Sell you a Bridge chapter 29

Gotham Academy, July 7th 2010 7:00 AM EDT

Once  again I was exhausted in class. I'd stayed up late last night at the  lair, working on trying to crack into the security on Wayne Manor. After  about five hours of attempts to get past their firewall I had decided  to call it. Whatever fucking monster of a computer Bruce Wayne had  running the encryption on his security cameras wasn't something I could  bypass, even with the frankly ludicrous system I'd bought for the clock  tower. Bruce Wayne might be a play boy but the guy took security  seriously, probably a side effect of seeing your parents murdered in  front of you in a dark alley.

Annabel was glaring at me,  though I wasn't sure why. "Are you listening to me Morgan? You didn't  hear a word I said did you? I swear you spend so much of your time on  that stupid extra curricular project and then when you do have time for  me you barely pay attention." She must have seen the dazed look on my  face when I glanced up at her because her glare softened. She reached  out to cup my face "But you aren't ignoring me at all, are you? Look at  you, you're so tired you can barely sit up." She sighed "Take a nap  sweetie, we can talk at lunch."

I smiled gratefully at her  and put my head on my desk, putting my book up in front of me as a  shield as I drifted off. I got an hour or so of sleep before the bell  and Annabel walked with me to lunch to meet up with Artemis and Reggie  and we hit the lunch line. I sat down across from my friends with a  thump, too tired to control the force of my lunch tray dropping onto the  table. Artemis looked up from her phone at the noise "Oh, hey Annabel,  where's your boyfriend, and does he know you're eating lunch with a  desiccating vampire?"

I stabbed angrily into a piece of  steak and leveled my fork at her "First of all, fuck you. Second of all,  I knew you'd been watching vampire diaries. 'Overdramatic teen  nonsense' my ass." I rounded on my girlfriend "I blame you for this.  She's been so much girlier since you started hanging out with her.  You've ruined my best friend. Speaking of you being girly and ruined how  are things with your redhead? Wallace wasn't it? You guys make sweet  love by the track stadium lights yet?" I popped the steak in my mouth,  almost moaning at having actual food instead of the granola bars I'd  been subsisting on during my hacking.

Artemis glared at me  "His name is Wally. And no, we decided to wait. He doesn't want to move  too fast. Though he kind of sounded like he was making a joke when he  said that. Either way he's a sweet heart and we aren't rushing things.  He's taking me out for ice cream this Saturday. Just because you have no  sense of romance doesn't mean all teenage boys are pigs." She turned to  Annabel "Are you sure you want to be dating him? I mean yeah he's  jacked, but his face is kind of plain and he's insufferable."

I  used my fork to fling a piece of broccoli at her but she intercepted it  easily. Annabel chuckled and leaned up to kiss my cheek. "Yes he has  many flaws, but I look past them because I'm just that amazing. Though  we also have a date on Saturday. We're having dinner alone at my house,  my parents are going to be out of town." She turned her smile on Reggie,  who as always was incredibly quiet when Annabel was around "How about  you Reginald? Any plans for the weekend? I'm sure the lovely Ms. Kane  would be available to be squired about town."

Reggie  actually blushed at that and cleared his throat "I didn't but now that  you mention it I would love to spend Saturday with Bette." He gave a  small but for once honest smile "Thanks for the idea Annabel." He smiled  confidently and got up to go find Bette. The two of them weren't  actually dating yet. but it was obvious to everyone that they liked each  other. Artemis told me Bette was waiting for Reggie to make the first  move in terms of defining the relationship. I made a mental note to talk  to him about it.

In the mean  time I leaned over and pecked my girlfriend on the cheek "See. I knew  Reggie would come around. He doesn't blame you for all that stuff your  friends said after his family lost their money, he's just getting used  to your new dynamic. You guys will be besties in no time. And have I  mentioned how amazing it is that you're putting in so much effort with  him? I know you feel bad about the way things went down but I still  really appreciate how hard you're trying." I gave her a soft kiss, but  we were interrupted when another tray dropped loudly on the table.

Dick  Grayson slipped into the seat next to Artemis that Reggie had just  vacated and grinned charmingly at us. "Hello all, glad to see you in  high spirits. Sorry to cut in on your lunch but I was here to invite you  to a little soiree I'm throwing this Friday night. Formal attire only,  and passed hors d'oeuvres  will be provided at stately Wayne Manor." He  wiggled his eyebrows as he said the last part, clearly aware of how  pompous it sounded and kind of winking at himself for it. "In any case,  I'm off to invite the rest of the people in our year, hope to see you  there, feel free to bring a date. Party starts at seven."

He  gave a cheerful wave and rushed off. If anyone else had done that it  would have seemed weird, but Dick had this sort of manic energy about  him that made him feel at home in any group setting. He could just jump  into a conversation and seem perfectly at ease. He rarely stayed in one  place during lunches, usually making the rounds to drop in and say hi to  random people. Showing up to invite us to a party and then vanishing  was pretty on brand for that guy. Still I was a bit confused by one  thing "Wait, why the hell would he be throwing a party at Wayne Manor?"

Artemis  and Annabel looked at me like I was an idiot, but my girlfriend was too  polite to say it out loud. Unfortunately my bestie was not "Because  he's Bruce Wayne's adopted son, moron. Seriously how could you possibly  not know this? Grayson's folks were circus performers who died in an  accident. Bruce Wayne was in the audience when it happened and took the  kid in. Honestly he shouldn't even be here, he's only thirteen, but the  kid is some kind of genius and he skipped a grade to come to the  academy." She turned to Annabel "I pity you, if he doesn't know obvious  stuff like this I can't imagine how terrible he'll be at picking out  birthday presents."

Normally  I would have responded to such provocation, but I was focused on a much  more important issue. Why the fuck was I getting invited to a huge  party at Wayne Manor the day after I tried to hack into their security  system. Could they have tracked me? No, the clock tower was owned by a  shell company Jim helped us set up, not to mention I was a world class  hacker. Also this was a big party, no way he'd decided to throw the  whole thing spur of the moment just for a chance to catch me doing  something sneaky.

It  seemed like it might be a coincidence, but I didn't believe in those.  This was a mess, if I went I might be setting myself up to get caught,  but if I didn't I would be standing out way too much. Plus I couldn't  pass up the chance to case Wayne Manor from the inside with an invite. I  made a silent promise to myself not to steal anything on Friday, just  to do some light recon. If I didn't do anything shady they couldn't  catch me, and there was nothing abnormal about paying attention to the  decor.

I was  interrupted from my ruminations by the discovery that the girls were  staring at me. Artemis turned to Annabel "I see what you mean, he  usually doesn't space out this much. He definitely needs to get some  more sleep. You with us now zombie boy?" I blinked at the question but  nodded, feeling like responding out loud would just expose me to further  ridicule. "Good. Now do you have something you might like to ask  Annabel? Something relevant to what just happened? If I need to draw you  a diagram I'm going to slap you with it."

I  glared at her "No. I'm tired not slow." I turned to Annabel sheepishly  "Sorry babe, that was pretty insensitive of me. Do you want to go with  me to the party? I shouldn't have assumed." Taking my girlfriend for  granted would be a good way to wind up single. If I hadn't been so damn  tired I'd have remembered to ask instead of just figuring we would go  together. I really needed to set up a cut off time on my hacking  projects. I grinned at Annabel to distract her and threw out a bit of  bait to help smooth things over "By the way, I'll need you to pick out  my tux. I don't know formal wear."

The  pleased smile told me in no uncertain terms that she was excited for  that. Annabel wasn't a stereotype exactly, but she did enjoy spending  her money. Shopping was a favorite pastime of hers and getting the  chance to dress me up to her liking would be a major selling point. She  waved off my concern "I don't mind you assuming we would go together,  you are my boyfriend. At this point I'm more genuinely worried than  anything. You need to take better care of yourself, love. Get more  sleep. But yes, of course I'll pick out your tux. I can coordinate it  with my own dress."

Artemis  shuddered "Oh gods. Formal wear means I have to wear a dress." She  pulled out her phone and shot off a text. "Well if I have to wear formal  attire I at least want my man with me so I can ogle him in a tux.  Hopefully he's free Friday." She shot Annabel a pleading look "Can you  help me pick out something to wear Anna, please? You know I'm hopeless  at this kind of stuff. I mean don't get me wrong I look damn good in  most things, but I have no clue what counts as formal or even in style.  Can I come dress shopping with you?"

The  predatory gleam in Annabel's eyes made me mildly nervous for my best  friend, but she'd been teasing me all day so I left her to her fate.  There was a reason I asked Annabel to pick my tux instead of going with  her to find one. My girlfriend could shop for the Olympics. Even Artemis  would be exhausted by the time they finished. Annabel was grinning so  hard I worried her head might split "Of course Artemis! I would love  that. We can make an afternoon of it, pick up a few different things,  maybe go for a massage. Are you free tomorrow?"

Artemis  agreed, the poor fool, and the two of them excitedly talked about their  girls day out. I made a mental note to call Zee tomorrow since Arty and  Annabel would be out. In the meantime I mulled over the possible  ramifications of this party and what I should do there. I would have to  go talk to Jim about what was going on. My mentor would know what to do.  With a plan in mind I tuned back in to the conversation, listening to  my girlfriend and my best friend make plans. Even if I wasn't involved I  didn't mind. This was pretty nice.