"Have a nice day, Master Bruce!" Alfred said as the 15 year old billionaire stepped out of his limousine. Bruce smiled at his butler and walked into school. At least, he thought he was walking into Gotham High, Gotham City's premier high school. He instead walked into what can only be described as a madhouse. All around him was activity. Large kids picking on the smaller ones, guys trying to pick up girls, but mostly there was just a bunch of noise. He looked down at his schedule. History first period. Bruce looked up. Right in front of him was a guy with black hair and a large smile on his face. He was wearing black pants and a black jacket with a red hood.

"Hey there. The name's Jack. Jack Napier. Are you new here? I can show you around. Here's my card." Jack handed a card to Bruce. He looked down at it.

"This is a playing card."

"Not just any playing card. It's the joker. It's my lucky card. I never leave home without it. Come on, I'll introduce you to some of the other kids." Jack motioned for Bruce to follow him. "Oh, by the way, what's your name?" Jack asked

"Bruce. Bruce Wayne."

"The rich kid? The one who's…."

Bruce cut him off before he could finish.

"Yes."

The two teenagers walked in silence for a few minutes before Bruce spoke again.

"So is there anyone I should avoid?"

"Yeah, me!" Jack laughed in a way that kind of scared Bruce. "But yeah, there's Waylon Jones. Rule of thumb for him, don't mention the scales. Or the green. He doesn't like it when you talk about it."

"Scales?"

"He's got a skin condition. He's sensitive about it, so he bullies others. Speaking of bullies, there's Bane." Jack pointed to a large muscular kid. He was wearing a black t-shirt with black cargo pants.

"He's probably the worst person in the school. Unlike most bullies, Bane is smart. Like really smart. My advice, just stay as far away from him as possible."

"Bane... is that his real name?" Bruce asked.

Jack shrugged. "Nobody knows. Now that we're done with the bad kids, let's move on to my friends. There's Selina, Barbara, and Eddie. Selina's probably the only popular one among our little group. She's nice once you get to know her, but she can seem a bit rude at first. Barbara's the smartest girl I know. She's really good with computers. Then there's Eddie, the smartest kid in school. He's also the wimpiest. Then there's me. I'm pretty laid back. I just go with the flow. Now, tell me about you."

Just then the bell rang.

"Oh well, talk to you later!" Jack said cheerfully, and he ran off.

Bruce walked to his first class. History. He went inside, and sat down at a desk. A few minutes passed, and the teacher had still not appeared. Bruce took the opportunity to look around at his fellow classmates. He was dismayed to see that Bane was in his class, and he also saw a small kid with brown hair and green and purple clothes. The kid's seat was directly in front of Bane's desk, and he kept looking back nervously at the bully. His other classmates included a boy with blonde hair that looked like straw, a guy who kept flipping a coin, but otherwise seemed normal, and another girl with red hair and glasses. Bruce was about to introduce himself to his classmates when the teacher finally appeared. He was different from anyone else Bruce had ever seen. His hair was white, with large black patches, and he was clad in a long green robe with gold highlights.

"Greetings, I am Ra's Al Ghul, and you will refer to me as such. Failure to do so would be…. Unfortunate." Ra's glared at his class. He seemed to focus on Bruce in particular. After a few moments of silence, Ra's resumed speaking.

"Now, a few ground rules. No eating, drinking, sleeping, or talking in my class. You will only take notes on what I tell you to, and failure to follow any of these guidelines would be….."

"Unfortunate. Yeah, we know."

Everyone's eyes turned towards Bane. Ra's moved to in front of Bane's desk almost superhumanly fast

"As this is the first day of school, I will not execute you on the spot. You may have forgotten that in this classroom, I am the one in charge, not you. Your punishment shall be a week's detention."

And at that moment, Bruce saw something he had never expected to see on Bane's face. Fear.

"Y-yes, mister Ghul. Whatever you say." After that, class went smoothly. Ra's went over the basics of history, describing it as if he had been there himself. He talked about Napoleon and Leonardo Da Vinci as if they had been his friends, or at the very least his acquaintances.

After class, the students dispersed into the hallways, Bruce being one of the last students to leave. Once in the hallway, Bruce saw Bane trying to shove the small kid in green and purple clothes into a locker.

"I don't suppose a riddle would stop you from doing this?" the kid pleaded desperately.

"Not a chance, Eddie. This is for not sticking up for me back there."

"B-but Bane, what could I have done? He's a teacher."

"Don't know, don't care."

A hand rested on Bane's shoulder. The bully turned around, only to have Bruce Wayne's fist come into contact with the bully's face. Bane stumbled back, dazed.

"You wanna fight, Rich Kid? I'll give you a fight." Bane charged towards Bruce, who leaped above him with ease, landing a kick on Bane's head as he did so. He landed behind Bane, and swept Bane's feet 'out from under him. Bane hit the ground with a thud. He didn't get up. Bruce stood up and looked around. Everyone was staring at him. Suddenly a voice disrupted the hushed whispers of the gathered students.

"Mr. Wayne. Would you join me in my office?"

Bruce turned to look at the speaker. It was Ra's Al Ghul. He was surprised. The teacher didn't seem angry or upset. In fact, he looked almost…. Happy, which was somewhat disturbing. But nevertheless, Bruce followed the teacher into his office. Inside, the walls were decorated in all sorts of swords and axes. There were oriental paintings and ancient looking scrolls everywhere.

"Um…. Are those swords supposed to be in here? I thought weapons weren't allowed on school property."

"They're not. Those are just to remind me of home. And now that pleasantries are out of the way, I'd like to ask you a few questions about what just happened."

"Sir, I'm so sorry, he was just bullying that kid, and I had to-"

Ra's gestured for Bruce to stop, and then asked the last question Bruce expected to hear.

"Where did you learn to do that?"

I took martial arts classes a few years back. I got good at it. Made black belt in a year."

"In what style?"

"Karate, Kung-Fu, and Tae Kwon Do. "

Ra's' eyes widened in surprise.

"Well then, I think you should know that you are definitely up for consideration."

"Great! Consideration for what?"

At this, Ra's smiled in a way that could only be classified as evil.

"The League of Assassins."

And with no further explanation, Ra's Al Ghul kicked Bruce out of his office. The bell rang shortly and Bruce went to his next class, which happened to be chemistry. There he found that he and Jack were in the same chemistry class. The period went smoothly, and so did the rest of the day. His teachers were an odd assortment of people. There was Professor Langstrom, the chemistry teacher who had a strange obsession with bats. Another teacher was Coach Wilson, the PE teacher. He wore an eye patch and said he had lost his eye in a military operation, but he assured the students that he could see better than any of them. The fourth teacher Bruce encountered was Ms. Isley, the biology teacher, although she talked more about plants than anything else. Bruce's final class was with Mr. Kuttler, the math teacher. He was the strictest teacher Bruce had met, even more so than Ra's Al Ghul.

Finally the day was over, and Bruce decided he did like school after all. He saw that Alfred was waiting in the limousine, and he ran towards the car. He was almost there when he ran into Jack. Quite literally. The two teenagers collided and fell down.

"Hey Bruce, fancy running into you here. So, can I get a ride home?" Jack asked. "My dad's at work, and I live pretty far away."

Bruce pondered it a moment before looking at Alfred, sitting in the car. The butler nodded and the two teenage boys got in. Jack told Alfred where he lived, and the car started moving.

"So, Jack, why couldn't your mom pick you up?"

"She's dead." Jack said it casually, with only the tiniest hint of grief.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Nah, it's okay, I'm over it."

Bruce stared at his new friend incredulously.

"Yeah. The way I see it, bad things are always gonna happen. Not a thing we can do or say to change it. So my policy is to live life to its fullest and always smile. Smile at the good, smile at the bad, cause it's just life, and life is good. Oh, and one more thing, never look back." Jack said with a grin.

The limousine came to a halt in front of a large blue house with a white fence in front.

"Well, this is my stop. See you tomorrow Bruce." And with that, Jack exited the vehicle and went inside.

"Did you have a nice day, Master Bruce?" Alfred inquired as the car resumed moving.

"Yes Alfred, I think I did."