Warren was sitting in the back of the Mad Science lab, waiting for class to start when Sadie suddenly sat down beside him.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, raising one eyebrow just a touch.

"Hi Warren," she said sweetly, with a big sparkly grin on her face.

"Sadie, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I was just thinking and it seemed like I hadn't seen you in practically forever, even though that's totally not true. And then I remembered that you have Mad Science next period, so I thought I'd drop by and say hello."

He turned to stare fully at her. What was with the sudden change in attitude? She hadn't been this friendly since before she dumped him. She had to have some ulterior motive.

"What do you want, Sadie?"

She feigned a look of surprise. "Why do you think that I want something?"

"Because you haven't spoken a word to me, since you dumped me a week ago and suddenly you're acting like nothing happened."

"Oh, Warren." Sadie covered one of his hands with her own and smiled sadly. "I was being foolish. I know what I did was wrong and I must have hurt you SO much, but I wanted to apologize for it. Will you forgive me?"

Warren shrugged slightly. "Whatever."

Sadie saw Eris in the doorway to the classroom, before Warren did.

She quickly grabbed him before he could see the other girl and laid a big kiss on him.

As she kissed him, she heard a small gasp and then the sound of footsteps retreating quickly.

That'll show her, she thought with a smug grin.


Eris walked into the Mad Science lab, just in time to see Warren and Sadie sharing a long, deep kiss.

A stabbing pain encircled her heart, as she backed quickly away from the room and hurried down the hall, to the girls' washroom.

Dropping her bag on the floor, she clutched the sides of the sink as she fought to keep herself from bursting into tears.

Why does this matter? She thought. Why does it hurt so much? I don't even like him, so why am I upset that he's kissing another girl. I should be happy that he got back together with Sadie, not crying about it.

Turning the taps on, she splashed cold water on her face to get the redness out of her cheeks.

"Hey, are you all right?"

Eris turned to see the redheaded girl from the day before standing behind her with a concerned look on her face.

Eris nodded slowly. "Yeah. I --" her voice cracked and she took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm okay."

"All right. If you're sure."

She managed a small smile. "Yeah."

The other girl moved to leave, but Eris called after her.

"Hey."

She turned around. "Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about yesterday. I shouldn't have been such a bitch. I was just having a really bad day and I guess all my anger just spilled over onto you guys. So-- I'm sorry."

The redhead smiled. "That's okay. I understand."

Eris smiled back. "Okay. I just wanted to say sorry, because--"

The other girl cut her off with a small wave of her hands. "It's fine. It's behind us now…Oh, I'm Layla, by the way."

"Eris."

"That's a pretty name."

"Yeah, my parents are pretty cool people."

"So what are your powers?"

"Electricity and a little bit of weather control. What about you?"

"I control plants."

"That's pretty awesome. How come I've never seen you in any of the HERO classes?"

Layla shrugged. "I refused to show my powers on placement day, so I got put in Hero Support."

Eris nodded. " I can understand. I wasn't planning on showing my powers either, but when Coach Boomer dropped the car on me, I freaked out and blew it up."

Layla laughed. "I would have loved to see the look on his face."

"Yeah, it was pretty priceless."

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the start of the next class.

Eris picked up her bag and was about to leave the washroom, when Layla stopped her.

"Hey, Eris. Do you want to eat lunch with me and my friends tomorrow?"

"Sure. I guess I better apologize to them too..."

"Don't worry. I'll explain it. They're all pretty forgiving."

"Okay. But I still want to apologize myself."

"All right. So I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely."

"Okay."

Layla smiled again and then left the bathroom.

Eris smiled softly to herself. Having plans felt good. She hadn't felt this way since she left Japan.

Then a black cloud came in and darkened her good mood.

What about Warren?

Suddenly, she didn't feel like going to the next period, because she knew she would have to sit next to him.

Slipping the strap of her bag over her shoulder, she headed the other way down the hall, to the office, to see about getting herself signed out.