Fade
By: Stokely
Two people are fading in two very different ways.
Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue, it'll make me cry.
The next few classes, Annie continued to sit down next to Warren, who continued to try and prod her into leaving the table. Quite a few times, Annie had "accidentally" spilled something ice cold on him, and almost as many times, he had blown up her experiments with the help of the burners and hotplate.
What could I have possibly done to piss him off this much? She thought to herself as she wiped up another failed experiment while he smiled in a congratulatory manner to himself. God, if only I could just use my powers on him and fry his ass, just ONCE. She thought venomously while he mouthed "oops" to her. Every time the bell rang she breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the rest of the day would be smoother than the last hour.
It rained that day; harder than it had in a few months. Unfortunately that meant that Annie would have to sit inside with the rest of the student body, which she'd been avoiding since the beginning of the year. She liked her solitude, but it looked like she'd have to forego it today.
She walked into the cafeteria and instantly felt overwhelmed. She hadn't noticed that there were so many students attending Sky High. She bit her lip as she searched for a friendly face, and instantly felt relief wash over her as a friend from her Tech class waved her over. She hurried past a crowd who were currently playing a violent game of mini save the citizen and practically dove for the seat across from Will Stronghold.
"Thank god you're here." She said as soon as she swung her denim clad legs over the bench. "It takes a rainy day to show you how few friends you have."
"Oh come on, you have plenty of friends." Will said rolling his eyes.
"No, YOU have plenty of friends. I have smoked turkey." She said as she threw down her pathetic excuse for a lunch.
"Well Layla and the others should be here soon." He said encouragingly before prodding her sandwich with a pencil. "That is dead right?"
"Annie!" They both turned to see Layla jogging toward them. She took the seat next to Will across from her. "What are you doing here? You usually disappear during lunch hour." She said with a large smile on her face. Whatever medication she was on, Annie noted that she should try and get the prescription.
"It's too rainy outside, and my books don't take well to wet." Annie replied, inwardly cringing when Layla and Will kissed sweetly on the lips. Damn them and their perfectness. Note to self: Get boyfriend AND happy pills. And stop making up words like 'perfectness'.
"Well, at least now you'll get to meet the gang." Layla said happily unwrapping her Sidekick Sandwich. Suddenly an image of the Mystery Inc. gang formulated in Annie's mind.
"Hey, Zack Attack in da HOUSE!" Annie felt the sudden urge to attack Zach with her sandwich. "Whose this?" He asked as he plunked down on Will's other side. "A newbie?" he asked as if she couldn't hear him.
"She's a Hero, Zack." Voiced a small Urckle clone, with a polka dot bowtie. "I've seen you in the halls."
"Annie, this is Zack, that's Ethan in the glasses," Layla counted off, "that's Magenta in purple," she pointed to a girl who silently sat down next to Layla, but Annie got the distinct feeling that she could be heard when she wanted to, "oh!" Layla said cheerily, "and this is Warren." Lurch.
Suddenly, Ann felt like she'd had a bucket of cold water dumped on her and she turned warily around to see the bane of her existence standing in front of her, looking just as horrified by her presence as she was by his.
"Guys, this is Annie Cleary." Layla said, unaware of the startled staring contest going down between the new blonde and the dark rebel. He recovered first.
"So. It has a name." he said in a bored tone. Her eyes narrowed in record speed.
"I was hoping to eat in an jackass free zone." She said icily before grabbing her lunch and standing. "So I better move if I want to keep my food down." She stepped over the bench and pushed past Warren, taking extra care to bash his shoulder hard with hers, even if the end result was that her arm throbbed in pain. He just watched her walk away.
"Okay. Who invited little Miss OCD?" he asked rounding on his friends, looking murderous. Will emitted a sort of 'eep' sound, drawing all eyes toward him. Warren groaned loudly. "I should have guessed." He said before sinking down in the seat next to Ethan.
"What was up with that man?" Will asked leaning forward, his Hero sub forgotten. "That was a pretty frigid exchange."
"Yeah, what did you do, set her favorite backpack on fire?" Zack added, though his eyes seemed to be on Annie's retreating backside.
"She is quite possibly the most annoying girl in the entire school, including Missy Frost." He said scowling at the food he suddenly found he couldn't eat. Will and Layla exchanged dark looks. After Missy and Warren had broken it off in the summer, her title of the most hated girl in school was quite secure. What could Annie have done to top that?
"Wow, that's an accomplishment. What'd she do, knee you in the soft bits?" Maj deadpanned. Zack grinned widely at her joke, until he saw the murderous look on Warren's face, and wisely stifled his laughter into his napkin.
"She thinks she can judge me, just by looking at me. And she tried to get me to help her today in class. She's trying to trick me into doing work." Warren looked about as scandalized as he could look, but the others just exchanged more looks. "What?" Warren asked surveying them all with narrowed eyes.
"Well, would it be such a bad thing if you passed a couple of classes?" Layla said timidly. "I mean, I know school's not really your thing," she quickly said, seeing the look on his face, "but it'd be nice if you graduated with the rest of us."
"It doesn't matter either way. I'm just going to be working at the Paper Lantern for the rest of my life." He said as if that was the hand fate dealt and there was no point in pursuing any other possibility.
"Dude, no offense to your life plan, but man you could do so much better." Zack said, steeling himself for the fireball headed his way. But it never came.
"Yeah, Warren. You're smarter and stronger than most heroes in our class." Will added. Warren couldn't take much more of this; if he was such a great hero then why did he have this angry personality complex?
"Whatever. I'll see you guys later." With that he picked up his books and his lunch and left the cafeteria in what Magenta needled as a huff.
Why do they care so much whether or not I finish school? He thought as he slipped his copy of The Bell Jar back into his pocket. He already knew what he was capable of and school wasn't everything. Life and books he could deal with, but school seemed so pointless that everyday it felt as though he were losing pieces of his life to a giant black hole.
The only thing that interrupted this fretful train of thought was the yelp he heard when he walked into a fellow student and then fell against the lockers at his feet. He wheeled around and stooped to help up the fallen peer, until he found himself looking into piercing green eyes that made his stomach boil.
"Oh, its you." He said. Her eyes widened at that and she glared daggers at him.
"Huh. So I see you're a jerk everywhere you go." She said as she picked up her novel off the ground. "You should have signage or maybe a bell so that people are warned in advance." She quipped. And to her surprise she saw the corner of his mouth twitch upwards. "So are you going to stand there or help me up?" She snapped. He thought for a second but when he realized that she was starting to look livid he offered her his hand. She took it with a grimace.
Her hand was so small compared to his, and it felt so cool against his. Suddenly the image of Missy flashed in his mind and he grit his teeth and before he could keep it in check his hands caught alight.
"OW!" Annie yelled before pulling her hand away from his violently. "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!"
Warren blinked. No one had ever spoken to him like that before…burned or not.
"What did I ever do to you to make you want to torture me this much!" She continued to yell, obviously not aware that Warren was caught speechless. "You know, never mind, just stay away from me." She said before slamming her locker shut and strode into the classroom across the hall.
"I was going to say sorry, if you were interested." He said dully, more to himself than anyone else.
