Chapter 3: Homework

Alex wasn't completely prepared for the school's reaction to his prank when he returned to school after his suspension time was complete. That was the problem that he has had for years; he had selective vision when it came to looking at the possible consequences of his actions as he was planning them out. Of course, part of him thought it would blow over while he was way for three days, plus the weekend, but he was wrong.

Halle wasn't speaking to him, but that was nothing new. A select few from the student body venerated Alex for his actions, but those were many others like himself who were bullied by the victims of Alex's prank. A large portion of the student body was ignoring his very existence, although Alex wasn't sure if that was because of the stunt he pulled or not, because a large portion of the student body ignored his very existence on a regular basis.

However, what Alex was especially not expecting was the fire that now burned in his four tormentors. Again, his inability to see all possible outcomes. Although Alex's reveal-all session via the intercom had been with the intent to have revenge, he also thought it would be a deterrent to any further bullying. He was wrong. He might have taken the hint by the daggers be stared in the back of his head by Meekins's during homeroom. Or the fact that rather being loud and annoying during lunch, they sat whispering in a little huddle at their exclusively football player table, shooting him furtive glances that he tried desperately to ignore.

So, when the hallways were empty, as Alex stayed after school to help with a computer problem (he knew they would need him back), and he was shanghaied on the way to his locker by four burly football players, it wasn't much of a surprise.

"What the hell are you doing?" Alex demanded as he was shoved roughly against a wall and surrounded.

"Just getting some pay back," slurred the Aaron Jacobs, cracking his knuckles in what was supposed to be an intimidating manner. He seemed to be both the originator and leader of this little group, which was amazing because he was by far the stupidest one.

Ted Meekins grunted in agreement, Jason glared, flushed in anger, and Andy stood back farther then the others, nervous and darty-eyed, as if waiting to get caught. Andy was easily the smartest in the group, better than average intelligence even if his grades didn't reflect it all the time. Andy and Alex had gone to the same middle school; they weren't close friends, but they weren't enemies either. But he had a major growth spurt that adolescent boys get and that Alex was still awaiting the summer before freshman year and joined the football team. All Alex said was that Andy had lice, no biggie, he had no reason to be seeking revenge. He was much too unassertive to stand up to his 'friends' and their bullying. He rarely initiated such actions, but did it make any difference?

"Aren't you late for practice," Alex spitted out, sounding much more confident than he was actually feeling.

"Cancelled for rain, jerk. No one's going to miss us." This time it was Jason who spoke. Okay, maybe he wasn't too dumb either…at least he was doing more than grunting, which is more than can be said for Meekins.

"Oh…" spilled out of Alex's mouth in daunting realization. He was going to get beat up, seriously beat up. Sure these guys had damaged his pride and had given him a few bruises from shoves, and trips, and a punch once or twice…but he saw the fire in their eyes. He was going to be beaten to a bloody pulp.

"Oh, looks like the smart-aleck is all out of words," mocked Jason, banging his fist into his other hand menacingly. Meekins and Jacobs laughed derisively as Andy Callahan chuckled weakly.

"At least I know words more than one syllable long, you neanderthals."

"Was that an insult?" demanded Jacobs with fury.

"It's okay, I can wait until you find a dictionary," retorted Alex swiftly.

"Let's get this over with," grumbled Meekins, speaking for the first time. The only thing that kept Alex from making a smartass comment about mumble-mouth was that he remembered his back was against the wall, literally, and he better stop pissing them off and try to talk himself of this situation. Maybe they'd listen to reason…Ha! Reason! He wouldn't be cracking himself up if the situation weren't so serious.

Jason Ryes took a menacing step forward, he had a vendetta, well, that is if he knew what that meant. "Because of you my girlfriend dumped me," he whispered harshly.

"Well," said Alex, trying the best to keep his tone even, to appear that he wasn't shaking on spot, and loud, hoping that maybe some member of the faulty will hear him and investigate. "Maybe you should have thought of that before you sucked face with my sister."

"Don't talk to me about that slut!" he swore, advancing even more.

"She's not a—," Alex began, but never had a chance to finish as several things happened in rapid succession. First Jason's fist connected with Alex's gut, effectively knocking the breath out of him. Second, a warm tingling feeling filled Alex's body and, in flash of blue light, the four footballers ended up in tangled heap against the opposite wall. Alex stared wide-eyed. How did that happened?

"What did you do, you little freak!?" demanded Jason, filled with rage, stumbling to get to his feat and eager to attack the smaller boy again.

"Jason," interrupted Andy, "Shuddup! Someone is coming. Let's get out of here." It was true, an indiscernible teacher's voice was calling, 'Who's there?' from around the corner, attracted by the ruckus. The footballers, now disentangled, got up from the floor and quickly exited down the staircase.

"You haven't seen the end of us," swore Jacobs over his shoulder as they departed.

"Well, that's melodramatic," Alex said to no one just about the time Mr. Collins, the math teacher appeared at the top of the steps connected to the hall.

"Mr. Grayson," the teacher said, confused. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing," Alex said, maybe just a little too swiftly. "Just tripped."

Mr. Collins gave Alex a disbelieving look, but as there was no evidence of vandalism or thievery going on, he excused him. "Well, better get home, it's getting late," instructed Mr. Collins.

Alex nodded in agreement and continued his way to his locker, trying to pretend he really had just tripped so he didn't had to explain his light-headedness or they over-whelming feeling of god knows what.

…

It hadn't been a bad day, per say, but Kori was officially bored. Maybe it was because Alex had been home with her the last few days during his suspension. True, he spent most of his time locked in his room, but he came down to eat and watched some television with her. And maybe it was the knowledge that she could walk upstairs at anytime to talk to him was comforting. No one but her was home for the better part of this Thursday.

She glanced for the umpteenth time at the wall clock. There was only ten seconds difference from the last time she checked. She picked up a magazine off the coffee table and flipped through it, bored. She tossed back on the table a short while later, checking the clock…she had successfully wasted one minutes of her life.

Maybe she should get a job, and tha she'd have something to do during the day. She was never required to seek employment on a financial standpoint, that was always covered by Dick's…background. Her days had been much more full years ago when they when the kid's were young, and Dick wasn't working so much in preparation of Bruce's upcoming retirement. It didn't help that she didn't fit in this town. Sure she was pictured in the newspaper and she often frequented those charity events that rich people go to all dressed up. But she couldn't walk down the street and find a café or pizza place to eat with a couple a friends like back when she lived in J—

Kori closed her eyes tightly, trying to rid herself of the bitter memories that threatened to bring tears to her eyes.

The front door banged open unceremoniously. "I'm home," announced Halle, making a beeline for the staircase. However, with incredible speed, her path was blocked off by her mother, looking all too cheery to see her.

"Welcome home! How was your schooling?" asked Kori exuberantly.

"Umm…fine," said Halle slowly, inching around her mother towards the staircase. This wasn't unusual behavior for Halle's adult look-alike, but it still freaked her out. It just wasn't normal. "I've got to go do…er…homework," Halle excused herself, scurrying up the steps.

Kori sighed in failure and sat, shoulder slumped dejectedly, back on the couch. Not long later the front door opened again, albeit more carefully. Kori looked up and was over to the entrance in a heartbeat.

"Alex, you're home," she said warmly, embracing her son in a tight hug, completely disregarding the fact that he was a teenage boy who had long ago grown out of the custom of hugging his mommy when he returned home from school.

He mumbled incoherently in response.

Kori let go, a look of concern across her face. "Is something wrong?"

"No, it's fine…everything's fine," Alex muttered unconvincingly, looking utterly confused.

"Are...you sure?" questioned Kori.

"I'm sure," he garbled. "I've gotta do some homework." He escaped upstairs as his elder twin sister had.

"What's with these Earth schools and their 'homework'," said Kori in mild frustration to the empty hall.

…

Far across the city, where people could only afford mildly decent apartments, another mother was waiting for her son to return home. She was sitting at the kitchen table, files spread over it. She read the pages, rubbing her eyes tiredly from endless, tedious work.

Her concentration broke when she heard the front door being unlocked. She tapped the pile of papers together and quickly stacked the files so Kaden won't see the contents. He was too young and she tried to not mix work and family as much as she could.

"You're home," she stated in a simple greeting as her son entered, dropping his worn, dark green book bag onto the floor by the corner of the couch in the connected living room. Kaden nodded in response.

"Good first day?" Raven asked.

"Good as to be expected," Kaden replied, grabbing an apple out of the fruit bowl on the counter.

"Meaning?" probed Raven although she already knew the answer and didn't expect one from Kaden. The bitterness and blandness in his tone told enough. She knew the constant relocating of their little family didn't make life easy on Kaden. Even though Raven had no personal experience with public schools or any formal school for that matter, she knew being the new kid over and over again could not be easy, especially when Kaden natural appearance preclassified him as a 'freak.'

Raven switched questions. "Did you make any friends?" It sounded corny before it even left her mouth.

Kaden gave his mother a look that said he wasn't going to dignify that question with an answer.

"You should at least try," Raven attempted lamely, feeling like a complete hypocrite because she was hardly the type to get a new 'bff' on the first day, or ever.

Kaden delayed answering by taking his time to plop down on the couch, extending his legs clad in faded gray jeans in front of him, and taking a bit of his apple, chewing slowly.

"What's the point? By the time I begin to tolerate someone, we'll probably move again." Although his tone was causal, Raven knew the depth of its meaning. She wanted to say something, she knew this had been affecting him for a long while now, but touchy-feely, heart-to-heart stuff wasn't really her forte. Of course, her motherly instincts took over.

"Kaden, I know this is hard for you—,"

"Look," he interrupted. "Chill, no biggie. In this city there are a whole load of kids that look much freakier than I do." With that Kaden exited to his bedroom, leaving his book bag behind.

"Don't you have homework?" said Raven lamely to herself.

Dick yawned as he opened the front door. It was funny, he was used to be able to stay up for days on end trying to untangle the mystery of Slade or some other villain, yet with a few long days of office work and meetings with really boring executives or whatever the hell they were, he was pooped. Of course, he refused to believe it had any connection with him not being as young as he used to be.

"Dick!" said an excitedly tone as he was wrapped in a tight, albeit slightly exhausted hug.

He couldn't help but chuckle. "How was your day…?"

"Oh, it was most terribly boring and the kids are home but they have to do the homework and I got even more bored and I tried to cook, but none of my usual ingredients are in 'the frig,' but no one has ever liked my cooking but you. Did you know we were out of mustard? But now you are home and I can stop the bordness and be joyous," she said in one breath.

"Right," replied Dick. Sometimes he forgot how fast his wife could talk when she put her mind to it. "So Halle and Alex are upstairs," he said, pulling uncomfortably at his tie to pull it off.

Kori nodded. "Yes, but they were acting most peculiar."

"More than usual?" Dick joked, but it went over the redhead's head.

"Well, particularly Alex. Perhaps he has an insect?"

"Insect?" said Dick with confusion. "You mean a bug."

"Aren't they the same thing?"

"…Sure…Alex was peculiar how?" asked Dick.

"Um," said Kori, trying to find words fit to describe him. "He was all mumbley and his eyes were iced over?"

"Glazed over?"

"Isn't that what I said?"

"Hmmm…"

"Do you know what is wrong with him?" asked Kori, almost pleadingly.

"Well, he's a teenage boy, it could be almost anything. Popularity, grades, drugs, girls… maybe even boys….Hey, are you alright?" asked Dick suddenly, seeing Kori's face drop in sadness.

"Yes…," she sniffled, "Alright, no."

"What's the matter?" he said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, she turned halfway away from him.

"It's just that…" she started slowly, but her voice sped up as she went along, "It was so easy when they were babies, but now they are all grown up and they won't talk to me about anything and I can't tell what's wrong and earth problems are so much different then what my problems were growing up and I don't know what to do because I didn't go to earth school or have to deal with girls and boys and these 'drugs.' And I can never tell if it is girls, boys, and drugs or it is just because they have an insect."

"Bug."

"Whatever."

"Look, Kori, teenagers are supposed to be unsolvable drama queen puzzle."

Kori had a confused expression on her face, not prepared for her husband's mixed metaphor.

"Okay, you're not supposed to understand them. Neither of us had an exactly normal adolescence to give us experience, but we'll figure it out. We can do it, together. 'Kay?"

Kori nodded in agreement and smiled slightly. Dick armed his arms around her and she laid her head on his chest.

…

Up in his room, Alex had done exactly no homework since his return home over two hours ago. Instead he stared at his hands. He sighed, this was pointless.

He got up and walked over to a full length mirror that hung on the far wall. He observed his appearance, He look just the same as always, expect perhaps paler and a bit more frazzled. Closing his eyes he tried to relive 'the incident' as he now referred to it in his head from earlier that very day. He started from when he was first confronted. He remembered the pain in his back from being shoved into the wall. He remembered enemies cracking their knuckles, slurred threats, the fear that was felt like a knot in his chest, anger that he couldn't place the reason for, a fist connecting with his gut, and the tingling feeling running through his body.

He opened his eyes, narrowly at first, head bowed. Blue light, he saw blue light. He opened them fully to see to blue orbs around his loosely clutched fists. He had to be delusional. He looked up into the mirror and saw, to his great shock, that his eyes were glowing the same shade of blue. At that moment everything dissipated. The orbs shot from his hands, he stumbled back in surprise, tripped on the edge of his rug, and fell hard onto his bottom.

Still shaky, he looked from his place on the floor to see three large, connecting, spider web cracks across the mirror. It was real. A fist pounded on the wall separating his and Halle's room.

"Cut it out with the exploding experiments, nerdlinger, I'm on the phone!" Halle shouted through the wall.

Yes, it was definitely real.

Aki- And the plot thickens...Thanks to my readers and the people that put this story on thier favorites and alerts lists and to my reviewers. I appriciate anything from praise to constructive criticism to pointing out blaring grammar or spelling mistakes that I didn't catch because I am horrible at proofreading.

Preview...The next chapter is named, "An Understanding."