because she couldn't ever have me
she said she won the world at a carnival *

"Okay, okay, so maybe you know what circumlocution means, but you definitely don't know ornithology!" His annoyed grimace in response to her seemingly overflowing knowledge had vanished, now replaced with a confident grin.

A thoughtful roll of coffee-brown eyes preceded the African-American girl's response. "The study of birds, ain't it?"

Blinking in disbelief, the sound of his exasperated groan and slam of the dictionary made chuckles slip from Abby's blood-red stained lips.

"Can you, like, see through the dictionary or something? Or are you just related to Merriam Webster?"

Abby didn't respond, preoccupied with sucking the very last of her blue raspberry lollipop. When she finished, she removed the remnant and tossed it into a nearby garbage bin. "Nah, baby. Numbuh Five just likes big words. And you're just distracted."

She'd asked Hoagie to test her on the vocabulary words for her AP English quiz tomorrow, but instead, he opted to scope the dictionary for the longest words he could find to see if Abby was really worthy of her honor student status.

"Quit it, Numbuh Five," he said grudgingly, only half teasing. "You can't be book-smart and street-smart." Abby had, numerous times, proven to be the latter in various TND missions, and even as a child in the KND. Although Nigel was the leader of Sector V, Abby often proved herself the most sensible operative on the whole team, seeing through villainous schemes with her abundant street smarts.

Hoagie occasionally found himself being envious of his friend's intelligence. Sometimes, it seemed like she had it all, like she'd went to some all-the-qualities-you-can-handle buffet that nobody had told him about. He couldn't outdo her, couldn't compare to her, and the thought that he couldn't ever be good enough to deserve her had crossed his mind a couple of times. But they were friends, and Hoagie was happy about that.

Abby raised an eyebrow at his statement. Hoagie feared for a minute that she would hit him with her signature crimson cap. Thankfully, she didn't, possibly swayed by the spirit candy tended to put her in.

Picking up another lollipop, this one a dark shade of indigo, she pointed it at the pilot. "Don't you tell Numbuh Five what she can and can't do."

"But you can only be one," Hoagie insisted. "It's not fair if you keep hogging all the awesome. So pick one."

She shrugged, unwrapping the lollipop. It was sticking out of her mouth when she gave him an answer. "Dunno, Numbuh Two. Guess Numbuh Five is just smart-smart."

Hooray for attempting the subtle KND pairing! I've never done it before, and I guess it's not too bad for my first stab at it. Let me know what you think?

& lyrics from 'She Had the World' by Panic! At the Disco.