School was never that hard for Annabeth. Of course, she still had problems, but it was never with the work she turned in or her answers, even if she's dyslexic. Really, it was more about the attendance thing, and the 'randomly-leaving-class-to-fight-monsters' thing. Now that she's in Gotham, she doesn't need to worry about monsters, so Annabeth is determined to have near-perfect attendance this year.
Besides, she heard Gotham schools tend to be more lax about that sort of thing, having the criminals they have. It's the first day of school, so she's going to just observe and see how things go around here.
She gets to choose where she sits in English, Science, and French. Yes, she chose French as a subject. It isn't wrong to want to understand the Aphrodite kids better, is it? In Social Studies and Math, the teachers gave them assigned seats. Math is easy, for Annabeth, which is good, because the blonde girl next to her kept talking and fidgeting.
That girl was with Tim earlier, too.
Social Studies is just a handing out of the syllabus and the teacher lecturing them on behaviour. Neither Annabeth nor the Asian girl next to her were the cause of that.
She takes that time to filter out the teacher's voice and observe the room. The girl sitting beside her doesn't seem to be listening either, staring listlessly out the window. The fidgety blonde in front of her is bouncing her leg, but is silent, unlike during Math. Actually, she even seems halfway asleep.
The teacher dismisses the class at the end of the day. The bell hasn't rung yet, but Annabeth isn't about to look like a Trojan horse in the mouth. The blonde has fallen asleep. Annabeth has an internal debate on whether or not to wake her up.
On one hand, it's a nice thing to do, and might gain her a friend. On the other hand, she's trying to stay low-profile with the other students. And she knows this blonde is friends with Tim Drake-Wayne, through their earlier interactions.
She doesn't need to make that choice, as the dismissal bell rings and startles the girl awake. The girl (wasn't her name Steph or something? Stephanie, maybe?) wakes up with a jolt, sitting bolt upright and holding her pencil as though it's a weapon.
By now, the only people left in the classroom are Stephanie, Annabeth, and the Asian girl, who is still sitting calmly at her seat. She makes eye contact with Annabeth, though, so it's clear she knows what's happening.
Stephanie meets Annabeth's curious gaze. She looks a bit sheepish, returning her pencil to her pocket. Standing up, she beckons to the other girl, who follows her out the door. Ah. So they know each other.
Annabeth slings her backpack over her shoulders, and leaves the classroom
Today was relatively uneventful. Honestly, it's the way she likes it.
—-
Annabeth removes her shoes and plops into bed, tired after a long day of school, extracurricular's, and nearly getting mugged on her way home from school. It wasn't any different from usual, but it felt especially long for some reason.
She uses a little glass prism to make a rainbow, then tosses a drachma into it, muttering words under her breath she memorized when she was eight. The Iris-Message goes through, and her boyfriend's smiling face appears on the other end.
"Hey, Annabeth, how's it going?" Percy begins conversationally, as if it's not 11pm at night. Annabeth sighs at her overly chipper boyfriend, but caves to his bright grin.
"Well, I've got no progress on the Tim Drake investigation," she says. Percy frowns slightly. "Be careful, Wise Girl. I heard Batman's like super paranoid," Percy whispers conspiratorially through the Iris-massage.
Annabeth, the one who told Percy that, smiles.
"Maybe, but I don't think he knows I exist yet, anyway. Besides, Tim Drake is the focus here. It's odd how well he conceals his identity. Nobody would suspect him based on the way he acts. And it has to be an act. Nobody should naturally be able to conceal body language that well," she explains.
Annabeth's been watching the Drake boy for a few weeks. He goes out of his way to interact with her occasionally, but she attributes that to his obvious social awkwardness.
Steph has gotten friendlier, same with the Asian girl (whose name turned out to be Cass). She hardly ever speaks, but Steph does enough talking for all three of them.
It's the first time Annabeth has ever had a friend outside of the demigod community, let alone two. She likes it. School is pretty good as well, being the most stereotypical high school ever, except with only rich kids.
She has to remember her goal, though. While Steph is an open book and Cass is a locked safe, Tim is a brilliant actor. Nearly nothing he does around other students is genuine, all of it an act, but there is enough truth sprinkled in there that makes things hard to differentiate.
It's strange. She's too tired to think, though, so she goes to bed without further thought on the matter.