NICOTINE DREAMS ➢ D. GRAYSON

01

8 years later

Heidi sighed, stepping over her roommate's dirty clothes and stuffed animals as she prepared her book bag for school. Ellie was down at the breakfast table, probably chatting up Miss Stewart for some spending money.

The twelve year old girl was annoyingly good at manipulating the older women who worked at the orphanage, especially sweet old Miss Stewart, with her pity stories of parents who she didn't even remember the faces of. While Heidi wasn't necessarily as cunning and mischievous as Ellie, she had to admit that the girl did put her skills to good use.

A floorboard creaked from by the door, causing Heidi to look up. Miss Eck, one of the younger women who helped to run the orphanage, was smiling brightly at her, flapping a thin paper card in her slender hands. Her hair was pulled up into a tight ponytail that sealed across her left shoulder, showcasing her youthful spirit at the age of thirty-three. Miss Eck noticed her eyes wandering to the paper and giggled loudly, waving the card at her.

"Miss Stewart wants to see you about this," she chirped, wiggling the paper again. Heidi's eyebrows furrowed downwards as she took the card from the woman's grasp, sidestepping to get around her and into the hallway. She glanced down at the paper.

It was an invitation for a charity gala.

She crumpled the paper in her fist and continued on her way to Miss Stewart's office.

•••

"I'm not going."

Miss Stewart frowned, her elderly features twisting delicately. She stepped behind her desk, training her eyes on the the teenage girl seated in front of her. "Why not? I thought that--"

"--that I'd like to give a speech on behalf of my dead mother?" Heidi mumbled, blinking her clear blue eyes tiredly in an attempt to wake herself up. She glanced at the clock above Miss Stewart's head. "You could have at least asked me."

Miss Stewart sighed, settling into her chair. "This is an important event for the city, Heidi. I specifically volunteered you with your mother in mind. It provides people with valuable insight about this type of thing," she said firmly, though not unkindly. "It's too late to back out anyway."

"No, it's not!" Heidi said hurriedly, feeling the panic bubbling in her throat. She couldn't have... "It's not like you told them I was for sure going to do it, right?"

The sheepish smile on Miss Stewart's face told her otherwise. Heidi groaned, pinching the skin between her eyebrows. Not only did she have school in forty-five minutes, but she now had to worry about pissing off the entire elite community of Gotham City should she refuse.

"It's really an important thing, Heidi, and I was waiting until you were old enough to volunteer you," Miss Stewart said softly, and Heidi almost felt guilty for nearly yelling at the old woman. The woman's tone grew hesitant. "You have personal experience with...this."

"Drugs, you mean," Heidi said bluntly. "Since my mom OD'd, you thought I'd like to give a speech to a bunch of rich people on why they should give money to drug awareness and prevention programs."

It was a good idea, admittedly, because the rich and wealthy of Gotham City always had a habit of trying to outdo each in the name of charity galas, their way of saying, 'oh look, I have more money to spend than you!' Whatever charity in question would surely benefit greatly. And it's not as though she didn't think it was a worthy cause. God knows how many teens had fallen victim to drugs within Gotham's history, only growing every year, and if there was anything she could do to help, she would.