Nobody had expected the mayor's son; to bring along a mysterious guest to their annual Masquerade Ball, and nobody had expected it to be a beautiful blonde girl with an innocent smile; and nobody at Gotham City Prep had expected quiet young Harleen Quinzel to be the mystery girl brought along by Aubrey James' son: Ian James.

Ian James was every teenaged girls dream guy, how he managed to get swept away by the loner Harleen Quinzel, is still a mystery to us all. But he graced the ballroom with seventeen year old Harleen, at his side, getting a lot of attention no doubt. Harleen wasn't one for the spotlight, not like Ian; he'd grown up with it, being the mayor's son and all, but he gave her a reassuring smile and held her hand tight.

She looked beautiful in her red dress, stopping just at the knee, her black heels added a few inches, and her black masque made the blue in her eyes pop, and her wavy hair fell in just the right places, that made her look like a model.

At exactly eight: forty-five Harleen excused herself to use the ladies room, but she never made it there. Instead she made her way to the elevator, making herself casually unseen, smiling at people who waved, being modest about her presence, the elevator opened and she stepped in, pushing the button that read 10, the top floor, like she had expected totally deserted. She made her way down to the woman's bathroom at the end of the hall, but not to relieve herself. She walked over to the last stall with an out of order sign on it, opened it and stepped inside, behind the toilet in a waterproof plastic bag laid the secret to Harleen Quinzel. She opened the bag, pulled out her thigh high boots and exchanging them for the heels, a little unseen button on the back of her dress would turn the skirt of her dress into an alternating black and red pattern, pulled on a black leather vest and lastly pulled on one red leather glove and one black. She stashed the rest of her things back behind the toilet and stepped out of the stall, looking in the mirror she couldn't help but thinking how a quick change of costume made her look like a completely different character, she game a quick smile, before pulling her hair back, and waltzing out of the ladies restroom and back to the elevator, and hitting the button that read roof.

She walked out onto the windy rooftop awaiting the arrival of an unknown person, she had been given a note saying to meet here, and the note was addressed to Harley Quinn. After about ten minutes she heard a ding from the elevator, thinking it was the mystery note person, she became nervous and hid in the shadows, she heard an odd but familiar laugh "Lexy, come out come out wherever you are." Another laugh, she knew whoever this person was, was not the one who sent the note. Becoming frightened Harleen tried to sneak out the door to the staircase but when she reached for the door the figure had made it there, a sharp laugh and a "You're not Lex Luther." A strange pause and the character stepped into the light, he had red hair, and was dressed in a purple and green suit, and a mask over his eyes.

"Ahhh, I see." He laughed "You're the newest recruitment." He was walking around now looking a little upset. "Oh you don't know why you're here? You just got a note saying to meet here, probably to dress in a ridiculous disguise, although I must say yours is by far the best I've ever seen" he looked Harley up and down with an evil smile "and now you're waiting here, waiting for Lex Luther himself to add you into the Secret Society. HA!" he laughed, then continued "and you know what bothers me about this so much?" he paused "they won't let me in!" he threw his hands up in the air exasperated "and so now I have to kill you."

"What?" she asked, a little terrified.

"I know this isn't your fault, hey you got some skill, but I have vowed to kill their recruits so they don't have any new members, well that is until they let me join." He smiled. Then stepped forward getting close into her face, looking into her eyes, "it's a shame I have to kill you. Although I might add your eyes are very familiar…have we met before?"

"I, uh, I don't know." Harley let out shakenly.

"Hmm" he tapped his face. He started fumbling with his mask and then tore it off, annoyed with it. And then Harley knew who he was and why his laugh had been recognizable.

She caught her breath, and then quietly added "Jerome Valeska" he smiled and laughed at this. "Oh so we have met… I knew your pretty blue eyes weren't mistakable, so tell me gorgeous… what is your name?"

She was afraid to tell him her name, but more afraid to not answer she blurted out her cover name "Harley Quinn."

He turned to look at her as though in thought, "nope doesn't ring a bell."

"But you're supposed to be dead!"

"Funny thing death, guess this one time I outsmarted it" he laughed evilly.

The bell tower rang in the distance and she knew she had been gone too long from the ball and the person who wrote the note wasn't coming. She had to get out of there alive, so she put on her cunning smile and her wit, and made the attempt at a getaway, "I guess you're going to kill me now." There was a special look in her eye.

He stepped closer to her contemplating it in his head, "I was only joking, I like a good laugh."

"Might as well call you the Joker"

His face was inches from her face, the town bells rang again, she needed to leave now. Placing her hand on his stomach she pushed him back, staying very close until he was leaning up against the ledge, the final bell had rang and Harley Quinn had planted a soft, lingering kiss on Jerome's lips, and then whispered, lips barely touching "Until we meet again, Joker." Walking to the elevator she pushed the down button, stepped inside and pressed 10, just as the doors were closing Jerome came running, fire in his eyes and a playful smile on his face. She began rapidly pushing the button and was successful to have the doors close before he could get to her. A faint "I will find you Harley Quinn!" was heard but she couldn't help but be relived she had made it out alive. When she reached the tenth floor she ran down the hall to the woman's bathroom to retrieve her cloths she was going to swap out. She grabbed the bag and ran back to the elevator without changing, down the hall she could hear running and caught a slight glimpse of Jerome sprinting down the hall just as the door to the elevator opened. Pushing the button for the first floor rapidly, they started to close just in time to see Jerome "Harley!" he yelled. She blew him a kiss and gave a wink just as the doors shut.

She gave herself two seconds to catch her breath then made the switch back into Harleen Quinzel. Pulling off her boots and puting on her heels, switching her skirt, removing the gloves, and letting her hair fall down her back, she had no choice but to leave her stuff in here, if she carried them around Jerome would spot her, not to mention get a few off looks from other guest. She stuffed the cloths in a corner as the door to the first floor opened, quickly sneaking out and ducking so she wouldn't be seen; she weaved her way back into the ball room and into Ian James' arms.

"What took you so long? Is everything okay?" he asked her concerned.

"Fine, everything's fine." She said with a reassuring smile, "Let's dance."

She hid out of sight of Jerome in fear he would spot her even with an outfit change, when they were dancing she saw the Purple and Green of the suit passing by, noticed he had retrieved his mask, but hid her face in Ian's chest, thinking and hoping that would be the last time Harley Quinn would meet the Joker. But that was naive on her part, because as we all soon will know, that was only the beginning.