Chapter 2 – Gullible
By the time Jason got back to his dorm, changed his shirt and his jeans, which had been dampened by contact with his wet shirt, and made it to class, he was a good 30 minutes late. He slipped in through the side door just as Professor Kent was finishing up going over the syllabus. He looked up at Jason and nodded his acknowledgement, but he didn't pause as he went on to describe how everything was going to work in the class and what he hoped everyone would get out of it.
Jason sat in the back row and paid close attention to everything being said. He didn't actually care much about the information being given, but he was hoping to make up for his tardiness. There were only a couple dozen people in the class, which Jason assumed was because it was supposed to be a third year level class, not a freshman class. Jason was on the verge of zoning out when Professor Kent said, "Now, I know going over the syllabus is the most boring thing on earth, so most of you probably didn't pay much attention." A few of the kids a couple rows up looked sheepish, but Kent had everyone's attention now. "So, for those of you who weren't interested in anything else, listen to this part. If the lot of you only remember one thing from today's class remember what I'm about to tell you."
Jason subconsciously leaned forward in his seat. He vaguely heard a random student tapping his foot, and another one sneezed. Other than that there was utter silence in the room as Professor Kent paused, presumably for dramatic affect. He smirked, as though he knew and expected what his words would do to the class.
"Every lesson I will teach you something about journalism. I know, I know, that seems rather obvious since you are in a journalism class. But instead of teaching you a bunch of jargon or definitions or rules or whatever, I'm going to give you one lesson, just one, in easily understood words. I'll keep this lesson short and sweet, and more often than not, it will probably be very applicable to life in general in addition to journalism." Professor Kent finished his statement and walked to his desk. He grabbed a stack of papers and handed them to a student in the front row, giving him instructions to take one and pass it down. "This is your assignment for the week. Each paper has a topic. You are all to research the topic and compile as much information as you can in an essay-style paper in the allotted space on your sheet. You are not to write on any other paper, you may not write on the back, and you may not write in the margins. Your writing must be legible, so don't make it too small."
Everybody took their paper and read their prompt. Jason raised an eyebrow when he saw his topic: 'Human Trafficking.' Jason swallowed and wondered what it would take to get someone to switch with him. Jason didn't have a problem with the topic itself, but it brought a familiar bad taste to the back of his tongue.
"I know some of you are tempted to switch your topic. While I can't track whether or not you do, I would encourage you not to." Jason internally groaned at Professor Kent's words. "I gave out important topics, some of which aren't very well known. While they might be difficult to find information on, or you might not be interested, I would encourage you to research them anyway. If it doesn't interest you, you might change your mind when you have more info." One of the students snorted at that, and the corner of Professor Kent's mouth quirked in a barely-hidden smile as he continued. "Regardless of whether or not you like it, I know for a fact that each of these topics will grow you as a writer, a researcher, a journalist, and maybe even as a human being. Just give them a shot."
Half the class groaned while the other half mostly nodded or shrugged. Jason sighed in resignation and slipped his paper into a binder so it wouldn't get wrinkled up. A lot of students started packing up when everyone noticed that the class was supposed to be over three minutes before. As people started standing up and moving towards the door, Professor Kent spoke again. "Oh, and one last thing." Everyone paused in what they were doing and looked his way. "The word 'gullible' is written on the ceiling."
Half the class gave him a look of skepticism, while the other half looked up. Jason was part of the latter group, and he couldn't restrain himself from uttering a quiet, "The hell?" as he saw that there was, in fact, a large paper sign with the word 'GULLIBLE' written in all caps taped to the ceiling. Now the whole class was staring at Professor Kent with confused expressions.
Professor Kent smirked. "First lesson of Journalism: Always check your sources. If someone tells you something, if you read something, if you get any kind of information in any way, check it out. No matter how ludicrous it sounds, or even if it sounds so logical and makes so much sense that you don't think there is any way it could be wrong, check it. Don't take somebody's word for anything, and don't ignore what you don't think is plausible. Anyone can be wrong, and anything is possible. Now, you're all dismissed."
Tim was right. Jason did like Clark Kent.
As the class broke up and students started filing out of the room, Jason slowly packed his bags as he considered how exactly he was going to do his research assignment. His thoughts were interrupted, however, by someone tapping on his shoulder. It took everything Jason had not to reflexively sucker-punch whoever snuck up on him. He jerked his head up and over his shoulder to find Professor Kent looking at him with an expression torn between concern, curiosity, and disappointment. "You're Jason Todd, right?"
Jason's eyebrows shot up. "Um, yeah? How'd you know?"
Kent's expression didn't change, but his eyes were lit with amusement. "Well, you were the only student who wasn't present when everybody introduced themselves at the beginning of class." Jason shifted his weight and tried to keep his hands from fiddling, his ears going red with embarrassment. "You also received the Wayne Scholarship. Makes you easy to recognize."
"Oh, yeah. Nice to know that everybody knows I'm a charity case." Jason hadn't meant for that to come out or for it to sound so rude. Jason had a lot of pride and not much self-control, and that wasn't usually a very good mix.
Professor Kent's eyebrows wrinkled. "You aren't a charity case, Mr. Todd. And if you are, I guess that makes me one, too." Kent elaborated when he saw Jason's look of confusion. "I won that same scholarship when I was about your age. Good thing, too, or there was no way I could have gone to college at all. But I guess that's the whole point of the scholarship, isn't it?" Jason nodded and Professor Kent gave him a warm smile. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. It just means that the appropriator of the scholarship saw something in you that made you worth all that money."
Jason's lips quirked in a small smile. "Right. Thanks, Professor Kent."
Kent nodded, then his look of disappointment returned. "Speaking of your scholarship, most winners are usually more concerned with arriving to their classes on time. Did you get lost?"
Jason stiffened. "Um, this kid ran into me on my way over here. His name was, uh…, well, he told me to tell you that Tim spilled his coffee all over me."
Kent busted out laughing. It was a deep belly laugh that reverberated throughout the whole classroom. The two or three stragglers glanced over with raised eyebrows before carrying on with their very slow meander toward the door. When Professor Kent finally calmed down, he wiped tears from the corners of his eyes. "He did that again? Gosh, that kid will never learn." Jason tilted his head to the side, and Kent explained. "Tim is always running into people. Too little sleep and too much caffeine doesn't exactly help him with observation, and it isn't good for his reflexes either."
Jason grinned. "Yeah, he told me you'd probably get a kick out of it if I told you."
"He was right." Kent chuckled one last time before shaking his head. "As excuses go, that's actually a really good one. I've known that kid since he was, like, nine, and he's been doing stuff like that since long before I met him. He must have been awfully quiet after that fiasco."
Jason shook his head. "Not really. He actually kept asking me questions and offering to pay me for ruining my shirt and stuff."
Kent didn't seem to believe him. "Really? Tim did?"
"Yeah. Is that unusual?"
"Tim is by far the most anti-social, introverted kid I know. He doesn't prolong conversations unless he has no choice or it's a conversation about something he actually finds really interesting. So talking to a stranger that he embarrassed himself in front of?" Professor Kent snorted his disbelief. "Never in my life time, that's for sure. Are you sure we're talking about the same Tim?"
"Black hair, blue eyes, nerdy glasses, the biggest coffee mug I'd ever seen in my life, about yay-high?" Jason held his hand up just below his shoulder.
"Yeah, that's him. The coffee mug confirmed it." Kent shook his head.
"Weird." Jason couldn't think of another word for it. He certainly couldn't reconcile the Tim he'd met that morning with the Tim Professor Kent was describing.
"Yes, weird." Professor Kent's tone made Jason snap his head up from where he'd been arranging his backpack. He older man was giving him a strange look. It only lasted a moment before Kent blinked and shook his head a little. "Well, maybe you bring out the best in him."
"Maybe."
"Well," Kent looked around to see that the classroom was empty. "Another teacher has this room for the next class, so we'd better skedaddle. Unless you have Intro to Metaphysics as your next class?"
Jason shook his head emphatically, causing Professor Kent to laugh. The two made their way to the door, and Kent quickly grabbed all his things. They headed out together into the fresh outdoors, and Professor Kent shook Jason's hand. "It was nice meeting you, Jason." He flashed him a crooked grin. "Try not to be late next week, alright?"
Jason smiled back and nodded. "Yes, sir. I'll do my best. Maybe I'll pack an extra shirt in my backpack, just in case."
"You do that, kid." Professor Kent laughed and nodded before turning to walk to his car, and Jason walked the opposite way back to his dorm.
A/N So what did you think? Reviews make my world go round, in case you were wondering.
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