A Crash Course in Being a Sidekick

Gotham City, Illinois. August 19th. 11 PM.

Tim Drake banged his forehead against the window of the Batmobile. School started in a few days and he wasn’t ready to go back. His real friends were off in their own towns, thinking the same thing.

“Why can’t this be a full time job.” Tim sighed, looking out the window, to the lights whizzing by.

“You don’t want it to be one.” Bruce said stiffly, keeping his eyes on the roads of Gotham.

“Its better than going to school.”

“You need to stay in school. You’re real smart, you know. Don’t lose it and skip classes,” Bruce shot, glaring at Tim through the rearview mirror. “Who knows what will happen. You’re a junior this year. For Gods’ sake get a girlfriend and take her to homecoming and prom.”

Tim groaned at the word ‘girlfriend’. No girl in Gotham was right for him- they were too busy doing who-knows-what with the popular guys. And the one girl he knew well, Cassie, had a thing with Conner.

“I know what you’re thinking, but if you do, you’ll thank me later.” Bruce warned.

“The only reason I’d thank you later was if she had superpowers. But that would never happen because there are no other superhero chicks in Gotham City,” he mumbled.

Danford, Connecticut. August 11th. 11:30 PM.

Lily rolled over in bed, wide awake. Her room was empty except for her bed, and her boxes of clothing, furniture, books, and posters. Tomorrow was the big move- her mother, father, and herself would be going on a flight to Chicago, then a half hour drive to Gotham City, their new home.

“I’m going to miss this place…” she mumbled, sighing. Although her friends saw her as a loser and ditched her for the summer, she didn’t care. She’d miss school, and the annoying color of her locker. Hopefully the lockers at Gotham’s high school are normal looking, she thought, and the boys are also normal and not completely estranged.

Lily didn’t have the best of luck with boyfriends….or boys in general. They either talked to her to gain connections with her friends, or didn’t even talk to her at all. She was this strange girl, who loved reading backwards Japanese books called manga, and who had a strange obsession with this duo called Batman and Robin. Nobody in her entire school knew who they were, so they thought they were figments of her imagination. But ever since she was able to read, Lily followed the stories of the evil villains and the dynamic duo coming in to save the day in Gotham City. Every time her father went on a business trip to Gotham, he brought back more stories and newspaper clippings for her. Photos were rare, but her father became friends with Commissioner Gordon, who got her special photos and posters. The commissioners own daughter was a fan of Batman and Robin herself, so when Lily met up with Barbara Gordon when her dad took her to Gotham City for the first time, they became best friends. However, Barbara was 22 when Lily was 10, so they didn’t talk as much, but hung out whenever Lily visited Gotham City. Barbara was like a big sister back from college, the big sister Lily never had. And, being like sisters, they divvied up the dynamic duo- Lily got Robin, and Barbara got Batman.

Who knew that Lily’s half would become true…



CHAPTER ONE:
Gotham City, Illinois. August 24th, 2008. 6 AM.

Lily sat up in bed as her iHome started playing ‘Disturbia’ by Rihanna, signaling her to get up for the first day of school. Her parents were already at work, so she let the music get loud enough to be heard throughout the house.

“What to wear, what to wear…” Lily mumbled, stepping out of bed. She wanted to make a first impression that made people look, but not stare. Going to her closet, which was now full of clothes and shoes, she grabbed a pair of khaki shorts, her black converse, and her silver purse, which was large enough to be a tote bag.

As soon as ‘Disturbia’ ended, Paramore’s ‘Born for This’ started to play. Lily started to sing along, tossing her purse, shorts and converse on the bed. Heading for the bureau, she knew what she was going for. Opening the top drawer, she pulled out her home made Batman shirt, and then her Robin shirt. Both shirts she loved and made herself; the Batman shirt had the logo in yellow against the black shirt, and the Robin shirt was black and red, with the ‘R’ on the right corner.

“What will people recognize…” Lily mumbled, thinking for a second, “I know Robin is my favorite, but Batman would be cooler…”

Across town, Tim Drake was just waking up to his iHome, which was playing ‘Joker and the Thief’ by Wolfmother. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. At Wayne Manor last night, Bruce had told him that he recently promoted both Andrew and Maria Myer so he could bring their daughter Lily into Gotham City. This was what kept him up all night.

Still thinking about the subject, Tim shook his head, confused about the entire conversation.

Last night…

“Look Tim, I want you to look after Lily” Bruce said, leaning against the Batmoblie, which was parked in a dark side alley.

“You want me to babysit some girl I don’t even know!” Tim groaned, “She’s probably some five year old who loves to play with Barbies and make up!”

“Would it be helpful if I told you that she’s your age?”

Tim crossed his arms and leaned against a building wall. “So basically I just have to watch her? What, is some mob boss going to try and kidnap her?” he laughed.

“Watch it. Something like that could happen…” Bruce warned coldly.

“But what about Big-”

“Get back in the car. I’ve said enough.”

“Why would Bruce want me to watch some strange girl who moved here? She’s probably really snotty and horrifically annoying.” Tim mumbled, grabbing a pair of khaki shorts and a deep red collared Polo shirt out of his closet. He changed quickly, not bothering with his black, tousled hair which would be going into the shiny black helmet he just grabbed off his desk.

Tim jumped down the two flights of stairs, where he ran into Alfred Pennyworth, the butler at Wayne Manor.

“Would the young sir like a sandwich?” Alfred asked Tim, offering a sandwich for lunch.

“No thanks Alfred, I think I’m going to leave for lunch and go get fast food or Chinese or something.” Tim said, smiling as he looked for the keys to his metallic black motorcycle.

“Looking for these?” Alfred asked, tossing Tim his keys.

“Thanks man.” He smiled, grabbing the backpack from the floor and heading into the garage.

Tossing the backpack onto his, back, Tim got on the motorcycle and put his helmet on. With the keys in the ignigtion, he revved the engine and rode out of the garage. ‘I think I’ll take the back roads today. City traffic is never that good on the first day of school. Besides, I might be able to follow a bus there.’ Tim thought as he turned right as he exited the driveway.

Lily came out of the bathroom dressed and ready for school. She had finally decided on her Batman logo shirt which she had made herself, khaki-white shorts, and her black, high top Converse. Her eyes had a slight hint of brown eyeliner and some mascara, while her hair was down and parted to the side, covering her right eye just a bit. Grabbing her silver purse, Lily threw her iPod, phone, some pens, a ponytail, lip gloss and her wallet in, and then zipped it up.

Taking a quick glance at the clock, she gasped. Throwing her purse over her shoulder, she sprinted down the stairs.

“6:45?! Holy crap, how did I end up taking so long?!” Lily mumbled to herself as she made it to the bottom of the stairs.

Grabbing the black binder off the kitchen table, there was no time for breakfast. As she spun around to go to the door, a bright pink square caught her eye. It was a sticky-note stuck on the door, from her mom, which read;

‘Bus comes at 6:47 daily. Good luck, and be good! Love, Mom’

After Lily read her mom’s note, she opened the door, and a bright yellow blur whizzed by. It was the bus, which didn’t even bother to stop.

“Come on!” she groaned, walking out to the sidewalk. The bus was farther down the street, so there was no chance in getting on it.

Looking down at the binder her mom left on the kitchen table for her, Lily saw that she had printed one of her Robin collages and put it in the front of the binder. She hugged it to her chest as she started to follow the route the bus whizzed by minutes ago. Suddenly, a dark blur whizzed by Lily, almost blowing her over.

“Was that just…No way!” she shrieked, “The Batmobile! Ohmygod. No way! But I thought Batman didn’t come out in the day! Must be something urgent..”

It was indeed the Batmobile cruising by. Bruce was keeping tabs on Lily to make sure nothing would happen that he wasn’t planning.

“I wonder if he could help me get to school…” she giggled, “Too bad he’s cruising at 100 miles per hour..”