Joker?

Chapter 2

Establishing Connections

(Iris's point of view)

5 minutes after school starts

She held the class rearrangement slip in her hand given to her by the school principal. She was extremely happy that she would be changing classes starting today. As she went back to English to go get her stuff she went over the list of classes she will be going to next period. 'Let's see what we have here: Gym, Math, English, Biology, and as an extension of gym, monster training; weird'. She approached the Biology room where her first class was held.

'You can do this Iris; you can get past that douche bag and his (friends). You can get passed the looks and the whistles they give you', she thought as she reached for the door knob.

Iris slowly turned the door knob so as to not alert anyone. To her annoyance it was locked but everyone was still inside. She had no choice but to knock on the door; alerting Mr. Brown to come to the door and open it for her.

'Here you go Mr. Brown', she thought as she handed him the note from the principal.

"Oh they finally put your request through and the principal agreed for your schedule change." he said as he glared at most of the guy's in the room.

In turn some of the guy's in the room cringed at the glare the teacher was giving them while the rest were awestruck at Iris's decision. As Iris walked toward her bag in the classroom she could immediately tell that the entire group of guy's in the room were giving her lustful looks.

'I hate it when they stare at me like that' Iris thought as she bent down to get her bag. 'I hope Mr. Brown give's these perverts hell' she thought as she headed toward the exit of the classroom.

"I emailed Mr. Sloan so when you get to his class he will know that you transferred along with the rest of your knew teachers; oh and here's the note back" he said as he handed the note back to Iris.

Iris left Mr. Brown's room for the last time hoping to never see Terrence or his (friends) again. But alas he would still go to this school and that she would not be able to avoid him before and after school. She never liked Terrence since the first day they met which was about two months ago before school started. Iris let a stray tear roll down her face as she remembered what Terrence almost did at the pier that day.

One month and two and a half weeks earlier:

Jenna or mom as Dakota and Tetra like to call her though she technically is their mother biologically. Jenna was the mother that Iris always wanted but never had until she was adopted into her family four years ago but that's another memory for later. Any way Jenna took them to Azure Lake to go swimming. While Tetra and Jenna set up the towels and the umbrella Dakota and Iris got the cooler and the food basket out of the car.

"Here you go Iris" he said as he handed the basket to her.

Iris just nodded and smiled in response and walked to where Jenna and Tetra were. Once she was there she gently placed the basket down next to Jenna who was busy staring at the horizon above the lake. Iris knew that Dakota was going to have trouble lifting the cooler since it was practically filled with liquid except for the bag of apples that sit floating in there. She noticed Dakota struggling to get the cooler out of the trunk and decided to go back and help him if needed.

"Yes, I finally got one end of the cooler over the edge of the trunk. Now to pull the rest of it out and bring it to mom and Tetra" he whispered more to himself than anyone else around him; not that there was anyone near him to hear.

The cooler was 2 ft wide and 1 ft tall so when filled it's pretty heavy. Dakota had both hands on opposite sides of the cooler's handle managed to lift it over the edge of the trunk and began to slowly carry it to Jenna. Iris walked up to Dakota and offered.

"Thanks for the help Iris", Dakota said as he happily accepted her offer of help.

With that Iris and Dakota brought the cooler to where Jenna was sitting in under three minutes. With that done both Dakota and Iris went to go swim with Tetra. When Iris and Dakota arrived they notice Tetra wearing a single peace black bathing suit with a pair of black swim trunks that extended a little past her knees over the bathing suit. Iris looked at Dakota and noticed that he was wearing a pair dark blue swim trunks that also extended a little bit further past his knees. Iris herself knew what she was wearing the entire time because she got ready before they left to go to the lake. She wore a pair of black swim trunks with the legs extending to the middle of her lower legs while also wearing a bikini top. All three of them swam and played games for a few hours before it was time to go eat lunch.

"Where's Dakota" Jenna asked as Tetra and Iris arrived back from swimming.

"He was just behind us a second ago. Where would he go in such a short amount of time?" Tetra asked in a worried tone.

Being an elf; Iris had more advanced hearing than Jenna and Tetra and began listening for Dakota's voice. If it was just Iris and her family there she would be able to find him in a heartbeat but there were more than a dozen people at the lake that day. It ultimately made it harder for her to single out his voice from everyone else that was there. She looked toward the east side of the beach, hoping Dakota would be at the food stands but no such luck; she didn't see or hear him there either.

"Tetra go to the parking lot and see if your brother went there; Iris go look for Dakota at the pier. That's where he usually is whenever we come here. I'll be here looking for him up and down the beach." Jenna said as she got up to look for him down the beach.

Tetra and Iris looked at each other and nodded in understanding what could be happening to him right now. Tetra ran to the parking lot while Iris ran to the pier. When Iris got there she could hear sniffling and sobbing from behind a group of teens Irises age maybe older. One of them turned around after hearing her approach.

"Why hello; what brings you here to my beach today?" asked the teen seductive tone approaching her smirking.

Iris got a good look at the teen approaching her. He looked to be seventeen maybe eighteen years old; a little over six and half feet tall, has a muscular build, black buzz cut hair, dark blue eyes (I do not know how to describe the shape of people's heads or their faces very well so bear with me on this). He was clad with black swim trunks with flames on the bottom of the legs.

'Wow this guy sounds like a douche …' Iris never got to finish that thought as she saw her little brother huddled over what looked like a little girl.

Dakota got up off the ground picking the girl in the process. As he turned to leave the pier Iris got a better look at the girl and gasped. The little girl looked like she had been beaten severely. Dakota wasted no time in rushing her to the life guards.

Iris just stood there shocked 'Who would do this to such a sweat little girl' she thought.

She then heard snickering behind her and turned around to face the now snickering teens. She had a very big guess on who did it. She then noticed all three teens had bruised knuckles.

"Serves that Joker right for trespassing on my beach." the blond teen stated.

Iris was pissed after hearing that statement. Not only did they beat a little girl but they beat up someone who were not able to defend themselves do to the older teens size. She swiftly and quietly ran up to the buffed teen and punched him in the gut making him keel over in pain. Then she spun around and did a round house kick to the same spot knocking him back into his cronies.

'Thanks mom for teaching me karate' Iris mentally thanked.

With that done Iris ran to where Dakota and the rest of the family were. By the time she got to Dakota the medics were already loading the unconscious Joker. Dakota looked up at Iris "You give them hell" he asked in a saddened tone.

Iris only nodded and hugged Dakota "You did the right thing" she whispered in his ear.

She could hear his heart beat increase while he hugged back; she also paid close attention to where he placed his hands on the center of her back.

Present time

Iris was knocked out of her memory of that day as she approached the gym doors.

'Well here goes nothing' she thought as entered the gym.

Iris was so nervous that she just barged right in to the gym avoiding any sort of eye contact and quickly walked to Mr. Sloan's office. Once she was there she slowly and silently opened the door to his office and entered. Iris didn't know how but when she turned back around after shutting the door Mr. Sloan was standing behind her.

"I got the email Mr. Brown sent me along with the principals. Oh I almost forgot you don't have to wear a gym uniform in my class" he stated before he exited the office along with Iris.

Mr. Sloan blew on his whistle to get the classes attention.

"If your wandering why Iris is here in this class period today is because she got her schedule changed" he stated be for he went back to sitting on the table watching all the students interact with their partners with a smile.

Iris just shyly waved to everyone one in the room right before being tackled to the ground in a big hug caused by Tetra. Iris was taken aback by her sudden behavior but quickly shrugged it off and returned the hug smiling. They stayed liked for a full minute until couple of the other students started to notice their little hug fest. Do to Iris's timid personality she panicked and quickly picked up Tetra off the ground and got up herself setting Tetra down on her feet. She was so flustered that she didn't notice that she sat down beside Dakota who at the time is listening to Orchestral Dubstep loud enough not to hear any of what Mr. Sloan said or see the scene that Tetra and Iris caused.

(Dakota's point of view)

'At least I have first class with mostly nice kids. Besides I still have the rest of the day to find my partner. And to be honest I really don't care what their species is I'd take any partner, which is of course that they accept me for who I am first. Who was that screaming from that nightmare I had last night? Why did it sound so familiar' Dakota thought.

"I'm surprised to not see Tara hear today because she usually won't stop messing with me or my stuff. But she's a lot nicer than Terrence. We even talk sometimes" he mumbled.

What Dakota didn't know was that Iris heard every word he said.

Iris was shocked at this 'Dakota has not one but two people to put up with here but he says Tara's not that bad. Why didn't you tell us?', she mentally screamed.

Dakota decided to go ask Mr. Sloan if he could walk around the halls for a bit since there was fifteen minutes left in class. He went to go ask but he felt a small tug on his arm. He then felt a gentle squeeze and immediately knew who it was. "Hey Iris when did you get here?" Dakota asked in confusion. She didn't say anything and handed him her new class schedule. "When did you request a schedule change?" Dakota asked. She didn't say anything and pulled out her phone, typed something on it and showed Dakota what it said 'Today' it read. "Oh" he then looked at the schedule to see what knew classes she had now. Dakota then noticed that she had same classes he had but he knew that there was more than one teacher on every subject. "Well congratulations on the reschedule." he said then he helped Iris up and made his way to Mr. Sloan.

"Can I walk around the halls for a bit Mr. Sloan?" Dakota asked.

"Sure; just make it back before the bell rings." Mr. Sloan stated.

With that done Dakota exited the gym to go for a walk. "Argh" he was just outside the strength training room when he heard the scream. He then heard what sounded like weights falling to the floor. "That sounded like Tara" Dakota thought as he rushed into the weight room. He was utterly shocked when he entered and looked around the room seeing a couple of overturned weight racks while Tara was sitting on one of the benches.

What surprised him more was the amount of scraps and bruises covering her body. "You okay Tara?" he asked as he approached her since he didn't know what else to ask her.

"Am I disgrace to this world?" she asked with a hint of fear as Dakota knelt down in front of her. "What do you mean?" he asked in a bit of worry.

"I've tried to make friends with almost everybody in the school. But most of them keep saying the same thing about me." she said while her eyes glazed over on the brink off shedding tears. Dakota had no idea what to think. 'Is it really that hard to make one friend' he thought.

Dakota new that she bullied him since the day they first met. He had bad days and worse days but most were not caused by Tara; not any more ever since Terrance moved here. It wasn't pretty what Dakota seen him do to her at the beach a month back. He was shocked at first when he found out that Tara was a Joker but he wasn't racist. He figured that out when Iris was adopted and made part of the family. At first they both hated each other but he wanted to do the right thing and help her. It took a while but they eventually figured if they got to know each other better than they could get along, which they did. They were rarely seen apart except for classes. Tetra, Dakota, and Iris are always there for each other and other's if necessary.

"I guess they're right about one thing; I really am an abomination." she said while letting the tears flow; finally letting the dam she had carefully built over the years crumble to the ground and its contents finally escaping. He then did the last thing Tara expected from someone she messed with for most of his life. Dakota knelt down and embraced her in a hug.

"You are not an abomination you're just misunderstood" Dakota stated.

"Why would you care; no one ever did and never will" she said back. Dakota just kept hugging her to comfort the lonely Joker.

"That's the thing I truly and genuinely care about you and I'm not alone; every teacher care not only about you but everyone. I'm here for you…my family is here for you…my mom, Tetra, and even Iris" he said. He then felt Tara shudder in his arms.

"I…hurt…please…don't let the…nightmares come back" was the last thing she said in fear before she passed out from exhaustion.

Since Dakota was still trying his best to comfort Tara with a hug he had caught her before she could fall to the ground in a crumbled heap. Dakota never was one to lie to just about anyone and since this predicament was serious he was by all means honest in what he meant. He cared for every one; no matter what they looked like, who they were, or what their personalities were like; he cared.

"I care" he whispered. He then placed Tara in a sleeping position on the bench and made sure no one was in the room. Dakota felt a pressure emerge from within his body and his right hand glowed brightly in which he placed it above Tara's sleeping form letting the light drift slowly towards Tara healing the bruises that littered her body.

Tara on the other hand wasn't entirely asleep; yes she was very tired and desperately wanted to go to sleep but she really wanted to know if Dakota really did care even after what she put him through. Soon she felt a weird sensation all over her body like she was being healed. She never knew what being healed felt like; for all she knew Dakota was just blowing hot air all over her; but Dakota was too caring to do that to her. She winced a little as the little amount of pain that whatever he was doing caused but kept quiet and lay still so Dakota couldn't tell that she was fully awake now. She then felt all the pain on her body slowly disappear.

Dakota watched as her bruises and cuts slowly disappeared. "There that's better" he whispered. Since all the bruises and cuts were gone he had a much clearer picture of what Tara looked like. She had blood red hair that reached her neck and had bangs that covered her left eye, literally has white skin, her eyes are crimson, and under them appeared to be make-up of upside down small black triangles that did not extend past the width of her eyes. Jokers were actually born with some form of markings on the faces. Most also had a nasty habit of pulling pranks on people that later on would enjoy and have laughs about them. That's just recently though in the past they were known to do pranks that harmed people and specialized in harming people.

Dakota also noticed that he couldn't tell what height she stood at. He then noticed the clothes she was wearing. She had on a what looked like a warned out grey sweat shirt, faded blue jeans that had multiple hole's in them and the legs reached a little above her warn out white tennis shoes. He then remembered that jokers can manipulate their bodies to their liking. But Tara chose to stay four maybe four and a half feet tall.

Dakota then knelt down to pick up Tara bridal style and proceeded to carry her back to the gym. Unknown to him and a sleeping Tara someone saw the whole ordeal and smirked, "I found my next target" she whispered as she continued her plan to humiliate them and anybody that stood in her way.