Chapter 65 - Delinquent Diaries (9)

Ahoy Sea Dogs!

Some of you might know it already but my favourite villain of all time is the Joker. Yes, I do like the Joker from Batman because he is extremely charismatic although he is a mass-murderer and a lunatic. The delinquent I am about to introduce to you today is also called the Joker but for a very very different reason.

The Joker we have is a boy with a big dream to become a successful stand-up comedian. Although some of his jokes are lame and ill-timed, I give kudos to him. It takes a lot of courage to try over and over again after countless failures. Also, I'm rather proud that Joker did his research well. Some of them might have been bad puns and cheesy pick-up lines but others were quite intellectual and I do enjoy some of that. His morbid and dark humour were things that I found funny but the boys in class would disagree. They preferred dad jokes for some reason.

Joker here isn't as handsome or as charismatic as the madman from Arkham. In fact, he's the complete opposite. The Joker we know is a short boy for his age and is actually only ten centimetres taller than me. He doesn't wear glasses but he wears some really nasty looking braces. It's obvious when he smiles because Joker's favourite colour is green and having green braces can attract a lot of attention.

Joker has a head full of messy curly hair and takes comedy up a notch. he's the class clown and often jokes, sometimes inappropriately, to lessen the tension in a serious situation. Sometimes the boys like what he does and other times they don't. I can't help but feel sorry for Joker here when the boys take it out on him sometimes if he interferes. I can see that crestfallen expression for a second when that happens but Joker always bounces back quickly. I'm positive that laughing at everything that happens as if life was really funny is Joker's way of coping with situations and things he doesn't understand.

Casper once asked him why he was always getting simultaneous equations wrong and Joker spun a funny tale about them not being equal because the numbers were being racist. Casper wasn't impressed but the boys thought it was funny. I had to pull Joker to a side during one of the toilet breaks to try the 'soft approach'. You won't believe how guarded this boy was against me.

I don't know what the kid had going through his mind while I was trying to communicate with him but he was extremely guarded but he looking extremely vulnerable when he wasn't laughing. He tried to pull off a few jokes but after not receiving any response from me except for the patient silent stare, his confidence wavered and eventually, he went silent on me for a long while.

It took several times of backing off to finally get Joker to open up to me. When he finally did, I couldn't help but pull him into a hug.

No matter how strong or brave a front Joker put up in front of the class, he was secretly afraid of getting left behind. Joker didn't originally belong in the delinquent class. He wasn't Mr Delusional who joined the class voluntarily. In fact, he was more like a stray kitten who got picked up by Simba one day. The footballer found Joker running away from the other bullies and hiding out in the boys' changing room locker. Simba didn't lock his locker so both boys were startled when it was opened.

Before Joker was Joker, he was known to be the target for bullying. He was never the class clown but he realised soon enough that he wanted to become somebody like Kesha FB who was ok with being imperfect. From that day onwards, comedy was his weapon and his shield.

Joker wasn't very good at jokes. However, he realised that people liked him more when he was funny. The first time it happened, he didn't even understand what he'd done. The boys in the class started laughing and praising him. That was when Joker decided that he'd do his best to get more laughs to feel part of the group. He researched hard and rehearsed by himself at home telling jokes in front of the mirror. English wasn't Joker's first language but to appeal to a wider audience, he did his best.

Joker was skittish and clumsy by nature. He was often so fearful about being left behind or kicked out of the delinquent class because he wasn't good enough for them. He didn't really do very well in his studies not because he was bad at studying but because he didn't want to stand out by having too good a score. I've taken a look at his previous study records and I can say that Joker may be as bright as Jerry if not more. He just wasn't a very outgoing person and wanted to fit in somewhere.

I didn't know what to do with the boy spilling his heart out to me. I was no school counsellor, I was a mere student playing teacher for a day to gather information for my observation journal. However, when someone was emotionally hurting, I think hugs helped. Just like how I was comforted in the past, I decided to become that person to give Joker the support he needed.

I didn't know what sort of advice I should be giving but I didn't think that his current classmates would abandon him. If anything, the bond between misfits should be stronger when compared to the ones of flimsy friendship made during the happy school days. Friends who fight together are friends for life. These boys have battled against the scorn from the school and I highly doubt it would be an easy thing to abandon one of their kind. Junior wasn't that kind of leader either. He walks as fast as the slowest man and cares for the group as a whole even though he isn't the best leader.

Personally, I think that being who Joker truly was would be good enough. If they could accept someone like Mr Delusional in their ranks, having a nerd would only make things more interesting. People should feel free to be who they are if they aren't doing anything that would harm themselves, others or the environment.

This is how I feel about it but if anyone disagrees, feel free to let me know in the comments so that I can agree to disagree with you.

Until next time, fair winds!

Pirate S.