Chapter Twenty-One

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DISCLAIMER: Nessie and Hallucination are my own creations. Nothing else.

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Being at school was...difficult, to put it lightly. For one, I kept having fear attacks, and I had to pretend that they were just a headache. Catgirl was the one who got kidnapped, not Vanessa, and I couldn't risk the discovering of my secret identity. For another, Dick kept giving me this look, like he understood what I was going through with my scars. Frankly, it was annoying as hell.

"What's going on between you two?" Barbara asked one day as the three of us were sitting at lunch.

"Nothing is going on between us," I spit, glaring at Dick and telling him with my eyes to drop it.

"Okay..." Barbara stated, with an expression that she didn't believe me. Suddenly, I saw blue and red lights outside, and the police burst into the cafeteria shouting my name. Squeezing my eyes shut, I held my head in my hands, telling myself that this was just an illusion, that it wasn't real. Then I thought of Robin, and the kiss that we shared. Opening my eyes again, the police and the lights were gone. Instead, Barbara and Dick were staring at me with bewildered looks.

"Just a migraine. I've had it ever since I got home Friday." Then I stood up and walked away from the table without another word.

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My phone buzzed in my bag. I was in Acting, and Dick and I were still trying to think of a theme for the play. Taking it out and putting it under my desk so Mr. Jordan wouldn't see, I checked my messages and found that Selena had texted me. Well, 'Mom' did. I had replaced Selena's name with 'Mom' so people wouldn't put two and two together and find out that I was talking to Selena Kyle. For all I knew, Robin could be attending this school in his secret identity, and I didn't want him to figure out that I was Catgirl. COME HOME RIGHT AFTER SCHOOL, the text said. That can't be good. I hadn't talked to Selena ever since Friday, when I got home from Wayne Manor. Batman had also told me that he called her, so I wasn't looking forward to what she had in store for me. As I was replying, I looked out of the corner of my eye to find Dick looking at my phone screen. Quickly, I locked it and put the phone back into my bag.

"Don't look at my phone when I'm talking to someone," I glared. He just stared at me, and it felt like his clear blue eyes were staring into my soul.

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"Hey, do you have your phone on you?" Babs asked me as we were in gym class.

"No...why?" My phone was in my bag, in the locker room.

"Dick wants me to tell you that he needs to talk to you after school," she told me. "Meet him in the courtyard." I gritted my teeth. I could just avoid him and go directly home, which I needed to do because Selena needed me home by then. But, I couldn't avoid him for my whole life, because that was practically impossible. Sighing, I responded grudgingly.

"Okay."

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Right, left, right again, then CLICK. I opened my locker and grabbed my Math book before slamming the door shut and proceeding down the hallway towards the courtyard. Eventually, I reached the grassy place and saw Dick sitting on one of the stone benches. Quietly, I walked over to it and sat next to him.

"What is it," I asked, staring into the distance.

"I need you to be honest with me. Do you or do you not have scars on your arms?" He was looking down at him feet when he said it.

"Look, I need to go-"

"Answer the question."

"My mom wants me home-"

"Answer the damn question!" He suddenly stood, angry, staring me down until he sank back down to the bench. "I just- I just need to know." There was a pleading tone to his voice. Then I began to chuckle, a sad sort of chuckle.

"Is this what you wanted to see?" I pulled up my right sleeve, and there were the little white lines. "My failures?!" There was silence for awhile, and I tugged down the white fabric.

"Are they self-inflicted?"

"No."

"Then who, or what, did this to you?" Now, there were many options to answer this. I could run away. Or I could tell him the truth, and get thrown into another orphanage. And there was always the third option: to lie.

"Okay," I sighed, defeated. "When I was two, my parents left me on the front steps of an orphanage, because they didn't want me. I've been in countless of foster homes, most of my foster parents...abusive, to put it lightly. That's where the scars are from." Then I strayed from the truth, to keep my identity a secret. "But I got adopted about a year ago, and everything is fine now."

"I'm sorry," Dick said, his eyes filled with sympathy. Then his head moved closer, and my heart jumped in my throat. Suddenly, my phone rang, and I pulled it out of my bag and answered it, suddenly flustered.

"Hello?"

"Where are you? We're going to miss the subway if you don't hurry." Artemis.

"Right. I'm on my way now." I hung up, then looked over at Dick. The tips of his ears were beet red, and he was looking at his feet. "Um, I have to get going. I'll...see you tomorrow?"

"Yep. See you." He got up and started to walk away, then stopped and turned around, facing me. "Oh, and Nessie?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. For, um, talking to me." Then, smiling, he walked around a corner and was gone.

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Whale, hello! I was planning on updating earlier this week, but...I got sick. And I've been sick all week, as well as juggling schoolwork. So I'm VERY sorry about that. :( Good news is that I'm almost entirely better!

I would just like to thank everybody that has stuck with me for this long. You people are the reason that this story is successful! 2,000 READS!!!

So, I have plans for about two more stories, but I'm going to start posting them after this story is finished. Because I have to finish things before I start others. I'm just weird like that.

Vote, comment, and follow! Bat-hugs for everyone....

~~The Bat has left the room~~

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