Kori exited the locker room on Monday, dressed in her gym clothes, and stood by the door to the opposite locker room to wait on Richard to emerge. She had not seen him since the game on Friday, and she found herself longing for those strong arms to wrap themselves around her like they had multiple times on that day. It had easily been one of the best days of her life, up until the attack. She didn't understand why the moths seemed to be targeting her, but she was grateful that her friends and Nightwing had been there to take care of her. Though, it confused and disappointed her that Richard had not also been there to help. Kori pushed that thought aside. She did want to linger on such things; they only made her eyes well up.

Finally, the target of her affections walked out the door accompanied by Roy. She rushed up to him and started to fling her arms around his neck. "Richard! It is most pleasant t—"

"Hey, Kor," Richard said, as he gently pushed her away with one hand and continued to walk past her. His face was hardened, his expression void of emotion, not looking her in the eyes. He disregarded her and returned to his conversation with Roy about their upcoming biology test.

Kori's heart sank as she watched him make his way to the other side of the gym to lean against the bleachers. She shook her head, trying to clear the fog that was threatening to dominate her mind. Richard still hadn't even so much as glanced in her direction. Had she done something to make him distrust her? Or as Xavier had suggested, had he gotten bored with her after one day because she had not done something that he was expecting? Had he simply changed his mind about her? Kori wanted to go and ask all of these questions, have him put her mind at ease and tell her she was simply overthinking everything. She needed to know, but no matter how much she urged her feet to move in his direction, they remained firmly planted on the wooden floor. All she could do was watch as he laughed with Roy about who-knows-what, and paid her no mind.

And it remained that way throughout the entire class period. Richard didn't look at her, didn't jog with her around the court, didn't bother to make sure she was okay when her stamina wasn't what it usually was when running these laps. Her overflow of emotions had usurped her energy, and she was running much slower that normal, having to stop multiple times to catch her breath. Richard lapped her three times over the course of their run, but not once did he react to it. His eyes stayed straight ahead, focused on an invisible target. He ran with more speed that normal, more agression, more anger drawing his eyebrows together. His hands were balled into tight fists, and he looked as if he wanted to punch a wall. Had Kori done something to earn such loathing? The confusion only spiraled more and more until she found herself collapsing to her knees in exhaustion when Coach Medlin blew her whistle to usher the teens back into the locker room. She muttered a passing, "Take it easy, Anders," as Kori dragged her feet past her.

When she returned from changing clothes, she saw Richard walking alone several yards ahead toward the cafeteria. Kori hung her head, hoping that maybe he'd be sitting with their friends when she arrived.

But when she approached the table with her lunch tray, Richard's seat was empty. "Greetings, friends," Kori said, forcing an empty smile on her face. The four of them looked up at Kori, glad to see her, seemingly ignorant to her facade.

"Well hey there, little lady," Vic chimed as Kori approached the empty seat next to him, not yet sitting down, her tray still resting in her grasp.

"Say, have you seen Dick?" Gar asked, scanning the room. "I figured you two would still be attached at the hip, seeing as you almost died on Friday. And I'm really needing to talk to him about the newest Mega Monk— oh, shit." His eyes landed somewhere past Rachel's head, his mouth agape. The rest of the teens also turned their heads in that direction, curious as to what would have generated such a response from Gar.

There was a collective gasp from each of them. "I'm so gonna kill him," Bee muttered. There was a loud crash as Kori's tray hit the seat back in front of her and tumbled to the tile floor. Mustard splattered her jeans and covered her shoes, as tears started threatening to spill down her cheeks.

On the far side of the cafeteria, Richard had Kitten pinned against a wall, furiously kissing her lips, as she fumbled for the doorknob to the janitor's closet next to them, eventually finding it and jerking the door open so they could slip inside.

In a hurry, Kori fled the cafeteria for the nearest restroom, where she collapsed next to the sinks and allowed herself to feel the full weight of her emotions as she hugged her knees to her chest and cried, making her face blotchy and her eyes puffy. It didn't take long for someone to open the door and find Kori in all her messy emotions on the floor. She didn't look up to see who it was, but welcomed the hand that she felt on her shoulder, giving her an unexpected comfort. Soon, her crying had ceased, leaving her just a little sniffly. When Kori finally did look up, she was surprised to find Rachel kneeling next to her. "Don't worry. Bee will kick his ass for you," she stated in a quiet tone, in an effort to bring any comfort for the grieving red-head.

Kori had so many thoughts whirling in her mind, and she tried to grasp at one of them, any of them. Finally, she found one that she could put into words. "It is because he did not get 'the pleasure' from being with me, yes?" Kori asked, not really sure what answer to expect, if any at all.

Rachel hesitated. She was not the best with feelings, even though she was an empath. Talking about things like this was not exactly on her top five favorite things to do, or even the top five hundred. "Well first, I'm not sure that expression means what you think it means. But what I can tell you, is that I think there's more going on here than what you're seeing."

Kori tapped her fingers on her kneecaps, mulling over Rachel's words. Perhaps she was right, but she failed to see what could cause Richard to hurt her like this. She sighed, silently willing this day to end. "Has anyone ever done such a thing to you?" Kori asked, swallowing back a sob.

Rachel was quiet for a moment, and kori wondered if she had even heard the question. She did, but man she hated getting personal. She drew in a breath and finally said, "Not exactly, but there's this guy I guess I kinda… enjoy spending time with. Sometimes, I think he might make a move. But I have a bad habit of pushing him away before he can." Kori cast a curious glance at her raven-haired friend, her eyes begging the question 'Why?' "I'm not sure if you've been around long enough to notice, Kori, but there's a lot of darkness in me. And he's nothing but light. He doesn't deserve that kind of corruption."

Kori pulled her gaze back down to her long legs, which were now crisscrossed on the cold floor. "I guess I really should be cleaning up, yes?" she said, dragging her finger through a drop of mustard on her thigh.

"Let me help," Rachel said. "But that's definitely going to stain."

Kori smiled at her friend. "I thank you, Rachel. For everything." And maybe Kori imagined it, but she could've swore she noticed the corners of Rachel's lips turn upwards ever so slightly.

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When Kori walked into Mr. Justice's world history class that afternoon, the first thing she noticed was the empty seat next to her own. On any other day, Richard would have occupied the spot. But today, he had found comfort in a seat one row forward and three seats to the right. He had his head bent over his textbook, open to this week's chapter, finding more interest in the happenings of Constantinian Rome than should have been convincing. Kori's shoulders sagged as she slid into her seat, wishing he was next to her so they could joke together about how they would've run the country if they had been the emperor. Instead, she just pulled a spiral-bound notebook out of her backpack, turning it to the next clean page at writing today's date at the top. She hoped she would forget the date by tomorrow, since that particular combination of numbers would only represent brokenness to her from now on.

Throughout the day's lesson, Kori tried to keep her focus on the presentation and take appropriate notes, but she constantly found her eyes, her mind, wondering over to Richard as he would wiggle his pencil between his fingers or scratch the back of his neck, never actually writing anything down on the paper in front of him. Sometimes, she would sometimes notice his face turn to look out the window at the overcast sky and the black birds flying in and out of the trees next to the sidewalk. But he seemed rather uninterested in turning his head in her direction, as if he had forgotten that they even shared this class. As if he had had his mind wiped clean of her and the joyful flames that would, on any other day, burn in her emerald eyes.

If Kori had possessed the ability to read Richard's mind though, she would have found the very opposite to be true. That no matter how hard he tried to forget, he was painfully aware of her presence just twenty feet away from him. That he wanted nothing more that to acknowledge her, but feared that he would see attachment written all over her face, and that he would not be able to resist the urge to pull her to him and never let her go.

Kori wasn't the only one who had noticed the sudden distance and indifference that Richard had place between them. Two seats behind her, Xavier watched with a smirk as Kori would longingly stare in Richard's direction while he pretended not to feel her eyes boring a hole through the back of his head.

When the class was dismissed, Kori was among the first to exit the classroom, closely followed by Xavier, who caught up to her and pinned her against the wall with a sly grin on his face. "So, I see it took even less time than I expected for Dick to realize he wasn't going to get what he wanted from you. You know how you can make yourself more desirable to him? By showing him you're not afraid to open your legs," he whispered in her ear as he grinded his pelvis against hers.

Kori was frozen, unsure how to react to his unwanted touch, his unwelcomed words. She squeezed her eyes shut, wincing as the memories from the Citadel came flooding back to her, threatening to escape her head through her tear ducts. Then all at once, Xavier's presence disappeared. Kori cautiously opened he eyes to see Richard had thrown him off of her, and she watched as he drew back a fist and slammed it into his nose with a loud CRACK that she wasn't sure had come from Xavier's face or Richard's knuckles.

"Grayson!" Came Mr. Justice's voice thundering from his classroom door. "That will be detention every day this week!" Richard's face remained in its hardened state as he glared at Xavier, daring him to make another move on Kori, before turning to Mr. Justice and wordlessly taking the detention slip and walking away, still never pausing to cast a passing glance in Kori's direction.

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Bee waited by Richard's locker at the end of the day, her arms crossed over her chest, her back leaned against the lockers behind her, tapping her foot impatiently. She watched as students hurried back and forth to catch their buses or meet with their after-school clubs. When Richard appeared at the end of the hallway, she was relieved to see he was alone. "Hey, Bee," he said as he approached.

Bee's face remained in its hardened state as she grabbed two fists full of Richard's shirt and slammed him back against the lockers. Then she drew back her right hand and slapped him hard across the cheek. "What the fuck do you think you're doing leading Kori on like that?" Bee seethed as he reached up to rub his cheek, which now bore a bright red handprint.

"Guess I deserved that," Richard muttered. "Does she hate me?"

Bee scoffed. "She damn well should if you're gonna treat her this shitty. God, I hope she hates you!" She released his shirt and stepped back, allowing him to get into his locker.

"Me too," Richard said nonchalantly, his eyes betraying the cold look on his face. "She's safer if she keeps her distance from me."

Bee rolled her eyes, then said in a low growl so no one els could hear, "You know, Dick. Maybe if you would trust your fucking mutant friends to help you instead of trying to do everything by yourself all the damn time, you wouldn't have to worry about Kori's safety!"

"It's not that simple." Richard shoved a couple textbooks into his backpack.

"That's bullshit and you know it. We can take care of ourselves, Dick. And you sure as hell know that we are more than capable of helping you protect the city. But you're too proud to admit that just maybe you could use the help." Bee didn't stick around for Richard to reply, storming off down the hallway, leaving him to consider what she had just said.