Shake It Out (Rick Tyler Book 2)

Chapter One

"Alright. That was the last piece of furniture." Rick said as he walked back into Dinah's now empty bedroom. Dinah came up and hugged Rick, giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"Thank you. What would I do without you?"

"I don't know." Rick replied with a chuckle.

"Oh I'm sorry. I was talking to the hourglass. Do you know how difficult it would have been to carry all that stuff out and down to the garage?" Dinah joked.

Rick shook his head. "Wow Di. You wound me."

"You know I care about you." Dinah said as she sat on the floor and tugged Rick down with her.

"What are you doing? I thought we were going to paint your room?"

"We will. I just want to lay here for a couple of minutes." Dinah replied as she snuggled into Rick's side.

"You know Courtney is probably going to want us to patrol tonight right?"

"Patrol what? There's been no activity in the past six months. Dragon King is dead and so is Brainwave and Icicle. Cindy probably died when the satellite caved in with Brainwave. The Crocks are in jail. Courtney literally almost fought a raccoon last night Rick. Plus you've used your hour up today." Dinah said, leaning up to kiss Rick.

"How can I argue with that?" Rick said as he kissed Dinah back.

The next day, Dinah was waiting for Rick in the hallway when he stormed out of his classroom.

"Hey! Rick, stop!" Dinah said as she hurried to catch up with him. She stood in front of him and noticed his angry expression. "Hey, what's wrong?" Dinah asked softly.

"They still think I'm some screwup. Forget the fact that I saved them six months ago." Rick replied angrily.

"What happened?"

"My teacher thinks I cheated on the final because I got everything right. She's demanding I retake it."

"What? Does she have any proof?"

"No. Apparently my reputation is enough proof for her." Rick replied as he looked down.

"Hey, look at me." Dinah said, tilting his head back up. "You are no screwup. You're one of the smartest people I know. I'm so proud of you. And the rest of the team, my dad, and Pat will be too. It's just taking the rest of the town longer to see how amazing you are. Just give them time."

"Okay." Rick answered in a small voice.

"Let's go find the others. We can go to the diner and get some milkshakes to celebrate the last day of school."

"Alright."

"Here's everyone's milkshakes." Dinah said as her and Rick brought the milkshakes over to the table their friends were sitting at. Rick and Dinah sat down in the two empty chairs at the table, Dinah stealing a sip from Rick's milkshake.

"Hey! You said you wanted a mint shake." Rick said, taking his milkshake back.

"I did but now I'm craving chocolate. Anyways, what are we going to do now that we're free from school?" 

"I'm not." Courtney muttered.

"What?" Dinah asked.

"I failed two of my classes. I have to do summer school."

"Oh my gosh Courtney. I'm so sorry."

"It gets worse," Courtney started as she let out a sigh, "I attacked Artemis earlier in the lunch room."

"What?" Dinah and Rick asked.

"Yeah I forgot you two weren't there. So Artemis was talking about her parents and as she was talking about them getting wrongfully locked up, she looked over at me and swung her hockey stick back like she was going to hit me. So before she could, I fought back."

"Geez."

"Oh and I can't be Stargirl for two weeks."

"Well that part's not so bad. There's been nothing happening for the past six months." Dinah replied.

"Yeah. Maybe we can just forget about the JSA stuff for a little while." Yolanda suggested.

"We can't let our guards down though guys!" Courtney responded.

"Courtney, nothing's happening right now. When something starts happening, we can go from there but for now let's just enjoy our summer vacation. For starters, I'm going to go see Cam tonight."

"You're what?!" Rick asked.

"He's back in town now. I want to go see him and see how he's doing."

"Di, you can't be serious. Look at who his dad was and what he did."

"Well look at Henry. He turned out nothing like his dad. Plus Cam doesn't have powers."

"That we know of."

"I kind of agree with Rick. I told Courtney a similar thing earlier today." Yolonda added.

"If it makes you guys feel better, I'll be careful. If anything seems off, I'll text the group chat."

Later that evening, Dinah knocked on Cameron's door.

"Di, hey."

"Hey. You're back." Dinah replied, hugging Cam.

"Yeah. I, uh, got back in last night."

"Well I would ask how you are but I know it's a dumb thing to ask given the circumstances."

Cameron chuckled. "It's fine Di. I'm making it day by day. I'm actually going to do a mural in town dedicated to my dad."

"Oh yeah? That will be nice." Dinah said awkwardly.

"I think so. I think my dad would love it too."

"Well are you busy tonight? I was thinking we could hang out like old times and catch-up?"

"Yeah. I would love that. Plus I need to hear all about you and Rick."

Dinah let out a groan.

"Hey, you would be wanting all the details on my relationship."

"I hate how well you know me."