Mistaken Identity

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize! I only lay claim to Kristen/Alex

Chapter Three: Option Two

Notice: This chapter is quite long, but very good :)

"Oh you've got to be shitting me"

She stood infront of Sky High sign at the front of the school near the bussing strip. She'd just gotten off the bus, her feet only just making contact with the ground, when she'd seen it. A freshman had been taped naked to the billboard which usually informed the students of upcoming dates, the word NARC written across the boy's pale chest in black marker and his privates covered by a piece of red cloth. Students were circled around him, the area maybe ten students deep in each direction, all of them laughing and pointing. As she walked towards the area slowly, she even saw some people taking pictures. And this was supposed to be high school…

Surprisingly, after her little spaz-attack on Lash during her first day, she hadn't seen him do any other random acts of terror for the rest of the week. But that was only when she was with him. There'd been rumblings of their usual bullying but she was never there when they supposedly happened. Whenever she heard about Lash and Speed's continuing reign of terror, she sighed. Rome wasn't built in a day, now. But now, the Monday of her second week at Sky High, she was wondering if she'd made any progress at all.

But as she stood at the edge of group around the boy, she couldn't help but think to herself…had he done this? Shoving a kid into a locker was one thing but stripping him down and taping him up for the entire school to see was another. Public humiliation was something no one should have to experience and as she watched the group around the already traumatized boy swell in size, she felt the anger inside of her grow.

She pushed through the crowd and then got to the small 3 feet in diameter circle of empty space the crowd had left. She looked around at everyone, all eyes now on her and glared at the student body infront of her. These kids were supposed to be heroes and hero support. They were supposed to be above all this, weren't they? They were the cream of the crop…stuff like this wasn't suppose to happen at Sky High. She shrugged her bag off her shoulder and left it at the bottom of the sign, scaling the small wall and eventually reaching a ledge she was able to stand on.

"You alright?" she asked the kid who had resigned to looking down at the ground, to ashamed to even raise his head and look at the 500 odd students laughing at him. So much for pride. But then again, that kinda goes out the window when you're stripped and taped to a sign, now doesn't it?

She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her keychain, finding the small red oval shaped object. She pulled a small, but sharp, blade out from the side and went to work, sawing slowly through the tape that strapped the boy to the sign. She heard a wave of groans and a variety of insults thrown her way as she continued to cut the tape, the bell eventually ringing to signal the beginning of the day. Another wave of complaints came and she heard some people shout some mean things her way as she turned around.

"Go Comets!" she cheered sarcastically to the retreating crowd, evoking the school mascot as she rolled her eyes, a couple of hulking, football type guys turning around and giving her the finger. She waved back sweetly in reply and then went back to work, cutting through more duct tape.

"So…what'd you do to get yourself tagged?" she asked the boy, who raised his head and then looked around at the abandoned school yard infront of him.

"Someone took my locker so I went and reported it like we were told to…I guess we weren't supposed to" he explained rather pathetically, managing a weak smile Alex's way. She smiled in return and then started on the last piece of tape that was around his feet. When she finished cutting his feet free, she climbed down and helped him do the same, helping him steady himself as soon as his feet reached solid ground.

"Oh…that's just great" she said as she looked at the base of the school sign, noticing the absence of her black messenger bag. She sighed and then ran a hand through her hair, waiting a couple of seconds before jerking her hand towards the school.

"Let's go see Powers…you need close and I need to get my bag back. What's your name anyways?" she asked the kid who was shivering as they walked towards the school, a brisk, fall breeze washing over them. She pulled her forest green velvet blazer closer to her as they quickened their step, taking the school stairs leading to the front doors two at time.

"Peter Plug. I can control electricity" he said rather timidly, his eyes blinking pretty rapidly as she pulled open the door and gestured for him to enter the school.

"Plug? Well that's kinda ironic" she joked as she lead them to Principal Powers' office. When they reached there she knocked on the door, suddenly realizing that she hadn't asked him what she'd meant to before cutting him down.

"Who did this too you anyways?" she inquired almost nervously, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer or not. Hearing it would mean that she'd been wrong about Lash and that was something she wasn't ready to admit just yet. But not hearing it would mean that she would be blinded by love, actually, more of by crush, and that was something she wasn't ready to admit either.

She really, really, really, really liked Lash. He was charming, funny, ridiculously handsome, witty, caring, and surprisingly really smart. But that was the Lash she knew; that was the Lash he was when she was around. She didn't know who he became when she was absent, and she didn't really know if she wanted to know. In her head, he was pretty darn fantastic and she wasn't ready to have that image tarnished by the fact that he stripped kids down and stuck them onto signs just because they ratted him out.

"Huh? Oh it was two fourth years. Beemer and Screen" Peter said absentmindedly as he shivered, glancing at the Principal's door rather expectantly, clearly wanting to get out of the hallways and out of the view of the students milling the hallway.

She felt something inside of her swell, all the way up to the middle of her chest. She didn't even notice when Principal Powers opened her door and beckoned the two of them inside. She was still off in her parallel universe as Peter recounted what had happened to him. She was too busy mentally beating herself up for ever believing that Lash would be capable of something so utterly humiliating. Shoving kids in lockers was one thing. Stripping them down and putting them on public display was another.

"Ms. George? Mr. Plug mentioned that you bag was stolen when you went to cut him down, is that correct?" Principal Powers said sternly, breaking her from her little trip on Cloud Nine. She snapped to attention and then nodded, confirming the Principal's statement.

"Yeah…it just had a couple binders, my science textbook, my cell phone. Nothing to impor…oh, shit" she muttered as she went down the roll call of her bag's contents.

"Ms. George" Principal Powers said sternly, reprimanding her for her language. Alex cringed as she realized what else had been in her bag. Something that, if it got into the wrong hands, could become quite volatile for whoever read it. No one had ever read it before and as she thought about someone reading her most private thoughts, her stomach turned. The soaring feeling she had felt when she had been told that Lash hadn't bullied Peter was gone in an instant.

"My journal. The journal I've kept since my mother died. Principal Powers—"she said hurriedly, the bile in her throat beginning to rise. She felt as if she were about to be sick.

There were things in that journal that no one would ever know. There were details about her mother, her father, their secret sanctum, missions that they had gone on, private information they had told her in confidence, and more recently, her relationship with Lash. If someone read that, they would know all about her past and who she really was. If they read her journal…she'd be exposed.

"Mr. Plug, report back to class. I assure you both Beemer and Screen will be punished. Ms. George, stay back please" Principal Powers said, mobilizing into action. Peter nodded and shuffled out of the room slowly, confused at what had just happened. He disappeared from the office and she started to speak when the door clicked shut.

"What does that journal contain?" Principal Powers asked her critically, typing something on her computer while glancing at Alex occasionally.

"Everything, my mom, dad, missions. Principal Powers, if someone reads it, they'll know" she said defeatedly, sitting back in her seat and covering her eyes with her hand. She felt like she was going to cry.

Principal Powers looked at her sternly for a couple of seconds, as if about to lecture her for keeping such a book, but thought against it.

"Your bag will be found. I will be calling an immediate school assembly for third period to address this. Go back to class, and give this to your teachers. It'll explain everything" Principal Powers said, taking three freshly printed sheets of paper and handing it to Alex across the desk. Alex accepted them and then nodded, pushing herself out of the comfy chair and walking towards the door. Hollowly, she departed from the office and walked to her art class, walking in and making a bee line straight for Mrs. Bromely's desk. The elderly teacher nodded somberly and then told Alex to take her seat, informing her that they would be continuing on their sketches for the period.

She turned around and then walked over to her desk, taking off her jacket and casting a glance over the classroom. It was oddly quiet, the twenty or so students each hunched over their desk, pencils whizzing across the pages. She eventually found him in a similar position, a pair of earbuds in his ear to block out ambient noise as he drew. His face was contorted with concentration as the pencil in his hand made its way over the page. She made a wide circle around the classroom and then came up behind him, watching from over his left shoulder as he worked.

He was a really amazing artist. Last week, after painting their messy masterpieces on the first day, they went back to painting individually and as Alex's came out as horribly as she expected, Lash's blew her away. He'd drawn an open field at dusk; the sky an inky shade of pink blending into a dark purple. There were splashes of colour in the form of wild flowers and in the half set sun, the silhouettes of two people standing, their fingers gently intertwined. It had taken her breath away and as much as she praised him for it, he downplayed it. He was an amazing artist, but didn't want the credit it merited.

She watched him for a couple of seconds, his hand sketching what seemed like a jaw. Eventually, she plunked herself down in the chair beside him and successfully got his attention by his movement. He stopped drawing and flipped his sketch book shut, pulling out his earbuds and smiling at her. God, he was cute.

"Hey, where were you? Me and Speed were looking for you in the caf before classes" he asked as she brushed her wavy hair behind her and swept it up into a messy bun. She took her glasses off and rubbed her eyes, turning to look at him while she rested her head in her hand.

"I cut down the freshman that Beemer and Screen had taped to the school sign. Sort of got caught up there, and with getting my bag stole" she admitted defeatedly as she pushed the desktop up and withdrew her sketchbook from its interior. She stole the pencil right out of Lash's hand and started to doodle.

"Your bag got stolen? By who?" he asked her rather concernedly as he stole his pencil bag, causing her to whine sarcastically.

"I don't know. I got down and it was gone. So let me use your pencil," she said, reaching over him and taking it from his hand, "Since I don't have any of my own"

She looked at him pointedly and realized that they were remarkably close. Their noses were inches if not centimeter's away and for the first time, he was looking at her directly in the eyes without having to look through the lenses of her glasses. He was looking at her, taking everything in, and his eyes flickered to her bow-shaped lips for a couple of seconds. She had reached over him to get his pencil but hadn't realized how close she had become to him. She met his eyes again and she noticed how despite seeming to be a very dark brown, they were actually a lot lighter up close. His eyes were flecked with strokes of gold and grey and she was immediately caught up with the intricate pattern the different colours of his eyes made. His eyes were truly captivating.

"Your eyes have a bit of green in them" he said to her in a bear whisper, not breaking the eye contact. His breath hit her cheek and she shivered slightly, trying to hide it from him. She smiled slightly, biting down on her lip to prevent herself from grinning, but didn't look away. He smiled in return, a faint echo of a smile playing along his lips as they continued to look at each other, each one waiting for the other to do or say something. But neither of them did anything. They just sat there, inches apart, looking at each other straight in the eyes for a minute…two minutes… three minutes…they finally reached five minutes when they were finally disrupted.

"This is Principal Powers and I am speaking to inform the school that during third period today there will be a school wide assembly taking place in the gymnasium. Classes are to depart from their rooms immediately after the bell is rung and to make their ways as quickly as possible to the gym. Thank you"

As soon as they had heard her voice, all twenty five pairs of eyes in the art room zoomed towards the television in the top, right hand corner of the room. They saw Principal Powers sitting at her desk addressing them and when she was done, the television shut off. Alex's eyes lingered on the TV well after it had gone back to its typical black screen, not sure of what to do. Slowly and rather robotically, she turned back to Lash who had returned back to his drawing, although was not listen to music.

"Was there anything important in your bag?" he asked her in his usual tone. Okay, so we're just going to pretend as if our five minute staring contest from heaven didn't just happen? Sounds good to me! She thought to herself as she opened her sketch book to a new page and began to draw.

"My journal…it's the only thing I'm worried about. There's some stuff in there I'd really prefer not get out" she said sadly, bringing her pencil off the page as she was once again filled with the dreaded feeling of defeat the mere thought of someone exposing her brought.

"Your journal? Oh, shit" he murmered, looking at her sympathetically. She nodded sadly but went back to drawing, staying silent in thought for the remainder of the period. She kept her eyes on her page, drawing absentmindedly as her mind remained focused on her journal. She felt him stealing glances at her but she didn't dare meet his eyes. As much as she had loved looking into them before, the looming thought of her identity being exposed to her classmates and even more specifically him, was the only thing on her mind. She didn't want him to know who she really was because that girl wasn't the one he joked with all the time, laughed with, and had five minute staring contests with. Kristen Force wasn't who Lash liked, Alexandra George was. And she didn't want him to know that they were infact the same person.

"I do not think that I need to inform all of you about the seriousness of the situation. A student was harassed and physically assaulted today on school grounds while another was the victim of a theft. One student was used as a human billboard while another had one of the most personal belongings to her stolen. Needless to say, I, along with the faculty here at Sky High, am deeply disappointed with all of you. First, because two of our students would do such a thing to another and second, that someone would steal the belongings of the student who helped get the other one down. And then you wonder why people do not help others in need more often. Having her belonging's stolen was the thanks she got for doing what I would have expected from anyone" Principal Powers said sternly through the microphone, her voice echoing off the gym walls and into the ears of every student.

There was an eerie silence among the student body. This assembly didn't have the typical whisperings going on; instead, everyone was quiet. Everyone was quiet and attentively listening to the Principal as she lectured them all.

Alex was sitting off to the side of Principal Powers, her arms crossed over her chest and a look of loathing upon her face. Her sadness over her stole bag and journal had quickly developed into rage and hate for whoever took it. She was ready to completely destroy whoever took her bag and was quickly searching the crowd of students infront of her. Everyone was looking at Principal Powers with a blank expression and finally, she sighed quietly and looked over to Lash and Speed, who were sitting off to the right of her. Lash met her eyes a couple of seconds later and he gave her a sad smile. She managed to return one half heartedly and then looked back at Principal Powers, who had begun to speak again.

"Locker searches will be commencing as soon as you all return to class and whenever we find the stolen bag, which we will, the guilty party will be severely punished. However, if the person who stole the bag returns it to me by the end of the day, I can assure that person that the utmost secrecy will be taken and the punishment will be light. That is all" she said, dismissing the school as she side stepped from the podium and dissolved into a thousand tiny crystals of bright light.

Alex's anger was slowly softening back into self-pity. It was only a matter of time before the whole entire school knew who she really was. Anyone smart enough would have found the journal by now and after being notified of the locker searches by Principal Powers 's seconds ago, is probably going to stash it some where safe. That journal was the only thing in the school that related her to Kristen Force. It was the only document that verified her parentage and confirmed who she really was. Who ever had taken it had probably read it by now and was waiting for the opportune moment to expose her, calling her out and shattering whatever progress she had made with her life. She wasn't Kristen Force anymore. Kristen Force was a bad nightmare as far as she was concerned. She was trying, fighting, to let her past go. She was Alexandra George now. And as the minutes past, the chances of her getting her journal back grew slim. And so were her chances of ever moving on with her life.

He walked down the hallway chatting idly with Speed, his stripped arms hanging loosely at his side as they trudged up two flights of stairs to go back to their Mad Science lab. As they exited from the second floor stairwell and hung a right, he glanced over his shoulder briefly but something caught his eye. Something suspicious caught his eye.

A short, red headed boy was fidgeting with something in his locker. He was looking around jerkily, his eyes flickering from side to side as his arms groped the contents of his locker. Lash stopped walking and was now standing idly in the stream of students coming out from the stairwell, watching this boy closely. With a squint of his eyes, he noticed that the boy was infact sweating as he continued to hastily search the inside of his locker for whatever he was looking for. Finally, he seemed to find it, since he stopped looking around and was now looking at his hands. He pulled what he had found out of his locker and held it in his hands. Lash's eyes grew in horror.

He recognized the pale blue cover immediately. He knew the design by heart, since he'd seen her write in it so many times. He didn't know what was in it, but he knew that it was important to her. And there was no way some little snot nose sidekick freshman was about to fuck around with Alex.

"SPEED" Lash yelled, pointing frantically to the boy who was still gazing at the small journal in his hand, as if he'd just discovered the meaning of life. His arm shot outwards as the other boy's eyes found the red head as well, along with the book. Both Speed and Lash's arm hit him at the same time.

The journal went flying in the air as Speed tackled the boy with full speed. Lash had managed to knock it out of his hands before Speed hit him and was now grabbing the journal out from mid air, bringing it back to him protectively before running over to Speed and the boy who was now pinned down.

"You chose the wrong bag to steal, Freshman" Lash said as he bent over the struggling boy, who looked utterly terrified. He spluttered in protest but Speed and Lash just laughed, Lash walking over to the boy's locker and pulling out Alex's bag. He stashed the journal back into it and then gestured for Speed to pick the boy up.

"We're going to take a little trip down to Principal Powers's office and you're going to tell her who you are, what you did, and how you didn't read the journal, got it?" Lash asked threateningly. The boy nodded feverously out of fear but Speed glanced at Lash confusedly, as if he'd just seen a pig fly.

"What do you mean—wanna stop struggling?" Speed began, being interrupted by the wiggling freshman in his hand. The older boy responded to the continuing struggle by pushing the younger one into the locker and slamming it shut, locking it so he could talk to his partner in crime.

"You wanna go to Powers? I mean the closest bathroom is just around the corner" Speed asked him rather incredulously, pointing over his left shoulder and down the hall.

"It's Alex's stuff and she would want this taken care of the right way. Powers will do way more damage then we will anyways, she looked like she was about to burst a vein at the assembly today" Lash explained, opening the locker and pulling the freshman out.

Without argument, Speed obliged and followed his friend down the hall, the journal safe in the bag from whence it came.

"Did you find it??" she asked breathlessly as she threw open Principal Powers' door, eager to see what the principal had called her out of her last period class for.

Sitting neatly on one of the comfy chairs infront of Principal Powers' desk was Alex's messenger bag, looking as normal as always. Upon sight of it, Alex screamed so loud she thought she was going to break glass and then proceeded to rip open the bag and search through the contents, screaming again when she saw her journal. She'd never been so happy before in her life.

"Mr. Davenport and Mr. O'Dell managed to some how apprehend the guilty party. Does the name…Frank Espirito mean anything to you?" Principal Powers asked, reading from her computer screen. Alex, clutching her journal to her chest, managed to shake her head no and then gathered her bag, standing up.

"Principal Powers, thank you so much for everything. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't of found it" she gushed as she swung her bag over her shoulder, the light blue book still clutched tightly against her. The principal smiled but shook her head.

"Don't thank me, Ms. George. Thank Mr. Davenport and Mr. O'Dell. They were the ones who brought me both Mr. Espirito and your bag" she explained, raising an eyebrow expectantly towards Alex before smiling at her. Alex looked at her confusedly, the names not ringing a bell.

"Who?"

The Principal laughed once more and then looked at Alex warmly, leaning towards her.

"You may know them better as Speed and Lash"

She searched for him desperately after school, not too sure what she would do when she saw him. She was torn between the tried and tested hug with a gushing thank you or the bolder kiss accompanied by the asking the person out for a date. Right now she was gung ho for the second option, but she expected that it would change when he came into the picture.

She was standing by her locker, peering desperately down the hallway for the sign of the monochromatic colour scheme of his sweater. She searched through the crowds, desperately trying to find the two tones of him, still not too sure what she would do when she finally saw him.

"Looking for someone?"

She jumped and reeled around, finding him leant against the locker beside hers as he smirked at her in that sexy fashion he seemed to have perfected. She opened her mouth to say something but didn't, instead just pausing to look at him. His hands were buried deep in the pockets of his jeans and he was still smirking at her, watching as she watched him. Finally, she sighed and shifted her weight onto her left leg, holding onto her locker.

"You found my journal" she said exasperatedly, looking at him gratefully, her eyebrows pushed upwards and a genuine smile on her lips. He looked down at his shoes and then looked up, the arrogant, yet sexy, smirk being replaced by a genuine and equally as heart stopping smile.

"I found your journal" he confirmed, his eyes locked onto her's. She looked straight back at him as she bit down on her lip, a habit she seemed to be gaining.

"You didn't read my journal" she said, leaning her head against her locker door as he looked down again, this time letting out a chuckle. He looked back up at her and shook his head, his smile growing.

"I didn't read your journal" he repeated, causing her to bite down on her lip with more vigor. She was preventing herself from grinning, since this moment was way to fairy tale to not smile in. He was literally her Prince Charming since he'd saved her from a horrible fate. Well sure, it wasn't as melodramatic as that, but you get the point.

"And you probably beat up the kid who had taken it in the first place" she said with a sarcastic honesty, her look of genuine thankfulness changing into knowing, but happy.

This time he didn't look down. He looked at her and then stood up, his mouth setting into a grim line as he rolled back on the balls of his heel before shaking his head. She was stunned for a second. Say what?!?

"No, I didn't beat him up. We took him straight to Principal Powers. I figured that's what you would have wanted" he rationalized as he titled his head downwards so his hair fell infront of his eyes but kept them on her's. She stayed silent, her face blank of any emotion. He hadn't beaten up the kid. He hadn't bullied the kid. He hadn't done anything to the kid because that's what she would have wanted. Holy shit.

He must have read her face wrong because after a couple of seconds of silence, he sighed rather dejectedly and then turned to leave, taking two steps before she disengaged from her locker. She grabbed his hand and by the time he had turned around, her lips had already made contact with his.

The momentum of his spin continued and she eventually made contact with the lockers, her back hitting them softly as he pushed her up against them, his lips pressed against her's with such passion she thought she was going to faint. She heard his bag fall off his shoulders and his hands immediately found her waist, pulling her tighter to him while her's pressed up against his chest, their lips eagerly crashing onto each other's once more. What seemed like seconds later they broke apart, each gasping for breath. He rested his forehead against her own, leaning down gently to do so, but locked his eyes on her own.

Her heart was beating at a million times per hour and from the position of her right hand, she could feel that his was beating just as fast. After a couple of seconds, they regained their breath but their hearts kept pounding, both unknowing to the stares and points they were getting from the entire hallway. All she could see and feel was him, and he the same.

Guess she went with option two.

((Author's Note: hehe...that last scene was so much fun to write. I 3 Lash. Thanks for ALLLL the support :) You all rock my mismatched socks!! This chapter was a bit longer then I intended it to be but I didn't want to divide it into two smaller chapters since chopping it up would be a break in the action and I really wouldn't even know where to end this chapter. So you get a nice, long, 5000 word chapter FREE OF CHARGE :) Next chapter is going to be Lash's POV because all we know is how Alex feels about him. Things will get very interesting...now hit that little purple button and REVIEW IT, pleaseeee ; ))