31 Chapter 31

Ever since Terry moved out, he's been doing his best to still be a part of his family's life. He often visits his mother at work with the excuse of Alfred making him run an errand to give something to the commissioner. Because of that, Barbara gets free coffee bought from his own pocket everytime he comes by .

After a while, Mary noticed this but she just let it be because it was nice to see his son regularly. His visits got even more frequent when Rose left.

"Alfred gave me the car. He said it was okay because I spent my time and my own money on it."

"That's a big thing to give."

"I know, right? He's just been so nice to me."

"That's because you're a nice person."

"Pfft. Hahaha. I don't know about that." Terry said with a wry smile as he placed his hand on the coffee cup to feel it's warmth.

Mary McGinnis looked at his son with a wistful smile. "Do you still think about her?"

"Wh-who?"

"Who else?" She said with a knowing smile.

"...Yeah. Everyday. I don't think I'll be over her soon."

"Have you tried meeting anyone yet?"

"Mom, that's just too soon for me."

"There's nothing wrong with meeting new people."

"...I guess."

"Meet other people Terry. Even if it's just to make friends. It will be good for you."

"Fine. I'll try when the opportunity comes." Terry replied with a thin smile.

Terry looked at the wall clock in the room to check the time.

"I have to go now, Mom. I don't want to be late and schedule for another appointment." He said as he stood up.

"Oh! Is it that?"

"Yup!" He waved as he walked out of the lounge room.

What they were referring to was Terry's application for a scholarship. Because he got good grades in his freshman year, he was eligible to submit his documents and apply for one.

He got out of the police headquarters and hopped on his motorcycle to go to Gotham City University.

"Here. Thanks." He said as he submitted his documents through a window.

"Wait in the waiting area. We'll call for you once we're done."

"Okay."

Terry chose a seat next to a wall where he was omfortable to sit in. He distracted himself with the movie that was playing on the tv in the waiting area.

After a while of waiting...

"Terry?"

Terry initially thought that he finally got called by the office about his application for a scholarship but the voice came from a different direction than the office. He looked around and widened his eyes when he found who called his name.

"I knew it was you!" The girl said.

Terry immediately got up from the chair he was sitting on. "Dana?"

Dana Tan, his childhood friend growing up, ran towards him and greeted him with a hug. "How have you been? It's great to see you!"

Terry has never fogotten her long black hair and pretty face. She was asian-american just like Rose but a little bit shorter in height.

"I-I'm okay. How about you?" Terry gently hugged her back.

They released from their reunion hug. "I'm doing fine. What are you doing here?"

"Oh. I'm applying for a scholarship."

"What? That's great! Are you just getting into GCU now?"

"No. This will be my second year."

"What? But, I haven't seen you here before."

"Well, you see, I enrolled for the online program."

"Oh, I see." Dana nodded. "Wait. What classes did you take last year?"

"Um. I'm majoring in Mechanical Engineering so I took Physics, Calculus, Chemistry, General Biology... I'm also a minor in law and business so I took Philosophy, Accounting..."

"I knew it!" Dana Tan cut him off.

"Huh?"

"Did you place a perfect score in the finals for the Philosophy class?"

"H-how did you know?"

"You were the only one that did! I thought I placed first in philosophy in our year but it turns out I was second. I tried to find out who was first but the only thing they were allowed to tell me was that it was a student from the online program!"

"Oh. Sorry?"

"No, It's okay. I was bummed before but now that I know it was you I'm okay with it. You were always good in school even without trying after all." She said with a satisfied smile.

"Terry McGinnis." A woman went out of the door of the admission's office. "Your scholarship has been approved."

"Oh!" Terry walked towards the woman.

"Just take this..." The woman explained to him the contents of what she was giving to him. "...that...should be it! Congratulations!" She said as she offered her hand.

"Thanks!" Terry shook her hand. He turned around and him and Dana celebrated.

They laughed as they walked around the campus. Dana Tan was giving him a tour because it was his first time physically being in the college.

"By the way. Why did you sign up for an online course?"

"It's just convenient. I work in the house I'm living in as a personal attendant. Going here everyday will take up time and energy."

"That's rational. Where are you working?"

"At the Wayne Estate."

"Wayne Estate? You work for Alfred Pennyworth? The butler who became a billionaire overnight?"

"Yeah. You could say I'm his butler now. Haha."

"Is it hard to work there? People say he's a snob." Dana said with a worried expression.

"Of course it's hard. It's a job. But Alfred doesn't make it any harder. He's actually very nice. He just tries to stay away from the media, that's all."

"That's great to hear."

"Yeah."

There was a moment of silence between them. They were running out of things to talk about. Although, there is one topic that they haven't talked about yet.

"...It's trippy hanging out with you again."

"What do you mean?" Terry asked.

"It's just nostalgic, you know. Hanging out with you and my brother after school. Both of you always getting into trouble."

"You, scolding us." Terry teased her but Dana just made a rueful smile.

"...He got out, you know." Dana said.

"Doug did? That's right! He was supposed to come out this year. How is he?" Terry asked about his old friend. Doug Tan was sentenced to do rehab for three years in Arkham Asylum.

"He got out, but he didn't come home. We've been searching everywhere for him."

"...Do you have any clues to where he might be?"

"No. We already asked the police for help. Nobody could find his whereabouts."

"I'll ask again. My mom got her old job back in the GCPD. Plus, we're friends with the commisioner. Maybe we can pull some strings and search Gotham thoroughly."

Dana looked at Terry with watery eyes and hugged him. "Thank you." *sniffs*

"It's fine." Terry hugged her tightly. "He's my friend too."

Terry comforted her as she cried on his chest for a while. They both gazed at each other's eyes. A force was drawing their faces towards each other but they resisted it as they both let go.

"Ehem." Terry cleared his throat. "Hey, Um...can we meet again sometime-"

"Dana!" A man ran towards Dana. "I've been looking all over for you. You weren't answering our texts. We called you too, but you didn't answer."

Dana widened her eyes. She looked at her bare wrist. "Oh. I must have left my smartwatch at the dorm."

"Who's this?" The man looked at Terry.

"Oh. Um. This is Terry. He's a friend when I was growing up. I met him today. Turns out, he's an online student in our year." Dana looked at Terry. "Terry, this is Nelson. My...um...my boyfriend." Dana was confused why she hesitated introducing Nelson as her boyfriend.

"Hi. Nice to meet you." Nelson gave Terry a smile as he held out his hand.

"...Likewise." Terry shook his hand. He noticed that the man in front of him was squeezing his hand with force. Terry smiled faintly as he squeezed back.

"Ah!" Nelson took his hand back.

"What wrong?" Dana touched his shoulder and asked.

"N-nothing." Nelson said as he put his hand in his back pocket.

Dana furrowed her brows in suspicion as he looked back and forth at the two men. Terry was just smiling all throughout.

"...so, where are they?" She asked Nelson.

"They're parked outside waiting for us. Come on, let's go." Nelson said as he grabbed her arm.

"Wait." Dana didn't budge and faced Terry. "Do you want to come with us?" She asked.

"No. I still have things to do too." Terry said.

"You heard him." Nelson tried to pull Dana away.

Dana pulled her arm back. "I said wait." Irritated, she said. "I want you to at least meet them. Maybe they can help you out instead of me."

Terry couldn't refuse her anymore and decided to agree with her proposal. Plus, his mother said to meet new people.

"Sure, why not." Terry said.

They walked outside and reached the car parked by the street.

"Everyone, this is my friend Terry. He's a student here too, but he takes his classes online."

"What's up." (Mason Forrest)

""What's up."" (Dirk and Jody)

"Hey~" (Bobbi "Blade" Summer)

"Hi." (Chelsea Cunningham)

Each of them introduced themselves.

"The boys are all varsity football players. They're pretty good." Dana said to Terry.

"They seem nice." Terry said.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?"

"I'm pretty sure."

Dana hugged him again. "It was really nice to see you again, McGinnis."

"You too."

Dana got on the car and they waved goodbye as they drove away.

"I thought you'd want to join in to be with your friend." A girl putting her things in her trunk said after Dana's group left.

"Huh?" Terry looked at the person that was suddenly talking to him.

"The GCU football team and their girls. They run the whole University." She continued as she closed the trunk of her car. "I'm sorry. Hi, I'm Maxine Gibson. IT major." She apologized for not introducing herself first before talking to him. She held out her hand and Terry reluctantly shook it. "Terry, right?"

Maxine was African-American and her short hair was dyed purple.

"How do you know me?"

"I overheard your little reunion with Miss popular before Mr. GCU came and ruined your moment."

"You were watching us?"

"No. Not 'watching'. I said 'overheard'. I was sitting at the bench behind the bushes."

"You don't seem to like them."

"I don't. I thought it would be different after high school, but that's just how society is, I guess. They only changed the names of the cliques into fraternities and sororities."

"Dana's not like that."

"Maybe. I don't know her personally, after all. She's probably the only one there with brains to back up her looks. The other girl's father is rich and gives donations to the university. The other girl is a skank. The football players speak for themselves."

"What about you? Don't you want to be miss GCU?" Terry teased her.

"Please." She said as she opened her car door. "Add me on social media if you need anything. You won't gain anything from them."

"Thanks, but why do you want to help me?"

"I saw what you did to Nelson. I figured we can be friends." She said before she drove off.

Terry smiled and immediately searched for Maxine Gibson in his social media.

The sky was still bright in the afternoon as Terry walked to his bike. "I'm hungry." He muttered and decided to go to his favorite spot.

It was the place where he infiltrated a secret meeting of the mutants as Batman. He often goes there even when he was still part of the gang. That's also partly the reason why he checked that place first when he was searching for the location of the meeting.

Luckily for him, the owner doesn't tell his old gang that he still goes there sometimes because he was a patron and likes the food so much.

It was mutants territory but he didn't worry about seeing them there because they only ever use it for emergency meetings like last time. Plus, they always set the meetings at night.

But he was wrong. After he was done eating, he got out and he saw his old division of the mutants.

"Don..." He uttered as he narrowed his eyes at the men in front of him.