The Hive Update: "Oh you thought I was gone, did you? Nope, I had to take a small absence in order to catch up on all the juicy gossip that I've been given, by my fellow worker bees. I didn't forget you, so I've got a special surprise in store and I'm sure it won't disappoint you. BRB, I've got some important things to…plan."- The Hive


Dick Grayson sat stone-faced in the coach's office waiting for Coach Dowd to finish looking through his files. Coach Dowd searched through three different files one by one, his eyes swishing at a fast pace. "Coach I—" "—Hold on Grayson," he held his hand up before returning to the files. Dick takes a glance at the loudly ticking clock, Coach finally stops his reading and runs his hand over his face in frustration.

"Your stats are good Grayson, could be better, but good. My only problem is that the team could be in the hands of a sophomore," "Coach, I think I'd make a great leader on the field. I know I'm still kind of young to be the leading varsity quarterback—" "Mm-hmm, not only that Dick. I'm worried about the pressures that it comes with being the quarterback," "I'm in all AP Classes," "Not only that, I couldn't help but see a certain news article—" "—Oh no." Dick scratched at the back of his neck, Coach Dowd nodded his head before playing with a bobblehead of quarterback Russell Wilson on his table. "What if that immense pressure of grades, other extracurriculars interferes with your performance and you resort to drinking or worse drugs like Redd?"

"Coach, I'd never. My dad would kill me if he ever saw me taking drugs or drinking. I had a very long lecture from him the other day after he saw a…photo," "I don't know Grayson," Coach drew out before taking off his hat, scratching his head, and then putting it back on. "Give me a chance Coach, let me prove to you that I can do this!" Dick sat at the edge of his seat with his hands clasped in front of him. Dowd stared at the pleading Sophomore before him. He stayed silent for what felt like an eternity, sighing to himself. "Alright, Grayson, the game this Friday I'll let you lead the team and play as starting quarterback—" "—Yes!—" "However, if we lose the game, I'm moving you back to 2nd string. Understood?"

Dick nodded eagerly, "Alright, one picture or telling me of resorting to alcohol. Your ass is off the team! Got it?" "Yes sir," "Get out of my office," Dick grabbed his things and nodded at Coach Dowd before running out of the office. He opened his phone and saw several texts from Babs. He clicked on the notifications seeing some of the small messages saying, "Call me when you're off from school."


The bell rang in the classroom, Karen grabbed her things and waved her cheerleader friends off. The girl with the beanie over her head, rushed to the door, dropping her books on the way. Karen quickly grabbed the items and called after the mystery girl, "Hey, Hey! Hey new girl!" The girl turned around frantically seeing her wave the books in the air, "Whew, you sure walk fast. Ever thought about joining the track team?" She handed her the books, the girl scratched at her arm uncomfortably.

"It was a joke," she tried to show her charming smile only for the new girl to show a shy one back, "I'm Karen, but everyone calls me Bee," Bee puts out her hand, the girl looks at it, then reluctantly shakes it back. "Um Kory, thanks for handing my books back," "Oh it's not a prob! So, when did you move here?" "Um, about last weekend," She began to walk away, "where you from?" "Tamaran," "Tama what?" Kory giggled, "Tamaran, it's a small island by the Bahamas—" "Oh girl, you should have just said that. What'd you leave for? Job transfer?" She gulped before answering "Yeah sure," "Oh cool! Well since your new here, I could be your tour guide. Let me see the schede—"

"The what?" "Schede, schedule. Okay, did y'all ever use slang in Tamaran?" "Umm…the most common slang term in Tamaran for friends would be varbernelt" They continued to walk through the crowded hallway, dodging people. "Yeah, well since you're in Gotham now we'll need to do a Gotham 101 course." Kory nodded as she pulled out the schedule and gave it to Bee, she took a glance over. "Okay so, you have art with Mr. Yamaguchi 1st, he's pretty quiet and the only time he does talk is when he's giving a good critique. You and I share classes for 4th, 5th, and 7th period, so you'll already know a familiar face," Bee began to ramble on as Kory looked through the crowded hallways and spotted the boy who attacked her locker earlier.

He looked as though he was in deep thought trailing through the hallways, people parted like the Red Sea to make room for him. Two fingers snapped in front of her, snapping her out of her trance, "Kory, I called your name like three times already, who were you looking at?" Bee nudged her shoulder, Kory blushed and waved her off "No one, I just thought—" "—Uh-huh, you don't have to tell me…for now. However, I must warn you about a few things here, the boys, the parties, and the Hive," "The Hive, you know I've been hearing a bunch of people mention it around the school, is it that bad?" "Bad is a nice word to describe The Hive. Think of them as that bitchy person no one invites to the event and ends up crashing it anyways,"

"Ouch—" "Yeah, they've always had it out for my friend group, for some reason. I haven't been mentioned in a while —crossing my fingers— and neither has my boyfriend, Vic. Dick Grayson however…he's like the top person they go after," "Why?" "Honestly, no one knows why. They've been around since we were freshman and I have a feeling that they're about to—" The warning bell rang. "Oh crap, okay. Your first class is upstairs, down the hall to the right. Find me at lunch!" Bee hurriedly walked away and waved goodbye to Kory, she lifted her hand to her wave back. She glances around the people, then at the staircase and sighs.


Rachel sat at the back of the classroom continuing to reread Heart of Darkness when a shadow grew over her, "If you here to ask for a pencil, I don't have one," "I actually wanted to talk about your choice in books Ms. Roth," a familiar British accent chuckled to her. She looked up to see Mr. Malchior holding a charming smirk and his chiseled arms folded. His light gray eyes pierced into her violent ones, his dimples poked out, next to those pink lips of his. Her cheeks blushed a bright crimson, "Oh, Mr. Malchior, I'm sorry I thought—" "It's fine Ms. Roth, I can completely understand the intolerance towards your classmates. Although, don't you think there's more to life than books?"

"My classmates can barely understand the metaphorical references of Poe's writing, let alone interact without their primal instincts kicking in," He chuckled again, "I forgot how much I enjoy your witty banter, especially in your papers. I'm so glad to have you in my English class again Rachel," The bell rang, Mr. Malchior squeezed Rachel's shoulder and gave her a wink then headed back to his desk. "You too, Mr. Malchior," she sighed to herself as the blush on her face deepened to a light red.

Everyone strolled into the classroom, talking, and gossiping to each other before taking their seats. Mr. Malchior wrote on the board the objectives as everyone continued to converse. Rachel couldn't help but admire the muscles in his back poking out. He turns around with a smile on his face, "Welcome to AP English, for those of you that had me last year, welcome back. To my new students, just welcome. I'm Mr. Malchior, I'll be your English teacher for the year and I hope that this class will be enriching for you just as it is for me—" A boy rushed into the classroom with his clothes and hair all in disarray, causing the girls in the class to giggle.

Dick Grayson. He fixed himself, smoothing out his hair and giving that charming smile of his to the admirers. Mr. Malchior rolled his eyes, "Ah, Mr. Grayson so nice of you to join us. May I ask as to why you're late for my class?" Dick sighed "Mr. M, let's just say…I had signed a few autographs for my fans," he smirked, the girls swooned, except Rachel, who rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Hmm, well I'm sure your 'fans' and coach would love to hear that the star player will get detention. " The sunglasses on Dick's face almost fell off, his eyebrows rose so high. " Mr. M please you can't do that! I have a really important game this Friday and I can't—" "—Next time. The next time you're late to my class, I'll be holding a detention session just for you after school and I'm sure your coach would love to hear about that, " He retorted, Dick sighed in satisfaction. "Yes Mr. M," he pulled at his backpack and sat at the back of the classroom where Rachel was residing. Malchior continued his introductory lecture, Dick whispered "Hey Rachel," "Dick," she hummed as she continued to read. "How was your summer?" He asked, Rachel, looked down at the purple bruise forming on her wrist, and pulled down her cardigan. "Good, nothing to complain about. Yours?"

"I can't complain too much," he whispered, she closed her book slightly, "I heard about Babs, what're you gonna do?" "Eh, I'll handle that later, " He gives flirtatious wave to one of the girls, Rachel rolls her eyes again. "Is that why you're parading around with all those freshman girls? Does she know you're cheating?" "I'm not cheating—The girls ask for some help with their homework or a ride home. Who am I to deny a damsel in distress?" Rachel flipped a page in her book, "God, she's so lucky to have you—as is almost the entire freshman class, " Dick and Rachel were pretty close ever since they got stuck together to work on an English assignment in 6th grade.

They always understood each other and knew when the other was off. However, they never romantically saw each other. Rachel instead that she'd rather-in quote—jump off a cliff, with her hair on fire than date Dick Grayson. Both considered each other as brother and sister. Dick always looked out for Rachel and when he needed deep thought advice, he'd go to her. There were times where she'd need a shoulder to cry on or someone to rant to and Dick was the first choice. They all had a close-knit bond in middle school: Wally, Dick, Victor, Karen, Rachel, Herald, Jinx, and Garfield. Birthday parties, sleepovers, movies, etc.

Although as they grew up, they grew apart. When they became freshmen in high school, the group was no more. Karen and Jinx began to grow boobs, joined the cheerleading squad, and went on shopping trips that didn't include Rachel. Dick, Wally, and Victor were always the athletes, as soon as they made Junior Varsity, they drifted apart from Garfield and Herald. Herald moved away shortly after their eighth-grade year. Rachel began to bury herself in books and schoolwork, always staying home to the point where barely anyone besides Gar and Dick talked to her. Gar took a job in helping his adopted parents run a pet store, then sometimes has practice with the cheerleaders since he was the mascot.

There would be times where they'd send each other a nod here and there. They'd exchange glances, though in the halls, it seemed as they all were on different sides of the planet. "Har-har. I told you, I don't cheat, " Dick whispered. Something was off, Rachel could detect that much. It appears Dick wasn't as invested into Babs as everyone thought. Even though that was his girlfriend, and they were considered The It Couple, there was a lot of cracks in their relationship. Dick and Babs were great friends, they always had this small teasing game going on. Maybe that teasing was considered as flirting in some way, who knows?

After they got together, it seemed okay at first, then months passed, and their vibes were different; it's like the fun from their friendship was gone. It didn't help when Babs went to a private school and was a whole grade older than Dick either. It also didn't help their cases when Dick "help" many girls from school, without Babs or the Hive knowing. He must have the girls sign a confidentiality agreement, Rachel thought to herself. She bit her lip "All I'm saying is that it's better to be honest with her than to lie to her face. You're not that kind of guy, are you? " she nudged his elbow before they both turned back and listened to Mr. Malchior.


Kory doodled a bunny in her notebook as the class watched a small video the teacher was presenting. The teacher stopped the video, "Alright class, that was a lesson on lab safety? Are there any questions," He searched the room before his eyes landed on Kory's beanie. "Excuse me, you with the hat," Kory looked up in confusion, "Yes sir?" "We don't allow hats in this classroom or school, especially during experiments.

They serve as a distraction and could cause an interference with the chemicals" "But I need to keep this on—" "Unless you have a written doctor's note as to why you need it, which I highly doubt. Then there's no reason for you to where it. Take it off, now," She sighed to herself, as everyone stared her down. Her heart began to race, cheeks lighting up in embarrassment, and her fingers twitched as she reached for the hat. "Any day now," the teacher interjected causing the heat to spread all over her face. She tugged at the beanie and shook her head, as her red curly hair fell. Some people blinked their eyes at the unusual red mane, others snorted assuming it must have been dyed.

"Thank you, now class please make note of Thursday. We will be heading to the library to rent your textbooks," Kory brushed away at her bangs, then kept her head down as drew in loops on the paper. Minutes have passed before the bell rang, she quickly grabbed her things and ran out of the room, hoping for no one to notice her. She opened her backpack and pulled out a familiar piece of paper, " -Eye's class, that'd have to be…oh no, that doesn't seem right," She observed the crowds of people beginning to get smaller as they headed to class. Someone lightly tapped on her shoulder, she squeaked. "Hey Kory, sorry I didn't mean to scare you," a lighthearted voice said, she opened her eyes to see Gar looking at her in concern, "Garfield! I'm so glad to see you!" She hugged him tightly again, causing his face to begin to turn different shades.

"Kory," she dropped him and blushed "Oops, sorry. How could you tell it was me?" "Your beanie didn't really cover as much as you thought, cool hair by the way. Did you dye it?" She shook her head "Um no, this is its natural color," "That's so cool, it reminds me of this friend I once had who had red hair too," He smiled then took a glance at the clutched paper Kory was holding. "Need help finding something?" "Yes, I'm trying to find Ms. May-Eye's class," "Yikes, you have her?" Kory's smile began to form a frown, "Is she bad?" "Meh, to me she's kind of creepy. I had her last year and trust me it always like she has these eyes staring at you,"

"Hmm, good to know. Where's her class?" "Downstairs, to the right. Make a left, then another and— you know what I'll walk you halfway," He takes a hold of her hand. "What about your class?" "I have gym second period with Coach Rancid, I'm hoping I can miss that class," she giggled at Gar's face, they walked down the stairs. Kory continuing to look at everything around her. Many people began to do double-takes and notice her, she pulled a loose hair behind her ear and got a bit closer to Garfield. "Have you made any new friends since I last saw you?" "Yeah, I made friends with this girl Karen, or they call her—" "—Bee—" Kory and Garfield said at the same time, "You know her too?" "I knew Bee, back in Junior High" Gar's face grew a small frown, "Is something wrong?" "No, nothing's wrong. It's just, we had this friend group in Junior High. We were all kind of inseparable, then things began to change.

After everyone, besides me and Rachel, became a jock and popular. We all stopped being friends," "That's kind of sad," "Eh, that's high school for ya," He shrugged his shoulders as they continued to walk near a small hallway, "Alright Kory, here's your stop. All you must do is walk down the hall and make a left. Once you get to the end of that hall make another left and she should be the first door on the right," "Thanks, Garfield!" "No problem, see you later alligator!" He waved at her then turned to walk towards the gym. Kory followed the directions Gar set out for her and found a small, plump woman sporting glasses and a weird apron. She scanned through the book in front of her, as other students in the class walked in.

Kory followed subtly behind them and took a seat in the corner of the classroom; opening another journal to take notes in. "Ah sweet!" "Nice!" She perked her head up at the voices she heard outside the hallway, three boys walked in. One of them was a tall, broad-shouldered, and handsome African American man held his books by his side, which compared to the size of his frame, were very small. Next to him, was a lanky, but muscular red-headed boy with freckles decorated all over his face. He looked like her brother, but paler and somehow All-American—if that was a term to best describe him. Lastly, was none other than the boy she had a run-in with earlier. He was actually smiling; it was a nice smile opposed to the frown that she saw. His sunglasses shined under the flickering classroom light and his hair captured a certain halo glow to his tanned, slender, muscular physique.

"Boys, I'd appreciate if you didn't cause so much racket outside the hallway," Ms. May-Eye retorted. The African American boy gave a sympathetic smile to her, "Sorry about that Miss May, it won't happen again," Miss May-eye giggled lightly at his charm, "Oh, it's fine Victor. Take a seat boy so we can start class," Victor and the two other boys sat in the middle of the classroom, Vic sitting by the wall, the boy with sunglasses in the middle, and the red head in front of him. Kory could have sworn, the one with sunglasses looked her way before taking his seat, maybe it was a trick of the light.

"Alright class settle down, I need to do the attendance really quick and then we can get started," "Kory Anders?" She wanted to crawl under a rock and die, Kory slowly lifted her hand "Here," the sunglasses boy remained stoic as his friend in front nudged him. "She's a hottie," she heard him whisper, which caused her to glare his way. He winked at her. Amongst a couple of other whispers from other classmates in the room, Miss May-eye continued to go down the list, "Richard Grayson," the sunglasses or Richard raised his hand, "Here, and it's cool to call me Dick, Miss May," "Oh yes, sorry Dick dear," she blushed before continuing. So, Richard was his name? Kory thought to herself, watching him intently, "Wallace West?" "Present Ma'am, just so you know the honey''s call me Wally," the red head winked at her, she fixed her glasses then scratched at the paper. "Kiss ass" Victor coughed, Wally flipped a finger at him, and Dick laughed. Dick turned to the side and glanced at Kory who met his eyes, he quickly turned around hiding the blush that crept on his cheeks.


"Ah, lunch! I thought I was gonna die of hunger," Wally groaned and clutched his stomach dramatically, "Dude, you ate that sandwich from one of the vending machines an hour ago," Victor said disgustedly as they walked in the line to grab their lunch. "You know I have a very fast metabolism," He quipped. As they waited in line, Karen sat at their usual lunch table in the middle looking around for Kory, Jinx sat down with her packed lunch. "Who are you looking for?" "That new girl from homeroom," "We had a new girl in homeroom?" Karen rolled her eyes as Jinx opened her container of salad and took a large bite. Dick sat down across from them, "What's Bee doing?" He asked Jinx, "Looking for a new girl," she shrugged, "Bee, is there something you need to tell us?" "Like…" "Like your change in sexuality—" "Haha," Bee opened her lunch kit and threw grapes at Dick who managed to catch them all in his mouth.

He made a goal sign with his hands, "Show off," She muttered as she continued to search through the crowds of people. Victor and Wally sat down with their lunch trays. Wally eyeing Jinx stuff salad in her mouth, "What's cooking good looking?" He wiggled his eyebrows, Jinx rolled her eyes "Bite me," "When and where," She choked on her salad, "Ugh barf, Bee a little help here," "Can't, sorry." Bee stood up on the table to get a better look, Victor gave a concerned glance to his girlfriend, "What's going on sugar plum?" "Trying to find my friend Kory," Dick nearly spit out his drink, "Kory? As in Kory Anders?" "Yeah, you guys met?" She asked, "Well no-" Dick was interrupted by Karen's squeal as she lept off the table and grabbed hold of a shy-looking girl.

"Everyone, I'd like for you guys to meet Kory! Kory, this is Wally, Jinx, Victor my boyfriend, and Dick," "We've met. Nice to meet you Jinx," "Sup red," Jinx smirked before returning to her food, "I share a class with Wally, Victor, and um..Ric-Dick," she said, "Oh cool! Well, I'm glad everyone knows each other, come on take a seat." Karen pushed Wally to the side, where he was sitting next to Dick and put Kory in between them. "Kory, I don't think we properly met. I'm Wally, the guy of your dreams," "Dude, don't scare off the little lady," Victor swatted at him. Wally made a hand gesture that said call me, earning a small giggle from Kory and a groan from everyone else. "So, Kory, don't take this the wrong way but you don't look like you're from the city," Victor commented as he ate his sandwich.

"Oh yeah, I'm from this island called Tamaran," "Tamaran? I've heard of that place. Pretty far," He smiled, finally someone who knows what Tamaran is, "The plane ride was definitely exhausting," she opened three packets of mustard and squirted them unto her ham sandwich causing Wally to stare in amazement. "You sure like mustard," "Wally" Bee and Jinx warned, Kory blushed again. "Yeah, I find it delicious," she took a small bite out of her sandwich in which Victor kicked Wally under the table. "Ow," Wally hissed and kicked him back. They were about to start a kicking war until Karen gave Victor a warning look. He blushed in embarrassment and buried himself into his bag of chips, "So Dick, we heard about Babs, you okay?" Jinx asked, Dick felt Kory's stare on him.

He opened his mouth to speak only for Wally to interrupt him "He was with some—" "—Wally, shut up," Dick growled. Wally gave him an apologetic look, then cowered back to eating his lunch. "We're talking about it later, I think" "That doesn't sound good," Wally snorted earning looks from the group, "Wally shut up and eat your sandwich," Jinx snarky remarked, "Excuse me, who's Babs?" Kory asked, "Dick's girlfriend," Karen answered.

"Oh," it almost sounded as if Kory was dejected by hearing that. Dick couldn't tell, he's only known the girl for thirty minutes. "You think she only wants to talk cause the Hive ratted her out?" "Probably, I'm not worried though," "Look you and Babs just need to work things out, she's always been an honest person. It may have been just a casual lunch with a friend or something. Maybe it's not what you think," "We're not like you guys, Bee. We're not the perfect couple, we don't have pet names for each other" "I know you're not Dick, but we all know what you did this past summer," Bee stabbed her fork through a thick pile of lettuce and shoved it in her mouth. Everyone began to eat their food in silence. She opened her mouth to say something, but instead took another bite of her mustard slathered sandwich.


Dick pulled up to the huge mansion before him in a blue Ferrari that Bruce gifted him for Christmas. He opened the door and saw a familiar White Jeep parked; his face paled "Shit." He grabbed the rest of his things before running inside only to see a girl with light red hair on the other side of the door. There she stood in her dark blue jeans accompanied by a light blue sweater that tightly clinged to her athletic body. Her cat rimmed glasses sat at the top of her head and acted as a makeshift headband to push back the stray hairs.

She looked more mature, elegant, stone-cold. Her lips pouted into a frown; Dick avoided her steel gaze. He bit at his lip in annoyance, "What the hell are you doing here, Babs?" He pushed past her, heading towards the staircase. Babs grabbed his arm in protest. "I told you that we needed to talk," "I don't feel like talking right now," "You never feel like talking Dick, every time I call or text. You don't wanna talk, well guess what. I'm not leaving until we do,"

"Whatever," he pushed past her gaining access to the staircase; avoiding Bab's lingering gaze "Dick!" She yelled in exasperation before running up behind him, he closed the door shut and locked it. He heard a couple of loud bangs on the door followed by Babs's yelling "Dick, open this door right now! Every time I come here, we play this stupid game and I'm sick of it. Open the door," He threw his bags to the side and sat on the edge of his bead turning on the stereo. The knocking soon started to cease, and Dick sighed in relief, "She probably gave up," He said to himself before opening the door, Babs quickly came from out of nowhere and ambushed herself in. "Babs—" "You always fall for the same tricks Dick, just like when we were kids," "Get out" "No, not until we talk about what happened this afternoon, and this summer," They stared each other down. Dick knew Babs wasn't gonna leave until she got what she wanted. She stood in front of the door, with her arms folded and eyebrow perked in what Wally called 'pissed girl' mode.

He sighed and slid his hand over his face "Okay fine, let's talk," he threw his hands up in the air, and laid flat on the bed, Babs took a seat at his desk chair, "Look, I know you're pissed about how we ended things—" "—I'm not pissed," Babs rolled her eyes before continuing "Okay, whatever. That guy that you saw me talking to from the Hive post wasn't a new guy I was dating," "Uh-huh, you seemed pretty comfortable with him while you guys wined and dined," "We're just friends—" "Just friends didn't look as close as you two did—" "He's gay!" Babs blurted out before covering her mouth in shock. Dick stared up at her in shock as well, a small blush of embarrassment eroding his face.

"H-he's gay?" "Yeah, but please don't tell anyone. He's not ready to come out just yet, that's what the lunch was for," "A 'Coming Out' lunch?" "Yeah, his name's Henry and we got close this past summer. About a week ago. I was out picking up something for Dad, I saw him heading into a gay bar. The next day I asked him about it and that's when the lunch thing happened. He came out to me, and we talked about a way for him to talk with his parents. Some idiots saw us, snapped a photo and sent it to the Hive," "Gay, huh." Dick goofily shrugged as Babs lightly pushed him, "Dick, this is serious. I know you thought that I 'moved on' so quickly without so much as telling you anything—" "—I didn't—"

"-You did, but we both agreed on this past summer on a mutual break up and that no one needed to know," "Yeah, so word wouldn't get out to the Hive," he groaned "And we wouldn't tell anyone. Our families agreed that we'd keep this arrangement hush-hush for now, until they came up with a better solution." "You didn't want me to tell anyone, I disagreed. You know how hard it is when I'm seen as like a douchebag or player who's supposedly cheating on my girlfriend," she sighed and put her head in her hands "They're just not ready for people to know yet, especially the Hive,"

"What are we gonna do for the Back-to-School Gala next week? We're supposed to act all in love and stuff when—""—I know, I know. Look, I'm still thinking as to how we'll go about this," he groaned again and scratched away at his neck, "I'm tired of being dragged around with this Babs," "Just hold out a little longer, I have a plan. A plan that'll be good for all of us," she said as she grabbed his hand and smiled at him. He removed it. "We done here?" He pulled off his shirt and opened his bathroom door, then slam it in Babs's face. She stared after him, her eyes lingering on where he once was. "Yeah, we are. I'll text you soon," She knocked against the door again as she heard the water run, pulling her glasses back on her face and heading out.

The door closed with a light shut. Dick peeked his head out the door to make sure she was gone, before taking a step out. He looked around his room and heard a buzzing noise, his eyes landed on his phone. He grabbed it and saw that he missed a couple of text messages, some from Wally, Vic, even a few from past flings; however, one text overpowered the others: Bruce. He tapped on his contact card and what he saw made his blood boil a bit.

"Remember our deal," it read. He threw the phone to the other side of the room and plopped back on his bed in frustration. "I'm getting real sick of everyone expecting me to hold my end of the bargain," he mumbled to himself and turned on his side, seeing the night sky begin to shimmer. Dick got up from his spot before grabbing his hoodie and keys, then walking out the door.


Kory sat in her bed, sketching out lightly a figure holding a football. Her thoughts were interrupted when a knock came at the door, "Come in," she said without looking up from her sketching. Galfore opened the door "What're you up to, Kory?" "Just practicing some sketching, is there something you need me to do?" "I just wanted to check up on you, see if you were alright. I know being at a new school is a bit stressful and having to start over in a new place is even—" "Uncle Galfore, I'm fine. You guys are always worrying about me," Kory rolled her eyes and rubbed the pencil a bit harder into the paper, Galfore took a seat at the edge of her bed.

"Kory, you were so full of life and open to new people, it's just—you happened to get involved with the wrong group of people," She wiped away a tear that started to fall, "I thought—" "—I know what you thought, but don't let this experience keep you from being the same Kory we all know and love," Before she could respond, her phone buzzed. "Is it okay if I answer this?" Galfore nodded before patting her knee then leaving the room, Kory wiped at her nose and answered the phone.

"Hello?" "Kory! You, okay?" Bee hectically asked, "I'm fine, what's up?" "So…you didn't see the update?" "What update?" "Um…nothing. Forget I said anything—" "—Bee, what's going on?" She could hear her sighing to herself on the other side of the phone, "Bee?" Kory doesn't know why, but she felt her throat beginning to clamp up, "Kory, I'm so sorry. Do you remember The Hive? That website we talked about?" "Yeah?" "Well…you're on it," she mumbled the last part quietly. Kory quickly hung up the phone and ran to her computer. She cracked it open, then typed in the website. There stood Kory's photo plastered on the screen, her face uncomfortable; she looks down at the caption written in yellow words:

" I spy with my eye, a new girl sitting with Gotham's finest and most popular teens. How did she get so ahead of the long waitlist to join the hottest clique in school? My sources tell me that Queen Bee-in-training Karen Beecher took her under her wing. Well, here's congrats to you, new girl for getting put on the A-list so fast, and as a congratulatory gift…consider yourself added to my radar. I can't wait to get to know you, I'm sure you have some secrets that you're just dying to share. Let's all give a warm welcome to Karen Beecher's new protege, Kory Anders. Welcome to the Hive newbie."

Kory choked out a gasp before closing her laptop, shaking in fear. She examined the room around her. It felt as if it was getting smaller and she was suffocating. Her breathing became heavier, so heavy that she didn't notice Karen calling her again. She put a shaking hand over her mouth to mask her anxiety attack, her heart feeling as though it was stopping together.

After a couple of minutes, Kory drew in a deep breath and pushed herself off the floor. She opened her closet and grabbed a black hoodie, putting it on. Her phone buzzed again. She switched it to silent and walked over to her window. Kory takes another deep breath before unlocking it.


The Hive Update: Poor Kory, I tried to give her a grand welcome. Guess some people don't know how to accept them with grace, that's fine though. Considering all the secrets I've got, I'm waiting for the right moments to release them. If I were you, I'd watch my back, cause the Hive is on the prowl and they're ready to pounce. Ciao for now, babes. – The Hive