Everything Comes at a Price

Devin and Abby barely spoke a word during the ride towards school. All she heard was rain pounding on Devin's old minivan. Abby was grateful that Devin was willing enough to help her, but she didn't want to feel like she put some sort of pressure on Devin.

"Abby, why are you doing this?" asked Devin, breaking the silence.

"Doing what?" she flashed a confused look at her.

"Running away like this. Do you have any idea how worried your parents will be when they find out?"

"They're not gonna find out."

"Are you sure? Because parents have a very strange gift of knowing everything that goes on in a child's life," snapped Devin.

"My dad's been gone for seven years…he doesn't know me enough that I'd be planning this kind of stuff."

Suddenly, Devin swerved over the side of the curb causing everyone behind them to honk in rage. Abby looked at her in confusion.

"Why in the world did you just do that?!" shouted Abby.

"Because I'm gonna tell you something, and you're gonna listen," she stared at her straight in the eye with a stern look.

Abby had no choice, but to agree so she nodded.

"Don't think you're the only one that has gone through this kind of pain, Abby. Other people have too. Maybe not in the same circumstances, but similar. Like me," Devin sighed. "My dad died when I was eleven. He was in the army and…he didn't make it out of an explosion. I understand that you thought your dad was dead and that you're angry. But he's back now. Now I don't know if it's one of those second chances or just plain fate, but I would do anything to get my father back."

"That's the difference, Devin. At least yours said goodbye. Mine literary deserted me. Even now…when's he's back he doesn't even tell me where he went," she began to feel a lump in her throat.

"It shouldn't matter. There had to be a reason why he left. Just like mine had a reason. But don't think for second that he doesn't know you…because he does. And I'm pretty sure he loves you."

Devin was right. Whether she wanted to admit or not, Bruce did know her. Abby just wished she could find out what was so important that he had to leave.

"Did my mom put you up to this or something?" Abby gave a small smile at her.

"No, I just thought it was about time someone put some sense into you," she smirked.

"Thank-you, Big Sister," teased Abby.

"You're welcome."

With that, Devin turned the ignition back on and drove into the streets. It wasn't that long until they finally reached the school parking lot. For precaution, Abby covered her face with her hood before stepping out the van. Just in case the media decided to come. With Devin guiding her, they rushed over to the girls' locker room.

"Okay, the coach wants us to meet him and the rest of the team at the benches," briefed Devin. "Once we're finished getting ready."

Abby avoided all eye contact with everyone she passed to avoid recognition. Once she was inside the locker room, Abby wasted no time. She quickly changed into her uniform, with only a few minutes to spare.

"C'mon Coach Jeff is gonna kill us if we're not there on time," Abby urged Devin.

Just as Devin finished tying her shoes Abby pulled Devin, by the arm, out of the locker room.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!"

The crowd was already seated in their seats by the time they made it to the rest of the team. Luckily nobody recognized Abby yet, but she was still using Devin as a shield. It definitely paid to have a tall high school junior as your friend. They found the team arguing to each other about something.

"Ok, we need to devise a game plan," said Adam to the other team members.

"What game plan? This is boxing not football," argued Aaron.

Abby froze at the sight of Aaron. She would've turned around if there wasn't a huge crowd that could chase her. Plus it would be very cowardly if she did so.

"Aaron's right, Adam," agreed Devin.

Everyone's eyes widened as they snapped their heads over to Abby and Devin. Devin still continued nonetheless.

"We need to classify our completion in order to know who we put out in the rink. Besides what's with the game plan? I thought we were already paired with our competitors."

Adam ignored the question. "Abby? I thought your parents put you on lockdown."

"They did, but obviously I'm here," she answered sourly, "so let's focus on the match instead of me. Capeesh?"

"Sorry, I was just wondering—I didn't mean…"

"It's alright Adam," Aaron intervened. "It's just the way Abby responses to situations like this. Don't take it personally."

Abby smiled at Aaron, mutely saying thank you. Even in an awkward phase of their relationship, he was still loyal. She admired that part of him.

"Alright, now that we have that sorted out," Devin's loud voice brought Abby out of her trance, "what's with the game plan, Adam?"

"Redwood decided to mess with our plans," groaned Adam. "Now we don't know who we're going up against and when."

"Well that's great news," she said, sarcastically. "When do we find out then?"

"When they announce it over the microphone."

Abby and Devin moaned at the announcement.

"Is it just me or is Redwood somehow out to get us?" commented Abby.

Adam shrugged. "I don't know. All we can do is wait until we're called up to that rink."

"Where's Coach Jeff?"

"He's trying to sort this whole thing out."

"Looks like it's gonna be a long night."

"No kidding. I'll be right back; I need to see what the progress in this mess is."

Once Adam left, the rest of the team—except Aaron talked amongst themselves.

"I gotta go too," said Devin. "I have to see if my mom made it on time."

Devin left before Abby had the chance to say anything else. It was almost silent between them besides everybody else's chattering.

"So how are things going between you and your dad?" Aaron finally asked.

"Better, I guess," she mumbled.

"Really? Because I'll I've been hearing from you is," he changed his voice to a more high pitched tone, "I can't believe my mom made me go live with my dad. You know I thought he was dead and now all of the sudden he's alive! Maybe they should bring Elvis back from the dead while they're at it."

Abby laughed at his very horrible impersonation of her.

"That does not sound like me!" she disagreed.

"Oh c'mon! Like you can do better!"

She deepened her voice into his tone. "Oh look at me I hate chick flicks, yet I have three best friends who are girls. My mom locks me in my room until I disinfect it. Plus I smell like I haven't showered for weeks."

"Okay, you were totally way off because that doesn't sound like me."

"Then were even," she smirked, returning to her regular tone.

He chuckled. "I guess we can't stay awkward towards each other forever."

"I guess not."

"Look, I'm sorry for confessing that I liked you and then avoiding you later on."

"And I'm sorry for not even trying to call you back."

Aaron walked closer to her, grabbing her hand.

"It's alright," he said gently. "You already had enough things on mind to worry about; I probably just chose the wrong time to tell you."

"How long have you felt this way?"

"I don't know. Maybe for a really long time, but I just recognized it last year."

"I kinda suspected, but I didn't really think that you would…"

"Yeah me neither," sighed Aaron. "But do you feel the same way about me?"

Abby looked up into his big green eyes. She couldn't answer him right away. Unlike Aaron, Abby didn't really think this through well enough to decide if she felt the same way about him.

"I don't know," she said, quietly. "This isn't exactly the right time for me right now. Maybe once everything's settled down, I'll know. Just give me time."

"Time…I guess that's better than nothing," he mused, "okay, I'll wait."

"Thank you. You know we're still friends, right?"

"Of course. I'm not willing to throw away eleven years of friendship over this."

"EVERYONE TAKE YOUR SEATS!" the announcer shouted over the intercom. "THE MATCH IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!"

"I guess we'd better get going," said Aaron.

"Yeah."

They released each other's hand and made their way towards the sidelines. Abby sat down on the bench with the rest of her teammates before waiting patiently for the match to begin. It wasn't until the referee came into the rink everyone quieted down.

"Welcome to Gotham High's boxing match against Redwood High School from Atlantic City," said the announcer. "First up from Redwood is Logan Newman and from Gotham is Adam Benedict."

Adam seemed to be taken aback by his name being called. However, he placed his mouth guard and gloves on and jumped up into the rink. Coach Jeff whispered a few things in his ear before Adam went to the center of the rink. Both he and his competitor went into their stances once they faced each other.

"Now from the information I was just given Benedict is a sophomore here at Gotham High while Newman is a senior at Redwood. I don't know about you folks, but I think this will be a very interesting match."

The referee blew his whistle. Logan was the first to strike. Adam ducked and hit him in the waist. He flinched for a second, but then jabbed Adam in the jaw. The crowd from the visitors' side cheered at this action. Once Adam regained his strength, he attempted to hit him in the chest. Logan, unfortunately, seemed to see it before anyone else and shot him in the stomach before Adam's fist could reach his chest. Adam immediately collapsed to the ground. The referee began to count backwards from ten. Abby along with everybody else called for him to get up, but he didn't budge. With no luck getting Adam up, the referee called Logan the winner. Logan held his fists up in victory. Abby clasped her hands in her hair in frustration.

The rest of the game didn't seem to be going all that well either. They had a few victories, but they were just barely tied with Redwood. Abby was really beginning to cringe now that the match was almost over. They were running out of players and Coach Jeff was even resorting to the freshmen. She didn't think it was exactly fair either considering they messed up with their schedule.

"Dawes, over here!" called Coach Jeff.

Abby didn't even hesitate getting up. She jumped out of her seat and ran towards the coach.

"Yeah, Coach," said Abby.

"You're up next. Gear up."

She nodded. Before turning to leave, Coach Jeff stopped her.

"By the way, what exactly is your last name?"

"Wayne or Dawes, sir. It really doesn't matter."

"Alright 'cause every time I try to call you Wayne, you seem to correct me."

"Yeah…well I might as well get used to it."

He gave a short nod before she leaped into the corner of the rink. She placed in her mouth guard, head gear and boxing gloves after she was inside.

"Next up," continued the announcer, "we have Ethan Lin from Redwood and…I can't believe I'm reading this, Abigail Wayne from Gotham High. Also known as the Princess of Gotham."

She clenched her teeth against her mouth guard. Abby was really beginning to hate that name.

"Don't let that get to you, Wayne," the coach whispered in her ear, "just focus on the game and you'll do just fine."

Abby tried to tune out all of the crowd's chatter and focus on her competitor. Ethan was tan boy with light brown eyes. He was built like had done boxing his whole life. Oh well, she did like a challenge. On the referee's order, both of them walked to the center of the rink.

"Alright, now I want a clean game," the referee ordered. "No hitting below the belt, holding, pushing, biting, splitting, kicking, head-butting, hitting any part of the arm or wrestling. Understood?"

They both gave one nod. As the referee went off to the side for a minute, they formed into stance.

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you," said Ethan, smoothly.

"Excuse me?"

"I know being a girl and all…you're not used to getting beat up. Especially for the Princess of Gotham."

She fumed up at that comment. This boy was certainly going to get it. Probably more than Renee did.

"Alright," the referee returned, "you have three minutes in the rink unless one of you is knocked out or if one of you is injured. The last person standing wins entire victory for their school."

Entire? Oh no, this must've been the last round. Coach Jeff must've been really desperate to leave out that little detail. Nonetheless she had to finish the game win or lose. The referee blew his whistle and they began to circle each other, keeping their fists in front of their faces. Abby quickly swiped her fist towards Ethan's face. Before she knew it, instead of her hitting him, he punched her across the cheek. As paused for a moment to rub her throbbing cheek, Ethan smirked at her. Taking advantage of Ethan's moment of vulnerability, she jabbed her fist at his neck. In return he hit her below the jaw. Her teeth clenched together in pain. She was sure glad she remembered to put on that mouth guard.

Abby tried swinging towards him again, but he ducked his head before she could hit him. She began to think back to any strategies that she could use. Suddenly her father came into her head. She didn't know why, but he was there. Just be unpredictable, Bruce said earlier that day. Abby didn't know whether or not she was being predictable, but she could tell Ethan's strategy. He always seemed to hit toward the face and pause to glorify it for a moment. Abby needed to take advantage of that moment just like before, only with more force. Before she had the chance to strike, Ethan jabbed her in the nose. Instead of pausing for the pain, Abby hit as hard as she could at his face. He went down to the ground. Unfortunately before the referee could make it to eight, Ethan got back to his feet.

"Oh so you're being tough with me now, Princess?" he narrowed his eyes at her.

"No, but I think you've lost your touch. My grandmother can punch harder than that, Pussy."

Abby smirked at him.

"Pussy? Is that all you can come up with?"

"Is Princess all you can come up with?"

"Alright, how about Airhead Heiress?"

"That one's gonna cost ya!"

She quickly hit him on the chest then across the nose. He swung his fist in the direction of her head, but she ducked and hit him on the side of the face. Ethan, once again, fell to the ground. The referee began to count backwards from ten. Everyone on the visitors' side cheered for him to get up while the home side waited patiently for the outcome. Ethan flinched once, but only to give up getting up on his feet.

"…Three, two, one," the referee pointed his hand at Abby. "Gotham High takes victory!"

Abby was speechless. All sound escaped her ears. The referee lifted her arm in the air for victory. She smiled and waved her other arm in the air. Out of all of the cheering, the only voice she seemed to hear was Aaron's.

"Abby!"

He jumped up into the rink and ran to her. Once he met up with her, Aaron lifted her up in the air in joy.

"Aaron, what the heck are you doing?!" she laughed.

"I don't know. I'm just happy!"

"Okay then, Mr. Happy, put me down."

Aaron placed her back on the ground, only to be a few inches from his face.

"You did great," he said in a lower voice.

"Thanks, you didn't do too bad yourself."

"Please, I got tired within the first minute in the rink. But you kept going…that's what I like about you. You never give up, no matter how hard it is."

She blushed. Abby couldn't help but notice Aaron looked very cute when he smiled. Although her feelings for him were undecided, there was no rule against noticing how attractive your best friend was. Without becoming aware of it until it was too late, Abby was almost nose to nose with Aaron. They could feel each other's breath on their faces. Surprisingly, she didn't mind. It would be any moment now when the unthinkable would happen.

"Congrats guys!"

Jared's loud booming voice broke them apart. He walked up to them, nudging Aaron on the shoulder.

"Thanks, Jare," grumbled Aaron.

"No problem, Bro," Jared smiled at Abby, "and good job to you Abby."

"Thanks Jared," she said.

Being Aaron's older brother, Jared looked quite like the older version of Aaron. Except his hair was blonde and cut shorter than Aaron's. Other than that, their facial features were almost the same. She looked over at Ethan who was now arguing with his coach. Abby took off her gloves and handed them to Aaron.

"I'll be right back."

Abby hurriedly made her way across the rink to Ethan.

"Look, Coach, I not only lost to a girl, but to the Princess of Gotham!" he shouted at his coach. "Nothing's more humiliating than that!"

"Relax, Lin, there's no shame in losing," his coach comforted.

"Easy for you to say. You're the one not going to be in the papers tomorrow."

"Excuse me," Abby intervened.

They turned around, their eyes wide.

"I think I'd better stay out of this," said his coach before leaving them alone.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "What do you want?"

"I just wanna say, good game," Abby held out her hand, "you put up a heck of a fight."

Ethan roughly took her hand. Their hands separated after one shake. It was already painful enough to be the good person for Abby. If she had it her way, she would've let Ethan go with his pain. Without another word, Abby turned around to return to her friends.

"You owe me a rematch, Wayne!" he called from behind. "Next year, you and me!"

"You're on!"

She looked back briefly before turning back into her original trail. Along with Aaron and Jared, she exited the rink to be praised by the rest of her teammates. Regrettably, she didn't have enough time to stick around for the trophy being handed out. After saying good-bye to Aaron, she hurried along with Devin to change back into her regular clothes.

Devin almost nearly sped along Gotham streets as she drove her home.

"I can't believe we won!" she shouted with joy.

"I know I wasn't expecting that at all."

"Didn't Coach tell you that you were going into the last round?"

Abby shook her head. "No, he said, just 'gear up' and I didn't find out until it was too late."

"Nonetheless, Abs, you did great."

The rain—as it did before—continued to pound on the windows.

"Dang, is it ever going to stop raining?" Devin peered across her windshield.

"Not sure, I'd expect it to stop by morning."

"I hope so. I'm not running the mile in the mud."

Abby nodded in agreement. Checking the time, she sighed in relief. It was just barely ten thirty. Bruce had said he'd be home by eleven, so that gave her enough time to give him the illusion that she was home the whole night.

"Um, Abs," said Devin, nervously. "What if the media posts the match in the paper tomorrow?"

She looked at her confusingly.

"What are you talking about?"

"Abby, you're not just an old person anymore. The world now knows you as Abigail Wayne the Princess of Gotham and the heir to the Wayne fortune. It's obvious that someone there with a camera could've easily taken a picture and sent it to the newspaper."

Her eyes widened at the explanation. How stupid could she be to leave out that tiny detail?! Abby still must've thought she had a little bit of her private life with her.

"Dang it, why didn't I think of that?!" groaned Abby.

"Hey, this is your plan. I have nothing to do with it."

She glared at Devin.

"Fine, okay I did drive you," Devin gave in, "but it was completely out of guilt and partially against my will."

"I never put you against your will!" she argued.

"They don't know that."

Abby rolled her eyes. She knew that Devin was joking, but Abby would still get most of the blame for the incident. They arrived a block away from Wayne Manor. Much to Abby's discomfort, the rain continued to pour.

"Thanks for the ride, Devin," Abby opened the car door. "I owe you one."

"No prob, just don't tell your parents I drove you."

"Deal."

Before she jumped out of the van, she noticed Alfred's car serve into the driveway.

"Is that you're dad?"

"No, it's an old friend. Don't worry about it. I'll go in this one alone."

"Alright, I guess I'll see you soon."

"Yeah, see ya."

After slamming the door shut, she ran up towards Wayne Manor.

She used her back-up plan to get back up in her room. A nearby tree and rope. Abby just hoped Alfred wouldn't discover her at the wrong moment. When she reached the top of her rope, she peered through her window. No sign of Alfred or Bruce. Abby lifted herself up to the window and swung her legs inside. Once fully inside, she threw the rope and the rest of her boxing equipment in her closet. Abby sighed to herself. She did it. She made it. Everything went according to plan and best of all she won the boxing match. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

Suddenly the lights flashed on. Alfred stared at her with a straight face in the doorway. Abby looked down at her attire. Her jeans, shoes and jacket were soaking wet. Plus her jaw was probably bruised up from the match. Not the best cover.

"I see you finally returned home," he said in a low monotone.

Abby laughed guiltily. "Yeah, I just went out for a quick walk."

Alfred's expression was still unfazed. It was obvious that he was disappointed in her. Now that she thought about it, she would be disappointed in her too.

"Then where did you get the bruise?"

He pointed at her face.

"I tripped?" she answered unconvincingly.

Alfred continued to give his invisible glare at her until she spoke again.

"I'm in big trouble, aren't I?"

"You have no idea."

His disappointed expression turned grim.

"I'm sorry, Alfred. I had to go to my boxing match. It meant a lot to me."

"I understand that. But everything does come at a price, and I'm afraid you're not going to like yours."

"Let me guess, I'm grounded until the end of the century."

"That's not for me to decide, but…your father…he's…"

"He's what?"

Alfred didn't answer directly, but said, "Come with me, I'll show you."

Abby followed Alfred out of her room. He led her into Bruce's master bedroom where she heard something wheezing. She snapped her head towards the lump in his bed. Wait, it wasn't a lump. It was Bruce. Abby immediately rushed to her father's side. He wheezed deliriously. She put a hand on his forehead. He was sweating like crazy. Not only that, but he looked unnaturally pale.

"What's wrong with him?!" she almost demanded.

"I don't know; he called me earlier for help and then I found him like this."

She almost nearly cried. "I thought he was on his date."

"I thought so too. I presume someone did something to him."

"Abby," Bruce gasped.

She turned back to Bruce. "It's okay Bruce. I'm here. I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry, Ms Wayne?" asked Alfred, glumly.

Abby spun around, facing Alfred. "He must've gone looking for me, and then someone drugged him or something. I should've left some kind of note, so he would've been put in that kind of danger."

She let a few tears stream down her face. This was all of her fault. If Abby hadn't been so selfish her father wouldn't be in this condition. She treated him as if he were nothing while Bruce treated her with the respect that any father would. If there was anything that Abby felt bad about, this was the worst.

Thanks for reading! Man, is it just me or did summer come and go. I mean first day of school is tomorrow. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed thischapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Don't forget to vote for the title of the sequel. I remade the poll, so for those of you who voted last time can vote again.

-Emyrox567