Selina Kyle | The Beginning

18

     Jonathan waited for what felt like days for Selina to return even though it was only about an hour. Jonathan had thought about Selina the whole time she was away. He saw her dancing around in his room, wearing his sweater, listening to the small radio he kept hidden behind his bookcase. The thought of her kept him smiling through the morning mass, so much that he felt his cheeks hurt as he and his grandmother walked home.

     When they arrived back he quickly tore off his coat and then helped his grandmother do the same after she demanded him to. After he did so he quietly hurried himself up the stairs and stopped in front of the door. He looked down and pushed his hair back with his right hand in one swift motion and took a deep breath. He reached for the doorknob but instead gently pressed his ear to the door. Silence. She's planning something. He knew how silent she could be when she was being mischievous and he sensed some sort of prank coming for him. He slowly opened the door, careful not to swing it open in case she were hiding behind it, "I'm back from God's lovely home!" His smile was wiped from his face when he realized he was alone.

    He had tried to be patient but couldn't keep his foot from tapping or his fingers from fidgeting every now and then. A million questions ran through his head. Where was she? Who was she with? Was she having fun? Had she forgotten about him?  He let out a sharp breath, You can't just be sitting here when she returns.  Jonathan lugged himself toward his bookcase and selected a book without evening looking at the title. He lied his belly on his cot and opened to the middle of the read. He blankly stared at the left page as he continued to daydream about Selina. That's when Selina arrived.

     Thump, bump, knock, knock! Jonathan jumped up and darted to the window. There was Selina clinging to the side of his house smiling up at him. No matter how annoyed he was he couldn't help but smile back at her.  He lifted the almost freezing window and helped her crawl in. She had trouble squeezing in because of the cut-red-dress that flared out at the ends. Jonathan cringed at the sight of the dress, it was cut. Why would she cut it? Why would she wear it out? He wasn't sure what to say, how to react with her. He had never been so unsure of his feelings toward her.

     "How was the priest?" She asked as she made herself at home. She tossed her shoes on the floor.

     "What?"

     "Isn't there a guy that wears like white robes and sings."

     "The priest doesn't sing, and more importantly where did you go?"

     "I went for a walk through the city and stumbled upon Wayne Manor, Oh! I saw my girl Lil who you just gotta meet."

     Wayne. Just the sound of the name made Jonathan cringe. Why was she so caught up in 'Bruce Wayne'? She was falling for the same bullshit everyone else made up about him. How he is the 'future of Gotham' and a 'legacy'. Who cared if all the kids at school, everyone in all the office buildings in Gotham, and all the people at church believed that garbage but not Selina. Since the moment she left him alone at the party Jonathan had the image of Bruce Wayne in the back of his mind. This was unacceptable. "You 'stumbled upon Wayne Manor'? Ha," He let out a harsh breath, "You don't stumble upon a manor Selina."

     Selina sensed the tone in his voice and looked at him curiously, "So I went. Why are you on my case?"

     "You shouldn't be going to Wayne Manor, Selina."

     "Why not? I go where I please." Selina snorted.

     "Oh C'mon Selina why would you want to go there anyway, don't pretend to be something you're not." Jonathan put his hand up have if he was waving her away and threw himself on his cot. 

     He's gone too far. Selina had been pretending to be fine the whole walk home from Wayne Manor. From the moment she left the Wayne gates she felt she might throw up and cry. It angered her even more that she felt this way. She hated Bruce for making her act so foolish. She should have never come. She hated herself for wasting her time. There was no use in falling for him, they were too different, like she'd said to him. But when she said it it wasn't like she had planned to say it to sound mysterious or smooth like usual, she hadn't realized how different they were till in that moment. She had only seen the similarities in them. Yes, they were both young, alone in the cruelest city, they both had to live a certain way without really having a say in how they wanted to live, but that's it. They could never be friends or the breathless and warm feeling she felt when she saw him or knew she was about to. Reality had once again crashed into her and she was back to the girl she was before. The one that didn't allow herself to dream because she knew they weren't possible. It was nice to be in her fantasy for the time it lasted but it was over now. She had to think clearly now or she'd never survive. Even though she was back to her old mindset she felt changed. Like even though she felt imagined the whole connection between her and Bruce that maybe there was an experience there. Maybe they did teach each other something, or was this just her head trying to make herself feel better. "God dammit why am I even thinking about this?" she asked herself on the way back to Jonathan's. And here she was, with her friend who was angry at her for the way she acted. And now that she remembered these thoughts...He's right. All this time she should have just listened to him. Jonathan was the one person who wasn't stuck with her in a messy situation and was forced to be her friend to survive. Unlike Lily, Jonathan had like her from the start. He was the first person to ever like her from the start for just being...me. She looked to her hands and sighed.

     "He isn't like us." The frustration rose in Jonathan, "Don't you get that he is just like every other pompous, spoiled brat that is fed a five course meal three times a day and doesn't even consider the kids like us!?"

     Jonathan inhaled getting ready to rant when Selina said, "Yeah, now I do." She spoke in a low quiet voice, one that Jonathan hadn't recognized. She didn't say anything else,  just twiddled her fingers. Jonathan exhaled and sat up. "Sorry I yelled it's ju-"

     "No, you're right." Her voice stayed at its same, quiet,  solemn tone.

     "Are you alright? Did something happen?"

     "Nope. I guess I just realized how dum I am."

     "You're not dum. Why are you dum?"

     "I've just been wasting my time. You're right, Bruce Wayne is a snob." she gave him a reassuring smile that he saw past but smiled back at her. Something wasn't right...Selina wasn't one to have a sudden change of heart.

      "Do you wanna talk about it?" 

      "Nah man, it's Christmas. Let's go have fun."