Gotham Academy Chapter Four
Artemis ripped off her tie, not even bothering to undo the knot. There was a brief choking sensation and then, with the noose off her neck, a relaxation that seeped into every pore of her body. Her day was nothing short of a disaster; any hope she had felt in the early morning disintegrated with her lunch... literally. It was the bright idea of some rich kid studying chemistry to throw her entire lunch into an open flame a few potheads had started along with a several stolen chemicals from the lab.
The combination of weed and a few alloys caused a giant explosion, nearly burning her eyebrows off. The only thing that saved her were the warm hands of a stranger who had wrapped themselves over Artemis. Her savior's body acted like a barricade, shielding her from most of the blast before pulling her out of harm's way. She wasn't sure who the random do-gooder was nor did she care. The idea that someone would find it funny to take her food, the food she paid for with her minimum wage job, annoyed her enough to tackle the idiot who did the deed and completely ignore her hero; she never did find out who it was. Had it not been for the same strange boy who took her picture earlier, something she still didn't understand, pulling the fire alarm and distracting everyone, she would have kicked the food wasting idiot's rear. If she had, Artemis would have been kicked out of the academy for sure.
"As if that's a bad thing," she muttered.
"Well, well, looks like trailer trash just blew its way into the courtyard." Artemis stopped walking, recognizing the voice as the girl who had taunted her at the beginning of third period. Artemis's immediate reaction was a balled fist, prepared to to strike the smug face of Tuppence, the girl who bragged about her father being the inventor of toaster strudels every chance she got. Earlier today, Tuppence mocked Artemis for her "last century" shoes. They were worn out in the center with a few holes around the edges; she'd gotten them on sale at a flea market. At the time, 2 dollars for wearable shoes seemed like a good idea.
"Tubby." Artemis said smirking as she looked over at her latest bully; the girl was in no way fat but there was this unexplainable pleasure that came from butchering a pretentious name like "Tuppence"... Artemis couldn't help herself. It was her one moment of weakness, two if one were to count skipping class... for two periods. At the time, Artemis had rationalized that science, her third period, was worth skipping because if she had chosen to stay she would have been suspended for breaking Tuppence's overly painted face.
After spending an hour in the city she wasn't up for the preppy snobs at Gotham academy, with lunch so soon and the alluring aromas of greasy pizza from a nearby pizzeria beckoning her, she decided to skip fourth too. Life in the corner with her slice of heart attack and a bottle of soda was simple, easy. She liked these living oxymorons, those that carried the full weight of quietness amidst the bustle of people coming in and out of a restaurant.
"Didn't think you'd run off that fast." She stopped in mid chew, afraid to look up. Artemis had a brave face for most things, but that did not mean she was in all actuality brave. To be caught off guard like this left her confused, unsure of what action to take next and somewhat terrified.
"Relax, I won't tell." As she heard these words, the boy who had taken her picture early that day waved his hand in front of her face. She smiled, not intentionally, more out of instinct; he had such nice steel blue eyes.
That was then, this is now.
"My name is Tuppence, trailer trash can't spell?"
"Technically, calling you Tubby was more of annunciating rather than spelling." a young redheaded girl pointed out. Artemis turned to see the boy once again, and this time he was not alone.
"Aw Strudel Princess doesn't know what annunciating means. Shall I define it for you, or would you prefer I spell it?" Steel blue said mocking Tuppence; despite him being a weirdo, she liked his comebacks.
"You think she can spell?" The newest voice belonged to a girl closer to Artemis's age, she had two identical buns on her head and wore a neatly pressed Knight's cheerleading costume.
In response to the sudden onset of attacks, Tuppence stomped her foot, stuck out her tongue and flipped her hair. With a snap of her fingers, her cronies followed. Artemis watched in amusement as Tuppence fell several times over her 5 inch heels.
"Those can't be allowed in the dress code," Artemis said shortly before laughing. A cackle joined her and she soon found an arm on her shoulder.
"Since when do you follow the rules new girl?" the kid said.
"New girl? That's clever sass master," Artemis patted his hand, grateful for his aid as well as his friends.
"I'm Barbara," the redhead said, "you can call me Babs, this is Karen and the little troll is Dick." Artemis suppressed a laugh, what kind of people named their kid Dick?
"I'm Artemis."
"Like the goddess in Greek mythology." Dick was beaming. Babs shrugged her shoulders, the more Dick was around the new girl, the more she was under the impression he'd fallen for her. Perhaps a future date was in order?
"Well I appreciate the help guys but I need to be getting home...um..."
"You're one for conversation," Karen said softly, all the confidence she had a moment ago seemed simmered as she spoke to Artemis. Artemis admired that, the ability to be powerful and tempered depending on the moment. Artemis was all fire, ready to burn through the skill of anyone who looked at her the wrong way.
"Not really, but thank you. I uh, don't really fit in here." Artemis's eyes widened as she realized what she had said, she opened herself up for further conversation. Why the hell had she done that? Worse, she'd revealed an insecurity, her fear of not belonging. Maybe if she laughed she could play it off as if she didn't care, but what if they saw through that facade?
"Who wants to fit in here?" Another redhead had arrived, a boy with emerald green eyes whose tone suggested overconfidence, downright arrogance. He wrapped his arms around Dick's neck, pulling him into a bear hug.
"BROOOOOMANCE, NOTHING REALLY GAY ABOUT IT," Karen and Babs sang in unison. As the group giggled on and on, Artemis slipped back, farther and farther, attempting to run away before they noticed. But Artemis looked towards the redhead holding onto Dick, seeing something in him...
"I..." Artemis shook her head and ran off, suddenly afraid, very afraid.
"Who was that?" Wally asked, looking at where the blonde had gone. He was the only one to see her go, all he could think was, I know her, she must be... His eyes sparkled at the realization of who she was.
"Wait!" he called out.
But the gold streak of her hair had already disappeared into the sea of overly priced cars speeding out of the school parking lot.
"Beep! Beep! Beep!" the alarm on Dick's phone blared as the clock reached midnight. He hastily turned it off, accidentally knocking his papers onto the floor in the scuffle. The noise stopped just as he reached under the desk to grab his negative case for his debate team practice tomorrow.
He sighed and rubbed his temples as he browsed the internet for more articles pertaining to the case he was working on. Pretty much everything he'd found only helped the affirmative case, the negative side that is. He sighed; it just showed how biased the news media really was. At least his research proved to be helpful when he wrote the affirmative portion of his cases, after all, he did need to turn in both sides of the argument even if he was just debating one side; looking into an argument objectively was the marking of a good lawyer.
"I don't even want to be a lawyer," he said to himself, staring at a tired expression in the small porcelain framed mirror over his desk.
The clock read 12:06 am. He had yet to get halfway through the case.
Dick's mouth opened up to yawn as he stretched his arms behind his head, wishing the case would write itself so he could get some sleep.
"I guess it's my fault, bitten by the procrastination monster," he muttered, dimming the light on his pride and joy, the MacBook pro he'd had for three years and personally upgraded himself. The emacs function was fun to toy around with, and the terminal app was perfectly structured for coding. Or at least whatever little bit of HTML and CSS he'd taught himself from playing around with the thing.
Although Dick would never admit it to anyone but Wally, his laptop was his baby.
His phone suddenly beeped loudly, startling Dick to the point where he had lost his balance on his chair and soon found himself on the ground, his head throbbing from direct contact to the wooden floor. He glared at the inanimate object and shut off the sound, switching it to vibrate. The only reason he'd turned it on was because he wanted to make sure he'd have a reminder to go to bed by twelve. As if that was possible now.
Wally: Dude, you up?
Of course Wally was the only one rude enough to text Dick on the night, well now the day, his debate cases were due.
Dick rose from the floor, rubbing the newly formed bump on the back of his head before sighing once more. If he was to survive the night, he needed to ignore all incoming text messages, especially from Wally, and finish writing.
The phone buzzed on the wood surface of the desk.
Wally: I know you're not sleeping.
"And that doesn't sound creepy at all," Dick mumbled, angry at himself for giving in so quickly. Still, he chuckled softly. He set the phone back down and got back to work. But it wasn't long until the phone buzzed again.
Wally: dick.
Dick held the phone in his hands, knowing Wally had uncapitalized that on purpose. But he could play it off innocently...
Dick: Wally, grammar. Always capitalize pronouns.
Wally: Got you to answer me, didn't it?
Dang it. Dick put his phone down knowing if he indulged Wally further he was looking into a long night of girl's names and rating their "assets" on a scale from nonexistent to Taylor Swift (Dick never understood the scale as "assets" were equated to certain womanly features and while Ms. Swift was certainly endowed in those areas, Penelope Cruz had far more attractive... "assets", at least in his mind).
"Alright Richard, you can do this, just focus." He stared at his papers for a good five minutes before giving in to his phone, it had eight new messages.
He read them slowly:
Wally: I know you're there.
Wally: I see your forehead wrinkling.
Wally: Dick, Dick... talk nerdy to me Dick.
Wally: Dick... dick.
Wally: COME ON RICHARD JOHN GRAYSON WAYNE THIS IS SERIOUS.
Wally: If you don't answer me I'm telling Babs about your footie pajamas.
Wally: I know the password to your Facebook. 'Scuse me while I post something...
Wally: Your new status reads "Wallace West is a sex deity, I feel the fuego every time he passes me by, UNF."
"Damn it Wally!"
Dick: 5 minutes. YOU HAD TO DO ALL THIS BECAUSE I WAS WORKING FOR FIVE MINUTES.
Wally: Dick baby, I missed you.
Dick: Wally.
Wally: Richard.
Dick: What do you want.
Dick had given up, when Wally put his mind to something, he got it done, it was an admirable trait to have, if only he didn't use it so often to distract Dick from his work.
Wally: Remember that girl with the long blonde hair?
Dick: I thought you were into the redhead, Megan?
Dick suddenly found himself furious with his friend; he wasn't jealous that Wally might have feelings for Artemis... but she was his friend, or at least he was seeing a possible friendship with her and the idea of Wally going all playboy on her... well it pissed him off.
Wally: I am, and I've got a good shot with her, bet you she'll be my date to the dance.
Dick: You're on. Now what about Artemis?
Wally: Is that her name?
Dick: Yeah, what of it?
Wally: Nothing... it just... suits... her...
Now Wally seemed to be thinking, never a good sign. Had he gotten it into his head to go after both girls? Never mind Megan, she seemed sweet enough but Dick didn't know her, well he couldn't say he knew Artemis...
Dick: You don't know her... What's with all the ellipses?
"Why am I getting defensive?"
Wally: Because, like you said, I am a sex deity, I do what I want. ;)
Dick: The hell you do, you hurt her I'll kick your ass.
Wally: Whoa... where'd that come from? Little Dickie got a thing for the blonde?
Dick: Artemis, and no. You know who I... like. Just... what did you want Wally?
Wally: Artemis
Dick: WHAT THE FREAK MAN?
Wally: DUDE MY FINGER SLIPPED! I was going to say Artemis is the girl from earlier today, the one I told you about!
Dick: Oh.
Wally: Oh, so that's it.
Dick: Oh.
Wally: You sure you're not crushing on her?
Dick: More like a squish.
Wally: I can't believe you just said that.
Dick: You think squishes are stupid?
Wally: No, I love them... dude I love that word.
Dick: This is why we're best friends.
Wally: RICHARD YOU SAP.
Dick: Less than 3 man.
Wally: Right back atcha kid.
Dick rested his head on his desk, thinking over his conversation, mainly about Artemis. He didn't have romantic feelings for her, he didn't think...
"But how can I be sure?" He'd never been in love, all he knew was what it felt like to want to be someone's friend; a squish. Then there was Babs, that whole relationship was an enigma. For now he had to forget the ladies, forget Wally the sex deity, and figure out a good excuse to tell his teacher tomorrow. He had a silver tongue, but if he didn't get some sleep now, he wouldn't make it through one class.
As Dick fell asleep, a pair of familiar hands had scooped him up off his desk chair and into his bed.
"He looks much smaller asleep, doesn't he Alfred?" Bruce said softly, gazing at his son.
"Indeed he does sir, indeed he does." Bruce pulled the blanket over Dick, gently rubbing his forehead. He looked at the boy one last time before walking out. As Alfred closed the door, he smiled.
(A/N:) Hello guys, it's been a while :) But here's a quick update on our progress: we have the story written through chapter 7. Chapters 1-6 should all be posted by July 20 on the Gotham Academy blog. And also, our first comic is out! All of the writers are really glad you've been enjoying this so far, and we're planning on continuing this for a long time!