Welcome to Gaia! ::

Oh Cool! You decided to tag a long after all.
*Hails a cab to take them to the building.*
*Is excited*
This is great! I bet the mural is awesome!

A pet name...

*touches his cheek and wanders away with a silly grin on his face*

James and Digger shared a dorm in the boy's dormitory. Len and Lisa lived in the on-campus apartment complex together. And Evan...Hartley suspected that his dorm was actually in a mirror dimension.

Seriously.

And Hartley himself, he was currently living in one of the empty dorm rooms. It wasn't so empty anymore, of course. It was full to the brim with half-written sheet music, instruments in the middle of being modified and a huge amount of sound equipment with the wires all spilling out onto the floor.

Hartley loved it. It actually felt like a home to him.

Which is why it was so annoying to have it invaded. It was the middle of the night when Hartley's eyes snapped open to see someone else in his room, looking at his sheet music. Hartley rushed to turn on the light, catching Clark Kent in the act. Clark moved fast to the door, faster than anyone Hart had ever seen before, but it had been enough time for Hartley to switch on one of the in-progress devices by his bed, which sent a sonic wave slamming his dorm room shut. Clark stopped and turned around, knowing he was caught.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Hartley slid out of bed, grabbing a shirt.

"Investigative reporting." Clark replied. "You're one of James Jesse's gang, and he's running for office."

"So you broke into MY room to read MY compositions?"

Clark's eyes narrowed.

"Just because there's no proof doesn't mean that nobody suspects you five are up to no good. The riot in town two days ago-"

"Was a RIOT. Of people. Adults. And has nothing to do with James running for Student Council." Hartley walked up to Clark with a scowl on his face.

"If I decide to tell one of the teachers about this, you'll be off the school paper so fast that-"

"Everyone KNOWS that James Jesse is a slacker and a loser, and that if he's running for office it's part of some scheme you five guys cooked up-"

"JAMES is a guy who spent his life in a traveling carnival and STILL managed to not only learn how to read and write, but invented FLYING SHOES, so shut the hell up about him, Kent. Shut the hell up about all of us. Or at least do your damn research before you start breaking and entering. I know that you - you and most of the student population here think that my "gang" are all stupid, but none of you have ever bothered to get to know us. You treat us like outcasts and second-class citizens and then act all surprised and offended if any of us misbehaves."

Hartley poked Kent in the chest.

"Admit it- you just can't believe that a guy like James, a poor kid with no home life or formal education, could be smart enough or good enough to be on your precious Student Council."

"I never said that. If he gets elected, good for him. But the fact is that nobody on campus trusts you guys any further than Doug Ramsey could throw you, so get used to the unblinking eye of the media watching your every move until the election."

"You haven't said word one to convince me not to head out of this room and straight to Bobby Drake's to tell him that you're breaking into other kids' dorm rooms."

Kent sighed.

"Equal coverage."

"Huh?"

"I promise that all three candidates will be given absolute, equal coverage in the newspaper. I promise that myself, personally."

"So, what, you're going to break into Cassandra Sandsmark's best friend's dorm room, too?"

Clark shook his head.

"This was a mistake. I'm sorry. I was following a hunch about the riots-" Clark pointed at the sheet music. "But none of the sheet music here matches the song that some of the rioters reported hearing before they were arrested."

Of course it wouldn't...that was a song Hartley had made up on the spot. All of the music in his room was him trying to write down the song stuck in the back of his head. Hartley took a step away from Kent.

"And are you satisfied now that I didn't have anything to do with it?"

"None of your equipment in here is stolen goods, it all has serial numbers, boxes and the correct documentation, and there were no musical-themed thefts the other night-"

Jesus. How long had he been prowling in here before Hartley woke up?

"So, yes. I am satisfied. About that, at any rate. And I'll even refrain from publishing anything that ties you five - circumstantially, I admit - to the crime wave, if you will let me walk out of here. You have my word."

For some reason, Hartley DID feel he could trust Kent's word. Maybe he just had an honest face or something. Hartley opened his dorm door.

"Fine. Don't let me hear you've been poking around Len's or Digger and James' room."

Clark nodded.

"You just should know...your 'pulled himself up by his bootstraps' candidate is in the spotlight now, so if any of you misbehave, the media is going to find out...and it is going to cost him the election."

Hartley had no response for that, so he just watched as Clark walked away.

::Barry Allen knocked on Wally's dorm. The door flew open and Wally looked up in surprise::

"Oh, hey Uncle Barry! I was just heading to Lacrosse practice-"

"Wally. Stop."

"I can't! I don't want to be late! After that I have swimming, and then the glee club, and after that the band boosters, and then-"

"Wally. I told you to CUT activities from your schedule."

"Yeah, but-"

"You ADDED six more activities, AND there's this."

::Barry held up a "West is Best!" Student Council poster.::

"I can explain! The guys on the football team said that we needed-"

"What I'm concerned about is what YOU need, Wally. You need to learn to slow down, to enjoy life. You're so busy doing everything, that you're not able to focus on any one thing! Wally. I know you, I've known you for years, and I'm seeing you grow up into an extraordinary young man. But you have to learn, and you have to accept - you cannot be everywhere at once."

"I can so! I'm the fastest kid alive!"

::Barry sighs, slowly::

"Wally, what's your favorite color?"

"Blue! No, wait, red. Although orange is great, and yellow is-"

"Wally, this is my point. You've lost your ability to stay focused. And it's going to wind up costing you, greatly. In school. In relationships. Just in life, in general."

"But...but I can handle it-"

"Wally, this is for your own good. You are officially out of the running for Student Council President. I will not sign off on your permission form."

"That's NOT FAIR!"

::Barry shakes his head slowly::

"And since you cannot decide on your own, this week I will be going through your activity list and cutting half of them for you."

"You can't do this!"

"I HAVE to, Wally. For your sake. Now go back to bed. You're not on the Lacrosse team anymore."

::Wally slams the door on Barry, who shakes his head again, sadly, and walks away::

Hartley walked across campus to the big oak tree that the Rogue boys usually met under. As he was walking, he overheard several conversations taking place between students.

"-out of the election! His advisor wouldn't let him run."

"-had to quit the race, it's a huge scandal-"

"-down to just two people now..."

Hartley came to a stop under the tree to see Len and James. Len was reading "Catcher in the Rye" and James was....sewing...

"There's some buzz on the campus." Hartley sat down and set his schoolbag on the grass.

"Yeah. We heard. West is out of the race. It's just Sandsmark and James now."

James gave them both a huge grin.

"I practically have this thing in the bag, guys!"

He went back to his sewing.

"I had a visitor in my dorm last night. One of the boys."

"Oh man, nobody wants to hear about that, Piper!" James ducked behind the tree before anyone could launch a rock at him.

"Clark Kent broke into my room. He was looking for dirt on James."

"Son of a b***h." Len put his book down. "I suppose we should have expected those sort of tactics from the goody-goodies on campus. They never do anything direct. It's all about using covert tactics to get their hands dirty."

"I could have turned him in, but we came to an understanding. There's going to be equal coverage on the candidates, meaning he'll be probing Cassandra's past just as much as James'."

James peeked around the tree.

"Well, big deal then. I don't have anything to hide! Mine is an inspirational rags to riches story! I just haven't finished stealing all the riches yet."

Len growled.

"Talk like that is what's going to get you into trouble at the debate, Jesse."

James waved it off.

"Relaaaaaaaaaax. Public speaking is my FORTE'. And besides...I'm going to have my Mamacita there to inspire me."

"Your...what?"

James grinned furtively.

"You'll see. If West hadn't dropped out of the race already, he would have once he saw I stole his giiiiiiiiiiiiiiirlfriiiiiiennnddddd!"

James held up what he was sewing...hand puppets of himself and Danielle Baptiste.

"It's not fair."

::Wally sat in the locker room after football practice, surrounded by the rest of the team::

"I dunno if Uncle Bar-Mister Allen is going to let me stay on the football team or not."

: razz iotr thumped Wally on the back comfortingly::

"Do not fret, Wally. You have been such an asset to the team that I cannot imagine Coach Cage letting you go, no matter what."

"I can't imagine being off ANY of the teams I'm on. Or any of the crews, or the committees, or anything...but they're not going to let me stay in half of the activities I'm in."

::Julian piped up::

"That stinks, man. That really stinks!"

"Yeah, and the worst part is that I can't run for student council."

::A bevy of 'awwww's ran through the group::

"But you were going to be our in, Wally! Our representative in office! How can we expect a girl or a wimp like Jesse to have the team's best interests in mind?"

::Wally looked at Simon and slowly shook his head::

"I'm sorry guys. I can't be a part of it without my advisor's permission. I can't-"

::Wally broke off and ran out of the locker room. He ran, and ran, and ran without stopping for a long time.::

**Bobby Drake exits the computer office with all the printers and such, carrying an armload of new flyers. Brian Durlin and Julian follow behind with their own armloads and look at each other**

Drake: Spread the word boys!

**All three smile and head off in different directions....and soon across campus there are hundreds of posters anew, but ones depicting Professor Allen with a skunk's tail and the caption, "Professor Allen Stinks -- Free Wally West For Class Prez!"**