hand, both of them staring blankly at the scene. The entire nearby section of the cafeteria had gone awkwardly quiet as students glanced over.
Dick leaned slightly toward Barbara and whispered, "We can still salvage this if we both look away and pretend we didn't see anything."
Barbara nodded once. The two of them continued walking past the table without breaking stride. As they passed, Barbara casually motioned behind her toward the trio. Dick, without missing a beat, said loudly enough for them to hear, "I've never met that guy in my life."
Barbara's quiet giggle floated back to them as they disappeared into the crowd.
Sam slowly turned back to her two best friends, deadpan expression firmly in place. "Are you two done?"
Danny and Tucker both slid back into their seats with small, simultaneous sniffles. "Yeah… we're done," they said at the exact same time.
A few seconds of silence passed before the three of them broke into faint, helpless rounds of chuckling. Sam shook her head, rolling her eyes with clear affection. "You're both just a bunch of clowns."
Tucker took a casual sip from his drink through the straw, already back to normal. "Tomorrow then?"
"Yeah, I can do tomorrow," Danny agreed with a nod.
"I shouldn't have anything planned by then," Sam added, matching the casual nod.
The three of them settled back into easy conversation, the dramatic storm already forgotten as the last day of school continued around them.
…
The last bell of the school year rang, and Tucker was the first one out of the front gate, arms raised high as he shouted with pure, unfiltered joy.
"We're finally free!! Hours of nonstop gaming and zero sleep, here I come!"
"Don't you do that regardless?" Sam asked dryly as she exited alongside Danny, a wave of students pouring out behind them into the warm afternoon sunlight.
"She got you there—" Danny began to agree with a short laugh, only to be cut off mid-sentence.
"Danny! Hold up, don't go anywhere!" a cheerful voice with a clear Latin accent called out to him.
The three of them turned in visible confusion as Paulina approached, her focus locked specifically on Danny.
"I… huh?" Danny asked, thoroughly perplexed.
Sam and Tucker both froze like background characters. Sam's eyes began to slowly twitch as she stared at the most popular girl in their grade walking straight toward them.
Paulina stood with one thumb hooked casually over her belt loop, her bag hanging off one shoulder. "Nothing major. I just realized I've been meaning to get in contact with you for some time now, but I never had the chance since I didn't have your phone number."
Danny blinked several times. "Qué?"
Paulina covered her mouth as she giggled, letting out a cute little snort. "Hahaha, you're so funny. Here—just give me your phone."
Behind Danny, Sam was practically vibrating in place, every muscle in her body locked as she suppressed the overwhelming urge to light the bitch on fire with magic then and there.
Paulina flashed Danny a friendly smile and, without waiting, smoothly snatched the phone from his hands. "This way we can still talk and stuff over the summer so we don't lose contact," she said, fingers already flying across the screen as she typed in her number.
Sam's hands slowly rose at her sides, still trembling with the effort of containing herself. Tucker, watching the entire spectacle unfold with open-mouthed awe, carefully reached over and lowered her hands for her.
Paulina pulled out her own phone and called herself from Danny's. Once the numbers were saved, she held both screens up for a moment. On her phone, his contact was saved as "Danny boy" followed by multiple heart emojis. On his phone, her name appeared as "Paulina" with kissing emojis and a wink face.
She handed Danny his phone back and gave him a real wink, waving her fingers at him as she stepped away. "Don't be a stranger, alright, Danny boy… Adiós. And be sure to answer my text, okay?"
"…What the hell just happened?" Danny asked blankly, still processing how fast everything had unfolded.
"I'll tell you what happened," Tucker said, immediately starting to gas him up. "You just got the number of the hottest, most popular girl in our year! That's what happened!"
He suddenly grabbed Danny by the shoulders like a good-luck charm. "Hold on—maybe I can ride your wave of victory and score big as well!"
Tucker scanned the dispersing crowd until he spotted her. "Hey Valerie!! Let me get your number so we don't lose contact over the summer!"
Valerie, standing in front of her father's car, froze for half a second. She looked at him from the corner of her eye, then quickly slid into the passenger seat and began tapping rapidly on the driver's seat.
"Drive. Drive. Drive. Drive. Drive!" she urged, her tapping growing more frantic by the second.
The vehicle burned rubber and took off in a cloud of smoke, leaving Tucker standing with his arm still frozen midair.
He slowly lowered his hand and flicked his nose with forced casualness. "She just didn't hear me. It happens. I'll just ask her next semester."
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