"Gods, can they not stare?!" Selena Nightwells said aloud. She had felt piercing stares since she entered her first class, and all through the halls, and now in the cafeteria. It was so damn annoying. Though, she thought, her wardrobe did call some (ok, a lot of) attention to her. "You'd think they'd be used to some differences in this kind of school."

She had black hair that came down to her shoulders, her bangs in her face hiding one eye from the world. She had two natural white streaks in her hair from her temples. Her eyes were a dark brown but looked unnaturally large do to the copious amounts of black eye shadow and eyeliner. It didn't take away from her face, but drew gazes to her eyes, which was not always the best place to look. Her glasses also pulled towards her eyes. She looked tiny in her extra-large black hoodie-jacket and skinny jeans. It also didn't help that she was short, about 5'4". Her skin was a pale white, lips a pale, pale pink. Her bag/purse was a little skeleton bunny; her messenger bag was covered in skulls and her own graffiti. She had also graffitied her neon green converse in purple sharpie.

She sat down, pulled out a pair of chopsticks and started to eat. She almost moaned. "Fooooood" she said, her mouth full. She started to inhale her fried rice as fast as possible and still savor the taste. She reached into her messenger bag and pulled out a thick book, slamming it onto the table because of the weight. She flipped it open and let herself be absorbed into the pages.

Until something decided to block her light. She looked up, glaring at what- or whoever wouldn't leave her alone. Her eyes widened. 'Damn, he's tall....but so is everyone compared to me' she thought sarcastically.

"You're in my spot" he growled, staring at her with an annoyed look on his face. His shoulder length hair created a curtain around his face, shadowing his features. She glanced approvingly at the red streak in it, as well as the worn leather jacket and shredded pants. "Move. Now." he said when she didn't respond. Selena scowled. She hated being told what to do.

"There's plenty of room at the table, and I sat here first. Shoo." she said, waving her hand as if to dismiss him, and turned back to her book. Selena then heard a 'woosh' sound and felt warmth next to her. She glanced back at the guy, who was now on fire. 'Joy' she thought.

"Look if we're gonna fight over where who sits where for lunch, I didn't mean to take your spot and you could be polite and let the lady have the seat just for one day. I promise you won't see me here tomorrow, ok hothead?" She felt the heat disappear and watched the guys shadow disappear. Her eyes followed him to another empty table. She turned back to her book. "Heh, poor Khary..." she giggled. (A/N: brownie points for guessing what book she's reading! Oh, and the rest of the gang is in the library because they forgot to finish an assignment. How convenient.)

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"There's the damn room," Selena growled. It had taken her forever to find this room; no one would help her, they all stared at her like she had three heads or ignored her and walked away when she had asked for directions. 'There's just so much love and acceptance here' she thought sarcastically. She knocked on the door. A man with an abnormally large head and lab coat on answered.

"Yes, what is it?" he asked.

"Is this Mad Science?" Selena asked.

"You're the new student, aren't you?" he said sarcastically. She nodded. "Alright, come in." he said moving out of the way and letting her in. "Take a seat. The person next to you will be your lab partner."

Selena looked around the room and spotted the hothead from lunch. He barely glanced at her, but the red, white, and blue catastrophe next to him stared like all the rest. The only free space was next to a red head dressed in green that screamed 'HIPPIE.' Selena had seen her in some of her other classes. 'Oh, well. At least she looks smart.'

As she sat down the hippie extended her hand in greeting. "Hi, I'm Layla. Are you new here?" she said politely.

"No, I've been here all year, I was just invisible," Selena said, sarcastically. To her surprise, Layla laughed. Maybe hippie wasn't so bad. "Name's Selena, nice to meet you," she said shaking Layla's hand.

"Excuse me! As I was saying...We will be moving on to phasers and reactors this week, your assignments include designing and building your own of each. No nuclear or atomic reactors, please. We don't need the rest of the school exposed to radioactive and toxic waste." the teacher added with a giggle. Half the class groaned. Selena smiled. "You and your partners will come up with the effects of each and then construct them in and outside of class. The groups will be in fours and I'll let you choose who you pass or fail with." he said with another giggle. Selena glanced at Layla to see who she would pick, and a shadow fell over her again...well two shadows. She looked up and groaned.

"What you want, hothead?" Selena asked, turning away and burying her head into the sleeve of her ginormus jacket. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Stronghold just has to be paired with his girlfriend." he said indiffenerently. Selena looked over at the flower child. Her eyes were glowing and a big smile spread across her face as red, white, and blue kissed her forehead.

"They couldn't have been their own lab partners because....?" Selena asked. Hothead just shrugged. Selena started to make a base sketch of her ideas for the phaser.

"Oh, guys, this is Selena. Selena this is Will Stronghold and Warren Peace." Layla said, introducing everyone. Will stuck out his hand and asked what her power was.

"....You'll hopefully never find out." Selena replied. "Sorry if you want to know but; a) you have an advantage in battle if your enemy doesn't know what they're up against; and b) I was told that I don't have to tell." Will and Layla looked shocked. Warren raised an eyebrow.

"But you had to show your power to someone, right? That's how you're in hero class!" Will protested.

"Yeah, I showed them to Principal Powers. And my powers scared the shit outta her. She put me in here. Besides, I don't need my powers to be a Hero. Look at the God of all superheroes, Batman. No powers. He's smart and fast, and so am I."

"PHASERS AND REACTORS NOW PLEASE!" the teacher said, coming over to their table. The other three murmured a "Sorry, Mr. Medulla." and got out books and paper for ideas. Mr. Medulla picked up Selena's sketches. "Very impressive. Good detail...and the use of geometrics and energy stores! Well done! Are you a Technopath, by any chance?" Selena shook her head.

"My uncle was one, and he made sure I could build anything from scratch. Said it would always help in a tight spot."

"Well! Keep up the good work!" Mr. Medulla glanced at Will and Warren. "You two got lucky this time, with this young lady on your team. You may even pass this semester." He walked away to go terrify another group. Selena turned back to her sketch. It was quiet for a wile and Selena looked up at the rest of her group. Layla and Will were staring at Selena in disbelief. Warren was writing down ideas.

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'Yay' Selena thought, bored already. 'Thank the gods, this day is almost over.' She, Layla, Will, and Warren were in their last class, Hero P.E. All the students sat down on the bleachers, waiting to be told what was going to be for class today. Will had a smug look on his face. Selena couldn't wait to disappoint him.

"You're not going to get to see my powers, Stronghold. I told you, I'm smart, fast, and a good fighter. I don't need my powers." she said. Will frowned. He opened his mouth to retort but the coach had just come into the gym.

"It's Verses today, and I don't want any whiner-babies!'I don't wanna fight him!' 'Their power is to strong!' None of it! Suit up!" The coach yelled. Selena covered her ears. 'Too loud' she thought grumpily, as she suited up with the rest of the girls.

After everyone was suited up, Coach Boomer was booming out partners. "You, new girl! Pair up with Lash!" Selena looked over to where he pointed. A tallish guy with longish hair put on a cocky smirk. Selena rolled her eyes, and tightened a strap on her 'armor'.

The class was held tournament style. She watched Warren go up against Ice Chick. She attacked him with what was apparently all her strength. Warren just melted the ice as she made it until she collapsed in exhaustion, an annoyed look on his face. Layla went up against Speed. Selena loved her power. Layla made vines burst from the floor and tripped Speed. He was going so fast; when he tripped he flew into the Plexiglas and slid to the ground with a thud. Unfortunately (or fortunately) they had to fix the floors because Layla's plants had torn them up. Some other students went, and she took down a list of their powers, figuring how to fight them when she eventually did have to.

"Lash! New Chick! On the floor, now!" Boomer yelled.

"Joy..." Selena said under her breath as she got up. She looked over at Lash. He had that stupid, cocky grin splattered across his face.

They stepped into the 'ring' and Selena started to stretch. Lash frowned.

"You're not gonna power up?" he said

"Nope. Don't need to." She replied, getting into one of her stances. Lash got an angry look on his face.

"We'll see about that!" he yelled. He flung his arms out, stretching to surround her in a knot. Selena dodged by jumping into the air and onto Lash's arms. She ran down them, gaining speed, and kicked Lash in the face, jumped over him and landed on the other side. She whipped around, kicked him in the side, and resumed her stance. Lash flew into the barrier and slid down, slumped over.

"Nightwells wins!" Boomer yelled out, declaring the end of the match. Selena covered her ears, protecting them from the sonic boom. "Stronghold! Quake! Floor, now!

"Way too loud…" she mumbled under her breath.

She spent Will's fight getting back into her normal clothes. She felt uneasy. Her mind grew fuzzy. A smell pierced the air and all her attention focused on it. Blood. Blood. Blood. She spun around, looking for the source of the intoxicating smell of blood. Her eyes focused on the temple of someone else in the locker room. The blood was flowing freely, the hair around it sticky with drying blood. She licked her lips.

"Changed your mind, bitch? You look like you're hot for this."

Selena snapped back to normal and looked at the other people. It was Lash and Speed…in the girl's locker room.

"You girls better change back into your clothes or you're gonna miss the bus. You two can't fly and I doubt you want to spend the rest of the night trying to get back home to your mommies." she said, changing back into her apathetic bitch mode. She turned back to her locker to grab her bags and felt something grab her ankle. Then she heard a whoosh and a yell. The thing quickly released her ankle. Selena looked over at the doors to see Warren standing there, arms ablaze.

"Get the hell out." Warren growled, his flames burning brighter. Lash and Speed glared at them and slowly backed out of the locker room. Warren glanced over at Selena. "You ok?" he asked. She nodded.

"So why are you in the girl's room? Lash and Speed I get, but you don't seem to be looking for a fight? You a perv or something?" she said, a laugh in her voice. She laughed harder when Warren glared at her, lighting his hands again.

"Hippie and I were worried when we didn't see you."

"Aww…How sweet! You guys were worried about me! That's so cute!" she said, punching Warren in the arm as she passed him. "Oh, shit! Jack!" she gasped. Selena turned around and ran back to her locker. She grabbed her bunny bag and slung it over her back. "Almost forgot him." She said as she passed Warren.

"Him? You named your bag?"

"No," Selena replied, indignant. "He was already named Jack before I bought him." She stuck her tongue out at him as they walked out, almost right into Will and Layla.

"What were you two doing in there?" Will asked, a suggestive smirk on his face.

"Having sex. What else?" Selena replied with a straight face. Will and Warren's eyes popped out of their heads. Layla and Selena burst out laughing at the looks. "Sorry…It was too perfect…Oh, gods!" she said between deep breaths. She turned to Layla. "Ya know, you would think, guys being the more perverted of the genders, they could take a sex joke every once in a while; but when a girl makes a joke, they flip out." Selena and Layla walked together to the bus, heads together, whispering and occasionally laughing.

Will turned to Warren. "Girls are scary."

"Terrifying." Warren agreed.

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Blood. So much blood. Everywhere. Burnt bodies surrounded her. She wanted to vomit. She wanted to feast. The blood everywhere only served to make her hunger more prominent. She turned, smelling fresh, living blood. Someone was still alive. How delightful. She approached the smell, stalking it, hunting it. She growled. The smell kept moving. But it was so close! She turned, feeling a presence behind her, a smile on her face, fangs showing.

Warren was behind her, covered in fire. She smiled wider seeing the hate in his eyes.

"Come on, do it…They're all gone…It's just you and me now…Kill me or I'll kill you…" She said in a purr. Warren lifted his hands, gathering fire, so much fire. A flicker of hesitation in his eyes, just for half of a second. 'shk' Warren's eyes widened in surprise. Selena smiled, pulling her clawed hand out of his chest.

Selena shot up in her bed covered in a cold sweat. She felt the bile rise up in her throat. She ran to the bathroom, barely reached the toilet, and was violently sick. Selena quickly put her hair up in a ponytail as she felt her stomach acid rise again. She kneeled there, gulping air down, trying not to be sick again. Then, an image from her dream would flash across her eyes. She threw up until there was nothing left in her stomach. She sat back, crying.

"No. Please, gods, no. No. No. Oh, gods. Please, no." She cried and cried until there was nothing left of her.

End Ch 1