Chapter 4- The Mayor's Ward and School
Anna straightened the tie around her neck. She had been living with Oliver Queen for four days and besides going shopping with Felicity Smoak and Oliver's sister Thea, Oliver had lowered a new boom on her. She had to go to school. And not just any school. She had to go to a private school, which involved school uniforms. Anna had always been a loner at Star City High School, with the exception of going out to eat at Big Belly with Owen. She was perfectly content to hide out in the library during lunch, reading books about Tudor England, wondering how she'd look in an Elizabethan dress. Now she had to go to a new school with a bunch of stuck-up snobs.
"Anna, are you ready to go?" Raisa asked, coming into the room. In four days Raisa had proven herself as much like a mother as Anna's had been.
"I'm not used to wearing a tie to school, Raisa. I only did it once during school spirit week and I borrowed my stepfather's. I feel like I could hang myself with it," Anna said, blowing out her breath and looking at the tie critically in the floor-length mirror.
"You'll get used to it. Oliver and Thea did. Now Oliver is going to take you to school. It's only fitting since he is your guardian. But first you eat breakfast," Raisa said as she escorted Anna out of Anna's bedroom. Anna's school shoes clumped noisily down the hall. No one would have worn these at public school. They were too bulky. It was like wearing steel-toed shoes. Anna had checked the shoes to make sure they weren't steel-toed. After finding out they weren't, she came to the conclusion that they had to be composite-toed.
Oliver was at the table with John Diggle, both men drinking coffee. "You look good," Oliver commented.
"Uncomfortable is more like it, Oliver. I've never worn a tie to school before," Anna said sitting down to an English muffin with turkey sausage and cheese on it. In four days Raisa had also proven to be a health nut. At the moment Anna was craving a Big Belly burger, not a whole wheat English muffin with imitation sausage and cheese.
"Well, it is the school uniform. Here, I think you're going to need lunch money," Oliver said, handing her five dollars.
"Thanks," Anna said, putting the money in the pocket of her pleated skirt, another thing she had never worn to school. She had worn either khaki slacks or blue jeans to school.
"That should cover most of this week, with the exception of Thursday and Friday. Also on Friday the school lets its students wear regular clothes. You look as if someone is shooting you and I'm thinking it's because of the clothes," Oliver said lightly.
"You must be a mind reader, Oliver, or one of the X-men. That is exactly what I am thinking. Like I told Raisa, I could hang myself with this tie. I can't believe I let myself be talked into this," Anna said, jerking at the tie, wishing she could jam it down the garbage disposal. It wasn't like the school could expel her for not wearing it, could they?
"Anna, you have to wear it. There are a lot of things in life that we have to do that we don't like to do. I know the tie is uncomfortable and you are probably not used to wearing a skirt to school, but it'll get easier," John said in a soothing voice.
"That's what my dad would say. I kinda wish he was here right now," Anna said ruefully.
"What happened to your dad?" Oliver wanted to know.
"Don't know. He promised the last time I saw him that he'd be there for a school event and he didn't show and that was the norm for him. He never showed for school events, but it's as if he disappeared off the face of the Earth. I read what Harrison Wells wrote about different Earths and his quantum particle generator that made the metahumans, but I doubt my dad went to one of those realities. I mean, isn't the portal for that in Central City where the Flash is?" Anna asked.
"You would be correct. What's your dad's name? Maybe Felicity can find out about him," Oliver said.
"Cayden James. He ran a weirdo hacker group. I don't know much about it. Dad was really closemouthed about it. I think it's connected. I mean Dad disappears and my mom, brother, and stepfather all get killed practically in front of me and I never saw who did it," Anna said.
"I'll get Felicity and our friend Curtis on it. But now you have to go to school, Anna. Don't worry, he'll turn up," Oliver said in a consoling voice.
"I hope so. I'd love to ask him where he has been," Anna said, eating the last bite of her English muffin and the last swallow of orange juice.
"Here's your backpack. Raisa, we're going," Oliver called out. Raisa's voice was slightly muffled, but it was an indicator that she had heard. She was either in the laundry room or kitchen with her head in either the dryer pulling out clothes or cleaning the oven.
The school was like a huge plantation house. It looked freakishly enough like The set of Gone With the Wind." Anna was thinking that if she looked hard enough she'd see Scarlett O'Hara, Mammy, or Rhett Butler walking across the grass and a loud rendition of the opening theme to the movie. The last time Anna had felt that way was when Jim had taken her, her mother, and Owen on a riverboat like the gamblers used on "Maverick."
A portly man with a tie came up to them. He was balding, but he looked like one of those lawyers in a film who wore a wig and a robe in England. "Welcome to Fenwood Hall, Mayor Queen," the man spoke with a precise British accent and briskly shaking Oliver's hand.
"You're Headmaster Lowton?" Oliver asked.
"Yes, Mr. Mayor, and this must be your ward, Anna James," the man said, turning to look at Anna.
"Yes, this is Anna," Oliver said.
"Well, the first order of business is getting Miss James enrolled. Now where have you been going to school, young lady?" Mr. Lowton said.
"Star City High," Anna said as he walked her and Oliver to his office.
"A public school. Did the school have clubs and programs?" Mr. Lowton asked, with barely concealed disdain over, what Anna could figure, the idea of public school.
"Yeah. I was part of the historical and literary societies. I also was a part of the Dramatics Society," Anna said.
"No sports like the swimming team or girl's baseball or girl's basketball?" Mr. Lowton said.
"Of course. We have quite a few here too that are like that. Of course we don't have any openings in the three societies you mentioned until next fall. For the moment your schedule will be World Geography, Algebra, English, and Physical Science. You may pick three electives from this list. Also your counselor will arrange a meeting for you to discuss your schedule next fall," the headmaster said, laying a list of electives in front of her.
"I pick Gym, Journalism, and Home Economics," Anna said, looking through the list.
"Those are good course electives. Now, Mr. Queen, you may leave Anna and a student aide will escort her to her first class," Mr. Lowton said and Oliver left.'
A/N: I am trying to figure when I want Anna to discover when Oliver is the Green Arrow. I'm leaning towards the idea that she'll find out when Chase kidnaps everyone at the end of season five, but should I have her find out sooner so she can be involved when Felicity and Alena rescue Cayden from A.R.G.U.S.? And if I do the latter where she can save her father how will she find out Oliver is the Green Arrow? I am open to ideas.