The festivities have only just begun and we've already had our first felony.

Only minutes before the Homecoming Dance ended, the car owned by one Victor Stone was found crashed at the foot of a light post in the student parking lot. Stone had been turning in his last enrollment papers at the school office when the crash occurred and returned to see his ride severely damaged with the drivers' door ajar.

"To be honest, the welcoming committee could use a different approach," Stone, 17, joked dryly. "But hey. I'm in auto shop…consider this my first project."

School officials are very intent on catching the culprit. Some Jump City High students are hoping for the best. "I have complete faith in the officials on the job," former student body vice-president Roy Harper, also 17, assures. "I trust that all persons involved in this mishap will face the consequences and the rest of us will see justice in this situation soon enough."

Raven glared impatiently as Garfield finished reading the article in the school newspaper that she had slapped into his hands as soon as he'd joined the rest of the group at school the next morning. "Well? Still feeling proud of yourself? You've just made the front page of the first school newspaper of the year in the worst possible way."

"Please, Raven…" Kori sighed.

Garfield gulped as he stared at the large picture of the now broken white and blue car, just below the heading "SMASHING KICK-OFF TO THE NEW YEAR STARTS AT HOMECOMING DANCE." "Hehehe…I guess it would be safe to say that I'd hate to meet this Victor guy, huh?"

"Just keep a low profile, Gar," Richard muttered wearily. "People are out looking for you now."

"Not only you. They're looking for everyone else involved as well," Raven seethed. "Which just happens to be the rest of us."

"Go easy on him," Jinx urged calmly, as if Garfield wasn't there. "He'll learn soon enough…"

"Yeah, as soon as he can bring the dinosaurs back to life…"

The bell rang just then, and they all went their separate ways.

XXXXX

As usual, Richard and Raven were among the first to reach their classroom. They watched boredly as the other students filed through the doorway and to their seats. "Wallace got rejected by another college yesterday," Raven murmured monotonously. "That's the third time so far. He's just about to give up."

"Make sure he keeps trying," Richard advised. "I'd hate to see him quit so soon…"

Their conversation was interrupted by Rorek's arrival when he swaggered to their desks with the first edition of the school newspaper in hand. "Hey, Miss Roth," Rorek sneered, putting emphasis on Raven's last name. "Seems that someone took a car for a spin the other day. Would you happen to know anything about that?"

Raven glared dangerously up at the white-haired boy. Richard eyed the two of them warily, prepared to subdue anyone when needed.

"Maybe you got mad at someone while you were behind the wheel? Put the pedal to the metal and tried to run them into the ground? I myself haven't heard anything about dead bodies yet, but talk about anger management issues, Roth…"

Raven's palms slammed loudly onto the wooden desktop as the abruptly got to her feet. "Shut. Up," she hissed through her teeth, locking eyes with the opponent.

"What will you do if I don't? Kill me?"

"You know nothing about me!"

"I know enough to know that you're psychotic by nature," Rorek retorted. Raven's eyes blazed…

"Raven," Richard chided. "Just ignore him, he's not worth it…"

The glaring match between Raven and Rorek didn't cease for a few seconds. Finally, Raven's eyes slid closed as she slowly inhaled meditatively, and sank back into her chair. "Leave me alone, Conte." Satisfied, Rorek turned his back to the two of them and sat at his own desk, just as Lenard entered the room and started the lesson.

XXXXX

"Class, we have anew student joining us," Mr. Closki announced. He stood at the front of the room as all the students looked up from their kitchens. Next to Mr. Closki stood a tall, burly male with a chocolate tone to his skin. "You may recall that he would've been here yesterday, but was excused due to a 'loss in the family?'" The boy looked both annoyed and uncomfortable at the teacher's insensitivities.

Actually, Garfield couldn't remember any announcements of the sort. He slapped a pad of butter on the frying pan he was preparing as Closki continued:

"This is Mr. Victor Stone. How about you join kitchen two over there, Victor? The one with the green-haired boy?"

Garfield nearly prat-fell face-first into the frying pan. He sweatdropped nervously as the tall boy lumbered to his station. Victor seemed to be a senior. His head was smooth and bald; clad in a baggy electric blue t-shirt and blue jeans; he also had a single silver band on his left index finger. "What're we making here?" was the first thing Victor said, quite calmly as he examined the assortment of vegetables that would soon be used to top garlic bread. "He hasn't started you guys on the meat yet?" he asked. All of the other team members, younger and nervous under Victor's towering height, weren't sure of whether to respond. Finally one of the boys responded with, "Yeah, he has…we're just not doing that today…"

Victor shrugged indifferently and stood before the stove, next to Garfield. "Nice hair."

Garfield nearly choked on air. "Th-thanks…you too…"

Victor looked at him weirdly. "Ye-e-e-a-a-ah…"

"S-so, you were the one whose car got crashed?" If they were going to make amends, Garfield figured, they might as well start before Victor even knew what happened.

"Yeah. 'S not a big deal. I'm taking it into auto shop so I can fix it. Besides, I built it myself in the first place."

"Honestly? You built your own car?" Now Garfield knew why he'd never seen that model before—it was a one-of-a-kind.

"Well, my dad helped a lot. He knows a lot about mechanics—and it also helps to be in a high math class. Your butter's popping."

"Wha…?" A speck of butter leapt at his hand from the pan as it sizzled violently. "Yikes!" Garfield quickly tossed in some vegetables and stirred it gently with a wooden spoon as it began to cook. "So, why are you in this class?"

"Sooner or later I'm going to be living on my own," Victor answered smoothly, chopping up some more garlic to later add to the concoction. "I need to know these kind of things. Do you know when we get back on track with the meat unit? If I go out into the world without knowing how to cook beef I'll die of starvation!"

"Probably tomorrow, if you're lucky," Garfield muttered. "I personally can wait. I'm vegetarian."

"Man, no wonder you're so skinny! Where do you get your protein from?"

"Different vegetables," Garfield answered proudly. "And tofu."

Victor made a face.

"Dude, would you like to meet my friends?"

XXXXX

At brunch Garfield came to the tree with a new student in tow. "Hey guys! Vic, this is Richard and Kori and Raven and Jinx. Guys, this is Victor Stone."

Richard and Kori and Raven and Jinx sweatdropped.

"Hi Vic!" Jinx waved.

"Hey…" Victor raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you that girl who almost ran over the instructor in Driver's Ed?"

Jinx's face flushed and she turned her head downward. "Yes," she sulked.

Raven gave Garfield a look that clearly said, "I am questioning your mental stability." Garfield gulped and continued, "Vic's kind of new here and we're in the same cooking class. So, I kind invited him to join us."

"Sure," Richard said quickly. "Come sit with us any time, Victor."

The group, which mostly consisted of sophomores, probably looked pretty young to Victor. Luckily, Victor was an all-around nice guy. "Thanks," he said gratefully, and sat down about three feet away from the tree trunk, facing the others.

The six of them had a nice chat in which the original five learned a bit more about their new addition to the group. Victor's mother had died when he was young. Over the summer he and his dad moved up from Los Angeles to Jump City. He'd taken advanced math classes nearly his entire life, and yes, had built his own car. When Victor left a few minutes early so as to find his first class, Raven promptly began to strangle Garfield. "Why are you suddenly chums with the owner of the car that you killed?"

"Ow! Breathing tube, BREATHING TUBE!"

"I don't know what you're so worried about," Jinx chimed. "He looked nice enough to me." She nudged Raven, earning herself a glower.

Garfield pried Raven's hands off of his throat and gasped for breath. "I haven't told him yet! I just figured that it'd be better to make a good first impression, all right?"

Raven sighed hopelessly. "The reason we got you away from the crime scene was to keep you out of trouble. The worst way you could pay us back is to get yourself arrested a week later…"

"I'm not getting arrested!" Garfield shot back defensively. "I'm not that stupid, and I'm not going to get myself in trouble."

"Famous last words," Jinx sang. Kori firmly pushed her over, face down in the grass.

XXXXX

At fifth period Richard and Raven met up at Ms. Stiletto's English class. Ms. Stiletto was the kind of teacher that signed desks and wrote elaborate seating charts, so Richard and Raven were nearly on opposite sides of the room.

Richard sat down at his desk just as a folded paper note skidded onto the wooden desktop. He knitted his brow and looked in the direction of where it came from; he saw the familiar face of a blond-haired girl that he'd known since the beginning of the school year. Richard also recognized her as one of the cheerleaders that he'd seen passing out fliers for the dance the other week. He unfolded the note and read:

Hey there. I've had my eye on u for a while. How u doing?

Richard blinked and quickly scrawled a reply. Please leave me alone, he though wistfully as he discreetly passed the note back.

Kitten's eyes widened in delight as the paper fluttered back to her desk. When she wasn't thinking of older boys, this one right next to her sent her innards aquiver. Richard had good hygiene, sensible taste, great build, and impeccably nice sneakers—what wasn't there to like? Kitten opened the note and read:

Thanks? I'm doing okay.

No sooner had Richard sent the note, another pelted him. Stifling a groan, he opened it:

That's cool. English is SOOO boring! I hate it lol what do u like 2 do?

Ms. Stiletto was standing in the front of the room, ranting on and on about something to do with how personal experience could affect your writing. She wasn't even looking at the students to see if they were paying attention—she was in Literature Land, where she could keep talking on and on about whatever she pleased. Richard hastily scrawled a brief reply and returned the note to its sender.

Kitten excitedly tore into the note.

I like to do karate.

Richard caught the same paper with the side of his face only seconds later.

U like sports? Wow that's awesome. I'm in 2 cheerleading.

When would this note exchange ever end?

I could tell.

Bcuz of how fit n pretty I am? LOL.

Sure.

I love 2 cheer. I'm captain of the school squad.

Cool. I think that we should pay attention to the teacher. She's probably saying something important.

LOL she's talking to herself anyway.

The conversation continued as such, Richard getting more annoyed and Kitten getting more excited. Finally the bell rang for lunch. "I would like a two-hundred word essay about how Victor Hugo's personal experience played a part in the content of Les Miserables!" Ms. Stiletto cried after the leaving students, who were in a hurry so that they could claim that they hadn't heard about the assignment. Richard and Raven were among them and had reached the doorway and a pink-and-blonde thing came barreling after them and latched itself onto Richard's arm.

"Richard!" Kitten crooned, not so subtly pushing Raven out of the way. "I know I should've listened to Stiletto when you said I should've because now I'm supposed to write all about the hugo experience in Less Mizzerubuls and I know nothing about it so I really really need some help! Will you be ever-so-kind as to come over to my MANSION after school and help me with that nasty little essay thingy?"

Richard blinked dazedly. "Uh…s-sure…"

Kitten shrieked with glee and hugged him even closer. "Thank you SOOO much! I can't wait!" She finally let go of Richard's aching limb and flounced off down the hallway.

XXXXX

"Man, I never expected calculus to be such a long class!" Victor complained as he came to the lunch table, carrying a tray that was laden with a large steak sandwich. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!"

Garfield flinched noticeably at Victor's choice of words. "How can you stand to eat that stuff? I mean, it's a dead body! Would it be just as natural to run to a cattle ranch and dig into the first cow that keels over?"

Victor rolled his eyes. "It's human nature to be omnivorous," he provided as a response. "Besides, meat is a major source of protein…which is why I grow and you don't."

Kori cringed; obviously Garfield hadn't shared any childhood stories with Victor. "I think that it's great that you both have chosen the diets that suit you," she intervened, "but there is no reason to be at each other's throats because of your differences."

This seemed to put an end to the argument. Satisfied, Kori bit into her falafel and tuna sandwich.

"I couldn't have just said no!"

"You could've tried."

"Look who's coming," Jinx drawled, drawing everyone's attention to the arrival of Richard and Raven.

"Hey guys," Garfield greeted as the two of them sat next to each other. "Whatcha arguing about?"

"A cheerleader just asked me to 'help her with her homework,'" Richard explained. "How am I supposed to say no to that? She was only asking for help…"

"You know that's not what she really wants," said Raven. "Kitten's dumbed herself down in a ludicrous attempt to appeal to boys…"

"Seriously," Jinx interjected. "She was in my English class last year."

"I just wouldn't trust her," Raven concluded. "I don't trust anyone with that little self-respect."

It was quiet for a while.

"Konni is returning home for a week," Kori chirped timidly.

"Who?" Victor asked.

"She's my older sister," Kori explained. "Konni is just about to finish college, but she found the time to come back and help me look after the house and our brother." She smiled a bit. "It'll be nice to be able to see her again after so long. I hope that we get to catch up on what we've done without each other's presence."

XXXXX

Richard stood on the front steps of the mansion and looked up. It was a tall house…

"Come on in, Richie!" Kitten sang, swinging the door open. Richard was greeted by the sight of a house that was even larger on the inside, with pearly white walls and an elegant winding staircase in the center, leading up to the second floor that was tucked out of sight by the ceiling. "I'll be right back!" Kitten announced. "I need to go upstairs to, uh, get my homework!" She giggled, dropped her backpack (which was chock full of homework) on the floor, and bounded upstairs to spruce up.

Richard awkwardly stood in the middle of the white tiled floor. He shifted his eyes, examining his surroundings. If there was one thing that Kitten could possibly have, it was money—

"Hey. You."

Richard startled and pivoted around on his heel; in front of him stood a fifty some year old man, dressed in a posh grey suit. "…Yes?"

"I'm Kitten's father," the man drawled. "She called to say that she was bringing someone home with her. Didn't say it was a boy, though."

Richard coughed. "Oh? Well…my name's Richard Grayson, Mr. Walker."

Mr. Walker nodded distractedly. "Would you mind having a man-to-man talk? In that room…right this way." He gestured to an ordinary door behind the staircase. Richard swallowed, and nodded, allowing the man to escort him to the door.

Mr. Walker opened the door; it was a dark room, with a small staircase leading down to what probably was a basement of some kind. Richard followed Mr. Walker down the staircase…and stopped short when a small creature suddenly flew at him and hovered in front of his face. Richard instinctively swatted at the creature; it fluttered up into the rafters. He looked up and cringed; above his head was a swarm of grey fuzzy moths, flying about in a wild frenzy of wings. He looked longingly back at the open door before Mr. Walker caught his attention.

"I know that I don't look like a very dangerous man…but I'll have you know that if you do anything to hurt my daughter then you will hear from me." Mr. Walker caught Richard's gaze with a stony, cross look. "You hurt her feelings or break her heart, and I'm going to be the one to settle things, understand?"

"Y-yes…!" Richard shook slightly as the man advanced on him…

"RICHARD! What're you doing? Oh no! Daddy, what'd you take him to the moth room for?" Kitten flew down the stairs and latched onto Richard's arm. "Daddy, he's fine! We're just friends! Honestly!" She hastily dragged Richard back into the lobby and towed him up the staircase. "We need to get started on my homework now, don't we?" Kitten fluttered her eyes seductively. Richard groaned. It was going to be a long night…

XXXXX

Kori entered the house and thoughtfully locked the door behind her. "Brother! Sister! I'm home!" she called cheerfully, gently placing her backpack on the floor.

The sound of someone descending down the stairs came in response. Down came her sister, with long black hair that fell to her middle back and adorned in a dark purple cropped top with a matching skirt. "Hello, Kori," Konni answered, briefly hugging her younger sister before heading to the door. "I know that I only just got here, but I'm going to be out for a few hours tonight, okay? There's some stuff in the fridge when you want dinner. Love ya, take care of Ryan, okay?" Konni waved daintily, unlocked the door, and left.

Kori blinked. "Where could she possibly be off to?" she wondered aloud.

"She didn't say." Kori turned to see a forlorn-looking Ryan standing on the staircase. Sighing, Kori went into the kitchen to see what her sister had left for the two of them.