She was nothing but a fool. That's how the world saw her. She was a clown with a painted face, and her act was jumping through hoops for a man who would never love her. She was a harlot, with no one who desired her.
She was an insane psychiatrist, who ran her career into the ground for an abusive deadbeat called a man. She broke the only rule she created to protect her when she moved to Gotham. She fell in love. And she fell in love with one of her patients.
She fell in love with his story, his background, his personality. Everything about him. Soon she found herself spilling her personal information to him, and without knowing, making him a part of her life.
It all started with an application form, And at the top of that form, a name was carved in red pen.
Harleen F. Quinzel
Harleen graduated top of her class at the University of Gotham. The University of Gotham obviously wasn't her top pick school, nor was it even on her list of schools. It was the only school she could afford because it was free. A full scholarship in gymnastics.
Other schools gave small sum of money which they slapped on a check and called them scholarships. Some wouldn't even cover the food bill for the week. And living with her mother, lazy-ass brother, two dogs and an occasional father figure (when ever he decided to pick himself off the floor and play nice long enough to get out of jail) wasn't cheap.
She had her heart set on Harvard or another private school to study abroad but money kept adding up and there was just one problem, she was broke. So when the full scholarship came in the mail, the decision was made. She'd go to the University of Gotham no question about it.
She was on the gymnastics team in high school, reach and flexibility were her assets. She usually scored higher than most of her teammates, competing for first place. She did everything with elegance and grace, almost as if she was seducing the Crowd with her performance.
She spent half her time split between the gym and her studies. She did have a few friends, those who took the same AP classes as she did, but that was it. The girls on the gymnastics team were stuck up brats who believed the world revolved around them and their makeup caked faces. So of course they wouldn't be caught dead with her.
Harleen was in College, soon enough. Trading her glasses for contacts, relieving her blonde hair from the high ponytail from which it she kept it for eighteen years, and began to dabble in the art of makeup. To simplify thing, Harleen was a completely new person, and as her father liked to put it, a bit of a heart breaker.
And a heart breaker she was. Mostly because she let dates go to waste, with a nose in a book she never had time to window shop. Every Valentine's Day she was asked out, and every mixer and every dance she was asked out to. Though she's politely declined, she'd prefer to show up alone. Those were the few times that she did show up at all. She was deeply infatuated with the study of Psychology and Psychiatry, for that was her double major.
She studied long and hard, memorizing every part of the brain, every hormonal response and the reactions that occurred. It came to the point of where she even memorized different micro-expressions to tell if someone was lying. Which made it easier to then analyze a person.
Something just excited her at the thought of helping a person, figuring out what's wrong with them and finding a way to cure it. But that was only the first part. She was enthralled with the idea of assessing someone's brain when they're on the brink of insanity, what cause them to go insane? Would the brain release other hormones? What would it take to push someone over the edge? And was it possible to bring them back? She was determined to find out.
She spent hours studying for her finals, sweating through them, but every cross out, every bubbled letter was one step closer to her degree. That's all that mattered to her. She was Inching her way to the top and no one was gonna stand in her way.
***
It was finally that time of the year. Graduation. Four years of college for this moment, and Harleen couldn't have been happier. Valedictorian of her graduating class. Slightly embarrassed by her brother's attire: a Hawaiian shirt, khakis, and flip flops. She would have beat him if she knew he was gonna wear that to the most special day of her life.
Her mother wore an elegant gown, silver and looked like silk. It clung to her curves as she moved, faltered her figure, but she was highly over dressed with large earring dangling from her ears. A simple spring dress was fine but she dressed to impress. Though Harleen had no idea who she was impressing since most of the men at the event were younger than she was or already married. But that never stopped her mom from trying to take the spotlight.
Harleen stood proud giving her speech to the crowd.
"Today, I stand before you with the graduating class of '81, and I'm proud to say we did it! Through thick and thin, we leaned on each other, we pushed each other to get to this point. But after today we leave the college life behind and get thrown into the real world. Just remember these three things: 1. Remember to be yourself, the world will try to change you, but if you remain who you are you will achieve more than you'd ever believe.
2. No matter where you are, you will always have friend even in the toughest of times.
And 3. Don't forget your roots. You will always have a home here at Gotham University.
"With that I say, congratulations graduating class of '81, We did it!"
The graduation caps flew into the air, raining down on the new graduates.
Harleen smiled and giggled as she held the roll of paper in her hands and flew down the stairs into her friend's arms. They giggled and chattered, hugging and squealing. They gossiped about which graduation party they'd be attending first and in which order. Before Harleen could reply she hear her mother calling her.
"Oh Harleeeeennn!" Her mother exaggerated, sounding like a yawn. "Who would've thought that myyyyyy daughter would've been vaaaledictorian. Oh what a shame her faaaather couldn't be here to see her now!"
"Thanks mom..." She muttered, waving goodbye to her friends and began walking to the car. She wanted to get out of there before her mom could embarrass her or introduce her to her 'New' stepdad Who She picked up along the way.
There was a surfboard attached to the top of the car and she instantly knew where her brother was gonna go after he gets home. And so off he went after he dropped his mother off at a restaurant and Harleen at the house.
She signed and congratulated herself, "Good job... You finally made it."
Sitting down at the table she began to dig in. No, there wasn't food, or even a cake. Instead on the table sat a stack of job applications.
"Oh lucky me."
