He barely made it to bed; his eyes were closing so fast. When he finally stumbled into his room he fell onto his bed and crashed. The next morning the voice that awoke him was familiar.
"Warren, get up, you're late…" It was clearly feminine. "Seriously get up, the bus leaves in…damn – twenty minutes. Warren, get up!" His arms were being shaken by thin, cold hands. He let one eye open, Layla stood there, and she looked mildly frantic.
"I'll just…skip…" He yawned and rolled over, his back to her. He jerked forward when she put her hands on his back, they were cold.
"Argh, stop, go away." Warren rolled away and playfully grabbed her hands. She yelped lightly when he pulled her down, she landed on top of him, her arms on either side of him. He smirked, unfazed by their closeness and he let his skin warm up. He then rolled her off his bed and she landed on her butt. He then made an effort to step over her and gave her a smirk in response to her undignified squeal. Soon he was dressed in black. A black led zeppelin shirt. A pair of black jeans. A black jean jacket. A set of black boots. Layla stood up and punched him in the stomach. He merely laughed and moved towards the door.
"C'mon Layla, wouldn't want to be late" He teased. She huffed but followed him from the room. They ran from his house to the general stop. The bus was pulling in when they got there. They were barely got on the bus when the driver took off. He didn't wait for them to sit and the freshmen already on the bus were amazed by their ability to walk down the nearly vertical aisles. They found a seat in front of Will's seat.
"Why are you guys so late?" Will leaned forward.
"Warren chose not to wake up this morn and I went to go get him" Layla huffed. Warren smirked and leaned towards the window. Layla frowned at him and then went to begin explaining her weekend to Will before he had a chance to ask. Warren noted that Layla left out all the stuff about his father, for which the Pyrokinetic was eternally grateful for.
"Did you hear the Commander let Battle out?" The voice was gossipy and clearly feminine.
"Yah, my mom almost didn't let me come to school today because she feared that his son would turn and attack today." Another voice whispered.
"I think if he turned it would be totally hot…" Another voice declared. "I mean seriously…that would be the ultimate bad boy…"
"But he could like kill you…" The second voice said louder then she said earlier.
"No, way. He totally has the hots for me, I saw him checking me out in gym yesterday" The last voice deemed. He finally recognized the speaker, Mimi Does, the chick with a weak control over flame. Pyrokenetics were even if they weren't very powerful, for one to have the control over fire Warren has at his age was rare and a clear trait of his heritage.
"Mimi, did you hear what happened to his mom? I mean seriously…she's like a drunk whore now, why? Because she fell in love with a bad boy. Do you seriously want to be a drunk whore?" The second voice spoke concerned tones, that voice was Chrissie Jones the one who was akin to a chameleon and could morph her general features on will.
"Nah, I'm tougher then that women." Mimi replied confidently. The first girl who had been silent for a while, pointed at him in what she thought was discreetly and whispered to the other two girls.
"Look Mimi, he's totally checking you out now…" He finally recognized herefirst speaker, Jamie Jackson, the younger sister of his last girlfriend, she could command snow…but couldn't create it.
Warren went to snap at them, to crush little miss Mimi's hopes but was surprised when Layla placed her hand on his arm without even looking at him. She knew and was stopping him before he hurt someone. He turned forward and grumbled unhappily. Layla moved out of her seat.
"I'll be right back" She smiled at her friends and moved back to where the freshmen girls sat. She smiled politely and asked if she could sit, she was pointing to a seat next to Jamie. Jamie nodded and shifted her stuff so as to make room for the redhead.
"So, I heard you talking about Warren" Layla started. The three girls nodded. "I also heard you saying he was going to 'turn'." She kept going; her voice got a hint more dangerous.
"Yah, so? I think it'd be hot" Mimi declared, almost challenging Layla. Layla just smiled and kept going.
"So, you think he has it for you Mimi?" Layla directly confronted the outspoken girl.
"Yah." She snapped back "You have a problem with it?" Layla smirked and nodded lightly.
"Well...look. You want him, go ask him. Now. Nothings stopping you." Layla's tactic changed suddenly. "I mean Sadie Hawkins dance is coming up and he doesn't have a date yet" She smiled wide. Mimi was suddenly intimidated. Layla gestured towards the pyro after a few seconds.
"I didn't think you had it in you" The redhead finally said to the freshmen with a smirk. The challenge was taken and Mimi stood to talk to Warren. She slid into the seat next to the pyro and begun talking.
"You know I was thinking that since you don't have a date and I don't have a date…"
"Are you done yet?" Warren turned to her and asked a look of annoyance on his rough features.
"Will you go to the dance with…?"
"No." He replied. "Now go scurry along and do your obnoxious freshmen stuff and stop talking about me, my mother or my father behind my back. I hear you do it again and I will roast you. You will be wishing for death by the time I'm through with you" Mimi nodded fearfully and scampered back to her seat. She snapped bitterly at Layla. The redhead moved back up to her original seat.
"What did you do to that girl?" Layla asked carefully, but no anger was in her voice.
"I told her no and to stop talking about my family." Warren snapped in reply. The idea that his father was alone with his mother had weaseled its way under her skin.
"Warren you made her cry." She elaborated carefully, gently. She could feel his skin warming quickly.
"She deserved it."
"Warren…" Layla's voice was more concerned then anything. The bus landed a few seconds after that and he didn't say a thing to her as he went to get to his first class. He avoided her for the rest of the day, forgetting that Tora was coming back today also and that would be one more, much more difficult to avoid, female who would berate him for making Mimi cry. She had it coming though.
"Warren!" Tora found him at lunch. She had a large smile and light tan. She seemed happier then she'd been in a long time. Maybe she was glad to be back.
"What?" Warren snapped at her. He leaned over his lunch slightly focusing on a book; his hair covered his pale skin.
"What's wrong?" Tora asked, her voice confused and slightly hurt.
"Nothing." Warren snapped at her, if she didn't know then she'd find out soon enough.
"You're lying." She replied. He gave her look that seemed to say state-the-obvious.
"I'm going outside" He threw out his lunch and moved to the outside section of the small campus. Tora sat confused at what just happened. A few minutes later Layla came and sat down next to Tora.
"Warren outside?" She asked without greeting the hydrokinetic.
"Yah…" She replied quickly, slightly dazed.
"Hm…anyway, how was France?" Layla ditched the topic of Warren quickly.
"Oh, um, it was fun. I dunno, I like it here better now though" She smirked at Layla.
"Really? I loved it when I visited France a few years ago…" Layla feigned as if nothing was wrong. Tora smiled.
"It's great for visiting but I'm glad I live here with you lot." She playfully whacked Layla's arm. Layla smiled at her friend. They kept up with the small chit chat for the rest of lunch. Magenta, Zach and Will joined them later but Ethan never did. Some tutoring thing or something.
"It looks like you got a bit of a tan or something" Layla gestured to Tora's body.
"Yah, it's fairly warm in south France."
"I hate warm" Magenta threw her two cents in. It's not that she hates the conversation she just hates warm. It's her way of communication. Zach wrapped an arm around Magenta's waist affectionately. She glared but he didn't move his arm. Layla coughed lightly and turned to keep her conversation with Tora going.