A/N: Thanks for all your reviews people! I always look forward to reading them, so I know what you guys like/don't like about the story, it's always a wonderful feeling knowing that someone enjoys my work!

Chapter 12: Party Time?

...Serena's PoV...

Later that day during lunch, we all sat inside the cafeteria, talking about anything but the dance tomorrow night. It seemed everyone was on some sort of edge. Warren was ignoring everyone by hiding behind his book, while the rest of us chatted and ate. I glanced up because I thought I heard something, and looked up to make eye contact with Will Stronghold. Immediately my face froze, and I glared at him. He looked scared for a second, then went on to his table with Gwen and her friends. Calming the snarl off my face, I went back to my friends' conversation, only to be interrupted by a note landing in my lap.

I looked down at the folded piece of paper in confusion, then looked around the cafeteria to see who could have sent it. It was Will. He made a motion for me to open the note, so I did.

Serena, I know we don't know each other at all, but could you maybe hint to Layla that I miss her and the gang?- Will

I smiled to myself and pulled a pen out of my bag to write back

Sure thing Will, and while I'm at it I'll drive a bus into the school. Why don't you tell her/them yourself?

Telling everyone that I was throwing trash away as an excuse to get up from the table, I walked by Will, who had sat on the edge on purpose, and dropped the note in front of him. Going back to my own group, I saw the same folded bit of paper next to my bag, but Warren had gotten to it before me. My eyes widened and I lunged for it, but he held it out of my reach. With a teasing voice he asked, "Passing love notes, Serena? Who's the lucky guy?" He saw that it had Will's name on it and his face turned harsh. Warren said, "We're gonna go have a little chat, ok." It wasn't a question, it was a command.

I followed Warren outside with half my face in one hand, using the visible side to glare at Will as I walked past him. In the hallways, Warren turned around so fast that I had to take a step back, which was unfortunately, into the row of lockers behind me. I watched as he loomed over me, looking like he was ready to light something on fire. "Well, what do you have to "chat" with me about?"

"What the hell are you doing talking to Stronghold?"

"He asked me for a favor."

Warren's face turned suspicious. "What kind of favor?"

I sighed in annoyance, "Did you even read the note, Warren?"

His face went blank, and I knew the answer to that question.

"Warren, read the damn note before jumping to conclusions, will you?"

He unfolded the paper and read it, then looked at me in surprise. I gave him a "well, do you have anything to say for yourself?" look, but Warren glared and turned away. I got up from my leaning position and went to walk into the cafeteria, but Warren grabbed my arm and dragged my further away from the huge room. I sighed in an annoying, over-dramatic fashion, hoping to bug him, but he ignored me and kept walking until we were in an empty hallway.

I looked at Warren in curiosity and asked, "Are you ok, dude?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just ah.. wanted to apologize for being an idiot about the note."

"Then why bring me to a deserted hallway to say that?"

Warren turned towards me, but didn't say anything. He just stared at me, like if he was wondering whether or not to do something. Before I knew it, my back was to the wall and Warren was squeezing the breath out of me. 'What..?' I blinked in surprise, but smiled softly and linked my arms around his neck silently. He mumbled something, but I couldn't understand because his face was buried in between my neck and shoulder.

"What did you say?" I asked softly.

"Something came over me, I don't know what. But if you ever do like a guy, don't forget me?" Warren muttered as he pulled his head back.

I raised my eyebrows, this was certainly unexpected and random. "Of course I won't forget you, Warren. You're the closest friend I have at this school." He smiled at that, and pulled his big body off mine, but kept his arms around my waist. "Good, because I sure as hell wouldn't forget about you."

I laughed and nodded my head while he pulled me along back to the cafeteria, one of his arms still around my waist for a while, before he let it fall away. 'Something about us has changed, I know it. But does he know?' I considered this as we went back to the table to get our things and go outside as the lower-class-men left. We were sitting outside, and I was looking at the moving clouds, when a thought hit me like a freight train. 'Holy shit. Does Warren like me?' My eyes widened at the thought of him having feelings for me, and I glanced at him, quickly taking him in. Warren was a nice tan color, he had dark hair with dark brown, intense eyes. His facial features- suddenly very nice looking lips to be specific, along with a nicely toned body easily made him eye candy for girls. I frowned when I felt something in my gut at the thought of other girls looking at him and fawning over him.

If it hadn't been for the loss of my shape-shifting powers, I wouldn't have realized that I was jealous of the mere thought of girls staring at Warren. I quickly looked around, trying to think of what I could make of this realization. 'Well, first thing's first, I'm telling Magenta and Layla. But then what? Should I wait to see if he says anything? Whoa, hold up. Do I even have feelings..fuck. I do have feelings for Warren.' I groaned aloud and fell onto my back with my hands over my face. I peeked at Warren through my fingers, but he was absorbed by his book, and probably didn't even notice. This was not what I wanted to happen. How did this even happen? One day everything's fine and dandy, then BOOM. I like Warren. How does that work? Why didn't I realize this sooner? I slowly started yanking out blades of grass in frustration and piled them on my stomach, making a nice rhythym. Yank, drop, yank, drop yank, drop, repeat the process.

When the bell rang I grabbed my bag, dusted the grass off of me, then practically ran into the school, not even bothering to wait for Warren. I walked to the girls' locker room as quickly as possible, and changed as fast as I could. Before putting my phone away, I sent a text to Magenta and Layla. "I have to tell you something.. I like Warren. Meet me at the top of the bleachers and we'll talk."

Up on the bleachers, Warren must've noticed me sitting at the top by myself because he started coming towards me. I was freaking out on the inside, suddenly getting butterflies in my stomach. Luckily, Magenta pushed him back down the steps while her and Layla came towards me, practically running. Nearly falling all over themselves to get to me, when they finally sat down both girls were breathless and had huge smiles on their faces. I sighed and Layla was the first to speak, "How long have you liked him?" she said the last part in a hushed tone, just in case anyone heard us. Even though we were at the very top and closest person was about 3 rows below us, you couldn't be too careful.

"I have no idea. It kind of just hit me today, I never thought about it. All of a sudden, things seemed different between us though. It's been like this all week, but today I actually did some thinking about it, and yeah." I finished rather lamely.

Magenta piped up with, "Well it kind of fits with what Layla told you yesterday right, about Warren looking at you a lot? Staring at you?"

Layla nodded her head excitedly in agreement and I mumbled an agreement before adding, "What do I do?"

The girls looked at each other and smirked before Layla answered with, "Easy. Win him over at the dance!"

I shook my head, "No, I'm only going to have fun with you and the others. Besides, what if he doesn't even like me?"

Mag rolled her eyes and said, "Of course he does, haven't you ever noticed? He scares off guys that look at you. I mean, I'm sure you've seen some cute guys around school right?" I nodded my head and she continued, "Well, haven't you ever wondered why they don't come up to you or anything? It's because one look from Warren and they know they won't stand a chance."

"Won't stand a chance of what though?"

"They won't stand a chance of getting around him, to you."

Layla put in, "She's right you know, Serena. A lot of guys look at you, but that's all they can do."

I was pissed, knowing that guys didn't try talking to me just because they were afraid of Warren. If a guy really wanted to get to know me, he'd try no matter what. I voiced this thought aloud, and both girls nodded in agreement. Magenta added, "But they also know they don't have a chance." I glared playfully at her and went on to watching the match below. But soon I was bored and found myself gazing at the back of Warren's head. I looked at his arms, which were clearly showing out of a loose orange muscle shirt. I tried not to smile as I remembered those arms wrapped around my waist, with his big hands curling around my sides, gripping me gently.

After school I lounged around, and made sure I had everything for the dance ready to go. I called Layla and asked if it was alright if I could go over later on and drop off my dress and things to get ready, since we going to be doing that at her house. She said it was fine, and that if I wanted I could just spend the night, because Magenta was going to be staying the night. I talked to my parents about it and they agreed, so I decided to wait a few hours before going over, it was still early in the afternoon.

Later on in the evening when I was getting my overnight bag ready, my phone started going off. I picked it up and saw that Magenta was calling me. "Hello?" I asked into the phone.

Mag's voice sounded urgent as she said, "Serena, you should get over here now. Layla's having some..trouble." she finished uncertainly.

"I'm on my way, hang tight." I hung up and finished getting everything I needed. I really wanted to fly to Layla's, but I had too much stuff to carry so I had to wait for my parents to drive. I'd never want a car when I could fly, it just seems like too much of a hassle. I finally got to Layla's house, and I knocked on the door almost frantically.

Mrs. Williams opened the door with a worried look on her face and told me the girls were in Layla's room. I smiled and thanked her before going up the stairs and going into Layla's room, which had the door wide open. I stopped short at the sight of Layla crying with a worried Magenta trying to console her. Going up closer I asked, "What happened?"

"Layla found out that Will doesn't like her, he just felt sorry for her." Magenta quietly answered.

"Who told you that?"

Layla spoke quietly, "Gwen told me. I went to talk to Will, or at least try to, but he was throwing a huge party. Only people from the Hero class were there, he didn't want to invite me because I'd just embarrass myself, because everyone knows that I like him. But now I can take the hint, I never want to see either of them." She broke down and started crying after that.

I frowned, 'I don't know Will, but I'm guessing that him and Layla have been good friends, what if Gwen was just saying all of this?' I told the girls about what I had just thought of and Layla said, "Either way, it worked. Because I'm not going to the dance anymore."

Magenta hurriedly said, "You have to go, to show him up. Prove that you don't need him and that you're strong and independent."

I smiled a bit and agreed, adding, "Besides, you've already got everything for the dance, and we're here to help you."

Layla smiled and wiped her face with a tissue, then said, "Yeah, you guys are right. Thank you so much."

I mock-groaned when they pulled me into a group hug, but we all laughed it off. Soon we made Layla forget all about what had happened earlier, and everything was going fine. Until her phone started going off every 5 minutes. She got up to check it, but blanched when she saw who was calling. We knew it was Will, and we told her not to pick up, to just leave the phone alone and as far away as possible. Magenta took the phone from Layla and put it in her overnight bag so Layla wouldn't be tempted to answer.

We were having a great time, watching movies, pigging out, and I listened as Layla and Magenta talked about things going on in the under class-men group. Then both girls turned to me with wicked smirks on their faces. I gave them a confused look, and they told me, "You're going to look so good tomorrow night that Warren will have to set the boys on fire just to keep them off."

"Uhh, how? You guys have seen my dress and shoes, they're nothing fancy."

Layla said, "We'll make it fancy! We can style your hair and do your nails, and use some make up!"

"My hair..?" I trailed off, reaching up to touch my long waves. "I didn't even think about what I was going to do with my hair!"

Magenta howled with laughter at my outburst before asking in between fits, "I thought you've been to school dances before?"

I said in an exasperated tone, "I have! But I'd go to the casual ones with my friends! Not the dances where you had to get all dressed up.."

Now it was Layla's turn to howl with laughter while Magenta smacked her forehead and mumbled something like, "You could've mentioned that sooner."

I shrugged and gave her a cheeky grin before turning to my bag so I could get changed into pajamas. My phone was going off in the midst of pulling clothes out and saw I got a text from Warren. Soon as I saw his name, my heart skipped a beat and my breathing got heavy. 'Why am I so nervous about a text?' I opened the phone and read it. 'Do you know if something's up with Hippie and Stronghold?'

'Why?'

'Just answer the question..'

I raised an eyebrow and called the girls over, and asked Layla if it was alright to tell Warren. She nodded her head so I sent him a reply. 'Too long to text, call me?'

About 10 minutes later, my phone started going off. It pretty much scared the crap out of me and I jumped because I hadn't been expecting it so suddenly. I hushed Layla and Magenta-who were laughing openly and loudly at me, then answered the phone. "Hello?" Warren asked. My breath was short at the sound of his voice, I blinked a few times before answering back, "Yeah, hey Warren. What's up?"

"Finished my shift at work a while ago. So tell me, what happened with Hippie and Stronghold?"

With a roll of my eyes I remarked, "Wow, you really cut to the chase, don't you?"

Layla and Magenta were laughing so much I had to tell them several times to keep it down so I could hear. Of course they didn't, and went to teasing me, I just hoped it wasn't loud enough that Warren could hear. "Well, long story short, Will knew about Layla's crush on him and doesn't want to talk to her or the other sidekicks because it's apparently embarrassing to him now. Oh, and he was only being nice to Layla because he knew she liked him..yeah."

"Huh, that's weird, he came by the Paper Lantern looking for her."

"He did?" I was really confused, why would Will go looking for Layla when he didn't want to talk to her?

Warren replied, "Yeah, he was going on about no going to the dance tomorrow and that he misses the kids."

'Ok, now I really am confused..' I quickly looked at the girls, who had turned back to Layla's tv and were watching another movie. I made a motion to Magenta, and silently let her know I was going out of the room. I grabbed my clothes and went into the bathroom, then shut the door and asked "But.. Layla told us that Will had said he didn't invite Layla to his party because he didn't want to embarrass himself, or something like that."

I could hear Warren sigh, then he said, "Well, whatever. It's not my problem."

"Wait, but you're going to the dance with Layla aren't you?"

"I am, but it was only to make Stronghold jealous, and he told me he isn't gonna go anymore."

"Magenta and I talked to Layla though, and she's still gonna go. So you still have to go." I finished with a laugh.

Warren grunted before saying, "Fine. Are you going?"

I raised an eyebrow and slowly said, "No, I'm not."

He didn't say anything for a while, so I jumped slightly when I heard his voice say, "Why not?"

"Because I don't want to. I don't like dances, didn't even go to them at my old high school." Of course this was a lie, I was going to Homecoming, but I wanted it to be a surprise.

Warren quietly said,"Well, alright then. Umm.. Is it ok if I text you?"

I smiled and asked, "Why would you even think of asking that?"

"I dunno..But yeah, ok thanks."

"You're welcome hothead." and I hung up the phone. After I got changed I went back into Layla's room and sat down, idly playing with my phone. A small smile fought it's way onto my face as I saw the screen light up, telling me I had a new message. I slid my phone so the keypad showed and started typing a reply.

...Warren's PoV...

After hanging up the phone with Serena, I mentally berated myself. 'What the hell would make you ask permission to text her? My God!' I pulled my hands over my face and laid down on my bed. She wasn't going to Homecoming, which really sucked. I had been planning on asking her to dance with me, at least once. I thought back to when we were at school, and I saw the note with Will's name on it. All common sense had left me, and I nearly went into a rage, because the thought of Serena talking to other guys was not something I liked. But instead I pulled her outside and made a fool of myself by over reacting. And it was all worth it. I still don't know what came over me, but when we were alone in that hallway, I saw her in a different light. I'd always known she was pretty, but today I realized how beautiful she really was, inside and out. I had the sudden urge to kiss her, and instead I gave her a long hug. Feeling Serena wrap her arms around my neck and pull me tighter to her was the best I've felt in a long time.

Coming back to the present, I thought about our conversation on the phone. It was weird, how what she said happened to Layla sounded completely different from what Will had told me. Being too tired to attempt figuring it out, I went downstairs and got something to eat before climbing back up the stairs. When I walked back in, I saw that my phone was going off on my bed. Picking it up, I saw I had a text from Serena. I smiled and felt nervous, there were butterflies in my stomach, and they made me sort of jumpy. 'This is so weird..but I also kind of like it.'

We had only texted for about an hour, before Serena said she was going to sleep, so we'd said our good-nights. I let out a puff of air and thought, 'I'm really starting to like her. This is starting to mess with me now, she's all I think about, I get jealous and angry at the fact that she talks to other guys, I get nervous when calling or texting her, I get fucking butterflies around her in person. I can't even think clearly when she's near me. This isn't good.'

My mom knocked on the door softly before opening the door. I lifted my head up to see her and she said, "I brought something for you, honey." She had a garment bag in her arms, the kind you get when you're getting something back from the dry-cleaners. It was my dad's tux. I bit my lip and walked over to my mother, picking th bag up from her arms and unzipping it. "Try it on, see how it looks." my mom urged gently with small tears in her eyes. I undid the zipper and put the white button-up shirt on, then the vest. Both fit fine, and then I put the tie on and tugged it into place. It didn't look too bad, 'Luckily I'm as tall and big as he is.' I thought with a grim smile.

Mom made a choking noise as I was taking the vest and other garments off. I turned around worriedly, and saw that she was crying, her small shoulders shaking uncontrollably. "Oh mom.." I muttered. There was nothing I could say to cheer her up so I merely walked over and held her silently until the tears and shaking stopped. When they did I pulled back and said, "Better?"

My mom nodded while batting at her eyes and said, "Yes, I'm better. You just look so much like him, Warren."

I smiled tightly, "Yeah, I know. And I miss him too, ma."

She smiled softly and nodded again, walking out of the room quietly. I slumped down onto the carpeted floor and raked my fingers through my hair. 'How did my life all of a sudden become so upside-down?' I thought while my mind was going through memories of my father.

..Flashback..

I was 12 years old, and school was out for the summer. It was some day in the middle of June, I'd stopped keeping track of the days a short while ago, since they didn't matter anymore. My father woke me up one hot morning with a shake of my shoulder and, "Warren, wake up. C'mon son, you gotta get up. Time to start the day." I groaned and pushed myself up out of bed. I looked up at my dad through blurry eyes and saw him smiling down at me, his face full of warmth and love.

I followed him downstairs and we ate breakfast, then went outside to start training. We were in the filed, facing each other with about 40 feet of space between us. "Warren, I want you to throw as many fire balls as you can at me. I want you to throw fast as you can, one right after the other, alright son?" Dad called out to me. Nodding my head, I generated a fire ball as fast as I could and hurled it at my father, but he stepped out of the way just in time. I made another one and ran at him before hurling it straight at his chest, but he sidestepped that one also. This went on for a few minutes before I was so drained that I wasn't even able to ignite my hands.

We took a break, making sandwiches and chugging cold water out in the field, since Mom wouldn't let us go in the house all sweaty and dirty. "Hey Dad?" I asked, lookin up at his tall, built frame, which I hope I would be able to inherit someday. "Yeah, son?" he asked, still chewing on the last of his sandwich.

"Am I gonna be as strong as you, and be a hero like you?"

Dad chuckled, "It all depends on what you want to do, Warren. If you want to save peoples' lives and help others, then you can become the greatest hero in the world."

I grinned and said, "I'm gonna be stronger than you one day!"

I made a face of discomfort as my dad ruffled my hair and said, "Sure you are son."

After our break Dad and I ran for a bit, then did a few push-ups and crunches. Going back inside, my dad said, "That was a good work out, Warren. You did better than you usually do, just keep going at it and soon you'll be able to do more with your powers." He patted my head and went into the house.

...End Flashback...

I shook my head and opened my eyes sleepily, then winced when my chest clenched in pain at the memory of that day. There were never enough days like those, of just me and my father. He was rarely lenient on me during training sessions, it seemed like he was trying to push me harder and faster every day we had them, because he knew that his time with me and Mom was running out, and he wanted to make the most of it. I never hated my dad for what he did or for any other reason, I learned to push him out of my mind, so it wouldn't be as bad when I did think about him. We weren't allowed to visit him, but we could write letters, and I wrote him one recently but had yet to receive a response.

I looked at the clock and realized how late it was, and decided to get to bed, since I had to be up early for training, then get ready for Homecoming. It didn't start until 7:00, and though busses were gonna be there to pick kids up at 6:30, my mom was going to drop me off since she had one of those super cars that could fly. I personally didn't like that car, or anything flying when it's made to stay on the ground. I growled in annoyance, thinking of things that flew was making me think about Serena again. I got up and crawled into bed, thanking the stars that after tomorrow all this nonsense was going to be over.

A/N: What'd you guys think? I spent a lot of time on Serena, because I feel like I've been neglecting her and only focusing on Warren (can you blame me though?). So I spent a lot more time on her this chapter. I know Warren's PoV was short, but there was a flashback, so I think that makes up for the shortness. Reviews are always welcome!