Author's note: NO copyright infringment intended. I do not own Sky High or any of the characters. I am merely writing this FANfiction (clue is in the name people!) to eleviate my own boredom. Enjoy the randomness that is my mind. This is my first fic so pleace be kind, but any reviews are appreciated! The first chapter follows the film, the next will be my own idea of the wonderful Layla/Warren relationship. xx
Layla was beyond the complex thoughts that plagued her. She couldn't face the confusing mess of emotions that came from them; the mix of anger, fear, loneliness. For once she didn't want to think, she just wanted to act, and for once she did. It went beyond all her rational instincts to ask Warren to homecoming but then jealousy isn't a very rational emotion.
She sat there in the Paper Lantern. Waiting. The solitary girl went unnoticed by the happy couples sharing intimate moments in the privacy of their booths, but there she was, silently observing them, passing the time.
It was gone eight and dark outside but she didn't care. He'd said that he would be here and she believed him; Will wouldn't forget, he had asked her here. She looked around the cosy restaurant, her favourite in town. The small room seemed busy this evening. Each booth was occupied and several tables were full. Candles flickered as the breathy conversations of excited couples hit their delicate flames. The eponymous red lanterns were glowing across the room and a sensual tune played in the background. The Chinese was the favourite date spot of local couples with its luxurious atmosphere, cheap alcohol and gorgeous food, but Layla sighed and forced herself to remember, chanting two words continuously to herself; best friend.
She hadn't had much experience with guys, but this seemed so much like a date to her. They had never actually eaten out alone before and Will had asked her to her favourite restaurant, which he hated, just to please her. She was struggling to contain the hope that was building; convincing her of the crazy notion that maybe, just maybe, this was a date. She just had to remember Will didn't see it the same way she did. He didn't see her that way; to him she was still the little girl from next door who used to share his kiddie pool. They had known each other too long for them to logically feel anything other than platonic love and yet her feelings had blossomed like the plants that sprouted at her command. She wasn't sure when it had happened but she no longer saw him as the annoying boy who used to pull her hair and scribble on her drawings. He had changed so much since then. They both had. But he still meant so much to her. So when he'd replaced her at lunch and just looked straight through her after save the citizen, it hurt more then she let on, but not as much as being left to sit here alone in her booth.
The sour faced waitress appeared at her table, holding her notepad expectantly. "I'll give him a few more minutes." Layla told her, looking over her shoulder at the door. The woman just rolled her eyes and turned away to her next customer; she'd obviously seen this before but Layla refused to believe Will had stood her up. This behaviour wasn't like him and she was worried, letting her imagination run away only made it worse, as she envisioned the terrible events that must have taken place to prevent their meeting. Something happened to his parents; he was captured by one of their enemies; after all, this wasn't uncommon for the children of superheroes. It was quarter to now and as time slowly ticked on she heard no news. She was just making excuses for him, blaming others rather than accepting that her superman had let her down.
Why couldn't they be like a comic book? In those the men never did anything to hurt their counterpart. They would always rush to the girl's side and make any sacrifice to save her. Layla used to read the comics about superheroes and believe their powers were impossible, but now she was thinking that the romance was the impossibility. In real life romance was dead and love never lasted beyond the hushed words whispered in an intimate embrace under the sheets. She stared at the flower on her table and pointed all her resentment towards it, slowly letting go of her pent up emotions. The flower curled up on itself, withering away along with her hopes for the evening.
The restaurant was empty now. The staff went about their evening routines, stacking chairs and folding napkins, but still Layla waited, the last customer. The angry rumbling of her stomach had eventually forced her to order without Will but she had only picked at her meal, mainly pushing it around the plate, too distracted in her own thoughts to actually focus on the task at hand.
"Still working on that?" One of the waiters had appeared at her side and Layla knew she was the reason the staff wasn't able to leave. They had to remain open for her and, damn her niceness, she felt guilty, but her overwhelming emotion was anger. She was in no mood to worry what they thought. She'd had to sit here and wait for him and they could bloody well wait for her. Some part of her just couldn't leave. She still clung to the hope Will would show, she knew once she left she would have to accept what had happened and a little bit of her snapped, a first heartbreak, a first loss of innocence, chipped away part of the youthful naivety parents long to preserve. Looking up she met a pair of warm brown eyes; the source of the voice was a face she recognised.
"Hey", she said, forcing a cheerful accent into her voice. There was no way she would let anyone see how upset she was, especially Will's enemy.
"Hey", Peace replied, looking vaguely confused by the friendly response.
"We go to school together." She prompted and a look of dawning crossed his face as he nodded.
"You're Stronghold's friend." Maybe not after tonight she thought. But instead all that crossed her lips was a sighed "Yeah". It annoyed her that the only reason she was known was because of Will. They were always together, so where was he now? If he moved on and left her where would that leave them, where would it leave her? She would be invisible to everyone, a nobody, just another sidekick who wasn't worth the time of day.
"You want me to heat that up for you?" Was his polite question, steering them back to business. The guy obviously wasn't used to holding a conversation, probably because he tried to kill anyone who went near him, if the scene in the cafeteria was anything to go by. She knew from that little episode that Peace was no good but she didn't know he would be stupid enough to use his powers in public. He could get kicked out of school. Someone might see! But when she pointed out this simple fact she was met by an amused smirk. The naivety of her comment had him shifting towards her, "I was just going to stick it in the microwave", he whispered conspiratorially. Layla smiled and tried to hide her embarrassment, willing the next thing that came out her mouth to be something vaguely intelligent. How could she be so wise and so ditsy at the same time? She was act acting like a moronic twelve year old with a first crush.
"Um. I was supposed to be meeting Will here but erm…" That was not a good start, she hadn't even managed to produce a whole sentence and was now fairly certain if she mentioned Will again she would either scream or cry. She needed to keep her mind off him."Do you want to sit down?" She asked eventually, gesturing at the seat opposite her. He may not have been the friendliest person met at school but he was civil and present. At least she would have someone to talk to rather than looking completely pathetic. He looked around him, as if checking they were alone and she panicked that he too would reject her; maybe he would be too embarrassed to be seen with the freshman sidekick, but he complied, sliding smoothly into the seat she offered.
When Peace lit their candle she found the warmth he emitted enough to calm her and the gesture itself seemed so sweet it was difficult to be afraid of him, despite the intimidating show of powers she had witnessed from him earlier. Layla had always been fascinated by pyrokinesis. The power was so different to hers. Her growth was creative while the fire always seemed so destructive, but her power could not exist with his. Plants need energy, heat and light to grow and that came from the sun. The fire.
As Peace sat, Layla studied him. She knew from the fight that his passion and anger burned as brightly within him as the flames he emitted, but now he seemed so much more serene; he moved slowly and gracefully and she realised that he was like the fire himself. He could be friendly and warm like the candlelight, as peaceful as the wood fire in a lover's grate and harsh and untameable like a forest fire; there were so many sides to him and he was enthralling; mysterious and beautiful to watch. It wasn't just because of his looks, he wasn't really her type of course, Layla loved Will, but she recognised he was extremely attractive; with his expressive features, bronzed skin and dark hair it was nearly impossible not to consider him an Adonis, after all she was only human. The brooding bad boy never really worked for her and she knew better than to get involved with someone labelled the school psychopath, but she found that she was enchanted by his deep voice, considered movements and the haunting look of his eyes, which contained an undistinguishable mix of emotions. She felt an explained desire to get to know him, to learn the secrets of someone so complex.
She shook herself out of her reverie, pushed those thoughts aside, opened her mouth and proceeded to talk about the first thing that came to mind. Will. Will was her reflex answer, she was uncomfortable talking about herself and since she considered Will's life more interesting then hers she brought him into conversations, people always wanted to know more when they found out who his parents were. But since she knew Warren didn't care about his impressive heroic lineage, this time she found herself talking about how they met. The lima bean story brought back fond memories, and with longing for a simpler time, a sad smile slid across her face. Catching the look Peace asked, "falling for him, was that before or after the lima beans?"
Layla had always been so careful to hide her emotions. No one knew about her feeling for Will and yet this guy she had known for about an hour had seen through her pretence. She wasn't the kind of person who judged someone based on their appearance but Layla found she was shocked at how perceptive a guy who spent most his time scowling could be about emotions and the desire to understand him returned. She felt vulnerable in the knowledge he seemed able to read her and she longed to even the playing field but her lies and quick denial no longer sounded convincing, even to her own ears.
"Is it that obvious?" She sighed.
Warren nodded and looked almost sympathetic. "You know what I think?" He asked. "To let true love remain unspoken is the quickest route to a heavy heart."
Layla had not been expecting an insightful comment from Peace, and even though the illusion of his understanding nature was ruined upon him producing the fortune cookie proverb, his words still resonated with her. As he was called away by his rather angry sounding boss, Layla decided it was time for her to leave. Peace had given her a lot to think about and the sound of her feet on the pavement mixed with the cool night air helped clear her mind. She found that she had enjoyed her evening and the company and the outside perspective had helped. She would do it. Tomorrow morning she would ask Will to homecoming, seize the love, or what ever the hell the cookie thing had said.
Layla stood at the bus stop, fortune cookie in hand and a nervous fluttering in her stomach. She didn't want to think about what she would do if he said no. She knew that if she thought too much she wouldn't be able to do it, her mind usually prevented her from doing things this stupid but she couldn't stop her morbid thoughts. As she saw Will approaching her, her heart skipped a beat as it always did, his easy smile was directed at her but the apprehension increased, her stomach in knots. As he bounded up to her completely oblivious to the pain he had caused, leaving her alone in that restaurant and she was able to focus on something other then panic as she felt her anger return.
Layla held out the cookie but Will, clueless as ever, failed to recognise it for what it signalled until he read the fortune, your loyalties are clear when it comes to friends. A guilty look crossed his face, which she took a perverse pleasure in, at least he would know some of the pain she went through. She wanted to prolong his suffering, but, as he reached the constant apologising phase, her anger melted away. He was her superman and would always come through for her; she knew that he would make it up to her however he could. So when he said he had some news about homecoming, Layla had actually believed he would ask her to complete his apology. What she had not been expecting was "I'm going with Gwen Grayson". That simple sentence had brought her world crashing down.
It was so absurd; she was trying to tell her best friend how in love with him she was when he was completely infatuated with another girl. Why did she think this had been a good idea? Will was completely oblivious to her emotions, he didn't know she loved him, he couldn't even tell that right now her heart was breaking. She obviously wasn't even as good at her pretence as she believed; Warren had seen right through it. So why didn't Will? He had known her all his life and he still didn't understand her.
Layla felt completely…completely. She could find the correct word to describe how she felt. She was numb. She couldn't comprehend the situation she had found herself in. She was no longer listening to Will's heart breaking excitement but awful fragments of what he was saying made it through to her; I'm going with the most amazing girl at Sky High. That one hurt. Wasn't she amazing? What made Gwen so perfect? She just wanted to go home, but the school day hadn't even begun. Useless comparisons between Gwen and herself pounded in her head. Gwen was taller than her, a brunette, smarter than her, older than her, confident, more experienced, beautiful. There was nothing she could do to change half these things. Will would obviously never feel the same way. Gwen had proved Layla just wasn't his type but she just couldn't accept it. She now knew it would never happen for them but how did she move forwards? Knowing it won't happen doesn't stop the desire and Layla had spent so long dreaming. The self-pitying thoughts were pushed away by Will's next question. "Who are you going with?"
That question, "Who are you going with?" It echoed in her head taunting her. She searched desperately in the blankness of her mind for an answer to give. Beginning to panic. She didn't know any guys but suddenly, there it was flickering in the corner, igniting a flame of hope. She smirked, knowing the perfect name that would piss him off.
"Warren Peace."
His reaction was better than she had anticipated. He spent the remainder of the day complaining about her choice of date, but she couldn't tell whether he was angry that it was Warren or just jealous about her going with someone else. Frankly, she didn't give a rat's ass, because as the day wore on she grew more resentful towards him. How dare he tell her who she could go with? He was such a hypocrite! He criticised her choice when she had been nothing but polite and supportive about his. All she really wanted to do was point out that Gwen had the style of a four year old playing with her Barbie and the personality of a lettuce leaf, which covered the super bitch tendencies lurking just under the surface. But Layla refused to sink to Will's level. He had shown no consideration of her feeling when he announced she would go with Gwen. Will had made his choice and she made hers clear when she left him standing in the cafeteria doorway with a shocked look on his face and slammed her tray down opposite Warren.
Layla had never been one for irrational decisions. She always had to consider things from both sides, look at the problems logically and maybe make a list of pros and cons, a secret habit she had picked up trying to organise her chaotic mother, but for once she acted on impulse. She found it kind of exhilarating to do something so completely unexpected of her and though she was sure she would later regret her choice, Will's response had been completely worth it. When she propositioned Warren with her ridiculous request it took everything she had not to run away. She needed this plan to work. She needed to watch Will suffer. Every time she saw Gwen and Will together something inside her tore a little bit more. She was breaking. She had lost herself, lost her idealistic version of how things should be. The world just didn't seem fair anymore. Bad things didn't just happen to bad people. So she was going to make them happen. Layla didn't know how to put herself back together so she would tear them part instead. She needed to make him feel how she did, the same consuming jealousy. So she held her own under Warren's angry stare, simply returning his look of contempt, despite the fact she wanted nothing more than to curl in embarrassment. When he finally agreed to her idiotic plan she knew she had started something that she shouldn't have. Her plan would rapidly spiral out of her control.