I dont own SkyHigh
Chapter six
"So Question number 8" Warren read out "A charging wilder beast comes dashing madly to a group of idiots. And there's some useless gadget you need to hand me. What is it?" he looked up lazily
They were sat at the school library side by side trying to go through their Hero/Sidekick work. Part of the projects was that Power-Partners now had assigned homework which they had to sort through together.
"It's not something useless from a utility belt, it is a sidekick's saving grace…and it does not say 'a bunch of idiots' anywhere!" Rae rolled her eyes, but hid a small smirk.
"Well it should. Who's dumb enough to walk into the path of a rampaging wilder beast? And why would you even need a utility belt? You could just fly and pick up a few people, or shoot it with a few of you feathers or something?"
"Probably the person who was also stupid enough to not even attempt to get out the way and instead decided to wait for someone in tights to fly em' out of there" She replied, smiling behind her hand. She chose to ignore his second comment completely
Warren reached back and stretched.
Rae brought her hand down "It doesn't matter" she said seriously "Anyway, what do I hand you…" she began to tap her pencil against her temple, a habit of hers he noticed.
After spending a month with her, Warren found she wasn't so bad to be with. Which was a big compliment coming from him.
Unlike most girls, she wasn't clingy or annoying. She did her work and once he showed her he wasn't going to take any of her fake-cheerleader-crap, she revealed herself to be calm and single-minded. Something that he liked was that she wasn't easily intimated, she gave as good as she got. But it wasn't always good enough and Warren won most of their arguments and squabbles with his overwhelming stubbornness and bad mood. There was still stuff she was hiding and he knew because he noticed all the signs in her from his own actions. But hey, it was none of his business. And frankly he didn't really care that much. Or that's what he told himself.
But at the same time she wasn't stupid. She knew when not to bother him. She knew when to leave be and when she was saying the wrong thing. It was easy to be with her because she wasn't always trying to watch herself around him. They meshed well. Perhaps there was something to this PowerPartner thing after all.
And she never asked about his dad. Either she didn't know, or she didn't care. But it was a breather. Warren's father was a touchy subject; he tried to kill the last person who badmouthed him.
Plus, she was smoking hot.
Apparently she shredded her last hoodie in power placement and couldn't be bothered to waste money on cloths. So she wore jeans and t-shirts mainly. But her body was perfect; tall and all curves. Exactly the way he liked them. Warren glanced over from the corner of his eye to watch as she scribbled down notes. The graceful curve of her neck, the way her silver hair looked yellow in the library light, those long lashes. They grazed her upped cheek every time he blinked.
But she was off limits. For Warren, he had a strict, look, don't touch policy.
He wasn't a virgin or anything. But he wasn't a relationship kinda guy.
But Rae was cool. She was a friend, as surprising as that sounded. She didn't deserve what he wanted from her, because it wasn't enough.
She suddenly looked up "What?" her sixth sense was almost scary sometimes but luckily it didn't work so well on him, it took longer for her to pick up on him.
He stared at her blankly for a moment and said calmly "Nothing, I'm just staring at that monster zit on your forehead."
She gasped as her hand flew to her face and felt frantically across her skin.
Inwardly, Warren was laughing.
"Oh!" she scowled "Don't do that, having a zit is terrible for a girl"
"I didn't think you were that superficial" he said.
"I'm not superficial, I'm female. There's nothing wrong with wanting to look good, even if it's just skin care." She huffed "Now are you going to stare at me all day or do some work?"
"I don't know, watching your face turn red does sound fun, and you'll probably do the work anyway for me."
"I will not!" she snapped "If you don't put in any work, I will let you fail this time"
He smirked "No you won't" he said "You're too mice"
"Since when do you know me well enough about me to make that assumption?" she propped her elbow on the table, leant her chin in her hand and turned to him with a small smirk.
He leant forward with mock-seriousness "I know you better than anyone else in this world."
For a moment she held his gaze, but then, as usual, she broke first and let out a little laugh. She leant back "If I didn't know any better, I would say you were flirting with me Mister"
He smirked "I don't flirt, don't flatter yourself."
"I'm not, I was pitying myself. But now you set the record straight, I can sleep easy tonight that I'm not the object of affection to a lunatic fire-imp."
This kind of playful banter had become the norm between them. At first it had surprised him how easily it came about, but soon he got used to it. Since that first day when they called a truce, this had been their normal. No one knew he could banter playfully and he intended to keep it that way. She didn't expose him and he didn't expose her cheerleader persona. It felt weird that they had something like that, but interesting too.
Another thing that had remained the same since then was the conversation on her powers. The gloves weren't such a big thing since he himself wore black gloves all the time. But her powers were another story.
In the beginning, he tried to ask about what he had meant about not being a Poly-morpher. But she would always change the subject. Very quickly Warren got the message and that became a taboo subject for them.
The lunch bell rang shrilly. Warren groaned.
"You going to lunch?" she asked.
"Yeah, You?"
"I might. I think I'm just gonna go sit on the roof or something." She glanced up at the wistful look in his eye and laughed "Is sitting going to the cafeteria really that painful"
"It is, but I don't have a choice. Even if I don't go to lunch, they'll find me"
"Your friends?"
"They're not my friends, they just sit there. I used to enjoy lunch at my own table, till they decided to invade. And now just because I don't roast them they won't leave me alone."
"So why don't you roast them then?"
At his silence she smiled "Because you're too nice" she answered for him and shooed him away.
Warren arrived at his table first and opened his book. He counted the blissful moments of Peace…until they came.
"Hey Warren" first it was Will. He sat opposite.
"Hey Warren" Then Layla, she sat next to Will.
"Yo Warren" Then glow-worm. He sat three spaces down from him.
Purple kid and Popsicle came next. She didn't say anything to him and sat next to Layla While popsicle found his way next to glow-worm.
"So is Rae not coming today too" Layla asked a little disappointed. She had grown attached to Rae, happy to have another girl friend.
"I know right, does she ever eat? She's so skinny, but then that's what makes her Hot"
Glow-worm needs to watch himself.
"She's reading" Popsicle piped "I saw her at the library." And then the conversation dissolved into nonsense he refused to listen to.
Really, when had he grown so soft? This used to be his table, now they invaded his personal planet and he didn't know how to kick them off. No matter what he did, he didn't know how to get them to leave him alone.
But then again, there was always burning them to cinder.
Seconds passed and he lost the desire to kill them all.
"Hey Warren" Will suddenly asked. Warren ignored him, as he usually did. But Will was insistent. Really, when had that boy started becoming less of a hatred and more of a slight annoyance? Probably the day he decided that he was Warren's new best friend and Warren didn't try to burn him to a crisp.
"What!" Warren eventually said glaring. Will falter for a moment "I…uh…uh…you don't participate in gym anymore…"
Save the citizen had become a PowerPartner thing. Will didn't participate much since Layla didn't like to misuse her powers. And neither did Warren, because Rae always found excuses to get out of it.
In fact, Rae hated public shows and places more than he did. At least he could melt into the background; she had to avoid it all together. She also loved high places, like the roof. A flying thing.
The first time she saw him power up properly and set his arms and chest on fire it was in the middle of a fight when he was overly pissed off with some idiots.
Later, after reminding them why they feared him, she said he looked like a demon. He didn't know if that had been a compliment or an insult. But her eyes had been dancing at the time.
Warren blinked. Far too often he found his thoughts drifting to her these days.
"Rae hates it" since when had he started caring what she hated?
Rae lay back on the grass in front of the school with her hand splayed over her eyes. What was wrong with her? Had she really been flirting with Warren again?
Lucky for her, he didn't see it that way. But seriously, this was happening too often for it to just be a occasional habit.
Sure he was gorgeous but there were lots of good-looking guys at Sky-high, they didn't have her staring at their faces all the time. She was absolutely fascinated by the mixed contrast of femininity and masculinity in Warrens face. Again, thankfully he never caught her staring, or that would have been a disaster. And Warren didn't see interested. He just treated her like a friend.
Perhaps that was the reason why she liked him so much. Rae had always kept her mask up, she preferred it that way, but Warren saw though it. And though he couldn't see through all her secrets, he still knew her better than most people. Talking with Warren, it had become like a safe place for her. Kind of a middle ground.
She could be herself around him and he never told anyone the things she let slip. Like when she told him her mother was a side-kick and how she was born in England, and how her parents didn't get along.
That was the worst one.
She hadn't meant to let that one slip. It was a completely mortifying mistake.
It was just, he was fighting someone who had had the nerve to badmouth his father and even after beating the boy to a pulp he was still so angry. She learned that his father was a super-villain and his mother was a super-hero, they were in battle. She just wanted to say something to relate with him, when they had so much in common. So when he said that, she mentioned that her parents fought a lot and wet together anymore. She told him she lived alone because her mother…wasn't able to take care of her anymore and her father was AWOL. It wasn't the whole truth, but it was more than she had ever said to anyone.
Warren didn't make a big deal of it, but he seemed happy to know she didn't judge him or his father. Rae was a little jealous that he still was able to have so much faith in his parents. Rae had nothing.
There were so many things about Warren that were attractive to her; Rae didn't know where to begin anymore. It only made things harder when she had to remind herself not to make too many personal attachments. It was too dangerous, because one day they would be in danger when the true battle begun. Warren wasn't a weakness she could afford.
"Oi, you!" Rae cracked open and eye to see the silhouette of someone female blocking her sun "What she mumbled.
"I heard you're Warren's Partner?" she said, her soprano voice was so pretty to listen to, but at the same time, something annoyed Rae greatly about this girl "Who are you? And can you move, your blocking the light" Rae snapped.
The girl moved and Rae blinked. She really was pretty. With ice blond hair and eyes, a perfect skinny figure Rae only dreamed for. "I'm Jessica" she said.
Rae took a minute to register what the beautiful yet annoying girl was saying before her fake smile fit into place. Time to play the game. "Oh, I'm so sorry for snapping like that, I don't know what came over me. I didn't get much sleep last night. Anyway, I'm Raeka Striker" she held out her hand with a brilliant smile that Jessica stepped back for a moment.
"I don't care what you name is" she said angrily "I just want you to know I've been watching you for a while. You're getting too close to Warren and I just want to let you know, don't bother, he's way out of your league."
Rae forced away a scowl. Out of her league? Who did this bitch think she was? "And who are you to say that" she said as sweetly as possible.
Jessica smirked and crossed her arms over her breasts "I'm his girlfriend" she said.
Rae's underdeveloped feeling plummeted at that moment, and then was replaced with overwhelming jealousy. "Sorry" she said, again, as calmly as possible "I'm didn't know that, Warrens never said anything about a girlfriend and we spend a lot of time together" she smiled. Take that in your mouth and swallow it Barbie, she thought.
"Of course he wouldn't, he's taking a little break for a moment, but be sure, he's mine and will come back when he's ready. So little Side-kick" and suddenly all the water from the surrounding school fountains began to shake before lifting out of their containers and swirling around Jessica hands "If you don't want to learn what it feels like to drown, you will remind yourself that you only his partner until schools over, and that It Will Never Happen Between you."
Ok, now Rae was pissed, her anger broke out. She stood and glared people were starting to stare at them, "Let's get one thing strait, Barbie." Rae menaced so quietly only Jessica could hear "What goes on between me and Warren, stays between me and Warren. And the only reason where're not together isn't because of you, it's because I don't want him." Big lie. It was because wasn't allowed to have him. And the idea of her being Warren's girl burned the inside of her chest so badly she wasn't even going to think about it.
Jessica smirked and suddenly Rae was gasping as water dumped itself over her head, soaking her through. People around her started laughing. Embarrassment burned at her cheeks. "Just reminding you of your place, Side-kick" she said smugly.
"You're going to regret doing that"Rae whispered, her vision clouding over. Her anger was so great she felt like the incredible hulk, it was burning on her insides like a gnawing hunger. How dare her, that little blond Barbie. She didn't know what Rae was capable of, what she could do. Rae felt her hands getting hot, her felt the cool burning of her power calling for nourishment, how easy would it be to…
Then she remembered. The sight of her mother on the ground, a bleeding hole though her chest as she stared on in horror while her little girl watched her die. Her killer smirking "You're going to regret doing that" his voice so eerily similar it sent shivers down her spine.
She couldn't do this, she couldn't let herself become like him. So with great difficulty she peeled her rat-tailed hair from her eyes and took deep sedative breaths. 'Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out…' she chanted. "I may be a side-kick" she said evenly "But at least I don't live in a strange delusional wonderland where you think your queen. Water will dry, but crazy staler chicks will always be crazy stalker chicks"
She tried to walk away, her anger slowly simmering into a calm ripple of a wave rather than the tsunami it was originally. Suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck tingled and she leaped into the air, her wings extending though the two paper thin rips in the back of her shirt as she narrowly dodged the stream of water aimed at her head.
Jessica was glaring at Rae "How dare you talk like that to me, you're just a side-kick." And another stream of water flew at her.
Now in her natural element, Rae avoided the attack with ease. Her wings set her free from her rage like an Angels touch; it gave her the freedom and clarity she lacked on the ground. Because up in the sky, Rae saw that Jessica was just a little Speck, and she wasn't worth getting angry over. Only people who could join her in her element were worth her anger.
She smiled and arched he back and flapped her wings with such force it literally blew Jessica right of her feet and into the fountain she had originally drawing her powers from.
Before Jessica could catch a second wind and restart a fight, Rae few away.
SORRY, I KNOW IN WAS GOING TO REVEAL HER SECRET, BUT I WANTED TO GIVE A LITTLE BACK ROUND TO HOW IT HAPPENED. BUT EITHER NEXT CHAPTER OR THE ONE AFTER THAT WILL BE THE ONE.