The Adventures of Nightgirl

10. The new room

Training ended at noon, leaving everyone in the house sweaty, and searching for food. Ashley, who contained a huge stomach in her small form, was raiding the cupboards, when a male voice stopped her in her tracks. 

"Ah, ahem, Ashley?" Her brother sounded nervous. 

Ashley turned around slowly, a power bar dangling limply from between two of her fingers. 

"Yes dear brother?" She asked with her sweetest voice.

"Uh, ah, I went to town and enrolled you in school yesterday." He wouldn't meet her eyes as she stared at him in shock.

Laughter bubbled forth from Ashley's lips, causing Dick to cringe as his blue eyes finally lifted to meet hers. He ran a hand through his dark hair and grinned lopsidedly at his younger sister.

Ashley thought it over for a moment, laughter still trickling half heartedly through her lips. The thought of school was so foreign to her, so normal, that she welcomed the idea. 

"Is it the same school that you attended, I think I would like that." She smiled softly, then took a step towards her brother, placing a hand on her brothers muscled arm. He grinned at her for a moment, then awkwardly ruffled her lush black locks. She ducked out from under his hand, and swatted at him playfully. For a moment, they were almost regular siblings, goofing off in the kitchen of the their families fancy huge mansion. 

"You are the only person I have met that does not throw a fit over going to school, in fact, when Bruce made me go to school, I broke an end table." 

Ash grinned, and shook her head and chuckled, "I want to see how my generation is growing up, all I have here is the young terrorist and a bunch of people who wear spandex." 

Dick was taken aback for a moment, before he began to laugh. Bending at his waist, he braced his hands on his knees, and wheezed. Ashley grinned and patted his back, walking past him, into the hallway a towards her room.

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To her surprise, Bruce stood in front of her door, looking at her with a gleam in his otherwise solid face. 

"Ashley. Tim informed me, that since you shower in the boys showers, he and Damien, have had to stall their personal cleanliness in order to share with you." He said it with a glint of amusement in his eye, which made Ashley blush as she thought of the run in with Tim earlier that week.

"Does this mean I get a room upgrade?" Ashley said, grinning at her mentor. 

Bruce nodded, and motioned for Ashley to follow him. He lead the dark haired girl down the hallway, around the corner, and into the wing where the rest of teenage kids rooms were. The carpets were more worn here, and the faint smell of boys hung in the air. 

Bruce lead her to a worn oak door at the very end of the hallway, it was beautifully carved and covered in a gloss that was worn around the handle and in places where hands would have pushed it open.

Ashley paused for a moment as Bruce opened the door and waved her through. Ashley gasped and looked around in a cool shock. The room was beautiful, not overly grand, but elegant non the less. A large bed sat in the corner next to a window with a small balcony, a door sat across from the bed, and a very modern looking wardrobe sat on the wall to the right. She gently held a hand to her mouth and turned to thank Bruce. 

Not at all to her surprise the only thing she saw of Bruce was his back fading down the hallway.

 "Thank you." She whispered, a faint twinge hitting her gut.