Who's a sneaky spy then?, 7-03-09

The school gymnasium had been taken over by the girl’s gym team. Most of them had split into small social groups so that they could chatter and gossip as they went through their work out routines. Some, however, or at the very least one, was sitting on the bleachers alone. The unfortunate thing about injuries sustained in an illicit life of crime fighting was that you couldn’t tell your uncle and get a note to ask that you be excused from gym practice. Still, having a good reputation for being a hard worker could go a long way towards getting you out of things.

Barbara Gordon had yet to make any firm friends on the gymnastics team and she knew that her opportunities to make them were dwindling. Somehow, the longer that she continued her dual lifestyle, the more detached she felt herself becoming from her peers. The fact that she’d never exactly been popular to begin with certainly didn’t help matters.

There was one girl who Barbara was quite definitely interested in talking to more, though. Stephanie Brown had told her that she had no more interest in donning her costume, but Barbara had her doubts. She’d told Batman that she was never going to wear her costume again, too. She’d meant it at the time, even, but somehow, events had transpired and before she knew it, she’d been wearing it again. Stephanie was a very different person, but somehow, Barbara just didn’t feel like she’d seen the last of her costumed identity. Or non-identity; the least she could have done is think of a name for her costumed persona.

Climbing from her seat, Barbara made her way down the bleachers and crossed the room to Stephanie. “So how’s it going?” she asked. This felt weird; hardly surprising, considering how little they spoke to one another. Well, how little they spoke to one another when Stephanie wasn’t trying to pump her for information. “Been up to anything exciting?”

Stephanie started at the end of the balance beam, hanging in the air underneath her, just a few feet away. The grip of her feet on the beam was steady, and her arms firmly outstretched. With a deep breath, she took a second to visualise herself doing the cartwheel - holding her arms out, throwing her body forward and legs up, toes pointed out, landing back on the beam again. Without allowing any time for doubts, she performed it, did a high jump to turn, and somersaulted onto the mat, where she landed in an uneven crouch and shot upright as soon as her body had absorbed the impact.

The somersault had been off. She'd known that even before completing it - she'd started it too soon, and one leg hadn't been completely pulled in. Mouth setting in annoyance, she moved back into the line, pulling absently at her leotard. When Barbara approached, Stephanie was sure she was heading for someone else. They hadn't spoken since Stephanie had asked her about more information on the Joker murder, so she was surprised when Barbara went straight for her. Slowing her step, she frowned at her in confusion.

"So how's it going?"

Stephanie shrugged. "The somersault was off." No doubt Barbara had caught that and was here to offer help, or something. She knew Barbara was like a million times better at this than her, but really, they did have an instructor for that.

Her eyes shifted to the side, briefly; another girl had taken her place in the line. Damn.

"Been up to anything exciting?"

"Um." Stopping robberies, meeting Batgirl, having Mr. Terrific over in my room, tracking my criminal dad's friends to find out what he's up to, sneaking into Dean's room... "Not really. School's keeping me busy, you know. All those reports..."

She let her voice trail off. Was Barbara really here for the somersault? She couldn't think of anything else, except the ludicrous idea that for some reason Barbara thought they could be friends right out of the blue. Of course, it wasn't like she had many others. There was that weird aggressive girl, but that was all Stephanie could think of.

"You?" she asked, for lack of anything better.

"The somersault was off."

Barbara’s shoulders rose and fell in the very slightest hint of a shrug. “It wasn’t so bad,” she assured Stephanie. They were supposed to be a gymnastics team after all. Rubbing Steph’s face in the fact that her move hadn’t been perfect seemed like it wouldn’t really help.

"Um. Not really. School's keeping me busy, you know. All those reports..."

It was no great surprise that Stephanie hadn’t said anything about what had gone down at the store. It wasn’t the sort of thing you really spoke about with people who you just didn’t really care for. There was no enmity between them, at least none that she was aware of.

"You?"

“Oh, you know,” Barbara replied, swinging her arms and trying to buy herself some time. She really should have planned this through before she’d come out. Even having a vague idea of what she was going to do would have made much more sense. “This and that? Training. Studying. All that good stuff,” she finished, her eyes widening in an expression that made it clear that it really wasn’t good stuff at all.

Thoughtfully, she frowned. The more she thought about it, the more this all seemed like a mistake. “So hey,” she began, “you know, that somersault really wasn’t so bad. I think it mostly looked like a confidence thing. You need to commit more, know that you’re going to land it.”

"Oh, you know. This and that? Training. Studying. All that good stuff."

"Right." Stephanie nodded. She still didn't know what to expect from Barbara coming up to her like this, but it didn't seem like she had any bad intentions. She probably just felt lonely here. Her friend wasn't exactly the gymnastics type, and she was still fairly new at the school.

It still felt kinda weird, though. They ran in completely different circles. Barbara seemed like - not to put too fine a point on it - an overachiever nerd with mad gymnastics skills. Stephanie was closer to the hobby-gymnast shopping mall crowd.

"Sounds like a blast," she added, unsure what else to say. She tried a half-smile.

"So hey, you know, that somersault really wasn’t so bad. I think it mostly looked like a confidence thing. You need to commit more, know that you’re going to land it."

Oh.

The smile fell from Stephanie's face, and she gave a forced shrug. "Yeah. It's just not my day, I guess." Having stayed up almost all of the night before tracking one of her dad's friends with zero result hadn't helped; if she was honest, though, it probably had more to do with the fact that somersaulting off a balance beam was really freaking hard and sde was still getting the hang of it. "Thanks, though. The beam..." She put her hand flat in the air, wobbling it from left to right in a so-so gesture. "Not my favourite.

"But - hey - how come you're not training?" Stephanie frowned; usually, Barbara was one of the most eager students around. It wasn't like her to sit out a class without good reason, that much she knew, but she couldn't see any injuries.

"Sounds like a blast,"

Barbara smiled uncertainly. Suddenly, she was beginning to feel like an absolute heel. She’d come to see Stephanie with ulterior motives and Stephanie was trying to be nice to her; nicer than usual in fact.

“Yeah. It's just not my day, I guess."

Barbara nodded sympathetically. She knew all about bad days. She’d had a few just this week alone. She’d been shot. Her thoughts had been coming back to that time and time again. She’d tried to put it in the back of her thoughts, but it wasn’t just another thing. Guns sucked.

"But - hey - how come you're not training?"

“Oh, that,” Barbara said, as though it was nothing. It was probably about as far from the truth. “Just one of those strange, inexplicable things,” she added dismissively. “Just woke up with a bit of an ache.” Her words had only the vaguest of connections to the truth. She couldn’t explain, but more because of the complications that it would cause than any inability. She had woke up with an ache though, at least that much was true.

“So hey, if you don’t like the beam, what do you like?” she asked casually. She was about as far from finding out anything worthwhile as she could imagine, but getting on Stephanie’s good side couldn’t hurt, right? Even if it did feel horribly duplicitous.

Stupid conscience.

“Oh, that. Just one of those strange, inexplicable things. Just woke up with a bit of an ache.”

Weird. Stephanie didn't claim to know Barbara well, but she didn't seem the type to give up on training because she was feeling a bit under the weather. Heck, to have gotten as good as she was, Stephanie was sure that Barbara must've trained a lot more intensively before than she did now. Unless... "Inexplicable, or not so inexplicable and recurring every twenty-eight days or so?"

“So hey, if you don’t like the beam, what do you like?”

"The floor. The vault." Stephanie shrugged. "More twisting and jumping, less balancing. I usually manage okay, though - I've been doing this for a while - but you know how it goes." One thing going wrong in gymnastics created this weird domino effect: suddenly, everything else went wrong too. It probably had something to do with fractured confidence. Either that, or that Murphy guy. Dick.

She wasn't sure why she was explaining herself to Barbara: maybe it just had to do with feeling a wee bit insecure next to her. At least when it came to gymnastics. She'd heard rumours that Barbara had once been aiming for the Olympics. That was nothing to scoff at. It made Stephanie wonder what she was doing in a crappy little gym in Gotham these days, though.

"You? And, uh, what are you doing for spring break? Anything fun?" Though she was just trying to keep conversation going - which Barbara had seemed to be doing as well - there was s slight ulterior motive there. What exactly was it that Barbara got up to outside of school? She knew very little of her, even though they'd been doing gymnastics together for a couple of months now.

"Inexplicable, or not so inexplicable and recurring every twenty-eight days or so?"

Barbara looked startled by the suggestion. It certainly wasn’t what she’d meant; she hadn’t meant anything more than a simple evasion. Of course, that wasn’t a bad cover story. “You got me,” she said with a faint grimace. “We keep these things pretty hush hush in the Gordon household,” she confided in a hushed voice. Okay, way to make your family sound socially retarded, but hopefully, it would help take Stephanie’s attention away from the issue at hand.

"The floor. The vault. More twisting and jumping, less balancing. I usually manage okay, though - I've been doing this for a while - but you know how it goes."

“Tell me about it,” Barbara retorted sympathetically. “For every time I’ve nailed a routine, I’ve eaten mat ten times or more.”

"You? And, uh, what are you doing for spring break? Anything fun?"

Barbara frowned, reluctantly. Spring break. That. “I don’t know,” she said after a significant pause. “I don’t think uncle Jim’s got the time off. Either that, or he’s planning to spring it on me as a surprise.” Somehow, that didn’t strike her as all too likely. Uncle Jim was a great guy and his heart was one hundred percent in the right place, but he didn’t seem too likely to go for a surprise like that. “How about you? Anything exciting?”

"You got me. We keep these things pretty hush hush in the Gordon household."

It seemed a little weird at first, but after a few moments, dredging up the image of Barbara's uncle - and now police commissioner - it made more sense to Stephanie. How did you share those things with someone like that? Even just sharing the dinner table with him had to be freaky.

She could relate. Sort of. It wasn't like she shared these things with her parents, either.

They talked about gymnastics a little, and Stephanie peered over at the instructor, hoping they wouldn't be caught chatting like this. Thankfully, the woman was busy helping a new girl with her cartwheels across the room, so she looked back at Barbara. She still wasn't entirely sure what had spurred the girl on to join her here, but it wouldn't hurt to be nice to her. It wasn't like Stephanie had many friends on the gymnastics team, either.

"I don’t know. I don’t think uncle Jim’s got the time off. Either that, or he’s planning to spring it on me as a surprise. How about you? Anything exciting?"

"I wish." Stephanie reached back, tightening the ponytail she wore for gymnastics. "Dean - my boyfriend - is going up north with his parents for a week, to ski or snowboard or something else cold-related. I'll probably just hang out with friends." She shrugged, and cocked a grin. "Exciting, right? Watch me end up catching up on homework or something. It'll blow people's minds."

Stephanie turned to look elsewhere and Barbara followed her line of sight to where the teacher was helping a new girl. Right, Stephanie probably needed to get back to practice. She didn’t feel right dashing off just yet though, so she finished out her line of thought.

"I wish. Dean - my boyfriend - is going up north with his parents for a week, to ski or snowboard or something else cold-related. I'll probably just hang out with friends. Exciting, right? Watch me end up catching up on homework or something. It'll blow people's minds."

Stephanie didn’t seem too disappointed that her boyfriend was going away. Or if she was, she’d learned to live with it. “Yeah, me too,” she said and returned Stephanie’s smile. “Except I’ll probably get most of my homework done in the first week, then spend most of my time trying to help Chrissie with hers.” She paused, before adding “when she can be bothered.”

Her shoulders rose and fell in a shrug as she let out a sigh that was dramatic, but entirely unrehearsed. Chrissie was the worst student she could ever imagine having.; a situation made all the worse by the fact that it was Chrissie that had asked her for help. She waved a hand in the direction of the instructor and new girl. “Do you want me to get out of your way?” she asked, “wouldn’t want to get you in trouble.”

“Yeah, me too. Except I’ll probably get most of my homework done in the first week, then spend most of my time trying to help Chrissie with hers. When she can be bothered.”

Stephanie scrunched up her nose. "Tutoring. That almost makes me glad my grades aren't so hot. I'd get my friends bothering me all the time." Not that she'd mind helping them if they needed it, but seriously? She spent enough time on her own schoolwork as it was. If she was going to spend time with her friends, she wanted it to have as little to do with education as humanly possible.

"Well, er. Good luck with that, then." From what she knew of Chrissie, Barbara would need it. Ouch.

“Do you want me to get out of your way? Wouldn’t want to get you in trouble.”

Stephanie shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I probably should be getting back to it, though..." She let it trail off, and she eyed Barbara hesitantly, not wanting to be rude. This conversation was just kind of awkward - for both of them, she was sure - and she wanted to make what she could of the limited time allotted to their gymnastics. She could use the practice.

"I'll catch you later. Feel better."

"Don't worry about it. I probably should be getting back to it, though..."

“Totally understand,” Barbara assured Stephanie. She was less uptight about these things than she used to be but she’d probably have been even less keen to slack off, especially with a teacher around.

"I'll catch you later. Feel better."

“You too,” Barbara replied and turned to walk away. Which in hindsight was not completely idiotic. Somehow. Oh, who was she fooling? With her shoulders hunched, she retook her seat. Now that was pretty much a complete failure she realised as she watched all the people who hadn’t been shot and were fully capable of movement.