Surprising Life: Routines
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans
A/N: OK, so obviously, I'm not American, but seeing as the majority of people on FanFiction are American, I'm trying to situate it in America. So bear with me if my facts are wrong. I'm only a British Born Chinese after all. Oh and the telephone number? Made it up, so not my fault if it is ACTUALLY a phone number...
On one side of the corridor, a group of girls were flirting with Wally West, the most popular jock in all of Jump City High. His red hair was styled fashionably and his blue eyes beamed. He wore his usual kit; dark blue jeans, plain white t-shirt to show off his chest and a loose red jacket on top. On the other side of the corridor stood Jennifer Hex, an outcast in the social jungle because she was new. She had long lilac hair, always tied into a ponytail and her pink, cat-like eyes watched you from underneath naturally long black lashes. She was wearing a purple jumper and hip hugging jeans paired with a pair of black converse; she may have been a social outcast, but she knew her fashion.
"Oh, Wally!" shrilled a rather high voice. Jennifer and Wally both shivered at the voice; it was Rita, the queen bee of the girls. She was one of those people that you hated, yet worshipped at the same time. Her dress sense was described as 'slutty' and it was obvious why; at the moment, she was wearing a skirt that could have been mistaken for a belt and a top that was extremely low. She wore her peroxide blonde hair up and her face was caked with make-up. Yet, so many people wanted to be just like her. Jennifer tutted at that thought and continued getting her books out. The group of girls that had previously been chatting with Wally were long gone and Rita advanced onto Wally, standing so close to him that their faces were merely millimetres away.
"Wally! You look so handsome today!" complimented Rita, over-exaggerating every single word.
"Umm, thanks?" replied Wally, trying to think up any excuse to escape from Rita's company. Jennifer closed her locker door, not wanting to find out what Rita wanted to do to Wally, but at that moment, one of Rita's croonies stuck her leg out and Jennifer tripped, dropping her books. Rita cackled as Jennifer picked up her sheets and books, embarassed at the spectacle. Just then, the bell rang for lessons and Rita smiled.
"See you later, Wally," she said in a sickly sweet voice. As soon as Jennifer was sure that Rita and her group were out of hearing distance, she grumbled under her breath.
"Stupid whore," she mumbled. She reached for her last sheet, her english literature poem, but was surprised as she saw another hand picking it up. She stood up and looked at the mysterious stranger. There stood Wally West, reading her poem.
"Give me that!" she screamed, snatching the paper out of his hand and shoving it into her folder.
"Ow!" he exclaimed, sucking the paper cut on his finger. Jennifer lifted her head and pouted slightly.
"Well, that will teach you for being so nosy," she replied, walking off to her next lesson. He watched her. What he was watching, he wasn't sure, but there was something about her that was different.
"Who is she?" he whispered, walking off into the opposite direction.
The end of school finally arrived and Jennifer walked down the steps, sighing. Going home meant having to be alone; her mum had left when she was very young and her alcoholic dad was always somewhere else, supposedly at work, but Jennifer always knew he sneaked down to the pub. Arriving home, she turned on all the lights, not surprised by the scene before her; empty cans of beer everywhere. She started cleaning it up, opening the door. Taking all of them into her arms, she struggled to put them into the recycling box. A few of them dropped and she felt her cheeks blush as they scattered everywhere. As quickly as she could, she picked them all up, trying not to let anyone else see what a disgrace her family was. There was only one more left and it was rolling into the middle of the pavement. However, before she could reach it, she bumped into someone and dropped all of her cans...again.
"Sorry..." she began, but stopped when she saw who it was; Wally West.
"HEY! Watch where you're going! Now I have to pick all those cans up again!" she screamed at him, collecting the cans before they would roll into the middle of the road and cause an accident.
"What? Why did you stop apologising? You bumped into me!" replied Wally, picking up a can. He read the label and frowned at it; why were there so many beer cans?
"Hey, I hope you don't mind me asking, but why DO you have so many beer cans?" Jennifer felt herself getting a bit angry; she hated it when people asked her questions about her family and judged them.
"Actually, I do mind, so just put the stupid can in the recycling bin and leave," ordered Jennifer, dumping the rubbish into the box, making a clamatic sound.
"You want me to leave already? I don't even have your name!" he asked, calmly. Jennifer silently cursed him under her breath and tried to snatch the can away from him. She missed and grew even angrier. He laughed at the sight of her; her pale skin bringing on a redish hint and the sound of her voice cursing him quietly.
"GIVE IT TO ME!" she exclaimed, so loudly that the people walking past gave her a weird look. She laughed, unassuringly and gave Wally the most evil look she could.
"Give it to me," she said, through clenched teeth.
"Not until I know your name," he replied, dangling the can in the air. Jennifer growled and put her face into her hands.
"What difference does it make?!" she asked, jumping for the object being dangled above her, like a dog wanting a bone.
"Because you're different to all the othe girls I know. You're short-tempered, impatient, arrogant..." began Wally, being cut off by Jennifer tackling him. Eventually, she got the can off of him and dumped it into the box, beaming as if she had just scored the winning goal.
"Why'd you push me?!" he complained, even though it sounded like he was teasing her. She smirked and turned around to face him.
"Because you weren't exactly complimenting me, were you?" she replied, her smirk disappearing sllightly.
"It is a compliment! All the other girls I know are all fake and plastic, but you...You're different and that's why I wanna get to know you," he said, still lying on the slightly damp floor of grass, surronded by bright flowers. Jennifer pondered, not sure whether or not he was being serious.
"But why? Why do you want to know the social outcast, when you could know and have the most popular girl in the school?" she asked, taking a seat on the warm, but wet grass next to him. She watched as his eyes looked upwards, not wanting to look into those mesmerising eyes of hers.
"I guess, there's just something about you that does that to me," he finally answered. Jennifer blushed, but only slightly, so it wasn't obvious. She opened her mouth, about to say something, but then she flinched. From the horizon, she could see her dad's car driving back. How did she know? How many other cars are bright green and have a missing license plate that's been replaced with the letters and numbers written on some carboard?
"Quick! Go! GO!" she commanded, pushing him up. She was just thankful that her house was at the end of the street.
"What? What's happening?" he asked, concerned. Why was she acting like this? What was she about to say? What was happening? He looked into her eyes for a brief moment, taking in the amount of pain, fear and sorrow in them. Something's not right. She's not going to be OK. She's...Suddenly, he felt her push him hard in the opposite direction, towards an alleyway, breaking his train of thought.
"I said, run!" she screamed, almost crying. Her dad was nearing now and she was getting scared. She didn't want Wally to get hurt; he was actually being nice to her. Her dad was overprotective and hated her having any social interaction with boys, which was extremely stupid, but also extremely true. She knew what her dad could do; it was done to her after all.
"RUN!" she screamed for the last time. Finally, Wally got the message. He took her hands into his and then left, running off as fast as he could, which, luckily, was very quick. Jennifer rushed indoors, closing the door behind her and running up to her room. She opened her hands and saw a white piece of paper in them. She read the message carefully.
'555-862-784. Call me for help'
"What's that there?" came a drunken voice, standing in the doorway. She turned her head around, already knowing who was standing there. Her dad leaned over the carpet in her room, his brown, greasy hair, messy in a bad way, not like Wally's messy, and his green eyes filled with darkness. Thank god I look nothing like him...she thought, trying to hide the paper.
"Is that a love letter?" She flinched again as he approached her. She watched as her dad slowly read the message, his face getting more creased.
"Call for help, huh?" His voice was unnaturally quiet and anyone else would have thought that he was being caring, but Jennifer knew better. She just had to wait for the shell to come off...
"Is this enough for you to call for help?!" He took his belt off swiftly and hit Jennifer on the face, leaving an obvious mark. He was being careless, leaving visible marks, but Jennifer didn't care. She said nothing, just taking the punishment. After two hours of abuse, he left her in her room, going downstairs to have a drink. Today had been a bad day and Jennifer had suffered a lot of hits. She wished it was the worst she had ever had, but it was in fact, only slightly bad. She looked into the mirror, eyeing the huge bruises on her face. She lifted her shirt and saw deep wounds from the studs on his belt. She turned around to see the whippings on her back. She glanced at her legs, all scratched from the belt as well. She rolled her trouser leg down and went to her bed, trying to sleep and as much as she wished for peace, she was only granted tears of sadness and pain instead.