High School Never Ends
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama/Humor/General
Characters: All
Summary: AU All the heroes are trying to endure the normal troubles of high school including cliques, jocks, cheerleaders, romance, and drama. However, these teenagers are developing powers that are anything but normal. And it might be up to them to save the world.
Chapter 2 - The Cafeteria
Nathan walked down the hallway towards his next class with a strut in his step. He knew everyone was staring at him. He was the most popular guy in school, why wouldn't they? He walked passed a group of girls staring and giggling. He smiled at them and they practically squealed.
Nathan didn't want to be late for class but an opportunity caught his attention and he knew he couldn't miss it. He turned toward the lockers and leaned against one. The girl next to him had her locker open but she was very surprised and annoyed to see him when she shut it.
"What do you want Petrelli?" she asked coldly.
"Well Heidi, I thought maybe I could walk you to class?" he asked. He tried to keep his voice cool and calm but it was hard to do that when he was around her.
"I don't think you have the same class I do," she said shortly.
"Actually, I think I do. World History?" he said a smile forming on his lips.
"How did you know?" Heidi asked in shock.
"I have my ways. I mean, I'm the president, after all," Nathan said.
"I think your more like a stalker," she replied.
"Oh come on, I'm not a stalker. I just want to walk you to class," he said earnestly.
"And then what? Are you going to try and ask me out?" she said angrily.
"Well now that you mention it…" Nathan said.
"No," Heidi replied quickly.
"But you didn't hear me ask yet!" Nathan said.
"I don't need to. You obviously haven't changed since last year. The answer's final," she said and then she picked up her books and headed to class. Nathan followed right behind her.
"Stop following me!" she said trying to walk faster.
"I'm in your class remember!" he said from behind her. She sighed. They reached the classroom and sat down before the bell rang.
"Hey man," Nathan said as he sat down next to his friend and fellow teammate, Matt Parkman.
"Why's Heidi so pissed off?" Matt asked. He saw Heidi sit down next to Janice Neilson and then turned around and glared at Nathan.
"Tried to ask her out," Nathan said dejectedly.
"Ouch," was all Matt said before their teacher, Mr. Dawson started to speak.
"Alright class. Welcome back. I hope you had a good summer because your back into real work now. I guess we should start by presenting our summer reports. Any volunteers," he said. Immediately a hand shot into the air. Matt and Nathan turned to look at the only person with their hand in the air. Janice and her other friends tried to hide their snorts of laughter.
"Ok, Miss Hanson, I guess you can start," Mr. Dawson said. Audrey stood up in front of the class and they couldn't help but notice the thick report she had. There was a groan across the room, but Mr. Dawson didn't hear it.
"Figures, Audrey loves to do these oral reports," Matt groaned. Audrey started to speak, but Nathan and Matt decided to use the opportunity to talk instead.
"So, do you think Heidi likes me?" Nathan asked with some concern. Matt always noticed that Heidi seemed to be the only person Nathan tried hard to please. Everyone else practically fell at his feet.
"No," Matt said truthfully. Nathan sighed. "But don't give up," Matt added.
"Thanks," Nathan said sarcastically.
I wish he would pay attention to me.
Matt looked around at the person who just spoke to him. Frantically he turned, trying to find the girl. He looked over and he saw Janice. She caught his eye and she smiled at him. Matt grinned. Janice was a beautiful, popular, cheerleader and he had had a crush on her for a long time. Maybe she had finally notice him. It was odd that he heard what she had said, though. He was sitting close to her, but she must have muttered it under her breath.
Audrey was still talking going on and on about the Trojan War. Finally, she was cut short by the bell.
"But Mr. Dawson, I only have a few pages left!" she pleaded.
"Tomorrow," he said.
"But-" Audrey tried to argue again.
"Tomorrow," Mr. Dawson repeated and Audrey left angrily.
"I wouldn't want to piss her off," Nathan said.
"That would be like angering a mountain lion," Matt said and they laughed. But somewhere in the back of his mind, he sort of felt bad for Audrey. I mean, her speech wasn't terrible.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Eden hadn't wanted to go to this school. She didn't want to go to class; she didn't want to make friends. She wanted to be alone. But unfortunately for her, Peter Petrelli was in nearly all of her classes. And he wasn't going to give up on her that easy. So that was why she was stuck going on a tour of the lunchroom when she could be enjoying the fresh air outside, while smoking, of course.
"And this is the lunch line," Peter pointed out. Eden could obviously tell it was the lunch line. She would probably have been mean to any other person who had said that to her, but there was something about Peter. She just couldn't hate the guy.
Peter walked toward the line and picked up a tray. "Are you coming?" he asked when Eden wouldn't follow him. She pointed to the brown bag in her hand.
"Oh," Peter said. "I guess you can meet me at the table over there," he pointed to his table near the far end of the cafeteria. Eden notice the Japanese boy that Peter hung out with was waving his arms for her to sit there. She had no where else to go, so she walked over to the table.
"Hi," she said. There were only three other people at the table. "I'm Eden," she added quickly.
"I'm Simone," said a girl with thick curly hair. She's probably the only girl who will hand out with these guys, Eden thought lamely.
"And this is Issac," Simone pointed to the boy Eden had seen in homeroom. He was still drawing.
"I'm Hiro," said the Japanese boy. Eden noticed the odd food on his plate. It definitely wasn't a peanut butter and jelly sandwich like she had.
"What's that?" she finally asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
"Sushi," Hiro said proudly. "I made it fresh this morning."
"How did you have the time?" Eden asked.
"I don't know," Hiro said truthfully. "I just got up this morning and decided to make it. I really didn't look at the clock."
"Oh," was all Eden could say.
"So, did Peter give you a tour?" Simone asked.
"Yeah," Eden said.
"I guess he didn't explain the lunch room," Simone said smiling. "He's too nice to say anything mean. But I'm not," she said, her smile fading. Eden was starting to like this girl.
"So, I'm guessing this school's the same as every other school," Eden said. "With its jocks and cool kids and geeks."
"Yup," Simone said. "And we're the geeks or the outsiders."
"I'm fine with that," Eden said smiling.
"Good," Simone replied.
"Ok there's the other group of outsiders," she pointed to another table in the room. "But they're seniors," she added. "There's Audrey Hanson, very talkative, kind of intimidating, and Ted Sprague, he's a nut job."
"Over there are the cheerleaders and the popular girls," Simone pointed to a large table of girls all laughing or smiling. Some were in cheerleading uniforms, but two girls weren't.
"There's Janice Nielson, biggest bitch ever," Simone said pointing to a brunette cheerleader. "And there's the rest of the squad. They're pretty much all followers, especially Jackie Wilcox." Simone gestured toward the blonde sitting next to Janice, she was practically hanging on her every word.
"Then there's Charlie Andrews-"Simone started but Hiro gave her a glare that clearly said "Don't mock her".
"You have a crush on her?" Eden said to Hiro.
Hiro blushed and Simone continued. "And next to Charlie is her best friend, Claire Bennet. Those two are probably the only decent cheerleaders in our school." Eden noticed the red head and the blonde were slightly distanced from the rest.
"And the girls at the table who aren't cheerleader are just as popular. Heidi Simmons is probably the smartest and nicest girl in the school and Niki Sanders," Simone said pointing to the pretty blonde talking to Heidi, "is the most popular girl in school. Every guy wants her, and every girl wants to be her."
"Except no guy dares to come near her," Simone continued.
"Why?" Eden asked.
"Because, she dating D.L Hawkins and trust me, no guy wants to mess around with him," Simone said. Eden saw Niki talking to D.L and laughing. She also noticed his arm was placed protectively over her shoulder.
Then, a group of guys came into the room. Tall and broad, Eden thought they must be the football team.
"That's the football team," Simone confirmed. "Nathan Petrelli's the star of the team."
"Petrelli?" Eden asked. She remembered that was Peter's last name.
"Yeah, I know what you're thinking. How can two brothers be so different? Peter sweet and kind and Nathan, well Nathan's a jerk," Simone said.
"Oh," Eden said as she watched Nathan laugh with another guy.
"That's Matt Parkman, his best friend. He's not much of a jerk, but he still hangs out with him," Simone said. "But Matt and Nathan aren't the bullies on the team. Nope, that's Brody Mitchum." Simone pointed to a boy that was laughing with Nathan and Matt.
The team walked down the center until Eden saw a boy with thick glasses bump into Brody.
"That's not good," Simone said and they watched.
"What's the matter with you? Can't you watch where you're going?" Brody yelled. He pushed the guy out of the way and he fell and his books flew everywhere.
"What's going on?" Mohinder and Ando asked as they set there trays down at the table.
"Where's Peter?" Hiro asked. The whole table turned around and saw where Peter was. He was helping the guy with the thick glasses pick up his books. Everyone watched him. Eden looked at Nathan and saw a look of embarrassment on his face.
"Poor Gabe, always getting pushed around," Ando said shaking his head.
"That's Gabriel Gray," Simone said pointing to the thick rimmed glasses boy.
"I guess he gets pushed around a lot," Eden commented.
"Yeah, pretty much every day," Mohinder said. Eden was still looking at Peter and Gabriel and she didn't notice Mohinder staring at her. Simone did though and she slapped him just as Eden turned back to the table.
A few minutes later, Peter joined them. "Man, I wish they would just leave Gabriel alone. He just disappeared after I helped him. I offered to let him sit here but he just ran."
"Too bad, he seemed kind of nice," Eden said.
"He's ok but sometimes he can get a little crazy, like now," Mohinder said. "What time is it?" he asked suddenly.
"Do you really think it will be the same as last year?" Simone scoffed.
"Worth a shot. It's 12:14 with 20 seconds left," Peter said. "Now 19, 18, 17…" The guys counted down.
"What's going on? Why are they counting?" Eden asked. Simone sighed and pointed to Audrey Hanson's table.
"…3,2,1!" The guys said in unison. Almost as if on cue, Ted jumped up from his chair.
"The world is going to end! We're all going to die!" he ran across the cafeteria screaming his lungs out. He kept running until someone caught up with him.
"Calm down Mr. Sprague," the man said. Eden saw he had horn rimmed glasses.
"That's Principal Bennet," Simone said. "He's Claire's dad." Eden turned to look at the cheerleader. Her face had turned red.
"I can't be stopped! I'm a menace to society!" Ted shouted trying but failing to break free from the principal grip.
"Detention," was all Mr. Bennet said and he practically dragged Ted out of the cafeteria.
"That happens every day?" Eden asked, shocked.
"Welcome to Central East," Simone replied.