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Dani had gotten used to having people to sit by regularly at lunch, and when they were suspiciously absent, it kind of put her in a bad mood. She'd made the best of it, eating her lunch quickly, and had disappeared outside to enjoy the fresh air for a bit. She had her watched timed so that she could make it back in to get to class on time, so she wasn't very concerned. There were groups of girls walking around, gossiping in tightly knit groups, and she wondered what that was like, briefly.

Dani didn't have a lot of female friends. Actually, she didn't have a lot of friends period, which continued to baffle and amaze her as the days went on. Still, she didn't feel like she was missing too much... girls like those ones never had anything important or meaningful to say, right?

She had Parker for important and meaningful conversation. Parker, her... boyfriend? Despite the age gap, she considered him her boyfriend. If the feeling wasn't mutual, he'd better work on remedying that just about as soon as possible, or she would kill him. Well, not kill him, but make his life miserable in the ways that only a teenage girl could.

Rounding a corner, she glanced over a park bench, registering that there was someone there before moving on. It took her three more steps to realize that she recognized the someone, and she brightened, striding over confidently.

Without ceremony, she threw herself on the bench next to Barnaby, crossing one leg over the top of the other and bracing her hands against her knee. "Hi, Barnaby!"

As usual, she was full of pep and cheer. And staring longingly at his sandwich. "You make me want to beat you up and steal your lunch on a regular basis, you know."

"I could definitely beat you up," Dani returned easily, rolling her eyes at him. Barnaby was a guy, sure, but she'd taken on a lot nastier than him. Between youma and Negaverse agents, though she'd admittedly generally had help with the Negaverse, she figured Barnaby Price would be easy pickings. It would hurt his manly ego for her to put it that way (and saying she could definitely beat him up wouldn't?) so it was a good thing she couldn't tell him about her alter-ego, Sailor Magellan.

She jiggled her foot, shaking her head slightly as she returned to an earlier part of the conversation. "And no thanks. I already ate. So, why didn't you sit with me today?"

It wasn't the accusing tone of a slighted female, or even a mildly irritated friend. It was just curiosity. Had he and Grayson gotten into a fight? He didn't seem to have a problem with her, so she assumed it was something between the two of them. Well, unless Barnaby was just feeling antisocial. She could understand that.

Not that it was really working for him, considering here she was, but whatever.

"I will prove to you that I can beat you up," Dani promised, arching a brow at him. She didn't know how, where, or why, but Barnaby Price wasn't going to get away thinking he could best her at... much of anything, really. Except maybe peeing standing up. She was not a pro at that, and really had no desire to be.

Unless it became some sort of freakish competition. Even then, probably not.

She was temporarily distracted by mention of Grayson, and sighed loudly. He was definitely a slacker. He was probably the worst kind of slacker, the one who would barely glide through high school with passing marks and neglect to go to college at all. She wouldn't be surprised if he worked at Larry's Pizza forever and was content with that, actually. Grayson was the kind of guy who would look at her with doe eyes and say that money didn't buy happiness, as if that was some kind of defense against getting a real education and job.

Guys like Grayson made her want to pull her hair out at the roots. She liked him, but seriously. He was never going to get a respectable girlfriend -- errrr, boyfriend -- that way.

"Grayson is being Grayson," she said flatly, lifting her hands and shaking her head. "I don't think anything could make him stop slacking off except maybe if you threatened to starve him."

The boy did love his food.

"Sure, I'll ask about the english book. Actually," she'd pulled out her cellphone, was busily texting with the inherent skill of a teenage girl who had done this a few times. She didn't even need to look at the keypad, and instead, was giving Barnaby a fondly amused look. "There, texted."

Snapping her phone shut, she leaned over, all concepts of personal space lost on her. Had Dani been a different type of girl, one might have thought she was putting the moves on Barnaby. She certainly wasn't, because she was quite happy with Parker even if their relationship was progressing slower than anything in the world, but to the average passerby, it didn't seem that way. That was one of the disadvantages of being a competitive girl with no concept of other people's space bubbles.

"And yes, I will totally prove it to you. Any way, any day." She wasn't entirely certain what Barnaby would propose, but she wasn't afraid to take a few bumps to prove a point. "Just name a time and place. I'm a lot stronger than I look."

Perhaps it was her ego getting the better of her, as it generally did when the thought of anyone besting her at much of... anything, came up. But Dani was being completely serious.

And her face showed she was totally serious business.

"You two haven't exchanged numbers? I got his right away." Looking like she certainly thought Barnaby was slow on the uptake, Dani opened her phone again, rattled off the number. It was lucky indeed no one was spying on them for blackmail; as Barny added Grayson to his address book, it likely looked much more like Dani was passing on her own contact information to the red head. Totally awkward, so it was a good thing no one from Meadowview was around to see it.

Dani could spread rumors just as well as the next girl, but she hated being the center of them. She would stomp anyone who started a rumor about her, no questions asked.

Her phone disappearing once more, her pretty lips peeled back into a semi-snarl. It was one thing for her to say she was stronger than she looked, it was totally another for Barnaby to say it in that tone with such skepticism in his face. He was in need of a serious ego p***k. "A girl who could totally arm wrestle you into the ground. Seriously, Barnaby. You've got like, chicken arms."

Dani's arms were quite well toned. That happened when you climbed rock walls for fun. Her legs were also in awesome shape, a side effect of her regular runs. In fact, she was just in pretty amazing shape.

Clearly Barnaby was a fool for underestimating her.

Settling herself across from him, Dani gave him another arch look, flexing her hand as she positioned herself. She hadn't arm wrestled... well, ever. But how hard could it be? Definitely not hard. And sure, Barnaby had nicely toned arms and all, but she didn't see him hauling around his entire body weight on the rock wall two to three times a week. Truth be told, she had no idea what Barny did in his free time except play games on his cellphone and take care of his bike, but she was willing to bet he didn't bench press it or anything.

So, she figured she had more than a reasonable shot at beating him. Actually, it didn't really occur to her that she wouldn't; she was already envisioning his shocked expression, already preparing to gloat about it for weeks when she beat him.

Fitting her palm snugly against his, she smiled, all sugar and candy. "On the count of three?"