Chapter 20: New Faces

            Dinah swung her head away from the approaching punch and stepped forward to mark the location she thought would be natural to hit. "Stop," her trainer said, both her and her sparring partner stopped.

"This is a good beginning, Dinah, but you've just opened yourself for attack on the front by presenting your chest to your opponent. If Carl had chosen to feint and kick instead of punch, he would've put you on the ground. You're tall, but you don't have the muscle mass for relying only on punches. A kick to the side of the knee would have worked better. If you felt natural punching in this situation, then of course you should, but use your other arm," the instructor nodded and they continued their mock combat, practicing the moves needed to bring down your opponent and walk away safely.

Dinah felt her arms and legs ache as they went over to full speed practice again. She had shifted over to Krav Maga only two months ago and while she had learned a lot, she now knew that it would be a whole lot harder, and take a whole lot longer to become battle trained than she had thought. Helena unfortunately had made it seem so damn easy. She needed to readjust her opinions on Helena's abilities; they were really a whole lot subtler than she had thought.

Neither Helena nor her mom knew about her new martial art course. They still thought she went to self-defense classes twice a week and to cello practice on the rest of the weekdays. Only she hadn't seen the inside of the music school more once per week since just after Joy's death sometimes even less and she kept up her practice in the cello by playing a lot more at home in between doing her school work. Of course it was very useful having half the day all to yourself with no one around to see what you actually did. And as long as she avoided getting caught on camera by Delphi or a visiting Alfred doing something other than her home work, house work or a bit of music everything was fine.

"Okay we're done," the instructor called out. "Everybody stretch out then hit the showers," the black haired ex-soldier instructor suggested and walked around giving pointers on how to avoid muscle spasms and how to stretch out properly.

Dinah was amazed, how all the working out had given her a hint of muscled arms and a dexterity that allowed her to easily reach down and touch her toes. "Hey, Lance, could I have a word?" Her instructor crouched down next to her with a smile.

"Sure, what's up?" She asked, hoping that he didn't need another signature from her mom. It had been hard enough to fake the last one. She rose and shook her legs to loosen her cooling muscles.

"I've been watching your progress. You've pretty much completed the basic defense and offense courses in no time and I was thinking about broadening the scope of your training and move you over to some more intermediate courses. Now they're very hard and usually we would wait until you're older, but you're rather tall for your age and you're frankly not going to get much further in the classes you're in now," he explained.

Dinah felt rather smug and validated in her choice to pursue martial arts as a part of her long term plan to become a heroine without her mother's help. "Sure, if we can get it to fit in to my schedule, I can only train in the afternoons and early evenings on weekdays," she said.

"That won't be a problem, the intermediary and wider courses run parallel to this one some a little earlier, some a little later," he replied.

"Well, give me the times and I'll work something out with my parents," she said. She felt bad lying to so many people, but the ends justified the means in her eyes. One day both her mom and Helena would understand and maybe even accept her choices even if it would probably be way after she had actually become a heroine.

Dinah ran across the street her hair still wet from the shower, she had taken after stretching out. She slipped in through the backdoor of the music school and picked up her cello resting in its case. Carefully she opened it and began emptying her training clothes into the nooks and crannies around and behind the cello, finishing up by putting the cloth bag for her clothes on top of the mess. The smell of her sweaty clothes reminded her that she would need to do her laundry tomorrow before her mom came home or she would notice again that she was using way too many clothes for just plain cello practice. She had been forced to learn to do her own washing another one of the many small details in her plan that she had initially underestimated.

The walk home was interesting. It was just past New Year's Day and there was confetti mixed up in the remainders of the smog blackened snow. The streets lights were on even if it was still only close to six o'clock and everyone was walking faster to get from where they were to where they were going. She wished she didn't have a curfew, she wanted to take a swing by the No Man's Land, but as always these days she couldn't find the time for regular visits anymore.

Dinah entered the secret elevator just seconds before she was supposed to be home and breathed a sigh of relief as she glanced at her clock. The doors quickly opened and she wandered into the Clocktower to find music playing merrily over Delphi's speakers and her mom no where in sight. "Mom," she called out.

"Dinah, we're up here," her mom answered and Dinah looked up to find her mom and Helena waiting for her with dinner. That was unusual, so she knew something was up. She had no sense of impending doom nor had she had any ominous dreams lately, so there was a good chance it was something good. She put down her cello case and walked up the stairs after putting away her coat.

The table was carefully set and the food prepared in a manner that told her that either Alfred had just left or he was just being unobtrusive as usual. "So is there an occasion or are we just having a special dinner for fun?" She looked from her mother to her friend.

"It's kind of a celebration. Let's eat," her mom said mysteriously and gestured for Dinah to sit. She felt a bit suspicious, usually if there was some occasion to celebrate you got told why or had some inkling about what was going on. This could mean that there was either some kind of surprising good news or something bad that her mom wanted to convince her was good news. Still Alfred's food was too good an opportunity for her as she felt ravenous.

As she reached for seconds, Helena commented, "Wow, you're eating for two. Are you sure you're not practicing to become fat?" She hesitated for a moment, which proved just long enough for Helena to spear the last slice of roast beef, before her fork could claim it.

"You cheat," she said and impishly decided to get back at Helena. The slice of beef didn't touch Helena's plate as it flew off her fork and landed on hers instead.

Helena looked at her and reached forward to take the meat back, but her mom interceded before it escalated into a food fight. "You two stop that this instant. Dinah, give Helena half the slice. You two are impossible… like two little kids," her mom gave her the look of motherly command and Dinah did as she was told.

Out of nowhere Alfred appeared to clear up the dishes and bring them little bowl of some reddish ice that she recognized as strawberry sorbet her favorite. "Thank you, Alfred," she said and smiled gratefully to the old man. He gave her a wink, before heading off with the dirty dishes balancing more than she would have dared on a single arm.

"Actually Dinah, this is in your honor," her mom said and she quickly turned back her head to give her mom the questioning look that she felt was needed.

"What have I done?" She asked.

"I spoke to your therapist and she assures me that you're ready to go back to school. We were so happy that Helena suggested we had a special in honor of the event. As Helena would've come over anyway to raid our fridge I thought we might as well celebrate," her mom explained, while Helena gave them a wry smirk.

Dinah tried to hide her disappointment. Much of her current time schedule hinged on her having the mornings free to do her laundry, practice her cello and work on her lessons at the same time. This would really disrupt her schedule; she might even be forced to reduce her commitment to her martial arts courses. "You're so quiet. Don't you want to go back to school?" Her mom asked with the tone of worry just covering the implied reprimand.

"No, no, I do. I… I just don't think I ever want to set foot inside that school ever again fear or no fear, it would just feel wrong," she really meant that even if it was her last trump card to remain home schooled a little longer. She was a bit annoyed with herself for letting her therapist think that she was getting better. She had spent the last couple of months stalling some thing exactly this event and she had been so sure that she had managed it.

Barbara smiled triumphantly, "That won't be a problem. You won't be going back there. You'll start at New Gotham High next week."

Dinah wanted to protest, she wondered if it would work, if she protested over her mom's presence as a teacher in the same school, but knew her mom, who had initially decided not to send her to New Gotham High for the very same reason, probably already had an answer to that question in mind. "That sounds cool. I can't wait to get back to high school," she lied.

Helena smiled. "Once more with a little less feeling, please, High School is the closest thing to institutionalized torture we have in this country. You don't have to try to sound like you want to go back there," she said.

"Not true, they still show Barney on TV don't they? That is worse," She quickly replied trying to cover for her little slip. Both Barbara and Helena laughed a little, while she quickly focused on eating her ice.

The inner city high school had an entirely different quality or maybe it was lack of quality compared to her last school. New Gotham had a big sign declaring its name over the front of the building, but that was about all that was special about the outside of the school. Graffiti was scrawled along the entire lower part of the school, which actually made it look like a lot of the neighborhood. Dinah wandered up towards the entrance with her mom at her side even if she tried to keep a bit of a distance. It was inevitable that someone would realize that Dinah Lance Gordon was somehow related to Barbara Gordon. And she had no idea, if that was a good or bad thing at this school. She knew exactly no one in this place.

"Good morning Miss Gordon," a couple of the students happily greeted her mom, while she headed for the stairs. Dinah gazed over at her mom. There was no way her mom could make it up those stairs, which told her that her mom wanted to exchange a few words before she could go in to see how horrible her first class would be.

Right enough her mom stopped and turned her chair slightly. "Are you nervous?" She asked.

"A bit, it's silly, I know it is just school, but I can't help it," she admitted.

"It'll be fine. You'll fit in within a few weeks. Maybe you'll make a couple of new friends. Listen Dinah I need to go, but I'll be in my classroom most of the day. If there is a problem, just swing by and we'll work it out," her mom said and adjusted her clothes a little. Dinah felt a little embarrassed, but couldn't bring herself to comment it.

"I'll get off at three today. Are you going to drive home with me?" Her mom asked.

"I have a self-defense class at three o'clock, so I'll just make my way over there. I'll be home at six as usual," she explained.

"Alright, we'll talk," her mom said and waved as she headed around the building. She turned looking up at the flight of stairs leading up to the main entrance and the letters above the building. She steeled herself and began walking.

Finding her classroom had been easy, but as more and more student filtered in from the halls her nervousness increased. The dreaded introduction was approaching and she had no idea, what to say. What would she be asked? What should she tell these strangers? Should she mention the hostage taking or would that be too melodramatic? Should she talk about her hobbies or would that be too self-centered? And what should she say about her home and family?

"Yeah I need to run, we'll talk later right," she called out to Casey and ran faster so that she would overtake Mrs. Kane. She didn't really want to, but attendance was mandatory, no matter how boring the class. Her curly blonde hair whipped around her as she slid in through the door right in front of her history teacher. Quickly she found her seat and managed to slam into her seat, almost at the same time as everyone else.

Lisa, one of the girls in class that she knew, leaned over and whispered, "Hey, Gabby did you know we would get a new kid today?"

Gabby shook her head and tried to take a nonchalant look around class. At the back of the class a girl with long blonde hair, blue eyes and an excellent taste in clothes sat looking out of the class with the distinct spooked look of a new freshman. "I didn't, but I think she looks harmless," she whispered back.

Then Mrs. Kane began her class. All the student were hoping for a some kind of delay and thus everyone was pleased when the first things she did after calling for their attention was to say, "As you may have noticed, we have a new student in class today. Dinah Lance Gordon. Dinah, we are excited to have you here. Now how about you tell us a bit about yourself?"

Gabby saw that the girl… Dinah was nervous about speaking up or possibly a shy. Still she rose out of her seat to give them a better look. She was really tall for her age and very athletic. Gabby had a strange feeling as if her heart was beating a bit faster.

The girl tucked hair behind her ear and smiled shyly at her audience. "Well, my name is Dinah and I… well… I used to go… I've been home schooled for a while, but my parent and I decided that I should go to high school here. I um… I play the cello," she sat back down almost looking shaken. Gabby had gone to school with most people here for most of her life and she had never been forced to present herself like that, so she didn't know quite how it would be, but judging from this girl it was quite hard.

She, this Dinah, sounded like she hadn't been out and around much, even if the rows of earrings in her visible ear and her style told a different story. "I see, well, where do you come from?" Mrs. Kane asked almost as if she wasn't too eager to start their lessons either.

"Oh, I am from here in town," Dinah answered.

"And you've never been to school before," Mrs. Kane asked.

It looked almost as if the girl felt uncomfortable. "Well, that is not true. I actually went to high school a month last year and before that I went to regular school as well," Dinah explained. Gabby wondered, why that had been a reason for squirming like Dinah had done, unless there was something in her last high school experience that hadn't gone well.

"Alright, I have been told from a good source that you should be intimately familiar with the post civil war era, so maybe you can tell me…" Gabby almost fell asleep as the by far too brief interlude ended and regular schooling began.

She didn't share classes with the new girl again that morning, and she did wonder why, but come lunch she caught up with Lisa, who was always a solid source of gossip. "Hi," she said and gestured for Lisa to take a seat next to her in the cafeteria.

"Hi, so how was algebra?" She asked.

"Fine, how was your class?" Gabby didn't mind that she wasn't in any honors classes like Lisa.

"Oh, fine, the new girl is in my class. Mr. Glass really grilled her, but she was completely cool. He gave her several equations; some we hadn't even learned how to solve yet. She solved them like they were simple problems," Lisa explained.

"So do you know anything about her," Gabby asked and took a large bite out of her sandwich.

Lisa grinned and nodded. "I talked to a couple of juniors and they say they've heard that her mom is actually Miss Gordon, you know the English teacher in the wheelchair," she reported.

"Really, but Miss Gordon isn't that old. And they look nothing alike," she thought about the red haired teacher in her electric wheelchair and the tall blonde she had seen in History.

"You're telling me. Anyway she seems nice, a bit withdrawn, but nice," Lisa explained and nodded with her head indicating the new girl sitting all by herself off in a corner seemingly rather focused on her lunch. "Oh, did you hear about…" And Lisa then informed her on the rather involved love triangles going on between a cheerleader and two boys. The new girl was forgotten for a while at least.

School was finally over, or it was if you skipped gym and that was exactly was she was doing. Gabby casually headed out the door and walked down the steps heading home. She was wondering about what excuse she would use if her mom hadn't gone to work yet. She didn't notice two kids standing huddled together on the street corner. She didn't notice that they both had a cranium primitively painted on their shirts and baggy pants. And she didn't think twice about bumping into the smaller kid stepping backwards as she passed. She did however think a lot, when the kid called, "Hey Bitch, what do you think you're doing."

Gabby turned in anger and saw to her dismay that she had bumped into some small gang banger her age. "You think you can come here and push people around just, because you have money, huh. Well you'll give me all that money… right now," the kid said and whipped out a butterfly knife that he started whirling about.

Suddenly someone delivered a very solid kick to the back of his hand sending the knife flying past her along the ground. She could easily recognize the tall new girl from earlier standing behind the ganger with look on her face of both apprehension and determination. "You shouldn't play with knives," she suggested standing in a kind of relaxed position with her hands in fists.

"Hey, are you gonna let this slut talk to me like that," he hollered at his friend and whirled around ready to attack her would-be rescuer. However the girl rewarded him for his insult immediately. She hammered a solid punch in his chest and quickly added a knee in his guts as he bent forward out of breath. He went down with a pained gasp.

The girl… Dinah backed away looking at the other kid. He seemed to be trying to judge her intentions. "Listen, I don't want to hurt anyone. Why don't we just go each our way? And you should take this guy to some free clinic to get looked at," Dinah suggested. The two kids looked at each other. They didn't seem too eager to continue the fight even with the advantage of numbers. They nodded in agreement. Dinah walked around the downed kid all the while keeping an eye on the other one, until she reached her.

"Let's go," Dinah suggested and they walked away together.

"Thank you," Gabby said after a while.

"You're welcome. I didn't know there were gangers so close to the school," Dinah commented while occasionally casting a nervous glance over her shoulder.

"There usually isn't," Gabby explained. She felt that it would probably be cool to know this girl even more so than she had sensed when she first looked at her. "I'm Gabby by the way," she said and put her hand out.

"Dinah," she said and shook her hand. She immediately noticed that Dinah's knuckles had been scrapped and one was bleeding.

"Thanks for saving my ass back there… Really I mean it, I am in your debt," she said. "And how about I repay you by getting you home to my place so you can get that cleaned up and bandaged," she said and indicated the bleeding knuckle.

"Hey, heroines don't moan about the little cuts and bruises… But I would really like that even if I can't stay long, I have self-defense classes today," Dinah replied with a wide smile and started hobbling.

"Is something wrong?" She had to ask at the sudden change in Dinah's pace.

"Yeah, let's just say that hitting and kicking people looks a lot less painful on TV than in real life. I think I've bumped my knee," Dinah answered. Gabby grinned. She didn't know why, but she knew then that she would like to spend a lot of time with Dinah in the future.