Chapter 3-Breaking Up…and Hope

Rachel woke up the next morning with Belle curled up on her stomach. Rachel could feel the cat's contented purring in the quiet morning.

"Do you mind?"

Belle looked up, clearly not expecting to be woken so early.

"Off!" Rachel cried. Belle hissed and leapt to Rachel's desk, sniffing the Geometry book curiously.

"Crazy cat," Rachel mumbled. Sighing, she rummaged through her vintage CDs. They had belonged to her mother and had been safely stored in the car the night of the fire. Finally, she found the one she wanted: J. Roman. Rachel loaded the CD into the stereo and pressed play. As the song came to 'Where are you?' Rachel began to sing along softly.

It was a really old song, but Rachel loved it ever since the first time she'd heard it. She'd come home from school one day to find her parents slow dancing in the living room, gazing into each other's eyes fondly.

Pushing the memory away to concentrate on what had to be done, Rachel picked out an outfit. She dressed in a plain pink scoop neck shirt and faded low-slung jeans, her favorite outfit. Rachel glanced in the mirror, liking what she saw: a reasonably attractive young lady with startlingly emerald eyes and ebony hair. She began to pull her hair back and put in up in a pony tail, but something stopped her. She brushed it out, secretly enjoying being a slight bit girly.

"Hey."

Rachel turned to see Terry in the doorway, Belle rubbing against his ankles.

"Hey, Terry," Rachel replied, hoping to sound casual but sounding breathless instead.

"Your hair looks nice down, Rach."

"Thanks. By the way, do you ever knock? I could have been undressed or something."

Terry shook his head. "No. And what would be so bad about you not being dressed?"

"Who would have guessed Batman is a crazy teenage boy who likes to see his partner undressed?" Rachel said, observing his reaction carefully.

He didn't show a sign of any emotion other than being slightly amused. "I think you're beautiful," he said seriously.

"That's both creepy and flattering," Rachel said quickly, not wanting to interfere with his relationship with Dana in any way. Besides, she liked their teasing game of insults better than this suddenly solemn conversation.

"I see your point," Terry said in mock tones of seriousness. Inwardly he was cursing his stupidity.

'Why would I say that she's beautiful? Yeah, she's gorgeous, but I have a girlfriend who I have known since fourth grade and have been dating since we were freshmen. And she would never like me even if I didn't have a girlfriend and was even interested in her, which I'm not. I couldn't date Bruce's granddaughter; he'd kill me. And why does Rachel even have this effect on me?' he wondered.

"You know what-" Rachel began, bringing him crashing back to the plane that most of us refer to as reality.

"Just stop it, Batgirl."

"DON'T CALL ME BATGIRL!" Rachel shouted.

"Anyway, I came to see if you wanted a rematch from the sparring competition from Sunday."

"You want to lose to a girl again?" Rachel asked sassily.

"I'm not going to lose," Terry replied arrogantly. "Anyway, I'll be ready to show you that Gotham is truly a bat territory after school at 3:15 in Bruce's gym."

And with that, he turned and walked away, leaving Rachel to sigh over her handsome partner.

Aside from her slight case of nerves from the upcoming sparring match with Terry, Rachel was a little anxious for another reason. Something very interesting happened right before lunch.

Max was stuck at her locker, thanks to a couple leaning across it, making out. Terry had left his supposedly 'lucky' pencil in the English room and had raced off to get it. So Rachel walked to the cafeteria alone. Fighting her way past a few other kids, she saw Dana, Terry's girlfriend. She almost stopped to say hi but couldn't in her shock.

A blond guy, no doubt a varsity captain of some sport or other had walked up behind Dan and slipped his arms around her waist. Rachel's jaw dropped, causing several passing teenagers to stare. Rachel ignored them; nearly vomiting at what she saw Dana and the blond guy doing.

Dana had turned around in Mr. Varsity's grip and was now kissing him full on the lips.

"Oh, no she didn't," Rachel muttered. She felt like giving Dana a good kick but decided against it.

'And now I have to tell Terry.'

How was she supposed to do that? It would break his heart, she knew it would. She could ask Max how to do it, but Max would probably just blow up at Dana.

'Maybe I could just talk to Dana. But then she would just say I'm making it up if Terry talks to her about it. The simplest thing to do is just tell Terry what I saw and let him deal with it. It's going to hurt me so much more than it will hurt him. Why do I get all the hard problems?'

Sad as she was for Terry and his soon to be broken heart, Rachel couldn't help being furious with Dana. It showed in gym; she became Coach Kirby's favorite student. They were playing volleyball in the gym, all girls on one side of the gym, boys on the other. A group of boys who hadn't yet noticed Rachel around school were staring at Rachel as she spiked the ball for the fifth time in a row, her gym shirt coming up just a little.

"Who is that?" one moronic pig remarked to his friend, who was another moronic pig.

"That would be Rachel," Terry said coming from behind them. He felt protective of her, not wanting any idiots drooling over her.

'Who am I kidding? It's not like she's my girlfriend. Why is Rachel making me feel this way?'

Terry arrived right on time for the sparring match. Rachel didn't notice him at first and continued to practice aiming her starbolts at a small stuffed dummy that looked oddly like the original Joker. Terry stood watching her, getting the same feeling he'd had all day around her in the pit of his stomach.

'I need to stop thinking like this. Dana is my girlfriend and I love her,' he told himself harshly.

Right about then, Rachel realized he was there.

"Thought you wouldn't show, especially after what I did last time," Rachel said, smirking.

"It was my challenge!" Terry cried, exasperated.'

"So what? Doesn't mean you would actually show up."

"Whatever, Grayson. Can we start already? It's 3:20 and I have to meet Da-"

He was interrupted by a kick to his left shoulder.

"Ready to lose, McGinnis?"

"Not likely," he replied.

Right off the bat Rachel was pretty much winning…again. But then she got to thinking about how cute he was when he was sweaty and it distracted her…

Terry aimed a particularly good punch to her stomach (A/N Don't worry, it didn't hurt her or anything) and she hastily lost her balance.

Rachel prepared herself for an impact with the gym floor…one that never came.

Terry had wrapped his strong arm around her waist securely, preventing her from falling. The strange feeling (one of a strange combination of happiness, confusion and contentment) exploded in the pit of his stomach.

'What is going on? I barely know Rachel. And then there's the fact that I already have a girlfriend. But there's just something about her…'

"Um, Terry, you can let go now," Rachel said with a small smile.

"Sorry," he said, grinning sheepishly. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No, you didn't. Like you could anyway."

"I could so!" Terry shot back.

'What an ego,' Rachel thought. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"OOOOK. What's going on? Some guy at school hitting on you?" (A/N This is for you, Katie. Hope Gary goes to he- well you get the picture)

"Well, it's not really about me, actually."

Terry gave her a funny look, one that clearly showed his confusion.

"It's about you and Dana," Rachel said hesitantly.

"Now I'm really confused. What do you know about me and Dana that I don't?"

"I…I…I saw her with another guy. They were…kissing."

"Another guy," Terry repeated slowly, not managing to hide his hurt.

Rachel nodded. "I'm so sorry, Terry. If it makes you feel better, he was blond and stupid-looking."

Terry sighed. "I know why she was with him. He's Alex Sullivan, her ex-boyfriend. I was an hour and a half late for our date the other night. You know, when the Jokers attacked you with knockout gas? Yeah…it's my fault for not being honest with her about being Batman. This is why she's doing this: to put me through the hurt I put her through all the time."

"This is my fault," Rachel corrected. "If you hadn't been so concerned about me, you would have been on time."

"No it isn't Rach," Terry insisted. "I thought she had been acting oddly for awhile. And really, it's been over for a long time. I just didn't want to let her go."

"She was special to you, Terry," Rachel said gently. "Of course you didn't want to let her go."

"So, thanks," he replied awkwardly. "I'm going to break up with her."

"So, who won?" Rachel asked teasingly.

"It's a tie, Grayson," Terry growled. "I'll talk to you later."

Then next day at school, Terry, Rachel and Dana were followed by whispers everywhere they went.

"I heard the new girl is what caused them to break up," some freshman-looking girl whispered to another girl as Rachel walked to class.

"No, don't be stupid, Terry was found with Dana's cousin in the backseat of his car."

Rachel wheeled around to correct the girls but Max caught her by the arm.

"Easy, Firewing," she hissed. "They're idiot freshmen."

"Max-" Rachel protested.

"Can you believe Dana, anyway?" Max demanded, changing the subject.

"No I can't. Terry is a great guy."

"Didn't you hear why she was with Alex Sullivan?"

"Terry said it was because he was late for their date and she wanted to get even."

"Partly, but she also claimed Terry didn't pay her enough attention."

"How? He tried to be there, he really did."

"I know! She is such a slut!" Max ranted.

"OK, Max, breathe," Rachel said. "You remember breathing, right?"

"I knew he deserved better," Max spat, glaring in the direction of Dana.

"I didn't want to tell him, but I had to and I did. Was I wrong? I mean, I know his personal life is none of my business. It's Thursday of my first week at Gotham High. So much has happened so fast."

"You were right to tell him Rachel. I know it, Terry knows it, and even Dana knows it. You've been a better friend to Terry in five days than Dana has in two years. Besides, you deserve him. He totally has eyes for you," Max replied.

"He DOES NOT have eyes for me," Rachel insisted.

"I saw him looking at you in gym the other day. He had the "look" expression."

"WHAT are you talking about?" Rachel demanded.

"I've known Terry long enough to tell when he has a crush on a girl. When he realizes he does, he looks at the girl in a way that shows his affection. It's the exact same way you look at him."

"Terry likes me as a friend. That won't ever change."

"Oh? What about him carrying you home and tucking you in? If that wasn't love, I don't know what is."

"That happened before the gym incident," Rachel pointed out.

"So what?" Max countered coyly.

"We're friends!"

"For now. You know you have feelings for him, Rachel."

"Stop the whole me and Terry thing. I like him; that's enough for me."

Several weeks later, Terry still seemed to be doing OK. He showed no signs of being broken, and Rachel was happy about it. She allowed a small part of herself to hope he did have feelings for her, as Max thought.

In the mean time, Rachel's own feelings for him were growing.

'Wow, he looks so good when his hair falls into his eyes,' she thought, watching him bent over his math notes, cramming for a test they were taking in five minutes.

"Earth to Rachel," he said. "How do you do this again?"

Smiling slightly, she sat down beside him, putting her hand over his and showing him how to solve the equation.

'Oh, yeah, those two have it bad,' Max thought smugly.

A few nights later, Terry stopped by Wayne Manor.

"Hey, Rach. Can I ask you a favor?" His eyes were hopeful.

"OK."

"Great. Listen, Batgirl-"

"I AM NOT BATGIRL!"

"You're my Batgirl. Anyway, my mom is making me watch my little brother Matt on Saturday. He's ten and he always wants to do the brother bonding thing."

"So where do I come in?" Rachel asked sarcastically.

"I was kind of hoping…maybe you'd come, too."

"Why not?"

"You are an angel," Terry declared, kissing her on the cheek. "I will see you tomorrow, OK?"
February 26

Terry kissed me. On the cheek, but still. Wow, he is hot. And I think I told him I'd help him watch Matt on Saturday. I can't even remember.

Rachel

So…how'd you like? I thought it turned out well…leave a review, as always!

-iluvrobbie