The rest of my week passes without incident. We go on patrol every night and I find myself becoming more and more confident as I fly through the city next to Batman and Robin. I also start picking up on some of their nonverbal ques. I can't operate in complete silence but I'm getting there. Surprisingly, there's no sign of any of the big baddies just a lot of lower level criminals we quickly handle and leave for police.

By the time my first day of school rolls around I've adapted to my new routine somewhat. I snatch a few hours of sleep after patrol and make sure I'm up by seven for a short run before breakfast. Dick's schedule isn't too different from mine but he gets up a little later and takes a little longer on his run. Both of us are usually showered and ready to start on whatever tasks we have for the day by eight.

The first morning of school is no different. School doesn't start until nine which gives me plenty of time to complete my morning ritual. Bruce made us come in early the night before too, saying we needed to get more sleep since we would have to actually be present for the day. Dick and I both groaned a little when he sent us home hours earlier than usual but we didn't argue because we both knew he would take away patrolling on school nights if we kicked up a fuss.

My run and breakfast passed quickly that morning and soon I was sitting in the back of the Royce with Dick, dressed in my Gotham Academy uniform and scared to death. I have always hated the first day of school. You never know what it's going to be like, if your teachers are any good, if your friends have changed drastically in the months since you've seen them. The first day at a brand new school was even worse because you have no idea if people will even like you. They could all decide to hate me straight off and I really wasn't sure how to handle that.

"You'll be fine, you know. You're the ward of Bruce Wayne and that automatically wins you brownie points. It's not ideal because then you have a lot of fake people who won't leave you alone but at least it means there aren't really any bullies who will mess with you," Dick, as usual, seems to read my mind.

I smile slightly at him, "I can handle fake people but it would be nice to have a real friend or two as well."

"Well I'm sure you and Babs will get along great and Bruce said Artemis is going to be starting school once she decides to accept the scholarship the Wayne foundation offered her. She's being a little stubborn about it. When she does start though, I bet we can have some fun with her since she doesn't know who we really are," Dick cackles and I can hear the edge of mischief in the sound.

I smirk, "You're going to troll her so hard, aren't you?"

"Oh totally."

I chuckle as we pull to a stop in front of the school. Most of the students don't really pay much attention as we glide to a stop and it takes me a moment to remember a Royce isn't uncommon to these kids. Most of them have the same car in their own garages and butlers to wait on them. We're just another set of rich kids, even if our guardian is probably richer than all of their parents combined.

Dick climbs out first and I follow after a deep breath, reminding myself this is nothing compared to patrolling the streets of Gotham at night.

At first, no one seems to realize Dick isn't alone but after a few more moments, the whispers and glances start. By this point, Bruce has already gone public about taking me in. All of Gotham knows Bruce Wayne took in another poor, lost orphan. The less…gracious of Bruce's associates dubbed me yet another "charity case" while the more understanding couldn't stop gushing about how selfless and wonderful Bruce was, giving me a chance at a better life. The one thing they all said was how grateful I should be, for Bruce to decide I was worth taking in. I had to fight not to roll my eyes at all of them and I was pretty sure Bruce wouldn't be dragging me to any social events for a little while. I wasn't exactly schooled in how to act yet.

"Ignore them," Dick looped his arm through mine and practically dragged me across the main courtyard to a redhead chatting with a few other girls, "Babs!"

The red head turned and bright green eyes landed on our approaching forms. Barbara Gordon beamed when she saw Dick and I immediately grinned. I was always a pretty big fan of the Barbara and Dick relationship. Barbara was never afraid to tell Dick exactly what she thought and eventually, she could stand on equal footing not just as a civilian but as a member of the Batclan too. She was pretty amazing in my opinion.

"Dick!" Barbara turned to the other girls and waved, approaching us now, "How are you? I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Sorry about that! Bruce hasn't really let me out of the manor much. I've been helping Addi here adjust to her new life as a Wayne ward," he snickered, "That's actually kinda catchy, I'm gonna use that from now on! Wayne ward!"

I roll my eyes with a grin and see Barbara mirror the move. I hold out a hand, "It's nice to meet you, I'm Addilyn Pierce."

"Barbara Gordon, it's good to finally meet you! My dad mentioned Bruce took in another ward," She smiles kindly and takes my hand in a firm grip, "He's the police commissioner and likes to keep up with everything going on around town."

"He must be a busy man."

She laughs, "Some nights are definitely busier than others, depending on how active Batman is."

"Dick told me there was a vigilante in Gotham, I'm assuming that's Batman?"

She nods, "That's right. Some people don't really like him but my dad knows he's making a difference. He even has a spotlight he turns on when they need the Batman's help. It's pretty cool."

"So your dad works with Batman then?"

She shrugs, "Kind of I guess. He knows Batman is a good guy so he calls on him when he needs help."

"That's pretty cool! It would be neat to see Batman! I hear he has a partner too!"

Barbara's eyes dart briefly to Dick, I wouldn't have even noticed if I didn't expect it, before she nods, "Robin."

"He's pretty cool too," Dick chimes in with an impish grin.

Barbara rolls her eyes again, "He's okay, I guess. I hear he has a new partner now. A girl."

I perk up a little bit, "Really?"

Barbara turns sharp eyes on me as she nods, "Yep. My dad says he hasn't officially met her yet but a lot of the criminals are talking about her. Batman apparently started bringing her around about a week ago. They're calling her Sparrow."

I hum noncommittally with a small nod. While Barbara probably already knows all about Dick and Bruce's nighttime activities, the middle of the Gotham Academy courtyard isn't really the place to bring it up, "Sounds like she's keeping to the bird theme Robin started."

Barbara nodded and opened her mouth to say something else when another girl walked over. She had wavy blonde hair, perfectly manicured nails and a friendly smile, "You must be Addilyn! I'm Bette, your new student liaison! Welcome to Gotham Academy!"

I smile back, "Hi, nice to meet you."

"Have you picked up your class schedule yet?"

I nod, holding out the yellow paper with my class schedule typed in neat font across it, "Alfred was able to get me a copy when we picked up my uniforms."

Bette's smile widened, "Wonderful! Come on, I can show you around and take you to your first class."

"Um, Dick was actually-"

Bette looped her arm through mine before I could protest anymore and started dragging me toward the school, "It's not a problem, really. Besides, he's a freshman he probably doesn't know his way around yet either."

"I'll see you at lunch Addi!" Dick called after me and I could detect the hint of amusement in his tone. I threw him a look over my shoulder and he winked with a small cackle. Oh he was so going to pay when we sparred tonight.

Bette chattered on as we walked but I pretty much tuned her out, most of the stuff she was telling me I could have figured out on my own anyway. It wasn't until the tour was over and she was walking me to my math classroom I was forced to pay attention to her, "So, you're Bruce Wayne's new ward, right?"

I nodded slowly, hesitant, "Yeah."

She nodded and pulled us around another corner, "What happened to your parents? I mean, if you don't mind me asking."

I got the distinct feeling it didn't really matter if I minded. I knew Bette wasn't a cruel or vicious person but she was a teenage girl who usually got what she wanted. No wasn't a word she was overly familiar with. Bruce had already constructed a story for me based on what the Batcomputer could find and while I knew my parents weren't really dead, it was still hard to talk about because I wouldn't ever see them again. I took a breath, looking away, "They died when I was three. Someone broke into our home. They managed to hide me but they were both shot in our living room. I didn't have any other family so I wound up in foster care."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. So Mr. Wayne found you in foster care and decided to take you in?"

She was prying a little more than I liked but I remembered Dick warning me the day before about the amount of questions people were going to ask. Even though the newspapers already put my entire history out into the world, people were going to want to know if it was true or if there was more to the story than the papers said. I shook my head, "No. I actually managed to wander onto Wayne Manor property one night. Alfred was the one who found me the next morning nearly frozen to death. Bruce called in his personal doctor to look me over and the next thing I knew a social worker was asking if I wanted to stay at Wayne manor."

"Wow. You're pretty lucky it was Bruce Wayne's home you stumbled onto. Not many people would have taken in a runaway orphan. Of course, he did take Grayson in after his parents died," Bette shrugged and removed her arm from mine, "Well, here we are. If you need any help at all just let me know!"

I nodded and with a small wave Bette was off. She weaved down the hallway gracefully and waved at almost everyone she passed. She was a nice girl but I couldn't see us ever being very close.

The rest of my morning passed in a blur of classes and confusing hallways. The next time I saw Dick was lunch. He was already sitting at a table next to Barbara and waved at me as I walked in. I grabbed food from the lunch line (it was all way nicer than anything the cafeterias at home ever offered) and joined the two of them at the table.

"So, how's your day going so far?" Dick asks as soon as I sit down.

I shrug, "Honestly? The classes are a little boring and I spent most of my breaks just trying to find my next class."

Dick laughs, "Yeah, it can be kind of hard to find your way around at first but it gets easier."

"Plus, you probably have Dick in some of your afternoon classes. Most of the freshman are in the same core classes together but Dick is in a few advanced placement courses because he's a nerd," Barbara says with a cheeky grin.

I laugh, "He kind of is, isn't he? Mathlete and everything."

"Hey, the ladies love a smart guy," Dick waggles his eyebrows in a very Wally-esque fashion and causes me to early snort juice out of my nose.

"Don't ever do that again."

He cackles but makes no promises.