On her third week of school, Lea was in a better mood than she had been in the week prior. Alice had finally brought a car. A second-hand dark blue Toyota with almost twenty years of use, it made a strange noise when started, but she couldn't be happier. Now she didn't feel ill each morning because of the crowded bus. It had been five years since her world become a mix of darkness and lights, and even after all that time, she still wasn't used to many lights around and near her. These lights it's how humans and animals appear to her, like silhouettes made of light, which illuminate her dark world. Normally she likes to see them, but when there are too much it's like a constant blinding glow that makes her feel sick, with migraines and nausea.

Lea was five when she lost her sight and at the same time, she gained the ability to see the essence of living creatures, at least she thinks it's some kind of spiritual essence or soul. Maybe she didn't gain this power after going blind, maybe she was born with it, but it was dormant inside of her until the moment she really needed it. After all, strange abilities seemed to be a normal occurrence in her family. She didn't know if it was these abilities that caused her blindness or was the blindness that caused her powers to awake, but either way, she wasn't going to let her blindness prevent her from leaving her life and doing what she likes.

Therefore, when it became an obstacle at her new and unnecessary huge school she was determined to overcome it. She decided to create something to help her navigate through the school grounds. And that was the second reason why she was so happy. She had finally concluded her own school GPS that she named Gotham Academy GPS, and it was working wonderfully. She wasn't just glad for no longer getting lost and arriving late at classes, she was proud of herself for creating something useful and helpful despite being the only one using it. In her opinion, everyone should have it because even now people found themselves in some part of the academy they did not even know existed. The whole place was like a maze, so many halls and turns, each one with dozens of doors and not to mention the stairs; Lea was sure she was going to end the year with a fine amount of muscle in her skinny legs.

"Your dad would be very proud." Her aunt said after she showed her how it worked. Lea thought about asking Alice if she wanted to use her school GPS but she was sure by now her aunt knew the academy grounds like the back of her hand, with her eidetic memory she didn't need a GPS. Nevertheless, it didn't matter if no one else used it, she knew her program was good and that was enough for her mood to increase.

Unfortunately, her spirit wasn't the only thing to increase. The harassment was growing day by day. It started on her first day of school with Camille Hudson, who she learned was the most popular girl in their year, also the wealthier. It turned out that answer-back and making fun of Camille ended up with the rich girl marking a target on her back. Now, she was the new girl who was mocked by Camille and her group of friends or whoever wanted to catch the popular girl's attention and ignored by the rest who didn't want to get involved and become a target as well.

This was not Lea's first time in a private school and she knew the main rule, in the end, it all came down to the family - if it was rich enough, important enough, or powerful enough or as she liked to call, the RIP rule, just for fun. There was a hierarchy, if the parents possessed the three features the kid was at the top of the pyramid and so on until in the bottom where the nobodies like her stayed. From the start, she knew she should try to be like a chameleon, blending with the background, stay out of sight and keep her head down, but her condition and pride didn't allow that and so here she was again, getting picked up because she pissed off some hotshot again. In the beginning, it was small childish things like calling names and mocking her disability, but from the moment group projects started in several subjects, and the only students left to form a group was she and the person she shared a desk with - Damian Wayne - it got worse. From an occasionally deride to almost everyday harassment, from small things like calling her names to push her or make her trip over.

One time when Lea was making her way to the library, Camille and a couple of girls who always followed her around, passed by her but not without pushing her against the wall. Lea dropped her things with the pain from the impact, the bang from her body colliding with the stone resonated through the empty hall, followed by the quick steps from the running girls, their giggles getting lower as they hurried to get away from the brunet, now on the ground. She ended with a big bump on the back of her head and a sour back, Lea was sure there was a nasty bruise as she wasn't able to sleep on her back for a couple of days. However, what made her madder was the fact that the physical abuse was because she was working with the Wayne kid. After being pushed Lea started picking her stuff that fell from her open bag and to her surprise a girl she recognized from her class helped her pick up her things.

"Are you ok?" The girl asked standing up again.

"Yes, thanks uh…"

"Oh, I'm Sarah we are in the same class-" The girl quickly tried to explain stumbling with her words.

"Yes, I know we are. What I didn't know was your name."

Sarah stayed quiet for a while, Lea knew she was unsettled with something as the girl couldn't stop fidgeting with the end of her sleeves.

"Something wrong?"

"No! Well, I mean… I just…" Sarah looked both ways, they were alone in the long hall. "You should stay away from Damian Wayne." Her voice was no more than a whisper.

"What?!" Lea asked incredulously.

"The main reason you're being treated like this is because you're close to him…"

"Well the only available seat is next to him and he was the only person who wasn't in a group so I was stuck with him. In addition, I don't understand why working with him is putting me in this kind of situation. I thought the reason why Camille hates me was because of what happened on the first day."

"Yeah that's true, but I guess you don't know. You weren't here at that time…" The girl looked around to see if there was any unwelcome company before continuing her tail. "Damian Wayne only entered the academy this year and since the beginning, he doesn't talk to anyone unless is strictly necessary. Most of the time he ignores or scorns everyone who tries to approach him, including Camille and no one dares to do so, but since he's a Wayne not even the heir of the Hudson Company can do anything. Because of that, Camille took a deep blow on her pride. You know she is always trying to catch everyone's attention, she likes to have everyone eating from her palm, but with one of his menace glares Damian was able to make her back off."

"Menace glare?"

"Yeah, you know the ones he throws to anyone who gets near him, I mean I guess you can't see them… I- I didn't mean…! I'm sorry!"

"You don't have to apologize, it's true I can't see. But did he give me that threatening look?"

"Yeah! Many times! In the beginning whenever you sat next to him… but after some time, I think… he gave up? You know… since you can't… see…" She ended slowly, proving every word in her tongue before spelling it out as if to see if none was insulting.

Lea smiled at the consideration. Sarah was a little too much worked up with the blind topic but it was a nice change from being ignored or looked down on.

"Anyway thanks for the help."

"Sure no problem… do you need help to go somewhere…?"

"That's alright I have a GPS of the academy grounds." Lea showed her phone to the girl, the pride in her face glowing even more than the rectangle screen in her hand when Sarah lauded her skills and work and asked if she could use it too.

Lea was thankful that the group assignments were only to hand over at the end of the semester. From what Sarah told her, Damian Wayne was a very difficult person to deal with and Lea wasn't looking forward to working with him. She had never heard him speak, not even once, all she heard getting past his lips were sounds expressing his annoyance. He didn't talk to anyone and no one, students and teachers alike, seemed to talk to him either. Although he wasn't part of it, he was the main reason behind her suffering and she couldn't help the little voice inside her that blamed and hated him for that. Moreover, his stuck-up attitude only helped to aggravate her temper.

One day, when Lea was heading towards the infirmary to ask Alice if she had some change of clothes to spare, since 'miss popular' and her doggies decided to pour a bucket of freezing water on her while she was in the toilet, she heard a loud noise like something shattering. She remained still at the edge of a sharp narrow turn connected to a hall, the source of din coming through the left side of the said hall. Two male voices rushed right after the smash, they passed by Lea's hiding place without noticing her. By the small broken pieces she could catch from their chatter, they had broken a window while trying to hit a pigeon with rocks.

Lea rolled her eyes in disdain and exasperation. She didn't want to believe how stupid and immature the boys her age acted, she hoped they got caught, they deserved it for trying to hurt an animal.

I should get going before someone sees me and decides to drop the blame on me.

"You, stop right there!" As she was about to leave, a strident voice caught her off guard, almost making her heart jump out of her mouth. She was cursing her bad luck when the name 'Wayne' made her turn in her heels and she finally noticed there were three people, further away from what she had thought. She only recognized Damian from the trio.

"Young man what do you have to say about this!?" The shrill woman screamed for the boy's attention.

Silence.

"Explain yourself, Mr. Wayne." A man repeated in a much more placid tone compared to the woman.

"Why should I answer for someone else actions?" Defiant as always, Damian crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave the two adults an icy stare, his attitude overflowing with arrogance.

"Lies and disrespect are all the kids nowadays are full of. Principal Phillips, I'm going to contact his father! Such insolence can't be tolerated!"

The principal didn't stop her and the woman took it as consent. She was now pacing away, far from Lea's hearing, her heels stepping on little shards of glass scattered further away from the big broken mess as she talked with someone on the phone, her free hand making a jumble of moves.

Is he retarded? What is he thinking talking like that in this situation, is he asking for trouble? This is not my problem I should get going…

Still, her body didn't move, her small feet felt extremely heavy as did her heart.

Bloody conscience.

With an exasperated sigh, Lea took her phone from her pocket and sent a short voice text to her aunt, asking her to come right away. She remained there snooping as she waited for Alice.

"Young man is bad to lie, Mrs. Ballard and I were just around the corner when we heard the shatter and we came right away, we saw nobody but you here."

"Tt, clearly you weren't fast enough."

And he keeps digging his own grave…

"What's going on? You are soaking wet!" A voice she knew too well rouse behind her.

Lea quickly shushed her aunt so they weren't discovered and pointed to the commotion on the adjacent hall from the one they were currently in.

"Don't think you can avoid punishment just because of your father's status!" The woman had already ended the phone call and was now again yelling at Damian.

"Tt, why should I be punished when I didn't do anything wrong."

"What happened? Did he break the window?" Alice whispered not averting her gaze from the scene - Principal Donald Phillips and his secretary Vivian Ballard towering the audacious boy Damian Wayne.

"No. I saw the real culprits, two older kids I think. They ran right past me and in the next moment those two appeared and started accusing the first person they put their eyes on."

"And you called me here because…" Alice already guessed the reason why she was there, but she wanted to hear it from her niece. It was rare for Lea to ask favors since the girl tried to do everything on her own, especially favors for someone else.

Lea looked up with a false glare a last attempt to have her way, before giving up. She was starting to get cold for being too long in soaked garments.

"Can you please help him? Maybe you can say you witness what really happened. He isn't guilty…" A sneeze was about to break out, but she was able to prevent it by pinching her nose.

"Of course!" A smile bloomed on Alice's lips but it was soon replaced with a serious frown. "I have extra clothes on the car, here are the keys and don't forget to lock the car after."

"Don't be insolent to your elder's boy!"

Both girls looked at the scene again. The Principal face was starting to get red.

"Go now, I will take care of this." Alice whispered.

Lea only nodded before disappearing behind a set of stairs. Alice took a deep breath preparing herself as she stepped out of the hiding place into the argument.

"How many times do I need to repeat myself until your petite brains understand it wasn't me!"

"There was no one else here besides you young man, don't lie to us!"

"It wasn't him." Alice's calm but steady voice boomed over the shrill yells of the blonde, round-faced and curvy, Mrs. Ballard. Silence fell as the three took notice of her presence. Principal Phillips was the first to talk.

"Miss Silver there is no need to protect this boy-"

"I'm not protecting him I'm affirming he isn't the culprit." The words rolled slowly and stern in her tongue not letting any doubt slide off. "I was nearby when I heard the noise and saw two boys running off in that direction," she pointed the way with a small move of her brown head. "and chased after them, but unfortunately they outrun me and I lost sight of them. I gave up and come back to find you both, wrongly accusing this student. Blaming others without evidence it's not a very professional way to lead with this type of situation."

Vivian Ballard's face went red as a tomato, from shame or rage Alice wasn't sure. If they were cartoon characters, there would be smoke coming out of her ears. Donald Phillips looked away, fidgeting with his collar and tie that were all of a sudden too tight on his neck, and cleared his throat with a dry cough.

"It seems there's been a misunderstanding. Mr. Wayne, you're free to go now, I need to discuss important topics with Miss. Silver."

"Tt."

Damian gave the two adults one last glare before turning away to leave. At that moment there was nothing he wished more than having such incompetent people far away from his presence. However, a hand on his shoulder prevented him from doing so.

"You will have to excuse me for now, Mr. Phillips. I have some business to attend with this student, when I'm free I will go to your office and we can discuss the incident."

She gave them a bright fake smile. Damian noticed, nevertheless it was a good forged smile he gave her that. Most people wouldn't have noted, however, he wasn't most people.

Damian followed her and when they were out of sight, he finally asked.

"What business do you have with me?"

"You are bleeding again." There was a weariness in her words.

He looked at his hand as if he had just noticed the cut. He made it when he tried to catch the pigeon with the wounded leg. The bird was above some glass shards that had fallen on the grass when the window broke. As he stretched his hand forward, in a fast motion to catch the pigeon, he cut himself in a piece of glass, when in the last second the animal averted him and flew away from his reach.

"I'm fine, it's just a small cut."

"It doesn't matter how small the cut is, it's my job to treat the students."

"As I said, your assistance is not required." He said stubbornly.

"Well, I wasn't asking." She smirked, clearly amused by his words.

"Tt."

It was strange, most people found him infuriating and difficult to handle, however, she didn't look annoyed or fawner over him to try to gain his father's favor. What was her goal then? Was she really just a good and kind nurse that truly cared about the students? Nonetheless, she had just saved him the trouble of dealing with school drama.

In the first place, he was only there because his father thought it was good for him to attend school, to interact and socialize with kids his age. If it were up to him, he would just stay home training and studying as he did until now. He did acknowledge his lack of skills in the socialize department, at least to himself, never out loud. He knew he needed to improve and he wanted to. Such skills were very useful sometimes, he had seen how good the others were, especially his father and Greyson, with their 'sweet talk' and perfect smiles. In his point of view, not being able to perform such simple things was a weakness and he could not afford that. Therefore, he consented to his father's wishes and accepted to frequent such a degenerate and useless place full of brainless brats and incompetent adults. By the day, he was more convinced that this was not the right place to improve his ability to interact with others. But now was too late to back up. His father wanted him to attend school and would not let him quit.

He followed Alice to the infirmary and watched the way she walked. No limp...


Bruce was confused. He just had lunch and was preparing for a meeting, when he received the first call from his son's school. The shrilling voice of a woman he never heard before, screamed into the phone to the point he moved the device away from his ear. The rampant woman was shouting something about his son's insolence and incivility, and saying that even if he had the money to pay the academy more than a thousand times the value of the damage caused by the boy, it didn't mean he could do as he pleased. He didn't have time to respond or ask about the situation before the woman demanded his presence at the principal officer that day and ended the call.

Standing for a whole minute in the middle of the hallway, staring blankly down at the dark screen of his phone, Bruce tried to comprehend what had just happened. His son was in trouble for causing some kind of damage to the school grounds, but he could not put his finger on it. It didn't make sense for Damian to do something of the sort. If the call had been about the boy getting in trouble with another classmate, he could easily imagine that occurring, however, destroying or breaking something was completely different. Had his son become upset with someone and ended venting his fury at something? That was possible…

With a sigh, Bruce returned to his office, organized some papers, and was about to call off the meeting to go to the Gotham Academy, when his phone rang again, the same number as before displayed on the rectangular screen. His thumb slid across the smooth surface, accepting the call.

"Bruce Wayne speaking."

"Hello, Mr. Wayne. I'm very sorry to disturb you while working, I know you're a busy man. But it was a horrible misunderstanding. Please forget about the previous call, it was a mistake from my personnel." This voice he recognized to be from Principal Donald Phillips.

"Then Damian isn't in trouble?"

"No of course not! Your son is a wonderful student, very smart and mature for his age. Very uh… good grades, yes!" Bruce could discern a lie even by only hearing it, especially if the liar was a sycophant.

"I understand. Then I assume there is no need for me to go there anymore."

"Certainly not. As I referred before, it was a misunderstanding. Once more, I'm truly sorry for the trouble we may have caused by interrupting your work and wasting your time. Have a good day Mr. Wayne." And with that, the call ended. However, Bruce wasn't convinced, far from it. He was sure something happened especially because the woman had called his name. It had been no mistake. Even so, as soon as he arrived home he would find out what had truly happened from his son's mouth but for now, he had a meeting to attend.

It was almost eight pm when he finally reached the manor. The sky was already dark, with the approach of winter the days were getting smaller and the nights longer. Warm and an aroma of grilled meat and spices greeted him when he entered. Alfred must be making dinner.

As if hearing his name, the butler appeared from the hallway that connected the entrance with the kitchen.

"Welcome back Master Bruce. Can I get you something?" Alfred asked as he did every day.

"I'm fine. Thank you, Alfred."

"Dinner is ready sir."

"I will just go upstairs and change." Climbing up the stairs, he turned left, walking down the dark hallway until he reached his room. He dropped his briefcase on his desk and changed into comfortable clothes before going to the dining room. Everyone was already sited and waiting for him to take his place at the head of the oak table. Tim was at his left and Damian on his right, in front of the older boy. Dick had told him early that day, he wasn't going to eat with them tonight and Jason only showed up when he wanted, clearly today wasn't one of those times.

As always the food was delicious, everyone was enjoying it in a peaceful quietness.

"Damian, how was school?" Bruce decided to ask, his tone casual.

"Boring as always."

"Really? I received two calls today from the school, what happened?"

For the first time since the dinner started, Tim looked at the young boy in front of him. His eyes showed a glint of curiosity and mischievousness.

"Tt." Stubbornly Damian looked away from his father, not wanting to talk about it. However, Bruce continued to stare at him persistently, blue eyes piercing the side of his head and soon the boy gave up. "It wasn't my fault."

"I didn't say it was, I asked what happen." Placing the silverware down, he leaned back on the chair and waited as his son reported the early event.

"It seems that nurse saved you a lot of trouble Master Damian." Despite his age, the old butler had stealthily feet and to everyone's surprise, he was always present even if no one noticed, except for Bruce. Many years leaving with Alfred got him used to it.

"You own her now." Tim teased.

"Any good person would have spoken up-."

"If anything we're even!" Damian interrupted his father, his irritation surfacing to the teasing of the other boy.

"What do you mean?" Bruce inquired his voice firmer than before.

Damian seemed to realize what he had burst out, his face showing for a mere second regret before closing up in his usual scowl.

"Damian." Bruce warned. The table went quiet, all eyes on the young boy.

"Tt." With arms crossed, he glared down, his jaw tensed and pointing out. "She was the woman I rescued a few weeks ago… It's not a big deal I just didn't want to say anything because you always overreact when faced with this type of situation."

Unconsciously, Tim nodded, silently agreeing with Damian for once. Bruce ignored him, his mind searching between memories. "The woman who run away because she didn't want to receive medical treatment?"

"Yes."

"Does she know? Or suspect something?"

"No! This is the reason why I didn't want to tell you anything. Do you take me for an incompetent?"

"Of course not." Bruce sighed. "I just wanted to make sure. Regarding this topic, I don't want to take any risks. If one of us is found out, it doesn't take a genius to figure out the rest."

"Sir, if I may give a suggestion." Alfred waited for a response, Bruce nod was enough for him to continue. "Why don't kill two birds with one stone, invite her to the party next week as a way to thank her for defending Master Damian and to personally subdue your suspicions."

Bruce pondered about it, and the more he did, the more he liked the idea. In another hand, Damian seemed mortified about it.

"Very well. Alfred, prepare an invitation and deliver it tomorrow while fetching Damian."

"Yes sir."

"You can't be serious, father!" Damian nearly whined making Tim snicker, the older boy was finding the whole situation very amusing. "Shut it, Drake!"


Hello!

I'm sorry I took so long to post this chapter, but I hope you like it!

Until next time,

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