Oh, last chapter I said they were in tenth grade and sixteen, which was a mistake. In my story, they are actually almost fifteen and in ninth grade. Sorry, I was distracted. Anyway, this chapter will have more Henry and Charlotte scenes, so I hope you enjoy them. They won't be friends anytime soon, that's for sure. In other news, I have only one more semester before I receive my associate's degree, so please don't be too mad if I take too long to update or write stories. Trust me, I'm working as fast as I can to update all of them.

Chapter 2. Detention Talks

…

When the alarm from her phone rang, Charlotte's eyes fluttered opened as she fought to wake up then, lest she let the comfortable sheets and the current warmth she was feeling compel her back to Morpheus' arms. She could see it was still dark outside, with just a hint of daylight tinting the sky. She rolled over her bed to see the time on her clock.

6:30

Well, at least she could say she had gotten about ten hours of sleep.

The girl groaned as she forced herself out of bed and to the bathroom to get herself ready for the school day ahead of her. When she was properly cleansed and dressed in a short black skirt with pant leggings and a white and blue striped shirt, she made her way downstairs, where her mom was waiting for her. Her dad didn't usually come back until after nine in the morning.

She could see a newspaper in her mom's hands as she moved past her to grab cereal and milk. It read, "KID DANGER SAVES CIVILIANS. HACKER M STILL AT LARGE." And there, captured in black and white and good visual quality, was a picture of her and Kid Danger by the opening to the elevator and surrounded by the other five occupants on the front of the paper. It showcased them after he had gotten himself up after her. He had steadied her before he had addressed the other people and rushed off. And of course, some lowlife with a camera had to take a picture after a traumatized event because that's all that mattered, making money off of it.

Taking her seat and setting the essentials in order to have her cereal around her, Charlotte looked up at her mom, who was still completely engrossed in reading the paper. "Morning, mom. How are you?"

Her mom abruptly set down what she was reading, seemingly more than a little surprised to see her. "Oh, Charlotte. Morning, sweetheart. I'm sorry, I was just reading the article about your little incident yesterday."

"That's okay," The girl assured as she poured her bowl of cereal and took a bite, swallowing before she spoke again, "I'm sure a lot of people would be distracted by the story. I think it's the first time Hacker M actually threatened lives."

"Yes. It's seems that constantly evading arrest has encouraged him to take more drastic actions to get what he wants. All thanks to Captain Man and Kid Danger." Her mom huffed as she got up to obtain a cup of coffee.

"Wait, what?" Charlotte asked, confused on how her mom managed to draw that conclusion. "That's not true. Those two always chase after that guy. They saved me and five others from that guy. How are they to blame?"

"Charlotte, I will confer that they are useful from time to time, but they are also sloppy. Yesterday, they had the chance to stop him, and yet he got away again. It's probably only due to luck that they managed to stop him from getting the Rodex."

"Well, it's not like the police are doing a better job. In fact, I'm sure Captain Man and Kid Danger do a better job saving the day than the cops do." The girl declared passionately. It wasn't until her mother shot her an annoyed look that she remember her mom was a part of the police force. Shoot.

"I admit my coworkers are a bit lazy when it comes to responding to crime, but can you blame them? Just last week, Kid Danger got a cat down from a tree! Those two keep stepping in to put a stop to not only serious crimes, but petty ones as well. How the heck are people supposed to be willing to do their jobs when they're aware that superheroes are picking up the slack?! I mean, if the day comes where they can't save us, how will we be able to if they never let us?"

Charlotte could kinda see where her mom was coming from at that angle. She took her job very seriously and automatically detested anything and everything that got in the way of it. Captain Man and his sidekick were assets to Swellview, but in a way they also crippled it. They could be defeated or absent one day and then everyone in the city would be doomed. However, it was also unfair to be mad at them for being good at protecting people.

"It's just, Kid Danger saved my life. And I'm sure that's also true for numerous people here in Swellview too. I just think we should focus more on what they do accomplish right now rather than what will happen if they fail one day in the coming future. That's all." Her mom pursed her lips in displeasure but otherwise had nothing more to say, so the rest of breakfast was spent in complete silence.

…

When Charlotte finally arrived at Swellview High School, about twenty minutes before it was set to start, she made a beeline to Jasper's locker. He was already standing there, dressed in a black sweater and blue jeans. He was also constantly glancing at his watch before looking around, and then repeating the process all over again every few seconds. She quickly shuffled up to him while he was distracted, a natural smile appearing on her face. "Hey, Jasper."

The boy in question jumped abruptly, turning to face her immediately and face morphing into an expression that was half relieved and half annoyed. "Charlotte! You know I hate it when you jump scare me. And you said you'd meet me in my house, what's the deal?"

"Sorry," she apologized sincerely as she leaned against the lockers, "Had a fight with my mom. You know, the usual "Captain Man and Kid Danger make the police lazy" skit. I know I usually suffer those in silence, but I couldn't keep quiet this time. Not after what Kid Danger did for me."

Jasper accepted the explanation, turning to open his locker before he turned back to face her. "Saw you were front page. You didn't tell me you two had a moment. It was cute!" Charlotte could only groan, hoping that no one else would get the same impression.

Of course, that hope turned out to be in vain as more people started showing up to school and deliberately seek her out to question her about the rescue. Soon enough, she and Jasper were surrounded, a huge volley of questions being thrown at her from every turn.

"Yo, Charlotte, how was it being whisked from that elevator at the last second?"

"Did Kid Danger say anything? What was he like?"

"Oh, man I would kill to be in your shoes right now. How lucky are you to actually be face-to-face with Kid Danger! What was his touch like, what did he look like?"

Some of those inquiries seemed unnecessary, as just about everyone had seen Captain Man's sidekick on the news multiple times and could never recognize him as any regular person. Charlotte could help the annoyance that was growing in her stomach as more people commented on her luck. What exactly made almost dying with five strangers in one of the most terrifying ways "lucky"?

Jasper did his best to act as a buffer between her and the active and enthusiastic fans that were vying for just a word on what the blond sidekick was like up close. She barely made it to her first class as random students followed her inside, looking for a last minute scoop while they could, since school didn't start for another five minutes. This left the brunette girl to be bombarded almost endlessly.

"Come on, just one statement about whether he really has abs, please!" She could hear one voice yelled, the perpetrator a teenage boy in the back to her surprise. She supposed she shouldn't be shocked Kid Danger had guy fans as well.

Charlotte almost cheered when the bell rang, indicating it was time for supervised education to begin and all the other students to get away. The ones who had classes else reluctantly dragged themselves, including Jasper, while the students who had AP Biology with her moved to their seats just as the teacher, Miss Lynn, rushed into the room. She was wearing a yellow short-sleeved sundress and her black hair was in a high ponytail. She was pretty enough to be a model, so Charlotte never understood how someone so beautiful would choose to be a teacher. Although, her brain spoke for itself, it had still baffled her since the first day she started high school.

"Good morning, class. Welcome to the second week of ninth grade. Last week, we were doing a recap of what you covered in eighth grade concerning science, and now we can move on to what you will need to learn this year. But first, roll call. Say here when I call your name." She closed the door to the room and moved to her desk, bending over a big book lying wide open.

"Madison Ashl —" But suddenly, the door slammed open and a tall and slightly tan blond boy rushed into the room. His hair was messy, like he just rolled out of bed and his clothes, which was a red and white plaid shirt left open to showcase a black T-shirt and blue jeans, were rumpled but clean. Over his shoulder was a brown shoulder bag that had bits of paper spilling out of it and he hunched over, breathing heavily, like he had raced to school from wherever he lived.

"Uh, excuse me, young man. Can I help you?" Miss Lynn questioned politely as she stepped towards the boy. He stood up, still slightly panting as he answered in a rough voice, "I'm Henry Hart. I was transferred to your class. AP Biology, right?"

Charlotte started as he heard the guy speak. His deep and raspy voice made her shiver. And that name… it sounded so familiar. Like she had heard it somewhere before.

Pursing her lips, the teacher glanced once again at her book, flipping through it and scrolling through the page. She gave a small hum as she found what she was looking for. "Ah yes, your science teacher told me you would need a more advanced learning set. He failed to mention your amazing punctuality, however." There was a set of stifled laughter at the teacher's obvious disapproval towards the new pupil.

Turning to face the boy once again, Miss Lynn added, "A word of advice, Mr. Hart. Almost lateness is not a great way to make a first impression in my class. Now please take a seat." The blond took a moment to search the room before he opted for the seat one roll up and right from where Charlotte was sitting.

Now that he was up close, Charlotte could see he had profound dark circles around his eyes. His brown eyes met hers for a flash, in which she thought she had seen recognition in them, before he turned away and slumped into his seat, looking like he would much rather be back in his bed. She watched with curiosity as he pulled a notebook and pencil out of his bag and hunched over.

Following his example, the brunette got her own stationery out and got to work on writing notes and following the teacher. Although she couldn't stop herself from looking back at the almost latecomer, her mind racing. The fact that he was being transferred to the advanced science class spoke highly of his intelligence, but he seemed like the typical jock type. And why did his name seem so familiar?

Pushing it out of her mind for the moment, the girl turned her attention back on the lesson for the day. Eventually, the forty-five minutes were done and the bell rang out once again. Miss Lynn smiled at them as they slowly got up. "Well, next week we'll be going over the categorization of the elements in the periodic table. Please study that and chapters 1-4 in your book. Have a good day."

Charlotte got up, head down as she made sure her notes were perfect. She was so distracted, it was no surprise she bumped into someone who had stepped to the front of the room at the same time she did. She crashed to the floor, dropping her book. As she bent down to pick it up with a sigh, she flinched back as she saw someone else had gotten to it first. She looked up to see the boy, Henry Hart, who was looking at her with a confused look at his face. Charlotte found herself immobilized by his amber-brown eyes now that she could really look at them.

"Uh, you okay?" He asked, voice still very much deep and crush-worthy. The brunette quickly shook her head as she reached out for her book.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks a…" Charlotte found herself trailing off as she noticed his right arm, the sleeve having come up in the confusion. First thing, it was muscled, like this kid regularly did Olympic-worthy exercise. Second, it was adorned with a large, black watch. Nothing out of the ordinary in that regard. No, what had Charlotte staring wide mouth at his inner arm was the huge scar that reached from his forearm and disappeared down his sleeve, so she wasn't sure where it ended.

It was jagged and looked as though it had once been deeper, perhaps a year ago, but had healed over a little. It was also black, and looked too sinister to have happened by accident. She couldn't help but dazedly wonder what knife could make a scar like that.

Suddenly, the sleeve was roughly pulled back up by a slightly tan hand. Charlotte looked up at the boy's face abruptly, blushing at having been caught staring. Henry was looking at her, face suddenly closed off and a stoic frown now on his face.

"Are you going to take the book or not?" Charlotte flinched again, this time at the hard edge that was in the blond boy's voice as he asked his question. Keeping her eyes down in shame, she quietly took the book back with a murmured "Thank you." The boy turned his back to her without another word, walking out of the classroom as quickly as he could.

…

Charlotte spent the rest of the hour lost in thought, though she did her best to pay close attention to her math and English teacher. Before she knew it, it was lunch hour and she was heading towards her standard lunch table with today's special of tuna salad with a side of meatballs. Sitting down a little roughly, Charlotte looked up to see Jasper was already seated at the table, digging in to the meatballs with a gusto that was a little worrying.

"Hey, Char." He greeted after he swallowed his food, a warm grin already on his face. It lessened as he saw her current state. "You okay? You seem… a little anxious."

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine, sorry." She took a bit of her salad to alleviate his worries. He stared at her for another minute before he shrugged and went back to his own food. They ate in silence, enjoying each other's company while staying in their own little bubble. It was times like these that they were reminded of how much they liked having the other as their best friend.

Swallowing the last of the tuna and playing around with the meatballs, Charlotte hesitantly inquired, "Hey, Jasper? Does the name 'Henry Hart' mean anything to you?"

Gulping down his milk, Jasper sat up and responded, "Yeah, actually. Why do you ask?"

"I just know I recognized that name from somewhere. He's in my AP Biology class, but I haven't really seen him after that." Then again, she had been too distracted to actually look around for the blond boy, especially after she had shamed herself by staring at his old injury.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he's in all the advanced classes. He's supposed to be wicked smart, but he sticks to himself nowadays. You probably don't remember, but when the seventh grade was almost over, he bumped into Bobby Finn and —"

"Wait," Charlotte interrupted, suddenly realizing what her best friend was talking about. "He was the guy who flipped Bobby?!"

That story had been an extravaganza extreme at the time. From what the student body had figured, the two boys had been walking the hallway when they had bumped into each other rather unexpectedly. It might have been a little rough, but nothing to cry over. Henry obviously had disagreed because he had reacted quite rashly. He had grabbed Bobby's arm, flipped him over his shoulder and to the floor face down and had smashed his foot to his back, pulling his arm back like the boy was restraining Bobby. He also almost pulled the appendage out of the socket.

Even more shockingly, after a moment, Henry had jerked back, looking significantly horrified and ten seconds from freaking out. He had rushed off while the teachers had tended to Bobby and the other students had spread the gossip around for everyone to hear. The janitor had eventually found the blond boy hiding in the bathroom, having a full-scale panic attack.

They kept him in the nurse's office, seeing as his dad had been on a business trip and his mom had been busy with Piper. However, he had been picked up about an hour later (by a brown-haired man in a red and grey, long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans that was listed as an emergency contact and also introduced himself as Henry's boss). After a thorough investigation from the teachers, Henry was suspended for three days.

When he came back, he had been different. Distant and brooding. Then summer had come and the eighth grade had started, and soon everyone forgotten about the infamous Booby flip. Only a few other students even remembered the name of the guy who did the actual flipping. Apparently, her friend was one of them.

"Did he try to start something with you?" Jasper asked aggressively, looking ready to get up and kick some blondie ass. Charlotte was quick to refute him. "No, no! I just noticed him in class. He was almost late today, and he looked like he slept in his clothes and didn't bother to brush his hair."

"Rumor has it that started in seventh grade too. The teachers used to send him to the counselor in case he was dealing in drugs. Whatever he's up to, as long as it doesn't bother us, it's none of our concern." He went back to finishing his milk, signaling the end of the conversation.

Charlotte nodded in agreement, but couldn't stop her thoughts from drifting to the scar she had seen on his arm. If what he was up to had lead to that, it couldn't be any good and was none of her business.

And besides, if that story was anything to go on, the blond kid was dangerous and unstable. I mean, who just hurts someone for bumping into you? What exactly did he think was happening, that he was being attacked? Really, all her common sense screamed at her to let this go and let the kid deal with whatever problems he may have on his own. So why did a part of her want to help him?

…

Charlotte knew theoretically that letting yourself be distracted in school could land someone in trouble. Maybe subconsciously she had hoped that since this was the first time she was really distracted, she wouldn't reap any consequences from it. Unfortunately, she had factored in her second to last class, home economics with Mr. Berkins.

The teacher straight up hated her, which was a first for her since all the teachers in Swellview Junior High had worshipped her brain as their lord. But since Mr. Berkins had laid eyes on her, he seemed to have labeled her a troublemaker and lived for those moments he can serve justice. Like now, when she arrived literally a minute late.

"Well, Miss. Bolton. Seems you're late. You know how much I tolerate lateness to my class." The white-skinned, red-haired man droned flatly as he stared down at her. Charlotte sighed as she dragged a hand through her hair in annoyance. "Look, I'm sorry, Mr. Berkins. I won't be late again, so may I please go to my seat now?"

"Not just yet," Then the man promptly ripped out a dentition slip and handed it to her, a barely-concealed smirk on his face at her dumbstruck face. "Now you can go to your seat."

Charlotte numbly took the slip and walked to her seat, unsure why things seem to be going so wrong for her today. Was it because she was rescued by Kid Danger or because of her interest in Henry Hart? Whatever was causing the bad karma, she could only hope she find an effective countermeasure, because she would not let every school day be like this!

…

When the last bell rang, Charlotte was up and out the door as fast as she could. She didn't want to be late again, even if it was to detention. When she got there, she could see Mr. Berkins was already there, talking with the teacher assigned to handle it, Mrs. Shen, the foreign language educator.

Throwing her a look, he rushed off after a quick goodbye to the teacher, who immediately turned to face her with a smile on her face. She had white hair and green eyes, skin brown as cocoa and wearing a black sweater with jeans.

"You must be Charlotte. Come inside, the other student is already present." The brunette obeyed, unsure who would be joining her but having a strong feeling she already knew who was in and wouldn't like it at all.

Sure enough, sitting in the back, head resting on crossed arms, was Henry Hart. His eyes flickered to her for a moment before he moved so his face was down. Guess he was taking a nap. She took a seat next to him, focusing on the teacher when she spoke again.

"Seeing as this is meant to be a punishment, I can't allow you to lay games or anything. However, I will let you do anything else as long as you're quiet and stay for the necessary hour. I will be back in a little while." Then Mrs. Shen was out of there, leaving the two students alone with each other.

For the first ten minutes, Charlotte didn't dare to even glance at blond boy next to her. Rather, she worked on a bit of her homework and did a bit of reading. Finally, when thirty minutes had passed, she couldn't help herself. She turned her head to take a quick look at the teen who had occupied her thoughts for most of the day, only to find his head was turned in her direction and he was staring at her as well.

Unable to help it, she gasped and jerked back, blushing quite intensely. A huge smirk appeared on the boy's face, prompting her anger. "You know it's not polite to stare." She snapped at the boy, who only snorted at her before he spoke again too, voice still very much deep and spine-chilling.

"I don't think you're one to be making comments about other people staring, girly." Henry answered back easily, undeterred by her frustration, it would seem. Somehow, that ruffled Charlotte the wrong way. "Okay, first of all, my name is Charlotte. Charlotte Bolton. And second, who are you to judge someone? Last I checked, I didn't beat someone up just for bumping into me."

"Yet you're the one bringing that up, so are you truly one to talk about not judging someone?" The kid said without hesitation, seeming unfazed at the memory of the infamous scene. Charlotte couldn't believe the nerve of the guy! He may be seriously hot, but he was a world-class jerk.

"Look, if this is about staring at your scar, I'm sorry for that, but you have no right to treat me this way. Contrary to what you might think, being nice to people has its own reward." The brunette said, feeling righteous and much like the bigger person. Henry made a point of rolling his eyes before he turned his head so he wasn't facing her. "Whatever you say, Bolton."

Refusing to stoop to the guy's level, Charlotte went back to her book, fuming on the inside at the blond boy's attitude. What an ass!

It was another ten minutes of silence before Charlotte was startled by a loud sound. It was an insistent beeping that would beep twice, then pause for a moment only to beep twice again. She turned to see Henry was sitting up, looking down at his watch with a impassive expression.

"Well, duty calls. This was fun and all, but it really wasn't. Bye," he said mockingly as he got up from his seat and put his bag over his shoulder. Charlotte could only watch him do so with blatant disbelief.

"You can't leave now! We still have less than twenty minutes of detention left!" She screamed as she watched the boy stick his head out the classroom door to check if the coast was clear. He snorted as he turned his attention back to her, "So, what's the worst that can happen? They'll give me extra detention? Tell my parents? Ha!" Henry sounded a little bitter as he spoke now, "Go back to your book, Bolton. I've got places to be."

And then he was out of the classroom, leaving Charlotte staring after him with her mouth hanging open.

…

So, do I get props for updating so quickly? Now, for those wondering why Henry's being such a dick, well I warned you he would be OOC! Don't worry, he's still very much how he is on the show, but I told you he deliberately alienates himself from people because of his job. Next chapter will feature a bit of Ray, so hopefully you guys will see how he is when he doesn't have to hide himself from another person. Until then, please review, follow and favorite. Feel free to tell me if this story needs any improvements or offer any suggestions.