Chapter Seven

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Except my version of Catgirl (Vanessa Edwards).

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I still couldn't believe that Selena was letting me attend Gotham Academy. And that she was letting me stay in her apartment still. It had been a week since I had taken Jason to the diner. I knew that he couldn't stay with Selena and I, and he went back to the streets of Gotham. But not without giving me a hug, which, at first, I didn't know what he was doing, because I had never had a hug in my life. Then he disappeared, just like that. I hadn't mentioned Jason at all since then, to Selena or anybody. Besides, I was probably never going to see him again. I had other things to worry about than a 10 year-old boy.

"So what you're saying is that I have to ride the subway every day to and from school," I repeated.

"Yep." Selena was feeding one of her cats yet again.

"Sorry, but I don't want to be riding a subway, in Gotham, with a rich kid outfit on. That's all I'm saying."

"You don't even know what the outfit looks like."

"It'll probably make me look rich, though. I'll attract unwanted attention from weirdos."

"Look. I provide you with all the basic necessities in life. That's it. I'm not your mom. Don't expect me to walk you to school, hand in hand, and blow you kisses as you walk up the steps to your classroom. If you want to go to school so bad, you'll have to do it yourself." With that said, she left the kitchen and went to her room. I proceeded to my room as well.

Yes, I had a room now. Selena was previously using it as a bedroom of sorts for her cats, with beds and everything else you needed for the stray cats around Gotham. With much poking and prodding, I finally persuaded her to let me have the room for myself. Now I had my own mattress -key word: mattress- and a closet that smelled of cat food. But hey, it was better than sleeping on the couch. Recently, I had gone shopping with the money Selena had given me. The closet was now semi-filled with jeans and T-shirts, a few pairs of shorts and jackets, and one pair of tennis shoes and flip-flops. No skirts or dresses. I absolutely hated them. They made me feel like I was helpless, not being able to defend myself.

Sitting on my mattress, I noticed the letter from Gotham Academy sitting on the floor. I picked it up and took out the multiple papers, lining them up in front of me. That was when I noticed that the deadline to pick up my uniform was in two days. I hurriedly got up, the paper still clutched in my hand, and threw on my tennis shoes and a jacket before proceeding outside. I eventually merged with the bustle of people on the sidewalk, heading to the store called Millie's Fashion & Clothing Store, like it said on the paper. It took me about three blocks to realize that I didn't even know where Millie's was, as there were no directions written on the sheet of paper. My eyes scanned the crowd in search of a good person to ask, and eventually found a redheaded girl with blue eyes that looked about my age. She was walking with a man in his late 40's, who I guessed was her father. And they were on the other side of the street. Midday was such a hectic time, and cars were zooming down the street. I didn't see a crosswalk anywhere, so I pushed through the crowd (ignoring a lot of grunts and complains from people) and ran across the street. A car screeched to a halt and honked as I ran in front of it.

"Hey! Watch it!" the driver yelled at me before driving off again.

"Watch it yourself," I muttered as I stepped onto the sidewalk and headed towards the two people. Eventually, I was walking next to them, and I tapped the girl on the shoulder. She was startled at first.

"Excuse me, but do you know where Millie's Fashion & Clothing Store is?" I asked. She hesitated before responding.

"Um, yeah. We're going there now." She tugged on her dad's sleeve and he looked over at me. He was wearing black frame glasses and had a thick mustache, and was kind of intimidating in a way. I was positive that I'd seen him before.

"I'm going to go pick up my Gotham Academy uniform." I held up the paper, showing it to the two. The girl looked at me skeptically.

"I've never seen you at the school," she stated.

"Well, I'm new this year. Going into ninth." Now I was regretting choosing to talk to this pair of people.

"Are you the scholarship person this year?" the man asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," I replied.

"Then why don't you come with us? We'll show you the ropes, since Barbara has been going to the school since seventh grade," he smiled at me. The girl, Barbara I guess, blushed.

"Daaad," she protested.

"She doesn't seem like she's going to rob us. C'mon, we're holding up traffic," her dad motioned to the people behind us. And just like that, we were off.

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When I walked into the store, I immediately knew that I didn't belong. The store was filled with rich-kid clothes, like $200 jeans and purses made out of real animal skin. No wonder the uniforms were sold here.

"Gotham Academy kids?" a plump woman in her late 30's asked as she bustled towards us.

"Yep. My daughter and her...friend." Barbara's dad hesitated when he said 'friend'.

"Come with me, girls," the woman said, smiling at us and beckoning for us to follow. We obeyed and followed her to the back of the store, where racks of uniforms were kept. She then proceeded to get measuring tape and measure our height, arm length, etc.

"So, I never caught your name..." Barbara said to me.

"Vanessa," I stated. There was no reason for me to give her my last name, so that was all I said.

"Sorry about how I acted earlier. You can never be too careful in Gotham, even with the police commissioner by your side." As soon as Barbara said the words 'police commissioner', I wanted to run out of there and hide. Instead, I tried to hide the urge and held up my arm for the saleswoman to measure.

"Your dad's the police commissioner?" I inquired, using every ounce of strength not to pass out. If he found out that my parents had been missing for as long as I can remember...

"Yep. Embarrassing, right?" I numbly nodded in response to Barbara. And as if I wasn't having an extremely difficult time already, the saleswoman pulled out our uniforms, all fitted and ready for us. They consisted of a white button-up shirt, navy blue jacket, black sweater-vest, maroon tie, and white socks with black shoes. I groaned inwardly when I saw the navy blue skirt.

"Is it mandatory for girls to wear skirts?" I asked the saleswoman, trying my best to be polite and resist the urge to set fire to the blue monstrosity.

"I'm afraid so. I get that question a lot, though," she laughed, making her short blonde hair bounce up and down. "You new at the school?"

"Uh, yeah. I guess that I'm the scholarship person this year," I replied.

"That's strange. There was already a girl in here saying that she received the Wayne Foundation Scholarship."

"Well, on the letter I got, it said that two people had been selected...is there usually only one per year?"

"Usually. Let's get both of you up to the register. I'll see if you're covered," she nodded to me and Barbara and I followed her up to the front desk. Barbara went first, and I tried to avoid her dad, which I now recognized as being James Gordon, head of police. Why had I been so stupid and so caught off-guard? Better yet: Why had I just trusted random people off the street? I made a mental note to never trust anyone ever again, just like I did when I was five, right after the orphanage told me why I didn't have any parents. If I ever met my parents, I don't think I would be able to trust them as long as they (and I) were alive. The saleswoman called me up to the register, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"So, let's look you up, sweetie," she said sweetly, typing something on a computer. My eye twitched when she called me 'sweetie'. "Well, looks like you weren't lying after all. Your uniform is all covered!" She picked up the uniform and put it in a plastic bag, like people use for tuxedos and wedding dresses and things like that. That told me that this was expensive. Then again, I was going to an expensive school. I stared at the navy blue skirt in disgust. Why did I ever want to do this?

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What up? I'm surprised that I'm uploading this, since I had to rewrite a 3-page paper and type it up and everything. I am mentally drained. -_-

Vote, comment, follow.

Oh, and in response to lanescape...

The bird in the title is NOT Jason Todd, because he doesn't become Robin until he's, like, 14 or so. In this, he's 11.

~~The Bat has left the room~~