For Logan

[sayshazam]

This was so dumb. Billy had tried so hard to stay out of trouble, to not get kicked out and to do well in school and one little fight had pretty much negated all that hard work. He hadn't even thrown the first punch, hadn't even defend himself at first really. Now that he knew how to fight, to really fight, it didn't seem fair to fight the other kids. But the guy had gone after someone else and Billy couldn't just stand there and watch that happen. He'd only hit the other guy so that the bully wouldn't hurt someone else. But apparently the school had a "zero tolerance" policy for fighting.

Luckily he was able to reduce his punishment from a suspension to "After school community service detention". He'd been told to report to a fire station and someone there would oversee his "community service". Billy figured it would mean shoveling some snow or washing a firetruck or something dumb like that. He already flew around as a superhero, wasn't that community service?

Sighing, Billy tugged at the sleeves of his winter jacket because it- along with the rest of his clothes- had shrunk in the wash or something. He probably looked homeless, with his black eye, illfitting clothes and backpack. Maybe he should take Kurt up on his offer to get some new clothes. Later. Right now he had to get this over with.

"Hello?" he called out. "It's Billy Batson. I'm here from the high school? For, uh, community service?"

Comments

[sayshazam]

Well, at least it sounded like the guy was going to help, but probably only because he didn't trust Billy to do the job right. How hard could it be to wash a fire truck? You just scrubbed every inch of it with the brush then washed it off. The guy clearly thought he was an idiot. Well screw him, Billy was going to wash the hell out of this truck.

"So are you in trouble too and that's why you have to babysit me?" he asked once the guy pulled the truck around.

[spanningyears]

"Would you believe I thought the fire department was supposed to set the fires? Now that was a wacky mix-up," Logan says as he climbs down, out of the truck once it's parked out front.

"It's a big truck. I figured you could use the help. And we can talk about how you ended up with community service. Not to get all after-school special on you."

[sayshazam]

The joke should have been lame but something about the way he said it almost had Billy smiling. Except he wasn't going to let this guy think he was enjoying his presence or anything. This was a punishment so Billy was going to be miserable.

"How old are you? No one has after school specials anymore," Billy said, shaking his head. "And it's nothing. This kid was picking on someone so I told him to stop. He went after me instead. I let him hit me a few times but when he didn't stop I hit him back. Zero-tolerance policy for fighting, so here I am."

[spanningyears]

"They were on the way out when I was coming up too. Go figure," Logan says, and has to pause to consider what Billy says next. It reminds him a lot of his own high school experience, only if Neptune High had been zero tolerance, he would have been on the fast track to expulsion pretty early on in his sentence.

"Gotta love zero tolerance. So, this other kid. He a little guy? Maybe compensating for something?"

[sayshazam]

"No, typical asshole. Thinks he's better than people because he has money and parents who will bitch out the school," Billy said. Fortunately this time he hadn't had to hire a parents or anything like that. Although next time he would probably just be expelled, which would really suck.

"He just does it so all the other kids know how cool he is or whatever."

[spanningyears]

"Think I know the type," Logan says, and Sean Friedrich from back home comes to mind. Or just about any 09er from high school. come to think of it, including himself. More than once, Logan got out of being expelled, and he knows it wasn't because of his winning teenage personality.

"And let me guess, no community service for the other guy, right?"

[sayshazam]

"He's on some sports team so it's being handled through that. Doesn't matter, those guys always get away with stuff. Just how it is," Billy said with a shrug as he started to scrub down the truck. That was a lesson Billy had learned pretty early on, if you had parents AND money you could get away with just about anything.

"Maybe that's why some people put on tights and fight crime? Do crime fighters ever go after corrupt bankers and stuff?"