Hey, readers! So here I am with a brand new chapter, this one, I admit, is a bit of that teenage angst I was talking about early on. It's not wholly dramatic, but I'd like to think this is the opening act (so to speak) to my personal favorite part of Sky High, the dance.

So without further ado, here is Lash with the disclaimer.

Lash: Nevermore-x, or Camille, does not own me or anything that has to do with Sky High. All she does own, is the lovely Miss Lexi, her family, and laptop to keep her busy.

Camille: you make me sound like a hermit. *Huddles in corner of the room*

Anyways! On with the chapter!

Chapter 14:

So, in light of the fact that my list of reasons for attending the homecoming dance had gained enough grounds to keep me from making excuses to not go, I was immediately subjected to obligatory dress shopping with Layla and Magenta, mostly by Layla's insistence.

It was early Saturday morning, seven in the morning to be exact, when Layla came ringing my doorbell and despite my protests, dragged me out of bed. Don't get me wrong, I didn't mind dress shopping for dances, but I minded when people were waking me up too damn early in the morning to do just that. But no matter, for the love of my best friend and the fact that I did need to find a dress for myself, I got myself out of bed and out the door with Layla. Magenta was easier to pick up, as she was already up by the time we came by her house. And with our female trio being complete, we headed for the outlet mall and spent the next couple of exhausting hours finding the right dresses. Needless to say, we did find the 'perfect' dresses, as any stereotypical girl would say, each of them appropriate for ourselves and decided to grab something to eat at the local café on our way home.

But that's when things started to get weird again.

You can imagine that when I offered to go inside to make our orders at the counter, I didn't expect to see Gwen and her 'homecoming committee', which strangely only consisted of Lash, Speed and Penny (but considering Penny could duplicate herself that counts as whole lot more), sitting at one of the shady tables in the back, looking as if they were in intense conversation. I quickly made our orders, doing my best to act like I didn't know they were there, but that was extremely hard to do when all of them look oddly uncharacteristic at the moment. I mean, Gwen held a dark look in her eyes while the rest of them were looking far more serious than their normal demeanors, uncomfortable at the most. And what else made it hard to not pay them mind, was the fact that in order for me to pick up the food I had to stand at the other side of the bar that was right in the view of their table. So the most I could manage with my efforts was to act nonchalant and keep my eyes on the coffee makers behind the counter, till our food was handed to me in a paper bag.

"Hey, Lexi!" Gwen's cheerful voice suddenly called out to me the minute I grabbed our food.

Damn, there goes my efforts.

I slowly turned around and acted utterly surprised at seeing them, probably looking like a botched acting attempt but it was believable to them. Gwen had lost that dark look and was waving excitedly with a bright smile and it literally seemed like someone changed the lighting and environment near their table.

"Oh, hey, Gwen." I said, politely.

She beckoned me over with the wave of her hand and after much personal deliberation, I complied, slowly making my way over.

"Hi, guys." I said, awkwardly greeting the rest of them. Speed and Penny waved me off uncaringly, but Lash gave me a crooked smile, to which I was glad to return the gesture.

Gwen got a funny look in her eye as she saw this before grabbing my arm in grip that demanded my attention.

"We were just talking about homecoming and I just wanted to confirm that your parents are attending."

I nodded my head at the seemingly casual and less than suspicious question. "Yeah, I believe my parents confirmed their attendance."

"Oh, perfect! The night would have been incomplete without them there." Gwen said, sounding creepily excited, her eyes gaining a mysterious glint in them as she stared out the window.

I gave her an odd look. "It would have?"

Gwen suddenly recalled I was there and her demeanor shifted back to her perky self as she corrected herself. "Yeah, I mean, how can we honor our greatest heroes if only half of them are there?"

"Half?"

"Yes. The Strongholds will be attending as well. I thought Will would have told you that." Gwen said, far too innocently for me to take it honestly.

But I bit my tongue and gave a short shake of my head. "Well, we haven't had much time to talk about much at all, lately." I said, sounding a bit harsher than I intended.

Gwen's cheery expression didn't falter as she shrugged and we fell quiet, giving me the signal that there was nothing left to talk about. So with that, I straightened up, painting a carefree smile on my face and bid them a good day, despite it being forced. Speed and Penny didn't mind me, Gwen merely waved and Lash was the only one to give me a smile.

But his smile didn't reach his eyes.

And the weirdness didn't end there.

In fact, it was just the beginning.

My suspicions started to rise Monday morning of Homecoming week and for some strange reason, my instincts were constantly on edge. But I had a reason to be. Things around Sky High were in full swing for Homecoming, and I tried to be in a good mood about it. But while the decorations went up, I kept seeing multiple Penny's in hushed conversations with Gwen around corners and Speed seemed to be backing off on his daily tormenting, which was completely odd to say the least. And sadly, I'm starting to say the same about Lash's appearances too. It was fine at first, he'd find me at my locker and we'd have a decent conversation, but that's it. Now, I hardly see him, my chances of catching him anywhere around school have become slim to nil. I try not to think too much about, thinking that he's just busy with 'homecoming' stuff…whatever that is…

But you can't blame me for feeling wary about all this.

"Lexi…Lexi?" A hand on my shoulder brings me out of my ruminations and I become aware that I have been pushing around the pasta noodles on my lunch plate for awhile now, not making any effort to actually eat it.

It's Thursday, the day before the dance and my suspicions are really starting to drown me…as you can see.

I look to my right where Layla was looking at me worriedly.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

I nodded my head and gave her a weak smile. "Of course, I am. Why what's up?"

"Well, I was just asking if I can come over after school and hang out, you know have a girls' night before the dance tomorrow. But it looked like you were interested in dissecting your pasta instead." She said, poking my pasta to seem a bit more light hearted and humorous.

"Sorry about that. But of course you can come over, you don't have to ask you know. You're already family around the Storm house." I told her honestly, with a smile.

Layla smiled warmly. "Alright, then cool. It'd be nice to see your parents again." She said, but I was off poking at my lunch absent mindedly that all I really heard was 'nice' and 'parents'.

"Lexi." Her tone was serious now as she took my fork from me and made me look at her.

I sighed and stood up, feeling a sudden chill run down my back. "Sorry."

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"Dandy." I said, putting on another smile. "Look, I'll be right back, I want to get my sweater from my locker."

I left the cafeteria and walked the empty hallways to my locker. But as I passed the nearest classroom door to my locker, I heard a faint scuffle. I paused for a moment and realized that the shade had been pulled down over the glass window and there were no noises coming from the room, convincing me that I may have just been hearing things. I brushed it off and continued onto my locker, spinning the combination and opening the door smoothly when I got there. I fiddled around in my locker for a few minutes, making a grab at my sweater. But I paused again, when I heard voice coming from the classroom and another couple of scuffling steps. The voices were hushed but sounded urgent and I peered curiously from around my locker door while my hand blindly groped for my sweater and gave a tug when I found it. Unfortunately, it knocked over a book on its way out and it hit the floor with a dull the thud. I cursed under my breath and bent over to pick it up, just as the classroom door swung open.

"….you're getting too attached." Someone said sternly.

I looked up and saw Lash being backed out of the room by Gwen. Lash, for once, looked nervous and his eyes were flickering around the hallway, suddenly landing on me.

All of a sudden, I felt like a deer in headlights.

"Lexi!" Lash exclaimed.

Gwen's head whipped in my direction and her demeanor took an interesting turn as she took a deep breath and fiddled with her hair, settling back in its perfect little position.

"Hi, Lexi!" She greeted, her smile doing nothing but giving me funny feelings…not the good kind.

"Ummm…hey."

"What are you doing here?" she asked, simply.

"Just….getting my sweater." I said innocently, showing her my cardigan in my hand.

"Oh, I see."

She nods her head once before saying nothing else and walking out of the room, Penny and Speed following on her heels. Lash was left alone and I saw him deeply sigh at the retreating figures of his friends. He glanced at me for a moment, with a half-hearted smile before it slowly fell away and he turned on his heel, following the same track his friends were on.

I frowned, shutting my locker door slowly and pulling on my sweater.

Either I am being pushed away silently, or I may have just heard something I shouldn't have heard.

I am willing to bet I am just being paranoid.

But then again, this whole damn week I've been paranoid.

Later on that day, Layla and I were walking back to my house after riding the bus home. She was talking on and on about her plans for dressing up for the dance tomorrow, to which I paid more than half of a mind. We got to my house and after a nice greeting with my parents, headed up stairs. Being the good students, we are, Layla and I completed what little homework the teachers assigned, in light of homecoming week. But after that, Layla again voiced her knowledge of my lack of attention, which even I was unaware of.

"Lexi, you're doing it again." She said, slamming her text book shut.

I turned my gaze away from my window and directed it at Layla, questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"Lexi, you've been spacing out all week, I just haven't said anything. What's going on? Is it Lash?" She asked, with her face full of concern.

I shook my head instantly. "No, it's not Lash…at least I don't think it is."

"What are you talking about, Lexi?"

I took in a deep breath, as I realized this was the appropriate time I was waiting for to share what 'puzzle pieces' my mind has conjured up in its high school, paranoia-induced state.

" Layla, I need to tell you something."

It was easier than I expected to explain things to Layla. One, because Layla is an amazing listener, despite looking slightly skeptical of my suspicions, and two, because apparently I know a whole lot more than I thought I did, making my explanation easy to follow from Point A, the yearbook discovery, to Point B, this afternoon's little fiasco.

"Wait, wait…so you think this Sue Tenney is like Gwen's mom?" Layla asked.

"Or a ridiculously close relative of some sort or a past doppelganger." I said, getting off my bed and retrieving my yearbook. "Either way…Here, look for yourself." I push the yearbook towards her with the page opened to the senior portraits.

"Woah. That's creepy." Layla said, after looking at the picture.

"My thoughts exactly."

"But when you come down to it, it's just a picture. I mean, what does that tell us?"

"Not much, I realize that. But, like I said, these past few weeks I've been getting really strange vibes off of Gwen, and I don't like them…at all." I concluded, sounding very sure of myself, which is ironic because I haven't been sure about myself lately.

Layla sighed and she looked at the photo again, her eyebrows knitting together in thought.

She finally looked up at me and suggested, "We should go talk to Will about this."

"You sure you just don't want to make amends with him?" I asked, suspicious of her somewhat innocent ulterior motive.

"Well, you should know it's about time we do that." Layla said quietly.

"Says the girl who has been fake dating Warren Peace for the past few weeks to make Will jealous." I quipped.

"Hey! I get it, it was sort of a bad idea." She confessed.

"Sort of?" I quirked an eyebrow at her.

Layla groaned. "Ok, fine. It wasn't my brightest idea. But right now, we have to go talk to Will." She said, grabbing my wrist and tugging me out of my seated position on my bed.

"Oh, alright. I have to agree. We need our trio back." I admitted before leading the way out of my room. What I didn't tell Layla, though, was that I had already attempted my own personal warning to Will. But, you know what they say, third times the charm, right? We might as well give it another shot.

We ran downstairs where my parents were resting in the living room. They looked up at us from whatever was keeping them busy, giving us questioning looks as we paused in the middle of the staircase.

"And where are you girls off too?" My dad asked, closing up the lab report he was reading and adjusting his glasses.

"We were going to Will's house…" I explained.

"Oh." My dad sat back in his seat, no longer suspicious. "Alright, well, have fun, say hello to the Strongholds for me!"

Unfortunately, my parents have been oblivious to the tension that's been going around our friend circle. But then again, I can't blame them. Between distress calls and lab works, my parents hardly have time to pay much attention to my friendship squabbles.

So with my parents' approval underneath my belt, Layla and I left and walked down the street with deliberate steps as we now had good reasons to go see Will. Not that we didn't have any reasons before, it's just now we actually aren't blinded by our stubbornness to do so.

But as we took a step onto the pavement near Will's house, our purpose of heading there in the first place started to diminish. As we came to stand in front of the house, we found that a low musical bass was riveting through the ground and lights were pulsating through the windows.

Layla and I looked at each other, equally confused at the sight.

"What in the…" I trailed off.

"Party?" Layla asked.

I shrugged. "Guess we're about to find out. Come on."

We slowly ambled up the walkway and let ourselves into the front door, considering it was a party and usually one just let's themselves in at these shindigs. We took one step into the house and I found it to be nearly filled to its maximum capacity with the Hero Class of Sky High. Music was spilling from the speakers and someone created a disco ball with one of Mrs. Stronghold's crystal vases.

"Incoming!" Someone shouted.

My eyes widened as I saw a football coming our way.

"Duck!" I shouted, yanking Layla down by the arm, the football barely brushing my head as it flew outside. I jumped up and pulled Layla up with me and out of the way just as a group of rowdy teenage boys piled out the door, chasing the ball.

"Um, why don't we split up?" Layla suggested over the loud music, as we tried, and failed, to locate Will amongst the crowds.

I nodded and we split off in opposite directions. I took to the route heading for the kitchen, while Layla weaved through the living room. It was slightly harder than I thought, considering there was a grind line going on right in the middle of the hallway and I had to literally karate chop my way through. With much difficulty, they let me squeeze through (without being touched thank God) but my foot got caught on someone's leg on the way there. I jolted and teetered forward, till a pair of hand held me steady by my forearms.

"Oh, goodness. Thanks…sorry about that—Lash?" I stopped myself as I straightened up and did in fact find Lash in front of me, despite the dim lighting that created a funny haze over anyone's features.

"Hey, Lexi!" He greeted loudly over the music, with a grin that was definitely a turn from what I had been seeing all week. It made me relax to think he was back to his normal self and it was also comforting to think that there was the slightest chance that things weren't as bad as I thought.

"Wow, no stripes this time!" I noted his black jumper clad body, with minor appreciation at the different look.

"Always the tone of surprise." Lash retorted.

"How can you tell over this music?" I said loudly, as someone had increased the volume of the speakers a significant amount that it would require yelling for communication with anyone within conversing distance.

Lash laughed, seeming to have heard me anyway, and looked around before leaning over to speak in my ear. "You're right! Come on, let's find somewhere quiet! I want to talk to you about something!"

I nodded in agreement and felt him take my hand. He led us down the hallway, thankfully no grind line in the middle this time as someone disbanded it, and straight upstairs. Lash led us down the hall and opened the first door to his left, which I should have told him was the bathroom. Unfortunately, it was already occupied by a rather familiar pair…making out. However, the minute Lash threw the door open the pair jumped apart, revealing to us a very embarrassed looking Speed and Penny.

"Egh…" Lash made a funny sound in the back of his throat.

"Get out!" Speed shouted at us, grabbing the door.

"And I swear if you tell anyone about this I'll—" Penny's threat was cut short as the door slammed shut.

I don't want even want to know the end of that statement.

"I am going to act like I didn't see that." I declared, getting over my momentary shock.

Lash nodded his head. "Yeah, I think I'm going to do that too. Come on."

He tugged on my hand and walked us further down the hall, till we came to Will's bedroom. This time, Lash was cautious in opening the door, to ensure for little chance of catching anyone else in an 'intimate embrace' (Pfft, right). When he was sure it was void of anyone else, Lash pulled us into the room and shut the door behind us, closing us off from the party downstairs.

Lash let go of my hand and started to pace around the room, looking around.

"Is this you guys?" Lash suddenly asked from across the room.

I turned around and walked over to his side, almost tripping on one of Will's strategically placed piles of clothes, where he was currently looking at a photo sitting on Will's dresser. The photo was a memory caught in time, showing myself, Will, and Layla sprawled out on Will's roof when we were twelve.

I nodded my head as I looked at the picture, remembering the happy feelings associated with it. I've said it before that our childhood years were so much easier.

"So, uh…what was it you wanted to talk about?" I asked, walking to the other side of the room.

"About earlier, in the hallway during lunch…" Lash started.

"Homecoming stuff, I assume?" I quickly interrupted, before I could stop myself. "Gwen looked very irritated. What did you do? Forget to put chips and dip on the snacks list for the dance?"

Lash let out a short chuckle, before he sighed. "Something like that. Look, about the dance tomorrow…"

"What about it?" I asked, not being able to mask my small amount of nerves.

Lash turned around and crossed the room over to me. He stood in front of me, scratching the back of his neck, as he started to uncharacteristically stumble over his words.

"I..er..um...are you…excited?" He asked dumbly, his face giving off the fact that was far beyond what he was going to say.

I looked at him weirdly but answered him anyways, deciding not to force him into a logical explanation for his behavior change. "Um…yeah, very much so…should I not be?"

"Oh no! Yeah, it's good you're excited! I-it's going to be great!" Lash said, trying to sound happy but it was a half-hearted attempt. But no sooner did he lower his head and take in a breath.

"But..damn…ok…I have to do this." He hissed to himself, before looking me square in the face and starting with determination. "Lexi, about Homecoming tomorrow, something…something is going to—"

"Unbelievable! When I get to the count of three, I want everyone OUT OF THIS HOUSE!"

Both Lash's and my own eyes widened in fear and shock as the booming and dangerously angry voice of the Commander emanating and rumbling through the whole house.

"Crap." Both of us said in unison, as the house started to shake with everyone making their escape, much like a herd of elephants if you ask me.

Lash grabbed onto my hand and bolted for the bedroom door, but I stood my ground and yanked him back.

"Don't go back out there, you genius! Do you want to have your head knocked off by the Commander? Come on, I've got an idea!" I whispered to him urgently.

I pulled him towards the window and singlehandedly shoved it open. I climbed out, waving my hand behind me to tell Lash to follow me. When he was out behind me, I grabbed his hand again and quickly led us across the small expanse of the roof and down the tree. Once we were safely on the ground, Lash's hand tightened around mine and we took off down the street in a general direction that neither one of us were really thinking about. Soon we arrived in different part of the neighborhood that was significantly quieter than where we were before, coming to a stop right outside my house. The lights were still on in the front rooms, so I placed my forefinger in front of my lips to signal for quietness. He quickly complied and followed me quietly as I carefully maneuvered myself to the side of my house, where my mom's lattice was positioned underneath my bedroom window. Together, we quietly and swiftly climbed up the lattice and hoisted ourselves into my bedroom, without so much a thump from when our feet hit the carpet of my bedroom.

We both straightened up after climbing in, our breaths sounding slightly labored from the running and climbing. We looked at each other, taking in each other's disheveled appearances and burst out in low, triumphant chuckles.

"God, I can't believe we just did that." I said quietly, straightening out Lash's hair and his crooked collar.

"Yeah, it was like the 'Great Escape'!" Lash said, mimicking my gestures as he flattened my windblown hair behind my ears, discreetly caressing my jaw with his thumb before pulling away.

"Yeah, it was…minus the gigantic prison, and possible sentencing to death if we were caught." I quip.

"Your sarcasm astounds me." He deadpanned.

"As it should." I say proudly, brushing his sleeve off one last time. "Now, what were you saying before we had to make said 'Great Escape'?"

Lash's right smile faltered and he diverted his eyes to look around my room. "You've got a nice room." He commented.

I quirked an eyebrow. "Ok, thanks. But…stop jumping subjects. What did you want to tell me?" I urged him again, turning his face towards me with the tips of my fingers.

He took my hand from his face and held it tightly in between us. "What I was trying to say about homecoming is that something very danger—"

His sentence was so rudely cut off once more by the sound of my bedroom door slamming open, revealing the none-too-pleased figure of my dad standing at the doorway. His jaw was tensed, eyes narrowed, and arms folded across his chest. Behind him, my mom stood, peering in like an innocent bystander.

I quickly dropped Lash's hand and shoved him a few inches further away from me.

"Dad…" I squeaked.

My dad lifted a hand to keep me from speaking and spoke in a very stern fashion, looking right at Lash, who was shifting uncomfortably under my dad's gaze.

"There is an appropriate time and place to speak with my daughter, and it is not at ten o'clock at night in her bedroom. Do you understand, son?"

Lash, still frozen by my dad's glare, numbly nodded and managed to mumble a respectable response. "Yes, sir. I-I'll just be going."

We all watched as Lash turned to my window and started to climb back out. I gave him a look, while my dad simply closed his eyes for a moment and sighed.

"Son." My dad said, stopping Lash before he stuck his Converse clad foot out the window.

Lash turned around. "Yes?"

"Use the front door."

"Oh, right." Lash laughed awkwardly before climbing back inside and scurried past me and out the door.

My dad turned to me. "Is he your date for the dance?"

I sheepishly nodded my head.

"Ah, I see." My dad said, coming into my room and taking a seat on my bed. He patted the spot beside him and I complied. "Lexi, I may trust you, but I do not trust boys at this day and age. And you have to understand that sometimes boys get…" I looked at my dad, mortified at the subject matter but he looked even more uncomfortable trying to explain it to me.

"Ok! Dad, I get it…I swear, I get it." I interrupted him, not wanting to hear the rest.

My dad looked thankful that he didn't need to continue. "Just…just no boys in your room unless they have our full approval. Agreed?"

I nod my head once and with conviction. "Agreed."

"Good. Now, get on to bed now, we have a long day for us tomorrow." My dad stood up, kissed my forehead, and left the room.

My mom was still in the hallway, a funny, little girly grin on her face as she pointed down the hall, to where the stairs were.

"That boy was very cute, Lexi. Good choice!" She whispered to me, making me gape incredulously at her.

"MOM!"

So, I can only hope and pray that you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! I especially liked the last sequence with Lexi's dad LOL, but to each his own! Also, I am a little down just because I have a three hour assessment test I have to take tomorrow in order for me to prepare for my SATs this year…Yay! For Juniors! Whoop.

Anyways…this note is too long…you all know what to do Much love!