June 5th, 2010

Today I realized that Gotham Academy is full of spoiled rich kids. The whole damn school. Oh wait, except for that one girl, what's her name? Artemis Crock?

Yeah, I'm the only kid who walks to school. Once mom gets a car, which probably won't happen, I'll be the only kid who drives to school. Someday, when I win the lottery, I can fit in with the all the other kids who are driven to school by a chauffeur in a Cadillac. I'll be the one who looks out for the scholarship kids though. There aren't enough of those people in the school. Take Barbara Gordon, if you could put people in a copy machine, I would make 500 copies of her to replace all the stuck up brats that I'd put through the shredder.

Anyway.

Today I forgot my lunch money, and even though I could have borrowed some from any other kid there, they instead chose to make fun of the fact that I didn't have money with me at the moment, which automatically means I have no money at all. Thanks to Barbara, I miraculously found it in my pocket a moment too late. I'd really like to take one of Natalya's high-heeled shoes and poke her own eye out with it. But I'd probably get expelled. Besides, I'm sure she'd find a way to make my life miserable with one eye just as well as she can with two. We could probably be good friends if she was a mute. No, she'd have to be blind too. Even then I don't know. She can't-

Artemis stopped writing as her mom opened the door. She really hated being interrupted in the middle of a rant.

"Dinner's ready," Paula told her daughter. "Alright, be out in a second," she replied and hastily closed the door as her mom wheeled away.

Dinner time. But I'll be back soon, you know, if I make it through another day of life. Which I probably won't. Thank goodness school's almost out.

oOo

At lunch the next day, Artemis, Barbara, and Bette sat at the table in a corner. Sure it was sketchy, but they wouldn't be bothered by anyone there. Artemis and Barbara had problems with getting picked on. Bette had problems with being school president and mentor to every distressed teenager at the academy. "Augh, why are you so popular?" Barbara complained as yet another student came to their secluded table to congratulate her on the improvements of lawn care at the school. "If I could share, I would," Bette retorted, and the three continued eating their steak in silence. Suddenly a fourth person set their tray down, and the trio looked up and each raised an eyebrow.

"Get lost Grayson," Artemis growled. "Yeah, this is a girls only table," Bette added. Barbara didn't comment. "Oh come on," the 13 year old replied, smirking. "Where are we, second grade?" Barbara then moved her tray over and Dick sat down next to her. Bette and Artemis rolled their eyes but didn't say any thing else. Artemis was getting used to the little troll hanging out with Barbara, who was a troll herself, but that didn't excuse the fact that the 13 year old who skipped a grade hanging out at her table did not improve her image. "So, Artemis, how's that computer class coming?" he snickered.
Other than being a ninja, Dick was pretty much a computer genius. Somehow that made it okay for him to rub it in Artemis' face that she sucked at technology. Her family only had one computer from around the stone age because of their financial difficulties, but Artemis wasn't about to publicize that to Dick. Underneath his trolling ways, he actually had a heart that would probably break knowing the truth about the struggles she had gone through even as a child. "Don't sweat it," he continued. "you just have to understand the software, after that, it's an aster."
Bette set a book down in front of him while finishing her patatoes. "What's this?" he asked, eyebrows raised. "An English dictionary," Bette replied nonchalantly. "Aster is not in it. Check." Dick thumbed through the pages until he reached the place where his fantasy word should have been. He took a pencil and started to scribble hurriedly, dodging Bette as she lunged at him. "It is now!" he announced,slamming the book shut. Barbara laughed, and Artemis smiled a little. Bette was sullen. "Aw, poor Bette," the boy simpered. "How 'bout this, I'll take the three of you out to ice cream after school."Bette picked up her tray and sniffed,"You win, this time." the others knew she couldn't resist.

"Hey, Arty," Dick called as the group dispersed. She came closer and he said in a quieter voice, "If you really do want some help, you can come over and use one of the computers at my house." Artemis smiled. Dick really could be sweet when he wanted to be.

"Thanks. Does this afternoon work?"

"Yeah, Babs will be there too so we can both give you some pointers," he grinned, but Artemis knew the two would probably forget she was even there. "See ya," he waved then disappeared into the crowd of students. "Barbara?" Artemis turned to the red head who had a locker beside Artemis'. "Did Dick teach you how to be a computer hacker?"

"No," Babs replied, slyly. "He gives me some good tips, but I guess I get most my skills from being a commissioner's kid." "And that helps... How?" Artemis asked knowingly. "Let's just say I have more resources," she smiled, then walked to class. Figures. Having a police officer for a parent must be automatic brownie points, and as for Dick? His dad was Bruce Wayne. Enough said. Artemis wished her parents could be cool and teach her ninja skills. Artemis barely remembered her mom being in jail for a short while for who knows what, and her dad had been gone almost as long as she could think back. Her sister ran out shortly after her mom came home, and she hadn't seen her since. And no where in any of this did they manage to teach her anything cool. Artemis never asked her mom what her sentence was for, and her mom never told her. There was no need. Paula Crock had left it in the past and was now doing her best to raise Artemis with a little income from her father, who travelled all the time. Literally, all the time. As if to avoid delving farther into this thought process, Artemis slammed her locker shut and quickly walked down the hall to her class room.

oOo

After the last day of school, Bette, Babs, Dick and Artemis celebrated by going to the pool. June was already turning out to be record- setting hot and it was the best feeling in the world when Artemis was out of her school uniform and cannon- balling into the public pool. The diving boards were the quartet's first destination. Bette and Barbara were both in Gymnastics, which made it easy for them to execute beautiful doubles off the 1 meter boards and twists off the 3 meters. Dick was, as mentioned before, a ninja, which gave him the ability to do incredible things when bouncing off the board. Artemis couldn't tell what he was doing, but it looked cool, whatever it was. Probably all those years of karate lessons or something. She gulped when her turn came.

"Do it, Arty!" Dick yelled. "Yeah, Go Artemis!" Barbara added. Everyone's eyes turned to her. Come on, Crock, pull yourself together. The 3 meter board suddenly seemed really high. She stood with her toes over the edge, then closed her eyes and raised her arms in streamline position. Tipping over the edge, she fell head first into a dive. She came up and took a gasp of air, her head pounding a little from the impact. Her friends cheered, but she just rolled her eyes and ignored them.

Walking past them and trying not to pay attention as they chanted, "Arty! Arty! Arty!" together, she grabbed some money and went to the snack bar. The others grabbed towels and joined her. Dick ended up paying for all of them as an end of the school year present.

As they say down to eat about 50$ worth of food, they heard a voice call, "Aw, Dick's with all the ladies, as usual." They turned around to see a red headed boy walking towards them. "Wally!" Dick stood up and high- fived the guy. "What are you doing in Gotham?" "Just visiting some family. We'll be here for the weekend." As the two chatted, Artemis studie the ginger closely. He's pretty cute. And geez, his muscles are nicely toned. Dick pointed to the table. "You want something to eat? We've got plenty." "Nah, not hungry," the boy replied. "Besides, I'd rather meet your companions." He came over and looked at Bette first, "Hey, I'm Wally, and what might your name be?" "Chrysanthemum," Bette answered with a fake smile. "Ah, that's a... Pretty name," he moved on.

"Barbara," the girl answered as Wally opened his mouth to ask. "Nice to meet you Barbara. Did you know red heads are the best species on earth?" Artemis was growing tired of waiting and finally got up to throw her trash away. "Wait!" Wally called to her. "I didn't catch your name!" "I never dropped it," she replied, then added,"Artemis." "Nice to meet all of you," he smiled. "Now, I don't have a peice of paper with me, but if one of you grab a napkin I'm sure we can find a pen and I could get your num-" "Wally," Dick cut in. "are you sure you don't want something to eat? You're so skinny, you really should have something." "Dude, I ate like three pancakes for breakfast, I'm fine." he waved his hand, ignoring the fact that breakfast was 10 hours earlier. "Hey, I'll see you ladies around, see ya Dick," he walked slowly away and the other girls looked at Dick questioningly.

"That... Was weird." Bette commented. "Sorry guys, he has problems. He's jealous of my talent at getting the ladies." At this, Bette choked. "Dick, please, I just ate!" The boy rolled his eyes. "Racing slides next," he challenged. "Unless Artemis doesn't want to get her butt kicked like on the diving boards," this was enough to get her interested, and the group set off towards the slides.

oOo

Later that evening, Artemis came home exhausted and ready for sleep. Saying goodnight to her mother, she tumbled onto her bed and right on the day's mail. She thumbed through it, not really caring, until she came to a green envelope with her name on it with no return address. When she flipped it over she was shocked to see the words, "Confidential" printed on the seal. She quickly ripped it open and read the contents with bated breath.