A/N: This one-shot is in honor of Spring Break, baby!

Which is weird because it's about school. Huh, irony. Anyway, this was floating around in my head for a while and I got bored so here we are. I can't actually take credit for the story line, but I can't tell you where I got it either. It was from some vaguely remembered movie a teacher showed my class once, can't remember the title or anything, this scene just stuck with me for some reason.

Disclaimer: Well, when you can't even take credit for the story-line . . .

It was her first day, and she'd gotten there on time.

But that was all that had gone right so far.

Artemis had never really considered her luck good, but this was ridiculous. First off, getting there on time had been a miracle in and of itself, considering no matter how carefully she'd set her alarm clock the night before, the crappy old thing didn't even go off, thus, her waking up late.

Waking up late had make her rush through the rest of her routine, spilling orange juice on her new school uniform, tripping on the stairs and scraping her knee, while trying to make it to the bus on time, and finally realizing as she climbed on the bus that she had grabbed her backpack but her new books weren't in it. She sat down anyway, hoping she wouldn't need them yet or could look on with someone else. That is if any of the kids in her new snooty rich-kid school would give her the time of day.

So, she was already in a bad mood when she walked into the main office to get her class schedule and met what would turn out to be the brightest part of her day.

"Artemis Crock?"

She had just walked out of the office, class schedule in hand, when she turned to the new voice. She saw a boy, about a head shorter than her, jet black hair, blue eyes, and who really didn't look like he was old enough to be in High School. He was looking at her kind of funny.

"Um, yeah?" She responded. Oh, no, she thought to herself, don't be the perky-over-achieving welcoming committee.

The boy seemed to read her expression and smirked lazily, "Calm down. I'm not gonna throw confetti at you or anything. I'm Richard Grayson; I'm supposed to show you around." The name, and the boy's face, seemed vaguely familiar to her but she couldn't place it at the moment and decided not to try. She might be able to look up most of the students here, no problem.

He held out his hand for her to shake, which she found way too formal for a High School student. She took it anyway and said, "Oh, uh, that's cool, I guess. Thanks, then."

She was not usually this nervous. Stupid rich people's school.

Richard seemed amused at her stumbling, but graciously said nothing. Instead, he pointed to her class schedule, "May I?"

"Sure," she handed it to him, watching as he studied it. Then she remembered where they were, "Um, aren't we supposed to be in first period by now?"

He didn't look up from the paper but replied, "First period's homeroom, you have Mrs. Eller, same as me and she's giving us this period to let you get settled. Well, as settled as you can get in half an hour."

"So, I could have slept in this morning?" She said, only half-joking. Turned out the mad-dash to the bus wasn't entirely necessary.

Richard laughed and started walking down the hall, saying, "You have Calculus and gym with me, and free period," he stopped in crossway where three hallways and a staircase connected, "If you want to, you can meet me back here after your English class, which is upstairs," he flicked the paper towards the stairway and then handed it back to Artemis, "right next to the library."

"Think I might take you up on that," she said gratefully, this school was pretty big, four separate buildings. She followed him again as he walked a little way down the hall, "Where now . . ."

"Your locker," the boy stated and tapped on her designated, beige, uniform locker, one of many that lined the halls. They were a lot nicer and less dented than the ones at her old school.

Everything here was. No graffiti on the walls, the few teachers she'd seen walk by were dressed more professionally, the trophy case had just as many academic achievements as sports displayed (and didn't look like it had been looted too recently). In fact, she thought she saw Richard's picture in there, although she didn't see what for.

She sighed and looked at the lock and then at the combination the lady in the office had given her. She reached up, dialed the numbers in the correct combo and pulled. Nothing happened. She frowned and was about to try again, when Richard, who had been leaning on the locker beside hers, stopped her hand.

He held up a finger and she stepped back as he banged the locker twice on the very front near the lock with the side of his fist and they both watched it swing open.

"At least they look nice," he said quietly. Artemis smiled for the first time that day.

The rest of the half-hour they spent touring the school. He showed her the cafeteria ("Don't get excited, the food's still bad"), the gym (stocked with more workout equipment than possibly Mt. Justice), and as a bonus he told her all the best places to sit in her classes and what to expect from the teachers ("Sit in the back for Mr. Pullium he spits when he talks, and don't be afraid to raise your hand with Miss Brown, she gives points for discussion").

Finally, he walked her to her English class and said, "This is your stop."

"Thanks Richard," Artemis said.

"If you promise not to make a perverted joke about it, you can call me Dick," Dick said and turned to walk away, but stopped and looked at her, smirking, "And I'll let you borrow my notes."

"What do you . . ." but he disappeared in the crowd as the bell rang. Artemis looked at the door to her first class and sighed, "I'm in trouble."

Miss Brown, an older teacher who looked like she was probably living proof that dinosaurs once existed, eyed her critically, but not entirely unkindly, when Artemis walked up to her desk after class.

Artemis decided to start, "I was told to get some notes from you?" And when had she started forming statements as question? Get a grip woman. She actually thought she might like this class and Miss Brown, she didn't know why she was nervous still. Maybe it was because she kept catching the other kids glancing at her during class. She could practically here there thoughts (Charity case. Probably a delinquent. Did you hear where she came from?) and there was this one girl who didn't even have the decency to look away when Artemis caught her staring.

"Ah, yes," Miss Brown said, and started rummaging behind her desk, "Since it's the middle of the semester you've missed quite a bit. Here it is," she picked up and handed to Artemis what looked like a stack of encyclopedias shoved into a three-ring binder, "Now, you'll want to borrow a classmate's notes, they'd be much more detailed."

"More detailed?" Artemis asked. She could work-out with this much weight.

"Yes and your first paper is due in a weak. I apologize but you are a little behind, since you transferred late," Miss Brown paused when she looked up and saw Artemis staring wide-eyed at the binder in her hands, then she said brusquely, but still kindly, "Calm down, Miss Crock, we've done as much with less."

Artemis could only nod numbly and walk out to where she would meet Dick.

Free period was a God-send. And so was Richard. At least he let her complain without interrupting.

"– And don't even get me started on that Calc teacher! I could've rung his scrawny neck," Artemis ranted. She couldn't help it. Richard had asked how her first day had been so far, and (even though she figured he felt obligated to ask) it all just spilled out.

She finally stopped to take a breath and watch Richard sitting beside her on the wall outside the back of the school. Dick called it "the square"; she called it the palace grounds. There were a bunch of other kids around. She would have found it rather pretty, with its trimmed green grass and manicured gardens, if she wasn't in such a flustered state.

Dick only smiled apologetically at her and said, "Yeah, he hates everybody."

She sighed and decided to focus on something else for a while, and looked around, "Look Dick," she said after a second, "Thanks for everything and all, but you don't have to babysit me. You must want to go sit with some friends or something."

Dick shrugged and looked across the yard, "I don't mind. Besides, none of my friends go to this school." He didn't really sound depressed by that, though. Artemis knew she was bummed about leaving her friends at her old school.

"No one, really?" She asked, not meaning to sound rude, but there it was, "You must have some friends . . ." She waited but Dick only shrugged again.

"I'm in a couple of clubs and stuff," he said, "But the truth is I'm younger than most everyone else here. It's not very cool to be seen with me," He grinned at her and stood as the bell rang, bag over his shoulder, "Which means you might be in trouble."

"Pricilla's staring at you," Dick said, sitting on the bleacher beside her.

It was gym and they were playing volleyball, the whole class separated into four teams that would alternate out over the period. At least this was one thing Artemis could do without a hitch.

She had walked over to stand by Dick after dressing in without even thinking at the beginning of class. This seemed to surprise the little guy, especially when she smiled and greeted him in front of people. She didn't acknowledge it, but she did get a few weird looks.

Artemis looked behind her, where dick had just glanced, and she huffed, "That's the same girl from English. What's her problem?" Artemis watched the brunette green eyed girl. And just like back in class, she didn't immediately look away, but gave Artemis a raised eyebrow as if to say, I'm superior, deary, now what are you doing in my realm? Artemis looked away and back at Dick.

"She's a cheerleader," Dick said simply, "And you're a threat."

Artemis was a little taken aback by this, "A threat?" And Dick grinned at her again, as if getting a joke that she wasn't.

"You're the new shiny toy," he giggled.

"You know I can kick your scrawny butt, right?" Artemis deadpanned.

Dick only laughed harder, and she felt like she was missing something even more. Whatever.

Just then, Pricilla's team was swapped out to play the winner of the last round and Artemis caught a whiff of her very strong perfume as she walked past them, watching as a blonde girl giggled something in the brunette's ear.

Pricilla responded with a fake-whispered, "I think it's sweet that the charity cases found each other . . ." and Artemis knew Dick hadn't missed the remark either.

He shrugged at her and said simply, "Told you you'd be in trouble, I get that a lot," and then he changed the subject. She didn't ask Richard what they meant by "charity case" in referring to him, she wasn't one to pry and he obviously didn't want her to, but she sat there and fumed about it until their team was up.

Artemis was happy when her team got to play Pricilla's. She made sure to nail the little brat right in the head and make it look like an accident. Dick didn't quit laughing until the end of class.

When the last bell rang Artemis ran outside the front of the school, not even caring who saw, held her arms out to the afternoon sun, and practically shouted, "Hello, blessed sanity! I have missed you!"

She heard some very familiar cackling behind her and turned to see Richard, walking down the stairs towards her, "It wasn't that bad was it?"

The blonde sighed and readjusted her now extremely heavy backpack on her shoulders, "Not as bad as it could've been I suppose," she said truthfully. If she didn't think it would've been weird she might have hugged the slight boy in front of her. She figured she was stressed, though, and opted for ruffling his hair before saying goodbye, "I'll see you around then?"

He giggled again, and for the umpteenth time that day she felt like she was missing a joke, "Yeah, Artemis, see you around," and he walked (not to her surprised) over to a shiny town car, still grinning, as she walked to her bus stop.

When she got home, her mom asked her how her day had gone.

Artemis hesitated before answering. Swell, mom. The cheerleader's already hate me and I'll probably flunk out in the first semester, but guess what? I made a new friend! Okay, so it wasn't that bad but, that about summed it up.

Instead she said, "I need a new alarm clock."

A/N: Not sure how happy I am with this, but I've always been curious about being the new kid at school, since I went to the same one my whole high school career. And before you say anything, I know all cheerleaders are not like that, I just couldn't help the little cliché moment.

Plus, I've been craving a little Robin/Artemis (whether Artie knows it or not) bonding, though I'm not sure why.

Anyway, thanks for reading and please review!