14 Chapter 14: First Day at school & meeting a Princess
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"School is not a place for smart people."
- Rick Sanchez, (Rick & Morty)
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"Do we really need to do this Alfred? I am pretty sure that this is gonna be a waste of time." Bruce said, hating the idea of returning to the very place he had once vowed never to return in his previous life.
"Here is your bag young master Bruce and here is yours Selina. I have packed your lunch boxes in your bags since I don't trust the sanitary process of cafeterias. I'll be back to fetch you two when school ends. Have fun." Alfred said completely ignoring Bruce's complaint.
Truthfully, it wasn't even the butler's fault, Bruce had been constantly complaining the entire way from their mansion to school. At one point in time, even Selina had gotten a little annoyed at his complaints but Bruce just couldn't help it. He was ready to fight with psychotic villains and godly invaders from space but going back to school was something he didn't want to do especially after the experience in his previous life.
In his last life, Bruce was just an ordinary guy who was a victim of severe bullying by some rich kids because he looked way more handsome than them and was also smarter than them. He had tried complaining to the authorities but none of the teachers had listened to him. He had to suffer his entire school life silently tolerating everything and just wishing that people would leave him alone.
He wanted to take revenge against those people by working hard and attaining enough power and influence to go against them. But before he could succeed in that, he was killed by a retarded Batman fanatic just because he said Batman wasn't a real superhero since he didn't have any power except 'planning'.
'God, I shouldn't have gone to that comic-con. Fck trying to shake hands with Elizabeth Olsen. I wasn't even able to see her in that crowd much less shake hands with her.' He thought regretting his past life's stupid decisions.
"Let's go, tiger," Selina said as she took Bruce's hands and dragged him with her before he could complain again.
"Easy for you to say kitty. I am sure that you will be popular and become one of those plastic girls that everyone fears." Bruce muttered.
He was in a state of frustrating regret and slowly followed after her into the hell that was filled with screaming and scheming little monsters.
The moment the duo entered the school lobby, almost all eyes turned toward them. However, instead of saying anything or paying any attention to them, they just continued doing what they were doing.
Bruce and Selina walked straight up to the principal's office and nobody tried to mess with them or directed any weird stares at them or even whispered mean things about them. They simply did not care and were just busy talking with each other and having fun like a bunch of regular kids.
At that moment Bruce suddenly realized something in his mind after observing the behaviour of the children around him.
'They are KIDS, OF COURSE. I am such an idiot. Why the hell would eight-year-olds try to bully others? This isn't high school, it's barely middle school. These children are still innocent. Plus I am no longer the same poor and ordinary powerless kid I was way back then... although maybe bringing the bat-tool to the school wasn't such a good decision.' Bruce thought slapping his own head for getting confused between the behaviors of high school kids and eight-year-old kids.
His fear and frustration almost disappeared instantly as he realized it. He was carefree now because he realized that he didn't need to be on his guard here, at least not any more than he usually is. This school still hasn't become the hell it one day will become when those children grow up into their toxic teenage selves.
Bruce and Selina went to the first class on their routine before the teacher came and took their seats beside each other. They already considered each other best friends, so they always sat together, no matter where.
"Hey Bruce, you came to school. I thought you would enjoy your holidays a few more days." A happy and familiar childish voice sounded from behind Bruce and Selina.
"Vicki, nice to see you again. Yes, I guess I grew tired of just sitting at home all day, so I thought why not meet with one of my favorite friends back at school." Bruce said looking at Vicki with some surprise hidden in his eyes.
He had no idea that Vicki was in the same class as him, he didn't even know that she was a student at the same school. He had just said all that to charm Vicki although he had forgotten that Vicki was an eight-year-old girl who did not even realize accurately what flirting really is.
"But weren't you the one who said that you hated school?" Selina muttered, confused at the sudden change in Bruce's behavior.
"Oh hi there, Selena right? I almost didn't notice you, you seem to have grown a little fat since the last time I saw you." Vicki threw a quip at Selina.
'Oooh burn' Bruce smiled at Vicki's quip but his smile instantly disappeared once he looked at Selina's rageful expression.
"And you seem to have grown a bit more masculine, maybe you are trying to stand true to your name." Selina also bit back.
"Girls girls. I think you two should stop fighting and arguing with each other every time you meet. This is getting annoying for me. If you are going to argue with each other all the time, then do it when I am not there." Bruce said dominantly like an adult to make sure they knew how serious he was.
He was getting bored because every time these two met, they would pass the entire time just fighting like two little daddy's princesses. The worst thing was that the two didn't even know why they were exactly fighting.
"But she started it," Selina complained with a small pout.
"I don't care. From now on both of you can't argue or fight in front of me. If you do, I'll sit far from you two where I won't be able to hear both of your annoying banter." Bruce said as he looked at both Selina and Vicki.
He knew that the two girls considered him as one of their best friends and they wanted to stay near him like kids their age normally do when they are friends, so he used that opportunity to blackmail them into not arguing with each other.
"Fine." Both the girls said at the same time as they took their places beside Bruce. Selina sat at his right while Vicki sat at his left.
'Wish I was this smooth and lucky with girls in my last life.' Bruce thought to himself as he looked at the two girls' happy expressions at being able to sit with him.
The first class was a breeze for Bruce. In fact, all the classes Bruce attained were very easy for him for obvious reasons. He right now was smart enough to probably go toe to toe with some of the most intelligent geniuses on the planet, so school for him was absolutely useless. He was only attending school due to the benefits Alfred promised him.
Vicki and Selina looked bored as well for completely different reasons. They barely listened to anything the teacher said and concentrated more on glaring at each other which soon turned into a game of 'Who blinks first'. Bruce just smiled at their antics as he realized that they really were just children.
After half of the classes for the day were over, the trio went to the cafeteria for lunch. All three of them had brought their own lunch boxes from home. Of course, as usual, Alfred had gone Overhill and packed Bruce and Selina a four-course gourmet meal in overly decorative boxes. However, Vicki's lunch looked luxurious and over the top as well due to the fact that her family was also quite rich since her father was a really famous and successful reporter in the Gotham News network.
'I think I should buy out some news channels and newspapers early on so that I can influence how the media shows my image to the general public when I put on the cape in the future.' Bruce thought as he took a bite of his lunch cooked by professional chefs under Alfred's strict management.
"Hello, can I sit here? All the other seats are either full or really dirty." a confident-sounding female voice asked the three.
Looking at the small figure Bruce noticed that it was another girl their age but quite different from the others, she was emitting a unique aura of coldness and confidence like some sort of princess.
"Yeah sure go ahead," Bruce said after both girls had looked at him like he was their leader or something.
"Thanks." She said as she sat down with her black premium-looking lunch box.
"I know you. You are from our class, aren't you? Helena, right?" Vicki asked like a curious little girl.
Bruce wondered if he had heard about that name before in his previous life. It sounded really familiar for some reason. Bruce used his mind to its full extent trying to remember where he had heard about her. Sadly the photographic memory skill that came with his innate ability only worked on his memories from this new life after he had attained the skill. It didn't really make remembering the memories from his previous life any easier.
"Yes. I am" The girl spoke only three words before becoming silent once again.
"You don't talk much, do you?" Selina asked with a smirk.
"If I wanted to talk, I would have sat with the bigger groups of children shouting there, not with you three," Helena answered back frostily.
"You know if you didn't want to talk, you could have just said so. No need to talk rudely with us. It doesn't matter how amazing your daddy is or even how important you are at your home, we are not your servants and you can't talk to us like that. If you are gonna abuse our goodwill, then you can try to find another place to sit." Bruce said, annoyed with the girl's self-important way of acting.
"..." Helena couldn't answer anything as she just stared at him in surprise at his upfront way of speaking while Selina and Vicki just nodded like they completely agreed with Bruce.
"You are right. I should not have said that or behaved like that. It was my fault. I was just a little worried about my family earlier... I am sorry." Helena said as she looked at him with apologetic eyes.
"It's okay Helena. Just make sure that it doesn't happen again. we don't say stuff like that to each other especially when we are friends." Bruce said as he smiled at Helena, forgiving her for her behavior earlier.
"Hmm." Helena nodded seriously, making it clear that she understood.
"Oh, by the way, I think we should introduce ourselves. I am Wayne, Bruce Wayne. This is Selina Kyle and this is Vicki Vale." Bruce introduced all three of them.
"Hi. I am Helena Bertinelli. Nice to meet you." She introduced herself with a small smile.
'Bertinelli? Wait the Bertinelli crime family? Shit, so that's where I had heard her name before. She is the daughter of the leader of the Bertinelli crime family, one of the strongest crime families in Gotham. Also, she was the famous future Gotham vigilante, Huntress.' He thought as he looked at her with an impassive face.
At that moment Bruce wondered to himself if he had some sort of protagonist aura to attract all the important beautiful females of the plot towards himself at such an early stage. Maybe he even had the legendary protagonist halo but then he immediately dismissed the silly idea at the next moment because he was sure that he wasn't that lucky.
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{A big shout-out to my new patron 'Chamar Ellis' for joining the Celestial Emperor tier on my pat-treon. Thanks for the support.}
(A/N: Some of you guys might be wondering why I am writing about Bruce's childhood and not just fast-forwarding it to when he becomes Batman. It's because this story is not about him just being Batman, it's about him being Bruce Wayne, all of Bruce Wayne. Batman is just a small part of his life, unlike the original version.
This story will mainly have three parts:
-His childhood, which won't be boring at all because a lot of things happened when Bruce was young. For example, did you know that he knew Zatanna as a childhood friend in the original dc universe?
-His Gotham phase where he would change/take control/'work' in Gotham and make sure it's 'scum-free'.
-His Justice League phase which would focus on the bigger problems.
His childhood phase will be the shortest by the way.)
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