When I woke back up to the sound of my alarm I felt like I hadn't slept at all. I rolled over, placing the pillow over my ears but all good things must come to an end, Alfred came in, ripped my cover from me, threw open the blinds and opened the windows, letting in the fresh (and cold) morning breeze.
"Alfie..." I groaned, blindly reaching for my covers but Alfred was holding them from my reach.
"Master Dick, you need to get to school," He said as I cracked open my eye to see him standing in the doorway.
"Why?" I moaned.
"Because your education is important. Now get up or no pancakes," He said and left, taking my duvet with him.
I lay still for a couple more minutes before getting up to close the window. I debated showering, but I had showered last night so left it, I'm not quite that kid, changed into my uniform and headed downstairs. At least this was my last year of school, and I was already halfway through it. Thank whatever God is above us for finally letting the board agree to advance me.
I collapsed into my chair and wolfed down the pancakes, but paused when Bruce came in.
"You'll get indigestion if you eat like that," He said as he sat down and piled some pancakes on his plate.
"What are you doing up so early, the sun hasn't even risen yet," I said around a mouthful of pancake.
"Master Dick, you should not speak with your mouth full," Alfred scolded and I gave an apologetic look before staring back at Bruce.
"I have an early meeting at W.E," Was all he said in reply, which wasn't a surprise.
He barley explained anything to do with his life yet wanted to know all about mine. Typical really.
The meal was finished in silence and then I hopped on my motorbike and drove down to school. I got all the usual stares as I parked it up and headed inside in my gear. My gear was then dumped in my locker and I headed to first period, English.
The lesson and the one after passed quickly and without problem, but then was the meeting for all those who were representing the school in the auditions next Monday.
"Alright, each person here is representing a different aspect of this school. And we know you are all the best of the best, so you better all get through," Mr Telkins explained, "I have managed to get a list of all the other competitors and it seems we will pass a breeze."
"What are the other competitors doing?" Elsie, our music competitor, asked.
"Everything and anything," Mr Telkins replied, "But out of the 500 people and groups attending, only 100 of you are getting through to the next round. And 23 of those places are going to us."
He handed out a to do list to make sure everything was sorted and our performances were perfect and sent us on a free period to practice for the remaining hour. Of course, the school is not well equipped enough for me to practice my routine so instead I just did some general P.E, yes I brought myself to do the stupid cardio, before heading off to my final class, business.

"How was your day Master Dick?" Alfred asked as I pulled up back outside of the manor.
"It was okay as far as they go," I replied as I parked in the garage and removed my helmet, "But Mr Telkins wants us after school everyday for a while to work on costumes."
"I'm sure it will be fun," Alfred said as we walked upstairs, "And I had a call through from the gym saying they need you to step in for a session leader this evening, Tori I think her name was."
"Thank you Alfie," I nodded towards him and sent a text to Kevin to tell him that I would be coming tonight for her shift at 5. Luckily it was only an hour shift and I still had time to head to the mountain first for an hour.
"Rob, we've all entered with our acts and we even got a list of everyone we're against," Wally said as he speeded over to me, "Look, I might get to meet Richard Grayson. How cool would it be to see Bruce Wayne's ward?"
"Very cool Wally, but have you put any names through to see who this terrorist might be?" I asked.
"Kaldur has, he has the list and has highlighted names. He refused to tell us any until you got here though," Wally replied and suddenly I was on the sofa next to a bouncing Wally and the rest of the team.
"Alright, the list is still quite long but thankfully it is not all 500 and we know that the judges have been bribed to let him through every round so it has to be someone with a lot of money," Kaldur explained and he put the list up on the T.V. It was still a good 100 long but that's 400 less than it could have been. And some would get taken out every round, a lot of them this round I suspect.
"What do you mean Richard Grayson?" Wally asked, "He's a golden kid and he doesn't look like he would hurt anyone."
"We cannot rule anyone out until we have some evidence Wally," Kaldur said, "And we won't get that until we meet them."
The rest of the hour was spent relaxing with the team before I headed off and jogged down to the gym.
"Ahh, Dick. You're just in time. The class are waiting in the dance studio," Kevin said, "And here's your check."
"Check?" I asked as I took it.
"This is a payed job, we have to pay you by law for it," Kevin said, "I know it isn't much for a guy like you but every little helps."
I thanked him and pocketed the check, making a mental reminder to pay in some money next time I came down. I entered the dance studio to see a group of middle aged women all stretching out on the bar.
"Hi guys, Tori isn't in today so I'm going to be taking your class this week. She should be better by your next session though," I explained.
They all seemed annoyed at this but none of them voiced it. I started the session with a few basic stretches to see how fit they were and then went into the more complex stretches. At the end they were all exhausted but had enjoyed the session. And as I normally stayed for my own workout until 7 I did an hour of gym tonight, again, I went for cardio. Be proud of me.
The home gym is good, but here I knew Bruce wasn't watching me. After my hour there I jogged home in a light sheet of rain and got on the bars. I went through my routine three times before calling it a night. I trudged into the kitchen, still sweating like a pig, and sat down at the table.
"Master Dick, I wasn't sure if you were coming down for a before mission meal tonight," Alfred said as he served up my pasta, set one down for Bruce and sat down himself.
"I wouldn't miss your food for the world Alfred," I smirked.
A couple seconds later Bruce came down and we all dug into our food making small talk.

After dinner, I showered, changed into my uniform and headed out with Bruce for the evening.
"We really need to work on making a new suit for you," He commented as we sat over the docks waiting for a weapons shipment to come in, "Something more serious."
"I have one," I replied, "I'm just working on the final details now. It should be done by the end of the week."
"That was smart thinking," Batman commented.
"You're not the only person who has a brain in this world you know," I chuckled but he didn't reply.
We sat in silence again, waiting for something to happen for another hour when finally we saw a ship coming into the harbour. Five minutes later it was docked and ready to be unloaded. Five minutes after that Batman and I had knocked out everyone on the ship, dumped the guns in the ocean and were back on lookout to wait for the collectors to arrive. It wasn't long after we had hidden again that they stepped out into the rainy dock. Batman and I jumped down, took them out and dragged them to the police station to be locked up.
"You need to head home now," He said after we had dropped them off, "You need to be ready for school tomorrow."
"But it's only 11," I fought.
"And by the time you get back, showered and into bed it will be midnight," Bruce replied and gave me a look to say there was no point arguing.
And so I headed home, showered and crawled into bed at 00:04.