Author's Note: Hello people! In your faces, skeptics who didn't think I would ever get 30 reviews! Joke only, cause some of those skeptics were reviewers, and I'd like show my gratitude to those people who made this updating possible; first on the list: reviewers! Thank you thank you thank you! Anyway, after that cliffie (which was more predictable than I thought) I put you through, just go on and read!
Oh yeah, I forgot to say this in the last chapter, the principal was a cameo appearance of Commander Julius Root from Artemis Fowl, the best book ever!
This chapter is dedicated to Insanity 101 (Dusty), one of my most faithful readers and reviewers. Your reviews on my many recently uploaded stories (mostly one-shots) have kept me going! Thanks so much! Oh, and everyone else, after you read this, go check out her work. Simply awesome.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans… yet.
"Uh… hehe… so what's up, Raven?" Robin asked nervously as he scratched the back of his neck. She had that scary mischievous smile on her face, and he hoped that by some incredible twist of fate Raven happened to suddenly develop a love for dancing in less than two seconds. Not.
Raven was smirking, cheeks ballooning with swallowed laughter. "Oh, nothing. You know, Robin…"
"What? What? What?" Robin grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "If you're gonna tell me something, just say it. I can't take this!"
Raven threw her head back and openly laughed, from the diaphragm. Like she was feeding off his misery.
"Oh, alright. You know how you signed me up for Dance Class yadda, yadda, yadda…"
"Yeah…"
"Well, Ms. Krystal told me that… oh, wait. Count how many boys and girls there are in there."
Robin did as he was told, counting off with his finger. The poor thing.
"Fourteen boys and fourteen girls. So what's your point?"
"My point is that they're dead even because of the partnering. And do you know what your signing me up did, don't you?"
Robin violently shook his head. And they say patience is a virtue.
"It made the number off-balance. And that is very bad, Robin." She spoke slowly, as if she was conducting a conversation with a two-year-old.
"It means that I don't have a partner. So you know what I told Ms. Krystal?"
"No…"
"Well, because you're the one who so wonderfully took me on this class, I signed you up." She poked a finger straight in his chest.
Silence. More silence. And then came the rampage.
"No… Raven… no… why?" Robin mumbled incoherently. "I… HATE… DANCING…" He said the three little words like they were a younger sibling he wanted to get rid off.
Raven giggled, laughing at the expense of the Boy Wonder. "Why? Two left feet or something?"
His eyes were downcast. "No… never mind. You'll soon find out. Let's go home…"
-
Raven looked at Cyborg with her famous evil eye. "You told me you weren't gonna leave me, Cy!"
Cyborg's voice from the communicator came out small. "Uh… sorry Rae. You were taking so long I figured I'll just pick you up later with Starfire, with her detention and all…"
Raven snapped the device shut before the half-robot could make up more flimsy excuses. Why did everyone on the planet decide to make her suffer today?
She closed her eyes and rested her head on Robin's back. "Are we there yet?"
Robin, who was busy steering the R-cycle through traffic-infested streets, could only grunt to reply.
"Fine. Be that way." She tightened her grip around his waist in case she might just fall asleep.
-
Robin and Raven found Cyborg and Beastboy huddled on the couch, sporting goofy grins on their faces.
"Hey. What's so funny?" Robin flopped down on the sofa and peered over to see what was going on, but the two backed away. "Oh, nothing. Nothing at all."
Raven used her powers to levitate the whatever-it-is out of Cyborg's hands. It turned out to be a magazine, a tabloid, to be exact. Her eyes became roughly the size of basketballs, half in horror and a little half in amusement.
Robin ran to her, snatching the magazine from her grasp.
"What the Hell?"
'Hop Magazine Special Edition: Superheroes in School ' were the words boasted on the front cover, along with a picture of Raven, Robin, Starfire, and Beastboy exiting the T-car on their first day.
Robin flipped the pages, eyes resting on a very disturbing article.
'Hop Hottie Of The Month…'
Just guess who that was. Just guess.
'Robin.'
Wow. How did you figure it out?
'Age: 16
Residence: Jump City
Occupation: From The Batman's sidekick to Teen Titan
Social Status: Single? (not confirmed)
Zodiac Sign: Libra
Hobbies: Crimefighting, Martial Arts, Sports, Detective work, Video Games, etc…
Favorite Color: Red
Favorite Music Artist: Linkin Park, Simple Plan, Switchfoot, Goo Goo Dolls etc…
Last Seen Wearing: Black leather jacket, tight black shirt, black cargo pants, black hiker boots, black biker gloves, and black shades. Sporting his usual spiky-haired do.
Top 12 Quirky Facts
He plays the guitar, violin, drums, and piano
He has a platinum credit card at his disposal sponsored by Wayne Enterprises
He shows an interest in Astronomy and owns a telescope
Prefers cherry-flavored soda to coke, dark chocolate to any other sweets, and mushrooms and olives as pizza toppings
He is allergic to peanuts
He works out for at least six hours daily
His favorite animal is the wolf
He wakes up at 7am no matter what the date is
He has a tattoo of a blue eagle with outstretched wings just below the back of his neck
He detests lemons
He has the entire Artemis Fowl Book Collection
His hairgel brand is Obsidian
Traits: Fearless, outgoing, determined, fighter, obsessive, confident, competitive, independent, responsible, highly- intellectual, born-leader, charming, dashing, cool, and an ultimate heartthrob.
The Hot Factor: The best combination of beauty, brains, and brawn.
Comments: One of the best yet. Definitely someone worth wanting. Too bad someone already might have beaten us to him.'
Fazed as he was, Robin flipped forward. Someone? Things could only get worse.
In the center of a page was a picture of him and Raven in a table in the cafeteria, him with his stolen burger and Raven lazily twirling carbonara with a fork.
'Lovebirds…'
He quickly closed the magazine before he could read anymore, letting it slip from his fingers. A wise choice.
Cyborg and Beastboy chuckled.
"What's the matter, Mr. Hottie Of The Month?" Beastboy teased, gasping for the breath he lost when laughing.
Robin blushed readily, speechless. Curious, Raven picked it up and began to read. Within a matter of minutes she was laughing too.
"Aw, come on, Rae. Not you too!" The poor boy whined, a hand buried in his hair.
"Sorry… Robin… it's just… too… funny…" Raven grabbed her stomach as she fell to the floor, tears squeezing out of her eyes.
Robin glared at all of them, hands on his hips. Raven straightened herself up. Even the two boys on the couch shut up.
"How… what… why me?" The recently-abused Boy Wonder asked no one in particular. The remark sent everyone else back on their laugh track recording.
The other bird tried to suppress her laughter. "Wait… you're allergic to peanuts? And you actually have a tattoo?"
Robin looked up from his position, head buried in his hands. "Yeah. Where did that damn magazine get those things from anyway?"
Cyborg stopped laughing for a second. "You mean they're not true?"
"Duh!"
Raven observed his face for the misinterpretation of the truth. Apparently, she found it.
"Really?"
Robin sighed. "Well, most of them are…"
Raven's evil eye deepened.
"Fine!" He threw up his arms in the air, defeated. "They're all true! But how can someone who's not even a Titan have access to that information?"
They were all quiet for awhile, before the reality dawned on them. All eyes, even masked ones, turned to one unlucky changeling.
He held up his hands. "Woah, why is everyone looking at me?"
"Oh, I dunno. Who sold one of Raven's enchanted books on E-bay, causing some kid to recite the spells and cause havoc and mass destruction in New York, just to buy a moped? Who signed up Starfire for a blind date with Control Freak? Who put Cyborg's system password up on the internet enabling some idiot to control him for 3 days before we found out? And finally, who is an annoying, green-skinned, animal shape shifter?" Robin sited the reasons on his fingers, his voice growing louder with rage and irritation with each word.
Finally, Beastboy realized the danger he was in. "Fine! I did it!"
"Imetthisoldertotallycuteblondegirlwhowasajuniormagazineditorandthereporterfortheschoolnewspaperandshetoldmeshe'llgooutwithmeifIgaveherenoughinfoaboutallofyou!Okay!"
For those of you who didn't quite catch that, here's a friendly translation:
"I met this older, totally cute blonde girl who was a junior magazine editor and the reporter for the school newspaper and she told me she'll go out with me if I gave her enough info about all of you! Okay!
He groveled at Robin's feet. "Please don't kill me! I'm too young to die in a very, very horrible way!"
"Wait a minute… YOU GAVE HER INFO ABOUT ALL OF US! INCLUDING ME?" Cyborg yelled.
Beastboy raised his head from his begging for his life. "Um… no. I meant just Robin. Only Robin." He glanced nervously in Raven's direction. No one is safe form the half-human, half-demon lie detector, as he just found out. Her face was carefully, and gratefully, back to the emotionless expression.
Robin dropped back on the couch. "Why me? Why me?"
The changeling slowly stood up. "Are you sparing my life or just catching me off guard to make my death more painful?" He winced.
"Don't worry, BB. I'm not gonna kill you."
Before Beastboy can breathe a sigh of relief, there was more.
"Of course, you do know I'm not letting this go, do you?"
A gulp.
"So I'll be seeing you in the training room for battle exercises for three hours for the next three weeks. It seems that 3 just became your lucky number, huh?"
"Yessir." Beastboy scurried away to the kitchen before any more punishment could be given out.
"Robin…" Raven put a hand on his shoulder. Before she could continue, however, a shrill sound came from the doorway.
"Friends! I have arrived home thanks to my new friends!" Her royal highness, the princess of Tamaran announced as she strode in.
She twirled around in the air until she came unto Robin. Available team mates stared disbelievingly at her.
"Star… what is that?" Robin pointed at her face. She smiled in recognition.
"Oh! I believe it is what you earthlings call a 'nose ring!'"
Cyborg, Robin, and Raven gaped at her with fully open mouths you could have stuffed an entire cabbage in them.
"You see, I have made more friends in detention! There is this wonderful girl who goes by the title of Davina Blaine! She dresses in the way friend Raven dresses, and her poetry is equally dark and horrifying! I have inquired her about the jewel on her nose, and she has offered to give me one! The process was quite painful, but is it not so lovely?"
Starfire, who was still not familiar with earthly customs, thought that the awkward silence meant that her team mates agreed with her with all of their hearts.
"I shall proceed to my sleeping quarters now to take on the challenging task of homework! Good day to you all!"
"Well, this wasn't a very weird day." Was the only comment from the team's favorite sarcastic member.
-
THE NEXT DAY, AFTER FIRST PERIOD
"Raven, I'm going to the bathroom. Save me a seat, 'kay?" Robin called out, already halfway through the corridor. Guess where we've heard those words before?
"Sure."
Raven was quietly walking by, when Lucy, who was in their Biology class, caught up with her.
"Hey, Raven. How are you?" She asked in a friendly, annoyingly perky kind of way.
"Um… hi." The goth girl managed. Uncountable numbers of girls hounded Robin after yesterday, when Hop Magazine came out in stores, but girls hounding girls? Was Lucy actually some gender-confused person who buried her insecurities in straight As on report cards?
"You walking to Biology? Let me walk with you." She continued, maintaining her act.
"Okay…"
"Remember yesterday? The thing with Pam and all? Well, don't worry about her. She's just a sad cow. We call her Pam The Pain."
"Uh-huh, sure. Listen, Lucy. What do you really want?" Raven stopped walking, facing the girl… or whatever she thought she was.
Lucy sighed, twirling a strand of her bushy hair between her fingers.
"I'm not a good actress, aren't I?"
"No."
"Well, it's just that I need a favor from you…"
"Well, what is it?"
Lucy stared at her through her glasses, then smiled a smile that made the light reflect off her braces it could have blinded anyone unfortunate enough to pass by.
"Could you get me Robin's autograph? Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease?"
Raven raised an eyebrow. Not gender-confused, then. Just a closet hunk admirer.
"Fine. I'll ask him. But if he doesn't want to…"
"Suresuresuresure! Thanks so much, Raven!" She grabbed the Azarathian in a huge hug, very not much unlike a certain Tamaranian we all know.
"Lucy, you can stop now…"
"Oops. Sorry." She blushed, before running ahead.
Raven shook her head. That was too weird. Robin looked more like an escaped convict preparing himself for his own funeral than a teenage superhero being forced to go to school in that magazine picture. Hmmm… actually, he was more like an incredibly handsome escaped convict preparing himself for his own funeral.
Then she wanted to smack herself.
How in Azar's name did she even come up with that thought? It was stupid, preposterous, absurd… yet undeniable.
This time she did smack herself.
When she got to the classroom, what she saw surprised her more.
Robin was already there, an empty seat beside him, and chatting with a familiar looking boy with short red hair…
"Speedy?" She found herself asking.
Both boys turned their heads and gave her identical smiles.
"Hey, Raven. Guess who I found?" Robin said teasingly.
Raven was too surprised to come up with an answer.
"Speedy… you look different." She replied lamely. Speedy, of course, was also in his casuals. A red shirt with white long sleeves, baggy denim pants, and sneakers… and she could clearly see two pairs of celery-green eyes. Apparently, clones as they were, Speedy wasn't as paranoid as Robin to keep his mask on.
She sat down on the chair, settling her books on the desk.
"What's up?"
"Oh. Appears that, Steel City has almost the same rules as Jump City, and they wanted Titans East to go to school too."
"Well, where are the others? Aqualad? Bumblebee? Mas… mes… those Spanish… twin… people?"
"Mas Y Menos." Speedy corrected. She ignored him. One Robin was bad… or maybe good enough?
"Aqualad's here too. Same grade, just not in this class. Mas Y Menos are in primary school…"
"How about Bumblebee?" she interrupted.
"Let me finish. Bumblebee talked her way out of it. Dunno how, Speedy told me. Too bad I didn't think of that." Robin remarked thoughtfully.
There was something missing. "But why are they here? Aren't there any schools in Steel City?"
"Aqualad and Speedy wanted to go here. The city granted their request."
"What if Steel City gets in trouble?"
"Oh yeah, that. Mas Y Menos goes to school there, and Cyborg goes to their Tower during the day, while the rest of us are in school, and comes back home to pick us up. Won't make much difference, they figured."
"Oh. Well, good to see you, Speedy."
"You too, Raven."
Their conversation was cut off when Ms. Box entered the classroom.
Raven couldn't help thinking that school was getting weirder and weirder everyday. The question is: would it be for the better, or worse?
Author's Note: So, was it worth waiting for? I myself didn't like the first part of it… Yeah, I brought Titans East in. If they might seem OOC, I'm writing them the way I saw them in Winner Take All, cause I haven't seen Titans East I and II yet. Sorry if I didn't put Bumblebee and Mas Y Menos in, because of the same reason… maybe if I gather enough info, I'll include them in the plot… hell, I don't know what the plot exactly is. Anyway, so many people guessed the dance class thing… oh, and I made up all of those things in the quirky Robin facts… who knew he was multi-talented? And I'm still not over the girls chasing Robin thing, so you'll be seeing more of those… Starfire gets a nose ring (snicker)… what else…
REVIEW!
I'm lowering the review demand from 30 to 25-27, cause I'm about to reach the 100 target. But if you want to give me more than that, I'm up for it. Until then, I'll be waiting…