Lash came to school after what happened last night. He was grateful to have Katie comforting him. Speed was also happy that he was back. Lash had told Speed what had happened with his mother and what had happened between him and Katie. Lash was sorry he had been distant but Speed had accepted the apology.

Katie was surprised that they hadn't bullied any freshmen or anyone for that matter. Speed and Lash pretty much kept to themselves.

"What is happening?" Zach asked, staring over at where Speed and Lash were sitting. "Why didn't they bully anyone today?" He clutched the table. "Oh god, is the table going to blow up or something?" He quickly got up and shielded his eyes.

Ethan checked the table. "I think its fine."

Magenta rolled her eyes. "Nothing is wrong with the table."

"How do you know that?" Zach looked over at her.

Magenta sighed. "Nothing is wrong with the table, Zach." She repeated.

Zach sighed of relief and sat back down.

Layla sighed. "If they are not bullying anymore, just leave it. Don't go provoke them."

"But Layla, I want to find out why." Zach told her.

"We want to know why just as much as you, Zach." Magenta told him.

Ethan nodded.

Will entered the cafeteria. "Hey, is Katie here?" He had to talk to her, like now.

"Will! You're feeling better." Ethan stated.

Layla ignored Will. It was still awkward for them.

"I am, thank you." Will smiled. He turned over to Layla, hoping to talk to her.

Magenta shook her head. "She stayed behind to finish a test but…" Her phone buzzed, and she checked it. "She's on her way. But Chad is following her so head's up."

Katie entered the cafeteria with Chad trailing behind.

"Katie, come on! I want to talk about the test." Chad told her. "Just the test."

Katie spun on her heel towards him, smiling. "Okay what?" If talking to him will make him go away faster…

"What did you get for the last answer?"

Katie bit her lip, trying to remember. "426." She said slowly. "Yup. 426." She confirmed, nodding.

"WHAT?!" Chad exclaimed. "I got -5!"

"A lot of people did and I thought I had done something wrong." Katie told him. "When I handed in my exam, the professor had only checked what I had gotten for that answer and told me I was the only one who got it right." She explained.

Chad suddenly grabbed her shoulders. "Can you tutor me?" He asked. "You are so fucking smart."

Katie was surprised at the sudden gesture but didn't back away. "Umm…" Did he not remember what happened a couple of days ago?

"I am failing that class and I need to graduate this time!"

This time? Katie wondered.

Lash and Speed looked over. "What's going on?"

"I don't know but I can go there in a flash if you need me to." Speed told him.

"I don't know…" Katie replied, backing away as he released her. "I have never tutored before."

"But you're the top of the class!"

Will suddenly went over. "Katie, can I talk to you?"

"Not now, Stronghold." Chad spat.

Will stared over at him, crossing his arms. "What could be so important that you need to talk to her right now?"

"Listen, Stronghold." Chad spat. "I'm just having a friendly conversation with her. You can talk to her when I'm done."

Will sighed. "Fine." He walked off and sat at an empty table.

Chad looked back at Katie. "As I was saying…"

Katie shook her head. "I'm sorry, Chad. I have no time."

"Let's just skip classes then." Chad told her. "What classes do you have after lunch?"

"I'm not skipping class!" Katie told him. "I have to go to gym class and-"

"Holy shit." Chad interrupted. "You have gym after lunch? I do too!"

Katie blinked. "But you're never there?"

"Psh." Chad waved a hand. "I don't go to that class unless Boomer tells me. Why would I want to see Speed and Lash show off?"

At the mention of their names, Speed and Lash looked over at them.

"Someone was telling me about your match with them and I honestly got pissed." Chad leaned in to her. "You and Stronghold could have won."

Katie sighed. "I realize that but-"

"You and Stronghold had one chance to beat them and you let them win!" Chad shouted. "What is wrong with you?"

"Maybe because I cared about the well-being of Speed after I sent him flying!" Katie replied. Why was this brought up again?

"I would have honestly not given a shit about him." Chad put out there. "I would have just left him there."

"Excuse me?"

Katie jumped when Speed suddenly appeared next to her.

"Hey!" Chad grinned. "Were you listening?"

Speed was glaring at him. "What do you think?"

"Good." Chad's grin disappeared. "Because I meant everything I said."

Speed grabbed his shirt. "Watch what you say, Chad."

"Or you'll what?" Chad's best friend, Dave, appeared next to him. Lightning crackled in his hand.

"Guys, come on. Not in the cafeteria." Katie pleaded.

Speed let go of Chad's shirt.

"Then let us settle this in Save the Citizen." Chad said. "Dave and I vs. Speed and…you Katie."

"What?" Why was she being dragged into this? Again?

Lash went over to see Speed. "These losers bothering you?"

"What did you say?" Dave asked, getting all in Lash's face.

"You heard me."

"Oh god, why again?" Katie asked Chad.

"Because I want to see how strong my power is against your force field." Chad explained.

"It is so on." Speed told Chad. "If Katie and I win, you apologize to me and leave the rest of us alone."

"When we win, you can admit that we're the better villains." Chad smirked. "Since you and Katie will be the heroes."

"Whatever." Speed replied. "We'll still beat you."

"I wasn't finished. And…" Chad turned to Katie. "She comes to homecoming with me."

"What?!" Lash and Katie exclaimed in unison.

Chad smirked. Just the reaction he was hoping for from Lash. "You heard me."

Speed and Chad shook hands. "Deal."

"HA!" Chad and Dave walked off. "It's on!"

Lash smacked Speed's arm and gave him a look.

"Don't worry, we'll win." Speed assured him.

Xxx

Lunch finished and it was time for save the citizen.

"Alright, Katie. You got this." Layla cheered. "When you win, he'll leave you alone."

"And if you lose, it's just homecoming."

Katie smacked Will's arm. "Shut up."

"I'm trying to help." Will shrugged.

"Not helping." Speed and Lash said in unison.

Layla rubbed her back. "You got this, alright?" She gave Speed a thumbs up. "You too."

Speed nodded at her. He wasn't used to getting cheered on by people who he bullied.

Will eyed Speed. "No tricks, you better win. I don't think she wants to go to homecoming with him."

Speed sighed. "I know that."

Lash put a hand on Katie's arm. "You got this." He gave her a smile.

Katie smiled back at him. "Thanks."

"SPEED! KATIE! YOU'RE UP!"

"Good luck!" Layla cheered.

"Beat his ass." Lash told Speed, hand out.

"You know it." Speed high fived it and followed Katie to the center.

"Alright! This has been a request by Chad and Dave to fight against Katie and Speed, who I still can't believe is part of the hero team."

Chad and Dave laughed.

"At least he comes to class." Coach Boomer cleared his throat.

Katie covered her mouth to hide her laughing.

"BURNT BY A TEACHER!" Speed held his hand up.

Katie blinked and looked at him. "Oh." She high fived him.

"Alright, you know the rules. Heroes, you have 5 minutes to save the citizen before the time runs out! Villains, you will do anything to stop them."

"Heroes, you ready?"

"No."

"Hell yes!"

"Villains, are you ready?"

"Fuck yeah!"

"You know it!"

"Alright then!" Coach Boomer got his clipboard out.

"Speed?" Katie asked suddenly.

"What?"

"On your mark…"

"Do you think Lash would say yes if I asked him to homecoming?"

"GET SET!"

Speed turned over at her slowly. Why did she mention this all of a sudden?!

"BATTLE!"

Speed snapped out of his thoughts. He was definitely going to win now. He was happy that she wanted to go with Lash.

"What's the plan?!" Katie asked as Chad and Dave charged up their attacks.

"One controls water, the other controls lightning." Speed told her. "I'm going to make Dave take out Chad." He grinned. "You keep Chad distracted." He zoomed off towards Dave, dodging the lightning attacks.

Katie blinked and nodded. Keep Chad distracted. She could do that. But how? Little did she know she was distracted as well.

Chad had hurled a ball of water, hitting Katie's face.

The force sent her staggering backwards. Katie coughed up some water and wiped her face with her sleeve to dry it.

Chad smirked at her. His fingers moved slowly as water floated in his palm. "Are you ready?! Finally?"

Katie stood her ground. That water had definitely woken her up. She was ready. "I'm ready!"

Chad launched his water towards Katie.

Katie dodged and the water spilled on the floor.

Dave was shooting lightning bolts towards Speed to hit him. But Speed narrowly dodged it. His hand was engulfed with lightning and shot it towards Speed. The lightning had crackled and was aimed for Speed.

"SPEED!" Katie shouted. He had to dodge or else he'd be struck!

Chad pinned her to the floor to prevent her from making any force fields.

Speed stopped abruptly and the lightning narrowly missed him. He fell backwards and knocked into the boards.

Dave shrugged and gave Chad a thumbs up.

Chad grinned. "Yes buddy! But next time, hit him!"

"Get off of me!" Katie shouted, struggling to get away from his grip.

"No, you'd use your barriers."

"I thought you wanted to test your power on them."

"Eh." Chad shrugged. "I changed my mind."

"Speed! Are you alright?!" Katie asked him.

"Been better!" Speed stood up. "Let's stick with the plan!" He zoomed off.

Katie nodded and turned invisible, getting away from Chad.

Chad blinked when he didn't have a grip on her anymore. "Invisibility too?"

Katie reappeared. "Cool, right?"

Chad growled and water was spiraling in his palm.

Dave raised his arm in the air, lighting surrounding it and then shot it towards Speed.

Speed just grinned and zoomed off. The lightning was going to hit Chad! His plan was going to work!

The lightning continued its direction and was going for Chad and Katie.

"DUDE!" Dave warned. If Chad got hit, he'd be hurt! "OUT OF THE WAY!"

Chad grabbed onto Katie. "Make a force field."

"What are you doing?!" Katie struggled from his grip.

"MAKE A FORCE FIELD!"

Katie had made one and the lightning ricocheted, hitting the boards, shattering the glass. The force of the lightning sent Katie and Chad flying to the boards in opposite directions.

Dave had ran to Chad. "Are you alright?"

"Yup."

Dave glanced at the timer. 1:30 "It's time to finish this then."

Chad stood up. "You know it." They both ran to one end of the stadium.

Speed had ran over to help Katie up. "Oh shit, you're bleeding."

Katie blinked. "What? Where?" She ran her hand on her temple. "Oh…"

"Shit shit, this is not good." Speed told her.

"I'll be fine." Katie assured him.

Dave took the opportunity to shoot a lightning bolt towards his enemies.

Speed noticed at the last second, shielded Katie and both were sent flying at the opposite end of the stadium.

Katie sat up, rubbing her head. "Ugh…Speed?" She blinked when he wasn't moving. "Speed?"

Speed lay there motionless.

"Not again!" Katie shook him. "Speed!"

"Looks like we won, Katie!" Chad announced.

Katie glanced at the timer. 1:00 "it's not over yet!" She said, standing up.

"What are you going to do? You're just a sidekick!" Dave told her.

"And I'm proud of it!" Katie stood her ground.

Dave and Chad sent multiple attacks of their element towards Katie.

Katie had her barrier up around herself and Speed but couldn't hold it much longer. "Speed! You need to wake up! My barrier isn't strong enough. I need your help!"

"Give up now, sidekick!" Dave shouted.

"My favourite color is blue!" Chad told her. "And you could wear a short dress!"

Katie could feel her barrier getting weaker as the blasts came. Shit shit shit.

00:30

Speed's eyes fluttered open. "Ugh…" He groaned.

"Speed!" Katie's barrier disappeared.

"IT'S OVER!"

"It's not over!" Speed stood, grabbed Katie from behind and ran off, dodging the attack.

Still in Speed's arms, Katie held onto him. "What are we going to do?!"

"Hold on tight." Speed ran off.

Katie blinked and put her arms around his neck.

Dave shot lightning towards them.

"NOW!" Speed shouted.

Katie's barrier went up. The lightning ricocheted and hit Chad.

Chad was sent flying to the boards and was knocked out.

Dave got pissed. Both hands engulfed in lightning and he clasped them together. Lightning struck down from the ceiling, aiming for the heroes.

Katie looked up. "Speed!"

Speed accelerated and dodged the lightning bolts.

"Towards the citizen!"

Speed went even faster and Katie struggled to hold on.

Dave ran over quickly and went to stop them, fist engulfed with lightning and ready to strike.

00:05

Speed was almost there. He was going to get close and throw Katie towards the citizen.

"NOT SO FAST!"

00:04

"Shit!" Speed stopped abruptly. Water was all over the floor and he was going to trip.

Katie went flying towards the citizen at a rapid speed.

00:03

Katie held her arms out. She was going to catch the citizen.

"HELL NO!" Dave jumped and aimed his punch for Katie.

00:02

Katie grabbed the citizen. When she saw Dave aiming for her, her pupils glowed and a barrier appeared around her, sending Dave flying.

00:01

Speed ran around the water and went to catch Katie.

The timer went off. "HEROES WIN!" Coach Boomer announced.

Layla and Will cheered.

Lash sighed of relief. He was glad she wasn't going to homecoming with Chad. Now, he had to ask her.

Katie threw the fake citizen on the floor. "We did it!"

Speed grinned at her. "We did."

Katie waved at her friends in the stand. "We did it!"

Dave and Chad stared over at Speed and Katie. "Oh they will pay."

"Big time."

Xxx

Speed and Katie went to the nurse's office to get checked up on.

Layla and Lash stood in the gym waiting for their friends.

"So…"

"What?"

"I'm trying to make conversation."

Lash just stared at her.

"They did it." Layla told him.

"I know, I watched the whole thing." Lash replied.

Layla sighed. This wasn't working.

"I'm just happy that they did it and Katie doesn't have to go to homecoming with him." Lash said, without realizing.

Layla nodded. "Me too."

Silence.

"So…you asking Katie to the dance then?" Layla wondered.

Lash's face got all flustered. "What? What are you talking about? Why would I ask her?"

"You like her, don't you?" Layla asked.

Lash glared at her. "Who told you that?"

Layla held her hand up in defense. "No one. I just followed the signs."

"What signs?" Was he too obvious?

"Well, for one…you stopped bullying her. And told Speed not to when he wanted to." Layla told him. "I was in ear shot when it happened."

Lash nodded. He remembered that.

"And just now with the cheering. You are not subtle."

Lash glared at her. "You tell no one."

"Why would I tell anyone?"

"Katie, will you come to the homecoming dance with me?"

Will's voice snapped them out of their thoughts.

Lash and Layla looked through the gym door window and saw Will and Katie talking in the hallway.

Katie stared at Will in surprise. "W-What?" She asked. Why was he asking her?

"Please?" Will pleaded.

"What the fuck, Stronghold?" Lash muttered under his breath. He was about to open the door but Layla grabbed his arm.

"If they want to go together…then that's fine." Layla had a pained expression.

"It's clearly not fine." Lash replied. "For the both of us."

Katie shook her head. "Will, I'm sorry. I can't. I know Layla likes you."

Lash sighed of relief.

"I know!"

"Okay so…then why?"

"Because I want to make her jealous. She was going with Warren to make me jealous and I want to go with you to make her jealous." Will explained.

Katie shook her head. "I'm sorry, Will. I value my friendship with Layla."

Layla smiled at what Katie said. "That's sweet of her to say."

Will sighed. "Alright. Do you have a date anyways?"

"I don't yet but there is someone I want to ask."

"Who?"

Katie was about to say when the bell rang. "Shit, we have class!" Katie blinked. "Sorry, Will. I have to go!" She sped off.

Will headed to class too.

Xxx

It was after school and Speed and Lash were heading to the school bus. "Dude, thank you for today." Lash told him.

"Hey, no problem." Speed grinned. "Anything for my best friend. Now you go ask her. Homecoming is tomorrow night."

"Of course, I will." Lash nodded.

Speed smirked. "Good."

Lash just nodded.

Speed raised his eyebrow and pointed to Katie who was heading down the school stairs. "Now's your chance."

Lash looked over. It was indeed Katie. "What? I'm not ready!"

"Homecoming is tomorrow night. When else are you going to ask her?" Speed reminded him. "GO!"

Lash hesitated.

"Do I have to push you?" Speed asked.

But Lash didn't have to move.

"Lash!" Katie called out, running over to him.

"Oh shit, she's coming this way." Lash told Speed. "What do I do?" He looked over at his best friend. But he wasn't there. He was walking towards the bus. "Dude!"

Speed turned over to him and gave a thumbs up. "Do it."

Katie got to Lash and caught her breath. "Lash…"

"Yeah?"

Katie looked up at him. "I wanted to ask you something…for a while actually…"

"What?"

Katie's face reddened. "Uhm, well you could say no if you want but…do you want…"

Lash's eyes widened. Was it him she wanted to ask?

"…to go to homecoming with me?"

A shout came from the bus.

Lash wanted to roll his eyes at Speed's reaction but did not want Katie to think that was his answer.

Katie waited for his answer.

"I'd love to." Lash smiled at her.

Katie's face lit up. "Great! See you tomorrow!" She walked off.

Lash turned towards the bus.

He was feeling happy than he had been in a long time.