Chapter Sixty-Three

...

Warning: Will coerces/manipulates Magenta into making out with him when she obviously doesn't want to. Please don't read the section between six dots if you're uncomfortable with this, i.e., ... ...

...

"I already have the rest of the shareholders' agreement, Tate. Unanimous agreement will make this takeover a smoother process for everyone," Honey said.

"It sounds easy, and I know life is anything but. So, why don't you sweeten the deal for me, Honey?" Tate asked.

"I'll see what I can do," she replied, forcing to keep the smile on her face.

Honey muted her headset and let out a frustrated groan. She'd spent the last three hours trying to get Tate to agree to the takeover, but he was being difficult. Of course, she knew exactly what to do to get his agreement, but Honey didn't want to go down that route. She knew that she was running out of options, out of possible threads to take, and the one that she'd been avoiding was still the brightest despite three hours of avoidance. Honey reminded herself that she didn't always get what she wanted in life.

Not yet, at least.

Inhaling and exhaling heavily, Honey smiled again and unmuted her headset. "How about we discuss this over dinner?"

"Now that's more like it. We can talk work and see where the night leads us," Tate said, Honey covering her mouth so he wouldn't hear her gag.

After arranging a time and place, Honey ended the call and groaned again in annoyance. Picking up her mobile phone, Honey unlocked the screen and sent a message to her mother.

I have a date next Friday. Please don't ask me to do this again.

...

"Now, I know we all have finals coming up, but it's Heidi's birthday next weekend. She'd really love it if you all came to her party," Zach said, handing out invitations at lunch on Monday.

"I'll be there," Layla said immediately.

"What do you think Heidi would like as a present?" Wendy asked.

"We can't all get her lights," Ethan added before Zach replied.

"We could. She could have fairy lights and Christmas lights and those weird novelty lights," he said.

"Dibs on the fairy lights," Wendy said.

"Aw, damn. I was..." Craig trailed off abruptly as Grant and Jewel walked past. Adam nudged him and Craig shook his head. "I was gonna get fairy lights. I saw a multi-coloured set in the store."

The others seemed confused at his sudden stop and start, but Craig ignored their expressions and ate his lunch.

"Which store had the multi-coloured set?" Wendy asked.

"Not telling you," Craig said quickly, grateful for the continuation in the conversation.

"Fine, I'll find another set of fairy lights," Wendy said.

"Don't buy too many; Anita will wonder why the electricity bill isn't changing," Zach said.

"You haven't told her about Heidi yet?" Layla asked in surprise.

"Uh, no."

"Why not?" Warren asked. "Sky High has a two-year waitlist. You'll be lucky to get Heidi on it at this rate."

"Dude, she's not coming here. My parents only agreed to pay the rest of my tuition because the courts said they had to; they're not going to pay for Heidi as well," he said, sipping at his juice.

"They don't have to," Ethan said, taking his phone out of his pocket and switching to the calculator. "With Mr. Phillips' contributions, you'll have enough to pay for Heidi's tuition here and a year or two of college, if you put a set amount in a high-interest savings account until that time," he said, tapping a few buttons and showing the result to Zach.

Zach promptly spat out his juice.

Ethan frowned and used Layla's offered napkin to clean his phone screen and the table. "Not to mention, Mum and Dad would pay for her education. They already agreed to it, and the private school they're planning on is actually more expensive than here. Not by much, admittedly."

"A private school? Are you kidding?"

"It would afford Heidi more opportunities later in life," Ethan said. "They'd planned to send me there before I discovered my powers," he added with a shrug.

Zach didn't know what to look more stunned at: Anita and Richard planning on sending Heidi to private school, or the fact that he could have that amount of money by the time he was twenty.

"Have you thought of a present for Heidi, Adam?" Warren asked, toasting a student's lunch.

"Yeah. I'm creating a game for her."

"What?" Craig asked incredulously.

Adam shrugged. "I've got a fun idea for a game, so I thought she'd like it."

"Aw, you can't. Dude, that makes my present look lame."

"Then think of a better present," Adam said, swapping their puddings.

"You suck."

"You wish, Forge."

Ignoring Adam's retort, Craig looked down the table. "What are you getting for Heidi, Eth?"

"A new quilt cover and sheets."

"What? No, that's an old person present."

Ethan shrugged. "It's practical and Heidi already picked them out."

"See, this isn't fair; you get advanced notice 'cause she's your sister."

"What's your point?" Ethan asked, grinning.

"Wait, does that make Zach..."

"No," Ethan, Zach, and Donny all said in unison.

"Not going there. What about you, Lay?" Craig asked.

"A plant."

"That's your power, that's not fair."

"What's your point?" Layla asked, grinning.

Craig groaned. The only reason he didn't bang his head on the table was because he still had his lunch sitting there. "What about you, Warren?"

"Permanent fireball."

"What? You can do that?! Oh, I hate you all," Craig muttered when he saw Warren grinning, their friends laughing and giggling.

...

"All right, everyone, settle down. I have an announcement," Jared said, waiting until they were all paying attention before continuing, "As you're reading Babel's autobiography, she has very kindly agreed to come in for Wednesday's class so you can ask her any questions you have. Yes, she'll even answer the sordid ones. In fact, she'd probably prefer them."

Wednesday's English for Heroes class was the last for the day, and then they had the foreign language class. Warren wondered if Jared had organised Babel's visit for that rather than English. If he had, Ethan was going to be ecstatic.

"Okay, so you should have read chapter four over the weekend; anyone have any comments?" Jared asked.

"Uh, are you sure, Mr. Bowie? It's Babel's college years," one student added.

Jared laughed and nodded. "Go ahead; I promise it's nothing I haven't heard already."

"I think it's interesting that Babel still didn't know what she wanted to do in college. Most memoirs have people knowing what they wanted to do since they were, like, three years old or something ridiculous. It was nice to read something where someone admitted they didn't know what they wanted, even when they were still in their early twenties," Warren said.

"All right, I stand corrected. I honestly thought someone would mention the orgy," Jared said. "Well, thank you for your input, Warren. That's very insightful, and I'd like to add that most people in their twenties, and sometimes thirties, still don't know what they want to do with their lives." Looking around the room, Jared hoped someone else would pick up the thread and continue with their own observations. "Anyone else? Come on, you can even discuss every filthy detail in the orgy if you want."

A slight cough came from the doorway and Jared looked over to see Principal Powers standing there. She smiled briefly. "If the... orgy discussion could be put on hold for a moment, I'd like to talk with you, Mr. Bowie."

"Of course, Principal Powers," Jared said, heading to the doorway and closing the door after his exit, even though he knew it meant nothing with some of the kids' powers.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your class, Jared. I just had a question about this application you put in this morning," Principal Powers said, showing the piece of paper to him.

"Yes?"

"Unfortunately, due to damages to the cafeteria earlier in the year, there's no longer a budget for external visitors to be brought here," she said apologetically.

In fact, there was just enough money to hire another jet-powered taxi, but Principal Powers would prefer it remained in Sky High's account in case of emergencies. Especially if something happened to one of the buses again.

Jared frowned. "I thought I ticked the option to say they'd be coming without a cost to Sky High?" he said, looking to the offered paper. "Did I tick the wrong box?"

"Uh, yes, it looks that way. So Babel will be coming here without needing a jet-powered taxi?" Principal Powers asked, unable to hide her relief.

"Not if she can help it. Babel has a jet-powered car," Jared said, taking a pen from his pocket and ticking the correct box. "Is that okay or do I need to resubmit the form?"

"This will be fine. Thank you for clearing up that misunderstanding, Jared."

"Not a problem, Principal Powers. I'll let Babel know the school's coordinates on the day," he added.

"Lovely. I look forward to meeting her," Principal Powers said, heading back to her office.

With that done, Jared headed back into the classroom where the students were sitting quietly and obviously eavesdropping. He hoped that Donny wouldn't repeat his thought about how that whole thing could have waited until after his class had finished.

"Okay, so: orgy. Thoughts?"

...

"Hey, this is the extra-curricular class, right?" Ritchie asked.

"No, Ritch, it's obviously the book club," Jewel snarked.

"Don't look at me; that was a stupid question," Grant said, rolling his eyes.

"Come on in. We're practising our stamina today," Layla called, waving them into the gym.

Figuring practising their powers was the general basis for the extra-curricular class, Layla and her friends had agreed to work on their stamina again, just in case things with Ritchie, Grant, and Jewel went pear-shaped and they reported what they were really doing to Principal Powers.

"Where's the teacher?" Ritchie asked as he entered with Jewel and Grant.

"We have a deal with Mr. Medulla, and Nurse Spex sleeps on the other days," Warren said from where he was lit up in flames.

"So, what do you want me to do?" Grant asked, approaching Warren curiously.

"Do you have any control over your power?" Ethan asked curiously, reforming from his puddle nearby and scaring the three newcomers.

"Yeah, some," Grant said.

"What do you do?" Craig asked, curiosity overcoming him.

"I can stop affecting others' powers. It doesn't last for long, though," Grant replied.

"That's why we're working on our stamina," Layla admitted with a smile. "Why don't you try with Warren?"

"Jewel, would you like to practise, too? I can get a dummy out for you," Wendy offered.

"Yeah, that'd be good. Thanks."

"Have you been able to lift elements yet, Ritchie?" Warren asked.

"Not yet," Ritchie said, sounding frustrated about the fact.

"Great, you can try to lift me. It won't hurt," Ethan added, then promptly melted down.

"What are you doing, Zach?" Grant asked.

"Seeing how long I can glow," he replied.

"Uh, I can't see anything," Ritchie said with a frown.

Zach grinned and brightened his glow up to a fierce flash.

"Never mind. Shit," Ritchie groaned, pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes.

Grant laughed and turned to Warren. "All right, how do you want to do this, Peace?"

"Do you need to be close by, or will that distance work?" Warren asked.

"This should be fine. In fact, you shouldn't be powered up right now; I haven't stopped my power yet," Grant added, frowning when Warren's flames continued.

"You'll have to try a bit harder than that," Warren replied with a smirk, folding his arms across his chest.

Grant grinned. "Is that a challenge?"

Across the gym, Layla laughed, her laughter being muffled by a cocoon of plants that sprung up to surround her.

"What on earth?" Jewel said incredulously. "Craig, what just happened?" she asked, looking to him.

Craig's form slipped from the Commander's almost instantly. "Uh... I don't know. I mean, I know. Layla's a plant super. She controls plants," he added, tripping over his words and tongue. "She's the one who created the apples for people last week, and saved the school last year by stringing Penny up by vines. I mean, if you didn't know that already. You probably knew that already," he added, his face turning red.

"I do know that. I just thought her power relied on having some actual plants or seeds nearby," Jewel said, sounding amused at Craig's flustering and blushing.

"Oh. Right. Um... The gym floor's made of wood?" Craig said weakly.

"Jewel, have you tried jewelling up someone else's power?" Adam called from his position on top of one of the five scrapyard cars Coach had brought up for him.

Jewel turned her attention to Adam. "How do you mean?"

Adam grinned and spat on a section of the car, ripping off the weakened section and carefully adding a layer of acid spit before sliding it along the floor to her.

"Right. I haven't tried, but let's see what happens," Jewel said, concentrating as she reached out for the odd-shaped section of metal and acidic spit.

In a matter of seconds, the metal was a sparkling jewel, and Adam's acidic spit was fighting against Jewel's power, neither gaining or losing an inch.

"Wow, you must have great control over your power, Adam. What do you think, Craig?" Jewel asked, turning only to find that he'd become a puddle like Ethan. "Okay... Can we try again?" she asked, heading over to Adam.

"Sure. I'll try a different acid this time," Adam said.

...

"All right, dude, sit down and spill," Adam said, setting his bag down and sitting on Craig's desk chair, pointing at the bed.

"Do you want some food? I want some food. I'm gonna go get some food," Craig said quickly, backing out of his bedroom.

"I will spit on you and your damn food if you don't tell me what the hell's going on," Adam warned.

Craig bit his tongue and let out a frustrated groan, closing his bedroom door and sitting on his bed. "Y'know how I went to Will's party as Jewel?"

"Yeah, that was part of the plan since we knew she wasn't going."

Craig nodded. "Yep. It was going fine until Jewel turned up."

"She ratted you out? Is that why you were at the Stronghold's early?" Adam asked.

"No, she didn't rat me out. Neither did Grant, who figured out I wasn't Jewel before she'd even arrived. They... they covered for me, and made sure I didn't get caught by Jetstream."

"Okay. That doesn't explain why you're acting like an idiot whenever they're around," Adam said pointedly.

Craig blushed and flopped back onto his bed, covering his face with his hands before mumbling his response.

"You're gonna have to repeat that, dude."

"They flirted with me. Both of them."

Adam sighed and shook his head. "You didn't do that weird pick-up line from Blue McQueen, did you?"

"No, I didn't even think of it. Besides, I couldn't shift with Grant, y'know, touching me 'n stuff."

"Where did he touch you? Do I need to call the counsellor?" Adam asked.

"Super Jesus, Adam, no. What the hell?" Craig asked as he sat up, seeing his friend calm and obviously waiting for him to sit up again.

"Why are you upset that they flirted with you? You're attracted to them, aren't you?"

"Yes. But... Dude, I only just admitted that I'm pan. I wasn't expecting two people to start flirting with me, like a week later."

"It's been more like a month," Adam replied. "Is it because it'd be a polyamorous relationship?"

"No? I don't know. I freaked, okay? They're both seniors, gorgeous, Grant's super smart and kind of an asshole as well, which apparently works for me? Then Jewel's snarky and she offered to keep putting little seeds of doubt in people's heads for me, and that's not exactly Hero stuff, so I just... I don't know what to do."

"Be yourself."

Craig shifted through three different forms in a matter of seconds. "Which one?"

"You, you dork. They obviously like you, though why's beyond me," Adam said, smirking. "Hell, if you're with Grant, you'll have to be yourself."

Craig swallowed hard at that and shook his head. "No way, dude. They can't like me-me. They've gotta like a different version of me. It doesn't make sense any other way."

"Dude, that doesn't make any sense. Grant likes you, Jewel likes you, they both like you-you. You're the only you there is," Adam said. "C'mon, if they liked any of the other versions of you, don't you think they'd ask those supers out instead? You've been nearly everyone at school, but they still only asked you."

Craig bit the inside of his cheek and shook his head. "Nah, dude. They were just screwing with me. That's all it was," he said firmly, getting up and leaving for the kitchen.

"You're being an idiot," Adam called after him.

Craig ignored his best friend, since he obviously didn't know what he was talking about.

...

"Do I look okay? Is my tie straight? Are you sure there's no sauce on my shirt?"

"Eth, calm down. You look amazing, okay? In fact, if we weren't doing this class, I'd be making out with you," Zach said, adding a few ASL signed words that made Ethan's eyes widen.

Adam recognised the signed words and wrinkled his nose at their meaning. "Dude, I hope you don't sign that in front of your sister."

Zach waved him off. "Nah, and if I'd known you knew what it meant, I wouldn't have signed it here either."

"Good, remember that next time," Adam said.

"Dude, what did he sign?" Craig asked, looking between Zach and Adam.

"I'll tell you when you're older."

"Asshole."

"You love me."

"Not the point, dude. Like, at all," Craig said.

"You're scarring the freshmen, Forge," Ritchie said, snickering.

"No, he's not," one of the freshmen said indignantly.

Grant reached forward to cuff Ritchie on the back of the head. "If you have a problem with something, say that; don't hide behind the freshmen."

Ritchie rubbed the back of his head. "Fine, it's weird that you're telling him you love him."

"Why?" Craig asked.

"'Cause you're friends. Right?"

"Yeah, what's your point?" Adam asked.

"You shouldn't be saying that shit."

Craig snorted and rolled his eyes. "Love you, Eth."

"Love you too, Craig," Ethan replied with a bright smile.

"See, who'd that hurt? No one, that's who."

"Love you, Adam," Zach called, waving at him like an idiot from across the room.

"Yeah, I love you too, you dork."

Zach laughed and blew a kiss his way. Craig dove in front of Adam, dramatically catching the kiss. "Hey, that wasn't meant for you!" Zach called.

"Oh, yeah? Well, what if I do this?" Craig said, smearing the caught 'kiss' on Donny's cheek, Donny laughing and pushing him away. "Aw, love you, Don."

"Ah, no, my kiss!" Zach cried out.

Ethan laughed and tugged Zach over the desk to kiss him. "There, better now?"

"Hmm, might need another one."

"Two minutes late and everyone's descended into mayhem," Layla said, shaking her head.

"Chaos, not mayhem," Warren said, grinning beside her. "What are you doing, Craig?"

"Spreading love," he said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Sounds contagious," Warren said, starting to cough a noise that sounded similar to 'love you'.

"I promised my mother she'd be meeting a well-behaved group of students. Are you making a liar out of me already?" Jared asked.

"No, Mr. Bowie," they chorused.

Warren and Layla hurried to sit down. Jared looked down the hallway and then left to guide his mother to the classroom.

"You don't need to hold my hand, Jared. I'm perfectly capable of walking on my own."

"I know. Maybe I just like holding your hand," Jared teased, kissing his mother's cheek before opening the classroom door wide. "Mother, my foreign language class. Class, this is my mother, Babel."

Ethan's eyes widened and he promptly melted. Beside him, Zach shook his head and toed at the puddle his boyfriend had become. "Sorry, Mr. Bowie. He's just really nervous."

"Why on earth is he nervous?" Babel asked.

"Ethan's a huge fan of yours," Zach said proudly.

"Oh, well, that's certainly nothing to be nervous about. Up you pop, then," Babel said.

Ethan reformed, looking like he was close to hyperventilating. "Pleasure to meet you, Babel."

"You too, young man. Please, call me Babs."

Ethan bubbled something unintelligible.

"C'mon, Eth. Breathe. In and out, there you go," Warren said, placing a hand on Ethan's shoulder to help warm and calm him.

"Sorry. I'm so sorry. This doesn't usually happen."

"Funny, that's exactly what Jared's father said on our wedding night."

Wendy burst out laughing, Jewel and Donny laughing as well, while Babel grinned and Jared looked like he had expected nothing less from his mother.

"All right, introductions. Name, power, hero or hero support," Babel said, pointing at each of them for their answer, all of the students responding in under ten minutes. "That was lovely. All perfect responses; it's exactly what I'd expect from this fine institution. Now, a different kind of introduction: your name, power, and when you're my age, what do you want to have achieved in your life?"

"Ethan, I melt, and... I don't know. Um, being a respected journalist?" he said, frowning in confusion.

"Good start. All right, what about you?" Babel asked, indicating to Grant.

"I'm Grant, I have immunity as a power, and I'd like to be in a loving relationship," he replied.

"That would certainly be an achievement," Babel said with a nod. "Okay, your turn."

"Warren, fire, and... change."

Babel tilted her head slightly at Warren's answer, obviously expecting more. "All right. Jared said you know ASL? Would you like to expand on your answer?"

Warren glanced to Layla, who gave a slight nod. The others didn't know what Warren would say, but it would be obvious it would be a different answer from the one he'd said aloud.

Signing his name and his power, Warren hesitated at the final answer. Changing the world.

Babel smiled and signed back. By domination?

Beside Warren, Layla signed, together.

Raising an eyebrow, Babel nodded. Good luck, she signed with all the knowledge of someone who had been dealing with the citizens' government system for most of her life and still hadn't been able to create much change, despite her initial intentions.

"What just happened?" Ritchie asked, looking between Warren and Layla, and Babel.

"Your turn," Babel said with a bright smile, nodding for Ritchie to answer.

...

"Thank you for the invite, Jared dear. I'm still invited to the barbecue, right? I didn't embarrass you too much for you to rescind the offer?" Babel asked, grinning at her son.

"No, the offer still stands. Better luck next time," Jared said with a grin of his own. "Are you going to tell me what that ASL thing was?"

"American Sign Language. They're using a local dialect of it, at least," Babel said, straightening his tie. "Come on, I'll drive you home. Yours or Sarah's?" she added.

"Sarah's, please. And you know I didn't mean about which dialect they were using."

"Hmm, yes, I know. Wasn't it nice of those young children to start petitioning the UN on my behalf? Admittedly, it would be lovely to have some more super help against some of the UN representatives. Greedy bastards," Babel muttered, heading through the school and to the parking lot where her jet-powered car was parked.

Knowing that he'd never get an answer from his mother when she was like this, Jared just sighed and followed her out to her car.

...

"You guys realise you're not the only ones that know ASL, right?" Grant asked.

"What do you mean?" Layla asked with a smile.

Beside her, Warren tensed and readied to power up.

Grant rolled his eyes. "Oh, calm down. I'm not going to do anything stupid. I want in."

"Same," Jewel said.

"What? Why?" Craig asked, suddenly feeling as though they might have wanted him for this, for an in with Layla and Warren, not for him.

"Neither of us have ever played Save the Citizen, we're shunned by most of the students at Sky High because of our powers, and we can't pass for normal in the citizens' world," Jewel said.

"We don't want normal, or if we do, then we want to remake us as normal," Grant added. "There's nothing wrong with us," he said firmly.

There was a moment of silence at Grant and Jewel's announcements, the roar of the rocket exhausts the only noise heard at the back of the bus.

"All right. What about you, Ritchie?" Warren asked.

He shrugged. "I don't care, but I'm not going to do something stupid, either. I'm pretty sure at least three of you would kill me," Ritchie said.

"Which three?" Ethan asked curiously.

"Wendy, Warren, and Zach."

"Me?" Zach asked in surprise.

"Yeah. That light flash thing you did last week killed my eyes for hours, man. If you did a full blast, I'd probably be blind. And, I don't know, you might push me off the edge of the school or something."

"Thanks for the idea," Zach said, laughing when Ritchie paled.

"So, are we in, or is there some sort of initiation rite we need to go through to prove our undying loyalty?" Grant asked, grinning.

Layla laughed. "Not yet, but we'll think of something."

"Dude, you okay?" Adam asked Craig quietly.

"Fine," Craig said shortly, unclipping his belt and going to the back so he could cuddle Warren.

"You tired again?" Warren asked, curling an arm around his shoulders.

"Yeah."

Donny didn't say anything about Craig's lie, caught up in Craig's memory of his father yelling at him when he was ten years' old to be normal, be normal like your sister, why couldn't he just be normal like everyone else? So, Craig became just like everyone else.

We don't want normal, Grant had said.

Craig couldn't believe that Grant had meant it. Everyone wanted normal.

...

"All right, hippie. We're doing this together," Warren said firmly.

"Doing what?" Layla asked, confused and surprised at being interrupted in the middle of her homework.

"Growing the trees for AAA. I don't want you worn out again; you almost fainted last time."

"Okay."

"Wait, what?" Warren said in surprise; he'd expected more of an argument.

"It's a good idea," Layla said, kissing his cheek. "I'd love your help, thank you, Warren."

"Okay then. You're not going to go out and grow them without telling me, are you?"

Layla shook her head. "No. I'm still waiting for Patrick to get back to me about the plot of land and types of trees. I don't want to grow elm if he needs oak, or something like that."

"Good point. Well, let me know when he does tell you."

"I will. How did you go with Mad Science last year? I'm still having difficulty with the vat of household chemicals. I'm sure I'm missing something," Layla said, showing Warren the piece of paper.

"Window cleaner?" Warren suggested.

"Oh, that will work. Thank you," Layla said, kissing his cheek.

"Does that mean you're finished with your homework?" he asked.

"All done," she replied.

"Good, because if I remember correctly, we were meant to be celebrating my birthday," Warren teased, drawing her in for a deep kiss.

... ...

"It's my birthday, why are you being such a bitch?" Will asked, glaring.

"I'm not! I'm not being a bitch, Will, I just asked you a question! We had a date yesterday and you didn't show up!" Magenta said.

"You didn't have to ask in front of everyone like that!"

"It was three people! Two were your parents! Larry already knew, since he was there with his girlfriend and saw me getting stood up!" she replied, incredulous that he was being so ridiculous about this; she'd just asked him a question.

Will sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know what date you're talking about, Magenta. I was doing homework last night."

"So, what, you spaced out on our date?"

"No!"

"So you just didn't show up?"

"There was no date to show up to! I don't even like Chinese food."

Magenta bit her cheek and turned away, hating how her eyes stung with tears. This morning, Will had admitted he had no idea what her favourite meal was at the Paper Lantern, and now he was saying they hadn't even agreed to go on a date, even though he'd been the one to ask her.

"Do you even want to date me?" she asked, her voice small.

"Of course I do. I like spending time with you and, uh, making out with you," Will said, resting a hand on her shoulder and caressing her skin gently. "Come on, come to bed. We'll make out and you'll feel better."

"I don't want to, Will. I'm upset with you," Magenta said, shrugging his hand off her.

"I thought you loved me?"

"I... I do. I can still be upset with you."

Will pressed a kiss to her shoulder. "Come on, Maj. We'll both feel better if we make out for a while. Or do you hate me now?"

"I don't hate you, Will," Magenta protested feebly.

"Feels like you do," he said, pulling away.

A sudden fear clenched at her that Will would break up with her. She did love him, so why was she being so stubborn? Making out was fun, it was easy, she could still be upset with him even if they made out, right? Then Will would know that she still loved him, that she didn't hate him. The memory of being alone every day on the bus made Magenta feel cold; if she didn't have Will, she'd be all alone again. Larry wouldn't pay any attention to her, and Ben and Lisa were too wrapped up in each other to notice her.

Licking her lips nervously, Magenta turned and looked Will. "I don't hate you, Will."

"You'd make out with me if you really loved me. You can't love me if you hate me," Will said with a pout, not looking as though he believed her words.

Actions spoke louder than words, right?

Magenta ignored the feeling of nausea in her stomach and moved to kiss Will, to prove that she loved him.

... ...

"Did you hear about Blue McQueen?"

"What's going on, hippie?" Warren asked, frowning when he realised that everyone on the bus seemed to be talking about the same thing across aisles and seats, rather than the usual clique- or homework-specific conversations.

"Blue McQueen did an interview with Labyrinth for the The Commander and Jetstream vs. King Kamehamayhem remake movie. She said the director pressured her into having sex with him and the studio tried to pay for her silence. It's sparked a huge online following. Other actors and actresses are saying the same director or the studio's done the same thing with them, and everyday citizens and supers are relating their own experiences."

"Super Jesus," Warren muttered, reading some of the messages on Layla's phone over her shoulder. "Jetstream and the Commander won't want that sort of publicity for their new movie, will they?"

"No, they won't. I'm hoping they'll actually say something useful. They could positively change the stigma around people coming forward with these sorts of stories; people would be believed, rather than being attacked and called a slut or whore," Layla added in distaste.

"What?" Warren snarled.

Layla handed her phone over so he could see the replies some of the stories had resulted in. "I've already got Adam working on them, but there's so many. It's depressing," she admitted.

Warren scrolled through the responses, feeling his hand heating at the words and accusations people were slinging without thought for the people at the other end. Layla received a message in the group chat and Warren handed her phone back before he melted it. He shook his hand out to cool it before taking his own phone out to read the message.

"It's audio. Adam said to listen to it with headphones," Layla said, digging in her bag to pull out a pair of earbuds. She offered one to Warren and pressed play when they were both ready.

On realising what they were actually hearing, Layla lit up in flames, her earbuds destroyed in a flash. Beside her, Warren hurried to put the flames out, though he felt like doing the exact same thing himself.

Thanks to Ethan's microphone water drops throughout the Stronghold house, they could hear Will pressuring Magenta into making out with him, and then going further.

"I'm going to throw him off the edge of the school," Layla snapped.

"You can't, hippie. He flies, remember?" Warren muttered, holding her hand to keep her power tamped down. "We can, however, do something else."

Layla turned to him, her eyes bright green. "Tell me."

...

End of the sixty-third chapter.