Wendy prepped herself the night before, talking to herself in the mirror and when Patricia yelled at her to stop talking to herself , she continued in a much softer voice. She had scripted her lines, as if it were a scene from a play. She committed to those lines to memory before letting herself sleep at five to five in the morning.

On paper, approaching Alvin should have been the easiest part. In reality, that proved to be a task that got Wendy paralyzed with fear. Her palms would start to sweat, her breathing became shallow as she got closer and finally, her legs would shut down ,leaving her with the mobility of a tree.

  She’d watch as Alvin turned a corner or head in to a classroom, her body only working again once he was out of sight.

This wasn’t her only attempt to try it in school, doing it at home was an idea too terrifying to even try. She feared he would explode and incur Patricia’s wrath, her mother was a force nature when set off, best to do it away from her.

Even after working up the confidence to do it, she soon realised another problem: Alvin had a surprisingly active social life. Every time she got close, a bunch of guys would surround him and start up a conversation. Other times Cassie would swoop and grab him, giving her a friendly wave or smile if she spied Wendy nearby, alluding to  their deal.

It happened so often she once punched a locker in frustration, leaving a fist shaped dent while swearing so loudly other Titans would look down from their great heights to see a little Amazon losing it.

 Eventually, she made the breakthrough, finding Alvin all by himself in the hallway with no friends or Titan to take him from her. While he took some books out from his locker Wendy thought it would be the perfect time to make her move.She crept towards him, the grey locker door blocking Alvin’s view but upon closing it, he got a scare when he saw Wendy so close to him.

 “ Okay Wendy, just to let you know, I got Cassie on speed dial!” Alvin held up his phone and sure enough, Cassie’s name and number were on its screen.

“No don’t,” Wendy said, keeping her hands down and away from Alvin, both knew how much suffering those hands of her had dealt.

 “ Tell me what you want before I press the button,” Alvin’s body was shaking as he held his finger over the lime green call button.

Wendy back away a couple of steps, only stopping when Alvin lowered his arm although his hand was still hovering over the button, like a sniper with his hand over the trigger.

“ I just want to talk,” Wendy leaned back against the wall. She thought about telling him how pointless it was to call Cassie but if that made him feel secure, she’d give it to him. He might have flipped out if  he found out Cassie wouldn’t be there to shield him from her.

 “About what?” Alvin asked, stepping back slightly, he felt too close to her.

“About the way I’ve been treating you and how...sorry I am,” Wendy averted her eyes, guilty over what she did.

She waited for Alvin to answer, hoping he’d believe her.

“Oh you want to talk about that do you? Like the I don’t know, thousands of times before!” Alvin advanced on Wendy, showing more cojones than he ever did in any of their confrontations before that.

 Wendy tried to back away but could not move, her legs freezing up at a very inconvenient moment. Right now, for the first time, she felt scared. Alvin, despite his lack of size, his gnashing teeth and furious glare gave him the ferocity of a velociraptor. Before that it was usually closer to that of a chihuahua.

 “No I mean it!” Wendy said, her voice breaking. If she weren’t serious about this, she’d give Alvin props for being able to knock her off her stride.

 Alvin drew a long breath, all of that pent up anger, years of taking shit from Wendy bubbling to the surface.

 “ And you think one word is going to make up for all the crap you did to me?”

“W-well, I-I don’t r-really know Alvin, I only planned up to here,”She pushed her fingers together as Alvin turned up the heat on her.

 “Really? You planned?” He snorted with derision.

“No wait, you do, only you could plan things like making me wrestle for my phone and then delete half my contacts as some sort of joke. That was planned wasn’t it? Wasn’t it!” He exploded with white hot rage.

Wendy’s face sank a few levels, he had remembered and boy was he pissed. He might even have cried for a bit too if her memory served her well.

“Not the deleting part, that wasn’t...planned,” Wendy mewled. She moved forward and perhaps recognising the fact that he was still the smaller person, Alvin gave her room. Good thing too, Wendy thought. Knocking him down might lead to some unwanted one on one time with Cassie.

“ But you did plan the rest didn’t you?” Alvin asked.

Wendy nodded, like a child being caught by its parents for breaking a vase.

Alvin looked away, too mad for words. People stared at them but no one lifted a finger to separate them. Alvin didn’t care, nobody lifted a finger to help him anyway. Why should Wendy be any different?

  “You showed me,” He jabbed his finger at her.

 “That you are a cold , calculating demon. Which is why I think you’re setting up something. If not, then…” His eyes widened as a revelation came to him as his lips pulled themselves into a thin, toothless smile.

“You’re here because you are afraid of Cassie aren’t you?”

“No I’m not,” Wendy replied. She wasn’t wrong but she wasn’t one hundred percent correct          either.

 “Don’t lie, you got off on being this big all powerful bully for years. You could have ended it anytime but to do it after Cassie came, we both know why. Guess its true, the big do step on the small,” he chastised her cynically.

 Wendy didn’t know what to say, just staring back , trying to come up with a good line. Anything, to change his mind. When it became clear she couldn’t, Alvin left, without even saying goodbye.

Wendy watched him leave but she wasn’t done yet. She had extended the olive branch and he responded with machine gun fire.

If not for her change of heart, she would have pounded him for it, she thought. Which was exactly why she was in this tight situation, she told herself. All these years of making Alvin her human  punching bag had hardened his heart towards her. She resolved to try again, the next time she saw him.

 Which happened to be at home, Wendy having arrived home earlier for some alone time. She had planned to postpone her attempt at redemption but when she heard his voice, full of laughter and merriment as he stepped through the door; she thought she would chance it.

 Patricia may have been home as well but she was taking a shower. A typical shower for her lasted at least half an hour so Wendy had time.

 She didn’t know why but she found herself brushing her thick ebony locks with her favourite amber comb. Every little bit counts, she thought to herself before rushing out of her room and heading down stairs.

   She found him in the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of rather pale OJ from a carton of that was probably just past its expiration date.

“ Hey,” Wendy greeted him in her most delicate and pleasant voice, an octave lower than her normal shrill teenage girl voice.

Alvin quickly drank his OJ as if it were a shot of whiskey, Wendy admitted she hadn’t seen anyone down that much liquid in under eight seconds.

“ Now what?” He wiped his mouth clean of any excess juice, moving away from her but stopped as he realised Wendy was blocking the exit. He was trapped, like all the other times she hunted him for sport.

“ I meant what I said back in school,” Wendy assumed a stronger tone, it might help quell the fire within Alvin long enough to get her message through.

 “ I am truly sorry for everything I did, from deleting your contacts to,” She pointed at the stove.

“ Nearly burning your hand off.”

Alvin looked at the stove and back at her and without even pausing to think answered her, “No.”

Wendy held up a single non-central finger, “All I need is one chance. One chance to show that I could be that wonderful little sister to your super cool big brother. Remember those days Alvin?”

It struck a chord with him, Alvin’s brain taking him back to an era where he wasn’t the modern day Cinderella. He could remember it too. Time seemed to stop as he remembered Wendy, not the mean spirited bitch of today but a bright eyed nine year old, always too shy to ask for something.

 It made him feel...needed. A solitary tear pushed itself out of his left eye, rolling down the contours of his face before hitting the ground with an imperceptible splash. He sniffled before wiping it away, remembering who was in front of him.

 “ I don’t, I only remember the pain,” He lied through his teeth but it was easier than acknowledging the truth.

“Now,” He pointed to the side, “Get out of my way or I’ll kick up a fuss.”

“You know Mom doesn’t appreciate that, she hates to see us fight.  You’ll also get in trouble,” She said in a cautious tone.

Alvin nodded, “ I know but lets face it, I can handle being on the receiving end. You’ve proved to me you can’t.”

 “Fine, go and do whatever you want,” Wendy threw up her arms in defeat before letting him pass. She watched him head up the stairs to his own room, wondering what would she have to do to get his attention.

In his room, Alvin felt uneasy. He had nearly fallen for her trick there. She had dug deep and found a part of him he kept buried, hidden from the world because to expose it was far more painful.

  How, he wondered, had she become so cunning? Wendy was good at making the most of her muscles but the one between her ears? Not enough to pull off a Machiavellian stunt like this.

He needed help, he thought. A second opinion. He reached for his phone and went straight to his contact list.

Cassie’s name appeared first, thanks to her parent’s impeccable taste in names. He also had her on speed dial, in case of Wendy.

 He dialled her number and waited, clicking his tongue against his own teeth while her bubblegum ringtone played.

 “Oh hello Alvin,” Cassie exclaimed, surprised by his call.

“Am I interrupting something?” He sat up and pressed a pillow against his chest.

A bit of static on the other end as he heard what sounded like objects being moved around.

“Not at all, not at all! Just surprised by your call, that’s all.”

Alvin smiled, he loved hearing her voice. The red mist that hung around him moments before blown away by just being in a conversation with her.

“ Listen, I think we have a problem with Wendy. She has been acting very...odd.”

“Oh,” Cassie said, feigning surprise.

“Yeah,” He scratched the back of his head, his go to routine whenever things got awkward.

“She’s acting like she’s sorry and all, claiming she feels really bad about how she’s treated me. As if I would believe that!” He laughed, then laughed even harder over how ridiculous Wendy’s trick was. As if he was that gullible.

 He stopped when he realised Cassie wasn’t saying anything but things were getting tense. He didn’t know why but he waited for Cassie to say something. Eventually she did, in a soft hush tone, similar to the one she used during his first trip to her house.

“  Hey , you want to go to the planetarium tomorrow? Its Saturday so you should be free right?”

How random, Alvin thought. But he wasn’t going to pass up a trip to his favourite building in the city, especially since he hadn’t been there in years. Probably added Pluto again too , he thought, remembering how in 2020 the IAU had declared it a planet again.

“Okay.I’ll see you there. After I make breakfast for my mistresses,” He said mockingly.

“Okay Alvin. Have a nice day,” Alvin could almost feel her smile on the other hand, warming him.

“ Thank you Cassie, you too.”