He was staring again.

He couldn't help it.

It was so easy to get distracted in math class, especially when the school year was nearly over. On Monday his grade would be graduating. Almost everyone was excited about it except him. He was itching to be free, of course, but the actual graduation ceremony was a completely different story.

Bruce would be there, and that meant the press would be too. Paparazzi at a high school graduation. It was absolutely ridiculous. The man was his guardian, and he cared about him, but the constant stress of being in the public eye was overwhelming, to say the least.

He was already making plans to move away once this was all done. He hadn't told Bruce, but he had a feeling he already knew. Even if he didn't, this was something he had to do, and he legally couldn't be restricted from doing so now that he was 18. Living in Gotham was becoming less and less desirable with each passing day, and being labelled as "Bruce Wayne's entrepreneur in training" in every magazine across the country wasn't a role he wanted to continue to fill. He hadn't decided where he was going to go yet, but he had a car; a black Mustang Shelby GT 500 with two blue stripes on the front, and it had more than enough miles on it to go wherever he wanted. Living in Bruce's shadow wasn't enough for him anymore. He was intent on proving he could shape his own future, be his own man.

...But he was going to miss being in this class everyday, looking at her.

Kory Anders. Also 18. She was a transfer student from Bolivia, and she had only lived in Gotham and attended high school here for about a year. Math was the only class they had together, although they sometimes passed each other in the hall when she was going to gym class. Her desk was diagonally to the right of where he sat, and ever since she had moved here his ability to pay attention to the teacher had been constantly declining (although he never really paid attention to the guy in the first place).

Her skin was the most beautiful shade of golden brown he had ever seen, and her long, wavy hair was dyed a bright red. Recently she had added orange dye to some of the bottom layers of her hair, (he looked up the style on the internet and learned they were called 'peekaboo' streaks) and now it looked like fire. The emerald color of her eyes was often accompanied by various green accessories, which popped against a sea of purple clothes in her wardrobe. She constantly looked like a fairy princess, or a mermaid, or some other kind of fantasy creature. He admired it. He admired her. Especially since there weren't a lot of other people at their school who dared to stand out as much as she did.

They hadn't talked very much, but he had gotten to know her a little bit. She wasn't very social with people she didn't know well because she wasn't entirely fluent in English yet, and when he did get the chance to talk to her, he noticed she struggled with finding the correct words to say in a conversation.

From what she had told him about herself during their brief encounters, he learned that she had an older sister and a younger brother (who also went to their school, but he was a freshman), and that she was seemingly enamored with astronomy. He didn't know much about space himself, besides the basics, but hearing the enthusiasm in her voice when she spoke about black holes and the Andromeda galaxy made him want to investigate the science further.

Not that it would matter much if he decided to do that now. He doubted he'd see her again after graduation. Maybe in the future he'd find another gorgeous, intelligent, bright redheaded girl who wouldn't be interested in him because of his fame or his family's money. He couldn't stop himself from letting out a sigh.

"...Mr. Grayson? Care to return from the clouds and take a guess at the answer for the problem on the board?"

All heads turned to face him, and he felt his cheeks begin to burn up in embarrassment as he quickly diverted his attention to the front of the classroom. Crap.

"Uh..." His eyes darted around the chalkboard and down at the textbook on his desk, but the material didn't match up. The rest of the class had obviously moved on from where he had his book open to. "Twenty-five?"

A few people chuckled quietly as the teacher made an unamused kind of humming noise and searched through his desk drawers for a pink piece of paper.

"It's quite a shame I've got to write up a detention slip this late into the year, Richard." He said, motioning for the boy to come over as he scribbled down information.

Aware that everyone was still looking at him, he collected his slip in silence and sat back down at his seat, leaning his head in one hand.

Five more days. It's only five more days.

/ / /

She noticed he was the last one to get out of class.

He took his time gathering his textbook and his backpack, and she had looked over her shoulder while she was walking out of the room just in time to notice that he was receiving some sort of lecture from their teacher, presumably about getting in trouble. Poor guy. He seemed nice enough.

The halls were wild in the middle of periods. Everyone was so focused on getting into their lockers and getting back out as fast as they could that nobody ever bothered to take a second and actually look where they were going. It stressed her out immensely, but she understood why. Being even the slightest bit late to your class was inexcusable; instant detention. A few teachers made exceptions, but it was rare to be shown mercy in an American public high school, she had come to learn. Luckily this was a lesson she hadn't needed to be taught twice, she hadn't been late to a class since her first day at school.

She stopped walking when she made it to her locker, and reached up to fiddle with the lock on it. Once it was open, she dumped out a couple of books she wouldn't be needing for the rest of the day and grabbed her bag of gym clothes with a smile. Gym was her favorite, she had always been so good at it. In other classes, she still found herself unable to completely grasp the way information was taught in a country different than the one she was raised in, but strength and stamina were universal concepts.

When she closed her locker, someone was standing next to her. If it were anybody else, she would have been startled, but this was something she was used to by now.

"Raven!"

"Hey."

Raven had been a friend of hers for a while, they started getting to know each other about a month or two after Kory moved to Gotham. She was a quiet, solemn girl who enjoyed wearing the same blue hoodie on a regular basis. It made her feel comfortable, Kory supposed. She was pale with dark purple hair that was cut short near the back of her neck and fell slightly below her chin at the front of her face, and she enjoyed wearing various shades of dark lipstick, though some days she opted not to wear any makeup at all. She wasn't entirely sure how they had become friends, but she enjoyed the company, even if Raven didn't always have a lot to say.

Kory quickly stuffed her gym clothes into her messenger bag and put the strap over her shoulder before moving to stand by the other girl's side. They began to make their way towards the gymnasium as they talked.

"Are you excited about the ceremony on Monday?"

"Excited's...not the word I would use." Raven replied, her gaze staring ahead of her as she spoke.

"Oh." Kory said, still sporting a smile on her face. "I am much excited. I cannot believe how long it has been since I have moved here already!" There was no response, so she continued talking. "I believe all the members of my family will be attending. It will be our first celebration together in a long time. That is why I am excited."

"I don't know if my dad's coming or not." Raven said. "I don't want him to, so he probably will."

Kory smile faded now. "I am sorry."

Raven shrugged.

After a slightly awkward moment of silence, Kory spoke up again, attempting to change the topic to something lighter. "Do you have the idea of what you would like to do after your schooling is finished?"

"I'm kind of...into the idea of medical school. Maybe."

"That would be a glorious choice for you, Raven. You could help many people."

"Yeah." Raven mumbled, shifting her vision to her feet and taking a second to smile to herself. "I don't know. They might not even take someone like me."

"Why would they not do the taking of you?"

She shrugged again. "I'm...alternative. I guess. There aren't a lot of doctors or nurses with purple hair."

"Then you shall be the first!" Kory said, halting as the two approached the gymnasium doors. "Do not allow the social restrictions of others to stop you from becoming who it is you want to be."

Raven turned to face the other and stared at her for a moment.

"I wish I had your kind of optimism, Kory." She said softly, opening the door to let them both in.

The gym was already almost full of students shuffling for the locker rooms to get changed, and Kory recognized another familiar face amongst the crowd heading for the girls' room.

"Donna!" She called out, slightly embarrassing her less outgoing friend, who, at this point, decided she was going to head towards the locker room on her own. Kory took no offense. Sometimes Raven needed a bit of time to herself.

Donna's head pivoted around at the sound of her name being called, her thick, dark hair swinging around and whipping her in the face as she did so. Kory giggled and followed the girl into the locker room.

"Have you seen Vic at all today?" Donna asked, finding a bench to sit on while she pulled her regular shirt over her head and replaced it with her athletic wear.

"Victor?" Kory echoed, slipping out of the boots she had on and putting on a pear of sneakers instead. "I have not. Why?"

Donna shrugged. "I think he's been sick or something, he hasn't been here in a couple of days."

"I hope he is well enough to attend the graduation ceremony."

"I'm sure he will be." Donna said, now fully dressed in a red t-shirt and matching red shorts, both of which had gold stars lining the sides of them. She put her hair up into a ponytail and grabbed a bottle of water from her book bag.

"If you are concerned about his well-being, you could always attempt to contact Garfield about him. I am sure he would know where Victor has been."

"Yeah, probably." Donna chuckled. "Those two are, like, practically attached at the hip."

Once Kory finished dressing (purple crop top, white tank underneath, and a pair of purple shorts), they joined the rest of the class in the main gym just in time to see the teacher and a couple of students setting up a volleyball net in the middle of the room.

"Aw, man! This would have been so fun with him on our team, too." Donna made a pouty face, and Kory had to contain herself from laughing at it. She looked like a sad puppy. "Oh well."

"You and I will have to do the kicking of butt on our own, then." She responded, and Donna smiled big, raising her hand to give Kory a high-five.

Her eyes trailed over to Raven, who was sitting on the bleachers at the far side of the room, and she attempted to make a motion with her hands for her other friend to join them, but the hooded girl just shook her head and looked away. Kory's face sobered. Maybe she was having a bad day? Should she push her friend to join them and try to cheer her up? Probably not. Raven didn't like to be pushed.

Donna mumbled something to her, but she was now distracted with her thoughts.

/ / /

"Master Dick, welcome home."

"Thanks, Al."

"Master Bruce would like to have a word with you in his study, if you will."

Dick froze. This was definitely either about the detention, his graduation, or his plans afterwards, and none of those were topics he wanted to discuss with Bruce right now. He groaned as he walked past the foyer and made his way into the living room, collapsing face first onto a nearby sofa, and mumbled something into the pillow his face was smushed into.

"I didn't quite catch that."

He lifted his head and sat up. "I said I'd rather just sit here and slowly die, if that's okay."

"I'm not entirely sure Master Bruce would be satisfied with that decision."

Dick ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "I'll go see what he wants. I just...need a second."

"Would you perhaps like a glass of water, or some tea?"

"Water would be great." He turned to face the man, who nodded in response and began to disappear into the kitchen. "Thanks."

When the butler returned, he placed a coaster on the coffee table in front of the sofa and placed the glass of water onto that. Dick took a couple sips and a deep breath before forcing himself to get up and move his legs towards Bruce's study.

Maybe this wasn't going to be as painful as he was making it out to be. He probably didn't even know about the whole detention thing, anyways. For all he knew, Dick was probably just out late hanging out with some friends after school.

...Friends. He didn't exactly have a lot of them.

All right, maybe that wasn't what Bruce thought.

He opened the door to the study and cautiously entered the room. Bruce was sitting at a desk, seemingly looking over some kind of paperwork and punching numbers into a calculator when he suddenly became aware he wasn't the only person there and swiveled around in his chair. Dick felt shivers run down his neck. The guy was like a ninja, sometimes.

"You took your time coming home today."

So much for a painless discussion.

"Uh...yeah. Sorry." Dick said, placing a hand behind his head. "Went out to get some burgers with a couple of friends after school."

"Oh?" Bruce said, leaning back in his chair. "Which friends?"

"You know..." His mind was drawing a blank. Who did he even really hang out with, anyways? "...Vic?"

"Right, Victor. How's he doing?"

"He's good. Doing good."

"Really? That's odd," Bruce stood up. "He just had to reschedule a fitting for his new WayneTech prosthetics because he's fighting off a virus."

Dick chewed his lip.

"I hope you didn't catch anything when you saw him."

"Bruce," Dick said, feeling defeated. "What do you want?"

"I heard you got detention today."

"Boy, good news travels fast."

"What's going on?"

Dick's expression grew serious. "What do you mean?"

"You've been distant, distracted, you're getting detention five days before you graduate from high school because you're not paying attention in class. What's going on?"

He didn't exactly know how to respond. He looked at his feet. "I don't know. I'm stressed, okay?"

"Why?"

"I'm...stressed about graduation." He re-focused on Bruce's face again. "Are you gonna be there?"

"Of course I am."

"See, like...that's what I'm stressed about." He started. "I don't want press to be at my graduation. I don't want everyone else to crowd around me and gush over my multi-millionaire dad. I don't want anybody to come up to me with a camera and a notebook and ask me what my big plans are or if I'm going to run your company when I'm older."

"Dick-"

"Seriously! I'm sick of it! I'm sick of it all." Dick interrupted, his voice growing louder. "I'm overwhelmed! I'm just trying to live my life and I feel like everything I do gets reported on or-"

"Dick."

Dick paused, Bruce's tone was stern.

"If you don't want me to go, just tell me."

"Yes! I mean...no." He put a hand on his forehead in frustration. "I don't know."

"If I don't go, there will be press about you and I being in a feud, which I assume would only draw more attention to you." Bruce said. "If I do, I can divert any press or reporters to myself and try to stay out of your way for most of the day. It's your call."

Dick was silent.

"Is it?" He asked softly. "Is it really my call? Because I have a feeling whatever I choose, you're going to end up doing whatever's more convenient for you."

Bruce said nothing in response, and Dick let out a chuckle and shook his head, beginning to turn back towards the door.

"I shouldn't even have to make any 'calls'. I'm tired of being in your shadow."

He made a point of slamming the door shut when he left.

Author's notes: Hey world! It's been a pretty long time since I've put together a fanfic and I figured I'd try and get some of my inspiration for writing back. This particular story is an idea I've had in my head for a little while and scrapped and re-written a couple of times, so I hope you'll come to enjoy it. This beginning part is just kind of a set-up for the main story! Um...yeah! So. I'll try to update regularly. My schedule can be somewhat unreliable at times but I want this to be good. I'm committed to this. Please let me know how you like it! Thanks!

- Maya