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Jason tapped his fingers impatiently against the table he was sitting at, trying not to glance at the door for the third time in the last minute. He left it wide open, hoping the smells of Alfred’s fresh baked sweets would at least attract a curious kid or two. Sadly, his strategy wasn’t working and the sign-up sheet to his club remained empty.
He needed to have at least one person in the club with him to be official and so far, he had zero success trying to recruit people. He had a lot of confidence in himself a week ago, even got one of his teachers to sign off using his classroom afterschool. He understood it would be a challenge to start a new club at Gotham Academy, with parents already pushing their kids to join clubs that would give them better social connections, Jason’s club wouldn’t really be on their radar. Plus, it was hard to make teens excited to join a book club, since he wanted to actually use physical books not that digital crap.
The absolute worst part of this was that he was required to join at least one club for school, and he really didn’t want to suffer through the sorry excuse of a theater club again. (The play’s leads were always determined by which kid’s parents donated the most.) Plus since he was the club’s president, he could make the club’s schedule work around any vigilante emergencies that might come up.
The ticking sound of the clock was mocking him, reminding him that he had about ten minutes before his club was officially disbanded. He knew having hope that anyone would stay after school on a Friday was a long shot but, he thought Alfred’s cooking would at least give him an edge. What teenager would pass up free food, then again these were rich kids. They probably thought they were too good for homemade sweets.
He was beginning to think that he would have to admit defeat and just go home, no one was coming. He was starting to pack up his stuff when he heard what sounded like the roll of wheels echoing down the hallway. A few seconds later, a little kid rushed into the open doorway riding on a skateboard.
Jason didn’t even have time to compute the odd sight before that kid was clinging onto him desperately, clearly in a panic, “You have to help me hide this, if I get a detention my parents will kill me!” The kid kept looking at the door like the bogeyman would enter in any moment.
Jason could hear faint sounds of yelling, clearly from the end of the hallway and guessed they had a couple of minutes before the staff member checked for the kid in here.
“Whoa! Okay kid calm down, you’re lucky Mr. Strife left me with his keys to lock up the classroom. Here we can stash your board in his closet until you’re in the clear. Did they see your face at all?” Jason asked, grabbing the skateboard from the kid and quickly shoving it in the closet before locking it up. The kid shook his head and sat down, taking a moment to catch his breath.
Now that he wasn’t in the panic, the kid started looking around the room, and locked eyes on the sign-up sheet. “Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt your club meeting. I’m surprised we even have a book club, it seems kinda of nerdy though. My name is Tim Drake by the way, my parent’s were the hosts for that fundraiser your family went to. It was the one for the museum last month remember?”
Jason did not in fact remember that fundraiser, he usually zoned out at events until he was allowed to sneak out to patrol. However, he could not let that kid’s comment about his club slide, “Excuse me? What are you taking about? A book club is not nerdy!” Jason exclaimed in an outrage. He watched in disbelief when Tim wrinkled his nose in distaste at the leaflet Jason made explaining what the club would entail.
“Hate to break it to you Jason, it really is though. Especially since your club would be reading from a physical book. Who does that anymore anyway? That’s probably why you don’t have any sign ups.” The kid scoots his chair by the table and finally sees the container of Alfred’s treats, “Oh, can I have a cookie?” Despite the question, the kid starts helping himself to the sweet, happy now that the threat of detention was behind him.
Now Jason would consider himself a nice guy, he spent most of his free time saving Gotham after all. But, you couldn’t blame him for getting a bit annoyed with Tim’s attitude. He can’t believe after agreeing to help the kid avoid detention this is the thanks he gets. Instead of being grateful, he’s sitting there eating the cookies Alfred specifically made for his potential club members and ragging on the club Jason was very passionate about.
He was about to ask the kid to beat it when he heard footsteps coming down the hall and it gave him an idea. He needed one person to sign up for his club and he decided the kid owed him for stashing his skateboard.
“You know what Tim, why don’t I prove you wrong. Sign up for the club and I will show you how awesome reading from a book is.”
Tim laughed, “I’m sorry but no thanks. I already decided on photography club this year and plan to use my free time at the skatepark.”
Jason smiled evilly when he replied, “Here’s the thing Tim, I need one person to sign up for my club to be official. If you don’t sign up well, all I need to do yell to get the attention of the afterschool staff. It won’t take me long to unlock the door hiding your skateboard either, so you’ll definitely get detention.”
Tim glared at him, not very effective since he had cookie crumbs covering his face, “You wouldn’t.”
Jason took a deep breath and opened his mouth like he was about to give out a shout.
“Wait! Okay, I’ll sign up for your stupid club. Just know you're going to make my year miserable.”
Jason rolled his eyes, “Likewise kid. Hurry up and sign my paper so I can turn it in to the office. By the time we get back it should be safe to grab your board. I know you live next door, so I can give you a ride home. We can decide on our first book on the way home.”
Tim let out a groan, but did what Jason asked, “I regret asking for help, I almost feel like detention would be the better option.”
“Whatever kid, let’s go.”
Jason will prove the kid wrong, even it kills him.