I apologize ahead of time for stereotyping, but when I first wrote this, I hardly even noticed I was stereotyping until someone told me I was (THAT'S WHY I ASK FOR CONTRUSTIVE CRITISISM! I didn't know I was being stereotypical until after I posted chapter 10! Please tell me if whatever I'm doing is offensive in any way!). I tried to take as much of that out as I could, but I wanted to leave enough of it in, but not so much that it really seems like they're 100 percent against preps, but instead, just the one that they talk about later. And I still wanted them to use it at least a little bit. So… if there's still too much, all I can say is I'm sorry, and I tried not to put so much "prep bashing", if you can even call it that.
Oh, and to respond to sweetmidnight or anyone else that commented on this, I really do take longer than most other authors, especially during the end of the school year now because I've had 6 projects to worry about all at once. It's not cool at all. I mean, I was only a sophomore! Does that mean when I'm a senior I'm gonna have to worry about 12 projects at once? Oh man, I hope not… that would be a living hell. Heck, THIS was a living hell! I mean, don't get me wrong, I love fanfiction and writing, but tying it in with school is maniacal! But now it's summer. Hooray:)
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to soak my head with water. Byebye:D
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Chapter 4: Classes and a Secret…It was 9:00 in the morning when the former Titans were having breakfast, each one of them at least slightly depressed.
Beast Boy stuck a fork into his tofu eggs and lifted them up. He sighed. "Tofu eggs just don't taste the same anymore…"
"Nothing does, Beast Boy. Nothing even feels the same…" Terra added.
"We are… powerless," stated Starfire in slight fear. "I feel weak. I fear I will not be able to protect myself from any sort of danger…"
Robin slammed his fist on the table. "Damn Drain! Look at us!" he exclaimed. "We never used to worry like this!"
Raven got up from her chair and put her hand on his shoulder. "Robin, relax. This isn't the time to overreact."
"I'm not overreacting," he mumbled.
"If I say you're overreacting, then you're overreacting. Just because this is a big issue, it doesn't mean you have to treat it like one every five minutes. Now, calm down before I have to hurt you."
He murmured as she sat back down.
"Yeah, really," said Beast Boy. "Besides, at least Slade wasn't the one who stole our powers…"
Terra was chewing on her food when Beast Boy said that. Her shock caused her to swallow her food incorrectly, forcing her to cough.
Beast Boy's eyes widened. "Terra! Are you okay!"
She took her glass of milk and drank half of it. "Yeah, I'm fine." She coughed again. "Excuse me, I'll be right back." She got out of her chair and left through the hallway.
She opened the door to her bedroom quietly. Before she stepped in, she took a quick look around, and then closed the door behind her. She leapt towards her bedside table and opened the laptop on top of it. After typing a bit on it, she put on a pair of headphones with a microphone attached to them. "Slade, it's Terra," she finally spoke.
A picture of Slade appeared on the screen. "Ah, Terra. I was waiting for your call. You were supposed to check in with me over an hour ago."
"I know, I know! I'm sor-"
"Don't apologize, Terra. There is no need. Just tell me why you are late, and then we can cut to the chase."
She sighed. "Fine." She rubbed the back of her neck. "All of us were caught in this situation yesterday when…" she began to stutter, "well, some guy randomly intruded and… kinda stole our powers."
"He stole your powers," he echoed. "Now, how did he manage to do that?"
"I don't know! He mentioned something about researching us on the Internet, then used his 'genius' to devise a draining power…"
"That was not what I was asking. I was asking, how did he manage to do that?"
"You mean, how was he able to physically catch me and steal my powers?"
"Very good, Terra. That was exactly what I was asking."
She moaned. "Oh, I don't know! I didn't even let my guard down, but he was just so fast…"
"But you still failed against him, and you know I do not tolerate failure." He frowned as she hung her head. "But, just as a question of curiosity, who exactly was it that stole your powers?"
"He said that his name was Drain, but I don't know if he has another identity or anything."
"And do you know what he has done with them?"
"He… hasn't done anything with them yet. But he did say that he was going to use them to defend the city while we're in school… you see, he stole our powers because he wants us to go through a year of high school without superpowers or abilities. While we're in school, he'll save the city for us."
"So… he's sending you to school? Interesting…"
She grunted with impatience. "Yes! Interesting! Now, can you get my powers back?"
Slade shook his head. "I am afraid I cannot do that."
"What! Why not?"
"Because, not only would I be helping you, I would also be helping the Teen Titans, our sworn enemies, remember? The ones we want destroyed."
"But, couldn't you just help me, and not the other Titans?"
"That would cause suspicion among the other Titans, Terra. They would know that you are working for me. We don't want them to know at the moment. We're not ready for them to know."
"I see what you mean…" She sighed. Then another reason popped in her head. "But, what if Drain wants to use our powers for evil? Don't you want to destroy the Teen Titans and do your doing?"
He crossed his arms. "Patience, Terra. We don't know that for sure yet. But don't worry, when we find out for sure that he wants to use those powers for evil, I might drop into the action. But, only because we must be the ones to destroy the Teen Titans."
Terra's face began to show no emotion. "Thanks, Slade. But, I should be getting back to breakfast."
"Very well. I will hope to hear from you soon."
Terra turned off her computer. She headed back to the kitchen.
Just as Terra exited her room, the otherfive were having their own conversation.
"I hope that the food that she was coughing did not hurt her too much…" worried Starfire.
Raven crossed her arms. "I'm sure she's fine. It's not like she's become sick."
"Yeah, she's… probably using the bathroom and getting a drink of water," explained Robin.
Terra entered. "Hey guys! I'm back!"
"Dude! What took you so long to use the bathroom?" Beast Boy questioned.
Terra paused for a moment, but then realized that that was what they told him she was doing. "None of your business!" She whacked his head.
He rubbed his head. "Ow… sorry. I didn't mean for that question to hurt you."
Terra sighed, realizing she hurt him for being himself. "I know. It's just that… I guess this 'no powers' thing is getting to my head."
"Dude! Stop talking about that depressing topic!" he begged.
Cyborg hung his head. "How can we help it, man? It surrounds us. Just look at yourself. Look at me."
Starfire smiled. "Beast Boy is right. We must talk about happy things, like school!"
The others groaned.
She blushed. "Or… perhaps not…"
The doorbell rang.
Her face lit up once more. "I shall get the door instead!" She ran to the elevator to descend to the first floor. She ran to the door, opened it, and grinned as she exclaimed, "Hello, visitor! How may I help you?"
"Hello, Kori," the person chuckled, who was none other than Drain.
She frowned. "Drain! You are not welcome in this building Please depart from our lovely home." She pointed her finger towards the city.
He chuckled again. "Relax… I'll leave in a moment. I was just going to give you each an envelope containing what classes to take, sports sign-up sheets, etcetera, etcetera." He handed her six large envelopes and smiled. "I'll see you next week!" He flew up in the air.
Starfire became angry. "Those are my powers, Nipbarg!"
Drain turned his head. "Oh, I'm sorry! I should be more careful not to use your powers in front of you." He flew around, then turned into a falcon. "Hahaha! Look at me! Azerath Metrion Zinthos!" He telekinetically picked up a tree. "Look at what I can do!"
She growled, then shouted, "Drain, if you do not depart this instant, you will face the consequences!
"What can you do, insult me with your Tameranean curse words? Oh, I'm hurt!" he sarcastically remarked.
She knew that there was nothing she could do to stop him, so she quickly shut the door and dragged her feet toward the elevator. She entered it and returned to the kitchen.
Robin stood up. "I saw him flying outside. I'm sorry he did that…" he told her, trying to cheer her up a little bit.
Starfire tried to look calm, but you could still tell that she was upset. She placed the envelopes on the table. "These are the papers that make us choose our classes."
Cyborg stood up. "Well, let's clean up breakfast and take a look at them."
After the table was cleared, they headed to the game room and opened each of their envelopes. Each one contained a course catalog, a list of requirements, a piece of paper that had them write down what classes they wanted to take, and a sports sign-up sheet.
Raven looked at her sheet of requirements and grunted. "It says I have to take gym…"
Cyborg approached her. "I'll trade! It says for me I have to take a poetry class."
She frowned at him. "I wish I could, Cyborg. But unfortunately, this is for me, and the rules down here say that we have to meet the requirements on our own list. Since we're only here for a year, we're unable to meet the usual requirements, so the principal picked our own."
"But then why bother with choosing our own classes?" asked Terra.
Robin looked at his requirements paper. "It says here that we can choose our own math, English, science, and language. And they wanted us to put all of the classes down on a convenient sheet of paper so they don't have to look for everything else."
Everyone else nodded in agreement.
Starfire looked up from her paper, perplexed. "What is… choir?"
Everyone else anime fainted.
Cyborg stood back up, horrified. "Oh no! Starfire's gonna be in… choir!"
Beast Boy started to shriek. "Eeeeek! It's the Apocalypse! We're all gonna die!"
Starfire put a finger on her bottom lip. "Is choir a form of battle training?"
Robin sighed. "No Star. It's… a singing class…"
Her face lit up the whole room. "Glorious! I must sing to my wonderful classmates all of the Tameranean folk songs that have been created! I shall bring my gorkapipes!"
Robin scratched his head, searching for a way to contradict her politely. "Eh… Star? It's… not a class in which you sing whatever you want to. The teacher has you and the rest of your classmates sing together in the songs that he or she chooses for you to sing. Then after a couple of months of practicing, you perform those songs in front of the whole school."
"Oh…" she said, slightly disappointed. "But, I am sure that I will still have fun!" she finished with a smile.
Beast Boy glanced back at his requirement sheet. "Dude! I have to take Shakespeare! BORING!" He tossed the paper behind him.
"I have to take art," commented Robin as he rolled his eyes. "I can't even draw stick figures!"
"I have to take conditioning…" Terra said with a frown. "It's like a weight-lifting class. I don't think I'm going to have very many people to talk to in that class. They're either going to be jocks, or their cheerleader girlfriends."
"Yah know," Cyborg added, "Not all jocks are bad, and not all cheerleaders are bad. But I can see why you're complaining. Back in middle school, we called the annoying cheerleader-types 'preppies'. They were pretty, and popular…"
"And I HATE THEM!" finished Terra. "They help stereotype blondes!"
Raven shivered. "Me too…and I have an imminent feeling we'll be surrounded by them every day. School is going to be great…"
"What are preppies?" asked Starfire.
Terra held up her finger. "Let me demonstrate…" She put her hair in pigtails and put a ditzy smile on her face. "Like, oh my god! Did you see Charlie today? He was, like, SOO hot! I, like, LOVE his hair today! And Brittany was, like, 'that's, like, MY boyfriend! You, like, stay away from him!' and I was, like, 'too bad, Bitch! He, like, hates you!' And she was, like…"
"OKAY! We… get the point…" Beast Boy said as he stopped her. Terra took out her pigtails.
Starfire scratched her head. "I still do not get it…"
Raven stepped in. "Preppies are girls that usually talk in an extremely irritating voice, as Terra demonstrated. All they care about are looks, popular TV, and boys. They're also incredibly stupid. At least they act like it, anyway… but Terra was just overacting what they do. It makes a good background, but it's not exactly how they act… thank god. What Terra demonstrated was a stereotype."
"And we don't normally call them preppies in high school anymore, either. It's just a good nickname for them now, but don't start calling them that all the time," finished Cyborg.
"Oh, I see." She thought for a moment. "Robin, are these so-called preppies the reason why you are not wanting to go to school?"
He sighed. "Partly. Terra, did you HAVE to call that other girl Brittany?"
"Well, since Brittany is the all-time preppy name, yes I did." She grinned.
Raven rolled her eyes. "You're stereotyping again…"
"Did you once encounter a preppy that is called Brittany?" asked Starfire.
Robin frowned. "I hate talking about…"
She stopped him. "No! You must tell us now! It is better that we know about this Brittany, so that we know what she is like." The others nodded.
He sighed. "Fine…" He sat down on the couch. "When I was younger, there was a girl, Brittany, who had a huge crush on me. She was irritating enough without shrieking my name and giving me hugs and kisses! I couldn't stand her! I was glad to know that I didn't need to go to school anymore, despite the reason why… But now that I have to go again, I'm…"
Starfire was angry. "She KISSED you!"
"Relax, Star! I didn't enjoy it…"
Cyborg stepped in. "Well, there is a chance that she doesn't live in the city anymore. And even if she does, I'm sure she's changed by now. It's been a long time."
"Yeah, dude!" exclaimed Beast Boy. "Besides, it's not like you at all to get upset over something stupid like a girl that you once knew and hated. You usually get upset over stuff like failure and Slade and stuff."
"And even if she does disturb your personal space, I will make sure that she is disposed of," Starfire told him.
Robin chuckled. "Yeah, you guys are probably right." He rose from the couch. "I must be overreacting."
Just then, they heard someone knock on their window.
Terra turned her head, along with everyone else. "Drain!"
"Hello, kids! Just thought I'd drop by…" He was in the air on top of a boulder.
"Bastard! Stop showing off!" yelled Cyborg.
"You know, you're going to be more hated than ever if you keep doing that," commented Raven.
"But I'm having fun!" exclaimed Drain. "Actually, I just wanted to remind you all that in six days you'll be moving out of the tower and into your new homes with your new families."
"WE KNOW!"
"Geez, you don't have to be so bitter…" He left.
Cyborg dropped his jaw. "He thinks WE'RE bitter! What the hell does that guy think he is! Wait'll we get our powers back…" He shook his fist.
Terra frowned.
Raven grabbed his wrist. "Enough Cyborg. You need to control your emotions, or he'll just boast more." She faced everyone. "That goes for all of us. The angrier we get, the more he'll bug us. So whenever he comes along using our powers or abilities, we just be nice and polite to him. When he discovers that we aren't being bothered by his mockery, he'll leave us alone."
"That jackass is SO immature! The creep acts like a thirteen-year-old bully!" commented Terra.
"Raven's right. We shouldn't be bothered by someone that's trying to tease us. It's ridiculous," agreed Robin. "I guess great minds think alike."
"Too bad I didn't think of that one…" mentioned Beast Boy
Cyborg changed the subject. "So, what sports y'all playing? I'm gonna play football!"
Robin put his hand across his chin. "I'll do soccer. I'm just the right body type. Except I'm not as smooth with soccer moves as I used to be, so I have to practice when I get out of here."
Raven crossed her arms. "I don't do sports."
Starfire was looking at the list. "What is the sport for tall people, a bouncing orange ball, and a hoop?"
"That's basketball, Star. I think you might be good at that once you learn the game," explained Robin.
Terra pondered for a moment. "I might either play basketball, or tennis. I can't choose right now, though. Cross Country might be good, too."
Beast Boy put his finger by his chin. "I'm not sure if I wanna play anything. Not for the fall, at least. I might join a club… nothing dorky, but something good… hmm… I can't decide either…"
The Titans were pondering on what classes to take, what sports to play, etcetera, etcetera. They began to draw it to a close…
Until next chapter…
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Yay, new chapter. Hoped you liked it, and once again, I hope that it wasn't too stereotypical. School's out, so I'll update more often (FINALLY!). See ya later, and please review. And if you could read and review my fictionpress story (the link is in my profile), that'd be great, and I'd highly appreciate it. That's all.
Vandagirl :D