May. It was just a school club p.1

Raven closed the back door to the Tanner's house and crept into their backyard. All three children were already asleep, so she moved silently. She sat to the outdoor table and shuffled the small bag in her hand, making the three stones inside it dance.

"Okay. Let's keep this simple. Is she bad news?"

She threw the stones onto the table. The white one and the red one tumbled onto the surface, but the black one fell off the edge. Raven frowned. She hadn't thrown that hard.

She collected the three stones inside the bag again and shuffled.

"Can we trust her?" She threw more gently this time. The three stones landed on the table this time, but they were at perfect equal distance of each other from every point Raven looked at them from.

Raven glowered at them. She took a deep breath and centered herself before trying one last time. "Is she going to betray us?"

This time both the black and the white rock fell off the edge. The red one alone landed in the table, a question without a 'yes' or 'no' to side with.

For lack of a better recipient, Raven looked directly at the moon in exasperation. "Really?"

She collected the stones in the bag reluctantly. "Am I really sensing something suspicious about her, or am I just… jealous?" She whispered the last part; she still couldn't wrap her head around that one.

Raven kept the stones in the bag. It was ill-advised to try more than three times, and besides, that last one wasn't a yes-no question. That question wasn't for the stones, it was just for her. And if she needed to ask, she already knew what she had to do.

Every so often she slipped back into denial. She'd think she wasn't really jealous—she was just feeling lonely, she was just in a weird mental space since Arella took off, or she was really seeing something in Terra no one else did, or she was just protective of Gar because he was her friend and nothing more. But in those moments she'd force herself to think of the picture Gar posted. Her sheer reaction to it had been more honest than any later rationalization could ever be.

It was still burned into her mind. She saw it when she closed her eyes: Terra's hair cascading down her back as she tilted up her head to kiss Gar's cheek. Gar so oddly serene and happy, one eye closed as he smiled at the camera. They actually looked so good together, both so blonde and smiley. Raven guessed it was meant to be.

Where did that leave her? What was it she actually felt for Gar, and why did she feel it? She wished that was something she could ask the stones—ask anyone.

She just knew it made her feel bad when he was all over Terra, when she turned around and they were hugging or whispering—it made her want to turn away and walk out of the whole building. She felt left out of something, which was ridiculous, because she was missing something she'd never really had.

Except… It seemed like before, Gar would talk to her more. He would sit next to her and tell her joke after joke, until someone laughed. It was never Raven, but that didn't mean she wasn't laughing on the inside… She thought he got that. She thought he understood that was just how she was, and she thought that was enough for him. But now he had Terra, who laughed out loud every time, and obviously he liked that better. It was perfectly logical. Why had she ever thought he wouldn't get tired of trying with her? She should have known that after years of telling him to go away, one day he'd listen to her.

Raven closed the bag and went back into the house to wait for Mr. and Mrs. Tanner to arrive.

She'd gotten an answer one way or another. If she had any doubt as to whether she was being unfair to Terra, she couldn't go on mistrusting her on what could very well be an emotional basis.

And accepting Terra, blending back into the group, and forcing herself to see her and Gar together, would also have the effect of forcing her to get over whatever she felt for Gar—it would be exposure therapy of sorts. Figuring out her feelings for Gar didn't matter to her as much as getting rid of them fast; and that no one else ever had to know.


"No, no, you gotta buy his book," Vic was telling Terra. "If you buy it and take it to class, he'll like you. If you photocopy it, he'll have you pegged as a problem student."

"The Thoughts on Essential Biology thing? I didn't even wanna photocopy that one," Terra complained. "Does anyone have that book right now?"

"Nope," said Vic.

"Sorry," said Gar.

"I think it's in the library," said Raven, not looking at Terra and addressing the room in general, which was her usual way of replying to her.

"Oh," Terra said. She likewise looked at the boys when she said, "I don't have my library card yet."

Gar realized he didn't have his library card on him. Before he could ask Vic if he did, something happened that never had before—Raven looked up and talked directly to Terra. "You wanna take it out on mine?" she asked.

Terra forced herself past the shock of Raven addressing her in order to reply normally. "Sure."

Raven got up and put her book away. "Come on."

Terra smiled and jumped down from the table she was sitting on.

Vic and Gar stayed very quiet as the two girls left the clubroom, like they could upset a perfect balance if they spoke.

"Uh, what just happened?" Gar asked when the door closed.

"Did you feel the earth shift?" asked Vic.

"A little, yeah."

They looked at each other and burst out laughing from sheer relief.

"I knew Raven just had to get used to her," laughed Gar.

"And it only took three months!"

The joy was short-lived.

After Terra and Raven left, the door opened again to admit principal Blood, with Dick and Kori at his heels.

Vic thought this might be the first time their official advisor set foot in the clubroom.

"You can understand that I need to check, Mr. Grayson, Miss Androkinova," Blood was saying. "So we may continue the investigation."

Dick seemed encased in silent anger as he closed the door behind them, and Blood moved to the club computer with Kori following close behind him, pleading for him to reconsider. Gar and Victor slid next to Dick.

"What's happening?" whispered Gar.

"Blood says he got a tip that we're the ones pulling the pranks," Dick replied in a tight tone.

"What?" reacted Vic. "They're going to faculty now?"

"But that rumor's been going on for weeks," said Gar.

"But now someone told him we're buying the paint and stuff from our own computer," said Dick.

Gar and Vic shared a silent bewildered look. "Oh, now they've gone too far," sentenced Vic.

"Mr. Stone, come and unlock this for me," Blood called.

As Vic went over, Kori gave up on pleading at Blood and joined Dick and Gar.

"He has been told he shall find the receipts for the materials used in the pranks in our computer," she told Gar.

"Dick," Vic called, and the three turned to him. He'd spoken with a strange crushed tone. Dick rushed over. On the screen was a lengthy list of purchases and sales. "The account was logged into when I got on the website," whispered Vic.

Blood got up, adjusted his jacket, and made to leave the room, having found all he needed. Dick had moved past surliness when panic struck him, and he addressed the principal.

"Principal Blood, putting the insulting accusations aside—why would we be so stupid as to buy the stuff from our clubroom computer? And then not log out, or clear our history? Clearly someone is framing us."

"I agree." Blood turned to look them over. "At least, I agree it would seem tremendously stupid, and you are not stupid, Grayson. However, this whole matter has gotten big enough to warrant a board hearing. I'll let you know the day and the time when we'll review the case of your club."

With that, he left.

Vic was scrolling through the list. "There's transactions going back over a month."

"Since when did we have this account?" asked Gar.

"We did not," said Kori.

"But it was here," said Vic. "Right under our noses."

"Dick," called Kori. Dick hadn't stopped staring at the closed door since the principal left.

Gar and Vic looked to him as well.

"Dick, snap out of it," said Victor. "What do we do?"

Dick was immobile for one moment longer. Then he started moving fast.

First he turned to the computer and scrolled through the account, like he was trying to commit it to memory. Then he closed the website, turned off the computer, and unplugged it from the wall. He took to the shelves and opened Kori's box of condiments, poured salt and then pepper inside a tic-tac container from his pocket (that still had a few tic-tacs in it).

At that point Vic tried again. "Dick? What are you doing?"

"I can't change the locks, they're school-issued," was all Dick said.

That's when they realized he was setting up a trap: he suspected a break-in. He placed the tic-tac container in front of the door, tested the angle at which the door would tip it over, and then set the container upright on the table.

"Why salt and pepper…?" Gar whispered at Vic.

Kori answered him. "If someone tips the container, even if they notice and set it back upright, the salt and pepper will end up mixed."

"Oooh," went Gar.

Dick then got up, looked around, located the air vent, and drew a chair to get to it. He produced scotch tape from his jacket, made a piece into a loop, and stuck it on the floor of the inside of the vent.

Gar looked at Kori.

"If the tape is flattened or dirtied or gone, it will also expose a break-in," she supplied.

"Right."

Dick looked around the room again, hands on his hips, and seemed calmer, like now he could think.

"Okay," he began. They waited. Then he left the room.

"…Is he going after Blood?" asked Gar.

This time Kori had no answer.


Dick wasn't sure what he was after. All he knew was that he needed to be in the school, to try and get a sense of what was going on.

Because this wasn't natural. He could no longer pretend some rumors had conveniently caught fire. Presenting a tip-off to the faculty for them to find planted evidence was too much—someone was actively sabotaging them. And Dick had underestimated them long enough.

Raven and Terra found him before he found enlightenment. His wandering had taken him to the library.

"Dick?" Raven asked, approaching him dubiously. "You look crazy. Calm down."

"I can't," answered Dick. "Something strange is going on."

He forced himself to get back in the world long enough to tell them about Blood's visit to the clubroom.

Raven was wide-eyed. Terra seemed too shocked to react.

"We're getting a hearing?" was what Raven chose to focus on.

"He said he couldn't ignore the proof, so he had to…" Dick he trailed off when he saw Rex in the distance. There it was. That was the lead he'd been looking for.

"What?" prompted Raven.

Dick told them, "Go to the clubroom. Talk to no one outside of us. I'll be right there."


"So you never told anyone about us stealing that watch from a jewelry store?" Dick asked.

Rex shrugged. "Nope. Why would I? I want you to like me, remember?"

Dick believed him. He hadn't really thought Rex had done it; Rex was just the only one who could have. "I don't understand how Kitty knew that."

Rex gave that some thought. "She didn't go to our middle school."

"No."

"These things get out," said Rex. "Isn't her dad some big shot? Maybe he knows Bruce."

"Except my uncle buried that part of my life so deep in his subconscious even he forgot about it."

"Then, who have you told? Your friends, and…?"

"No one else."

"And the new chick?"

"Terra. Yeah, she knows too."

"And all of you hate Kitty."

"Correct."

"And all this is making you think Kitty knowing that and the rumors about your Club are all connected."

Dick just looked at him for all confirmation.

Rex considered him. "Hey man, I know we said we should stay away from each other and shit, but I can't help but see you spazzing out in the hallways with this rumors problem. You need to calm down. You're not helping your case like this."

"Yeah. I know. I've been told."

"But, for the record, I think there's something weird going on too," Rex said. "I mean, the popular kids hate you for blowing them off all the time. And all those kids you didn't let join resent you a lot. And every time you don't take a case, those kids talk shit about you for a while. But now, it's like… this thing's got a mind of its own. I feel like there's some big backlash about to happen."

Dick stared at him, not quite understanding. "People resent us for not letting them join the club? We couldn't let everyone in. And we can't take every single case."

"Hey, don't get me wrong, I get you." Rex shrugged. "If you get a case that's lame, don't do it. Waiting for the big ones is a better use of your time. I'm just telling you what I perceive."

Dick shifted uncomfortably, because the way Rex put it wasn't how he thought about it. Was that what they'd been doing? Taking only the interesting cases? Letting the rest hang out to dry? "I mean… some of the things they wanted us to do were illegal. Or immoral," he said. But he knew there were others they hadn't taken because… well, he guessed they did think they were below their standards. "But we always tried to help the student body," he tried.

"Yeah, long as the case is cool," said Rex. "I mean, I wouldn't waste my time getting kittens out of trees either."

Dick didn't answer. Rex inwardly cringed when he saw Dick was unsettled by what he was hearing. He wondered if he'd said too much, but another part of him was almost glad he got to take him down a peg like this. Some old resentment did come out as an edge in his voice when he said, "Just… look out for those friends of yours, okay? Things could get ugly from now on."


Dick re-entered the clubroom and went straight for the board on the furthest wall. If there had been any conversation between the other five, it stopped when he came in. They gathered around him.

He picked up the red marker and cut to the chase: "Okay. We have a group of people who've been vandalizing the school, which probably includes at least one girl," he said, looking at Raven at the last part, "who did the graphic design. We have incriminating evidence planted on our computer –which means someone either broke into this room or hacked us. And we have someone who anonymously tipped Blood about it. Also, we have Kitty pulling that stink bomb fiasco, and Kitty knowing that stuff about my past she shouldn't have known." He'd drawn wide circles with the items of information as he spoke them, and now he looked to his friends. "What if the pranks and the rumors, and what Kitty knows, are connected?"

"We're thinking Kitty is with Hive?" asked Raven.

Vic said, "We can't just connect two odd happenings because they're happening at the same time."

"But a stink bomb is not Kitty's style, and it is Hive style," Kori pointed out.

Gar, who had been scrolling down his phone –Dick would have stopped to scold him if he wasn't on a roll-, raised his hand. "Okay, um, this might be nothing," he started. "But I think Jenny and Kitty go to the same gym."

Everyone crowded around him. He showed them Instagram posts of both their accounts. Both of them had sometime in the last months posted pictures of themselves in gym equipment. "Look at the logo on the wall in Jen's pic. Now look at the sign Kitty's posing with. It's the same place."

"It's a link, I'm going with it," announced Dick, moving to write 'Kitty' and link her to Hive on the board.

"What, Jen and Kitty are secretly friends?" asked Vic. "That's what we're going with?"

"They don't have to be friends to be working together," said Dick.

"Wait, why are we looking at Jen again?" asked Raven. "We'd cleared her and her friends—"

"Because they were all in detention from smoking," finished Dick. "But we didn't account for a bigger group—others who could have carried out the pranks while Jen and her gang threw us off their scent."

"Oh!" went Kori, "Kitty, Jade and Angel have special permissions to get out of class for yearbook stuff!"

"That could account for how they got to classrooms early," realized Raven.

Vic surveyed the board. Dick could see in his face that he was converting to the theory. "The only thing missing here is why. Why would they do this?"

"We rejected all of these people from joining the Club," said Dick, facing the board.

"…But we rejected half the school," said Gar.

"That's why the rumors caught on fast," said Dick. "You exclude people from something, they're quick to believe bad things they hear about you. They want to bring you down." He saw in his friends' faces they thought this was coming out of left field for them. But after what Rex had told him, he couldn't help but think it was not too crazy.

Vic peered at him. "Dick. Am I sensing you think we deserve this?"

Dick turned away from him. "I don't know."

"Now you're really being too hard on yourself," Raven said, shaking her head.

"Dick, you really are!" concurred Kori.

"I said I don't know," Dick said stubbornly. He was still processing all of this.

"Okay, look," Vic started, trying to bring some order to the situation. "Let's say motives don't matter right now. The real question is, how do we stop this?"

Dick said, "Actually, the real question is, how do we keep Blood from closing us down before we can stop it?"

"Here's another question, where did Terra go?" asked Gar.

They looked around. Terra had slipped out at some moment.


"They know! They fucking know everything! Dick figured it all out!"

Terra had exploded the second Jen had led them into the storage room. "Terra, please calm down. What exactly do they know?"

"They know who Hive is. Kitty and her cronies and you and all the boys. They know the rumors aren't natural. They know you guys are planning something against them as payback."

"That's hardly everything," Jen droned. "They don't know we're planning anything beyond silly pranks and starting rumors."

"Do you and Kitty go to the same gym?!" Terra demanded.

"Yeah, it's how we started talking," laughed Jen. "They figured that out? Well, I wouldn't put anything past Vic."

"Gar figured it out."

Jen's smile fell. "Oh."

"How can you be so calm about this?"

"When's the hearing?" Jen asked. Terra looked confused. "Blood's giving them a hearing, isn't he?"

"Yeah…," Terra said, realizing once again that Jen was smart. "Yeah, it's on May sixth."

"Right. Dick is gonna throw everything he has at that hearing before he worries about us. So we're launching the plan on the sixth."

She said it blithely, like it was simple as that.

All the weight of what was about to happen hit Terra like a tidal wave. "You're a fucked up bitch for staying calm like that!" she spat, and stormed off.

Jen watched her run off. She had kept doubts about whether Terra was a liability. Terra seemed to be really dedicated to proving her right.


Gar next found Terra in homeroom.

"Hey, why'd you run off?" he asked her.

"Sorry," said Terra. "I… got overwhelmed."

"Yeah, I figured." Gar leaned in closer to whisper. "We're having an emergency meeting during lunch. And Dick says we're closing ranks. Don't talk to anyone, and don't reveal what's going on, and don't take new missions."

"Okay," said Terra, feeling like the lowest of the low. Oh, here was the guilty conscience! Terra could have used that anytime in the past few weeks.


When Terra arrived to the clubroom, Vic was going around the room with his phone. Gar explained he'd downloaded an app that let you detect hidden devices.

Kori was saying, "Why do we not just place trackers on Kitty, Angel and Jade, and catch them in the act?"

"That's… reprehensible," said Dick, looking concerned she even thought of it. "Especially if it's not them. Besides, what we should be doing is preparing for the hearing."

Terra felt he was fulfilling Jen's cursed prophecy.

"I think we should start talking to other students," he said then.

"I thought we were closing ranks," said Gar.

"We're… opening ranks in a controlled way. Character witnesses go a long way in a hearing."

"So we go to people we've helped?" asked Victor.

"Exactly. And if we can gleam more about the rumors while we're at it, that's good too."

So the Club spent the rest of their time off in the day hunting down the kids whose cases they'd taken.

They asked them if they'd heard the rumors, and where from; they asked them if they'd write a few lines on their behalf to show in the hearing as proof of character. They saw, with horror, how each of those kids would turn away from them, not look them in the eye, and give excuses to slip away. The Club would explain their side of things, that the rumors were made up, and they could see plain and clear people didn't know whether to believe them, and they didn't care enough to think that hard about it.

The kids who would disparage them to their face had always been a minority; they'd thought it was the likes of Jen who inspired that attitude against them. But now they found out there had been a silent majority who'd lost faith in them, who probably sneered at them in private conversations, who had probably preemptively decided to never ask them for help. It was like, when they hadn't been looking, the student body had turned against them.

Once school was out, and the chance of talking to more people gone, they walked through the empty hallways in still-shocked silence.

Gar spoke first. "What is going on? After all we did," he said, his voice breaking at the end.

"People do not seem to be loyal," Kori said, hugging her arms a she walked.

"People don't use their fucking critical thinking skills," spat Vic.

"People are skeptical," said Raven, soberly. "They don't know what to believe. They have no reason to trust us. And we have no reason to get offended by that."

Gar looked at her. "Come on, Raven, don't tell me this doesn't hurt you a little bit."

She looked down at him. "Nothing can hurt you without your consent. You get to choose that."

Gar watched her walk off past him; well, he already knew she got even stonier in the face of adversity.

Dick looked at his crestfallen team. He wanted to keep working on this, but he didn't have the heart to ask them to. "Guys," he said, gently. "Take a break today. We'll try again tomorrow. Tomorrow… we'll work on our personal statements for the hearing." Now they were down, he felt the need to be the optimistic one. "We can start rebuilding trust after we get this cleared up."

Gar turned to Terra. "Oh, Terra. I'm so sorry you joined right for the worst of it. It was really cool last year. No one really bothered us."

And she didn't have the slightest clue what to say to that.


The morning of May sixth, Terra got ready in her room, making sure to make no noise. She always woke up the earliest, so she wouldn't have to see any of the other kids or the foster parents in the morning. She pulled on her go-to shorts and noticed they were baggier than ever. She'd already turned to adjusting them with a safety pin to keep them up, but now she had to tighten it even more.

She was actively losing weight from the stress. Maybe she could completely waste away before this all came to an end; maybe she could just become nothing, and then she wouldn't have to go through with it.

It was the day of Hive's plan, but for the rest of the Project Club, it was the day of the hearing. They had studied the formal accusation they all got in the mail, they had drawn up personal statements and compared stories. They had managed to get some students' statements: from the Robotics Club –all three of them-, and from the girl whose store they had defended from bullies a little while ago. Dick had emailed Itziar, who was now attending college in New York, and she'd also come through with a statement.

The Daytons and Galfore were the only adults who even knew of the meeting. Dick would have told Bruce and Alfred, but they were in Gotham City all week, and he hadn't wanted to burden them with this while they were away. The general mood when the Five met up in school that day was tense optimism, hanging on by a thread.

That night they were meeting up at Dick's to practice before going to the hearing at ten pm. Only Terra knew they would never make it.


After second period, Terra got a text from Jen requesting the last intel report ever. Terra replied and immediately deleted the conversation, as she knew the other girl did on her end.

She met Jenny in the designated closet at the specified time. When she walked in, she said, "Okay, here it is. Everyone's meeting at Dick's house at nine to go to the meeting. Dick, Victor and Gar will be at their houses until then. Kori will be at her flower shop job. Raven will be babysitting at her neighbors' house across the street."

These past few days, as she saw Dick truly in action, Terra had finally understood why Jen needed her.

She'd thought it when she saw Dick's new booby traps for the clubroom; she thought it again when she saw him hold strong through adversity and lead the others through the chaos. So thorough, so competent.

Only I could beat them, she thought now. It had to be one of their own. They didn't know what was coming, and it was only because it was coming from her. She would pull the earth from under them.

"At nine they all move to Dick's?" Jen made sure.

"Yes," confirmed Terra. "Vic's driving, Kori and Raven are taking buses, and Gar is walking."

"Great. Hey, wait," Jen stopped Terra, as she'd already whipped around to leave. "What team you wanna be in? When we get the Five. Who do you wanna get?"

Hand on the doorknob, Terra's eyes flashed when she looked at Jenny. "Raven. I want Raven."

Jen smiled, satisfied. "You're with Grant and Kidd, then. See you tonight!" And when Terra had left the room, she completed, "You little sociopath."

After she left the meeting with Jen, Terra crossed the crowded hallway, slowing down when she saw Kori and Raven at Kori's locker.

"It's just this strong stomachache," Raven was saying. "Like I ate something bad."

"You should not have come to school," Kori returned. "You could have rested to feel okay tonight."

"…It never occurred to me to not come. Today was too important."

Terra made sure to stay out of sight of the two, until she left them behind.

She only felt good about the plan anymore when she considered Raven. Raven could sense things, sure. But she, Terra, had managed to fool her for months. Oh, Raven had mistrusted her in the past, probably, but now all her suspicious were gone for some reason. It was too good for words. Even among the guilt and the weight loss and the lack of sleep, Terra could still look at Raven and enjoy the way things were going.

They could never have been friends. Something about Raven made her recoil. She disliked her even now, when Raven had apparently decided to start being friendly to her.

Terra blended in with the sea of students to get to Gar's locker. When she rounded the corner, Dick was at Gar's locker with him. Terra waited until he left. Then she went to Gar.

Gar smiled at her. "Terra! Hey listen, Dick wants to remind us to-"

"Do you wanna get out of here?" she asked him.

Gar was taken aback, but tried to act cool. "Sure. I mean, I cut class all the time. They call me the class ski-"

Terra pulled him by the hand. "Great, let's go."

"B-But, tonight's the hearing," he protested. "Dick may want us to go over things in the Club."

"Please? I really need this."

Gar looked at her. She looked really wound up. He cupped the side of her face and wondered at her. Had the stress of the hearing gotten too much for her? Either way, seeing her like that shoved everything else out of his mind. "Okay. Yeah," he agreed. "Let's go."


Victor looked up from his History homework to see a grinning Gar, and at the classroom door, Terra shifting in place. He squinted suspiciously. "What do you want?"

Gar threw his arms on Vic's shoulders. "Vic, my dude, I've a big favor to ask you."

"Yeah, I worked that out-"

"Can I borrow your car for a while?"

Vic began to laugh hysterically.

Gar put his hands together. "Please! Only for a little while!"

"Gar, I know how you drive-"

"I'll drive at twelve miles per hour! I swear. Just a little while. Look…" he got closer, and his tone got more serious. "Terra needs this. There's something going on, I know it."

We all have something going on, Vic would've said. But he looked at Terra from behind Gar's head. She did look freaked out, looking behind her shoulder constantly.

He groaned. "Gar. Today is an important day," he started, sternly.

"I know that."

"Will you make it in time for the hearing?"

"Of course I will!"

"Will you bring my car back to my house so I can take us to the hearing on time?"

"Yes! Will you lend us the car?"

Vic grumbled something that wasn't quite an agreement, took out his keys and looked at them as if questioning them.

Gar took them out of his hands. "You're the best!" he exclaimed, running out before Vic could change his mind.

"Gar, you be careful! Don't hurt my baby! And don't get it dirty! I mean it!" Vic's warnings followed them as they left the class room.

Terra took Gar's hand and they flew out of the school.

As they made their escape, Gar thought they were skulking and tiptoeing to skip class without faculty knowing. Terra knew who they were really hiding from.


Yay we're on our way to the showdown! *evil cackle* (Also strap in because this is gonna be a long Month, five parts)

Guest: Thank you so much!^^ The driving scene has long been a darling of mine! I love the CyxRaexBB friendship and the way all three combinations have their own distinct dynamics with its strengths and blind spots you know?

Thank you for reading!

~The Lighthouse