Damian's P.O.V:

Sasha was staring in awe at the carnival rides and food stalls around her, her beautiful blue eyes wide and her pink lips parted into a huge smile.

"Oh my god, it's a fucking nacho stand," she gasped, extending one finger to the little food truck parked up ahead.

I couldnt stop myself from smiling at the way she looked at it in pure delight. It was almost weird seeing her behaving so childishly, what with her heavy past. Even if she was always joking around and trying to lighten the mood, she was never really this immature.

Well, maybe that was a lie.

"Can we get some? Please? I'll pay you back I promise," she begged, gripping my shoulders aggressively.

I glared back at her. "First of all, I'm the son of a billionaire, not you. Therefore I'm paying and that's final."

Her smile grew even wider at that as she jumped up and down.

"Second of all, stop shaking me before I hurt you," I added. She rolled her eyes at my words but still smiled nonetheless, pulling her hands away from me.

We neared the nacho stand and eventually reached the front of the line. Sasha stared at the menu planted onto the side of the little van, her eyes skimming the options.

"Can I please get the extra spicy extra cheesy chilli beef nachos?" She beamed at the old hispanic man standing behind the sill.

He grinned back at her and said, "That will be $14."

I handed him the cash immediately and then guided Sasha over to a nearby bench so we could sit.

"This place is so cool. Everyone is so nice and civilised and happy. It's weird for Gotham," she told me, glancing eagerly around the pier at the hundreds of civilians surrounding us.

Then she turned back to me, cheeks turning slightly pink. "Thanks for taking me here, you know. I thought you didn't like carnivals."

I offered her a small shrug, trying my best to appear nonchalant. I wasn't a fan of bright and colorful things like this, but I knew that was just because that was how I'd been raised. "I could learn to like them," I replied.

For you, a small voice in the back of my mind added.

She playfully nudged my shoulder at that. "Look at you being all open-minded."

I was saved from my embarrassment by the food truck owner calling out Sasha's name. She jumped to her feet instantly and practically sprinted toward him, thanking him for the nachos and wishing him a nice day.

"Want some?" She offered me, scooping up guacamole onto a corn chip and biting down on it.

I smirked at her and shook my head. "I'm alright."

She just laughed at that and continued to stuff the food into her mouth. "Good, cause I didn't really wanna share anyway."

After she'd eaten, Sasha made it her mission to drag me to every possible game stall. She wanted to win as many prizes as possible, giving that she had "awesome ninja abilities" that would grant her an easy win.

Her words, not mine.

One of the stalls consisted of an array of stuffed toy prizes that hung up on display. Sasha let out a shriek as she stared at them, drawing a puzzled and slightly concerned look from me.

"Oh my god, look," she pointed toward the display. My eyes followed her finger to the huge stuffed Robin hanging above the stall. "I want that one."

It looked nothing like me, I noticed, the head far too big for its body and the costume much brighter and lacking the exact details of my actual suit.

"Seriously?" I scoffed, glancing at her through the corner of my eye.

She nodded back eagerly. "Come on, this will be fun!"

The game included a ring toss challenge, where Sasha was meant to get at least three of the metal hoops around the wooden poles. The worker handed her the rings and she took a step back, eyes narrowing with focus.

Three seconds later, each hoop had landed perfectly around the poles. I smiled in amusement as Sasha jumped up and down in celebration. The worker looked a little surprised, but went to give her her prize anyway.

"I want that sexy looking Robin toy," she told him, sneaking me a cheeky glance. I rolled my eyes at her word choice, turning my face away so she wouldn't see the blush I was trying to hide.

He handed it to her and she thanked him, dragging me back down the pier to the next game. A rather bright and irritating looking thing stood before me. It was a hugely lit-up sign reading "High Striker: How strong are you?" in neon letters, with a measuring meter below it a and a giant hammer perched on a pedestal.

There was a buff looking man standing beside it in carnival workers uniform, watching with disappointment as little children and ordinary citizens took turns to slam the hammer down on the pedestal. The meter lit up each time it was hit, usually not even making it half way up.

Weak, I internally scoffed.

The man obviously agreed with me, judging by the look on his face.

We reached the front of the line and he glanced at us, mouth stretching into a yawn as he held his hand out and I slapped down some dollar bills. I waited for Sasha to pick up the hammer and impress him, but she just turned to me expectantly and smiled.

"What?" I questioned.

She rolled her eyes and grabbed the hammer, shoving it into my hands. "I can't be having all the fun, can I? Show me what you've got."

I stared at the fake wooden weapon in my hand, surprised. "You want me to do this?"

She nodded happily, blonde hair bouncing on her shoulders as her head bobbed.

With a heavy sigh, I reluctantly turned to the huge light up meter, taking in its size and potential weight. The pedestal with the glowing red buzzer appeared to be a fairly easy target to hit. It seemed that this game was purely just a pointless show of strength and nothing more. There was no real trick to it, no need for me to analyse it or figure out a particular strategy.

"This is stupid," I muttered to Sasha, but she just shoved me encouragingly.

The man was eyeing me dully, thick arms crossed over his chest as he waited for me to make a move. "Listen, kid, there's a line waiting. Are you gonna hit the thing or not?" He grunted.

This irritated me, and caused my eyes to narrow and my jaw to clench. He had triggered my supposed "anger issues", as the school therapist always liked to tell me, with his challenging demeanour.

I never liked it when people challenged me. I couldn't back down to them when they did. It wasn't in my blood. I had to prove to him that I was better.

So naturally, I tested the weight of the wooden hammer in my hands, noting that it was hardly even heavy for someone as highly trained as me. I lifted it above my head with great ease and brought it down swiftly against the red buzzer, watching as the hammer smashed against it with a loud crack.

The meter lit up with yellow light, soaring up the full length of it until it reached the very top of the sign and a loud bell rung out with a repetitive ding ding ding.

The people in the line behind me cheered in a mixture of awe and amazement, but I didn't care. What I did care about was the completely baffled look I was receiving from the worker, who's arms had dropped to his side as he stared at the light-up sign that was flashing with the words "new record!"

Sasha's jaw hung open and she laughed, clapping her hands together gleefully. I just smirked at the man, tossing the hammer down at his feet as we walked away, watching him continue to gaze at both me and the sign, muttering "How the fuck...."

Sasha pulled me across the pier, still giggling and shaking her head in disbelief. "I'm so fucking happy I made you do that," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear in an undeniably attractive way. "That was the best thing I've ever seen. The look on that guys face was priceless!"

I smiled at that, enjoying the thought of his surprised expression. "He had it coming," I replied simply, though on the inside I was buzzing with pride.

It was at that moment that we both stopped walking, our eyes immediately landing on the huge ferris wheel before us. It was a good 200 feet tall, with sleek white boxes accompanied by tinted windows being carted up high into the sky.

I glanced at Sasha. She was looking up at it in awe, her lips slightly parted. I took in her full appearance then, the short yellow dress she wore that perfectly represented her personality. Over that she had a simple white cardigan and a gold chain necklace. Her long hair was pulled back into a low bun, those loose whispy strands always hanging around her face. I saw that she had on the tiniest bit of makeup, too. It was evident on her lashes, making them appear a little longer and darker.

She didn't even need it, if I was being honest. She was attractive enough on her own.

"Come on," I said, taking her hand in mine and drawing her attention back to reality. I pulled her toward the line up for the huge ride, noting the smile that lit up her face.

About ten minutes later we were climbing into the carriage as a worker explained the rules of dos and donts. Shortly after we were locked in, the ferris wheel began to move, and we were lifted slowly off the ground.

"Holy shit," Sasha exclaimed, pressing her face against the glass and staring at the people down below. "This is so weird and so cool and so scary."

I leaned back in the seat of my side of the carriage, while Sasha sat on her side. I just watched her in amusement, enjoying the excitement she was getting from all of this.

She glanced at me, flashing those perfectly straight white teeth of hers in a smile. "You reckon they'll stop it when we get to the top?"

I nodded back. "They usually do."

Especially with the operator being an old friend of Bruce's, I smiled quietly to myself. But I didn't tell Sasha that.

The wheel continued to lift us and higher and higher as Sasha grew more nervously excited. She had her hands gripping at the seat on either side of her legs, nervous laughter escaping her lisp. "This thing is so shaky. Don't you think it's shaky? Is that just me? Cause I swear it keeps moving even though we're staying perfectly still and we have it balanced out and I shouldn't be be freaking out this much because I was once forced to climb a fucking mountain without any gear so I don't know why I'm so nerv—"

The wheel jolted to a stop, our carriage now at the very top of the ride at a height of 200 feet, looking over the city. Sasha practically screamed as the carriage swayed back and forth slightly, her hands clawing at the walls around her with anxiousness.

"Relax," I told her, my voice calm. She looked at me with widened eyes, laughing nervously again, her knuckles turning white. "Um, what are you even talking about? I'm totally fine! You relax."

I just shook my head at her rambling, staring out at the view below us. It was quite nice, actually, seeing gotham from this point of view. I only ever saw it from the building tops. This was an interesting change of scenery.

The small speaker in the ceiling of the carriage that was playing quiet music suddenly stopped, the mindless pop song that it had previously been streaming changing to something else.

Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley began to play now, the slow tune flowing through the carriage as Sasha glanced up at it with a surprised arch of an eyebrow.

Fucking operator. He knew what he was doing.

"Hey, I love this song," Sasha said, blue eyes meeting mine. "Wise men say..." she began to sing, placing a hand to her heart dramatically as if she were a performer. She chuckled softly at her own silliness.

I could only stare at her, finding myself unable to look away. There was something about Sasha that seemed to consume all of my attention. Almost like she was enchanting me, drawing me into a trance.

"Take my hand..." the speaker sung, both our gazes drifting to it. "Take my whole life too..."

I wasn't exactly a music type of guy, but I had to admit, I enjoyed pieces like these. When I'd been at the League I'd been taught mostly about classical music, artists like Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and others alike.

However, since moving in with Bruce I'd been introduced to newer things, and although a lot of them made me lose all faith in society at the realization that we were slowly becoming more simple-minded every day, there were a couple exceptions that I thought weren't too bad.

This song being one them.

"But I can't help, falling in love with you," Sasha sung along quietly, peering out at the glowing city landscape, a small smile gracing her lips.

I noticed the way she squeezed the Robin toy slightly at that moment, and it was such a small motion that for a second I thought I'd imagined it.

But no, Sasha was glancing at me now, hugging the toy to her chest and offering me a shy smile.

This girl, I couldn't help but think to myself as I stared blankly back at her. This girl is going to drive me crazy.

And for some reason I was okay with that.

————————

Gotham Academy

Two days later

Sasha's P.O.V

I was fumbling with the lock on my locker, attempting to dial the numbers in the right pattern but failing, when some one came up behind me and sent a playful punch to my shoulder.

I spun, startled, only to be met with a laughing Conner, dressed head to toe in the Gotham Academy uniform.

"Conner!" I practically screamed, playfully shoving him back. We ended up in a continuous play-fight, wrestling each other and laughing, just like back at Midnight.

We eventually stopped when he slammed me up against the lockers and I let out a breathless, "Okay, okay, you win!"

He let go of me, face split into a huge grin. He looked really good in his white school shirt and black dress pants, his sleeves rolled up to the elbows and his tie loose.

"How long have you been here?" I asked him, moving back to my locker and attempting to dial the code again. It finally managed to click open and I began to put away my textbooks.

"Three days," Conner told me, leaning against the locker beside me. "You'll never guess how many friends I made. There's this kid, Drake something. I forgot his last name. Anyway, he invited me to sit with him and his huge group. All the guys love me there," he smiled smugly, placing a hand to his chest. "But then again, who wouldn't?"

My hand froze mid-grab, my book frozen in the space between my locker and me.

Drake? As in Drake Henderson?

He's back at school?!

Drake had had a good few weeks off after Damian pretty much rearranged his face. Everything had been fine since he'd left, I'd managed to heal from that traumatic little incident in peace.

But now he was back...? And Conner was friends with him?

"Hey, what's wrong?" Conner frowned, noticing my petrified expression. I blinked, shaking my head and forcing a weak smile onto my face. "Oh, nothing, that's great," I muttered. "That's really great."

Conner continued to stare at me in confusion as I finished collecting my books and slammed my locker shut.

"You sure?" He queried, following me down the hallway.

I gave him a fake smile again, trying my best to appear supportive. "Yeah, I'm sure. I'm really happy for you Conner."

He just smiled back at me and gave my shoulder a squeeze. "Thanks, Sasha. Means a lot."

As if on cue, a group of boys made their way down the corridors, hooting and hollering when they saw Conner. "Dude!" One of them yelled, running up to him and giving him one of those bro-hugs that I could never understand.

Conner laughed and cheered back at them all. I could only watch in surprise at how easily he'd managed to make friends with all these boys. And they were the popular kids, too, the jocks and the class clowns.

"This guy has a mean throw," the boy told the rest of the guys, slapping Conner on the back. He leaned in closer to him and said, "You should try out for quarterback next semester."

Conner just shoved him away with a laugh and shook his head humbly. "Shut up, Jackson, you're just saying that."

The guys continued to laugh and chat about sports-related topics that I couldn't relate to. I was about to leave when one of them, Hamish from my Science class, nodded to me and said, "Sasha, how do you know Santiago here?"

I glanced at Conner, who smiled back at me knowingly. If only you knew, I wanted to reply, but instead I said, "We're old friends."

Hamish said, "You should come sit with us today," and then slung an arm around my shoulders and said, "And bring that Rebecca girl."

His friends started to punch him and ruffle his hair at those words, yelling about how he thought Rebecca was hot and how he wanted to get with her.

I could only laugh at this secret admirer of hers. "Sure," I replied, for Rebecca's sake, and he punched a fist into the air, earning more laughs from the rest of the guys.

But as they all made their way back down the corridor with Conner in tow, I stood there by myself and realized what I'd just gotten myself into.

Drake would be there. Drake Henderson would be at that table in the center of the cafeteria where the jocks and popular kids sat.

What have I done?

yo so we technically just had our first Dasha date back there what did u think?

and also i just realized that i write at least 3000 words for each chapter now so 3000 times 41 chapters equals 123 000 words all together. holy shitttt!