Hey-lo and welcome back! Who's up for apprentice related fun? I know i am!
Chapter 7
The next day at school was… interesting, for lack of a better word, for all of the teens. In retrospect, spending the night with a rogue and then going to school the next day without calling to cops wasn't really something that screamed 'normal'. But, in spite of this they carried on their average classes, and to the untrained eye, no one would have expected anything to be wrong.
When they passed each other in the hallway, they didn't appear to stop and say hello, or ask how their new 'job' was treating them. In fact, to outsiders they seemed quite rude to each other as they purposefully bumped into each other in the halls.
The truth was that it was the safest way to pass a note along. Emmy was the last to receive and when Chanel roughly bumped into her in the hallway she was shocked. "Chanel?" She started to ask. Chanel sent her a 'be quiet' look as she slipped her the note. It read:
Skip your last class. Go to the garden instead. We need to talk. Sign after reading and pass to those not named
Ever, Jack, Haley, Chanel
When the bell rang signaling the beginning of last period, she rushed to the garden. They were all there waiting for her when she arrived.
"Hey, Em!" Chanel flung and arm over Emmy's shoulder and pulled her down to the ground where everyone was sitting. Ever absentmindedly played with her hair and Haley was running her hands through the grass.
"Glad you could make it." Haley smiled at her warmly.
"Right then. Down to business, I assume the reason to why I called a little meeting her is obvious?" Ever asked.
"Yes it is, we are all absolutely insane and you were the only one with sense enough to say 'no' to Poison Ivy so now you called the men in white coats to come pick us up?" Haley said almost hopefully.
"Why do I get the feeling that you aren't really into this whole 'apprentice' thing?" Jack asked her.
"Because I'm not. We are currently working in the most dangerous job on the planet, with, and on the side of, the criminally insane. How do we know we won't end up dead in a ditch by the end of the week like all of their past henchmen? How do we know that this isn't a scam for cheep work?" She pointed out.
"Wow, I can really see why the Riddler picked you." Jack joked. She seemed to visibly tense at his name being spoken. "Relax, no one can hear us, no men in white coats are on their way to get you."
"Yeah, a little nervous I guess." She admitted.
"That's understandable." Ever agreed. "Ever since I got home last night I've been looking over my shoulder for bats." She blushed. "So, Jack, how did it go with you-know-who?" She quickly changed the subject.
"Alright I guess, he's a little… odd. He basically interviewed me and then asked if I could take a punch."
"He asked you if you could take a punch? And you still said yes? Are you insane! Look at how he treats Harley Quinn, you'll be dead in a week!" Haley shouted at him.
"Hey, chill! I think he's really serious about the whole me being his new kid thing. He might hurt me a bit, that's understandable, but I don't think he'd kill me." He said in his own self-defense. "Plus it seems like working like the biggest prankster in Gotham will be fun."
They all blinked at him stupidly. "You really are dense." Ever mumbled.
"But I'm lovably dense!" He argued with a stupid grin.
"Keep telling yourself that." Chanel told him. He pouted a bit before playfully pushing her.
"So how did it go with Scarecrow?" He asked her.
"Fine, Crane is cool. He didn't gas me, which I think he was gonna at one point. He even let me crash there." She shrugged like it was nothing, even though it wasn't hard for them to figure out that with her personality, she must love him. "What I'm dying to know is how the school crazy did against the Mad Hatter." She turned to Emmy. "Details girl, you must have had plenty to make nonsense conversations about!"
Emmy grinned. "Well we had a tea party and talked about how I got there, him quoting Alice in Wonderland a bit, then we drank more tea and chatted and I have a name!" She said in one sentence, only taking a breath at the end.
"And what is it?" Jack leaned forward expectantly. "But if he calls you Alice I will be really creeped out."
"Didn't he stalk a girl named Alice?" Haley asked.
Emmy huffed "Leave Jarvis alone! And know he did not give me the name Alice! I'm the White Rabbit! Bunny for short!" She was grinning once more.
"It suits you." Ever commented.
"Thanks Ever! Did Poison Ivy give you a name?" She asked.
"Yes Ivy gave me the name Poison Oak." She said with poise.
"Oh it's lovely!" Emmy gushed. "They are so green and pretty but if you touch them it ends badly! It's like plant self-defense!"
"Yeah Poison Ivy liked it too. People say she's really mean but she's not."
"That could be because you're a strong willed girl who loves plants, like a mini her." Haley pointed out.
"Please if they all just loved mini-me's then Crane wouldn't be such a sour puss, cause I'm just like him." Chanel pouted. "He freaked out when I touched his stuff and almost had a conniption when I touched him."
"What did you do, hug him?" Jack laughed.
"No!" She said a little too quickly and he busted with laughter. "Ha, ha, yes very funny. Now how did your night go, Haley?"
"It was interesting. He asked me a riddle to see if I was smart enough and then made me do a Sudoku puzzle. I'm surprised my mind was able to handle it after the initial shock of being abducted and all. But Edward is nice enough I suppose." She shrugged. "I got a name too. It's IQ."
"I want a name." Jack pouted. "Am I the only one who didn't get one?"
"Suck it up, Ripper! I didn't get no name, neither!" Chanel pointed out.
"But you should be getting a costume." Haley informed her.
"And how do you know that?"
"Edward told me that Harley Quinn was taking all the boys with girl apprentice's shopping for costumes. I know you usually cause fear and aren't easily spooked, but I think this might be a good reason to be." She explained.
"Oh I can't wait!" Emmy shouted over Jack's laughter and Chanel's horrified expression.
"Ok, ok, I've had my fun!" Jack panted for breath after laughing so much. He let out an after-laugh sigh. "So now what do you want to do; we still have like half a period left?"
"I don't know." Emmy looked up thoughtfully before falling on her back and looking up in the sky. "That cloud looks like an alligator! Nom, Nom, Nom! " She shouted and put her hands together to make and alligator jaw and animated it so it was eating invisibles in the air. They watched the youngest with amusement. She certainly didn't act her age. "Do you suppose we will work together at all?" She asked after a few minutes of silence.
"I don't know." Chanel answered her before joining her in the grass. They soon fell one by one until they were all laying down in a row. Last night's events were finally catching up to them.
"Wanna play a game?" Emmy asked. There were some mumbled of 'sure' and 'why not' "Ok, somebody names a topic and everyone goes around naming what they like about it or hate. I'll go first. Hobbies? I like to write and read and draw. Next?"
"I like to scare people." Chanel answered.
"Reading, working on puzzles, and I'm in a lot of academic clubs." Haley told them.
"I take care of my plants, obviously, and the ones in this garden." Ever answered.
"I pull pranks, and laugh… yeah, that's it. Movies?" Jack asked. "Action comedies."
"Horror." Chanel stated.
"Oh that's a shock." Haley said sarcastically. "I guess romantic comedies, or just comedies. I can't stand sci-fi movies."
"I like sci-fi, and fantasy, and action/adventure, hmmm… comedy, any type, and the occasional animated. Not too crazy about horror." Emmy listed.
"I watch drama and documentaries… sometime's I watch comedies too. Music?" Ever questioned. This went on for the rest of the day and as they started to walk to the place where they were told to meet the rogues after school. They learned a great deal about each other and had quite a few laughs. It was a big surprise to them that a few of them weren't friends before this.
"Haley are you sure you and Ever never really talked before this?" Jack asked.
"I'm serious. And what about Emmy and Chanel? They could be psycho-sisters!" She laughed as they rounded the corner to the ally they were supposed to be waiting in.
"We are all so different but so similar its funny!" Emmy commented. She started to hum a little tune while skipping down the alley. Who ever thought that a group of teenagers could ever feel so safe with totally different people in an alley in Gotham?
Hey have good news for you guys... school is over for me on wensday so that means more time for Quegal and me to write! Review please!
