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

Chapter Eight- What Would You Do?

I'd made up my mind to speak to Lisa at lunch the next day. It seemed she was the only one who could make sense out of anything that was going on with Paul. Yet even with this in mind, there were only two days left till the presentation was due and that had to take first priority.

In the morning before classes began, I managed to get Jana, Paul and Warren into the Hero History classroom to give it a final going over. "I think it looks great," I said enthusiastically as we finished reading it through. "Now all we need to do is split the presentation tasks. Jana, you can work the projector- putting up the graphs, timelines and stuff. Warren, you can present the Influential Superheroes and Villains of the present, I'll deal with the past and Paul, you can deal with the prospects of the future. Sound good?"

Everyone nodded. I'd specifically designated the roles accordingly- Jana was safely out of the way to avoid ruining the presentation with her limited knowledge of what we had done in the past two weeks; Paul dealing with future Heroes left no opportunity to make snide remarks about Barron Battle; Warren presenting Heroes and Villains of the present would avoid the touchy subject of his father; I, dealing with the past would take great care to avoid his dad entirely. I thought it was pretty clever thinking on my part.

"Are we going to read directly from our report, or summarize it in our own words?" Warren asked.

"We sort of put it in our own words but we'll have summarized copies of the report with us, just in case we get lost on a certain point. But Mr. Mnemonic doesn't want us just reading our paper word for word. He told me we have to show that we know exactly what we're talking about when we're presenting."

"Not a problem for us then," he commented and I nodded, smiling in agreement.

Paul made a rude noise under his breath. I took great care to ignore him.

"Let's do a quick practice, okay? I'll go first," I said. Going up to the front of the class, next to the blackboard I began, "'This is Group Two, presenting the topic Influential Superheroes and Villains: Past, Present, and Future. Heroes and Villains have been around since the beginning of time. Today we are going to note some of more significant Heroes and Villains throughout history, in our present day and discuss potential superheroes and possible aspects of villainy in the future…'"

I skimmed over the bulk of my part, as we had little time till class began for the day and I wanted to get the first run over with. Jana kept up with me, showing the right images and charts at the right time and I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. She was my biggest worry concerning the project.

Next in reporting was Warren. Not surprisingly, he barely glanced at the paper as he explained the various aspects of heroic and villainous deeds. He was halfway through an account of one daring attempt to bring down the moon when Paul raised his hand, addressing me for the first time in days.

"Shouldn't we have a time restriction? We only have thirty minutes to present this. Some people are taking longer than they have to," he said, looking pointedly at Warren.

"Paul, why don't you just shut up? This is only a test run. We'll sort the timing out later."

I couldn't believe him. For the past few days he wouldn't so much as say hello to me. Now that he finally spoke to me, it was only to get on Warren's case. It was as if he hated Warren and his father more than he cared about me. I couldn't help but wonder if I even mattered to him anymore.

To make matters worse, we were so close to completing this and here he was trying to ruin things.

"It's not like you have much to do anyway Findle," Warren muttered, staring hatefully at Paul through half-lidded eyes. "And considering you bailed at the last minute, I'd think you'd be happy to get the least amount of work."

"Don't you start either Warren," I said warningly. "I said we'll sort it out."

"I have more to do than you think, Peace," Paul said, ignoring me. "With future heroes come future villains. And who'd know more about future villains than you?" Paul took a step forward, his deep black eyes shining with pure malevolence. "Maybe we should have given you this part."

"Paul, stop it!" I demanded.

Jana made a peculiar noise, as if she was trying hard not to laugh. She was sitting in one of the chairs, watching the scene with such nonchalant amusement that I suddenly wanted to smack her.

"You don't know anything about me Findle," Warren whispered tersely.

"Oh, I know more about you than you think." There was that look in his eyes again-overly-focused, disturbingly serene. "You go to this school, come to classes, do these pointless projects. But you know as well as I do that it doesn't make a difference. It doesn't change the kind of person you are- a psycho villain in training."

"Paul!" I cried, shocked. Grabbing his arm I yelled, "What's the matter with you? Can't you stop being an idiot for five minutes?!"

A door slammed. I looked over to where Warren was- but he was gone. Without another word, I went after him.

I caught up with him just as he reached the front doors of Sky High.

"Warren, where are you going? We haven't finished practicing," I said breathlessly.

"Well I have," he said harshly. He attempted to go through the door again, but I stopped him.

"Warren, please. We're so close. Just a couple more days then it's over. If you come back- just ignore Paul, he's being an idiot- and come back inside-"

"I'm not going anywhere near your damn cousin!" Warren shouted, suddenly losing it. A few students who were nearby stopped talking and stared at us. A couple of them took a step or two backwards.

Warren glanced at them with resentment. He looked back at me regretfully, as if he were sorry that he'd yelled. "You can stay around and take his crap if you want to. But I've had enough!"

For a moment, I was too stunned by his outburst to do anything. Then I finally found my voice.

"Fine," I said quietly. That was all I said. I stepped out of his way and watched him storm through the doors and leave.

Furious with Paul's coldness and with Jana's insensitivity, I almost ran back to the classroom where we were having our presentation practice. Paul and Jana were still in there, whispering to each other. They stopped as soon as I entered the room, but I didn't care about that. I walked right up to Paul and shoved him as hard as I could, sending him stumbling into the nearby desks.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled.

"You simply couldn't control yourself, could you?" I roared. "Aren't you tired making people miserable?"

Paul glared at me coldly. "I'm sorry- did I make your new best friend cry?"

"Don't be an ass, Paul!" I cried, taking an angry step toward him. "Is it worth it, me failing this class? Because I will if we screw this up!"

"Why should I care?" he retorted. "You turned your back on me and all you care about is your stupid grade!"

"Well one of us should! And what the hell are you looking at?" I said heatedly to Jana, who was still wearing that smug look on her face.

"I'm looking at you," she said coolly. "Who else?"

Suddenly filled with an intense anger, I shouted, "Don't you push me Jana!" My hands instantly felt warm as I powered up.

Jana looked taken aback for only a split second. She immediately stood up and suddenly the room went darker. The sunlight that filtered through the window was somehow lessened; the electric lights overhead flickered; my own light-power seemed dimmed, to my greater fury. Jana didn't just draw the life out of a being and return it at will; she could kill light, even sound.

"And don't you take it out on me just because things aren't going your way, Anna." Her voice was unnaturally low. Paul didn't say a word to either of us; he fumed at his shoes, his hands balled into fists at his sides.

I don't know what I would have done to her but the bell rang then, signaling the homeroom period as well as bringing me to my senses. I grabbed my bag and walked out of the classroom, but not before snapping at them, "Room twelve, right after school. You two had better be there."

xxxxx

In Hero History, I kept glancing at Warren, trying to catch his eye. I felt terrible about what Paul had said to him. It was cruel and malicious, even for my cousin. I wanted to apologize, but what good was an apology after something like that?

Twice, Warren met my gaze. And twice he looked into my eyes with that sullen expression before returning to his textbook, scowling at the pages.

After class I went over to him. "We have a meeting after school today. Room twelve."

"I already know what I have to do. I'll be there for the presentation." He hoisted his backpack on his shoulder. "But I won't be going to any more meetings. Not while he's there."

"Warren…" I lowered my voice as the others rushed out to get to their next class. "I'm sorry about what happened earlier. Paul shouldn't have said that about you."

He didn't say anything for a time and he didn't look at me. Keeping his gaze averted, he muttered, "You can't spend the rest of your life apologizing for everything he does, Arrian. You're not his keeper."

His last words had such an effect on me that I hardly noticed when the classroom had completely emptied and I was left all alone.

xxxxxx

I saw Lisa Kline looking for a decent table at lunchtime. She had seen some of her friends and waved, making her way over to them. But I accosted her before she took another step.

"Hi Lisa."

"Oh, hey Anna," she said. "Are you looking for Paul? I haven't seen him today."

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh." She seemed surprised and a bit confused. We never said much to each other when Paul wasn't around. "Ok...um, we can sit here," she said, gesturing to a nearby empty table.

Once we were seated, Lisa looked at me expectantly. "So what's up?"

At first I didn't know what to say or rather, how to say it. Lisa had been spending a lot more time with Paul than I had lately and she might have noticed something about him that I'd missed. He might have even confided in her. But was it my right to go asking her about it if he had?

I decided then that I didn't care. Paul's recent behavior and secrecy was not something to be taken lightly. I was determined to get answers if I could.

"Well… I know you and Paul are friends. You hang out with him a lot-"

Lisa's smile faded. "Though not as much as you do," she said softly. She tried to make her voice light but it sounded somewhat strained.

I noticed her suddenly somber expression and said quietly, "I think we can cut the small talk now, don't you?"

She took a breath and exhaled slowly. She didn't answer.

"There's something going on with Paul. No, don't tell me there isn't," I said, as she tried to object. "I know there is. He's been acting strangely and hanging with the wrong crowd- Jana Vega of all people. He just hasn't been himself. And he won't tell me anything." I looked Lisa squarely in the eyes. "Do you know anything about it? Has he told you something?"

Her expression was a mixture of contemplation and something else- hesitation, even fear. For a long while she didn't say anything. She stared into her lunch tray.

"Lisa, if something's serious is going on, you have to tell me. It could be very, very important."

"Do you know when this all started?" she asked suddenly, in a voice so quiet I had to strain to hear her above the noise of the lunchroom. "Yeah. You know who did this." She nodded, but didn't take her eyes off of her tray.

At first I had no idea what she was talking about, but suddenly it hit me. "Barron Battle."

She gave an almost imperceptible nod. "Battle's almost all Paul talks about now. Since the project, him working with- with Warren…it's like he brought it all back."

Something about the way she said it gave me an odd feeling in my stomach. "What has he been saying?"

She didn't answer and she still wouldn't look at me. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what? Lisa, what's he done?" I asked, feeling a horrible panic rise within me.

"I'm sorry," she said again. "I can't tell you. I could never tell you. He'd- he'd make me sorry if I did. He told me so."

My whole body went numb as she said these last words. Again, these were not the words of my cousin. Paul never threatened anyone. But I was desperate. I had to know what was going on. "Lisa, I know you must be scared right now, but you have to tell me. Is it to do with the blueprints?"

At the mention of the blueprints she finally looked up at me sharply. "How do you know about those?"

"I found them in his room. What are they? Why did Paul have them?"

"Anna, there's so much…so much that you're better off not knowing."

"Lisa, please-"

"You know Paul," she said, grabbing my arm. "You're his family after all. What does he really want? With everything that's happened, everything he feels he's been robbed of…what would you do?"

"Lisa- I need to talk to you."

Lisa and I both jumped. Her tray shot off the table as a burst of telekinetic energy escaped her. Food spattered in all directions.

Paul stood behind us, arms folded as he stared at Lisa gravely. He didn't so much as glance at me- his refusal to acknowledge my presence was so adamant that for a second even I doubted if I was really there.

"I have to go," she told me. She rose from the table gracefully and followed him out of the door into the hallway. I stared after them, my mind whirling with new and terrifying thoughts.

xxxxxx

The group meeting that afternoon was for the most part quiet and short- within an hour we rehearsed our presentation, tweaking little things that we (meaning I) thought would make it better. We made plans to have our final meeting the following afternoon at the same time.

When it was over we all headed home. Paul walked quickly ahead of me, obviously wanting to be alone. For some reason I called out, "I'll see you tomorrow, Paul!"

He didn't answer me, or even turn around. It was what I expected but I felt hurt about it all the same. It was as if I no longer knew who he was. Though we got on the same school bus Paul sat two rows ahead of me. He was looking out of the window, apparently deep in thought.

When I got home I saw my dad sitting in the living room. He was fast asleep on the couch, his newspaper still spread open on his lap. I sat down next to him and stared at the blank screen of the television set. Mom was somewhere in the kitchen making dinner. I didn't want to announce my presence to her just yet- she'd have questions about how my day was and I wasn't prepared to answer them. So I sat there, replaying the day's events in my mind.

I thought I knew Paul. Sure, he had his flaws like everyone else, but he was wonderful for the most part. I didn't see that now. Instead I saw someone else- someone that scared me like no other person ever had.

There's so much that you're better off not knowing…

But I wasn't better off. It was the not knowing that was driving me crazy. The possibilities, the speculations had to be worse than what was really going on.

I leaned against the sleeping form of my father. Sometimes, I wondered if being a superhero was really worth any of it.