Chapter 3: Let me take you out
The next week in school was sluggish. Everyone was still full of pep but the weather was rainy and gray. It was a Tuesday and there was a football game tonight. It was the first home game and the students found it odd that it wasn't held on a Friday.
Jade and Kori walked down the hallway to Gar's locker. Jade wore her red, white, and black Jump City Knights cheerleading uniform where as Kori stayed comfortable in a large JC hoodie with a pair of baggy jeans.
"You going to the game tonight?" Kori asked Gar and he looked taken aback. She saw his reaction and said, "What?"
"Are YOU going tonight?" He asked incredulous.
Kori nodded. "Yeah, but I'm taking yearbook pictures on the sidelines. Sooo..."
"Dude...you had me thinking you were actually going for fun."
Jade laughed and muttered, "Kori doesn't do fun."
"Ugh, first my mom, now you guys? Geez why can't people let me be." The redhead joked.
They all laughed and soon, Kori felt herself being whisked away by a fairly large human being. Particularly Richard Grayson.
While he took her away, Roy marched proudly up to Jade.
"I always did love cheer uniforms." Roy said as he looked Jade up and down. Her torso covered her arms, chest, and neck but showed off her flat tummy. The skirt was middle thigh-high and a but short.
Jade rolled her eyes and looked away. "Oh please, you're friend Karen is a cheerleader. I'm sure I cant be that great."
Roy put a finger to his chin in thought and then said, "True...but she's taken. And you're ten times hotter."
Gar stood there watching the scene and laughed at Roy's failed flirting attempts. Jade rolled her eyes yet again and crossed her arms.
"What is Richard doing with my best friend?" She asked annoyed.
"Uhh..I don't know. But if I told you you had a nice body, would you hold it against me?"
Gar bursted out in laughter and Jade's mouth was agape. Her face flushed red and she slammed Gar's locker shut. Pulling him with her, she smiled a fake smile at Roy and stomped down the hallway.
Meanwhile, Kori had stopped walking with Richard in the hallway near the choir room. Students stared at the two opposites conversing and were slightly confused at the situation but nonetheless kept walking.
"What are you doing?" Kori asked angrily.
Richard smiled a sexy smile at her and said, "What? Can't two friends talk?"
Kori snorted and pushed up her glasses. "Last time I checked, we weren't even acquaintances."
Richard looked slightly hurt-slightly. "Ouch that hurts sweetheart."
"Quit calling me that! Why are you all of a sudden so interested in me?" She glared at him and she grew anxious as to what he was planning.
"I don't know. But since you rejected me last week, how about you go out with me this Friday? On a real date?" He asked smoothly and sincerely.
She stared at him, her emerald green eyes as wide as saucers. Then she laughed. "What? Is this some kind of joke? Am I being filmed or something? Where's Ashton Kutcher?" She threw so many questions out that it gave Richard a mini headache.
He shook his head and stopped her from asking any more questions. "No, Kori, I'm serious. I want to take you out."
Kori stopped laughing and stopped questioning him. She simply just stared at him and for a minute, he thought she'd left earth.
"Uhh...Kori?" He waved a hand in front of we and she flinched, coming back to reality.
"Richard," she started mockingly,"As flattered as I am, I can't."
She began to walk away but he caught her and pulled her back to her spot effortlessly. She stumbled slightly and quickly regained her balance.
"Whoa, I'm not getting rejected again for the second time. We're going on a date."
"No-
"I'll pick you up at 7."
"But-
"At your house."
"Wait-
"Friday. See ya!" He walked away leaving her dumbfounded this time. She stared at the red lockers in front of her face and couldn't believe what had just happened.
Sighing, she trudged to her next class not caring if she was late. She had to contemplate a way to get out of this mess.
TT
The next day was Wednesday and Kori and Jade sat outside for lunch since the weather had finally cleared up. Kori was currently telling Jade about the whole Richard situation and by the look on Jade's face, she was surprised.
"Okay, this is officially the weirdest school year ever. I mean. Richard Grayson? Asking you out? No offense honey."
Kori swatted her away and said, "It's fine. I tell myself that too. It just seems...off. Ya know?"
Jade picked at her salad and nodded."Very. But who knows? Maybe Mr. Celeb wants to try something new."
"Or maybe he's just trying to make a fool out of me." Kori challenged and munched on a few pretzel sticks.
Jade nudged her a little bit and slumped her shoulders. "Why do you always have to look on the negative side of things?"
"Because when I do, it keeps me from getting hurt."
Jade looked at her best friend solemnly and decided to change the subject. "Well, that was some game last night! First win of the season!"
Kori laughed. "Totally. I got some amazing shots of the team an you guys."
"Awesome! Maybe later we can-
Jade stopped mid sentence when she spotted Babs Gordon strutting her way across the school parking lot and into the front doors of the school.
"Ugh, I hate her." Jade said. "She is such a spoiled slut."
Kori but into another pretzel and said, "Ouch, that was truly a burn, And so true."
"Right? I can't stand her. I'm actually glad her and Richard broke up over summer. I thought it'd never happen."
Kori nodded and thought back to the Jump City magazine front cover somewhere around June. It was about Richard Grayson, son of Bruce Wayne, and Barbara Gordon, daughter of commissioner Gordon. Their one year relationship came to an end on June 15th due to Barbara cheating on him. With who is the million dollar question though. It was pretty surprising news but nonetheless, a lot of girls were happy and a lot of boys were happy. Two of Jump City's hottest teens were now single.
Babs Gordon was a sophomore and was the queen bee. She overruled seniors and juniors and especially freshmen. Every girl wanted to be her and every guy wanted to bang her. Babs was a brat, that was clear to everyone, but her looks were drop dead gorgeous.
She had dark auburn hair that reached down to her shoulders and was always curled to perfection. Her shimmery blue eyes fit her chiseled face perfectly. She had a killer body that was complete with a nice set of boobs and a thigh gap.
Needless to say, Babs was the It Girl.
"Hey Kor." Jade waved a hand in front of Kori's face which shook the redhead from her thoughts.
"Sorry, I was in space. Uh, lets go." She got up and stuffed her food in her bag.
Jade stood up with her slightly confused. Then, following behind her, she said, "I worry about you sometimes."
After school, Kori walked home slower than usual. Jade had cheer practice and Gar had to leave to help his mom at the bet clinic. Plus, Alain had football practice, having made varsity this year which was really no surprise. So it was just her for today.
She didn't mind the loneliness that much for she enjoyed the scenery around her. The sun was brightly shining and there wasn't a single cloud up in the clear blue sky. Birds chirped happily and it almost sounded like they were trying to sing to her.
Kori began to think about Friday with Richard. Was she really going on a date with him? It felt like a dream and frankly, she wanted to wake up. It's not that she didn't find Richard attractive-he was extremely attractive in her eyes-she just preferred someone more...her type. It still hadn't made sense to her as to why he asked her out. And she didn't think it would ever make sense.
Kori sighed and then heard a revving engine behind her. She spun around to see a dark black motorcycle speeding rather quickly down the street. The rider had a helmet on but she knew exactly who it was. Fang Peterson.
She hated Fang. He always, ALWAYS tortured her or made fun of her. Now, she learned to forgive and forget with a lot of people but Fang wasn't one of them. And never would be.
He sped off past her leaving a gust of smoke behind and she scowled. Waving her hands around to get rid of the stench, she said, "Amateur."
Kori kept on walking and figured she had about ten more minutes till home. Just then, a sleek black car pulled up next to her and she stopped walking long enough to see the driver roll down their window. It was, of course, Richard Grayson.
"Hey. Wanna ride?" He asked.
She shook her head and noticed he had on his black shades her wore every so often. "Nah, I'm gonna walk. I...like the weather." She began walking again but he didn't let her off the hook so easily.
"Wait," he pulled up next to her again,"C'mon, let me take you home."
Kori heaved a sigh and crossed her arms. She stared up at the sky and noticed a small white cloud that looked similar to a flower. 'Ah, who cares.'
"Fine." She finally said, too tired to argue.
He smiled and unlocked the passenger side. She got in and buckled her seatbelt. He stared at her with a smirk and she gave him a questioning look. "Why do you look like a freak?" She asked.
He laughed and made a U-turn. Kori suddenly realized that they weren't going to her house. "Where are you taking me?" Still no answer. But he did take a sharp left. "Richard? I can count this as kidnapping!"
Richard laughed yet again and said, "Relax, I'm just taking you out for pizza."
Kori's heart still pounded from the slight scare he had given her. She relaxed a little as he said to and brushed back a strand piece of hair. "Uhh...why?"
He sat back more in his seat and steered with one hand on the wheel. She noticed his arm muscle flex as he did so and her cheeks flushed red. She quickly looked away and he said, "Well, if I'm taking you out Friday we might as well start getting to know each other now."
TT
"Okay so what's your favorite hobby?" Richard asked Kori while taking a bite of his cheese pizza.
Kori finished chewing her food and easily answered with, "Singing. What about you?"
"Football." He smiled a cocky smile since he was on varsity as well.
She nodded and then asked, "Speaking of which, why aren't you at practice?"
"I skipped. But don't worry, Vic told coach I went home sick."
Kori said a low 'ohh' and finished her pizza up. They'd been at the local pizza parlor for a good twenty minutes now and so far they'd learned all of the following about each other:
Kori like reading while Richard liked video games. She'd rather stay at home and study for tests that were weeks away while he would spend countless hours at parties. One good thing though was that he was real big into martial arts, gymnastics, and working out daily. She couldn't say she wasn't impressed by those few hobbies.
There were a few more basics like her favorite color was purple, her favorite movie was A Walk to Remember, and her favorite singer was Ariana Grande. Richard's favorite color was red, favorite movie would have to be World War Z, and his favorite singer/musician was Jason Mraz. Yeah, shocking.
So as they sit here, eating there pizza, it actually felt like this kind of thing was...normal. But that's just the thing, it was normal, it was just different for the both of them.
"Aren't you afraid that your cool friends will see us together?" Kori asked.
Richard sipped his coke and he immediately felt a pang of guilt. "Nope." He said nonchalantly. "I don't care, and plus, they're all at football practice."
"Alright...umm...so..." Kori was at loss for words. She felt the awkwardness rise in the air.
Richard leaned on the table so cooly and smiled. "So, Friday night, there's a party."
Kori groaned but he stopped her. "No, not like one of those parties. It's more of a...formal dinner/dance party. With over a hundred people." When she raised her eyebrows he held up a hand to finish. "Bruce is having a party for his new business that just opened up in Steel City. He told me I could bring a few friends so Vic and Karen are going and I want you to be my date."
Kori stared at him. She just stared as it felt like she was doing this a lot lately. "Umm...it's formal?" She realized she didn't have any elegant dresses in her closet.
He nodded. "I'm sure Karen had something you can borrow."
"Oh...well, okay...I'll be your, uh, date."
He smiled almost immediately and kept reminding himself that he was sure going to win this bet. He got a step closet everyday. "Great! I'll pick you up at your house at 5. The dinner party starts at 6:30 but were gonna have to stop by Karen's to get get you into something elegant."
"Alright. Maybe a little earlier..."
He raised an eyebrow in confusion, not understanding. "Why earlier?"
She scratched the top of her head and scrunched up her nose a little. "You're going to have to meet my parents."