Wonder Folder

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WONDER FOLDER

By Superfolder Skywalker (Cover by Superfolder Guillermo)

Kane High, In Proud Association With The Girl Scouts of America!

Kane Archives, 1994

Assistant Principal Marston: What a great day it is! The Girl Scouts of America, in association with Kane High School, have decided to form a specially funded troop together, the Amazons! if anyone is interested, all they have to do is sign up on the brown checklist in the mess hall; I repeat, the brown checklist in the mess hall. If one is interested in becoming the leader of the group, they must sign up after the program starts on June 9th, the day after school ends. Then they will go through three trials: thumb-wrestling, running, and leadership.

[Aged footage of girl scouts running, smiling at each other, selling cookies, etc.]

Assistant Principal Marston: Remember to stay safe, and as always, have fun!

[Footage cuts to black.]

Prologue

Kane Archives, 1994

Discovered By The She-Presence

(Note: I found this paper in an old box in the gym. A lot of the words are gone from age and dust, but I tried to recover it as best as I could.)

Hey, Diary, it’s Thalia!

So we watched this weird footage today in class. Apparently Kane and the Girl Scouts are having a partnership or something? I’m honestly feeling ambitious; I’m thinking of signing up to be a leader! I’m basically prepared already! I’m a good runner, I’m kind of okay at thumb-wrestling, and my friends describe me as kind! Ah, wait, the new episode of Seinfeld airs in an hour! Gotta go!

Me, Theresa Carter

By, Well, Theresa Carter

Dear Diary,

Today is the day of the thumb wrestling challenge. In all honesty, I’m not 100% sure I want to fill my mother’s shoes, but it sounds fun, and I’ve always wanted to be a Girl Scout.

When I was little, my mother told me how she became the leader of the Amazons. All she said is that she had to “believe in herself like she had never done before.” But I bet it’s easier than she thought. I’m basically prepared already! I’m a good runner, I’m kind of okay at thumb-wrestling, and my friends describe me as kind!

Ah, wait, my mom’s calling me from outside the house to get in the car. Gotta run!

The She-Presence’s Comment: She’s going to do well.

The She-Hand’s Comment: Let’s hope so, because the other three participants are…well…

The She-Presence’s Comment: Yeah. Total rotten apples.

Good Luck, You’re Going To Need It

By Theresa Carter

Dear Diary,

When my mom dropped me off at the Girl Scouts headquarters in Los Angeles, the thumb wrestling had already started. A girl with long red hair was crushing some other kid’s thumb onto the side of their hand.

An instructor came up to me. Her name-tag read, “Alyssa.”

She said to me, “Oh, well look who it is: Thalia Carter’s daughter! I hear you’re trying out for leader of the Amazons? That’s nice. You know, your mother and I were close friends.” She whispered in my ear, “She was one of the worst friends I’ve ever had.”

She sat me down in the chair next to the redheaded girl.

“Good luck, Theresa Carter!” she said cheerfully. She switched to a noticeably more somber tone, saying, “You’re going to need it.”

Another instructor came up to the table and said, “Cheating is not tolerated. You may not start before the countdown is over, and you may not throw your thumb over the other contender’s to win. You may start in 5, 4, 3, 2…”

The redhead immediately started to push down on my thumb without the game even starting.

“1!”

I resisted, and tried to beat the girl at her own game. “Name’s Theresa,” I said.

“My name’s Carol N. Keaten. Some of my fellow Girl Scouts call me ‘the Racing Cheetah.’ Because I always win a race.”

She pushed down on my finger, and I could feel the weight of her thumb as Carol was a couple centimeters away from victory.

She put her thumb over mine and my thumb struck the right side of my hand. She cheated, but won.

“Wait!” Instructor Alyssa yelled. “Carol. Did you start before the countdown ended, and did you put your thumb on top on her’s?”

“Uh, well, not exactly, maybe I did one of those things, not necessarily both of them, and well, let’s just say that–”

“Ms. Keaten, I am excluding you from the competition, and you are hereby cast out of the Girl Scouts. Wait in the office while I call your parents,” Alyssa said.

But, back to the point: I won! Now I’m not being disqualified, and on top of that, the Cheetah girl who cheated is both disqualified and banned!

The She-Presence’s comment: I knew she could do it!

The She-Hand’s comment: I still don’t think she’ll make it past the second trial.

The She-Presence’s comment: Well, aren’t you a little ray of sunshine. And guys, Theresa won the first trial, so tomorrow the Ancient Fold will be revealed before the second event!

The She-Hand’s comment: Someone’s a bit too hyped.

Another Old Note

By the She-Word

Hey, Presence and Hand. I hope you’re both doing well. I know you don’t hear from me as often anymore, but a few days ago, I discovered something interesting about Thalia Carter. I was helping some other students clean out the school office before the academic year ended, and I saw a box titled “the Amazons.” It contained the old video recording from 20+ years ago announcing Kane and the Girl Scouts’ partnership, a few books, and two old pieces of paper.

Words were missing, but the first paper read that the Girl Scout troop known as the Furies took over the Amazons. In 1996, the Furies were the first and only time another troop participated in the competition for leader of the Amazons. The leader of the Furies, Alyssa McCarthy, somehow won the competition.

The second note was just a paragraph long, and looked at least 10 years younger. It read that the Furies have mixed themselves into the Amazons ever since, and all leaders after Alyssa were at least involved with the Furies.

She-Presence’s comment: So the competition has been rigged after Thalia’s time as leader?

She-Word’s comment: Sort of. It just seems like all the leaders of the Amazons except for Thalia have somehow always been Furies.

She-Presence: You know, that redheaded girl did seem pretty determined to win. Even more than Theresa…

The Wonder Folder

By Theresa Carter

Today, a little bit before the second event, a short, scrawny-looking Girl Scout was rounding up everyone she could, except the two other contestants left. She led us into a small tool-shed, where she pulled out an old cardboard box from a drawer. She slowly opened it, and everyone peeked inside. There was an old, smelly Wonder Woman origami puppet.

“Since Thalia Carter, the first leader of the Amazons, we have kept this puppet…the Wonder Folder…for any new leader of the Amazons. Once a new leader rises, we give them the Wonder Folder, and they are dubbed ‘Pleatana.’ A strange tradition, but we can’t just disown it, can we?”

We heard Instructor Alyssa yell out, “KIDS! WHERE ARE YOU?” Then a second time. The short Girl Scout closed the box, hid it in a rush, and led us outside quickly.

“Now, we have a new contestant today…”

She-Presence’s comment: No. Darn. Way.

She-Hand’s comment: Eh, it probably doesn’t take a lot to fool a former Fury.

The Not-So-New Girl, Locarn Keenat

By Theresa Carter

Oh. My. Goodness. How was our counselor fooled by this? I really want to know how!

“Contestants, in Carol’s place, I present to you….Locarn Keenat! She’s a foreign exchange student from Australia,” Alyssa announced with her speaker-phone.

It was Carol, but with her hair dyed red, and she had a lot of makeup on. How was no one fooled?!

“Oh, something’s definitely fishy about her,” said Charlotte, one of the other contenders. “Maybe she needs a squeeze.” She then walked backwards into a nearby bush.

“I’m pretty sure that’s poison oak,” I said to her.

She replied, “Homegirl, it’s poison ivy. I should know.”

Charlotte is weird, but she was right. This girl, Locarn, DOES need a squeeze. And I need to squeeze the truth right in front of Instructor Alyssa.

A few minutes later, we were at the start of the race-track. “Locarn” had a scary look on her face, I was feeling confident, Charlotte was putting on lipstick, and the last contestant was a completely normal kid.

The other counselor from yesterday said, “On your mark…get ready…set…go!”

All four of us ran. I was in 1st place so far, Locarn was in 2nd, the normal kid was in 3rd, and Charlotte had completely stopped.

As we kept running, Alyssa called Charlotte to her.

“Hey, are you gonna keep going like this, or are you gonna stop and earn the title of troop leader?”

“I forfeit the contest,” Charlotte said, adding, “and, in fact, I don’t want to be a Fury anymore. I wanna cheer on that Theresa girl!”

“You’ll never become a Girl Scout troop leader, Carol! I know it’s you!” I yelled as I ran.

She replied, “Well, look who finally figured it out. Oh, and I’m not cheating this time. I’m just thinking of new, clean ways to beat you.”

She pointed ahead, and I looked forward, seeing that I had gone off track and were about to fall into a ditch.

I quickly swerved out of the way, and I was about ten feet or less from the finish line, when Locarn crosses it, with her arms in the air. Everyone was chanting, “Locarn! Locarn!”

After that, the normal kid was kicked out of the competition, because she had already lost once, at the thumb-wrestling segment from yesterday, but I’m still in, because I lost for the first time today.

(In other news, Charlotte quit, but when I asked her why, she just smiled, blew a kiss and said “That’s the kiss of luck, homegirl.”)

Well, whoever wins tomorrow takes all, and it’s just me and Locarn!

The She-Presence’s comment: Uh-oh. Now I’m actually starting to fear the worst. Thanks a lot!

The She-Hand’s comment: It’s what I do.

Guess Who’s Back. Also, Hey, More Old Stuff!

By the She-Word

You know me. I’m a tomboy. A rebel. I scavenge for stuff, and I’m not so neat with how I organize. Last night, I went to the school. The office was open, and I looked through the storage room for any more clues to the Amazon troop’s past and what caused their corruption.

I didn’t find another old cardboard box, but rather, there was a plastic bin with the words “Girl Scouts ‘96” written on the top.

When I opened the box, I saw a mixtape labeled, “Thalia and Alyssa’s favorites,” two Girl Scouts uniforms, folded neatly, and a tape labeled, “Rules.”

Thalia: Hi, it’s me. Thalia Carter. So you’re a proud member of the Amazon troop, eh? Well, good, good. It takes bravery and honor to be a Girl Scout. Well, today I am here to teach you about the rules.

[the word “RULES” in big capital letters zoom across the screen, back and forth, for a little bit]

Thalia: Rule one is, obviously, always respect your instructor. Because no matter who she is, always respect her. That is an essential rule of being a Girl Sco—

It went on like this for ten minutes, so I skipped to the important part.

Thalia: —and for our second-to-last rule, if you lose the competition to become Captain of the Amazon troop, you can always have a winner-takes-all bonus round, your choice. But only if you want to, of course, because the Girl Scouts do not tolerate peer pressure. Speaking of peer pressure, if one of your fellow Scouts offer you expired milk that looks like green cheese—

The She-Presence’s comment: Look who returned again. Also, I’m back, baby! I’m happy because of this news, and I’ve got a spring in my step!

The She-Hand’s comment: Nice piece of information, but why did you have to encourage her?

The She-Word’s comment: Oh, put a cork in it.

I Lost

By Theresa Carter

It was a windy, cloudy day.

I heard in the morning that Carol, the last round’s winner, got to see the Wonder Folder while I was waiting outside, eating a cold egg omelet.

I barely know Carol, but I bet that made her push herself even more.

Everyone got out of the shed as quick as they could as soon as Alyssa blew her whistle.

“Okay, Girl Scouts, are you ready? This decides who will be your captain, your superior, your troop leader! It’s time to pass down the torch, as we do every year!”

Locarn was being supported by a few girls right behind her, shouting her name like how they did yesterday. I guess they must respect her more because she actually, truly won a round, but I won a round just because she cheated and lost.

“Hey, do you wanna meet at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on Topanga after this is over?” Charlotte asked me.

“Sure, but what do you wanna discuss there?” I asked. “How was the school year? How will the competition turn out? How many cookies do we have to sell that aren’t in the green boxes?” I asked back.

“No…” she laughed saying before she went off into the crowd, “just two chums, being chummy!”

I thought in my head, Okay, you know what, maybe I won’t show up.

Alyssa then explained the rules: Carol and I were actually going to interact with the crowd, seeing how “friendly” we could get, because kindness is essential to be a Girl Scout, of course.

Once she said “GO!”, I ran off into the audience along with Carol. I saw her shaking hands with people, making small talk with them, winking at them. I don’t have that type of charm! How do I do that?

“Hi,” I said to a kid. “My name is Theresa. I—”

“BOO!” The person said.

I tried this with a few people, and for a few others, I tried cracking bad jokes.

“Hey, what do you call a Girl Scout who cleans up dog poop? A Girl Scat!”

Admittedly, that was terrible. I got desperate at one point and tried to copy the handshake thing Carol was doing!

But then, oh brother, I came across Charlotte.

“Hi,” I said, awkwardly. “So…”

She looked into my eyes.

“I, uh…”

Carol stopped what she was doing. Everyone looked at Charlotte and I.

“Um…now…”

Even Instructor Alyssa started to glance up from her clipboard, but not really.

“I like you!” then, quietly, “as a friend, of course.”

I forced myself to hug her.

“Mmm,” she said. “You smell like the common sage. I like that. This is nice.” At first, she was stiff, and then carefully she wrapped her arms around me.

“Oh, wow!” I heard Instructor Alyssa. “Wow, wow, wow. It seems like our very own Theresa Carter has become the winner!”

I started to smile, but as I relished in victory…

Locarn walked over to me.

She said, “Listen, Theresa. I know I’ve been kind of cold to you, but I’m not trying to say that I hate you. You’re a good person, and I see a great leader in you. Good luck.”

Maybe this wasn’t Carol after all. “Thanks,” I said blindly. “Thank you, really.”

Aaaaaaaaand then Instructor Alyssa shouted, “And Locarn Keenat wins! She showed good showmanship!”

“Locarn” looked at me with a smug grin and went over to Alyssa, who gave her a medal.

Later, me and Charlotte were holding hands, I needed someone to hold my hand then. I was upset.

I asked Charlotte if she could excuse me for a moment, and I pushed everyone around Carol away.

“You’re a cheater, a liar, and an identity stealer, if this ‘Locarn’ is actually a real person. You disgust me, Keaten.”

“I do my best,” she said, and pranced away to the main building.

“You know what? I’m feeling kind of bad today! Let’s go steal some staples and paper from Staples,” Charlotte suggested.

“No, no, I most definitely think we can stick with our Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf plan.”

It’s Been Three Darn Weeks, Let’s Tell Her

Transcripted by the She-Word

She-Hand: This Charlotte girl seems like a troublemaker. I think Theresa will come to her senses and they’ll go their separate ways.

She-Presence: What do you mean?! They’re just two buds, getting coffee together. 

She-Word: Enough! You guys have been going on about them for an hour. Now, we’re gathered here at my house so we can decide on two things: should we leave all the tapes and notes we found over the week for Theresa to watch and read? It’s been three darn weeks, I think it’s time. Also, should we invite—the other “Voice” – That’s a weird name -, Hand, and Presence—to these meetings?

She-Hand: No, definitely not. Those guys are too weird. Besides, Bartholomew Lowe doesn’t even do that anymore, remember?

She-Presence: I agree. Also, they’re way too weird and out there. We should definitely bring the tapes to Theresa, though.

She-Hand: But how do we do that?

She-Word: Eh, I have a plan somewhere in my head. I’ve been cooking it up for a few days.

She-Hand: Now, about those guys. That other Voice guy is a complete weirdo, the Presence argues too much, but…I gotta admit, that other Hand is hot stuff. Even though he was the Origami Black Mask and all.

She-Word: Stop getting distracted! [sound of pounding fist on table] Now, I think the plan should be that we slip the tapes and papers onto her bed through the window!

She-Hand: That’s terrible. In every way.

She-Word: Yeah, but maybe we can prove it?

She-Hand: Listen, If we fail at this, we lose those tapes forever. The truth will be lost.

She-Presence: Her window is kind of like a basement window, you know, the small rectangle-shaped ones that people look through in their bunkers in disaster movies?

She-Hand: Oh, then we might succeed.

Bartholomew’s comment: You guys aren’t even sure of yourselves, and that one girl in your group is crushing on me. That’s why you three aren’t invited to our meetings. It’s funny, I can access these so easily.

The She-Hand’s comment: Okay, I take back what I said. CREEP-O!

Some Old VHS Tapes

By Theresa Carter

I walked into my room slowly and slammed the door shut. I fell onto my bed, hands on my forehead.

“What have I gotten myself into?” I asked myself out loud, with “Locarn” and Charlotte and the Girl Scouts. Everything seemed like it was falling onto me. Charlotte wasn’t my friend, heck, I think she wants to be more than friends. I don’t want that! I just used her as a ploy to win!

I was alone because Mom was buying groceries at Trader Joe’s, and my older sister Nubia was at Dad’s house.

Suddenly, I heard a THWAP, turned around, and saw a hand coming into my room through my window. It dropped a few VHS tapes and papers onto my pillow, and some of them hit my head.

“OW!” I shouted, but the hand slipped away before I could throw something at it.

I read the notes. One of them was from my mom! The other two were just memos saying that some evil Girl Scout troop named the Furies took over the Amazons and stuff like that. Also, Alyssa is a Fury? That explains a few things.

After that, I went to the hallway closet and fetched the really old VHS player that Mom and Dad used when they were dating in high school.

There were two tapes. One just reminded me of the bad times. It was the former vice principal of the school, some Marston guy, talking about Kane’s “exciting” partnership with the Girl Scouts.

The other was kind of trippy. It started with a girl who looked a lot like me talking about how she was going to teach of the rules of being a Girl Scout, but then she introduced herself as “Thalia Carter,” and I yelled, “MOM?!”

She talked about treating all Girl Scouts instructors with respect (poor Mom, I hope she learned what happened later on), kindness (I’m sick of hearing the word “kindness” by now), and how to persuade people to buy Girl Scout cookies that aren’t Thin Mints. Stuff like that. This went on for 10-15 minutes, but then something caught my attention. Right after it seemed like she was done talking about that dumb Girl Scout troop leader competition, she said, “If you fail the competition to become Captain of the Amazon troop, you can have a winner-takes-all bonus round, your choice.”

Right away, I turned off the VHS player. “Oh, yes,” I said out loud again. “I’m going back.”

I got out of bed, walked out of my room, grabbed the keys to the house and my phone, and ran out of the house when—

*BUZZ*

Charlotte had texted me. Well, usually I think of her as a nuisance (though I don’t say it, of course, I’m a civilized person), but boy oh boy, was I happy to hear from my… friend, now! … Even if she possibly doesn’t want to be just a friend.

“Hey,” I replied. “I’m going back 2 the Girl Scouts. Bring ur friends.”

The All-New Wonder Folder

By Theresa Carter

I was riding my bike at four in the morning to where Charlotte wanted me to meet her and her peeps.

The dumpster behind Staples. *sigh*

I parked the bike on the building wall.

“Hey, Charlie.”

“Hey, Tess.”

She leaned in for a hug, but I didn’t want anything like that; I was on a mission. I turned around, leaving her confused because my attention was focused on two girls a couple feet away. One looked super hyper, bouncing up and down, and the other was just staring down at her phone.

“Tess, meet Emma and Cheri. Emma and Cheri, meet Theresa.” Charlotte said with a defeated sigh.

The hyper one skipped up to my face, and shouted, “Hiya! Mah name’s Emma! It’s really nice to meetcha, Theresa! Charl’s told us so much about you!”

I looked over at Charlotte. “Charl? Really?”

The emo-looking one with the phone said, “Well, it seems Stan Lee died a week ago. That’s sad.”

“How didn’t you know?” I asked.

“Sorry, I don’t think about what elderly people are doing all the time.”

“Well, I’m sorry for your loss…”

We chatted with each other for a few minutes, and then a car rolled up to us. The driver looked like some jock 17-year-old. “Emmeline Hendlerson?”

“That’s us!” Emma said, popping in the passenger seat. I slid into the back, and Charlie was about to step in when Cheri said, “Out of the way,” and plopped down next to me. It was an awkward ride.

When we arrived at our destination almost an hour later, we were in downtown Los Angeles, in front of a small two-story building. The first story was a thrift shop with the name “Gregorsfield & Son’s Gifts and Trinkets.” The second story was just some guy’s apartment.

“That’ll be—”

“Nuh-uh, mistah,” Emma said. “You gals go on ahead, I’ll have a tawkin to with this lug.”

We went into the thrift shop, and found a man at the counter.  Before any of us got the nerve to speak to him, Emma ran in behind us, out of breath.

“Yeah, heeza tad bruised up; we may needa find anotha ride back,” She looked up at the man behind the counter. “Heya!” she said. “We’re here for Louis.”

“He’s in his room, Emma. And listen, when you go in there and find him, encourage him to stop slouching.”

We went into the “Employees Only” room, and went up some dirty stairs. A few of the neighbors were up, some were snoring loudly, but then Emma opened a door, and some nerdy-looking boy our age was folding what looked like an origami Buzz Lightyear.

“Hey, Lou,” Emma shouted. “We here for dat origami collection ya have somewhere in this clutta.” She started searching through piles and piles of garbage stacked up in his room.

“Woah, woah!” Louis said. “Here’s the origami collection.”

He opened a drawer, and there were all types of movie-based origami in there.

“We’re lookin’ for that vintage origami Wondah Woman ya got,” Emma replied.

“Oh, okay. Anything for you, Emma,” he said, handing it to her. “Y’know, my dad folded two of these years ago. He gave one to a close friend.”

“Yeah, I think I know,” I muttered. “Hey, do you have any colored sharpies?”

A couple moments later, I re-emerged from Louis’s desk with an origami DCEU Wonder Woman. “What an old puppet. Even some of the colors were starting to fade away. But look at it now. Now, I am the All-New Wonder Folder.”

The She-Presence’s comment: Personally, I really liked the All-New Wonder Woman design, with that blue jacket and everything.

The She-Hand’s comment: Nah, Rebirth is better.

The She-Presence’s comment: Do you have no sense of what’s a good design?

The She-Hand’s comment: The All New design for her was terrible.

The She-Presence’s comment: Is not!

The She-Hand’s comment: Is too!

The She-Word’s comment: Oh, dear Granny Goodness, please don’t tell me we’re having an argument about Wonder Woman’s costume design.

Wonder Folder vs……Wonder Folder?

By Theresa Carter

We called a friend of mine and drove for an hour to the Girl Scout headquarters. It would be open soon, and I bet a lot of Girl Scouts were arriving, maybe even Carol.

Emma, Charlotte, Cheri and me got out of the car.  

I began to explain the basics of our plan. “So, like, you guys disguise yourselves as Girl Scouts. Somehow. Don’t do much, because this is my battle. I have to do this.”

All three nodded and went away into the main building.

Out of my back pocket, I pulled out a Girl Scouts beret reading “Thalia Carter.” I put it on.

“Time to beat the Racing Cheetah at a race.”

I heard the obnoxious sound of Carol sneering coming from the mess hall. I peeked at her through the window.

Stop standing there, I thought to myself. You don’t belong there.

She was ordering around other Troop members. Shouting at them. Loudly. Then…I snapped. I barged through the door.

“Locarn Keenat!” I yelled. “It’s me, Theresa Carter. I’ve discovered that if I lose the competition, I can have a special bonus round if I so choose. And to boot, its theme can be my choice.”

“What?” Carol looked aghast. “You? I thought I beat you once and for all, you punk! And what do you mean, ‘bonus round?’”

“By the way,” I continued, “I want my bonus round to be a repeat of the friendship round. So I can finally show you I’m the true leader of the Amazons. That I’m the real Wonder Folder.”

I took the puppet out of my pocket. She took the Wonder Folder puppet out of her pocket. I was shocked to see that she had drawn over my own mother’s origami. Now it was an Injustice: Gods Among Us Wonder Woman. You know, the evil Wonder Woman from that one video game.

“I see you’ve made a puppet, Theresa. Good drawing skills. But I’m afraid I’m the true Wonder Folder, because—”

“You’re a Fury,” I said. “So is Instructor Alyssa. I know it all. You’ve Been rigging the competition for years so that the Fury contender can win, no matter what. And it’s all because Alyssa had some dirt on my mom.”

“How…” she stammered, “How did you find out about Gigantagami and how she cheated to beat your mother?”

“Ah, Gigantagami. I guess that was Alyssa’s alter-ago years ago.”

“No more playtime, Carter,” Carol yelped. “If you want a ‘bonus round,’ you’ll get it. At nine o’clock today. Me and you.”

The She-Word’s comment: [visible fear]

Wonder Folder vs. The Racing Cheetagami

By Theresa Carter

“Me and the girls are going to Kane to expose Carol and the Furies,” Charlotte said. “Don’t ask how we’ll hack into the school newspaper system.”

“Wait, hack into the school—oh, forget it. How are you three going to get there?”

“If I know Emma, she’ll probably flag someone down, rip their door open, we’d jump in, and she’d scare them into driving her for fear of physical harm”

We giggled for a bit.

Silence.

“Charlotte,I’ve been thinking… I don’t know what you think this whole relationship is, but it’s purely platonic. When I said that I liked you all those weeks ago, it was so I could win this competition. But Carol fooled me and won, so what I did was pointless. I hope we can still be friends.”

“Yeah, of course!” Charlotte said. “I-I’m sorry for getting the wrong idea…”

“Listen, listen, it’s okay. It’s my fault too.” We hugged it out, and I made my way outside.

When I came outside, everyone was booing at Carol. As I had witnessed before, she was not a very nice leader. She turned out and said, “Look who showed their ugly face. The challenger to the fearless Pleatana Keenat.”

“We’ll see who the real Pleatana is soon, CAROL,” I shouted. I took my puppet out for a few seconds before putting it back in.

“Well, I guess my cover is blown.” Carol put her Wonder Folder on her finger, and ripped it to shreds! Everyone looked aghast as they saw what was underneath: an origami Cheetah.

“The Racing Cheetah, I presume?”

“The Racing Cheetagami, actually.”

Alyssa said the rules as always, and blew her whistle.

Carol started to pull out her thumb, but I said, “Nuh-uh. I’m the one who gets to decide what the bonus trial is. I’m only going to make two decisions: it’s going to be a repeat of the round that got me kicked off, and it’s only going to be between you and me.”

Carol said, “What? No!”

There was a silence. Someone had to make the first move.

“Well, for starters, you smell nice today, Carol. New perfume?”

“Uh…no.”

“By the way, you are rocking that ponytail, girl.”

“Um…”

“Did I mention that it’s kind of funny in your own little way when you stutter like that. I never noticed it before.”

“…er….”

“You know, your green eyes really bring out the—”

“ENOUGH!”

Carol picked up my lightweight body and threw it on her knee. I then rolled over and onto the ground. She was insanely strong, my next compliment would’ve been ‘Carol, your arms are insanely huge, how strong are you? How much do you bench?’

“SHUT UP!” Carol yelled at the top of her lungs.

Everyone gasped.

Instructor Alyssa and the other counselors grabbed Carol by the arms as I laid on the floor.

Then, I saw an old man and a teenage boy walk out of the main building. The teenage boy looked over to me and said, “Oh my Gosh! Grandpa, call the ambulance. I think that girl is hurt.”

As “Grandpa” took out his phone, the boy sprinted over to me.

“You okay?”

“I…I…I think she broke my back.”

“She?”

“Yeah, a fellow Girl Scout.”

He looked surprised.

“Well, my name is Steve Marston. Me and my grandfather were just visiting this place. It’s lucky we got here, uh…what’s your name?”

“Theresa. But, you know what? You know what, Steve Marston. Call me Tess.”

“Okay, Tess.”

Wait a second…Steve Marston? Marston? Marston!

I whispered into his ear, “Wasn’t your grandpa the former vice principal of Kane High?”

“Yeah, he was.”

He held out his hand. I tried to stand up, but when I did, I heard a *CRACK*, and said “OW!”

“Oh no!” he said, and he picked me up. “There you go, there you go. Oh, look, there’s the ambulance.”

The Rich Kid Made Me An Offer…

By Theresa Carter

“Hey,” Steve said, entering the hospital room. “How’s it going?”

“Big spinal fracture. I’m gonna spend a bit of time in a wheelchair.”

“I bet you look cute in a wheelchair,” he remarked.

“Oh, shut up, Steve, you dork.” I giggled.

I was in the hospital for one whole week. I’m going to be using a wheelchair for the next 8 months, but it’s alright. It’s not permanent, like I just said. And you know what? Two good things came out of it.

The first is that Carol was sent to that new Novick School, of course. That rotten girl. But that meant I was the leader of the Amazons! And you know what? I still am. I’m Wonder Folder, baby!

The second thing is that throughout my whole stay in the infirmary, Steve visited every single day. I think he likes me, and I’m starting to like him, too.

Flash-forward to the first day of school. Everyone in the Girl Scouts respects me, Carol is still locked up, Instructor Alyssa was fired, the Furies were exposed, Charlotte left the Amazons because she and her friends want to form some type of “squad,” and me and Steve are good friends.

After school, I was showing off my Wonder Folder puppet to my friends. I won’t tell you their names, but the first one always wears goggles and scavenging gear, the second one is somehow always grumpy, and the last one is always super jumpy.

The She-Word’s note: [insert wide-eyed lenny face here]

“Cool!” The cheerleaders said.

“Nice coloring,” a random student said. “All I can do is scribble-scrabble.”

Then, as I started rolling, I bumped into Steve Marston.

“Oh, hey.”

“Hey, Tess.”

Now is your chance, I thought. Now is your chance.

“Hey, are you free Saturday morning? I was thinking maybe we could go see a movie or something like that.”

He said, “Oh, yeah, sure. See you then.”

I smiled. But then it started to fade as that rich kid, Alan Wade, walked up to me, as I was just causally in my wheelchair. He revealed a couple weeks back that he was Batfold.

“Hi, I’m Alan Wade. I don’t know much about your story, but I know about that puppet on your finger. We barely know each other, do we?”

I thought about it. “Yeah, kinda. I mean, I know you’re Batfold and all but-”

“- Yadda Yadda. Anyways, I’d like to make you an offer.”

Oh no, I thought. What is this about?

But he simply said, “You wanna join my team?”

I thought about that too. After a minute, I replied, “Heck yes.”

It’s WHAT?

By She-Word

“Wally,” I laughed, “Wally, no way. Nooo Way!” 

“What?! I’m serious! You called yourself the ‘She-Word?!’ What copy of the Spectre reviving the Justice Society do you have?” 

“The Spanish version… My dad had a copy…” 

“So, what was it?”

“Uh… ‘Querida Voz, danos tu voz para traer de vuelta a la Sociedad de la Justicia…’ The Spectre says it.” Wally started crying, he was laughing that hard.

“So you thought he said The Word Twice?” I nodded.

“Oh, this is GOLD!” He clapped his hands, “anyways, you know there was a Madame Spectre, if you ever want to join my group.” He looked at me with hope in his eyes. I had to shut him down quickly.

“I’ll think about that.”

Acknowledgements:

This is going to be very short. I’d like to thank OrigamiLuke100, the guy who started this all! Also, SF Hades, because he (kinda) gave us the second ever DCOU story after months of thirst.

Thanks, guys! 

Click here to read “The Origami Question”, the next story of the DCOU!

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