Chapter 8 Jerk

It had been a month since that first week of school. Lindsey was enjoying her time in Gotham. Lindsey still hung out with Ryeanne, Kelsey, Blaine, Abigail, Juliet, Giovanni, Noah, and Logan as much as possible.

Lindsey has also been eating lunch with Damian twice a week. They don't talk about much. Mostly they just enjoy being in each other's company. Which was happening right now.

Damian had finished eating and was drawing in the sketchpad for their Art class. Lindsey was silently chewing on cookie as she looked around the cafeteria. There were tons of posters announcing Homecoming at the end of the week. She remembered how that weekend she was texting the girls. She mentioned inviting Damian to go with her to Homecoming. They said she should and told her how to do it, how to bring it up, how she should position herself. Anything you could think of, they told her how to do it.

Now seemed like the only time for her to do so.

"So Homecoming is coming up," Lindsey said shyly. She looked at Damian through her eyelashes. He stopped working on his drawing and looked up at her.

"I guess it is," Damian said. "Are you planning on going?"

"Well the others said they were all going," Lindsey said twisting her hands together beneath the table. "And tickets are going on sale, so I just wanted to know if you were going." She decided this would be a good lead-up to asking him to go with her.

"Father has a meeting he needs me to go with him in Star City for the weekend," Damian said shortly.

"Why so far away?" Lindsey asked incredulously.

Damian shrugged. "Partnership coming up? All I know is that he wants me there."

"You're not coming to Homecoming?"

"No. Besides parties like that don't mix with me. And I don't like sports. So, the whole weekend is just not something I'm in to."

"What if I asked you to be my date?" Lindsey asked. She felt her face start to heat up.

Damian stared at Lindsey. Any other day, he would have jumped at the chance to have Lindsey on his arm. Damian imagined what kind of dress she would wear. Would it be long or short?

Would it be blue or white? How she would do her hair? Up or down? What jewelry she would wear, if any at all? Everything that might have happened that night, whether it be clothes or experiences, ran through his head, all the way down to the underwear she would wear.

"I would have to decline," Damian said reluctantly. He didn't let his tone say he didn't want to say that sentence, but it still came out of his mouth. He wanted to yell at the top of his lungs that he would go with her in a heartbeat. There was nothing more that he wanted in that moment.

Lindsey's heart dropped to her stomach. She really thought he would at least think about it. She didn't expect him to answer no that fast.

"Okay, that's fine," Lindsey said. "I was only trying to be polite, Damian."

"You know that I don't like the school party stuff," Damian said. "You should have known that I was going to decline." He leaned in close to Lindsey. "We may be friends, Lindsey, but I'm still me. I still hate public school. I hate large crowds. I don't like parties. So going to our school's Homecoming dance, no matter with who, is not on my high priority list. Just because you came into my life, doesn't mean I'm going to change. I'm still the same person I was before. Just because you broke down one wall doesn't mean you mean anything important to me."

Damian didn't want to seem like he didn't want to go with her, he wanted her to understand. But unfortunately, he didn't think to check what tone he was saying it in.

Lindsey stood up quickly, knocking back the chair. It fell to the floor with a loud clatter. Everyone in the cafeteria turned and looked at the two quieting down immediately. Lindsey's guy friends all stood up.

Damian mental cursed himself. It came out wrong, very wrong. He was about to get told off.

"Whether you like it or not, Damian. We are friends now. You don't need to push me away. Or are you already bored of me and trying to push me away? You know what? I don't care anymore. I thought you really were opening up. But I guess I'm wrong. Have a nice life, Damian. Don't bother trying to talk to me again. But because I'm not important to you, I don't think you will."

"Lindsey I-"

It was too late. Lindsey had already grabbed her things and walked away. Damian slammed his sketchbook closed. He grabbed his things and ran out of the cafeteria. Lindsey didn't turn to look at him as she walked to her friends. The boys were still standing up and staring at her.

Lindsey sat down next to Ryeanne and leaned her head against her friend's shoulder.

"What the hell did he say to you?" Ryeanne asked.

"He said that we may be friends, but he's still Damian. No one, no matter who it is, can change him," Lindsey said. "He basically told me that I wasn't worth much to him."

"He declined going to Homecoming with you?" Kelsey asked.

Lindsey nodded her head slowly. Ryeanne wrapped her arms around Lindsey's shoulders.

"We're so sorry, Lindsey," Juliet said. "We shouldn't had urged you to do that."

"Wait when did we do that?" Noah asked.

"Well on Saturday we were all texting," Blaine started to explain.

"You guys were texting without us?" Giovanni asked.

"It was girl time," Abigail said. "And you three are not girls."

"We have good advice!" Logan exclaimed trying to defend the boys at the table.

"Lindsey wanted to ask Damian to Homecoming and we all told her to go for it," Blaine said. "We shouldn't have done it."

"You guys didn't know he would do that," Lindsey said. "I don't think you guys would think he would, at least. It was my fault for asking if he would go if I asked him to go with me."

"You asked him that?" Logan asked. "I would think that he would say yes."

"Well he didn't obviously, Logan," Juliet said.

"You have seen the way he looks at her, right?" Logan asked Juliet. Lindsey couldn't help but think that they were cute together. She couldn't help but think that Logan recognized the look Damian gives her because he gives the same look to Juliet. Lindsey looked up at Ryeanne who looked down at her with a knowing look.

Ryeanne had told her that Juliet and Logan were each other's first kiss in the fifth grade and since then Juliet had a crush on him.

"The whole school has, but there are still boys trying to flirt with Lindsey," Juliet said.

"Boys are trying to flirt with me?" Lindsey asked.

"How the hell have you not noticed until now?" Kelsey yelled down the table to Lindsey.

"You know what!" Ryeanne said loudly. She stood up from her seat and faced everyone else at the table. "We are going to help Lindsey get through this! We are all going to Homecoming together, as a group of friends. We'll go to someone's house, get ready and we will have fun! We are going to make sure Lindsey forgets Damian Wayne."

"Do we have to come too?" Giovanni asked.

"Yes!" Blaine shouted. "You are getting ready with us. Logan, I know you can do hair pretty well, so you can help." Logan gave her a 'What the fuck' look. Lindsey couldn't help but laugh at him.

"Do not look at me like that."

"We are doing this!" Kelsey said. "The boys can escort us all in. Two girls for each boy, we can make you guys look like pimps!"

"You guys could even ask us to go with you as friends!" Abigail said.

The three guys all looked at each other and shrugged.

"Should we go it now?" Logan asked.

"Wait, right now?" Lindsey asked.

"I'll start," Noah said. He looked across the table to the girls. "Kelsey, Blaine, would you go with me to Homecoming?"

"Sure!" Blaine said.

"Of course!" Kelsey said.

"I'm next!" Giovanni said as he turned his head to Ryeanne. "Ryeanne, Lindsey would you accompany me to Homecoming."

"Yeah!" Ryeanne said energetically.

"Okay," Lindsey said.

Then everyone turned to Logan, it was obvious who he was going to ask. Lindsey smiled at Ryeanne. Logan was slowly turning red as he looked at Juliet. Abigail was smiling at Logan as her eyes flickering to Juliet and back to Logan.

"Abigail . . . Juliet – would you like to . . . go to Homecoming with – me?" he asked turning more red.

"Of course, Logan. It'll be fun!" Abigail said before turning to her phone and typing quickly.

"Yeah, I'd love too," Juliet said slowly. Lindsey saw her cheeks turn a light shade of pink.

Lindsey felt her phone buzz in her jacket's pocket. She pulled it out along with the other girls at the table. Expect for Juliet.

They need to get together. And soon. We need to make sure this happens. -Abigail

Lindsey couldn't help but to smile. She was glad everyone is now focusing on Juliet and Logan. She didn't need them to focus on Lindsey and her problems with Damian. No matter how much she wanted to go running after Damian and demand an apology, she needed to have fun. She needed to think about herself for once.

This was going to be a fun weekend, and Lindsey was not going to think about that jerk.

{}-{}-{}-{}-{}-{}

Damian had found his way outside. All he remembered was Lindsey yelling at him and walking away. He didn't remember if he tried to stop her or not. He didn't remember if it was for something he said or something he didn't do. All he remembered was Lindsey.

How did his world start to revolve around her? He didn't understand. All he wanted to do was get to know her. And now he knew her pretty well, but he still got the overwhelming feeling that he needed to be around her.

He threw down his things and punched the closest thing to him, which ended up being a tree. He continued to punch the tree until his knuckles were torn and bloody. He started breathing heavily. He decided to sit underneath the tree he was just punching instead of going back inside.

He thought back to Lindsey and her yelling at him. Are you already bored of me? You know what? I don't care anymore. Have a nice life Damian. Don't talk to me again.

Lindsey's face ran through his mind. She was so angry with him. He wanted to apologize, but she would probably yell at him again.

Damian couldn't face her again today. Or the rest of the week. He ran his hands through his hair and stood up. He picked up his bag and walked off the school grounds. He began walking in the direction of the Manor. He would call Alfred to come pick him up when his mind was clear.

He wanted his mind to be clear of Lindsey. He wanted everything he has learned about her to get out of his mind. Lindsey wasn't supposed to be important, but why did it hurt so much when he wanted to forget her? Why did it hurt to remember her? Why was she hurting him?

Who was this girl to make him want to be better? Who was this girl that invaded every thought he had? She was never supposed to be this important to him. Was this love? Was this what other people feel when they feel love? The only love he felt was for family, and even then, it wasn't real love, it was more toleration than love. And others seemed fine with it.

Why was Lindsey so different?