Chapter 9

I walk into school with my hands shaking and my feet unsteadily planting me step by step as I walk up the stairs to the main entrance. I walk into a wild madhouse, students are everywhere, running up and down the hallways and stairs. They're balloons and banners everywhere, with the largest banner hanging over the main staircase reading: "Thank You Batman!" with a hand-drawn Batsymbol running across. But at the same time, the school, or should I say the police, had ramped up security, with officers at every corner.

"Pretty cool huh?" Joey asks, walking up to me.

"Yeah, pretty cool." I mumble. "Hey, have you seen Martin?"

He shakes his head, "Nope, strange. He usually gets here way before me. Maybe he's sick. Did you see him at the game yesterday?"

I twist my lip, "Uhm...yeah. He was there. I think he was doing stuff for the newspaper."

"Man, he must have gotten some really cool shots of Batman and the Riddler. He could make like, a real comic book out of it!"

I shrug, "I'm not so sure about that. But I have to admit, it was pretty cool."

"Were you scared when the Riddler showed up?"

I pause. Was I? I mean, he wasn't physically threatening, even though he may have looked taller on the riser. Actually, looking back to last night, he was actually a couple of inches shorter than me.

"As scared as anyone else, especially once those doors were locked." I reply.

"Man, but at least Batman showed up to get everyone out, right?"

I nod, "At least there was Batman."

"Did you get a good look at him?"

"Did you get a good look at him?" I counter sarcastically.

He shakes his head, "I wasn't at the game, I only saw the news footage after it all happened."

"You weren't at the game? Where were you?"

"Home. I had to study for a Mandarin test, which I'm pretty sure I'm gonna bomb anyway." he admits.

"You probably got a B or something." Martin interjects, walking over to us.

"Exactly!"

I chuckle, but then I look up and actually see Martin. He looks really tired, even more so than I. We weren't exposed to too much of the mercury gas last night, so it couldn't be that that's effecting him. On top of that, his expression is very, leery, suspicious.

Martin shrugs, swinging his satchel over his shoulder, "Well, I'mma go to class. Kat, you mind if you walk me there?"

"Alright." I reply.

"Hey, what about me?" Joey cries out.

I look over at Martin, who sternly shakes his head no, "I'll see you during lunch Joey, okay?" I call out, turning the corner to another hallway.

Martin strides through the hallway at a much faster pace than usual, passing past his class completely, I follow him to a small stairwell, a common landmark in schools built in the 50s.

"Look, Joey's the Riddler." he blurts out, swiveling around suddenly, "You saw, I talked to him. He's the Riddler."
I stop in my tracks, "Wha…Joey? No way man. First of all, he wasn't even at the game last night, and secondly, what motivation would Joey have to dress up in all green and terrorize the school?"

"Think about it Kat! When has Joey ever had friends besides us? Out of all the kids in debate, he's the one who gets the most flak, because he's short, and no offense, but kind of goofy looking."

"He is not goofy looking...he's just...dorky, you know, in that kind of adorable way...he's adorkable."

Martin sighs, "Well, I'm sorry, but this is high school, but not everyone out there has your mindset. Remember last year's Valentine dance?"

I pause, "Huh...that's right...poor Joey…alright, well, if he is the Riddler, and I'm still giving him the benefit of the doubt, what are we going to do?"

"Well, I mean, we can't turn him into the police…"

"Why not?" I question, "If you're so dead set sure he's the Riddler, why can't we turn him in to the police?"

"Well, its not like he did anything wrong! Sure he might disrupted the game, but we were losing anyway...and nobody got hurt, right?"

"Except for the two freshmen that apparently got trampled during the chaos." I counter.

"Oh yeah." he realizes, "I'd heard about that."

"So do we turn him in or not?"

Martin pauses, scratching his head, "Well, I mean, he revealed himself to me in the gym...and there's security cameras in all corners...the police are bound to pick it up eventually."

"So we leave it to the police then."

Martin nods, "Yeah, turning him in might bring more suspicion toward us, and the last thing we need is to have you arrested too. You know, they think that you...I mean Batman, was the one who opened the gym doors."

The warning bell rings, signally five minutes till class starts.

"Really? I can hardly manage my Facebook privacy settings, no way can I hack into a school security system."

He chuckles, "True."

"What's wrong? You want the credit for your work and get arrested?" I ask jokingly.

"No way!" Martin shakes away, "I just think I should have a super hero name, or at least some kind of codename."

"Hmm...true...well, I'm sure we'll figure it out in time." I figure.

"And one more thing." Martin reaches into his bookbag and throws me a small electronic chip, "Voice disguiser, fits right into your mouth. Worked on it all night. Might wanna wash it first, I tested it on myself."

I nearly drop it at the thought of it having been in his mouth. I put it in my pocket, germs aside, its probably much better than trying to sound like Batman on my own.

Lunchtime arrives and I reach my locker to find Joey already waiting there. Leaning against the rows of lockers, his usual joyful expression isn't present today.

"Hey Joey, sorry for ditching you like that this morning." I apologize.

"Its cool...hey, can we go somewhere...quieter? There's something I need to talk about."

I follow Joey through the hallways to the school garden. I try reading his expression, but he keeps ahead of me just enough so that I don't see his face. There's no way he can threaten me physically, and he's definitely not the kind of guy who'd hire a bunch of thugs. Even so, I remember the screwdriver I keep in my backpack for lock-picking. If my fists aren't enough...I'll be ready.

He takes a seat on one of the tables where the chess club usually meets. I sit next to him. He takes a deep breath,

"So...I'm assuming Martin told you."

I nod, so it is true, "Yeah, but why Joey? Why would you feel the need to do something like that?"

He sighs, "I, I thought if I could catch Batman...I'd be a hero. The police have been looking for him since the Cornerstone thing and...well, I just...I just wanted the attention."

"Alright...but we've also gotta address the other elephant in the room."

"I'm sorry, okay! I didn't think there'd be any other way! And I thought otherwise, you'd go with Martin."

"Well, I was figuring we could all just go as friends." I tell him, "But if you really wanted to go to the dance with me, you could've just asked."

"So...you will go to the dance with me?" he asks tentatively, "Heh…" he reaches into his backpack and pulls up a slightly scrunched up green rose, "I saved it."

"How did you get a green rose anyway?" I ask, lightly smiling.

"A magician never reveals his secrets." he flirts, leaning in towards me.

"...it's food dye, isn't it?" I laugh.

He chuckles, "Yeah...its food dye."

Our laughing dies down, and we're left staring at each other once more, neither of us able to say anything. Should I tell him about the cameras in the gym? That he'll be caught once the police check them? But...how can I?

"You know what, I think that after everything you've been through, you deserve a break." I carefully phrase, "So, I'll go with you to the dance, on one condition."

"Yeah?" he whispers, his eyes lighting up.

"...no more Riddler stuff, okay?"

He instinctively grabs my shoulders and pulls me into a hug, "Oh, of course! I, I can't believe it! Its a dream come true!" He pulls me away slightly, and suddenly lunges in to kiss me on the cheek.

My first kiss.

I jerk myself away, the spot on my cheek where he'd planted his lips still warm, "I...I'm sorry Joey."

He smiles, gently clasping my hand, "It's okay. That was my first kiss too."

I've never seen him acting like this, or ever knew he had this side to him. But then again, I had never known that he could be the Riddler either.

"No Joey, I'm, just not ready for a relationship. Lets, just be friends for now, okay?" I tell him, my breathing heavy and my eyes rapidly blinking.

He nods, "Alright."

I get up to leave when he reaches out his hand, "Wait! Can...can you eat here today, with me? Martin isn't talking to me and...and I don't wanna be alone."

I pause, the police are going to be looking through that footage any moment now, if they haven't already...

"Oh course Joey, I'll stay." I tell him, sitting back down on the bench.

He pulls me into another hug and quietly begins sobbing into my shoulder.