Tuesday
CH 4
It was pouring. And cold.
This did not bode well for any of the students that attended a certain high school, particularly those on a certain track of study. And even more particularly for a specific small group of them.
Will was drenched by the time he made it to the bus stop. Layla had an umbrella and had tired to share it with him. But really, that just resulted in both of them having one half drenched and the other mostly damp. And somehow, as much as she tried to share, he was the one that was more than half drenched so by the time they reached the bus stop he gave up on sharing the umbrella with her.
They didn't have to wait long for the bus. They had learned to stand far back from the curb on days like these. Because of heeding this lesson, they were spared being the victims of the tidal wave of water that the bus created. Once they boarded and reached their seats, the found that Zack had not been so lucky.
"It's all good." He said, "Mom packed extra clothes for me."
"Your mom packs your school bag for you?" Magenta asked in disbelief.
"Totally obsessive about it." Zack answered with out a care in the world. "She thinks that if she packs and unpacks my bag then I can't slip anything past her."
"Does that really work?" Ethan asked in equal disbelief.
"Only 'cuz I haven't got anything to hide." Zack said with the cheesiest grin he had. Which by the way, he thought was the most dashing and debonair in his arsenal.
"Right." Magenta rolled her eyes at him.
Their conversation was interrupted by a particularly bad patch of turbulence, and the rest of the ride was spent nervously clinging to their safety harnesses. Traveling by bus in a storm was never a smooth or enjoyable event. By the time the bus came to a stop, further down the runway than normal (only three of the group noticed and three guesses on who they were), practically all of the students onboard were a little green in the face.
It was unspoken consensus that the freshman five would make a mad dash for the building and then a more sedate walk to Warren's locker. It was raining so they would definitely not find the surly teen on the front steps today.
But they didn't get to the building. Jimmy and the Beef Heads stood in their way, smiling their malicious little smiles.
Jimmy had the ability to make force fields. They were rather weak in the grand scheme of things, but they were strong enough to impress Coach Boomer, and therefore get him on the Hero track. And they were strong enough to keep him from getting drenched as he stood on the front steps blocking the Freshman Five's access to the warm and dry halls of the school.
"Aww." Jimmy mocked. "Wook at the widdle frweshmen." He cooed. "Caught out in the rain." Beef Head 1 and Beef Head 2 laughed from the safety of the force field.
"Just let us pass Jimmy." Will said.
"Not a chance." Jimmy said.
Will was about to step up and make Jimmy move, but Layla tugged on his arm.
"Let's just wait in the bus." She said.
"Aw, isn't that sweet. The hippy chick is talking the brainless brute down." Jimmy taunted.
"Now see here." Will said as he pulled himself from Layla's grasp and walked toward the trio.
"Is there a problem?" The Freshmen Five and the bullies froze at the question. Principle Powers was as involved as any principle was, more so really when you took into account just what some of her students were capable of. But it was rare to see her outside of the school at this time of day. And even less expected in this type of weather. But lucky for the five, she had happened to be walking past the front doors and had decided to stop and watch a few of the buses land. Thus she was able to see the interaction between the group of students on the front steps.
"No." Jimmy was quick to say, "No problem at all. We were just helping these sidekicks stay dry."
Principle Powers was one sharp woman. She had to be. So she wasn't fooled in the least bit. But as she had not seen anything other than a group of teens talking, she could do nothing but raise her eyebrow. The gesture clearly told the teen she didn't buy it, but she was going to let it slide as long as he dropped the issue and got to class double quick.
Everyone quickly made their way inside the doors and the trio of bullies quickly left to make their way to their first period classes. After watching them scamper off, Principle Powers turned her attention to the soaking group of teens that remained.
"I suspect that you'll be looking for Warren today." Principle Powers said. Though she knew all of her students, she watched a few more closely than others. And she had watched with amusement and great interest as this particular group of teens forged a friendship with her most unapproachable, unfriendly, unsociable of students. She held back a smile as the group looked to her with undisguised hope for news on their friend.
"His mother called the attendance office, he won't be in today." Her suspicions that something was afoot were confirmed by the distinct aura of crushed hope and overbearing dread overcame the group upon hearing her words.
"Thank you Principle Powers." Will said for the group, "We appreciate you letting us know."
"Yes, thank you." Layla said politely, "We would have been looking for him all day."
"You are welcome." She said, "Now I suggest you hurry if you wish to change out of your wet clothes before your first classes." With that she turned on her heel and headed toward her office.
"What are we going to do?" Zack asked bordering on panic once Principle Powers was out of earshot.
"We stick to our plan from yesterday." Magenta ordered.
"That only worked because the day was practically over when we thought of it." Zack said panic not abated in the least.
"Will you stop worrying about them?" Layla demanded. "What we should be worried about is why Warren isn't here again today." With those words she had successfully refocused the groups attention.
"Yah." Will agreed, "This is starting to get serious."
"What could have happened do you suppose?" Ethan asked.
Magenta suddenly stopped in the middle of the hall, horror clear on her face.
The group turned to her, expecting her to explain her sudden lack of movement.
"You don't think something happened, you know, like last Christmas?" Her voice was quiet. The rest of the group went instantly still, flashes of memory rooting them in place.
"No." Will denied the possibility. "No. My parents would know. My parents would have told us if they knew."
"Not if it happened after we all left for school." Ethan's voice quavered.
Will frantically slung his backpack off his shoulder and dove into it looking for his emergency phone and hit speed dial 1. The whole group was tense as they waited.
"Mom, no, no everything here's ok." Will said quickly after two rings.
"No," he responded to a question the rest of the group couldn't hear.
"No…mom…just…Principle Powers said Warren wouldn't be here today, you haven't heard anything from his mom have you?" He managed to get out.
The group listened in, holding their breath.
"Ok, thanks." Will said, "Love you." And he hung up. "She hasn't heard anything." He reported. "She said that she would call Principle Powers and ask her to let us know if she does hear anything."
Every one of them heaved a sigh of relief. But their anxiety was still there, and would be until they could see their friend again.
"Shoot!" Ethan exclaimed. "We're not going to have time to change. There's only two minutes left before the bell."
There were varying degrees of dismay and the soggy teens split to go toward their first period classes.
They did follow the previous day's plan, but they didn't see Jimmy or the Beef Heads for practically the rest of the day. This was some measure of immediate relief, but also served to heighten their anxiety and paranoia as their anticipation of an attack grew.
Their fortune was other's misfortune. After nearly being caught by Principle Powers that morning, Jimmy decided it would be in his best interest to not concentrate so heavily on the group of sidekicks he most despised. Instead he chose to torment other, less prominent sidekicks. But he couldn't pass up the opportunity that presented itself in the boy's locker room just before 7th period.
"Man, why do we have to do this stupid swimming section anyway?" Zack complained as he dug his swim trunks out of his locker.
"The Maxville Board of Education decided that it was necessary." Ethan answered as he too dug out his suit.
"This is just stupid." Zack retorted.
"Well it's a perfect fit for you then." Zack and Ethan froze. "Because you're the stupidest sidekick this school has ever seen." Jimmy said maliciously.
Zack began to glow in panic. They were cornered. Will's locker was on the other side of the locker room. There was no one else around; actually it was more like there was no one around that was willing to interfere.
"That was uncalled for." Ethan stammered out.
"No. I think it was pretty accurate." Jimmy smugly replied. "Glowing is the stupidest and most useless power on the face of the planet. Oh wait…turning into a puddle is even worse." He and the Beef Heads laughed.
"How 'bout we give you another swirly?" Jimmy said as he and the Beef Heads advanced on the two cowering teens.
"Hey!" Will interrupted them. "You leave them alone." He demanded.
Jimmy and the Beef Heads stopped their advance, but barely glanced at Will.
"Or what?" Jimmy asked.
"Or I'll tie you into a knot and let Warren know that you've been tormenting his friends when I see him after school." Will bluffed.
"You wouldn't even dare. Besides, even if he did believe your whining, he wouldn't give a rat's ass about you and your trash sidekicks." Jimmy stated not showing any fear at the threat, but he made no move to continue with his obvious previous intent.
"Let's go." He directed to Zack and Ethan. Then he stood as a buffer as they shoved the rest of their stuff in their lockers, grabbed their towels and scurried to the door.
"You don't know him." Will directed to Jimmy, "So don't presume to know what he'll do if I ever told him what you've done to all of us these past few days." With that he turned and left.
Jimmy shrugged and followed a respectable minute after. He wasn't scared in the least bit at the implied threat. No, not at all.
"Dude! That was awesome!" Zack said as they left the locker room. "You totally put him in his place."
"Let's just keep moving." Will said not completely comfortable with what had just happened, but proud of himself for standing up for his friends.
"Yah, you know how Coach Boomer is when people are late, especially if it is for anything other than Save the citizen." Ethan agreed.
Sky High had some impressive technology, after all it was for all intents and purposes a flying saucer. You were sure to never find certain things at any other high school. One of these things was the gym floor on a pneumatic system that with the push of the right button revealed a 5 lane, 25 yard, regulation depth swimming pool.
Now that was awesome.
Will, Zack and Ethan quickly and bashfully joined the girls in the bleachers. There were a few cheerful greetings from scattered acquaintances, a few muffled (and not so muffled) giggles, and plenty of scoffing and sniggering.
"What are you doing?" Will asked Zack in a harsh whisper.
"Showing off my fabulous bod." Zack replied as he continued to strut his way toward where Layla and Magenta already sat.
"Stop it. You look ridiculous!" Will said.
"Chill dude." Zack said, "When you got it flaunt it." Then gave him one of his cheesy smiles and left him standing there with Ethan as he continued to strut his way toward a now thoroughly embarrassed Magenta.
"Some days, I seriously question his sanity." Ethan said before shrugging and moving toward their friends.
Will face palmed. Then he noticed that he was standing alone. And girls were looking at him. And he was in is swim trunks. Before he could eep and run to the safety of his friends, Jimmy and the Beef Heads decided to make their entrance.
"What's the matter Stronghold, baby fat not get the message about the super strength?" Jimmy's cruel voice rose above the general noise of the gym. A cacophony of sniggers, whispers, snide remarks (both hushed behind hands and shouted), catcalls, and compliments broke out after that statement.
Will blushed and was saved from not having a decent come back by Coach Boomer yelling for silence.
"Get to your seats all of you." He shouted.
No one, not even Jimmy wanted to get on Boomer's bad side, so with a sneer he and the Beef Heads pushed past Will to move to seats next to some of the girls in their grade. If there hadn't been a handrail between the bleachers and the pool, Will would have fallen in, and incurred the wrath of Coach Boomer. As it was he quickly regained his balance and moved to sit with the rest of the group.
"Don't listen to anything that he says." Layla quickly whispered to him when he reached them.
"Yah dude." Zack said, "Even if Beef Head 2 has super strength and looks like it; you're still stronger."
"Not helping." Will whispered back. Further efforts at consolation were interrupted by an irritated Coach Boomer.
"Listen up you whiner babies." Boomer yelled.
Everyone stilled and waited for their instructions.
"Today you will demonstrate your proficiency with the Freestyle, commonly and erroneously called the crawl." Boomer began reading from a thin book. "You will each be required to swim two laps using this stroke." The word stroke brought a quiet chuckle from the more immature section of teens, in which Jimmy and the Beef Heads happened to be sitting. Boomer paused and threw an irritated glance at all the students.
"Weak swimmers will be required to use the outside lanes, closest to the walls of the pool. Strong swimmers may use the inner three lanes. There will be no more than four students per lane at any given time. You will enter and exit at this end of the pool. There will be no diving, no running, no rough housing and no shenanigans of any sort. When you are not swimming you will wait quietly in the bleachers until the end of the class period." At the end of this he lowered the book he had been reading from and turned his full attention to the waiting students. "Are there any questions?"
He once again didn't give anyone time to formulate a question before shouting, "Alright then, 20 of you in the pool now!" then blew on his ever-present whistle.
The students closest to the end that Boomer had designated quickly, but without running or diving, got into the pool and began their two laps.
"What does he consider a weak swimmer?" Ethan asked worriedly. He did not consider himself a strong swimmer, as he had only been in a pool twice before in his life.
"Don't worry about it." Layla tried to comfort her friend before he could start panicking and turn into a puddle of neon orange goop. "I'm sure we'll all look like a bunch of amateurs next to the Aquatics."
"Two laps is a lot." Zack said as if just now realizing what was going on.
"It's only a 100 yards." Magenta said. "And there's no current."
"Current?" Ethan asked a little worriedly.
"Yah, like in the ocean." Magenta confirmed while watching the first group of students flounder their way through the exercise.
"You've been swimming in the ocean?" Zack asked astounded.
"Duh." Magenta said, "Part of my family is from the Philippines. We go there every summer."
"That's, like, so cool, ya know." Zack said before he was very easily distracted by one of the girls in a barely one peace suit getting out of the pool. This of course earned him a slap to the head and an extremely displeased look from Magenta.
"Let's get this over with." Layla said lacking her usual enthusiasm.
At her suggestion the Freshmen Five made their way toward the pool.
"Hope you drown!" Jimmy yelled from where he and the beef heads sat waiting for the best time to move and show off.
This comment almost had Ethan melting.
"Ignore them." Layla commanded as they made their way past the rail and toward the edge of the pool.
Zack promptly splashed into the second lane, Magenta immediately following. While Zack spluttered and shivered, Magenta set off to complete her two laps. Will splashed in next to Zack and joined him in freezing, while Layla calmly talked Ethan into the pool.
Soon Magenta and Layla were gracefully on their way to completing their two laps, Will less so, Zack slightly flailing behind him, and Ethan floundering and gasping for breath clutching the wall more than he swam. All the while Jimmy and the Beef Heads making snide commentary.
Thankfully though, that was all the torture that they had to endure for the day.