Sylvia Wayne "Wildcat"
September 24th, 2010
Gotham Academy
People droned about the halls as everyone made their way to their last class of the day. With it being friday, everyone was anxious to get out of school, but I was hanging onto my last shred of occupied time. The second school let out, I had to change into the outfit I had in my bag, and make my way to a coffee shop in this part of town where no one, especially my father, would catch me in the act of meeting with my mother. Currently, they were all under the impression I was going to Bette's house for a few hours since we were apart of the Social Committee, currently planning the homecoming dance occurring tomorrow. The only trivial thing I was actually worrying about was the fact that I didn't have a date, which Bette kept getting on me for. Lucky for me, there was a masquerade theme, so if it came down to it, I would easily be able to bring Wally as long as I kept him and Artemis from talking. Not for my sake necessarily, but for her's. It wasn't my secret to tell that she wasn't Green Arrow's niece.
My french class was droning on and on, but every time I was asked a question en français, I replied with ease, thankful that I took independent studies in order to be more useful in the field since being an apprentice of a Justice Leaguer takes us all over the world. I kept watching the clock, digging my nails into my desk as the seconds counted down. The moment the bell rang, I snatched up my books and made my way to my locker, carefully switching out my books to take my homework home. I took my things and slipped away before Dick noticed I was gone. I went into the bathroom in the bookstore across the street to change into a pair of jeans, and a black longsleeve, putting on a Gotham Knights baseball cap.
I walked across town to the designated coffee shop that I decided on since Selina doesn't know Bruce as well as she used to. The place had horrible coffee, so he would never see me here since he and I preferred good coffee. The only upside to this location, was that their pastries were delicious. So I sat with my backpack at a table in the corner, already having ordered a cinnamon roll and paying with cash as I waited for her to show up. I began to grow impatient as I barely touched the cinnamon roll. The clock above the baristas just kept ticking as the minutes flew by. Eventually, I ended up pulling out my phone and calling Wally. After the third ring, I was about to put my phone away, but I finally heard his voice answer.
"Hello?" He answered, and I had to admit, my heart was doing little relay races in my chest. My eyes wandered around the cafe, watching the baristas make coffees and the baker make the pastries off to the side.
"Uh, hi! It's Sylvia… er… you already knew that." I was getting completely awkward and we were only on the phone. He just laughed and I pushed my cinnamon roll around the plate with my fork.
"Hey, I'm at the Cave and Rob told me you're on the homecoming planning committee, and won't be at the Cave till later." Wally spoke quickly, I could hear his smile and it was making me do the same.
"Yeah, I have to do a bit of planning with Bette later." I replied, taking another bite of my cinnamon roll.
"Later? What are you doing now?" He questioned, my eyes going wide.
"Just hanging out with Bette, I'm starting some of my homework at her house." I lied, trying to sound as normal as possible, he just laughed.
"You're such a nerd sometimes." He joked and I remembered there was something I actually had to talk to him about.
"Hey, so speaking of my homecoming dance tomorrow and since we're best friends and I know you have a suit somewhere in your closet…" I started to ask him and he laughed once again.
"I would love to accompany you to your homecoming." He smiled and I was becoming excited, slowly taking my stress away from my impending meeting with my mother.
"It's a masquerade so I can get you a mask too. It starts at eight so you can come to mine at six thirty so we can be at Bette's by seven for pictures before the dance?" I told him, hoping to confirm when suddenly noticing a white limo pull up. The second the door opened, I saw her green eyes flashing at me. She walked out, dressed to the nines like a corporate business woman. She walked in and ordered a coffee before sitting down next to me.
"Okay, well I'll be there." He said in an elated tone. I just looked at Selina, not knowing exactly what to do at the moment. "Is everything okay?" He asked after a long pause.
"Yeah, I have to go but I'll call see you later for training." I just hung up and slipped my phone into the front of my pocket. She leaned back and crossed her legs.
"Who was that?" Selina asked, tucking a strand of her brown hair behind her ear. There was this interest twinkling behind her eyes.
"None of your business." I said quickly before taking another bite of my cinnamon roll. She just released a light chuckle.
"Oh come on, darling. I'm trying to be apart of your life and I can't if you shut me out." She started making this pouty face that was a bit awkward on a grown woman. I just gave in, feeling embarrassed to be associated with that face in public.
"Fine, it was the boy who is taking me to the homecoming dance tomorrow night." I let it slide as she grinned about that little detail. I couldn't help but smile with her.
"What's he like?" she questioned, genuinely interested in who I spend my time with.
"I mean, we're best friends." I sort of just shrugged it off, not necessarily wanting to talk about it to her. She just sat there with her mouth sarcastically agape.
"I want to know more about this best friend of yours that you think is worth enough to take you to homecoming." She just seemed to into this that it was throwing me off. She was so committed to staying out of my life before and now all she wants to do is be there.
"Well, he's always running his mouth, kind of like the class clown of our friend group." I began, slightly laughing. "He's a science genius while being super hyper most of the time so it's actually really fun when I hang out with him. There usually isn't a dull moment with him." I looked down at the cinnamon roll, not really knowing how I should be behaving right now, so I just took the last bite.
"That's adorable, and if you want another cinnamon roll, I'm thinking about getting one myself." She offered politely and I nodded.
"Sure, thanks." I responded quietly, checking my phone as she walked away. To my surprise, there were seventeen unread text messages. All were from Bette about an emergency with the caterer so I have to make a call since I'm the only highschooler on the committee that the companies actually take seriously, so I'm always the one doing the talking and making the important calls. I knew I had time before the restaurant closed, so I put my phone back in my pocket after responding to Bette saying that I would handle it.
"Everything alright?" Selina asked as she sat back down with two cinnamon rolls, placing one before me.
"Oh, yeah. Just some trivial stuff that comes with being on Social Committee. Our caterer is an idiot." I said with a smile, cutting into the cinnamon roll. Selina just smiled as I spoke, beginning her own cinnamon roll.
"Well I could help with that…" She offered, raising her eyebrows, her green eyes gleaming in a way that mine never do. It wasn't necessarily the color, but the way I could see her emotions through them. I just shook my head and half smiled.
"It's okay, I just have to make a call and if worse comes to worse, I have to pay their restaurant a visit, but I definitely have it handled." I assured her, taking another bite of the cinnamon roll. Selina seemed to have this idea pop into her head, her body language pointing towards reminiscing.
"You're so much like your grandfather Rex. He's got that kind of mentality when he's doing business." She seemed pleased with my taking after him, but my smile shrank. I was uncomfortable with this comparison in every sense.
"Rex Calabrese? Of the Calabrese crime family?" I inquired for better clarification, despite that I knew this for a fact, having done research on Selina Kyle as well as facial recognition in order to find out other things she's been involved with. I was positively thorough with my background research on her and surprisingly, not everything I learned was bad.
"Well, you've done your homework." Selina smirked as she cut another piece of her cinnamon roll. "I wouldn't expect anything less being your father's daughter." She added, seemingly pleased with my behavior so far. I peeked out the window next to us and and noticed the white limousine once again, driving down the street.
"Well, I didn't want to come into this completely in the dark about your past. It helps to have a lot of details." I responded, pulling off my baseball cap to push my hair back before putting it back on again.
"Makes sense." She said before leaning across the table and whispering. "I wouldn't trust me either." She whispered so quietly, but it was easy for me to pick it up with my enhanced hearing. "Criminal comes forward and says she's your mother doesn't exactly scream trustworthy. But I can assure you that I am telling you the truth and I promise I won't get in the way of your life. I just want to know my daughter." She spoke quietly, and it seemed genuine. Her heart didn't skip a single beat and stayed at a steady, relaxed pace.
"Don't worry about me thinking you're lying. I can actually hear your heartbeat, so you could say that I'm like a lie detector, side effect of being a lab rat." I replied in an equally low whisper. She seemed to find me extremely interesting, her demeanor changed completely after I said that.
"That's incredible. Like I said when we met, criminal life would come easy to you." She smiled, taking another bite of her cinnamon roll. I did the same as the two of us sat in silence. "But I wouldn't make that offer unless I actually believed you would accept, kitten." She nicknamed me and oddly enough, I just went with it, enjoying the idea.
"I don't think that would be any time soon but appreciate the high expectation." I smiled, finally feeling like I was clicking with her. The conversation came easy and she didn't even sound serious in offering the position and we were just relaxed, having a real conversation. I was having a real conversation with my mother for the first time in my life.
"So, back to the important stuff," She took a breath, "like what you're dress looks like for tomorrow." She smiled, actually excited for my to go to highschool dance. I just opened up to her, happy to talk about something as simple as a dress. The conversation just flowed as the two of us just could not stop talking about things like fashion and how somethings are just so hard to pull of, even segwaying our conversation to ridiculous celebrities and music. We were there for about two hours when I got a call from Bette.
"I have to go, there's starting to be a lot more problems than just the caterer. It was nice to spend some time with you." I told Selina, getting up and putting our empty plates in the dirty dish pile by the trashcans.
"Likewise, I guess I'll be seeing you again sometime." She smiled, involuntarily hugging me. The two of us seemed awkward for a moment, but we just rolled with it. Waving goodbye as the white limousine appeared once again to pick her up. I grabbed my backpack and hailed a cab. On the ride over to Bette's, I called the caterer and had a conversation with the manager as well as the owner, threatening to take my business elsewhere. The second they fixed the issue of a wrong date a amount of each appetizer, I promised them to put them on the Wayne Foundation vendors list for galas and fundraisers. When the cab stopped, I paid the driver and ran up to Bette's door and let myself in.
"Thank god you're here, Artemis is on hold with the DJ. Apparently he was double booked and has to do the other event and the our order for decorations were messed up. They gave us pink and red streamers instead of white and silver as well as the balloons and confetti in the wrong colors." The blonde kept running her mouth and I just put my hands on her shoulders.
"Bette, breathe. Take a deep breath and calm down. I fixed everything with the caterer and if you put me on the phone with the DJ, I will only need five minutes before he's back on board with doing our event and the decorations are simple. I can have the store deliver the correct stuff to my house tomorrow morning and I'll bring it to the gym the moment I have it so we have enough time to set up." I promised her as she took her deep breathes. Artemis removed the phone from her ear and held it out in my direction.
"Oh my god, you're a life saver." Bette said with relief as I went to grab the phone from Artemis. I put the phone to my ear and immediately heard the hold music stop.
"It's Vince, so I am sorry but I can't DJ your event tomorrow, but I can guarantee forty percent off your next booking." I let the man finish before I said anything.
"I'm sorry, Vince is it? but you're going to have to make that offer to the other client because I can either blackball you in the performance industry, or ensure that you are the most sought after DJ in Gotham and surrounding cities." I stopped, waiting out the silence that followed as the imbecile on the other line took a minute to comprehend what I just said.
"You're just some high school student, you can't actually-" He was doubting me but I interrupted.
"You're going to stop talking, and you are going to listen because I'm only going to say this once. My name is Sylvia Wayne and before you ask, yes I am the daughter of Bruce Wayne. This means, if you choose us, I am your in to the gala, fundraiser, and party circuits for not just the Wayne Foundation and Enterprises, but all the major corporations with locations in and around Gotham. I will also be your connection to the personal party circuit of Gotham's elite. Do you understand?" I waited for him to respond and once again he was a bit slow comprehending. Bette and Artemis were looking at me with hope, both blondes pulling their hair.
"I understand. You want me to bring in my equipment at six?" He asked to confirm, suddenly changing his mind to appeal to our needs. I smiled at the girls and they silently celebrated, jumping up and down and dancing around the living room.
"If I'm going to supervise your setup, you will come in at five thirty to start setting up, just like the caterer because your employers are teenage girls that are attending this dance and we need time to get ready for it." I told him in a forceful tone, the girls dancing around the room, Bette suddenly jumping onto the couch and jumping on the cushions.
"Yes, ma'am." He replied quickly.
"Five thirty and not a second later." I spoke in a forceful tone before hanging up the phone. We all quickly celebrated by eating pizza on the roof of Bette's house for a bit while we all started our homework while I multitasked, calling the party store about the decorations. We hung around for an hour or two more before Artemis and I left to go home. I ditched my backpack in my room before making my way down to the Batcave, slipping on my uniform, and taking the Zeta-tube to the Cave.