A/N: Yeah, I don't own Sky High and all that Jazz. Obviously it's fan fiction. So I decided to try something new, hence why I'm off the cheeseyHP fics for the time being. It gets better - at least I hope it does, or I may weep uncontrolably at my lack of talent.
Oh yeah, if you haven't seen the movie, there are spoilers

Chapter One: Yearning

Will Stronghold walked into the first class of second year. Today, he felt great. He spent the summer with his friends, and of course his girlfriend. His father had already begun to plan out their "Stronghold Three" matching costumes. Of course, Will would be assigned a sidekick at the end of the year, and not be able to join Stronghold Three, but he liked to keep his dad busy and optimistic. While Will stood in the middle of the classroom, thinking about his wonderful summer break, everyone had already begun to pair up for lab partners. When he finally came back down to the present, he didn't have many choices left.

"So I met a new friend today," Will announced at their regular lunch table.

"Does he realize that you're referring to him as a friend already?" Warren Peace, wedged between Zach and Ethan (both of who still hoped that his "tough guy" image would rub off on them), said.

"She does realize this," Will smirked proudly. Warren made eye contact with Layla, Will's girlfriend. "She's coming to each lunch with us."

"She?" Layla's eyes shifted off Warren's onto Will's.

"Oh," Will began to stumble over his words. "She's not, like, anything you have to worry about. I just, you know, didn't get a chance to make a lot of friends in the Hero classes. You know, with my lab partner turning evil later in the year." Will was referring to Gwen, who later turned out to be Royal Pain, a rather evil villain.

Magenta rolled her eyes for a moment. She had noticed that Will made various mistakes in his relationship with Layla, mainly because he simply wasn't observant enough. "What's she like?" Magenta asked, looking forward to knowing another female. There was only so much Zach she could put up with in a day.

"More importantly," Zach began, now interested because Magenta was. "What's her super power?"

"I don't think I have permission to say," Will replied.

"In other words, you don't know," Warren responded.

"Right." Will said.

"Is she in our year?" Layla asked.

"Of course," Will answered.

"Then we should have seen her power last year, right?" Layla said. "We'll probably remember when we see her."

"I didn't remember," Will said.

"And I know I won't," Ethan mentioned. "I was too terrified that day to really remember anything. Aside from being humiliated. I remember a lot of humiliation."

"I think we all felt a little humiliated," Layla replied.

"I didn't," Warren said.

"Of course you didn't!" Zach said. "That's cause you've got crazy cool fire powers. I mean, glowing is pretty awesome, but people seem more impressed with fire."

"I think she may have chickened out," Will changed the topic back to his lab partner. "I haven't even seen her come in yet."

"Does she strike you as the type that would avoid this type of scenario?" Magenta questioned, still curious about her personality.

Will opened his mouth to reply, but looked behind him; there was still no sign of her. "How about I just tell you about how I met her?"

Will found himself looking around the classroom, frantically trying to find a partner. He decided that he wanted to avoid being put with a partner, in case it was someone who disliked him. He noticed a girl already sitting down at a desk, reading a rather thick book. He took a chance and sat down beside her. "Are you already paired up with someone?" Will asked, when she acknowledged that he had sat down.

"No," she looked back down at her book. "I figured I'd wait until I was shoved with someone, or someone was shoved with me."

"So, you'd rather I found another partner?" Will asked, not fully understanding what she was trying to say.

"No!" she replied, wide-eyed. "I just meant," she smiled. "I just meant that I wasn't with anyone, that's all."

Will smiled back, while the girl dog-eared her book page. "Then we're lab partners," he said. "I'm Will Stronghold."

Will stuck out his hand awkwardly, for her to shake. "I'm Emma, and I'll never forgive my parents for the cruel name."

She shook his hand, and he failed to leave out how soft her hand was in his description. "Why is it cruel?" he asked.

Emma gave him a look, like he should have known. "Emma, Emulator…" she said. "It's a bad joke, but my dad continues to state how funny it is."

"Oh, right," Will smiled.

"Wait, wait," Ethan interrupted. "You said right, even though you didn't get the joke at all?"

"Right," Will responded. "I didn't want her to think I was a moron."

"Wouldn't want to make a fool of yourself in front of the girl with soft hands," Magenta said.

"I didn't mean it like that," Will tried to explain himself to Layla for the second time that day. "I just meant that her hands were unusually soft."

"Because you've touched so many hands," Warren mentioned sarcastically.

"Maybe you should ask her what kind of lotion she uses. It'd really help," Will attempted to insult Warren.

"Listen, I really don't want you feeling my hands all the time," Warren smirked.

With Warren's comment fully absorbed by her, Emma approached Will. "If this is a bad time, I can leave," she said in a shy fashion.

"Oh no," Will laughed. "We were just talking about…" Will realized that it would have been a poor choice to bring up her soft hands at this point. "Hand lotion."

"As much as I'd like to participate in this conversation, I'm afraid that I have some work to do," Emma replied. "I just dropped by so that you wouldn't think I ditched you, or chickened out or something."

"Oh, well, that's understandable," Will responded. "May I at least introduce you to my friends?"

Emma checked her watch and the slid down onto the bench beside Will. "I'd love to," she said.

"Okay, well," Will looked around the table. "You obviously know who I am, so across from yourself is Ethan,"

"Hi," Ethan greeted her with a smile.

"Hi," she responded, shyly.

"You all don't have to say hi individually," Will said. "Anyway, next to Ethan is Warren," Warren gave an unenthusiastic wave. "And next to him is Zach." Zach nodded an acknowledgement, while he chewed heftily on his sandwich. "On the other side there is Magenta," who just smiled at her. "And last there is Layla – my girlfriend."

"How nice," she grinned politely at Layla, who appeared to be avoiding eye contact with her. "Of course I'm Emma… and I have serious reading to do." She stood up from the table.

"I'll see you in class then?" Will asked.

"Of course, I've got nowhere to go," she made the mistake of winking before she turned her back to walk away.

Warren turned around to watch her walk away. "I've seen her around the Paper Lantern," he said.

"And I have no interest in dating her," Will mumbled, smiling at his girlfriend.

Layla returned his smile half-heartedly. "I trust you," she responded, patting his leg affectionately.

"Do you find it hard?" Emma just straight out and asked him. "Being a Stronghold and all."

Will laughed, running a hand through his brown hair. "Kind of," he was careful not to make eye contact. "I mean, it's a lot to live up to and it's hard to find people who are being your friend because of me, or because of my parents."

"I'll be honest with you, Will," her yellow eyes made direct contact with him. "I don't plan on being your friend."

His eyes widened, looking at her straight face expression. In a moment, she began to laugh. "Is it safe to assume you're kidding?" Will asked.

"Yeah," she said. "Usually when I say something about being honest – I'm not. Easy as that."

"I'll take note of it when we begin to copy each other's tests," he said.

She smiled carefully. "I do plan on using you though," she mentioned.

"Mm," Will rubbed his chin, thinking about it. "Just so long as it's nothing sexual. I'm in a serious relationship."

"Better than being in a humorous relationship," she said. "You know, a relationship that's a joke."

"For an introvert, you try rather hard to be funny," Will observed.

"For The Commander's son, your ego's pretty small."

Will smirked. "So, you're not an introvert?"

"No, I usually am," she replied. "I tend to take a while to warm up to people, but I figure now that you're stuck with me – you have to put up with me anyway. It's like marriage, with less loopholes."

"Well, I happen to be interested in forming a friendship," he said. "Whether you are just planning to use me or not. No," he stopped. "I take that back. You can use me, just so long as you don't hurt anyone I like."

"Or want something sexual from you."

"Right."

"Your list of what I can and cannot use you for is getting long," she said.

"Well, just tell me what you want from me," he said, fed up.

"Warren Peace," she said. "I saw you and him win 'Save the Citizen' last year."

"And?"

"And I think he's cute."

"I'm not a dating service," Will pouted, crossing his arms.

"No, you don't have to do anything like that. I was just hoping for an introduction or something. I don't have the nerve to go approach him myself. I was kind of hoping he'd be in this class."

"Why do you want to meet him so badly?" Will questioned.

"Well, I've already met the wonderful Will Stronghold – who is in a serious relationship. So if I'm lucky, the almost-as-attractive-as-Will Warren will be single and interested in getting to know me."

"Do you need a relationship that badly?" Will asked. "And I don't appreciate your sarcasm, Emma."

"I always appreciate my sarcasm," she replied. "And, no, I don't need a relationship that badly. I am merely interested in seeing if a relationship is possible between us."

"Warren will be hard to win over. I had to safe his life twice to get him to tolerate me," Will said.

"I don't plan on asking you for help," she said. "Plus, I think he had a reason to dislike you."

"No, he had a reason to dislike my father," Will responded.

"What I meant, was that he has no reason to dislike me," she said.

Will was silent for a moment, itching the back of his neck. "Fine," he replied. "Have lunch with me and my buddies. It won't look like you're just trying to meet him."

She smiled, showing all of her teeth. "Thank you!"

"Yeah, yeah," Will returned her smile. "But I think he'll be thanking me more later." He winked.

Layla was packing her bag at her locker getting ready to take the bus home. She closed her locker. "What do you think of her?" Magenta, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, asked.

"What do I think of who?" Layla responded with an angry tone, since she had been startled.

"Emma," Magenta responded. "I mean, who does, or even has, school work on the first day of school?"

Layla shrugged, slightly jealous of the attention that she gave to Will. "What I want to know is why she doesn't know anyone else. She was apparently here last year." Layla continued before Magenta could talk. "I guess that's mean to say though, considering I've only seen her once. She probably does know other people."

Magenta frowned. "Whatever," she motioned behind them, to where Will's locker was. "Either way, she's been spending all day with Will so far."

"They have classes together," Layla turned to notice Will and Emma's lockers right next to each other. "It's expected that she'd cling to him and she knows that we're together. I can't see her perusing when someone is already there."

"She seems like a decent person," Magenta observed. "But I don't know her."

"What do you think they are talking about?" Layla asked.

"He works at the Paper Lantern?" Emma whispered from the other side of the room. "I go there all the time and I've never seen him there."

"Maybe you should be more observant next time you're in there," Will said.

"Usually, I read. I think that's a pretty good excuse for not paying attention," Emma replied.

"Well, he's obviously been paying attention to you, considering he was the one that mentioned seeing you there," Will responded.

"Great," she said, sarcastically. "The one place I can just sit back and relax, I now get to worry about whether or not he's paying attention to me."

"And I'm getting suspicious looks from Layla," Will reported. "So, we'll start studying there together, okay? Then we can accidentally make conversation with him or something. I have your number."

With that, Emma watched Will Stronghold turn his attention off of her love life onto his, which was in dire need of attention. She smiled to herself, tucking her long hair behind her ear, and walked off to the bus.