And Jack is really all I wanted to talk about anyways. All of that other stuff is boring and I don't care about it anymore. All I care about is my puddin! I mentioned how I had been taking flyers for him right? I think I did. He started out as just some random guy I passed my way to class that I didn't pay any attention to. I kept trying to keep it that way but for some reason one day I didn't make it to class. I'm still not sure what happened but for some reason on my way past his usual area I sat down on a bench and started crying.

At first I didn't notice him, which is pretty dumb cause he had this bright green hair, but I didn't really notice I was crying either so I guess it was okay. He sat right next to me, putting an arm around me and said, "There there it's okay", like it was the most normal thing to do in the world. I mean can you believe it! I never even met the guy before and he was nice just like that for no reason at all.

Normally I would have brushed someone off for doing something like that, just walked off without a word but I think I was to... sad. I lost my only two friends in the world and had never really let myself feel it. I kept tucking it away so I could keep walking around in my little bland bubble. I didn't know how to control my emotions yet because well I had never really done anything to make myself feel any emotions.

I ended up crying on his shoulder for who knows how long until I finally started to stop and sniffle. He handed me a purple handkerchief, I think from his sleeve or something but I'm not really sure cause I was still kinda out of it. I blew my nose into it while he talked.

"Why is such a pretty girl like yourself crying her eyes out?"

I couldn't believe it. Nobody had ever called me pretty. I know that's probably surprising because of how pretty I am now but back then with my brown haired bun, slacks, button up, and glasses I was just miss plain Jane. When I didn't answer he kept talking.

"Come on don't let 'ol goofy eyes and red head get to ya", he said putting his hands around his eyes like glasses when he said goofy eyes.

I assumed he meant Jonathan and Red. He must have seen the three of us around, you know since we used to always be together. I also realized he probably didn't know Red was dead since he was acting so casual about it. He must have thought we were all fighting or something and I really didn't feel like talking about Red dying so I just let him think that.

I guess he finally realized I was still sorta in shock and didn't know what to say so he pulled a rose from his sleeve and handed it to me.

"Cheer up", he said, "life's to short to be sad."

He got me. I cracked and smiled. Just a little bit but it was more than I ever usually did and for some reason it seemed to make his day. He jumped up and stood on the bench with his arms in the air.

"Eureka! I finally got someone to smile!"

I got kinda scared when he did that and so I told him to sit down and be quiet after looking around in every direction to see if anyone was staring. Looking back I feel really stupid for doing that but I was worried someone would go report him for disturbing the campus or something or that I just felt embarrassed to be seen next to him and his sudden outburst. I mean you know how Gotham University is, everyone there has a stick up their butt.

He looked at me all confused when I started waving at him to sit down but he did anyways.

"What's the problem", he asked.

I explained how someone walking by would probably tell on him for yelling like that which for some reason made him laugh. It was kinda weird to see someone laugh like that I wasn't used to it. He looked so happy doing it like nothing in the world bothered him. In fact he always looked like that like he was happy all the time. It made him really nice to be around.

"See all these idiots walking by?" He pointed in a sort of waving motion at the students. "They won't say anything. They don't want anything to upset their "perfect little world". You can keep that by the way", he said pointing at the rose.

It was plastic. It was also the most beautiful thing anyone had ever given me. It ended up being my most prized possession. I'd still have it now if it wasn't for the fire, but I'll get to that later.

I asked him why he was being so nice to me, I mean most people don't just do things without a reason you know they usually want something from you and I wanted to know what it was but for some reason he just shrugged and put his hands behind his head so he could lay it on the back of the bench with his legs all stretched out over the side walk blocking everyone's way.

"I hate seeing people cry. I knew you would feel better if I could get you to smile."

And with that he closed his eyes like he had already drifted off into the most peaceful sleep of his life. I was just sitting there staring at him, staring at he rose, then him, then the rose, then him again. I felt like I needed to say thank you. I also felt like he should say something else after all that instead of just taking a nap on the bench which I was pretty sure wasn't allowed so I ended up just saying "thank you. It smells wonderful."

I guess that was what he was looking for, the right thing to say I mean, cause he immediately smiled this cute little crooked smile and opened one eye to look at me. There was something so cute about the way he looked laying on the bench like that with one eye open smiling at me. I couldn't even believe it at first because my heart did something I never knew it could do, something I only read about in books. It fluttered.

Maybe it was because I was lonely or how sweet he was to me or that cute guys never took the time of day to talk to me but for some reason I liked him right off the bat. It was only for a few seconds before he jumped back into a regular sitting position all animated and awake again.

"You know I like you you're not like the rest of them. What's your name?"

"Harleen Quinzel. But my friends call me Harley."

"Harley... it's got a nice ring to it. Has anyone ever told you that your name sounds like..."

I cut him off then. I know that's rude but I had already heard it before well not really heard it so much as read it in school. I always wasted time reading the full textbooks.

"Harlequin", I said, "an Italian originated character similar to a clown or a jester used in theater."

"Close enough", he said with a shrug, "I've always been a fan of harlequins. Mischievous as a trickster, light hearted as a... well I'm not really sure."

"I see you did your research", I said. I was actually pretty impressed most people either never heard of it and if they did only recognized the name but didn't really know what it was but it was usually like that with everything. Nobody ever did their research like me so I was really impressed that he did too even it was for something kinda stupid. That was when I realized I was still talking to a complete stranger I mean I didn't even know his name or anything.

"You know my name now what's yours", I asked.

"Hmmm...", he said as if he were thinking about it, "you can call me Jack."

Authors Note: Sorry for the super long chapter, sort of did this on purpose because she said that she mostly wanted to talk about Jack so I felt like his chapter should be longer. Hopefully everyone knows where I got his name from :) Also if anyone knows some history about harlequins they're typically the cheerful sidekick to a clown, pretty fitting right?