Summary: Hayley Stevens was perfectly average until a strange butterfly encounter in the woods changes her life forever. Does she have what it takes to be a super-hero, or will she fall like so many before her have? WarrenxOC

Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High which also means I can never have Warren. But I do own Hayley and a bunch of weirdo insects. :/ And for some reason that just doesn't make me feel all that better right now...

Previously: But wishing is for the stars and they outshine me far too much for any wish I ever have to matter.


Chapter One: Conspecific

I hit my alarm, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I checked the time, letting out a puff of air. 3:20. How is it that I managed to ignore my alarm for twenty minutes?

Pushing the thin blanket off of me, I set my feet on the dingy carpet, stretching. I was going to be late. I blinked a few times, trying to get into my rush mode. If I didn't make it to Coffee Daze in thirty minutes I had a 100% chance of losing my job. I hastily made my way to the shower, not even bothering to wait for the water to get hot. After that I put on my tacky uniform, and pulled my hair up into a quick bun. Stuffing my school outfit into my bag in case I worked late, I took a quick look in the mirror.

My green eyes had permanent dark circles under them, and my blond hair looked greasy. The uniform washed out my ultra-white skin, and I had a pimple forming right above my left eyebrow. I looked like crap, as usual. I applied some cheap dollar store cover-up, and then rushed out of my room, closing the door along the way.

"Good morning, Hayley." My mom said, sitting on the sofa drinking a cup of coffee.

"Hey, Ma." I replied back weakly. This was about the only time I ever saw my mom. She worked her first job from four to twelve then her second from one to ten. Her third was only on the weekends and was pretty much all night.

"You headed to work?" She asked meekly, looking up from her coffee. If I thought I had looked bad, then she looked unspeakable. Her brown hair was pulled up in a tight pony-tail with scraggly grey hairs starting to appear and stick out everywhere. Her once rich and youthful face was pale and hollow. The bags under her eyes made mine look like a restful sleep.

"Yeah… I have to go. I'm already running late." I opened the front door. "Bye, Mom. Love you." I didn't wait for a reply, if there even was one.

I walked over to our garage, kicking the door before even attempting to open it. I walked inside, pulled my eighty year old bike out, and took off.

~0~

"Hello, and welcome to Coffee Daze. May I take your order?" I tried to add some peppiness into my voice, but it wasn't working.

"Ah, yes. Can I have a Grande Caffé Mocha with no whip and a… would you make up your mind already. No, you douche. Fine, whatever. And I'd like a Grande Caramel Macchiato with extra caramel, skim milk, mocha drizzle, two shots of espresso, and no whip-cream." I was trying to control my laughter until he said the last part. Now I just felt like smacking the idiot who would come up with an order like that.

I quickly told the man his total after being shot down at trying to get rid of our nasty blueberry scones. Seriously, scones are just gross.

To say I hated this job was a little harsh. I just… strongly disliked it. The pay sucked, the drinks were way over-rated – yet still extremely delicious – and the people were generally overly snobbish. If you thought growing up in a semi-small town such as Maxville would make everyone act like the friendly next door neighbor then you were wrong. People were just as stuck up in small towns as in big cities.

At 6:30 I clocked out and rushed home. I pulled into the drive-way, and put the kick stand up before going inside. All the windows were closed and the house had an over-all abandoned look to it. I couldn't really blame it. My mother and I never had the time to clean it anymore and I couldn't make Josh do it.

I walked into his room to find him still passed out. "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty!" I said with a cheesy grin, pulling open the blinds. Josh moved around a bit before finally cracking one eye open.

"What time is it?" he croaked. His messy brown hair was tousled and falling into his green eyes.

"Time to wake up." I was met with a deadly glare. "Fine, it's nearly seven, so get your butt up. You have to be at the bus by 7:30 or they're going to leave you again. Do you really want a repeat?" I asked with a smirk. He was out of the bed faster than I could say ninja.

Twenty minutes later I was locking up the house and on my bike headed towards school. Generally it was pretty lame and all the classes sucked. The only thing the teachers really cared about was their next promotion and the only thing the students cared about was who was having sex with who under the bleachers. The only class that I actually enjoyed was photography. The teacher, Mrs. Hansen was amazing. You could tell that she actually cared and loved what she was doing. She also was extremely personal, and, on more than one occasion, I actually forgot that she was supposed to be my teacher and not my friend.

Eventually school ended and I had two hours to kill before I had to be at my next job. After taking a detour to my house to change and make sure Josh was okay, I started for the park. See, we had this really amazing park that was right next to two miles of untouched forest. It was my favorite place to go.

As I entered, I got off my bike, hiding it in some bush. I started down the familiar path deeper into the woods. It was gorgeous here. The forest was full of life. All of the trees were a lovely shade of green and if you listened closely you could hear the movements from the different animals.

A beautifully colored butterfly flew past me, and I admired it until it was out of sight. Butterflies were extremely common in the forest for some reason and each so different look from the next.

I slowed my pace as I finally reached my destination. A small creek flowed through the area and at this exact point, a bank had been made and a tree had conveniently fallen and turned into the perfect bench. Over the years I had made a few adjustments here and there. Like, I added a make-shift swing and had a little fire-pit in an area I had cleared out. I could live out here if I needed to.

Plopping myself down onto the log, I let out a long breath. I already felt exhausted and the day was only half-way over. I closed my eyes, folding my legs. A few years ago I had met an old Chinese woman at the park who taught me the art of Tai Chi and meditation. I've never forgotten.

I was started to get deep into my peaceful nothingness when I felt a light touch on my knee. Peeking one eye open, I looked down at my knee. On it was the beautiful butterfly that I had seen earlier. I tried not to move a muscle as I admired it. It was rather large, and mainly jet black with some orange and blue dots on its back wings. It really was gorgeous.

Finally, it flew away and I let out a sigh. For some reason I felt sad that it had left, as if it was a piece of me being taken away. I was about to get up when something strange happened; something mind-blowing.

Off in the near-distance I could see a giant ball of color headed in my direction. As it got closer I discovered that it wasn't a giant ball, but a massive swarm of butterflies. When they reached me they broke apart circling around me. I let out a laugh, standing up and twirling around. As I spun I looked at all of them, taking in their colors and the fact that not a single one looked like the others. They were all unique.

One by one, they started to land on me. For a second, I felt like screaming, but then remembered just how harmless butterflies were. I stood perfectly still, then slowly moved my head down to look at my body. From head to toe, I was covered in butterflies. There was not an inch of open skin on me. I closed my eyes, soaking up the extreme unlikeliness of the situation.

Just as my muscles started to cramp up a little, the butterflies rose, hovering around me. They started to fly in circles again, moving impossibly fast and making me dizzy.

"No, stop! I can't see!" I yelled, as some strange powder started to block my vision. I closed my eyes, but I could still feel them around me. Falling to the ground, I clawed at the dirt.

"Make it stop, make it stop, please make it stop." I chanted. I felt like I might puke and my vision was starting to fade around the edges. Just before my world went black I saw something that made no sense what-so-ever. Something large blocked the sun before covering me up. It was in the shape of a butterfly.


Being completely honest here, I was totally oblivious to that fact that pretty much an entire week had gone by and I had yet to post this. In my head it had only been a couple of days. (That just shows you how jacked up my sense of time is.) So, pretty much, I just wanted to let you know that I'm D-U-M. (That was for my deardeardear friend Brie, who I love to death, though I doubt she'll ever actually read this.)

Anyways. Again, this has not been edited. I mean, I looked through it a couple of times and my woderfulamazingfantastical Word program fixed most of the spelling. (I can't spell worth poopie. It's kinda sad actually.) I don't know what I would do without Word. Seriously.

Continuing. Expect another update around this time next week. Well, not this time exactly because, for me anyways, it's like, hecka crazy early in the morning, but you get what I mean. Gosh... that sentence had way too many comma's to be legal. Yeah, so, I know I'm babbling, but it's late, and I just can't seem to stop. Um... there was something else I felt the need to say but I just can't seem to remember right now so... yeah. Bye.

~A-O-N~

^.^

(P.S. I remember. Review. Or I'll send some crazy butterflies after you! Please?)