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Stephanie Brown was not one to be underestimated. In fact, if you underestimated her she would specifically work harder to break expectations.
People saying a scholarship kid would never do as good as the rest of Gotham Academy? Steph got up to second in her class. And the Drake kid doesn’t count, she thought bitterly, his parents probably paid the school off.
People say she can never be good since her father is cluemaster? Robin himself gave her a high-five and there’s no way he would high-five an evil person.
Her mom saying she can’t see how Steph could make a worse decision than putting hot sauce in the dishwasher? Well now she’s going up to the weird girl who never talks to anyone and is probably a serial killer. Steph’s not worried; she made her will at age six like any sane Gothamite.
The weird girl was sitting far away from the other kids at the park. Instead of playing on one of the empty swings, she sat near the edge of the forest. Most kids were scared of the forest, but she had no qualms about getting near it. Steph strode towards her, ignoring the way the other kids stared at her with wide eyes. The girl was kneeling while watching ants cross over a stick. She hadn’t changed positions since Steph had arrived at the park an hour ago.
“Hey!” Steph called, stopping in front of the girl. “I’m Steph. You’re weird. Wanna be friends?”
The girl stared up at her in confusion, obviously not understanding a word she said. The girl watched Steph for a few moments before becoming bored and turning back to the ants. Steph sighed before trying again.
“You. Me. Friends,” She said slowly, moving her arms around as she talked. When the girl continued to ignore her, Steph grabbed her arm.
The next thing she knew, she was on the ground with Weird Girl pointing the ant stick at her. While Steph hadn’t been able to see earlier, it was obvious at such close proximity that they were fire ants. The two of them stared at each other; one of them glaring, the other just shocked. Steph blinked dirt out of her eyes and coughed as the girl continued to watch her. Suddenly, Steph smiled.
“You are so cool!” She shouted up at the girl. The girl wrinkled her brow as she contemplated Steph’s continued peppiness. The blonde shoved Weird Girl until she finally moved off of her. Stephanie grabbed her hand and used it to hoist herself up. She was covered in dirt from falling, but the girl still looked as pristine as ever. She wasn’t that clean, but she looked like a princess next to Steph. Several of the kids on the playground were watching them like a soap opera as they continued to hold hands.
“We fought and no one died; that means we’re friends. What’s your name, Weird Girl?” Steph asked, smiling at her. The Asian girl stared at the other as she continued smiling, hoping she was just taking her time thinking. As the silence grew, Steph’s smile slowly fell. Maybe she just doesn’t like her name, the blonde thought, nodding to herself. I’ll come up with something else to call her. After a few minutes of thinking, Steph finally gasped and started smiling again.
“I’ll call you Cassandra! That’s the name of Rapunzel’s badass black haired friend and you’re my badass black haired friend. Plus Rapunzel and I are both blonde so it fits even better,” Steph said, grinning up a storm. The newly named
Cassandra seemed to think over the words, but it wasn’t known whether she could even understand it.
“Cassandra. Badass,” She muttered to herself, looking at Steph with a suspicious expression.
“Shit. Don’t say that,” Steph whispered, looking around as if the swearing police would pop out of the bushes. “Mom still doesn’t know I know how to swear and I think she’d cry if she learned. So when you meet her, don’t say words like badass. Or shit. Or fuck. Dammit I’m just teaching you new ones, aren’t I?”
Cassandra giggled and Steph started to chuckle as well. Soon they were laughing up a storm, forgetting how they were fighting just a few minutes ago.
“Come on, Cassie,” Steph said, tugging the other girl towards the swings. “Let’s see if we can take over the world. Or at least the playground.”