A/N: I wrote this with my friend, (TheAngelandtheDevil97) who has gone through some writing camps this quickly ending summer. I hope you enjoy the first of hopefully many collaborations!
Jealousy
Chapter 1: New Girl
Zatanna was terrified as her whole world was turned upside down. Her father, Giovanni Zatara, had just passed away 72 hours ago leaving her an orphan. She felt absolutely isolated and confused; she had an abundance of anger, but nowhere to place it.
Her father's friend had chosen to enroll her in the most prestigious school in the country, The Kent Academy for Higher Learning in Rhode Island. Only three days after the loss of her father she was uprooted from their apartment in Manhattan and was being shipped to her whole new life in Happy Harbor.
Taking a deep breath she shifts her backpack on her already sore shoulders and walked into the archway "of doom". Nervously, she scans the crowd of chatting students that are strolling into the enormous brick building.
"Hi, Zatanna?" A girl with flaming red hair approaches her; her black high heels click-clacking on the pavement. Emerald eyes piercing into Zatanna's ocean blue eyes, and she felt a little bit more relaxed.
"Yea, that's me, and you are...?"
"Oh, silly me," the fiery redhead giggled, "My name is Kory, and I am your sponsor to show you around! Isn't that great! I'm sure we will become amazing friends. C'mon, let me show you around." Kory grabbed Zatanna's hand and dragged her into the large front hall of the building."
Inside the hall more students milled around texting or typing on laptops with earbuds in. Others stood around and chatted with friends or read books of all shapes and sizes. A pang of homesickness ran through her chest and as she watched all of this, wondering if everyone at her old school were doing these exact same things at that moment.
"This is the front hall," Kory said cheerily, "Most of the cool people hang out here before homeroom," Zatanna looked around the room, and her eyes caught on a boy, roughly her age with black hair and blue eyes, chatting animatedly with two redheaded girls, "Oh and these are my friends," Kory emphasized the word strangely, "Dick, Barbara and Megan. Guys, this is Zatanna, she's new this year."
"Hi, I'm Dick," the boy said, "Now you can come up with the most original thing to say when you're angry at me," Zatanna giggled and blushed slightly.
"I'm Barbara," the shorter of the two redheads said with an open smile.
"I'm Megan!" the taller said with a bubbly smile.
"So where are you from?" Dick asked politely.
"I'm from here actually, My dad used to teach here," Zatanna said, but as a quick afterthought, "But I went to a boarding school in Manhattan."
"I'm just saying that I didn't mean it to be sexist," A red-headed boy was saying to a tall blonde girl I recognized as my friend Artemis.
"Wally, it doesn't matter what you meant," Artemis raged, "It's still sexist whether you meant it or not. Don't you understand?"
"I guess I don't," Wally said with an innocent expression.
"What did you do this time?" Dick asked exasperatedly, "Wait don't tell me."
"Zatanna!" Artemis shouted in surprise, "I didn't know you were coming here!"
"I didn't know you were already here," Zatanna smiled, "How long have you been here?"
"This is my second year here," Artemis said.
"So you're friends with Artemis," Kory said, her tone becoming scathing.
"Yeah," Artemis said, "We've been friends for five years now."
"Right," Zatanna answered, smiling.
Kory wrinkles her nose, as if a bad smell had arisen from the gigantic hall.
"So," Dick said, ignoring Kory's expression, "Who's your homeroom teacher?"
"I have..." She slips her hand into her bag and pulls out her schedule, "Arthur Curry, is he good?"
"He has a superiority complex problem," Wally said, "But he's still pretty good though. Oh and don't tell Kaldur or Garth that I said that, they practically worship the guy."
"Promise to zip my lips and throw away the key." Zatanna smiles at the group of teens around her, "And I anticipate your next question is who I have first period and that is... Barry Allen with chemistry."
"Oh me too!" Dick laughed with a surprised look on his face.
"Be nice to him," Wally said with a stern look, "That man is my mentor, who is coincidentally also my uncle."
Zatanna looked instinctively at Artemis, she was already catching on to the social norms of the school.
"No," Artemis chuckled, "He's actually right about that, for once. He's the running coach and Wally is his 'star runner'."
"Got that right!" Wally said proudly, puffing out his chest. "Hey! What do you mean,'for once'!"
Zatanna giggled behind her hand as Artemis cracked up, clutching her sides for support. Barbara was laughing out right, not as hard as Artemis, but still pretty hard. Dick let out an almost evil cackle that sent a slight chill down her spine. Wally huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and sending daggers towards Artemis and Dick. As Zatanna smiled at the group of teens, she noticed Kory was the only one not smiling.
Her expression was stony, as her eyes glittered with rage and, was that jealousy? What was up with that?
Ignoring the glaring red-head, she piped up, "What time does homeroom start?"
Dick cocked his head, eyes widening and flashing down to his obviously expensive watch.
"About two minutes ago," Dick flashed another one of his signature smile, "So we should probably go, See you guys, Wally, Kory, Babs," He addressed his two friends, and his girlfriend, who then attached herself to his lips with a large kiss. He immediately reddened, while everyone else rolled their eyes, "Alright, Zee," He used a new nickname, "Ready to go?"
"Yeah," Zatanna replied, and for the first time since she had heard that her father was dead, she was happy. Zatanna was finally happy again.
A/N: I hope you like this, please review!
