Disclaimer: No, I don't own Teen Titans! (Even though I wish I did) They belong to DC comics and CN.
In every person's life there's a particular moment that changes everything. It could be finally gathering the courage to ask someone out, spilling a secret you swore never to tell, or discovering that you're friends aren't really what you thought. For Mari Grayson though, it all began with the new kid...
It seemed like just another regular first day of school. Half the students still hadn't waken up from their summer drowse, some were thinking on how to end it with their summer flings, some were trying to get that first glimpse of the guy they had been crushing on for years, and in one of the hallways, two students were having their first argument of the new school year.
One of them was a girl with dark hair that had a sort of violet tone to it, with matching violet eyes and pale skin. She was glaring at the boy in front of her with her arms crossed over her chest.
The boy, who was much taller then her, had ruffled pink hair and crystal blue eyes. He stood with his hands in his jeans pockets and a quite surprised look on his face.
Their names were Artemis 'Art' Logan and Anthony 'Tony' West.
"How can you say that?" Art asked angrily.
"What?" Tony replied. "That Chuck Cavanaugh is a jerk? It's true, just ask your brother!"
"Don't drag Cody into this you pink haired idiot!" Art yelled.
"What did you just call me, Artemis?" Tony asked, pronouncing her name with a teasing tone.
"It's Art, and I called you a pink haired idiot, 'cause that's what you are!"
"Guys!" Mari Grayson said and her two friends froze, before snorting and turning their backs on each other.
"Come on now" Jazz Stone began. "It's the first day of school and you guys are already at each others throats!"
"He started it" Art replied and looked over her shoulder at Tony.
"All I said was that Cavanaugh was a jerk, and he is, right Cody?" Tony said, and four sets of eyes turned to last member of the group.
Cody Logan was Art's twin brother, although they neither looked nor acted like each other. Cody had blond hair, which was almost always hidden under a hood, and green eyes. He was more of the silent type and enjoyed to sit in the library and read, while Art was more of a bubbly girl who loved jokes, and boys.
"Well…" Cody began and scratched the back of his neck. "He is a bit obnoxious"
"A bit?" Tony asked. "You should here him during practice, not to talk about afterwards in the showers!"
"How do we know you're not just making those things up?" Art asked. "After all, none of us are on the track team?"
"Why would I make things up about him?" Tony replied.
"Jealousy?" Mari suggested. "After all, this whole thing started when Art stated that he was hot"
Tony twitched. "I'm not jealous!" He shouted, making the students that walked by either jump in shock or stop to stare at him.
"Alright, I think it's time to calm down now" Jazz said, and the other students in the hallway began moving.
"Jazz, always the peace maker" Mari said and smiled at friend.
"With those two in the group, I have no choice" Jazz answered and stroke some of her chocolate coloured hair out of her face.
Right then, a familiar sound echoed through the hall and Art groaned.
"There's the bell" Cody said, foiled up his hood, and the five of them began moving towards their first class, which they luckily had together, history.
"Mari, you're ponytail's a bit messy" Jazz pointed out.
"Oh" Mari replied. She moved her hands to the back of her neck and took of the scrunchie that held back her long jet black hair. She shook her head so that the locks could freely fall down her back and then slipped the scrunchie around her wrist.
"Better?" She then asked.
"Man I wish I looked like you" Jazz said.
"What?" Mari asked. "What do I have that you don't?"
"You're hairs amazing, long, black and glossy, not like mine plain, dull, brown" Jazz answered.
"Yeah" Art added. "And look how tall you are, while I'm stuck down here, I only reach to your chin! Cody's supposed to be my twin brother and even he's taller then me!"
"Oh come on guys" Mari said. "I'm only about as tall as Tony, and Jazz, you're not that much shorter then me! What are you going to go on about next? How green my eyes are?"
"Now that you mention it-" Jazz began but Mari cut her off.
"Oh, for crying out loud! Cody had green eyes too!" She said just as they entered the classroom.
"Yes but his are forest green, yours are more like…" Art searched for the word. "Cody, what's the name of that green stone?" She then asked.
"Emerald" Cody answered.
"Yes, that's it! Emeralds"
The five of them sat down in the middle of the class room. Mari, Art and Cody on one row, and Jazz and Tony took the seats behind them.
"God, I hate getting back to school" A shrill voice suddenly sounded through the room and Mari shuddered. The voice belonged to Mindy Palmer, the most spoiled, rotten and popular girl in school.
"Why do I always end up in the same classes as her?" Mari asked and Art patted her on the back.
"Who knows, maybe this is the only one" She said and Mari prayed that it would be true. Last year, she had shared ever class except for gym with Mindy, and that had been a terrifying experience.
Right then, the history teacher, Mr. Roscoe walked into the room.
"Alright class" He said and clapped his hands. "Welcome to first day of another exiting school year. Before we begin with our work I'd like to introduce a new student to you all"
He motioned towards the door and a boy soon entered the classroom, and all the students seemed to freeze.
The new boy was tall, with blonde hair that fell into his grey eyes. He had an athletic built, not too buff, and a gold ring shone in his left ear. He was wearing a pair of worn out jeans, with white sneakers and a simple white t-shirt with a black backpack slung over one shoulder.
But it wasn't what he was wearing or how he was built that seemed to draw the attention of every student in the room. No, it was the x-shaped scar on his left cheek, which kind of brought the attention away from his pierced ear.
The scar was consisted of two lines that crossed each other, forming an x. One of them was about two inches long, going from his upper cheek bone and diagonally down across his cheek, while the other line was about half an inch shorter.
"Everyone" Mr. Roscoe said in a clear voice. "This is Zachary Red" The boy gazed over the class for a moment, then walked to sit down in one of the empty seats in the back.
"Did you see that scar?" Art suddenly asked, snapping Mari out of her daze.
"Kind of hard not to notice" Cody replied and Mari saw him roll his eyes in his typical 'Cody' way.
"Wonder how he got it?" Jazz asked from behind them.
"Probably a crocodile fight!" Tony answered and Art turned around in her seat.
"You're an idiot!" She quietly snapped at him and slapped him on the arm.
"Ms. Logan!" The teacher called. "I would appreciate if you and Mr. West continued this argument and/or flirting after class" Art quickly turned around to face the board and the teacher again, blushing madly, as some of the students began to snicker.
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"Oh, you guys, I have something important to say" Mari said as the five sat down by their usual table at the end of the cafeteria.
"What is it?" Jazz asked.
"Come closer" Mari said and everyone leaned in over the table. "I finally got the answer from my dad"
"Well, finally!" Art exclaimed. "We asked like a month ago or something! So, what did he say, are we ti-" Cody slammed a hand over her mouth and Mari, Tony and Jazz could just barely see him glaring at her from under the hood.
"Are you crazy?" He whispered. "Don't be so loud. Do you want the entire school to know that our parents are heroes?"
It was true. Mari, Cody, Art, Tony and Jazz were all children to the legendary titans. Well, Jazz was adopted, but she still had powers just like the others. Cody had inherited his mom's magical powers, while Art could change into any animal, just like her dad. Tony had his mom's bad luck powers, and although he wasn't lightening fast like his dad, he still had a passion for running. Mari could shoot out solar powered energy bolts, or star bolts as they were called, from her hands and she was trained in many different types of martial arts, and Jazz, well Jazz was telekinesis.
"Can we get to the point?" Tony asked quietly. "What did he say" Cody removed his hand from Art's face and everyone leaned even closer towards Mari to hear her answer.
"Well, he said he'd talked to all your parents and they have agreed that we're ready" She said and the others made very quiet cheers. "Actually, they thought we were ready the moment we asked if we could go with them on patrol, but they had to get us costumes" She then added.
"We get costumes?" Art asked. "Sweet"
"Look, there's the new kid, Zack" Cody suddenly said and the others followed his eyes to a table on the other side of the cafeteria. Zack was sitting alone, poking in the food on his tray with his fork.
"I think I'm going to go over there" Mari said and the others turned their attention towards her, all looking very surprised, but neither of them said anything. She smiled at them all, before picking up her tray and walking towards Zack.
Once she'd got there, she put down her tray on the table and he glanced up at her, before returning to poking in his food.
"Hi" She said. "I'm Mari Grayson" Zack didn't reply. "You're Zack Red, right?" He didn't answer. "The food at this place sucks, right? Then again, I guess it does at all schools" He glanced at her again, but still he didn't speak.
Mari was getting impatient. Why wouldn't he say anything?
"Are you mute?" She asked, and he looked at her, raising a questioning brow. "Because I haven't heard you say anything all day, and I've been in all your classes" She continued and was surprised to see him rise up from his chair.
He walked up to stand next to her, then he leaned down until his mouth was right by her ear. She could feel his calm breathing as he stood there, and the entire cafeteria seemed to have gone silent.
"I'm not mute" She finally heard him whisper. "I'm just not a very social type of guy… Mari" Then he straightened up and walked out of the cafeteria, leaving his tray, and a very surprised Mari, behind him.
Hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter!
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