I'm sorry I took so long to update. This one's been finished for weeks, but I've been editing and re-editing, and doing some more editing after that! So at last, it's finally done. Thank you for your patience, and the wonderful reviews! I very much appreciate the flattering comments, and the constructive criticism, so keep it coming.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High, or any of its canon characters.

Chapter Five- Easy Come, Easy Go

Three entire days had passed and Paul still wouldn't talk to me. During our group meetings, he used Jana as a medium to communicate anything to me and she'd relay any message in the nastiest way she could. Warren for the most part ignored us all and got on with as much work as possible without having anything to do with the group. I couldn't blame him.

Finally tired of Paul's cold shoulder, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I knew he was being a jerk but someone had to break the ice.

"Hello?"

"Paul it's Anna, please don't hang up," I said in a rush before he could do it again for the third time.

With an aggravated sigh he said, "What do you want?"

"Look, I'm sorry for what happened okay? I didn't mean to get you into trouble."

The truth was, I wasn't sorry at all for what I did (or said). But I was willing to say anything to make amends. Paul was more stubborn than anything and very rarely admitted he was in the wrong so it was up to me to apologize. It usually was whenever we had a fight.

"Paul, are you still there?"

"Yeah I'm here."

"So... are we cool?"

I listened to about five seconds of dead air before hearing Paul's voice say, "See you tomorrow," then the click of the line as he hung up.

It was pretty much his way of saying that he forgave me.

xxxxx

The next day I saw Paul at his locker chatting up Lisa Kline, a pretty telekinetic girl he'd been crushing on for two months solid which for Paul, was a record. He grinned at her in that secret knowing way (which he thought was cute), as he whispered in her ear. Lisa laughed.

"Hi Paul!" I said cheerfully.

He shot me a look which clearly said that now was not a good time to play best friends and to stay away from him. He got his wish.

But not for long. I counted quietly backwards from ten. As soon as I hit one, the bell rang. It was time for class. Paul hadn't budged. Neither had Lisa. There was nothing for it. I had to go over there.

"Hi Lisa," I said warmly.

"Hey Anna," Lisa said, snapping out of her reverie.

"How's your Remedial going?"

"Um, great."

"Glad to hear it! Well Paul and I should be going. We don't want to be late for class."

"Right, right. See you later Paul."

As Lisa walked away I said to Paul before he could open his mouth, "It's time for class."

"I know how to get to class."

"Yeah but when? Aren't you tired of being late?" I pointed out as I slipped my arm into his and pulled him along. He grumbled but didn't object.

We sat next to one another as Mr. Medulla droned on about the main reasons why most villains want to take over the world and the top ten proponents of this objective.

Paul barely listened. He doodled dirty pictures with funny captions in the back of his notebook then passed it over to me. I suppressed my laughter by sticking the cuff of my sweater into my mouth. Mr. Medulla was on a roll, delving into the obsessive psyche of the typical villain- so much so that he didn't notice us. In any case it was the one class that Paul and I pulled straight A's in.

After Mad Science Paul and I were making our way to Hero History. Suddenly he stopped, and said, "Oh, I almost forgot-I have to see Mrs. Maticas about my extra credit paper. Save me a seat."

"Okay."

I got to class, which was nearly empty and chose a couple of seats there. I put my backpack on the seat next to me and began going over the notes I'd made yesterday. A few moments later someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around.

"This is yours. I accidentally took it at the last meeting. Didn't realize until I got home," Warren said, handing me my Super Heroes: A Super History text book.

I was a little startled to see him sitting there. He must have walked right by me, but I never saw him come in. "Oh...wow. Didn't even realize it was missing. Thanks," I said, taking it.

"Uh yeah, listen. I'm not going to be able to come to the meeting this afternoon. I gotta work early today."

"Oh. Well that's fine." I said. "We'll just fill you in on what we did at the next meeting, tomorrow. It'll be at the computer room- three o' clock."

"I'll be there," he promised.

More students began filing in. I began to wonder where Jana was. She usually came to class early to secure her seat in the far back which was always coveted by the general slackers. I hoped she would show up at the meeting. We still had a lot of work to cover for the day and with Warren unable to attend, we needed all the help we could get.

"Hey, have you seen Jana?" I asked Warren. "I don't think she was in Mad Science today."

"She's in school, that's all I know. Saw her in the hall with some girl- think she's telekinetic or something-"

My brow furrowed. "Lisa? Lisa Kline?"

"Yeah I think so."

"I just saw her a little while ago. Didn't see Jana though," I said thoughtfully. And since when did Jana start hanging out with Lisa, of all people? Lisa was so squeaky clean and Jana...well, wasn't.

Warren just shrugged.

"Just a feeling, but I don't think she's coming," I said. "If you see her-"

"I'll tell her about the meeting and make sure she gets there," he assured me.

"Thanks." As I turned back around I saw Paul standing by the door, staring at me. His face was impassive but his eyes were...strange, as if he were looking at me for the first time and didn't quite like what he was seeing.

xxxxx

Paul, Jana and I congregated in an empty classroom after school- there was a class being held in the library. Paul had been pretty quiet since Hero History. He didn't seem upset with me- he laughed at my little jokes but didn't have much to say at lunch.

We reviewed the top five international heroes and villains in the past fifty years. It turned out that my great-aunt in-law (Paul's grandmother on his mother's side), was one of the heroes- Crystanet the Invincible. I never knew her very well, but Paul did. She had died about six years ago and was buried in the Pere-Lachaise cemetary in Paris, France. Paul told me with a hint of pride that she was one of the greatest heroes who ever lived.

"This is so boring," Jana moaned. "Look, I made the notes for the Legacies of Villains. Can't I just go?"

"No," I told her with a sigh. "We're already one short."

"Why isn't Warren here anyway? How come he gets to miss this?"

"Because he has a good excuse," I said sharply. "Can we get back to work now?"

Jana glared at me. "Don't think you can boss me around, Anna."

"Just stop it Jana," Paul said softly but his tone was unmistakable.

Jana glanced at Paul in surprise, but to my amazement said nothing else. We finished up the conquests of Heroes past and present and then called it quits a couple of hours later.

When Jana left Paul said, "What was that all about?"

I rolled my eyes. "You know how Jana is with me."

"That's not what I meant."

It was the way that he said it that made me stop and look at him. His entire stance suggested discomfort, but my cousin was steadfast, stubborn; unmoving in the path he'd taken and intending to see it through no matter what. It was Paul's way.

"What is this? What's wrong now?" I asked levelly, but there was a trace of irritation in my voice.

"I didn't say anything was wrong. I just want to know why you were chatting him up."

"I wasn't chatting him up!" I said. "Gosh, what is wrong with you? He was returning my text book okay? He took it home by accident."

Paul gave me a cynical look. "Right, accident. Wouldn't be so sure about that."

"So what do you think he did, stole my book so he could stick a tracking device in the binder? Do you realize how stupid this conversation is?"

"I'm not the one being stupid," Paul said heatedly. "You're the one who's being blatantly naive, getting friendly with family enemies!"

"Oh, so what?" I was almost shouting. "So I talked to him for a few minutes. I'm the group leader now- I think I'm going to have to, at some point."

"Don't get smart with me," Paul said, too seriously. "You can't trust him, Anna. You know who his father is and what he did to Uncle Charles-"

I shook my head, getting more exasperated with him by the minute but Paul wasn't done. "Anna I know you feel you have to get along with everybody but Warren is...someone you should stay away from. I'm telling you this for your own good."

"That's not fair! You don't know him."

"You don't know him either," Paul argued. "But you know what he's capable of."

"What he's capable of?" I stared at him, not believing what I was hearing. "No Paul, I don't. And neither do you."

"Oh, speak for yourself. The guy attacked me- he's insane!"

"He attacked you because you wouldn't leave him alone," I pointed out. "Warren might be a lot of things- but he hasn't done a single thing to make any of us think he's some kind of ... villain!"

"Is that what you honestly think?" he said angrily.

This was ridiculous. We had just made up. I refused to get into another fight with him. "Look, let's just drop this, okay?" I said as calmly as I could. "It doesn't matter- he just gave me my textbook back and we talked about the next meeting, and that's it. Please just end it ok?"

Paul looked up at the ceiling quietly for a while. He did not look happy. Then he slung his backpack over his shoulder and said, "Let's go home." He walked past me, not looking at me and I followed him.

We said nothing on the bus and when Paul and I parted ways to go to our respective homes, I wondered if we would ever stop disagreeing as long as we had to do this project. My cousin had an obstinately proud streak and we occasionally had our spats, but never before had I seen Paul so viciously adamant, so...disturbed.