A/N: Hola! I have a bad case of writers block for my Covenant fic, and this is the result! Just to let you know; there has been TONS of changes to this from last names (Selena's original last name was Warpath), POV's (I started as Selena's POV) to powers (Selena's original power was weather control but I noticed that was already taken in a fic very similar to the way this one was going to be so I changed it.) so if you see anything funky please just ignore it. This fic was inspired by the "I Melt With You" music video and that was going to be the title before I saw that that was used more than once already. As of right now it is not a Warren/OC fic but maybe it will become one, I'm not sure yet let me know what you think I should do. WHICH BRINGS ME TO ANOTHER POINT: I'm in love with reviews! They cure my writers block. They're like cheesecake to me, and I love cheesecake!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Sky High. Not even a copy of it, I saw it in theatres and watch it at my dad's house because his girlfriends 10-YEAR-OLD son owns it. I felt immature when he started qouting it with me at the dinner table one day. I didn't know he owned it so I started talking about lima beans and he joined in. My dad gave us a weird look and I felt silly. Haha! If I did own it though, I'd give myself a role. . . The role of Freeze-Girl because I think Warren looks smokin' (no pun intended) at Homecoming. . . Well he looks smoking all the time but he looked awesome in a tux.
Okay. I'm shutting up now! Basically what I'm trying to say is; don't sue, m'kay?
--CoverGirlxx
"So tell us, what is your name?" his loud, booming voice when he said the last thee words made her jump. She wasn't expecting anything like that. The large gymnasium was stocked full of rabid high school students, all of which were staring and snickering and the sixteen year old blonde in the middle of the platform. She shoved her hands in her pockets awkwardly ignoring the bits of their conversations she could pick up.
"Selena," she told the coach in her quiet voice. He kept his clipboard clutched by his side.
"Selena," he mocked her voice making it sound like a young childs. "Selena what?!" he was back to his abnormally loud voice. Selena heard more students laugh and looked at the people surrounding the platform.
"Selena Taylor." she tried to sound more confident in herself to stop the laughing. So far it wasn't working.
"No doubt you're going to be a sidekick." He mumbled looking down at his clipboard. "Power up."
You might be wondering what had happened to Selena to end up in this position. Well, it's only fair to explain, so let's bring it back by a little over a week shall we?
"Selena, you're going to be late for school!" her mother was a tyrant when it came to school. She couldn't imagine what the lady would do if she knew Selena was ever late for school, and she's glad she never found out about all the times that she had been.
"Just a minute, mom!" she called from the light blue, tiny bathroom, her mouth was full of toothpaste. She spit it out quickly and ducked her head under the sink to rinse out my mouth.
Selena ran down the stairs, almost tripping when she reached the landing. "Ow! What the crap?!" she looked down at the Power Rangers action figure she had tripped over. "Shane! Pick up your toys!"
A nine year old boy poked his head out from around the corner, pointed at her and laughed. "Ugh! Stupid bother." she mumbled throwing the toy up the stairs, then continuing down the next flight slowly.
"Hey baby. You're going to be late for the field trip," her mother passed her a slice of toast before she heard the knock on the door.
"That's Jake. I'll see you when I get back, Mom." Selena gave her a swift hug before running for the door. She was right, Selena didn't want to be late for the trip to the beach.
She stuck her feet in the pink flip flops hastily, grabbed her bag, shoved the last bit of toast in her mouth and opened the door. "Hurry up; we're going to be late." Selena rolled her eyes then waved to her mother one last time before closing the door all the way.
Jake was her boyfriend, and has been for around a month. Not long, she knew, but she also knew that he was awesome, and quite the gentleman.
"So are you excited about the beach?" he asked taking his girlfriends hand as they walked down the driveway. Selena shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess." she tried to seem casual, but the truth was that she was really excited. She'd been wanting to go to the beach for a while, but never got the chance.
"You guess? I thought you were really pumped about it?" Selena noticed that Jake had also been paying a lot of attention when she spoke. 'He is definitely too good to be true', she thought, smiling and blushing at her thoughts. "Did you see the news this morning?" Selena shook her head,
"No, why?"
"The Commander and Jet Stream were on it."
"Oh really?" she asked intrigued, "What did they do this time?"
"What they always do. Save the world," he laughed then went into deep thought. "I wonder what it would be like to be a super hero. . ." he trailed on.
If Selena was being honest, she always wondered the same thing. She'd imagined what it would be like to fly, or have super strength. Although, it would be awkward to see a small, sixteen year old lifting a semi truck.
The waves licked up against the sandy shore, then retreated again. The sounds of the water, seagulls, and people screaming could be heard all around the beach, and the blue sky was at it's sunniest.
"Stay between the flags!" called the chaperone as Jake and Selena ran for the water. They raced to see who could get in the fastest.
"You won't beat me!" Jake shouted a few paces in front of Selena, at the same time he looked back at her and stumbled. She laughed and ran past him.
Selenas feet hit the water a few seconds before his, and she dunked under quickly. When she came back up Jake was smiling at her, his messy blonde hair was still dry.
"You're crazy." He laughed, only in the water waist deep.
"Crazy, or just faster than you?" she teased taking a few steps backward, deeper into the water.
"Nope, I'm pretty sure you're crazy."
Selena went back under the freezing water, the numbness in her legs wearing down. When she came back up she noticed that she was further out, and Jake was still only in up to his waist.
"Is the water too cold for you?" Selena asked loudly enough for him to hear, a close by group of girls shot her a weird look. Jake shook his head,
"No, but you're almost past the flags." Selena looked behind her back, noticing the yellow and red flag blowing in the wind.
"Then come and get me." she said playfully, swimming closer to the flags. She could feel the current, and decided it wasn't that bad.
"Stop messing," he told her shaking his head slightly, but still smiling.
Selena stood up and slipped on the rock beneath her, flailing backwards into the cold water. And that's when it happened. The last thing she heard was Jake calling her name, and then her body was pulled deeper into the water. She had underestimated the power of the current, and was regretting it as she dragged out her breath, holding it for as long as she possibly could.
Selena had heard this was the worst way to die, and now realized how true that had been. She could feel her breath wasting, and knew she'd soon have none left before she died. Her light brown hair was dancing around her face, blinding her momentarily as her limbs fought against the turning riptide. You were supposed to swim parallel to the shore that much she knew, but she didn't know where the shore was anymore. She couldn't tell if she was crying, but she felt like she was. Selena wasn't sure how much time had passed when she decided nobody was coming to save her. She let out the last of her breath before everything went dark.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Selena's eyes opened slowly, barely focusing on the heart monitor. It was spiking up. She was happy because that meant she was still alive! She felt around at the wires hooked up to her body. One she knew immediately as an IV and her fear of needles didn't like that. She looked around the room, it was white, and had the bed she was in and a single green chair as furniture, the window over looked the hospital parking lot. It felt eerie, and she didn't like it.
"Oh, you're awake!" the voice that broke through the silence made Selena jump, "Your mother will be so pleased." she looked at the man that was standing in the doorway. His hair was a salt and pepper mixture, but his face looked too young to match it.
"Mom?" she choked out, the dryness of her throat hurt. The doctor smiled like he knew something she didn't, and waved down the hall to Selena's mother.
Paige Taylor ran into her daughter's room. "Baby! Oh, you're awake!" she had tears in her eyes, and she flung herself at the bed.
"Hey mom," Selena tried to clear her throat before talking, but that only made it hurt more. She assumed it was from the salt water that she'd inhaled. "I'm not dead." she tried to make it sound like a joke but her voice was incapable.
Mrs. Taylor finished her death hug, and sat in the single green chair at the foot of the bed. "Jake was worried," she told Selena and Selena couldn't help but think; 'and you weren't?' in a sarcastic tone. "He's on his way here, Dr. Melvin is calling him." Selena sat up slightly, feeling awkward in the hospital gown, especially since Jake was on his way. "You've been in a coma, we were terrified. Jake thought it was his entire fault, because he didn't swim out when you asked him too."
"A coma?" she choked out in shock, her mother got teary-eyed again as she nodded.
"You nearly drowned! What were you thinking?!" her tone went from the caring mother to the distressed parent in a second. Selena couldn't find words to respond.
'A coma. Wow.' She thought trying to process the fact. "How long?" Selena asked ignoring her mothers question. It wasn't like she meant to practically die. It was an accident.
Mrs. Taylor sighed, still looking teary-eyed and going back to her caring mother voice. "A week tomorrow."She saw the shock on Selena's face and got up to kneel next to the bed.
"That's crazy. It hasn't been a week." Ever been in a coma? If so then you'd know how fast the time can fly when you're unconscious. It was completely unbelievable for her.
"It's been a week." My mother nodded, putting her hands up to her face. "The school was wondering when you'd show up."
"What's going on at school?" she asked curiously. As if her day could get any worse.
"You're changing schools." Selena was completely thrown off, and showed it by jumping back and accidentally shouting something she'd never shout in front of her mother. Mrs. Taylor sighed, "You've got super powers."
Selena couldn't speak.
"The doctor here does also, and when they did a scan they realized a part of your brain was working over time." Selena still couldn't say anything. She was shocked! "They did some scans and blood work while you were out but they still haven't figured out what your power is. The results come back later today."
Selena tried to talk but her mouth just moved without any noise.
"Your grandfather had powers also," she looked at her mother confused. "He could control weather. His specialty was snowstorms." Paige Taylor was blubbering on now about a time when he'd caused a snow storm in the middle of the July.
Out of nowhere Selena found her voice again.
"What do you mean 'I have super powers' are you freaking kidding?" Selena asked, shocked. Her mother passed her a glass of water that was next to her.
"I know it's a lot to learn in one day. Your current school thinks we're moving you to the other high school. No-one is allowed to know the truth. Not even Jake."
"Y-you're serious." Selena stuttered, before chugging the cold water in one sip.
"Like I could pull this off otherwise." Her mother told her, and she had to admit; the woman had a point. This was some crazy shit. Mrs. Taylor put a hand in her daughters own.
"This is insane!" Selena mumbled,
"Just breathe in and out and try to calm down."
"Mom, I can't. Now stop it, you're going to give me a headache."
Mrs. Taylor went silent that instant.
"Ugh!" Selena groaned smashing the hospital pillow over her face. At the exact second her mom laughed the doctor walked in with Jake.
"Hiya Sel." Jake greeted nervously.
"Hey Jake." Selena pushed the pillow back behind her head. The doctor began to explain to her that she'd be able to leave in the morning.
"We're just going to have to watch you for a few hours to make sure you don't slip back into the coma. You gave us all quite a scare." More like; 'we're just going to have to ogle you until we figure out your power.'
Already she definitely didn't like this power and she didn't even know what it was. She thought it would make her a freak. It would set her out from all her friends at school. School. She was going to have to switch schools. But why? Where did people with super powers go? She thought.
It was hard not to give anything away in her expression at first and Jake seemed a little worried when she made one of frustration. Selena was ranting on in her head about school hoping that the doctors' power wasn't mind reading.
"No, I'm fine." she reassured Jake. He looked suspicious of her so she gave an encouraging smile. She felt kind of bad for not completely listening to him but she knew what he'd be saying anyway, and at the moment she was trying to figure out something much more important.
"I'm sorry Jake, but it's late and I'm tired." He looked sad and Selena felt bad for rejecting him only minutes after he'd arrived. She could only imagine what he'd gone thought to get here. He probably had to beg to use his older sister's car. "But, hey, I get out in the morning if you want to come see me then, we could get breakfast." she smiled slightly and he mirrored it. Of course, his looked more hurt and she felt horrible but the doctor nodded.
"See you in the morning," said Jake before walking back out of the room.
Selena's mom stood up from her bedside and flipped her hair over her shoulders. "I'll see you in the morning baby. You start school Thursday." Selena groaned and leaned up to hug her. "Goodnight." And with that she walked out of the room leaving her daughter to rest.
---
The sun shining on her face woke Selena up. She groaned, threw the itchy blanket off of her body and closed the curtain around her bed to block out the sun.
"Oh good! You're up." Selena screamed, not noticing the doctor walk in. He pulled the curtain back open, "I guess we should get your mother here now, then shouldn't we?" the doctor looked young but had had streaks of grey through his back hair. His voice was kind and Selena decided he was too nice to tell him to get out. Instead she just sat back down on her bed.
The doctor flipped out a phone and dialled a number.
"Hello, Mrs. Taylor? . . . . Yes it's me. She's awake." Then he flipped it back shut and walked over to the bed taking a flashlight out of his pocket.
"How are you feeling?" he asked shining the flashlight in Selena's eyes and getting her to follow his finger.
"Fine." She said grumpily, "A little freaked out but that's all." She bit her lip wondering if she even wanted to know the answer to her next question. "So Doc, how'd my tests go?"
He looked down at his clipboard, "Fine Selena, just fine." He ran a hand through his hair. Selena nearly swooned, he was very good looking. "It's a great power to have."
She sighed, "Does that mean I'm a freak?"
The laugh followed by the doctor shaking his head was loud and amazing. A laugh that would make girls everywhere stop breathing.
"What's your power anyway? Pure awesomeness?" she couldn't hold her thoughts in and mentally slammed her head against a wall.
"No, just eternal youth . . . Near invincibility, that sort of thing." He said after another small chuckle.
"Wow. And you said my power was great." Selena smiled, "Do you mind me asking how old you are?"
The doctor shook his head smiling, "Curiosity killed the cat, you know?"
She slumped further against her pillow, "No Stupidity did. It just framed Curiosity."
"Fair enough," he smiled, "I'm 312 years old next month."
Selena's mouth fell open in shock and he laughed again, but luckily she was saved when her mother walked in. She closed her mouth and clapped once,
"Okay, let's get this show on the road! Bring it on Doc; what's wrong with me?"
Paige Taylor rolled her eyes and the doctor shook his head smiling again. Neither of them believed there was anything wrong with her but she wouldn't listen to them.
"Well, try it out for yourself," the doctor instructed, "try to ignite it."
"Ignite it? You mean for her to find her trigger?" Paige was asking, making the doctors orders more understandable for Selena. The doctor nodded.
"Yes." He put his clipboard under his arm. "Usually a persons trigger before they can freely control their powers is their emotions. Like anger or panic . . . Are you angry at anything, Selena?" he asked.
Selena could think of a few things to be angry at, "Yes."
"Good." The doctor smiled at how crazy this situation might've seemed to anyone who wasn't in on the secret. "Think about it really hard."
She thought about how she would have to switch schools again. How she would have to say goodbye to all of her friends at school and only see them on weekends and after school hours when she used to be able to see them whenever she wanted. How she would have to make new friends – if it was even possible – at her new school. After getting angrier and angrier with nothing working she slammed her hands down by her sides against the bed.
"It's not working, and trust me; I'm angry." She said.
"Hmmm. . ." the doctor thought for a moment before something flickered in his eyes to fast for a Selena to notice. "Okay, that's fine, we'll just-" he rummaged through the pockets of his coat and pulled out a large needle, "give you this and you can be on your way." He pushed the end until liquid came out to ensure that there wasn't any air in it and brought it down by her forearm.
"Whoa! Hold it!" Selena shouted throwing her hands up in panic.
The second she did it the doctor stopped. Literally! He wasn't moving at all, wasn't breathing wasn't blinking wasn't doing anything. She looked over at her mother; she was paused in the act of biting her nails. A trait she passed on to her younger son skipping Selena, thankfully.
Selena carefully climbed out of the bed and waved a hand in front of her mothers face. Nothing. She opened the door and everything was going on perfectly out there, people were moving, breathing, talking and carrying on like nothing happened. She closed the door again terrified of what she did. She walked over and stood between her mother and the doctor still bent over the bed with a needle that was ready to puncture the thin skin of Selena's arm before she freaked out.
"Okay, you can un-pause now." Nothing. "Please?!" she shouted putting her hands out in front of her as if to pray. Her mother beside her jumped.
"How'd you- . . ? You were just- and then. . Wow." Her mother said incoherently pointing between the bed were Selena had been and her side where Selena was.
"I know!" Selena said before noticing the doctor's grin. "You knew this would happen!" she said shocked.
He laughed and Paige's eyes widened at the sound. Apparently he had the same effect on married 30-year-old mothers as he did on stubborn 16-year-olds! Selena couldn't blame her.
"Yeah kind of." He smiled crossing his arms. He knew the effect he had on the female species so he wasn't surprised when Selena barely chocked out 'You're forgiven, Doc.'
Selena walked over to the green chair and sunk into it. "Wow." She put her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. "I'm a walking talking remote control."
There was silence while everyone got used to the truth in that statement.
"Let's not tell your father." Selena looked at her mother confused, "He'll lose you." She joked.
---
"Wake-up Selena," Mrs. Taylor prodded from my doorway.
"No school today." Selena said rolling over to face the pink wall of her room, and placing a black and white zebra printed pillow over her face. She still heard the irritated sigh her mother let out when she sat down next to her on the bed, putting an arm around her daughter. "Please? Why do I have to start in the middle of the week? Why not wait until Monday?" She knew the answer she'd get. "Fine." Selena pushed the pillow off of her face and turned around to face her mother. "If I get trampled by a group of super speed runners for being the new kid, Imma kill you," she joked sitting up and playing with the soft material of her black blanket fuzzy blanket.
"That's fine by me, it wont happen." Mrs. Taylor placed a kiss on her daughter's forehead, "Your father's at work, for the day again. He told me to tell you to be nice to the other kids."
Selena rolled her eyes. Her father was a lawyer and practically never home. "Yeah. I'm definitely the bully type. Bring on the super heroes, I'll put them in slow-mo." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, making her mother laugh before leaving. It was true, she was like a remote. She could mute, pause, slow-mo and rewind. The only thing she couldn't do was fast-forward.
This is going to one hell of a day, thought Selena throwing her blankets off and walking to the bathroom down the hall.
Her morning ritual didn't change, she was still slow. Getting in the shower. Jumping out of the shower. Drying her hair. Getting Dressed. It was all the same. She even tripped over Shane's toys still! She was happy he left for school before her now, though. She wouldn't be tempted to use her power to pause him and write all over his face. She'd finally learned how to use anger to trigger her power. She didn't have complete control yet, though so she had to make herself really angry in order to use it. Or just have a panic attack.
Selena grabbed an orange on her way to the bus stop and peeled it while she waited. There were other people at her stop all wondering if she was lost. A boy in brown slacks and an orange shirt with chocolate skin was about ready to bust a vein. He thought that she couldn't hear him talking about her being, maybe, just a normal human and she was going to Sky High accidentally.
Selena could only wish she was still normal. The memory of her wishing she had super powers from a week ago, made her think of a phrase her grandfather had told her. Now here she was; ready to start at a new school, everyone around her thinking she was strange when really, they were the ones who actually understood their powers and used them on purpose. Selena's was all accidental. The thought made her wonder how many people got their power after a near death experience just like she had. She didn't really have time to rest on the thought before the bus pulled up. "Here goes nothing." She mumbled to herself almost silently, so as to assure nobody heard her.
"You must be the newbie." The bus driver nodded as she stepped on, in front of everyone sizing her up and wondering what her power was. "Well get on, we don't have all day, this is the last stop."
She nodded once before walking down the isle trying to ignore the over used 'Who's she?' and 'New girl?' mumbles she heard. Selena didn't like being the one everyone was looking at.
She sighed deeply walking to an empty seat by a window. She plunked myself into it, putting her bag at her feet and taking the big, bulky, first generation, black iPod out and putting the headphones on.
Selena's headphones were her prized possession. They were the big kind. You know, like the ones from the eighties? They had been her fathers when he was younger. She found them going through boxes in the basement looking for some of her clothes when they first moved to Maxville, 2 years ago.
She clicked the menu button and played her current favourite song, tapping her hand on her knee to the beat. She had one foot up on the seat with her and the other relaxed out to the front. She looked out the window before closing her eyes and sinking into the music trying not to think about what was ahead of her.
She was fully relaxed when a bar jabbed down into her knee. "Ow!" the exclamation was louder than she had meant it to be. Selena moved her leg as a seatbelt crossed over her chest. What the he- her thoughts weren't finished before the bus was up in the air. The girls mind was going crazy, she put my headphones down around her neck and now could hear the amused screams of everyone around her. Like it was a rollercoaster. This could not be normal, why the hell were they all acting like nothing happened?! She thought, looking around at the people with their arms way up in the air as if to say; 'No hands!'
And just as quickly as it had happened the school bus landed. Well, it wasn't exactly 'landing' if it wasn't even on land. They were in the yard of a school that was suspended a couple hundred feet in the air. Selena looked out of her window in shock when the doors open and people started filing off of the bus.
She grabbed her bag, stuffed the iPod in her pocket and stood up behind another group of students. Before long she was off of the bus and looking around.
The school was beautiful, there was no saying otherwise. It was surrounded by the blue sky and clouds and Selena couldn't help but wonder how amazing it would look at night, or how awesome it would look during a lightning storm, with the streaks of light just barely missing it, if at all.
The bell rang and Selena snapped herself out of the reverie. She walked up the stairs putting her music back on. Music was her escape from everything. She walked into the office where she'd talk to the principal and took her headphones off again, sad that she wouldn't be allowed to listen to music in class.
"Hi, I'm the new student." Selena said to the receptionist, feeling slightly idiotic at the words. He looked up at her and then smiled,
"Ah, yes. Principal Powers told us all about you." He said in a polite voice.
Selena didn't know what to say. He sounded a little bit creepy but she knew that was just her nerves.
He smiled again, "Very well." He reached for something on his desk and Selena smiled. "This is your locker," he passed her a map and circled it in highlighter, "These are where your classes are," he put X's on some of the rooms, "and this is your schedule." He passed her another piece of paper. "First thing after you go to your locker you'll be doing power placement. To save time we're going to do it during the fire drill assembly in front of the entire school, since it's the middle of the year. Hope you're not shy?" Selena opened my mouth to protest but he didn't wait. "Good."
'I'm going to die!' She thought walking out of the office and down the hall to the locker assigned to her. She read the locker combination that was written on the paper and turned the lock according to it. It opened on the first try. She didn't think she could handle any more stress for one day. Or for her entire life, actually. She jammed her jacket in the tiny space and stood in the hall wearing her dark washed jeans, hot pink hooded sweater, and black backpack for a second. She looked around and decided to walk in the direction of everyone else, assuming they were walking to the assembly room. She prayed when she found out she was right, part of her had wished she was wrong and she'd miss the whole thing and have to go through power placement after school without anyone watching her.
She looked around at everyone, some people were using their powers casually and others were just chatting. How a place like this could exist without anyone knowing was beyond her. Beside herself, Selena laughed watching a boy that looked like he'd have the power to do super speed math (and not in a good way), became a huge rock monster. It was pretty amazing.
"Larry, power down!" shouted a mad scientist-esque adult. The rock boy turned and looks at him before going back to human form.
This whole time she hadn't realized she was still standing in the gymnasium doorway and got practically hip-checked by a typical football player type guy. "Watch where you're going." He said without turning around. His spiky dark blonde hair got lost in the sea of students and Selena took his advice and moved out of the doorway.
Slowly the room settled down to only murmurs being passed through the students on the rows of bleachers set around the floor. In the middle a platform was set up where the gym coach stood with a clipboard and shorts that were too short to be legal for him. He looked intimidating and Selena hoped he wouldn't be the one in charge of power placement.
"Okay, we've got a new student and it's time for a little power placement." Of course, she wouldn't be lucky enough to have the kind looking lady in the black suit. God just had to punish her for going past those flags, now didn't he? "Come on over to the platform." He sounded like a ringleader of a circus introducing the dancing bears.