First Fruit
He woke up with dread weighing down on his eyelids. This was to be his first day attending Sky High, and he wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Alexander Nikoli, age 15, he was lean, but not particularly built with much muscle. Thick brown hair that he styled combed over, with the help of gel and hairspray. Overall he was average, little acne, and not above average in looks, but he wasn't ugly. His best feature was his eyes, which almost saved his bland looks, because they were a mossy green, which seemed to pierce the soul.
He trudged down the stairs to be greeted by the potent smell of sizzling bacon and hash browns. Alex wasn't sure what surprised him more; the sight of his father cooking breakfast, or that it actually looked delicious.
"Have you been possessed by Phantom or something?" Alex joked.
"Ha-ha, very funny, this is why I don't do nice things, because they're never appreciated" retorted Alex's father.
His father was a semi-retired anti-hero once known as Soul Eater, who had the ability to completely drain his enemy's energy by touching them; he could then use that energy to strengthen his own attacks. Thomas Nikoli, his real identity, was actually a very attractive man, even for his age, he still received attention from many women. He fronted as a car salesman, even though he made plenty of money as a hero.
Alex looked up to his father a lot, but sometimes felt he lived in his shadow, especially because he hasn't seen any evidence of actually having powers. It was a big gamble even attending Sky High when it was a possibility he's never be a hero. Alex had no mother to speak of, and Thomas refused to answer any questions about her. There weren't even pictures of her around the house, and this has haunted Alex his whole life.
"Anyway, I just thought you'd need breakfast for your big day" Thomas stated.
"Yeah, I know, thanks dad" Alex said.
Alex ate his breakfast and went out to the bus stop, waiting for about 10 minutes before the bus arrived. He was apparently the last stop before they headed towards the school. His father warned him beforehand however, about the little surprise that awaited him on this bus. So when the bus drove off a cliff and began jetting towards the stratosphere, Alex was able to brace himself a little. It didn't help that much, he was still pretty jarred from the ride.
He and the rest of the freshman on the bus struggle to find their land legs as they unloaded from the bus. He had heard and read up on Sky High, but being here in person was way more magnificent than he could have imagined. This school was a half-sphere structure floating in the middle of the sky; it must've been 3 football fields long and wide. He adjusted to the altitude faster than he expected, which he assumed was due to a field generated by the school. He walked up these grand concrete steps with his bus group.
For the first time he actually analyzed the kids he was with, seeing mostly average looking kids. A couple did stand out though; there was a timid looking girl that looked like she belonged in a library, not fighting superhumans. Oddly enough, she was his type, silky brown hair and a small frame. Then there was a kid wearing a letterman jacket, walking with pseudo-swag like he owned the place. Alex already disliked him by his demeanor.
They arrived in the gym, and a platform was raised in the middle. A shiny ball of light flew past their heads and kind of shocked them. On the platform stood an older woman in business attire, who introduced herself as Principal Powers. She left us in another display of light and we were left with a man in really short shorts.
"Alright, this is Power Placement!" yelled the dude. "I'm Coach Boomer, and I will decide who is sorted into Hero…or Sidekick"
This guy was for real, at the end of each sentence he kind of…boomed. It was pretty annoying, but no one was gonna say anything. He started rambling about whiner babies, and then called off names on the roster. I wasn't really paying attention, because I was admiring the librarian girl.
"Rachel Quinn!" yelled Coach Boomer. That's when she walked up to the platform.
"So her name was Rachel, huh? I can dig it" thought Alex.
Rachel walked onto the platform standing next to Boomer, and she looked frantic. It looked like someone robber her and she was too shy to scream for help.
"Alright, what's your power?!" Boomer said a little impatiently.
"Well…I…uh, create illusions..." she said meekly.
"Show me" Boomer commanded.
At that moment, she vanished off stage into mist. It was like a curtain was pulled back, because soon everyone realized she never moved from the gym floor at all. Then she took it a step further and produced a second Coach Boomer next to the original, except this one was in a dress. We all burst out laughing, and Boomer looked a little unnerved.
"Hero!" he announced.
Rachel just gained so many points in everyone's book. Alex was kind of sad though, because now he knew she wouldn't be in Hero Support with him. The jock got called up next, whose name turned out to be Blake Riener. Big shock, he had super strength and super endurance. Boomer called a car on him, and I was a little disappointed when it didn't crush him. He was obviously in Hero. Then the moment of truth came, Alex was called.
"Alexander Nikoli!" yelled Boomer.
Alex's heart skipped a couple of beats, and his palms were perspiring. He managed to get on the platform with all of his willpower. Coach Boomer did a double-take on him.
"You're…Soul Eater's kid?" he asked hesitantly.
"Umm, yeah" Alex squeaked.
Then a look of disgust came across his face, a look that Alex has seen before. A look he saw now even scattered among some of the freshman on the floor. "Fuck this" Alex thought, enraged. So Soul Eater wasn't exactly respected in the super hero community, but was he seriously paying for the sins of his father? Then a comment came from the group below that tore him from the inside.
"Your father's not a hero!" came from Blake.
"What the hell did you say!? Say that to my face!" Alex yelled back at him.
"ENOUGHH, what's your power!?" boomed Coach Boomer.
"I don't frickin know!" Alex spat back.
A look of surprise and irritation came across Boomer's face, then a look of satisfaction. He pushed Alex's chest a little.
"C'mon kid, don't screw with me haha" he said.
"Like I said, I don't have powers yet" Alex replied.
"SIDEEKICKK!" Boomer yelled with a grin.
Alex was literally thrown off the stage by the force of his voice. He pushed himself up, infuriated. Boomer looked down on him, smugly.
"Guess this is your old man's karma, huh?" which summoned a chuckle from the crowd.
Alex felt something bubbling in his chest. There was something that was trying to get out, and it scared him. He was blinded by anger though, and he unleashed it on Boomer.
"SHUUUUT UPPP!" Alex screamed, with the same power of Coach Boomer.
The coach was thrown to the other side of the gym, and hit a pillar with a *thud*. Everyone looked back and forth between the two with their jaws dropped. Alex felt close to blacking out, but he saw Rachel wink at him, and he couldn't help but grin.