Author's Note: Wow! I truly wasn't expecting the response I got for the last chapter. Thank you, everyone who reviewed!

Now, ONWARD!

Welcome to My Side of the River,

Sonya

Heather's POV

As expected, Gym bored me out of my skull. Gym class as a whole was incredibly boring; because of the way I had to tone down everything I did in order to avoid drawing attention to myself. To make it even worse, the only faces I recognized were those of Dash's fangirls. It passed without incident, though I could tell they were dying to say something nasty to me.

Tony was waiting outside the gym when the bell rang. "I met Dash and Violet." I said, low enough for no one to hear me.

He blushed when I mentioned Violet's name, but otherwise said nothing. I continued. "Dash is in my Homeroom, History, and Art with me. Violet's with me in Spanish." I dropped my voice even lower. "She's familiar with the broadcast in Mexico City with Huracán and the Incredibles, and was able to tell that I had a Mexican accent because she linked Huracán's accent to mine. Dash stopped a kid from making fun of me in Homeroom. He had this aura of assertion… I've never seen anything like it." … in a normal person. I added silently, and he picked up on my unspoken message.

"Interesting…" He murmured.

"I invited Dash to sit with us at lunch." I informed him, carefully omitting the part about Violet joining us, and he nodded his approval.

We walked into Math class. Mrs. Potts, the teacher, smiled at me, and told me to sit net to Tony (alphabetical seating at its finest). Quietly, he took out a sheet of paper, and began to write. However, since these notes being intercepted would mean doomsday for us, he wrote not in English, but in Gaelic.

Do you think Violet and Dash are heroes too?

I think it's definitely possible. Can you tell me more about the local heroes?

He gave me the basics. Mr. Incredible – super strength. Elastigirl – extreme flexibility/ can stretch her body up to 100 feet past normal length. Frozone – can freeze things (not part of the Incredibles family) Invisigirl – Invisibility, force fields. The Dash – super speed. Metamorph – can change forms at will.

Got it.

His expression turned mischievous. So… you like Dash?

I rolled my eyes. Violet thought the same thing. No, I do not like him! I just met him!

You could ask him out… get to know him better.

Tell you what. I'll ask him out when you ask Violet out.

That quickly wiped the smug grin off his face. Touché.

"All right, class." Called Mrs. Potts. "Today, we'll start by reviewing some of the material from last year…"

I smiled when we were dismissed for lunch. Tony and I walked out, talking and laughing. We exited the double doors in front of the school, and Tony lead me over to a tree, under which we were mostly hidden from public view.

When Dash and Violet joined us, I couldn't help the wide grin that spread across my face. As soon as I saw Violet and Tony's expressions at seeing the other, that grin turned into a pronounced smirk.

"Hey, Dash, Violet." Tony greeted them while I smiled my greeting.

"Hey, Heather… Tony." It took a lot of willpower to not laugh at the blush rapidly spreading across Violet and Tony's faces. Could they make it any more obvious that they liked each other?

They spun towards me and Dash, quickly coming to the same conclusion simultaneously: that this wasn't a coincidence. With a considerable amount of effort, I wiped my smug grin off my face, replacing it with a wide-eyed look of innocence.

"It's not going to be a problem, is it?" I asked innocently. "I mean, if you really don't want to sit with me…"

"I'll stay." They announced in unison. Tony eyed me suspiciously at my far too-angelic tone. He definitely knew that I was faking it. I nearly laughed again at their discomfort at sitting next to each other, and saw out of the corner of my eye that Dash was struggling not to do the same.

This was going to be good.

Violet's POV

I walked into study hall, taking my seat next to Dash. "Hey." He said. "How's the Conquistador?"

"Same as usual." The Conquistador was a running joke between me and Dash about Mr. Cortes. Considering his name and sunny personality (insert lethal dose of sarcasm here), we both agreed that the name fit.

"He tried to put Heather down today." I informed him, and I saw him go rigid.

"How?" He asked, carefully controlling his tone.

"He made her introduce herself to the class… in Spanish." I smiled at the memory. Dash gave me a quizzical look, and I elaborated. "She didn't even pause. The girl's completely fluent." Dash grinned.

"Something interesting, though, is her accent." I dropped my voice down so no one else could hear our conversation. "I recognized it. Remember Huracán?" He nodded. "It sounded exactly like his." Dash raised an eyebrow.

"It gets better." I continued. "She apparently has a cousin in Mexico City, David I think, who's a student studying archaeology. He taught her Spanish."

Dash caught what I was getting at. "You think he's…." I nodded.

"There's more. Mr. Cortes fixed her with the 'withering-violet' glare." He grimaced.

"Dash, she stood taller, got into a stare-down with him, and won." His jaw dropped.

"Daaaaang. So she's bilingual with a nerve of steel?"

I remembered something. "Not quite. She's Irish, remember? She probably speaks Gaelic."

"Trilingual, then." He said. "And she can draw."

I suddenly recalled what we needed to talk about. "Dash, you're familiar with what's going on in Ireland right now, right?"

Dash knew what I was getting at. He snorted. "Idiots. Their firemen are going to have one hell of a time doing their jobs without Inferno's help."

"Do you think she'll pull a Dad?" He knew I was referring to when Dad was forced into hiding. He didn't stop being a hero, he just stopped doing it when the public knew it was him.

Dash considered it. "No, I don't think so. The Irish government's banning of heroes isn't quite like the US's was. While the US just wanted the heroes to stop saving people, Ireland sounds like they don't even want heroes living in the country. Since Inferno looks like she's about my age, it would be easy for the government to find her and kick her out."

I shook my head. "Idiots." I smirked as I remembered the topic I knew Dash was trying to keep me away from. "So… when did you start walking girls to class?"

Dash blushed. "Shut up." He mumbled.

"You like her, don't you?" I accused, still smiling.

He shook his head. "No! I just met her this morning!"

"But…" I prompted.

"But I will admit she's cute." He turned even redder.

The bell rang. As I gathered my stuff, Dash seemed to remember something. "Hey, Violet, do you want to sit with me and Heather at lunch?"

"Sure." I said.

We strode outside, Dash leading me towards the old willow tree. Underneath sat Heather…

And Tony.

I internally cursed Dash. The little twerp had definitely planned this!

"Hey, Dash, Violet." Was it just me, or did Tony just light up when he said my name?

I shook my head. It had to be me. "Hey, Heather… Tony." I blushed when I said his name.

A muffled snicker from Heather's general direction informed me that Dash wasn't the only one in on the plan, and evidently, Tony realized this also. We spun towards Heather, who wore an all-too-innocent expression on her face.

"It's not going to be a problem, is it?" She asked us sweetly. Too sweetly. "I mean, if you really don't want to sit with me…"

I knew she was manipulating us. Judging by Tony's narrowed eyes, he knew it also, but we both blurted out at the exact same time "I'll stay."

Dash took a seat next to Heather, and I realized that this left me between Dash and Tony. I could tell Dash and Heather were struggling not to laugh, but I ignored them, sitting down.

We sat in an awkward silence for a few seconds before Dash spoke up. "Hey, Heather, are you trilingual?"

Heather turned red. "Erm… not quite." She replied.

I was confused, and Dash was also. She saw this, and elaborated.

"I'm actually quadrilingual." She admitted sheepishly. "Our cousin Miranda," She gestured towards Tony "taught us French also."

A sudden thought occurred to me. "Does this mean you're quadrilingual too?" I asked Tony. He nodded in confirmation.

"We taught our other cousins our respective languages." Tony explained, his eyes locked on mine.

"Well, sort of." Heather cut in.

"Sort of." He amended. "Heather and David already spoke English. I just helped them with their accent."

"That's really cool." Dash said, smiling at Heather. She smiled back, and I nearly rolled my eyes at their rather obvious mutual like.

"Heather says she doesn't like Dash. She claims it's 'too soon'." Tony made air-quotes with his fingers. "For some strange reason, I don't believe her."

"Dash said the same thing about Heather." I confided. "But I did get him to admit that he thinks Heather's 'cute'." I added my own air-quotes to my statement.

Dash looked like he wanted the earth to swallow him whole, while Heather's coloring vaguely resembled that of a fire truck. Tony, however, only raised one eyebrow.

"Oh, really?" He asked. I nodded in confirmation. "Seeing as Heather doesn't have any siblings, and her parents are only here temporarily, I may have to take on the duty of threatening your brother with death and dismemberment if he ever breaks Heather's heart."

Dash paled slightly at Tony's deadly serious tone. "Aren't you only supposed to do that when I ask Heather out?" He immediately realized his grave mistake when Tony and I started laughing. "If! I meant if!"

"Sure you did." I chuckled, while Heather impossibly blushed a brighter shade of red.

This lasted for a while, until Tony and I could get our laughing under control. Suddenly, Dash seemed to pale even further as he realized something. "Wait, your parents are only here temporarily? Does this mean you'll have to go back to Ireland?"

Heather and Tony exchanged a look I recognized instantly. It was the 'we-said-too-much' look. I hid my frown. What were they hiding that would cause them to use that particular look of pure guilt?

"No." Heather said cautiously. "They're only here to see that I get settled in all right. Their jobs won't let them move here."

Dash must have been thinking along the same lines as I was, because his next words voiced my thoughts on the subject. "Why did you move here, then, if your parents are still living in Dublin?"

"It's a long story." Heather replied, her face an emotionless mask. It was clear that this line of questioning made her very, very uncomfortable.

The bell rang then, saving Heather from Dash's rapid-fire questions. Dash picked up her bag, and he and Heather said goodbye to us, leaving me to walk with Tony. We walked in silence until I reached my classroom. Tony held the door open for me, and I stepped through.

"Violet." He called, and I turned back to him. I could feel the stares of my History class boring into my back, but I ignored them, concentrating instead on Tony. "Same time tomorrow?" He asked.

I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face. "Sure." I replied, and I saw my grin echoed on his face.

"Cool. See you tomorrow." He told me.

"See ya." And he was gone.

I could hear the whispers of my classmates at my recent development, but I ignored them, focusing on the warm, happy feelings flowing through my body right now.

I, Violet Parr, had talked to Tony Rydinger. Not only that, he was looking forward to seeing me (ME!) tomorrow at lunch.

That same silly grin stayed on my face for the rest of the day.