LA FELINA、young justice

[006]

Rio forced a large, fake smile, leaving the woman with no further comment.

A door slid open, and Rio was met with the chaos of a high school hallway. It would have been like any other high school hallway, if not for the fact every girl wore a pair of heels, all the uniforms were individually fit, and the conversations were amusing to say the least.

"My mom is making me go to Italy this summer, again."

"Girl, I'm so sorry."

"If you could vote, who would you vote for?"

"My dad wants Donald Trump to run.'"

"My parents said I can't go. I'm grounded."

"Just tell them no."

Rio observed every person she walked past, paying attention to their demeanor, conversations, tone of voice. She could feel a few people glance at her, more boys than girls. Her uniform fit a little too much. It made her skin crawl at the thought, and her mind cursed Bruce Wayne for sizing the uniforms without her input.

Rio, blinded by her anger for a split moment, lost track of her spatial awareness and ran into what felt like a brick wall. She made a few incoherent noises, mostly disfigured curses, as her box fell to the ground. Her eyes attempted to identify whatever it was she had slammed her body into in the middle of the hallway on her first day of school. Getting ready to spit curses at whoever it was, her brain momentarily decided to stop functioning.

She was like a god. Her black waves sat perfectly on her shoulders. Her red tie was perched tightly between her collar, her red and gray plaid skirt was at the part of her thigh that made boys stare. And, besides the fact the girl was several inches taller than her counterpart, the muscles of her arms were defined enough that you could see them through the white of her button up shirt.

"I am so sorry," the girl rushed, picking up the random articles of clothing and jewelry that fell out of the cardboard box.

Rio blew her bangs out of her line of sight. She wanted to be mad at the girl, but she couldn't find it in herself to be, "it's fine."

"I absolutely love your hair," the girl said, grinning so wide you could see both her dimples. Her lips were a tan pink and her teeth were pearly white, both complementing the olive tone of her skin.

Rio's brows raised as her lips met awkwardly, one hand grabbing onto a strand of her hair, her eyes daring to express the uncaring glance she gave the girl, "oh uh, thanks."

"No problem, again sorry I literally trashed the floor with your stuff," the girl had a confident smile, forcing Rio to scramble to find a better response.

"It's fine," Rio now restored her plain expression, walking past the girl as if nothing had happened.

A few girls whispered across from where the two had bumped into each other. Rio stuck her chin up to them. Something began to tinge the back of her neck. She slapped at the skin, receiving a few stares. But the tinging spread through her body. It was an insatiable itch that she had never experienced before. She turned into a bathroom, slamming the door behind her. The girls that stood at the mirrors gave her a look before quickly shuffling out of the room. Rio walked into a stall, sitting herself down before leaning her head on the wall behind.

She stared at her wrist device, an image of Batman popping onto the screen.

Have a good first day of school.

She grimaced. Almost a growl if you were close enough to hear it.

Fuck you.

Rio had a lot of time in her classes to think about the state of her life. She had left her stuff in her dormitory, which her roommate had already occupied and mildly decorated much to Rio's displeasure. Each period dragged on incessantly to the point that Rio started fantasizing ways to escape out of the situation she was in. But no method she could come up with would keep her family safe. And that was enough for her to put the ideas to rest.