Apparently the time spent lecturing Zach, which turned out to be much longer than the half hour Alex predicted, had satisfied Layla's environment rampage. She had restrained herself from scolding unsuspecting students all throughout their first class in Mr. Boy's room. Which Alex was undoubtedly grateful for, as she sat next to her in 'Hero Support'. Now, exiting from her second class of the day, Alex was in an extra good mood. She had beaten out each and every other student in the classroom by getting the fastest time for putting together a heat ray. Not only that, but Medulla had given her extra credit for constructing a ray that functioned wonderfully despite its speedy assembly.
Alex had been placed in a rather complex schedule earlier that year. While in power placement, she had stoutly refused to be sorted into a category, even though she was going to be in the hero group. She had stood with her arms crossed defiantly as Coach Boomer tried his usual ways of intimidating protesting students. No matter how powerfully he yelled though, he couldn't so much as waver Alex's practiced stubbornness. Eventually it was settled that she would partake in both level's classes. As she put it, the best of both worlds.
At any rate, Alex's hyperactive energy was obviously irritating Will. He sat next to her in Hero classes, and needless to say had not been as successful with the heat ray assignment. As Alex skipped merrily (and backwards) down the hallway, he groaned.
"Could you calm yourself for a few minutes, by any chance?" he asked, already knowing what the answer would be.
"Nope! That, my friend, would be impossible. Or maybe improbable. But not really either when you think about it, because I just don't want to!" With that said, she waited with an amused look as Will sorted out what she had just said.
"I still just don't get how you can be better than me at that, when I spend all day in that classroom, and you only spend half of it."
"I guess it's just like they say then, huh? With great strength comes great stupidity."
"Who sa- HEY!" Finally realizing what she had just said, he looked up angrily. They had reached the entrance to the cafeteria. Alex skipped ahead and stuck her tongue out at him.
"Glad you figured that out, Stronghold. Now you'll just have to figure out everything else I've said that there is to figure or not figure out."
Will only rolled his eyes and followed her around the corner. The cafeteria was already filling up with students, though the majority of them were in the lines getting food. Alex began jumping up and down like a small child, chanting, "Food, food, food, food, FOOD!"
Will groaned and said, "You could stop being so annoyingly hyperactive, you know."
"Of course I can't, silly, you know that!"
"Too well I do."
"Yup, it's just how awesomely awesome I am!"
Will rolled his eyes in her direction once again as they came into view of the usual table, but the smell of freshly baked French fries had already distracted her, and he was left to take his seat on his own. Layla and Maj were already seated. Maj diagonal from Layla, with a spot open next to her for Zach, and a spot on either side of Layla for Ethan and Will. Maj looked up as he sat down, and smirked slightly seeing why he was on his own. She cocked her head to her right, shifting his attention to the moody presence beside her. Will vaguely recognized the dark figure, and called out a dull greeting befitting of his far from cheery mood.
"Hey Warren."
Warren looked up uninterestedly from where he had been picking at his food, and nodded just as dully at Will to show he'd heard him. Layla took the burger off her plate and placed it in front of Will as usual. From behind him, Will heard a peppy little tune being hummed, announcing that Alex had been shooed away by whoever had owned her precious French fries, and was now skipping cheerily toward the table. Seeing their friend approaching, Maj and Layla exchanged knowing glances. They both remembered quite clearly Alex's past encounters with Warren Peace. And apparently Alex did too, judging by the mischievous little grin that spread across her face after spotting him.
She flounced purposefully into the chair directly across from him. Taking out her usual rather crumpled looking bag lunch, she grinned cheekily before saying, "Good lunch-between morning and afternoonish time!"
Warren stopped eating and raised his head with the air someone wishing very, very hard that what they are sure is in front of them really isn't. Sure enough, there was the familiar smiling face of Alex. He groaned in something similar to agony.
"Oh no, it's the psycho."
Alex widened her eyes and looked at him as though just realizing he was there.
"Oh no, it's Mr. I'm gonna go start burning down the cafeteria and cut everyone's lunch time in half on pizza day because I have a permanent angryface!"
He glared at her, but returned to his food. He had learned the hard way that Alex could choose to bounce back any remark you threw at her. Then again, the girl was just plain confusing sometimes.
-------------------------
Alex stood and cheered loudly with her friends. Nearly the entire school was rushing out to congratulate Will on beating Lash and Speed at 'Save the Citizen'. She jumped down off the side of the bleachers, seeing as the steps were jam-packed. She and the rest of the crew were only about fifteen feet away from where Will stood, currently surrounded by the popular seniors, or as Alex liked to call them, "the preppys".
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Layla wave ecstatically to Will, trying to be seen over the crowd. Will saw her, but just as he started to wave, Gwen Grayson grabbed his hand and lifted it in the air. Alex felt a wave of sadness wash over her as she watched with the rest of her friends as Will was carried away. She could tell it had hurt Layla, just by looking at her face. She reached over and put a hand on her shoulder. Layla gave her a weak smile and began walking to the locker rooms.
Alex turned to follow her, seeing as it was the end of gym class, and normally that was what you did, but she stopped. On the now pretty much empty gym floor there remained a crouched figure. Warren Peace. She remembered him. He'd nearly fried Will to a crisp the first week of school. It had been pizza day, and there had only been a few minutes left in lunch after their fight. She had definitely not been very happy about that.
Deciding to see if he was ok, she started walking over to him. As she got closer, she could tell he was still having trouble breathing from being stuck in a vortex and then thrown halfway across the gym. He didn't notice her approaching until she had kneeled down to level herself with him. He tried to give her his usual hostile look, but seemed to be having trouble doing so with his temporary breathing issue.
"Are you alright?" she asked. Obviously he wasn't, but she felt it necessary to ask him anyway, just because.
She didn't get an answer, so she muttered, "Apparently not."
Lifting a hand, she held it just in front of his heaving chest and closed her eyes in concentration. There immediately was a faint, barely noticeable glow, and Warren straightened a bit. A few seconds later, satisfied she had done enough to save him from developing asthma, she opened her eyes and rubbed her hands together a bit as he inspected his newly healed lungs.
Apparently he couldn't find anything wrong with them, because a moment later he was staring at where she now sat gazing at the ceiling. His face was scrunched up in thought, and he finally said, "Why are you helping me?"
Alex cocked an eyebrow slightly at this and then leaned back on her heels, pretending that his comment had sent her into deep thought. Looking him straight in the eye and raising the corner of her mouth in a little half-smile, she gave him her undoubtedly logical answer. "Because I feel like it."
And with that said, she rose to her feet. Turning on her heel, she marched out of the gym as though nothing had happened. In her wake, Warren still sat on the ground, staring after the most unusual person he'd ever met.