Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The alarm went off at least a dozen times before he actually got out of bed and was just as tired as usual. Gar yawned and dragged himself to the bathroom. Kicking any empty containers or pill containers in his path. The tap started to run and he quickly splashed the water onto his face letting the cold water jolt his senses to hopefully wake himself up.

It was already 8:00am and school started in twenty minutes.

"Gar! Hurry up, I'm late for work." His mom was always late for work. She worked double shifts every single god damn day and there was nothing but stress and dopamine running through her veins. He guessed the apple didn't fall far from the tree cause he suffered from the safe thing.

Garfield ran a comb through his hair and changed into a sweatshirt and sweatpants. He always wore long sleeves, covered up the scars. No one every asked why he always covered up his arms, no one ever cared. And he was okay with that, as long as he smiled, made jokes and pretended everything was okay, nobody would ever ask or think it was anything but. No one ever liked to hear anyone answer negatively to; "How are you?" they always assume you'll say good. Not saying good drives too much attention and then one thing leads to another and you're in therapy, talking about your father, your friends, your mother, and worse of all; you. A situation he knew way too much to give himself to care. Gar was already known as the therapy kid since grade seven and while it bothered him a lot at the time, he simply just let it go. He already went through showing his other side once and decided that just putting on a mask and just faking it was all you could do. It was all anyone can do to make it in Gotham. You lie to get through the day. It's all anyone was taught. Well that and, carry a manchette with you everywhere you go, but that is a topic for another time.

He grabbed his eyeliner and did a quick touch up before heading out his bedroom door, pulling his sleeves closer to his palms and pulling his hood over his head.

"Why must you always put your hood on? Gar we talked about this, you need to be normal." His mother looked at him with a frown on her face, and her disapproving glare at the black around his eyes.

"I am normal." He grunted. Taking a sea at the kitchen table and pulling out his phone.

"And put that away you need to hurry up and eat." His mother snatched his phone right out of his hand and placed it face down on the cracked counter top next to the stove.

"If you're that angry then go to work and take the car. I can walk and take a subway." I glared at her ignoring the flicker in the light above us.

"Gar, you need to sleep more. You had all of three hours of sleep last night after coming in at like five in the morning completely high off your senses." His mother just glared right back at him, but she walked over to the front door and picked up the set of car keys.

"Says the one who can't go to sleep without a pill." He snapped back.

His mother whipped around and snarled. "What did you say?"

He said nothing. "You know very well it's prescription." She said.

"NO it's not! And you freakin know that!" He stood up from the table looking his mother right in the eye. "You are addicted to that stuff like it's the only thing keeping you alive! So go ahead and make up excuses but we both know that's why dad left. Cause your just a drug addicted freakin lunatic."

"I am not having this conversation with you right now." She glared at his and shut the door so hard it rattled, he heard the car engine turn and watched his mother drive away.

--------------------------

"Could you drive any faster." Kori grumbled, leaning her head on the window. "It's 8:15 Damian. We're going to be late."

"Can you just shut up. We're going to make it calm down." He looked at her pretending not to listen but she noticed him punch the gas pedal a little harder.

She wanted to snap at him but she kept her mouth shut, she was in no mood to argue. Her sister already got her riled up enough this morning.

The city of Gotham was quiet this morning, despite the frenzy of honking horns, there was a sort of peace to it. Staring at the window, Kori watched people walk on the sidewalk, each living their normal lives, their daily routines.

Some people were walking their dogs, some were in line at cafés, some were having their morning jogs. Kori would give anything to just have a normal life like that. To be like them, or her friends Gar, Rachel and Cy. They were normal, middle class people who had a nice home, loving parents and a cozy, safe family.

Her and Damian weren't like them and it bothered them a lot. They never said anything, but it showed. Kori's parents pretty much owned half of Gotham and were practically royalty, while Damian's dad had the largest enterprise company in the world. Yes, these were great achievements but she wished she could just have a normal teenage life. One where she could actually have fun outside rather then being yelled at her mother for eating the wrong things. Or go out with her friends and get drunk instead her father yelling at her to act like a lady of wealth. Anything to just have a normal life, a normal childhood and a normal school. Which was why it took so long for Kori to finally get her parents to agree to let her go to a normal, public school. She said it was to 'understand the people' and as much as her sister tried to show her parents what her real motive was, they didn't by it, therefore letting Kori to attend Gotham Academy where she met some of her closest friends.

Victor Stone was the high school football team captain and was adored by pretty much everyone. He had a pretty picture perfect family with just him and his dad. But while everyone called him Victor, we called him Cy. It was a special name that only the Inner Circle kids call him. Every member has a nickname but his was the only one that really caught on. It's the only thing her friends call him and he's okay with it.

Rachel is Damian's best friends. In fact, everyone thought they were going to get together but Damian always said that wasn't going to happen. It wasn't clear until she got a girlfriend named Violet who everyone in the Inner Circle adores. Violet is one of the kindest, most charismatic people you can meet. Her personality completely contrasts Rachel's sarcastic and reserved one but they seem happy so that was all Kori was. Rachel isn't from a wealthy family, that the group knows of. None of them have been to her house or anywhere near it for that matter. No one even knows what job her father does, she says she's never asked but Kori knows better. They all do. And if Rachel is too afraid to ask something then you know it's got to be bad.

Kori looked at the time again and groaned. It was 8:22. They were officially late.

"See. If you picked me up earlier this wouldn't have happened."

"For the love of god Star, shut up. I know." He glared at her and pulled into the school's parking lot. She rolled her eyes and stepped out of the car immediately beaming, seeing Rachel, Cy and Gar already walking toward them.

"Y'all are late you know that right." Cy laughed putting a hand on Damian's shoulder which he immediately shrugged off.

"We know Cy, you don't need to make a big deal about it." He grimaced and walked over to the door, with Rachel right next him, deep in conversation with him in a matter of seconds.

"Thanks for waiting it means a lot." Kori smiled and pulled Gar in for a hug.

He smiled and winked at her before linking arms with her and Cy, pulling them to the door.

"Onward!" He exclaimed and Kori laughed locking eyes with Cy before they rolling them at the same time. Gar was always extra and dramatic it was just something she got used to.

"You still smell like alcohol dude." Cy looked at BB and he grinned.

"Keeps away the ladies." He said extremely loudly and Kori had to look around to see if he was passively talking to anyone.

She didn't say anything, just kept walking with him arm in arm and decided it was better to just keep her mouth shut.

Chapter Text

"You know you should at least try to be nicer." Rachel looked at him while fiddling with the sleeves of her purple hoodie. Something she tended to do whenever she was annoyed. Not that Damian would ever tell her he noticed the little things like that, cause if he did he knew very well he would a lecture about personal space, so in response he just rolled his eyes and nudged her with her with his elbow.

"Ow." She winced and grabbed her arm.

"Are you serious?" He stopped walking and turned to face her. "I told you, if he touches you again you need to call me."

"I know I know, I forgot." She looked at the pavement in the parking lot and kicked a stone, turning back to keep walking.

"You forgot?" He grabbed her wrist and looked her dead in the eyes. "Rae, this isn't okay. I'm your best friend I'm just trying to look after you and this," he pointed to where she was holding her arm. "Isn't okay."

He let go of her arm and walked next to her until they got to the doors. Rachel opened the door, holding open for him as they both walked into the miserable hell hole they called a school.

"I'll see you at lunch." She said. Turing to where Damian saw a tall girl with black shoulder length hair waving at them. He just narrowed his eyes and stalked off watching as Violet hugged her and kissed her forehead, taking Rachel's bag in her hands and helping her grab some stuff from her locker.

He couldn't stand Violet. She was obnoxious and annoying, and laughed at pretty much everything that wasn't funny. Not that he found most things funny, but that's not the point. Violet was insufferable and he had no idea what Rae saw in her. But if she makes Rachel smile and makes her happy then he was going to support her no matter how stupid of a girlfriend she was.

He walked down the hall and made a right, past the old green room where he and the rest of the Inner Circle ate lunch and finally got to room 243; his biology class. AKA the worst subject he could ever take. He had the worst teacher in the entire school, mainly because his older brother Jason pulled a really bad prank on the same teacher just seven years before, where he hid all the dead frogs inside of the teacher's lunch and placed a bunch of real frogs into the containers, in which the dead frogs were supposed to be in. Making the entire school have to evacuate because of a frog infestation when the teacher went to go open the lids. Mr. Leskon still hasn't forgiven Jason for that, so instead he takes it out on Damian just as he did with his other brother Tim.

But it also probably doesn't help that he gets himself into fights way too often and has ended up on all of the teachers' radars.

He rolled his eyes and pulled open the door already regretting wearing a short sleeved shirt as the classroom was freezing.

He stalked in and sat down at the very back, as far away from the door and Mr. Leskon as he physically could. He put his backpack up on one of the hooks and sat down on the stool, pulling his notebook and pen out and placing it onto the table.

He didn't look up as Jon came to sit next to him and did the same. Pulling out his bright neon pens that Damian desperately wanted to snap in half and chuck out the window.

Jon smiled at him and took out his camera snapping a photo of him completely without his permission.

"I thought you were done taking photos for the yearbook." Damian grumbled, running his hand through his hair so that they had something to do other than break the incredibly annoying pens taunting at him.

"Nope. Ms. Roxin said we needed to capture students in their environments!" He closed one eye and took another of Jaime and and who he thought was Bart but he couldn't tell from the back on their heads.

Everyone shut up real quick as Mr. Leskon came in grumbling and glaring at everyone. He started talking but Damian wasn't paying attention. He just kept asking himself why he ever helped Kori get into this miserable school. It was worse he had to suffer he shouldn't have had made her do it too.

Kori and him have been friends since they were about thirteen or fourteen. Their dads did partnerships often so they saw each other quite a lot. Plus, he owed her a favor so he didn't much of a choice but help bribe her parents into letting her go to a school that was pretty much on the other side of the city and not in a neighborhood she was used to. And it also wasn't great that her sister; Koma wasn't exactly a very kind individual. (Starfire's sister is named Komand'r aka Blackfire so I wasn't entirely sure what set of words to use for her so I hope this works and is okay with all of you guys). Koma never actually like Kori since they were kids and no matter how hard Kori tries to get her sister to like her, it never actually ends well. The amount of bullying and and taunting her sister does to Kori is honestly disgusting and sometimes Damian wonders how Kori even gets up in the morning.

Kori made a lot friends here and really he thinks, that's what gets her motivated. Kori's nice but when you mess with her friends, she can get really bitchy real fast. She protects them and the watches out for them and that's something you just have to admire.

-----

This was it. She was done. Hunter has been non-stop bullying Gar for the past thirty-five minutes and the teacher was doing nothing. He was just sitting there while they were making fun of Gar wearing eyeliner. He even smiled a few times.

"I'm going to say something." she said, looking at an almost crying Garfield.

"No. It's fine class is over in like ten minutes anyway it doesn't matter."

"Yes it does and you know it." she crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, pulling at the ends of her pink and orange hair.

She wanted to yell at the boys but she kept her mouth shut, if Gar didn't want to then she would respect that. So she glared at the math posters along the walls imagining it was Hunter's face and she could smack his head into the wall until he said he was sorry.

Something hit hit the back of her head, and so did Gar's, as they both turned around at the same time to see Hunter and Axley grinning at them. They shot a spitball at both of them and they pointed at their eyes at which it looked like they drew sharpie marker around-

Kori shot up, snatched the sharpie marker out of Axley's hand and threw it at Hunter right in the face.

"What did you just do?" Gar hissed at her.

The whole class burst out laughing, as did Axley. But she grabbed Hunter's marker and through it at him too, throwing it so hard at his nose it started bleeding.

"You bitch!" he screamed and the whole class just started laughing at him too. Mr. Wilson did nothing either and just grinned at the entertainment being displayed.

"Are you not going to do anything?" She snarled at Mr. Wilson and the whole class went silent. Even Hunter and Axley had shut up and stopped whining. "Are you going to sit there are smile like some idiotic child while students in your class are making fun of each other? I just through two markers and your students and you sat their and laughed like some spoiled child."

The class was so quite you could hear a pin drop and Mr. Wilson's smile quickly turned into a sneer. He knew there was no right way to respond to that. If he said anything, she could go to the principle and then Mrs. Foren would know he wasn't doing his job. And is he sent them all to detention he would get in trouble from Kori's parents and probably be sued by midnight.

So he just sneered and glared at both Hunter and Axley. Gave them a stern talking to and got back to whatever it was he was doing on his laptop.

Kori sat back down right as bell rang, still furious as hell. Gar didn't even have time to react as she grabbed him walked out the door and down a hallway, making a right and grabbing a key out of her pocket. They halls were empty, as it was lunch, and opened the door to the old green room where Cy, Damian and Rachel were already waiting.

Gar took his arms out of Kori's grasp and stuck his tongue playfully at her while whispering a thank you. He set his bag down on the carpet and went to sit next to Victor on a cushion so they would play Black Cops Ops Cold War in front of the enormous flat screen that took up pretty much half of the right wall.

Damian was sitting in a red been bag chair, and Rae was sitting in a purple one. Kori sat in the pink one and took out some apple slices.

"You look awful." Damian said raising an eyebrow.

"Thanks." She glared at him, at which Rachel snickered at, earning a glare from Damian.

"She through a marker at Axley and Hunter's faces!" Gar exclaimed, beaming from over his shoulder.

"You through at marker at Axley and Hunter's faces!?!" Rachel covered her mouth.

"Really?" Damian was laughing. "Damn I wish I was there to see that."

"What did they do?" Rachel looked up from her food.

"Did she need a reason? They're both assholes." Vic shouted from over his shoulder.

"Yeah I would have done it just for fun." Damian snickered and Rachel poked him in the ribs with her chopstick.

"You all are insufferable. What I did was wrong and none of you should do that either. As the eldest I forbid it." Kori smiled and everyone else just snickered.

"So Rae...how's Violet?" Kori nudged Rachel in the arm and noticed her wince. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I fell down the stairs yesterday and bruised my arms, nothing major." She gave a weak smile but Kori couldn't help but notice Damian stiffen and give Rachel a quick look.

"Are you sure? You should probably go to the nurse and get some ice if it's that bad. This is like the third time you fell down the stairs this week."

"No really I'm fine."

"No. I'll take her to the nurse after school." Damian was talking to Kori but his eyes never left that spot on his Rachel's arm. Kori couldn't help but feel all warm and fuzzy inside. She doesn't say anything, but she knows Damian likes her.

"You really don't have to do that, I'm fine." Rachel hissed, putting a California Roll inside her mouth. "I can take care of myself."

"It wasn't a question." Damian gave her a hard look that not even Rachel would argue with. Damian's more stubborn than a mule, and so is Rachel, so hearing them argue immediately let's you know that it's going to be a few hours before they come to an agreement.

"Yeah Rae, just go. We'd all feel better knowing you're okay and that it isn't broken." Cy gave her a warm smile as he came and sat down in a blue bean bag chair next to Kori.

Rachel didn't argue with him and just reluctantly nodded giving Damian a quick glare before focusing back to her food.

"Violet and I are going on a date later at around four so the nurse better be quick." She said.

"Oh you are! Where are you guys going?" BB tilted his head. They all smiled, well except Damian, it's been awhile since Rachel really went anywhere.

"We're going out to the harbor just for a walk and maybe dinner but we'll see if it's crowded or not."

"Be careful though, their was a shooting there just a few weeks ago." Cy said. "They still haven't found who did it so just be careful okay?"

"Yeah I know, we'll be fine. "

They played Uno for about forty-five minutes before the bell rang and they had to get to class. Kori had English with Rae, and all the boys had Gym together so it was time for Kori to get the truth out of the Rachel. There was no way in hell she was going to believe that this girl fell down the stairs again, something was off. Something was off with Gar too, or this morning he never would have flinched when she got so close to him, and why he smelled like alcohol. She knew he went out late and had fun but he was never that careless. When class was over, she would go to his house but she wouldn't tell him though, she wanted to know what he was hiding.

Chapter Text

“So you want to tell me what’s up? Or am I going to have to figure that out on my own.” Kori took a seat next to Raven giving her an unusually grave expression. It was odd for Rachel to see her frown, it almost didn’t fit her face, like an item that didn’t belong.

Rachel said nothing and just put her notebook on the desk, carefully and slowly, so that she wouldn’t cause pain to jolt through her arm. Too late. She lifted her arm too high and hissed through her teeth.

It was about 1:30 in the afternoon and Ms. Brellen was writing down today’s goals on the chalkboard. With her the iconic pink chalk she was most known for. Ms. Brellen was just one of those teachers everyone loved. With her kind eyes, and round glasses. Those aging lines that appeared wherever she smiled (which was quite often) and her greying hair.

She was Damian’s favorite teacher, that’s why Rachel liked her. She was one of the only people, besides herself, who actually made him genuinely smile. Which was something Rachel treasured deeply, seeing Damian smile was like a cool breeze a scorching hot day. It was refreshing, and the feeling that came over her when she felt it happen made her feel special. Watching him smile made her smile and it was like their little secret.

“Hello?” She snapped back to focus and looked at Kori. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the nurse now? You seem dazed.” The wrinkle between her brow was back and Rachel had to stop herself from snapping at her.

“I’m fine.” She said. “Damian is taking me after this school, I’ll be fine.”

“Rachel please just talk to me. I need you to tell me what’s going on with you.” Kori said something else but she just tuned her out.

There were 28 kids in her class. None of them in which she was really friends with but there were some she was. Like Karen, and Donna. They occasionally hang out with her and the rest of the Inner Circle but never really talked beyond that. Kori knew them though. But to be honest, Kori knew practically everyone so technically it doesn’t count.

Karen and Cy were really close, but whether Vic would ever just admit that he actually liked her was a whole nother adventure altogether, he could be incredibly stubborn sometimes it was just insufferable. But he was like an older brother to her so she decided not to push it all that much.

She gazed out the window to watch the boys running laps around the track outside, and trying to hold back a snort when she saw Gar fall flat on his face after tripping on his too-big running shoes.

He must have had to borrow some from the lost and found again. Honestly, Rachel swore he didn’t even have gym shoes to begin with because he lost them so many times.

She looked back inside and just stared at the mint green walls. There were vines and plants that hung from the ceiling corners. Flowers the colours of white and yellow were all over the classroom.
Ms. Brellen loved flowers almost as much as she loved teaching and insisted that everything must be decorated with flowers. Even in her car there are fake flowers that outline the sunroof. She’s had to take Rachel home multiple times because her father often forgot. Not that he really cared, she hardly saw him at all. But when she did, it was never good. He would only show up at their estate if she was in trouble or got a grade below an 87%. Both were never fun. That was how she got her arm bruised so badly. She peered up her sleeve and winced when she saw the colours starting to turn shades of purple.

Her father came to the estate late last night while she was doing homework and wasn’t in a good mood. She remembered vividly how it went down.

Her father sat down at the table and just looked at her for an extremely long period of time. Criticized for always wearing hoodies, the colour of her hair and the red gem she liked to glue on her forehead. And on top of that he yelled at her for looking so much like her mother that it drove him insane, like it was her fault.

And when she made the mistake of not holding back her words he slammed her arm into the corner of a wall and left the house. Not a word goodbye, or saying where he was going. Nothing.

He just left her crumple on the floor and let her cry for hours at a time before throwing glass into walls and smashing everything she could see. There were broken vases and windows all over the estate now and everytime she passed by one she would grin to herself.

Violet didn’t even know about this and she never would. Violet was a worrier and a risk taker. If she spoke a word about it she knew, without a doubt, Violet would storm over there and beat the living hell out of her father, or call child services it really depended what mood she was in.

And of course Damian knew. Damian had to know, well he actually figured it out for himself quite quickly it actually made her think twice before she actually hid anything from him because would always figure it out. They had no secrets with one another and she really liked that about their friendship. It made her feel safe, and safety was hard to come by, especially here in Gotham and especially for Rachel. When anyone raised their hand too quickly or raised their voice she couldn’t help but either cover her face, or flinch. It was like it was programmed into her brain and it was just an involuntary response.

So she tried to do the only thing she could do, conceal and hide it. She would force herself not to flinch but there were times it got the best of her and she prayed the others wouldn’t notice. So far she’s been good but clearly she messed up somewhere because Kori had to be asking her something.

She shifted in her seat, continuing to write down today’s notes when pain hit her arm again and she bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. Tears were forming in her eyes now but she refused to show any sign of weakness. She covered her face with her hood and hunched over. Crossing her ankles tightly to help balance out the pain somehow but her body betrayed her. She let out a quick breath and a tear fell on the paper, catching Kori’s attention.
And there it was ladies and gentlemen, the frown was back and she mentally kicked herself. Now not only was she going to go all worrisome mom on her, she was going to get a lecture from Damian about self-care. Which was not something she was specifically looking forward to.

“Ms. Brellen?” Kori raised her hand and Ms. Brellen smiled at her, slightly nodding her head for her to continue. “Is it alright if I take Rachel to the nurse?”

A worried look covered her face and she looked and a tear stricken Rachel nodding urgently and opening the door for them.

“Don’t worry about today’s homework girls, I’ll let you pass for today.” She offered a kind smile to Rachel and placed a warm hand on her shoulder as she ushered them out the classroom.

They walked out of ear-shot and Rachel heard the door to the classroom close.

“I don’t need to go to the nurse Star, I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.” she looked at her and held her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “And when we get you treated I want you to tell me what happened.” She looked away and glared at the floor. “The truth Rachel.” Kori looked her dead in the eyes and Rachel just glared at her.

Chapter Text

“Let’s go” Kory hissed.

Rachel didn’t even know what to say. This was happening but oh my god I needed it to stop. Being a victim of child abuse didn’t just mean lying to your friends about it. It was about lying to yourself. Going to the nurse’s office was just going to solidify Rachel’s reality: that her dad was hitting her. And how about her, she just saw a weak little kid. A weak little kid unable to fend for herself, who’s mother wouldn’t even fight for her because she knew, like the rest of her family did, she deserved it. Not for doing something wrong or acting up, but for being born a daughter and not the son her mother promised her father she would be. It was a lifetime sentence she was to carry out for all of her days. To walk around everyday doing absolutely nothing about it because it wasn’t her fault. How embarrassing would it be for her to go to her friends and tell them about this? That she couldn’t stop her own father. That she couldn’t even utter a word in front of him. That the very thought of him had her cringe – had her hurt. Rachel couldn’t talk about it. Not to Violet and not to her friends. But then again, Damian knew.

Damian

How embarrassing it was that he knew. The one person who strove for honesty and clarity above all else, the person who Rachel believed would find her situation the most futile. He was an image of grace – of what every person should strive to be. When Rachel looked at him all she saw was perfection. “The Perfect Person” she called him (only to herself never to his face). He was stunning and she would never get over any feelings she once had for him all those years ago when they first met.

– Time skip –
It was in an alley they met. On a rainy night in the dark parts of town where her father did business.

She was cold, wet, and tired of walking but she needed to keep going. Sirens were heard a couple blocks from where she was and there was just enough light to see about five metres ahead of her. God she was cold. Teeth chattering, body shivering and all.

“Are you lost?” there was a voice behind her.

“Sorry?!” She said, not quite making out a visual picture of the person jogging towards her.

“Are you lost?” It was a boy. He had dark hair, emerald eyes and dressed entirely in black. She noticed he was not wet in the least thanks to the umbrella he was carrying. It was a fancy one too, she noted. One with a curved handle that appeared to be made out of some kind of expensive wood. “You shouldn’t be wandering around this part of town it’s dangerous and it’s pouring rain outside.”

Rachel said nothing.

“How old are you?” The mystery boy asked.

“My name is Rachel. Rachel Roth.” She replied.

“Roth? As in the daughter of the mob boss Trigon Roth?” A dark look appeared on his face but not out of fear or concern…out of disgust. “What kind of father lets his daughter walk around here by herself?”

Again, Rachel said nothing. They were walking next to each other now and even though she didn't know who this judgmental boy was, she felt as though she could trust him.

Warmth- it was that she felt…warmth in her heart. A feeling she hadn’t felt before.

“Do I know you?” she asked.

“No, we haven’t met before.”

“Oh. You feel familiar to me.” Rachel looked up at her saviour as he put the umbrella above her. It wasn’t big enough for the both of them so Rachel moved to protest by shutting her down. And as he was getting drenched in the rain, they began to strike up conversation until finally, they strolled in silence.

-- End of Time Skip --

Damian knew everything. She told him about how her mother died, her father’s gambling habits and illegal activities– everything. He was her best friend. But she knew he didn’t feel pity for her but really he felt as though the whole situation was unavailing because if he was in this situation, he wouldn’t let his father toss him around. No. Damian is a fighter (like his mother he likes to say). Damian excels at everything.

---------

Kori pretty much was dragging Rachel down the hall and every turn they had to make. Jeez this was a workout.

“Hi Mrs. Dunkin…my friend here broke her arm earlier today, it’s been treated but we just wanted to do a follow-up.” Kori smiled sweetly at both Mrs. Dunkin in her nurse attire and at Rachel who had an odd expression on her face. Was she…daydreaming? God I hope not what an odd place to daydream it would be. She hadn’t been in the infirmary in a while actually. It still had the same blue walls and lined up hospital style beds with the flimsy curtains in between. The front desk was the same too. It stood right in the corner with the brochures lined up against its walls for possible healthcare scares. In fact, one girl (who Kory thinks might be in her marketing class) was looking at a HIV brochure with who she was assuming was her boyfriend.

“Oh yes, right here Ms. Anders.” She patted a bed to gesture them over.

Rachel took a seat and said nothing as she looked at Mrs. Dunkin grabbing her clipboard.

“How did you break your arm sweetheart?” Mrs. Dunking eyes sparkled with worry as she lowered her gaze to Rachel’s mid humorous.

“I fell down the stairs this morning. My dad already took me to the hospital this morning so there really isn’t any need to worry.” Rachel said.

“Oh of course not dear. I’m just going to take a look at it. It’ll be quick.”

-----------

Oh my god she did not want to be here. Rachel needed to get out of here.

“You really don’t have to. You see Kori just gets suspicious a lot. It’s true though, I have broken my arm a lot but I’m just clumsy,” an obvious lie, “thank you for doing another check as Kori really needs to be reassured but I’m fine.” Rachel brushed Mrs. Dunkin’s hands off of her bad arm and got up off of the bed. Pushed aside the curtain, waved to the receptionist and walked out the doors with Kori right at her tail.

“Can you tell me what is wrong Rachel? We were barely in there for five minutes!” She was frantically trying to convince Rachel to go back in.

“Nothing is wrong Kory. God what is wrong with you.” Rachel snarled. She can’t find out she can’t find out.

“What do you mean what’s wrong with me? I haven’t done anything wrong Rachel. You’re keeping things from me and I know something is wrong with you.”

Rachel was fed up. She hadn’t done anything wrong, she says? Bullshit.

“You haven’t done anything wrong? Kori you forced me to go to the nurse’s when I didn’t even ask you too. If I felt like I needed to I would but you just shoved me out of my comfort zone. Do you really think I needed that? Who do you think you are to shove me around like some helpless child. I’m not broken damn it. I can fend for myself.” Another obvious lie Rachel thought. “Don’t do that again. Actually no, don't do that ever again. I don’t need you to stand up for me and tell me what to think or how to act. I didn’t want to be there Kori. I literally couldn’t have made it more obvious. You need to know when you’ve stepped over someone’s boundaries.” Rachel didn’t leave Kori time to respond. She marched right away from her and into the foyer of the school just as the bell rang.

Relief Rachel felt. Now she can leave this place and get home before her father does to just have a good cry.

“Rachel!” She heard Kori cry her name from behind a crowd of students but she didn’t turn around.

“Rachel!”

“God, Kori stop it I don’t need this right now-”

“What?” Violet looked at her with a strange look. “Are you and Kori fighting?”

“Oh.” It was just her girlfriend. Even though Rachel was supposed to feel relieved about that, she just felt as though it was a bother – just another person she had to talk to. “Well I don’t want to use those terms but we’re definitely not talking.”

Violet pressed her lips together and kissed Rachel on the cheek witnessing no response and so she frowned. She knew things were rocky between them but Violet knew the only person to blame for that was Damian Wayne.

“We’re still on for going to the harbor tonight right?” Violet asked. Clawing at any desperate attempt to win her girlfriend over before Wayne drove her home. She could already see him walking to his car.

“We’ll see.” Is all Rachel said before kissing Vi and walking over to Damian with nothing but a grin on her face that Violet could never cause and as she watched her get away from her, she couldn’t help but hold the stare of the emerald eyes narrowing right back at her.

-------

Garfield slammed the door to his house and went straight to his room to collapse onto his bed. Goodness, he was tired.

Another wasted day at school when he could’ve been doing something actually interesting.

Garfield didn’t actually remember the last time he was genuinely happy. Like really happy without being on drugs or anything. Now he wouldn’t necessarily call himself an addict, but he hasn’t gone a day without using narcotics.

Additions are genetic. His mom tells him that on a daily basis but does she do anything to stop her issues? Nope. N. O. P. E. That would be a definite no. And so, Garfield doesn’t do anything to stop his.

The gang calls him BB because when he was ten, he used a BB gun to shoot the raccoon that had been tormenting Vic’s family’s trash cans and because of that legendary shot, he was forever stuck with the nickname. Not that he found anything wrong with it, he just found it suitable.

BB went over to crack open a window and light the joint he had in his drawer. Nope. Where was the lighter there was no lighter in the drawer. He groaned because this meant he had to get up.

Reluctantly, his feet hit the ground, he came off his bed, and went scavenging in his mom’s things for one.

She has to have one somewhere…where is it, he sang. He opened drawer after drawer after drawer but to no avail. Finally, he found one at the back of her dresser’s cabinet and grinned. Yes, now he was going to feel happy.

BB ran over to his room (it was a very short run) and lit the joint, took one deep breath in and mmmm perfect. Yup this was it. He collapsed straight back into his bed and just laid there smoking his joint and staring up at the ceiling. Jeez this is what he needed.

Ding dong.

“NO!” He yelled, “You have got to be kidding me.”

He blew out his joint and shoved it under some stuff under his bed. Whoever this is, it better be important. Someone better be hurt.

Nope. No one was hurt. It was just Kori. Good old Kori and her annoying little smile.

“Kori!” He forced a smile at her as she swung open the door. “What on earth are you doing here girl?”