Avoid if:
You don't like humor
You have an irrational fear of junk food
You have an irrational fear of secret sharing
You must have Klarion in every chapter (cause he not in this one)
The words Wally and stupid idiot in the same sentence offends you
Chapter 9
"Artemis! Artemis, wait up!" Robin called after her, chasing her through the dark and deserted streets of Gotham City.
"Go away!" she yelled at him, her vicious tone making him flinch 5 times worse than the Joker ever had. Artemis finally stopped, looked up at the sky, and started yelling every cuss word in her VERY wide vocabulary, following each word with "Wally".
Robin just stood there and watched, with a very amused smirk on his lips. Wants she had stopped and was panting, he walked up to her. "You done now?" he asked; his amusement clear in his voice. She nodded, too out of breath to speak. "Okay then, let's go talk." He said, slinging an arm around her shoulders.
"Where?" she asked, even though she was already following him. "School," he replied shortly.
Neither of them said another word until they arrived at Gotham Academy. The school that Artemis had been guilt tripped into attending. "Wait, YOU go here?" she asked, completely shocked. Robin laughed, picking the lock on the front gate with ease.
"Hell yeah," he said, grinning. "You know me too." Artemis started off on a boat-load of questions and aqusations, which Robin pretty much ignored until they reached the schools roof. (You know how like in every show, EVERY building has roof access? People are always like, "we need to talk" and they go to the roof to do it. Not so easy in my town.)
"Okay, okay! It show and tell time, Arty. You tell me, I tell you." Artemis stopped talking, and stared at him. 'Tell him? About my family, my life, my Klarion?' she turned bright red when she realized she had thought the word 'my' before 'Klarion'. Good thing it was dark out. But she took a deep breath, and nodded. She simply pretended to be fearless, like always. "Okay, deal."
"Who's first?" Robin asked, smiling his usual cocky grin. "Nose-goes!" Artemis yelled, putting a finger to her nose. Robin laughed, putting his hands up in surrender. "Okay, you got me."
"So, recognize this?" he asked, holding out his phone. Artemis was about to say something along the lines of 'what in the hell does your phone have anything to do with this?' but that was before she saw the background picture. It was the pic that the stupid freshman Richard 'Dick' Grayson had taken of them on her crappy first day of school.
She looked up from the phone, completely shocked…and punched him in the arm. "Idiot, thanks a lot." Laughing and rubbing his arm, he whined like a little girl, "Whaaat?" "You've been my best friend since the first week of school and you didn't think to tell me you're ROBIN?" she asked.
I mean, hey, it's a valid question.
"What was I supposed to say? 'Okay, so you times x by 4 for question 3, y by 7 for question 6, and by the way I'm Robin'?" He said dramaticly, rolling his eyes behind his mask. Artemis snatched his mask off his face, and glared at him. "Yes, that would have been nice."
Robin, aka Dick, laughed. "Okay, I'll do that next time." He said, still rubbing his arm.
"So, what about you?" he said, way to creepy for her likings. Artemis sighed, "I'm just…Artemis. But you knew that. I live with my mom, and I have a sister." She couldn't decide if she was comforted or disgusted at how…normal…that sounded. "Cool," Robin said, smiling.
She was half tempted to smile and move onto a different topic, letting him believe everything was normal about that statement. "Yeah, cool. Except for the fact I live with my mom is that my dad keeps trying to kill you, me, and the rest of the Team and my sisters not helping much. Well, she's helping my dad, if that counts."
Robin nodded, not looking shocked at all, but Artemis knew this was all new information for him. He had that calculating look in his eye, the same one he got at school when he heard something interesting he hadn't heard before. "You're turn." She said, reaching for her backpack. Inside was the same as it was at school: one pen, one notebook, and lots of food.
So, Dick Grayson and Artemis Crock spent a long time setting on the roof of their school, eating chips and talking. But it wasn't long before Robin felt it was safe to ask a…touchy…question.
"Will you tell me what happened between you and Wally today?" he asked, not looking at her and slowly eating a Red Vine. With a heavy sigh, the blonde relented.
"I was at Starbucks today with…someone. We were having a great time, and Wally showed up and started wanting attention like Wally does best. It almost made me feel normal, and I was having fun. But then Kl…my friend told Wally we were on a date, and he went all crazy jealous and dragged me to the cave."
Artemis's brain wanted her to be angry, but her heart wanted her to be hurt and sad. And something Artemis never was was hurt OR sad.
"Do I know your date?" Robin asked, his smirk gone as he sympathized with the archer's conflicting emotions. (Ohh, I used big words XD ) Artemis ignored his question. "The thing I hate the most though, was what Wally said." Dick sighed, realizing his questions wouldn't be answered at the moment. "Which part, cause he's said a LOT of stuff."
"When he said that he looked like a criminal." She said, barely over a whisper. Robin shrugged, "Don't listen to him. He's just a stupid jealous idiot." Artemis whipped her head around to look at him. "But he was right!" she screamed.
She looked back at her lap, and then giggled. "I guess I just attract bad people." She said, suddenly finding it increadibly hilarious.
Now, Artemis is not ENTIRELY low self-esteem-ish. She finds nothing wrong with being friends with Klarion. She just feels like only criminals ever show up to take major roles in her life. And that would be because other than the Team and the Justice League, it's true. Just look at Sportsmaster (dad), Huntress (mom), Cheshire (sister), Cameron/Icicle Junior (ex-best-friend), Klarion the Witch Boy (current best friend/maybe crush), Catwoman (Godmother), etc.
Artemis expected Robin to try to tell her that it wasn't true (even though it is) but she WASN'T expecting him to start laughing too. "Guess you do," he said, laughing so hard that he was doubled over. After several minutes of laughing, Robin looked at her. "Tell me who it was. I swear: no blabbing, no arresting, and no acusaqions other than singing K-I-S-S-I-N-G."
Artemis regarded him warily for a second before leaning over and whispering into his ear.
