Disclaimer: I don't own Jonathan Crane (sadly) nor Batman. I don't claim to own them. I don't make any profit off of this. I'm just having fun.

Interlude

01

Today was my first day back to school without Jonathan.

The morning had been easy enough. Talk to the cops about finding Jonathan's grandmother. Get dressed. Drive to school.

As I walked through the halls, however, I noticed that things had changed.

People avoided me like the plague. Seriously, I walked through the doors and they pushed other kids to get away from me. I looked down at myself. I was wearing a simple purple shirt and a pair of jeans. I don't know what was so foreboding about that.

It had only been ten minutes and I already missed Jonathan's constant presence at my side.

Classes went smoothly. I tried to pay attention and took notes when I was able. My heart just wasn't in it today, however. I couldn't wait to go home and curl up on the couch and eat take out. That was going to be my daily routine, I decided. I was probably going to gain a bunch of weight but I didn't care. Not today.

Third period finally rolled around and I sat in my seat, trying not to wince at the empty seat in front of me. The teacher, Mr. Bolock, walked by me and patted his hand on my should. Jesus, did everyone know what happened? Is that why people were avoiding me?

During the last ten minutes of the class, I felt a tap on my arm. I jumped and I looked to my left. Belinda had moved her chair so she now sat with me and gave me a small smile. "Hey, are you alright?"

I looked around and saw most of the class had done the same. Did I doze off or something? I shook my head. "I completely missed what we were supposed to be doing."

"Here, I have it done." Belinda handed me her paper and I gave her a grateful look. "How is Jonathan?"

I shrugged and copied her answers to my paper. "I don't know. I haven't spoken to him yet. I told him to call me when he got settled in so it will be awhile yet."

Belinda put her chin on her hand, her brown eyes on me. "Where is he staying?"

"My dad's townhouse." I worried my bottom lip. "Until I decide whether I want to sell it when I move up there."

"I'm sorry about your dad." Belinda patted my free hand and I gave her a small smile. "My mom passed over the break, too."

I dropped the pencil, a little more than shocked. "Oh, Belinda, I'm sorry."

It was her turn to shrug. "Thank you, but I'm okay. We knew it was coming so we had time to prepare."

"It doesn't make it easy, though." She nodded her head in agreement and we lapsed back into silence as I copied her answers. I heard a sneeze next to me so I glanced over. The kid who had sneezed, a theater geek by the name of Sam, cowered when I looked his way. What the hell is going on?

I shot a look at Belinda who raised an eyebrow at me. "You've noticed then, huh?"

"You mean that apparently everyone in this school had lost their mind? Yeah. I mean, I haven't suddenly contacted Leprosy or the Plague, have I?" My voice was a little higher than normal and I swallowed to try and get it to behave. These kids were freaking me out.

"Everyone knows about your dad. Add to that his murderer is dead and now Jonathan's grandmother, people think you're a psychopath." She wiggled her eyebrows at me.

I felt myself pale. So that's why I've been avoided. People were afraid of being the psychopath's next victim.

Jesus fucking Christ.

"I'm not crazy." I gave her a pained look. "What, you're not afraid of me stabbing you with my pen?

Belinda nodded. "I know you didn't do it. Hell, anyone with two brain cells to rub together knows you didn't do it. It's only the social parasites that believe that garbage."

"And what do they think about it?" I took a break from copying and jerked my head over towards the popular crowd where Lilly Carothers was holding court in all her brunette glory. She was sitting in Sherry's usual seat, showing off her new fake nails. My eyes almost rolled of their own accord.

Belinda scoffed and rested her head on her hand. "Who do you think started the rumors, D.G.? I've heard that she's actually happy that Williams is gone. She's been dying to have the title of Wicked Bitch of the South."

Frowning, I cast another glance at the new Queen, almost jumping when my green eyes clashed with her blue ones. She raised an eyebrow at me, clearly a challenge. She then turned back to her friends and launched into another vaguely racist rant about her beautician.

She didn't look right, sitting in the chair that Sherry Williams had claimed probably long before I even came to Atlanta. She had another nameless boy at her side that kept rubbing his hand on her leg, looking like he was about to start drooling at any second.

Gag me.

"So." I jumped a little and glared at Belinda, who snickered. "Sorry. You sitting with us at lunch?"

I shrugged and handed my now finished paper to Bolock, who had come around to collect them. "I was actually thinking about skipping."

My friend gave me a look that was all mock-horror and feigned shock. "Why, D.G.! I never!"

I laughed a little. "If you had the week I did, you would want to go home and sleep forever, too."

"Yes, but if you start moping, you will never stop."

I cast her a weird glance as the bell rang. "What? Are you taking up a career as a motivational speaker? If so, you may want to keep your day job."

Belinda laughed and stood, attempting to pull me with her. "Come on! You need to start living again. We both do. I mean, do you think our combined parents would want us to just skip through life?"

I glanced out the window at the bright blue Atlanta sky and wondered what Jonathan was doing. Was he looking up at the same blue sky, wondering how I was? I shook myself before gathering my books and bag. Belinda was right, there's no use in moping. I had to make the best at what I was given. I wasn't going to let anyone bring me down.

I owed my Dad that much.

Walking into the lunch room was a harrowing affair, and unfortunately, it was one I was going to have to repeat over and over again.

Belinda and I walked side by side into the massive cafeteria and it was like someone hit the mute button. Chairs scraped against the ugly gray tile and hundreds of eyes swiveled towards us. I froze like a deer in the headlights of a Peterbilt. If looks could kill, I'd be six feet under and rotting.

Belinda was my saving grace. She grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the lunch line, glaring at anyone unlucky enough to cross our path. We made our way through the line, both of us passing on the mystery meat. I grabbed a piece of pizza that looked relatively harmless while Belinda got a salad, explaining that she was a vegetarian. "It's new." She said, glancing at the somewhat wilted lettuce leaves. "But since my mom died, I feel like I should take care of myself better, you know?"

I did. But I wasn't sure how I could protect myself against murder, so I just nodded.

We slowly made our way to the table, and I watched as the people parted like the sea. Again. Maybe I could get use to this.

Owen greeted Belinda with a kiss and smiled at me as we sat down on the hard chairs. "Hey, D."

I raised my eyebrow but smiled back. Two could play that game. "Hey, O. How are you?"

"I'm good." He laughed. "Must be nice to be able to part the idiots like that. What's you're secret?"

"A combination of new-kid syndrome and extremely bad luck." I gave him a small smile and took a bite of my pizza. Eww. The crust was gooey and the sauce was bitter. I knew I made a face but I swallowed anyways. Well, there goes lunch.

"How's Crane?" I jumped as a lunch tray clattered down on the metal and Polly sat down next to me, raising a hairless brow.

I frowned at her. She would have been pretty had she not been made up so heavily. And, you know, had she not want to do dirty things to my boyfriend. "He's fine."

Her smirk wasn't reassuring. "You don't sound so sure, Cohen. What's wrong, did he dump you already?"

My eyes narrowed and my frown turned into a glare. "No. He's getting settled, thank you. Not that it's any of your business."

"Psh." She turned and took a bite of an apple, chewing thoughtfully. "What does he see in you, anyways?"

"Polly!" Belinda leaned over, pulled from her conversation with Owen. Her voice was harsh whisper. "What is your problem?"

"My problem, Bell, is that you insist on bringing the social leper to our table." Her voice was calm, though louder than normal. She was trying to embarrass me and it was working. I could feel the heat in my face.

"You know what?" I stood and glared at the blonde bitch. She reminded me so much of Sherry now, just with darker clothes. I glanced at Belinda and took in her sad features. "I'll see you later, Belinda. I think I'm gonna skip after all."

Without a glance back, I threw my inedible lunch out and walked out the side doors into the sunshine.

I wasn't letting her win. I just needed a time out.

A/N: Interlude is going to be all one shots. There will be a time jump in between each one and it's going to chronicle the time in between Dal Niente and Cadence, which takes place during Batman Begins.

Thank you to EVERYONE who has reviewed, favorited, followed, everything! Dal Niente has gotten much more response than I figured it would and it always makes my week when I get a review, favorite, any alert of any kind. So thank you for supporting this and welcome! I will probably be posting Cadence along with this within a few days.

As of posting this, I haven't seen Dark Knight Rises yet. However, I want to dedicate this chapter to all the people who were hurt or lost their lives during the shooting that occurred last night in Aurora, Colorado. I really don't have the words for how heartbroken I am for the injured and the families of the ones who were lost.