Chapter 4.

The second day at school was one that I had self dubbed "slacker day" for myself. Every second day at Sky High the morning was filled entirely by one period, for the senior heroes it happened to be Save The Citizen which I was indefinitely excused from. Preparing myself for an hour of spectatorship I dumped my bag on the nearest bleacher and stretched out. This didn't seem so bad either, Save The Citizen was never quite my cup of tea given that I was lacking in the offensive powers department. The most I could do as drive people crazy and it was more entertaining to secretly give Boomer mood swings than to practice on my peers.

I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, relaxing. My eye lids were lit up an orangey-pink by the overhead lights, till a shadow overcame them. I my eyes squinted open to see what the disturbance was and I got a front row view of Boomers too tight shorts. Ew. He was towering over me and bent down to speak, sticking his butt up in the air. I almost felt worse for the people behind me. Almost.

"TRAVERS" he bellowed. There was a terribly ringing in my ears, I think I lost the ability to hear a few decibels of sound.

"Yes sir?"

"Why are you taking up space in my gymnasium?"

"Uh... I don't know?" What else did he expect me to do? I wasn't allowed to go anywhere without Warren, and as much as I resented it I was not stupid enough to break the rules on my first day of class.

"Report to Mr. Boy Travers, and make it snappy! This school does not run on your schedule."

And with that I was escorted out of the gym and into a predicament. Warren had not followed me out of the gymnasium and if I was caught out by myself then I should get used to idea of myself in orange. Also, I had no idea who the hell this 'Mr. Boy' was. The name almost sounded a bit perverted... I knew Boomer got a real kick out of punishing students and watching them get beaten down/humiliated so the idea that I was supposed to find some guy with a pimp name made it seem like Boomer had set me up more than anything else.

I stood outside the doors to the gymnasium wondering exactly what I should do when some skittish old guy walked up to me. He was wearing a blue and yellow sweater vest and khaki slacks, I instantly knew he was a teacher and was shocked that I hadn't met him before.

"Excuse me miss, are you Lilly Travers?" he asked, staring at me with a skeptical eye. It was almost as if he had expected me to be labeled 'criminal' for his easy identification.

"Yes," I responded icily. So typical, only my name was famous, half the people here wouldn't be able to recognize me from the next senior hero. Unlike, Gwen I still had to carve a face for myself here.

"Well then, Coach Boomer called me down, said you were on your way headed over to my room and I thought I'd show you the way." He gestured for me to follow him as he started heading in an unfamiliar direction.

"So what exactly are we going to be doing in your, uh, room?" I asked warily.

He looked at me surprised, "Didn't anyone tell you? You will be aiding in my Sidekick Power Development and Weapons Training Classes."

"Excuse me?"

Mr. Boy had set me up in front of the freshman sidekick class and asked me to introduce myself, I think my facial expression might have given him a hint of what I may have been about to say, because he decided to do the job for me. As he introduced me to the class, which was fairly small, I saw most of the kids looking distinctly intimidated or curious, only one pair of eyes differed. It was the purple girl from lunch. Her eyes met my gaze and she gave me a hard glare. I wasn't quite sure what I had done to offend her so much besides trying to turn her into a baby.

It bothered me that I cared so much about how my peers perceived me. Why should I care? The reality was the majority of my graduating class would be sidekicks, who would pose no threat to me what-so-ever. Heroes were few and far between, even in powers were passed down through lineage they usually got diluted somewhere so some kid ended up with a lame version of their parents power. Because heroes were so rare, it reasoned that we would all think we were above everyone else.

The majority of heroes that sky high produced did behind the scenes work, or were only famous in the locale that they were assigned too, few made international headlines like The Commander and Jetstream. The job of the more public heroes mostly consisted of looking good and giving citizens something to believe in. Many of the students that were at this school wouldn't ever put anything of theirs on the line for a complete stranger if they couldn't brag about it for weeks after, they didn't care about saving people. Maybe it was this hypocrisy that bothered me; the fact that I was being looked down on for refusing to follow a system that most people didn't even believe in, much less choose.

This brought me back to an idea that had kept popping in and out of my head since I knew I was coming back Sky High. With Gwen currently AWOL the position for sheep herder was open. Regardless of how much they disliked me they couldn't argue with logic, if I could find a way to twist their hero logic on them, then maybe I could subtly convert them to the villainy side, my side...

"Okay everyone, you are in your groups and you have your equipment so you may begin to practice now." Mr. Boy called out. He looked over and me and gestured for me to circle around like he was. At least this way I could look like I was helping while actually minimizing my interaction with the sidekicks, I wouldn't need them to take over the world. Then again, they would probably be the easiest group to convince since they could be so effortlessly tempted by promises of power that had been previously withheld from them.

Once again, my thoughts strayed to the purple girl. If I could get her then I could use not only for the other sidekicks, but eventually for Stronghold, the ultimate recruitment. I'd be doing exactly what Gwen was, except more sneaky, I'd be taking over the place from the inside out.

The room showed the clear dichotomy between the hero track and the sidekick. While the Hero class would practice in the gymnasium with state of the art equipment he sidekicks were in the basement of the school practising on a dirt floor with gym mats laid out sporadically, and had to dig their protective gear out of a worn bin to the side. The lighting was dim, and frequently flickered giving the room the appearance of a cave or hideout, than a classroom.

As I walked around and observed the sidekicks it struck me at how good at hand to hand combat they actually were. Granted, the moment I stepped within 5 meters of a group they'd freeze up and withdraw but within themselves they could put up a fight. The most striking observation was when I saw that purple girl.

Lunge, lunge, feint, strike.

She had good form but she was far too aggressive; an almost perfect foil for her partner who I recognized as that Zach kid who I was staying with. This brought unpleasant memories of a sunshine yellow house and a white picket fence from the day before. Thankfully I had managed to avoid him, and his family who I assumed would be just as heroically decrepit by shutting myself into the room I was given and immediately falling asleep. I could only hope to be so lucky again after school today.

My focus shifted to Zach, he was dodging, ducking, and not much else, he actually seemed to not want to hit her at all. I scoffed, I hoped he knew that statistically, on the off chance he was partnered with a hero on active look-good-for-the-cameras-and-save-someone duty that he would be in the position requiring him to hit a girl, since there was a starling amount of females villains in comparison to males - hell hath no fury and all that. I couldn't begin to fathom his reluctance to actively fight back, especially since his partner seemed more than eager to beat him into a bloody pulp. Some group tension? Perhaps this would be a good opportunity for myself to pound into the little divisions that had formed in Stronghold's group.

As if I needed any other reason Mr. Boy strode amiably up to me, within the last hour or so his fear of me had dramatically decreased. I wondered if it was because he was always this cheerful and optimistic, or just an idiot. Whatever the reason, I resented him for it. What good was my homecoming stunt if people were going to look past it within days? I recalled the purple girl and her glare, hoping that at least some people knew how to hold a proper grudge.

"You know, you are able to assist the students in this class, maybe you could work with Zach." He suggested.

Damn. I had been setting my sights on teaching a lesson to the purple girl, it would be interesting at the least to see how I would fare in a battle where I could manipulate an opponents fears and desires to my advantage. Her blood lust and training versus my expertise? I still think I would come out on top.

Mr. Boy made a waving motion with his hand Zach and Magenta broke apart. Magenta gave me dirty look as she shrugged off her wrist gloves and threw them at then joined the growing number of sidekick spectators. I had a feeling that I knew who they would all be rooting for.

"Okay kids we have a special demonstration by our new teaching aid." Boy called out, "Lilly will demonstrate hand to hand combat with Zach. Now the rules are hold down, or tap out. No knock outs here, and keep it clean you two." He said this last bit with a pointed look in my direction. I smirked, maybe not so forgettable after all. I slipped on the gloves, and walked up to Zach. Disappointed he didn't balk he took his stance but sent a curious look my way.

"Look I know Will told me you guys fight with powers in your classes, I am kind of the best at this... I don't really want to hurt you. You can back out now." He said this all under his breath, as if he were trying to spare my feelings. I was more than insulted by his offer, there were so many things wrong with it. His assumption that he would be able to beat me was somewhat ridiculous. What really took the cake though, was that he seemed completely sincere in his offer, like I was the type of person to back out of a fight.

"Didn't seem that way to me when I watched you get mopped by that girl before." I retorted. He screwed up his face and shook his platinum hair. Offer retracted.

Mr. Boy was instructing the class that this was a bipartisan event and there as going to be a zero tolerance level of booing and jeering for me. Naturally, as soon as he stepped aside and waved an arm down for us to begin, the booing and jeering started. Perhaps Zach really was the best in the class, I doubted that had I been a regular students he would have deserved the amount of fanfare he was receiving if he wasn't.

All the jeering did nothing to affect me, the sounds were neutralized in my head. Similar to swimming, you can't hear what is not in the water. Zach clearly thought I possessed a limited mental capacity since he took a defensive stance immediately expecting me to spring at him, which would have been a beginner's mistake. I just smiled sweetly, and sway on spot, I lifted my arms and position them like a boxer would at the beginning of a fight. Tricking him into thinking I was an amateur was going to be half the fun, the rest would come when he was lying on his back. The crowd fell for my theatrics as they began to bob and scream "Get her! Get her!" at Zach, the circle of bodies moved in closer to form a human barrier, enclosing us in a ring. I wonder if this is what all 'demonstrative matches' were like, or if the set-up was explicitly for my benefit.

Zach had tired of waiting and began to advance towards me, since I as already a little bruised I thought I'd let him get a little in. I was completely taken a back when he got in more than a little. Faster than I thought possible he struck the left side of my head, a semi-hard strike since he use the side of open hand, and again on the left, two quick hits and he sprang. He caught my neck in the crook of his elbow and his legs swept mine off the floor, he released me so I spin onto my ass. I stuck out my leg and land gracefully in a crouch then straightened back into my swaying position. This time when he advance towards me I caught his arms and pulled him forward, when his body was flush against mine I elbowed him hard in the ribs and felt him gasp for air then I spun him in the same moved he failed to execute earlier. When he got up I advanced he raised his arms to cover his chest but I got a two good right hooks in at his jaw before I twisted to kick at him, he dodged by ducking and I landed my foot and swung my arm out. The last blow knocked him on his back to the crowd. They began to help him up but he waved them off and smacked his fist on the mat. Tap out.

Our spectators quickly dispersed into their practicing groups, doing more gossiping than practicing I was sure. Mr. Boy dismissed Zach and I to the showers, by the time I was ready to come out the class was being dismissed and I meandered my way over to Zach and Magenta who had already began to ascend the stairs to the upper levels. His damp hair fell into his eyes and I see the beginnings of a bruise on his jaw line. I had could tell a huge bump would form on my head, and already I could feel a killer headache coming on. The couple in front had their heads ducked together conversing, a far different sight than their sparring match earlier. Hmm couple? I wondered. As I pondered the romantic ties of sidekicks the purple one turned her head toward me, but this time she wasn't glaring, more assessing. She looked like she was taking inventory of all my strengths, weaknesses... I smiled condescendingly despite the acute pressure building behind my left eye and then shoved through the two and ahead of them, my ponytail swinging with each bounce in my step.

As I followed Warren through the halls and drifted through my afternoon classes I could catch whispers that even the Senior Heroes had caught onto about my sparring session. I found extremely entertaining that the rumours spanned such a large scale of accuracy. Clearly some of the information had not been passed on by an eye witness.

Look there she is!

I heard she beat that sophomore to a pulp.

Can't have been that hard, he was just a freshman

No way, he hangs with Stronghold, he helped take down Grayson.

Do you think I could take her?

I was able to maintain a cheerful attitude for the rest of my classes. There was nothing more empowering than coming out on top of a fight. This was just as good as Save the Citizen, in some ways better even.

My good mood lasted till I was climbing off the bus off the bus with Zach he bid the nerd herd goodbye, and I learned the name of that purple clad girl, Magenta. As we walked to his house I could see him blatantly staring at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Do have something you'd like to say, sidekick?" I asked coolly.

"Look, that thing in Power Development? Don't let it get to your head. I was just taking it easy on you." He smiled an lop sided grin at me, and reached out to tug on my ponytail. I ducked away from his hand.

What the hell? Who was he to tell me what I could and could not let into my head, I fumed. Maybe he needed a repeat of today's class before we got to his house. As if he knew what I was thinking he picked up his stride hurrying to his house. As we neared it I spotted no car in his doorway, thank you for small miracles, his parents weren't home. I had no problems beating him within the walls of that yellow monstrosity he called a house so I allowed him to lead me through the gate, up the path, and past the doorway.

Once inside his house I made my intentions clear, "do you really think that I couldn't beat you?"

"Look I don't want to get into it okay?" He deposited his bag by the door and I did the same before following him through the kitchen and into the den, it was pretty big, open, and perfect.

"And what if I do?"

Zach turned and we face each other, he looked at me sceptically. My hands were on my hips and my head cocked to the side, an arrogant stance.

He walked up to me and I had to look up to see his face, he was about a foot taller than me. "Why do you want to fight so badly?"

"I just want to clear you of the mistaken impression that I couldn't beat you."

He snorted. Before another word could leave my lips I was on my ass with the wind knocked out of me. Ouch. Zach leaned over me with amused eyes, once he saw I was okay he headed back towards the kitchen.

My ribs were bruising, my head was throbbing and now my pride was shattered.

"You know that wasn't a fair fight!" I whined after him.

I could hear Zach guffaw as he moved around in the kitchen.

"I thought villains didn't care" he called back.

Damn.

A/N: Wow long time no see. Sorry about the wait, really, this chapter is inspired by Rhianna's Disturbia - actually that might be the perfect songs for this entire story. So, I've done it before and I was just wondering, why do we disclaimers here? It's called fanfiction for a reason.

All the music for Oily Marks, and character pictures for both stories have been moved to my website. It's all renovated so check itout.