Obstacles

I.S.S. (In School Suspension) wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. It was generally quiet so it gave him time to think about… well, you know. He could finish his work quickly, too, and that gave him even more time to think about his problems.

Richard leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling having finished his work for the day. It was clean and shining, just like everything else in this expensive school…

'I'll make it up to her… I'll—…'

"Mr. Grayson, since you're not doing anything, take your orange vested self out of my classroom and bring this to the attendance office," The old teacher said, holding out a stack of papers to the young boy. He slowly got out of his seat and walked to the fr4ont of the room, ignoring the glares from the other delinquents as he was given a ticket to freedom. He took the stack of papers and walked out of the door into the bright sunlight.

Dick looked down at the papers in his hand and contemplated on whether he should throw them away and walk around campus, claiming the wind knocked it out of his hands or if he should just go up to the attendance office and turn it in like the good little boy he was supposed to be.

Dick Grayson sighed and walked toward the attendance office the long way. The I.S.S. room was on the far side of campus so the 'bad' and 'good' kids could be separated easily. The raven haired boy thought that that was the most asinine reason ever. Dick was so deep in thought he didn't even notice the red-haired girl walking toward him.

"Hey Dick," She greeted, a smile on her face. Dick shook himself from his thoughts and looked into the beautiful blue eyes of his best friend/ex-girlfriend.

"Hey Babs," He said with a small smile on his face. "What're you doin' out of class?"

"I have to bring Mr. Trists' role up to the attendance office 'cause his role on his computer isn't working," She said shrugging. She stole a look at him as they both walked in the direction of the attendance office. He was wearing the bright orange vest that told everyone that he was in I.S.S. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why'd you ditch? You might've been able to talk yourself out of the referral for disrupting class, but even you wouldn't be able to talk the princ.' out of a referral for ditching."

"I was getting fed up with some stuff. It's no biggy, I was just really annoyed at getting in ttouble for something that stupid…"

They walked in silence for a bit before Barbara spoke.

"You were thinking of me, weren't you?" Dick kept quiet as they continued down the desserted hallways.

"Dick…"

"Will we ever be able to go back to the way things were?" Dick asked quietly, not looking at her.

"I don't know, Richard. I—."

Richard Grayson shut up his best friend, his ex-girlfriend, and his first love with a kiss.