Expect a lot of quick updates with short chapters.
Any help or info about college life would be extremely appreciated. Any suggestions for scenes you guys would like (that fit into this type of story and these characters) are welcome too! :) Oh and I'd love ideas for everyone's college majors.
Something I should probably make very clear: No one has superpowers. They are all completely human (except Conner, the boy is still beast, haha)
Chapter Three
Artemis gave her a high-five as soon as Zatanna got up the next morning, having not been around the evening before to do so. "Robin told me all you have to do is go to the scrimmage on Friday and you're in!"
"Yeah, but I have to find an interesting viewpoint beforehand or else my shots will be pretty basic," Zatanna accepted a drink and gathered her stuff up for her classes which started in an hour or so.
"Well we don't have a full blown stadium so I don't know what you're going to do about that." Zatanna shrugged and put her shower things under her arm, heading towards the door.
"I'll think of something," she winked at the blonde before closing the door behind her and walking towards the showers down the hall.
Her morning classes went well overall. She got funny looks for her name, but she was used to it by now. She had three general education studies that day, but her fourth and final class proved to be interesting.
Women in Society it was called, and it was a class of girls who either wanted to feel empowered or girls who were generally interested in the struggles of women in the past. Zatanna fit into the second part of the class. Funny thing was there were a handful of boys in the class as well. Zatanna didn't know why boys would voluntarily take the class, but when they walked through the door she didn't really care.
"Everyone to the front of the class so assigned seats are completely random," a collective groan went up in the class but the teacher, a large, dark woman named Mrs. Waller, ignored it. She didn't even give them names, merely striking their assigned seats at various tables with a thick ruler that, in truth, scared Zatanna a bit. "You here. You here. Here, no, here."
Zatanna slipped into the seat she was given quietly, not wanting to bring attention to herself when the woman was obviously strictly business. Behind a polite mask she watched the rest of the class file towards their seats and either grumble or giggle at their allotted neighbors.
She shared a small rectangular table with a tall, broad boy. Well boy was an incorrect term. Even though she only saw him for a moment before he sat down, she knew he towered over her. She wasn't tall like Artemis, but she wasn't that short either, so his size said something. It went unsaid that he worked to stay in that sort of shape. The bulk of his shoulders bordered on ridiculous, and before she could tear her eyes away she ran her eyes down his arms.
Pulling herself away so not to get caught, Zatanna leaned forward to place her arms on the table and watched the others move about the room. So he's attractive, you don't know him, he could be the biggest jerk you've ever met.
Zatanna risked another glance at him where he sat diagonal from her, facing the other side of the classroom. Their eyes met and Zatanna found herself staring. Of course, he stared back, so both of them were at fault. When Mrs. Waller was on the other side of the room, Zatanna risked a low "who pissed her cheerios this morning?"
The corner of his lips quirked up and he glanced in the direction of the grumpy old woman. From another table they heard "kudos to any man brave enough to sleep with that." Zatanna ducked her head to hide her smile behind her hair, but the boy she sat with had no such luck.
"I thought she was a lesbian." Now that one was said a little too loud, and Zatanna couldn't hold back her snort. While she was fighting back her giggles, she met his eyes again and had to place a hand over her mouth to hold back another fit at the amusement she found in his eyes.
"Is something funny, Ms. Zatara?" The ruler slapped the table in front of her, making her jump and her laughter die.
"No Mrs. Waller, I just can't wait to begin your class." The old woman narrowed her eyes, looking between Zatanna and her table mate.
"Very well, since Zatanna is so eager to get started, we'll start our first project today." Another collective groan from the class that was ignored. "But first, attendance."
Round after round of names was listed off, and Zatanna paid attention so she wouldn't caught calling her classmates "hey you" instead of by their actual names. "Conner Kent."
"Here," Zatanna's eyes snapped over to the boy who sat across from her, eyebrows shooting up. He met her gaze and Zatanna gave him a smile, hoping he was friendly. Making fun of a pissed off teacher was fun, but it was also mean.
After her own name was called (though why it was needed when Waller already knew she was present, she didn't know) Zatanna pulled out a notebook and ignored what Waller was saying about what she expected of them and the classroom rules, as well as the punishments she could instill upon them. Glancing over at the boy, Conner, she reminded herself, an idea sparked in her mind.
Hey, I'm Zatanna, she wrote on the first line before turning the paper around and pushing it towards him discreetly. To his credit, he made it look like nothing had happened, but his response came immediately.
I heard. Thanks for the project, by the way. Zatanna cringed and thought she saw the corner of his mouth turn up against.
Sorry about that…
It's fine, Waller is a bitch anyways. That confirmed that he was indeed an upperclassman, which spiked her interest.
If you knew that, why did you sign up for this class?
He stared down at the notebook for a moment before replying, I needed the elective. It was either this or cooking.
Zatanna fought down a giggle, at least you can eat in cooking. What year are you?
His reply was simple, junior.
Freshman. She felt strange writing that down, still used to being regarded as a senior in high school.
Oh I know. When he pushed the notebook back to her she raised an eyebrow in his direction. Conner flashed a smirk and took the notebook back to explain, you're actually prepared for class.
Zatanna smiled in understanding but Waller stole her attention before she could write back. "For the project, your partners are as follows-" and the cranky old woman continued to rattle off a list of names. Zatanna lost interest as soon as she figured out the trend: who you shared a table with.
Zatanna and Conner met eyes again and her joy blossomed on her face. Conner snorted softly, "I'm flattered," he whispered for only her to hear. Zatanna felt a blush crawling up her neck and to her cheeks.
"I'd rather have you than…" she cast her eyes over the room, spotting the stereotypical loud mouths and students who would drop this class at first chance. Conner understood her unspoken words, nodding.
The voices in class rose from a whisper when Waller sat behind her desk and gave them the rest of class to come up with something that wouldn't "bore her to death" as she so eloquently said.
"What are we going to do?" Zatanna asked, rising out of a whisper and surprisingly herself with how womanly her voice sounded. Curses, she growled to herself, distracting her from the renewed blush on her face by watching the gears in his mind turn.
"Well she said something interesting…"
Zatanna leaned back in her chair and tapped the end of her pencil to her lips. "So what interests you?"
His response was immediate. "Football." His eyes dropped down to her mouth for a split second and she quickly set her pencil down, realizing what she was doing subconsciously.
"Then… the history of sports?"
"For our first and final project?" His voice rang with skepticism but she just shrugged.
"Well she didn't exactly give us a lot of guidelines on the topic. She just said this project would count as our final-midterm project thing and we had until the end of the course to get it done. That us until January."
"That's five months, why worry now?" Zatanna met his eyes again and she sensed he was testing her. He wanted to start it early and was undoubtedly wondering if she was one to slack off until the last minute.
"Waiting until last minute will kill me, so yes, we worry now." She was rewarded with a smile.
"History of sports sounds good, but how are we going to incorporate that into this class?" They had developed a nice flow of conversation, oblivious to the rest of the class slacking off around them.
"Well men and women's sports have always been treated differently. And there was that Title Nine thing that Nixon signed to make everything equal."
"Why don't we focus on that instead?" She looked up from her notebook, surprised he would sacrifice the sports category for something to do with equality in education in general.
"Alright…" Mrs. Waller dismissed them and without another word Conner was picking up and headed out the door. Zatanna shoved everything into her bag and scurried after him. "Conner, wait!"
Conner stopped and turned to let her catch up, his eyebrow raised. She huffed a few times from her abrupt sprint from the classroom but recovered quickly, "sorry, I just-" he was looking down at her, obviously amused, and she blushed lightly, straightening her back. "How can I contact you out of class?"
His hand flew to his front pocket and Zatanna glanced away so she didn't watch him. He held his phone out to her and she jumped in realization, fishing her own out of her pockets and thankful she didn't carry a purse to class. They exchanged phones and entered numbers, hands brushing in a way that she chose to ignore. "I might not answer, I have practice every day."
"That's okay; I wasn't planning on bothering you for a while." Surprisingly, he grinned at that.
"Then I think we'll get along just fine."
"Are you playing in the scrimmage next Friday?"
"Of course," he didn't ask why she asked, instead he said his goodbye and they parted ways, him heading towards another dorm wing. Zatanna turned herself in another direction and forced herself to walk and not look over her shoulder. She failed, but only once, and caught him just before he walked out of sight. Suddenly, she was very much looking forward to Friday.
There will a period of "all is well in Zatanna's world" before things start to go wrong.
So Zatanna's has officially met Conner! :D Good, yes? I have the next chapter written and ready to go on Saturday/Sunday. Gimme some love, my lovelies!
