"Why are we helping you pick a dress again?" Magenta drawled out from my bed where she was sprawled out, swinging her feet in the air while Layla flipped through my copy of the yearbook. One hour into the girl's night in and Madge was already complaining.
"Wow this looks nothing like you." Layla said, analysing the yearbook photo of me."You are so pale here!"
"I was really sick that day, right before they took the photo I was throwing up in the girl's room because of a reaction to the meds." I said distractedly, hunting through my closet for any and all semi-formal dresses I could find. "And I need a dress to chaperone Homecoming in that does not make me look like a student or make me look like I'm going out to the bar to flirt."
Ah Homecoming, that one staple of school that I had managed to avoid till now. It's kind of sad really that the first Homecoming dance I'll ever attend will be as a chaperone really. I had joined Sky High as a teacher in November last year and didn't have to attend it last year. There was Prom but considering that only seniors and their dates could attend it was a small enough crowd to handle easily.
Homecoming on the other hand meant that nearly two hundred students would be gathering in the gym to party it up like crazy people. Ever since Royal Pain there had been a series of Super Villains trying to take over the school on the eve of Homecoming which put a damper on the proceedings, but when you think about it, it makes perfect sense it was the one time of year when nearly every student in Sky High was gathered in one place, they were sitting ducks so to speak. Of course they were also all trained (relatively) to handle Super Villains so their plans never really worked out. Still, I'm sure one day a really smart super villain is going to try to take over Sky High and succeed.
"Oh look, there's Warren!" Layla had apparently found the picture of Peace in the yearbook, the one where his head is angled just so that his red streak fell over his face while the hair was tucked behind his ear on the other side. His lips were pursed just a little bit so it almost looked like he was smiling were it not for the eyebrow that was raised in utter disdain.
Not that I spend a lot of time looking at that because it's the only photo of him that I am in possession of. No really, I don't.
From my place in the closet I cleared my throat taking this opportunity to segue into the question I had been dying to ask. "So what's the deal with Peace? Mrs Robinson said a couple was moving in next door and I have yet to find the presence of someone of the female persuasion next door."
Layla's voice piped up. "Ooh that's a really interesting story! What happened was-"
"I'll tell it." The redhead levelled a glare at Magenta who had interrupted and begun narrating having decided she was the better person to tell the tale. "Warren was thinking of moving out of the apartment he shared with Will when Freeze girl suggested they move in together and he said why not. They went apartment hunting , found that place next door and decided it was the perfect love nest yadda yadda yadda, they signed the lease and one week before they were supposed to move in she got a call that she'd been accepted in some prestigious music program in England somewhere. She wanted him to come with her, he didn't want to give up his job and move and they had this big fight and broke up. Now he lives next door all alone."
Layla nodded as if to confirm the story,"He took it much better than expected though. They had been together for what six years or so and then suddenly they broke up."
He certainly hadn't seemed broken hearted when he moved in. Then again what do I know of the ways in which men mope? Every man I know is in a successful long term relationship or married while I am all alone and don't even have the option of being a cat lady in the future because I'm allergic to cat hair. Maybe once Professor Medulla has found the cure to allergies...
"They were on and off for such a long time though, mostly on but still. Who knows, maybe he knew it was coming." Madge shrugged.
"We talked on FaceBook yesterday, she thinks they'll get back together once she comes back which is ridiculous, she's going to be gone for at least two years, it's not like he's going to stay single that long."
"He's way too hot for that." I thought to myself, only to realise that I had said that out loud instead. Apparently that thought had not crossed Layla and Madge's heads because when I turned away from the closet I found them staring at me. "Oh come on, you can't tell me your not aware that he's a pretty boy!" I said as flippantly as possible before turning away from them hoping to hide the blush that was sure to be spreading over my face. I really need to stop thinking out loud.
"Pretty boy?!" Layla spluttered and with a sigh I turned to face them again, only to find Madge staring at me with a strange gleam in her eyes, the one that usually meant I should run far, far away.
"Yes, pretty boy. He's got classically pretty features and a fantastic bone structure. Pair that with the general aura of bad boy gone good and most girls would consider him a catch. Ooh, how about this one?" I held up a red gown for scrutiny hoping it would distract them.
"No way, it's too formal. What about you, would you consider him a catch? He is your type if Liam was anything to go by." She said in a meaningful tone, making blatant reference to the ex who had no place in this conversation.
It's a silly thing to say, Liam is (or was, I mean he might have changed since we last talked) nothing like Warren. Well okay he did possess long rakish black hair and he was a pretty boy too and he was quiet and hot as hell but still he was nothing like Warren. I shook myself out of the haze only to find them expecting an answer which was a dilemma, I can't exactly say no after all I've done to extol his attractiveness but saying yes would result in high pitched squealing and teasing. There was only one way out of this then.
"I'd tap that." I said with a flippant shrug that earned an outraged gasp followed by giggles from Layla while Madge looked like the cat that got the cream. "What about this dress?"
"Nope, too short, but can I borrow it?" Layla asked of the green dress I was holding up. It would definitely suit her auburn hair better than it did me.
"Yeah sure, keep it if you want. You know at this rate there's nothing in my closet that I can wear to Homecoming, everything's either too long or short or too low cut." With a whoosh I sank on the bed next to Madge.
"Wear the black ballerina skirt with that white blouse with the black lace overlay and then a red belt to tie it all together." Magenta said with a shrug.
"No wonder you're a designer, that's perfect!"
"Great can we get back to the booze now? I came here to get drunk, not to talk."
"Instead you're going to get drunk and talk." Layla said cheerfully.
"Haha, very funny it's not like you would know anyway, you've never gotten drunk or even had tequila." Magenta glared.
"Yeah I think it's safe to say that if you've never gotten drunk, you've never had tequila." I deadpanned. "So Layla, you're a tequila virgin huh. There's a song in there somewhere. Ooh how about Madonna's like a virgin?"
"So what'll that be? Tequila virgin, drunk for the very first time?" Magenta began singing it.
"Tequila vi-i-i-irgin, when your liver's burning alive!"
"I made it through the drunkenness yes I made it through, all I had is one shot or maybe two!"Layla continued before bursting into giggles.
"Niice!" I said holding my hand up for a high five. For a first timer that was great improv from her.
"Yeah but just so you know, you'll definitely have more than just two shots."
Which is when we broke out the alcohol and then everything went blank.
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"What year is it?" I said gruffly through the tangled brown curtain that was my hair,half of my body on the couch and the other half sprawled over the floor, waking up to the feel of a very warm hand gently shaking me awake, on the sunny Sunday morn that followed our adventures into the magical Land of Alcohol.
"2012." Warren's throaty voice rang through my house. Which is when I realised that he was in my apartment and I sat upright ignoring the pounding in my head that accompanied the feeling of light blinding my open eyes.
"Where's Layla?" Stronghold appeared next to Warren (in my freaking apartment god damn it! I hate it when people I don't know well come inside my house) looking worried.
"Last I saw she was worshipping the porcelain god." My voice came out horribly hoarse and I cringed, drawing my feet up onto the couch and buried my face in my knees, willing the pounding in my head to go away.
"What?"
"Check the bathroom."Warren said helpfully before next to me as Will ran off in the direction I pointed.
"How the hell did you guys get in?" I noticed Zack trying to get a very grumpy Magenta to wake up from her perch in the balcony's deck chair(when did she get there?). When they had appeared out of nowhere I had assumed Madge was the one to open the door and let them in since I didn't remember doing it and Layla was quite frankly, trashed, instead there Magenta lay swatting the neon boys hands away as she burrowed further into the comforts of the chair.
We had gotten seriously plastered last night. I don't even remember most of it. It'll come to me soon though, I have no doubt.
"I had to use the spare key to let ourselves in; it was either that or Will would have broken down the door. I don't know how they knew the girls were here though."
"Drunk dialling. They tried to get me to call my ex but I gave them a lecture on international calls and the costs of it and they told me to down a shot and shut up." I said finally remembering a little titbit from last night. Good God I'm glad I didn't make that call, I do not want to call Liam considering the way we parted. Soon Will and Zack joined us at the couch, herding their very hung-over girlfriends over to the squishiness that is my cream and purple embroidered sofa set. I never realised how dated it looked until all the colours that the 'Homecoming Gang', as they were called, sat down on it.
"I need caffeine; does anyone want tea or coffee?" I asked helpfully. Magenta shuddered at the thought of putting something into her stomach, Layla mumbled the word tea before curling up into herself even more and their respective boyfriends nodded in affirmative for coffee. "You want something?" I asked Warren, as a conscientious neighbour, instead of calling him out on the fact that he could just go across the hallway and have caffeine at his own place instead off mooching off of me. But he just politely refused and so I went over to the kitchen instead, thankful that I don't get hangovers.
"I am never drinking so much again." Magenta's voice wafted over as I set the kettle for boiling onto the stove.
"That's what you said last time, and yet, somehow we manage to outdo ourselves every single time." I said from the kitchen.
"How many times have you guys done this?" Zack said. Apparently Magenta doesn't drink and tell.
Wait, does that make me her dirty little secret? I feel so used!
"Once or twice a year, since I turned twenty one. College was just one long party though."
"Don't forget New York." I chime in with a shudder. "Never forget New York."
Which prompts Magenta to elaborate on what is known to us (and some other friends and presumably some innocent bystanders who have been mentally scarred by what happened) as the New York incident. I slide into my seat next to Warren to catch the tail end of her story telling endeavour.
"- So after that she decided to never drink in bars again. Anywhere that you do not see the bottle opening or handle it yourself is a strict no no."
" Lesson to learn kids, it does not matter if a guy buys you a drink at the bar and you watch the cute bartender mix it, it can still be spiked and you will get drugged and depend upon your purple haired friend to rescue you." I say taking a long sip of precious, precious tea.
Eventually things cleared up. Once everyone had their caffeine, Madge and Layla began the motions for getting ready to leave, Zack and Will headed for the balcony to discuss stuff (superhero stuff, I could tell by the way they tensed up every time I looked at them, they still don't know I'm a super tee hee!) and all that was left was Warren and I sitting on the couch. It occurred to me then that he could just have up and left, gone across the hallway to his own house but instead he chose to stay and keep lil old hung-over me company! Just as that thought blossomed and the butterflies in my stomach began to unfurl their wings to begin to flutter, he opened his mouth and ruined it all.
"So I found out something else about our friend Dexter." Because of course, the only thing we can talk about is a dead guy. The butterflies turned back into caterpillars.
"And you're actually sharing it with me? I thought you were all, 'Ooh you can't get involved, it's too dangerous, you're just a school teacher, blah blah blah' regarding my involvement." I said sulkily, brooding over the fact that the moment I thought we were going to have had been ruined.
"You know Lucius Fox, I don't want to piss you off." He said with a shrug. I felt so used. And not in the good way either.
"So, you're not doing this because you like me or anything, you're doing it to get my contacts."
"Déjà vu," He muttered to himself before answering me. "Yeah, I'm sure you're a nice person," It's almost funny how he made that sound like a question. Almost."But there's no way I would let you do something this dangerous if you didn't know him."
"Oh hurrah, I've got the power! " I waved my hands half-heartedly, still smarting over the loss of my precious moment before returning to business. "So...What did you find out?"
"The cops haven't released this information yet but they think that Dexter's murder was not done by the 'Nine to Five killer' it was either a copycat or someone tried to deliberately make it look like that."
"Wait what? Why?" I was suddenly very awake every bit of grogginess leaving my mind.
"There were signs he was drugged, they don't know what with because his blood work came back clean but there was the mark of a hypodermic needle on his back. Whatever it is it's almost certainly not the Nine to Five killer because he just bludgeons them to death. Plus Dexter left work around an hour or so earlier because of a pipe burst in their headquarters that day but he was killed around six so there's a few hours missing there."
"So it wasn't random at all?"
"Dexter was not murdered for being a blue collar worker if that's what you mean. Whoever it was, he-"
"Or she. If he was drugged it might be because the killer was female and couldn't overpower him on her own, but what for?"
"He had no personal life so it can't be that although we need to check what happened in that missing hour but it's almost certainly something to do with his work."
"I think they used him to get access to the DSSI database. Every single active Superhero's secret identity is listed on it and if a super villain gets their hands on that kind of information, the results could be catastrophic. Even worse if it's a civilian."
"I doubt a civilian's going to kill Dexter for such information."
"You'd be surprised, I've read many a post on a forum online that really slagged off supers because the normal guys who work in defence agencies have to deal with the same stuff that Supers do but without the protection of a superpower or the higher healing rate that usually comes with them. Somebody who feels strongly enough about this would manage to find Dexter just fine, I mean when you think about the fact that he's got a degree in software engineering and he works for the statistical department at Wayne enterprises which is known for its pro-Superhero stance, it's easy to put the pieces together."
He stared at me as if surprised by the amount of research I had done in this. Or maybe he was surprised that I managed to say something that did not make me seem like an idiot? "You've really put a lot of thought into it."
"I watch a shitload of TV, teach teenagers and have been part of innumerable online fan wars, trust me, I know human nature. Hey, why don't you ask your DSSI contact to check if the database was accessed anytime after Dexter was killed? I don't know what the security protocol is though."
"I did, he said he'd get back to –" His cell phone chirped and soon he was engrossed in typing into his Blackberry with a fervour that I usually only saw in my students.
"Oh hey the girls are ready." Zack says from behind me and I look up in shock. He's surprisingly quiet on his feet for such a large person. Magenta and Layla had finally stepped out looking much more human than they had when they woke up. Will and Layla gazed into each other's eyes while engaging in their regular lovey-dovey chitchat and Magenta pushed Zack around. The two of us sat on the couch and I watched them in fascination, for two examples of high school sweethearts they are really quite different from one another.
"Kill me." I say to Warren who was still immersed in his phone as I watch the nauseating display of affection.
"That was the DSSI guy."
"Warren!" Will says utterly and absolutely alarmed and before I could ask him why he was freaking out Warren piped in, "Relax she's a super."Because of course even though I had only just been laughing about the fact that Will and Zack had no idea about my non-civilian status, I had managed to completely forget that.
"Chill."I say bluntly as Zack spluttered and Will questioned Layla with an incredibly dramatic 'You knew?!' ( she just groaned and buried her head in the pillow) before turning to Warren again. "So what did he say?"
"Someone used Dexter's account to access the database an hour after he was killed. But they also accessed the Sky High student's roster that they keep as a backup for the school."
"Shit."
"What are you guys talking about?" Zack asked once he had calmed down and Will had begun talking like a normal person.
"Murder!" I said in a creepy voice before bursting into maniacal laughter.
"Come on guys, really what are you talking about?"
"No seriously we're talking about murder." I said with a straight face.
And then he began backing away slowly. Oh look, yet another person that I've managed to alienate.
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A/N: Yeah, I'm not that happy with this chapter _