"Hey Abby, how's it going?" Layla asked, walking up to Abby outside of Sky High. She was fresh and ready, her ponytail bouncing.

"Oh, hey Layla." Abby answered, smiling. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing really. But, hey, I was just talking to Warren." Layla paused, staring at Abby.

"Oh." She said, nodding. There was a silence, until Abby realized that Layla expected her to comment on this. "That's nice."

"Yeah." Layla continued. "Warren's a nice guy." Abby kept on nodding. "What do you think of Warren?" Layla prodded.

"Um, he's nice." Abby said, looking all around. "He's a good guy, I guess." She shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head. "I don't know. Why?"

"Oh, no reason!" Layla said, laughing. "I don't know, I mean, I was just curious, I didn't really have a reason." Abby just stared at her. "Oh, that reminds me!" Layla barreled on "Do you want to meet me at the paper lantern for dinner, say, Friday night?"

"The paper lantern? Sure, that sounds good."

"Great." Layla walked away, smiling.


Will walked into the secret sanctum to find his parents tsking over a newspaper. "Well that's just a shame." He heard his dad say.

"What's up?" Will asked, shoving his hands in his pockets and walking over to them.

"Another pair of supers lost their town." His mom explained, still looking at the paper, shaking her head.

"What?" Will asked, craning his head to see it too.

"Yes." His dad said. "Over in Nyebrook. Awful, isn't it?"

"What do you mean, they 'lost' their town?" Will asked.

"Oh, you know honey." His mom said. "Like we're the supers for Maxville. They lost Nyebrook."

"You can loose you town?" Will asked, incredulously.

"Of course." His dad answered. "If you aren't doing a good job, you get kicked out."

"Really?" Will asked. "I didn't know that." He examined the paper. They looked like nice people. "Where do they go, then?"

"Oh, they just stay there." His mother answered. "They just aren't the supers for that town anymore."

"Then, what do they do?" Will asked.

"Their covers become their lives." She said, shrugging her shoulders, mouth grimaced.

"Awful, isn't it?" His dad said, shaking his head.

"Yeah." Will answered, nodding.


Abby walked quickly into the Paper Lantern. It was starting to get dark outside, looked like rain. She sat down at a table, smiling at the waitress, and looked around. She had beaten Layla here. She settled back against the red cushions and waited for her friend.

And waited. Time was ticking slowly by. It had been over a half an hour, at least, and Layla still wasn't there. Abby had called her twice, but she hadn't picked up. She looked outside. Maybe Layla had forgotten. But no, that wasn't like her. Just a little while longer, maybe she was just running late. Really late. So she waited, head propped on her hand, staring alternately out the window, where it had started to rain, and at her phone which she had set on the table, watching the clock slowly pass minute after minute without Layla showing up. Maybe she should just leave, Abby thought, fingering the water glass that she had been continually refreezing. But, she didn't want to ditch Layla. Besides, it wasn't as if she had any other plans.

"Need more wat – oh." A voice said from behind her. Abby turned around - and saw Warren standing there. He was in an apron with his hair tied back, holding a pitcher of water. Her mouth dropped open.

"Warren?" she asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

"I work here." He answered, staring at her. "What are you doing?"

"Eating." Abby answered immediately. Warren looked pointedly at the empty table. "Well, I'm going to eat." She amended, shifting in her seat. "I'm just waiting for Layla."

"Oh." Warren said, nodding.

"Yeah." Abby said, nodding along with him.

"You've kind of been waiting a while." Warren commented slowly.

"How do you know?" Abby demanded.

"I'm supposed to go to your table, but you still haven't ordered yet."

"Oh." Abby said. "Yeah. It's been about an hour now. I think she might have ditched me." She flattened her mouth out, making a face.

"Hm." Warren said, nodding. He just stood there, then turned his head to stare critically at Abby.

"What?" Abby asked.

"I'm thinking that this might be one of Layla's brilliant set up plans." He said frankly.

"What do you mean?" Abby asked suspiciously. She didn't like being set up. Not at all. Even if it was by her best friend who thought it was for her own good.

Warren sat down in the seat across from her, setting the pitcher down on the table. "Layla know I work here." He explained, looking right at her. "She makes plans to come here with you. She knows we're both going to be in the same place at the same time. Then she doesn't show up. So instead of you, Layla, and me, it's just you and me."

Abby shook her head. "I bet you're right." She said, grimacing.

"Yeah." Warren said nodding. "I am quite a lot." Abby raised an eyebrow.

"Don't go getting cocky now." Warren grinned, and they just sat there for a moment, staring at each other. Then Abby quickly looked away. "Sooo," she started, shifting in her chair. "Now what?"

"Now," Warren answered "You order your food before the waitress kicks you out."

"They aren't even allowed to do that." Abby said. "Are they?"

"Well, I could always do it for them." Warren said, glancing over at the kitchen. "So, I've got to get back to work. You want me to take back your order?"

"Um, sure." Abby said, quickly opening up the menu and skimming through it. "Uh . . . I'll take the . . . How Sung . . . hui . . . uh . . . that one." She finished, pointing at a spot on the menu. Warren raised an eyebrow.

"Very nice." He said.

"Just bring me my food." Abby said.

"As you wish." Warren replied, walking away.


Layla was working on her History of Supers paper, lying on her bead while eating an apple. Her phone was buzzing beside her, as it had been for about half an hour. She glanced at the screen. Abby again. She turned back to her paper, taking another bite out of the apple. This was for their own good . . .


Warren walked back to Abby's table, platter in hand. "You get promoted or something?" Abby joked. "Since when do busboys get to deliver the food?" Warren just grinned and set the plate down in front of her. Abby stared at it. "That." She stated flatly "Is not what I ordered."

"I took a few liberties with your order." Warren said, sitting down. "You see, through your oh so American accent, I wasn't sure if you said –"

"Is that octopus?" Abby asked, a disgusted look creeping over her face as she poked it with a fork. "This looks like it has tentacles."

"Do you not appreciate our cooking? Go on, eat." Warren asked. Abby glared at him, then leaned to stare out the window.

"Is that you car out there Warren?" she asked.

"Yeah." Warren answered warily.

"Hm. You know, it's raining pretty hard out there." She said, tapping her fingers against the window. "Funny how quickly rain can turn in to hail." She froze some condensation on the window, turning back her head and grinning slyly at him.

"Okay. Okay." Warren said, a look of alarm on his face. He quickly pulled the plate across the table over to him. "This is my dinner. Okay? Happy?" Abby sat back, smiling, as Warren got up and brought over another plate.

"This is better." Abby said, scooping up a forkful of noodles.

"Better?" Warren asked, picking up his own fork. "No no no. You don't understand. This, this is a delicacy."

"Yeah, well you can keep your delicacies. I don't want them." Abby said, taking a bite.


An hour or so later, Abby and Warren walked out of The Paper Lantern, laughing. It was still raining, but Abby looked up at the sky smiling. Warren kindled a flame in the palm of his hand, guiding them as they walked over to his car.

"So, I guess I'll see you later then." Abby said. Warren nodded. She turned around and started to walk away. But Warren didn't get into his car, he stood there, watching her. The rain was freezing into tiny snowflakes when it hit her. They were scattered in her hair, like a crown. Warren glanced down at his own arm, where the raindrops sizzled slightly, evaporating when they met his skin. He turned back to Abby. She was still walking. A moment later, she would be swallowed by the darkness.

"Hey." He called out. She turned around, a question on her face. "Uh, do you want a ride home?" He asked. Her question broke into a smile.

"Yeah." She answered, walking back towards him. "Yeah, actually. That would be really great. Thank you." Warren grinned.

"No problem."