THIS CHAPTER WAS UPDATED AND PROOFREAD FOR TYPOS, GRAMMAR, AND PLOT/TIMELINE ISSUES AS OF 7/17/2020
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Six thirty AM had rolled around too fast in Anslee's opinion, then again she never was a morning person, she much preferred the Night Owl /Or bat if you get me/ Life. But when her alarm went off for her to wake up for school, she rolled over with an audible groan to turn off her alarm. Before she'd been able to even roll back over to go back to sleep, her door opened and the light was turned on.
"Rise and Shine," came Rachel's voice a little too dapper for Anslee's liking.
"Mom," Anslee groaned, sitting up a bit to look at Rachel who was already up and ready for her day, "You never do this, what's the deal?"
Rachel strolled into Anslee's room, bottles in her hand filled with medication, stopping at her desk and setting them down, "Just laying out your meds, making sure you take them before you head out, you tend to be very forgetful in the morning, you should try going to bed earlier," the mother snickered, opening each bottle and placing the correct amount of each on Anslee's desk.
"I'm fine with the amount of sleep I get, thank you," the teen sat up and rubbed her eyes, "I thought about what you said last night."
Rachel paused and looked over to her daughter, "What I said? You mean about your father?"
Anslee nodded, "It's not as easy as you're making it out to be, he missed the first nine years of my life, and no one will even tell me why, I mean I'm almost eighteen years old and I can't be trusted to know why, and then Mr. Playboy Billionaire struts back into our lives and wants everything to do with us. I know you want me to give him a chance, but he's had eight years to build something and time and time again he's neglected it. I mean Harvey's made a better effort than him."
Rachel stayed silent, looking to the floor as she searched for the right words, "Anslee, he had to leave to better himself. After Joe Chill, the man who killed your grandparents, was murdered after his probation trial, Bruce was upset because he wanted revenge. And let's just say he went away to learn to control his need for revenge, it was a danger to himself and he couldn't stick around to watch those around him worry while he suffered with his internal issues. Honestly I never thought I'd see him again and he'd left before I could tell him he had a two year old...more so I didn't tell him. I didn't want to throw him off of what he was doing, I knew he needed the help and he wasn't in any position to take on the responsibility. As long as I'm being honest, I wasn't either. But when something comes as unexpected as you were, you've got to make sacrifices," Rachel looked over to the teen, "I think he's come to the realization he's missed out on too much, even after he came back and he's seen where he made his faults. I know how aggravating it seems, but at least he's made up his mind. This is your last year you've really got before you start college, don't waste it dwelling on any of this," Rachel moved from the desk and stood in front of Anslee, reaching down to kiss her head, "Get ready for school, I'll meet you in the car at seven thirty," she smiled softly before leaving the teen's room.
Anslee sat in her bed for a few more minutes contemplating what Rachel had told her. What had she meant by revenge? Did Bruce plan on killing Chill himself after the trial? And why didn't she tell him she had his two year old daughter? Maybe he would have stayed and they wouldn't have to be dealing with all of this right now. They'd be happy as a family. But instead they were in this debacle. The brunette sighed to herself before getting out of bed and proceeding to get ready for her day.
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Anslee had breezed through the first four periods of her school day with ease, she'd luckily hadn't missed much from the first four hours she missed for her doctors appointment the day prior. Now, during her fifth period study hall, the teen sat in the library going over a few things for an American History test she had coming up at the end of the week. Jenni sat at the table with her best friend, typing something vigorously on her laptop while softly humming the lyrics to whatever song she was listening to through her earbuds plugged into the PC.
Anslee flipped over a flashcard to write the date on it for a term before glancing up, seeing a boy enter the library with a few of his friends. This boy wasn't just any boy, this boy was Nico Gargano. Call it cliche, which it is, but he was the mostly popular senior guy in the high school. Captain of the Soccer team, Nico led the team to victory at the state championship and could be friends with who he wanted when he wanted. Anslee would be lying if she said she didn't have the slightest crush on him just like every girl who'd ever lay eyes on the boy. Standing six feet three inches tall with pitch black hair and olive skin, if looks could kill, Anslee would have dropped dead on the spot any time he walked into a room. The girl watched as the boy and his friends, who she vaguely knew, joked around as they walked towards a table with their backpacks slung over their shoulders. A smile formed on her face as she heard him laugh, but before her Nico daydreams could persist, she was pulled out of her dream state when fingers snapped in front of her face.
"Hello? Anslee you still with us?" Jenni asked, frowning as she pulled both earbuds out of her ears.
Anslee snapped out of it and looked back to Jenni, "What do you mean? I was still here," she quickly lied.
"You were most definitely hardcore staring at Nico," Jenni smirked before taking a drink out of her water bottle she'd picked up off of the table.
"Was it obvious?" Anslee whined, sinking low into her chair in embarrassment.
"Incredibly," Jenni put the bottle back down before gazing at her best friend, "You know if you really like him you should just tell him, I can guarantee you he'd most definitely be down to hang out with you. Do you know who you are? The daughter of Bruce freaking Wayne!"
"Stop reminding me," Anslee groaned before sitting back up in her chair and picking her pencil back up, "It's not worth trying to get him to like me now, year is almost over anyways.'
"Well you do know what's coming up?" Jenni glanced over to Anslee, wiggling her eyebrows at her, "Proooom," she spoke in a singsong voice.
"No, you are out of your mind if you think Nico Gargano would ask of all people, me to prom, besides, I don't think I'm going anyways, it's a waste of money and you do nothing but overspend on dinner and then sweat for three hours on a hotel dance floor around people you hate," Anslee snickered across the table at her friend.
"That may be so, but it's Senior Prom, you can't miss out on Senior Prom, it's our last little farewell to this place, you can't miss it," Jen persisted with a frown, "Even if you don't find a date, we'll go as our own little group and neither of us will have to deal with a date."
Anslee thought about it for a second, "Okay, I'll settle on a maybe for now," she half smiled at Jenni.
"Good, because I went online prom shopping and happened to find a few dresses I thought would suit you, you know being your best friend and all, and you should take them into consideration," Jenni smirked, turning her laptop screen to the website for a local prom dress store in Gotham.
Ans rolled her eyes before pulling the laptop towards her, "Where oh where would I be without you, Jen?" she mumbled.
"I know I know, I'm great," The blonde responded with a snicker back.
"Do you think Nico noticed me staring at him?" She asked in a somewhat quiet tone as she scrolled through the archived prom dresses.
"Well, you could ask him, he is heading this way," the blonde looked at Anslee and then past her.
Anslee paused, looking up at Jenni, "What?" she asked before turning around to see, in all his hunky glory, Nico Gargano standing above her.
"Anslee, hey I was wondering if you had those notes from last Friday's American History class? I was out for a doctor's appointment and you're top in the class so I'm sure you take pretty good notes I can comprehend," The smooth voice of the fellow seventeen year old spoke.
Ans was a bit paralyzed looking up at the raven-haired boy for a few seconds before snapping out of it, responding, "Um..yeah, I wouldn't mind if you used my notes," she spoke quickly, rummaging through her book bag for her notebook.
"Don't worry about pulling them out now, how about you just send me pictures of them?" he chuckled, watching her scower her bag for the journal.
The brunette stopped and looked back up at the boy, "Uh, sure if that's easiest for you, I don't exactly have your number though," she nervously laughed.
"Really?" Nico looked dumbfounded, "Weird, I thought you did, well," he paused, leaning over to pick up one of Anslee's blank flashcards and her pencil, scribbling down a series of numbers, "Here you are." he smiled, handing her the card.
"Thanks," Ans smiled, taking the card from him, "I'll send you the notes when I get home, you know how school signal can be."
"No, thank you," Nico smiled in return, "By the way, heard about your accident on Friday, hope you're doing okay, looks like the guy did a number on you."
Ans paused for a second before nodding, "i'm fine, but thank you, things are healing well so far."
"Good to hear," Nico nodded, "Well I've got to head out, bell's about to ring and my next class is in the Senior Center, I'll see you around."
"See you around," Anslee managed out before he walked away.
Jenni and Anslee were left at the table in a mutual silence for a few seconds, "Oh my God, did that just happen?" Jenni finally spoke up.
"Yup," Anslee quickly answered, frowning as she replayed the scene in her mind. She sat for a few more seconds before the bell rang, signalling class had ended.
Both girls stood and gathered their things, "He's totally into you, you think he just gives out his number to anyone? He literally could have just taken the pictures of the notes himself." Jenni gushed.
"Hush!" Anslee prompted, slinging the bag over her shoulder with a small smile on her face, clutching the notecard with Nico's number in her hand tightly.