Rising Robin

Chapter XXII: Enrollment

Dick drove his motorcycle into a parking spot on the edge of the curb. He switched off the ignition & swung his leg off of the bike. He looked up at what could potentially become Dick's future.

Dick began to walk down the street towards the front courtyard of Gotham Academy. He had gone over the idea of enrolling into the private academy with Bruce & Barbara for a few days, & he finally had the chance to test & see if he placed in the ranks of high society students. It was getting close to Thanksgiving break, so he wouldn't find out whether he got in for a while.

Dick stopped in the middle of the courtyard a few yards away from the front doors & sighed, staring up at the campus. It was a genuinely amazing sight in an artistic way. The building was styled like a Victorian castle, but yet, it had a few modern aspects to its architecture. The fact that there was multiple buildings on campus only highlighted the vast enormity of the first class education system, just as vast as the campus itself. The buildings were separated into classes for the arts, sciences, literary arts, & classes for younger kids. It sort of bothered Dick that the campus also had kids in elementary school. But other than that, Dick was actually excited about the prospect of enrolling in the fine school.

Just at that moment, a young girl no older than 10 years old ran passed Dick in her uniform. Dick glanced over his shoulder as she ran to the curb. Dick's eyes widened in alert when the girl almost ran across the street as cars sped on by in the school zone.

Beside the young girl was a black car. It was very sleek & stylish. The foreign brand on the car had caught Dick's attention. This car emphasized the type of people that attended this academy. Dick had doubts that he would fit in. He wasn't raised as a wealthy boy. In fact, he spent a good portion of his life fending for himself. Dick wasn't sure if he would manage to sit still in a desk surrounded by other kids for seven hours a day for five days a week for the next 32 weeks. He was raised to leap & fly, not to sit & obey.

Suddenly, a large suited man stepped out of the driver's seat of the black car. He walked around towards the backseat door and opened it. A young man stepped out of the backseat & began to walk around the car. He was dressed in jeans & combat boots. He wore a black leather jacket over a black t-shirt. He began walking towards the school with the suited man standing beside the car. It took Dick a few moments to realize who it was he was staring at.

"Shit," Dick hissed under his breath & turned back to the front. It was Nolan Drake, in broad daylight. But what the hell was he doing at Gotham Academy?

Dick felt someone step close to his side. Dick slightly turned to see Nolan stand right next to him, staring straight ahead. Nolan had a slight grin on his lips. He turned to look down at Dick. "Hey, Grayson."

Dick felt his blood run cold. His hands clenched to fists & his breathing became heavy. Dick's first instinct was to attack him. Dick wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to finally rid Gotham City of the disease that is Nolan Drake. But it wouldn't be wise to do it with Drake's personal detail waiting not too far behind, & especially not on the campus of one of the most prestigious schools on the East coast.

"Drake," Dick managed to growl in a mumbled voice.

Nolan cleared his throat. "It's been a while. How are you?"

Dick scoffed & turned to Nolan. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Hey, there are kids around," Nolan said with a grin.

"You blew up an entire city block."

Nolan shrugged. "Come on, it's not like the Mayor doesn't have money saved somewhere in his deep corrupted pockets."