CHAPTER 3 'Ok, I can work with this'

A/N: I still don't own nothing...

Back to Sam's POV

As our jet approaches the landing strip on Sky High, I can feel the eyes of every student on us. Even the teachers that are still outside are transfixed. Suddenly a comet of sorts zooms past our jet and lands on one of the sides of the strip. A woman appears in place of the comet. The power to transform into a comet. Really. This school is going to majorly suck. If I don't find something to stare at for the rest of my days here, I'll run away faster than what you can say 'X-men'! Well, fly away. Whatever.

Alright, time to face the music. Landing was as smooth as ever with uncle Scooter, and the ramp is lowered, facing the gawking crowd. You think that if I zapped a few they'd close their mouths? Yeah, me neither. Anyway, mom and dad on each side of me, Logan, Jean and Scooter behind us in case I try to run away, we make our way over to the comet-woman. She looks important. Wonder why?

'She's the headmistress, Principal Powers.' I immediately hear Jean's reply in my head. I was always suck-y at keeping my thoughts to myself. Or maybe she's just trying to see of I'll burst into flight at any minute. Sooo. Comet-woman is the principal. And her name is Powers? Super school alright. You can't get more clichéd than that.

"Welcome to Sky High. I'm Diana Powers. And this, must be Samantha!" she says, looking at me. Of course, take it for granted that the only one of the group she doesn't know is me. After all, all the others are worldwide known in the superhuman community. They're X-men for crying out loud! A group I'm still grinding my teeth at not being allowed to join into.

Meanwhile, mom has already confirmed Powers.

"Yes, this is our daughter, Samantha... Sam..." what? OH! Right, she wants me to be a good girl and formally introduce myself. Oh, *sigh* might as well. If she doesn't suspect me, I might have a bigger chance at escaping. So I extend my arm and shake hands with the Principal, very aware that the whole of the friggin' school is watching. Damn them.

"Samantha Munroe, please to meet to Principal Powers." She smiles, but I can see my parents look slightly shocked and suspicious. Can't blame them. They know I'm only this nice when I'm up to something. Oh well, I'll just have to prove them wrong. Using Jeannie as a telepathic connection, I try to calm my mother's doubts.

'Come on, mom. I'm a princess remember? I have manners!' I think at her. Jean tries to hold in her laughter and my mom snorts quietly.

'It's not your manners I doubt, but rather what you're hiding behind those manners!' Damn. She knows me to well.

"We are so glad to have you join us Samantha, I'm sure you'll do as well in Sky High as you did at Xavier's." Humph! I doubt THAT! Not like I'm gonna tell her but still...

From this point onwards there is nothing more to interest me in the conversation as the adults exclude me to talk about the current problem with the son-of-a-... of a law that's forcing me to come here. Logan doesn't bother joining in though and draws me a bit to the side.

"A'ight darlin', I'm gonna make you a deal. I want ya to stay at school, no running away, no flying away, no jumping of the edge to be sent home. AND" he raises his voice a little to stop my impending interruption. "And, you have my permission to kick ass, skip class and have fun. I will come over every weekend, I'll force Scooter to drive me if I have to, and I'll take you for a ride, to the mall if you want, we'll have our sparring matches and everything. A'ight? I'll even convince 'Ro to leave your powers alone. All I need is to be sure you'll be safe, and despite whatever you may think, this school is safe, as ridiculously clichéd as we may both think it. Trust me, I checked the security myself. So, how 'bout it?"

Don't you just love this man?! Having him as a godfather is the greatest thing. I nod enthusiastically, knowing as I did, I would never get a better deal. We smile and he went over to the still boring talk of strategy and politics.

He pulls my mom away and starts the convincing process. I lift myself of the ground with a few light air currents and cross my legs getting comfortable. This might take a bit. All the attention is now centred on Logan and mom. Finally, and in much less time than I expected, my mom nods.

She comes back, smiles at me and nods. I simply hug her. Then dad, then Logan, then Jean and finally Scooter. I'm not going to see anyone in a while. I just know it. Save for Logan. But it is still going to be a week. I am used to having them around all day. I am going to miss them all.

"You'll be staying with the Commander and Jetstream. They have a room ready for you. Principal Powers will point out their son, and appoint someone to show you around. Take care of yourself Sammy. Despite what you may think, I don't want anything to happen to you. I love you, khepri.(1)" Uh oh, tearing up time. The sky is already clouding up. If I start crying now, it will rain for the next few hours. But then mom hugs me and I can't give a shit. I'm not going to see her for the next month at least. And as much of a pain in the ass as I am, I love her. For making me who I am, for being proud of who we are, and giving me my confidence in my powers, helping me to see how amazing it is to be a mutant. I owe my mother a lot. And I know that. As the shower starts pouring down, students run indoors, teachers set off to get ready for their class and Principal Powers goes to the school doors to wait for me to be ready. After a massive group hug from everyone, mom and I take a deep breath, nod at each other and force the rain to a stop. Teary-eyed as we are, we cannot let our emotions affect the world. 'She taught me that.' I remember. I struggle with a new wave of tears and wave goodbye as they get back on the jet and take off. I fight the grey clouds off; though in the state I am in, I can only reduce the cloud cover to a half of what it is.

'This is going to be a gloomy day.' I think. Not in the mood for walking, I fly the rest of the way to the school doors and land softly next to Principal Powers, who smiles kindly and leads me inside.

She hands me my schedule, locker number and combination and takes me to my first class. Opening the door and ushering me in, she addresses the teacher. When I look at the guy I nearly break down laughing. His head is HUGE. It looks like a pregnant woman's belly, only on top of the guy's head. Holding in my laughter, I try to pay attention to what they are saying.

"... Samantha Munroe, transfer student from Xavier's Institute. Miss Munroe, this is William Stronghold, the son of the Commander and Jetstream." She says pointing him out. I nod and he smiles and waves. LOL, the guy looks like a Captain America wannabe. I don't know what his power is but he is going to need more than blinding amounts of blue, red and white to accomplish that. Trust me, I know Captain America. "And this is Layla Williams." Powers adds in, pointing at a girl with a little to much green and who is sitting so close to the Stronghold kid that it practically screams 'GIRLFRIEND!' "Miss Williams, kindly show Miss Munroe around the school." Layla nods with a smile so wide I would've thought to be physically impossible, then gives her boyfriend an even bigger smile. Is that her power?! "Well, Mr. Medulla, she's all yours." So big-head's name is Medulla.

"Alright, Miss Munroe, welcome to Mad Science." Okay, have you any idea how much will power it is taking out of me not to laugh out loud at the sound of the guy's voice?! It's like squeaky, alien... and so damn funny! But fortunately I manage to keep a fairly straight face. Then, what he has just said registers in my mind and a new batch of laughter silently shakes me. Mad Science?!?!?! Who the HELL came up with the names for this school? "We work with assigned lab partners in this class. The only seat left is next to Mr. Peace so if you could just take your place we can begin the class." All this is said in his annoying alien-ish voice. I just nod, turn on my heel, still laughing silently and go towards my appointed seat.

When I get there, however, I stop laughing. Hell, I damn near stop breathing. 'Ok, I can work with this!' I breath. My lab partner is HOT! A Greek god! The guy is DROP. DEAD. GORGEOUS!!!! I catch myself as fast as I can before the whole class notices that I'm staring and sit down. Damn it is it just me, or is it reeeeally hot? And, for once, I'm not talking 'bout the guy next to me. Damn. I try lowering my body temp. But I end up lowering the temp of the whole room. With everybody else's teeth gritted against the cold, my lab partner turns to me, perfectly unaffected.

"Sorry." He said. His voice is all it takes for me to fall in love with the guy. Then it registers I have no idea as to why he's apologising. Immediately though, the room temperature levels out, but it isn't as hot as before around me. And people are staring at us. My hot lab partner glares at them and every body immediately snaps back to their own business. So, hottie and bad boy. I can definitely work with this.

"Why, exactly?"

"I don't usually have to keep my body temperature in check while in Mad Science 'cause normally, no one seats by me." He must've seen the bewildered look on my face. What he's just said probably makes sense but I am having to fight against the spell of his brown eyes to see reason at the moment, so it takes longer for me to understand what he has just said. "I'm a pyro." He adds.

Aahhh, well that clears eve- No it doesn't! Pyros control fire, what has this guy's body temperature have to do with anything?!

"And?" Then it hits me. John can control fire. But this guy can actually generate it! That is AWESOME! "You mean you can create fire?!" he nods at me as if I'm stupid. That makes me kinda angry. How dare he take it for granted that he can be as hot as he is, get away with it and not make my brain all fuzzy?! HA! Who does he think he is?!

"Well I'm sorry for not knowing you were a pyro that could actually create fire!" I throw back in a loud whisper. He looks at me as if I'm crazy.

"What other kind of pyros are there?" he asks in his obnoxious, deep, husky voice. NO! Don't think about his voice! Bad Sammy!

"Fire-generating pyros are extremely rare! The most common type of pyro is the usual fire-manipulator!" He looks exasperated and rolls his eyes.

"If I tell you I'm sorry for affecting the room temperature and that I'm a pyro, wouldn't that mean I'm the 'fire-generating' type?" he asks in a low whisper that nearly makes me agree with him. His voice is as hot as he is. Dear Goddess! This guy is, unfortunately for me and probably the entire female population of Sky High, as annoying as he is hot. And I am getting pissed off.

"Well excuse me Your Majesty if my IQ is not up to your standards! And besides, your being a pyro shouldn't really have anything to do with affecting room temperatures!" I fire back in the same tone. I don't really understand why I continue arguing with the guy, whether it is because he's hot or whether I want to prove a point, either way I am decided not to loose this.

"One: Your Majesty? Really? Is that the best you can come up with to insult me? And two: it does have a lot to do with that because, since I'm a "fire-generating" pyro I can produce enough heat to affect room temperatures!" he says, making air quotes and mimicking me when saying "fire-generating" while his exasperated grumble is making me melt, but I am not going to let that affect me. Goddess he is hot... FOCUS!

""One"." I say, mimicking him right back with his annoying air quotes. "No, I frankly can come up with better insults but I thought it wouldn't be healthy for the rest of the class if I pissed you off as much as I planned to, and two..." I trail off at that point, registering for the first time two things: one, he is seriously powerful if he can do that, and, most importantly, two, he is seriously close! His face isn't more than a few inches away from mine and it is making the temptation his lips create, unbearable. What about his lips I am not quite sure, but kissing them sounds like a very good idea all of a sudden.

"Two..." he prompts, waving his strong hand for me to continue. He has the nerve to look amused.

"Two, how powerful can you get?!" I whisper indignantly, and rather ridiculously to tell the truth. He chuckles, dropping his head slightly. I suppress a shiver as his warm breath hits my collarbone.

"I don't know how powerful I can get, but as for pissing me off with the insults... I'd love to see you try." Ok, so this time his breath hits my lips. I think he's doing this on fucking purpose, cause there is no goddamn way that he can not notice what he's doing. By the amused grin on his gorgeous (FOCUS!) face I can tell he's doing it on purpose, and enjoying every second of it. Bastard. Hot bastard, but bastard anyway! Fortunately for what little dignity I have left, Medulla chooses this very moment to interrupt our... conversation...

"Mr. Peace, Miss Munroe, could you please kindly return to science class as interesting as your flirting session may be?" the whole class is staring at us, and I notice that every single girl, except for green girl (what's her name again? Layla?), is glaring daggers at me. I glare right back. If looks could kill I'd have to come back from the dead to keep arguing with hottie pyro next to me. I think I would.

A/N:

(1): Khepri is Egyptian for "morning sun". I know Storm isn't Egyptian but I liked it for a pet name. Besides, she did live in Cairo! For a while... R&R!