Chapter Two: Grudge
Na-Na: Don't own Sky High. But I have to admit, I've got a major crush on Steven Strait right now. He's so hawt! RAOWR! And I wish I owned Warry. Anyway, Tenni is mine. If she seems Mary-Sue-ish to anybody, feel free to tell me. On with the story, and also, most of the story at this point on will be from Tenni's point of view unless I say it isn't. Also, I kinda went into a "To Hell with This" mode on the update on Jan 11th idea. I decided I'd be a relatively good person and just post this since the first chapter didn't seem worth leaving alone for to long. So, read and enjoy you lucky devils.
About One Year Later
(Or more)
This morning, I got up bright and early as usual. The green motif of my room greeted my eyesight as I got out of bed. Didn't feel up for a shower, so I skipped it went straight over to the closet to get dressed. Inside it, I searched for a good outfit. What I finally had decided on was a mid-calf length sky blue skirt, a baggy light gray long sleeve top and sneakers of a similar shade of gray. Lately, I had been really into long skirts since they covered my legs, so my closet seemed inhabited with them. I looked at myself in the mirror to see how I looked. My wavy blonde hair was left loose over my shoulders. Glaring at it, I decided I'd deal with it later. Being blonde was something I disliked intensely. But I was pleased to see my gray shirt brought out my silver-gray eyes slightly. They were my favorite feature.
Outfit approved! I thought to myself, the outfit was definitely not gonna earn me any leers. Skipping out of my room, I made my way down stairs to the kitchen where I saw Mom already dressed and preparing breakfast. I hopped over and looked over her shoulder to see what was cooking.
"Morning Mom," I greeted before backing off a bit, "Would you like me to help with breakfast?"
"No thanks Sweetheart," Mom answered, "Today's your's and Will's special day. I wouldn't want to put you to work when you should be getting ready."
"Okay. You know I don't mind helping out," I said while taking a seat at the table.
"Exactly what we want to hear," I heard Dad's voice behind me. When I turned around, I saw him hanging up his cell phone. I heard him talking to Mom about him getting a house sold, but stopped paying attention when Mom put a plate in front of me piled high with eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and hashbrowns. Mmmm. Food…The only things I caught of their conversation as I stuffed my face was "Hawaii", "Kamehamayhem", "exploding volcanoes", and "in my toes." I tried to focus more on eating after that.
Once I was done wolfing all of the food down I noticed Mom and Dad were... KISSING. Ewww! MY VIRGIN EYES! I knew it was a bit childish of me, but it was creepy when the people in charge of you kissed right in front of you. Dad went up stairs muttering something about getting Will downstairs and ready.
I started remembering the day I had come to live with the Strongholds. I had immediately, and surprisingly taken a deep liking to them. They liked me a lot too. Now a whole year and a half had passed, and I had really become part of the family, Tenni Stronghold. Josie and Steve had really been more of a mother and father figure for me this past year, more so than my biological parents had ever been. I had even warmed up to the habit of calling them Mom and Dad instead of Josie and Steve. Will and I were like best friends with each other, well not more so than him and Layla, but we had a deep connection. I loved this family and they loved me back. Life seemed perfect for me.
The deep thoughts I had been having were cut off by a large crashing noise coming from upstairs. I felt worried for a second, since I knew Will was still upstairs. Had he gotten crushed by his weights again? He'd been trying real hard to get stronger since we were going to start High school soon and he hadn't gotten his power yet. Before I could get up to go check, someone coming through the front door distracted me from doing so. It turned out to be Layla, her hair in pigtails and, no surprise, wearing green. She babbled on to Mom about something with the recycling while walking over to take a seat next to me.
When Mom offered her some breakfast, she declined.
"No thanks," she said, "You know how my Mom can communicate with animals? Apparently they don't like being eaten." I rolled my eyes at the comment. Ofcourse animals don't like to be eaten. Typical Layla, but I guess that was why I like her so much.
"How about some juice?"
"Great." Just as Layla answered, Dad entered the kitchen again.
"Morning Kiddo," he said giving me a kiss on the forehead. "Morning Layla."
"Mornin' Dad."
"Morning Commander." Layla responded. Dad looked at her a bit confused before noticing what she was getting at. Sheepishly, he put on his glasses.
Mom started reminiscing and I snickered when she mentioned the "Naked in the Kiddie Pool" thing. Will had just entered and was blushing deeply, scolding Mom a bit about it. Suddenly, a phone rang and Mom and Dad grimaced when it turned out to be the "Emergency Hotline." They quickly apologized to Will and I before they took off for the sanctum. Will, Layla and I stopped for a couple of minutes to watch Mom and Dad defeat the bad guy on the news before taking off to meet the bus.
I walked a couple of feet behind where Will and Layla were walking, giving them some space. It was the least I could do. I had known since I first met Layla that she was into Will. He seemed to feel something for her too, but couldn't tell yet. Layla was in my opinion, really nice, and being one of my only friends (Will not included since we're related), I looked out for her as well as for Will. They'd make and excellent couple. As soon as my blockhead brother would finally stop being so dense and notice Layla liked him and somewhere deep inside, he liked her the same way too.
Before we got to the bus, I quickly used my illusionary power without Will or Layla noticing. I used it to make my hair appear to be brown and I added freckles and glasses to my face. This was the same thing I did when I started at Will and Layla's school last year. No one had ever suspected that I actually looked different. And no one but Will and Layla had to know what I really look like. Once we reached the bus, we all stepped up and came face to face with an overly cheerful bus driver. Will and I were morning people ourselves, but this was ridiculous.
"Morning!" he said as he greeted us happily. Will muttered a "morning" back to him.
"Is this the bus to Sky High?" Will asked. The bus driver, whose name turned out to be Ron Wilson, immediately shushed him. He then quickly asked for our names.
"Will Stronghold."
"Layla Williams." When I didn't say anything, Layla elbowed me in the stomach quickly earning a glare from me. For a hippie, she sure didn't hold back on putting me through pain.
"Tenni Stronghold." I grumbled out. It wasn't that I hated my name, no, in fact, it made me proud that I could call myself a Stronghold. I disliked saying it, because it was like a label in the hero world. Labels were annoying things.
"The kids of the Commander and Jetstream?" Ron asked. Will and I nodded; though I doubt he saw my nod from where I was standing behind Will. Ron abruptly stood up and yanked both of us up front and center. "Everybody! It's Will and Tenni Stronghold! Son and daughter of the Commander and Jetstream."
Something finally registered as wrong to me. The bus was too quiet. And buses are never this quiet this early in the morning. No, I take that back. Buses in general were never this silent. It seemed like Will noticed the same thing. We looked out at all of the inhabitants of the bus. Most were gaping at me and Will and all eyes were on us. It was unnerving on so many levels. I tried to shuffle more behind Will so that they weren't all looking at me.
Will finally took notice to the fact I had used my power to change my appearance. I caught the look he gave me that said we'd be exchanging words, before heading to take a seat next Zach, one of our friends from 8th grade.
"Yo Will. Hey, how you doin'? Hey Layla, Ten," Zach said in greeting. I gave him a wave and a glare before taking a seat next to Layla. I hated being called Ten.
"So you're hiding your appearances again?" Layla asked me. I nodded yes, "You don't have to. It's not a bad thing to be noticed because of how pretty you are."
"Yes it is Layla," I told her, "I do this as a test. I don't want people talking to me because I'm beautiful or blonde," Not that I'm beautiful, I thought but left unsaid, "I want them to talk to me because they like my personality." Sighing, I settled back into the bus seat.
"I know, but it disturbs me, because I know what you really look like. Will doesn't like it either. We like you for you. Not for your appearance. And besides, it'll be hard to not get attention when your last name is Stronghold." She said. Damn. Now I remember that fun fact. I wonder if it's okay to use my power to be invisible during school hours.
Suddenly, straps went across my chest. When I looked around I saw that Layla and Will were strapped into the bus as well. What the hell was up with this bus? Suddenly, the death trap went off a dead end. As we plummeted, I held onto Layla and she held on to me as if our lives were depending on it. I looked over my shoulder one last time to look at Will. Would this really be the end for my brother and me? Shutting my eyes, I stopped looking and returned to clinging to Layla and screaming. The falling seemed to last for forever, when suddenly, the bus began to shake and then stop moving.
I cracked one of my eyes open. We were…on solid ground. The straps were gone too. I stood and helped Layla up before running the whole way off the bus. Thank the Lord and all that was holy. I didn't even stop to talk Ron or anything. Just needed to get off that bus. For a while, I waited a good ten feet away before Layla and Will ran up to join with me. We all made our way up into the school with all the rest of the freshmen. I'm pretty sure we all ignored the stupid cheer the clone girl did.
Suddenly all of us freshmen were stopped abruptly when some guy started speeding around us, causing a miniature whirlwind. When it stopped, a pudgy guy stood in front of us and soon, a tall guy literally stretched over and stood next to the other guy.
"Your attention please!"
"I'm Lash," the tall guy said, "Uh, this is Speed." He said gesturing to the fat guy, "As representatives of the Sky High welcoming committee…"
"We'd be happy to collect that 15 new student fee." Speed said as Lash stuck out his hand to me.
"Like hell," I said smacking Lash's hand away.
"Um, there was nothing about a new student fee in the handbook." The orange kid said nervously.
"Fiesty for a nerd," Lash said sneering at me. I glared back, making sure I remembered who this miserable moron was so that I could get him for being a prick.
"Ok guys. Very funny. I'll take over from here," A girl dressed in pink said walking up to us.
She shooed away the goons and introduced herself as Gwen Grayson, Student Body President. I stopped paying attention to her speech and started watching the other students. My eyes caught on one particular person reading a book. I was compelled to watch him. He probably was tall, his straight, dark hair going to his shoulders with two red streaks in it. He wore a black leather jacket, a black shirt, faded black pants, and boots. Suddenly, I became aware of the fact he had caught me watching him and was glaring back at me. At first, I was confused as to why he glared. But, I gave him a warm smile anyway and returned my attention to Gwen's speech. What I missed was the confused and shocked expression that crossed his face at the fact I had done that.
What did catch my attention was the look Will was giving Gwen. I didn't know if I wanted to smack him upside the head or hurl more. He was looking at her with a completely stupefied look; eyes lidded and mouth agape. I saw the look Layla had on her face when she made the connection. Her expression showed the hurt she felt, but she quickly covered it up by shaking Will out of his Gwen-induced trance.
Gwen finished up by talking about not falling off the school's edge and told us to proceed to the gym where Principle Powers was. The whole time we were heading there, Will tried to get Layla and me to tell him what Gwen had been saying. I couldn't tell him since I hadn't been listening either and Layla was too annoyed with him to explain it. When we reached the gym, a woman in too much white "sparkled" her way over to the podium.
"Good Morning. I am Principle Powers," she said, "And on behalf of…" I tuned her out. I didn't need to listen to long-winded welcome speeches. If I had come here to sit through boring things like that, I would've listened to Gwen.
I almost missed the entrance of the gym teacher, Boomer, he said his name was. He told us he'd be doing Power Placement for us, and that we'd have to show him our power. He'd decide if we were in "Hero" class or "Hero Support," which was just the preferred term for "Sidekick" or "Loser Track" as dubbed by the girl stylishly garbed in purple and black punk-goth clothes. Boomer also told us that he would not tolerate "whiner babies." I was pretty sure I hated this guy already. As the placing passed, it was an even keel for students on "Hero" and "Sidekick." When it was Layla's turn though, I listened and watched attentively.
"You, Flower Child, let's go." Boomer said firmly, motioning for her to come and show her power.
"I believe in only using my powers when the situation demands it," Layla said weakly, barely loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Well you're in luck. This is the situation, and I'm demanding it."
"But to participate in this test would be to support a flawed system. I think the whole "Hero," "Sidekick" dichotomy only serves to-"
"Lemme get this straight. Are you refusing to show me your powers?"
"It's a little more complicated than that. I mean-" Layla was cut off by a loud cry of
"SIDEKICK!"
I growled, and my eyes flashed dangerously. How dare he do that to Layla? She was just speaking her mind. This was supposed to be a free country. I was about to go up there to give him a piece of my mind when Will's hand shot out to grab mine.
"Don't," He said, as the bell rang.
"Alright, we'll pick it up right after lunch, starting with you two…" he said, staring ominously down at Will and I. I heard Will gulp nervously before Layla dragged the both of us off to lunch.
I followed after the group as they headed for the table. Our tables inhabitants consisted of Will, Layla, Zach, Magenta (A.K.A. Purple Goth Girl who Shape Shifts into a Guinea Pig), and Ethan (A.K.A Orange Geeky Melting Boy). Musing over my nicknames for them, I looked at the salad I had let Layla talk me into getting. When we sat down, I had taken a seat next to Will and Layla took the seat on the other side of him. Zach sat across from me, Ethan next to him, and Magenta next to him on the other side of the table. Will began to get squirmish before turning to Layla.
"Am I crazy, or is that guy really looking at me?" he asked nodding behind us.
My brows knitted together in confusion. A guy staring at Will? Not sure if that was a good thing (Sarcasm). Both Layla and I turned to look behind Will even though I figured it was pointless. I was surprised when I saw that there was, in fact, glaring at Will. Even more surprising, it had been that guy I had seen earlier this morning. You know, the one with long hair with red streaks wearing the awesome leather jacket? Yeah, that's him. His eyes seemed trained on Will, an intense glare issuing forth from them. The hate powering it was distrubing. What had Will done to deserve that level of emotion? I turned back remembering that had been the same glare he had given me this morning.
"Dude," Zach said, catching our attention.
"What?" asked Will.
"That's Warren Peace," Zach said, his voice dropping into a gravely serious tone. Both Will and I looked at each other with twin confused looks. Warren Peace? I liked the name, but I didn't get why we were all being so serious about him.
"That's Warren Peace?" Layla asked, sounding intrigued. It wasn't like I was either, but I couldn't fit any questions of my own into the conversation at hand.
"Yeah," Zach answered.
"I've heard about him," Layla said, "His Mom's a hero and his Dad's a super villain. Baron Battle."
My breath left me. His parents were on opposing sides as well? I had never told anyone who my biological parents were, so everyone who knew I was adopted just assumed I was just some kid taken in by the Strongholds. Not many were aware I was even adopted. Most thought I really was Mom and Dad's daughter and the illusion I used to make me look more like Will only made the belief stronger. Only the Strongholds knew about my real parents since Mom had been actually been my aunt before the adoption. I never even told Layla about my real parents. She had just bought the whole, "They died, and it hurts too much to talk about it," speech.
I glanced at Warren quickly for a second without him noticing. Maybe. So there really were people out there with messed-up parents like mine.
"Where do Tenni and I come in?" Will asked. I started eating my salad at an amazingly fast pace. By now you guys have figured out I'm not very ladylike when it comes to eating. It was gone before Ethan began to start talking.
"Your guy's dad busted his dad. Quadruple life sentence," Ethan explained. So Warren was holding a grudge against Will for something our dad had done.
"No parole until after his third life." Magenta added.
"Harsh," I mumbled quietly poking at my empty salad plate. I wished this conversation would end. It brought up things I didn't want to think about. Next to me, Will sighed.
"That's great. My first day of Sky High, and I already have an archenemy. Hmm." Will said, "Is he still looking?" Layla and I turned around to check again. This time he was glaring at me.
"Yes but not at you." I muttered. Great, should've figured. Apparently, it wasn't just Will he had a problem with.
Just great.
Having had enough of this conversation, I stood up and grabbed my bag. My mind was going around in circles about my past, future, and the problems I was having in the present. This was too much, and I was becoming rapidly aware of it due to the massive headache I was forming. I was about to leave when Will's hand reached out to grab mine.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm done so I'm going to leave." I said trying to dismiss him but he kept his hold firm, expecting a better answer, "I just don't want to be here. The noise level is bothering me. I'll meet you guys at the gym. Okay Will?" I half-lied. He finally gave in and let go of my hand, even though I'm sure he didn't believe the lame excuse.
"Just be careful," He said, warily glancing behind his shoulder. Just as he and I had thought, Warren had been watching the whole exchange.
"I'll be fine," I muttered tossing my trash away in the closest garbage can.
My anger had spiked a bit at his warning. I knew Will was worried about me, and I appreciated it so much, but it wasn't fair to come to negative conclusions about others. For some reason, I felt for Warren even though he probably hated me because Stronghold was my last name. It annoyed me because it was probably because our "situations" were alike. I walked off feeling my friends' eyes on me. I could also feel Warren's gaze on me as well. Glancing back at him, I saw he wasn't glaring at me this time, but was instead staring at me as if he were trying to ask me a question with his eyes. For the second time today, I smiled at him as our eyes met. But this time it was a sad smile.
I looked away and left the cafeteria.
So much for a good first day.
Na-Na: I don't know. What do you think? Was this chappie okay? I dunno. Maybe.
Tenni: I'm glad you love me, I just really like your pen name and wanted my character to be named after you so, yeah. Keep reading and reviewing.
Arisa-san: Yeah, I agree, the part with Will hugging her was cool! And for your information, Pin Pon is a cool sound!
LovelyMusic: I decided to be nice on your account since you were nice enough to review. Hope you liked this chapter though.
Next Update (And I'm Sticking to the plan this time)
January 12