With Alexandra, the only friend, his only pal Jonathan ever had came into the class.
Someone to talk to about everything, someone who listened to him. Someone who accepted him the way he was. Jonathan never had been popular. To the others, he just was this strange, skinny guy, the swot, the freak, the Scarecrow. Into his world, made up of insults and awful beatings, into this world now there came someone, who didn't yell Scarecrow after him, who didn't make fun of his old, worn-out clothes, who didn't waylay him in the school hallways or somewhere else to beat him up.
It was quite the opposite. Alexandra even had a fight with another classmate to defend Jonathan. But not only him - Alexandra also had to defend herself frequently against other's attacks. Not only because of Jonathan, but also because of her German heritage.
She had recently moved with her family from Wiesbaden to Gotham. Alexandra had been born in the States, but had spent most of her life in other countries. Her father, a diplomat, was frequently sent from one place to another, and with him Alexandra and his family. To some students of Gotham High, it was reason enough to tease her – and the fact that "the Kraut" was hanging around with "the Freak" was simply the "icing on the cake".
At the beginning Alexandra was teased a lot and sometimes she even got beaten up. But she never got herself down and defended herself every time. One day she was – again – attacked by the class swaggerer, Gary. It came to a fistfight and Alexandra managed to give the tall guy such a well-aimed hit that he fell dazed on the floor.
Jonathan still could see the moment as clearly as if it had been yesterday, how Alexandra had stood over Gary with her clenched fists, yelling, "So, is anyone here, who wants to call me the Kraut again!"
After this, no one ever touched Alexandra, nor she had been called the Kraut, again. She wasn't a complete outsider as Jonathan was, she wasn't even everybody's darling - but she was respected. This also had its effect on her friendship with Jonathan, because every time she was anywhere near him, he wasn't attacked by anybody. Of course, people still kept whispering behind their backs and Alexandra's comment to this was just:
"A Kraut and a Freak?... stranger things have happened before this yet"
Although Jonathan never told her and although they never talked about it – he admired Alexandra's courage. He was glad to have her as his friend – and not least, as his guardian angel. Indeed, he was proud of her.
Now, this 16 year old girl, his guardian angel, the girl who had become so important to him for the last 4 years – this girl was now standing in front of him, soaked to the skin, on a rainy Saturday afternoon. They had been studying together for their physics exam. To Jonathan, it wasn't hard to understand the subject. He was into the sciences and he was good at it. But Alexandra had struggled with the material and he knew that. So to him it was a way of helping her this time and to do something good for her..
"You have such a beautiful smile, do you know that, Jonathan Crane?"