When Opposites Attract
Summary: No one could be more opposite than me and Warren Peace. He's fire, I'm ice. He's a loner, I have friends. He has a mother that loves him, and I have an abusive father. We were meant for each other.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Sky High! This story contains elements of abuse. You've been warned.
1. It's Complicated.
"Wow, Arabella. I never noticed how beautiful your blue eyes were with your blue streaks." he said as he stared into my eyes.
"Thanks, Warren." I said smiling. He leaned in close enough for me to be able to smell him.
"You're perfect." He chuckled slightly as his lips were about to touch mine.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
My alarm clock startled me out of my dreams. I slapped the button down as I threw my blanket off of me. It was cool for September. I stretched and started to get dressed for school.
I looked at myself in the mirror. I'd have to wear long sleeves and jeans today to cover the bruises from last night. I picked out a cute light blue shirt and my favorite jeans.
As I left the house, my two friends were there to meet me. I looked at Katrina in her board shorts and tank top and Alec in his signature black jeans and band shirt. They made an odd couple, but they didn't care what people thought.
"What's shakin', Bella?" Katrina asked me as she slung an arm around my shoulders.
"The usual, Kat. You?" I asked trying to keep the conversation light.
"Can't complain. How's your science project with him coming along?" she asked giggling.
I stared at her for a moment, then shrugged. They knew that I had the biggest crush on the biggest bad boy of the school, Warren Peace. Who was also my lab partner in science class, coincidentally.
"He's supposed to come over tonight to work on it." I said quietly.
"What about your dad?" Alec asked in his quiet, baritone.
"He's supposed to be away on business. And I hope he is, because that wouldn't be very good if he came home and Warren was there with me."
We had made it to the bus stop and were waiting with a few other students.
"Why can't you just do the project at his house?" Katrina asked with a concerned look in her eyes.
"Something about his mom working. I'm not too sure."
The bus pulled up at that moment, which gave us an excuse to stop talking so that we could enjoy our ride. Even though we were no longer freshmen, the flying bus still excited us, because we're easily amused like that.
When we arrived at Sky High, we started walking across the grass to the place where we always hung out at, under the tree. I looked across the yard to see Will Stronghold and his little girlfriend, Layla.
"We going to see that new movie this weekend?" Alec asked us as he brushed his brown hair out of his eyes.
"I'm not sure, Alec." Katrina said pulling her red hair into a ponytail. "I don't know if I want to see this one." She turned invisible and gave Alec a playful shove.
"Don't make me go back in time and make you regret that." he said grabbing her. She was chuckling as she became visible again.
I looked away from the pair of them as they embraced each other.
My eyes roamed the courtyard again. My eyes found Warren sitting alone on the wall, reading a book. I gave a sigh as the bell rang for us to go to class. I waved to a few people as I followed my friends into the science classroom.
I took my seat next to Warren as the teacher rose from his seat.
"Morning, Warren." I said quietly as I pulled my notebook out.
"Morning, Hernandez." he said as he continued to read his book.
Sitting next to him raised my body temperature slightly, but even that slight amount caused me to have to roll up my sleeves. I always forgot that I had to cool my body temperature around him, as I'm sure he had to raise his around me. His fire mixed with my ice wasn't a good combination, but I couldn't help falling for him. We neutralized each others powers.
I watched his eyes roam over my bruises, and I pulled my arms off the table. His eyes traveled up to my face as I stared at the floor.
"Arabella, did you hurt yourself?" he asked quietly.
"I'm a clumsy person." I muttered quietly.
I couldn't tell whether or not he bought my lie, but he let the subject drop anyway. I decided to lighten the mood.
"So, are you going to Homecoming, Warren?" I asked quietly, not looking at him.
"Uh, yeah." he muttered.
"You going with anyone?" I asked hoping that he wasn't.
"Yeah, I'm going with Layla."
"Oh. I didn't realize that you two were that close."
"We're just going to make Stronghold jealous." he said as I rolled my sleeves back down.
I didn't say anything else on the matter, not wanting to make Warren suspicious of me liking him. I knew he was smart and intuitive, and if anyone was going to figure out anything about me, it'd be him.
"Are you going to homecoming?" he asked giving me a sideways glance.
"Yeah. Kat, Alec, and I are going as a group." I said as I started copying the notes from the board.
"Doesn't that make you the third wheel, Hernandez?" he asked. I shrugged.
"No date. And I already own the perfect dress. Kat and Alec don't mind, though. It's always been just the three of us. Besides, I'm not allowed to date." I said quietly, not looking at Warren.
"Dude, we're seventeen. How are you not allowed to date, Hernandez?" Warren asked, copying the notes, not looking at me.
"My dad's just like that. Are you still coming over today so we can do our project?" I looked at him this time.
"Yeah, Hernandez." he said looking at me with mild interest playing in his eyes.
I brushed off the interest in his eyes as I focused on my notes once more. The rest of the class passed without a conversation arising, which made me feel a little better. I was glad that someone as antisocial as Warren talked to me at all, mostly because I was over the moon for him. There was nothing I could have done to prevent falling for that built, brooding, gorgeous pyrokinetic. I knew he was smart and intuitive, but I also knew that he had a side most people never suspected that he had. I knew that he was a big teddy bear wrapped in a leather jacket and an attitude.
I was daydreaming for the rest of the morning, snapping out of my haze only when I was sitting under the tree for lunch.
Kat and Alec walked up and sat down with me. We started discussing Save the Citizen that was going to happen this afternoon.
I got bored with the conversation, because Speed and Lash totally owned the game. I was, instead, looking across the yard at the wall. I knew that Warren would be there. His table in the cafeteria had become overrun by Layla and her other sidekick friends. I knew they annoyed him, but that's only because he wanted to keep up his tough guy image. I smiled as I thought about Warren actually being 'the nice guy' that I knew he secretly was.
As I was staring at him with a smile on my face, he looked up from his book and over to me. I should have known he was going to feel my gaze and look up, but I wasn't thinking about anything but him. The fact that his eyes met mine shocked me so much, that I was still staring at him with my stupid smile plastered on my face. His gaze was curious for a moment, before he got the most adorable smile on his face. He even gave a chuckle as he went back to his book.
It was then that I fell back onto the grass, with a blush creeping up my face and that smile still there.
"C'mon, Bella." Kat said as her and Alec stood up. She offered me her hand to help me up. "What's up with that smile?"
I looked at her and took her hand. My face hurt by the time I stood up. I just could not wipe the smile off my face. We made our way to the gym for Save the Citizen, while I was rubbing my cheeks to pull the smile off.
We sat down on the same bench as Warren, but all the way on the other end. The two of us kept stealing glances at each other. I either had to do something about this crush, or else forget about him.
When the end of the day finally rolled around, Warren met me in front of the wall. We walked over to where Kat and Alec were standing by the bus. The four of us were a little less than talkative. The walk from the bus stop to my house was agonizingly quiet. I waved to Kat and Alec as I led Warren up my sidewalk. I was thankful my dad's car wasn't in the driveway.
Warren followed me in to the house and up to my room. We worked on our project and finished it in an hour. After we finished, we sat cross-legged on my bed. We were doing a survey about each other for my psychology class.
"So, do you wanna do me first, or shall I do yours?" I asked Warren as we finished writing on our answer sheets. He shrugged.
"Okay, I'll go first." I said. "Your name is Warren Peace. You're seventeen; Boomer calls you hot-head; your favorite color is yellow, despite what everyone else thinks; your favorite food is pizza, because it's everyone's favorite but I really don't know; you and your mom are close; you pretend to be this harsh, bad boy with an attitude, when you're a really sweet, funny, caring guy. Okay, now you do mine."
"Your name is Arabella Hernandez. You're seventeen; Kat and Alec call you Bella, but I like to call you Hernandez; your favorite color is green, even though you wear more blue; your favorite food is macaroni and cheese, because I see the face you make when you eat it, you look like you're in heaven; your mom died when you were young and you and your father are distant; you're a smart, cute, sweet girl and you lie about where those bruises come from, but I don't push you for the information because I know that you can take care or yourself. And even if you can't handle it, all you have to do is ask for my help, and I'll be there. What happens now, Hernandez?" Warren said, as I stared at him. Did he really just say I was cute?
"Uh, we compare our answers with the truth. I'll go first. You got my name, age and nicknames right; I'm amazed that you knew my favorite color is green; do I really make faces when I eat macaroni and cheese?; my father and I aren't all that close; do you really think I'm cute?" I asked, trying to keep my voice level.
Warren looked at me and smiled that adorable smile from earlier. He just nodded and looked down at my answers for him.
"Obviously you got my name and age right. I hate it when Boomer calls me hot-head, though. How did you know my favorite color?; I actually don't like pizza. My favorite food is cherry pie; I am close to my mom, she's all I have; and you can see straight into my soul with your piercing blue eyes."
I blushed because I felt that I was just stating the obvious. I smiled at Warren and he smiled back at me.
"I know that I can't take you to the dance, since I'm taking Layla, but I'd like to dance with you. If that's alright with you, Hernandez." Warren said with an intrigued look in his eyes.
"I'd like that a lot, Warren." I said as we stood up to stretch our legs. "Thanks for doing the psych thing with me, Warren."
He nodded as he brushed a strand of blue hair out of my face. To be on even ground, I brushed a piece of red hair out of his face. We stood like that for a moment, with our hands in each others hair.
Warren took a step closer to me and leaned in. I tilted my chin up and closed my eyes. I heard the all too familiar car door slam from the driveway.
I gasped and ran to shut my bedroom door.
"Listen, don't ask questions, just take your stuff and climb out the window onto the tree and climb down in about a minute. Don't be seen." I said thrusting his belongings at him.
He gave me a hard look before doing as I asked.
I ran around my room, hiding any evidence that Warren had been there. I spotted his leather jacket on my chair as I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. I was very quick as I threw it under my blanket on my bed.
I hopped onto my bed and propped my open psychology book up like I was reading it.
My father then opened my bedroom door.
"Oh, I didn't hear you come in Dad." I said in surprise.
"Are you doing your homework, Arabella?" he asked me in a none too pleased voice.
"Yes, Dad. What happened to your business trip? Did they cancel it?"
"Arabella, what's that underneath your blanket?" he asked me as my face paled. "Get up."
I did as I was told and watched as he pulled back the blanket on my bed to show Warren's jacket. My father picked it up and turned back to me.
"Who does this belong to, Arabella?" he asked me with malice in his voice. I looked at the floor.
"Just someone from school, Dad. I was cold and he lent me his jacket. I'm going to give it back to him tomorrow." I said quietly.
I could barely see Warren's head amidst the tree by my window. He was watching the scene as it unfolded, and I was silently hoping he wouldn't see what I was sure was bound to happen.
"What's his name, you little slut?" he asked as he threw the jacket onto the floor.
"Warren Peace. He's my science partner, Dad. I just got cold." I said feeling the fear rise in my throat.
"Arabella, don't lie to me. You make ice, you don't get cold. Now tell me the truth. What is this jacket doing here?" the anger in his voice was rising with ever word.
"Dad, really, I just borrowed it."
He slapped me across the face, and I felt tears spring to my eyes. When I looked back at him, he threw me against the wall, where I crumpled into a heap on the floor.
"You had better take that back to him tomorrow, Arabella. And if you ever bring something that belongs to a boy in this house again, you'll get much worse than that. If you ever bring a boy into this house, you'll wish you had never been born." he said, slamming my bedroom door shut as he left.
As I was picking myself off the floor, I could see Warren in the tree outside my window, smoking from the places that were making contact with the tree. I gave him an apologetic look as I signaled for him to climb down the tree. I tossed him his leather jacket when he was on the ground, and ignored the look he was giving me.