"No… no… NO! I don't WANNA go!"

"Get out of the car little missy the bell just rang you're going to be late on your first day!"

"NOOOOOO! I don't CARE!"

A father's hands grabbed were gripping around the waist of his thirteen year old daughter as her arms wrapped around the passenger seat of their little beat up car. The father pulled on her trying to get the girl free and inside her new school… Gotham Prep. A high class school that normally those from the lower class couldn't get in unless they got some form of grant or funding.

Jessica Ransforth, the young girl clinging to the passenger side seat, was one of the lower class citizens of Gotham City and couldn't understand how her father managed to obtain the money that paid for her attendance. But Jessica didn't ask, and she refused to attend the school, wishing to remain in home schooling but her father always got his way. Which was evident as he finally dislodged his daughter from her death grip and tossed her as far as he could away from the can so she couldn't jump in before him.

He slammed the door and she watched as he rolled down the window to throw her school gear out the window before quickly rolling it back up. Jessica stood and watched as her father waved at her and blew her a kiss before hitting the gas pedal and speeding away like a crazy person on drugs. Jessica just groaned in despair before turning and seeing the other students, all dressed in school uniform, staring at her whispering to each other behind their hands.

Jessica looked out of place among them and she was fully aware of the fact. She did wear the school's uniform like the others but her reddish brown hair was a tangled mess and her shocking green eyes stood out from the mess around her head. And unlike the other students who sported the fancy leather book backs or the latest expensive what's its, she carried an old fading purple backpack with a jester on the front. It was a back she had gotten when she was young from a thrift store and she had loved it then… Now she felt ashamed of it and out of place.

Eventually she slowly walked into the school to make it appear that the eyes on her didn't bother her, but she desperately wanted to escape the prying eyes. Desperately wanted to be home in her quiet little house reading whatever book her business man of a father was able to get a hold of. What kind of business she didn't know, he never talked about his work, but she always assumed he was bad at it.

Looking for her locker was a pain, even with instructions from the office, and when lunch came she got stares from every which way. In the end she sat at a far back table in a corner of the loud cafeteria so she could eat her brown bagged lunch in relative peace. Though she was slightly distracted by the loud beeping, and muttering, coming from a boy sitting not far from her. He was mashing away on a laptop and only occasionally picking at his own lunch.

Then the only thing that made today somewhat worth waking up for was when she chose to try out for the gymnastics team. She got in which made her a little proud of herself and she couldn't wait to tell her father all about it when he picked her up. So after school she stood in the same spot he had left her that morning and waited, watching as parent after parent picked up their kid and drive, or walk away… And there stood Jessica, still waiting for her father's old beat up bug to pull up. Even an hour and a half after the schools doors were locked.

"Hey you ok?" A young male voice asked from behind her and she spun around to come face to face with a boy with his black hair combed neatly back and a big friendly smile on his face. She stared at him, unsure how to answer him before deciding it would be best to just stay silent and look back at the street.

"You're the new girl right?... Well duh really of course you are… Whats your name?" He stepped around so that he was standing at her side and she couldn't help but glance at him… She was hardly an inch taller than him from what she could tell.

"Jessica… What's yours?" She mumbled and she couldn't believe how big his smile got at the fact that she spoke to him.

"Call me Dick!" He said happily and Jessica eyed him with a look that said she was considering just running away. He quickly relaxed his smile and cleared his throat. "Do you need a ride?"

He jestured to a fancy car that had what looked to be an elderly butler waiting by the open door and Jessica stared at him before turning her eyes back to the road, watchin it for a moment. When nothing happened she nodded and turned to follow the boy, Dick, to his car.

"Where do you live madam?" The older man asked.

"Can you just drop me off at the west bridge that leads out of the city… I can walk from there." She asked and he looked like he wanted to argue the fact that the area around the west bridge was too dangerous for a young lady to be out alone. But thought better of it as he closed the door and went to take his place in the driver's seat.

The drive was silent but she could feel Dick watching her and she didn't like it one bit.

Once Jessica made it home she found it empty and dark. She sighed and threw her school bag aside as she made her way to the kitchen.

"Old man must be working late again…" She mumbled into the empty air and went into the kitchen.

She cooked dinner for two and ate her share, quietly staring at the empty chair her father should have been sitting in. Once done she quietly packed the rest of the food away and put a note on it before sticking it in the fridge. She then cleaned herself up and went to bed, listening for the front door to open.

When it finally did she was half asleep. Blinking she listened as the door closed and heard the tired groan of her hard working father who as he made his way into the kitchen. She could hear the rattle of the fridge door as he opened it and the deep sigh when he saw that, once again, his daughter had left him a hefty dinner and a note saying 'Eat up! You need it!'.

She quickly rolled over and snuggled deeper into her blankets as his footsteps made their way toward her room. Her father opened the door to peer in and after a few moments, closed it quietly so he wouldn't wake her.

Jessica smiled slightly as she settled back into a light sleep.

Happy that her father still cared despite his obvious flaws.