The Bat's Roommate

Chapter 1

Grace

I've been waiting for this day my entire life. Well, basically my entire life. College is my chance to finally make friends and not be... alone anymore. I don't think I'm going to get along very well with my roommate though. Yes, my roommate, Bruce Wayne, the 20 year-old billionaire. I'm surprised he even wanted a roommate when he could've had 20 rooms to himself. Of course, our dorm is the largest on the entire campus. I heard rumours that his butler was the one who convinced him to allow a roommate for 'socialisation' and by a stroke of luck, I was randomly chosen.

There we go. Last box unpacked. As I walk out of my bedroom, I see the entire dorm room has been furnished. The kitchen stocked with ingredients and utensils, the living room with a state of the art television and I'm assuming, an obscenely expensive couch. Most of all, everything is dark, black, navy blue or grey with the odd plant here and there. I can't complain anyway, whoever was drawn to room with Bruce Wayne was granted a free room, in other words, I'm not paying rent. Looking around the dorm, I spot the common bathroom open, with a sharply dressed man inside, seemingly dusting. He must've felt my eyes on him as he turned around and walked towards me, standing with impeccable posture and holding the duster behind him.

"Good morning, Miss Brown. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Master Wayne's live-in butler, Alfred Pennyworth, you can call me Alfred. Please feel free to let me know if you are in need of any of my services"
"Actually, Alfred, could you let me know where Mister Wayne is?"
"I'm afraid that is not possible. Mister Wayne is terribly busy. Not to worry, Miss Grace, he will not be causing any problems. Now, if you'll excuse me", he said, before bowing and walking away.
And I stood there alone. Again.

College hasn't been what I expected it to be. It's been... what? Two whole months and I haven't made a single friend here. Everyone either has their own cliques already established from high school and even middle school or they're busy listening during classes. And my roommate? Haven't seen him once. Alfred's more my roommate than he is. Every day is the same. I go to class every other day then return to my dorm to study. I don't know where to meet people other than classes. I've never really learnt how to make friends. Somehow I just thought that I would magically make friends in college since everyone in shows are always mentioning how college was the years of their life. At least today will be different. It's my parents' anniversary.

"Hi Mum. Hi Dad." I cautiously place the picnic mat on the grass in front of their graves, careful not to knock over the candles I just lit to provide some light during this night. I sat there, arms wrapped around my knees which were to my chest, thinking of what to say to them. "Is it always this lonely? I know you both were kind of loners but you had each other, right? I'm just...so tired." I closed my eyes and let the tears fall down my face, letting out all the pent-up emotion.

Wait, who is that? My tears blurred my vision, but I know I saw something. I rubbed my eyes and wiped the tears away to ascertain the entity a distance away. I stood up, alarmed. He's tall. Is it a he? Is it even a person? If it's a person, they're clearly injured, limping slowly. "Hey! Who are you? This is private property, you cannot be here!" I shouted, before watching that thing collapse. Instinctively, I ran over to help it. And wow, I wasn't wrong that today would be different.