Just Breathe: A batsis story

7 - Hello G.A. Part 2

Chapter 7 - Hello G.A. Part 2

"You weren't kidding when you said this campus was huge, I thought I saw two full-sized football fields as we were walking up those steps," Alyna whispered to Maggie as the two made their way down a very quiet hallway.

"Only two? Could have sworn there was at least four," Maggie whispered back as she led Alyna all the way up a flight of stairs, and down an even quieter hallway till they eventually reached a door labeled 'headmaster'. "Don't forget to smile,"

Maggie knocked on the door and waited a few seconds till she heard a gruff "come in" to open it. The room was neatly lined with books and the ceiling had a circular skylight that allowed rays of sunlight to stream in at multiple angles.

"Ah, Ms. Gardner, please come sit. It was quite a...surprise, to hear from you so suddenly. Now, this must be the young lady we spoke of over the phone?" Headmaster Hammer said in a monotonous voice, Maggie had warned her that he wasn't very expressive or kind but the dead look in his eyes made Alyna's stomach turn. But despite how uneasy she felt she remained calm and collected, she walked over to him and politely shook his hand as she introduced herself.

"Hello, sir. I am Alyna Atanol, it's wonderful to meet you," Alyna said as politely as she could with a slightly forced smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"Now that was a good first impression. Yours on the other hand Maggie is still one of the most...unique ones I've experienced. Tell me, did you finish medical school?" Headmaster Hammer asked rather rudely.

"I did, even finished my residency program a year early," Maggie responded.

"Yet you now own and work at a cafe?" He condescendingly questioned.

"Yes, and I am far happier," Maggie smiled before turning to Alyna. "Now if it's alright with you, Headmaster, I'd like us to discuss Alyna joining G.A. She's quite gifted, I have no doubt she'll catch up quickly,"

"Well, fortunately, we do have an open seat in one of our tenth-grade classes as one of our foreign exchange students had to leave due to a family emergency," He responded before grinning like the Cheshire cat. "However, we have several other outstanding applicants all of whom come from rather well-known families. Alyna here does not,"

"Alyna is a part of my family now. And considering my family owns almost every hospital, clinic, and pharmacy in Gotham. I'd argue none of these other applicants are as 'well-known' as us," Maggie retorted.

"I suppose you're right, but the last time I checked you're not the CEO of GardnerHealth, no one in your family is," He claimed merrily as if he had just caught Maggie in a lie.

"That's correct, but I still am the owner. The board, which oversees the CEO, still reports to me," Maggie confidently claimed but what she said next finally seemed to persuade Headmaster Hammer. "Last time I checked it was my proposal that provides a free school nurse to every school in Gotham, including this one...However, and correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't this school get three?"

"Are you threatening to dissolve said proposal if I do not admit Ms. Atanol into my school?"

"Oh, sorry...was that not clear?" Maggie threatened, this time raising her voice slightly more than his.

"Fine. You win this round, Maggie. But just know that if Ms. Atanol isn't able to not only catch up to her peers but surpass them by this semester's end, she will be dismissed from the school grounds, permanently!" Headmaster Hammer threatened but unlike Maggie, his composure was lost.

"Wonderful, now what classes can she take?" Maggie didn't even bat an eye at his threat; she had the upper hand, he knew it, and it aggravated him to no end.

"She'll be in Mrs. Greens, homeroom. All tenth graders are required to take at least one English, Math, History, Science, Language, and Fine Art class. She does not need to take Gym if she does a sport, but she will have to take Health regardless," Headmaster Hammer started typing away on his computer faster than either woman thought possible. "She also has the option of which language and art class she would like to take. We also offer a variety of electives she will need to choose at least two, max three unless she does a sport then she can do four. All students are required to join an extracurricular activity and attend it at least once a week from two to three,"

"Woah," Alyna said before she could stop herself. "Excuse me, it's just, a very...impressive curriculum,"

"It is, I have dedicated my life to improving this school. So thank you," Headmaster Hammer added before the printer in the corner of his office started buzzing. "I went ahead and printed off a mock schedule, although it is what I believe would work best for Miss Atanol, you are free to edit it. I've also printed off a full list of our courses, I'll give you two a moment to look it over,"

Alyna quickly looked over the schedule, before passing it to Maggie and looking through the other courses offered. There were so many that Alyna wasn't sure what to choose. Although she did like the mock schedule Headmaster Hammer recommended there was just one little thing she wanted to change.

"If it's alright I wondered if instead of Russian Lang 1, could I take Russian Lit 4?" Alyna asked both Maggie and Headmaster Hammer.

"No, that class is too complex for a beginner," Headmaster Hammer stated matter of factly.

"Я не новичок в русском языке. На самом деле я свободно говорю на нескольких языках. Однако мой русский требует некоторой работы," (I am not a beginner. In fact, I speak several languages ​​fluently. However, my Russian needs some work.) Alyna spoke in near-perfect Russian causing both Maggie and Headmaster Hammer's eyes to widen in shock.

"Впечатляет, а где вы выучили русский язык? А сколько языков ты знаешь?" (Impressive, but where did you learn Russian? And how many languages ​​do you know?) Headmaster Hammer questioned in Russian causing poor Maggie to sigh as she did not understand what the two were saying.

"Я самоучка и кроме английского знаю еще только четыре языка," (I'm...self-taught. And only know four other languages besides English.) Alyna started, "So can I take Russian Lit 4 or not?"

"Да," (yes-)

"Headmaster Hammer! I caught Jason skipping first period...again!" A redheaded woman wearing a gray pantsuit yelled as she pulled said boy into Headmaster Hammers's office by his ear. "Oh! Sorry, I didn't know you had a meeting,"

As Alyna turned around to watch the commotion, Jason's breath got caught in his throat at the sight of her. A million thoughts were running amok in his mind, 'What the hell is she doing here? How did she escape from Xenon? What if she didn't? Does that mean Xenon knows about our secret identities?'