Disclaimer: Okay, fine, I don't own Sky High. I only said I did to look cool, alright? Gawd, you ruin everything.

Seeds of Discontent

It was early afternoon, but the welcoming sunlight of the Sao Paulo sky was obstructed by the long curtains pulled over the window. A soft, gently floral-scented breeze wafted through the open window, slightly billowing the curtains, and Will sighed. He had been sitting on the hard hotel bed for hours now, watching his cell phone for any sign of movement or sound. It lay still on the nightstand, mocking him with its silent, shiny motionlessness.

Two nights ago the figurative bomb had been dropped on all of the international news venues. When the Stronghold Three arrived at their next destination, he was mortified to discover that even the Brazillian news channels had been running the story about him and his new "lady love" non-stop. He had hardly spoken to his parents since he caught sight of the headline on the front page of the local paper yesterday morning, and they were starting to get worried.

The night the story aired, Ethan had texted him asking if he was going to call Layla, Zach had texted him asking when he was calling Layla, Magenta had sent him a text telling him he needed to call Layla, and Warren sent him a message that simply read "Call her now, you idiot."

He decided not to answer whenever anyone's but Layla's number registered on his caller ID, just in case she might be calling at the same time that he was responding to his friends. After a long wait, he realized that this was probably being more than a little neurotic, and resolved to suck it up and face the consequences. Last night, he'd tried to call her. She didn't answer the first try, nor on the other six after that. He left messages on her voice mail, telling her that it was a misunderstanding, it only looked like he was returning the kiss, it wasn't his fault.

It felt like the deja vu that nightmares were made of. Once again, he'd gone and broken Layla's heart with another girl, and she didn't even want to speak to him. Except this time, he knew that he wasn't the bad guy.

Yesterday afternoon, he'd received a text message from a number he didn't recognize. When he tried to call the number back, no one would pick up. It wasn't the suspicious circumstances that alarmed him; it was the content of the message.

All is fair in love and war - and it looks like Warren wants a piece of your girlfriend. Hurry home.

And so he sat, staring at the phone, waiting for Layla to call him.

It was a lie, of course. Of course. For one, Warren had never really been interested in Layla that way. Their whole "dating" game they played last year was a hoax, designed to hurt him, and to get his attention. But they were just friends. Their relationship was platonic, just like his and Warren's. Just like his and Layla's used to be.

Just like you and Layla used to be.

"Will, honey, you want lunch?" called his mother from outside. Will stood up and dejectedly pulled aside the curtains to reveal Jetstream hovering outside his hotel room window, one story off of the ground.

Josie Stronghold noticed with concern that her son's eyes were red, he was still in his pajamas, and his shoulders were slumped. He looked completely bed-wraggled and disconnected.

"The hotel staff have offered to make us lunch, and your father's going to be grilling the chicken for the enchiladas. They're setting the table on the gazebo right now. Should be delicious-"

"I'm not really hungry, mom," muttered Will, and began to block her out with the curtains.

Josie swept the curtains aside, and stepped into his hotel room. "Will, you've been like a ghost the last few days. We hardly see you, and when we do, it's like you're not even there. Please, just come down and have lunch with us."

"I'd rather not, mom. Every time I try to eat with that ski-mask on, crumbs get stuck to it around my mouth. It makes me look like a scruffy Power Ranger."

Josie remained upbeat. "Well, then I can bring you a plate, and we can have lunch in here, just the two of us," she suggested. "We haven't done that in quite a while. Besides, your father loves having a devoted crowd all to himself."

Will shook his head, and returned to his position of sitting on the edge of the bed, watching his phone. "Thanks, but I'm not hungry."

Recognizing that she was waltzing dangerously close to nagging territory, Jetstream changed tactics. "Honey, you've got to stop beating yourself up over what happened the other day. Layla will understand."

Will lowered his head into his hands. "She won't even answer her phone, mom."

Josie laid a gentle hand on her son's shoulder. "Then there's nothing else you can do. Something like this, you just have to give a girl some time to think. Trust me, if Layla's as good of a girlfriend to you as she always was a friend," Will nodded vigorously, still holding his head, "then she'll see through all of the media hype, and remember the sweet boy who's had a crush on her since the second grade."

Will's head snapped up, hinting for the first time all morning that a spark of life remained within him. "Mom! I didn't like Layla then." His tone had the annoyed teenager whine that only a mother could bring about when mentioning a potential crush.

Josie made a lame attempt to hide her smile. "Of course you did, honey, You just didn't know it yet. A mother can tell these things."

Will faintly shook his head, as if fighting off her attempt to brighten his spirits. "It doesn't matter now."

With a sigh, Josie sat down next to Will on the edge of the bed. She pulled him to her with an arm slung across his back so that he rested his head on her shoulder. "Did you know that this exact same thing has happened to your father and I?"

"Hm-mm," responded Will weakly in the negative.

"Oh, yes. It happens to the best of us, I'm afraid. People find Superheroes so darn charismatic, they don't think about how kissing their rescuer will effect that hero's secret identity. Not to mention their secret identity's significant other. And since Layla's never struck me as the hypocritical type, you shouldn't worry. She's so pretty, Will, that I'm sure she'll have to turn down her fair share of over-grateful civilians herself, Sidekick or not."

"What?!" Will awoke from his lethargy in an instant. "Whaddya mean?"

"It's just an occupational hazard, honey. Women in the hero biz have a bit more to fight off than the typical male hero," Josie explained patiently. "As an extreme example, take most Supervillains. Nine out of ten times, they target the person whom their archenemy loves. If the girl or boy happens to be involved in crimefighting too, that's like hitting the lottery. Two birds, one stone."

Pulling himself away from his mom, Will stood up and started pacing around the room again. "But you and dad are fine. You guys deal with it, so it can't be that big of a deal."

"That's because we always looked out for each other. We'd made a commitment. But some Supervillains become fixated, and make it their mission in life to possess the Superheroine who they believe they "love." It can get very messy, and usually ends badly," lamented Jetstream, eyes distant. "The politically correct term for it is called the Hades Syndrome. Sky High offers a class on it for students in their Senior year. You should take it, if you're still interested," Josie offered with an encouraging smile.

Will went still, then turned to his mother thoughtfully. "Is that what happened with Warren's parents?"

Josie sighed, and shook her head sadly. "I wish. No, their relationship was something else. Those two had real love between them, which only made things worse. A Supervillain stalker is one thing, but living with the fact that the man you love is also a dangerous criminal who you've sworn to bring to justice? I can't even imagine the kinds of painful emotional and ethical issues a woman wrestles with, knowing that."

"Hmm. Glad I'm a good guy," pondered Will.

"I'm sure that Layla agrees," Josie said with a grin.

Will threw himself backwards across the bed, nearly knocking his mother off. "Sorry. I just don't know how to deal when she won't talk to me."

"I know it won't make you feel any better, but you've just got to give her time, hun. I promise that things will work themselves out." Josie smoothed his bangs with her fingers, then got up and headed for the window. "If your stomach decides it's feeling empty and alone, come on down and have lunch with us, okay, Will?"

Will grunted in response. Soon he was left alone again, with only his anxiety-ridden thoughts to keep him company. He glanced at his phone on the nightstand with one eye open, even though he knew that it was pointless. The sheets felt cool under his arms, and the ceiling was a comforting shade of white oblivion. With no recourse left, Will closed his eyes, and waited.

"I can't believe she blew you off like that, man," lamented Zach, shaking his head pityingly at Warren, who was brooding on the front steps of the school.

Warren was focusing intently on a stark white sheet of paper in his hand, and didn't respond.

"I can't believe she didn't show up today," added Magenta. She took a seat beside Warren (quickly followed by Zach, who sat on the other side of her), while Ethan stood awkwardly, unsure of whether or not he was welcome to sit next to Warren. Finally, he moved to the other side of Warren, and sunk down beside him. Other students passed them on their way to class, going by unnoticed by the group.

"And Will won't even text back to say he knows that the news channels are showing it on TV. Layla must have heard about it, even though we tried to keep the whole thing under wraps," decided Zach. "She hardly said a word on the bus trip home yesterday."

"I tried calling her late last night to see how she was, but she wouldn't pick up. Even when she and Will are oceans apart, they still manage to exhibit the exact same irritating behavior," snarked Magenta. "It's like they're a match made in some annoying place where no one knows how to use a phone."

"It figures that Will leaves, and everything goes straight down the toilet," Ethan grouched, arranging his limbs so that they mirrored Warren's slouched, careless posture.

"I guess you would know, huh, Ethan, being the expert on swirlies and all," ribbed Zach, and stood up to stretch, his arms thrown over his peroxide blond head. "I dunno about you guys, but I'm not gonna let Will and Layla's relationship problems rust this playa's silver lining."

Magenta scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"We've got bigger problems, anyway," intoned Warren, speaking for the first time since they'd met him on the front steps. "Read this." He handed the paper he had been pouring over to Magenta.

"Hmm? Ohhhkaay... The computer virus? ...But why would-!? Wha - just because you were "unaccounted for" at lunch, they think you did it? Oh, they can't be serious!" exclaimed Magenta angrily. "When did they give you this?"

"My mother found it in the mail this morning after she got home from her double shift. You should have seen her face. It was awesome," Warren deadpanned sarcastically. "Gotta love a school with its own emergency overnight postal system. Who needs Fed-Ex when you've got mecha carrier-pigeons rigged with laser beams?"

Magenta glared down at the paper like it had spit on her, and shoved the letter across Warren to Ethan. "Can you believe this?!"

Ethan scanned the paper, adjusted his glasses and looked closer, then passed it back to Warren. "So what does that mean, exactly?"

"What does what mean?" Zach asked, and was ignored.

"It means that they think that I'm the one who used Will's ID to plant the virus," Warren replied, watching the space between his feet.

"Well, you can't blame them. It was obviously you, considering that you're the technological genius who's holding a grudge against Will, and has a history of trying to drop the school out of the sky," said Magenta darkly.

"That's not Warren," stated Zach in confusion, frowning.

Ethan gasped. "Gwen!"

Zach jumped and glanced around. "Where!?"

"Would you sit down and stop being an idiot?!" commanded Magenta, and pulled Zach down next to her by the hem of his shirt. "No more coffee. It's bad for your health. And I mean that in the most threatening way possible."

"I don't think so," disagreed Warren. "There's too many strings being pulled at once for Gwen to be the only puppeteer."

"You think that she's working with someone?" asked Ethan, his eyes wide and frightened.

"Someone inside the school... of course. Gwen has an accomplice," Magenta muttered, and shook her head. "But who would help her? Is there even anyone left in this school who doesn't love Will?"

Warren's jaw clenched in grim recognition. "Maybe one. And that's not counting all of the people still around who hate me," he sneered. "One of the perks of being a Supervillain's son: you're always guilty until proven innocent."

"Man, that sucks and is not okay," Zach said sympathetically.

"Well, we've gotta do something!" announced Ethan, right before the five-minute warning bell went off.

"Can't," said Warren, who stood up abruptly, and started for the front doors behind them. "I get to be locked in the detention center all day to make sure that I'm not going to get impatient with the virus, and just decide to roast everybody instead." He walked away from them, not looking back. "If you hear from Layla, let me kn- " recalling that communication was impossible in the Detention Center, Warren amended his request. "... Just tell her I said hi."

His friends watched him go sadly, then turned back around to immediately work on a plan.

"Okay. I have an idea," informed Magenta. "But we're going to have to split up."

"Sounds serious. To be safe, we'd better have teams. Me and Magenta on one, and Ethan on the other," suggested Zach, in an innocent voice that no one was buying.

"No, that's not gonna work," decided Magenta, before Ethan had the chance to react.

"Ha! Looks like you're the odd man out, Zach," Ethan bragged proudly. "Magenta and I can be a team, and you get to be alone."

Magenta cut off Zach's response. "No, that's not gonna work either."

"What?!" exclaimed Zach and Ethan at the same time.

"I need you guys to work together on this. You get the easy job; I'm the one who has to convince Layla to crawl out of bed."

"What can Layla do?" asked Ethan.

"What do we get to do?" inquired Zach.

Magenta smirked slyly. "It's pretty insane. You sure you wanna know?"

If anything, Zach only became more excited. "Are you kidding? We only live once. And therapy is way more common than people think. Hit me."

Ethan looked on nervously.

"We're going to pay a visit to Gwen Grayson."

Idiots.

It was kind of irritating how they thought that they could make a difference. Walking by unnoticed had been surprisingly easy, considering that Warren had that creepy proximity-sensing habit of his. He must have been distracted over the little reprimand he'd received from the school.

Big, bad Warren. Not so scary when it came to getting into trouble with his mommy, was he?

His precious Sidekicks thought they could bail him out by scraping together what little brain cells they had, and formulating some primitive excuse for a plan.

Fine. Let them try. They couldn't save him.

He'd dug his own grave long ago. If you force people to see you as a villain for long enough, sooner or later they're going to start believing you.

The school didn't trust him, his peers feared him, and there was no Will Stronghold around to show them the light.

And if all went well, by the time Will got back, he would be the first in line to condemn his backstabbing former friend.

Warren Peace was going down in flames.

Author's Notes: Yikes. Finally, a new chapter. I originally was going to make it much longer, but it was starting to take a while and I felt bad that I hadn't updated. The next chapter is over a third done, and will be much funnier than this one. In fact, it's one of the reasons I wanted to write this story in the first place. I hope this teeny transitional chapter will tide you over for a while longer. Also, Sao Paulo is actually one of the richest cities on the planet, but I like how it sounded, so the Stronghold Three are staying there for the day instead of some dilapidated hut in a third world county. They are celebrities, afterall...

Anyway, thanks for reading, and don't forget to review! Will Will find his way back into Layla's heart? Is Warren going to take the fall of his high school career (along with the school building itself)? Can I ever find a way for Zach's power to be useful? Oh, and has Gwen Grayson changed her hair?! Find out in the next installment! Or perhaps the one after that, I'm not sure yet!