Misfit

Chapter Seven

Disclaimer: Ey-Thay on't-day elong-bay o-tay e-may. O-Say ere-thay oo-tay.

Dick was right; it was a horrible day. Not only had Dylan and the other kids started teasing him the second they got out on the playground, but he got into another fight. And ruined yet another uniform.

Dick had just been heading towards his usual spot by the wall when he heard Dylan calling, "Hey, Circus Boy..."

That was really the limit. Dick just couldn't take it anymore.

"I told you to shut up!" Dick shouted.

Peter suddenly appeared from behind the tree Dylan had been leaning on, outnumbering Dick.

"And that goes for you, too!" Dick added loudly. He no longer cared if anybody killed him or not; he was beyond furious and nobody cared about him anyway. He could have a heart attack right here and now and nobody would care. So why not get killed in a school fight? It might end the misery.

"You'd better watch your language around us, kid," Peter warned. Both he and Dylan started circling the smaller boy.

"Same to you!" Dick said, his fists clenching. He followed the boys around to make sure he didn't let them out of his sight.

"You tellin' us what to do?" Dylan asked menacingly.

"Yeah! Got a problem with that?" Dick replied. He was beyond using common sense and didn't see Peter's rock hard fist coming before it drove into his stomach. Dick bent over, clutching his middle, and Peter knocked him over the head. Dick fell.

"Now what do you have to say?" asked Dylan tauntingly, standing over Dick. He was about to laugh, but Dick grabbed the larger boy's head with his feet and tossed him over. Dylan landed on his back. Some of the kids watching the fight had to laugh. That was, of course, until Peter glowered evilly at them.

But the damage had been done. The laughter had distracted Dick long enough for Dylan to recover, drag the smaller boy to his feet and deliver a good punch to the nose. When Dick stumbled backwards, Peter grabbed him and gave him an uppercut to the jaw. Dick fell again.

"Still wanna fight, Shorty?" laughed Peter as he watched Dick struggle to get up again.

Dick answered by kicking his shin and giving him a good knee-strike to the face. Then he turned and started punching Dylan for all he was worth.

"YOU THREE!" bellowed the principal, storming over to them for the second time in a week. "STOP FIGHTING RIGHT NOW!"

Dylan, Peter and Dick obeyed. Dick looked guiltily at Principal McNeilson while Peter and Dylan kept up their angry expressions.

McNeilson stood, arms akimbo, with an aggravated expression on her face.

"What are you fighting about this time?" she demanded.

"Dylan and Peter were teasing me again!" Dick cried almost instantly. He was too worked up to care if he was tattling or if it sounded whiny. "I told them to knock it off and they starting punching me!"

Principal McNeilson turned her steely glare on the two troublemakers to see if this was true. From their barely visible nods, it was.

She sighed. "Come with me to my office where we can work this out—again. But this time, maybe I can make an impression on you... I'm going to call your parents and have them come here to talk."

"WHAT?!" all three boys yelped, Dick loudest of all.

"You can't call Bruce! He'll murder me if he has to be called in because I got in trouble!" Dick protested. He turned his pleading eyes on Miss McNeilson, who was completely immune to the begging eyes and puppy-dog faces of students after years of being principal.

"I'm sorry, Dick, but if you're going to go around getting yourself into fights, I have to," said the principal sternly.

"But he didn't do anything wrong!"

All heads turned to the right. Grace stood there with tears in her hazel eyes. She had felt very guilty about not coming to Dick's rescue earlier that day, but she was definitely going to do something now.

"Dick didn't do anything!" Grace repeated. "He told them to stop, and they threw the first punches. Dick was just defending himself! Please don't get him into any trouble. Please?"

The Principal looked from one solemn face to the other. She sighed. "Alright. Once again, all four of you are coming with me to my office. We'll discuss this there, and then I'll decide whose parents to call."

Dick cringed slightly at the word 'parents'. Technically speaking, he no longer had any. While Bruce did provide him with food and clothes, and put a very expensive roof over his head, Bruce Wayne wasn't nearly as fatherly as Dick's original had been.

In the principal's office, each student gave his or her side of the story. Dick and Grace claimed that it was Dylan and Peter's fault, while Dylan and Peter tried to place the blame on Dick and Grace. It was a principal with a major headache who passed the verdict:

"Dylan and Peter, you two have been causing trouble since kindergarten. I never thought I'd say this, but thank goodness that next year is your last at this school, and I feel very sorry for the next principal you learn under! Anyway, I'm calling both your parents. Dick, you're free to go, but if I catch you in one more fight, then I'll have no choice but to call Mr. Wayne in."

"Yes, Miss McNeilson," Dick said jovially, ignoring the warning looks on Peter and Dylan's faces.

"And stop by Nurse Takei's office on your way back to class," advised Principal McNeilson. "Grace, you make sure he does."

"Yes, Miss McNeilson," Grace and Dick replied. They both got up and left the room as McNeilson began dialing the Andersons' phone number.

The two didn't say anything for a while, until Dick finally broke the uncomfortable silence just down the hall from Nurse Takei's door.

"Ummm... about what you said earlier..." he said awkwardly.

"Yes?" Grace asked. She hoped they could become friends—not boy-and girl-friend: just plain, ordinary friends. It had been so long since she'd had one!

"I was thinking... you were right. Not everyone in the world is nasty," Dick said. "It's just been real hard lately; everyone I've met in the past couple of months hasn't liked me very much and half the stuff I don't even wanna talk about yet but... could we be friends? Not mushy friends; just friends?"

Grace smiled wider than she ever had.

"That is, if you don't mind being friends with a Circus Boy," Dick grinned mischievously.

"If you don't mind my being a Savage, I don't mind you being a Circus Boy," Grace said. She cringed a little at the word 'savage' but figured that if Dick could call himself a Circus Boy, she could call herself a savage... just this once.

The two shook hands and walked into Nurse Takei's office. As just plain, ordinary friends.

Reviewer Replies:

And no, this is not leading to a romance of ANY kind! There is no romance in this story--I wouldn't allow it. :)

Bumpkin--Thank you for the exemption and thank you for the review. :D 'Preciate it.

Jenn11--That was my reaction when I learned of Billy's punishment, except I threw a party, too. ;-)

Neoinean--I guess that means you like it then. 8) And here's the rest of it.