The next day was eventful for a Sunday. We spent the entire afternoon shopping for school stuff, which almost killed me, I'll tell you that. We finished at around three, so we got something to eat, and went back to the apartment.

I had seen a basketball court not far from the house, so I decided to walk over there and play for a bit, to kill time before school tomorrow. I got changed into a pair of shorts and an old t-shirt, and grabbed my basketball. I shouted goodbye to my mother before walking toward the court.

I spent about ten minutes playing by myself before someone came along. It was a girl that looked about my age, with light brown hair and matching eyes, and was about five foot seven, so she towered over me.

She walked over to me, and smiled in a friendly way. "Hey, I'm April. Are you new here? I haven't seen you around before."

I bounced the ball a few more times before answering. "Yeah, I just moved here from Maine. And I'm Kida." I threw the ball toward her, April catching it with ease.

"Okay Kida, wanna play a round?" A competitive glint grew in her eyes. She reminded me of the Nike kids back at Camp.
I nodded, and we played for a while.

I lost. Badly. This girl was a pro, and it didn't help that I wasn't very good. But I was never that competitive, so I just laughed it off.

We talked for a while, and I found out that she went to the same school as me, and she's a sophomore too, which is good.

"Thank god," I breathed. "I only know one more person in the whole school, and he's not even in our year."

"Ooh, who is it? Is he cute?" I could tell she was boy-crazy, which was the exact opposite to me. It's not that I didn't like guys-trust me, I did- but I was completely clueless when it came to the male species, and I've been told this on many occasions by my friends.

"I'm, I guess? Not really my type, I think. His name is Tim Drake." Her eyes widened.

"You know one of the Wayne boys?!" She freaked out.

I furrowed my eyebrows. Why was she so happy about these brothers?
"Wayne? Well, he did mention he was adopted..." I muttered.

"I guess? Why, what's so special about them?" She looked at me as if I was crazy.
"The Wayne boys? The adopted sons of Bruce Wayne? Do you not know who that is?"

I shook my head.
"He's, like, the richest man in the world!" She flung her arms out to emphasize her point.

Wow, I guess that's why he didn't mention his parents...
"Cool. Do you wanna play another round now?" I didn't think it was a big deal, but she apparently did.

She shook her head at me again, and we continued to play.

———————————————————————————

When Monday rolled around, I was the most nervous I had ever been. I would rather have taken on Gaea myself than go to public school.

I got into a hoodie and jeans, and put my waist-length hair into two French braids. I went downstairs and ate my breakfast. School was within walking distance, so my mom could go straight to work in the hospital every morning.

I grabbed my bad and walked out the door.
The school was huge- a giant brick building with students milling around everywhere. A knot formed in my stomach, and I grabbed my backpack straps tighter, before walking into the school.

My locker was right by the entrance, so I found it pretty easily, and my schedule was inside. My first class was Geography, and I had to be there in twenty minutes, so I had some time to kill.

Suddenly, I felt a hand on either side of my shoulders. My instincts kicked in quick, and I elbowed the person behind me in the stomach, and turned to punch them, but they caught my hand, just as I realized who it was.

Tim stood there, chuckling, with my closed fist still in his hand. He released my fist, and raised an eyebrow.
"Well, you really pack a punch."

I laughed nervously, rubbing my arm. "Well, my friend taught me." Couldn't exactly say we were trained to fight for our lives in a summer camp for demigods, so I stuck to the most basic truth I could.

He nodded, dismissing my answer, and grabbed a student by his backpack. The boy was taller than Tim, standing at around six feet, which was impressive, as he looked around my age. He wasn't overly muscular, and he wasn't skinny either, he was a perfect mix of both, so he was lean, but with some underlying muscle.

He had the same black hair as Tim, but it was longer around the top, so his hair was quite fluffy. His eyes were a dazzling emerald green, that shocked me for a moment, leaving me speechless.
He stared down at me with a cold look, as if he was assessing me, then turned to Tim with a bored look.

"What do you want, Drake?" Tim shook his head, rolling his eyes at the mysterious boy, while turning back to me.

"Kida, this is Damian. He's a sophomore too." I looked at him. I stuck a hand out toward Damian, smiling brightly.

"Hi, I'm Kida Ligero." He raises an eyebrow, ignoring my hand, and turned almost fully away from me.

"Now, if that is all you pulled me away for, I'm gonna go to class now." He left without waiting for an answer.

Tim sighed, putting a hand on his forehead.
"I'm sorry, he's quite....difficult." He seemed to choose his words carefully.

I smiled at him, not letting Damian's rudeness effect me. "It's okay, it's not your fault. But I'm gonna get to class, I don't want to be late on my first day."
I waved goodbye to Tim and began on my way to Geography.

The classroom was on the first floor, and close to my locker, which helped my horrible memory.
I walked in, and was surprised that there was only one person in the room, even though there was only about five minutes left.
And good for me, the only person there was Damian, who rolled his eyes at my entrance.

I sat down at the desk to his right, which he scoffed at. He did his best to ignore me, even though I was boring holes into his face. He eventually groaned, turning towards me.

"Can you stop staring at me? It's insufferable." He glared at me with those beautiful eyes.

"Well, you refuse to talk to me, and have been nothing but rude, and I have done nothing to you to make you hate me, so what's your problem?" I crossed my arms, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't hate you, I just believe you aren't worth speaking to." He answered shortly, beginning to turn back towards the front, but I grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

"How would you know I'm not worth speaking to if you won't try?"

Our eyes locked, both of us challenging the other to make a decision. He shrugged my hand off him, but didn't turn away.

"I suppose you're right." He looked down, as if he didn't like admitting he was wrong.

"Great. So, you're Tim's brother, right?"

"Adopted brother." He grumbled. I laughed at his immaturity.
"Still a brother." I answered, him glaring at me once again. He seemed to like glaring at people.

"I would much rather not have Drake associated with myself in any form."

"Well," I shrugged. "It must be nice to have someone your age in the house. It's just me and my mom over at my place."

"How does someone like you know someone like Drake?" He interjected, raising a confused eyebrow.
"Whats that supposed to mean?" I tilted my head in confusion.

"Well, Tim is annoying, and fidgety, and awkward, and unfortunate-looking, and you're.... none of those things." He shuddered, as if even thinking about his brother annoyed him.

I blushed at him saying I wasn't unfortunate-looking, which I hoped meant that he thought I was pretty. I've never known if I was pretty or not; most people just say I look unusual, or strange, because of my white hair and golden eyes.

"Well, Tim doesn't seem like any of those things to me, but I've only known him for two days, so I'd rather not make a judgement so quickly. But he seems nice." He looked at me in disgust.

"It physically pains me that you think my brother is okay." I laughed, smiling while he stared in confusion at me.
"What?" I asked, feeling quite self-conscious.

"Everything about you seems... almost unnatural. Your laugh sounds like bells," I blushed at the compliment. Another perk of Apollo, anything musical usually sounds great.

"Your eyes are gold, and I can tell they aren't contacts. No contacts can show that color," I blushed even harder. I've never been good at taking compliments, but they didn't sound like he was complimenting me.
Damian sounded like he was just simply stating facts, but it still made me happy.

"And your hair, it's not dyed is it?" I shook my head, Damian nodding as if he knew that. He stared more intently right into my eyes, and it felt like he was staring into my soul.

"You're a very unusual person." He finished, shaking his head as if he couldn't fully read me, and that seemed to baffle him.

"I admit,, I was wrong in my initial judgement of you. You seem to be someone I could get along with quite well."

I smiled back at him.
"I'm glad, cause I really need a friend in this place, and I can't find April, so i guess you'll have to do."
I shrugged over-dramatically, and I could see he was trying to suppress a smile, which made me smile harder.

Everyone had taken their seats at this point, and some were giving me and Damian strange glances, as if they were all surprised Damian was actually having a civil conversation with a real person.
And given his demeanor, I can't say I'm shocked, but I am glad I could break through his wall.

The teacher began the rolecall, and that stopped Damian and I from speaking for the rest of the class.