Chapter Six: Detention

Na-Na: Don't own Sky High. But I love you people. I get so happy when you guys review, that I feel like I could die happy. But trust me, I'm not dying any time soon. Wouldn't be fair to you guys if I didn't finish this story, and maybe write a few more. I hope this you liek this chapter. And for anyone with weak hearts, grab a kleenex box, because this chapter ends kind of sadly. I swear, I cried while writing it.

"WILLLLLL!" I screamed as I threw myself forward at Will, putting myself in between him and the large ball of fire speeding in our direction. The force of my impact against Will caused him to roll out of the way unharmed. I wasn't as lucky. The fireball didn't hit me directly, but still caught me and seared my right leg burning my skirt away where it had come into contact with the burning mass. We crashed to the floor heavily.

"Ahhh…" I moaned weakly, pushing myself up from the floor of the cafeteria.

Noticing my skirt was still slightly aflame, I used my power to put it out. The fire had successfully burned a large portion of the right side of my skirt away, all the way up to right above my knee. I grimaced when I looked at the burn on my leg. It wasn't too big, nothing serious at the moment, but it felt so painful. My hand ghosted over it, cooling it and numbing the pain.

I noticed after a while that the whole cafeteria had gone quiet. I looked up and saw everyone in the cafeteria staring back at me. But at this moment, for once, the stares didn't matter. All that mattered was the guy in front of me right now. I pushed myself up onto my feet and stood up as tall as possible, even though he still towered over me with his height. My fists clenched and I glared vehemently at him as he stared back at me with a look of confusion. I walked straight up to him so that I was staring up into his dark eyes and…

SMACK!

I hit him square in the jaw.

No, I didn't just slap him like most of us women usually do when we're pissed.

I PUNCHED him.

The "him" being Warren Peace.

Everyone in the gym gasped. Everyone. It was like a sea of gasps all at once mixing together to make the mother of all gasps. Warren was knocked back a bit, but the punch wasn't enough to actually throw him off his feet. But it did look like it hurt quite a bit. I felt a bit sorry for him for a second before remembering this guy had just tried to KILL my baby brother. Crush or no crush, no one was allowed to touch Will. When he straightened up and looked back at me, he glared.

"What the hell was that for?" He growled. I hadn't thought I could get angrier, but here we go, I just did. This guy had the nerve to ask me why I punched him!

"What was it for?" I nearly screamed at him, "You tried to kill my brother!"

"The stupid ass had it coming!" Warren yelled back at me.

That was it. I rose arm up and I was about to clock the stupid bastard again when a hand wrapped itself firmly around my wrist. I snapped my head around to yell at whoever it was keeping me from punching him when I came face to face with Principal Powers. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Staring back stupidly for a second, I finally realized what I was doing, where I was, and I was also painfully aware of the fact that I was now in serious trouble.

"P-Principal Powers…" I finally stuttered out.

"Ms. Stronghold," she said eyeing me with great disapproval, "I'd like you, Mr. Stronghold and Mr. Peace to accompany me to the detention room."

Principal Powers lead all three of us down the halls of the school to the detention room. I walked on the right side of Will, all the while just staring at my feet ashamed of myself. Will and I hadn't been at this school for very long and already we got I trouble! And Will really hadn't done anything. He'd been defending himself from Warren. Will didn't even have powers either. How was he even supposed to fight back? I had never imagined that something this chaotic would happen, but it did and I was feeling really upset.

The Principal's shoes clicked with every single step she took, and her heels seemed to form a rhythmic sort of tune in my brain as they tapped against the floor. I distracted myself with the constant clicking so my attention would not be occupied by the two other people that accompanied me down the hall. I felt overly conscious near Will because he had been really shocked when I had pulled that stunt in the cafeteria, and every time I had checked earlier, he had still been staring at me with the same shock etched on his face. He must think I'm barbaric because of how I punched Warren back there. My stomach turned. I hadn't wanted Will to think badly of me…

But Warren had deserved it! I had liked him ever since I first saw him and yet he still tried to harm my brother. Will had been trying to apologize for whatever he had done to get Warren angry. But no! The guy had been a pigheaded jerk and still got mad. His only means of justifying his actions was the grudge he had at our Dad putting his in jail. We weren't our Dad though, so his deeds weren't supposed to define who we were so greatly. So why did Warren have to be so judgmental?

All the way to the detention room, I refused to lift my head, so my eyes pretty much remained glued to my navy blue shoes. There was a 99.9 percent chance that either Will or Warren were looking at me at this moment. I wasn't going to take that 0.1 chance that one of them wasn't, since I was too nervous to attempt such a thing. Will would probably give me that dumbstruck look while Warren would be glaring. Right now, both of those things didn't sound all too appealing. And I was quite content in playing the "Stare at a Pair of Shoes Until Your Eyes Fall Out" game. So I stuck with that.

I let myself fall back and walk about three or four feet behind the guys so that I was sure they wouldn't be watching me without having to turn around and look. For a while it continued like this. Me, just minding my own business all the while still watching my shoes, who I just named Eric and Melvin. I also would occasionally watch Will's or Warren's feet since I could see them sort of within my limited vision. I compared Warren's large black leather boots to Will's sneakers a couple of times until Principal Powers' voice snapped me out of my shoe obsession. Cautiously, I looked up, trying to focus on only her face and not my brother's or Warren's face. She too was staring directly at me, though I couldn't tell what she was thinking with the look on her face.

"In," she said hitting a button on the wall. The door slid open and she began motioning for us to get in.

I hesitated as Will and Warren walked in. I would have to spend two hours in there with them? The whole room was almost glowing from how white everything was inside of it. Sighing, I guessed I'd have to accept my fate. But as I approached the door, I stopped short when I saw a spat had started between Will and Warren.

"I didn't do anything, though," Will whined lowly, "He started it."

"Your dad started it," Warren said taking a few steps towards Will, "and I'm gonna finish it." Warren jerked his arms downward to ignite them, but no flame burst forth from them. He tried again but to no avail. I got confused. What happened? Why weren't his arms igniting? I mean, I wasn't complaining. It was good his powers wouldn't work because that meant he couldn't try and burn Will and I alive (though I doubt he'd even have the chance) during our hours-long punishment. But it didn't make sense. I still hadn't entered the room so I just watched Warren struggle with his non-reacting power from where I was. The clicking sound he made was actually kind of amusing to listen to.

"Don't bother," Powers said catching all of our attention, "The detention room neutralizes all super-powers."

Neutralizes all super-powers…

Those words echoed in my mind.

Neutralizes all super-powers…

If it neutralized every super-power than that would mean…

OH MY GOD!

"Ms. Stronghold?"

Principal Powers gave me an impatient look while tapping her foot expectantly. Warren was looking at me from the desk he sat at, with a look that seemed like a cross between amusement and…something else. Curiosity? That look bothered me. When I looked to Will, he seemed understand what I was panicking about, having a panicked look on his own face as well.

"Ms. Stronghold, could you please stop stalling and get in here and take a seat?" Principal asked. I shook my head violently.

"No."

"Why?" Principal Powers inquired beginning to sound overly impatient.

"Because, I-I don't want to!" I stammered out, "Can't I just go somewhere else…not here?" Her eyebrow raised at this, but she remained firm.

"No, now just go and take a seat," she said walking over to me so that she was standing next to me outside of the detention room. I cowered away from her. There was this mischievous glint in her eyes and I really didn't think it would be a good thing.

"But I don' wanna!" I whimpered cowering some more. This time I didn't have Will to hide behind since he was already in the room.

"Well, that's too bad."

And with that, the woman pushed me while I was unaware, into the room. I went stumbling the whole way in until I went crashing into a desk.

Warren's desk.

"Eep."

Fearfully, I pushed myself off of the desk and came face to face with the pyrokinetic. He stared at me looking totally surprised. I backed away from him and reached up to grab a lock of my hair. I brought it right in front of my face to see it. To my horror, I was a light golden color. I felt like crying now. Not only were my powers not working, but Warren had to have been the first person besides Layla and Will to see me without the illusion.

I looked up again to meet Warren's gaze. My silvery eyes met his onyx colored eyes. The look of shock had still not left his face yet. I felt lower than any other time I had been at this school. I never wanted anyone to know about this. My face, my hair, me. All of it was supposed to be hidden. This wasn't supposed to happen. It was never supposed to happen. But it just did and the last person I wanted to see me like this in the world was staring back at me. Crying wasn't the only thing I wanted to do at this moment. Maybe curl up in some corner by myself and die somewhere. If only to make this day just not have happened.

Instead I just dejectedly backed away and took a seat as far away from Warren as possible. It was all the way on the other side of the overly white detention room right next to the door on it's right. This hadn't been what I had expected when I had said I would except my fate. But I guess life wasn't going to be fair on my part so I had to accept it anyway even though I didn't want to. My head remained bowed as I slumped over my desk, my retched hair falling around my face. Once Principal Powers was sure we were all seated and quiet, she began talking again.

"Now here at Sky High, we do everything we can to teach you how to use your powers. But what you do with them, now that's up to you. Living up to your father's reputation," paused while looking at Will and then to Warren, "or trying to live it down," I almost expected her to add something in about my Mama, but she didn't. I was kind of wondering why she would bring up Dad though. Will hadn't really done anything during the fight when I had gotten there, so…why was he here anyway?

"Is a sad waste of talent," she said continuing, "Your talent. Try to keep in mind next time you're planning to do something stupid."

This time she gave me a look. There was something behind the look that I couldn't get. And I don't think I wanted to try. So I glared. What right did she have to treat me like some small child? I understood what I did. It's not like it was some boo-boo I did on accident that she could just scold me about so I wouldn't do it again. Hell, if I wanted to, I'd punch Warren in the jaw anytime I felt in the mood just to show the woman I knew what I was doing. And besides, I had punched him because he started this whole mess to begin with.

After a couple minutes of watching me (And I hated every second with passion), she stopped and handed me a note before she exited the detention room leaving the three of us alone in this room that was way too bright. I tucked it away deciding now was not going to be the time for me to read it, whatever the note happened to be about. I didn't really care for what could be in it, so I don't even think I'd even give it the time of day. Will exhaled the breath he had been holding the whole time Principal Powers had been here and settled his arms onto the smooth surface of his desk.

"Alright, look," Will said effectively catching both Warren's and my ownattention, "Whatever happened with our Dad's has nothing to do with us," Will leaned over to Warren and extended his hand out to him to shake, "What do you say?"

Warren sat there for about a minute before giving a Will an "Are-you-stupid-or-something?" look before responding.

"I say," Warren said, "If you ever cross me again, I'll roast you alive." With that, Warren dismissed Will and stared blankly to his left. Will sighed and settled back into his desk, with a look on his face that resembled that of a kicked puppy. I couldn't understand why Will was so upset about Warren not accepting his extension of friendship. He'd been the jerk in the first place.

Oh, who was I kidding?

I slumped over onto my desk in a very depressed fashion. Trying to stay mad at Warren was hard. As much as I tried to convince myself, I still couldn't hate him. Sure, I was angry, and I still felt that I should have punched him a couple more times just for good a measure, but hating him seemed to be something I was inexplicably incapable of doing. It was annoying because I wanted to be mad at him. Lord knows, I wanted to be mad at him, I just couldn't. Zach was right, I'm too passive.

But, being scared of Warren was another thing. I had been terrified of what he had almost done in the cafeteria. Warren may have been enraged but…he couldn't have possibly wanted Will to die. No one kills another person just for something so accidental. Only a truly evil person would do something that unforgivable. Warren had never seemed the evil type to me. Anger was the only thing that he couldn't help having. There was more than just that but…I don't know. He was just like the fire he used. Uncontrollable. The anger that he felt was so strong that if it were released, would cause him to lose all control.

Warren may not have really wanted to kill Will, but that doesn't mean he couldn't have.

What if he always lost control like that?

I pushed that the thought to the back of my mind. The thing I was trying to work over in my mind right now was which one of us would apologize first. I knew that hitting Warren had been wrong and unnecessary, and I knew I would have to apologize at sometime or else my conscious would kill me. But I wanted Warren to apologize. I wouldn't let him off so easily. Will deserved an apology too. The problem would be actually getting the guy to apologize. In my mind, I knew that I'd be wanting the impossible if I thought he'd actually say sorry to Will.

Finally when we got out of the detention room, I put my illusion back up. I felt relieved and glad to be anywhere else besides that room. It was too bright to not be a sight hazard. Even closing my eyes hurt! Principal Powers informed us that Ron would give Will and I a ride home while another would take Warren since he lived farther away from us. She had us head to the front to meet the aforementioned Bus drivers for our transportation . Will took off down the halls at a fast run to get there as fast as possible. I laughed at his retreating form all the way until it disappeared behind turn. It was good he was still energetic after sitting in silence for two whole hours. I on the other hand was tired as hell. Being inactive for so long did that to me.

Behind me, Warren trailed along only a couple of feet away. I listened to his foot falls as we made our way down the hall. We remained in that almost comfortable silence for a while before I decided this was a good time as any to apologize.

"Hey," I said looking over my shoulder at Warren. His head shot up to look at me. He gave me a questioning glance as he stopped moving forward.

"I'm sorry," I said, watching his facial expression turn from questioning to shocked.

"What?"

"You know, for hitting you in the cafeteria, I probably shouldn't have done that," I turned my head back around and continued to walk. But I stopped after a little while when I noticed I couldn't hear his footfalls any more. I turned back around to see what was up with him and why he wasn't walking. He was still standing where he had been earlier.

"Why?" he asked looking at me, and brief, unexplainable spark flashing through his eyes.

"Why what?" I asked curious at to what he was asking.

"Why do you treat me so…differently?" he muttered his face set into an emotionless expression. I got confused. He thought I thought I treated him differently?

"What do mean by differently?" I asked starting to wonder what he was getting at. A brief flash of anger crossed his face before he answered me.

"Why aren't you afraid of me like everyone else? It's fucking weird! Why do you smile at me like some dope? Am I funny or something?" A vicious snarl tore from his throat, and I took a step back in fear. "Or do you pity me? Do you think I need pity from you or something? I don't want pity! Especially from a Stronghold like you! Just leave me the hell alone!" He yelled at me.

I was shocked. I couldn't even get something out. Say anything in my defense to prove I didn't just pity him. Make a retort at the fact he was discriminating against me for being a Stronghold. Tell him I cared and that I smiled because I cared for him, because I wanted him to know I cared. Wanted him to know that I wasn't scared of him because I thought more of him than just who his parents were. My mouth wouldn't move, and words wouldn't form in my mind to say anything. I just stood there staring back at him with a hurt and dumbfounded expression. His words ate at me deeply.

He would never understand how much it hurt me, hearing him angry at me like that. My heart clenched as the words echoed in my mind. They had sounded so hateful and jabbed at me like hot knives. I had only tried to be nice and now…I couldn't keep looking at him, staring at me angrily with those deep dark eyes that I liked so much, smoldering with negativity like coals. This was what I had been so afraid of when I first started liking him. I was afraid he'd hate me. And now…he did…

I did the first thing that came to mind.

I ran.

I ran as hard as I could to catch up to Will. I needed to get as far away from Warren for right now as possible. I needed Will. The leg Warren had burned began to send me its complaints but I didn't care. I hurt too much emotionally to feel the pain physically. I'm pretty sure I had left Warren in the dust seeing how fast I had run. My lungs were burning and my leg was getting worse. But I kept going all the way. Finally, I got to the front and threw the doors open.

Immediately, I made a mad dash to the bus I was sure Ron drove and boarded it as quickly as I could. Will, who had been waiting for me in the seat behind Ron, stood up and started to greet me with his smile but I didn't him a chance to say anything. I threw myself onto him and cried on his shoulder. I cried, letting my sorrows and my hurt out to him, I told him everything. My crush on Warren, how scared I had been when I had thought Warren was going to kill him, and how he yelled at me, and hated me and thought I just pitied him and wanted me to leave him alone for forever.

Will just held me as I cried and cried my heart out onto his shoulder. The world melted away, so that all I even felt was the pain of being hurt by Warren. I didn't even take notice of the bus taking off or the straps wrapping weirdly around me and Will. I didn't even stop crying by the time I got home. Will led me as I wept the whole way up to the door. I was crying so hard I didn't even notice that when Will opened the door, it came off the hinges and he had to lean it back up against to the doorframe.

Mom and Dad had been waiting at the door for us to get home with stern looks on their faces. But the looks melted away instantly when they saw how upset I looked as Will brought me inside. Mom immediately relieved Will of me and had Dad take him somewhere else to talk. She gathered me in her arms and let me cry a little longer while whispering to me a couple comforting things, stroking my hair and patting my back. I knew she was babying me, but I needed it. I felt so unhappy right now.

Eventually, I calmed down to the point where my sobbing was silent except for the occasional hiccup. Mom pulled away from me and led me hand in hand upstairs to my room. She told me to get a good night sleep and left the room. I felt thankful for the fact she didn't ask me about why I was crying and just comforted me.

I closed the door behind her and collapsed onto my bed, too lazy to change into my pair of pajamas. Grabbing my pillow, I pulled to me and buried my face in it, wiping away the remaining tears on my cheeks. My leg had been hurting earlier seemed to have finally taken mercy on me because the pain began to fade. Thoughts of what Warren had said floated back into my mind making a new set of tears began anew. But I finally calmed down and began to drift off into an exhausted, but peaceful sleep.

Na-Na: See what I meant? It was sad.

Lady Knight19: True. He does get sent to prison. Meep. Also, sorry if you're mad, that's just how long I take to update.

Siyavash: Here's chapter Six. Hopes ya like it.

Fuzzy Makes Me Happy: Well, I needed a cliffie at some point. Chapter Five seemed a good place to put it. Also, remember, it's still a maybe on Warren.

DemonicAngelus: Aww, but I miss the cookies! But I'm glad you like Tenni so much. And thank you for the awesome compliment.

Denyingblood: I will continue. No worries. Didn't you read the note at the beginning of the chapter? I'd defy death to finish this!

SmithysTrivia: Evil is my specialty. with a side hint of insanity. YAY!

Arisa-san: (Drools) He is hot...Sorry that Ten didn't put up much of a fight though.

Tenni: I hope her punching him was good enough to settle your bloodlust. (Evil laugh) Yeah, I agree, that was cool.

Thoughtless Drumming: Don't worry.I understand completely. I'm just trying to make sure you guys enjoy reading this.

Next Update: Half Lit

Will be Posted Wednesday, February 1st