I kept myself occupied during class in order to keep myself from blowing up at Warren. All of this could wait until we had more time. And besides, he hadn't done anything wrong. In fact, it was my fault that Warren went and sat by Layla to keep her company. I blamed Will because he decided to be an idiot and ditch his best friend. I never told Warren to ask Layla to Homecoming.
Where the hell had he even gotten that idea?
He hated dances, and dancing in general. There's no way he would step foot on campus longer than the obligated six hours a day, five days a week thing we had to do in order to graduate. There was something fishy awry.
At lunch, Layla came and sat with us. It was odd. Although, not as odd as seeing Warren and me sit together. I wore color. Well, more color than Warren did. He wore black and red. I could pull off any color of the rainbow, and anything in between. That came from having a Siren for a mother. But that's beside the point. I was used to having Warren all to myself. What had happened last night to make Warren ask Layla to the dance and for her to come and sit with us?
Anyway…
"Hi Warren. Hi Charlie. I can call you that, right?" I nodded.
"Did I do or say something last night to make you think this was ok?" Warren asked in a low growl. Layla giggled. And I was still confused.
"You're so funny. But seriously, you're never going to believe what happened." She didn't wait for a response. She just kept talking. I think it was a freshman thing. "I was just about to ask Will to Homecoming, when, wouldn't you know it? I told him I was going with you instead."
"So that's the real story. Thank God." I injected with a sigh of relief.
"I don't remember that being the plan." Warren stated.
Wait, there was a plan?
"Maybe I should have stayed. Then things would make sense to me." I said.
"You just had to make me sit with her." Warren directed at me.
"Don't listen to him. He's just grumpy that we have company." I stage-whispered to Layla. Now that I was becoming part of the loop, I was beginning to like her. She was nice. She looked amused. "Warren, be nice. She's a cute little freshman who needs our help. It will be like that puppy you always wanted." Warren flushed red, making me smile. "And now she has blackmail if we don't help her."
"Why do you want to go along with this? I thought you were against dancing just as much as I am." I nodded. "Then what's going on?"
"Poor Warren gets confused when gatherings such as these take place. He's socially awkward." Layla giggled again, but composed herself when Warren shot her a glare. "And don't be frightened by him. He practices glares in the morning before school. So don't think twice about it. He thinks it keeps the people at bay." Then I turned toward my hotheaded friend. "We're helping her because Will needs to be with her, not Gwen. I'm not sure what we'll do, but we have a few weeks to figure it out. I like Layla, and I don't like Gwen. I'm sure you can read between the lines." Suddenly, one of Layla's friends joined us.
"Hey, Layla, did you do the History homework?" A girl in purple asked.
"What do you think you're doing?" Warren did not like more people.
"It's called sitting." The purple girl replied.
"No one sits here but me." I cleared my throat. "And Charlie."
"Mm-hmm. What did you get for number four?" I smirked at the attitude that defied everything Warred was used to. I liked these girls. They were amusing and knew how to handle Warren even though they didn't know him as well as I did. They did what they wanted, just like Warren and I did. My best friend seemed bewildered by their behavior, as his usual behavior seemed to not affect them. I didn't see anger flash in his eyes, and he didn't look as though he would power up at any second. He looked curious. Another boy sat down.
"Hey, we can sit at Warren's table now? I feel extremely dangerous." It was the orange boy who could melt.
"Whoa, whoa." Warren was getting a little too confused now.
"This guy bothering you, Magenta?" Neon boy sat down next to me.
"Try the other way around." Warren retorted angrily. I giggled.
"Yay! It's like a party now!" I exclaimed happily, doing a happy little dance in my seat. I liked these people. They were fun. They added a bit of adventure to my very routine life.
"Does anyone else need a date for Homecoming?" Warren asked, still mad at being surrounded by people. Ethan, the orange kid raised his hand. I slid down into my seat as Warren looked over at me with an evil grin. Suddenly, Layla started laughing. I thought it was at the behavior between my best friend and me, but then I saw Will with Gwen.
"Warren, you are crazy!" Layla exclaimed. That almost got me laughing myself. Warren looked almost horrified at what was unfolding before him. "Please, I promise, I'll make this as painless as possible." Layla calmed down once Will had walked past.
"So, you're not doing this because you like me or anything." Layla shook her head. "You're doing this to get to Stronghold." A nod. "Then I'm in." A grin took place on Warren's face; something that rarely happened. "But I'm not renting a tux." He leaned in to state the last part, and then got up, done with his lunch.
"Count on prejudice to come in handy." I stated, before getting up myself, and following my best friend.
"Why did you want me to do that?" Warren demanded as we headed toward the lockers. He had an angry expression etched on his face, and he punched the locker right next to my head, startling me. His tall body loomed over me, and I came to believe that as he thought about it, he realized that he had done something stupid.
"Well, you eventually agreed to it." Warren slammed his hand against the wall again, causing me to start as he shot me a death glare. "Because I think Will and Layla should be together. I don't like Gwen. I was being honest back there, Warren. I think Layla is a great girl, and Will is too stupid to see that he has a great best friend, and is missing out on something."
"God, now you're being illogical."
"Would you rather I be cold, distant, and logical?" I replied coldly. "Because I thought you liked me better the other way around."
"Don't start that again, Charlotte." He warned.
"Forget it. It doesn't matter why I want you to do it. You agreed to it because you're so determined to get back at Stronghold because his dad put your dad in jail. Get over it, Warren! It happened, and it's in the past!" Warren looked like he was going to flare up, so I took the precaution and powered up before he did. "Now if you torch me, it won't hurt me."
"I'm not going to hurt you." He calmed down a bit.
"Then don't look at me like you want to kill me for talking about it. You're smart and mature, Warren. You just need to stop focusing on the negative. Yeah, your dad is in jail, and you grew up without a dad, and money is tight. I get that. But you can't blame Will for your problems. It isn't his fault that your dad went evil. And it's not your fault either." We were sitting down now, our legs pulled up close to our chests. "What you're doing isn't even close to illogical. It's downright wrong. And you know it." We were quiet for a few minutes before Warren spoke again.
"I really am curious as to why you want me to do it." I sighed.
"I already told you."
"Yeah, but I thought we made that agreement back in freshman year. I didn't want to go back on that because of everything that just happened."
Flashback…
Charlotte was crying in her room. The day had gone by horribly, and she thought she'd never get over it. Everything had been a waste, and at nearly fifteen years of age, she felt that the world should have ended. Her pillow was soaked through with tears, and she flung it at the door. Her makeup was smeared down her face, and the top of her shirt was matted to her skin. Charlotte was a wreck.
"Charlotte?" A familiar voice came through the room. The girl in question turned to her window to see her best friend peeping in. "What happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it." She moped and flopped back onto her bed, letting out more tears. It would be a while before they stopped. She just had so much water in her system.
"But I want to hear about it."
"No, you don't. It's stupid girl problems."
"Well, the thing is, you don't have any girls to confide to. I'm the best you have."
"I have my mom." Warren gave her a strange look.
"You're going to tell your mom what happened? Seriously?" That got a wet smile out of Charlie. "C'mon, I want to know! Tell me the latest gossip!"
"You know how Joel asked me to Homecoming?" Warren nodded. "I've liked him for a while now, and we have a few classes together, making it easy for us to talk to each other, and flirt a bit, you know?" Another nod. "Well, he asked me, and of course I said yes. I thought we'd have a great time together. It would be fun."
"Then why are you crying?"
"Because he asked me last week. A lot can happen in a week." She took a shuddering breath and continued. "Today, I saw him holding hands and kissing Gwen Grayson, and obviously I asked him about it." More tears leaked out. "He told me that he asked me out on a dare, and that he would never consider going to Homecoming with me, or anywhere else. He told me that I was stupid for falling for it, and that maybe if I were pretty, he might like me."
"What the hell? What kind of person does that?"
"Joel." Charlie hiccupped. "God, I hate them both. Gwen was laughing the entire time. Apparently, she knew all about it."
"You confronted him while he was with her?" The sniffling brunette nodded. "Good for you. I'm glad you didn't wait until you were alone; I'm glad that everyone heard. Except me, obviously."
"Yeah, well, when he announced that it was a dare, the joke was on me." Warren put his arm around his best friend, not knowing how to comfort a girl, what with him being a guy and all.
"Let's make a pact." Warren stated. "Let's agree to not give a shit about any school dances. Let's just have a party at either one of our houses during those nights, and have fun by ourselves."
"A party with ourselves?"
"Why not? It saves us money, time and tears." Charlie nodded in agreement. "No more sexy dresses for you, no more suits for me, and no more assholes thinking they're too cool for you. Just you me, and some infamous movie nights." Charlie laughed.
"All right. We have to shake on it." Warren spat in his hand, and Charlie did the same. They shook, and plopped on the bed, happy with the world once more.
The rest of the day went by as normal. My mom took me to the doctor, an old family friend, and my mom's theories were confirmed. I was going through another growth spurt, meaning my powers were evolving, and my physical and mental states were as well. I found out I wasn't gaining weight, only muscle. My body was transforming, giving me a slightly billowy look. It was strange for me, since I'd always been a bit voluptuous. The doctor told me I would maintain my curves, as that was my natural body structure, but since my powers pertained to an element, particularly water, my body would basically become that. I guess that explained why Warren was so big and bulky. That's what I imagined fire to be if it had a human form.
My mental state was because of my natural personality, and the way of the water element. Water was supposed to be logical, and rational, and all of the shit. It was part of astrology. It was strange to me that people with abilities and whatnot basically had the same reasoning as regular humans did. We believed in the biology aspect of nature, and we turned to stargazing and astrology to give us answers about our powers. It was an interesting though.
"Dr. Smith? Do you think I could learn something about my real father?" I asked timidly. He was checking my bones for any changes, and also my muscle structure for grace.
"What do you want to know?"
"Well, do you know anything about him? Medically, I mean."
"Charlotte, that's kind of classified." My brows furrowed.
"But he's missing. Or deceased. And I'm his biological daughter. I just want to know if he went through the same thing as me. Or if this is just my own way of developing."
"Poseidon, or Kody Bennett, was a very strong boy. He was independent, headstrong, and knew how to use his abilities…to an extent. He went through a similar growth spurt such as your own, however, his moods changed rapidly, and he lost control of his powers at some points. It was very difficult for his parents, since only his father was a Super. His mother didn't know how to deal with a growing child who had superpowers."
"What happened then?"
"Kody was depressed after his mom left." I felt my heart sink with pity for my biological father. "His mental state wasn't up for having these abilities. So he stopped using his powers until they would burst spontaneously, and without warning. It was difficult when he was in the company of non-Supers, or even others with abilities. He got very angry at himself and others. I did what I could to help him as he changed and developed into the Super he became to be. It was no easy task, but we managed as he got older, and met your mother. I think she helped him understand that it was ok to use his powers, and that saving people was what he was born to do.
"So am I like him?"
"So much that it's ridiculous." Was the doctor's response. I wasn't sure what to make of that, though. "But I also see a lot of your mother in you as well. There's so much kindness, and you're so tender. You want to do what's right, and you succeed every time. You've become a beautiful young woman, Charlotte. You can start using that to your advantage too." He gave me a wink and we went out to meet with my mom. Dr. Smith explained to my mom what was going on, and told her not to worry. It would pass with time. I just had to use my powers, and not suppress them.
"Dr. Smith said your powers are coming along beautifully."
"That's good."
"He said you'd become more powerful than Poseidon ever was." That news shocked me. Dr. Smith hadn't mentioned that to me. "Just don't let it get to your head, Charlie. Don't become too confident, because that's when it backfires on you." I nodded. "Be careful with your powers. Ok?" I nodded, knowing that she didn't want to lose someone else she loved too.
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