Chapter Three: Warning

Disclaimer: I do not own the ideas or characters from Sky High. I own Claire, my OC.

Claire's head rested lazily on one of Maj's black pillows, glancing at the clock every few moments. She could feel herself wanting to fall asleep, but every time her eyes drifted closed, her thoughts drifted to Speed and her family. She let out an exasperated sigh, as she saw the time hadn't changed since she last looked at it: 1:37 a.m.

Maj, of course, had managed to get Claire to tell her what had happened with Lash yesterday. Her friend had sat there with wide-eyes as she told the story, and then at the finish of the story had simply said, "I'm gonna kill him." Claire knew Maj wasn't serious, but she suddenly wished she hadn't said anything to her. A pang of guilt struck her as she realized her mother must be worried about her, but she knew she wouldn't try anything drastic. They both knew that unlike Jimmy, Claire could take care of herself and think for herself.

When her brother and Lash first started hanging out, it had actually started out pretty innocently. The worst they would do was taunt Claire and Maj with words, or make dirty jokes to each other about the girls at school. That lasted about a week. From Claire's point of view, her brother would have probably liked to stay at their innocent stage, because after the beating up the sidekick and tripping Claire incidents, Jimmy came home with a bruise spread across his left cheek.

Claire immediately asked him how it happened, curiosity overwhelming her. Her brother simply gave her the finger and told her to stay the hell away from him. But soon enough, her brother gave in, probably because he needed to get it off his chest and tell someone.

Speed knocked upon Lash's front door, feeling suddenly a bit nervous, as he realized he had never met Lash's family before. The outside of Lash's house looked decent, and also pretty much like every other house on the block. He lived in a nice neighborhood, generally for more "fortunate" families, although Lash's house seemed a bit more unkempt and smaller than the rest. He heard some indistinct yelling and the thumping of feet coming towards him. The door swung open forcefully, and a tall young man, looking to be in his mid-twenties loomed over Speed,

"What is it, what do you want?" He rolled his hand in circles a few times, motioning for Speed to hurry up with his explanation. Speed stuttered, incoherent words falling from his lips. The man raised his eyebrow and smirked, and in that moment, he reminded him of Lash like no other. Jimmy's friend poked his head out from around the corner and hopped down the steps leading to the front door.

Lash glanced at the man with annoyance, "Come on, Speed." He said. Speed gladly followed, but the man stepped in front of him before he could go anywhere. This gave Jimmy a closer look at him, and he noticed his tousled hair, slightly unshaved face, and generally lazy appearance. However, he did notice the striking resemblance to Lash, and the fact that he still seemed healthy and good-looking, despite his carelessness.

"Hey, aren't you gonna introduce me?" He slurred, obviously drunk. Lash let out what sounded like a cross between a sigh and a growl, "This is my brother. Jack." Lash's brother smiled arrogantly at Speed, "Try not to eat everything in the fridge, okay tubby? I've got company." He stumbled away from the two boys, and soon came back with a full bottle of Vodka, which he tossed at Lash.

"That enough to keep you guys busy and out of the livingroom?" It was more of a threat than a question. Speed nodded dumbly and Lash just strode past his brother, dragging Speed along with him, setting the bottle of Vodka back on the kitchen table.

Jack came running up behind them, beating them into the livingroom. He crawled on top of a bleached blonde, punk-looking girl with too much eyeliner who was lying on the couch. Next to them, on the coffee table, were three lines of white powder. Jack and the girl both looked at each other, and then broke out into fits of random laughter and sloppy kissing. Lash let out a disgusted grunt as the blonde began to unbutton his brother's pants.

"Yeah, we're going to my room." Lash stated, and they quickly walked up the stairs.

Lash's room was spacious, but messy. Clothes were scattered all over the floor, his bed was unmade, and the walls were covered with underground band posters. Lash plopped himself upon his bed, putting his hands underneath his head and staring up at the ceiling. It took him a few moments to speak again,

"You do know that he's a villain, right?"

"Who?"

Lash rolled his eyes, "My brother, retard." Speed made a sound of realization, and nodded his head, not really knowing how his friend expected him to react. Lash's eyes hadn't moved from the ceiling,

"My parents are always gone for work, so there's no way they'll ever find out about his new career," Lash spat out. "The lame-ass doesn't even count as a villain, the only time he ever did anything villainous was when he robbed a bank for some cash." Jimmy nodded again. Lash's eyes held his for a moment, and then were cast lazily back to the ceiling.

"It doesn't matter." Lash said, obviously not getting the reaction from Speed that he wanted. A clutter of pans and bottles falling over and clashing sounded from the kitchen, but only Speed took attention to it. It wasn't until they heard the sirens of a cadre of police arriving to the door did Lash's head snap to the side with surprise.

They heard loud yelling and soon after a door being broken in. Lash sprung up and pushed Jimmy aside as he ran towards the hallway and stuck his head out and around his bedroom door so he could see what was happening, but not be seen. A few large policemen charged into the living room, their voices drowned out by Jack's girlfriend screaming. Jack stared at her dangerously and she ceased her yelling. The men forced Lash's brother to his knees,

"What the hell did I do?" Jack yelled in the officer's face, struggling wildly. The man snorted, "Where do I start? You're under arrest for possession of illegal drugs, battery, and the robbery of the City Bank on August 2nd." Jack remained silent. Speed tried to silently approach Lash and sit next to him, but his lumbering form caused the floors to creak. One of the cops looked up in the boys' direction, suspicious, but he soon brushed it off and turned his attention back to the criminals,

"M'am, were gonna have to ask you to come along too. We'll just do a simple drug test to see if you've been using." He gestured to the cocaine spread across the coffee table. The girl gulped noticeably. Jack remained motionless, staring up at one of the police officers. His gaze switched to Lash, glaring at him through the bars of the top floor's stair railing. Lash looked away, his mouth tightening into a thin line.

"Let's go." One of the officers stated, dragging Jack and the girl up to their feet and forcing them to follow him out the door. One of the men trailed behind, still looking warily around the room, mostly towards the stairs. Lash and Speed both crouched closer to the door, gradually slipping silently into the bedroom.

"Are your parents up there, son?" The man's voice was muffled, but still eerily clear. They heard Jack grunt a short "no," and soon after heard them leave, the cars driving away from the house. Speed's breathing was labored and his heart was pounding inside his chest, simply thinking that had been too close. Speed glanced at Lash and noticed the sweat glistening on his brow.

"My parents won't be back for two weeks." Lash said quietly. He paused for a moment, running his hands through his hair easily. He let out a short laugh, "Cool." Speed couldn't help but notice the apprehension in his friend's voice. Lash got up off the floor smoothly and strode over to his bed. He lifted up his pillow and revealed a large amount of crumbled bills. He grabbed a twenty,

"So, want to go somewhere? That stupid sidekick Jerry kid is having a party at his house. I wonder how many people are going to show up for that." He finished sarcastically. Speed stared at him, confused,

"Dude…..your brother….."

"Yeah?" Lash snapped, daring him to say something.

Speed gulped, but was determined to find out, "You never told me he was so….messed up."

"Yeah, well he is." Lash stated sharply, grabbing a small bean bag off the floor and throwing it violently against the wall, causing a loud thud. "Could you not bring him up? He's a loser. A junkie. That's about it." Lash jogged down the stairs into the kitchen, "So, do you want anything to eat?" He asked calmly.

"I know but..."

"Dude, just stop talking about him."

"You never told me he was..."

Speed felt four bony knuckles collide with his face, pain exploding in his cheek. It wasn't enough to send him to the ground, but it was enough to make an impact. "Could we not fucking talk about him!" Lash yelled in Speed's face. Jimmy immediately went quiet. It wasn't as hard of a punch as what Lash normally dealt, just sort of a warning, but it still hurt like hell. He knew it was just a hit to knock some sense into him, but it scared him enough to keep him quiet.

"I…." Lash stopped. "You just…" He stopped again. His tongue flicked out to lick and wet his lips, "He's just a dumbass. Don't even bother with talking about him." He laughed afterwards, trying to make the whole thing seem like a joke, "He should have been a sidekick, like that stupid Aaron kid. Do you remember him?" It was obvious to both boys that Lash was rambling, and an awkward silence fell upon them.

Speed began to laugh loudly, but falsely, trying to break the quiet "Oh yeah! The kid that pissed his fucking pants in sixth grade! What a freak."

Jimmy laughed loudly, but even he could hear the awkward nervousness in his voice, still shaken up about what happened. Lash's laughter was either, one, genuine, or, two, he was just better at lying than Speed was.

Jimmy was sure it was the second one.

Claire bit her lip hard and looked up at the ceiling, gradually drifting out of her little flashback. She could never be sure if Jimmy was lying about any part of it, seeing as, well, it was Jimmy. But by the way he looked about ready to burst before he told it to her, and the animated, but still nervous way he told the story, she was convinced that at least a good portion of it was true. Claire hoped she had fallen asleep, but to her dismay, the clock read:

1:45 a.m.

Claire slowly got out of bed, not wanting to wake Maj. She ruffled her hair a bit with her hands as she tip-toed down the stairs to Maj's kitchen. Claire looked around in wonder; the lights were still on and Maj's mother was in the kitchen eating eggs.

"Hello dear! Would you like something to eat?" Maj's mother's voice chimed sweetly. Claire shook her head, still in question of Maj's mother's unusual taste for eating at 1 in the morning. Claire began to feel nervous as Maj's mother looked her up and down, either studying or judging her.

"You know," Maj's mother put on a warm smile, "I have the perfect eyeshadow color for you. I really think it would bring out your eyes."

Claire half-smiled, "Well I already have makeup to wear."

"You can never have too much, you know. I mean don't even get me started on Maj, she just…."

She paused as she heard someone thumping down the stairs. Maj emerged and began to pour herself some cereal. Her mother glanced at Claire and gave her wink, as if to say I'll tell you later. She rose gracefully from her seat at the table and spread open the dark curtains, causing warm sunlight to pour into the large room.

Claire flinched visibly, her eyes squinted, "Maj, your clock just said that it was 1:45 in the morning!"

Maj shrugged, "The power went out last week. I guess I never reset it." She used her hand to pat the seat next to her, gesturing for Claire to sit next to her. Claire nodded her head in realization, extremely thankful that she didn't have some kind of sleep paranoia. The rest of the morning was filled with scarfing down breakfast, rushing to get dressed and ready, and still making the bus on time. Apparently, the true time on Maj's clock had been around five to seven, and the bus arrived at 7:15. Soon enough, the girls heard the honking of the bus arriving to pick them up. A wave of relief passed through Claire as she realized she wouldn't have to see her brother's most likely angry face until they arrived at school, and if she was sly enough, maybe not even then.

The girls boarded the bus slowly, still partially asleep. Even though she hadn't been up at one in the morning like she had thought, she and Maj did go to bed at around eleven, and it seemed it was just kicking in now. Of course, Will and Zach were fully energized and ready to wake up Maj and Claire. It was a gloomy morning, clouds hung in the air that threatened to bring a storm, and it was dark and silent outside. This of course just caused Zach to glow brighter, and he laughed loudly as Maj drew back immediately, the light stinging her eyes. Will was in a one-sided conversation about Gwen Grayson with Layla. She sat twirling her golden red hair with her finger, rolling her eyes as Will continued his worship of Gwen. Ethan struck up a conversation with Claire about gym class, telling her that it was simple for him to avoid being selected to go in front of the class and getting humiliated; melt into a puddle whenever players are being chosen. Claire let out a laugh, which soon turned into silence as she realized that the bus had arrived at the school.

She gingerly stepped off the bus, inhaling the summer air and rubbing her arms uncomfortably as if it were the middle of winter. Her eyes darted around the schoolyard nervously, stepping quickly towards the school entrance. She felt a strong hand on her shoulder, and turned around to face Layla.

"They're not out here." She stated softly. Claire smiled half-heartedly, and went to join her friends in the little circle they had formed on the grass. The three girls giggled loudly as they watched Ethan melt into a puddle as Warren Peace walked past, causing Zach to slide on the puddle and fall with a thud into the grass. Warren stared at two, obviously amused, and simply walked over the puddle that was Ethan and into the school. Gwen Grayson strode past looking elegant, and not the least bit modest. Will's eyes widened as they followed her slim form as she joined her perky friend Penny by the benches. Claire saw a hint of jealousy in Layla's eyes, and obviously Maj had too, as they both exchanged glances.

The bell sounded throughout the courtyard, and the students began to trudge towards the school. Claire smiled and waved goodbye to her friends as they left for their lockers, which were unfortunately, far away from hers. She leaned her head against the cool locker and moaned, her eyes heavy with weariness from last night. Her fingers slowly turned the wheel to match her combination……

A heavy hand came down on her shoulder.

"Hey little sis. Mom was pissed when you didn't come home last night." Claire instantly knew who the voice belonged to. But did he honestly just call her little sis? She turned, surprised evident in her expression, to face Speed. Lash was a few feet away, preoccupied with breaking into lockers and stealing any valuables.

"You should have come home, Dad was there."

My head snapped up, "Hang on, what? I thought he was coming back on Saturday!" Jimmy shook his head,

"Nope. He got ahead of schedule. But he left again at like three this morning."

Claire sighed in frustration. Her father was never home, and the one time he came home she had decided to runaway for the night. Too many thoughts at once clouded Claire's head, "Okay, hang on. Why are you acting like nothing at all happened yesterday?" Jimmy looked unsure of what to say, but magically figured it out as soon as Lash decided to join them,

"Well, what is there to say? I told mom you were a sidekick, she was upset, but she's going to act like she's not mad as soon as you get home. Oh, and we get to torture you for the rest of the year." Jimmy finished with a smile. Claire stood, her lips clenched and her eyes narrowed, perfectly displaying her anger. But deep down, she knew it was true. And that's what infuriated her. She caught a glimpse of Lash looking at her in a sly manner, but didn't give the slightest bit of attention to it. She had gotten used to Lash and his little ways of ruining her day, and it was quickly getting more annoying than maddening.

Claire briskly walked away; still angry she didn't have a good enough response to make Jimmy as frustrated as she was. Her morning classes consisted of yawning and trying desperately trying to keep her eyes open. The first half of the day went by slowly, rain peddled against the windows lightly, practically ushering Claire into boredom.

By the time lunch arrived, Claire was completely out of it, and not to mention hungry. Zach, Ethan and Maj met her at end of the hot lunch line. Layla split from the crew as she headed over to the Salad Bar, and Claire and the rest got in line for hamburgers. Claire ate in slow motion, carefully stirring her mashed potatoes.

Maj rubbed her nose, "Where's Will?" Layla, who had been unusually quiet that day, looked up. She rolled her eyes,

"He's over there, with the heroes." She sighed, "I mean, it's not like I'm into labels, but honestly, they do act their better than everyone else just because they got sorted into a better group. And ever since he got his new powers…….."

Claire rested her head on her elbow as she tuned out Layla and glanced over in Will's direction. His face was glowing with pride as he explained his powers, most likely for the tenth time, to Penny and Gwen. She was surprised to see him gloating and completely ignoring his friends, but then again in a way, she wasn't. It was obvious that Will had really wanted to get to know this girl, and make his parents proud. Now he got to do both.

Claire glanced at the usually filled spot next to Layla, and suddenly became aware of the other empty seat next to Zach. "Wait, where'd Ethan go?" At that very moment she caught sight of a striped sleeve pulling the small boy swiftly out the door, going unnoticed to any of the teachers. Claire let out a loud noise of frustration, jumping up and walking quickly towards the exit of the cafeteria. Zach and Layla exchanged confused glances, but all three of the remaining people at the table got up and ran after Claire.

Claire didn't need to see what Lash was doing to Ethan, she could hear the sounds of Ethan struggling and yelling followed by the banging of lockers just down the hallway to the left.

She heard Lash's deep voice, "Think your mom can put my brother away for ten years and get away with it, you little fuck?" Soon after she heard Jimmy's laughing. Claire's eyes widened and she still halted to a stop before turning the corner into the hallway where her friend was being harassed. Zach grunted as he smacked into Claire's back, not ready for her sudden stop. Maj shushed him as she huddled next to him in order to hear what was happened. Layla looked reluctant, but soon joined the other three in their eavesdropping. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going on between the three boys. Claire's fingers curled around the cold brick of the wall as she ever so slightly peeked around the corner to get a view of what was happening.

She felt a rush of relief as she saw no bruises or blood on Ethan, glad that he didn't suffer the same fate as most of the other sidekicks. Speed had a large hand planted on Ethan's chest, pinning him to the wall, and Lash was unnecessarily holding onto his collar. She heard the seams of his shirt rip every time Lash rose his voice,

"I do have a father in the police force, you know. I can track down you and your stupid little family. Or maybe I'll just get it out of your friend, Claire." Claire cringed, but continued to stay quiet. Speed laughed, "We'll totally egg your house, dude." Lash turned slowly to face Jimmy, his glare telling him he had something much more extreme in mind. Jimmy's smile disintegrated. Lash continued to focus his attention on the shaking boy he was holding, getting dangerously close to his face,

"Your mom is a lawyer, and as far as I know, a good one. So let's just say your mother better find a way to shorten his sentence, or things aren't going to go too good for you this year, you get me?" Ethan began to say something, but he simply started to stutter uncontrollably. Lash smirked and raised an eyebrow at him.

Ethan melted into a puddle.

Both Layla and Maj let out loud exasperated sighs. Lash's eyes widened in shock and anger as he watched the goo slip through his long fingers and onto the floor, where it began to slither away. The puddle sped down the hallway and around the corner, where it collided with Zach's gray tennis shoes. Ethan materialized back into himself again, and both Layla and Claire clapped a hand over his mouth, but not before he had gotten out a loud, "Hey! What are you guys doing here!"

Maj closed her eyes tightly in frustration as they all heard footsteps heading around the corner towards them. But luckily enough, just then, the bell sounded for fifth hour. Students spilled out from the cafeteria and other rooms into the hallway, laughing and slowly making their way to the next class. Claire spotted Lash and Speed trying to break through to them, Lash trying to stretch his arm to grab Ethan, but couldn't maneuver it around so many people. Jimmy tried to speed around the students to get to Ethan, but found there was no path wide enough or clear enough to use.

The two boys watched, anger evident in their faces, as the group hurried off to gym class. Claire, Ethan, and the rest disappeared around the hallway and down the stairs leading to the locker rooms. Lash and Speed followed the group slowly, weaving through the rush of kids.

Claire watched as Ethan sprinted into the boy's locker room, probably trying to get changed into his gym clothes before Lash and Speed could arrive and torture him. Claire grabbed Will's sleeve as she spotted him heading down the hallway, dragging him away from Gwen,

"Will, listen. Make sure nothing happens to Ethan in the locker room, okay? Namely, my brother and Lash beating him up or threatening him. You're the only one of us who actually has a good power." Will nodded dreamily, still glancing in Gwen's direction. Claire sighed and let go of Will as she walked into the girl's locker room. She changed as slowly as possible, until it was time to go into the gym. She snuck behind several taller girls that perfectly hid her from almost anyone's view, and took a seat. Ethan soon joined her, as well as Zach and Maj. Claire's eyes carefully scanned the gym, and she saw that Will was of course sitting by the heroes, and surprisingly, Layla was seated next to Warren Peace. Layla kept looking over at Will, and everytime he would glance back, she would begin to animatedly talk to Warren. Claire wondered what was going on, but her thoughts were soon interrupted as she watched her brother and Lash enter through the double-doors of the gym.

The bell rang again, signaling that class should begin, "Alright! Settle down, be quiet, etcetera!" Boomer's voice was on the verge of causing a slight earthquake, "Lash and Speed were the last to win yesterday, so they begin today. Boys, pick your opponents."

Almost immediately Lash yelled out, "Ethan Reeves!" Boomer nodded, awaiting the second answer.

The second answer didn't come so quickly. Lash's eyes stared at the floor, deep in thought. Something must have dawned on him, because his head snapped up quickly, and a big grin graced his face. Claire's heart sunk as she knew the response before it came.

Lash smirked as he met eyes with Claire, "Claire Jones."

A/N: I know most of you thought this story was dead, but it's not! I've just been really busy with school stuff, but this chapter is much longer than normal so hopefully you guys aren't too mad at me! I'm so glad I got so many reviews, I've never gotten this many for only two chapters before!

Dean- Me neither, I liked to surprised about the pairing. But people have gotten mad at me in the past because they thought the pairing was going to be something different than what it was.

The Mayor's Daughter- I'm really happy people like the way I write Lash, I tried to get him just right, with just a little more badness to him Don't worry, I hate smoking too, I would totally not be kissing him!

Carnalheart- Thanks for all your reviews, I'm glad you like it! Haha, I wanted you to fall for the little trick Lash played, I guess it worked!

2lazy2signin- Well hopefully Claire will get a little gutsier. I was thinking for like an hour on what I should name her, so I'm glad you like the name lol.

Silver Magiccraft- Well to be honest, I know it took me longer than it should have to update, but your reviews keep me going! P.S. I know, I was undecided about the age, and I completely messed up in explaining it, I went back and fixed everything now and she should be 15 going on 16.

xxZombie- LOL. Well I don't know if I agree with the dying thing, but I'm glad I'm on your favs!

Queen of the Dorks- I always write darker characters, so hopefully he'll grow on you!

Ellina HOPE- Don't worry, I've already made him into kind of a monster, I doubt I could make him be a romantic, sweet boyfriend now! About the review reply thing, I've been doing it for awhile, and I see other people doing it so hopefully they won't delete my story! Thanks for your review.

WafflesareYumtastic- Thank you! I hope you like this chapter.

Duckieluv 12- I updated, hope you like it!

Bleedthetempest- Yes, he will gradually get less hostile, lol. Thanks for your review.

Grim- Thank you so much for giving me three reviews, I definitely need to be bugged if I'm not updating, or I get lazy!

Cognitivedistortion- Haha, I'm not that great, but thank you for the compliment!

Moi- NO! It has not been abandoned! I'm very sorry it took me this long, thank you for reviewing!

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