Disturbed

Chapter 10. Who Would've Guessed

It felt like the heat of my glare could melt the glass of the window I was focusing on. I was in a cheerleading uniform for Gotham High, and my hair was pulled up with a stupid bow. I don't think I have ever felt angrier in my entire life. I mean-I'm already a naturally stubborn person. If I don't want to do something, I rarely do it. But Galavan was insisting that I be there, or "else." But honestly at the moment I would rather be on his hit list than standing in the penthouse with the "maniax" dressed like this. 

Jerome was beside me, wearing a straightjacket like the rest of them. I ignored him and continued to scowl at the wall. I heard him snicker, and I immediately turned to glare at him instead. Maybe I would have better luck setting him on fire than the window. 

He smiled, "What?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to say that if you get any of that gas from the truck on me I'll kill you." 

Jerome laughed, "Well I actually wasn't planning on it. But because I'd like to see you try, maybe I will now that I think about it." He raised an eyebrow challengingly.

I smiled unintentionally. For a second there I had almost thought Jerome looked cute making that face. But then I realized who I was talking about and quickly snapped out of it. In fact I nearly shivered at the thought before replying, "Then I'll tell Greenwood that it was you who replaced his pillow with a pillow case of water balloons." 

His green eyes narrowed at the threat. Jerome stared intensely for another second, considering his options before relaxing. He smiled once more, "Fine," he tilted his head playfully, "well played."

I tugged on my clothes uncomfortably, "I really hate this, I don't know how they manage to perform in these things."

Jerome looked me up and down, "I'm not complaining."

I felt my face burn red, "Stop that!" 

"Stop what?"

"Teasing me," I said, annoyed.

Jerome stepped closer to me. "I'm pretty sure it isn't teasing if I mean it," he said, his voice low. He lightly trailed his fingers down my arm and my heart began to speed up.

He took another step closer and his gaze was intense, it almost felt... hungry. I could feel his breath on my face and I tried to stop my heart from racing. Why was he having such an effect on me? I could feel his hand lingering on my arm, it felt electric and somehow, I didn't want to push him away.

The door to the living room swung open suddenly. It snapped me out of the trance and I jumped away from Jerome, who didn't move a muscle. Tabitha stood in the doorway, her expression somewhere between suspicion and amusement. Jerome turned to glare at her, looking annoyed at the sudden interruption.

"What?" He snapped.

"Galavan wants you all downstairs," She said curiously, her eyes darting between the two of us. "It's time."

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Roughly an hour or two later I was sitting in a bus filled with Gotham's local high school students. It was mostly the cheerleading team, but the student body officers were on the bus as well. In fact I don't know why I couldn't have pretended to be one of them instead. Oh well, it'll be over soon I guess. I was sitting in an empty seat near the back of the bus with my arms folded impatiently. But my thoughts were interrupted when someone came to sit next to me. It was... a boy? He had dark hair and blue eyes. He smiled, "Hey, do you mind if I sit here? All the other seats are full." 

I noticed he was wearing a sort of cardigan with the school and mascot printed all over it. I figured he must be an officer, but he seemed nice. So I smiled back, "Yeah sure."  But I couldn't help but feel worse as I thought about what was going to happen to everyone on this bus. 

"I'm Lucas, but most people call me Luke. what's your name?" He asked. 

"Eden Loft."

"Nice to meet you Eden. Did you join the team recently? I don't remember seeing you around school." Luke asked. Shoot! This was exactly what I had hoped would NOT happen, suspicion. So I quickly made up a lie to cover it up. 

"Oh I'm new here. I just made the team last week." I tried to look confident in my own words. It seemed to do the trick, he bought it.

"Really? I know how you feel. I just moved to Gotham this year." Luke nodded.

"Where did you move from?" I asked, mainly to distract myself from thinking of the gasoline truck that would be stopping us any minute now.

Luke's face seemed to redden a bit, "Well, about that. I used to travel a lot. You see my family has turned out generations of the same talents... and, well." He seemed a bit unwilling to elaborate about something.

Now I was interested, "What do you mean? You seem kinda embarrassed. Whatever they were it can't be that bad."

He sighed, "Yeah okay, it just sounds kinda crazy I guess. You see we traveled with the circus because everyone in my family are acrobats. Well-almost everyone I guess. I decided that I wanted to take a break and experience what it would be like to go to a real school, stay in one place for a while."

I had a strange feeling. But no-it couldn't be. I had to ask, "What circus?"

His pretty eyes met mine as he spoke, "Haley's Circus. Maybe you've heard of the flying Graysons?"

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

are you as excited as I am? Probably not because I am VERY easily excited, but still! I was thinking that Lucas could be the brother of John Grayson. So Dick Grayson's future uncle or something like that you know? Comment any questions or even ideas! I'm open to suggestions if there is something in particular that you would like to see happen.    LY all :)

-PM