Okay, I know that I have been forgetting this so here it is…
Disclaimer: Nothing has changed. The only difference is I now have chocolate milk. I like chocolate milk!!
Chapter Five
The Next Day
The next morning was very hectic; Mari woke up late, and then she couldn't figure out the tie thing, which caused her and her dad to both be late. By the time Mari and her father got to school, Mari was half an hour late. After finally getting her schedule, locker, locker combination, and a lecture from the principal about being late (sent to both Mari and her father), Mari was finally at the door to her homeroom class.
After opening the door, Mari had never been so happy that she won the fight with her dad about her wearing her sunglasses to school this morning. "Um, is this Mrs. Stone's class?" Mari asked, trying not to sound nervous.
"Yes it is," said a woman who was behind a desk. She was tall with dark skin and had her brown hair in a bun on the back of her head. "You must be the new student. My name is Mrs. Stone, welcome to Jump City High Academy. For right now I want you to sit with Elle. Elle?" Mrs. Stone asked, looking for a student. Finally a head popped out from behind a textbook. "Elle, I want you to meet Mari, she's going to sit with you. Also, put away the Portable Game Station VI before another teacher sees you with it," Mrs. Stone said to the black-haired girl with streaks.
"Fine," replied Elle. She put it in a messenger bag that was oddly decorated. When Mari sat down, Elle introduced herself, "HI. My name's Arella, but everyone calls me Elle. And you are…?"
"Mari, Mari Grayson." Elle gave an audible gasp. "Yeah the daughter of Richard Grayson." Mari added in a very bored tone. Elle stared at Mari for a long time.
"Cool." Elle finally added. "Well, there are two other people who sit at this table with use; my brother Joey, and our friend Kevin. I think you'll like them. So what is your schedule?" Elle asked, looking at the piece of paper in Mari's hand. She then gave a low whistle. "You have some pretty smart classes there. I think you have the same as my bro, don't really know."
"Thanks. You mean you don't have the same classes as me?" Mari asked sounding a little sad.
"Yea. I'm a straight C plus student," Elle said proudly. Right before Mari had a chance to laugh, three girls came walking up with a blond leading the pack.
"Hi, I'm Kitty. This is Kathy and Joanna. You'd be wise, Newbie, to make friends with us and not this animal hugger," the blond said gesturing toward Elle. "I rule the school. If you stick with me, I can open new doors for you." Kitty seemed to be pretty much a stereotypical blond; she even had a pink purse and was follower by clones.
"I can make my own friends, thank you very much, Blondie," Mari said to Kitty. Kitty huffed off with her two clones following.
"Well, that was fun." Elle said sarcastically.
"Is she normally like that?" Mari asked, feeling like she already hated her.
"Yes," Elle added before the bell rang. "Hey, meet me in the cafeteria, then you can meet my bro and Kev."
"Where are they, anyways?" Mari asked. She had been wondering that the whole class period.
Looking up from her books, she replied "Football practice, I think. See ya later!"
"So the first part of the day was very long for Mari. When the bell rang for lunch, Mari couldn't get out of the room fast enough. While walking down the hall to her locker, a boy ran into her.
"Hey, watch where you're going, newbie," the boy said before stepping on some of her papers.
"Jerk!" Mari shouted back at him. Her day was already bad; now she was angry at someone she didn't know.
After putting her stuff in her locker, she hurried to the cafeteria. It took what felt like forever for her to get to through the lunch line she went over to were Elle was. When she got there a boy was in the middle of a story. "… And she shouts at me and calls me a Jerk."
"Hey Elle, sorry I'm late, there was this guy and…" she stopped. The boy telling the story turned around.
"You!" Mari said at the same time as the boy.
""Mari," Elle started to say, trying not to laugh, "this is my twin brother, Joey." Elle said before her and the other boy started laughing. "And this is Kevin. Guys, this is Mari, she's new and is in our homeroom."
"Oh really? So how do you like Mrs. Stone?" Kevin asked, putting his chin in his hands, looking incredibly interested in what she had to say.
"I really like her. We don't have a lot of teachers that are nice like her back in Gotham," Mari replied
"Good answer," Elle said. Mari gave her a confused look. "Kevin is her son." Kevin smiled then started to eat his lunch, which Mari noticed had a lot of meat.
"So, Elle told me you two are on the football team. What are your positions?" she asked, trying not to look at Joey.
"I'm the best running back around," Kevin answered. "And Joey over here is our quarterback. So what is it like in Gotham?" Kevin asked, trying to keep this going incase Mari and Joey started arguing.
"A little like this, except I went to public school with my friends Cam, Ivy, Peter, Balie, And Charlie."
"So, do you have someone back home? You know, like a boyfriend?" Elle asked, taking a bite of salad.
"Kind of, yes. Charlie and I have been going out for about a year now, but don't tell my dad, he would freak!" she said taking a bite into her sandwich.
Elle started demanding more details. "Wait, Charlie Red? As in the youngest player on the Varsity team at Gotham? That's your boyfriend?" Kevin asked with a loud voice. Joey stopped mid-chew of his sandwich. Mari plastered a fake smile on her face while trying to get Kevin to shut up.
"Maybe," she said through clenched teeth, "but if you shout it to the world I won't tell you."
"Wait," Joey said, finally speaking, "you're telling us that you go out with that baboon? He tried to punch me at the last game we played against them." He looked like he was really mad. Right before Mari could reply, the bell rung.
"Bye Elle. Nice to meet you Kevin. Joey," Mari said, adding the last word with venom.
The rest of the day was horrible. She found out that Joey was in all of her classes along with Kitty (though no one knew how), and none of her teachers liked her but Mrs. Stone.
At the end of the day, Mari was walking home when Elle, Kevin, and Joey caught up with her. "Hey, why walking this way?" Kevin asked.
"My new house is right down this street. Is that okay with you?" Mari added laughing a little from that small joke.
"Wait. Is your address 5269 Madison Dr.?" Elle asked. Mari nodded, looking a little scared.
"Well then, welcome to the neighborhood, neighbor!" Kevin said, hitting Mari on the back. As they walked down the street, Mari asked about the neighborhood. They all told their small stories until they came to the block. "Hey, do you want to go to the carnival? We have a booth that I have to work, but off later and we can all hang out. It's the day after tomorrow."
"Let me ask my parents. My mom will definitely say yes. My dad, on the other hand, is another story. I'll tell you tomorrow. Bye."
"Bye," everyone else called back.
Mari walked in the front door smelling something cooking. "Hey Mom, I'm home. You're not cooking are you?" sounding scared. Kori could not cook. Whenever she tried, she made some very weird things. The last thing she made tried to walk off the plate.
"Yes and no. It's those pre-baked cookies. They're almost done. Grab some milk out of the refrigerator, will you dear?"
"Sure. Hey Mom, there's a carnival Saturday, and I've made some new friends and they invited me to meet them. Can we go please?" she said, giving her mom the face she learned from her mom, who had learned it from Beast Boy, although Mari didn't know this.
"Maybe, let me talk to your father when he gets home. Finish your snack then start your homework," Kori said before she started to think of ways to talk Rich into it.
The rest of the night, Mari did her homework, then watched TV with her mom. At seven, Richard walked through the door and got attacked with hugs from Mari and a kiss from Kori.
"Mom ask him. Now," Mari said before walking upstairs, "I have to take a shower and get ready for bed. Night, Dad," she said running up the stairs. Richard and Kori went to their room to change.
"Hey, Honey, Mari wanted to know if she could go to a carnival Saturday and I was thinking of letting her go. We could go and hang out and maybe ride the Ferris wheel. I heard that there was going to be fireworks at the end of the night… like the first time we went to the carnival. Plus, Mari made some new friends and said we could meet their parents. Come on, I think it would be fun," she said, giving the puppy dog pout she knew he couldn't say no to.
"I think it might be fun to go. Sure, we can go. I'll tell Mari later after her shower." Right after he said that heard a loud "yes," and a thud. Mari was listening to the conversation through the air vent under her desk, and had probably hit her head. He was glad that they had spoken vaguely about the past so Mari didn't learn anything.
That night as Richard went up to say good night to Mari, he told her that she could go and meet her friends' parents. Mari agreed and couldn't wait to see Elle tomorrow and tell her. She went to sleep and had a big smile on her face, and her face, and her parents had dreams about past fireworks, giant chickens, and purple squid-like gloop.
There you go, chapter five. I know that this was long but I had to introduce different characters and that sort of stuff. Bare with me people. Please. I'm begging you.
