In Gotham North she fit in. She was just like everyone else. No one had lots of money, fancy clothes, or anything of value. Everyone's speech was tainted the same accent. They understood other people's struggles because they were all suffering from same things. Classmates families were your family. They had your back both in school and on the streets.
In Gotham Academy, everything was different. She stuck out like a sore thumb. There was no unity. Everyone was filthy rich and based themselves on how much money they had. No one had the accent of Gotham City because they weren't from the city. They were from the south, which was so much different than the north. And in the academy, no one had your back. You couldn't trust anyone.
Artemis hated the idea of letting high school get to her. And she hated the cliche movies where they portrayed it like jungle full of snakes. But her school was just as helpless as Heathers. There were the jocks, the nerds, and theater kids. All of them were snobs with the fanciest cars and watches. They all tried to up one their "friends". She felt like a fish out of water and they made sure she knew it.
The archer didn't like the term bullying either, but that was the best way to describe what she was going through. The girls would gossip about her and the boys would make fun of her body. All of them would call her names. She ignored it for the most part. She did it for her mom, no matter how hard she wanted to drop out and transfer back to Gotham North. Plus, she had been through worse. At least she thought so until things got physical.
She wanted to hit them back, shove an arrow down their throats, and make them feel the pain she felt everyday. She wanted to get those assholes arrested and press charges. There was enough evidence for an easy case. But she couldn't. People would jump at the opportunity to accuse the ghetto girl of jumping them. She didn't want to deal with the brat kids anymore than she had to and definitely didn't want to deal with their snob parents. That would get her kicked out for sure. Her education was the only thing she had left. When all else failed, she still had her brain.
"The north side rat scurried into first period after all," A boy said as Artemis took her seat at her desk. The blonde bit her tongue and didn't give him the eye contact he probably wanted.
"Scurried? More like limped," The boy's girlfriend snickered. The archer ignored her too and took out her homework. She could already feel a headache growing. Last night she had been on a mission and got no sleep whatsoever. If that didn't put her on edge already, now she had to put up with this bullshit.
The boy continued talking about her, "I bet it's from getting piped out by another north side rat. They're all gang bangers anyways."
This made Artemis mad almost immediately. The best people she knew were from the north side. Many of them sacrificed their lives to care for their families or actively worked against everything that was set up against them. Some were in gangs or living a bad live style, but they were good people at heart.
"Settle down, kids!" The teacher yelled to get the classes attention. Artemis just tried to listen to the math lesson and ignored the couple behind her. The only power she had was her education, after all.
The day didn't get better after that. It only got worse. During second period, the kids behind Artemis threw gum rappers into her hair. In between third and second period, someone snatched her bag and threw it down to the first floor. She had to go all the way back down to get it and ended up being late for class. In gym class, someone threw a football into her nose and she started bleeding. The teacher wouldn't let her go to the nurse so she bleed on her white gym uniform. The kids laughed at her and she couldn't have felt more hopeless. During fifth period, she had study hall in the library. This was supposed to be the time where she got all her homework done but a group of jocks walked up behind her and snatched her out of her seat.
She could've knocked them out in five seconds. She could have broken their arms and had them howling in pain. Artemis could have done so many things but she knew none of it was worth it. Everyone knew none of it was worth it so she and everyone else in the library let her get dragged into one of the aisles. For an hour, she let the boys she didn't know beat her. For an hour everyone ignored their grunts and Artemis's silent pain. And everyone ignore when they left with Artemis' blood on their knuckles and she limped back bloody and broken to get her bag to leave for lunch.
During lunch she hid in a small court yard outside. It was chilly since it was early April, but the crisp air felt good against her forming bruises. Everyday she hid during lunch, either in some old janitor's closet, bathroom stall, or unused classroom. When she started going to the school, she used to sit in the lunch room. But the kids liked to throw food at her, so that didn't last long.
Artemis sat in silence as she looked at the apple she had packed that morning. She didn't want to eat it. Her lip was split from getting jumped so it annoyed her when she tried to open her mouth. Her face had crusted blood on it, too. They hit her in her nose so it bled for the second time that day. She should've washed it off and gone to the nurse, but today she was just too numb. She was too numb to address the sprain in her ankle and the sharp pain in her ribs. She was too numb to eat, go on her phone, and tried to do homework.
The blonde frowned at her apple before throwing it somewhere. Maybe a bird could eat it instead of her? She didn't care. Artemis laid her backpack on the stoned ground and rested her head on top of it. She closed her eyes because she was too numb and tired to kept them open. Artemis was going to sleep and hoped her would wake up feel something later. She hoped she wouldn't wake up at all, too. She wanted to die right there and then all at the same time.
"This is a nice apple. Did you poison it? I mean, you kinda look poisoned," A voice said, making her open her eyes. She expected it to be another bully, but was instead met with the smiling face of a very tall brunet. Her first thought was one of annoyance. Her second thought was that the boy was not short of beautiful. He was muscular with a lean torso and around six feet tall. He had the clearest blue eyes, tan skin a bit lighter than hers, and a sharp jaw. He had the most perfect dimples. The way his jet black hair fell on his face was perfect. He was her dream boy. But she didn't let that determine anything. He was probably a snob like everyone else at the school.
"What do you want?" Artemis sat up, "My apple? Cause you can have it."
"Well," The boy bounced on his heels, "If you insist, but that's not the reason why I'm here. This is my usual spot for lunch."
She raised a brow, "Never seen you before, Wonder Boy."
The boy chuckled, "My schedule got mixed up so I had to change lunch periods. I never had the last wave before. I guess there's a time and place, right?"
She shrugged before asking, "So why are you talking to me? You could've sat by that bench and let me nap." She was sure to had a hint of annoyance. However, part of her was relieved someone was being nice to her for once.
"But what's the fun in that?" He smiled before sitting down right next to her. He set down his bag and took out his lunch. He popped open a bread box and pulled out a peanut butter sandwich. It was shaped in a star. Artemis couldn't help but feel a bit better at his childish antics, but that didn't say much considering how bad she truly felt.
"So what's you're name, Wonder Boy?"
"Richard Grayson but everyone calls me Dick."
"That's unfortunate."
"Probably. What name did your parents curse you with?" He asked before taking another bite. He still had that attractive and dorky smile on his face. Artemis loved it already.
"Artemis Crock."
The boy's smile got even bigger, "That's a beautiful name, Artemis." Deep down she felt like blushing like some school girl. Yet, she didn't let that show. She just gave him a small twitch of the lips and a tiny nod. They two sat in silence before Dick said, "I already knew your name, actually."
Her heart snuck deep her chest. Of course he knew her name. Everyone did. He knew she was a north side rat, some poor girl, and weak prey. He was going to be just like everyone else. Why did she let herself hope he wasn't for a split second? Because he was beautiful? That meant nothing. Artemis's self pity party turned to fear, also. They were alone and he could do whatever he wanted to her. He could beat her, sexually assault her, or steal everything she had on her.
"You won the state's female gymnastics competition this year," Dick explained to her why he knew her name, "And the year before that and the year before that."
The blonde felt relieved again and smiled a bit, "Yeah. This year I get to go the nationwide competition since I'm a senior."
"I'm a junior so I'm stuck in states. Kinda want to stop competing though. Our leotards are hideous, especially with that giant stripe in the crotch. I don't know what they were thinking," Dick laughed. Artemis laughed too, recalling how ridiculous those uniforms were, but hissed in the pain when a stronger wave of agony hit her in the ribs.
Dick stopped laughing and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Artemis, are you okay?" She nodded through clenched teeth, the pain still there. Dick's frown only deepened. He grabbed his backpack and placed it behind her back so that she was propped up in a more comfortable position. It dulled the pain her ribs a little bit.
"Thanks," She mumbled. He nodded before standing up. She wondered where he was going, until she noticed the tissues in his hands. He walked over to the old stone water fountain and wet the tissues. Then he sat back down next to her.
"Let me clean you up?" He gave her a lopsided smirked. It sent butterflies to her stomach. She nodded weakly and let him clean the blood that was under her nose and on her lips. The blonde tried to avoid his eyes but failed miserably. She just watched his face, his smile never leaving his lips and his eyes tracing her own features.
Maybe he though she was beautiful too, but that could never happen.
"All better," He said whe he finished. Artemis noticed how his eyes stared at her lips for a second too long and how they made eye contact in way that you didn't look at a stranger with. Some spontaneous part of her brain yelled at her to kiss him, but she wasn't going to do that.
"Thanks," She mumbled again.
"Lunch is probably over by now," He changed the subject.
"Yeah, but I don't feel like going back to class."
"We can always skip? No body's going to find us here."
"I like how you think, Dick Grayson," She smiled before laying back down on her own backpack. Dick grabbed his and laid down with her.
"I think this will be a new blossoming friendship, Artemis Crock."
"Me too, Wonder Boy. Me too."
A/N: Coming back to my roots 😎🤘
Sorry spitfire and chalant fans