Mistaken Identity

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize! I only lay claim to Kristen/Alex

Chapter One: She can hide, but she won't run anymore.

"Next stop, Sky High!"

She looked up from the book she had been reading, pushing her glasses further up her nose to get a good look at the bus driver. He was grinning manically back at the thirty something kids on the bus, all of whom were looking at him rather oddly as if he were crazy. She knew what was coming next; she'd taken this bus ride several times before, but the kids around her had not. It was the first day of high school for these freshmen, where as she was already a senior and veteran at the bus ride. Sighing rather defeatedly, she took off her glasses and tucked them away neatly into her book bag along with her book. The short, scrawny pug nosed boy who was sitting beside her looked at her curiously before proceeding to open up the package of cupcakes he had in his hand.

"I'd put those away" she warned him, settling herself in for the violent jolt forward they were about to experience. They were halfway across the bridge and she knew that any time now, the rear thrusters would kick in and they would be rocketed forward. Defiantly, the boy tore at the packaging with more vigor and withdrew one of the icing topped treats, giving her a smug smile. She glanced at him sympathetically and then looked around at the other freshmen. Suddenly, the seatbelts appeared out of no where and strapped them in, the bus filled with the slight sound of murmurs as the students discussed the straps holding them in place and the bar infront of him to hold onto. Looking forward, she couldn't see the bridge anymore, which meant that…

WHAM. Her ears were filled with screams and cries as every single occupant of the bus was thrown forward, out of their seats, except her. She had prepared herself and remained neatly in her seat while the rest of the kids adjusted to the transition. She looked over her shoulder to her seat neighbour who was glancing around in shock, his face clouded by white icing and bits of chocolate cupcake. The miniature cake had, just as she warned, been the first thing his face collided with as soon as they plummeted off of the bridge. Half of the cupcake remained in his hand while the other covered his face. He finally met her eyes and she grinned at him, shrugging.

"Told you"

Ten minutes later, the bus came to a halt on the school grounds, which hovered about forth thousand feet above the earth, hidden among the clouds. They all disengaged from their seats and as soon as she exited the bus, her feet made contact with the ground and she was filled with the familiar sensation of the gentle hum the anti-gravitational machines gave. It was as if there was a soft tickling feeling in your feet wherever you walked on campus because of the machines and the constant whirling of the propulsion devices. Breathing in deeply, she looked at the prestigious looking school through her navy blue, plastic square frame glasses with a little bit of anxiousness. It'd been over a year since she'd last been at Sky High, the only high school for kids who demonstrated superhero abilities. It was a school where, with the proper guidance, those with the strongest powers went on to become some of most famous superheroes of all time. Those who didn't exactly measure up went on to become 'Hero Support', a more politically correct term for sidekick.

She walked onto the lawn and stood infront of the school, looking at it rather expectantly. Nothing had changed about it; nothing, even the grass looked the same. The school still had the same, unbearably intimidating stature that it always had and she felt as if it was her first day at Sky High again. But it wasn't. She was back at Sky High after about a year and half absence and after personally writing to Principal Powers, she was once again enlisted in the Heroes class, back with the same class she'd started with about two years ago. There was something about having a parent die that made people want to make exceptions for you, and she knew that very well.

She had been pulled out of school three quarters of the way into her first year. She'd been in P.E training in hand to hand combat when Principal Powers called her to her office. She still remembered looking back at her class, telling her friends to go on without her while she went to see what Powers wanted. The nods and smiles of her friends would be the last she would see of them for a while. After that meeting with Powers, she would never go back to Sky High, not until today. Her mother, Georgie Force, or more commonly known to the world as G-Force since she had the ability to both fly and run at tremendous speeds, and her father, Hank Force, or Mind Man since he had the ability to control the elements with his mind, had been in an accident while on a distress call. They both had been hospitalized with critical injuries and for three months, they remained in the hospital, trying to recover. Just as her classmates and friends were finishing school for the year, she was sitting on the windowsill of her parents hospital room, praying that they would recover. But the prayer only came true for one of them.

Her mother passed away peacefully one night, in her sleep; her internal injuries insurmountable. Her father slowly began to recuperate though, and for the next year she would spend her days tending for him and making sure everything was taken care of. But eventually, he got better, well enough that he no longer needed her around to care for him twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. After assuring her that he would be fine on his own, she enlisted back in Sky High to complete her Hero training. And now, she was mere steps away of entering the same place that held memories of the old her; the girl whose biggest concern on certain days was whether or not a boy in her heroes class noticed her or whether or not her shoes matched her outfit. She went from carefree to responsible in a blink of an eye and it was too late to try and go back to the way things were before. She'd changed so much; physically as well, which is why some of her classmates who were arriving at school didn't even look her way. She recognized them, but they didn't recognize her.

When she had started, she had been a short, gawky looking kid with unruly dark brown hair and bottle cap glasses covering her light brown eyes. Now, she stood at a tall 5'8 and had a very slender build to her body. Her hair was no longer bushy and frizzy; it was long and fell into gentle waves that tumbled along her shoulders romantically. She no longer sported her bottle cap frames, instead, trading them in for a sleeker, more mature look with her square frames. She had grown up a lot in the past year and a half and now looked as mature as she felt. She had gone from awkward and gangly to beautiful and strong.

Her appearance wasn't the only thing that had changed. She had changed her name as well. There was something about being the daughter of one of the most famous Superhero's in the world that made it nauseating to have people recognize her by her name. She looked a lot like her mother as well; long, tumbling hair and distinctive, light brown almost amber eyes. But it was her last name that always got her unwanted attention; as soon as people heard Force, they automatically knew who she was. After she'd been attacked by sympathetic fans of her mother's one day at the mall, she'd had enough and decided to change her name. Kristen Force quickly became Alexandra George, a girl who didn't draw nearly as much attention to herself now that she went under another name.

Principal Powers had agreed to let her live under her alias and for some reason, she was looking forward to starting over. There would be no awkwardness since no one would know about her past and about her mother. They had agreed during their correspondence that her story would be just like any other; she fell into a vat of toxic waste by accident and had been home schooled by her parents for the first two years of her Hero education. They had also agreed to say that since she was so intelligently advanced, she would be placed in her age class of third year instead of starting as a freshman, which was true. She was ridiculously smart. She would be under totally anonymity and no one would know who she truly was, unless she told them, which she wasn't planning on doing. She wasn't keen for people to know who she was, since her first year at Sky High hadn't exactly been picture perfect. She was rather eager to start over again and break away from the confines which had held her captive for the past two years. She was ready to leave it all behind.

The bell rang and she hurried forward, up the stairs and into the school. Out of memory, her feet took her directly to Principal Powers's office, where she had been ordered to go to the first day to get her schedule and school information. After a couple of seconds, the Principal's pretty face emerged in the doorway and she was hit with a rather broad smile that scared her slightly.

"Ah, Alexandra! I was expecting you, come in" the principal say, greeting her as she gestured for her to enter. She did so hesitantly and sat down on one of the plush chairs across from Powers's desk.

"I know you must be eager to get to your classes so here is your schedule and locker information. Also, I'm going to have to ask you to head over to the gym for Power Placement with the new students. I'm sure you can understand how we just want to make sure that you are still powerfully capable of handling the Hero curriculum" Principal Powers said with a smile, handing a file across the desk to Alex, who took it and then nodded. She examined her schedule briefly and then got up, moving to the door.

"Thanks Principal Powers, I don't want to be too late. I'm going to assume that all my teachers know about me?" she asked as she turned the knob, the door poised to open. Principal Powers nodded and then smiled at Alex with that same, slightly terrifying smile.

"Indeed. Have a great day Alexandra"

"Name?"

"Alexandra George"

"Power?"

"Telekinesis and super speed, flight and on foot"

"Two hero parents, eh?"

"No sir, a vat of toxic waste, sir" she responded, slightly intimidating by the man's aggressive barking and tone of voice. He scribbled something down on his clipboard and then pulled out a controller.

"Car" he barked, and immediately the reasonably banged up car suspending from the ceiling came plummeting downwards. She raised her hands and the car slowed down, hovering just above the palms of her hands when it finally came to a stop. With a flick of her wrists, the car went rocketing sideways, hitting the gym wall with a deafening boom of metal on metal. The freshmen below her murmered appreciatively but Coach Boomer didn't look all that impressed. By the time she had turned to look at him to get her placement, she found herself being rocketed sideways, the floor above her shooting her upward. She pulled into flight and then brought herself back down on the platform, glaring at the Coach frustratingly.

"Thanks for the warning" she said in an annoyed tone of voice, gathering her things. Coach Boomer shrugged and then barked out her placement.

"Hero. Okay, you with the funny looking shirt, front and centre" he barked, moving onto the freshmen. She hoped off the platform and made her way towards the gym door, making her way to the second floor Art room where the third year students were currently learning how to pain. When she arrived, she knocked on the door shyly and waited outside, the door being pulled open a second later by a very pretty elderly women with bright blue eyes. Wearing a paint-mattered smock, brown loafers and large glasses, she beamed broadly at Alex before holding out a paint-flecked hand.

"You must be the new student, Alexandra George. Pleasure to meet you, I'm Mrs. Bromely. Please, come in, we'll find you a station to work at" she said, Alex shaking her hand with a little hesitation before following the teacher into the class. As soon as she saw her classmates, she immediately recognized most of them. Erika Peck, a rather odd girl who had the power to metamorphosis into anything she wished, was still short and still had shockingly purple hair. Logan Kane, a football sized young man who could fly, was still as big as she remembered him to be. Even Frankie Douglas, a silly looking boy who could shoot lasers from his eyes, looked the same. Not much had changed with them, but so much had changed for her.

"Do you have any experience with art in any form?" Mrs. Bromely asked her as the teacher went over to a cupboard, pulling out several different articles including a smock, paintbrushes and palates.

"I've been taking art lessons since I knew how to walk. Mom always had a flare for the arts" she said, making Mrs. Bromely turn to look at her and smile sadly. There it was; that smile. It was the smile that people gave you when something bad happened. It was the awkward, 'I don't really know what else to do' smile.

"Yes, I remember. Your mother was probably one of the most gifted artists to ever attend Sky High. I'm sure you'll be just as wonderful!" the teacher said, changing subjects like a professional as she guided Alex to an empty station, complete with an stand and blank canvas waiting for her.

But instead of letting Alex get to work, Mrs. Bromely merely placed the items on Alex's stool and then pushed her gently towards the front of the class. Before Alex could even protest, the teacher was speaking.

"Class! Attention" Mrs. Bromely said. A few students heard her and silenced, but the majority of them continued to talk. After a couple of seconds, Mrs. Bromely clapped her hands once and sent a shockwave throughout the class, bringing them all to attention at once. She smiled satisfactorily.

"Thank you. Class, this is Alexandra George, your new classmate. She was recently accidentally pushed into a vat of toxic waste. She will be finishing the last two years of her high school education here along with your third year class. Any questions for Ms. George?" she asked, side stepping so that Alex was now in full view.

After a couple of seconds of an excruciatingly awkward silence, she saw a stripped arm raise itself in the air, extending much further then a normal arm would. She couldn't see his face since it was shielded by his stand and canvas, but she knew who it was. Her heart seemed to beat a little bit faster as soon as the black and white bands came into view. It was him. She suddenly felt as if someone has raised the temperature in the room up twenty degrees.

"Powers?" he asked, his voice going off in her internal recognition system immediately.

She responded by raising her hand upward, palm to the roof. His canvas began to levitate as well, floating up high enough so that she could now get a full view of his face. He smirked in response to this, looking up at his raised canvas impressively.

"I'm telekinetic. I can also run and fly really fast" she explained, lowering her hand and setting his canvas back down. The class murmered appreciatively and then she looked at Mrs. Bromely, who nodded once to Alex's silent question to go sit down. She went over to her station, taking off her sling bag and black velvet jacket she had been wearing all morning to reveal a very pretty dark purple tunic styled top. She picked up her supplies and set them up around her, checking the bristles on her brushes. She put on her smock and was about to sit down on her stool when she stopped.

"It's the stripes that give you away" she said to no one in particular, turning around to look at him. He was smirking at her arrogantly and she looked down. From across the room, he had extended his arm so far that it latched onto the leg of her stool, threatening to pull it out from under her as she went to sit.

She walked over to him slowly, slipping her hands into the pockets of her smock as she approached him. She finally reached him and then stuck out her hand, smiling shyly at him.

"Alexandra or Alex. I figure I may as well try and be nice to you so that I can save myself from any other embarrassment attempt you may have planned for me" she said, making him smile and shrug in guiltiness.

He was still as handsome as he had been two years ago. He was taller now, and lankier, which was probably due to the constant stretching of his limbs. His face was still as gentle as it always had been, and his eyes just as dark. His hair was different though; no longer short and spiked, but longer and arranged messily so that it brushed his forehead in that skater like fashion that seemed to be sweeping the nation.

"You can be nice to me all you want, but I'm not going to stop whatever I have planned for you, sorry" he replied mockingly, standing up and wiping his hands off with a paint splattered rag. She laughed at him, knowing from his tone of voice that he was joking.

He laughed as well and once his hand was satisfactorily cleaned, he matched it in her's and shook it firmly.

"I'm Lash"

((Author's Note: Hey everyone!! This is my first try at a Sky High fic, so bear with me. I LOVEEE reviews. Support, construction, anything. Flames make me kinda mad though, so really, if you don't have anything supportive or constructive to say, I'd really prefer you don't say anything at all :) Reviews own my life, so click that little purple button:)