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

Chapter Seven- Changes

"Anna?"

"Yeah Dad?"

"Uncle Matthew, Aunt Nia and Paul are here. Paul wants to see you."

Surprised but happy, I leapt off my bed and ran downstairs. I thought, Paul's seen the error of his ways and wants to apologize and be friends again. Well it took him long enough.

It was Saturday and we were throwing a barbecue to celebrate Mom's birthday. Nearly all of the family were there- most of my aunts, uncles, cousins- even Grandma Giselle and Grandpa Frederick, Mom's parents. Some of my younger cousins were making a huge racket in the backyard amidst the blaring music of The Doors- the noise came filtering through my window along the smell of something burning. I'd gone up to my room to do some homework till the party officially started when Dad came in.

"Dad, I think the patties are done," I told him as I put on my slippers.

"Oh!" he exclaimed in dismay, before rushing back to the grill.

When I got downstairs I dutifully greeted my aunt and uncle, asking how they were in a loud voice as I tried to be heard over the music. Paul was in the living room. He was watching cartoons till he saw me. Then he switched off the television and walked over to me.

"Hey," he said casually, taking a cup of soda off of the tray that Great-Aunt Darice was carrying around.

"Hey," I echoed, watching him carefully.

"I made some notes on the conquests of The Commander for the project," he said. His voice was pleasant enough, but there was something in his eyes that made me uneasy. They were too clear, a little too focused upon me as if he were trying to pierce my thoughts beneath the facade of a tranquil smile. It was as if all the tension between us had somehow vanished, as if it had never happened. Why was he acting like that?

"Oh... thanks. So you're not mad or anything?"

"Nah," he said softly, his eyes never leaving my own. "It's cool."

Still not convinced, I was about to say something else when my mother called me. "Anna, could you mash these potatoes? I'm a little preoccupied at the moment."

"Sure Mom," I said distractedly, still looking at Paul. "Are you sure you're okay Paul?"

"Yeah," he said with a little laugh. "Look, I guess I shouldn't have been so hard on you the other day. I'm just… trying to look out for you."

"Anna?" My mother called again.

"I'll talk to you later- Aunt Diane needs you." Paul still had that look in his eyes.

"Okay," I said before walking away, still confused. Was he just putting on a show because our parents were there? I didn't think so. His light heartedness seemed too genuine. But why was he suddenly acting like we'd never had an argument?

I went to help my mother, but for the rest of the celebrations I kept checking up on Paul. But he seemed all right- laughing with my dad; kissing my mother on the cheek as he handed her a bouquet of roses; taking the time to sit and chat with our older relatives. He was acting more like his usual cheerful self- before the Hero History project.

When evening approached and it grew darker, people began to leave. I sat with Paul in the back porch. The adults were all in the kitchen nearby, drinking coffee. Occasionally I heard my mother laughing with Aunt Nia.

"So want to work on the project tomorrow?" I asked.

"It's Sunday tomorrow," Paul grumbled.

"I know that. It doesn't mean we can't work."

"Fine," Paul said with a sigh. "You can come over to my house around after lunch."

"Why can't you come over here?"

Paul rolled his eyes. "Because your dial-up connection takes forever. We'll get through the research faster on my computer."

"Oh fine. Your house then," I said. I smiled at him and he smiled back. I didn't know what caused the sudden turnaround in Paul, but I couldn't help but feel sort of relieved…despite my misgivings.

"Paul...we are okay aren't we? I mean really. We shouldn't let ourselves get worked up over a project. I mean it's just a project. We're still cool right?"

Paul didn't reply. He just rocked back and forth in the hammock we'd hooked up two summers ago staring at the sky, his face expressionless.

"Paul?" I said softly. "You know I love you. You do know that, don't you? Regardless of anything or anyone else?"

Paul looked at me if I'd just grown a second head then laughed outright. "Where'd that come from? Seriously. Are you all right?"

I wondered if I was. I wasn't usually so open, so emotional. But things had become too strained lately and now Paul was being friendly again out of the blue. It was odd to say the least and part of me knew it couldn't last, but at that moment I felt as if I would have said almost anything, just to keep things the way they were.

"Yeah, I'm fine...I just wanted you to know that, that's all," I said, quite embarrassed. I looked down quickly at the bleached floorboards.

"Paul? We're leaving honey," Aunt Nia called from the kitchen.

"Well, good night," Paul said as he got up. He looked so far away as he went inside. Then he came back out and shoved me playfully. I reached out to shove him back, but he moved away too quickly. He laughed again. "Always were too slow," he teased. "See you tomorrow." Then he went back into the house.

I continued to sit there, staring at the night sky. It was very overcast- we were in for it tonight, I thought. As if on cue, loud thunder rumbled.

Ten minutes must have passed before my dad came onto the porch. "Anna come inside, it's getting late." He paused and looked at me. "Are you all right?"

I got up with a sigh, turning to him. It was the second time that night I was asked that question and already I was tired of it. "Yeah. I'm all right."

"It's getting cold out here. Your mom's making some hot chocolate. I can pour you a cup."

"No thanks. I'm just going to go to bed."

But as I lay there in my room, I found it difficult to get to sleep. My mind raced through a million different thoughts and I tried to shut them out and think of nothing. For a long time, it didn't work.

xxxxxx

"If we're using the projector it won't work."

"Why not?"

"The screen's not wide enough, genius."

"We can adjust it, smart-ass."

Paul grinned at me. I smiled, relaxing. We'd been working for three hours straight in his room without a break and it was starting to get to us. We were nearly finished with our project, having made more progress than we originally thought. There were some notes that we needed from Jana and Warren, but though Paul called Jana at her house to get them he wouldn't permit me to call Warren to do likewise. I would have protested but I decided not to cause trouble. I'd retrieve the notes from Warren tomorrow.

"I'm thirsty," he said after a while. "I'm going to go get a coke. Want one?"

"Iced tea, if you have it."

When he left I stretched out in the swivel chair I was sitting in, spinning it round a few times.

That was when I noticed something under his bed.

A slip of blue paper was sticking out of a dark wooden box, which was better concealed. I knew that box- it contained all of Paul sketches. Paul fancied himself somewhat of an artist and he kept some of his choice work in there. It had been a while since he had shown me any of his recent stuff, what with everything that had been going on in school. The blue paper was definitely something I'd not seen before. I went to have a look, knowing Paul wouldn't mind- I checked out his art box all the time. But when I made to open it, I found that it was locked.

Paul never locked his art box. It was always accessible to all of his friends who visited him- he loved showing off what he considered to be his best drawings. But now it was shut up. I sat on the floor staring at it for a couple of moments. Then a thought came to me, almost without my being aware of it.

I should have just pushed the art box back under the bed and forgotten it. But a few wiggles using the tip of my ballpoint pen and a couple of yanks later, the box was open and I was pulling out several sheets of paper.

Instead of sketches, I found blueprints. Intricate and detailed, depicting a building I did not recognize. It looked like something was written at the top but had been scratched off. In fact, it seemed that wherever there was writing of any kind, it had been scratched away. There were lots of small boxes, all unnamed, save one.

B3776.

"What on earth...?" I murmured, as I pulled out another sheet of paper. More blueprints. It appeared to be the same building but from a different perspective. Another sheet held what looked like a schedule of some kind. What was this and why was Paul hiding it?

"Put those down!"

I jumped violently. Spinning around I saw Paul holding two glasses. He set them down on the table, his eyes filled with anger.

"Paul you nearly gave me a heart attack!" I said standing up quickly.

"I said put those down." His voice was so soft I could barely hear him.

Unnerved, I set them on the bed. Paul stormed toward me. I flinched as he came near, but he passed me and snatched up the papers. He threw me a cold glare.

"Why were you going through my things?" he demanded.

"I wasn't! I just- I saw it sticking out from under your bed and- I mean come on, it's just some blueprints. Look, I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have done it."

"Yeah you shouldn't," he said sharply.

"I'm sorry," I repeated. "It won't happen again."

He said nothing, just kept staring at me angrily. There was that look again, that unnatural penetrating stare he had given me yesterday at my mother's party. Without the wan smile he seemed more threatening than I've ever known him to be. I felt uncomfortable and wished he would look away. I knew he had every right to be upset but it seemed he was too angry about the whole thing. So I looked at some blueprints instead of his sketches.

Big deal. It was nothing to get so worked up about.

"Maybe I should go," I said uncertainly.

"I think you should," he whispered. He finally took his eyes off of me and looked down at the papers in his hand. His face was a mask of dark thoughtfulness.

I knew it was insane but I couldn't help myself- I had to ask.

"What are they Paul?"

Paul's eyes flashed a metallic silver, so suddenly that I gave a little gasp and stepped back.

"It's none of your business, Anna! Now get out!" he snapped, fangs glinting. His eyes did not change back. If anything, they grew colder.

In a daze, I left. As I turned the corner I glanced back at him. He was still staring at the papers in his hand... but not quite seeing them, I thought.

This was not my cousin. Never before in my life had he deliberately tried to scare me like that. When he'd first powered up, he and I were playing in my backyard. I was still very young. He had terrified me. Actually, he had terrified himself. But since then, he'd been cautious not to spring his new form on me, when I least expected it. Now he no longer seemed to care.

Those papers obviously meant a great deal to him and he had been terribly upset when I'd discovered them. Why did he feel the need to keep them hidden? What was so special about them?

I thought about it for the rest of the day and the day after that. When I saw Paul at school he didn't even pointedly ignore me. Instead he appeared to not even notice that I was in school that day. He stared right through me, walking by as if I were a wall. And for once I didn't feel inclined to go after him.

Around lunchtime I saw him go over to Lisa Kline, the girl he had a crush on and whisper something in her ear. Her normally cheerful disposition had vanished and she looked very serious. She just nodded and went on eating her meal. I didn't think anything of it until a little later, when I found him with Jana in a secluded area of the grounds. They seemed to be having an argument which I thought strange because he and Jana never had much to say to each other outside of school.

Jana looked up and saw me watching them. She nudged Paul and nodded toward me. He didn't even look directly at me, just in my general direction. Then he walked away. Jana on the other hand came right up to me. I fought an urge to step back.

"Got a problem, Arrian?" she said, staring me up and down as if she were sizing me up.

I ignored this and blatantly asked her, "What's up with Paul? What were you talking to him about?"

"I'm sure if he wanted you to know he'd have told you wouldn't he?" she sneered.

She began to walk away but I held onto her arm. "You don't know Paul very well, do you? He's a good guy but he does stupid things sometimes. And if he's keeping something from me then chances are it's serious. Jana, what is it?"

She pulled her arm away and glared at me but I saw a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes. She looked… scared.

"Jana?"

"Just drop it okay? Leave me alone and stay out of it," she said fiercely. The bell rang then and she turned and walked away.

"Arrian? Arrian, did you hear what I just said?" Warren was asking.

It was after school, and Warren and I were the only ones who turned up for the meeting in an empty classroom. I wasn't surprised about Jana not turning up but Paul never missed a meeting. He must have been really angry with me. Still, I couldn't help but think it was probably just as well- we were nearly finished with the work, and Paul and Jana would have hindered more than they helped.

"Hmm?" I said, getting back to the present.

"I asked you if you proofed the 'Work Cited' page."

"Oh yeah, sorry," I said absently.

Warren gave me a disapproving look as he continued typing on my laptop. "I've blended my notes into the introduction and the summary. It'll have to be updated but don't worry about that- I'll edit it later."

"That's fine," I said, staring down at my paper, pretending to write but deep in thought.

"And I've accidentally deleted the entire paper. There's no retrieving it," he added.

"Okay." I murmured, then started. "Wait, what?"

Warren exhaled in frustration. "Arrian, you're not listening to a word I'm saying! If you're going to be as useless as the other two I'm better off finishing this on my own."

That made me sit up. A part of me wanted to take him up on his offer and just go home, but I couldn't do that. It was bad enough that Paul and Jana had bailed.

"All right, I'm listening," was all I could manage.

"Why aren't they here, anyway? Not that I'm complaining, but we need the help."

"They're...busy."

"Doing what?"

"I don't know."

"Well you're the group leader, shouldn't you know?"

"Well, I don't!" I practically shouted.

Warren looked at me steadily and then turned to the laptop again, keeping his face passive. I bit my lip, feeling bad about my outburst.

"I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm sorry."

"Forget it."

I sighed. "The truth is, I don't know what's going on with either of them."

Warren continued to type, saying nothing.

"I mean Jana's just being Jana. But Paul... he's been acting so weird lately, keeping things from me and getting upset over nothing."

He still didn't say anything but stopped typing. Finally he looked over at me.

"And why do you think that's happening?" he asked.

"I have no idea," I said truthfully, half to myself. "He wasn't always like this, you know. He was...different. Better. I mean, he was okay before the whole thing with my dad and-" I stopped.

"My dad," Warren finished calmly. I nodded, not meeting his eyes.

I should have just shut up then but he didn't seem angry. In fact, he was listening. And finding that I had so much bottled up within me, I had to continue.

"It just changed Paul. I thought he'd be all right when enough time had passed. But then this happened. We used to be able to talk to each other. Now he barely speaks to me."

Warren didn't say anything but his expression spoke volumes.

"He's a good person," I insisted. "You never see it, but he is. He's just going through something right now, but… it'll blow over. He got over it before, he'll get over it again."

"Maybe he never got over it in the first place," Warren said softly. "Maybe you just thought he did."

"No, Paul wouldn't just hold onto...I don't believe that," I said. But the frightening truth was, I did.

"It's all because of this stupid project," I said in frustration. "I just can't wait for it to be over."

"You and me both," he said sincerely.

I gave a little laugh, if only to break the tension. Warren just shook his head, his expression only hinting at a smile.

We spent the next hour editing and re-editing the paper. During that time I tried to keep focused, but my mind wandered back to my cousin and his strange behavior. I couldn't make sense of anything he'd been doing lately. Since Jana wasn't about to tell me, I mused, there was only one other person it seemed who could possibly shed some light.

Lisa Kline.