Platonic Yandere BatFamily x Child Reader

[II-II]

Act II-Scene II: "School, anyone?"

Two months prior
'What a strange kid.' Alfred thought to himself as he set the table for dinner. Everyone was already seated, but Bruce could tell something was bothering the usually well-oriented butler. "Is there something wrong, Alfred?" The boys also looked in his direction, wondering what could possibly distract a man such as Alfred from his job. "It's nothing of much concern, Master Bruce, but something quizzes me..." He thought for a moment. "I took young master Damien to that book shop earlier today." Dick's eyebrows slowly raised at the unsuspecting statement. "Is that really something to worry about?" He asked. Bruce sat a little more upright, trying to discern Alfred's thoughts, but before he could say much more, Damien jumped in. "There was a girl wearing heavy clothing in seventy-eight degree weather." Dick took his turn again, still not understanding the significance of it all. "What's so special about that? There's plenty of weirdos in Gotham. Someone wearing heavy clothes in hot weather isn't really alarming."
"She was quite young—maybe seven years old?" Alfred abruptly stated before Damien interrupted. "School for kids in the elementary grade ends later than the middle schoolers and high schoolers. She was out of school a lot earlier than the time they're let out." Jason sighed in his seat, "Maybe she just skipped a class?" He said, slightly irritated at the boring topic. Bruce had silently been thinking to himself as the boys argued amongst one another for what reason best fit the description of a young child leaving a building of education (which seemed downright stupid).
"Alfred, Damien, did you get a good look at her before she left?" Everyone looked to Bruce for a moment, wondering what he was getting at. "Well, she covered up a fairly good amount of her face. She wore a scarf and hood, but there's not much I could see aside from the color of her eyes." Bruce ushered Alfred to get him a list of all the missing peoples' cases from the past month. The boys sitting around him at the table didn't believe that such a thing was necessary, but their father insisted. He swiftly flipped through the carefully documented pages and eventually came across what he had been looking for. "Eyes like these?" He asked. Even Alfred was surprised at the person Bruce pointed out. "That's right." He said. "Keep an eye on her if you see her again Alfred. That goes for the rest of you as well..." Bruce's index finger was resting above the picture of a familiar little girl. Case file #019.

The boys nodded. Everywhere they went, they made sure their eyes stayed peeled for any sign of her, but she wasn't seen again until a very late encounter at a local-side store.

Present day
I was carefully constructing the perfect plan of attack. Ms. Hattie made no movement, but I could tell she was observing me from her side of the war line. Looking back at my perfect method, I noticed the lack of weaknesses. It was perfect. She won't be able to escape me this time, I grinned. With a full blown war cry, I commanded my soldiers onto the battlefield to start their attack.
The cards in my hand slapped heavily against the living room table as I continuously threw them down, one right after the other. "Skip, skip, reverse, plus two, and UNO!" I shouted. Ms. Hattie adorned the same innocent smile she had since the beginning of the match. It was now her turn to strike, but there was no way she'd be able to win now. It was already too late. She couldn't win with the amount of cards still left in her hands.

"What?!" I looked over to Ms. Hattie in shock as she had completely overpowered me in Uno. She had played three reverses and a skip, which already knocked out four of her seven carded deck. With the remaining three, she strategically threw down a color exchange card, knocking my victory out of the way, and placed the remaining two plus-four cards. It was an utter defeat.
I sulked in my chair with a hanging head as Ms. Hattie comforted me. "Why don't I make us some cookies, dear? I'm sure they'll make you feel much better." I nodded with a smile, having already gotten over the crushing loss.

Miss Hattie walked in with a metal tray as she adorned her apron. "Cookies are ready!" She cheered. The day had been slow and peaceful, like experiencing a sunny afternoon on your back in an open field. I found myself at peace. We turned the TV on as she placed the steaming tray on the coffee table in front of us. We each took a piping hot cookie. There was a large array of sugar, snickerdoodle, chocolate chip, peanut butter, pumpkin spice, red velvet, anything that the aging mind could think of. "Y'know," she says, trying to find the right words, "I've been thinking about this for a while now, but you're awfully young...and with everything that's been going on in your life, you should still get the chance to experience an ordinary childhood."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm asking if you'd like to go to school..."
She didn't pressure me, or even bark at me to attend (not that she would've). But school wasn't a place I've heard of or seen in such a while. It's not that school was necessarily scary (I did get a college education for writing afterall), but something—something akin to a gut instinct—made me unnerved. It was the familiar feeling similar to that of a child trying to relent from their mother that 'they didn't want to go today'. But I wasn't a kid anymore, well, not mentally, and I figured that it might just give me something to do. Though something screamed at me from the back of my head that it might have been the dumbest decision I've ever made my mind up on, but I just left it at that.
"Alright," I told her, "I'll go to school if you really wish." Ms. Hattie seemed to perk up at that, almost as if she expected a different answer entirely. "Thank you so much dear, I know you're smart, but I don't want you to be cooped up here all day!" She exclaimed giddily. Ah, so that's what this was about...making friends.

In my previous life I don't believe I had very many—maybe one. I can't remember why though, my memories are quite hazy. But I knew that it wasn't because they didn't like me. In fact, a lot of kids looked up to me, based on the compliments they handed out like a local soup kitchen. But there was something else. Why can't I remember? "Y/n de-" My head rose up at Ms. Hattie. "I'm sorry, what was that?" I asked. I must've been too deep in thought. "Oh my, welcome back," she joked, "your face was so furrowed I thought you'd blown a gear." I giggled and waved her off. "I'm fine," I said, "just lost in thought." She nodded, and we continued to discuss the terms of my education further.
"I'll put in an application letter for your enrollment later, and I'll have to lessen the chores since you'll be spending most of your time in school. Just promise me you'll try your best when it comes to getting work done." I nodded, elementary school should be the easiest thing to complete. "All right then, I suppose it's settled."

I wasn't too worried about being seen in public on my way to school since I'd blend in with every kid out there, and because there were a billion different elementary schools in Gotham (due to its large population size). If they really wanted to look for me, they'd be searching through a bunch of districts just for a single kid (not a very effective use of time on their end).

Shyfield Elementary. I was told what kind of school it was: affordable (but not low cost), a safe environment, friendly-enough kids, small school, slightly private learning.
It was perfect. Location-wise too, it was a bit hidden underneath, but not overlooked. It was perfectly well-rounded to the point where it wouldn't stand out, or be too forgotten. The perfect school to hide my identity. The only problem was how I looked. There's no doubt that by now (considering the fact that most missing kids in Gotham are usually found by now because of Bruce Wayne's persona), most citizens should recognize who I am. Over the few months I've been "missing" I've gained a reputation since no one can seem to find me. If I want it to stay that way, I'm going to have to go a little further...
"Ms. Hattie."
"Yes, dear?" She called.
    Ms. Hattie was in the kitchen, placing all of the uneaten cookies into a plastic wrapping to save them for later. "Wouldn't it be best to find me a disguise? Hair dye or something is what I'm thinking." I could see Ms. Hattie's head rise up from beyond my view of the kitchen. "Gods," she said, "you're entirely right. It wouldn't be good if anyone spotted you now." I nodded and then asked her what we should do about it. "No need to worry, I'll just stop by the cosmetics store on my way home from work tomorrow. We'll also be needing school supplies so I'll stop by a multitude of places." I was relieved to think that everything would be covered entirely. I just hoped I would have enough luck to get me through the rest of my education.