Chapter Two: The Coward
"Um…guys?" Beast Boy asked again as the rest of his team mates seemed to be lost for words. However just as quickly as they had lost their speech, all of a sudden all four of them started talking at the same time. Now it was Beast Boy's turn to be lost for words as he just stared at his team mates who were now either pacing up and down, throwing their arms up and down in over exaggerated motions, floating around with excitement, or standing with crossed arms. It was obvious each of Beast Boy's team mates were taking the news that they had been enrolled in school very differently.
"There has to be a mistake. There must have been an error, while they were processing names or…" Robin muttered quickly and loudly, as he paced around the operations center in a very agitated state.
"Robin! How could there have been a mistake? I mean hello? We are the Teen Titans. How can you get that messed up in a computer? It would have to be a very stupid computer…" Cyborg yelled as he flapped his arms around, almost knocking Beast Boy over.
"I don't know how they messed it up, but obviously they did because how else did we get enrolled…" Robin snapped at Cyborg. He had finally stopped pacing, and was now standing face to face with Cyborg who was now snapping back.
"Well then figure out how we got into this mess!" Cyborg yelled angrily.
"Why don't you figure it out? You're the computer genius!" Robin fired back. Sparks were flying from their eyes very much like the time they had gotten into an argument over who had messed up and let all the bad guys escape from the jail. Cyborg was about to say something nasty back, when Starfire flew up in front of them and said,
"Isn't this just glorious? Oh, this is most wonderful!" She pulled both Robin and Cyborg into a bone crushing hug before floating up higher in the air. Robin and Cyborg were left with their mouths hanging open as they watched Starfire, who seemed to be the only one who was excited about having to go to school. Raven who was now sitting on the couch with her arms still crossed didn't seem surprised that Starfire was the only one who was excited. Robin and Cyborg seemed to have forgotten their argument as they stared at Starfire.
"I have always wondered what it was like to go to school on this planet. I wonder if it will be truly as horrible as I hear it is…" Starfire said with excitement shining in her beautiful green eyes, while nervously wringing her hands. Robin and Cyborg seemed to have gotten over their surprise and remembering their argument, were now at opposite sides of the room. Starfire finally looked at all her team mates and was shocked to find Robin standing with his arms folded across his chest, Cyborg with his back to Robin, Raven who was reading again, and Beast Boy who was now pulling at his hair.
"Friends…?" she asked uncertainly. "Have I said something wrong?" Robin was about to say something when Beast Boy jumped in front of him and began waving his arms wildly at the alien.
"How can you even be excited? School is the worst thing to have ever walked the planet! I can't believe this is happening to me!" Beast Boy complained, all the while yanking bits of hair out of his head.
"Schools don't walk Beast Boy," Raven said in an irritated tone. Beast Boy rounded on her with what looked like every intention on turning into a tyrannosaurus and chomping on her. Raven who seemed to read the latter's intention muttered, "Azarath metrion zinthos!" Beast Boy was engulfed in a sphere of energy, in which he began changing into different animals trying to break free, but to no avail. Raven felt a vein throbbing in her head as she tried reading again.
"Raven! Put Beast Boy down," Robin commanded. The black energy surrounding Beast Boy disappeared and captive fell to the floor in a heap. "Star, you didn't say anything wrong," Robin assured the alien girl who had been looking slightly down cast. However at Robin's words, she seemed to brighten again and flew over to his side. Cyborg made a loud grumbling noise, but walked back over to the sofa where his other team mates were gathered. Robin looked at Cyborg and Cyborg looked back. After a couple of minutes of trying to stare each other down, so the loser would have to be the one to apologize about the argument earlier, Starfire said what Raven was thinking.
"Friends! Apologizing is no contest! Please, let the mean words be forgotten," she said in a slightly raised and reproachful voice. At her words, Robin opened his mouth to apologize, but Cyborg beat him to it.
"Man, I'm sorry," Cyborg said without the slightest difficulty. Robin grinned back, accepting the apology. Now that they had finally forgiven each other, the whole atmosphere in the room seemed to lighten.
"But you guys! What are we going to do?" Beast Boy whined from the floor, where he still laid in a heap. The rest of the team looked down at him and then looked expectantly at their leader.
Robin scowled slightly as he came to his decision. "Go to school I guess," he said calmly, hiding his own displeasure. There was a howl of agony from the floor, and everyone except for Starfire looked disgruntled at the leader's words.
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When Beast Boy walked into the operations center the next morning he was not surprised to find the rest of the team already awake. Grunting a greeting at the team he walked over to the refrigerator to serve himself some tofu breakfast. Robin and Cyborg were eating large amounts of eggs, bacon, and sausages. Starfire was eating something that looked like a pile of green jelly with what looked like black purple worm things. Raven was sipping herbal tea as she read.
"Okay, who wants tofu sausages?" Beast Boy asked his friends eagerly. Starfire raised her hand enthusiastically, but the rest of the team ignored him. "You know tofu is a lot better for you than all that meat!" the green changeling said as he got out a frying pan and started frying up a pile of tofu sausage.
"Man, nobody wants to eat tofu even if it is better for you," Cyborg said as he continued shoveling down bacon. Beast Boy looked annoyed as he waited for the tofu sausages to finish frying.
"Starfire eats them! I eat them!" Beast Boy said angrily as he dumped a couple tofu sausages onto a plate and handed them to Starfire. She thanked him and poured a large amount of mustard over them. Cyborg grumbled something about how Starfire ate just about anything, but it went unheard as everyone went back to eating and drinking, and the frequent tofu versus meat debate was forgotten.
After they had all finished eating and cleaned the dishes, Beast Boy and Cyborg went back to playing video games. Raven, as usual, was already reading another one of her books, and was turning a deaf ear to the noise the boys were making. Robin was lounging on the sofa next to Cyborg, with his feet propped up on the small table in front of the sofa. He was waiting to play the winner. Starfire had disappeared from the room, and was most likely feeding Silkie.
About ten minutes had gone by, and Robin was the first to notice Starfire still had not returned. "What happened to Star-" his words were cut off as a loud shriek that was heard outside. Both Cyborg and Robin vaulted off the couch, and Raven followed the two running boys out of the operations center. Cyborg, who had his sonic cannon ready to fire from his arm, stopped abruptly causing both Robin and Raven to smash into his back. Robin and Raven both stepped out behind Cyborg, to find Starfire with her back turned to them. Her head was bowed in defeat.
"Uh…Starfire? We heard you scream…" Robin asked uncertainly, while Cyborg turned his sonic cannon off. Beast Boy came running out of the operations center with a wide smirk on his face, but no one noticed it. Annoyed, he waved his hands in front of Cyborg as he tried to get his attention.
"Dude! I just beat you at the game!" he said in a very smug voice. However, when Cyborg didn't seem to care, Beast Boy turned to look at Raven's expressionless face. "Dude, does someone care to fill me in on what's so important?"
"Use your eyes Beast Boy. There's something wrong with Starfire…" Raven said dryly. The alien girl still had not moved a muscle, and a loud sniff was heard from her. When the rest of the team heard the sniffle, they all froze with surprised looks on their faces. Then after a moment's hesitation, Robin tentatively walked up to the Tamaranean.
"Starfire, what's wrong?" he asked, confused about her behavior. He put a hand on her shoulder, and she turned around. She looked as if she was trying to suppress the tears, and instead of answering his question, flung an open envelope into Robin's hand. Robin raised a questioning brow, and pulled the letter out of its envelope. Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy sided up behind him, to read over his shoulder. It was a letter from Murakami School, with a very detailed list of courses, rules, and along with the letter, were five blank schedule forms that needed to be filled out. After the team had finished reading this, they looked at Starfire with questioning eyes. "But Starfire, we thought you wanted to go to school," Robin said.
"I – I did…but…" Starfire said, trembling slightly. At last she let out a wail and threw herself in Robin's arms. "I truly did! But, oh Robin, I cannot read this Earth language…" The rest of the team was stunned for a moment at her words.
Robin pushed her gently away. "But Star, I thought…" the rest of his sentence was drowned out by Beast Boy, who had broke out laughing.
"You can't read?" he asked between bursts of laughter. Robin, Raven, and Cyborg looked shocked at Beast Boy. Starfire buried her face in her hands and flew away, and the team heard her slam her door a couple halls down. After a moments silence, Robin rounded on Beast Boy.
"Why'd you have to laugh at her Beast Boy?" Robin snarled angrily. Beast Boy backed away slowly, his hands up in defense.
"I didn't…" he stuttered. Robin's snarling face was inches from his, and as Beast Boy looked at Raven and Cyborg's faces, he knew he had made a mistake.
"Yes you did. You know she's an alien from a different planet Beast Boy," Raven said with a sort of fire flaming behind her black pupils. Beast Boy backed away a couple most steps to walk right into Cyborg.
"Dude! You guys! I didn't mean to laugh at her. It just sort of…came out?" Beast Boy said nervously, trying to talk his way out of it. Robin had a look of disgust on his face, Raven was thinking "jerk" over and over in her head, and Cyborg had his arms crossed with every intention on pounding the green changeling's head into the ground. "I didn't know she couldn't read! Even you said you didn't know Robin," Beast Boy accused. Robin gave him a withering look that made Beast Boy cower.
"Yeah, but Robin didn't laugh. You did," Raven said, annoyed and angry that Beast Boy was actually trying to deny the fact that he was wrong. After she said this, Cyborg made a grab at Beast Boy, but the green changeling gave a scared yelp and turned into a mouse and zipped away.
"Come back you…!" Cyborg yelled angrily as the little green mouse disappeared down the hall. He and Raven were about to go running after the coward, but Robin stopped them.
"Let him go. We don't have time to chase him around the tower. We need to use this time to teach Starfire how to read," Robin said. Cyborg and Raven instantly agreed, and the three of them walked down the hall to where the Tamaranean's room was.
"So…did either of you know she didn't read?" Raven asked after a couple of minutes. Robin shook his head stiffly, and Cyborg shrugged.
"I always thought she did. I mean all this time…I saw her looking at a couple magazines before, so I guess I thought she knew how. I mean, she speaks our language, so I guess I thought she knew how to read too," Cyborg said. Raven nodded her head in agreement. They had stopped in front of Starfire's room, and after a couple of minutes of hesitation, Robin knocked on her door softly.
"Star…?" There was no reply. The three titans looked at each other nervously, before Robin knocked on the door again; this time more loudly. "Starfire? Are you in there?" Once again, there was no reply. After knocking several more times with no answer, they decided to leave her alone for awhile. Anyone in her situation would want some time to be alone after being humiliated. Robin, feeling slightly dejected that Starfire was ignoring him and the others as well, walked away to his own room. Cyborg went to go polish the T-Car, and Raven slipped away to her own room to meditate. For the rest of the morning and noon, the Titan's tower was extremely quiet.
Author's Note: I'm not sure if Starfire knows how to read, but I thought I'd have her not know how to read, to make it more interesting. Beast Boy may or may not apologize. He wasn't being intentionally being mean, but seeing in the episodes he usually doesn't think before saying something, I thought I'd have him laugh at Starfire. In the end, she'll probably forgive him anyways because of her good nature. I hope I'm doing a good job of keeping the characters "in character." Thanks for the reviews so far! I'm pleased that you guys enjoyed the first chapter. I hope it's the same for the rest of the story :)