A/N: I'm baccccckkkkkk! :D What's up, guys? So, the good news is: I passed my test! I'm so happy I did too, plus my finals are done so that means I can get back to updating on a weekly basis. I also can't thank you guys enough for your continued support, I really appreciate it.
Guest – Unfortunately, Taryn and Warren will not be getting together in this story. They'll be friends, but that's about it.
Megknsis – Oh, don't worry about it! Thank you so much for reviewing! Well, I don't want to give too much away, but let's just say that Homecoming's going to be very… intense. I'm also really glad you liked Warren and Taryn's interaction, I wanted them to have that mutual respect and understanding towards each other, but at the same time, I also wanted to keep it on a friendship level.
Im a half-blood – Thanks! I'm glad you think so!
CrayCrayTay2 – Yeah, I definitely wanted them to have a lot of chemistry without it being forced.
Flowerchild23 –Yup, I think this is the biggest FML moment for Taryn yet XD She's gonna have one hell of a time explaining this.
WiCkEdAvEnGeD – Thanks! I will!
SoNotYourAverageGirl – Will do!
Optimistic Pessimist that I am – Thank you!
JenRiley16 – Thank you so much! I really wanted Taryn to be very humorous and feisty, which clashes perfectly with Lash's personality.
Slowly, I turned around to face my now pissed-off Uncle and my somewhat ecstatic Aunt. I was officially bewildered. I didn't know how to explain this. The only thing that came to mind was "Oh yeah, apparently I had a big bug on my lips and Lash decided to kill it my slamming his lips onto mine!" But, of course, there was no way in hell they'd buy that.
"Well?!" Uncle Steve demanded, crossing his arms. "I'm waiting for an explanation, young lady."
"I-I-I…" I stammered, trying to think of a way to explain this without landing Lash in the morgue. "Lash was- Lash was just walking me home and…."
"Taryn? Lash?" I turned around to see a now very confused Will standing a few feet away from us. "What's going on here?"
SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!
"That's what I'd like to know," Uncle Steve said sternly, now narrowing his eyes at Lash.
"Why don't we all go inside and talk this over?" Aunt Josie interrupted, trying to take control of the situation before it turned into an episode of Jerry Springer.
I knew that there was no arguing my way out of this one, so I reluctantly agreed and followed them inside. Minutes later, we were all sitting on the living room couches, with Uncle Steve and Will staring Lash like they both wanted to tear his head off.
"So, Lash, why don't you tell us a little about yourself?" Aunt Josie asked. "I mean, Taryn talks about you a lot, but I'm really interested in hearing more of your story."
"What's your power, son?" Uncle Steve cut in.
Lash grinned charmingly. "I stretch, and to answer your question Mrs. Stronghold, I'm a senior at Sky High and I'm in the same classes as Taryn-"
"And you spend your free time dunking freshman's heads in toilets," Will mumbled bitterly. Like you really have any room to be judging right now, asshole.
Aunt Josie looked at Will and quirked a brow. "What was that, Will?"
"Nothing," Will replied, shrugging his shoulders. "I was just saying that it's getting late and I'm sure Lash has other places to be."
"At least Lash doesn't ditch the people he cares about," I seethed, glaring daggers at Will.
"No, no, it's cool," Lash said, getting up. "I've actually gotta run. It's was nice meeting you both."
"I'll walk you out," I said, getting up as well.
Once we walked outside, I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. "Sorry about that, Will's being a huge pain in the ass tonight, and he really doesn't have any room to talk considering he ditched Layla to hang out with Malibu Barbie."
Lash snickered. "Just say the word and I'll dunk his head in the toilet."
I shook my head and elbowed him in the chest. "Tempting, but no thanks. I'll deal with him later. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"
"Looking forward to it, babe," he replied suavely, pressing his lips to my cheek.
Despite Will blowing off Layla last night, I woke p the next morning with a smile on my face, which rarely ever happened. I just couldn't stop thinking about my date with Lash. Deep down, I knew that it was wrong for me to feel this way about him, but I just couldn't help it. No matter how hard I tried to fight it, I was beginning to really like him. Much more than I wanted to admit.
I was able to briefly push all my thoughts of Lash out of my mind as Will and I approached Layla at the bus stop, and she looked even more crushed than she did last night, if that was even possible.
"Layla!" Willa beamed. "You're not going to believe what happened to me last night."
Layla didn't say anything. Instead, she held out her hand which had a fortune cookie in it. I swear, if Will still failed to realize what he'd done to Layla then I was going to throttle him until he did.
"Oh, I love these," he said, carelessly taking it out of her hand. He bit half of it off and read the fortune. "Your loyalties are clear when it comes to friends."
"Especially when said friends wait for hours for you to show up at the Paper Lantern," I retorted, putting my hands on my hips.
Will's eyes widened. I couldn't tell if it was the fortune or my snide comment that made him realize his mistake, but he definitely knew now. "Oh God! Oh, oh, I totally spaced…. I-I'm sorry, I know you must wanna kill me…"
Layla smiled. "Actually, just the opposite. I have something to tell you…"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, but you first."
"It's about Homecoming," Will said enthusiastically. This is it. He's finally going to ask her out!
Layla's smile grew. "Really? Me too!"
"I'm going with Gwen Grayson!"
OH, HELL NO!
"WHAT?!" I screamed, my mouth instantly dropping open in shock. "YOU'VE GOTTA BE SHITTING ME!"
"I know!" Will said excitedly. "Can you believe it? Me, a freshman, going with the most amazing girl at Sky High!"
"….. That's awesome!" Layla replied with false enthusiasm.
The bus pulled up and I decided on sitting in the seat right across from Will. I knew for sure I'd probably end up throwing him off the bus (once we were in the air, of course) if I sat next to him.
Once we had taken off, Will asked Layla what her Homecoming news was, she said that she was going too, and when he decided to ask her who she was going with, her answer was…. Warren Peace. And of course, this didn't sit well with Will.
"Warren Peace!" Will yelled in disbelief as the three of us walked down the hallway. "You can't be serious! Layla, the guy's a psycho and my biggest enemy!"
"Just because you hate him, doesn't mean Layla has to," I said icily. "Besides, I've talked to him and he's not that bad. I think he's just misunderstood."
Will rolled his eyes. "Oh, not you too! As if you hanging out with Lash wasn't bad enough!"
"I could say the same about you and Gwen," I growled.
Will ignored me and turned to Layla again. "How could you go with him?! When did you even start hanging out?!"
Layla whipped around and gave Will a cold look. "Last night, eight o'clock: the Paper Lantern," she snapped before storming into the classroom.
With a sigh, Will slowly turned to me. "Taryn…"
"Will, don't," I warned. "You fucked up big time and I can't help you this time."
"That's funny. At least I didn't make out with one of the biggest jerks in school," he chided me. "Honestly Taryn, what do you even see in him? The only reason why he would talk to you is if he wanted 'something' from you!"
My hands began to heat up as I slowly turned around and stepped closer to Will. "I'm warning you, Will. If you don't bite your fucking tongue, I'll rip your intestines out through your mouth!"
But Will continued to lecture me. "Wake up, Taryn! He doesn't give a crap about you! He just wants to sleep with you and toss you aside like an empty can of Pepsi! I just hope for your sake that he's immune to STDs."
The more Will continued to berate me, the more I pissed off I got. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lash and Speed talking to each other by Lash's locker. What I about to do was probably the most spiteful and bitchy thing I've done in my entire life, but at this point, I didn't care anymore.
Without another thought, I shoved Will out of my way and stormed over to Lash. Grabbing both sides of his face, I crashed my lips onto his.
"WHAT. THE. FUCK?!" I heard Speed yell.
Lash was caught off guard at first, but it only took him about five seconds to respond. And when he did, he wound his arms around my waist and kissed me back with just as much intensity and hunger. A moan escaped my lips as Lash suddenly plunged his tongue into my mouth, and I retaliated by ferociously lashing my tongue against his and gripping the back on his neck.
Slowly, I withdrew, our rapid, even breaths breaking the silence between us. "Not that I'm complaining Armstrong, but what was that for?" Lash asked playfully, stroking his thumb over my cheek.
Turning my head, I saw that Will was staring at me with anger, shock, and betrayal etched all over his face. As I looked around some more, I also saw that Gwen, Penny, and a few other students had been watching my make out session with Lash. Right now though, I could really care less what all of them thought.
"Consider that payback for kissing me out of the blue last night," I replied mischievously.
He chuckled. "Well, in that case I should kiss you out of the blue more often."
"I definitely wouldn't mind," I giggled. "But, right now, I think we should get to Mad Science before Medula gives us a lecture from hell."
By the time lunch rolled around, I told Lash that I'd see him later and made my way to the cafeteria. However, I was somewhat taken back when I saw that Layla, Magenta, Zach, and Ethan were sitting at Warren's table. From the looks of it, Warren wasn't exactly enthused that they were sitting at his table.
"Alright, what'd I miss this time," I snickered, taking a seat next to Layla.
"Seriously?!" Warren growled, now even more pissed off that another person decided to sit at his table. "Alright, does anyone else need a date for Homecoming?" he asked rhetorically. Ethan's hand shot up, but then he slowly lowered it once he realized that Warren was only being sarcastic.
All of a sudden, Gwen, Will, and Penny walked by and Layla let out a laugh that sounded more forceful than ecstatic.
"Warren, you are crazy!" Will looked at us for a few seconds, but continued to follow Gwen and Penny.
"Please, I promise I'll make this as painless as possible," Layla assure him, a hopeful look on her face.
"So, you're not doing this just cause you like me or anything? You're doing this to get to Stronghold?"
"Yeah…."
"Then I'm in," he grinned and leaned in. "But I'm not renting a tux."
"Hey if Warren's not here is this still the tough guy table?" Ethan asked, but no one answered him.
Over the next few days, Gwen and Will spent more and more time together (and I had to keep from barfing whenever I saw them) and Layla had made it her mission to make Will incredibly jealous. At one point, she even held Warrens hand and called him "cutie", but that only resulted in him burning her hand.
"How's "Operation: Make Will Jealous"working out for ya?" I teased her as she walked over to us, still clutching her slightly singed hand.
She sighed. "Well, I could've gone without Warren burning my hand, but so far, I think my plan's working."
"Good to know," I replied, leaning back a bit. "Hopefully he'll realize that you two belong together."
"So," Zach spoke up. "Word on the street is that you made out with Lash in front of Will a couple days ago…"
"Huh?!" Ethan asked, horrified. "Taryn, how could you?! He dunks freshman's heads in the toilets for a sport! Why him?!"
"Maybe you should mind your own business, Popsicle."
Speaking of Lash…
I whirled around to see Lash and Speed now staring at us with amused smirks on their faces. Against my will, I felt butterflies flying around in my stomach.
Zach scowled. "You guys better leave us alone or-"
"Or what?" Speed asked scornfully. "You'll start glowing again?"
Lash patted speed's shoulder. "It's cool, Speed. I've got this one. Why don't you go find some other sidekicks to torment and I'll catch up with you later?"
Speed looked taken back, but still nodded in consideration. "Fine, but you five better watch your backs from now on."
Speed took off and that left us with Lash. I couldn't deny that it was hard for me to take my eyes off him. His eyes darted to mine and then he did something I never thought he'd do… He smiled at me. He didn't smirk, he actually smiled, and I smiled back. For once, we weren't arguing non-stop or kissing until we were both breathless. As cheesy as it sounded, we were having a genuine moment.
Then, Lash leaned forward and tauntingly bowed before smirking and taking his leave. Lash should've pulled a John Bender and thrusted his fist into the air, because, in that moment… he had me. Yeah, ladies and gents, you heard correctly, Lash had me. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
But, of course, I had to explain to Layla, Zach, Magenta, and Ethan why Lash and I were suddenly acting so romantic towards each other. Next thing, I know, I'm telling them all about my date with Lash, him, walking me home, and us kissing on my front lawn. Now, Layla was a little upset at first that I had spied on her, but she became just as confused as everyone else when I told her about Lash and I actually spending time together without me trying to murder him.
"Are you sure we're talking about the same Lash here?" Layla blinked a bit. "I mean, he has a habit of picking on sidekicks…."
"Yeah, but it looks like he's changing his ways… Somewhat," I replied, knowing that she'd eventually come around.
When I got home, I found a note on the fridge from Uncle Steve and Aunt Josie that said they'd flown to Europe on business and that they'd be back in a couple hours. I heard Gwen laughing upstairs, and, letting my temper get the best of me once again, I crumpled the note in my hand and scorched it.
I marched upstairs to my room and furiously slammed the door behind me. The only thing that was going to calm me down now was a very gory movie. So, I put Scream into the DVD player and kicked back. Unfortunately, my fun was interrupted when I heard loud music and the front door opening and closing about twenty minutes later.
Is he seriously throwing a fucking house party right now?!
Well, I sure as hell wasn't in a party mood so I had no intention of going downstairs. If Will wanted to get an earful from the Commander and Jetstream then it was his funeral, not mine.
Just as I was about to press 'play', someone knocked on my door. If it was two horny teens looking for a good place to fuck, then was more than ready to bash their teeth in.
"This room's occupied! FUCK OFF!" I yelled, chucking a throw pillow at the door in annoyance.
"It's Gwen!" she said, knocking on the door two more times. "I just wanna talk…"
Frustrated, I dragged myself out of bed and pulled the door open. "What do you want, Gwen? I'm in the middle of a very epic horror movie marathon," I said bitterly.
She smiled and batted her lashes. "Oh, come on, Taryn, why watch some disgusting movies up here all by yourself when you could be downstairs hanging with us? I know some of the guys downstairs are just dying to meet you."
I rolled my eyes in disgust. "Yeah, and I'm disease free and I'd like to keep it that way, Gwen. So, thanks for the offer, but I don't do house parties." I started to close the door, but she moved her foot in the way, preventing me from fully closing it.
"I'm sure you'll come around, one way or another," she chirped before walking downstairs. It took every ounce of willpower I had not to push her down them.
"Damn, I was really hoping to see a catfight." I heard a smug voice say behind me.