Disclaimer: The Incredibles belongs to brad Bird, Pixar, etc. I own my OC.

I was going to wait to start posting this story on FFN, but my friend made me, so sorry if this chapter isn't that great. It's just a prologue, and it's still un beta'd.

Also, to anyone in Ohio, whether or not there is an actual place called Fairwaters, it's a figment of my imagination for this story's purposes, kay? Sorry if it offends anyone!

October, 1998 Fairwaters, Ohio

That new kid, the one with red hair…

The "popular table" in the cafeteria of Fairwaters High in Ohio was abuzz about the recent new transfer, the one sitting by himself, doodling and writing something or other. The populars of Fairwaters were completely ruthless, being residents the richest neighborhoods, born of the most coddling parents, and drivers of the nicest cars…a social outcast's worst nightmare

"Anyone know who he is?" Anna, the tall blonde girl, piped in, peering over her friends' heads at that loner.

"He's in my physics class." The table looked at Melody, the quietest of the group with billowing brown hair and large doe-eyes to match.

"Physics?" said Robin, easily the best-looking boy in the group. Everyone knew that he had THE most unbelievable crush on Melody…except Melody herself. "Sounds like a REAL geek."

"Whatever," Melody said carelessly, drumming her fingers on her own physics textbook in annoyance. "His name's Buddy."

"Buddy." Robin repeated with a derisive snort. "Sounds like a real stud. Your type, eh?"

"Don't you know who he is? That's the kid who got put on house arrest or something for stalking Mr. Incredible," Anna said in a conspiratorial whisper. "And I heard he got expelled from his old school for being crazy and wanting to kill everybody—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Robin said. "Mr. Incredible…as in the super?"

"No, the English-Lit teacher—duh, the super, Rob." Melody muttered.

"What a psycho," he laughed dismissively. Then, the bell rang, signaling that they needed to get to class. The three who had been conversing at their center table made for the door when the red-headed object of their attentions stood up in their path. Robin, who had still been polishing off his can of rootbeer, bumped into him, sending the contents spilling all over the floor, and all four teens' shirts.

"Watch where you're going, freak," he snapped.

"You watch it," he said in what would have been a menacing tone, had his voice been…not the most uber-masculine. Robin just gave another arrogant huff and chuckle.

"God, what's your problem, Robin?" Melody groaned, trying to wipe the rootbeer stain off of her textbook with a spare napkin she swiped off of the table. She looked at the redhead, who hadn't even acknowledged her presence before she spoke up. "Sorry, we forgot to give him his medication. He's got issues," she said sarcastically. "I'm Melody Excelsior."

He paused for a moment, looking suspiciously at the girl. She didn't seem like much of a threat—fairly short, a "babyface" which she no doubt used to kiss up to teachers. But she was obviously popular. He could tell that by looking at these people now. If he could hang around this school longer than he'd been able to at the others, she'd be able to help him get one up on these small town hicks.

"Buddy Pine," he said, trying to sound more polite than what was natural, all the while cringing at that horrible name that his parents just had to give him.

"All right, well, see you in physics, I guess." She replied with a shrug, walking away with her posse once again. He looked over his shoulder as she left and gave tiny smirk before walking off in the opposite direction.

"Yeah, sure." He muttered. "See you."

It turned out that Robin and Buddy happened to have the same next class…English-Lit. The teacher sat them relatively close to each other, and in the middle of his lecture, Robin poked Buddy with his pencil.

"Hey, new kid." He muttered.

"What?" Buddy replied through gritted teeth.

"What do you think of Mel?" he asked with a covert smirk. "I mean, she's smart…"

A real plus, and a rarity in these country bumpkins, Buddy thought…

"Pretty…"

Hadn't considered that, but yeah…"Yeah, so what are you getting at?" Buddy snapped irately.

"Just checking, don't need to bite," Robin said. "See, her boyfriend's worried, seeing as five guys have tried to ask her to the Winter Ball. Not including him,"

"Her boyfriend?" Buddy couldn't help but ask. He was slightly disappointed…

"Oh, yeah," Robin chuckled. "Malcolm Scott? He's the biggest guy on the football team…You didn't think she was single, did you?"

"Nah," Buddy replied. "No way." Hoped it, maybe, but didn't expect it.

For being in such a small town, there was a large amount of students at Fairwaters that had cars. It seemed that Buddy was the only one walking home, being careful to avoid being hit by the reckless drivers that happened to swerve on and off the sidewalk. He began to walk at a faster pace, just to make sure he didn't end up getting his shoes run over or something.

He had taken to looking away from the street, just because it was too much of a near-trauma to look at the cars filled with people his age, bouncing and yelling. How dumb, he thought.

"Hey!" Someone said. She turned to look and saw Melody in her black convertible…

Of course she has a car. I wouldn't be surprised if she had ten. Spoiled brat. He thought. Not that she even looks old enough to be driving in it.

"Need a ride anywhere?" she asked, picking her backpack up off of the passenger seat and throwing it into the space behind her. Buddy weighed his options. This girl was friends with that airhead, Robin, after all. This could be some plot to crash him into a tree or something. But anything was better than walking the mile home while running the risk of being hit.

"Sure." He said, getting in.

"Where do you live?" she asked, flicking on the stereo.

"Sedgewick Terraces." Buddy answered shortly. Why? Gonna send your posse to TP the place?

"No way!" Melody laughed. "I live there too. Weirdness,"

"Blows your mind, huh?" he said sarcastically. "So, you're going to Winter Ball with your boyfriend?" Dude, where'd that come from?

"Boyfriend?" Melody asked incredulously. At the nearest stop sign, she paused and looked at Buddy, raising an eyebrow.

"Your boyfriend. Robin said…" he was beginning to get the feeling that he'd been gullible for the first time in his life. But he had to make sure. "Malcolm Scott?"

Melody kept the same expression on her face for a fair few seconds, then burst out laughing. Buddy looked at her as though she had grown an extra pair of noses. "I'm sorry," she laughed breathlessly. "It's just that…Malcolm's my cousin! Never believe what Robin says about me. The guy hates me," She paused, regained her composure, and began driving again. "Besides, I've gone stag to every dance we've ever had. Everyone knows that."

"Oh." He said. Relief, he thought, I need someone in this school who won't ignore me, and who better than the place's resident princess?

"You should go," she pointed out.

What the… "Really?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Both of them being in their senior year, it's hard to tell what was more unusual: that she had never had a date to a dance, or that he had never gone to one at all. Fortunately, the question's answer had to wait. "This is me," he said, gesturing to house.

"The coincidences never end, do they?" Melody laughed, stopping and getting out of the car. She pointed at the house across the street. "This is me." She flashed him one last smile then hurried off to her door.

Bullseye he thought with a smirk.

Whatever his original intentions were, and regardless of any initial misgivings about the entire thing, Buddy ended up becoming good friends with Melody. Regardless of the fact that he had a very undesirable attitude to everyone else, Melody still seemed to enjoy, or at least tolerate, his company.

Melody didn't give up her seat with Anna and Robin at lunch, however. Externally, things remained the same. The only time they were ever with one another was after school. Mel had made a habit of giving him a ride whenever she came across him walking home, and they'd end up at one another's houses. Melody had even begun to confide in him, whether she knew she was doing it or not.

Which is why it came as a surprise when Buddy looked out of his window one Saturday morning and saw a large moving van across the street. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw Melody and her brother hauling their couch into the truck.

He pulled on a sweatshirt and ran outside, quickly regretting the fact that he was just wearing socks and no shoes. He went towards Melody, who was arguing loudly with her older brother, who, in all fairness, was a grown man who hardly had a right to be arguing with his kid sister.

"This is all your fault, Simon." Melody snapped. "If you had just watched what you were doing—"

Her older brother cut her off and nodded towards Buddy—the two had a mutual dislike for one another.

"Hey, what goes on?" Buddy asked, jutting his shoulder into Simon's side, making it obvious that he wanted him to move out of the way.

"Um…" Melody began weakly. She obviously couldn't lie and say the moving van was there for no reason, but she also couldn't say why they really had to leave. Besides, she didn't want to think about the fight her family had gotten into over it two nights before. "My…uh…dad….got a new job." She said. "He got promoted to manager."

"Gotcha," Buddy chuckled. "So you guys are moving uptown! Sweet! I hear the places up there are like mansions—"

"Actually," Simon interrupted, blatantly butting Buddy out of the way, then standing next to his younger sister with a protective arm around her shoulder. "We're moving to Baltimore."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the onions there, pizza face," he said. WhileSimon obviously took offense to the statement, Melody tried hard not to laugh. "I think I had something in my ear for a sec…you mean Baltimore, Ohio, right? Meaning IN THIS STATE?"

"Yeah, I was gonna mention that…" Melody said uncomfortably. "There is no Baltimore, Ohio, as far as I know. We're moving to Maryland."

"Yeah, so say bye, all right?" Simon snapped. Both seventeen-year-olds narrowed their eyes at him. "All right, all right! Whatever." Simon waved a hand dismissively and walked away.

The next day, there was no longer any residents in the big white house in Sedgewick Terraces.

"Nyeh…" Buddy muttered to himself. "She was distracting me anyway. I have bigger fish to fry."

He thought back to his one-time hero, Mr. Incredible. He'd almost forgotten about him. But he was back on track now, and he was ready to get down and dirty.