Shake It Out (Rick Tyler Book 2)

Chapter Twelve

"This is our school cafeteria." Beth said as the three teens entered under the caution tape.

"What happened here?" Jennie asked.

"We had a fight here earlier this week." Beth replied.

"That was a few days ago? This has been a long week." Dinah said with a sigh.

"The ring says the dark matter is over here." Jennie said as they walked over to where Cindy disappeared.

"That's where Cindy was sucked into...whatever that stuff was." Dinah said as they examined the residue.

Jennie got closer to it and the ring absorbed the residue.

"Whoa." The three of them said as they looked at the ring in awe.

"Dr. McNider?" Beth suddenly said as she touched her goggles. "Courtney's back!" She said to the two girls as they ran out the cafeteria door towards Dinah's car.

"Is she really back?" Dinah asked as they entered the Whitmore-Dougans. Dinah made eye contact with Courtney and ran to hug her.

"I'm so happy you're back." Dinah said as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Are you about to cry?" Courtney asked with a chuckle as they pulled away.

"Shut up." Dinah said as she let out a happy sob.

Beth and Jennie took turns as they reunited with Courtney.

"Where's my hug?" Cindy asked as the three girls turned towards the voice.

"What is she doing here?" Dinah demanded.

"Cindy wants to help." Courtney replied.

"I'll believe that when pigs fly."

"Listen, I'm calling a truce until Eclipso is nothing more than a stain in the ground." Cindy responded.

"I don't like this." Dinah said.

"Just give her a chance Di." Courtney responded.

"I'm watching you Burman. Don't try anything."

"Ooo I'm so scared." Cindy said sarcastically.

"Beth Chapel?" They heard a male's voice say.

"Doctor McNider?" Beth asked.

"Hey, I'm going to go ahead and go." Dinah whispered to Courtney.

"Okay. I'll text you later."

Dinah walked into the garage when she saw Rick sitting at the table.

"Oh hey." Dinah said.

"Hey." Rick replied.

"What are you doing here?"

"I got let go. The charges were dropped."

"Seriously? That's great!"

"Yeah. Now I just have to try and fix this." Rick replied as he gestures towards the hourglass fragments.

"You'll figure it out. You always do."

"What are you doing here?"

"I forgot this." Dinah replied as she held up a notebook.

"What's that?"

"I'm trying to talk my dad and Pat into building me a motorcycle that's identical to the one my mom had when she was alive. She used it for missions and other JSA stuff. My dad claims it was destroyed but I think it's in storage somewhere."

"And how's the proposal going?"

"I'm working them down. I won't stop until I get it."

Dinah was interrupted when her phone rang.

"Hello? Really? That's awesome. Yeah I'm with Rick right now. I'll tell him. Okay bye."

"What was that about?"

"Yolonda is back on the team. At least for now. She doesn't trust Cindy."

"What does Cindy have to do with this?"

"Oh yeah, she's back. And she wants to call a truce until Eclipso is defeated."

"Yeah because that's a good idea."

"I'm not fond of it either but if it means defeating Eclipso, I'm down for anything. Oh and Doctor McNider is alive and he's back. He's at Courtney's house helping Beth. Speaking of, I really need to get back to her house so we can figure out a plan." Dinah awkwardly said as she gestured towards the door.

"Yeah, okay."

"Bye."

"Dinah wait."

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. For when you came to see me a few days ago. I really needed that and I'm glad we can put things aside and still be friends."

"Yeah of course. Like I told you, I left you all those years ago and I'm not leaving again."

Rick let out a chuckle.

"Okay, I really need to get going now before Courtney starts spamming me with calls."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Back at the Whitmore-Dougans, Dinah met up with everyone else.

"Alright, so what's the plan?"