9/21/13
Jump High

Chapter 1. High School

Donna's eyes fluttered open a minute before her alarm clock went off. She shut it off before it could and got up to stretch.
"Donna?" a soft knock sounded on her door before her older sister Diana opened it.
"I'm up" she smiled and stood as if to offer proof.
"I'll go wait for you downstairs then" Diana said
Donna changed into some sweats and washed her face before proceeding to their front lawn where her mother and some of the boarders were stretching in the soft morning light.
She took her place next to Diana and joined them. After this they all went jogging. Ever since she was young this was how things were, naturally her mother waited till she could keep up...or at least not stray so far behind the group that she'd get lost but the morning training was a must. Now, Donna couldn't imagine starting the day with a healthy jog.
The boarders were not required to join in her mother's fitness routine but they all wanted to, even if it meant getting up at 5 in the morning.
The boarders were all women most of them had tragic histories with men and her mother's boarding house provided a safe haven to get away from such terrible memories. Donna was forbidden to inquire upon what their lives were before coming to live in their home but she always had a feeling Diana has asked though forbidden—and had matured quickly from the women's answers.
Donna's quest maturity would go rather differently but it would start today, her first day in high school.

Garth was in the water, a gentle push of his limbs sent him forward effortlessly. He didn't understand the fascination of flying when there was swimming to compare it to. He came up for air and fell out of bed. He groaned and tried to get back to sleep. His bedroom door slamming open followed by a boisterous laugh put any notion of that to rest.
"Come greet the day! Carpe diem, Carpe diem" his adopted father cried out Arthur Curry was a remarkably jovial man. When he has seen the sullen eight year old sitting in the corner he had made it his mission to make the boy his son and a happy son at that. He had jumped in front of the child and said, "Hello, Laddie!" with his thick Irish accent and Garth had nearly wet his pants...he cried instead and Meera Curry had to intervene. Five years later, she would have to intervene again.
"Arthur, dear, give the boy some room to breathe. I'm sure he's nervous enough with his first day in high school"
"Thanks, Mee—Mom" Garth caught himself. He still was uncomfortable referring to Arthur as "dad" and Meera as "mom".
Arthur was grinning from ear to ear his fists were clenched before him and they bobbed up and down in excitement. Garth's lips twitched as he tried to contain as smile. Arthur's enthusiasm was infectious.
"I made French toast" Meera told him, rummaging in his closet for something "nice" for him to wear.
"Thank you" He said, getting up to distract her away from his closet. "I'll be down in a minute"
"You never wear this!" Meera whined pulling out the black turtleneck sweater she had bought for him from Banana Republic. He winced slightly.
"I'm saving it for a special occasion?" he tried.
"First day of high school seems pretty special to me" Meera pointed out handing him the sweater.
Garth looked to Arthur trying to telepathically asking for help.
Arthur nodded in his direction, "He'll need to wear those new jeans we bought him, dear I think they're in the wash but I think we have time to throw them in the drier and have them ready by the time he finishes his breakfast!"
Garth's eyes widened in alarm, wrong message! Wrong message! Great. Now he'd be identified as the Steve Jobs wanna-be on his first day.

Roy was jet-lagged still and he had been up at 4 am trying to pass the time. He thought about going jogging with Donna but remembered he hated jogging so early in the morning. He thought about enjoying a cup of coffee on his porch so he could wave at her when she and her family ran past his block but he remembered he wasn't crushing on her pathetically like another red headed boy he knew. So around the time she would be running past his house he eased the curtains apart a sliver to watch her run by. In her shorts he could appreciate fully her long legs as she ran. He had to admit that when watching girls run he did watch for that particular "bounce" they unwittingly displayed but it was different watching Donna. For one thing the girl knew how to invest in a quality sports bra that would prevent this. When Donna ran it was like his heartbeat ran with her. She ran like an animal, as if there were intervals when her feet didn't even touch the ground and she was flying.
"Look back, look back" Roy whispered as he watched her ran.
Donna turned her head slightly to look at his house before taking off after her group.
"Yes" he said. Roy for some reason couldn't help but feel like it was some sort of accomplishment on his part.
He sipped his coffee and allowed himself to fall onto the couch. He flipped through channels and watched old cartoons. He could be preparing for his first day in high school but the way he saw it, it couldn't be all that different from middle school so why exert more effort than was necessary?

Wally was running late and he was running. He was up at 5 am and had gone on his morning jog. His route took him away from his neighbourhood into Donna's. Running became a great excuse to be alone with her away from their other friends. Unfortunately when he tried to join her mother's running group. Mrs. Prince has given him the stink eye and the other women (who had not even known would be there) all looked at him like he had just murdered a litter of kittens.
He worked out a nice steady pace when he saw the large group of women coming past. Donna saw him and her look of concentration broke into a smile, "Hi, Wally!" she greeted him.
"Oh, hi, Donna. I was just running" He said as if she hadn't noticed.
She slowed down her pace to talk to him, Diana kept an eye on her making sure she wouldn't stop completely. Wally in turn jogged backwards a bit.
"Nervous for the big day?" he asked making small talk.
"A little...I mean, high school, wow. Aren't you?" Donna asked
"Me? Heh, nah! I'm gonna—" Wally was cut off as he well backwards landing on his behind.
"Wally!" Donna cried stopping to help her friend.
Diana hid a smile under a hand but it was quickly erased when she glanced to see their mother's reaction.
"Donna" Hippolyta called. The entire group had stopped to glare at Wally.
"I'll catch up, Mom" Donna apologized sheepishly. Hippolyta didn't look to happy about it but she waved the group forward.
"Are you okay, Wally?" Donna asked him.
"Yeah..." he answered his face as red as his hair.
Donna chuckled before pulling him back on his feet.
"Just try not to do that on campus" she teased
"Heh, I'll try"
Making Donna smile first thing in the morning should be some kind of lucky charm, Wally thought.

Dick would have slept through the morning but for a little voice nudging him awake. "Robin, Robin wake up. Wake up, Robin" he opened his eyes to see the little face of the girl next door. Raven was two years younger than him but she would be joining his batch as the incoming freshman due to her ridiculously high GPA. Her pale faced pinkened when Robin through of his covers to reveal he was shirtless. She turned away bashfully as he sat up to rub at his eyes.
"We shouldn't be late" She murmured into her books.
He looked her up and down taking in her outfit. She was dressed in what looked like a Catholic school girl uniform—which was ridiculous because Jump city High School didn't have a uniform.
"No, Rae. You'll stick out and from what my Uncle Bruce tells me you do not want to stick out in high school" he tells her.
"It took me weeks to pick out this outfit! I can't just change now!" Raven cried.
She looked absolutely nervous. She had every right to of course. Nobody wanted to the freaky, anti-social, smart kid. Which Robin knew Raven's introverted ways could easily be interpreted as.
He pushed some clothes around in his closet before tossing her a dark blue hoodie.
"Here" he offered.
He turned back to his closet looking for something he could wear. When he turned to ask Raven some privacy, the collar of his hoodie was over her nose.
"Oh, c'mon, Raven! Quit sniffing it. I swear it's clean" Robin said feigning hurt.
Her eyes widened in shock realizing he had caught her.
"I wasn't...I mean I was...but..."
"It's cool, Rae. Just wait outside a bit? I need to get changed"
"Why don't you just go to the bathroom? I mean...you do intend to wash your hair, brush your teeth, don't you?"
He actually hadn't but there would be no point or benefit in telling her that.
"Okay, okay. Try to control yourself, don't clean up" teased. He glanced behind him to see her already putting one of his pillows back at the head of the bed.