Mkay this popped into my head and I couldn't let it be...its a shorter fic so it should be done soon...sorry for all of the recent stories lately but I hope you like them!

Chapter 1

Richard decided to transfer schools. He liked Gotham High well enough, especially since he was the son, well adoptive son (but that really didn't matter), of Bruce Wayne, the richest man alive. And he had the looks to complement his wealth. Because he had it all, he never had a shortage of friends or popularity.

Not that Richard saw his friends this way. Sure, he wasn't naïve enough to believe that people wanted to get to know him for any other reason than for his fame and money. But he always thought that people eventually liked him for, well, him.

Until Courtney (A/N: Blackfire) made her snide comment. She had been obviously flirting with him for a few months, but he always brushed her off and made excuses. It wasn't that she was ugly, quite the opposite, she was attractive. She had long, dark hair and pretty brown eyes and the height of a model. He just didn't want to date her because she was cruel. She treated everyone like crap unless she wanted something from them, at which point she was sickly sweet as sugar. In short, he didn't trust her. At all.

She eventually picked up on the fact that he wasn't interested and turned sour real fast. She would often try to trip him or make comments with clear implications about him in them. Sometimes, he suspected when it was that time of the month for her and she was especially cranky, she would make her comments to his face.

One of these comments bothered him more than it should. He remembered vividly the day she approached him, alone of course (as was often the case when she wanted to insult him directly). After they had thrown at each other some of the worst insults she sent him a cold glare. She smirked at him saying in an ominous whisper, "Your friends only continue to hang out with you for your money. Don't think for a second that if you lost it all that any of them would hang around you anymore." She then gave one of her signature hair flips before disappearing into the crowd.

He hadn't intended on giving it a second thought, but the thought snaked its way into his thoughts. What if she was right? That idea unsettled him. So he decided to put her theory to the test. Several days later he begged his father, Bruce, to announce that the family was taking an extended vacation and that Richard would be privately tutored in the meantime. He persuaded Bruce that switching schools, to Jump High which was only an extra 15 minutes away, and going there anonymously would be a good thing. After some thought, Bruce finally agreed.

So here he was, his first day of Jump high as John Gray. His actual name was Richard John Grayson so he figured he'd make his alias something that was familiar to him and something that he was likely to respond to when called. So John Gray he was.

He had also undergone a drastic make over, just to be sure. He had his long ebony hair cut. He now had spiky, short black hair, all thanks to his trusty hairgel. Richard Grayson always wore shades, so John, reluctantly, did not. He did, however, invest in some colored contacts. While they didn't completely cover up the light blue color of his eyes, they did muddle the color with hues of green. Enough to throw everyone off, I hope. He also invested in a pair of glasses, just to be safe. Of course, the glasses had no prescription (and neither did his contacts) as he already had perfect vision. So far his morning passed without incident and no one recognized him.

He tried to blend in. He dressed in a red t-shirt and faded jeans with sneakers. He didn't want to appear too nerdy with his glasses, but he didn't want to be popular again at this school because of his looks. So there he sat, a nothing, a nobody, a nonentity. People looked him over and didn't pay him much mind in the halls. As Richard navigated his way through the halls, he accidentally bumped into this blonde chick. She looked to be popular at this school, even if her attire was all pink. She was the usual blonde bitch, however, and glared at him.

"Watch where you're going, asshole!" She sneered loudly, getting approval from her friends. Richard just mumbled an apology before quickly leaving to his classes.

Richard eventually found the classroom for his first period class and sat at a desk near the back. Early. A few other kids were there, but they were sleeping at their desks. God this sucks. But Richard decided to pretend to be sleeping. After all, it was better than sitting there twiddling his thumbs and looking overeager.

The day passed by much the same way. No one addressed him, and when he tried to talk to people, it was either snide remarks or distracted "mhmm"s that he received. A few kids stared conversations with him, but it was always stupid small talk that lasted for about 5 minutes. Then they'd return to their friends and he'd be alone. Again.

As much as I hate to admit it, maybe Courtney was right…

At lunch he looked for a table that seemed remotely open to new people, and well, nothing. Some people even moved their trays or bags into the free spots when they saw Richard approach. He ate alone outside. Normally, he didn't mind being alone, but this aloneness felt more like he was being shunned than him choosing to be alone. He sighed, it was going to be a long day.

The rest of the week passed in much of the same way, each day Richard became more and more depressed about it, wishing that he hadn't decided to do this in the first place. At the end of the day on Friday, the last day of the week, thank god, Richard had removed the contents of his locker. He took out all of his books, which didn't seem like much when he had bought them, but now he knew otherwise.

Just as he was halfway to his bus, the blonde bitch (for lack of knowing her name) stomped up to him, backed by her crew. The guy in the front, with the spider tattoo on his arm, was clearly her boyfriend; Richard could tell by the way he was practically groping her.

"Let's show him who's boss, baby," she coddled.

He then knocked Richards books from his hands into the mud before aiming a rather sloppy punch to his stomach. Staggering back, Richard fell into the mud with his books. What did I do to deserve this? He thought bitterly. Normally, Richard would've fought back as he had several years of martial arts training, but he just laid in the grass beside his scattered books. That's when he saw the guy getting ready to beat the crap outta him more. Richard groaned and sat up, preparing to counter the blow or twist the guy's leg. But that changed when he heard the girl intervene.

He remembered seeing her in some of his classes, she was quiet and usually sat in the back. Hearing her intervene shocked him; she would be the last person he'd think of to intervene in anything. He got the impression that she didn't like when attention was directed at her, despite her taste in clothing. Like today, she was typically clad in some sort of gothic ensemble.

"Leave him alone!" She yelled, directing her fury at the blonde girl.

And the girl actually looked terrified, even if her boyfriend didn't. Still, the group decided to leave at the girl's warning.

"You okay?" She asked, a small, tense smile on her lips.

He just nodded.

To his surprise, she began picking up some of his books. When she didn't see him move, she said, "Don't let Kitty- well her name's Katherine, but everyone calls her Kitty- get you down. She's a bitch to everyone, honestly."

"So how come she left without putting up a fight?" he asked.

The girl suddenly looked sheepish.

"Uh, welll….let's just say I gave her a black eye and a piece of my mind a few months ago…heh," then upon seeing the look on Richard's face, she quickly added, "I'm not usually that violent, I swear, but that girl…she just pisses me off."

The last part she said with such hatred that even Richard was intimidated. But she didn't seem to notice.

"Good God, are you bringing home your entire locker with you?" she asked sarcastically as she rounded up the rest of his books.

Considering that he was, all he could do was give an embarrassed laugh.

"Hm, well it looks like you've missed the bus….do you need a ride home?"

He nodded. He was beginning to like this girl, even if she was somewhat of a pariah. She then helped him up and gave him half of the books she had picked up, the other half she carried.

He followed her to her car. It was a very nondescript car; was a small, slightly old, and –what a shocker-black. Yet it suited her, and it was giving his ass a ride home.

While driving out of the school, out of the blue she yelled, "SHIT."

"What's wrong?" he asked, puzzled as to why she was so worked up.

"I forgot, I'm supposed to meet Gar and Tara afterschool today. I'm already about 20 minutes late." She sighed.

He felt bad for holding her up and was about to suggest that he could walk home, but then she began to speak.

"Would you mind coming with? It won't be that long, I promise…and they go to our school, maybe they'll be in some of your classes too."

He enthusiastically agreed to go, anything so that he'd have some social group to belong to come next Monday.

She then sped off to the café they were meeting at. Throughout the incredibly short drive, Richard looked at the girl sitting next to him. She had long violet hair and startling eyes to match. She had milky pale skin and, all in all, reminded him of the night embodied in a person. Secretive, serene, quiet, dark, mysterious, and possibly dangerous. But still beautiful.

In a miraculous 5 minutes, and several ignored red lights later, they arrived. Once inside, Richard recognized the red-haired girl as one of the people who had attempted to talk to him.

"Kori? Your're here too?" the gothic girl asked, clearly surprised.

"Yes, friend. Apparently, friends Tara and Gar have important news." Richard had forgotten that she had a thick foreign accent and used…strange…words, for lack of a better term.

"Hey guys, I'd like you all to meet…uh," the gothic girl then faltered, realizing that she hadn't actually known what his name was.

"I'm John," Richard supplied, "But my friends at my other school called me Robin, so you can call me that if you'd prefer."

So this wasn't actually true, it was a family nickname. But Richard knew he had a greater chance of responding to Robin than John, and he didn't want to sound pathetic by saying it was a family nickname, so he embellished the name a bit.

The dark girl nodded. "We all actually have nicknames too that are a bit unrelated to our real names, like you. So don't worry," she assured him.

She then continued, introducing everyone at the table, "That's Kori Anders, an exchange student from France but we usually just call her Star. The short guy with the blonde and green hair is Garfield, we just call him Gar, Beast Boy, BB, or (my personal favorite) Grass Stain." At this, Gar made a face, and yelled, "I'm NOT SHORT!" earning laughs from Kori and smiles from the other 2 girls.

"The girl with the blonde hair and the only one willing to put up with Gar's jokes is Tara. She really doesn't have a nickname….And…did I ever tell you my name?" she paused before answering her own question, "No, I suppose I didn't, did I? I'm Rachel, Raven to my friends. And for the record, Raven is the only nickname I'll respond to. No 'Rae's, 'Ravie's, 'Rach's, or anything else you can think of. Got it?"

She seemed so pissed off about the nicknames that all he could do was nod.

"Good," she affirmed.

"So now are you going to tell us what this is about?" Raven asked in a bored tone.

"Nope," answered BB, "Not until Cy, Bee, and Jinx get here."

Raven grumbled. Ten minutes later, in walked the –extremely late- trio, not that Raven could say much about it considering she was late herself.

"Heyyy, so u-uh we kinda forgot," said the large, burly man nervously.

Raven smiled, a sight that Richard already knew was rare for her, before confessing that she too had forgotten.

"I text you guys at lunch and you STILL don't remember after a few hours?" whined BB.

"When have you ever remembered something after 5 minutes?" drawled Raven, earning laughs from everyone and a pout from BB.

"So who's this?" asked the one girl who hadn't spoken yet. She was kinda like Raven, though she had bright cotton-candy pink colored hair and brown eyes.

"This is John, nicknamed Robin," answered Raven, "Robin this is Jessica but we call her Jinx. The big guy is Victor, otherwise known as Vic, Cyborg, or Cy. Next to him is his girlfriend, Karen but we call her Bumblebee or Bee for short."

Beast Boy stood up and was about to start talking when Raven asked, "Aren't you going to wait for Roy and Garth?"

"Nah, they couldn't make it. Speedy's got archery practice and Aqualad has a swim meet," answered BB.

"Oh," was all Raven said.

Richard noticed the way that she had addressed him as Robin instead of John earlier, but referred to 'Speedy' and 'Aqualad' as Roy and Garth. He almost felt like she considered him as a good friend already to be using his nickname.

"Okay guys, you wanna hear what I had to tell you?" asked Beast Boy. In response, the group quieted down and looked at the scrawny boy.

After a long, dramatic pause he announced, "Tara and I are going out!"

"That's why you had us gather here?" inquired Raven dully.

"Yea man! I thought y'all were already goin' out," Cy grumbled.

"Well, now we are," huffed BB.

With a group of people to keep the conversation going, there wasn't any awkward silences after the announcement. They moved seamlessly from topic to topic. In the hour they spent sipping lattes, or in Raven's case green tea, he had learned a lot about them.

Like Cy was the quarterback of the football team and Bee was a cheerleader. Despite being the most normal of the bunch, they still liked hanging out in this group. Robin could tell. After all, they could choose to be more popular and hang out with the other jocks but they spent their time here. Beast boy, he learned, was a vegetarian and an avid animal rights activist. Tara was also vegetarian and liked spontaneity. Beast Boy, he sensed was also the comedian of the group, or at least tried to be.

Kori was always chipper and extremely nice, despite some of her misunderstandings of the English language. Raven was usually quiet and had a very sarcastic and bitter sense of humor, which was funny in its own way. Jinx was also somewhat sarcastic, but unlike Raven, she had Star's optimism to level it out.

All-in- all, Robin liked the group and felt accepted. While he couldn't often join the conversation and needed several backstories to understand things, he still felt like he…belonged.

Please, please, please review if you liked it! Also, please vote on my poll on my profile about the next rae/rob fic cuz I can't decide...

Enjoy!

~RukiaRae

P.S. *whines* Pleeeeaaasseeee review!