Barbara Gordon looked around in awe. Gotham Academy definitely lived up to its prestigious recordings and claims. Her parents were immersed in jubilation when she had received the ostentatious acceptance letter admitting her to the respected school. Her light footsteps padded on the cobbles placed artfully on the ground. Barbara took meticulous notice of how the other students held themselves and how they interacted with one another.
Barbara wasn't very social, to say at the very least.
She clutched her books to her chest like her last lifeline and proceeded to walk past nameless faces, keeping her gaze trained on the ground. All of the school's nooks and crannies were engrained in Barbara's mind; she didn't want to risk completely humiliating herself on the first day of school. She had been homeschooled all her life. Her head lifted momentarily to check the room number hanging conspicuously on the door.
Her feet trudged into the classroom begrudgingly. Barbara was nervous—per se, terrified. Barbara's head remained low, and she hoped it was undetectable. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.
"Hey! I haven't seen you around before!" A sinewy, blonde girl turned around. "What's your name, new girl?"
Barbara blushed at the girl's volume and her indifference. "Barbara Gordon."
"Ooh, that's such a pretty name. I'm Cassandra Sandsmark. Call me Cassie, though." She gestured to the seat next to her and Barbara took this a sign to sit down. Cassie swung her legs from the aisle and positioned her body so she was facing forward, yet she kept her head turned towards Barbara.
"Well, as long as we're on a nickname basis, call me Babs." Barbara allowed her face to mirror Cassie's mirthful grin.
"So. First year here, huh? Where'd you go before this?" Cassie inquired while resting her thoroughly calloused hand on a densely doodled binder.
"Homeschooled," replied Babs shortly.
"Wow. Wonder what that's like," Cassie mused with no sign of belittlement in her tone.
"Eh, not that great. I'm nervous about starting at a school—for the first time."
"You have nothing to worry about. I mean, you've probably heard of an average high school hierarchy and all that crap, but it's just a bunch of people here. You'll fit in fine," Cassie shrugged.
"I don't know…" Babs said skeptically. "It seems pretty intimidating."
"It's not. Don't worry. Hey—can I see your schedule real quick? I want to see if we have any other classes together." Cassie hastily perused Babs's timetable. Her eyes lingered on the center of the page and instantaneously lit up remarkably. "We have gym and history together."
On the inside, Barbara let out an allayed sigh. She didn't have to go through this day completely alone. "Wow. That's relieving," she breathed. The teacher walked in, effectively cutting their conversation short, but as the period trudged on, Cassie cast Babs reassuring looks and goofy faces. Maybe Gotham Academy would be all right.
"Babs, look out!" Yeah, Barbara really wished she'd heard Cassie's warning sooner. She blinked and a hazy film coated her vision. A groan escaped her mouth and a familiar head poked its way into her line of sight. "Babs?" Cassie's voice sounded like a loud alarm in her head. "Oh my gosh, um, quick, tell me how many fingers I'm holding up!" She immediately held up her first and second finger while looking imploringly at Babs.
"Two," Babs rolled her eyes.
"SHE'S ALIVE!" Cassie exclaimed, proffering her hand. Babs gladly accepted and stood up on her foot, wobbling around. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She grimaced and examined her—now red—calf. "What actually happened?"
"Well," Cassie bit her lip, "Dick threw a ball, like, really hard, and it kind of smacked you in the face."
"Um, ouch." Babs looked around, palpably abashed. "And you don't have to call him a dick because he hit me. I'm sure it was an accident."
Cassie giggled. "That's his name!"
"Oops," she smiled sheepishly. Babs quickly regained balance but was soon caught off guard—yet again.
"Hey," came a smooth, deep voice. She whipped around to see a tall guy, around her age smiling at her with an apologetic occupying his features. "I'm really sorry I hit you. I've always had bad aim…what's your name? I don't remember seeing you—at all."
"Well, um, that's quite all right. I mean, I'm fine now…not that I wasn't fine before but—uh, I'm Barbara Gordon, call me Babs." She had managed to string out that sentence in less than two breaths.
"I'm Dick—"
"Grayson! Get back to your team!" the coach shouted gruffly, his words emphasized with a loud whistle.
"Gotta go," he said, flashing a quick smile at both Babs and Cassie before running off. Barbara couldn't help but ogle him as he ran towards the other side of the gym. She turned to Cassie with an upbraiding look before she could even begin speaking.
"Shut up!" Babs chided, poking Cassie's muscular arm.
"How did you even know I was going to say anything?" Cassie demanded indignantly, a mock pout plastered on her face.
"Because I've known you for two hours, and that's enough," Babs chuckled.
"Well, you're right because did you see the way he smiled at you?!" she squealed joyously, jumping off the ground.
"That was to the both of us," Babs pointed out, hoping to be the sensible one in the matter.
"I don't care, his eyes were drilling into yours! It was adorable!" she cooed, puckering up her lips in Barbara's face.
"Ew," Babs giggled, pushing her out of the way. "There was no such drilling! And it most certainly was not adorable. All he did was apologize for knocking me in the leg with a ball."
"Aw, how romantic," Cassie cooed.
Babs rolled her eyes at the ingénue. "You're hopeless." She couldn't help but smile.
"But in all seriousness, he totally wants the V," Cassie stated, deadly serious. Her eyes were wide and she was nodding profusely.
Babs couldn't help but snicker. "The V?" She shook her head. "I don't think so."
"Well, I know so. From no on, I'm calling you V because his name is Dick and you two should match," Cassie said in a matter-of-factly tone.
"You're crazy," Barbara sighed, flicking her forehead.
"At least I'm not in denial!" Cassie sung.
Zatanna Zatara scoffed at her TV-obsessed friend.
"What, so you didn't enjoy last night's Pretty Little Liars?" Rocky exclaimed, her voice pure indignation. She wrung her hands up in frustration to accentuate her point.
"No, I did," Zatanna said, "it just wasn't the best episode." She shrugged nonchalantly, hastily stuffing her books in her locker.
"Come on, Zee! Toby and Spencer were so adorable together," Rocky insisted, nudging her friend's side.
"Well, it was cute how Toby did everything to protect her," Zatanna relented. She adjusted her backpack strap on her shoulder.
Rocky sighed, nostalgia written all over her face. "I wish I had a boyfriend like that," she pouted. Her eyes trailed over Zatanna's shoulder, lingering on something—someone, rather. "Speaking of which…"
"Hey Zatanna." She turned around to see a smiling Dick walking towards her.
"Hi," Zatanna greeted, kissing him on the cheek.
Rocky raised her eyebrows for a minuscule fraction of a second before regaining herself. "Well, I'm going to leave you two, um, lovebirds to your business. Bye Zee, by Dicky-poo." With a backwards wave, she was off to her next class.
"Will she ever stop calling me Dicky-poo?" Dick inquired even though he knew the answer already.
"That's like asking if I'll ever pass stupid Algebra this year," Zatanna scoffed, beginning to walk down the hall. "By the way, I heard you hit someone in the face with a dodge ball today."
"Oh, yeah," Dick said, blushing. "I didn't mean to. I apologized though!"
"Who was it?"
"New girl. Her name's Barbara."
Zatanna stopped walking for a millisecond. "Pretty name."
"Yeah."
A/N: Oookay, so I am completely aware that this story has like a bajillion inaccuracies and things, but I modified (many) things to make it fit with the plot that I have in mind. Oh, and I don't hate Zatanna or Dick or Barbara (actually they're all bamfs and I would totally hug them if I had the chance), this story is not bashing on any character whatsoever. Okay. Have a nice day. :-)