High School. The words sounded scarier to Hailey than they actually were. It was different from her previous school but not necessarily bad. Everyone was taller and louder and more colorful than she remembered. Of course, it may have to do with the fact that she was attending a public school instead of the private school with the uniforms and expectations of behavior that tended to make the place toned down in color and sound. Hailey remembered comparing public school to a park and private school to a museum. And the comparison still held ground as she stood in the courtyard and saw how full of life everyone was. The fact that no one noticed her made her breathe a sigh of relief. In Blüdhaven, she wasn't Bruce Wayne's adopted daughter. She could be anyone and nobody.
Hailey met up with Brittany and Ben in the cafeteria that first day. They didn't have any classes together but Brittany and Ben had three of the same classes. Though Hailey didn't think it mattered, it wasn't like she could talk to them during class. It only meant that they wouldn't have any projects to do together. Even though that sucked, Hailey was happy. Living with Dick no matter how small the place was, it was better than the big empty manor. She missed her dad but her brother made it for his absence.
A week into High School and Brittany and Ben had made friends of their own. They stopped eating lunch with Hailey but it was fine, she had made a friend of her own. Valerie Pallares. She was a sophomore but most of the kids in Hailey's advanced classes were either sophomores or juniors. Valerie was short but just so happened to be an inch shorter than Hailey. Her hair was wild and curly. And the first conversation they had touched a subject that made Hailey feel naive and so very young that she wished she'd never skipped a grade.
Hailey was quiet the first three days of school. She felt nervous about starting conversations with her peers mostly due to the age gap between them. On the fourth day, the choice to start a conversation was taken from her, Isabella Richalla who sat behind Hailey leaned over her desk and whispered to Hailey but Valerie heard her as well. "Is it normal for periods to be late?"
Hailey blushed and shook her head. But then she quickly added after seeing Isabella's horror-stricken face that she wasn't sure. Because Hailey didn't know anything more about them than what Brittany told her when her curiosity got the best of her. She hadn't even had her first period yet. According to Brittany's aunt, it was perfectly normal for some girls to get their first period as late as fifteen. And for some reason, Hailey thought that was what Isabella meant.
"No," Isabella corrected. "I already get them but I'm late this month. But I've never been late. So I'm worried that I might be, you know?"
"Oh," Hailey said and then tightened her lips because she didn't know what the heck Valerie was talking about.
"It'll suck if she has to drop out," Valerie, who sat next to Hailey, leaned over to whisper. The teacher shushed them. They were supposed to be reading.
Drop out? Why would she need to—Oh, oh! Oh my god! Hailey thought when the entire conversation finally made sense to her.
It was no surprise to either Hailey or Valerie why Isabella had not returned to school the next day. Valerie had a bet going on with her that she would return in less than two weeks. She didn't think Isabella would keep the baby. Hailey didn't even want to consider what she would do if she was in that situation. And lucky for her she was not. And she never wanted to be.
Valerie won the bet. Isabella returned to school before the end of the following week. And Hailey didn't think Isabella could look more nervous than she had the week before. Hailey made polite conversation with her which consisted of a 'hey' on her first day back and a 'are you okay?' at the end of class. Isabella smiled and nodded. And then she finally opened up to both girls as they walked to their next class together. Isabella didn't stay in school, she dropped out a month later. Turned out, she decided to keep the baby and didn't drop out until her morning sickness started. She wasn't going to finish the school year and opted on going to night school until she had the baby. Isabella's turmoil had cemented a friendship between Hailey and Valerie. They were inseparable for the rest of the school year.
The circumstances also made their way to the dinner table. Dick asked Hailey how she was liking High School. Hailey answered that it was fine. Then casually added that one of her classmates might be pregnant right when Dick was taking a drink from his soda. Dick spit out the drink and coughed for almost an entire minute afterward. Later that evening, Hailey received a talk that was eerily similar to the one that Bruce had given her. Once Dick was finished talking, Hailey made that known and pointed out that Bruce had not been so nervous giving her the talk. Dick glared at her angrily and then tickled her until she asked for mercy. The next time Hailey spoke to Tim, she told him about it and they were both laughing for a good ten minutes at Dick's expense.
To avoid having to tell Valerie that she couldn't hang out with her after school, Hailey signed up as an after-school math tutor. Her teacher encouraged it and told her it would look good on her transcripts. It wasn't that Dick hadn't given her permission to hang out with any new friends she'd made in her new school, it was that Hailey didn't feel very comfortable being alone with Valerie outside of school. She always felt like she had to act a little more mature and constantly found herself calling Brittany in the evenings to ask her questions about something or other that Valerie talked to her about. In short, she felt like a baby when she was with Valerie. And even though Tim and Jason had been older than her, they never talked to her about boys and sexuality and gender or masturbation. Not that they were topics that Valerie talked about nonstop, more like they came up more often than not and Hailey was so confused most of the time that it made her feel insecure around her new friend. She was a bit upset about the fact that she'd been so sheltered and that she was now having to play catch up. But at the same time, Hailey wanted to hang on to her innocence. She was not ready to be a young woman. She still wanted to be a kid. And she missed Ben and all his childlike wonder. Ben was too busy with his new friends and teammates to give her more than a passing hello. And it was fine. She would have to grow up one day. She just didn't want it to happen so soon.
At school one day, Hailey noticed a group of three boys walking out of the art building. She was on her way in and was walking alone. But the boy at the far end caught her eye. His hair was brown and reached his chin. He was a little lanky but he carried himself with confidence. There was a deep frown set in his brow as if it were permanent. Hailey never saw that look on anyone other than Bruce when he thought no one was looking at him. Not even Jason had that look. Not even when he was angry or sad. This look was something different. It reminded Hailey of deep loss. Her eyes widened when the boy looked her way. Their eyes locked and she sensed a glimmer of recognition in the boy that mirrored her own. But she had never seen that boy before. His eyes looked so familiar, though. Neither stopped walking and they both turned to look at one another even after they'd passed each other up. Someone held the door open for Hailey and the boy finally turned to look at his friends when one tugged on his arm.
"What are you doing, John? She's a freshman," one of the boys said before the door closed completely.
Hailey didn't hear the boy's answer but she was embarrassed about the entire thing. She ducked her head and hurried to class. Two days later, that same boy signed in to be tutored. Hailey wasn't the only tutor in the room and he didn't sit in her section. But throughout the next two hours, they constantly made eye contact. If she was talking, he'd turn to watch her. And she did the same thing. His voice was like a homing beacon and his eyes were a distant dream. Hailey didn't know how she knew him but she was certain she did. He left before she did so she didn't get a chance to even say hello. Though he looked back through the doorway from the hallway to get another glimpse of her and she felt brave enough to wave him goodbye. The boy gifted her a tiny smirk and head bob before he disappeared from sight.
Hailey checked the sign-in sheet for his name. All she knew was that his name was John but there weren't any Johns on the sign-in sheet. Hailey frowned and tried to remember the time he'd walked in. His name should've been somewhere in the middle. The only boys' names she found were Seth, Jordan, Mackenzie, and Ryley. She looked through the names again and wondered which could be unisex. Mackenzie, Ryley, and Robin stood out. She went into the teacher's computer and looked up the names since the students' pictures would come up. She looked up Mackenzie Fleming first but he wasn't the right boy. Ryley Graham turned out to be a girl. But Robin Blake, middle name John, was the boy that Hailey had been fixated on. She looked at the boy's eyes and his first name, back and forth. Then it was as if a haze in her mind had cleared. Robin was the boy who'd saved her. The boy she dreamed about for years. And he must've known who she was too.
Hailey let out a drawn-out breath before she started to laugh. Because Robin John Blake did not need a tutor if his grades were anything to go by. He had found out she was a tutor somehow and then joined the tutor session to see her again. It made her happy but sad at the same time. Because he was probably hoping that she'd recognized him. And even though Hailey had, she also didn't put two and two together until she had the name that went with the face. But maybe that counted for something. She had been six when she was rescued. And she'd had amnesia to boot. Regardless, she never forgot his name or his eyes. He looked different than he did then, it had been eight years after all.
Hailey came to regret that entire year by the time summer rolled around. She had wanted to talk to Robin. But she never could muster the courage to do anything more than smile and wave. She gave him a Christmas card before winter break which left him stunned. When they came back to school, he caught up with her between classes and walked her to class. He handed her a card in celebration of the new year which made her laugh. They exchanged Valentines in February. Hailey was aware it wasn't a romantic gesture. Robin was very much aware that she'd skipped a grade and Hailey had no idea how she felt about the boy. He was something of a friend but their conversations never went beyond small talk and a tease here or there. The card exchange was just something between them. She always addressed the cards to 'Robin, John, what's the difference?' and signed them 'You, my friend, can call my Hal or Hel whichever is easier for ya'. He addressed the cards to 'Hailey or was it Helena?' and signed them 'Spelled like Robin but sounds like John'. Robin knew her birth name was Helena but other than teasing her about her name in the cards, he never asked her why her name changed. Much like she didn't question why he always corrected her when she called him Robin. "It's John," he'd say in a stern voice and a beat later, he'd wink at her. Hailey would giggle with a shake of her head.
Valerie teased Hailey in good humor about her puppy love. There were days she would be downright mean and yell at them from down the hall. "Get a room and fuck already!" Valerie had her moments but all in all, she was a good friend. She didn't have a boyfriend and she didn't want one either. But the will-they or won't-they dance that Hailey and John had going on was too frustrating for her to watch. When she spoke to John in private, he told her to fuck off in so many words. Hailey laughed when she heard about that and told Valerie that they were just friends. Valerie was not convinced.
When the spring dance came along and John had a date that wasn't Hailey, Valerie saw the hurt in Hailey's eyes and decided that they were going to the dance with dates of their own. That wasn't something that Hailey wanted and she managed to convince Ben to go with her so that she could get Valerie off her back. Ben happily agreed and asked one of his buddies to go with Valerie. They had fun until they didn't.
Ben kissed Hailey on a dare and even though she didn't react at the moment it happened, she snuck away and called Dick so that he would pick her up. It took Dick twenty minutes to arrive at the school only to find Hailey being consoled by a boy much older than her. He introduced himself as a classmate and briefly told him what had happened.
Dick was incensed and he went into the school gym to drag Ben outside. He scared the boy shitless and would've put a restraining order on him—only because his moral compass wouldn't allow him to actually kill a teenage boy—if Ben hadn't apologized profusely. Hailey also defended Ben, on the drive home, telling Dick that it was just a harmless bet and that she wasn't crying about the kiss. It was the fact that it had been her first kiss and she didn't even like Ben. Dick would've facepalmed if he didn't know that it would hurt her feelings. He had assumed that she felt violated about the entire thing. But to Hailey, Ben had ruined the magic of her first kiss. Ben, her stupid friend that could never turn down a dare, wasn't even thinking with his dick. It was harmless. A peck—a fucking peck—on the lips! Dick felt like an idiot for overreacting and hoped that whoever was listening to his inner dialogue would do him the favor to please seal Ben's lips. The last thing Dick wanted was for Ben's family to find out that he'd threatened the boy over a childish prank.
Dick felt like he was losing his mind. Between working for the BPD and as Nightwing during the late hours of the night and making sure to be there for Hailey whenever he needed her, he didn't have much time for his girlfriend. He kept turning to Barbara Gordon, his oldest friend, whenever he needed to vent about anything. Barabara was the only one who knew about every part of his life. He'd tried something with Bridget, his former building manager who was now in medical school, but things didn't work out. It was inevitable for him and Barbara to get together. But when he couldn't even stay until the end of a date because for Dick his role as big brother slash guardian came first. Barbara wasn't too happy about that. Especially since Gotham was no longer No-man's-land.
Reconstruction was underway and Gotham would be back in a matter of months thanks to the rebuilding collaboration of Wayne Enterprises and Lexcorp. There were a few more names involved including the government to help bring Gotham back to what it once was. Luckily, the entire city hadn't been reduced to rubble during the earthquake. That was why the city would officially reopen in record time.
Bruce was back in the manor. Bristol hadn't been affected to the extent that most buildings in Gotham had but since Bristol was within city limits, it had been included as No-man's-land. Knowing that Bruce was back at the manor, Barbara wanted Dick to send Hailey back to her father. Dick didn't think it was reasonable. Not only was Bruce busy with the reconstruction efforts, but the city wasn't officially opened. It was still recognized as a natural disaster. The schools would be the last thing to reopen. Hailey was better off in Blüdhaven. But making Barbara understand that was another matter.
Hailey had always been aware that Barbara Gordon was not a fan of hers. What she didn't know was that Dick would actually start to date her regardless of that fact. And even though he always had her corner whenever they argued, Hailey didn't think it was fair to Dick that she was the cause of his problems with his girlfriend. Because at the end of the day, Barbara was right. Hailey should be living with her father and not with Dick. She wasn't aware how much of a burden she'd been on Dick. So when Barbara decided that if Hailey didn't go, she would; Hailey had no choice but to take the decision off of Dick's hands.
The school year was over faster than Hailey would have thought possible. And if she would've known that she would only have one perfect year alongside her brother and her new friends in school, she would've treasured them so much more than she had. She would've talked to John more. She would've hung out with Valerie more after-school. She would've made time to watch Ben practice and gone to more of his games. She would've talked to Brittany more at school and not just a few occasions over the phone at the beginning of the year. And she would've admitted to herself that she did have a huge fucking crush on John. And not because he had saved her when she was little but because he was handsome and funny and he saw her for her and let her see him for him. She cried as she packed a bag at two in the morning when she knew Dick would be fast asleep. She was only taking essentials. She could come back for whatever else she needed later. But she had to leave before Barbara broke her brother's heart. Hailey wasn't blind, she was very much aware that Dick was in love with Barbara. And it didn't matter that she didn't think she deserved him. All that mattered was that she went back to the manor so that Dick could get on with his life without her holding him back. Or that was one of the things Barbara had said and Hailey believed her. When she opened the apartment door, she said a quiet goodbye to Dick before she ran off into the night.
Dick didn't know that Hailey had heard him arguing with Barbara about her. If Dick would've known that Hailey was aware of those arguments, he would've broken up with Barbara before it was too late. Essentially, hindsight is twenty-twenty.