Title: Empathy
Title: Empathy
Author: Flashes09
Rating: T (For strong language)
Disclaimer: "Sky High" is owned by Disney, not me. Don't sue me, 'cause it ain't worth it.
Summary: Warren is content to finish his last year of high school, then escape to college. But will the arrival of an empath force him to come to terms with his feelings for Layla? Warren/Layla
A/N: I have an OC as my main character, but DON'T WORRY; she's not ending up with anybody. She's what I like to call an enabler. A character I made up that will do whatever I want without me having to worry about writing someone out of character. Yeah, okay, she's a bit of a Mary-Sue, and yeah, I know, it's a cop-out, but it works. Anyway, enjoy the story, and please leave feedback!
A/N 2: I've working on this for a while, and I still don't think it's perfect, but hey, I try.
Chapter 1
Sky High School for Gifted Children
Elizabeth was herded into the gym along with the rest of the new kids. After a heart-stopping bus ride, followed by a rather rough landing from Ron Wilson- Bus Driver, Elizabeth wasn't really in the mood for some bullshit orientation. The speaker would talk about how they were at Sky High to "Be the Best That You Can Be!", and to make the "right decisions", and blah, blah, blah. She'd heard it all before at her own freshman orientation. Before I got these damn powers, she thought to herself.
Life had been pretty simple for Elizabeth. She had lived most of her life in a two-story house with both of her parents, content to go to normal high school. But then, she started to realize she could tell people's feelings, without them giving any sign.
It had all started when a girl at her old school had been killed by a jealous boyfriend. He'd drowned her in her parent's hot tub, and then hid her body. The news had shocked everyone at school, and every student was pulled into a psychiatrist's office. Elizabeth hadn't known the girl, nor had she ever met her, but for the whole week, she felt incredibly deeply depressed and kept getting massive headaches. So, when it was her turn to hop onto the shrink's couch, she spilled everything about how she had been feeling.
The good doctor then informed Elizabeth that she was an empath, just like the psychiatrist, and that she was able to read other people's emotions, and even eventually influence said emotions, as well as telling Elizabeth that the headaches were an unfortunate side effect. And then she had called Elizabeth's parents into to give them the news.
To their credit, her parents had taken the news well, considering that Elizabeth was their only child. Too well, unfortunately, Elizabeth thought, they shipped me off to freak school the second that doctor suggested it.
Now here she stood, a senior just waiting to get out of high school, and she had to spend the last year away from all of her friends, at a school she didn't want to be at in the first place. And she was being flooded by nervous feelings from the freshman. Of course, some of those feelings could be her own.
"Hi, I'm Abby. What's your name?" Elizabeth was startled out of her thoughts by the girl standing next to her. She was tall, with blond hair so light, it looked almost white. And she was wearing the brightest yellow shirt that Elizabeth had ever seen. Ever. Great, she thought, just great. Now I've got some kid following me.
"Elizabeth." She answered shortly, but softly. She figured it was best not piss anyone off until she knew what their powers were. She didn't want to make this girl mad, only to have the girl turn laser-beam eyes on her or something like that. But she did want the girl to go away.
"What's your power?" Abby asked. She obviously hadn't caught on to the fact that Elizabeth didn't want her around. I prefer to be left alone with my bitterness, she thought to herself, that, and every time someone gets close, I get a heaping helping of their emotions.
"I'm an empath." Elizabeth answered, looking around the gym. There was a scoreboard at one end with the title "Save the Citizen" at the top. Next to, a sign that had been put up. It was covered in tally marks, and the number 436 was at the bottom. Its title was "Stronghold/Peace Win Tally". Elizabeth wondered who or what Stronghold/Peace was.
She blinked when she realized Abby had been talking the entire time about her brother who was apparently a junior here. Oops, better pay some attention. God, this kid has way too much nervous energy.
"He's really tall and he's so cool. His girlfriend is cool, too. I'm going to try and find him at lunch."
"I'm sorry, what was your power again?" Hopefully something that can't kill me. But before Abby had time to respond, a bright white ball of light shot across the gym and landed at the podium, reshaping into a woman. Oh, here we go, Elizabeth thought. And she was right. The woman was Principal Powers and she said they were here to learn how to use their powers wisely and so on.
"So, with that, I will leave you to Power Placement. Comets Away!" She turned into a ball of light again and shot off. Elizabeth frowned.
"What's Power Placement?" she asked Abby.
"It's where you learn if you're on the Hero track, or the Side-kick track, the loser track."
Elizabeth was about to answer with a sarcastic remark about the loser track when a man appeared on the platform behind them.
"I'm Coach Boomer; some of you may know me a Sonic Boom, some of you may not. Here's how power placement works, you come up on the platform and show me your power, then I determine if you are a Hero, or Hero-support. And yes, you will be doing this in front of the entire class." All of the nervous emotions in the room rose even more, and it was putting Elizabeth's teeth on edge. If she didn't get away from all of these emotions soon, she would certainly end up with a blinding headache.
He scanned the crowd and selected a short kid with red hair. Poor kid, now Coach Boomer's going to humiliate him in front of everybody.
"You, what's your name, kid?"
"Dave," he answered. Elizabeth could feel the nervousness rolling off him in waves.
"Well, what can you do?" Dave gulped then jumped up into the air. Twenty feet into the air, almost touching the gym ceiling in the process.
Boomer looked somewhat impressed.
"Hero." He said simply and moved on to the next kid.
About halfway through the freshmen, Boomer chose Abby.
"You, kid in the yellow shirt, what's your name?"
"Abby." She said as she took her place.
"Alright, power-up." Now I'll get to learn what her power is, Elizabeth thought. Abby put her head down and closed her eyes, then opened them again.
Boomer looked at her for a second before going, "Well?"
Abby looked insulted, and Elizabeth could feel it coming off her.
"I'm doin' it."
"Doing what, exactly?" Boomer asked.
"Glowing" Boomer rolled his eyes and yelled, "Sidekick!"
Abby walked off the platform sulking and stayed that way until Boomer dismissed them for lunch.
On their way out, Boomer pointed to Elizabeth.
"We're starting with you after lunch." Elizabeth sighed, and exited the gym. This was turning out to be quite a day.
So there it is, the first chapter. Tell me what you think. Love it, hate it, or whatever.