Teen Titans: If I never knew you

She wore a mask that hid her smile,
And a suit that covered her real self.
She was afraid of what she really was,
And terrified of what she harbored inside.

She kept to herself,
She didn't want any friends.
None—she didn't want to burden anyone.
But then he came along.

He was the one to make her feel safe—
An impossible feeling it had seemed.
He filled that hole in her imperfect life,
He was the last piece of her puzzle.

Soon, he was getting too close,
But she didn't care, not one bit.
Before him, she had never known life,
And she didn't want to lose it now.

A disastrous storm blew in one day
And it tore her world apart.
She wanted to fix it desperately,
But there was no remedy.

She walked away from that broken dream
With nothing more than a shattered heart
And she let go of all her hopes,
But her love for him would forever be eternal.

Chapter One

A day when the Teen Titans would attend school again seemed to be the day the fantasies of high school girls would come true. Who could imagine five fighters of justice locked up in a run-down building with the future hopes of the society? But attendance rates in the schools of Jump City were dropping year after year. One day, the mayor went to ask a huge favor of the Teen Titans. His request wasn't anything too hard to go through with; he wanted the Teen Titans to go to school.

"Kids these days need role models and idols like the Teen Titans. I'm sure if you agreed to attend school again, the attendance rates would shoot up again!" said the mayor enthusiastically. "Please, I'm asking on behalf of the parents of Jump City. Of course, you'll be excused whenever there's trouble around."

The five members of the Titans huddled up. Beast Boy made it very clear that he did not want to school; his rant was mostly about homework. Starfire, on the other hand, was all for the idea. It would be a great chance to learn more about Earth and make new friends. Raven just didn't like the fact she'd be surrounded by people. Cyborg rather liked the idea of finishing up high school. Robin would do anything for his city. The tally came up 4-1; the Titans were going to school.

"Mr. Mayor, we'd be glad to do the city good by helping the kids stay in school, "said Robin. "When do we start?"

"In August, for the new year!"

August came too soon for Beast Boy. The day before school started all he could do was mope while enjoying the last of his Game Station. Starfire was his polar opposite, she had gotten herself a new backpack, a set of pens and pencils, a pencil bag, and anything and everything else she thought she would need. That night, Robin sat them all down and gave them the talk.

"We're not doing this for fun. Our mission is to be the perfect students. We are going to Scott Menville High School to help raise attendance—city wide. Try to refrain from using your powers on campus and, "he turned to look at Beast Boy and Cyborg, "Don't make trouble."

"Of course, yeah! I mean why would we!" squeaked Beast Boy.

"Don't sweat it Robin, "assured Cyborg.

Five alarm clocks rang consecutively at 6:00am. Four of the Titans rolled out of bed, one was reluctant. Until he couldn't ignore the incessant pounding on his door. Beast Boy straggled out of bed with a huge yawn and a long stretch. As the others finished breakfast, he was just starting up. School started at 7:30am and he figured if he ran, as a cheetah, he'd make it.

Four Titans left at 7:00am and done remained. Beast Boy had calculated he'd leave at 7:20; leaving 10 minutes to find his class and do what he needed to do. Meanwhile Starfire, Robin, Raven and Cyborg got to Menville High around 7:15. Their foursome caused quite a spectacle. When the principal had announced that the mayor had chosen their school as the school for the Teen Titans. No one really believed her. The principal had told her share of lies to convince the students to come to school.

There was the usual crowd of squealing girls, whispering among the cliques, and the pointing, and the oohs and aahs. 15 minute later, the student body piled through the doors to their first class; Beast Boy was no where in sight. Robin and Starfire were in third year classes, Raven and Beast Boy in second year, and Cyborg in the fourth.

Robin found himself a seat to his liking, away from the babbling girls though he did notice one girl who was calm. She had dark hair that went halfway down her back and rather wavy. Her bangs were eye level and swept to the left. Her eyes were a soft gray, kind of blue. Robin's first impression was that she was mysterious, pretty and quiet.

His communicator rang, stopping his stare. It was Beast Boy.

"Did the bell ring yet? Please tell me it didn't, "he panted.

"It rang Beast Boy, you better hurry." Robin closed his communicator with a smile on his face.

The teacher walked in with a strangely fake smile on her face. She introduced herself to be Ms. Walch. She didn't waste time in handing out text books and giving up work but she didn't assign seats. Robin looked up at one point and found the Ms. Walch talking on her phone in a low voice and applying make-up. He guesses he hadn't heard her due to the hissing loud whispers that was no different that talking at a normal tone.

But the same girl he noticed before, her name was Courtney, was doing the assignment dutifully. She did stop occasionally and would stare into space for a few seconds only to resume work after. The long awaited bell rang to conclude the class. The room emptied faster than Robin expected but Courtney took her time. She turned around to put her backpack on and saw Robin. She smiled and left the room.

After an unexciting hour of English, Robin hoped that Advanced Stats, the math class, would be better. But it was just as bad. The teacher, Mr. Payton, wrote his name on the chalkboard, took roll, handed out the texts, and gave an assignment. It wasn't much different from English. He looked through the book and sighed; this stuff would only take him a minute! Courtney was in this class with him too. It seemed she and a friend of hers was the only ones actually doing the work.

"I really regret doing this," he muttered under his breath and plunked his head on his desk.

The whole class, including Mr. Payton, turned their attention to the masked boy. Robin raised his head when the class became impossibly silent. He mumbled a sorry and went back to his work. Now, he wasn't expecting much of his other four classes. He now officially shared the mood all the other students had.

At the end of the day, Robin trudged lifelessly to his filthy graffiti-covered locker. He had forgotten how depressing school could be. He didn't have any classes with his friends except Physics with Starfire. There were some students that were in his every class, and amongst them was Courtney. The only time he had with his team was lunch. The alone feeling was horrible and he despised it greatly.

"I cannot wait to return to school tomorrow!" Starfire beamed as she clapped her hands. "School is very wondrous."

"You know, I didn't get that much homework," said Beast Boy as he ripped open a bag of chips. "I'm starved; that school food is gross."

"Yo Robin, why're you so quiet?" Cyborg asked.

"I understand why the mayor asked us to go to school. The students lack encouragement and motivation; the teachers don't care about the students and neither do the students care about their education. We have to fix this!" Robin declared.

"Good luck with that." Raven said in her sarcastic tone.

For a month, Robin tried to promote everything at Menville High. It was difficult with the students his age and it was no easier with the upper classmen. They laughed at him, ignored him, threatened him, and some got physical. It wasn't long till Robin gave up. Dealing with high school kids was harder than battling it out with super villains. He just decided to play the role of the super-student instead. It seemed that everyone had new friends, even Raven, but he didn't

Another month later, Robin wished he were back in the Tower washing the dishes. Ms. Walch was droning on about some project that would be done in pairs. Robin had no idea who he was going to ask to work with him. Actually, he didn't know who would. But Ms. Walch helped him out with that because she announced she'd be assigning partners.

The majority of the class groaned.

"That's enough. Now settle down and listen carefully," commanded Ms. Walch as she pulled out a roster. "Justin and Candice, Phil and Wendy, Allyson and Ernest, Robin and," Half the girls in the class had their eyes shut and their hands clasped together at their chest, praying to get paired with Robin, "Courtney…"

Robin's head jerked up and looked at Courtney, who was scribbling in her notebook. Her hair, which had been tucked behind her ear, got loose and covered her face. But though her hair covered her facial feature, you could see the grey of her eyes through the strands. From the first day of school till present time, they had not shared any words communication. She was just the kind of person who wouldn't talk to you if she had nothing to say to you; nothing personal.

"Hi Robin," said Courtney when she came up to his desk-chair, "Do you have any ideas for the project?"

"Um…" Robin tried hard to remember what Ms. Walch was telling them about.

A soft chuckle came from Courtney. She kind of figured that Robin had zoned out after a few seconds of no response. He blushed as Courtney explained what they were to do. With only ten minutes given to them to discuss, Courtney and Robin began brainstorming. Then they planned out when and where they'd go to work on it.

"Whoa." Courtney gasped she stepped through the front doors of the Tower. There wasn't anything special about this room except for the chairs lines to the sides. Robin led her into the living room where the Titans spent most of their time together. Another, "whoa", came from Courtney. It was Robin's turn to laugh.

"I'm sorry but your home is so..." she hesitated, "so grand."

"If that," Robin pointed to the over-flowing trashcan, "is grand, then I hate to think of what's the opposite."

Courtney chuckled the same chuckle. She didn't have a full-blown laugh, but it was soft and somewhat dry, but it didn't sit right for some reason. He pushed that though aside and led her to the computers. Half an hour later into their internet research, the other four Titans entered the room.

"Man, you missed out on a killer workout, Robin!" shouted Cyborg.

"Dude, I don't think I've ever been this sore…" moaned Beast Boy.

They still didn't notice Courtney. Rave went on to say, "I'm gunna go take a shower."

Starfire, being observant as usual, spotted Courtney's dark hair peeking from behind the chair. She pounced on her like Cyborg and Beast Boy would for the last soda.

"Who is your friend, Robin!" she inquires.

She had her hands together at her chest and her eyes almost seemed to sparkle. The only problem was that she was nose to nose with Courtney. Courtney was sporting a smile but something about it told Robin that her situation was extremely uncomfortable.

"Starfire, this is Courtney." Robin said as he pulled Starfire back.

"Courtney! You are in my Physics class! Oh it is wondrous; I have made yet another friend!" Starfire doesn't wait for an answer and begins to fly around in numerous loops.

"She's spontaneous." Robin said apologetically.

"Very." Courtney confirmed as she watched Starfire's dizzy performance.

The alarm in the Tower went off. Red lights began to flash and the window that seemed only to be a window turned into a screen. On screen was a map with a moving, blinking red dot and a second later, a picture popped up.

"Who's that?" questioned Courtney.

"I don't know, but she's trouble." Robin murmured. "Courtney, you say here. We'll be back—Titans, Go!"