Chapter 1: Sophomore swag?

Today was the first day back at Jump City High. It was mid August and the late summer air rustled the trees and sent a gush of warmth through people's bodies. Students crowded the parking lot, hallways, and anywhere on school grounds. It was always hectic the first day back.

Richard Grayson walked down the sidewalk leading towards the ginormous school. His best friends, Roy Harper and Victor Stone were by his side the whole time and aimlessly flirted with the freshmen girls who giggled when they passed. These three guys were sophomores and three of the hottest guys in school. They were drop dead gorgeous jocks with killer smiles. Everything in the typical popular guy.

Victor Stone was a tall, very muscular, African American. He was varsity in football, basketball, and track. Vic was always one of the sweet popular guys and a real hard ass. He had a sensitive yet playful side to him but really was a tough guy.

Roy Harper was absolutely stunning for such unordinary features: Red (orange) hair, and sparkly green eyes. Being the ward to the famous Oliver Queen definitely had its bright sides and Roy usually used that to his advantage. He had a killer body that was tall and lean and a smile that could stop a flock of crazy fangirls. Roy was one of the best known players in school.

Lastly, Richard Grayson. JC High's hottest guy-one of them. He could have any girl he wanted and he knew it. Richard was the adopted son of multi millionaire, Bruce Wayne and was pretty famous in Jump City, like Roy if not more famous. Richard had a well defined, muscular body that was complete with a steel set of abs and he stood at 6'1. His jet black hair was always messily spiked up in such a perfect way and his facial features were to die for. But what really made the girls melt were his dazzling set of sapphire blue eyes.

They kept walking and took in the scenery around them. There were so many students you woulda thought they had at least a hundred new ones come in.

"Ahh, our temple of learning fellas. Best place ever!" Roy slung his arms around Vic's and Richard's shoulders.

Vic squirmed out of his grasp and scoffed. "Are you drunk! This place is the definition of hell."

Roy laughed and swatted his hand in front of him. "Dude, I know. I was KIDDING!"

Richard waved them both off. He stopped and slipped on his black shades. A few girls stared at him and continuously fluttered their eyelashes at him in an annoying manner.

"Sophomore year is gonna rock. I mean the sports, the babes, the parties!" Richard said to his friends.

Roy fist bumped him and said, "Yeahhh! That's what I'm talking about." The ginger turned to Vic and held out a fist for him to bump.

Vic accepted it and then said, "I'm with ya on the parties and sports but I already got my one true babe."

Richard and Roy groaned and rolled their eyes. Vic had a girlfriend already and has been dating her since the summer after eighth grade year. Her name was Karen Beecher. As much as they hated to admit it, Karen and Vic were a great couple. She had chocolate skin just like him and a beautiful pair of hazel eyes. Her body was tall and petite and she had a feisty attitude that made her even more attractive.

"Speak of the devil." Roy muttered just as Karen Beecher herself strolled up to them and wrapped Vic up in a massive hug.

"Hi baby!" She beamed and kissed him on the lips.

Roy made a disgusted look and Richard tried to hold in laughter. Vic gave them both an evil eye before turning back to Karen and giving her a kiss. "Hey beautiful. Long time no see."

Richard snorted. "You saw her last night dude."

Karen glanced at the spikey haired boy and smiled sweetly. She went over to Roy and Richard and pulled them both into a tight hug. "How are my other two favorite boys?" She said through the bone crushing hug.

Once she pulled away the two boys gasped for air and nodded signaling that they were good. They really did like Karen. She was like a mom figure to them and treated them good. She just got a bit scary sometimes.

"I hate this place." Said a monotone voice behind the group.

They all turned around to see their other best friend, Rachel Roth. She was the quiet one in their little posse. She had pale skin, amethyst colored eyes, and dark black, almost purplish looking, hair that reached down to her shoulders. Rachel was sort of goth and always had her nose in a book. She didn't joke around, never really showed emotion, and definitely didn't take anyone's crap. A lot of people thought it was weird how the popular's accepted her but Richard and his friends liked her personality. They saw her for her and that's all.

"Hey Rach!" Roy put his arm around her all shoulders. "Lookin good!"

Rachel crossed her arms and grunted."I will burn you."

Roy laughed uncomfortably and removed his arm quickly. Richard laughed and turned back to the school. He sighed and said, "Well guys, lets get this day started!" They all started to walk again until a voice shouted at them.

"Wait up!" They turned around to see their last group member, Wally West. He was running towards them frantically with his backpack flying around behind him.

"Oh boy." Rachel said.

Wally met up with them a few short seconds later and was breathing heavily. He was always the last one to arrive and usually stayed up late playing video games or something. He had cherry red spiked hair and dark blue eyes. Everyone called him 'Speedster' because he was the fastest kid in JC high.

"Oh my gosh," Wally panted, "My mom is such a bi-

"Nice words!" Karen interrupted.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. Then he finished off his sentence with, "A butthead."

Karen smiled satisfied. "Good enough."

Richard shook his head and began walking again. "Alright lets go."

TT

Kori Anders sat in the music room alone and let her hands flow on the shiny white keys of the piano. She played the song A Thousand Years by Christina Perri and hummed the song to herself with her eyes closed as if she were daydreaming. Every note she hit sounded beautiful and the song she was playing had a nice ring to it.

"Kori, that's beautiful." Said a sweet voice from behind.

Kori stopped playing and turned around to see her best friend, Jade Nguyen standing there. She stood up and pushed the bench back under the piano. "Thanks." Kori walked up to where Jade was standing and grabbed her bag. "Uhh...I was just messing around. Miss Davis didn't care."

Jade laughed and shook her head. "It's okay, if I were you I'd stay until the last minute. It's crazy out there!"

Kori nodded and said, "That's why I came here! Sophomore year...ugh."

"Tell me about it. Lets go!" Jade hooked her arm through Kori's and pulled her out of the music room.

Kori Anders was one of the school's biggest geeks. She always had straight A's, was the class President, and never failed to miss a homework assignment. She had a tall slender figure that she usually covered up in giant sweaters, ankle length skirts, or jeans. She never showed a lot of skin but if she tried, she'd actually be pretty.

Her emerald green eyes were always covered up by thick framed glasses and her cherry red hair was always in a low bun. Kori often isolated herself from the social world that was full of adventure, parties and boys. Jade would always beg her to come to a party or football game or even a school dance with her but Kori always denied.

Jade Nguyen was her absolute best friend. Unlike Kori, Jade was actually a social butterfly and fit in great. She wasn't popular, but she wasn't hated. Jade was the class VP and a cheerleader. She was part Japanese and part American with long black hair and almond shaped green eyes.

The two girls walked down the craze filled hallway while trying to avoid getting shoved.

Oh how that failed.

Two guys, who weren't paying attention to where they were going, knocked into Kori and sent her sailing to the ground. Her backpack fell to the ground and papers spluttered out.

"Watch where you're going nerd." The guy said to Kori.

Kori grunted and her face turned red. She yelled back, "Why don't you watch where you're going amateur!" She soon realized it was Richard Grayson she'd yelled out when he turned around and laughed at her. But Kori didn't care if he was popular or a celebrity or whatever, he was the reason she hated the social life.

Jade bent down and began to help Kori pick up her papers. "They're such jerks."

"I know. They think that just because they're popular means they can push around whoever they want." Kori stood up thoroughly angry.

Jade agreed and brushed back a lock of hair. "Well, first day of school has already been ruined by a couple of Neanderthals."

Kori sighed and glared at Richard Grayson and his posse. He looked over to her and said something to his friends. They all looked towards her and started laughing minus the two girls who were with them who simply just rolled their eyes.

"C'mon Jade. Lets get to class."

TT

Lunch time was finally here and frankly, everyone was still hyped up. School was a big thud full of fake peppy teachers, tons of rules, and lots of paperwork. The only good thing about the first day of school was that there was no homework.

Kori sat at her table in the corner with Jade and her other best friend Garfield Logan aka, Gar.

Gar was a short, skinny, blonde headed goofball. He had forest green eyes and was considered 'cute' by some girls. Mainly baby cute but he considered it hot guy cute. Gar was quite the jokester and loved to pull pranks but never seemed to actually pull them off.

"School sucks dude." Gar poked at his white, jello like tofu. It jiggled and he tore a piece off and plopped it in his mouth.

Kori nodded as she turned a page in her book. Her half eaten sandwich and untouched chips sat in front of her practically gathering dust.

Jade sipped her water and looked at both of her friends. "Okay you guys, so guess what?" Gar and Kori both looked at her curiously. "There's a huge back to school party at Isaiah Crockett's house Friday and everyone is invited!"

While Gar looked as excited as a kid on Christmas morning, Kori still held a blank look. Jade noticed this and tugged on Kori's sweater sleeve.

"You have to come!" She pleaded.

Kori simply shook her head and said, "You know how I feel about parties. They're a definite no for me."

Jade pouted and continued to reason with her. "C'mon Kor, you're not gonna be young forever. And you've never been to a party."

"And I plan to keep it that way."

Gar rolled his eyes. "You're such a party pooper."

Kori stuck her tongue out at him and shut her book. She looked around the cafeteria that held her sophomore class and noticed Richard Grayson's group right in the middle. As soon as she saw him her face scrunched up in a disgusted manner.

Just then a new guy who was extremely handsome with slick, long black hair and dark brown eyes walked by them holding a bottle of water. The boy stopped and looked around for somewhere to sit until Roy Harper yelled to him, "Excuse me ma'am?" The guy then looked at Roy, "Oops, my bad dude!" He began to crack up along with his other friends and the guy rolled his eyes.

Kori wanted so badly to punch them in their pretty little faces but she saw a familiar girl walk up to their table and the new guy. It was Jade.

"Hi," she said to the guy with a dazzling smile, "Excuse these lowlife douchebags for being, well, douchebags. They have nothing better to do but pick on people who are better than them. You can sit with me and my friends."

The guy looked shocked at first but then smirked. He nodded and followed Jade to their table. As she turned around Roy leaned back in his chair and yelled to her, "Ouch. You pack a lot of mean words for such a tiny, fine...fine girl."

Jade turned around on one heel to face him and smiled so sweetly. She walked up to him and the new guy waited for her. She got right in Roy's face, who had a smirk on his own, and said, "Don't flatter yourself." Then she stuck her middle finger right in his face and walked away pulling the guy along with her. Roy stood there, face flushed, while his friends sat there laughing.

When Jade and the guy arrived at the table, they both sat down. The guy looked at all of them and smiled lightly. "Hi...I'm uh...Alain Schwimmer. Thanks by the way." He said the last part to Jade.

Jade smiled and nodded. "Hi Alain, this is Kori Anders, Gar Logan, and I'm Jade Nguyen. You're new right?"

"Yep, just moved here from Steel city."

Gar's eyes lit up and he smiled widely. "Steel city is where the biggest arcade ever is!"

Kori and Jade rolled their eyes while Alain laughed and said, "Sure is. I'd go there all the time."

"Dude, you're my best friend already."

Kori placed a hand on Gar's shoulder and said, "Lets not get ahead of ourselves."

They all laughed and enjoyed the rest of their lunch telling Alain about themselves and him doing the same in return. Things were actually starting to look up for the first day of school.

TT

After school, the students fled the parking lot eager to get home as quickly as possible. Richard and Roy walked to Richard's car and waved goodbye to Vic, Rachel, and Karen. The two teens got inside of Richard's black 2010 Camareo. He started up the ignition and listened to Roy rant on about today at lunch.

"And did you see the way she sashayed off like she just ran the freakin school!?" He yelled referring back to Jade.

Richard waited behind a line of cars and nodded his head. "She did kind of tell you off though. And it was kind of funny."

Roy stared at his best friend astonished. "Dude!" He turned to face the front and silently pouted. He then smiled and looked back at Richard. "She is really hot though."

Richard laughed and shook his head. "I guess."

"You guess!? Are you kidding me? She is a smokin Asian. I've never dated an Asian before."

The line started to move forward and finally Richard was out of the parking lot. "Tap it man. I mean, she isn't the sexiest but she is a decent hot."

Roy shook his head and laughed as if he knew an all new answer. "Ohhh! I get it! You like her best friend, what's her name again? Lori?"

Richard's eyes grew wide and he yelled, "Dude, no way! She's a bitch and not that great looking!"

"Uhh huh. I bet you'd love to get under her long ass skirt. She dresses like she's Amish."

Richard snorted and turned left. He noticed Kitten Moth in her white convertible in front of him and began to panic. "Uhh.." He took a sharp right which surprised Roy but the ginger quickly understood once he saw who Richard was avoiding.

"Anyway, I would never date that Tori chick in a million years!"

Roy shook his head and chuckled. He smoothed down his hair and said, "She might actually be sort of hot if she wore something other than those baggy clothes and took off the freaking fish tank glasses."

"No," Richard laughed, "Not a chance."

Roy looked at him skeptically and shook his head. "Whatever dude. There's no pleasing you."

Richard pulled into the local pizza parlor and smiled mischievously. "Pizza pleases me."