Chapter 3

Welcome Back

--About 2 years later--

"Please have a seat over there, Mr. Peace."

Alicia Shiner had worked as a secretary/receptionist at Sky High for only two and a half years, but it had been a very interesting time in her life. The job was certainly never boring.

The job description had called for someone with exceptional typing and communication skills. Being that she had always been a people person and could grow extra fingers, it had seemed like the perfect job. Little did she know she would be required to handle angry phone calls from various prominent hero parents and manage troublesome students waiting to see Principle Powers. The quiet moments when only typing occupied her mind were more like vacations than work.

There was never a dull moment at Sky High; that was for sure with future heroes and villains running amuck, failed villainous attempts at world domination, and periodic explosions across the campus.

It was only the first day of a brand new school year, and already, a regular in this office, Warren Peace, was waiting to see the principal. Apparently, he'd "fired up" at a freshman at the bus drop-off.

The weather was certainly not improving Mrs. Shiner's day. Generally, the first day of school brought with it a bright, sunny summer sky. It just wasn't natural to wake up to the sound of thunder and a darkening horizon in mid-August. When she'd entered the building, her small frame had nearly been swept away by the fierce wind gusts.

At the moment, Peace was slouched down in one of the dull blue chairs nearest the exit. Warren Peace had always had a particularly bad reputation at Sky High, but he rarely said a word to Mrs. Shiner. However, he had been among the group of students that had stopped Royal Pain the previous year. How bad could this kid be?

During his numerous hours spent waiting in her office, the most conversation the two had had was primarily through grunts or hand signals. Still, it was better than nothing.

Speaking of nothing, she thought, she'd almost forgotten about the other teenager occupying the waiting room. The girl had been sitting with her legs propped up on an end table for at least half an hour and yet she hadn't made a single noise. She didn't even seem to really move; without sunlight streaming through the windows, her dark figure was mostly shadowed over in the corner of the room. With her head tilted back and to the left slightly, she gave off the appearance of listening intently to something, but only the sounds of the storm outside echoed through the room.

Mrs. Shiner had made up her mind that she didn't want anything to do with the girl right a way. Normally, she didn't take an immediate dislike to the students of Sky High, but this girl had emitted a kind of intense, dark aura upon entering the waiting room. The kind, older woman hadn't even bothered to offer her a lollipop out of the cup she kept on her desk especially for that purpose.

It wasn't as though the girl had been particularly polite to her either. Mrs. Shiner was usually the first person in the office and had just been getting settled back into her old desk when the office door had slammed open. Principal Powers herself had marched briskly past her desk and into her own, personal office. Normally, her boss stopped for a morning chat with Mrs. Shiner, or at least a smile, but this morning the dark weather had seemed to have gotten to the principal.

Seconds later a severe-looking blonde woman dressed in a heavy black overcoat had stalked into the doorway. She'd looked as though being at Sky High was the most inconvenient errand imaginable and hadn't even bothered looking at Mrs. Shiner. The woman had lingered in Principal Powers' doorway and watched intently as the dark girl had then made her first appearance to Mrs. Shiner. Then the principal's door then slammed shut loudly.

The girl, whom Mrs. Shiner just couldn't place at all, walked at a slow, almost dragging pace as if she was in no particular hurry for anything. She walked with her head turned down and stopped in front of the older woman's desk.

Thoroughly confused by the morning's events, Mrs. Shiner had nearly jumped out of her seat when this shadow of a girl had made eye-contact with her. Brilliantly dark blue eyes popped out against pale skin, but in that moment those eyes had been as dead as a corpse. The older woman was quite suddenly filled with a sense of apprehension and yet tugged at by a strand of deja-vu.

Nothing more than slight boredom had shown on the girl's face. The receptionist had quietly gestured towards the many blue waiting chairs, and the girl had lightly nodded.

After that, the eerie quiet and stillness had set in, at least until Coach Boomer had dragged Warren Peace in.

- - - -

Deciding to shake off the tingle in the back of her spine, Mrs. Shiner went back to organizing her desk and equipment for the day. Just as she was booting up her computer, the principal's door swung open. Warren Peace started to rise, but sunk back down when he saw the severe, blonde woman glare at him from the door. Her gaze immediately fell to the girl, who barely acknowledged her presence.

Warren was genuinely surprised when an unfamiliar, teenage girl stepped out from the corner of the room. He'd had no idea anyone other than himself had been waiting for the principal. She was slender and didn't seem very tall. The dim room didn't allow him a look at her face.

Without a glance at him, the girl slinked over to the doorway. The blonde blocked her entrance for a moment and sent a steely glare directly at the shorter girl. They seemed to have some kind of wordless fight thing going on, but an enormous clap of thunder and flash of lightening interrupted. The woman's frown deepened as she pushed the girl aside and stomped out of the office.

- - - -

-Inside Principal Power's Office-

"Celine," Principal Powers extended her hand out to the teenager in front of her. "I hardly recognize you."

Celine Barillo ignored the extended hand, and slouched down into one of the armchairs in front of the desk. She didn't really care if the principal of this ridiculous school remembered her or not. Though she had changed somewhat drastically in the last few years, she didn't really feel the need to make falsely cheery conversation about it. There were more important things on her mind.

Severely unimpressed with Celine's lack of respect, Principal Powers retracted her hand and cleared her throat. She lowered herself down into her own chair and turned to the computer.

The rain pelted heavily against the thick glass of the buildings' windows, and an especially hard gust of wind seemed to rattle the building a bit. The principal raised an eyebrow at the screen and said, "Quite the weather we're having isn't it?"

With a smirk Celine responded, "Sure is, Principal Powers."

"Since you've already gone through Power Placement, we won't have to worry about that will we?"

"Guess not."

"Do to the special circumstances of your situation in the last few years, we won't be holding you back, unless, of course, you fall behind in your classes…"

"How very kind of you, Principal Powers."

The stately woman nearly winced at the tone of the girl's voice when she pronounced her name. Principal Powers was generally very patient with her students, but this girl was just giving her an odd feeling. Celine Barillo just seemed to give off this aura of anger and, well, darkness.

But no, this is silly, Principal Powers thought. I will not accuse a student of being evil after one frustrating meeting. None the less it was a bad morning and she was inclined to cut this little meeting short.

"I've got to be off to the Orientation for the freshman right now, so I won't be able to escort you around-"

Celine interrupted with a deadpan, "How very disappointing."

The two proceeded to engage in a short-lived staring contest before Powers continued, "You're to report to the nurse's office until lunch; she'll sort out your records and such. Afterwards, you're to follow this schedule."

Celine stood up, grabbing the pink paper.

"Alright then," Principal powers rose from her desk, grabbing Celine's file. "Welcome back to Sky High, Miss. Barillo."

Looking down at her schedule, Celine frowned and muttered, "The pleasure's all mine, Principal Powers."

---

-Back To The Waiting Room-

"You can just proceed to class, Mr. Peace. Just try not to roast freshmen in the future."

Somewhat shocked, the tall, dark boy followed the two women out of the waiting room.

"Oh, Mr. Peace, can you kindly show Ms. Barillo the way to the nurse's office first."

"Uhh… yeah, sure." Warren was just relieved not to be in trouble on the first day of school.

With that, Principal Powers flashed into comet-form off to Orientation. Warren ran a hand through his hair and turned to find that the girl was already headed down the hallway in the opposite direction. Under the fluorescent lighting of the hallway, he could get a better look at her.

She wore black cargo pants over black tennis shoes with a dark gray t-shirt. She didn't appear to have a jacket of any kind, which was odd considering the day's weather. A number of bracelets were positioned on either arm. Her dark hair was covered by a knit, black, beanie/skull cap hat.

"Hey-" he yelled after her.

Without turning around, she called back, "I already know where it is; you can leave," and she disappeared around the corner.

Warren stared down at the empty hall before him and muttered, "Ok then, whatever….. And you're going THE WRONG WAY!"