Chapter Eight: Sleepy
Na-Na: Don't own Sky High. Yeah…Oh yeah, people, good news. I took a test and TENNI'S NOT A SUE! I did three times and she came out fine, so I am very happy. Read on!
Today I was sitting next to Will on the bus. My head was rested lightly on his shoulder because I wasn't completely woken up. I didn't get enough sleep last night. (Wanna guess why?) He practically had to drag me out of bed and force feed me a bit followed by more dragging all the way to the bus. I'm not sure who was more annoyed, Will, or me. Oh well. He was making up for it for by being my makeshift pillow on the way to school. Nuzzling his shoulder a bit, I made myself more comfortable and let out a soft yawn, ignoring the "aww"s the came from our friends behind us. Closing my eyes, I relaxed as the bus flew through the sky.
I said goodbye to Will as we passed by his first class with Mr. Boy. He waved back and entered the classroom leaving me by myself in the hall. I sighed, back to the normal routine. Taking off down the hall, I made my way for my first class, Mad Science with Medulla. Science wasn't entirely my thing, so I wasn't overly enthusiastic about going. It wasn't like I was failing Medulla's class, just not getting the most satisfactory grade (B+). Sure ray guns and super explosive chemicals were far cooler than the normal science stuff in middle school, I could just never get a grade better than a B in science and it bugged me.
My mood was getting worse and I blamed it on lack of sleep. My feet thumped heavily against the tile floor. Scanning the halls, I didn't see a single sign of Warren anywhere. I wonder if he was avoiding me. I didn't have much time to think about it, because my thoughts were interrupted by the bell ringing. Mentally, I cursed and made a mad dash for the classroom. I didn't plan on making today my first tardy to class. Finally I reached the door and rushed in after one of the other students who were also in the class. I made my way to my seat, almost accidentally knocking over Dennis Hellman, the guy who could shoot laser beams from his eyes.
The bell rang just as I was taking my seat, and I gave a contented sigh. That was close. You'd get a detention even if you weren't in you're seat before it went off. Surprisingly, Medulla didn't show up immediately. Not that it was a bad thing mind you. I took my time pulling out the notebook I needed for this class and took down the notes that were on the board. Once I was done with that, I pushed it aside and rested my head on the tabletop in front of me so I could get some more rest time.
"Hey are you okay?" A pretty voice asked me. I opened my eyes and looked up at whoever it was.
"Yeah Gwen, I'm fine," I said trying to act as polite as possible even though she had just interrupted my nap.
"Just checking," Gwen said, smoothing out the non-existant wrinkles on her skirt.
You're wondering how I ended up having the school president as my lab partner, huh? Well, the day I showed up for this class, no one really wanted to be my partner, so when everyone went to get one, I was the odd one out. Medulla stuck me with Gwen since she was the closest thing to a lab partner I'd get. I wasn't complaining. She was far more competent than other potential lab partners I could've been paired with (and also the only one person in Hero class who treated me respectfully). My eyes flittered over to where Dennis was sitting. I cringed. He was probably the most unintelligent thing in this classroom.
"Good Morning students!" Medulla said getting our attention, "Today we will be going over…Rays! From the silliness of the shrink ray, to the devastation of the death ray! These are the very foundations of Mad Science." A light knocking at the door interrupted Medulla. The whole class turned to look at who it was. I think my jaw dropped when I saw them. It was Will. What was Will doing here?
"Yes? They told me you were coming," Medulla said addressing Will, "Unfortunately, all the lab partners are taken. I suppose I could put you with my teaching assistant." Medulla turned to us, "Miss Grayson? My apologies, I have yet another Stronghold to put in your care."
Will glanced in our direction. Gwen was smiling one of those flawless good-girl smiles at him while I'm pretty sure I still had that same dumbstruck look on my face, eyes wide and jaw agape. When Will finally spotted us, he got that same goofy grin he got on his face when Gwen was ever around. But I didn't blame him much anymore. Gwen was nice enough I guess. It was okay as long as his crush on her would pass at some point (more like die an abrupt, yet long overdue death) and he would stop acting like a moron and GET WITH LAYLA!
"Come on," Medulla order bringing Will back to earth and getting him to move, "Come on! Quickly, quickly, quickly. Feet!" Medulla warned as Will passed him, but it was no use, Will stepped on his foot. Medulla scowled at my brother who was shooting him a slightly apologetic look. The whole class laughed as Will continued over to Gwen and me.
"What're you doing here Will?" I asked him as he took a seat between Gwen and me.
"Got switched to Hero class," Will said looking pleased, "Isn't it great?"
"Uh…Yeah," I answered. I really wasn't so sure. Why did he get into Hero class? What about Layla and the others in Hero Support class? I wasn't able to get a question in because Medulla made us go straight to working on a freeze ray gun. Sighing, I went to work while Will and Gwen talked.
Mr. Reynolds had been throwing chalk at me all of fifth period. Childish when you think about it, but I didn't blame him. He was getting pissed because I hadn't been paying attention the whole time to his lesson. As the good nerd I usually am, I always pay him my full attention and participate in the class discussions. Instead, I was paying more attention to Will, who was sitting on the other side of the classroom with the popular people. He'd been in like every class I had today, and I was starting to believe it wasn't merely coincidental. Just because we were in the same classes now, didn't make it any easier to talk to him than it had been when he had been on the other side of the school in a different class. I blamed it on the crowd of people keeping me from getting over there to see him.
I recoiled in pain from another piece of chalk that was hurled at me. This time it caught me in the forehead. Rubbing it, I glared at Mr. Reynolds who glared back. I pretended to have not seen him flick me off as I turned to watch Will again. I don't think he even remembered I was here too. He was too caught up in all of his new popular groupies to give me a second thought. This was becoming irritating, and I was getting bored of trying to get his attention. Finally, I returned my attention to Mr. Reynolds, who seemed gleeful at that fact. But that didn't stop him from throwing one more piece of chalk. I gave him another glare, but he just tried to brush it off and act innocent.
RINGGGGG!
Everyone in the class sprung from their seats, and made their way to the door, some tripping and stumbling over others. I waited until all the others were out before making my way out. But I didn't forget to chuck an eraser at Mr. Reynolds and stick my tongue out at him before running for my life before he decided to retaliate. I sprinted the whole way down the hallway until I got to the cafeteria. Once, there, I looked around the cafeteria for Warren. Bingo, I thought as I spotted him at his usual table. His eyes were glued to whatever comic book he was reading. I gave a relieved sigh before making my way to the lunch line.
After a while of standing there, Ethan came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. Turning around, I saw that the others were with him as well. Greeting them, they began telling me about their day and asking if Will had been in any of my classes. At the moment, Will was still a touchy subject for me, so I gave them short, quick answers without much detail. I'm sure Layla noticed my annoyance and changed the subject. Thank God there was one person who understood when I didn't want to talk about something. When we had gotten our food, I looked for Will and saw him sitting with Gwen, the cheerleader girl and some other random people. That didn't come as much of a surprise to me since he had hit off so well with Gwen in science. I pointed him out to everyone and we made our way over. Gwen noticed me and waved.
"Hi Tenni," she said smiling at me, "Would you like to sit with us?" For a second, I gaped. She actually wanted me to sit with them?
"Uh, sure…" I answered, taking the seat across from Will.
"Hey, Layla, Zach, guys, come on, there other seats for you too," Will said beckoning them over. But when they made a move to sit down, the cheerleader girl multiplied and took up the remaining seats left.
"Sorry," the real one snobbily said, "All full." Zach, Maj, and Ethan got dejected looks on their faces while Layla tried to feign indifference. I was about to tell the girl, whatever her name was, not to be rude but Layla spoke up first.
"That's okay," she said putting a fake smile on, "Uh, I think I see an empty table over there. Come on guys." I watched them walk away before looking at Will. He was biting his bottom lip to keep himself from speaking up.
"No offense Will, but we are not running a loser out reach program, okay?" The girl said before laughing at her own joke with her clones. That was the last straw. I stood and grabbed my tray.
"Umm, Gwen, Will," I shot them both apologetic looks, "I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to go sit over with them. It's just gotten a bit too crowded at this table for my liking," I directed that comment at clone girl, making sure to glare in her direction before leaving. Will gave me a pleading look to stay, but I ignored it and made my way over to the table with the others. Setting down my tray, I took a seat in between Zach and Ethan, who gladly moved to accommodate me. Maj and Layla both smiled proudly at me.
Zach, Ethan and I had finished our lunched early and decided to hang out in the hall way by the lockers close to the bathroom. We were currently talking about that rude girl who had been sitting with Gwen, whose name I found out was Penny. Well, more like dissing her, but she deserved it since she was rude. But I was suddenly grabbed by the arm and stuffed into one of the lockers. I tried to out but the door slammed shut behind me and it was too crowded in there for me to use my power to safely get out. Pressing myself against the door, I looked out from the holes to see what was going on. I saw Lash grabbing at Ethan who was melting to avoid being grabbed and Speed trying to push a struggling Zach into another locker. Ethan was able to get a couple of feet away from Lash. When he unmelted, Lash tried to grab him again.
"Ethan!" I screamed, "Behind you! Watch out!" Ethan was able to duck just in time to avoid being caught. "Go get help!"
Ethan ran as fast as he could and disappeared around the corner. Lash stretched his arm out after him. A whole minute later, I heard a scream of "Will!" before Lash's arm came stretching back holding Ethan up by the collar of his jacket. By now, Speed had managed to force Zach into the locker next to the one I was stuck in and now they were opening up another one to put Ethan in.
"Leave him alone!" I shrieked trying to move inside the stuffy locker.
"Why?" Speed said before laughing at me as he watched Lash stuff Ethan in. Suddenly, Will raced over and pulled Ethan away from them.
"Easy guys," he said help Ethan out of the locker.
"Thanks Will," Ethan said to him, "They've got Tenni and Zach too."
"What!" Will asked angrily. He looked at Speed and Lash who were now cowering away from him. "Let them out!" Speed let out Zach while Lash opened the locker door for me. As soon as I got out, Will grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me away from them.
"Are you okay?" he asked. I nodded back shakily. Turning back, he glared at Lash and Speed.
"Not so tough when my boy's around, are you?" Zach exclaimed backing away. The two bullies seemed to pull themselves back together.
"You think you just so big and bad, huh, Stronghold?" Lash asked trying to be intimidating.
"No I-I don't," Will said, his anger being replaced with nervousness.
"Please," Ethan said, "Will will totally take you!" Lash scoffed while I gaped at Ethan. What the heck was he talking about?
"You saw what happened to Warren?" Zach threatened, "You want a piece of that?"
"Watch it Stronghold," Speed said taking a step forward, "That big mouth is gonna get you in trouble." Wait, Will hadn't even said a word. "Why don't we settle this in PE?" Will was about to object when Ethan spoke up again.
"You're on!" Ethan piped in accepting the challenge for Will, "If Will beats you in Save the Citizen, you lay off the sidekicks for the rest of the year."
"And if he loses," Zach added, "You can dunk Ethan and Tenni in the toilet every day till graduation."
"WHAT!" Ethan, Will and I exclaimed simultaneously. I had never been dunked in the toilet before, and I didn't want to at all. Lash smiled evilly at me.
"You got yourself a deal," Lash said, still looking at me. This was so not good. Once Lash and Speed were gone, Will rounded on us.
"Guys, are you crazy! No freshman ever won Save the Citizen, and those guys are undefeated!"
"And you barely know how to use your powers!" Layla added. Everyone looked at her oddly, and in my mind, I was wondering what made her believe Will had powers. I mean, Will didn't have powers, right? "Sorry, not helping."
"Will, you have no choice," Zach said seriously, "You can't let them dunk your sister's head in the toilet now can you?" Will looked at me before nodding, "Ethan too. What do you say?" He sighed and finally gave in.
P.E. was going to be interesting, which in my opinion meant: Oh God, Oh God, my brother's gonna get his ass beaten. Ethan's and my head would get dunked in the toilet till the end of the year. Joy…
It was now P.E., and Lash and Speed had already beaten about 8 teams in Save the Citizen. I was now in my light blue tank top and aqua blue sweat pants that were school issued for P.E. and seated next to Layla who was next to a really nervous looking Will. I quickly asked her to switch seats with me so I could talk to him. She accepted and I sat down next to him.
"Will, it doesn't matter what happens, okay?" I said to him, holding his hand as a reassurance, "Even if you lose, I won't let them dunk my head or Ethan's, okay? We'll be fine. Just give it your all." Will seemed to relax a small bit.
"We'll take little Stronghold," that caught our attention. Speed was pointing at Will. I realized this was the moment of truth for Will, "and uh…let's see…" Who was his partner going to be?
"And we pick Peace!" Lash's call to Boomer answered my question.
I looked over at Warren, a little shocked for a second that Lash would pick him. Warren reluctantly stood, and slowly made his way down from where he sat in the back of the bleachers. He shot a quick glance in my direction. I smiled as if to cheer him on and mouthed the words "Good Luck" to him before he looked away. Both Will and Warren entered the boy's locker room and came back out dressed in the required outfit for the game. Will nervously fidgeted around and messed with his outfits shoulder guards while Warren stood there glaring at Will, Speed and Lash. Boomer explained the rules to Will and Warren quickly before starting the game.
"Ready!"
"Set!"
"Battle!" Boomer cried. The game had just begun.
Lash and Speed made their move first, Speed using Lash's arm as a bungy cord to give him some extra…well, speed. He began literally bouncing off the walls of the battle arena, and was able to send both Will and Warren flying backwards in one blow. Will slammed against a wall while Warren crashed into one of the props. I had to bite my lips to keep from crying out to one or both of them. Lash wrapped his arms around Warren the minute he got up, but immediately had to retract them when Warren ignited.
While Warren was dealing with Lash, Will had decided to try and grab the citizen, but every time he got close, Speed would knock him back, keeping him from getting closer. This kept on happening until Will couldn't take it anymore. He then jumped up high and came down while punching the ground. His punch sent a shock wave all throughout the gym, causing the floor boards to pop up for a second. The impact was even strong enough to shake the audience.
But I wasn't awed by the stunt like everyone else was. I was confused. The only other time I had ever seen something like that was when Dad was doing his trademark Seismic Punch. Since when did Will have super strength? My attention was regained as I watched the shock wave throw Lash off his feet and crashing into a prop bench. Speed managed to remain standing. I made my way down closer to the action so that I was standing right at the wall where the fight was going on. Will rushed over to where Lash had landed, picked him like he weighed nothing, and using Lash's stretchy arms to tie him to the pole.
"No! Wait! No!" Lash cried trying to stop Will.
"HEY!" Warren yelled at Will, "Save the Citizen!" Will turned from where he had been standing in front of the now incapacitated Lash.
"SAVE ME! SAVE ME!" The pigtailed mannequin squealed. Will took off in that direction.
"You are so dead!" Lash yelled after him, struggling against his own arms that were tying him to the prop pole.
My eyes flashed from Will and Lash to Speed. He was racing along the protective walls surrounding the gym floor. I pressed up against the wall separating the crowd from the fighters. Speed blasted past Will and was closing in on Warren. Warren faced the pudgy bully, his arms igniting as he waited for Speed to get within the right range to throw a fireball that would actually hit. Speed raced forward until he was right near him. It was then that he began to run in a circle around the pyrokinetic, forming a vortex. Warren's head whipped around to look for an escape from the spinning vortex Speed was creating around him. But he couldn't. I stared transfixed as Warren stood within it, not knowing what to think.
But that's when I noticed it.
Something was terribly wrong.
Within the vortex, the wild flames that had been burning strongly on his arms were now starting to fade and flicker away. Warren was starting to hunch over, grabbing at his chest. I didn't know what was happening, but all I knew was that I was afraid. I was afraid for Warren. Tears were threatening to fall when I saw him sinking to his knees. Realization had just hit me. Warren was choking, unable to breathe because of the lack of oxygen. Like a flame with out oxygen, Warren…
Warren was dying…
Warren couldn't die. He wasn't supposed to! This was a school God dammit! The students weren't supposed die in a school. But no one lifting a finger to help. Not even the teachers, Boomer, or Medulla, or even Mr. Boy. I couldn't do anything either because I was trapped behind on this side of the wall, unable to use my powers to blast in there and stop Speed. Warren continued choking, while Will watched, unable to decide between saving the citizen or saving Warren as the timer drew closer to zero.
"WILL!" I cried getting his attention.
When he looked my way, I gave him a pleading look before returning my gaze to Warren. I mouthed the words, "Save him," to Will, hoping he got the message. Thankfully, he did. Racing over, he reached out and grabbed Speed, cutting off the deadly vortex before it did anymore harm. He let Speed go crashing into Lash before picking up Warren and throwing him at the Citizen. Warren was able to grab the mannequin just in time before the timer went off. He went crashing to the floor, the citizen saved.
"She's alive!" Called coach Boomer as Warren threw "her" to the floor next to him, "Heroes win!" I spotted Will running up and offering a hand to Warren. But Warren ignored it and stormed passed him. The crowd doors opened and I pushed my way through other people over to where Warren had been a minute ago. He was now leaned against a wall as far away from the crowd formed around Will as possible. I ran over to see him, wiping the almost tears out of my eyes. He gave me a questioning look, as if to ask what I was doing.
"You okay?" I asked, my tone laced with worry. He nodded. I gave a sigh of relief. "Just checking."
With that I went to go return to my seat. But something in the corner of the gym caught my eye. Sighing, I knew I couldn't win against my conscious on this one, it was a war I think I'd never win. With every reluctant step I knew I was doing something most people would call me crazy for, but this was just the way I was. Once I got there, I earned myself a glare from the person I was standing in front of. I ignored it and just stared at him for a little while he tried to ignore I was there. I sighed again, and asked myself why I had to bethe Good Samaritan, before finally speaking up.
"Do you need help?" I asked, holding my hand out to him.
Na-Na: Guess who?
MaeAnn: I don't know when Warren will find out. I'm not even sure when anyone will find out. She's very protective of her secrets, so it depends on when I think she need to tell someone. Remember, she's not supposed to be overly trusting.
Thoughtless Drumming: Australia huh? I live in Cali, USA. Thanks anyway for the early Happy Birthday.
RaevenMoon: Romantic? Wow, thanks. I tried to do the small bit of romance to make this a bit more intresting. Also, thanks for your well wishes.
Fuzzy Makes Me Happy: Hey hey! Who said I had decided yet? It may be Warren, it may be Lash, who knows. Also, the answer to your other question, read my shout out to MaeAnn.
Tenni: Yes, I am a Steven Strait fanatic. But what do you care? You are too! And yes, Half Lit was involved with its song namesake.
Arisa-san: And I did review, didn't I? And I also didn'tforget to thank yo for the awesome plot.
Sasha: Her and Warren would be cute. But I'm still undecided on the pairing. Anyways, keep reviewing.
Anonymous Reader: Yeah, that's pretty much how it'll be. Thanks for the good luck. It'll carry me through.
SmithysTrivia: A...triangle? Meep. I don't know if I could pull one off. But maybe. Warren's the one the majority of peoplewant me to put her with, so Lash has got to run for his money.
Anonee-moose: Well, that's a good sign! Here's the update. I hope you enjoyed it.
Aisuhana: Sweet! Anyways, yay! New reviewer. (P.S. I love your pen name! Meep!)
Movie-CaffineAddict: I think I liked your review the most. Everything you said was really important and I grateful to you for giving me tips and comments. Having a good reviewer like you makes this story better, so I am very glad that you like it.
Inwe Tisatir: It's your favorite? I feel fo loved. Well, for my story anyways. Thank you mucho much.
Next Update: Learn
Will be posted Sunday, February 12