Arkham High

Chapter 2

Things didn't improve for Harley as the day progressed. Her first class was biology, where she once again was forced to deal with J. He sat in the back of the class, rolling spitballs and shooting them into the hair of the girl sitting across from her, a very attractive redhead.

"J, quit it!" the girl shouted, turning around suddenly. "Mr. Woodrue! J's shooting spitballs at me again!"

"Geez, Pammie, lighten up!" chuckled J. "I'm just trying to distract your goo goo eyes away from Woody there! Wouldn't want the two of you getting into any trouble!" he laughed.

"I wouldn't sleep with a teacher, you sick freak!" hissed the girl.

"Yeah? Just every other guy in the school, then?" he asked, grinning.

"Not you either!" she snapped, turning her attention back to the teacher. Harley turned to glare at J, who pointed at the girl across from her and began making obscene hand gestures.

"J, that's enough!" snapped the teacher, Mr. Woodrue, glaring up at him. "One more word and you're going to be sent out of class!"

"I wasn't saying anything, Woody," retorted J, sticking his tongue out.

"Outside, now!" snapped Mr. Woodrue. J shrugged, standing up and heading for the door. He took the wad of gum out of his mouth and stuck it in the redhead's hair before leaving, causing her to shriek in fury and race to the bathroom. Harley returned her attention to her book, regretting more than ever that she had to be in this stupid school with these stupid kids.

At lunchtime, Harley took her pick of the less than impressive cafeteria selection, and then looked around for someplace to sit. She looked for a familiar face and saw the redhead from biology sitting next to a pretty girl with short, black hair.

"Uh...hi," said Harley, coming over to them and putting on a smile. "Mind if I sit with you?"

They both looked her up and down, from her clothes to her glasses. "Um...why doncha try the nerd table instead? I think you'll fit in better over there," the redhead said, nodding at a table at the end of the hall.

"Oh...uh...ok," stammered Harley. "Sorry for bothering you."

She carried her tray over to the indicated table, empty except for three boys. Two of them were reading books, and one sat playing with what looked like some kind of rubix cube.

Harley cleared her throat. "Can I sit here?" she asked.

They all looked up in astonishment at her. "Good...Lord," stammered one of them, a skinny, red-haired boy with glasses. "That is...yes, yes, of course you can," he said, moving aside so she could sit down and shutting his book. "I'm...sorry, I don't think we've met."

"No, this is my first day," said Harley. "I got transferred here from Brooklyn. My name's Harleen Quinzel, but you can call me Harley."

"It's...wonderful to meet you, Harley," stammered the red-haired boy, sincerely. "My name is Jonathan Crane, and this is Jervis Tetch and Edward Nygma," he said, gesturing to the other two. "Jervis is an exchange student from England, and Edward is president of the chess club."

"And the riddle club, of which I'm the only member," said Nygma, his eyes fixed on the rubix cube in his hand. "So it's not really a club so much as a place for me to think up puzzles and riddles for other people to solve."

"Oh. That's...nice," said Harley, slowly. "And you're from England, huh?" she said, turning to Tetch. "Wow, you must feel like a long way from home. And I thought I came from far away!"

"If everybody in the world minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does," murmured Tetch, not looking up from his book.