The science project is now one-hundred percent half way done, I feel so proud of myself for utilizing my time and completing half the project. Now only to complete the rest of the task.
"Catrina!" My Mother yelled from downstairs.
"Yeah?" I called back, she was distracting me from my work.
"Catrina!" She yelled again, I groaned getting off my bed. I went downstairs and tended to my mother's needs. I ended up cooking dinner, yes, how exciting. My Father did not turn up for the meal, and didn't bother to call. Mom got upset and called him a few times after Dean went to bed. I stayed on the couch and called Karen. She was still fangirling about Batman. I ended up trying to stop the conversation. "Karen."
"Yes?" She asked, her voice perky and annoying.
"Stop with the fangirling shit." I said harshly.
"But, I CAN'T!" She screamed into the phone.
"Karen!" I scolded.
"Fine, fine. I'll try to think of anything but Batman." She said glumly.
"Good." I said, my mother came into the room and sat on the couch next to me. "I'll see you tomorrow at school." I hung up the phone.
"Your father will be sleeping on the couch tonight." Mom said flatly.
"Why?" I asked,
"Because I'm mad."
"And why is that?"
"Because, I'm angry." She scorned, I nodded and decided to not further discuss her anger.
***
Nothing happened for a week. No Batman news. No Red Hood news. Not a thing. Karen took this way too far and started gossiping on how Red Hood must be planning something big. Something really big and Batman must be trying to track him down. I got so sick and tired of hearing her drone on and on and on about this guy. I sought refuge whenever I heard her booming voice from down the hallway.
"I swear to god! He has to be hiding out somewhere." Her voice rang in my ears, I perked up and listened more intently to find out where she was. "I have to find this guy, he's my lifeline!" She was behind me, I picked up my pace and headed for the library. A wall of sophomores walked down the hall just as I was entering a doorway with the push doors open. I pressed my body onto the side of the hallway and kept walking trying not to run into anyone, I felt a sharp pain in my arm and inhaled sharply. I got to the library and put my books down, I then looked at my arm. A bright red mark oozed blood down my arm. I sighed and got a pass to go to the nurse's office. When I got there, I was not the only person in the room.
"Hi Catrina." Bruce greeted with a small smile curving over his thin red lips.
"Oh, hi Bruce." I said as I signed into the health room.
"What happened?" He asked, I half laughed.
"I ran into a door." I laughed at myself. He looked at me with surprise.
"A door?" He questioned. I chuckled and nodded.
"Yeah, a door."
"Wow."
"Don't judge." I teased, he laughed and shook his head.
"Don't worry, I'm not." He smiled and got up from the chair he had been sitting on. His arm was all bandaged up.
"Speak for yourself, what happened to your arm?" I asked, pointing.
"My dog was playing a little too rough and he bit me, I got stitches and they started to ooze." He explained, his voice a little tighter than it was before. I nodded my head and watched the nurse calmly work on my cut. She cleaned and patched it up, Bruce talked to her while he sat there. He kept rambling on about how he doesn't think that the school is protected enough during the school day.
"If you don't like it Bruce, then leave." She paused, "God only knows how much you have stored in the bank."
"Anyways, I'll see you later Betty." Bruce said walking out the door. The nurse signed my pass back to class, I walked out of the office and almost ran into Bruce who was leaning up against the wall next to the health room.
"Oh, sorry." I apologized, walking past him. He nodded and fell into step with me.
"No, my fault." He corrected, hesitating for a second to think about what he was going to say. He thought against it and didn't say anything.
"What?" I asked, curious.
"Nothing, I just was wondering something. But I already know the answer." He said, I nodded but was intrigued.
"What were you wondering?" I asked.
"Oh, I was just wondering about your Mom." He shrugged his shoulders and looked at his feet.
"What about her?"
"Only if she was all right." He said looking back at his feet that were scuffing the tile floor.
"How do you know she's all right?" I wondered.
"I ran into her at the grocery store one day."
"When?"
"Yesterday." He said looking at me for a second before looking back at the floor. He was nervous, I could tell.
"Bruce Wayne does his own grocery shopping?" I asked teasingly. Bruce smirked and nodded his head.
"Indeed, I do. My butler never gets what I want."
"And what's that?"
"Oreos and Doritos." I laughed a little with his response, it was such a teenager thing to get junk food. We arrived outside of the Library and he said goodbye, I waved a little as he walked down the hallway. He saluted me and turned a corner when I turned into the Library. I walked in and started to do my work, it was a peaceful class time. Until a rowdy group of jocks walked into the room. Jared and his friends walked into the library, I inwardly rolled my eyes as they took their seats at the computers, right next to me. Jared smiled broadly and leaned over to my seat.
"How's it goin'?" I could smell the cockiness in his breath, it smelled like pig and ass all at the same time.
"Slower now that you're here but it's almost done." I half lied.
"Good." He said logging onto the computer. I continued my work as much as I could with the major distraction next to me. A girl came over and started talking to the guys. I could feel her glare piercing my skull. I ignored them as best I could and did my work up until the bell.
***
"What in the hell happened to you?" My mom cried when she saw my bandaged arm.
"A door." I said dully, her concerned look vanished and she smiled.
"You're kidding." She said trying not to laugh, knowing that I was serious. I shook my head and she started giggling like crazy. "You ran into a door." She giggled, I rolled my eyes and continued up the stairs to my room. I changed into comfy clothing and came back to the kitchen, she was still chuckling about my run-in with a door while she chopped carrots.
"Anything new with the Hospital?" I asked.
"Nope."
"Anything new with Dad?"
"Same answer as before." She said glumly.
"Has he even been home?" She shook her head. "Any messages?" I asked, another no. "Not even a telegram?" She looked at me with a look that told me everything I desired to know. "Have you called him?"
"Yeah, he's out on patrol. As of noon today." She said.
"Fun. Did you ask them to deliver him a message?"
"Yeah, I told Gordon to give him a couple of days off because he hasn't been home for a while."
"And?"
She cleared her throat to mock Gordon, "'Depending on the circumstances with the investigation, I'm not sure if I can let anyone go at this point'." She was chopping the carrots angrily. The front door slammed and Dean threw his backpack on the floor next to the island and took a seat next to me.
"Well, someone's not happy." I observed as he glared at me and grabbed a carrot from my mother's pile. He chomped on it and sighed angrily. My mother stared at him, flabbergasted at his behavior.
"What's up, doc?" She sassed, she took the carrot from his hand and chopped off the bitten part.
"What happened Dean?" I asked, he groaned and twirled out of the chair. He picked up his backpack and stormed off to his room.
"Be in a better mood for dinner!" My mother called after him. He groaned loudly and stomped his feet up to his room. The door slammed.
"Okay then, he is not in a good mood." I said turning around to face my mom. She nodded and cut the last carrot.
"So how was school today?" She asked, she glanced at my arm. "Minus your arm." She added, snickering.
"Ah ha ha, very funny Ma." I said turning in my chair. "School was fine, I avoided Karen all day because I am so freaking tired of hearing all her Batman and Red Hood crap." She nodded, "I mean really, when will she stop? It's all she talks about and it's so tiring." Just then the garage door opened and my Father walked in, dragging his big tired feet across the floor.
"I'M HOME!" He screamed, and so did I. I ran to him and gave him a big hug. I heard Dean come out from his room and jump down the stairs, he got my Dad from behind. My Dad hugged me tight, squeezing the air out of me. He let me go and turned to my brother and hugged him just as hard. When he let him go, he looked at my mother. Her hands were on her hips, the knife in her hand. She glared at my father as he approached her.
"No call? No e-mail?" She shook her hand, she was getting angry, my father took the knife away from her and slapped it down on the counter. "No comm-" She was cut off when my father planted a big sloppy kiss on her lips. My heart warmed, but it was still gross. I looked at my brothers face, twisted in disgust. I scrunched my nose and squinted with him.
"Ew," He and I said in unison. My father flipped us off, I laughed and went into the living room dragging my brother with me.
"Get a room." Dean said to them. My mother then joined my father with the same finger gesture. Dean rolled his eyes and sat in the laz-y-boy. Later, my Mom called us into the dining room for dinner.
Dean explained his attitude from when he arrived home, some kid was giving him a hard time on the bus. It made sense, Dean was easy to get a rise out of. I gave him advice on how to deal with the guy. Just ask him why to everything he says. It will one, annoy the crap out of him and two, I don't know, one seems like a pretty good reason. Mom talked about her day, she had cleaned the whole house and got caught up on laundry, she did bills and started sewing all the ripped clothing we have. My father had patrol almost all day today. He said that nothing had happened, which is unusual for Gotham City as everyone knows. He was ready for a night in his own bed, I wouldn't blame him.
***
3:32am
"Dad?" I asked peering out of my door, the bathroom door was closed. "Dad?" I asked again, the faucet started to run. I stepped tentatively out of my bedroom and down the hall towards the bathroom. "Dad?" Quietly I knocked on the door.
"What?" He asked with a mouth full of toothpaste. He opened the door, I watched him brush his teeth in the light. I squinted, shielding my eyes.
"Keep it down, would ya?" I snapped turning back towards my room.
"Sorry hon, emergency call. Something down in the sewers." He mumbled spitting the toothpaste out of his mouth, he didn't even bother to wipe his chin before he shut off the light and wandered down the hallway. I rolled my eyes and followed him, now that I was wide awake no thanks to the bathroom lights. He hurried to get out the door, opening the garage and scrambling for his keys. They were sitting in the key basket, he was patting his pockets. "Damn, where did I put those?" He asked frantically patting his back pocket. "Where are my-" He didn't finish.
"These?" I asked holding up the keys to his car.
"Thanks sweetie." He said snatching them away from me. He hugged me and told me to tell Mom that he was sorry he had to leave. I said I loved him and watched him leave the driveway. I turned around to face the living room, I had no desire to go back to bed, though that would have been the best idea. I searched for the television remote in the dark and switched on the T.V. Infomercials, what fun. I muted the T.V. and sat on the couch watching the colors on the screen change and flicker.
"Fuck this." I hissed, turning off the T.V. And going back to bed.
***
"Catrina!" Karen called from down the hallway. I inwardly groaned, waiting for the Batman speech. "Hey, did you hear?"
"No, and I don't want to hear." I said sourly, she looked hurt.
"I wasn't talking about Batman." She said glumly, her shoulders slouching in dismay.
"Oh, sorry. I just-"
"No, no. It's fine." She paused. "So anyways, you didn't hear the big news?"
"Obviously not." I said turning down the hallway.
"Jared," She stopped lowering her voice.
"Yeah? What about him?" I asked, my heart speeding up.
"He asked me out." She whispered.
"No." I was flabbergasted.
"Yes!" She squealed.
"No." Still flabbergasted.
"Yes!"
"No."
"Okay, stop. And yes, he did. He asked me to go out with him on Friday."
"Oh."
"Yeah, isn't it great? Finally, I have a chance at being popular." She triumphantly sighed.
"That's not the only reason you're going out with him right?" I asked,
"No, he's hot too."
"Karen." I scolded, there was more to dating than social status and attractiveness.
"Okay, okay." She held up her hands in surrender. "See ya!" She said turning into her classroom. Great, now I get to hear three months worth of 'Jared is so great! Jared is this! Jared is that! Jared, Jared, Jared.' *Barf* All I hope is that he doesn't break her heart, like some fellows have done before. She is so easy to lead on, it's sadly true. She will do anything you say, she's a pushover in that way. Within reason of course.