[IN THE END] - DICK GRAYSON - YOUNG JUSTICE

CHAPTER 5

        It had been about seven months since Richard had moved into the manor, and things were looking up for him.  Though the scars were there to remind him of his past, he had moved on and had a full recovery.  He was now attending Gotham Academy, and even though he was absent for the first few years of his education, he was doing really well. In fact, not only was he taking fourth grade math, but fifth and sixth as well.  All of his teachers loved him, and for the most part he got along with his classmates.  He studied very hard at home, and it showed in the classroom.  He was just a smart boy.  The only thing that bothered him, was that Bruce often had to attend meetings, or run errands, practically every night.  Luckily, Alfred was there to keep him company, but it just wasn't the same.  Bruce and Richard always had serious and interesting conversations.  And almost every time Bruce would leave awed with what the boy had to say.  Part of Richard wished it could be like that every night.  But he understood that Bruce had a very important job to uphold back at Wayne Enterprises.  Besides, he wasn't going to complain about anything.  He lived in a huge house, and was finally able to sleep on a soft bed with his legs stretched out.  He also had plenty of food to eat whenever he wanted it, and given his past circumstances, that was more than enough.  But most of all, he now lived beneath the roof of a family that truly cared for him, and that was much more than he could ever ask for.  So if Bruce was out all night, every night, so be it.  Nothing could ever compare to how upset he was in the past.

                Richard rolled over and looked at the clock.  It was sixty thirty, which meant in an hour, he would be sitting at his desk learning how to factor a quadratic.  Or something of that sort.  He stretched his arms wide and took in a deep breath.  Then he practically fell out of the bed, being so tired from his late night study session.  He promised himself he wouldn't turn out the light until he finished next week's unit.  He liked to be ahead of the curve.  Even though the price was staying up till about one, or two, sometimes even three, in the morning, given the amount of problems on the page.  And last night was a long night.  Expect for the part of it when he was actually sleeping.  Once he gained balance and was on his feet he walked to his dresser, and threw on a button down, followed by his school blazer.  Then he opened another drawer to change out of his pajama pants and into a pair of slacks.  Now he just needed assistance putting his tie on.  The kid could easily understand math that was way beyond comprehension for kids his age, but tying a tie?  That was a different story.  He walked out of the room and searched for Bruce, who was already downstairs reading the paper.  Richard rushed down the stairs, and stopped in front of the older man.  He handed him the maroon tie as Bruce stood up to fix it for him.  "An A plus in math..."  Bruce started.  "And a D in life."  Richard smiled finishing the statement.  "By the way Richard, tonight I have a board meeting across town tonight, so I might be home even later."  Dick gave the man a nod and walked off to get breakfast.   

                The next thing Richard knew, he had been sitting in school with his hands brought together in the middle of the desk.  When the final bell rang, he grabbed his pencil and looked up at the teacher waiting for the lesson that he already taught himself.  When she instructed the class to do some problems in their books, she glanced at Richard who sat their looking at her.  And just like any other day, she gave him a soft smile, which was his sign to check the already done work over.  Knowing that's what she meant, because it was basically their code, he gave her a slight nod and shuffled through his papers to find the specific problems.                 

                Then like every other class, math came to an end and he left the room tugging his book bag along as he said good bye to his teacher.  When he exited the room a small frown crept across his face knowing that his favorite class was now over.  But like always he reminded himself that he had two more periods of mathematics before the day way over.  As he walked through the halls, kids stared at him.  At this point in the year he thought that people would just let the situation go, but that's not the way life works.  People just don't forget.  It had been November, and apparently two and a half months wasn't enough for people to process.  Yes, his parents died.  Yes, he was orphaned.  Yes, he was abused.  And yes, Bruce Wayne did in fact adopt him.  He wished that the other kids would just let it be, or at least stop mentioning it to him.  But kids his age were curious and just had to know.  It used to bother him much more than it did now, not that it still didn't hit at least the smallest nerve.  But at this point he was used to what all the kids labeled him as.  'An abused orphan who was just recently taken in by a billionaire, that watched his parents die when he was five.'  The stereotype made him sick to his stomach.