As History Repeats

by Erin Griffin

Chapter 5

"I'm in trouble, Barbara," Gabby said as she sat heavily in the desk in the front of the classroom. The redhead looked up at her, wondering what she meant.

"What happened?" she asked in a concerned tone.

"My mom. She found out that I haven't been babysitting the Morgans for almost two months now, so now she thinks I am a budding deliquent or something with my staying out until ten every night. She wants me home right after school today, which means I won't be able to..."

"Damn!" Barbara hissed.

"I'm sorry. You're gonna have to have Alfred there tonight and possibly tomorrow night until I can figure something out," Gabby said, guilt heavy in her voice.

"It's not your fault," the English teacher said, though there was the smallest hint in her look and tone that suggested otherwise, as if the teen may have done something to tip her mother off.

"Don't look at me like that!" Gabby said automatically, "You saw me last night. I left earlier than usual. I don't know what made her start to question me and start to think that something was wrong. Oh god, I hope she hasn't become a snooper."

"Yeah," Barbara replied slowly after a moment of thought. "I just... I needed you there today. It was part of my plan for figuring out whether this newcomer is the daughter of Carolyn Lance."

"You're going to have to have Alfred do it, wait a few nights, or come up with another plan, then," Gabby said almost flippantly. She dug into the small brown sack she had brought for her lunch, and spread it along the small desk around her.

"Weren't you gonna go meet with your friend?" Barbara asked.

"You wanted me here," Gabby said.

"Yeah, I know, but you can't be here tonight, so the plan's a bust."

"I'm here now," Gabby said with a sigh, "and I'm pretty comfy, so you're stuck with my ugly mug for a few more minutes."

"You don't have an ugly mug. Why would you say that about yourself?" Barbara asked. She had turned from her work on the whiteboard, where she was writing out the assignment for the next class in order to stare at the teen seriously.

"It was a joke, Barbara, calm down," Gabby replied. Without really looking, she threw a Nuitrigrain bar in Barbara's direction, knowing that her teacher would catch it. She was right. Barbara practically snatched it out of the air, and after unwrapping it, the redhead took a large bite from it, half of the bar. This wasn't the first time that Gabby aknowledged the fact that they seemed to bond the best when they were eating something together, which was why they always had desert after sweeps as a way to catch up. Plus, there was just something a little less awkward about being in the same room as your superhero Lit. teacher when there was something to do with your hands. "What were you going to do," Gabby asked after a moment, "had I been there tonight?"

"Oh... Taunt you like usual."

"That's the only reason why you wanted me there tonight?" Gabby asked skeptically.

"No," Barbara said, further unwrapping the Nutrigrain bar so she could take another bite from it. "I need you there to make me not feel so guilty about eating all the sweets Alfred makes as well." There was a glare from Gabby, and a laugh from the redhead.

"You could share with your fellow eduactors. Tell them that you're thinking of starting an online baking buisness and you want input on recipies you've made up or added to," Gabby suggested somewhat sarcastically.

"Online baking," Barbara said thoughtfully, "Now there's an excuse I have yet to use."

"Seriosuly," Gabby said, cutting off anything else Barbara may or may not have had to say after that.

"Seriously, I was going to have you come over after school so that I could dissect a part of the Delphi and show you how to put it back together in case something were to happen and you had to fix her manually."

"See, now I almost hate my mother. Almost," Gabby reinforced. "I really did want to be there tonight. I am just as curious about this new owner of the Canary Cry as you probably are." Barbara gave her a sympathetic smile at this. She took the final bite and the bar was gone completely. She balled up the wrapper and tried to throw it in an arched toss with a small jump like a basketball player, but the wrapper was made of a crinkly material that unballed itself on the way over and floated to the ground too far away. "She shoots and she misses! How does it feel to be the least scoring player in the WNBA?"

"I'm going to Disneyland!" Barbara said excitedly as she threw her hands in the air.

"That is so not what I asked." The two laughed at this.

There was a short silence before Barbara suddenly straightened up and said, "So anyway Gabby, yeah, you need to finish this paper. I know you can do better."

"Sorry, Ms. Gordon. Some of the things that were said makes my head spin. I don't get what Shakespear is saying half of the time," Gabby added, and then she looked over in the same spot Barbara had to see that Mr. Brixton was there with a smile for the two of them.

"I hope I am not interrupting anything important."

"No, I think we're pretty much done here," Barbara said, giving Gabby a meaningful look that pretty much said 'Go eat with your friend'. Gabby took a bite from her sandwhich as a responce, earning her a look that seemed to tell her that she was a brat.

"Sorry, but Barbara? There was that reschedualed meeting this afternoon in about five minutes. I think the memo was a little confusing to the staff, so I have been given the duty of rounding you all up if I can."

"Oh, yes, I forgot." This didn't seem to be an act, and Barbara seemed to have actually forgotten. "Yes, that email was confusing. I wasn't sure who was required to be there or not." Mr. Brixton nodded.

Gabby slowly packed up her lunch and walked towards the door. "Gabby," the councelor called, and Gabby turned around to face him.

"Yeah, Mr. B?"

"Come by my office tomorrow morning before class. I printed out a couple of colleges that might interest you. You could even get that pet turtled if you still want it by then," he said.

"Sure. Um... 7:30 okay?" Gabby asked. She let her eyes flicker over to Barbara, and she had a look that the blonde couldn't read. It made her shift from one foot to the other.

"That will be fine. See you then," Mr. Brixton said. He then motioned for Barbara to follow him.

"I've got to lock up," Barbara told him. She turned to the door and locked it, saying "College with a turtte?" Her eyebrows rose playfully.

"Long story. I'll tell you when I'm not grounded," Gabby said. The two waved.

"Get that done, Gabby. I don't want you flunking out of my class," Barbara called behind her.

"Thanks!" Gabby called back. She made her way to the lunchroom and wondered if she should have looked for Dinah. She hadn't expected that Dinah would have saved her a seat, but after a quick scan of the lunchroom, she saw her there along the wall in the far back of the lunchroom. As Gabby slowly approached her, she saw that Dinah was at one of the smaller tables, small enough to not take much space, but big enough to have four chairs to it, two of which were taken by the rowdy four chaired table next to her. Dinah had her backback in the seat of the chair next to her, and her arm was drapped over the back possessively. The other blonde had earphones over her ears and was bobbing her head to the music with her eyes closed. When Gabby stood next to her, she was surprised that she could hear the music in the loud lunchroom. The teen Oracle stood for a second and stared at her. Without missing a beat or even opening her eyes, Dinah moved her backpack and kicked the chair closer to Gabby. As she sat down, Gabby heard the rock music get louder for a second before it stopped all together. Dinah had the headphones rested in the crooks of her neck. Gabby looked down before Dinah spoke up.

"I wasn't sure you'd make it. I didn't know if you'd even bother coming into the lunchroom today." She said this as if she was speaking about the weather, but when Gabby looked into her eyes, she saw the slight curiousity there.

"Same here," was all Gabby said as she spread out her lunch again. She unwrapped her sandwhich and saw that Dinah didn't have anything in front of her.

"You gonna eat anything?"

"Yeah, when the line goes down," Dinah said. It was said too casually for Gabby to believe it. Dinah shrugged, unapologetic for the lie between them, and Gabby gave Dinah her chips.

"So I don't feel bad about eating when someone else isn't. It makes me nervous and I am too hungry," Gabby said. Dinah laughed at this, but she didn't touch the chips. When Gabby didn't move and simply stared at Dinah, the other blonde sighed and picked up the chips and opened them.

"Thanks."

"Sure," Gabby said, waving it off. Suddenly, Dinah looked up at a spot just behind Gabby. When a slight shadow came over her, Gabby looked up to see Jeff standing behind her.

"Erm- Hey Gabby," he said uneasily as he looked over to Dinah quickly. "Um... Meeting's cancelled this week because the president and vice president are having issues right now, so..."

Gabby looked behind him long enough to see Gina walking out of the lunchroom angry and Kelly following not far behind her with her backpack. "Ohhhh," Gabby said as it dawned on her. If Gina and Kelly were off again, the next meeting was going to be SO awkward.

"Yeah, so if you see Ms. Gordon before I do, could you let her know?" Jeff asked. Gabby nodded at this. When Jeff was gone, she turned to Dinah to see that she was watching her.

"You don't strike me as a type to be in any clubs," Dinah said.

"SGA. I go to meetings, but that is about it," Gabby told her. Dinah seemed taken aback by this.

"I could have made your life hell for you telling me that."

"And I would be proven right about the people in this school. It would be no skin off my teeth," Gabby replied quickly. She turned the chip bag towards her, stole a couple and then turned it back to Dinah as she crunched down on the ones she took innocently. Dinah looked at her for a second longer before a chuckle escaped her, but it seemed humorless.

"Yeah, you're definately nothing like any 'o them." There was a quick chin jerk in the general direction of the rest of the cafeteria. The way Dinah had said it made Gabby wonder if she was reassuring herself on that fact.

"Good," Gabby replied, taking another bite from her sandwhich.