"Artemis." A girl with big curly blonde hair said to Artemis, "I'm Bette, your new Student Liaison, welcome to Gotham Academy."
"Thanks, I'm Artemis," she said, realizing what she said, 'stupid', she thought, "But you knew that."
A kid much shorter than her ran up behind her and put his arm around her as if they had been friends since forever, "We'll laugh about this someday." He said standing on his toes then snapping a picture with his iphone, that Artemis could never afford.
She heard the flash and snapped her eyes shut. When she opened them, he was gone, "Who was that?"
"Agh, just an annoying 8th grader. Ignore him." She said as her curls bounced, "Come on. I'll introduce you to my friends."
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"Dick, what was that about?" the boy's friend asked sneering at Artemis.
"Nothing Barbra, just being friendly to the new girl." He said admiring the picture he took, as Barbra stormed off.
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"Hey, Artemis, Artemis Crock!" Artemis heard her name being yelled from the same boy who took her photo this morning, "Over here."
"Hey, blondie, I think you're being paged." A guy said from behind her.
She her face grew red, she stormed over to the kid, "What?" she said in an irate tone.
"You wanna sit next to me?" he asked giving her a crocked grin.
"What? No." she said crossing her arms over her chest.
"Really? Cause doesn't look like there are any seats left." He said, she turned her eyes wide.
"Crap." She said slipping into her seat next to the kid.
"I don't think we have formally met." He said, "I'm Richard Grayson. But people call me Dick."
"What are you doing in this class?" she said, "You're an 8th grader."
"My IQ is higher than most people my age, so they placed me in these classes for the 10th graders." He said, "Hey, you wanna see the photo I took this morning or you and me?"
"I want to see it deleted." She said.
"Can't I just posted it on Facebook, by the way, friend me." He said smiling again.
"Oh my god." She said putting her head on the table they shared.
"Hey, you know if you bang your head to many times you'll kill all your brain cells." He said.
"I will take my chances." She mummbled.
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Artemis grabbed her bagged lunch and went outside. The yard was filled with potted plants, sculptures of men, who she either knew exactly who they were or had no idea who they were, and students getting outside to enjoy the fresh air and unglue their eyes from their iphones, ipods, and laptops.
She sat down on a stone bench, and took out her turkey sandwich. It was dry, was she shocked. No.
"Artemis!" Dick said running to her and sitting next to her on the stone bench.
"Go. Away." She said, she fell back to the stone brick wall.
He, oblivious to her speaking, continued, "God, school's a jungle, I mean you always feel like you're being hunted down. But, uh, you get that right?" he asked like she was supposed to know what he was talking about.
"No, I don't." she said glaring, "I have no idea what you're talking about, I don't even know you."
"All the better to get to get to know me. Right?" he said elbowing her forearm.
"Okay, whatever." She said eating her sandwich.
"What'cha eating?" he asked.
"Turkey." She said, chewing.
"It looks dry." He said.
"If you want to sit here, don't be a jackass." She said, "Even if you're right."
"Okay." He said taking out what looked like a ham sandwich.
"Okay, I have to ask. Why are you in sophomore classes?" she asked.
"Well, my IQ is higher than most children my age, so my father had me placed in the high classes." He said, "Hey, we should go to the mall."
"That had nothing to do with the conversation we were just having." She said looking at him with her eyebrow cocked.
"Okay, but do you wanna go?" he asked again.
"If I say yes, will you leave me alone?" she asked.
"Yep."
"Then yes."
"Okay, on Saturday I'll meet you at the mall." He said.
"Okay." She said as the bell rung.
In the blink of an eye he was gone.