Leah woke up slowly, and took her time getting out of bed. Today was the day that would tell if she was finally going to make some permanent friends. She had to look good. She pulled on her favorite pair of jeans and her black 'hooker boots' over a pair of white knee socks, and then a cerulean blue shirt and a white jacket she left unbuttoned. The shirt was the same color as her eyes, which was why she liked it, and the white jacket was her favorite one.
When she looked at herself in the mirror, Leah smiled. She looked good in blue, and she knew it. No other color looked quite as good on her, not to mention she loved it, so it made up most of her wardrobe.
Leah grabbed her backpack and went downstairs after she brushed her teeth and put on a coat of chap stick. She hated dry lips, and when she bit them a lot it dried them out. Adele was in the kitchen humming when Leah went down.
"Oh, hello, Leah," she greeted, smiling softly.
Leah blinked. Wow. Her mother looked so- happy. Not that she looked miserable most of the time, but there was a certain glow she didn't usually have that was present. "Hey, mum," she said, slightly puzzled. "What's up?"
"Oh, nothing. So what do you want for breakfast?"
"Um..."
"Well, you know where everything is... I have to go to work, so be careful, alright? And behave." Leah nodded. Of course. Because she couldn't be trusted to behave unless her mother told her to, like Lainei could... Immediately Leah felt bad for thinking that, but it was true. Her mother seemed to think that Leah was a troublemaker, and Leah couldn't figure out why.
Leah left for the bus stop after a minute of silence. Better to get there early and sit around doing nothing than sit around her house and why wonder her mother was incapable of trusting her. She was sick of it.
It took five minutes for Lainei to get to the bus stop, but Leah didn't bother to greet her when she did. She sat on the sidewalk and ignored everything, choosing to glare at the sidewalk instead. When Leah got in one of her rare bad moods, she hated everything and everyone, and Lainei knew it, so she ignored her right back. It would have pissed Leah off much more if she had tried to talk.
When Lainei's bus pulled up, though, she walked over to Leah and patted her on the head. "Don't let life get you down too much, kid," she said. "I know sometimes it sucks, but it could be much worse."
"How?" Leah asked, disgusted. Her father was a murderer and her mother didn't trust her. Yeah, life was real frigging jolly.
"We could be dirt poor and living in the slums," Lainei informed Leah cheerfully, and stepped up on the bus. Leah watched it drive off, and then shook her head. Lainei was right, sort of. And if she wanted to be accepted into Natasha, Michelle, and Liam's group, she couldn't be a bitch to them.
Liam and Natasha walked up behind Leah just as she thought that, and Natasha tapped Leah on the shoulder. "Hey, Leah," she greeted, grinning. Leah turned her head to look at her, a smile forming on her own face.
"Hey, Natasha, Liam." Leah nodded to them, and then turned back around and rested her chin on her hand, staring at the pavement gloomily. She knew that she should lighten up, stop her grumpy mood now, but she couldn't. For the thousandth time, she asked herself why her father couldn't just be good. Why couldn't he have stayed the man she adored as a little girl? Why did he have to abandon his family?
"You look- I dunno. You don't look very good. You okay?" Natasha asked. Leah nodded slowly.
"I'm fine." Leah had not fitted in when they had first moved to Maxville, not like Adele and Lainei did, but over time she had learned to pretend. She hid her sorrow behind the mask of an ever-present cheerful smile until she started to believe it herself. She hid her wild side, pretended she liked the boring Christmas parties her mom's friends threw, and told no one what she did on her weekends.
"Okay! So I asked Liam and Michelle if they minded you joining us on our sleepover, and they said they didn't mind at all!" Natasha was all too happy to tell Leah the news, and she wasn't disappointed with the bright smile that crossed Leah's face.
"Really?" Leah asked hopefully, biting her bottom lip.
"Really," Liam assured her, and nodded. "I guess you're officially one of us now, huh?"
Leah's face split in a giant grin and she jumped up and hugged first Liam, and then Natasha, just as the bus pulled up. "Thank you!" she gushed. "Thank you so, so much! Where's Michelle?" Leah bounced up the steps of the bus, ignoring the odd looks she was getting, and threw herself at Michelle, suffocating her with a hug.
"What the hell?" she choked, and tried to pry Leah's arms off her.
Leah pulled back, still grinning manically. "Natasha told me you guys said it was okay if I joined your sleepover. And she said I'm officially one of you now!"
"That's all?" Michelle asked in disbelief. "What, did you think we'd say no or something?" She stared at Leah, not understanding why she was so happy about something so small, and Leah shrugged and looked down, embarrassed.
"I don't make friends easily. I'm too crazy, I guess, and when I do make friends we never stay friends for long. I don't know why. I guess it's because I had to lie to them about having a superpower, crappy as it is. I've had about four friends in the four years I've lived here, and none of them lasted more than six months."
"Oh," Michelle said, frowning. It didn't make sense. She didn't think that Leah's craziness was a problem- it was actually quite funny. Natasha was cheerful, but Leah was just wild. She added spice to their little group.
"And- well, I disappear on the weekends," Leah admitted. "It's sort of a private thing for me. My friends always wanted to hang out or go shopping on the weekends, and I was always gone, and they didn't know why."
"Why are you always gone?" Liam asked, puzzled.
"It's a thing," Leah explained. She didn't know how to tell them. She wasn't always as happy as she pretended to be (although most of the time she was) and spending her weekend at the beach helped? "I have to unwind, and I can't do that at my house or at school. So I go have a private day. And that upset my friends, so they stopped asking me out on weekends, and then during the week... and then we just drifted apart altogether until I was sitting alone at lunch again." Leah tried to force a smile, failed, and shrugged. "I can hang out before noon on Saturdays and past noon on Sundays, but between then is my me time."
Natasha nodded, seemingly to herself. "I can understand that. Everybody needs time to themselves to think. I just do that at home, but if you can't, well, that's none of my business."
Leah smiled at her friends thankfully. "You guys are awesome," she said honestly. "Everyone else seems to think I'm strange."
Michelle shrugged. "We go to Sky High, Leah. We're all strange. Get used to it."
The rest of the bus ride passed quickly, and Leah smiled happily to herself as she got off the bus with her friends. She was finally starting to fit in. She could not have been happier.
The rest of the week went just as well until Friday at lunch, when it all fell apart. Leah wasn't there for the first part- she was putting her books away in her locker while Michelle and Liam went to lunch ahead of her.
When Mr. Boy went running past, though, her and Natasha exchanged glances and then took off down the hall in the wake of Gwen and Penny, who had her clones pushing people out of the way.
The lunch room was in chaos when they got there. Leah's jaw dropped open when she saw what Will was doing. He was picking up a whole table- with Warren on top of it! Apparently, he had developed a power...
Will heaved the table, and Warren went flying, and then fell down, crashing into another table and smashing it. Leah stared, mouth wide open. It was funny, in a way, watching Warren going flying and crashing like that... she immediately felt sick to her stomach. How could she think like that? It was a real person being thrown around...
Thoughts of her father flashed through her mind, and Leah's eyes filled with tears. She turned and rushed out of the room, nearly colliding with Principal Powers halfway down the hall. She didn't even notice, just sidestepped and rushed away from the cafeteria.
Ten minutes later Michelle, Liam, and Natasha followed the rest of the sidekicks into the classroom and found Leah, face buried on her arms in her desk. Natasha headed for her immediately.
"What's wrong, Leah?" she asked, sitting down at the desk next to Leah, totally ignoring the fact that it wasn't hers. "You ran out of the lunch room like a bat out of hell, and to be honest, you still don't look very good..."
"Nothing," Leah muttered. "It's just the fight."
"I know!" Michelle said, sitting down backwards at the seat in front of Leah so that she was facing her. "I can't believe it. I mean, I knew Warren had a problem with Will, but attacking him because he spilled his lunch on him?"
"And it wasn't even Will's fault, either," Liam put in. "Lash tripped him."
"Yeah. I can't believe Will punched Warren through three walls and he still came back for more! It was totally insane," Michelle said admiration in her voice.
Liam frowned slightly, and Leah felt a twinge of pity for him. He had no idea that Michelle was in love with him. He'd probably drive himself crazy with jealousy if Michelle said one more word.
"Warren is insane," Natasha said wryly. "I can't believe he freaked out because of something like that."
Liam snorted. "He's a villain's son," he scoffed. "What do you expect? He was probably raised to attack anyone that crosses him."
"You don't know that," Michelle said dismissively. "I think it's just Will, 'cause his dad put Warren's in jail and everything."
Liam clenched his teeth, and drew a deep breath. "Whatever," he muttered. "I still think he's a bully and a jerk. As far as he knew, Will didn't have any powers and he still attacked him. He's a maniac," he added under his breath.
"And you think that's because he's the son of a villain?" Leah asked, frowning. Liam shrugged. "You're wrong," Leah said strongly, shaking her head. "His mother was a hero, and she's the one he's been living with most of his life, ever since his dad went to jail. No way she raised him to be a villain."
"Yeah, but I bet he writes to his dad," Michelle pointed out, springing to Liam's defense, even though a minute ago she had been the one arguing with him. "Like Barron Battle would pass up any chance to blacken the name of the Commander and Jetstream? I mean, they did put him away... "
Leah shook her head. They were going to believe what they wanted to believe, no matter what she said. And anyway, who cared? Warren obviously didn't care if he came off as a villain, so why should she? Just because her dad was a villain too didn't mean her and Warren had anything in common...
The rest of the day passed quickly, and Leah got off the bus at Natasha's house at the end of the day. Natasha's house was white with red shutters and a black front door. Leah smiled. The shutters where such a bright, cheerful shade of red she thought Natasha must have picked them out.
"Come on in," Natasha said, standing in the door. She tossed her backpack onto the table from the door, and Liam and Michelle did the same. They were obviously very familiar with the house, and had no problem treating it like it was their own.
A tall, pretty black woman walked into the room, and greeted Natasha, Michelle, and Liam with big smiles and hugs. "Home already?" she asked, good naturedly. "Just remember to do your homework before you dip into the junk food, alright?" She turned to Leah, who was standing awkwardly, not sure what she should do. "You must be Leah."
Leah nodded uncertainly, but gave the woman, who obviously had to be Natasha's mother, a smile. "It's nice to finally meet you," she said, swooping in to give Leah a hug. Leah stood there for a minute, not sure what to do, before Natasha's mother pulled back. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot to introduce myself!" she said, sounding embarrassed. "I'm Faylinn, Natasha's mother. But you can just call me Linn, everyone does."
Leah nodded, a bigger smile taking over her face. "Faylinn... that's a nice name."
Linn threw her head back and laughed. "That's what my husband said when he met me," she admitted, still chuckling. "It was followed by a quick succession of pick-up lines, and I admit I fell for them."
Leah grinned, but everyone else rolled their eyes. They had probably heard the story a hundred times. "Come on, Leah, let's go do our homework and get it over with..."
Leah nodded, and they all grabbed their bags and filed up the stairs. Natasha opened a door and gestured everyone into her room. "Nice," Leah commented, looking around. Michelle and Liam, used to Natasha's room, looked around as if they were seeing it for the first time.
"It is pretty cool, isn't it? We helped her paint it a couple years ago when she decided pale purple walls and carpets weren't for her." Michelle commented. "Of course, we're used to it now, but..."
The walls were purple with big orange flowers like you might see on Bermuda shorts, and the carpet on the floor was a matching orange. The bed was some sort of dark wood, and the bureau was black metal with wooden drawers painted bright pink. There were posters on the walls of a couple different bands, and one of SpongeBob. To top it off the back of the door was painted bright, lime green, with orange flowers and swirlies. All in all, it was a very colorful room.
Leah laughed. "Yeah, I can tell. It's like you guys live here, too, not just Nat."
"Nat?" Natasha protested. "You make me sound like an annoying little insect!"
Liam laughed, and Natasha hit him in the arm. He didn't even flinch. Natasha was tall, but she was slim. Liam was much more muscular than her, even if he wasn't as buff as Warren, and even if it did hurt, he wasn't going to admit it.
"I like Nat," Leah protested. "You can be Nat, Michelle can be Shelly, Liam can be... Lee, I guess, and I'll be... um..."
"You'll both have to be Lee," Michelle said, smiling. "You could be twins, or something." Leah grinned, and reached up to ruffle Liam's hair. He ducked away, but Leah just laughed mischievously. Michelle watched them with a smile on her face, and they continued to fool around for a minute until Linn called up the stairs that she didn't think homework was that loud, and they had to do it before they did anything else.
"Sorry, mum!" Natasha yelled down the hall. "Okay, let's get to work, guys," she said reluctantly. "Mum will get what she wants eventually anyway..."
Twenty minutes later, they had everything spread out. Natasha was laying on her bed with her feet on the pillow and homework at the foot of the bed in front of her. Leah was lying on the floor next to Michelle, and Liam was sitting at Natasha's desk, the only thing in the room that wasn't decorated in neon colors. Even Natasha's bed had bright pillows, sheets, and comforter.
"You're stuck in a dead end alley, surrounded by three lackeys of the villain your hero is trying to fight a mile away. How do you escape?" Michelle asked. They were taking turns reading the problems aloud, and they all did their best to answer them. It went much faster that way. They were already about half done.
"You don't," Liam snorted. "You can't fly, you're a sidekick... there's no way to escape unless you climb the walls, and you can't do that, either."
"You can't?" Natasha asked, curiously.
"Nope," Liam said glumly. "Being able to climb any kind of wall with just your bare hands qualifies you for hero class."
"Wait... who says it has to be with your bare hands?" Leah asked thoughtfully.
"What are you thinking?" Michelle asked, looking at Leah. Despite the fact that she had grown up with the least super hero influence, Leah had answered more questions than anyone else, so she trusted her to have a good idea of how to solve the problem.
"Well, what about those belts we've got in class?" Leah asked, getting excited. "They've got the grapple hooks on them, right? Hook one of those to the top of a building, pull yourself up, and presto... you can escape over the roof!"
Michelle grinned. "Yes! Leah, you're a genius..." Leah shrugged and shook her head. She wasn't a genius... Smart, sure, but no genius.
They finished their homework in record time, and then Natasha went and got the Doritos and soda. Leah whistled. "Do you have chips and soda every week?" she asked, frowning thoughtfully. It would have to be expensive... No way could they do it every week.
"Nah," Natasha said, smiling. "Only on special occasions. And since we've now got a fourth member of the nut club, as my dad calls it, this is a very special occasion indeed."
Leah grinned and grabbed the Pepsi. "Amen to that!" She poured a cup and handed it to Liam, and then poured another for Michelle and Natasha. She handed them over, and then got a cup for herself. They all clinked glasses, and Leah grinned hugely as they sipped. Friends. Permanent, real friends she wouldn't have to lie to. Finally.
"I also got a movie, and mom said we could take her TV and bring it in here if we want. Or, we could go downstairs and smell my mother cooking." Natasha looked around at them, waiting for a response. Michelle and Liam just looked at one another and shrugged. They didn't seem to be about to say anything, so Leah took it upon herself.
"I say we go downstairs. Less work, and I wouldn't mind smelling her cooking, to be honest..." Leah trailed off and grinned. Natasha grinned back, and Liam and Michelle nodded agreeably. "Downstairs it is!" Leah said, grabbing the soda by the mouth and walked over to Natasha's door in a good imitation of Jack Sparrow. The other three trailed after her, laughing.
"The soda's gone," Leah said, moving to lean against the hallway wall. "Why is the soda always gone?" She got up, swaying dramatically, and let an "Aaaah," of understanding. "That's why."
Natasha giggled, and Liam moved up and nudged Leah gently with his elbow. She pretended to stumble, and then actually did trip and fall down on her butt. She blinked in surprise, and Liam, Michelle, and Natasha blinked back at her for a second before they burst out laughing.
"You look funny," Michelle told Leah. "I bet you didn't see that coming, did you?" Leah's eyes narrowed, and she used her elbows to drag herself, stomach on the floor, over to Liam. She stared at his ankle for a minute, and then carefully sank her teeth into it. Liam's response was automatic. With a clatter, a small, carved wooden penguin fell on its' side. Leah reared back quickly and stared at the penguin in horror.
Seeing her face, Natasha and Michelle burst into laughter again. "You should see your face!" Natasha said through her laughter.
Leah looked at her, her blue eyes wide and childlike. "I didn't mean to hurt him," she said guiltily. "I was just joking."
"Oh, he's not hurt," Natasha said, waving a hand dismissively. "He just shape shifted because he wanted to scare you. And it worked!"
Leah picked Liam up, still looking guilty. "Are you okay?" she asked the wooden penguin, staring at it. "Can he hear me when he's like this?" she asked Natasha, and tapped the penguin gently with a finger.
It immediately started to grow, and Leah dropped it in shock. Small sparks of lightning spat from her hands as they curled into fists in automatic self defense, and Leah stared at the wooden penguin as it turned back into Liam.
"Jesus, you scared me," he admitted, scratching his head.
Leah blinked. "That was freaky," she admitted. "Can you hear me when you shape shift?"
Liam nodded. "Yeah."
Leah shook her head. "That must come in handy."
Natasha glared at Liam jokingly. "Yeah, especially when he wants to listen in on a conversation that's none of his business so that he can laugh about it afterwards."
"Well, I didn't know you were going to say you thought Ethan was cute, did I?" Liam defended himself. "Besides, it is funny. He's shorter than you are!"
Michelle frowned. "So?"
Natasha rolled her eyes, and Leah cocked her head at Natasha. "Do you really think he's cute?" Natasha shrugged, looking embarrassed. Leah let out a little chuckle. "That's so cute," she commented.
Liam rolled his eyes. "I still think he's too short."
Michelle gave Liam a disgusted look. "You can't be too short for someone," she said, her tone of voice adding a silent duh. "If they're in love, let them be in love. Who they are, what they look like... it doesn't matter."
Leah raised her eyebrows, but Natasha beat her to saying something. "I'm not in love!" she protested. "I just think he's cute!"
Leah smirked. "Such protest," she said, even though she highly doubted that they were in love. "It makes me think you have something to hide..." She raised her eyebrows, and if Natasha weren't black, she definitely would have blushed. "Oh, we're just teasing," Leah assured her. "If I ever say somebody is cute, feel free to make fun of me without mercy!"
Natasha and Michelle looked at each other and laughed evilly. Leah's smile dropped off her face. "I take it back!" she said quickly, but it was too late, and Liam said as much.
"It's too late, Leah. You're doomed to a life of eternal torment if they ever find out you like someone..."
Leah shrugged. "I'm sure I'll survive," she said casually. "So are we going to watch that movie, or what? What is it, anyway?"
Natasha smiled craftily. "Well, I was going to get Dogma, but it's rated R... so I got She's the Man instead!" She grinned happily, and Michelle laughed.
"What's it about? I've heard of it, but I don't know what it's about..." Leah said uncertainly.
"It's a chick flick," Liam groaned. "A total frigging chick flick... why couldn't you get a good movie?" he added pleadingly.
"She's the Man is a good movie!" Natasha said indignantly. "I love it!"
"I know," Liam said in a horrified voice. "You've seen it like three times!"
"I love it," Michelle said. "It is a total chick flick, Liam is right, but..."
"You just thinking Channing Tatum is hot," Liam muttered sulkily under his breath. Michelle pulled an exaggeratedly thoughtful face, and then nodded, grinning mischievously. Liam rolled his eyes and glared at the ceiling. "I hate that movie," he growled.
"Well, I love it," Natasha said. "Besides, don't deny you think that the girl who plays Olivia is hot..."
Liam smiled sheepishly, and Leah snickered. "Hypocrite," she accused, smirking.
Liam shrugged. "Maybe so. But it isn't even that good of a movie."
"Which is why I caught you outside, trying to do that thing with the soccer ball, the day after we watched it for the first time." Natasha laughed when Liam flushed, and Leah chuckled and shook her head.
"No way!" Michelle exclaimed, looking shocked. "Did you do it?"
"Nah, he fell on his face," Natasha said, and laughed.
"I did not!" Liam protested indignantly. "And anyway, I can sort of do it now."
"Yeah right," Natasha scoffed.
"I can," Liam said, determined to show them. Leah laughed at the stubborn look on his face, and Michelle shook her head at Natasha. "I'll prove it," Liam said triumphantly.
Natasha raised her eyebrows. She hadn't expected that. "Okay," she said after a minute. "Show us. But if you can't do it on at least the third try, you don't get to say one more word about She's the Man. Deal?"
Liam nodded enthusiastically. "Deal," he said smugly. "Now prepare to eat your words." Natasha went and grabbed a soccer ball and tossed it to Liam, who caught it and squeezed it gently. He nodded in approval, and they all headed for Natasha's back yard.
Leah followed after Natasha and Liam, and Michelle walked beside her. "Do you think he can really do it?" Leah asked Michelle curiously.
Michelle thought about it for a second. "You know, I don't know," she said finally. "He never really says he's going to do something unless he means it, but it looked awfully hard, jumping up and kicking the ball while you're in the air like that... I just hope he didn't do it once and think he can do it every time from then on, because that's not going to happen."
"Hm," Leah said, and shrugged. She doubted Liam would be that dumb, but they were about to find out. Hopefully, he wouldn't make a fool of himself.
He didn't. Leah's jaw dropped when she saw him jump up in the air and kick the ball, and Michelle and Natasha both cheered loudly. "See," he said proudly. "I told you I can do it. Um- where's the ball?"
Leah laughed. "You kicked it out into the front yard, I think."
"That is so cool!" Michelle said enthusiastically. "You have to teach me how to do that!"
Liam grinned proudly, and Leah shook her head. She could tell his ego was going to be the size of Texas for weeks now. "I'll go get the ball..."
I'm sorry it took so long for me to update this. I don't have an excuse, I was just being lazy, because honestly, I've had this chapter pretty much done for a couple months.
You should thank Tinuel for lighting the fire under my ass that made me update (although everyone who reviewed deserves a huge thanks and an equally huge hug). She (I really hope you're not a guy...) wrote a really nice review, and I realized that I really needed to update. So here it is!