Chapter 4: The New Schedule

Rachel escorted me back to the dormitories in silence. She seemed like she was moving quickly so that nobody would stop us to ask what had happened. Or perhaps she was embarrassed to be seen with me and wanted fewer people to know she was acquainted with me. I would not blame her if that was so.

Once we arrived at our room she sat me down at my designated desk to inspect the wound on my head. "I will go to the infirmary tomorrow to get that looked at," I told her. "I am in no mood to leave the room tonight and I think I will skip dinner."

Rachel stepped back and placed her hands on her hips to look at me as if she was going to scold me like a child. "It's barely been 24 hours since you arrived here and you've now marked yourself as the number one target for the Elites to torture. Did you not hear anything Gar and I told you yesterday?"

I shrugged and looked out our window. It was starting to rain again. What a perfect way to end this horrible day. "They speak as if they hold power, but they are not as strong as they make themselves to be. I would have defeated her if..."

My voice trailed off because I did not have a reason why I had lost that fight. I remembered that I was distracted by the staff beginning to melt in my hands, but if I told Rachel that she would have probably thought I was crazy. But maybe the staff was tampered with in some way by the Elites. Perhaps all the weapons at the school are rigged by the Elites and some sort of button or activation device could have manipulated the materials of the students' weapons to distract them. I know that sounds absurd, but I could not think of a better explanation for why the staff had started to melt away like that.

I must have been lost in thought for too long because Rachel had to say something to break the silence. "If what?"

No words were registering in my mind of what I could tell her. Maybe I did lose, and what I saw was only in my imagination. I could only stare at her until I could think of something to say.

Rachel somehow seemed to sense my distress and then relaxed a little. "It doesn't matter now. Just be happy that you made it out of that fight with only a bump on your head."

"There is a bump on my head?" I said and swiveled around in my desk chair to look in the mirror above my desk. And sure enough, a very ugly and large bump protruded from my forehead. The orange tint of my skin was getting darker underneath. I groaned at the mirror knowing that I was going to have to attend all my classes tomorrow looking like this. As if the embarrassment of losing my dual with Babs was not enough.

"It could be worse," Rachel said and swiveled my desk chair back around so that I was facing her again. She brought her hand to my forehead and I flinched away at her approach. I am not sure why I did. My fight instincts were still probably running rampant.

"It's ok," She said, "I'm going to help you so then you won't have to go to the infirmary tomorrow to tell them what happened."

I was not sure what she would be able to do, but I stayed still as her hand approached me again. I did not feel her hand touch my forehead, but instead, I felt a soothing warmth creep over the bump on my head, and then the ache that was once there disappeared.

When Rachel moved her hand away, she took a step back and gave me a small smile. "It looks like that did the trick."

What did what? I swung around to face the mirror to see that the bump and the cut that was there had vanished. I looked at Rachel through the mirror in amazement. "That is incredible! You have healing powers! Why did you not tell me?"

She blushed and turned away bashfully. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Of course is it a big of a deal!" I jumped from my desk chair excitingly. "Healers on my planet are the most respected warlocks and hold a high seat in the Tamaranean court! I did not think warlocks existed on this planet!"

Rachel was still blushing. "Um...I'm not really a warlock. I mean...I guess I would be considered that on your planet, but I'm just...me. That's it."

She was undermining her abilities and she had no reason to. Was that why she was so reluctant to talk about herself? "You are being modest. I think it is super cool that you can do magic and you should take pride in your abilities!" I was trying to use the right Earth phrases to sound like Gar to help her build confidence. "Do you know any other magic?"

Rachel hugged herself and took a step away from me. She cast her eyes to the floor. Perhaps I pushed too far. "I can only heal." She said softly.

I was confused by the sudden reserved action. Something told me she could do more than heal others, but was ashamed of her other powers for some reason. Not wanting to ruin the bond we were beginning to build, I told her, "And healing is enough. You turned my bad day into a good one by fixing my face. And for that, I am forever in your debt." I gave her my best curtsy and bowed my head to her. Hoping that would make her smile.

It must have worked because I heard her chuckle. "I'll make sure to remember that, your majesty."

The next day I dreaded my classes knowing what sort of rumors would be spoken about me. Normally, I would not be bothered by it, but my defeat was devastating enough that I was sure the school would be talking about this for the remainder of the time I was to attend here. I was going to be known as the warrior alien princess who was embarrassingly defeated by a human. Oh, how disappointed my mother and father would have been if they were there to witness my failure.

However, to my surprise and relief, no one seemed to care or even bring it up in their whisperings to one another. In fact, what I thought would be groups of people like Babs and Wally snickering at me, there were a few students who gave me a small smile when I walked by. And those smiles did not appear to be given in a mocking way. They seemed to be genuine with the faintest glimmer of appreciation in their eyes. A few students even gave me nods in respect. Yet, none of them seemed like they were willing to talk to me. All but one.

"Hey, Kory, right?" Joseph, the boy from the previous day's combat class, jogged to catch up to me as I was walking back from one of my classes.

Of all the students, Joseph was the last person I would have expected to want to talk to me. Considering that I might have caused him to be in more trouble with the Elites than before. "Yes," I said hesitantly, "And I am sorry for any oppression the Elites may have inflicted on you from the events that happened yesterday."

"Why are you apologizing?" Joseph said with a hint of confusion. "I actually wanted to thank you for what you did!"

It was my turn to be confused now. "Thank me? I lost to the Elites terribly last night in the most embarrassing way!"

"Even though you lost that dual with Babs, you sparked a lot of inspiration in the students yesterday!" Joseph said excitedly.

"How?" I asked, "I cannot imagine that battle to be inspiring for anything."

He smiled and shook his head. "That's where you're wrong! It wasn't the outcome that inspired everyone, it was the fact that you were brave enough to volunteer to fight one of them and last as long as you did! It actually looked like you were winning until Babs pulled that cheap shot at you. But you have given us hope that the Elites are not as invincible as they make themselves to be."

That gave me some comfort knowing that Joseph and I were in agreeance on that. "You are telling me that no one here has tried to challenge them? They are only a few of them. I am sure they could be overruled if everyone were to work together to defeat them."

Joseph's eyes shifted from side to side nervously and then he motioned me to sit down with him at a nearby bench in the corridor. As if this was a safer spot to be in so that others would not be able to hear what he was about to tell me. The bench sat in a small nook within the outdoor corridor, so I suppose it was more secretive.

"That's another thing. Something...is not right here," Joseph said in almost a whisper.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It's just," Joseph looked around nervously again and leaned in a little closer. Speaking even softer. "This is my second year at this school and Dick and his Elites only started at the beginning of this year. Before they arrived, this school functioned like a normal school." He stopped to laugh for a moment, "I guess the word normal may not be the correct word for it, but at least there wasn't a student president controlling every waking moment of the students and having his inner circle treat everyone as if they are dirt under their shoes."

"But you are not dirt. You are people," I said and watched his face turn confused. I should have realized that was another strange metaphor that these humans all seem to love using. I quickly changed my response. "How did Dick become the school president when he first arrived here? Was there, not a delegated vote?"

Joseph shook his head, "That's the thing. Dick and his friends had barely said two words to anyone at this school when they were enrolled. And then before we all knew it, all of our course schedules had been changed, and all the students were forced to live in the dorms while the Elites live the high live in the campus mansion. We are now required to attend combat training led by them. Not to mention our coursework doubled on top of all of that. And if we are not able to keep up we would be disciplined with either harder physical training or public harassment. They basically control the entire school now. Even the teachers."

"And Miss Petrov allowed all of this to happen?" I asked. Not believing a group of people, not much older than myself could overthrow the leadership of an entire school. "Surely a woman in her position would have been able to put a stop to this."

"You would think," Joseph said beginning to wring his hands together. "To be honest with you, we all think she's afraid of Dick. I've heard he threatens all the faculty that if he doesn't get his way, he'll report it to his father. Who apparently now is the only sponsor for Titan Academy. Essentially controlling all the funds that come in to keep the school running."

I furrowed my brows, remembering the conversation I had with Miss Petrov on our way here. "Miss Petrov made it sound like there were other sponsors funding the school and Dick's father was only one of them. She even spoke quite highly of him"

Joseph let out a brief laugh. "I guess she has to, doesn't she? She doesn't want anyone to know that the school is in financial trouble. So she needs to hype up the only sponsor the school has. Rumor has it that Bruce Wayne bought out all of the sponsors so that he would be the only one and have the power to take complete control of the school if he wanted."

"But why?" I asked, "What use of this school would be to him?"

Joseph shrugged, "No idea. He is in the weapon manufacturing business, so maybe he wants to turn the school into one of his factories and Dick's scoping it out and trying to run everyone out in the meantime. But no one really knows why Dick is here. He doesn't really fit the description of the usual student here."

"What do you mean by that?"

"We're basically all freaks here." Joseph said with a sigh, "Not skilled or worthy enough to run with the big named heroes. And too strange and unordinary to fit in with other kids in civilian schools. That's why we're here. We have no other place to go to. But Dick looks like he belongs in a rich kid prep school and appears to be just your average human. So why is he here? Why is his father spending so much money for him to attend here out of any other school?"

"That is strange I suppose." I thought out loud. The more I was learning about Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne, the more suspicious I was getting that they were up to no good.

"But that's not the only strange thing going on here. There's also the town. People have been disappearing and..." Joseph stopped in mid-sentence and his face went pale. His eyes were wide looking above my head.

I turned around to see what he was staring at. Oh...of course it was him.

"Joseph you're going to be late to your next class if you don't start moving along," Dick said in an unenthused tone while looking down at us as if we were peasants to him.

The courage and confidence Joseph had while speaking to me vanished in an instant. "Right...I uh...must have lost track of time! Good talking to you, Kory!" He then jumped from the bench to escape Dick's gaze and swiftly walk past him. Once Joseph was behind Dick and out of his sight, he turned around to mouth, "Help us" and then ran the other way as fast as he could.

"You should be heading to your next class as well," Dick said, but I was not sure if or why he was directing that statement to me.

"I have a break for this period," I told him. "I do not need to be anywhere for another hour."

"Not according to your new schedule," He said holding a folded piece of paper to me. "I thought I would deliver it to you myself since Miss Petrov is busy this afternoon."

"What?" I snatched the paper from his hand to ferociously unfold the paper and read it. Not only all of my afternoon classes had been changed, but a few more had been added on to replace my combat training classes.

Dick must have sensed my bubbling fury when he asked, "Is there a problem?"

"Yes! There is!" I looked up from the updated schedule. "I am no longer in any combat classes!"

"Right, well after your little demonstration yesterday, it's clear that you are not ready for combat training. That's why you are now placed in classes that better suit you. We'll see where you are at the end of the term before having you attend the combat classes again. As long as you continue to do well in the new classes that is."

"Not ready?" I said, still not believing what I was seeing and hearing. Was he that much of a coward to fight me that he had to arrange my whole schedule so I was not given another chance to face him or the Elites in combat? "I held my own against your Elite probably better than any other student here and I would have been victorious over her..."

"But you weren't." His words pierced through mine so I was not able to speak any longer. "Now go, before you're late. Tardiness is not tolerated here."

I stood up from the bench so that I was eye-to-eye with him. No longer wanting to be looked down upon. I stared straight into his blue eyes when I said, "I will go by your rules for now, Dick Grayson. But I am not afraid of you like everyone else is here. I will get my chance to take you down."

I did not wait for him to say anything after that. I roughly brushed past him to start walking to my next class in his schedule.

There was a brief moment of confusion when I first stepped into the Calculus classroom taught by Mr. Immortus, a frail-looking man who appeared to might have belonged to another century on this planet based on how he had dressed.

"You're the new student, aren't you?" He said once he saw me walk into his classroom, "Are you sure you are in the right classroom? This class is meant for third years, and I thought you were a first-year."

"It says this is where I am supposed to be according to my new schedule," I said and then handed the now crumpled piece of paper from how tightly I was holding it in anger. "As directed by the student president." I did not want to say his name, for I feared if I said it too many times he might appear again to make my day more miserable.

Mr. Immortus quickly glanced over my schedule and then handed it back to me. "Yes, it appears you are to be in this class now. I just have not received word of that yet, but if Mr. Grayson believes you should be in this class, then so be it! You can take a seat anywhere that is open, Miss Anders. We'll begin shortly and I'll find you an extra textbook."

I nodded. I was in too much of a bad mood to be charming. But what Mr. Immortus had said, confirms that Dick did indeed have full control of the school. He was able to make changes to a student's schedule without discussing it with the teacher first. If it was Miss Petrov that had made the change, or one of the other teachers, I was sure Mr. Immortus would have known of that change in advance. And with how he did not even question the decision that was made by Dick had proven the faculty was afraid of him.

I found an empty desk toward the back to sit at. I was too busy mentally cursing out Dick to notice the girl eyeing me curiously at the next desk over.

"You're Kory Anders, right?" She asked. Tearing me away from my wicked imagination of torturing a certain student president.

"What? Oh, yes. I am." I said, no longer surprised that everyone at the school seemed to know my name now.

"Let me guess..." She leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. "You pissed off one of the Elites and that's why you're enrolled in this class now."

"It appears so." I realized I was being short with her, but I did not feel like being my talkative self at the moment. I was still fuming over the current situation.

"Well, welcome to the rebels' club!" She said cheerfully while raising her closed fist to me to initiate the human greeting known as the fist bump that I have seen others perform to one another. "The name's Karen by the way. Karen Beecher."

The way she smiled put me back at ease. It was nice to know that I was not alone in this misery. I tentatively brought my fist up to gently push against hers. I was not sure of how much pressure was supposed to be applied in this type of handshake.

"It is nice to meet you, Karen," I said, "Are you in this class because you upset the Elites as well?"

"Unfortunately," She replied, rolling her eyes. "I was assigned to face Sparky at a combat class one day and turns out I was giving him too much of a challenge so Queen Babs had to intervene. I then may have called her a few choice words that are not exactly school appropriate and I guess she didn't like what I called her because the next day I was given a new class schedule."

"And you are now no longer allowed to attend the combat classes?" I asked.

"Nope," Karen said irritably, "It's the most stupid thing...They can say the most cruel things to us, but the moment we bring it back on them, we get punished for it. They are all hypocrites! They can make and break their own rules, but the rest of us can't. Their forced leadership in the school is getting annoying."

"Yes, I agree with you on that." I said, "And it seems like we are not alone in that opinion. So why is it that no one is trying to stop them?" I do not know how many times I have tried asking that question, but no one has seemed to give me a clear answer yet.

Karen shrugged. "We don't want to be kicked out. As you probably already know, this school is our last hope for a promising future. We're all outcasts since all other schools won't take us in." She paused, and then her face turned grim. "And for most of us, we don't have a family or a home to go to if it wasn't for this place. This is our home. And after hearing about a student who was expelled for refusing to leave the upperclassmen mansion when the Elites moved in, we're now all scared that same could happen to any of us."

"They have the power to expel students as well?" I asked mortified. Just when I thought the Elite situation could not get any worse! The fact that they had the power to decide who stays at the school and who does not was too much. Why did Rachel and Gar not tell me this?

"Well, I don't think they actually expelled him directly. It was a decision made by the school board I suppose. But we all thought it was too much of a coincidence after this particular student made a big scene in protesting the Elites' demands. Then the next thing we knew he was expelled. Apparently, he was quite popular among all the teachers and students here, so it was an even bigger shock when the decision was made that he was to be expelled. To be honest, I really didn't know him all that well since I arrived late last year, but I guess he was quite influential around these parts, and that only struck more fear in everyone seeing their favorite upperclassman getting kicked out. I'm trying to remember what everyone used to call him. He never went by his first name...his nickname was a color I think."

After she said this, Mr. Immortus called for the class to quiet down for he was about to begin his lecture. I pretended to pay attention as he began to describe how to solve a complicated problem on the chalkboard, but my mind was trying to comprehend everything that I have discovered about Dick and the Elites. There was no doubt now they had control over Titan Academy and were taking advantage of everyone's unfortunate circumstances to remain in power. They certainly did not seem to have anything to lose since the Elites all appeared to come from well-established families. Perhaps that is the reason why they have called themselves the Elites. But why were they torturing the students here? They could have gone to any other school to take control of, but why this particular school? Why did Dick's father spend so much of his wealth to intimidate Miss Petrov and all the teachers?

I had so many questions, but I knew no one was going to give me the answers I needed for fear of the Elites finding out. Or maybe no one had those answers because the Elites were secretly plotting something sinister and did not want anyone to know their true intentions. That was why they were bullying everyone to keep them from asking those questions and moving people like Karen and me away from their operations because we were not as intimidated by them. As if we were pieces being played on a strategic board game and we were being moved around so that they can reach their ultimate goal.

If my suspicions were correct, then that was exactly what Dick must be doing. He did not like that I was challenging his power. And after watching my dual with Babs the other day, he must have underestimated my abilities and decided to move me out of the combat classes so I was not given another chance to fight him.

I could easily take him down outside of the combat class, or anywhere, but that was too much of a risk. I could get myself expelled like that student Karen mentioned and I was in no position to have that happen for I truly had nowhere else to go. And if I was expelled, then who else was going to be willing to put a stop to the tyrant control the Elites had over the students and faculty?

I knew I had to be smart about this and I needed more information on the Elites before I was able to make my next move on them. I suppose for now I would play their game. Hide in the shadows and observe them until the time was right to pounce. Like any predator hunting their prey, I had to be patient. My time would come. And when it does, the victory will be so sweet.

Before Mr. Immortus had dismissed the class, he had assigned a ridiculously large assignment for homework. Then I realized this might have been one of Dick's tactics as well. Assigning me to a more advanced class thinking that would keep me distracted enough so I would not go around looking for more answers to my questions. It was a smart move, but he does not know that I am already quite knowledgeable on most of the subjects covered here. These assignments will barely slow me down. However, if he were to assign me to a more advanced French class, then I would be in trouble. I really hope he does not find out about that weakness.

When I met back up with Rachel later that afternoon, I told her about Dick changing my schedule and the more difficult classes he had placed me in.

"I was wondering where you were for combat class," She said, "But I kind of figured it had something to do with that. I did warn you about them and how interfering with the Elites would only make matters worse for you!"

"Yes, but I was expecting other forms of punishment like more intense physical training or having to sleep outside in the wilderness for a night without any weapons or other resources for survival. I would have preferred that over this."

Rachel gave me a strange look. "What kind of training background do you come from? And besides, it's only a few extra classes. You seem like you do well in your academic studies, so some extra work is barely a punishment for you."

"I guess, but it is 'annoying' that I have to do all this useless busy work to appease the Elites. I may be up for most of the night attempting to get my homework done and I am already exhausted by the lack of sunlight here." I said moodily. Again, not like me at all to be complaining about everything, but it was just...Dick Grayson...the source of all my suffering here.

"Hey, I have an idea," Rachel began to say, "There is a coffee shop in town I like to go to get some tea and read whenever I want to get away from the school for a bit. We should go there so you can try some coffee to see if that will help with your fatigue. It's also a great place to get homework done and I think there is a shuttle we can sign up for coming up to take us there. Do you want to check it out? It can be my treat."

"Yeah, sure," I said, begrudgingly, "I suppose it might do me some good to get off the school grounds for a couple of hours."

The process was to go to a town that was only a few miles away seemed a little extraneous to me. We had to sign our names on a sheet of paper and put the time we were leaving and then there was another box next to that asking for the time we had come back. I felt like it was a pointless practice considering the town was not that far away. But I guess that was there to make sure students had arrived to and from the town safely. Of course, I could not think of anything particularly dangerous crossing our path from the school to the town that would cause any of us to be unsafe. Unless there were large amounts of vicious wild animals running outside the school parameter. I thought that was unlikely. The most vicious-looking animals I have encountered were on campus already, and they did not seem all that bad.

We were escorted by a small bus into town, and already the day was turning into twilight when we were dropped off at the bus stop in town. The headlights of cars were already shining bright as they passed us, and I noticed the faint lights glowing from inside the buildings of the town. Cold Springs was indeed a cute little town. Most of the buildings looked older than the buildings I had seen in Miami and a couple of other cities I had passed while being transported here. But the design of these buildings was charming in their own way. I followed Rachel as she ran across the car parking lot that seemed to be placed directly in the center of the town. Very curious, as I have never seen a town laid out like this one, but I did not have many small towns to compare it to so perhaps this was normal on Earth.

Rachel had stopped at a building with a sign over the door that read, "The Last Drop Café". It was an endearing name for a coffee shop. When we entered, I immediately felt a rush of warmth spread through my body as we transitioned from the cooler night air into a warm and welcoming atmosphere. The room we entered was decorated with a few comfortable-looking sofas that were currently being occupied by the customers that were already there, and several smaller tables lining the walls of the room.

As we approached the counter that was placed further back in the shop, I noticed a boy who did not seem much older than Rachel and I was working behind it. He was fairly attractive as far as human boys go. He was tall and lean with light brown hair that covered his face slightly. Making him a little more mysterious and interesting looking. I then wondered if he went to a school like us. I do not remember seeing a boy like him walking around Titan Academy. Perhaps he attended another school nearby.

"Hello, Rachel!" He greeted cheerfully. Using her name as if she was a good friend of his. "Are you getting the usual today?"

"Yes, Xavier," Rachel said with the complete opposite tone to his, "The spiced chai for me and whatever my friend gets. You can put it on my tab."

It was clear that Rachel did not want to talk to this Xavier any longer than she had, for she quickly walked away from the counter to find a table with two chairs that were the furthest away from where he was.

The boy captured my attention back when he asked, "What can I get for you, cutie?"

I was a little taken aback by how he addressed me, but I assumed he was just trying to be pleasant since he did not know my name and it was his job to be hospitable to the customers of the shop. He did have very kind grey eyes and his smile appeared quite genuine, so perhaps he was friendly by nature.

"I am not sure," I told him glancing at the long list of drinks behind him, "I have never been to one of these establishments, but I heard that if I get anything caffeinated it will help me stay awake so that I can finish the unnecessary amount of busy work I have to accomplish by tomorrow."

He chuckled. Seemly amused by my response. "Well, I make a pretty mean pumpkin-spiced latte. It's always the favorite around this time of year, and I can put an extra shot of expresso in there if you would like."

"Sure, that sounds wonderful, thank you." I said pretending I knew what he meant and wondering what a 'mean' latte was. That did not exactly sound pleasant.

"Fantastic!" He said as he plucked a cup from a tower of cups stacked in front of me and then pulled out a marker from his apron, "My name is Xavier by the way. Can I have yours so I know who I'm making this special latte to?"

"It is Kory."

"Do you spell that with a C or a K? I want to make sure I spell the cutest student's name at Wayne's World correctly."

How did he know that I was a student? Oh right, I was still wearing the uniform. "It is with a K. And I attend Titan Academy."

"Yeah, Wayne's World," Xavier said while he wrote on the cup, "That's what I call it now since Bruce Wayne and his 'Dick'-tator son took it over." He turned the cup around so that he showed what he wrote on it. "Is this correct?"

I nodded. "Oh yes, I have met the son already."

"Yeesh, I'm sorry about that. He certainly lives up to his name doesn't he?"

Not sure how to respond to that, I asked, "So you know Dick Grayson as well?"

"Yeah," Xavier said while starting to work on our drinks. "I ran into him a few times. And that was a few times too many."

"I can relate to you on that."

Xavier chuckled and smiled at me. "Well you don't have to worry about him here. Fortunately, we don't sell rich boy expresso so his majesty would never think about setting a foot in this place."

I laughed at that. I was starting to like this Xavier more and more.

"I'll bring these out to you and Rachel once I'm done." He said, "You go ahead and make yourself comfortable."

I smiled and nodded at him in gratitude and then made my way to the table that Rachel had picked for us. She was already engrossed in one of her books.

"Xavier seems nice," I said as I slid into the empty chair at the table.

"He's alright," Rachel replied, never tearing her eyes away from her book.

By the time I got all of my school books out of my backpack, Xavier had arrived with our drinks. I thanked him again, and Rachel mumbled a quiet 'thanks' as he placed our drinks on the table. I took a sip from my cup and I was immediately flooded with warmth as I experienced my first pumpkin spiced latte. The sweetness of it had put me in a better mood from the events of the day as I started to feel the effects of the caffeine energize me a little more with each sip.

Rachel did not say much as she was far more interested in what was going on in her book than wanting to help me with my homework. I did not mind. I respected that this was probably what she did every time she comes here so I did not want to disturb her routine. And I was capable of getting all the work done myself, I just needed the magical latte that Xavier made for me to get me through it.

It was a nice atmosphere to be in while studying and was certainly a nice change from the dark halls at the academy. The coffee shop was well lit with warmer colors decorating the room. It all felt so cozy.

With the ambiance of this space helping me focus and being fueled by caffeine, I was able to finish my assignments within an hour of being there. Once I finished my last assignment I happily slammed one of the books closed and felt a moment of peace as I took the last sips of my pumpkin spice latte. That was until a plump and short man hurled his way through the coffee shop door in a frenzy and I nearly choked on my previous gulp.

"You fools!" The man cried out and the room went quiet as everyone looked at each other and then at the man with a puzzled expression. "How can you be drinking this poison? The drinks served here are turning the people of Cold Springs into monsters!"

"Ah, Hank has had too much to drink again!" One of the customers called out.

The man's eyes were frantic. "No! I have not! The shift started happening shortly after this coffee shop was opened. Why can't you all see that? It's what they are serving in these drinks I swear it!"

Two taller and stronger-looking men approached the manic man. "Alright Hank, I think it's time for you to head home. There are students from the academy trying to study here and you're disturbing the peace." One of them said and then they picked him up by the arms to drag him out of the shop. The man still screaming as he was being pulled away.

"What do you think that was about?" I asked Rachel, confused about how I was feeling. The man did not appear to have violent intentions for the customers in the room, but he certainly looked unwell. Actually, he looked utterly terrified.

"I don't know," Rachel said, looking as confused as I was. "We should probably get going. It's nearing our curfew and the last ride to the school will be arriving shortly."

I nodded in agreement and started to pack my books in my backpack. I then noticed Xavier approaching our table with a white paper bag in his hand. "I'm sorry for that disturbance, ladies." He said, "We've been having problems with Hank lately bursting in drunk like that every other night. So you're drinks are on me tonight. And I packed up some extra scones that we made this morning so you can take them back to school with you."

His face was sincere as he spoke to us. However, he seemed to be looking at me more than he did at Rachel. As I was about to take the bag from him, Rachel snatched it and said. "Thank you. We appreciate it."

"Yes, thank you," I added, since Rachel's tone did not sound too grateful.

"It was nice meeting you, Kory," Xavier said giving me another warm smile. "I hope you enjoyed the latte I made you."

"It was most delicious, thank you."

Xavier's eyes lingered on me for a moment before he turned around to head back behind the counter again. I checked my cup to see if there was any latte left for me to finish when I noticed something on my cup that I had not earlier.

"I just realized there is a line of numbers written on this cup. Did you have that on yours as well?"

Rachel reached for my now empty cup to turn it around to see what I was talking about. Once she saw it, she rolled her eyes and said, "It's nothing. Let's go."

A/N

Disclaimer/side-note. All the main players in this story are characters inspired by the Teen Titans series. They may just not appear as you think they would. If you have not figured out the clues yet. ;)

Except for Hank. Sorry, Hank.