DISCLAIMER: If you recognize it, I don't own it

It was a typical early November afternoon at Metro Academy. It was after school hours, and a good majority of the teachers remained at their desks to grade their students' papers for that day. Most of the students had already gone home, most likely to either do their homework or gorge themselves on their leftover Halloween candy until they were sick of it. This wasn't the case for the few kids who were stuck in detention, and one other boy who was staying after school of his own accord.

Miguel Dorado's honey-golden eyes stared intensely at the stark white flash cards in his hands, trying his hardest to memorize each fact on them. He had decided to stay after school that day to cram in a little extra studying for the big History test that was coming up the next day. If he didn't score at least a B, then he could say goodbye to TV, computer, and video game privileges for the next month. His father had always been a bit... strict, when it came to his grades, but it had only gotten worse as he got older. Being part of one of the more high-society families in the city, there were... appearances that had to be kept up. Just the thought of it gave Miguel a headache. Taking a brief break from the study session, he quickly ran a hand through his pitch black hair with red-and-orange-dyed bangs, and reached into his backpack to pull out some leftover Halloween candy he had snuck in that morning to snack on later, but in the process of pulling it out, his wallet had come loose from one of the inside pockets and fell to the floor. Groaning, Miguel reached down and picked up his wallet, and them proceeded to open it to look at the picture he kept inside. A small smile crept across his face at the at the sight of the photo.

It was of him on his 5th birthday, being held close, and tickled, by a lovely young woman, with near-porcelain white skin that matched his own (despite the Mexican heritage he got from his father). Her sandy brown hair cascaded in waves past her shoulders, and her hazel eyes sparkled with joy at the sound of her son's laughter, her brilliant smile mirroring his.

This was the last picture he had taken with his mother before... the accident.

It was almost 7 years ago to the day that tragedy struck the Dorado family, and took a beloved wife and mother away in a hellish blaze. A freak electrical fire had broken out in the Dorado home, and the entire house went up in flames almost instantly. Miguel's father, Santos, had a broken leg at the time from a sports accident a month earlier, which made it very difficult for him to reach Miguel's room upstairs. So Miguel's mother, Emily, sprinted up to her son's room while Santos was led outside by the firefighters who just arrived on the scene. Despite the smoke and flames, Emily somehow managed to reach her coughing and terrified, but thankfully still conscious, son and signaled the firemen to their location. As a fireman frantically climbed the ladder to reach the upstairs bedroom window, Emily could hear creaking and groaning due to the ceiling support beams above them weakening due to the blaze, and large flames were now blocking the doorway to the room. In a last effort to save her only child, she managed to safefully pass Miguel to the fireman who was just about halfway up the ladder. The terrified 5-year-old shook and buried his face into the fireman's neck as he was held close to his chest with one arm, the other gripping the ladder to support the both of them. And just as Emily was about to climb out the window herself, the support beams of the ceiling gave way, sending it all crashing down on top of her. Even though Miguel had not seen what happened, his blood still ran cold and tears streamed down his face as the sirens of the ambulance and firetrucks, along with the firemen yelling and his father's anguished screams, rang out in the night.

It took many years of therapy before Miguel could even look at a flame without going into a panic attack. He may not be deathly afraid of fire anymore, but he still hates it.

Ever since that horrid night, his father had become more protective of him than ever. Other than school, he was barely, if not never allowed out of his father's sight. He never got to do what he wanted. It was always his father's way. The "safe way", as he put it.

The sound of several pairs of sneakers squeaking along the hallway suddenly pulled Miguel out of his dark memories. Curious, he stood up and peeked out the door to see who it was. It was the group of detention kids, heading down the hall to the lobby, and upon further inspection, he noticed a lone bus was parked in front of the school. He then remembered that every now and again, those who got detention got to go on some kind of field trip after school, probably to try to teach them a lesson to "better themselves". It never worked, though. Despite that, he had always been curious to see where those field trips go to.

He should have just ignored it. He should have just sat back down at that desk, gone back to studying for a bit longer, then rode his bike home. That would've been the safe thing to do. What his father would've wanted him to do. Any other day, he would have. But not today.

With a sudden burst of rebellion, and against his better judgement, Miguel grabbed his notes and wallet, stuffed them into his backpack, and took off after the detention kids.

By the time he caught with them, the last kid, a brown-haired boy by the name of Sanjay, was about to climb onto the bus. Miguel quietly boarded the bus right after him, met with a bored expression from the bus driver, and several confused looks from the other detention kids as soon as they noticed him. Sanjay and his blonde friend Joao did a brief double take upon seeing him, the latter of the two stopping in mid-chew of whatever Halloween candy he'd been munching on. Jane curiously raised an eyebrow at him, the pink roller-skates she practically lived in causing her feet to slightly roll back and forth on the floor. They were usually the Chinese-American girl's cause of being sent to detention, as she was too stubborn to take them off. Miguel then barely dodged a spitball shot at him by the goth boy with shaggy, dark purple hair that covered his eyes. The only one who showed a more optimistic reaction to him was the youngest member of the group, 7-year-old Sasha. The little Russian-American girl, hugging her favorite doll close to her, simply grinned, showing a cute little gap where a front tooth used to be, and waved at him, her blond curls slightly bouncing as she did so. How a sweet, adorable little girl like her always wound up in detention was a mystery to him. Despite his nervousness at the situation, he smiled and waved back at her. He silently begged whatever holy deity was listening that the other kids wouldn't say anything and result in him getting kicked off the bus before this little adventure of his even had the chance to start. Then, a voice answered his prayers.

"Hey, Miguel! Back here, man!"

His sight following the voice to the back of the bus, he smiled with relief when he saw his best friend, Jerome Fiyero, grinning at him, braces shining, and motioning to his seat, signaling that Miguel could sit with him. Miguel made a beeline for the back seat, and sat next to the middleweight African-American, shortly before the bus took off. Jerome and Miguel had been friends since first grade, and they always had each other's back, no matter what. And despite looking like he could be the next big rapper if he tried, the hip-hop music industry was the last thing on Jerome's mind when it came to an occupation. What he really wanted to be was an author. One would usually find him scribbling down a short story in a notebook he carried with him everywhere. In fact, that was what he was doing at that very moment as he looked at Miguel, his chestnut brown eyes holding a questioning look.

"Why are you even on this bus, Miguel?" he whispered, so the bus driver couldn't hear. "You weren't in detention today. Heck, you're never in detention!"

"I know", Miguel replied, smiling sheepishly. "It's just... I've seen the detention kids go on these field trips, always wondering where that bus goes to, and... I just couldn't help myself. I was curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat, you know", another voice said coolly. Miguel looked up at the voice, and his heart nearly jumped into his throat when his honey-golden eyes met the vivid, almost toxic green that were staring intensely at him. The owner of those eyes, leaning over the back of the seat in front of them, with a sly smirk on her face, was Xenon Penumbra.

Xenon Penumbra was a mischievous and mysterious girl, not to mention one of the most notorious pranksters in Metro Academy. But unlike most of her fellow troublemakers, she had a specific target for her tricks and pranks. Bullies and Mean Girls, to be precise. If she feels you've wronged somebody who didn't deserve it, expect to suffer her unique form of justice. This had happened so often, that she had been dubbed "Karma", by a good majority of the student body. But her life outside of school is surrounded in rumor and mystery, as far as her fellow students were concerned. Some say she's a witch who can disappear into the shadows themselves. Others say that they've seen her hanging out in the old graveyard, talking to either herself, or someone that isn't there. Only one person knows the real Xenon Penumbra, and that someone was sitting right next to Miguel.

Xenon was also Jerome's cousin on his mother's side, but they hardly looked related at all. While Jerome's skin resembled dark chocolate, hers was more along the lines of mocha. His hair, thick and curly. Her hair, straight as a pin. And while his face and eyes were round and friendly, hers were thin and angular. To put it bluntly, they couldn't have been more different, but that didn't mean they didn't care about one another. They were family, after all.

"Xenon, stop doing that!" Jerome said in a mock scolding tone. "You're gonna give someone a heart attack one of these days!"

Xenon only chuckled in response. "Yes, Dad", she replied with a smirk, sarcastically rolling her eyes.

Meanwhile, Miguel's stomach was doing acrobatic flips, and his face felt incredibly hot from that brief, but intense moment when Xenon's eyes bore into his, almost as if she were reading his soul like a book. It's how he always felt during those rare moments that his gaze met hers. Despite her trouble-making streak and mysterious background, there wasn't a day that went by that she didn't go through his mind at least once. There were plenty of other girls in Metro Academy, but she was the only one that made him feel like he could just melt at her very touch. He would never be brave enough to say it out loud, let alone to her face, but Miguel had fallen good and hard for Xenon.

"So, you finally developed that rebellious streak, huh?" another female voice asked jokingly, pulling Miguel out of his thoughts. He looked up again to see the young Japanese-American girl with short, messy black hair with the tips of her bangs dyed purple, who was sitting next to Xenon now looking at him with amusement on her face. He smirked back at her, his stomach finally settling and his blush fading.

"Yeah. It was only a matter of time, right Ivy?"

Taiko "Ivy" Tomago was Xenon's best friend and partner in crime. When one was pulling a prank, the other was never too far behind. Although, Ivy's ideas of pranks were a bit more... "down and dirty" than Xenon's. Heck, once she filled a bucket with the most disgusting things she could find, and hung it over the door to the principal's office! It was a miracle she wasn't suspended, let alone expelled, after that little stunt.

"So, Ivy, what are you in for this time?" Miguel asked.

"Let me guess", Jerome intersected with a smirk. "You got into a fight with Goth Kid. Again."

Ivy's face turned pink in embarrassment. Luka Ramirez, or "Goth Kid" as everyone else called him, was the purple-haired boy who had shot a spitball at Miguel earlier, and was also Ivy's pranking rival and crush, although she would never admit to the latter. They were constantly at each other's throats, which would usually end up with both of them in detention, bloodied and bruised.

"So that's why you had a bloody nose earlier!" Xenon exclaimed. "Man, he must've gotten you good!"

"Yeah, but I got him right back!" Ivy boasted. "Pretty sure I nearly broke his nose."

Miguel shook his head as Jerome and Xenon laughed in response. He then decided to ask the question that had been nagging him since he boarded the bus.

"So, do any of you guys know where this field trip is headed?"

Jerome and Ivy shook their heads, and Xenon had an annoyed look on her face.

"Don't know, and frankly, don't care", she replied. "Besides, it's just going to be as boring as all the others. Right, guys?" Sanjay, Joao, Jane and Goth Kid grumbled in agreement. Sasha just watched the conversation with curiosity.

"You don't know that for sure", Miguel replied. "Who knows? This one could be different."

Xenon rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right."

"I'm serious!" Miguel said. "In fact, I'm willing to bet on it!"

Xenon almost immediately perked up at this, the spark in her eyes almost visible. She could never resist a good wager, especially when the odds were in her favor. "Is that so~?"

"Well... yeah."

A sly smirk crept across Xenon's face, similar to a snake that just cornered its prey. "Alright. But remember, every wager has its stakes. If I win, and this trip is as boring as all the rest, you have to my homework for the next 2 weeks."

Miguel gulped in apprehension, but put on a brave face. "Okay. But if I win, and something interesting actually does happen... we hang out this Friday. Just you and me."

Xenon eyebrows raised in surprise, while Jerome and Ivy, along with the other kids who were now listening in on the duo's little bet, went slack-jawed at Miguel's sudden boldness.

"Miguel", Xenon started with a smile after a few moments. "Are you... asking me out?"

Miguel's face flushed so red with embarrassment that it nearly matched with the red sweater vest of his school uniform.

"N-No!" he stammered. "I mean, i-it doesn't have to be a d-date if you don't want it to be! But if y-you do want it to be, that's p-perfectly fine! I'm willing to g-go with whichever you-" his ranting was silenced by Xenon placing a finger over his mouth, which made his eyes widen and his already deep blush intensify tenfold. She couldn't help but snicker at his red-faced, deer-in-the-headlights expression.

"You know, you're kinda cute when you're nervous", she told him with a smirk. She then removed her finger from his mouth, and held out her hand for him to shake. "You've got yourself a deal, Golden Boy."

Their small audience held their breaths as they waited for what would happen next. Miguel's blush slowly faded as he hesitantly shook her hand. The bet was on.