How Can We

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Artemis scowled at the new ginger student and mumbled to her group that she was going to class. She shoved her way through the rest of the hallway, trying to get to her first period class, gym.

"I'll make sure she gets some sleep today." Dick told the group.

"Good, she has practice later on today." Megan reminded them. They all nodded, then said their goodbyes quickly as the bell rang. They would all meet up again during lunch regardless.

Kaldur and Dick split up and walked to their economic class taught by Professor Queen. "Let's have a chat with the new kid." Richard suggested, his eyes twinkling.

"How do you know he's in our class now?" Kaldur asked him.

"I have my connections." He responded enigmatically.

"So you hacked the school system again?"

"They really need to fix their security problems, it took me less than a minute, a new personal best if I might add. And if Bruce didn't want me to hack the school system, then why did me make me take all those advanced computer classes?"

Kaldur rolled his eyes at his younger friend. "This may be a shot in the dark, but maybe he didn't want you to become a hacker."

"Live a little Kaldur!" The black haired boy exclaimed throwing his hands in the air.

*******

Artemis tied the laces of her sneakers slowly, waiting for the girls in her row to be finished changing. She saw they way they looked at her like she was the dirt at the bottom of their shoe, all because she was at GA on a scholarship. She had been dealing with girls like this for years, and have become basically immune to their whispers.

Once alone, she slammed her gym locker shut and closed her eyes.

Basically.

Artemis hated the majority of the students in Gotham Academy, but the education was amazing and she wasn't going to give up her hardworked scholarship over some comments. She tried her best to stick to the shadows which was difficult with popular friends and being one of the only scholarship kids.

Still, Artemis composed herself, tightening her ponytail before heading to the gymnasium. The students in GA had a choice of which physical activity they wanted to take part in, and Artemis chose self defense since they didn't offer archery as an elective.

It was fine though because she was on the archery team and had practice later. Archery was one of her favorite things to do, her dad taught her the basics of archery and from there she evolved the skill on her own.

Her coach was the economics teacher Oliver Queen, and one of his former students, Roy Harper was the assistant coach. He was only a couple years older than Artemis. She does admit to thinking he was cute when she first saw him, then she saw how hard he made her train.

Artemis wasn't the only one out of their group of friends on an athletic team. Connor was the star quarterback, Kaldur was the captain of the swim team, Megan and Zatanna were on the cheerleading squad and Raquel played volleyball. Dick was the only one who wasn't on a sports team.

He was the charismatic one of the group, and a natural social butterfly. He practically knew everyone in the school by name. Not to mention the fact that he worked out on his own and had the muscles to show for it.

The rest of her day went by in a blur. It was an average day for her, everyone else was still hung up over this new student. Artemis just didn't care, especially when Zee made a joke that he would be her new boyfriend. She spent an extra hour at practice, waiting for the rest of her teammates to leave so she could be alone.

Artemis didn't want to go home. She tried to avoid going home on a regular basis. Her apartment was just so quiet and lonely. All she sees in her room was the empty twin bed that no one has slept in for years. Her mom wanted to throw it out, but something in Artemis couldn't see it go in the trash. That bed and the Cheshire Cat poster were the only things she had left of her sister.

Everything else was just empty space reminding her of memories she tried her hardest to suppress.

********

Wally had a few things he wanted to do in GA. The first was to make friends, get on the track team and maybe get a girlfriend along the way. His last relationship ended in a disaster, and that's putting it in lighter terms.

His girlfriend Linda was beautiful, smart and interested in Wally, all the main qualities he looks for in a girl. They met through a mutual friend and there was always this flirtatious spark between them. Fast forward a few weeks after they met and he asked her out. The couple went on a few dates before making their relationship official, and Wally thought they would be perfect for each other.

Things were going great for them as the months went on, they were headed strong towards their one year anniversary. Wally saw no signs of conflict between them, or any type of strain in their relationship. He should have looked harder. Because one day he comes to her house for their date with flowers in her hand, walked to her room and found her making out with her best friend.

Linda assured him that there was nothing going between between them, that they were just close. He was too naive and believed her.

Wally couldn't even bring himself to think of the other guy's name. What kind of person kisses a girl knowing they were in a relationship. What both of them did was despicable. Wally spend months trying to piece himself back together to his cheerful self.

It left a open wound in his heart, and psychological scars. No one can go through something like that without questioning their self worth, and confidence. It doesn't take much to knock yu off your high self-esteem. Therefore, he stopped looking for meaningful relationships, he wanted things short and casual. Flings meant no one got hurt.

He may have gotten over any feeling he had for Linda, but he could never get over what she done to him.

She was the only thing he was glad to leave behind in Central City.

 A/N: I tried to upload this as soon as I could, but I was distracted by writing a new chapter for Spitfire One-Shots. It's kind of an abstract idea and needs some fine-tuning.  I will be posting that soon ;)

Anyway, let me know what you guys thought of this chapter. I found the picture at the beginning of the chapter on Google and thought it was really cute, and the song fit the feel of the characters. 

Remember to vote, comment and share this story! Thanks for reading and I'll be back with another chapter soon :)))