Chapter 7

Rachel

Today, Rachel was going back to school. Again, she hopped in and out of the shower, put her contacts in and concealer on her scars. She didn't have to do it anymore, now that her father was gone, but she didn't want too much to have changed. It was weird and she didn't really understand why, but she didn't really mind.

When she and Dick left for school, they walked together the whole way. They didn't have to care about what other people would say or think, and it felt great. As they got to the steps, Rachel saw a group of people that Dick had told her a little bit about before. He introduced her to all of them and they then introduced themselves.

Artemis was a tall, blonde and long-haired girl with a tanned, Vietnamese complexion, Barbara was a shorter, paler, frizzy red head with freckles everywhere that Rachel could see, Johnno was a small, curly brown-haired elf-looking guy and AJ was a tall African American with jet black hair and dark freckles.

No one really asked many questions about her dad, or anything for that matter. It was nice to not have to think about that for a while, and to have some actual friends. They all chatted and got to know eachother pretty well, and by break, she knew a lot about each person.

At lunch, they all sat together in the cafeteria and somehow, the conversation slid onto the Justice League and the team of protégés that worked together. Rachel quickly realised that this was the team that Dick was talking about earlier.

"Ok," Barbara started, "Who's the hottest?" Rachel grinned as she watched Dick's face go slightly crimson as Barbara said that she liked Robin. "Oh yeah, he's cute." Rachel agreed, making Dick go even redder, though luckily, no one but her noticed.

"Ok," Johnno started, "But what about that archer chick? She's pretty hot too." Rachel nodded, along with Barbara, and she swore she saw Artemis go red for a second, but she was probably just imagining things. Dick smirked and agreed, but half-heartedly, she could tell he thought of the team more as family.

"Hear me out, hear me out," AJ said to the girls," What about Superman's son? He's pretty fire." The girls agreed but when AJ mentioned Kid Flash, Dick spat out his water and snorted at him. "What?" AJ asked, "He's like really flirtatious and cute. Come on man, I know you're straight, but you gotta admit, he's hot." Dick choked a little, and Rachel started giggling. From what she was getting off him, this 'Kid Flash' was his best friend, and he didn't, no couldn't see him in that way.

After they finished lunch, and crawled their way through the last two classes, they all said goodbye. Barbara grabbed Dick's arm and asked him, "We're all still set for tomorrow, right?" Dick nodded and AJ punched the air, before looking at Rachel and asking if she was coming.

Dick answered for her, saying that yes, she was, and Rachel tried to play off like she knew what they were talking about. Artemis grinned and told her how much fun it was going to be, before the four of them left Rachel and Dick alone.

"Care to explain, Mr Grayson?" she asked and Dick smiled at her sheepishly. "Sorry Rache, I forgot to tell you this morning, the group are coming to the manor for a sleepover tomorrow night, and it'd be hard to play off if you weren't here." Rachel smiled and replied, saying she was excited and the two of them walked home together, chatting and laughing as usual.

When they got home, they both got their homework done and hopped into the shower. Dick got out before Rachel this time and strolled into her room, lying on her bed. He felt something sharp stab at him through the sheets, so he felt around, before finding a small, blood-red gem of some sort. He stroked it with his thumb, frowning until he heard Rachel opening the shower door and turned to face her. She was only wearing a towel and jumped when she saw him, before relaxing and smirking at him shocked expression. She told Dick not to look as she changed, and he obeyed and though he was tempted to sneak a peek at her, he didn't.

When she had changed into some sweats, she jumped on to the bed with him, and they sat, facing eachother cross-legged as Dick put the gem in between them. "What's that?" she asked, frowning.

"I was hoping you could, tell me, I did find it in your bed." was his reply. Rachel looked at Dick confusedly before shaking her head, telling him that she'd never seen it before in her life. They studied it, and after Rachel cut her finger on it because man it was sharp, they came to the conclusion that in must have slipped out of one of her pockets when she got all of her clothes back. But that didn't explain why it was in her pockets in the first place. They decided to put it on her bedside table, before discussing more urgent matters, the sleepover.

They agreed that Rachel's 'mother' would live further down the road to the manor, and that Rachel was allowed to go straight to the manor, with a bag of sleepover things that she would have to pack after dinner. They made a lot of different little lies, in case someone asked something, and by the time they were finished, it was time for dinner.

It was fantastic, as always, and afterwards, they headed back to Rachel's room, just to chat, until half eight-ish. Then, Dick bade her goodnight, and got ready for patrol, once again.