"Where are you going ma'am?" Byrn asked Terra as she put on her rain jacket. It was pouring rain outside naturally. Rayne had nothing to do with it-- she was taking a nap. It was a rainy, gloomy, Saturday afternoon. Too Bad Rayne was sleeping; she would have enjoyed it.

"Out," Terra shrugged.

"Again?" Bryn sighed. She worried about her youngest sister sometimes. Terra had been going 'out' for the past couple of weekends. She said it was school related, and it totally was. She didn't tell her sisters that Zach was helping her with homework. She found hero class hard. I mean what could one learn? Just using your power to fight villains was a good enough philosophy. Somehow there was a lot more correctness on how to execute a heroic matter. It was very technical and didn't make sense to her at all. Sometimes she wished she had stayed in hero support. Then again, if that were the case she wouldn't be going out and visiting Zach on Saturdays.

The rain beat down on her as she made her way to the city bus stop. Maybe she wasn't cut out to be a hero. She pondered this because she felt absolutely no pity when someone was mugged. Those things happened all the time. It was a part of life, and besides if heroes stopped all crime, then there would be no more use for them. Heroes should act in moderation. It was kind of horrible, a pick and choose system that she was imagining. But what was petty crime compared to situations of the earth being destroyed? That was another thing she didn't get, didn't super villains know that if they blew up the Earth that they would die also? Villains sure were dumb for being so intelligent.

The city bus rolled to the stop and she hopped on and paid the standard fifty cents for a ride into suburbia.

She arrived on the corner stop of Zach's neighborhood. It was still raining badly. She rang the doorbell, and waiting in the rain.

The door unlocked and Zach was standing before her. "Ey, Terra." She jumped inside to get out of the downpour.

"Wow, it's been raining all day," he noted looking outside before closing the door.

"Yeah it's pretty wet outside," She said shaking her damp hair, getting droplets of water onto Zach.

"That's cold!' he laughed, she laughed along with him.

"So where are your parents?" she looked around, because usually Zach's mom would greet her and give her some cookies.

"Well dad had some hero business. Mom had to go visit Grandma because grandma is sick. I mean the lady has a cold, so I don't understand why mom had to leave. Mom just worries too much I think," Zach explained. Terra took off her soggy shoes and left them on the floor mat in front of the doorway.

"So, like always I don't understand something. This time it's the mechanisms of heroic deeds. It's kind of like history mixed with current events. The readings mostly talk about Will's relatives. There's the Commander and Jetstream…and his grandfather, the Iron Man.

"Yeah the Strongholds are a pretty powerful family." Zach admitted. "They all have like, super strength."

"Yeah no kidding, Will ripped off the Boys locker room door yesterday, he was in a hurry to get to his next class," Terra said with a giggle because Gail had talked about seeing all the boys in towels and liking it.

"That was Will's fault? HA," Zach grinned.

There was a pause.

"Yeah…so…I'm supposed to write a paper about this stuff. The history of heroes," Terra explained.

"Well you could do a paper on the Stronghold victories. Or one thing that will impress the teacher is if you do something about old school heroes. Try someone like the human torch.

"Wait…You mean your dad?" Terra chuckled with amusement.

"Yeah!"

Terra laughed and laughed. Zach would suggest something like that.

She agreed. The human torch had done some very significant things in his day, besides she'd met Zach's dad and they got along famously. She started writing down notes as Zach recited all the things his dad had done. Zach knew them all by heart, on of his dad's favorite pastimes was talking about himself. So Zach was practically a professional at knowing about the Human Torch.

After jotting down about a hundred and three significant (by Zach's standards) events that his father had accomplished they took a break.

"Want something to eat?"

"Yeah I haven't eaten all day," Terra stood and stretched her legs.

"I could ring for a pizza…"

"Oh don't make the delivery people go out in the rain. It's dreadful outside." Terra objected. He liked her thinking; that was nice of her to care about the pizza delivery people.

"Okay then what?"

"We could make sandwiches if you have like…bread," she said.

"Well milady your in absolute luck. Not only do I have bread, but I have two kinds!" He said with excitement and took two plastic bags containing white and wheat bread.

"So what kind of sandwiches?"

"Well we have peanut butter…AND jelly," he grinned wide.

"Sounds like a cuisine to me," she grabbed the wheat bread. He took out the jelly and peanut butter. She found the silverware and took out a butter knife to slather on peanut butter.

"Who uses a butter knife to do that?" Zach asked staring perplexed at her execution of making a peanut butter sandwich.

"Uh…people. Why? What do YOU use?" she paused.

Zach ruffled through the drawer and dug out a spoon and pointed it at her. "A spoon. It scoops out the peanut butter better AND spreads it well." He then scooped a blob of peanut butter out of the jar.

"Won't there be a lot extra inside the concave a part of you do that?" She asked.

"Huh?"

She tried showing him what she meant but accidentally pushed the spoon into the side of his face. Peanut butter graced the side of his cheek.

"Hey!"

"Oops…" she said and tried wiping it off which made it smear.

"Hey!" he said again and used his spoon to smack some peanut butter onto her. He was taller so it hit her in the forehead. She gasped out loud; shocked someone would do that on purpose. Zach laughed nervously seeing her displeased look. She swatted her peanut butter covered butter knife at him and got some on his arm.

He didn't care if she really could kick his ass it was on now.

He jumped at her with his spoon and as she tried blocking his peanut butter attack, got some on her arm in return. Since she had a knife and the peanut butter was practically gone she grabbed a glob and hurled it at his face. She giggled profusely when he looked back at her; half of the right side of his face was covered in the rich, delicious stuff.

"Raghhhhh!" he playfully yelled and pushed his face against Terra's cheek, transferring the sticky snack.

"If we get stuck together I will so send a tremor through you," she joked. He pulled his face away and they cringed at the sound it made-- an adhesive kind of peeling sound.

He stared at the peanut butter all over her face, and with a sudden urge just licked it off her cheek, with a big slurping noise. She jumped away and stared at him for an explanation.

"I was hungry. How else are we supposed to eat peanut butter if it's all over our faces?" he defended his actions. Her unsure face turned light hearted and she started in peels of laughter. Damn, Zach was fun to be around, even if he did cause peanut butter fights and slobbered on her afterwards. "What? Don't be a hater," Zach brushed the peanut butter off his arm, which only smeared it more. She took it and ran her finger on its side so she scooped it onto it and then licked it off. "You ate my peanut butter!"

"I'm hungry too, glow-boy!" she noted.

So they finished eating peanut butter off each other, the rest they couldn't get they washed off. That erupted into a soap- suds fight, which erupted into a towel fight…that erupted into a show down on Zach's x-box. After a couple rounds of video games, Terra simply conked out on the living room couch. Once Zach won, he realized Terra had fallen asleep; she previously had beaten him in all rounds. He kind of just watched her, and not in a creepy way. She just looked so peaceful asleep-- with brown strands of hair in her face and wearing a pleasant sleepy expression on her face. He brushed her cheek, where he had once licked peanut butter. It was still lightning and raining outside. Too bad the school was in the air, it had no chance of being cancelled because of a flood.

It was 10:00 at night; he didn't want to wake Terra up. Instead he carried upstairs to his bed and set her in it. He yawned-- he was tired also. He grabbed an extra pillow and blanket and trekked back downstairs to the couch and slept there.

A severely loud clap of thunder sent Terra bolting up from her sleep. Wherever she was it was dark and rain was definitely pelting against the window. She tried to remember where she was because this wasn't her bed. This bed was more comfortable.

She was still in her clothes she noted, she stepped out of the bed and stepped lightly across the carpeted floor to the doorway. Once in the hallway she knew she was still at Zach's. Where was Zach though? She set off to downstairs. She saw a lanky figure resting on the couch. Ah-hah! He was even too tall for the couch so his feet were draped over the edges and uncovered by his blanket. As he was lying on his stomach, his face was smooshed into his pillow, and it made his lip twist up so it looked like he was growling. She expected him to wake up at any second and say 'rawr' to scare her.

He didn't though; he was out cold.

"Zach, oh Zaaaach?" she whispered leaning over him, trying to wake him up a little.

"Mmmph," he mumbled and turned on his side. He was adorable; there were no more words for him at the moment.

"Zach Attack?" she grinned and said. His face transformed into a sleepy grin, she might have had his attention…well in his sleep anyway. "You're the best ever." She kissed him on his forehead and went back upstairs but not before she heard 'I love Terra,' Come out of his mouth.

It was hard getting to sleep after she heard him murmur that. She felt good, real good that he had said her name though. Finally after thinking for an hour, her body made her go back to sleep.

"Terra. Terra. Terra, wake up!" She heard Zach's voice above her. She popped an eye open and grumbled tiredly something incoherent. "You fell asleep at my house," he stated.

"I'm sorry," she said automatically.

"No. No need. It's fine. It's cool," he reassured.

"Are your parents home yet?"

"Nah, Dad got held up. He called this morning and Mom spent the night with grandma," Zach explained.

She nodded and yawned. "Oh wow, yesterday was so fun."

"Duh, I only got to spend it all day with you…and stuff," Zach said excitedly but thought he was being a fool so added the last part to cover it up.

"Uh huh. I so totally beat you at everything!" She said and threw a pillow at him.

"Oh whatever girl, the peanut butter war was totally a draw!" he claimed and pounced on her with the pillow. She tried to tickle him off but he was too sleek and barred her down with the pillow.

"What about the soap suds war?" she asked.

He couldn't decide, all he knew was that her eyes, which were looking like freshly squeezed oranges, had him in a total trance. Damn, he wanted to kiss her. But he wasn't sure. A memory floated by in his head of Magenta and him the weekend after homecoming.

He was trying to kiss her after many failed hints, and she said, "I hate making out." And he, like always trying to impress her jerked away and said as soon as she was done with her last word-- "Me too."

He sighed not knowing what to do. Moments like these were fleeting.

"Are you alright?"

For some reason, he was less scared of trying to impress Terra Matters. Sure, Magenta could kick his ass but Terra could do a lot more damage but there was something just so extremely comfortable about her.

"I like a girl…" Zach began to tell his tale of woe and how he didn't know what to do. But fortunately Zach was cut off because Terra knew what she wanted. She wanted Zach. His lips stopped trying to move after a few seconds when he realized she was the one kissing him. Wow, that's about all he had to say about that.

After awhile of kissing Zach, Terra decided it was best for her to get home. There was no more rain, just a damp ground. She felt light as a feather-- she had someone. She hugged her books to her chest as she got off the bus and walked towards the apartment. Although, she noticed something was amiss as soon as she touched the door handle. When she did, it started raining again. A sudden downpour. That wasn't natural, as soon as she stepped inside Rayne was standing in front of her with the angriest expression Terra had ever seen on her older sister.

"Terra, where in the HELL have you been all night?" Rayne demanded. Water was leaking out of the pipes on the wall. The pipes were making metallic cramping sounds.

"I…I was caught up by the storm…" She said.

"Bullshit, you ditched us," Gail appeared with a glare.

It was like a stab to Terra's heart.

"I did not!" Terra cried.She felt a threatening breeze blow her hair back.

"You've been going 'out' every weekend for like five weeks. What's your deal? Are you not good enough to be around us anymore?" Byrn said with flames dancing around her wrist.

"What are you talking about? I'm getting help for homework!" Terra asked dismayed.

"First you ditch us at lunch for those 'heroes' and leave us to be taunted by those stretchy and speedy jerks not to mention the rest of the entire student body. " Byrn scowled.

"Is it a crime to have friends?" Terra snapped.

Byrn made a scratching motion in the air and five vertical flame towers appeared in the air in front of Terra's face, almost singeing her eyelashes.

She closed her eyes and thought of kissing Zach. He was surprised and delighted…it made both their days. Just concentrate on that and ignore them she told herself.

"Wait, I know what's happening…" Gail said and stopped her winds. The other two looked at her wonderingly. Terra felt like she was on trial.

"You've been screwing that blonde kid, the one that can glow, right?" Gail smiled evilly.

Terra couldn't believe her ears. Of all the people who could say such a horrible thing, it was her slut of a sister who would be the only one of the sisters to actually go screw around. She dropped her books and without warning attacked Gail. A powerful force blew her back against the wall.

"Admit it. You threw us over for some cheap sex!" Gail hissed. Gail was probably just jealous that Terra could attract a decent boy.

"You're a dirty whore!" Terra snarled and dropped to the ground. Bryn made a ring shape with her fingers and Terra was surrounded by a fire.

"Stop it!" Terra growled, getting angry and scared. She couldn't believe her sisters were doing this.

A crack of thunder was heard and another sudden downpour hit the fire, causing it to sizzle out. Rayne made a torrent of water drench Terra to knock some sense into her. She shouldn't be getting close to other people. It would only cause trouble.

Terra couldn't take it anymore; she was singed, wet, and tangled from her sisters' abuse. When Rayne casted her storm over Terra, she had had enough.

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" she bellowed and slammed her fist into the wall, it shook the whole house. The rest of them lost their footing and fell so there was no more rain, fire, nor wind. Just Terra standing angrily in the middle with dust falling from the ceiling.