A/N: There will be some OCs in this chapter, and this one will be a little longer than normal. Also, Zatanna is 14 bc if she was 13 she would still be in middle school. O, she will be about a year older than Dick but that's okay.
"RICHARD!"
Zatanna had not expected to be woken by and angry Bruce Wayne screaming for his ward, but apparently that was what this morning would entail.
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
Zatanna sat up and rubbed the last bits of sleep out of her eyes. As she did, she heard a very familiar cackle.
"Uh, sorry Bruce, I couldn't resist." Zatanna heard the boy wonder say apologetically.
"This is ridiculous! I can't go to work like this! You're lucky I'm not grounding you!" The billionaire growled just a little quieter.
Zatanna stretched then pulled herself off of her bed before peeking her head out of her door and failing to stifle laughter.
Dick turned to glance at her and smirked and Bruce, who was covered in what looked like green slime, narrowed his eyes at his ward.
Zatanna slapped her hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing too loudly at the man in front of her. Dick didn't. He laughed openly at his guardian.
Both teens turned to look at the stairwell as they heard someone approaching and a second later Selina appeared and stopped cold. For a moment Zatanna thought Dick was going to get yelled at again, then the ailurophile burst into laughter. Dick was next to laugh again and this time, zatanna didn't bother hiding her laughter. Bruce through his hands up in exasperation before turning on his heel and marching down the stairs.
Still giggling, Zatanna ducked back into her room and headed for the shower. She turned on the hot water and got undressed before jumping into the flow. After she was done, she brushed her teeth, got dressed in her uniform, blow dried and straightened her hair, and put just a little bit of makeup on, mostly concealer to hide the dark circles under her eyes. No one needed to know that she was up most nights crying.
She walked out of her bathroom in a skirt and her button up shirt and heard a knock on her door.
"Come in." She called, just loud enough that they would be able to hear.
The door opened and revealed the person behind it to be Selina, Zatanna hadn't been expecting that. The graceful woman walked to her bed and sat down on the edge of it.
"How are you doing, hun? Ready for your first day?" She asked.
"Um, yeah, as ready as I'll ever be I think." Zatanna smiled and moved her hair behind her ear.
"Mmm" Selina nodded, "It won't be too bad, and Dick will be with you for most of the day, he'll make sure you're alright." She stated and Zatanna knew she was right.
Zatanna nodded and, walking to her bed, she grabbed the sweater and the blazer off of the edge of her bed next to the woman and held them up.
"Sweater or blazer?" She asked with a small smile, Selina smiled back.
"Sweater." the emerald eyed woman determined.
Zatanna nodded and pulled it over her white button up before heading to her dresser and pulling out some socks.
"You think they'll let me wear these?" She asked pulling on the thigh high socks.
Selina nodded, "Oh yes, most of the girls there do."
Zatanna sighed, "Really? I was like, the only one that did it at my old school."
"I think you will find that the girls in Gotham can be very different from most girls. Especially the ones at Gotham Academy. They all have moms who got rich by hiking up their dresses or skirts and pulling their shirts down too low. Don't be intimidated by them though, I doubt very many of them will grow up to be much different than their mothers, and that may sound cruel but you will see what I mean when you get there. Make sure you find a good group of girls to hang out with. Dick knows most of the bad ones and can point them out to you."
Zatanna nodded, at least she would be prepared. Then she thought of something and laughed, "Wait, so you're saying they're all gold diggers?"
Selina smirked, "Yes, so don't be surprised if you see them hanging around Dick, even some of the older girls. He's used to it by now. He's a cute kid, I'm sure he will be a heart breaker when he gets older, but the older girls are definitely more interested in the money they could get out of him for now."
Zatanna's mouth had dropped open when she had started that little story and she started laughing again, "No way!"
Selina laughed too "I know, I know."
"He's so young!"Zatanna exclaimed.
"You both are, hon. But anyway, try to stay away from girls like that. Like I said Dick will be able to point them out for you."
Zatanna nodded again before slipping her flats on. "Alright, thanks Selina,"
The woman nodded and stood, "Let me know if you need anything Zatanna, I'm not always around but there's usually a way to reach me." Selina's mouth grew into a smirk," I know living in a house full of boys can be...interesting to say the least. Especially these boys, they can be very hard headed. Don't let them get you down, and if they do, I'll deal with that."
Zatanna laughed softly, "Good to know, thanks again."
Selina inclined her head and walked silently out the door with one last smile.
Zatanna took one last look around the room before grabbing her backpack and phone, and heading out the door. She scrolled briefly through her contacts on hunch and smiled when she saw a new contact, Selina Kyle.As she was not paying attention she bumped into something, or someone.
"Oh, hey Dick." She smiled at him shyly.
"Good morning." He replied happily.
She noticed he was in khakis and the same white shirt she was wearing, but he had a navy blue blazed with the school insignia on it, and he had a tie hanging around his neck.
"Ready for your first day?" Dick asked her as they descended the stairs.
"I think so, Selina helped."
Dick nodded, his smile growing, "Yeah, she has a way of doing that."
"She's gorgeous." Zatanna said, almost envying.
Dick laughed, " Well, yeah, she is. But, of course, there's a lot more to her than that."
"Well duh, I mean, just look at her um… nightlife?" Zatanna still wasn't one hundred percent sure if she could say Catwoman out loud even in the house.
"Yeah exactly." Dick smirked, "Nightlife."
By now they had arrived in the kitchen and took their usual seats. Selina was nowhere to be seen and Bruce was already seated and reading the morning addition of the Gotham Gazette, he had obviously showered and changed.
"Hey, Alfie." Dick chirped pleasantly.
"Good morning Master Dick, Miss Zatanna." The British butler nodded toward them, "What'll it be this morning?"
"Just eggs for me, thanks Alfie."
"And you Miss Zatanna?" The butler inquired.
"Same for me, thanks." Zatanna decided to keep it simple because, yeah, Selina had helped but she was still a little nauseous. She was thinking maybe she shouldn't eat too much. She didn't want to start at her new school throwing up, somehow she didn't think that would make a very good first impression.
Breakfast didn't take very long for Alfred to prepare, or for them to consume. Dang, the man could cook. Much better than her father could, for a moment she allowed herself to think fondly of the big messes he would make in the kitchen when he attempted to make anything other than Italian.
She couldn't help a small smile and she looked at her lap. She glanced to the side to see Dick looking at her curiously and she blushed and shook her head. He simply looked away and they sat quietly as Alfred briefed Bruce on his schedule, which was unsurprisingly very long. He was the CEO of Wayne Tech. after all.
"So, got everything?"
Zatanna once again glanced at Dick and smiled at his cocky expression. "I think so."
"You sure?" He asked, smirk still firmly in place.
She tilted her head and smiled.
Dick cleared his throat and adjusted his tie importantly and she giggled. She reached her hand up to her neck, surprised to find that he had been right.
"I guess that's a point for me then." He laughed and she rolled her eyes at his reference to their earlier game.
"Be right back." She sighed tragically, "I guess I really can't get out of it."
"Nope." His smirk grew into a lazy smile as she walked out. He really was cute she realized.
She hurried up to her room and grabbed her tie. She rolled her eyes as she realized she had no clue how to tie it. She sat there hopelessly for a moment before laughing at herself. She was a magician!
"Eit eit" She whispered.
She stuffed the tie underneath the sweater and, satisfied with her appearance, left the room and headed back down the stairs.
Alfred was waiting in the main entryway with Dick walking towards him holding his backpack and hers.
"Thanks." She huffed as she reached them and he offered her a nonchalant smile in return.
"So, zeta tubes right?" Zatanna had almost forgotten about that.
Dick nodded, "Yeah, and today, at least, I'm going to go with you. You still don't know how to get to school from the tube, and Gotham is a pretty bad place to be if you don't know your way around."
Zatanna nodded slowly as they turned, "It kinda seems like it would be a bad place to be in general with the way everyone talks about it."
Dick shrugged as the walked, "I mean, you're not wrong. It's not great, but Gotham Academy is in one of the better parts of town so, not as bad. Which by the way, is the only reason Bruce is letting you walk to school, even if it is only a few blocks. If GA was in a rougher area we would have figured something else out."
"Mmm." Zatanna hummed, "And is he still planning on teaching me some self defense?"
Dick smiled back at her, "Well he was going to leave that more to Selina, if that's okay. I can help out too though."
Zatanna couldn't help but feel relieved, Selina was nice enough, but really she was just glad she didn't have to train with Batman. Bruce was intimidating enough, but Batman, he was a whole nother level of scary.
"That sounds great."
"Cool."
Dick lead them over to the study and didn't bother knocking before entering this time. Zatanna was relieved to see it was empty, no awkward encounters this time.
They paced toward the grandfather clock, Dick turned the handel and the entrance revealed itself. They made their way quietly down the stairs and into the batcave. Dick punched in the coordinates easily and they were off in a whoosh.
Zatanna grabbed onto the wall of the...telephone booth? She stabilized herself with it and stood up straighter.
"Okay, we have like ten minutes to walk two blocks, shouldn't be too hard." Dick stated, poking his head out of the tight booth.
Zatanna nodded when he glanced back at her and he stepped out of the booth. She followed, as she stepped out she gave the alley a cautious lookover. She followed Dick out of the alley and noticed he looked just as cautious. That put her on edge, she thought he would be more comfortable here in Gotham.
As they emerged out onto the street she looked around, taking in the city, this was her first time here after all.
It was dark and damp, even though it hadn't rained. Today's sky was clear yet the atmosphere seemed to be gloomy and grey. The city and its people almost seemed to be sick. The buildings were either very slick and polished glass, or dark and grimy. In the distance she could see a few crumbling buildings and rotting sheds. She wrinkled her nose at the sheer despair that seemed to resonate from the people and their city. The air smelled kind of sour. She heard car horns honking and people here didn't seemed to be even a little ashamed of dropping the F-bomb, she heard it frequently.
"Yeah, it's not for everyone." Dick said almost darkly.
Zatanna didn't answer, she just walked silently, taking care to stay close to the undercover Boy Wonder.
It didn't take them the ten minutes to get to the school. It had taken about six and now they were closing in on a big open gate. The school was huge. It looked old but she could tell there had been some upgrades. There were students mingling on the steps leading up to the courtyard, and others leaning on the pillars at the top of the stairs.
She saw Dick wave at a pretty redhead at the bottom of the stairs who was talking to a blonde girl. Dick took ahold of her wrist and pulled her over to them.
"Hey Dick, who's this?" The redhead asked kindly.
"This is Zatanna, Zatanna this is Barbara Gordon," He gestured towards the redhead, "and this is Bette Kane." Then he gestured to the blonde.
Zatanna smiled, "Hey."
"Her dad just transferred to a Wayne Tech. facility here in Gotham." Dick told them confidently.
Barbara nodded, "So that's how you guys met?"
Zatanna nodded along with Dick.
"Cool," Bette commented, "So, what grade are you in?"
"Ninth, but I'm not sure what classes I have yet, I still haven't gotten my schedule." Zatanna had actually forgotten about that.
Bette nodded, "That's okay, you will get it in home room, and you should have a student liaison."
"Yup, I'm her student liaison." Dick chirped up and Bette rolled her eyes.
Zatanna just smiled then scanned the steadily growing crowd of people. Wait...was that…. No way. Artemis?
She looked at Dick who had been following her gaze and he smirked. She had about a million questions, but she wisely held her tongue, this wasn't the place.
Zatanna listened to the conversations of passersby as well as her own groups as she waited for the bell to ring. They had about three minutes to go when a petite brown haired girl with green eyes a-nd cute freckles walked up with a tall black haired boy on her tail.
"Hey guys, who's this?" She asked coming to a stop next to them, the boy looked at Zatanna curiously.
"I'm Zatanna, and I'm new, obviously." She smiled at them and they returned the favor.
"I'm Penny, this dork is Dean." The girl, Penny, piped happily, "Beckett not here yet?"
Dick shook his head, "He's probably just late." The five of them laughed, Zatanna decided that Beckett being late must be a regular occurrence.
"No, he is not!" Everyone turned to see a short but cute African American boy jogging over towards them. Zatanna joined in when they laughed this time.
The bell rang just as Beckett reached the group and Dick bumped her shoulder lightly and nodded towards the building. She swallowed before nodding and following him up the stairs. She took a deep breath and gathered her courage before stepping into the building.