Chapter 2 School

Lindsey had been dropped off in front of the school. She felt so out of place, especially since she knew she didn't belong. No one could tell she didn't though. With everyone wearing the same uniform, it was hard to tell who didn't belong. Everyone wore the same blue jacket, white button up shirt, black shoes and blue tie. The girls wore blue skirts while the boys wore blue slacks.

Lindsey pulled her jacket tighter around her as she stared up at the school. It was a three story building with a clock tower and hundreds of students milling around. Many of them were hugging after the long summer apart. You could tell which ones were freshmen by the way they traveled in packs with their heads down. And you could tell which ones were rich and confident by the way they held themselves high and looked down their noses at others not as wealthy as them.

People looked at Lindsey strangely. Nobody recognized her. Nobody knew who she was. Girls judged her from all angles, most envying her but some scoffing at her. Boys looked at her in all her innocent glory, maybe not someone worth going out with.

Lindsey pulled out her schedule and map of the school. The schedule was a bit confusing at first glance but after looking at it for a second or two more it made more sense. She looked at the map which made a lot more sense than the schedule. Once she figured out where she was supposed to be going she began her walk into the school and towards her class.

As Lindsey stepped inside the school she didn't notice the expensive car pull in front of the school. Nor did she realize all the students stop to look. Some of them may have even stopped breathing. Girls whispered in hushed hurried voices and boys grumbled to each other.

Alfred stepped out of the driver's door and walked to Damian's door to open it for him. Damian stepped out with a bag slung over his shoulder and a scowl on his face. All the students who were just looking at him looked away quickly. Damian's eyes scanned the students looking for anyone willing to challenge him. There were no takers.

"Now Master Damian," Alfred said as he closed Damian's door, "have a good day and don't cause any trouble."

"Of course, Pennyworth. Goodbye," Damian said before he walked across the courtyard. His stride was long and fluid. Many of the girls smiled and waved at him as he walked by. He ignored them all and just walked to his class. Some of the bravest girls continued to follow him inside.

Halfway down the hallway to his first class of the day he stopped and turned to the girls with a glare. They squealed and ran off. Damian rolled his eyes and continued on his way.

Lindsey had made it to her class and took a seat in the middle of the classroom. The bell rang not long after and other students came walking in. Many of them were talking amongst themselves. The ones talking to one another took seats close together. Those by themselves sat just as alone. A girl who came in by herself, but with a large smile, sat in front of Lindsey and turned to face her.

"You're new here, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm Lindsey Vindai."

"Nice to meet you, Lindsey. I'm Ryan."

"Ryan?"

"It's spelled R-Y-E-A-N-N-E." She had wild brown curls that stood out in every direction. Her dark green eyes held nothing but happiness and sincerity. She sat with her arm on the back of the chair and her right leg over her left, turned towards Lindsey. Her skirt was rolled up underneath her shirt which was untucked. Her tie wasn't properly tied and hung loose and the top button of her shirt was undone. But then again, a lot of the girls wore their uniforms that way, Lindsey saw as they piled into the classroom.

"Give me your schedule," Ryeanne demanded.

Lindsey handed her schedule over hesitantly. Ryeanne swiped it from her hand as soon as it got close enough. Her eyes scanned it quickly.

"We have Pre-Calc with Forbes, Advanced Dance with Snyder, and French III with Padner together, along with Lunch," Ryeanne said handing the paper back to her.

"Wow. That many together?"

"You find that a lot of the same people are in your classes. We may seem big, but a lot of the students are in AP or Honors classes. Not many in basic classes. But by the way, Art IV? You must be good."

"I won all the art competitions at my old school since fifth grade." She felt proud of herself, not that many people could say that about themselves. And at a school filled with people with special skills, she needed something to make her stand out.

"Not to be rude or anything, but there's about seven students here on art scholarships alone. You may not be the best anymore."

Lindsey thought about what she said. She thought about what she should say. Should she be defensive? Should she be nonchalant? She wanted to make a good first impression. "I don't care about being the best, all that matters is I enjoy what I do."

"I like you, Lindsey. You're not like the other new kids. Most of the new kids would throw a fit. I have to test all the new kids, see if they're worthy. Sit with me and my friends at lunch. You'll fit right in."

Lindsey couldn't help but smile. She made a friend. And maybe a few later at lunch.

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It was World History and Damian was sitting in the back corner. He hated everything about school. The teachers, the students, the learning, everything. Same old students, same old sluts trying to get his attention. Same old boring teachers who didn't want to be back to working with angsty, hormone-filled, non-cooperative teenagers.

He looked around the room looking for someone who he could possibly stand. Instead his eyes landed on a new face. Her hair was honey blonde. She had long, thick eyelashes that fell onto her lightly-tanned cheekbones whenever she blinked her dark brown eyes. Her nose was slightly up-turned. She didn't seem to have any make-up on, which was surprising. Even the nobody girl sitting in front of her was wearing mascara and lip gloss. The girl's uniform was worn correctly (according to dress code standards) and fit her slim body perfectly. Most of the other girls had their uniforms ducked and rolled to show off too much of themselves.

Then Damian began to analyze this new, beautiful girl. Perhaps she was born in Gotham. And she was here on a scholarship. Her family was most likely middle-class, Dad had a blue-collared job, Mom worked two jobs, or one higher-paying job. She had two siblings and she would be obsessed with her grades. But she would be dressing like the rest of the girl before the end of the week, all the new students did. And she would be obsessed with him by the end of the week. He was always right in his predictions on the new students. Or so Damian thought.

This would be the first time he was completely wrong.

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It was lunch time and Lindsey followed Ryeanne to a rectangular table with three boys and four girls. "Ryeanne!" one of the girl shouted. "Who's the new girl?"

"Guys this is Lindsey. Lindsey this is Blaine, Abigail, Juliet, Logan, Noah, Kelsey, and Giovanni," Ryeanne pointed to each going around the table clockwise, pointing to each one. Lindsey recognized a few from her earlier classes, like Logan, and Abigail.

"Giovanni?" Lindsey asked. "Do you have family from Italy?"

"My grandparents immigrated from Amalfi, Italy back in the forties," he replied. Giovanni had dark brown hair and dark deep set eyes. He skin was beautifully tanned. He was thicker not in a fat way, more in a healthy way.

"My dad's from Salerno City and his family is still living there," Lindsey said.

"Sweet, but you don't look Italian," Giovanni said.

"Genetics?" Lindsey said sounding unsure. Of course she didn't look part Italian, but she was. Her father had wonderful tanned skin, while her mother looked like she hadn't spent a day in the son. She had received both of her parents genetics and made her have a light tan. But she did get her father's dark brown eyes and her mother's blonde hair.

"Well sit down," Juliet said. She had light brown hair, dark blue eyes, and dark heavy eyebrows. She had a huge blue bow hanging from her backpack, one that a cheerleader would wear. Maybe she was one.

Lindsey quickly took a seat across from Ryeanne and next to Noah. Noah was a boy with dyed green hair and brown eyes. He had been shoveling food into his face since Lindsey and Ryeanne had gotten to the table.

The girls all leaned closer to Lindsey. "Any boys catch your eye?" Blaine asked, her blue eyes wide and blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail.

"No?" Lindsey shrunk into herself. She hadn't noticed any cute boys because she's been too terrified about being in a new school. Especially a new school like Gotham Academy.

"Why don't we ask her some questions not about boys?" Logan asked as he took a bite of food. He had blonde hair with a black strip in his hair. Instead of the uniform navy blue blazer that everyone else had on, he wore a black leather jacket.

"Why Gotham Academy?" Kelsey asked. Kelsey had blonde hair and glasses covering hazel eyes.

"Umm, my grandparents - they kind of forced me. I really didn't want to come here, but - no choice," Lindsey stuttered. She knew what she wanted to say, but she wasn't sure how it was supposed to leave her mouth.

"What do your parents say about it?" Giovanni asked.

"My parents, umm - they are . . . they died three weeks ago," Lindsey stuttered.

Everyone at the table stared at her. Noah who was still shoveling food in his mouth stopped. Juliet who was chewing her food had her mouth hanging open. Blaine put her hand underneath Juliet's mouth and closed it for her.

"Oh God, we had no idea," Ryeanne said, reaching across the table to lay a hand on one of her own. Lindsey looked down at Ryeanne's hand and smiled.

"Of course, you couldn't have known," Lindsey muttered slipping her hand out from Ryeanne's and reached for her lunch in her bag. "It's not like I go around wearing a sign saying, 'Be careful, I'm an orphan.' But please don't spread this around the school. I don't want people thinking anything wrong about me."

They all nodded except Abigail. She tilted her head and looked at Lindsey with emerald green eyes. "You don't look like an orphan," Abigail said from down the table.

"Abigail, you can't say stuff like that," Ryeanne hissed down the table to the red head.

"So your not here on a scholarship?" Blaine asked as she bit into an apple.

"No," Lindsey said confused. "Why would you ask that?"

"There's been a rumor that you were," Blaine said from behind the apple in her mouth.

"Most new students that aren't freshmen come on scholarships. So people are betting on what kind of scholarship you're here on," Noah said not looking at her and trying to cut the hard-as-a-rock meatloaf that the cafeteria had made for the students. It was the last thing on his plate. Wow even rich kid school had crappy school lunches. And besides, what school had meatloaf on the first day of school for lunch?

"No, no scholarship," Lindsey laughed as Noah's spork broke. "I'm not that smart or talented."

"Don't say that," Giovanni said. "You're fine just the way you are."

Lindsey felt heat rise up her neck to her face. She took a grape from her lunch and popped it in her mouth. Maybe she had found a friend in Giovanni.

"Now, we have to tell you who to avoid like the plague," Blaine said.

"Almost all the jocks, most of the cheerleaders, Juliet can tell you which ones to avoid," Ryeanne said.

"Everyone but me, Tessa, and Porter," Juliet listed. "We're here on a cheerleading scholarships, and all the others hate us for it."

"Why?" Lindsey asked.

"They all think that you should try out for the team instead of being given a spot by a scholarship," Juliet said.

"You kind of did try out when you were given the scholarship, didn't you?" Lindsey asked.

"Exactly," Juliet smiled. Had Lindsey just gotten another friend?

"Most of the jocks are here on scholarships but girls don't care, as long as you're a jock," Noah sneered.

"How many of you are here on Scholarships?" Lindsey asked.

"Juliet, Abigail, Kelsey, and Logan," Ryeanne said.

"Juliet you said you were here for cheerleading, what about the rest of you? What are you here for?" Lindsey asked.

Logan spoke up first saying, "I'm here for music. Vocal and guitar. I sing the national anthem a lot with three other students who are here on scholarships."

"I'm here for academics as a whole," Kelsey said. "I'm also part of the academic decathlon team."

Everyone turned to Abigail who was poking at her salad, not paying any attention to the teens staring at her.

"Abigail?" Juliet asked pushing her a little bit to get her attention.

She looked up and looked around. "Oh! I'm here on a dance scholarship. I've done dance since I could stand and I've won contemporary solo for the past five years in the Gotham Dance Competition."

"Cool," Lindsey said with a smile on her face. Abigail may have red hair but she acted more like a blonde. "You'll probably have to help me with my dance class."

"I can do that," Abigail smiled. "It'll be fun." Maybe she had gotten another friend.

"You can usually tell who's here on a scholarship by the way they act," Giovanni said. "Most of them act like jerks or their stuck-up. But sometimes it's hard to tell since the Elite are also stuck-up."

"That's someone else to stay away from, the Gotham Elite kids," Blaine said. "They're the kids of the richest people in Gotham."

"They're the worst," Noah muttered underneath his breath. He had given up on the meatloaf regularly and at it like a piece of toast.

"They're all stuck-up snobs with nothing going for them except Mommy and Daddy's money," Logan sneered.

"Which reminds me," Ryeanne spoke up. "Someone you should for sure stay away from is Damian Wayne."