A/N: This story is set one year after the movie, so Will, Layla, etc. would be starting their sophomore year, and Warren would be a senior (I think). I do not own Sky High.
Olivia Moore stood at her bus stop, nervously tapping her foot and trying desperately not to throw up. The first day of high school was always tough. But starting at a completely new school, in a new city, a year behind all the kids your own age, after being homeschooled for your entire life? That's a bit more than "tough". Add to it the fact that her new school was full of kids with superpowers, and Olivia was mentally preparing herself for the chance of seeing her breakfast again.
Olivia was so anxious that she almost missed her bus when it did finally come. She looked up just as the back of the bus passed her, and she quickly ran to catch up to it at a nearby stop sign.
Panting, she climbed the few stairs into the bus, and all but flung herself into the first empty seat. Trying to pull herself together, Olivia brushed off her lacey blue top and jeans, and straightened out her long, chestnut hair. Still breathing heavily, she finally got a chance to look around at the other kids on the bus as it started to move once more.
All around her, the soon-to-be students were in varied states of anxiety, excitement, and nervous conversation. In the seat right next to her, Olivia saw a redheaded girl dressed entirely in green staring at her with concern.
"Are you alright?" the girl in green asked. "It looks like you made it just in time,"
Olivia was caught off-guard, and hesitated a moment before uncertainly replying.
"Uh, ye-yeah, I'm fine…thanks," she said.
"Good, cause we almost lost you!" The girl smiled. "Anyway, I'm Layla, and this is Magenta, Zack, and Ethan." Layla gestured to the people sitting around her that Olivia noticed for the first time.
"Hi, I-I'm Olivia," she stammered. She struggled to pull herself together. This was not the first impression that she wanted to make! Her lack of self-confidence and her shyness had always been an issue with her, but she didn't want to broadcast that fact to then entire world.
"Nice to meet you!" said the nerdy-looking kid with the glasses that Layla had introduced as Ethan. "It's always a pleasure to meet new freshmen."
"Ah, I remember when we were freshman," said the blonde kid who looked like he had stuck his finger in an electrical socket. "It seems like yesterday when Zach-Attack first graced the halls of Sky High!"
The purple-clad girl sitting next to Zach smacked him, and replied with a smirk, "I have yet to see the day when your presence in the halls has been met with anything besides laughter and wedgies."
Zach looked away sheepishly. "Yeah, but Olivia here doesn't have to know that!"
The group chuckled, until Olivia responded timidly, "Actually, I'll be a sophomore like you guys. My parents and I just moved from California this summer."
Layla lit up. "That's great! You'll be in classes with all of us then!" She seemed genuinely excited until Magenta brought up an unfortunate point.
"Not all of us. She'll either be with us sidekicks, or with you and Will." She sighed. "God, I hate being a sidekick."
"Not necessarily," said Ethan. "I read somewhere that due to… certain events last year, the school board might have changed the classification process this year in order to prevent a furthered hero/sidekick split."
Even though she hadn't been here when it happened, Olivia knew exactly which "certain events" Ethan was referring to; her parents had gone to school at Sky High, and had been appalled when they heard about Royal Pain an her plot.
"As fascinating as that is, it won't matter. We've all been branded as sidekicks, and nothing is going to change that," Magenta said sarcastically. Even though sidekicks had received a slightly higher status due to their help during the Homecoming Dance Disaster last year, not much had changed thereafter.
"Hopefully Olivia will get lucky and get to spend her time with the Wonder Couple Will and Layla, and the rest of the heroes."
Layla blushed scarlet. "We aren't a Wonder-Couple; we are just a normal boyfriend and girlfriend. Although he did volunteer to ride the bus with us, even though he can fly faster, he is so sweet sometimes…" Magenta rolled her eyes as Layla trailed off into some romantic fantasy.
"Regardless of what Magenta thinks, the school board's memos have seemed promising that some of the hierarchal divisions will be taken down," Ethan said. "Although the strength of our powers will still be measured somehow. Speaking of which, what are yours?"
Olivia's blush rivaled Layla's. She started to stutter out what could have been a sentence, until she was thankfully interrupted by the bus falling out of the sky. A sudden free-fall at record-breaking speeds was apparently an effective end to a conversation.
Five minutes later, the bus had landed, Zach's screams of delight had stopped, and the kids were getting off. Olivia hurriedly gathered her stuff, and stood to leave with the others, when her lunch bag fell. She sighed and knelt down on the floor to grab the plastic bag. As she stood up once more to exit, she quickly spun around and bumped smack into a tall boy dressed all in black, with a leather jacket, streaked red hair, and a glare directed at her.
Olivia spluttered out something that sounded a lot like an apology, but the boy merely scowled and left. Shaken, she exited the bus, and walked over to Layla, who had seen everything that happened.
"Don't worry about that guy," she said. "It's just Warren Peace. He acts like a bad boy, but really, he's a big softie. Just try not to piss him off too much – he's a pyro, and he tends to act before he thinks." Layla looked like she was going to say something else, but just then, a boy dressed in red, white, and blue flew over to their group. Olivia assumed that he must have been Layla's boyfriend, Will, by the way she ran over to him and immediately entwined arms with him.
"Olivia, meet Will Stronghold," Layla called, as she dragged him over to the group. " And Will, meet Olivia. She's our age; she's just starting a bit late."
Olivia stuck out her hand as a way of introduction, but Will refrained from shaking it.
"It's nice to meet you Olivia. I would shake your hand, but I doubt you'd want me to; I have super strength," Will said as a way of explanation.
Olivia carefully retracted her hand. "Thanks for the heads-up," she said. "I'd prefer not to get a crushed hand on my first ever day of school." She saw some confused looks from a few people and clarified. "I've been homeschooled since first grade."
At that point, Zach butted into the exchange with some comment about a new comic book he had read recently. This allowed Olivia to really take a good look at her first school besides her house.
The impressive-looking building and the piece of land it hovered on had been well prepared for the first day. Banners displaying the words "Sky High" and the school colors were hung around the campus, and Olivia could see where some graffiti had been painted over.
She also saw multiple students – now her classmates – displaying many of their powers. She saw students with heat vision to shape shifting, all trying to show off to their friends. Speaking of friends, Layla was calling out to her right now.
"Olivia! Come with us to the gym," she said, already walking in that direction with Will and the rest of her friends. Olivia jogged to catch up to the group.
"Wait, why are we going to the gym?" asked Zach. "Don't we only go to the gym our freshman year, for power placement?"
"Didn't you hear what I said before?" said Ethan exasperatedly. "They are trying out some new system of determining our power levels, so I would assume that we all have to go through power placement again." This point was met with a chorus of groans from everyone.
"Well, at least this time won't be any worse than last year," said Will. He chuckled, and started to describe his terrible first day of high school to Olivia, the only one who hadn't lived through it. As he continued with his story, Olivia smiled to herself; so far, her first day wasn't going so bad after all. It looked like she had even made a few friends.
A/N: Hopefully my other chapters will be longer than this. This just seemed like a good place to stop for now. Hope you liked it!