Feel like a brand new person
So, how will I know that it's right?
In a new direction
So, how will I know I've gone too far?

Leora Lance walked with Dick Grayson into Gotham High School at eight in the morning. Classes weren't meant to start for another forty-five minutes, but with Leora being a new student and all, she needed to sign in at the front desk to get her class schedule as well as her locker code and a map of the school. Although the map would've been helpful, Leora had Dick with her to show her the way. That, and she was pretty good with directions anyway.

"You know, this won't be as bad as you think it'll be," Dick told Leora after noticing her uneasy face.

Leora ringed her hands together. "You haven't seen me around new people and at school before. It's horrifying."

Dick chuckled. "You were fine when we first met."

Leora turned and rose an eyebrow up at him. "We were, like, twelve when we met. I didn't give two shits about what I said to you and whether or not you cared."

He grinned. "Well then just do the same here. Don't care about what others may think of you and just be yourself. You're amazing, everyone will love you."

Leora smiled lightly. "Thanks, Dick."

The first few lessons in the day were alright. Leora only had history, physical education and mathematics, to which she was great at all of them. She always found history interesting to learn about, what the whole world had been through before she was born into it. Sports was a given, the constant training Leora underwent to become the Green Starling kept her fit. Although her mother, Laurel, had given her strict instructions not to show off in class so that none of the students would figure out that she was a vigilante. And maths was never a problem. Leora's brain was quick to add things together and figure equations out. Her grandfather had always told her, before he passed away, that she would be an amazing professor if not then a paramedic or someone who helped people in other ways than being a vigilante.

After maths, Dick met up with Leora at her locker where they headed towards the cafeteria and picked up their trays of food. Dick headed towards a table with a group of people sitting around it and Leora followed uneasily behind him. "Hey guys," Dick piped up before placing his tray onto the table.

The girls on the table instantly perked up and gave him various types of greetings, most of them batting their eyelashes and puckering their lips slightly. The guys all grinned at him. "Dick, hey man," a dark haired guy spoke.

One of the girls finally noticed Leora standing behind Dick and rose an eyebrow as she pointed at her. "Who's this?" The brunette spoke.

Dick stepped to the side so that they could have a proper view of Leora, who shuffled awkwardly on her feet. "This is a friend of mine, Leora. She just moved here from Star City."

One of the guys rose their eyebrows. "Why would you move to a shit hole like Gotham?

"Mom got a job relocation," Leora replied instantly, looking at everyone on the table.

"So, Leora, this is Tyler, James, Bec, Chloe and Clarissa," Dick told her, going around the table and gesturing at everyone.

"Hi, it's so nice to meet you," the blonde girl, Clarissa, said with a smile.

"You're so gorgeous, I love your hair!" Bec, a brunette said with another smile on her lips.

Leora smiled lightly. "Thank you."

Dick nudged Leora softly with a smile. "See, I told you," he whispered.

Dick sat down next to Tyler and began to mess around with him and James, while Leora placed her tray down onto the table next to Clarissa, sitting opposite of Bec and Chloe.

The girls all looked at Leora as if inspecting her, but Leora knew that they were all judging how she looked. "How do you know Dicky?" Bec asked. Leora could tell instantly that she was the one in charge of the girls.

"Bruce and my mom are friends, I guess. So we've known each other for a while," Leora responded.

"Does that, like, make your family rich or something?" Chloe asked while twirling a strand of black hair around her finger.

Leora shook her head lightly. "No, we're not."

Clarissa let out a sigh as she looked away from Leora. "That's unfortunate," she said. "Don't get why you guys are friends then."

"Probably got forced into it," Chloe said.

"He probably just feels bad for you," Bec added with a light shrug of her shoulders.

Leora looked down at the plate of food in front of her and rolled the red apple around in her hands. "Yeah, maybe," she mumbled.

Bec clasped her hands together with a smile. "So, I think we should have a sleepover. We haven't had one in ages."

Clarissa gasped. "Oh, my god, Bec. That's an amazing idea!"

"We can raid my dads alcohol cabinet and totally have a movie night," Chloe said with a grin. "It'll be great."

"I can't wait! Friday night?" Clarissa asked.

"Friday's great."

"And in case you haven't put it together in that blonde head of yours, Leora," Bec began with a condescending smile. "You're not invited. You're not our friend and you never will be. And call me Rebecca. Only my friends can call me Bec."

Leora's mouth opened and closed before she gave her a small nod and the three girls turned their back to her and began to converse with each other. Leora watched them with an apple in her hand and would occasionally glance to her side and watch as Dick would grin and shove Tyler and James around as they all had a big laugh. She wished she was talking to them instead of the girls, but then again, she wasn't really talking to anyone. The bell went soon after and Leora grabbed her tray that was still full of food and walked towards the bin to throw everything away before placing the tray on top. Dick was quick to catch up with her and he jogged to step beside her.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Dick asked with a grin.

Leora looked up at him and at how happy he seemed to be that Leora was talking and conversing with his school friends. He always wanted his best friend to mingle with his other school friends, to bring his two worlds together. Leora could see it in his chocolate brown eyes, so she smiled back at him. "It was great. Your friends are really nice," she lied smoothly.

"Yeah, they've been with me since I first started here. Stuck by me," Dick told her.

Leora frowned at that. "Have they mentioned anything about how Bruce adopted you?"

"Yeah a few times," he replied. "They've asked to stay over and throw parties at the manor also, but Bruce would go nuts if I ever did that so I've had to turn those down."

Leora nodded. "Right."

"Did you....ah....Did you like Bec?" Dick asked uneasily, scratching the back of his neck.

Leora rose an eyebrow. "Why?"

Dick's cheeks began to tint a light pink. "Well, I'm sorta sleeping with her."

Leora frowned. "She's your girlfriend?"

"I wouldn't say girlfriend," he said. "Friends with benefits more like it."

"Cute," Leora commented lightly.

"Okay, so you have your study lesson now whereas I have maths. I'll show you where the library is and then I'm going to go neck myself," Dick said with a fake smile.

Leora chuckled softly. "You know I'll help you later with it."

"I know, I know. Doesn't make the class any better though." They walked down a few more corridors until they reached a large library with an assortment of books. There were also a dozen or so tables with chairs on them around the room with computers on the sides. Dick walked into the room with her. "So, here it is," he said and gestured to the room. He then pointed towards the shelves with books on them. "I know you're into your fantasy books which is down isle five. It's really the only isle I pay attention to. But if you need help finding any specific book for class, just ask Ms Jefferson at the counter. She knows."

Leora turned to look at him at that. "You know where the fantasy books are?"

Dick shrugged. "Well, yeah, they're your favourite," he responded, as if it didn't mean the world to Leora. "I've read a few of them before instead of studying because that's boring. 'American Gods' has been my favourite so far which I think you've read?"

Leora smiled softly. "Yeah, I have."

"And I'm currently reading the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' book series," he said. "I'm up to the second one which is pretty awesome, although the writer hasn't finished writing the whole series yet."

Leora stared at Dick with a large smile. She could feel her heart swell at his words as he just casually looked around the room. His casual words and the fact that he paid attention to Leora's interests made her feel like she was on cloud nine, and it made her feel loved and cared for. It made her feel known to which hardly anyone gives her that feeling.

"I haven't started reading that series yet," she told him.

Dick turned to look at Leora with his eyes wide. "Really?" He exclaimed. He smiled as he began to go into detail about the series. "Oh, well it's about a war amongst several families for control of Westeros, and there's this supernatural threat killing them off. They're all basically trying to ascend the Iron Throne. It's great, really. I'm rooting for Daenerys Targaryen. She's awesome. She reminds me of you in a way."

"How so?"

"Well, she's badass and brave. Everyone loves her and looks up to her," he told her. "I won't spoil too much for you because I want you to read it, but I feel like you'll love her."

Leora smiled lightly and nodded. "I'll look into it."

The bell then rang and Dick groaned. "Fuck, I'm going to be late. I'll just tell Ms Jones that Bruce will slide her a check if she doesn't give me a detention."

Leora scoffed. "Cause Bruce will actually do that."

Dick grinned. "He might if you ask him." The two laughed together, because they both knew he was right. "See you later."

Leora waved as Dick jogged out of the library before she turned back around. The room was large, and she knew she already had a bit of homework to do and not a lot of time to do it during the night so she made her way over to the only semi-vacant table. There was a guy with brunette hair sitting on it. His hair was a mop on his head, seemingly being in the way of his face as it fell in front of it.

Leora stopped in front of the chair and looked at him. "Mind if I sit here?"

She seemed to startle to boy, who jumped at her voice. He stared at her for a short while before scrambling to slide his books to the side. "S-Sure. Go ahead." Leora thanked him and sat down across from him. She instantly pulled out her maths textbook from her bag and her maths book to begin her homework. There was silence at the table and in the room for a short while, but Leora could feel the boy's stare burning a hole in her head. "Why are you sitting here?" He eventually asked.

That question threw Leora off guard. And with the way Dick's friends talked to her before, her face immediately turned red as she thought he'd tell her to leave him alone. "Oh, um, do you...do you want me to move?" She asked.

"No! No," he responded quickly. "It was just...people don't usually sit with me."

"Oh," Leora said softly, relaxing back into the chair. She watched him for a bit while he fiddled around with his pen. "Why's that?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I don't really have friends."

Leora smiled softly. "If it makes you feel better, I don't really have any friends as well."

He frowned. "I saw you walk in with Grayson though. Surely you must have a large group of friends if you're with him."

Leora frowned. "What does that mean?"

"He's popular. Only the popular people hang around him."

Leora chuckled lightly at that. 'That's why he has a big ego,' she thought to herself. "I take it it's because of who adopted him?"

He nodded. "Yeah, people here like rich people."

Leora scoffed. "Sounds stupid."

"I agree."

Leora nodded towards him. "Well, what's your name?"

"Jacque. You?"

"I'm Leora," she said. "And Dick and I have been friends for years, we didn't only just meet."

Jacque's pale cheeks tinted pink. "Oh, then I'm sorry for talking about him like that."

Leora shrugged. "I don't mind. I've met his friends and they're pretty shit."

"Tell me about it. I've known them all since kindergarten," he told her. "They're all using him for his status and money."

Leora frowned. "I don't think he knows that."

"If he does, then he doesn't care."

Leora looked down at Jacque's many folders in front of him. They were covered in stickers, a wide variety of them being superhero logos or cartoon characters. She found her mother's logo stuck on the cover, even her own which almost made Leora laugh. Leora's logo was an ugly green colour with an eight pointed star in the middle. She definitely preferred Robin's yellow 'R'. "Do you wanna come over to mine after school and play PlayStation with me?" Leora asked out of nowhere.

That question also took Jacque by surprised as he stared at her with wide eyes. "Really?"

Leora shrugged. "Yeah, why not. I'll let you catch a ride with me."

He blinked a few times and nodded. "S-sure. I don't think my dad will mind. He works late at Arkham Asylum."

Leora rose her eyebrows. "Shit. What is he there? A guard or something?"

Jacque shook his head. "No, he's the head psychiatrist."

"That's crazy," Leora replied. "I could never picture myself working at that Asylum."

"Neither can I. The mere thought of that place terrifies me," Jacque said with a frown. "Especially with the stories dad tells me about some of his patients there."

"Didn't the Joker just get admitted there?" Leora asked, although she very much knew the answer.

"Yeah, he did. Dad's not working with him though. But I do feel like the place won't hold the Joker for long. Never has," Jacque said, then shook his head as he looked down. "You probably think I'm a creep now, knowing this much stuff about Batman's villains and this city's crazy people."

Leora smiled lightly. "I don't. I can tell which team you're on anyway." When Jacque frowned, Leora nodded her head over towards his folders with all of the superhero stickers covering it.

That brought a smile onto his face as he laughed softly at it. "Yeah, I'm a total geek."

"Oh, I can definitely tell." The two laughed and continued to do their homework.

It was like that for over an hour, Leora and Jacque doing their seperate homework while occasionally talking with one another. Their conversations were just over random things, like their interests and hobbies, family, even their childhood. Leora was taking a liking into Jacque, he seemed to be the only decent person she met that day. The bell for the end of school rang and the two stood up and gathered their things. When they turned to walk out, Leora bumped into Dick who quickly held her steady.

"Watch out there, or you'll bruise my chest," he joked, knowing full well the strength Leora had compared to him.

"Well, maybe if you weren't in my way all the time I wouldn't have to watch out," Leora joked back with a smile and then nodded. "Hey, Dick."

"Hey, Aurora." He then glanced at Jacque. "Why're you with Crane?"

Leora looked back at Jacque who awkwardly looked between the two; Dick was frowning at him and Leora was smiling politely at him. "I sat with him in the library."

Dick nodded. "Cool." There was a brief silence where no one said anything. Dick looked over towards Jacque and nodded. "You can go now."

Jacque quickly began to walk away but Leora grabbed onto his arm."Actually, I invited Jacque back to my apartment."

Dick frowned. "Wait, what?"

Leora smiled as she turned to Jacque. "Yeah, we're going to play on the PlayStation."

Dick rose an eyebrow. "Your mom won't like that."

Leora shrugged. "Well, she wants me to have the full high school experience and hanging out with school friends just happens to be one of them." At Dick's look, Leora sighed. "My mom isn't like Bruce, Dick. She'll let me."

Dick looked between Leora and Jacque and then held his head up. "Fine, then I'm coming over as well."

"Grayson, you coming over ours or what?" James yelled out from the entrance of the library where him and the rest of Dick's friends stood.

"Sounds like you already have plans."

Dick looked between Leora and Jacque again before letting out a huff. "I'll see you tonight then." He then turned around and walked back to his friend.

Jacque walked to stand beside Leora and frowned. "Is he always—"

"Moody as hell?" Leora finished for him. "Yeah, for as long as I've known him." She then nodded. "Come on, my ride will be here."

The two headed towards their lockers, which happened to be within close proximity of one another, before heading outside. There was a sleek black car parked out front with its windows tinted and a man standing out the front. He wore a formal suit and tie and opened the door as the two teenagers approached him.

"Hey, Alfred," Leora smiled as she stopped in front of the vehicle.

"Miss Lance," he smiled back. "Who's your friend?"

Leora looked back at Jacque whose forehead now had a thin coat of sweat on it and he began to rub his hands together. "I'm Jacque, sir. I met your daughter today at school."

Leora chuckled and Alfred smiled politely. "Jacque, Alfred isn't my dad. He's a family friend."

"I've known Miss Lance for over ten years," Alfred nodded.

Jacque's face turned red. "Oh"

"And Alfred, stop calling me Ms Lance," Leora said with a smile.

Alfred nodded. "I'm sorry, Leora. Must've just slipped my mind again." Leora slipped into the back of the vehicle and Jacque followed after her. Once the two teenagers were settled into the back with their bags placed on the floor in front of them and Alfred in the drivers seat, he started the vehicle and looked at Leora in the rearview mirror. "Are we going to your apartment or the manor?"

"Obviously my apartment. Bruce would freak if I took Jacque to the manor," Leora responded.

Alfred nodded. "Of course. Master Wayne does have a tendency to lash at unexpected guests."

Jacque frowned. "Wait, Wayne Manor? Do you work for Bruce Wayne?"

Alfred nodded as he began to drive away from the school. "I've been his carer since he was a boy, yes."

Jacque's jaw dropped as he turned to face Leora. "Woah. How close are you and Grayson?"

Leora gave him a sympathetic look. "Best friends. I'm sorry, I should've told you that earlier. I just wanted you to befriend me for me and not for who I was friends with."

Jacque shook his head. "It doesn't change my opinion on you, don't worry. You're the only girl at school who hasn't ignored my existence. Thank you for that."

Leora relaxed and smiled at him. "No problem."