Chapter III
Harley woke up the next morning with the sun pouring in through her window. At first she couldn't remember why the shades were open-she always closed them because her dorm room window faced east. Then the memory of the night before hit her. First, she felt a pang in her heart and uneasiness in her stomach when she recalled Redgie's infidelity.
"Oh my god. You're awake. You are never awake this early, especially after those into-the-A.M.s rehearsals you theatre kids have"
Harley looked over at her roommate and best friend, Clarissa. The two had instantly bonded freshmen year in their Chemistry for Non-Majors class. They'd traded complaints on the ridiculousness of having to take a science class at a fine arts school, and later discovered they shared similar interests. Clarissa was an adept painter, putting Harley's doodles for costume design to shame. But Clarissa envied Harley's practical application of art. The two always joked about sharing a cardboard box under the Gotham bridge after they graduated.
"Oh yeah, the light. It does the waking thing on me"
Her friend nodded,
"I see. Well, I'm off to class. Yay for Baroque Art analysis. Did you wanna do lunch today, or are you too busy with the theatre?"
Clarissa did a dramatic pose, and announced 'theatre' like a true prima donna. Harley had to smile, the mockery of overacting reminded her of Alison's actual style of acting.
"Um, sure. We can do lunch. I feel like sushi today, though"
"Ooh, venturing into the Japanese cuisine? How exciting. Ok, I'll meet you back here at…noon thirty-ish?"
"Sounds delish"
"Ok, ciao!"
Clarissa grabbed her bag, and pranced out the door, leaving Harley alone. Normally, Harley took her lunches with Redgie but Clarissa always asked just in case. She was a wonderful friend. Even though both girls knew that Harley's lack of interest in dining with her boyfriend meant the relationship was on the rocks, Clarissa didn't press for information. She was happy just to spend more time with her friend.
The only downside to her chipper and amicable roommate was that she was a total slob. Harley couldn't understand how Clarissa found anything on her side of the room. There was a half drank can of Red Bull, dirty and clean clothes strewn all over the bed and desk, and some leftover pizza that a Biology major could write their senior thesis on. Harley just shook her head and started to lie down to go back to sleep for another hour. But then she remembered the rest of the night-the strange gifts from the even stranger man. She whipped the bed covers off and jumped out of the bed. Pulling open the zipper of her bag, she found the gun and gloves still wrapped up inside her sweater. She let out a sigh. It hadn't just been a dream. Harley felt a chill up her spine as an image of the man's face flashed through her memory. That handsome smile. She shook the feeling away and laughed,
"One day after seeing the man of my dreams betray me, and I'm all ready to turn to the darkside"
She shook her head and looked over at the clock. She still had another 45 minutes until when she normally got up, but there was no way she'd be able to sleep now. Despite the protests of her logic, the thoughts of that mysterious man had her heart rate going.
"Might as well make use of it"
She said, and starting to peel off her pajamas, and changed into her gym clothes.
"A nice run oughtta burn off that feeling"
A half hour later, Harley had decided to cool off from her run with some gymnastic routines. As she swung around the pommel, she thought she saw someone just out of the corner of her eye. But everytime she stopped to look, it was only her in the room. Switching to the uneven bars, she saw the stranger again. There was definitely someone else in the room-she could sense it now.
"Who's there?"
Nothing. But then, a piece of paper fell from the ceiling. She hopped down from the high bar and made her way to the scrap. But it wasn't a scrap-it was a playing card. She turned it over to its face. It was a joker.
"How…it's you, isn't it?'
Her mysterious stalker didn't answer, but she knew it was him. The man from the theatre.
"I dunno how or why you're following me. But I don't need your help. I've got everything under control in my life, alright?"
She felt like she was trying to reassure herself. And that it wasn't working. She threw up her arms in frustration, grabbed her bag and walked out. But before she left the room, she turned around in the door way and said,
"If you want to know me, really get to know me, you might have to stop the whole standing quietly in the dark bit"
Frustrated and oddly not concerned with her stalker, Harley returned to her dorm and showered. She was rather confident that he was watching, but that didn't seem to bother her. She dressed, pulled her dirty blonde hair into pigtails, and rushed out the door to class. Because she a Clarissa wanted to be closer to the city, their dorm was on the outside ring of the university campus. This meant she had to pass through the Gotham School of Science of Engineering's campus before she could reach the theatre buildings. On her way through, she saw that the science building was, well, partly blown up. Passing another student she mildly recognized from introduction to acting, she asked,
"What happened? Some chemistry student mix too many acids and bases?"
"Nah, Har, some badguy broke in and stole a shit load of nitrox. I guess in the process some of it exploded. Just a little static electricity will set that stuff off"
"Oh, well aren't we the chem buff?"
The guy just shrugged his shoulders and went back to his Starbuck's. But something caught Harley's eye; there were several playing cards strewn all over the lawn nearest to the science building. She started to walk over to pick one up, when a police officer suddenly appeared in her way.
"Sorry, ma'am, but this is a crime scene. These are evidence"
"My mistake, thought it was just trash that could be picked up. Ya know, save the planet"
Harley gave a little pump of her fist to try and prove her enthusiasm for anti-littering, but the cop seemed unconvinced, so she moved along. But she'd seen enough. Each of the cards bore the same image-the Joker. Maybe she could use her mysterious stalker's help after all. He seemed to have quite a few tricks up his sleeve that she would love to make use of.