Yeah! Another chapter! Although… I don't know if I really like this one… tell me what ya think, maybe I will redo it, maybe I'll just leave it… REVIEW PLEASE! -KOnders

Well I can tell you this… fate put my schedule basically, if not exactly identical to none other than Richard Grayson! 1st hour science with everyone: Vic, Gar, Wally, Richard, and Roy, the works!

2nd hour was spent in English, where I basically slept the entire time, but that's just because it's the first day, as soon as everyone's settled in, they're going to hammer on the works. But at least Wally gets to spend 2nd hour with Richard and me, giving me something to laugh at. When I wasn't sleeping, I was sneaking glances at Richard… he's just too gorgeous not to! His black tousled hair was spiked to perfection, and his eyes oh, his eyes. Even though they were partially covered with dark shades, they were still visible, and getting caught whether it be Wally and getting teased, or having it be Richard himself, it was quite embarrassing to say the least.

How we got stuck in Algebra 1 together for 3rd hour with Gar, GAR no doubt, blows my mind. The kid doesn't even know 2+2=4! I had to laugh at that one… At least in this class I sit three rows back from Richard and Gar, behind a blonde bimbo named Kitten… Wait… how'd she get in here? Huh…. And I thought hair chemicals couldn't get to the brain… Anyway my row consisted of a unique looking Goth girl with raven black hair, and purple streaks. She said to call her Rachel, not Rae, or she'd throw you out the window… The same Rachel Gar had talked to on the way to the gym, the one that never showed, and another girl, a tall African American girl with two fluffy piles of black hair on either side of her head. Karen or Bee as she told me everyone called her was spunky, and right up my alley, I liked her!

Algebra was basically uneventful until the bell, when Richard walked over and asked me what class I had next. And by now I didn't care that we'd had the same classes, it was actually kind of growing on me. When I told him AP History he just smiled and asked,

"So would you mind if I walked you to… uh…. I guess OUR next class?" while chuckling. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that our conversation caught Kitten's attention, and I just couldn't help but laugh as she adjusted her bra to make her boobs look bigger than her implants already were. Richard of course, hearing me laugh and seeing my attention switch to Kitten as she tried getting up gracefully to walk over in like 10 inch heels, and lean on the table to put her overly large breasts in Richard's face, but sadly her master plan went awry when she failed to notice a pile of books still on the ground, and fell flat on her face…. Although her boobs took most of the cushion, I swear I saw her bounce off the floor… I'm surprised she didn't bounce right back up…

"Ughh!... I just wanted to say hi to MY Richie-Poo, but the new girl had to trip me!" Kitten wailed in her high pitched, nasally voice.

"First of all Kitten… we didn't even go on a date, you were ditched at the pier on a date, and I had to give you a ride home… TWO YEARS AGO, and second Kori didn't trip you, you're heavily war painted eyes seemed to miss that stack of books just sitting there." Richard spat out in his defense, and mine. He looked back at me, and I smiled at him, hoping he would get my mental thanks.

"Yeah, I hear a lot of things are killing Kitten's these days, ya know…. Curiosity, silicone, bulimia, hair chemicals…" I said, winking at Richard. Kitten in turn just looked shocked at my boldness. But then she smirked and looked me up and down.

"Well, at least I'm not oh I don't know…. A ginger? Yeah a ginger who dresses like she came from the ghetto, the slums, the wrong side of Gotham, at least I've got style Korny, whoops, I mean Kori." Her insults stung my ears like nails on a chalkboard, making me cringe. I was on the verge of tears, fighting the urge to cry, sure I've had all those insults thrown at me before, but in front of a guy that I think I really like, and a cute one at that! But all thrown together in one sentence that was harsh, and I was determined not to let her see me cry, so I picked up my books and just walked away. I blindly made my way to my locker, hoping no one would notice my tears, hopefully not until I made it into the bathroom.

"Kori! Wait up Kori!" I heard Richard yell from a ways down the hall. I wanted nothing more than for Richard to be my "Knight in Shining Armor", but I just did not want him to see me crying. I began to jog down the hall, and saw a corner that I could turn to possibly lose him. I went for it, that was… until I felt his strong arms wrap around my waist preventing me from running away. He looked at me expectantly.

"Kori, are you okay?" He asked me, after just a second of catching his breath.

"Yeah… I'm fine, just dandy."I said, hoping that my voice didn't sound shaky, and that he'd just go and leave me alone for a minute.

"Kori, I know you're not okay, will you just look at me?"

"Why do you even care? We just met this morning!" I said in a hushed voice, he just chuckled.

"Because you're different Kori, you're not like the other girls, you don't act fake, or like someone your not, you show your true self, the real Kori, and all of her." He said while turning me around to face him.

Oh boy, what a mistake, somehow between classes and running to find me he'd taken off his sun glasses, so I could see his eyes.

The look in his eyes, oh that look alone, it made me want to melt, to let me kiss him… kinda like he was planning to kiss me, but mentally I was screaming at myself. He was closing the distance quickly, and I needed to think fast. I did the only thing I knew how to do, I ran.

I ducked out from under his arms, and ran in the general direction of my locker, grabbing my AP History books and running to where I thought Mr. Wisniewski's room was… but he beat me! Richard beat me to the classroom….. But how? I booked it here, and what kinda sucked was the fact that the only seat left was surprisingly next to Richard, planned… sooo planned. I thought. I went to sit down just as the bell rang, and I tore out a piece of paper. I wrote,

Richard look, it's not that I didn't want to uhm… do that with you… but we just met three hours ago! That's a little fast… -K

Mr. W was rambling on about something about history, I really enjoyed history, but right now I needed to fix this problem. I looked at Richard's pained expression, and I quickly folded up the sheet of paper and inconspicuously passed it to him.

I watched as he opened the note, his expression lifted a bit, and he grabbed a pen to write a reply. So I turned back to Dubs (W's) lesson to make it look like I was paying some attention.

He slipped the note back to me waiting hand, and I opened it to look at Richard's neat scrawl saying,

No it's fine Kori, I shouldn't have tried to push something that wasn't there, and it was horrible timing on my part, but friends?

I smiled, but deep down I was a little sad that he only wanted to be just friends now… I looked back that the ending… friends? I smiled and threw caution to the wind writing,

Best friends?

And passed it right back over to Richard. He took one look at the paper, and that poker face transformed into a million dollar smile. He jotted something down and turned back to the lesson while sliding the note my way. I opened the note again to see his brief one word response that made my heart skip a beat.

Forever…

I could not stop smiling, not after that bell rand, or when I put my books into my locker, or when I got shoved into the lockers, no not even when I was excluded from a round of lightning with the guys. I had Richard right where I wanted him, right where I needed him, right there to grab if my feelings are proven correct, that my insecurities were secure…

Until the second biggest bitch in school came along and stole him, faster than you could say sabotage.