Chapter 7

The next couple of days were used to settle Tarry into her new surroundings and preparing both teens for their first day of school. The latter being harder because Tarry seem to fit right in thanks to Alfred's amazingly good chocolate chip cookies and the fact that their Great Dane too had taken a liking to her. The real problem that both Bruce and Alfred had to face was trying to convince Damien that this whole notion of sending them to school wasn't some mundane punishment for almost getting himself killed a couple weeks ago due to his weekly visits into enemy territory. It wasn't too long before Bruce was looking upon the two teens neatly dressed in the Gotham Academy uniform, which was a white shirt, red tie, a navy blue blazer, and navy blue pants for boys and skirts for girls.

"I can't believe that father's sending us to some boring learning institution," Damien complained once they were in the black limo that Alfred usually drove to ensure the wards he was in charge of made it to every appointment they had on time.

"I assure you Master Damien your father is doing this for your own good and Lady Tarry's."

"TT, I doubt it, what do you think Tarry," Damien grumbled as he looked towards the girl seating next to him with her head up in the clouds as she stared at the moving scenery through her window.

"I dunno, never been to a school before, but I would take it over my life with the Joker any day," Tarry replied absent mindedly as she continued to gaze at the moving figures through her window. This caused Damien to fall silent for the rest of the drive to Gotham Academy as Tarry's mention of the Joker got him thinking about the episodes she has been having ever since he brought her back with him to the Manor. They started with her showing up at the door to his room in the middle of night in tears, but lately when he let her fall asleep with him she often awoke several times with screaming fits that would end in painful sobs until she fell asleep again. He wondered what could be so terrifying to a girl who fearlessly leaped in front of a bullet and managed to put up with two deranged clowns ever since she was born. Whatever it was Alfred and his father weren't too concerned about it as if it was a phase that she would get over as time progressed, he hoped they were right not only because he was worried about her, it was also the fact that her night terrors were seriously cutting into what little sleep he had and if he was going to have to wake-up at six every morning to get ready for school he was going to need every ounce of sleep he could get.

It wasn't long before the two teens found themselves staring at a brick building with children their age or close to their age surrounding the massive building with the words Gotham Academy engraved in the front of the school. As they stood in front of their limo a blond girl with a preppy attitude sprang at them out of nowhere catching both highly trained teens off guard. "Hey you must be the new students, I'm Emily Jacobs, your student lesion. I'm the one you can come to talk to if you have any questions. I'm all hears 8 hours of the day," the girl greeted with an annoyingly cheerful smile as she flicked her brunette bangs out of her eyes to reveal a pair of very warm and friendly set of hazel eyes.

"Damien Wayne, and what about the other 16 hours of the day?"

"Well we aren't in school then silly, unless you want to talk off school grounds that would be totally alright with me as well," Emily giggled as she gave Damien a friendly whack across the back. Somehow just by witnessing this girls behavior confirmed to him that he was so not going to make it through the day without killing someone most likely the ditzy girl standing in front of them. He thought as turned around hoping it wasn't too late to get back into the car and command Alfred to take them back home, but all he could see to his misfortune was the back of the limo as it sped away as if Alfred predicted this encounter with this girl was going to result in Damien demanding to be taken home.

"I'm Tarry Grayson," Tarry introduced before Damien grabbed her hand and led her into the crowd of kids around the school building in hopes they could lose the girl before her overly happy attitude started to really get on his nerves. "Shouldn't you have at least put up with her until she showed us to our first class?" Tarry asked as them moved with the crowd of kids into the school to get ready for class as the warning bell to get to first period sounded.

"Not unless you planned to get your new uniform dirty," Damien answered with a shrug as he found their lockers that had been conveniently placed beside each other thanks to his father's influence.

"Hey Damien long time no see," a boy with ginger hair greeted Damien followed by a boy with brunette hair as he opened his locker to stuff a few books that Alfred thought he might need just in case he wanted to review anything he had learned before since Alfred had taught him all the necessary information taught to grade nines two years ago.

"Well I've been busy."

"I can see that, so what are you doing here Mr. I'm-too-cool-for-school?" the boy with brunette hair asked as he leaned on a locker on the other side of Damien's.

"Father thought it would be a good learning experience to be around kids my age," Damien grumbled at how absurd his father's decision was.

"I didn't know you had friends," Tarry stated as she looked at the boys who were brave enough to talking to Damien on a familiar bases without getting their heads beaten off due to his normally prickly personality. Tarry's interjection caused both boys to look over Damien's shoulder to see a pretty medium sized lean girl with long flowing black hair that almost touched the ground and deep green eyes. Before Damien could say a word to the two boys in front of him the brunette quickly appeared leaning too close towards Tarry for Damien's liking.

"I'm Bart Allen and let me guess you're beautiful," Bart stated with one of his classic cheeky smiles that usually won over all the girls in the school, too bad Tarry wasn't like every other girl.

"Actually I'm-"

"Off limits," Damien interrupted as he pulled Tarry away from the two boys.

"What was that all about? I thought they were your friends," Tarry asked confused by Damien's reaction to his friend calling her beautiful actually she was confused about that as well after all no one has ever called her beautiful or any adjective of the sort.

"Does it really matter," Damien stated as he looked at the piece of paper Alfred had given him with both his and Tarry's schedule on as he tried to figure out where first period English was taking place while trying very hard to fight down the anger at the very notion that Tarry was able to attract other boys' attention that wasn't his. They wandered the hallways of the school aimlessly as the hallways became less congested over time signifying to both teens that they were seriously late by the time they stumbled upon a door that was labeled ninth grade Arts. Being the proud and self-important person Damien was, he opened the door and walked into the classroom as if he owned the place, which was partly true considering how much his father donated to the school every year.

"How dare you just waltz into class ten minutes late!" a woman in her early sixties with silvering black hair wearing a long black skirt and a white dress blouse, demanded with her back towards the two late students as her body slightly trembled in anger. She was the type of teacher that was strict and would die before she took nonsense from a student; the type that struck fear into the very fibers of all those who she taught. Both Tarry and Damien had witnessed way scarier atrocities than a ninth grade teacher, which made her anger have little effect on them than it did on the rest of the class that looked like they would wet themselves and they weren't even the ones in trouble.

"Just chill Lady we're here now we just got a little lost," Tarry explained causing Damien to inwardly face palm as he made a mental note to teach how Tarry to talk to teachers later as said teacher whipped around with fury firmly engrained in her face.

"Excuse me young lady that is no way to talk to someone older than you much rather your new English and home room teacher," the cranky lady chided as she glared daggers at Tarry who to her surprise returned the same jester tenfold. Tension hit the once peaceful class like electricity as the two entered into a glaring contest as if to determine who was really the dominate one in this situation.

With one look at the situation Damien knew he had to break it up before it became necessary for the school to have to look for a new teacher for them. All it took was a clearing of his voice to snap everyone's attention towards him, which instantly changed the cold atmosphere in the classroom as they realized who he was. "What's your name?" Damien demanded once all eyes were on him and he could see the kids and the teacher start to realize the true value of his presence in their classroom.

"M-m-mrs. Brett, I am Mrs. Brett," the teacher stuttered clearly regretting losing her temper in front of the boy whose father single handily funded the school and was probably the source of all the staff at the school's larger pay check, yeah this was one kid no teacher wanted to mess with.

"Well Mrs. Brett, we apologize for disrupting your class, but that gives you no right to be rude. My father funds this school in order for the kids of Gotham to find their true potential in society not for teachers to be little their students especially a couple of new students trying to find their way around the school. Understood?" Damien lectured with a tone that struck fear into the teacher's very soul as she scrambled to the front of the room to apologize.

It wasn't long before the two new kids were introduced to the class and assigned to the only vacant desks at the back of the room. I can't believe my father spends money on this school only to achieve mediocrity at best, Damien thought as he watched the teacher trying so hard to look good in front of him that she was doing the exact opposite. His attention shifted from the incompetency of the teacher towards Tarry who was staring absentmindedly out of the window she sat beside like he had saw her doing an hour ago in the car. At times like this he wished he knew what was going on in her mind like before, when it was just her and him in that rat infested room back when she wasn't Dick Grayson's daughter but the Joker's. He hated to wish for those times again because of all the pain it had caused Tarry, but he couldn't help himself. Those times of sneaking around with the fear of getting caught and the excitement of the mystery of not really knowing one another, but even though they really didn't know each other like they do now they were able to share a lot more like things that they have never told anyone else and never will tell anyone else. Maybe it was the prospect that they never believed that they would be anything else than two friends separated by the forces of good and evil, whatever it was ever since he introduced Tarry into the family and told her who he really was somehow took that feeling of being able to tell each other anything away.

"And that concludes our lesson," Mrs. Brett announced as a bell rung overhead declaring it was recess time according to his schedule. Damien looked up at the black board to see that he had somehow spaced out for two periods English and History not that it bother him after all he was taught all this by Alfred awhile back. What bothered him was the flock of teens heading towards him while he rather talked to Tarry to figure out what was on her mind.

"Hey Damien, I'm Mel Duncan captain of the soccer team," a tanned skin boy introduced after breaking through the crowd of girls that surrounded Damien.

"So."

"Well I'm hoping that you'll join the team after all everyone knows that all Mr. Wayne's sons are really good at sports."

"For your information I'm not like them I'm Bruce Wayne's biological son, but I will consider playing on the team if you get these insects around me to disappear," Damien answered broadly as he sighed at the sight of seeing the boy trying his hardest to ward of Damien's new fan club with mediocre success.

While Damien was trying fight through the love of his new fan club Tarry was about to leave the class in order to get some air on a patch of the school's roof that was completely flat with what looked like a fence around the area to ensure that no one fell off the edge. "Hey Tarry, how's your day been so far?" the girl named Emily asked as she skip towards Tarry with a glee that slightly disturbed newest member to the Bat family.

"Good I guess," Tarry answered with a shrug as she continued to head towards the roof.

"That's awesome so have you joined any clubs or teams? Cause I think you are totally Gotham Academy Bat material."

"What do you mean I'm Gotham Academy Bat material?"

"Well duh I'm saying that you'll make a good cheerleader."

"What's a cheerleader?"

"You are so silly," Emily giggled as she whacked Tarry on the back causing the young girl to see why Damien was so irritated with her this morning. It wasn't only her annoying mannerisms but her very being that made Tarry want to whack her upside the head. "A cheerleader is someone who cheers on our sports teams," Emily went on to explain.

"That doesn't sound very interesting," Tarry answered as she picked up her pace in an attempt to lose her shadow.

"Wait," the brunette with a bob-cut exclaimed as she took hold of Tarry's arm to get her attention again. "What's your relationship with Damien?" Emily asked not only out of her own curiosity but also for Damien's new fan club, after all, the Wayne boys were normal known as loners that hung out with few, but they always seemed pick one girl they deemed worthy of their time. That girl usually ended up as their girlfriend; it was seen with Dick and Barbra, Jason and Cassandra, and Tim and Stephanie.

Tarry let out a sigh of exhaustion as she struggled against her normal instincts to flip anyone who suddenly grabs her. "I guess we're friends, we've known each for a while since my father was really good friends with Mr. Wayne," Tarry answered back regurgitating the exact back story that Mr. Wayne went over with her this morning before he ended up shoving both her and Damien in the car by force.

"Well since your friends wouldn't you want to cheer him on and support him since Mel has gotten him to agree to join the soccer team," Emily persuaded with a little hope that somehow this method would work in convincing the new girl into joining the squad, not because she particularly cared about her relationship with Damien apart from knowing whether they were friends or more than that, but because she couldn't stand to see cheerleader potential go to waste. Whether Tarry knew it or not she wasn't only pretty but had lean yet skinny figure most cheerleaders on the team would kill for.

"Cheering and supporting him…" Tarry muttered as she thought deeper about the matter, somehow with the mention of helping Damien seem to change the appeal of this team that was uninteresting moments ago. "If you put it that way I guess I'll join."

"Great! Our first event is cheering on the soccer boys during their exhibition match against the older high school boys team to get them ready for when their season actually does start," Emily boomed with excitement as she left the confused new girl in the hall to wonder what was so big about her joining her team of cheerleaders that she had to do a cart-wheel on her way back to what Tarry was assuming whatever hole she crawled out of. But Tarry quickly got over the girl's abnormal behavior to find herself running upstairs until she burst through the door standing between her and the flat surface of the roof she was eyeing when she was walking into the school two periods ago. The scenery outside was amazing as the warm April sun shone brightly illuminating the whole area to the point that it was hard to see at first until the young girl's eyes adjusted well enough that she could gaze across at the view from the gated balcony. She rested her head on her folded arms that were placed on the gate as she looked upon the sight of a vast green space covered by lush trimmed grass right up to the point that the area started to turn into concert signifying where that piece of nature that was littered with mighty oak trees really was in a city. The trees in the stretch of nature surrounded a playground where a few kids were running around with their friends…and parents. Tarry couldn't help wondering what her life would've been like if the Joker hadn't broken into her parents' hospital room to kill them and kidnap her fourteen years ago. A wave of uncontrollable melancholy washed over her as flashes of what she now knew were her real parents dying at the Joker's hand. She could hardly believe all her life she knew the truth without realizing that dream she always had was telling her that she never belonged in that insane house. There had been so many opportunities for her to escape from them, but she always felt that she had a duty to stay with them since she couldn't pick her parents…

"I knew I would find you up here," Tarry heard causing her to break out of her deep thoughts to look behind her to see Damien walking into place next to her as he placed his head in folded arms in the same manner as her. "So what's bothering you?"

"Why do you think that their something wrong with me, and how did you know I would be up here?"

"First of all this place was all you could look at when we were entering the school and plus boy detective over here. Secondly you just look like someone that has something wrong with them especially with the random spacing out and need to hide out in secluded areas," Damien said in a matter of fact tone that made Tarry sigh knowing that even if she did really try there was no way she could hide anything from him not because his father was the greatest detective that ever lived but because they have gotten to know each other too well over the time they spent fugitives of their parents' rules.

"Lately…I don't know, I've been thinking about the life I missed out on all because the Joker kidnapped me and made me an orphan. It's still a little hard to swallow the fact that you've been living a lie for fourteen years; a lie that had kept me locked away from society with an obligation of following everything the murder of my parents said."

"I really wish you and my father let me kill him when I had the chance," Damien said nonchalantly as if wanting to kill someone was a natural thing and to Damien it was after coming to terms with the true magnitude of the Joker's actions. He not only killed someone from the Bat family, but he almost killed another one that practically devoted as much of her life to him as Harley.

"It's not your right to get your hands dirty over that maniac or anyone's really after all killing him will only sink you to his level and who wants to be on the same level as a murdering psycho?"

"So that's it you're going to let him go scout free? Do you even really care for what he has really done?" Damien demanded only to look away from her as she started to tremble while fighting back tears. He felt like mentally kicking himself for uttering such a low bellow.

"I do care Damien so much that it haunts me in my sleep, to the point that I can barely enjoy my life now that I'm not in an isolated hell. I guess it's because I only ever thought I had one option and that life outside of it would suck even more and to think that even that was a lie too infuriates me. Do you know how many times I thought of running away? How many times I thought of how nice it would be to never wake up after being abused?" Tarry announced through greeted teeth as her hands clutched the metal gate with such a force that it seemed like if she let go she might have crumbled right there.

"Tarry, I didn't-"

"Mean it like that? I know just give me a little time," she half pleaded and half demanded from the boy as she smiled a smile still completely void of anything but pain. All Damien could do was nod a yes to her feeling a little incompetent that he ever thought all it would take was introducing her into his world to make all the pain and hurt that the Joker had inflected upon her to go away.

"Only as long as you don't take too long I might die of sleep deprivation if you keep on screaming all night," Damien stated with a smirk that caused Tarry's face to go bright red as she caught on to the fact that his words had another meaning to them one that she wasn't sure what it truly meant but whatever it was it made her feel the normal uncomfortable reaction she had gotten when Damien was a boy named Robin who climbed though her window ever so often a month ago.

Damien couldn't help but let his smile grow as he watched the ex-clown flustered and pound her fist on his shoulder for making a subtle innuendo out of her night terrors to lighten the mood. Although they still weren't like they were before, but he could tell somehow they made a little process.

"Hey told ya the two love birds were up here," they heard causing the once lighten mood to shatter as they whipped around to see Damien's so called friends walk towards them.

"What do you two want?" Damien demanded with a glare that was used to pierce Bart especially for his love bird comment.

"Well we never really got to properly introduce ourselves."

"Whatever, Tarry the ginger one is Colin Wilkes aka Abuse and the other one is Bart Allen aka Impulse," Damien introduced only to have his two friends look at him dumbfounded at how easily he told this their secret identities without a second thought.

"Dude does secret identities mean nothing to you Robin?" Bart nearly shouted in anger.

"I'm the daughter to Dick Grayson the first Robin so I already know his secret identity," Tarry stated nonchalantly as she smirked when she saw that even that bit of news didn't knock them out of their shock both bat kids left them standing there on the roof as they headed back into the school to get to their next period early this time around.

Before either Damien or Tarry knew it two more boring courses had finished indicating that the bell that was sounding meant it was lunch time. Unlike a handful of kids within their class neither bat teen was able to fully enjoy their lunches because to their misfortunes as they were ushered out the classroom, Tarry by Emily and Damien by Mel, they had made plans during lunch.

"I'm so not wearing this, you never said joining the cheerleaders meant wearing such uncomfortable clothes!" Tarry exclaimed as she found herself in a navy blue sleeveless crop top that had red hemming with a black bat on her back and the words 'Go Gotham Bats!' on the front in red letters, and an equally short skirt that was navy blue and had the same color hemming as her top.

"Come on Tarry, you promised to join plus I bet Damien will think your pretty if sees you on the field," Emily shimmed as she ushered Tarry towards the mirror to see a girl wearing very revealing clothes to her standards, so Damien will think that I'm pretty in this? She thought causing a violent blush to engulf her face. Although she didn't approve of the clothes she found herself seating back down to put on a pair of white sneakers that had little bats on the sides, with the notion that she couldn't go back on her promise but deep down she knew the real reason why she hadn't thrown off the clothes and headed for the exit.

"And who this Emily?" a girl with long flowing wavy golden locks and piercing blue eyes questioned as she passed by them in the girls locker room not pleased to see a new face on the cheer squad that she wasn't notified about.

"Her name's Tarry Grayson, I recruited her," Emily answered with a beaming smile as if this may have been her greatest accomplishment, which only worried Tarry more that she might be talking to someone that belonged in Arkham.

"What makes you think she's cheer material?"

"Well Wendy, she's really pretty, and she definitely has guts you should've seen her standing up to Mrs. Brett this morning."

"Whatever, I'll let this slide this time but if this girl gets in our way she's off the team," Wendy warned as she walked away while glaring at Tarry who couldn't help but feel confused at the fact that someone hated her before they even gotten to know her, but she soon shrugged off after all she wasn't exactly a ray of sun shine like Emily.

"Sorry about Wendy, I should've ran your recruitment by the head cheerleader, but I guess it isn't only that ever since she heard Damien was coming to the school she's kicked off all the girls on the squad that rivaled her in the look department and made herself the leader of his fan club," Emily explained only to giggle as she saw confusion in Tarry's face when she mentioned Damien's fan club, which led her to go into great detail about what being part of a fan club meant and all the boys who had them. It shocked Tarry that girls would actually lower themselves to worship boys that were just everyday people, plus she rather not see how big Damien's already very inflated ego could get. The very thought of the fan clubs made Tarry dismiss all girls that took part in them as crazy, but somehow hearing that half the girls in the school were in Damien's rubbed her the wrong way for some reason she couldn't quit describe.

"Emily what's the real reason you got me into this?" Tarry questioned as she cocked an eyebrow of seeing the girls on the team skipping out of the locker room into the gym with beaming fake smiles plastered across their faces.

"To be honest when I first saw you this morning I knew I wanted to be friends with you," Emily giggled especially at the slight look of terror in Tarry's face at the prospect of spending more time with her. No matter how much Tarry found her behavior weird or disturbing she couldn't help but feel happy at the notion that there was someone other than Damien that wanted to be her friend, whether they actually end up as friends was another story entirely.

"Geez I wonder what all the up roar is about," Colin thought out loud as he heard a burst of excitement coming from the gym area.

"Either the Varsity team has entered the gym or they got wind that Mr. Pouty face is going to be playing," Bart replied with a snicker that was silenced by said Mr. Pouty face who was still running through excuses to get himself out of playing this afternoon so he could eat lunch with Tarry.

"Hey did you see the cheerleaders just now?" the boys heard some of their other teammates talking as they returned from checking out what had gotten the crowd of students spectating the soccer event all rallied up.

"How could you miss them especially the new cheerleader I think her name was…Tarry or something."

"Ten bucks I score her first."

"Yeah right you'll never have chance, but you're on." This conversation caused both Colin and Bart to look towards their friend only to see a face that made both of them want to wet their pants as they could visibly see Damien's anger rolling off him. A rage that left the boy trembling in his new soccer outfit that matched the colors and designs on the cheerleading outfits, so when Damien walked up to the two unsuspecting team members it didn't surprise them to hear them yelling for mercy as their friend stuffed the two terrified boys into a locker meant for one body at the most.

"Was it really necessary to stuff them in a locker hanging them by their underwear?" Bart questioned as he felt slightly sorry for the two boys that looked like they wet themselves out of fear that Bart wouldn't even wish on his worse enemies let alone a couple of boys who were just doing what normal teenage boys did drooling over the cheerleaders.

"It's a disgrace to be part of a team that gets easily distract all because of some girls dressed scandalously for school sport."

"So it's a disgrace to be on a typical boys' team? Really D that is so not the reason you stuff those poor kids into a locker. The real reason is that you're jealous that Tarry's attracting attention from other boys that aren't you," Colin stated in a logical tone that only added to Damien's anger that was now directed at his friends.

"What makes you so sure I like her in that way?"

"Because wasn't it you that said that she was keeping you up all night with her screaming, which means…" Bart wasn't able to finish his sentence before he saw a fist flying at him that missed by an inch, but the crater in the wall that the punch left stunned Bart as Damien walked out of the male changing room. Colin just shook his head with a sigh at the fact that Damien couldn't express or acknowledge his obvious feelings for Tarry and because with the rate Bart was going with his big mouth he was predicting only having one best friend by the end of today due Damien strangling him to death.

It wasn't long before the soccer teams came out to face off for the soccer game and the sight that Damien saw when he looked over to where the cheerleaders were bouncing up and down in excitement to cheer on their soccer team to confirm whether the new cheerleader really had been Tarry, he had to consciously make sure his shock, the burning feeling that was threatening to appear on his face, and the fact that his heart was beating off the Richter scale all visibly didn't appear on his face. Great she really did look amaz-, he stopped himself from thinking with a shake of his head as he realized if he let himself continue to think that way he would be no better than the boys he stuffed in a locker and what was worse he would have to admit to Colin that he was right, which was definitely not going to happen.

"What are you doing?" Damien inquired as he came face to face with Tarry causing all the cheerleaders to stop their cheering to look on with both interest and jealousy that the new girl was getting attention from him they could only dream of.

"Cheering you on of course," Tarry replied with a matter of fact tone as she could hardly wait for him to comment on her outfit like Emily said he would.

"Is this your idea of some kind of joke," Damien stated with disapproval clearly in his eyes that was trying to mask emotions that were the exact opposite.

"No, I just thought that may be you would like that I came to cheer you on," Tarry explained with hope in her voice that somehow Damien wasn't angry at her for trying to repay him for all the things he has done for her, although this could never amount to the feelings of gratitude she had towards him but it was a start.

"What makes you think I would like something like this? I don't need you cheering me on so just go change."

Hearing those words somehow stung more than any beating she ever received from the Joker to the point that she had to try very hard to fight back tears that she masked with anger that rivaled Damien's. "I get it you think that I won't be able do this well I'm going to prove you wrong!"

"Please get over yourself, it bothers me you even thought you would make a good cheerleader," Damien retorted as he walked away thoroughly pissed off that she wouldn't follow his orders and quit the team. What's was wrong with her? Did she enjoy having all those other guys gawking at her like she is a piece of meat? Damien thought as the very notion that he had to share what he considered was his own source of amusement with other boys infuriated him to no end.

"You know you can't get brownie points if you make a girl cry," Colin stated nonchalantly as Damien went to his position on the soccer field.

"That's funny I wasn't trying to achieve any such thing and there's no way that would make her cry, she's been though a lot worse without shading a tear," Damien replied with a smile of triumph as he saw Tarry walking away from where all the cheerleaders were standing.

No matter how much Tarry wanted to stay if only to prove Damien wrong she couldn't as the head cheerleader herself demanded she got off the team that instant with the reason that she couldn't have a girl on the team that Damien himself considered an eyesore.

"Sorry Emily I guess you were wrong about me being Gotham Bats material," Tarry whispered so low that only Emily could hear as she walked away back into the changing room where she threw off her clothes in a fury of anger. She was angry at herself that she ever fell for the notion that she could make it up to Damien through cheering him on as a cheerleader, after all, Damien probably didn't need her to anyway his ego was already way too big. But did he really have to show that much dislike? She thought as she concluded that he probably thought she was an eyesore in that outfit like Wendy had said. As it dawned on her that maybe Damien preferred girls like Wendy she couldn't help but let a few tears fall down her face as she smashed a mirror on her way out.

For the rest of the day Damien couldn't help feel the tension between them as Tarry spent the rest of the day completely silent as she begun to space out again and look out the window like before their little talk during recess, but unlike before he could always count on her say something anything when he spoke to her. There were several times he tried to talk to her about anything like why she had dried up blood on her knuckles or about the scenery she seemed to be fixated on but each every time he was greeted with the answer of silence. This carried on through Geography and Science until the bell rang this time telling everyone school was over. As soon as the bell was heard Tarry got up and stormed out of the room causing Damien to react instantly by following her, but before he could get close to her both Colin and Bart stopped him from going after her.

"Dude you can't just go after a girl when they get like that without a game plan, unless you have a death wish," Bart explained as he got Damien to grudgingly get back into his seat.

"And I suggest either groveling or flowers," Colin added as they sunk into debating how Damien should go about dealing with such a situation and for the first time in a while Damien sat there and listened to his friends, after all, he couldn't make the situation much worse by listening to them but he could if he was left to his own devices not because he wanted to hurt Tarry it was more like he's never been around anyone his age that took offense to what he said and even if they did there were few that he actually cared enough about to say the dreaded S word that was so foreign to the Boy Wonder's mouth.

Meanwhile as the boys discussed how Damien was going to beg Tarry for forgiveness, Tarry was getting ready to leave when two boys came up beside her with smirks as they watched her close her locker to acknowledge their presences.

"Hey your Tarry right, we saw you with the cheerleaders at lunch," one of the boys greeted only to have Tarry to walk away from them as if they weren't really there.

"We're talking to you beautiful," the other boy stated as he quickly managed to cut her off from leaving through the exit.

"I know but I'm not in the mood to care," was all Tarry could muster out without releasing the pent up anger that had been swelling within ever since lunch. She was done playing nice like she promised Bruce, she managed to go the whole day without throwing the knife wedged into the side of her underwear that she had convinced herself to bring just in case of an emergency. But right about now as she saw that the boys weren't taking the hint that she wasn't in the mood to play their little game she was getting dangerously close to breaking Bruce's rule about not cutting her classmates.

"Come on, we saw what Damien did and we thought we could cheer you up."

"You're wasting your time," Tarry corrected as she pushed past the boy that was blocking her from the exit with the hope that they would get the message before she had to use force on them. But once outside she felt someone lock her arm in death grip while they flung her against the school's brick wall; that was the spark that initiated the bomb that sent the two boys into a world of pain.

Damien walked out of the school building while reciting all the advice that his friends had given him to patch things up with Tarry. He recited the two most important rules over the others first was to admit he was wrong and be truthful to her, which were two things Damien wasn't use to doing but it beat sleeping with one eye open tonight. Damien rounded a corner just to have shock register across his face as a knife came flinging at him missing him by only an inch as it left a small crater where it entered the wall upon impact. The only thing that made shock register on his face a second time was seeing Tarry standing over two unconscious boys he was pretty sure he stuffed into a locker earlier today.

"Tarry I'm sorry for what I said to you at lunch I was out of line," Damien apologized as he dug out her knife only to hand it back to her.

"If you know that why bother saying all those things in the first place," Tarry asked through greeted teeth as she took back the knife, while contemplating whether to use it on him again, but as soon as she saw Damien's face go a shade of red as he tried to muster up the courage and the words to reply to her question she knew she had to hear what was coming.

"I guess when I said you wouldn't make a good cheerleader was because I didn't want you associating yourself with those ditzy unappealingly dressed girls. Plus not many of those girls play with knives or can take out two guys without breaking a sweat, that's why you aren't cheerleading material and that's what I like about you," Damien finally managed out with a smile of relief when he saw Tarry smiling back at him. With that settled the two of them walked towards the limo that Alfred was going to take them home in, but not before Damien cleaned the splatter of blood off Tarry's face and went over all the things she couldn't do at school, beating up people until they were knocked out was one of the top on his list. And that's what ended their first hectic day at school now they only had to get through two more months of it without getting into trouble, which was easier said than done.

**Stay tuned and review next chapter is about what happened to Tarry's real father.