DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sky High or any of its characters. Feel free to comment or flame me or anything, really. I love attention, good and bad.

It was lunch time at Sky High, an ordinary day, really, but so much had changed. Although he had many people sitting or standing near him, Will Stronghold was feeling very much alone. He would have sit with his old friends from freshman year but time hadn't healed the wounds his sudden rejection had caused them. They were still bitter about it and they weren't about to show the kindness he had denied them over the past years.

Ethan and Katie had gotten serious, going on frequent dates and always sitting together during class, lunch, or at any other time. Zach and Magenta were getting serious, as well, but he was still true to his outrageous personality and she still rolled her eyes at his every stunt.

Warren had grown quiet, not even speaking as often as he used to with Layla. She didn't mind, though. She approached him fearlessly, every day doing what Pelefina Peace had asked of her. She loved him and kept him from being crushed by life's plentiful obstacles.

A face had returned to Sky High, one that only the senior class remembered. A reformed Penny had returned, held back a year because of her former allegiance to Gwen Grayson or Sue Tenny as she had been known during her first youth. She was experiencing her senior year over again, this time without plotting to destroy the high school.

It should say something really negative about popularity when a girl like Penny has been elected to the position of student body president. Penny obviously earned the title with her looks and decent articulacy. Then again, you can't really blame the other classes. They hadn't seen Penny when she was at her worst, aiding one of the worst villains ever accidentally produced by Sky High. They simply knew her as a cluster of pretty, cheerleading girls.

Penny sat behind a table in the cafeteria, a banner behind her reading "Valentine's Day Carnation Sale". There was a chart on the table, showing the significance of the color of blossom. Red was for love, white for a secret admirer, and pink for friendship. She smiled her million dollar bright white smile and handed out order forms to everyone who came and asked for them.

"I can't believe they let her back in here." Layla shook her head, her eyes fixated on the beaming Penny. "After what she did…"

"Yeah, well, the administration has never had stellar threat-radar when it comes to villains. I mean, Gwen had to have been planning her attack under their noses for months if not years." Warren took a bite of the school's sub-par hamburger.

"And now she's just sitting there, smiling like some sort of… Some sort of…" Layla crossed her arms, frustrated with her sudden inability to find the right words.

"The sale is stupid, too." He glanced over to Penny who seemed to be doing quite well selling flowers.

"Oh, I don't know about that. It seems alright to give flowers to someone you like." Layla shrugged. She meant to hint that she would have appreciated a carnation, but Warren seemed blind to her suggestion. He only shrugged.

"I think I'll place an order." She slid her chair away from their table and stood up.

"For who?" Warren looked up curiously, wrinkling his eyebrows.

"You'll see." Layla smiled playfully, patting Warren on his shoulder as she walked over to Penny's table. There was a line forming and Penny multiplied herself to supply their demand.

"Penny," Layla gave her an obviously phony smile. "How've you been?"

"Well, if it isn't Mother Nature. Nice to see you again." Penny chuckled a little, smirking at Layla. "You gonna order a carnation or what?" Her tone was that of someone very impatient. Penny didn't have time to bicker with Layla. The last thing she needed was a reminder of how utterly Royal Pain's plans had failed. She wanted to forget all about that - especially the part where Layla had kicked her asses - All five of them.

"Yeah, I was gonna--" Penny held up a hand to silence her.

"Just fill out a form and drop it in the box." She flashed Layla a grin and ended their conversation, turning away from the redhead.

"Right." Layla sighed, hands on hips for a moment before she picked up one of the forms. She took a yellow number-two pencil from her messy bun and scribbled down the information necessary.

Valentine's Day - It was finally there. Layla sat in the senior sidekick home room as one of the Pennies handed out carnations. She made silent bets on how many flowers each person would receive.

Ethan, unsurprisingly enough, got quite a few and almost all of them were from secret admirers. The one that mattered the most to him was the one from his girlfriend, Katie. Katie was on the Hero track, though, and wasn't there to see Ethan's face light up with a smile.

Magenta had received a single red carnation from who else but Zach. She smiled and made a point to sniff it while looking up at Zach in a suggestive sort of way. He had been disappointed that she hadn't sent him a carnation, but quickly got over it the moment she looked at him with those eyes. Men were predictable in that way.

Penny walked to Layla's seat at the back of the classroom, sorting through various different-colored carnations only to then look up at Layla with a cruel smirk on her face. "Oops, none for you." She giggled, relishing the crushed look on Layla's face.

It was just a flower. Flowers were only symbols of love. Layla tried her hardest to convince herself that, when love was really true, one doesn't need symbols to show for it. Still, it stung. She had made it obvious to Warren that a carnation would have meant the world to her. It made other, ridiculous theories seem possible, though. Was their love dying out? Didn't he feel the same way he felt that Christmas Eve when they'd first made love? Was it her fault that all of this was happening? What could she do to mend things?

"My bad," Smiled Penny, handing Layla a white secret admirer carnation. She looked more confused than anything. It wasn't from Warren. Their love was far from being a secret. It truly puzzled her.

The last bell of the day rang, rudely interrupting Layla's thoughts. Those in home room streamed out into the hallway, most of them pairing up with their significant other and cooing over the flowers they had sent each other. Layla just made her way to her locker, toting her secret admirer carnation with her.

"Surprise." A low voice jolted her out of her haze.

"Warren…?" She peaked around her locker door which had blocked her view of him. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when she saw him. In Warren's arms was a bouquet of red roses wrapped in white tissue paper. In his hand he clutched a single red carnation.

"I got your flower." He held up the single carnation with a smile. "And I got you a couple, too." He handed her the bouquet awkwardly. "There are six of them. I figured you wouldn't mind splitting a dozen with my mother."

Layla smiled so widely. It was such a relief that Warren hadn't forgotten about her on Valentine's Day. "Of course I don't mind! I'm just… Wow. I guess the word I'm looking for is 'flabbergasted'." She chuckled loudly, snorting softly as she did so. Warren just smiled. Only Layla could make acting like a dork look so very endearing.

"What do you have there?" Warren gestured to the white carnation Layla held.

"It's something from a secret admirer." She looked at it with a shrug.

"Huh." He eyed it, then looking up at Layla with a confident smile. It was no secret that her world revolved around him, so, naturally, he wasn't worried about losing her at all.

"Are you free tonight?" She smiled up at Warren, hoping that the answer would be 'yes'.

"Like a bird. Why?" He cocked his head to the side curiously. "Did you want to have dinner or something?"

"Well, I was hoping for something like that."

"Dinner at my place, then. I'll pick you up around six on my way home from the hospital. I told mom that I would go to see her tonight." Layla nodded with a smile, delighted that she would be spending the evening with Warren.