Chapter 1 – Rumors and Wings
The chatter took a while to die down and allow her to regain control of her classroom again. More reports and "I heard's" were continuing to bounce through the room from student to student until the reports became redundant.
"I heard that he came in from the ceiling!" one girl with brassy colored hair was saying to the girl next to her.
"No! He used that awesome car he's got and burst through the wall of the bank. I saw a picture of it in the paper."
"There was a big hole in the wall! My friend Derek's dad is a cop and he got there after it all happened."
That report came from a short boy with blonde hair and sharp blue eyes. His words silenced the class for the moment and all eyes were on him.
"Did his dad see him? Does he really have the wings?"
The boy shook his head, "Batman was already gone before – "
"Alright, alright you guys. That's enough. I can't believe that the crime in this town gets so much attention from people your age. T.V. and video games are one thing but, honestly." She said trying to avoid rolling her eyes. "You guys should be more concerned about dating, blogging, and…I don't know, Justin Timberlake."
The brassy haired girl spoke up again with her naturally projecting tones, "Miss D., that's the only time he shows up anywhere – when there's a crime going on somewhere."
Miss Dridgel, or Miss D. as her students called her, focused her normally kind brown eyes on the brassy haired girl. "These are such incredible ghost stories. I know they're fascinating and exciting but I also know you guys are smart enough to realize that all they are really are ghost stories." She adjusted her square rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose and pulled a stray hair back into the bun at the back of her head.
The entire class stared up at her with wondrous, and disbelieving eyes. A young man in the back with freckles over his nose and sandy brown hair spoke up, "They're not stories, Miss D. My friend saw him."
Miss Dridgel sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, "You know I knew it would be different for me, moving to Gotham but I had no idea I'd have to deal with something like this. I love how you guys are so interested in what's going on around you but this is getting a little out of hand."
The entire class erupted again and it took another twenty minutes for them to settle down and accept the fact that their Miss Dridgel, as nice and as pretty as she seemed to be, was still new to Gotham City and refused to believe in such a fantastic creature as a man who flies about at night and saves innocent people from the forces of evil.
She had been dealing with these outbursts from her students since she began teaching at Wayne High. It was interesting, though, to see how such a good thing could have a positive influence on her young freshmen classes. So far, Lisa Dridgel had heard several different rumors about the said Batman. He was over seven feet tall all muscle as reported from some of her male students; he could fly and zap your brain with just looking into your eyes; he had a sexy voice (how anyone came to know that was certainly a mystery) and really did hang upside down like a real bat when he slept.
So many theories, rumors, and ideas about this mysterious and unfathomable idea had met Lisa's ears since she came to Gotham about a month and a half ago and she came up with one conclusion about it. This Batman had been invented by the media, perhaps even the police force itself simply to add a mystery and perhaps entertainment value to the simple fact that Gotham was finally cracking down on its criminals and succeeding. Lisa had done her research and that fact helped her make the decision to take her teaching job in Gotham though it still scared the life out of her small town parents and family members.
"You'll see soon Miss D.," the boy in the back row said after the young voices died down again and Lisa had asked them to take out their text books. "Batman is real."
"He certainly sounds real, Jacob," Lisa said in a tone that was kind but insisted the subject be closed.
Not a day went by that Miss Lisa Dridgel didn't hear about the Batman or the Dark Knight or the incredibly sexy mental case as her recently found friend, Mr. Andrew Stale had joked.
Andrew Stale taught some of the advanced math classes for the upper classmen and met Lisa at the first staff meeting a week before school started. Lisa was not only the new teacher on staff but a new teacher who was a woman willing to teach in Gotham City. He made certain he spoke to her on the first day just to find out her motivations for purposefully moving to the most dangerous city in the country if nothing else.
That day, Lisa was meeting Andrew for lunch and maybe a little advice on the side. After all, he had grown up in Gotham and knew the people better but as far as she was concerned the entire city of Gotham was filled with mental cases.
She sat down huffily in the wooden chair in front of his desk in the messy and dusty office. Andrew took off his glasses as she set her salad on his desk and crossed her legs. "What'd they do?"
Lisa glanced up at him and shrugged, "No, they were fine today, Drew. No problem at all. I think they're finally warming up to me."
"You do remember you're still teaching at a high school in Gotham, right?" he joked as he leaned back in his creaky desk chair. "What is it then?"
"What do you think about this whole Batman thing?" Lisa said, leaning forward and resting her elbows on his desk. "Do you think there's a real person going around the city fighting crime like in one of those Saturday morning cartoons?"
Andrew chuckled and folded his hands in front of him. "I can tell what your answer would be already. But why do you care either way?"
"He's a damned distraction, that's why! I can't get them to shut up about him. I really can't." she blurted out. "I don't think it's very healthy either because 'he' is not real."
Andrew raised his eyebrows and watched her pour dressing on her bunny food. It still amazed him at how little the woman ate. It didn't help the fact that she was already too thin – maybe even thinner than when they had first met. "Maybe there's a way to get it out of their systems at least until the next big mob bust happens in this town." He brushed his fingers through his disheveled dark hair and watched as the fork stabbed a tomato.
Ideas began churning in the back of Lisa's mind as Andrew spoke but her expression didn't betray her thoughts, "I will not let this figment take over any more than it already has. It's ridiculous how the police have let this thing get out of hand."
Andrew shrugged, rubbing his eyes. "It's up to you. But trust me, sometimes you can make it easier on yourself when you stop trying to work against everything all the time and maybe let some things work for you."
Lisa's eyes weren't on Andrew and she barely heard what he was saying. She was glancing about the room as she thought. "All I need is proof. There isn't even proof that this Batman exists but people believe he's around every night saving lives and wearing tights. This place will turn into Metropolis if people aren't careful and I've heard even weirder things about what goes on over there."
"First of all Wikipedia shouldn't be your only source of information, and you're not a reporter, Lisa. You're an English teacher. Try and keep your head for my sake, will you? This whole thing is harmless whether you think it's true or not." Andrew kept his voice calm. It was impossible to believe that he could actually raise his tone of voice in anger or any kind of temper because it simply was not his way.
"I could start at the newspapers and then go to the police. Do you realize that the only word we have on this is the word of convicted criminals?" Her eyes were wide and tense as she brushed a stray hair out of her eyes.
Lisa jammed her fork into her salad with a vengeance and waited for Andrew to answer her question but he wisely declined and sadly attempted to change the subject in the hopes to get her mind off of such a silly ventures.
