Damian Wayne trudged in to the school hall, keeping his bag close to him. He hated going to school, having to have his rich kid persona and his weak personality. What he hated the most, was the people in his grade. The boys were bullies, and the girls were just plain annoying. And yet Bruce insisted that if he wanted to be Robin he had to go, so he went.
It was the first day of school after the summer ended, and a large and cheerful banner greeted him as he made his way down the hall.
" Welcome to Gotham Academy, where you can achieve your dreams and make memories to last a life time!" Damian read aloud to himself glaring at the sign. What he wouldn't give for heat vision right now.
The thing he wanted to do was ' make memories ' and sing Kumbiyah with his classmates.
The signs made school seem perfect, when in truth, the only memories he made here were black eyes and busted lips from the constant beatings from bullies.
Careful to avoid the head bully, Jackson James, and get to homeroom unnoticed he took out his books and placed them neatly on the desk. Glaring down at the textbooks as though they were hell on earth, he barely noticed when everyone filed in to class beside him.
" Good morning class! It's a new year at school and I trust you've had a restful holidays. Now before we take the roll, I want to introduce you to a new girl in our class this year, transferring from all the way in Romania, I want you to welcome Mercury Faith to Gotham City," The teacher, Mrs Hanley introduced with a broad smile.
Damian felt his interest peak, Romania, that was where his older brother Richard Grayson was from!

From behind Mrs Hanley stepped the most beautiful girl Damian had ever seen!

She wasn't a model or anything, far from it, but when she smiled shyly at the class, Damian felt his heart strings playing a joyful tune. She had long dark brown hair, pale skin, and was tall for her age. She wore her dark uniform beautifully, her hair falling around her face. However, that wasn't what made everyone stare at her.
She only had one eye, where her right eye should be, was just skin with three long pinks cars running diagonally across the skin where her eye should be. She obviously knew that they were staring at her and subconsciously brushed the hair away from her neck.
Damian saw that on her neck were also three long pink scars, that looked almost like gills, except they were obviously old wounds.
Damn didn't care, he'd seen his fair share of scars as Robin, he loved her! And he had to get to know her! Maybe school life wouldn't be so difficult now.
" Hello," Mercury said in heavily accented English, still holding a shy smile.
The class muttered awkward hellos and Mercury looked around to find the only empty seat. To Damian's joy the empty seat just happened to be next to his!
She easily navigated through the sea of desks to take a seat next to him, looking dejected and upset with the awkward reaction to her appearance. She let out a small sigh and gazed down at the desk in front of her.
" I'm sure you will all make her feel welcome," Mrs Hanley crooned.
Everyone nodded awkwardly, except for Damian who poked Mercury in the arm. She glanced in his direction and he waved at her in greeting.
" Hi, I'm Damian," Damian greeted, stuttering slightly at the sight of her gorgeous brown eye gazing at him curiously.
She smiled at him.
" H-Hi, you a-already know my n-name," Mercury answered shyly as the teacher resumed taking the roll.
Damian smiled at her heavy accent, noting how she struggled to pronounce some of the words.
" Learning English after growing up with Romani is tough, I know, my older, adopted brother was Romanian too," Damian murmured encouragingly.
She smiled at him again, this time flashing bright white teeth in her broad grin.
" Thanks D-Damian, for understanding," Mercury said with a smile, struggling slightly with his name.
She quietened as the teacher gave out the class allocations for the week and stared at her timetable, turning her head slightly to read the right side of the page every now and again. Damian was slightly unnerved being left to see only her scarred side of her face but when she asked to compare classes with him and saw that they had every class together he felt her heart pound harder with joy.

By lunch time, the two of them had formed a fast friendship, with Damian patiently helping her pronounce some English words every now and then, and Mercury being a sole friend to him, helping him understand historical terminology is history class in return for his help with the English language.
She didn't ask for his permission to be his friend, and just hung out with him anyway, not knowing or not caring about his wealthy father.
As they were talking about their lab experiment that they'd done together, as new lab partners for the year, they were suddenly surround by a group of five muscly boys. Damian glared at Jackson James, the blonde boy in the lead.
" Well, if it isn't Rich boy and his new friend, fancy seeing you misfits here," Jackson laughed, eyes flashing with amusement.
Damian glanced over to see that Mercury was slightly confused as to what misfit meant. She obviously had no clue what his intent was, to humiliate them both.
" Jackson, leave Mercury out of this, she's new here," Damian growled protectively, standing up to face the bully.
" What's wrong, Wayne, don't want her feelings to be hurt? Awwwwww, that's so good of you, rich boy," Jackson cackled.
Damian glared at him as Mercury stood up beside him, her height making her at the same eye level as Jackson. She stepped closer to him around the lunch table, until she was glaring at him with her one eye, her scared face making her look all the more threatening.
" I can protect my own feelings," Mercury growled angrily in her heavy accent.
" What was that foreigner? I didn't quite catch that around the accent," Jackson taunted.
Damian balled his fists, anger filling him.
" Can you catch my fists in your face? Even an idiot like you could understand that message!" Snarled Damian after seeing the slightly hurt expression on Mercury's face.
Jackson glared at him and then proceeded to shove Mercury roughly in the shoulder on her right side where she couldn't see him, catching her off guard and causing her to sprawl on to the ground and scrape her knee quite badly. With trickles of blood running down her leg and in to her socks, Mercury nimbly jumped to her feet to hold back Damian who was about to punch Jackson in the face. She shook her head at him, clearly telling him not to fight over her.
Instead she sauntered up to Jackson and without a second thought slapped him hard in the cheek, causing him to fall just like she had.
" Take your friends and go," Damian hissed, as Jackson glared at Mercury darkly.
Damian was surprised by the fore of her slap and promised himself that he'd never do anything to earn a forceful hit like that, geez, if that was a slap, what would a punch from her be like? Jackson was clearly thinking the same thing, and walked away with his friends close behind.
" Your days are numbered Rich Boy, you too, Scar Girl!" Jackson spat back over his shoulder.
Damian turned to Mercury who was attempting to wipe the blood trickles away from her knee. He knelt down in front of her,  taking out his handkerchief and gently wiping away the blood and dirt himself. When he looked up at Mercury he saw her smiling down at him.
" Thanks Damian, for sticking up for me," Mercury said with a shy grin.
" Oh no, that kid, Jackson, is a bully to everyone, he needs to be put in his place once in a while," Damian answered instantly, feeling embarrassed by her compliment but angry at Jackson for his rough treatment of the new girl.
The bell rang loudly and the two of them wandered to art class together, with Damian liking her more every second. They were misfits together now.
In art class, they had to draw portraits of the peak sitting next to them and the two of them drew each other. Damian was ecstatic, an excuse to look at her beautiful face without it being awkward! He sketched her rather well in his opinion, exaggerating her one beautiful eye by shading it slightly darker than the rest of the picture. On the count of three they turned the pictures around to show each other the drawings. Mercury's face lit up brightly. Damian's jaw dropped, her picture of him was so realistic looking it could practically out on a Robin mask and d his job for him! It looked absolutely amazing.
" Woah, Mercury, that looks amazing," Damian mumbled as he gazed at the picture.
She smiled shyly and brushed her hair behind her ear.
" Thanks, you made me look so n,nice Damian," Mercury complimented have shyly.
And the day ended with the two of them being the best friends either of them had ever had! Damian only hoped that she'd turn out to feel more than friendship for him, like he felt for her, and he'd only known her for one day! He was hooked.

The two of them waited at the pick up line together until a sleek black car pulled up in front of them. The window rolled down to reveal Jason, Richard, and Tim in the car, all gazing at Damian expectantly. Richard was driving now, and had opted to do school pick ups so he could hang out with his brothers more, and improve his driving skills.
" Bye Mercury, I'll email you about the chemistry assignment when I get home," Damian bowed as he jumped in the car with his brothers.
Mercury waved goodbye as they pulled out of the school gates.
All three of his older brothers glanced conspiratorially at each other.
" Who's the new friend, Dami?" Tim asked cheekily.
Damian smiled dopily.
" Her name is Mercury Faith, she transferred from another school and it was her first day today," Damian answered eagerly.
" Oh, so you got her email address and became her lab partner in one day, way to make friends fast little bro," Jason chuckled.
" That's not the coolest part, guess what Dickie! She's Romanian, and has trouble speaking English like you did!" Damian enthused happily.
Richard grinned broadly, laughing his bright laugh.
" A fellow countryman! Romanians make the best friends Damian, she's a keeper," Richard called from the drivers seat.
Damian grinned shyly under the gazes of Tim and Jason.
" She's got some interesting scars there, how'd that happen?" Tim asked curiously.
Damian shrugged, honestly not knowing.
" No clue, she didn't seem comfortable telling anyone, but she's cute in my opinion," Damian sighed longingly.
All three older brothers wolf whistled in unison.
" Dami has a crush, Dami has a crush," Jason sang in a sickly sweet yet annoying voice, Tim joining in eagerly.
Damian blushed deeply and mutinously crossed his arms and barked at them the rest of the way home.