Rose

Chapter 1

"Thank you for coming Mr Napier," The two adults shook hands and sat down. He sat down next to his father, staying as quiet as possible. "We are worried about Jack, Mr Napier," Jack. That was his name. He didn't like it. It was in-substantial, too short and too normal to be noticed. He liked to be noticed but only when it suited him. "He is a bright student but he doesn't seem to be reaching his full potential," This did not suit him. "He seems distracted and distant," Why had his father been called in for this? He hadn't screamed in class or kicked any of the teachers. "He doesn't have many friends in his year," It must have taken all of the teacher's effort not to say 'any' instead of 'many'. "He doesn't work well with others," Those 'others' are idiots. Weak idiots. "But the main reason we have called you in Mr Napier," Here's the climax. "Your son seems to be making friends with less than reputable characters," Ah, that's why his father had been called in, because of the gang. His school was obviously scared of what the nasty teenagers could do. This made him want to laugh but he didn't, it didn't seem appropriate. "We feel that Jack could be being lead astray by the older students," That was laughable, he was the one doing the leading.

"Thank you for telling me all of this Mrs Whitecross," His father finally spoke. Was that it? Would they let him get away with brushing them off so easily?

"We are just concerned about Jack, Mr Napier," Why has she been saying 'we' all of the time? Maybe she's schizophrenic.

"I will address your concerns with my son. I must be going now," His father stood up, shook hands with Mrs Whitecross and walked out of the classroom. Jack followed, glancing back at his teacher who looked slightly confused.

Once outside the school his father stopped and turned around to face him. "Don't come home for at least an hour," He then turned away and kept walking. This suited Jack fine. Jack turned and walked away in the opposite direction to his father.

"Ah, brother, leader, you grace us with your presence!" The girl sitting on one of the branches of their tree greeted him. She sat on one of the higher branches, almost hidden from view.

"Nice to see you too, sister," Rose. That was her name. She didn't like it, he secretly did. He believed it was the one their parents got right. He climbed up to his branch of the tree, the one that could look easily at the other branches that his gang used. He didn't like the word gang, it's almost friendly sounding. Their tree was nestled among other trees, deep in the forest that no one came into. This made their tree perfect.

There were five others from the gang sitting in the tree. None of the gang members used their real names. He knew this was because they joined to escape, names just tie you down. He was just Boss or Leader to them. Three of the five were more important members. The first of the three was Dope, an almost un-naturally tall eighteen year old with pale blue eyes that gave him the look of someone who was high, hence the name. The second was Light, an ugly sixteen year old with a nose that looked like it had been broken ten times and probably had, Jack didn't think it was important enough to ask. He gained his nickname because he liked fire, he liked to burn things with the lighter he always carried. The third was lanky and slightly greasy looking, he was named Orange because of his ginger hair. He was quite new to the gang. Jack didn't know how old he was, he looked around seventeen. The two un-important members were named Rock and Boulder, mainly so Jack could remember them but he supposed they were quite thick set. They were just for ground work, couldn't be trusted with anything important.

"What was I saying? Oh yes," his sister spoke again. "He likes to think he is so tough but he started crying when they told us the class hamster died. A big, tough guy bawling his eyes out! It was hilarious!" she laughed her long, high pitched laugh. Jack smiled, he liked to hear her laugh. He looked at his gang. Light was smiling, entranced by her tales as usual, Dope smiled dreamily though that was possibly his only expression. Orange was smirking. Orange was sitting closer to his sister than he would have liked but then again, she always said that she liked his hair. "On that topic, I got you a present brother. Well I suppose it's more a present for Fluffy and his fluffles," she grinned and dug around in her pocket. She produced a dead hamster and presented it to him with a dramatic bow.

"Thank you sister, I'll make sure that Fluffy and his fluffles get it," He rested it on another branch.

"I think it was called Lawrence, stupid name for a hamster if you ask me. Which they did, but the majority vote won. Anyway, that boy I was talking about, I think he likes me! He gave me a flower, which would be sweet if it weren't so pathetic. I wasn't sure what to do with it, I don't care about him but the flower was very pretty. I kept it through the day but when I was walking home I passed that lamppost with all the flowers on it, the ones dedicated to that girl who was squashed by a car. I tucked it in with them and some women said 'Bless you' so I said 'But I didn't sneeze!'" she laughed again and this time he and his gang joined in. She would always tell long, rambling stories like this, which was why the gang liked her so much. He had tried to keep her away from the gang at first, he didn't want her to get hurt. She had persisted and eventually she became an honorary member. She didn't help with their little jobs but she came to the meetings. She even had a gang name, she was The Joker. The 'The' was very important to her for some reason, but only when she was being introduced, otherwise 'Joker' would suffice. She was The Joker because of her stories, her laugh and her jokes, terrible as they were.

"I don't blame the boy for liking you Joker," Orange spoke, still smirking. Jack noticed again how close to her Orange was sitting.

"I know, I'm adorable," she laughed again, putting her hands in her pockets nonchalantly.

"You are. I would fuck you," Jack tensed. All the gang other members of the gang looked at each other then at Jack. Orange sat up, with that smirk still plastered on his face. "We could go now," he put his hands on her branch, one at each side of her. "What do you say?"

Jack sprang at Orange. He straddled him, using his legs to clamp the other boy's legs to the tree branch. He pinned both of Orange's hands against the tree trunk with one hand and held a knife to his throat with the other. The boy beneath him trembled and closed his eyes, trying not to look at the knife. This just annoyed Jack.

"Look at me," It didn't open its eyes, "LOOK AT ME!" Jack shouted in its face. The scum's eyes snapped open, filled with fear but focused on Jack. "Good boy. Now I might give you a second chance because you're new and ginger and I've always liked ginger. Normally, I'd kill first," he pushed the blade up just slightly and the scum whimpered, "and ask questions later for that kind of... comment, but you get another chance! Just because I like you. Aren't you lucky?" he paused, looking imploringly at the scum. "Well?" he said sharply, slamming the scum's hands against the tree trunk again, making an effort to graze them against the rough bark.

"Yes!" It cried, it's now tear filled eyes still staring into Jack's.

"Good boy. Now what do we say when we're sorry?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry Joker,"

"Accepted," Rose said casually, seemingly un-fazed by what was going on. She had taken her Swiss army knife out of her pocket and was stroking the flat edge of the short blade with her thumb. He had wondered why she had put her hands in her pockets. He had given her that when she started coming to the meetings.

"As for your...urges, we men know what to do about that," He took the hand that he had been using to hold the scum's hands to the tree trunk and pretended to caress down its body, keeping his hand an inch away from it. Its arms hung limp at its sides, its fear filled face now had traces of confusion in it. He hovered his hand over the scum's crotch, pausing for just a moment, then he grabbed one of the scum's limp hands and shoved it down its trousers. He moved back onto his branch, slipping the knife back into its place. The scum was still how Jack had left him just seconds ago, still with a hand down its trousers. All was silent for a moment, then Rose laughed, the other gang members joining in soon after. Jack smiled and ran his tongue over his lips. His mouth was quite dry, he'd have to get some water when they went home.

"Maybe we should call you Pedo now," she giggled. That was a good idea, he'd never really felt that Orange was a good name anyway. Pedo fitted much better.

"Perfect! All in favour?" Jack smiled around at the gang. All the gang members raised their hands. Pedo took his hand out of his trousers and raised it too. Good man. "It's a unanimous decision, notion carried. Orange is now Pedo," Rose laughed again.

A/N: My first attempt at fanfiction that isn't Harry Potter related. I hope you enjoyed this, if you have the time to leave a review then please do so. It'll make me happy...unless it's a flame, but then I'll probably laugh about it later with the other MuffinMartians. Anyway, thank you for reading! There's more to come.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Batman franchise or the Joker. I think they belong to DC and Warner Bros.