Chapter Text
The Schoolgirl and the Titan
Chapter One: Apologies
Beast Boy laid on the top bunk of his bed as he stared at the ceiling. His mind swirled with memories of his interactions with the Terra lookalike.
“You don’t remember me?”
“Should I?”
“You haven’t changed a bit, Terra.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?”
“Because you are Terra”
“What makes you so sure?”
“You look like her, you… you talk like her, you laugh like her.”
“You can move the earth!”
“Why did you do that?!”
“Maybe she doesn’t want to remember.”
“You go. You’re the Teen Titan. That’s who you are. That’s not me. I’m not a hero. I’m not out to save the world. I’m just a girl with a geometry test next period and I haven’t studied.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered as tears rolled down his face. A knock on the door nearly made him jump out of his skin. He wiped the tears from his face and jumped down from the bed as the door slid open with Raven on the other side. “Oh, hey, Raven. What’s up?”
“You’ve been avoiding us. Robin’s getting worried,” said Raven in her usual monotone, “is everything okay?”
He put on a fake smile. “Yeah everything’s-” he stopped when she gave him a look that said she knew he was lying.
Beast Boy let out a sigh. “No, it’s not.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Raven asked. “I could make us some herbal tea.”
The green Titan sighed. “Yeah. Tea sounds good.” In Raven’s room, Beast Boy confided in Raven with what had happened between him and the schoolgirl. “So what should I do? Geo-Force probably wouldn’t want me to talk to her, but I don’t feel like I can go near that school after what happened. And what if I see her again? What if she’s in trouble and needs help and she won’t let me because I freaked her out?”
“You should apologize for how you treated her,” said Raven before she took a sip of her tea, “then give her the option to never see you again. It’s obvious she doesn’t want to be associated with Terra whether it’s really her or not.”
“Do you think it really is her?” Beast Boy asked as he rubbed the back of his neck.
Raven shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what I think. This is clearly what she wants and if you truly care about her, you’ll respect that.”
“Do you think we could make up and be friends? Me and her?” he asked nervously.
Raven let out a sigh. “Robin would probably tell you to leave her alone, but clearly that’s not working. As long as you don’t ditch us to spend time with her like last time, especially when we really need you, it shouldn’t be a problem. I can talk to Robin to make sure he doesn’t lecture you on this.”
Beast Boy’s eyes widened before he gave a wide grin and hugged her. “Thanks, Raven!”
“Please stop hugging me,” groaned Raven.
He let go of her and grinned sheepishly. Then he looked at the clock on the wall. “She’ll be getting out of school soon. I’d better go.”
“Just remember,” said Raven as he headed for the door, “if she wants you to leave her alone, respect her wishes. And we’re here for you if you need to talk.” Beast Boy gave her a nod and ran out of the room.
As soon as he was outside the Tower, Beast Boy turned into a raven and took to the sky as he flew towards Murakami High School. His heart fluttered with anticipation as he thought about what to say and how she might react. Once he landed near the school, he waited by the fence for her to come out. He felt the knots in his stomach return as she came out of the doors with her two friends. She had a bright smile on her face that faded as soon as she saw him and he hesitantly waved at her.
Her two friends stood on either side of her as they gave the green Titan hateful glares. “Ugh, look who’s back. Want us to take care of him for you?” one of them asked.
“No, it’s okay. I’ll handle it,” she replied. With a deep sigh she walked over to Beast Boy.
As she headed towards the Titan, she could hear her friends whispering amongst themselves. “He’s starting to act like a real creep,” said the first.
“Yeah. If he doesn’t back off after today, I’m telling the principal,” said the second.
The schoolgirl did her best to ignore her friends’ comments as she looked at the Titan in front of her. “I thought I told you to leave me alone. What do you want this time?” she asked, her tone brimming with anger.
“Um, I wanted to talk about the last time we saw each other,” Beast Boy gulped nervously.
“What about it?” she asked with a stern look.
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” Beast Boy replied nervously. She looked at him in surprise. “I shouldn’t have treated you the way I did. I shouldn’t have compared you to someone you’re not. And you were right. You’re not that girl I thought you were and I should have respected that no matter how much I didn’t want it to be true.” He swallowed back tears from the bitter words coming out of his mouth. He didn’t want this to be true, but it was reality and he had to accept it no matter how much it hurt.
Her expression softened slightly. “I’m sorry about your friend,” she replied before she looked angry again, “but you’re right. You should have respected the fact that I’m not her. You were acting like a real creep.” She had decided to borrow her friends’ words to get the point across.
Beast Boy cringed at the word ‘creep’. “You’re right, I was. I totally was. And I understand if you want me to leave you alone for good, but I wanted to say I’m sorry and… if you’d like… maybe we could start over?”
The schoolgirl stared back at him. “Why? You’re a superhero. You have superhero friends. Why would you want to spend time with some ordinary girl?”
‘You’re not ordinary to me,’ he thought. The Titan shifted nervously. “Because I feel bad for how I treated you. And I liked hanging out with you,” his ears drooped, “…You thought I was funny,” he said sadly.
She looked back at him and quietly debated on her answer. Eventually she let out a sigh. “Okay. I guess we could start over.”
Beast Boy’s face lit up. “Really?”
“Really?!” shouted her friends who were clearly listening in.
“I did think you were funny and you told cool stories,” she said with a shrug. “You were interesting to be around,” her face turned stone cold, “when you weren’t following me everywhere, calling me Terra.”
He cowered slightly. “My bad,” he muttered.
“So I’m going to give you a chance to make up for it, but this is your only chance. And we need to set some ground rules first,” she said firmly. Beast Boy nodded eagerly in agreement. “You break any of these rules, we’re done. Permanently.”
Beast Boy gulped. “Got it.”
“Okay, rule one, obviously, don’t call me Terra. That’s not my name. You call me by my name.” Beast Boy nodded. “Rule two, you don’t get to follow me around school. You’re a Teen Titan. I’m not. People are going to get suspicious if you follow me around everywhere and I clearly can’t get any work done with you looming over me. And don’t show up every day otherwise people are going to think you’re stalking me.” Her friends gave Beast Boy a knowing glare.
He grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
“Number three, don’t give me a communicator. I don’t need one and I don’t want one. I’ll give you my number when you’ve earned it and it’ll be for emergencies only. Like there’s a bad guy around or something.” Beast Boy nodded again. “Rule four, those two over there,” she gestured to the two girls behind her, “they’re my best friends and you’d better respect them.”
Beast Boy looked over at the two girls and they grinned menacingly at him. He gulped nervously before he turned his attention back to her. “Right. Got it.”
“If they tell you to leave me alone, they tell you I’m out sick or studying, you respect what they say. Don’t try to contact me or try to find me. Again, I’ll find you if I really need to. Your house isn’t hard to miss.” Beast Boy nodded once more. “Rule five, if we’re hanging out and your team calls because they need you, you go to them. I’ll be fine. It’s your job to protect the city, not mine. We can’t hang out if the city’s not safe.”
“Good point,” said Beast Boy with yet another nod.
“Rule six, you don’t take me to the Tower or show me her room. I don’t need to visit the Tower, I don’t want to see her room, and if I need to study, there’s libraries all over the city for that. I’m not even sure civilians are allowed at the Tower.”
Beast Boy rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, Robin wasn’t too happy about that. So anything else or is that it?”
She let out a sigh. “That’s it for now. If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know.” Beast Boy gave a final nod in agreement. “Alright, let’s start over. Hi, I’m Ellie,” she said as she extended her hand in a handshake.
Beast Boy stared at her for a second as if he had expected a different name, but then he smiled slightly as he shook her hand. “Hi, I’m Beast Boy.” Once they stopped shaking hands, Ellie’s friends approached.
“Oh, this is Madison,” Ellie said as she pointed to the girl with freckles, “and this is Piper,” she pointed to the girl with the high ponytail. “Girls, this is Beast Boy.”
“We met,” the two girls said in unison. A cold breeze brushed the four of them and there was a few minutes of silence.
Eager to leave the awkward situation, Beast Boy smiled nervously and gave a small wave. “Well, I guess I should be going now,” he said.
Sensing his discomfort, Ellie gave him a reassuring smile, “Yeah me too. I’ve got a lot of homework to do. Not looking forward to that,” she said with an eye roll.
“Bummer. So I guess I’ll see you around then,” he said as his smile got a little brighter.
Ellie nodded in agreement. “See you around. Come see me when you have free time.”
Beast Boy couldn’t stop smiling as he walked away and turned back into a raven as he flew back to the Tower. ‘Can’t wait to tell Raven!’ he thought.
Meanwhile Ellie and her friends watched him fly away. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Madison asked as the three girls started to walk down the sidewalk.
Ellie gave a small smile. “I don’t know, but we’ll see. Whatever happens, happens.”
To be continued