Sylvia Wayne "Wildcat"
Gotham
January 25, 2011
"I bought it, so I'm driving it to school." I told my father as I put my backpack in the front trunk. Currently, I had the money hidden in a metal box behind some loose wood paneling in the back of my closet. Today, I wore my hair down with a black knit hat with my red parka. I wore black tights with my uniform, my oxfords tied tightly.
"You still haven't answered me as to how you payed for it." My father was pinching the bridge of his nose, aggravated by the situation.
"Dick! Get your but out here! I'm driving us to school!" I shouted at the house before turning to my dad. "I've been saving my money, baby sitting for the upper class and all my spare cash, I've been accumulating it for years and yes, this is what I spent it on. Don't like it? I don't care." I snapped at him, climbing into the driver's seat and closing the door. Dick came out of the front door, still bleary eyed but was awake enough to look confused as to why I was in a brand new car. I pointed to the trunk in the front end of the car and he nodded, putting his backpack in before closing it.
"Sylvia Rose Wayne, don't you dare make me ground you." My father was angry with my behavior, but I just glared at him.
"Sorry that I'm upsetting you, Bruce." I snarked, starting the engine of the car. "Oh, and by the way, I didn't buy it. The note said it was from my mother. Maybe I wouldn't be so mad at you'd actually tell me who she is." I stared him down as I rolled up the window. He was speechless as I pulled away, driving perfectly normal so as not to worry him more than I already was. I felt awful, doing that to him. But I would rather him be disappointed than angry with me. I could make up for that disappointment and then some with all of the good things I've done as Sylvia Wayne and as Wildcat. I could redeem myself from that disappointment, but I couldn't have to worry about being forgiven for something that wasn't actually bad if he could know the truth. I looked over to Dick while we were stopped at a light.
"That was intense." Dick spoke up, sighing as he ran his hand over the red leather. "So your mom gave you this?" He asked as I got my eyes back to the road and pulled forward.
"Yeah, mystery mom of the year. Who ever she is, she sent me a belated Christmas present." I sighed, doing my best to lie to him. From what I could tell, it was easiest to lie while driving because it makes sense that you can't look them in the eye, you have to keep your eyes on the road. So far, he was totally believing me.
"That's so weird. You would really wonder, why now, after all these years?" Dick got into his detective mindset, but I ignored it.
"I must say, the woman has nice taste in cars. This is the newest model, this year's fastest street legal model out of any manufacturer." I started to gawk at my own present. Dick ran his hands on the leather once more.
"I hope I get a car like this. This thing is amazing." He smiled, staring at the dash. It wasn't long before he was playing with the radio. He landed on the song, You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift and we both started belting the lyrics as I drove. Dick was doing his best to hit the high notes, in spite of the phenomena of his not-so-newly-discovered puberty.
"She wears high-heels, I wear sneakers. She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers!" Dick sang first, dancing in his seat like a tween girl. I got ready to belt.
"Dreamin' bout the day when you wake up and find that what you're looking for has been here the whole time!" I belted, and then he joined me and we were singing at the top of our lungs, stopped at another red light while the car next to us was staring.
"If you could see that I'm the one who understands you. Been here all along, so, why can't you see? You belong with me!" We sang together, but I cut us off as we pulled into the school parking lot. I didn't realize how many more people stared at me today than yesterday. People were in awe of the car, and even more people were trying to get close to see who was behind the wheel. I sighed as I pulled into a parking space close to the entrance to the school.
"Dick, whatever anyone asks about the car, don't… don't say anything." I made him promise and he nodded.
"Are you lacking faith in my social abilities? I'm whelmed." He laughed before putting on his usual pair of sunglasses. The sun was blinding on this cold but clear winter day, the light reflecting off all of the snow. I reached into the glove compartment and grabbed the sunglasses from last night. After putting them on, I felt the confidence I had last night. No one could rain on my parade today. We both opened our doors at the same time and climbed out of the car. Our classmates and even some teachers were staring with interest, trying to figure out the owners of the Bugatti. I opened the trunk and pulled out my backpack, waiting for Dick to grab his before closing it.
"Oh my god." I looked over and saw Bette. Her protein bar slipped out of her hand and it hit the pavement. "Sylvia… is this your car?" She looked at me in absurdity as her eyes flitted between me and the car.
"Uh… yeah. Let's get to class, shall we?" I asked her, walking past her and the other students to head into the school. I felt embarrassed, with all the eyes on me. But at the same time, it was something I felt as Wildcat. The public always watching me because I was the hero, I was going to always save the day the best way I can. Now, I was a newer version of Sylvia Wayne. It was just time for me figure out if this was the best Sylvia I could be.
"Hey, Sylvia." Artemis said as I sat down next to her in Biology. I found out yesterday that for second semester, we were lab partners in the sophomore chemistry class. I was bored out of my mind, the elementary skills they were teaching us. The one thing that angered me the most about this class was how it was the only one I couldn't get into an advanced class. Not because I wouldn't qualify, but because the science tracks at Gotham Academy are set per grade. This semester, I was in all senior classes. AP English, AP U.S. History, Calculous, and Drawing and Painting Four. I had two electives, World History: Crimes Against Humanity and Computer Programming. I was every college's dream student in every way, but I was limited by the science tracks. The only edge we had, was that every science class gave us the option to take an AP test at the end. The next two years of my life would be electives, independent studies, interning, and being teacher assistants.
I made it halfway through my day without a problem, until lunch. I was just sitting at the lunch table with the girls, and I just picked through my salad. I had just broken down, coming back from the lunch line with a hamburger and fries, a fat cookie on the edge of my plate. I was calmly horking down the burger, listening to the gossip coming from the girls. They were spending their time, trying to socially catch me up on everything I missed when I wasn't at school. There were people hooking up, people breaking up, people getting into huge fights, just the usual. But what really struck a chord, was when my super hearing caught the sound of one senior, Donald Taylor, was pestering Dick, trying to haze him for being a freshman. I dropped my food and got up, dramatically, making sure my chair screeched as I stood, slowly approaching them.
"Don't be like that, Dick. You and Gordon are perfectly capable of handling my History and English papers." Donald stood above Dick, trying to intimidate him as he friends stood behind him, like his own high school henchmen.
"Screw you, Barbara and I don't have to do squat for you." Dick tried to defend himself without fighting, we weren't allowed to do that. Civilian rules of being a Bat protege. But Donald was having it, his hand grabbing Dick by his shirt, ripping him out of his chair, and pushing him into the wall.
"I need that paper by Friday, nerd. Get it done, or you're going to have to answer to my friends and I at the end of the week." Donald had Dick backed into a corner and his larger friend, Marcus Winslow, had Barbara stuck in her chair. He wouldn't let her leave to go tell a teacher. No one else was even paying attention. Not until they saw me coming over, the look of rage filling my piercing green eyes. I had that special expression on my face, the one my father used to keep other people in line. I was radiating fear based on the looks on the faces I passed.
"I'm not doing anything for you and your bird-brained pals." Dick said before doing something he shouldn't have. He spat straight into Donald's face. That, the offensive act, set him off.
"Why you little-" Donald wound back his fist to punch Dick, but in the blink of an eye, I was between Donald and my little brother, stopping his fist with one hand. "Back off, princess, we're a little busy." He tried to command me. I simply started to laugh, tightening my grip on his fist until he took in a sharp breath.
"Big mistake, Donnie." I said in a low tone before grabbing his jaw with my other hand and squeezing until he was panting with pain. He let go of Dick to grab my hand with his free one, but he couldn't pull me off of him.
"Let go of me, bitch." He growled in my hand, but that was an even bigger mistake. You never call me a bitch. I twisted his arm behind him, still ready to shatter his left hand. He groaned, trying not to make any noises so no one would see him getting dominated by a pint sized female, definitely a fourth of his body mass. I pressed his arm into his back as I leaned to whisper in his ear.
"Okay, bitch. Talk my brother without permission, I break your arm. Talk to Barbara without permission, I break your arm. Threaten them, I break your leg. Touch them, even the slightest brush in the hallway, I break your jaw. Hurt them, and I'm going to get that precious aluminum baseball bat of yours, the one you bat with in the spring, and I'm going to put it where the sun doesn't shine. Then I'm going to kick you and your brainless friends' asses so far south, you'll be Dora and the Explorers." I looked over to his friends, who were frozen in fear. Marcus was slowly backing away from Barbara and the other was about to make a break for it.
"You're crazy." Donald said before I kneed him in the stomach.
"Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?" I stated so crisply that he flinched at every word.
"Crystal." He whispered. I let him go before turning to Dick.
"You okay?" I asked as the three boys ran out of the cafeteria. Dick was on the verge of laughter at the sight of them running in fear from a petit junior.
"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks." He smiled, but he lost that smile when I turned around, realizing that the entire cafeteria was silent. Everyone was watching what I did. "Still feeling the aster." Dick said, that made me feel a bit better, but people were still staring. As I walked back to my seat at the lunch table, people were getting back to what they were doing before I had made a scene.
"That was intense." Artemis commented next to me, under her breath.
"No kidding." I replied, and she was shocked I even heard her. There'll be a time and a place when I tell her who I am, and it'll all make sense to her when I do. But for now, I just had to get through my afternoon classes before it was time to go to the Cave.
At the end of the day, Dick and I left to get in the car, people staring once again as we drove away, the engine of the car purring. Just to spend time together, I drove him downtown. We did our homework at the cafe in the park, just to get some time away from everything. Sometimes, we just need something different in our daily routine. When we were finished, we went to dinner at a French Restaurant, just him and me, brother and sister time, before went home. But the time we got back, the street lamps had turned on and I had to use my brights to see the streets in the suburbs by the manor. Once we were at the Cave, Robin got straight into training with Aqualad as I went to hang around with Wally in the kitchen, waiting for it to be our turn on the training platform.
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