Chapter 1- The Italian Bet

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A young girl clutched her book tightly to her chest, her emerald green eyes fixed on the ground as she walked down the street, her red hair getting tangled in the wind as a breeze passed by, touching her tan skin and making her shiver slightly. Her name was Kori Anders and she was new to Jump City. In fact, she was new to this country. She had just moved here from Italy and found herself to be filled with new emotions. The main one being fear.

Her white boots guided her to the front of her new school; Jump City High. Her dazzling green eyes looked up in amazement. The school was...huge. The light brown building was surrounded with students. They were scattered around the front of the building, some chatting with friends and some just sitting down around the trees. Kori clutched her book tighter and found herself to be hiding near the big black gates.

"Lost, little lady?"

Kori jumped up and a small 'eep' escaped her lips.

"Wow, sorry." Said the tall and very well built African American boy. "Just seeing if you needed help."

"Oh, I apologize for my behavior." Said Kori shyly. She held out her hand to him. "My name is Kori Anders. I am new here."

"Names Victor Stone." Victor said, shaking her hand in a firm grip which she returned with the same amount of strength. "I figured you were new. How about I show you around."

"Truly." Said Kori, following Victor as he lead her through the front doors. "You do not mind showing me around?"

"Not at all. Where you need to go is the office and get your schedule. Don't worry, I'll take you there."

"I thank you for your kindness. I did not imagine I would make a friend on my first day." Suddenly she stopped. "We are friends, correct?"

He stopped and smiled at her cheekily. "Sure."

Kori smiled brightly and followed closer to Victor as he walked her to the office. He would occasionally point out a few things to her which she took good note of. After what seemed like a long walk that took forever, they finally made it to the office. Victor looked over her schedule and was disappointed to see they had different schedules, sharing only one class which was lunch. If you call that a class.

The bell rang and Victor realized he was late. He said a quick goodbye to Kori, promising to meet up at lunch before dashing down the hall. The hall emptied until she was left standing there by herself with no clue where to go.

It took Kori a good twenty minutes until a teacher finally found her wondering the halls and pointed her in the right direction. She walked into the classroom, hugging her book to her chest and looking down at the floor. The teacher rose a brow as Kori stepped up to her desk. Kori handed the teacher her schedule and the teacher looked up and smiled.

"Kori Anders, I'm Mrs.Caldon. It is very nice to meet you." Said Mrs.Caldon warmly as she shook Kori's hand. "Please, why don't you introduce yourself to the class."

Kori nodded slowly before turning around to face the class. She didn't really care for the stares the class was giving her. The boys had a strange glint in their eyes and Kori made sure her book covered her chest. The girls in the class seemed to be glaring at Kori, for what reason, Kori had no idea.

"Um...I'm Kori Anders and I...um, moved here from Italy."

The teacher could tell Kori was uncomfortable. "That's enough, Kori. You may take a seat by...Rachel. Rachel, please raise your hand."

A girl with violet eyes and black hair with a tint of purple raised her hand. She was dressed in all black with a dark blue hoodie over her body. Kori made her way over to where the girl sat but stopped in her tracks when she passed by the girl with blonde hair and blue eyes dressed in pink.

"Slut."

The girl had said it loud enough for the class to hear and some of the other students laughed along with the girl. Mrs.Caldon didn't find it amusing.

"Kitten, do I need to make a phone call?"

Kitten looked up. "No, Mrs.Caldon."

Kori bit her lip and continued to her seat, sitting down next to the dark girl with pale skin known as Rachel. Mrs.Caldon stood from her seat and began to jolt down some notes. Out of the corner of her eye Rachel could see tears ready to fall from the girls eyes.

"Don't listen to her." Rachel said quietly, her eyes fixed on the board as she copied notes. "Kitten's a bitch."

Kori turned to Rachel. "My name is Kori Anders. Please, what is your full name?"

"Rachel. Rachel Roth."

"Rachel, is it possible for us to be...friends?"

Rachel cast a small glance at Kori before fixing her eyes to the board once more. She was surprised that this girl had openly asked her a question like that. A lot of people found Rachel to be creepy due to her dark personality. The bell rang and Kori looked up at Rachel awaiting her answer.

Rachel shrugged her shoulders. "Sure. Why not."

"Oh, I thank you new friend." Kori said as she wrapped Rachel in a hug, getting a few stares from her fellow class mates. Kori released Rachel and smiled brightly.

"Okay. Number one; I don't do hugs." Muttered Rachel darkly as she packed up her things and headed for the door.

Kori quickly apologized, gathered her book and followed.

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The next couple of periods had been very joyful for Kori. The more the school day progressed the more she opened up and showed her true colors. Kori Anders was an extremely cheerful girl and Rachel had started to wonder if accepting this girl as a friend was a good thing or not. Kori was innocent and happy, her personality pure. She was the complete opposite of Rachel.

Finally, lunch had arrived. Rachel had lead Kori outside, saying the cafeteria was not a place to eat if you valued your health. Outside was the place to be. The open air and breeze was a great place to eat. Kori had to agree. Outside was many a amount of small, circle tables which were currently being filled.

"This way, Kori." Rachel said as she lead her to a spot of her own. "I'm going to introduce you to some friends of mine. They may be idiots at first but you'll grow to like them...Or they might just grow on you."

Rachel stopped in front of a table and a boy with forest green eyes with a set of blonde hair to match smiled brightly at her.

"Hey Rach, who's that with you?"

"This is Kori Anders, the new girl." Rachel said, moving to the side so Kori could be seen fully. "And don't call me Rach. It's Rachel."

"Sorry, Rach...el." The boy smiled sheepishly at Rachel's glare. He then turned to Kori. "Hi Kori, I'm Garfield."

"Hello, Garfield. Please, what is your favorite color, where do you come from and will you be my friend?" Kori asked in a rush.

"Uh..." Garfield looked to Rachel.

"She's friendly." Rachel mumbled quietly.

"Um, green, Jump City and yeah. I'll be your friend."

"Oh thank you!" Kori said cheerfully, grabbing Garfield into a hug.

He choked on his breath and was so grateful when Kori let go.

"Nice grip."

"I welcome you." Kori said with a smile.

"Where are the others?" Rachel asked, taking the seat by Garfield.

"Not sure." Said Garfield. "Usually their first."

Kori had remained standing, wondering who exactly were 'they'.

"Well, it looks like you found me."

Kori's eyes went wide. She knew that voice. Kori turned around and sure enough it was him.

"Victor!"

"Hey little lady. I see you met my friends." Said Victor with a wide smile.

"You mean...you all know each other?" Asked Kori, looking at them.

"Hey Victor, did you find your friend yet." Asked a girl, walking up to the small group, holding something in her hands.

"Hey, Karen." Victor said, giving her a small kiss on the cheek. "This is her, Kori Anders."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Karen." Said the girl, shifting her package in one hand so she could shake Kori's hand. "Sparky over here was looking all over for you."

"Sparky?"

"It's a nick name." Droned Rachel quietly.

"What you got there, Karen?" Garfield asked, looking at the package in Karen's hand.

"This is lunch." Karen said, setting the package on the table and opening it. "My third period teacher was absent today so I snuck out and picked this up."

"Dude! Awesome!" Garfield said, ready to grab a slice of pizza Karen had just placed down but he stilled. "Why is there pepperoni on this? Dude, I don't eat meat."

"Garfield, it's only half pepperoni." Rachel said, grabbing a slice. "Just eat the other half."

They all sat down to eat except for Kori.

"Kori, is something wrong?" Karen asked.

Kori's head looked up. "Umm...no."

"Then grab a seat and dig in." Said Victor, munching down on his pizza.

"Dig in?" Kori asked. "Do you mean like shovels?"

They looked at her with blank faces.

Rachel cleared her throat. "It's an expression."

A deep blush appeared on Kori's face as she sat down. "Oh. I apologize. Your American expressions are still new to me."

"Kori." Rachel spoke up, getting the red heads attention. "Let me see your schedule."

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Heads turned as a young boy walked the halls of Jump City High. Students murmured amongst themselves as the boy passed by. Girls felt their hearts flutter when he flashed them a smile, arguing with their friends claiming he smiled at 'me and not 'you'.

This boy was the prince of Jump City High. He was the most popular student in the whole school and most likely the richest. His name was Richard Grayson. He was known as many things; ward to Bruce Wayne, football star and above all...player. Every prince needs his princess, that was Richards excuse for dating as many girls as he wanted.

No one dared to step up to him when it came to such a manner because no one really could. Not with his looks. His raven hair was spiked up and his well defined chest could make any one step down from picking a fight with him...but if you were a girl then it was a different story. He was attractive, but what really made him stunning was his deep, piercing sapphire eyes.

Richard stepped out of school and into the outside lunch area. He flashed his million dollar smile at a couple of girls as they past by him, making them giggle. Richard spotted his two best friends at their table and waved, walking over to them.

First there was Roy Harper, ward to Oliver Queen. He had the same traits as Richard; popularity, money and his own way of handling girls. Well, not any more. Roy was currently in a serious relationship with one Donna Troy. But that's not all Roy had, he had good looks to match up with his name. His well defined body matched his orange hair and blue eyes.

Richard slapped hands with Roy before turning to his other best friend; Xavier Redd. Xavier was like Richard in many ways and people would often think of them as brothers. They sure did act like it, always competing with each other. Their personalities was one in the same but their looks were different. Xavier had the same build but his hair was a dark brown with dark brown eyes to match.

Together they practically ran the school. They sat down and started to converse with each other when something, or rather someone, caught Xavier's eye.

"Who is that?" Xavier asked, looking over at a girl with red hair.

Roy turned his head and recognized the girl. "Oh yeah, I remember her. She's new here. Names Kori Anders, says she's from Italy."

"Italian, huh." Xavier said with interest. "I've never been with an Italian girl before. Hey, Richard. Check out the new cutie."

Richard turned his head and his heart stopped. Across from his table was the perfect girl. She had long red hair that reached her waist and a perfect figure with flawless tan skin. This girl was beautiful but what really made Richard interested in this new beauty was her wonderful emerald green eyes. Her eyes alone was amazing.

"What did you say her name was?" Asked Richard.

"Kori Anders."

"Well Kori Anders..." Xavier said with a smirk. "Get ready for Xavier Redd."

This snapped Richard out of his daze. "Wait a minute. How come you get her?"

"Because..." Xavier began, thinking of an excuse. "Don't you have a girlfriend?"

"Says who?"

"Says Kitten." Roy said with a laugh. "She's going around saying you belong to her."

"Geez, you take her on one date and she gets all possessive." Muttered Richard. "Either way, I'm not involved with her. So if you don't mind I think I'll like to meet this Kori Anders."

"Hold it hot shot." Xavier said, grabbing Richard by the jacket and pulling him back. "I saw her first."

"Point being?"

"Dudes, this is getting no where." Roy cut in.

"So what do we do?" Richard asked, his attention focusing on his two friends.

"How about we make a bet." Xavier said with a smirk.

"I'm listening."

"First one to get, and I mean get, with Kori Anders wins a prize."

"What kind of prize?"

"Well...if you win I'll give you my car and if I win I get your motorcycle."

"Sounds like a plan. Not only will I have the girl but I'll have your car to show for it." Richard said with a smirk. "What about you, Roy, wanna get in on this deal?"

"No way. I got a girl already."

"Whipped." Xavier muttered under his breath.

Richard ignored them and his eyes set on the girl with the dazzling eyes. There was no way he was going to lose this bet, Kori Anders would be his.