Chapter Twelve
Na-Na: I don't own Sky High. Anyway, down to more important things. I was reluctant to do this chapter. A lot of people do this thing whenever they have an OC story. They make the OC stumble upon the Paper Lantern either being dragged there by Layla or somehow showing up there. Unfortunately, I have decided to let Layla drag Tenni to the Paper Lantern. But let me clarify one thing: I WILL NOT GIVE WARREN A MOTORCYCLE! Too many people always assume that because he is a badass, he has a badass bike. So to crush your hopes of him giving Tenni a ride home on his bike, he will not have one! BUWAHAHAHAHA!
Ahem, anyway, on with the story.
How do I feel at this exact moment? It's hard to think of one exact word to sum it all up, but I'll try. Lemme see… Nope. Nothing that'll fit exactly, but for now, I'll give you something close.
Tired. Drop dead tired.
Here I was sitting in Magenta's massive limo in a lonely corner of its space looking miserable. It's not funny either. There really is no space left in this thing anyway. Altogether, Magenta, Layla, and I had bought enough clothing for an entire city of people. I swear I tried not to get so much for myself, but Magenta bought every piece of clothing she saw me look at. At one point, I thought I'd have to start walking around the mall with my eyes shut tight to keep her from buying more for me. That probably would've been pretty disastrous, though, since the mall is among a couple of the worst places to be blind in, so yeah.
All three of us were also not wearing the same clothing we had been when we had gone to school today. I forget now what the color of the clothing I was wearing today was, but I guess I probably just wore my same, casual, conservative clothing. Not that it mattered much, because I felt pretty…
Pretty stupid.
Magenta had managed to force us all into the Womens' bathroom and not let us out of our stalls until all of us were wearing the outfits she picked for us. Me, being the mostly-spineless doormat I am when it came to pushy friends like Magenta, I let her have her way, knowing things would be a lot worse if I tried to work up the courage to object. In the end I was left without my dignity and ankle-length skirt as I exited the stall. I was now dressed in a tight, deep red top that said: "Aquarius: Smarty-pants, Match Maker, Hostess with the Mostest" in loopy, blue font, a pair of (Shudder) form-fitting jeans, and these new red sandals that were surprisingly comfortable, even though they had heels about a inch high.
So, in general, besides feeling tired, I also felt ridiculous, since this was so not the kind of thing I'd ever want to be wearing out in public. What if I actually looked good in this! Would it make me look attractive? That would be the worst possible thing to happen! What if some guy tried to approach me and ask me out? I mean, I freaked just when Lash asked to pretend with me. If it happened for real, I'd probably have a mental break down on the spot. Probably won't be the prettiest sight.
Silently, I made a vow to myself that I'd never wear this clothing outside of the safety of my own home. Well, then again, there was that really nice white dress I got. It would be a shame not to wear it to some special event. Homecoming… I paused at that thought. I started to wonder if Lash was still taking me to the Homecoming. Hopefully he wouldn't go and cancel on me. For once, I was actually excited about a school dance. Well ever since that incident in eighth grade, I'd been pretty disenchanted with dancing.
Flashback Mode- The Night of the Back to School Dance, Eighth Grade, No POV
The whole multi-purpose room was vibrating with the beat of the music. Tenni sat in the back on one of the chairs, a bored expression playing across her features. Layla, promising her it would be fun, dragged her here. All it was, was loud, crowded, and dark. The only light was the small blinding bit of it close to the stage. She'd never try to venture up there for fear of being squished by all of the people gathered in that area, dancing to the music.
Out of nowhere, someone grabbed her hand and dragged her closer to the left side of the multi-purpose room near the snack table when the song playing changed to a slower one. When they finally stopped, she had only a little time to see who the person who grabbed her was. Turning on him, she gave him a small glare.
"What do you want?" Tenni demanded as she glared up at the tall blonde giant of a boy standing before her.
"Um…well…uh…" He managed to get out, nervously tugging at his bright colored jacket, "I was, uh, just wondering if you'd, uh (Gulp), like to dance with m-me?" Even with the dark, his blush seemed to radiate off of his cheeks with a weird sort of glow. Tenni sort of felt bad for him, so she said only one dance.
But as soon as they started dancing, she immediately felt regret at saying yes to even one dance. Turns out, this boy was a terrible dancer. The worst. He kept on stepping on her feet, those huge size twelve's smashing on her poor seven-and-a-half's. Constantly, he'd swing her around, almost dropping her more than several times. It made her feel a little bit more than woozy. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. The spins and jerks left and right, she couldn't go another minute. Letting her death-like grip on his jacket go, she fell backwards, into the snack table, fainting.
Flash Back End- Back to Tenni's POV
I shuddered.
That was one of the worst experiences of all of my life. I swear. I woke up hours later at home with Mom, Dad, Will, Layla and "The Guy," at my bedside. I think I screamed and fell off the bed when I saw him though. When I finally calmed down, Layla had explained to me about how when I had fainted, I had fallen face first into the punchbowl and almost drowned myself. Will had had to call Dad and Mom to get me immediately, and the dance had been canceled because of the incident. I almost fainted again, receiving the details of all of it.
I have still never fully forgiven Zach for that.
Removing myself from my thoughts and memories, I tried to sit up straighter so as to be able to have a better view over the bags of clothing. I finally spotted Layla sitting in her own corner of the limo surrounded by her group of clothing. I remember her suggesting what restaurant we should go to before I had to go home. I wondered what kind of restaurant it was. Knowing Layla it had to be something that offered vegetarian dishes and it had to be pretty nice, not something like Wendy's or Subway, you get the idea. Unfortunately, I still couldn't think of what restaurant she was thinking of.
"Hey! Layla," I called out over the bags, getting her attention, "What restaurant are we going to?" I almost regretted asking the question. Layla began to bubble the minute she heard it.
"Oh My God! It is the best restaurant in the world! I go there all the time with my family, mostly my Mom since it is the best vegetarian place ever! It's a Chinese food place, and I absolutely adore Chinese food. It's a lot better than the fast food those drive-in places serve these days. The fried rice and chow mein are great, my Mom says so too. Oh My God, it is so to die for! Especially the vegetarian chow fun, with black bean paste! I usually order that, but sometimes I like to go for something different though. A friend of mine even works there! By the way, the place is called the Paper Lantern. Anyway, back to the food… Blah… blah… blah…"
Her mouth just kept going. I lost her at the point she told us what the name of the restaurant was. I gulped, remembering that that was the place Will complained to me about so much. Will had always hated Chinese food. He told me that it was because the first time he had ever tried it, Mom had decided to make him try something exotic. Exotic ended up with a duck platter roasted in some sauce that smelled vile. Anyway, the roasted duck scared the hell out of Will, who had only been five years old at the time, when the waiter tripped and the duck went flying into Will, knocking him out of his chair.
He tells me now that he's sort of over it, but still dislikes Chinese food anyway (Who could blame him?). Layla forcing him to go has helped him get over his initial hatred, and has now replaced it with a slight disgust since she's taken him there so many times. I've never been forced to go by Layla mainly because I've always managed to find a way to weasel my way out of it. Now that I have to go, Layla will bring me there all the time too. I groaned at that fact. It so wasn't fair. It's not like I wouldn't jump out of the car right now to avoid being there. The only problem was that it was impossible to get through the bags imprisoning me. Dammit.
Looking over the bags, I could see Layla's mouth still running on and on about her favorite foods at the Paper Lantern and what she though about the decorations, the atmosphere, etc. Over on the other side of the limo, closer to where the redhead was, Magenta sat silently, clamping her hands over her ears so as to tune-out Layla. I almost laughed, feeling sympathy for Magenta. Lucky me, I was sitting far enough away to not hear what Layla was saying.
Suddenly, the car came to a stop. The divider between the passenger and driver compartments rolled down. Kevin, our chauffeur, craned his neck around from the driver's seat to address us.
"Ladies, we have arrived at the Paper Lantern," he announced cracking a smile.
Layla squealed for joy, and immediately tried to "swim" her way through the sea of bags to get through to one of the doors. Magenta, Kevin and I all sat there and watched the sad spectacle, feeling both sympathetic and strangely entertained at the sight. Finally, Kevin decided it was time to do his job. Getting out of the car, he went over to the door closest to Layla and opened it. Reaching in, he groped around until got her wrist and pulled her out of the car. Both Magenta and I sighed before fighting our way out of the car to be helped by Kevin.
All of us were pretty disheveled by the time we were all completely out of that death trap of a passenger compartment, but altogether, we were just thankful we could actually get out. I began to think of how horrible it would be when we had to work our way back into the limo.
"Miss Magenta, may I make a suggestion?"
"Hmm…?" Magenta mumbled distractedly. Kevin began again.
"Miss Magenta, I wanted to make a suggestion. Since it is so uncomfortable for you and your companions in the limo, I was thinking of driving it back to the mansion and dropping the merchandise off there. Then I could come back to pick all of you up and it won't be so crowded in the back once I return. So you can all just take your time eating here."
Magenta put a finger to her chin, a thoughtful look coming over her face. After a while, she had her answer, "Yes that does sound like a plan. Good job Kevin. Now go."
Nodding, Kevin closed the door and walked over to the door to the driver's seat. I stood there with my mouth hanging open wondering if he could read minds or something. But my thoughts were confirmed when he looked at me for a second before winking and climbing into the back seat. Wow, I did not see that one coming. I would have to remind myself to thank him when he was going to drop me off at home. Or at least think it when I saw him next so he gets the message. With that I turned to Magenta and Layla. Layla had a vice-grip on Magenta's arm, and was currently dragging the shape-shifter into the restaurant.
"Hey, Layla!" I called out to them, getting their attention, "I'll wait out here for you guys, okay? I don't really feel like going inside to eat, so can you just get something good and bring it out here for me?" Layla and Magenta both gave me questioning looks, but Layla dropped it in a second and resumed her dragging Magenta. Magenta continued to look at me with that look. She knew something was up.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I knew the both of them were out of sight and inside of the restaurant. I needed to be left with my own thoughts for a while. I had managed to get that encounter with Warren earlier out of my mind for a while, what with all of the shopping. Somehow, with Magenta bringing that whole discussion up about my date being Lash, and how I shouldn't be going with him. Not to mention the whole new revelation over the fact that I was, what was it again? Oh yeah, in love with a certain pyrokinetic. Not that she knew about the mystery guy being said pyrokinetic. God help me if she did. How could I have gotten so serious over him in so little time? We weren't even friends. We can't even have normal conversations at school. Nothing with the two of us together could ever be normal.
My mind sort of stopped when the thought of the words "the two of us together," rang through my head a couple f times, causing me to blush. They just kept repeating. Trying to calm myself down, taking a deep breath and going to sit down on the curb was easier said than done, but I still managed it. Suddenly, I heard the door to the restaurant swing open and closed, so I turned to see whether or not it was Layla or Magenta coming out to bring me whatever it was they had ordered for me. When I saw that person who had exited the restaurant was neither of them, let alone, not even female, I turned back around. But then something woke up in my brain, and started whacking me with the retard stick, causing me to do a double take.
This time, I turned not really ready for whomever it was that had just come out.
"Warren…"
Warren stared back at me, almost as surprised as I was. There was a plate of food in his left hand, steam rising from it. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and his gloves were off, like the night he had visited me to apologize. It was then that I made sense of it. Layla saying she had a friend whom worked here. It had been Warren. He had probably come to see me that night when he went on break. The woman who called him was probably someone who worked here or something. Her coming here was probably how they got to know each other.
"Hey," He said awkwardly shifting back and forth from his left to right foot for a while, before just walking over to me and sitting down on the curb beside me.
"Here," with that, he handed me the plate of food, "She said she wanted me to take this out for you."
I numbly reached out and took the food from him, though I didn't make any move to start eating it. I just continued to stare at him completely dumbstruck. Neither of us said anything for a couple minutes. It just didn't seem like the right moment. I really didn't know what to say.
"You're not going to run away this time, are you?"
"Huh?" I looked back to him confused, not knowing what he meant.
"End of school?" he muttered. I began to feel guilty, remembering how I had just bailed right when he had opened his mouth to say something.
"Sorry about that," I apologized, wringing my hands a bit. Why was that anytime we talked, one of us was apologizing?
"What's wrong with you?" he asked so suddenly, I was taken by surprise.
"What do you mean?" I asked nervously, but he wouldn't let it go. Instead, he gave me a sharp look.
"Don't give me any bull," Warren said angrily. My eyes widened and I could feel myself wanting to move away from him.
"I don't know what you're talking about Warren, I really don't." He saw the scared look on my face and sighed in frustration, pushing the hair that was in his face back behind his ear.
"You're avoiding me." He almost sounded sad. But I found it hard to care about it. I could feel my anger rising up at his comment. I really couldn't believe he had the audacity to even say it! Standing up, I got right in his face.
"That's it?" I asked shaking a bit. Not because of the cold, no, the cold never bothered me. I was pissed, "Avoiding you! You said that you had a "reputation!" You said that you didn't want to look approachable! You said friends were something you couldn't have! So why the hell do I see you hanging with my friends? Do you have a problem with me or something? It's not okay to be friends with me, but hey! It's okay to be friends with my friends! You are such a liar and a hypocrite!"
Warren just sat there looking back at me shocked, like he didn't know what to say.
"So tell me already!" I yelled at him, "Do really just not like me? I mean, I was glad when you told me you didn't hate me, but… You…you just…" I began to feel tired, like yelling at Warren just wasn't worth my time anymore. I gave an angry huff before I plopped back onto the curb a little farther away from him.
"I never said I didn't like you," Warren answered, still in that frustrated tone, "And what about you? You are avoiding me. Don't tell me you're not. I'm not stupid. You're even going so far as to avoid your friends so you don't have to talk to me."
"That's not why I don't sit with them."
"That's not what I wanted to know. Are you mad at me? I never wanted to hang out with your friends. They were the ones who started hanging out with me. They won't listen to me when I tell them to go away," he said looking away.
"I just thought…" I murmured softly, "I just thought… The reason you didn't want to be friends with me was because you didn't like me. I thought you were just lying to me that day when you said you didn't want friends. I just assumed that when I saw you sitting with them. I didn't know…" A groan from him cut me off.
"By the way you were asking, I thought you didn't want to be my friend," Warren said exasperatedly.
"I never meant it that way. I didn't know you'd taken it that way."
"You are just so…" he said with a small smile as he shook his head with disbelief.
"Confusing?" I said as a suggestion. Looking back he gave me a nod.
"Yeah."
"I could say the same thing about you Warren Peace," I said back giving a fake pout, as I turned my face away from him. But there was still a large smile on my face. When I looked back at him, I still had a big grin on my face.
"Turn it off," he said poking me on the nose as if it were an "Off" button.
"Wha—? Oh, right." With that I let the illusion slip away, letting my hair's natural color fade back into sight as the glasses and freckles disappeared.
"Better," he approved. I had to blush at it.
"So…" I said trying to calm my burning cheeks down, "Wanna be friends?" That came out of my mouth rather than the other three words I wanted to say… I love you…
I held my hand out to him, icy mist rolling off of it. He looked at it amused before bringing up his own hand, covered in flames, and grasping mine. Immediately, our powers cancelled each other's out.
"Sure, why not?" Warren said smiling too.
With that, we just sat there in silence; Warren staring at the stars and me eating the food he had brought out to m And I felt really good for the first time in a while. At least we were friends.
Blocks Away Underground
"Homecoming! The greatest collection of super teens ever gathered to dance under one roof!" a cloaked figure exclaimed, their voice, robotic and sinister.
Beside them was another, gangly figure, wearing the oddest outfit of green that made them look like a jester. They were inside a large, dark room, surrounded by many large technological devices, some more evil looking than others were. In front of both of the occupants of the room, was a large screen. Upon it was the view of none other than the Secret Sanctum, the Head Quarters of the Great Commander and Jetstream.
"And then, we shall have our revenge! There's only one thing we're missing…" with that, the cloak person began to use the control in front of them to change the view of the Sanctum. It zoomed in on an object, a surfboard with a face on it.
"With King Kamehamayhem's surfboard…?" The green one questioned. The cloaked one being to fiddle with the joystick in an annoyed fashion.
"Darn this joy stick!" They cried angrily. Finally the camera landed on a broken looking object.
"Oh," the green one said in realization, "Right, right, the pacifier." They let out a high-pitched giggle.
"Hey, smooth move on the joystick!" They said teasingly. The cloaked person's arm shot out to strangle the fiendish looking man, but the green man managed to block him. "Oh!" they said smugly, laughing. Enraged, the cloaked one's other arm shot out to choke him.
"Uncle! Uncle!" he gasped out. The person, satisfied with choking pitiful creature before them a little, let go of him before bring its hand up, deep in thought.
"But what to do with her?" Reaching out, she pressed a button and the screen before her showed a picture of a young girl with shoulder length wavy brown hair and silver eyes behind her freckles and glasses, "She still remains a mystery. I know I could use her for some purpose, I've already got her imbecilic sibling wrapped around my finger. It would only make our revenge even sweeter with the adopted daughter of the enemy by our side…" With that, the cloaked person threw back their head and laughed maniacally.
Na-Na: Yes, I know this whole, "bad guy scene" happened earlier in the movie, but I just wanted to add it now, since it would fit better with the time line. I'm sorry again about how lame I am. I figured with summer coming along, I'd have a lot of time to update, but it was way the opposite. So thank you all for being patient, and for the 100 reviews. It makes me feel loved.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SmithysTrivia: You were definitely right, if you thought it was the Paper Lantern they were going to. It's pretty obvious if it's Layla who is picking he restaurant.
Mae: Are we going to be getting into a "Love" war? If so, you're on! I love love love love love you!
Horse Bookworm: Don't worry, I'll continue. Your love is appreciated.
batbones: Sorry, but thank you for liking it.
honeyduck: I'll make sure to try whenever. It's hard, you know. I'm waiting for the opportune moment for that.
Fuzzy Make Me Happy: If the filler chapters aren't good, make sure to tell me. I think this is going to be the last filler-ish chapter. I hope that Tenni's reaction was good enough.
Movie-CaffineAddict:Blushes Wow, it's you favorite? You even got a search party? Wipes away a tear I'm so touched. I feel bad about my long disappearances. Parents can really be a downer sometimes. Anyway, thank you for the enormous amount of compliments.
RaevenMoon: Thank you for the well wishes. Luckily, I survived my move. Read on!
Arisa-san: Hey! Blushes No talking about my lack of a boyfriend in reviews. I already am very aware of it. Now if only the guy I like would pay more attention to me…Anyway, thanks for reviewing.
Sasha: Glad I made your day. I like the sound of intriguing. I definitely have to try harder to impress you. Plus, thanks for the two reviews. Sorry I'm making you miss me.
Orochimaru's Ojou-san: Interesting penname… Thank you for making my story one of your favorites. And the answer your question…won't be coming yet.
Lady Galriee: I'll try to keep up the good work.
inTHEgrid: I don't mean to offend you, but…was your caps lock button broken? I'm sorry, I just wondered. And thank you for your encouragement towards both me and my story. I'm very thankful for a reviewer like you.
A.E. Hall: The biggest thank you goes out to you A. E. Hall. Thank you for answering my question. I always like it when my reviewers can send me useful info.
Tenni: You know I hate cliched stuff. I'd never try to do that to this story unless I was absolutely forced to. Plus, you don't get people to do thing for you when you tell them they suck. But since I love you, I'll let you off as long as you apologize.
LadyWickit: I hope you'll be able to laugh more and more.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Update: Hush
Will be posted when I can post it.