Wally was having a rough morning. He had slept through his alarm, then his backup alarm, and then his backup-backup alarm. He hadn't had time to eat anything other than two slices of buttered toast and a mouthful of water from the kitchen sink. Then, somehow, he'd managed to piss off his dad by reason of existing.

After spending half an hour screaming at him, Wally's dad finally just hit him upside the head with a beet bottle. "Get to school, you little shit."

Wally nodded and took off. He patched up his arm and his other injuries in an alley and then he headed to school. He hated walking the two miles, but it was better than relying on the city bus. He somehow lived too far from the school to qualify for a school bus ride. It was a load of crock, but alas, he had to deal with it.

One slow half hour later, he arrived at Happy Harbor High. Walking in, he went directly to his locker. He switched some of his textbooks out, double checking that he had all of his homework before allowing himself to relax at all.

"Boo!" Someone yelled from behind him, grabbing his shoulders, making him jump. The prankster started laughing. Wally turned around to find his best friend, Dick Grayson.

"Not cool man!" The redhead huffed. "Not cool at all!"

"Well, someone's not feeling the aster," Dick said.

"And someone else is destroying the English language."

"Not my fault that English is ridiculously hard to learn."

The duo walked to- ironically- English class, almost running into one of their worst enemies, Raquel Ervin. She was with a new girl who was using forearm crutches. It wasn't that Raquel was an awful person or anything; she was just annoying in the way most high school girls were. Still, something about her just got on Wally's nerves. The new girl with her though... she made his heart drop to his stomach, writhing like a group of snakes.

The girl was really pretty, with long blonde hair pulled back in a thick ponytail. She somehow managed to look really intimidating. Wally wondered exactly why she was using crutches. And why she was so pretty. He really shouldn't ask either of those questions though. Espionage not about the crutches. He was pretty sure that that would be ableist or something.

"Artemis, these assholes are Wally West and Dick Grayson." And that was why he disliked Raquel. Seriously, why did she feel such a need to be a bitch?

"We're not assholes, Raquel. You are," Dick replied. He looked at the new girl- Artemis, apparently. "Raquel hates everyone. Don't believe a word she says about anyone except the mean three and their gang."

Raquel rolled her eyes. "I'll stop hating people when they give me a reason to."

Artemis laughed. The sound was cruel, grating against his ears. "The mean three? What are you guys, six? That kind of kindergarten creativity would literally get you shanked with a pencil at my old school."

Raquel rolled her eyes. "Probably. But hey, it wasn't my idea. Someone started using it and everyone else kind of just rolled with it."

"It is pretty stupid." Dick conceded. "I mean, English isn't even my first language and I could've done better."

"See?" Artemis smiled. "Any random dude can do better than that. Even apparently, kids who have a poorly aged name that he can't even use his old age to excuse."

Dick laughed. "Oh, I embrace it. Trust me, you will hear me make a few too many Dick jokes. It's how I roll."

Wally snorted. "More like how you make eyes roll."

Dick laughed and Artemis groaned. Raquel sighed. "That was terrible."

Artemis, looked between the three. "It's 8:14, so I'm going in, you guys can follow if you want." She entered the classroom. The others realized that they didn't have much choice, and followed the blonde.