The next day I made it into first period without being late. When I had returned home last night, I couldn't sleep. I couldn't help but think that I noticed something about him. There wasn't anything concrete, but, something was there that I didn't know about. My mother didn't even acknowledge me as I came home. She was lost in some TV show, her pack of cigarettes halfway gone.
As I went through the day I realized how many classes I had with Tim. He seemed on edge when I sat next to him in fourth period. In fact he flinched and looked away.
"Are you okay?" I asked. Did I smell or something?
"Fine" he said taughtly.
"Are you…looking for something?" I asked. His eyes were scanning every inch of the classroom.
"Yeah. Wait—. Maddie?" he said turning to stare at me.
"Yeah?" I said, pulling away slightly.
"Get out of here!" he said in a harsh whisper, "Now!"
"What? Why?" I asked.
"Just do it, please!" he said, the bell drowned out his speech as class started.
"What? Leave school? No, I have detention this afternoon; if I miss it I get suspended."
"I don't care!" he said. What was going on? Half the class was staring at us now, "You have to go home. Trust me! PLEASE!"
"No! People are staring" I said, out of the corner of my mouth.
"If the back of the classroom would stop their chatting and pay attention maybe we could start with class" the teacher said.
Tim grew silent. And with that, so did I. "Sorry, Mr. Wentworth".
Lunch came. I sat next to Tim. If it was possible, he seemed more uptight then earlier. The tray he'd gotten was untouched and to the side. There was no book today; instead he was staring out the window, occasionally scanning the cafeteria.
"What's wrong with you?" I asked.
"I keep telling you to leave" he said, not looking at me.
"Yeah?"
"It's making me agitated"
"What? Would you like me to leave?" I asked incredulously.
"Yes, actually I would" he said, "Why do you think I've been asking you?"
My heart stung, I'd only been with this guy, like once. Why did it matter? "Fine! And to think I was actually starting to like you." I could tell my comment hurt him, but I stood up anyway. I picked up my stuff and turned around to walk to my old table, when someone stopped me. I turned around to see Tim holding onto my arm. How had he gotten up so fast?
"That's not what I meant" he said.
"What did you mean then?" I asked, surprised at how close we were.
"I wanted you to leave because—"
Bu he was cut off, a ferociously loud boom shook through the building. It sounded like it came from the south wing. I wobbled and my tray fell from my already shaking hand, scattering food across the floor.
"Holy crap" I said, "What do you think happened?"
"C'mon, let's go" Tim said, pulling me to the doors, "Everybody out!" he yelled.
"What? Where?" I asked, being tugged along. Nobody else was paying any mind to him. Then an earsplitting boom cracked the ceiling above us and the ceiling caved in. Tim grabbed my collar and rolled out of the way, pulling me with him. I landed on top of him and coughed out some dust.
"C'mon, Maddie. Get up." he said from underneath me, "We have to get out of here before anoth—" Another bomb went off as I tried to stand up.
I tried to stand again, "Tim?" I could barely see anything, the dust was so thick.
"TIM?" I yelled, yet another bomb going off, throwing me to the floor. A gloved hand grabbed mine and pulled me towards what I thought were the doors. I noticed brown spike-y hair, "Tim, where are we going?"
He turned around and I gasped. I tried to pull away, as I came to face-to-face with Robin. The boy that had saved me the night before. That's when I realized where I knew him from…he was the one…the one that had rescued me so many years ago…from my father…"Come on!" he said.
"Wait!" I yelled, "We have to go back! Tim's back there!" He was the only "friend" I'd had in awhile. I wasn't going to leave him.
"I'll get him later!" the hero said, almost dragging me out of the building as another boom shook the school, sending debris down upon us. I lost contact with my savior and fell to the floor. I cried out when pain encased my leg.
I felt hands under my shoulders and looked up to find the masked boy again. "Almost out" he said, attempting to pull me out. I yelled in surprise as he pulled on my leg. It felt like red hot fire was coming from my ankle. It was stuck under something.
"Great" Robin said, "Bats, I need some help"
"Are you stupid?" I said in pain, "He's not gonna hear you!"
Weight lifted off my leg and I gasped when I saw two bat ears come out from the smoke as a concrete block flew into the distance.
"Uh…th-thank you!" I said. The man was huge. He had to be 6'8" and he was covered in muscles underneath the black suit that he wore.
"Hurry up, Robin" the man said in a deep voice, "There's a lot more kids in here that need our help"
I wracked out some dust, closing my eyes for a minute. When I opened them Batman was gone.
"Let's go" Robin said, dragging me through the concrete and destroyed lockers. We emerged into the sunlight and I found my footing, walking to the soft grass. I sucked in fresh air, feeling my lungs relax in relief. When I turned around, he was already disappearing into the smoke of the destroyed school.
Robin scrambled through the North Wing of the destroyed school. It had been worse then they'd thought, but at least he'd gotten Maddie out. His plan definitely had not worked to get her out of here, but at least she was safe…
He saw a lot worse off then she had been. Thank god there had been no casualties. The Joker had only set off minor explosives, for once…