"Aren't you excited?"
"No."
"But why? It's Sky High!"
"Exactly."
I sat and watched my two friends, Zach and Magenta, argue on the other side of the bus. The white haired boy leaned over the seats just so he could banter the poor girl. She obviously wasn't as excited as he was, which made me chuckle lightly.
Zach turned his attention towards me, hearing me laugh.
"You think that's funny?", he called out angrily, but couldn't help replace the scowl with a smile. Zach was always excited and loud. He had that hint of dorkiness added to his personality. It made him even more lovable, or annoying, I should say.
"A little," I replied, pulling my legs up into the seat since I was sitting alone.
"Are you pumped?"
"For what?"
"For your first year at Sky High!"
"Eh.. I guess," I shrugged off the topic just to annoy my friend, and it worked. He moved up a couple seats so he was sitting next to Magenta, who looked pissed off as usual.
"You're going to love it," he nodded.
"What is she going to love? The crazy villains trying to turn everyone into babies?", Magenta butted in.
"That was one time, Magenta!"
Supposedly, before I came here, this girl named Gwen, or Royal Pain, tried to turn everyone into babies during Homecoming. She failed, and was now in some mental institution or something. Hopefully, this wouldn't happen whilst I was here.
"At least you won't have to do power placement in front of the whole sophomore class," Magenta said.
"Why's that?"
"Power placement is only for freshmen. So, you'll just have to show Boomer what your power is on your free time," Zach finished.
"Thank God."
I hated being in front of crowds, I had really bad stage fright.
The bus came to a halt and we heard the doors open.
"Ethan!", Zach cheered.
In seconds, the dark skinned boy walked towards the back of the bus, and sat next to me. I had to put my feet back down to the floor, to avoid him crushing my ankles.
"Dude! I haven't seen you all summer," Zach called out again, this time consuming his friend in an awkward, sitting down, man hug.
"I know, my mom made me get this summer job as a tutor. It was awful," Ethan sighed, shaking his head as to get rid of the horrible memories.
The two boys continued to reminisce as Magenta gave me a sarcastic, annoyed look.
...
"So how was your summer?", I asked, as we all stepped off of the bus and began walking across the parking lot.
"It was really cool, I got a job at the Paper Lantern. I get to work with Warren," Leila smiled.
"Ooo, now who is this 'Warren'?", I called out.
"This hothead who she has a crush on," Magenta smirked.
"I do not!"
"Not what?"
We all turned to see Will, Ethan, and Zach all following us. We didn't notice, since for once, they were actually being quiet.
"Nothing," Leila quickly said, before kissing Will on the cheek to distract him from the previous outburst. They were dating, but I guess Will was oblivious to the current thing going on between Leila and this Warren guy.
Magenta rolled her eyes, before continuing to walk next to me.
"She totally has a thing for him. Last year, they 'fake' dated to make Will jealous, but I know for a fact that she did it just to hold hands with Warren," she whispered.
I couldn't help but laugh at the story, trying to imagine the whole scenario in my head.
"Oh no..", Will sighed.
"What?", I asked, turning around. The boy pointed behind me, his face appeared unsatisfied and annoyed.
I turned around once more, trying to see what everyone was so quiet about.
"They let those guys back?", Magenta mumbled.
I scanned across the crowd and spotted a particular group of upperclassmen. There were three, two men and one girl.
The girl had dark skin and was wearing a cheerleader uniform. She was leaning against the stair railing, laughing with a group of jocks.
The boy was a bit husky with a ball cap. He stood crossing his arms, scanning the area and pointing at a group of freshmen. He muttered something to the other guy and they both laughed.
The remaining boy was tall with shaggy hair. He was stretching his limbs, like he was about to go for a jog.
"Who are they?", I asked, still examining them.
"They helped Gwen with the whole Royal Pain business."
"Then why are they allowed back?"
"Principle Powers must be a pushover..", Zach sighed.
We all focused back on the horrendous trio, before noticing they were walking our way. The cheerleader instantly multiplied herself, and surrounded our group with the clones.
"Surprised to see us?", they all said in unison.
"Who let you back in Sky High?", Will asked.
"Principle Powers, but only if we promised to be on our 'best behavior'," the husky one said, obviously not planning to follow through with the promise.
"I see you have a new friend. Is she a sidekick too?", the girl(s) asked.
Before I, or any of us, could answer the question, the tall guy stepped forward and began talking.
"Let me introduce myself. I'm Lash. That's Speed, and that's Penny," he spoke, smiling charmingly. I took a step back, seeing that there was barely any space between us.
"This is Kimberly," Ethan introduced.
"Kim," I corrected.
"What, like Kim Possible?", Penny laughed.
"Little Kimmie," Lash smirked, but that smirk quickly turned into a scowl. He pushed passed me, only to tower over Ethan.
"Uh, hi, L-Lash," he stuttered.
"What? You think you can stick my head in a toilet and get away with it?", Lash growled, cracking his knuckles at the same time.
Once I heard what he said, I snorted. Ethan? Giving Lash a swirly? Priceless.
"You got something you wanna say, Kimmie?", Lash asked, turning back towards me. I guess snorting isn't a way to laugh secretly. That's when I realized how tall he was. He stood over me, as I coward beneath him, yet still trying to appear strong.
"Leave her alone," Will demanded.
Lash chuckled deeply. He stared down at me once more before walking away, Speed and Penny following.
"What's up his ass?", I mumbled.
...
We all gathered in the gymnasium like cows being herded in a ranch. None of us knew where to go, so we all just kind of stood there, staring into space while occasionally moving a centimeter or two. We were having an assembly, a quick one before first period.
I had already shown my power to Coach Boomer. I was awarded with being a sidekick.
Yay.
I mean, I guess my power was pretty useless. Probably more useless then Zach's. Wait, no. I take that back. His totally wins award for most useless power.
I can talk to animals.
Boomer thought it was silly and just put me in hero support. No thoughts about it.
"Alright, everybody!", a loud voice boomed from the center stage. Everyone turned their attention to where the talking was coming from. It was Coach Boomer. I could've figured that out.
"Alright! Since this is a new year, we are changing our rules around!"
"Great," Magenta muttered from behind.
"We are assigning every hero a sidekick, and every sidekick a hero!"
Many moans called out from the crowd, obviously not pleased with the change.
"We will put the partners up on the wall during lunch! Now, everyone off to first period!"
The gymnasium began to empty out, as all the kids tried there best to leave and not be tardy. I, on the other hand, took my time. Zach and Will helped me reach my classes with ease. I had most of my classes with them, until it came to fourth period.
"We'll see you at lunch, alright Kim?", Zach waved, as him and Will walked down the hallway, leaving me alone at a closed door.
"Alright..", I mumbled, probably not audible enough for them to hear.
I opened the door and was greeted by an old man and a full class. All eyes instantly were on me. I looked down at my feet quickly and began playing with the hem of my shirt. My feet hurried me to the back of the class, settling in a seat that was empty by the window.
Once I sat down, the man continued on with his lecture. Supposedly, this class was Designing. It was a mixture of heroes and sidekicks, and was mainly based on creating costumes, or should I say, 'outfits', to wear while you were saving the world.
As I tried to listen to what the teacher was saying, (I think his name was Mr. Smeez) I kept feeling something hit my back. I ignored it, thinking it was probably just the breeze from the air vent placed above me. But I was wrong.
A piece of paper hit the side of my cheek, which made me flinch lightly. I heard a muffled snort behind me, causing me to shift back and look around.
Shit.
There sat Lash, with his buddy in crime, Speed, laughing hysterically.
I shot them a glare, before looking forward.
I continued to feel the paper hit various spots on my back and side, some even landing on my desk. I chewed on my lip to keep from bursting out in rage, seeing that would just give me detention, or better yet, the satisfaction that Lash and Speed wanted.
Something hit my neck, and that's when I slowly began to lose it.
"Do it one more time, and I swear to god," I growled through clenched teeth, my eyes still set on Mr. Smeez. All I got was another fit of laughter, and some shuffling around.
"You'll do what?", someone whispered in my ear. The cold air hitting my neck made me shiver and lean up quickly. I turned around to spot a cocky looking Lash, with a cocky looking smile.
"I'll kill you," I muttered once more.
He just chuckled.
"Really, Kimmie? You're like what? 3'2? 3'3?", he smirked.
I hated when people made fun of my height. Yes, I was short, but I was only 5'3. It was him that was freakishly tall.
"And you're like what? A dick? A faggot?", I snapped back.
I got a couple 'ooos' and 'aahs', from the tiny crowd watching the feud unravel between us two. Lash put his hand up to his chest and began acting like the insult had actually hurt his feelings. He dropped his hand quickly and smiled.
"Please. I bet if I asked you right now, you wouldn't hesitate to hop on this," he smirked, letting the sex joke roll off his tongue in an arrogant way.
"Hop on what? A pencil eraser?", I muttered. I guess insults on his penis size was too far, since his little smile turned into a heavy scowl.
I didn't bother giving him any time to reply, I just gave him an innocent smile and turned forward.
The rest of the class was okay. Lash left me alone but I could still feel his eyes staring. I learned that we were going to be starting a project tomorrow. We have to make our 'costumes' and it's due on the first of January. Since we're getting our partners today, we'll have to work together and all that jazz.
...
"Hey Magenta," I smiled, setting my tray down on the lunch table and sitting next to her.
"Hey, Kim," she replied, shoving a spoonful of peas into her mouth, "How was your first day? You find all of your classes?"
"Yeah, Zach and Will helped me out. You?"
"I got lost during third period, but you know. I found my way."
Just then, four other trays slammed down at the table. It was Will, Zach, Ethan, and Leila.
"Hey," Leila smiled.
"Is the list up yet?", Zach questioned.
"No, there's Boomer right now. He probably has it right now."
We all focused on the gym teacher scowling over the cafeteria, holding a piece of paper.
"Hey!", he yelled, which shook the entire room. Everyone grew quiet. "I have the list with your partners on it! I'll be posting it, and when I do, you can come up and look!" As he spoke, he pinned the paper against the wall. "Alright-", before he could finish, hundreds of students hurried over, practically knocking him to his feet. He struggled to get out of the crowd and to the sidelines.
"Are you gonna go see who you got?", Magenta asked.
"I will when the crowd dies down."
"I'm not!", Zach cheered, before jumping into the crowd and disappearing.
"Good luck," Ethan sighed.
We heard occasional cheers and groans from the hoard of students, depending on their partner. I raised my eyebrows when a loud cheer yelled out from the crowd. Then Zach came barreling back towards our table.
"Guess who I got?!", he smiled.
"Who?"
"Will!"
"Really?", Will cheered, happy that he got someone he knew.
"Yeah! I had to punch a freshman to get to the paper, but yeah!"
I sat back and watched the two joyfully talk, and plan their outfits and junk. I shoved a piece of steak into my mouth and chewed softly, patting my mouth with my napkin.
"Hey partner," a voice whispered in my ear. I inhaled deeply, being startled, and accidentally choked on my food.
I coughed heavily, before turning around. I spotted those devilish brown eyes and the arrogant smirk. That's when I quickly stood up, almost tipping the table over.
"What?"
"I said, hey partner," Lash spoke smoothly, standing up with me.
"You have got to be shitting me."
I shoved him back by his shoulder and pushed my way into the crowd. I was tripped several times by all the crazy students, still trying to spot who their partner was. Finally, I reached the result papers.
"Please, please, please, please, please," I muttered, scanning the ink and finding my name. I put my finger on the words and slid it over to my partner. "Please, please, please, please, please, please-"
Lash Rider.
Fuck me.