Chapter Twenty-Eight
Deja vu...
The week seemed to fly by quickly for the young Flash family because it wasn't long before school was back in session. But it wasn't until a week later that Artemis found herself being asked to sit in on her daughter's gym class. From what she understood, some of the teachers had started to complain that the gym teacher was bullying some of the students. Even Kara had stated that said teacher would single out certain students if they did something wrong. It was because of this, Artemis had agreed to sit in on her class' gym time.
She slipped quietly into the gym a few minutes after class had started and leaned back against a wall.
'So this is what Déjà vu feels like,' she thought watching her students play dodgeball.
Like in her coma dream, some of the students were sitting on the sidelines watching the others play. It wasn't until about five minutes in that one of the balls came rolling to a stop in front of her.
'Please, PLEASE, do not let this be like that dream.' she thought as she reacted down and picked the ball up.
She glanced at the teacher to find he was more preoccupied with the game than what she was doing.
'I wonder how long it will take before he realizes I have this.' she thought. Her gaze slowly moved towards the students on the side to find her daughter watching her. She held a finger up to her lips and winked letting the young girl know not to say anything.
Kara returned the gesture before the gym teacher suddenly yelled, "Crock, you know better than to daydream in my class. Front and center now. You're facing the boys alone."
The young girl looked at the teacher for a brief second before getting to her feet slowly saying, "Yes sir."
As she went to over to one side of the gym, she stole a glance at her mother to see her give a slight flip of her right hand and mouthed 'make it count'.
A smile spread across the girls face as she took her place on the field.
"Ready?" the teacher asked looking at the one side. He never bothered asking the young girl before blowing his whistle.
Using what she had been taught, Kara started to dodge each of the projectiles that were thrown at her.
'So the complaints are true.' Artemis thought. She pushed off from the wall and walked over to the gym teacher as she watched her daughter start to catch the dodgeballs and throw them back.
"You do realize this can be considered bullying don't you?" she asked standing next to the teacher.
"You daydream in my class and you will get punished however I see fit," he said sounding upset, "Now get back over to where the rest of the girls are or go to the office."
Artemis smiled as she said, "Make me." The teacher turned around and froze seeing it was the blonde teacher.
"Looks like the complaints against you are true," she said before turning to watch the game, "And yes, the principal will be hearing about this."
Once the last of the students was eliminated, Kara looked over at her mom and asked, "Is it lunch time yet?"
"Lunch was a few hours ago, Kara," her mother said looking at the gym teacher, "Jenny, run to the office and ask the principal to come here for a minute. I want the rest of you to go relax."
"Nobody move!" the gym teacher yelled as he looked Artemis in the eyes, "All of you are still on my time."
"And you still have at least three other limbs I haven't broken yet," she retorted, "Want that number to become zero?"
"That won't be necessary," they heard a voice say from the door. Everyone looked over to see the principal standing next to a well-dressed business man.
"Principal Blackthorn." Artemis said watching the gym teacher out of the corner of her eyes.
"So I take it the complaints were true?" he asked walking over.
"Every word." she said turning to face the gym teacher.
"Oh come on, Paul; you're not seriously going to listen to some skirt are you?" the gym teacher asked looking the principal.
"I'm not the one that has one student face the rest in a one on twelve game of dodgeball," she said coldly, "Especially for doing nothing more than waving at their own mother."
"That's it, Terry," Paul said with a frown, "You're done. Go clean out your desk and get out."
"Are you kidding me, Paul?" Terry asked stunned, "You're going to take the word of some stupid blonde?"
"My mom doesn't come to work drunk, use bad language in front of us, or threaten to smack us for asking to use the bathroom." Kara said standing next to her mother.
"Shut your mouth, Crock, or else." the former gym teacher barked at the young girl.
Artemis grabbed the front of the man's shirt and pulled him close before saying, "Threaten my daughter again, and it will be the last thing you do."
She shoved the man backwards as the principal said, "Last time I'm going to tell you this, Terry. Get out, or I call the cops." Terry didn't say a word as he left the gym.
"Would've be fun to watch him get dragged out," Artemis said before looking over at the man that had entered with the principal, "No offense, but who's the guy in the suit?"
"This guy is Clark Kent, from the Daily Planet," the principal says looking at her, "He's here to do a story on you."
"Why me?" she asked a little surprised.
"Ms. Crock, out of every elementary school that was recently tested, your class alone had the highest test scores in recent history," Clark said looking at her, "I was actually hoping to sit in on your class for the rest of the day."
"No one just sits in on my class," she said looking at the reporter, "You want to stay, than you put an effort into wanting to be there."
"Ms. Crock, why don't you go ahead and show Mr. Kent where your classroom is?" the principal said with a smile, "I'll send your students back after gym."
"Yes, of course. Right this way, Mr. Kent." she said before heading towards the exit.
Once they were in the hall, she looked at him and whispered, "What are you even doing here, Clark?"
"It's like I told your principal," he replied just as soft, "My boss sent me here to find out why a first grade class had the highest test scores in the past ten years."
"You're kidding?" she asked a little skeptical.
"Your class' score beat the combined scores of twenty-four smartest students at Gotham Academy," he said as they reached her classroom.
"Ok, now what's the unofficial reason you're here?" she asked once they were inside.
He waited till the door had closed before saying, "I will explain that in a minute."
"You have no idea how much I hate that phrase," she said before sitting at her desk, "Did my class actually beat Gotham Academy?"
"The only class that even comes close to the score yours hit was when Dick Grayson was there," he said pulling up a chair and sitting down, "You beat them by one point."
She was silent for a few seconds before saying, "Outside of knowing a certain redhead that is going to have a hay day once he finds that out; I'm not sure what to say."
"I can think of a few others that will probably act the same way," he said smiling, "Especially when it comes to a certain person we both know. So congratulations, Artemis, you found the perfect way to troll the troll."
She started laughing for a few seconds before saying, "To quote my daughter; 'he's easy to troll'."
He leaned back in his chair and smiled before saying, "I think everyone is easy for her to troll, and I have a message from Bats."
"And just what might that be?" she asked.
"Kara is banned from hustling." he replied before they heard the bell ring.
"Who did she get now?" she asked with a sigh.
"Nobody," he said smiling, "Barry found footage of when she got Bruce and showed Wally; who went and broadcast it all over Watchtower."
She sat there quietly for a few seconds before asking, "Dick was involved with that wasn't he?"
"Just like old times." he said before he started laughing.
"As glad as I am those two can prank each other again, I honestly hope Kara never makes a friend like that." she said as they heard the bell ring.
"What's wrong with that?" he asked a little surprised.
"You really want mine and Wally's daughter to find her own version of Dick?" she said smiling a little.
"Oh dear god no." he said with a slight shutter as her students entered the room.
Once all the students were in their seats, Artemis resumed class, and true to her word, she had threatened to send Clark to the principal's office several times. After about the fourth threat, Clark started participating and now saw why Artemis' class did so well on the tests.
