Author's Notes: This…is by far…the LONGEST chapter I've written. xD! And I enjoyed it more than the others, so tell me what you think! Review! Review! Annndd….Review! ^^!

It's already Friday? The preparations for Homecoming were almost done. The hallways were decorated with silver and shiny purple banners on which "Homecoming this Saturday from 7pm to 10pm. Theme: Mythical Gods and Goddesses! Dress fancy and bring a date!" I scoffed inwardly. 'Bring a date!' What about those who were single, huh? Obviously not everyone's going to come all paired up looking like some stupid kindergarteners. Ugh, who was I kidding? I knew I wouldn't think the same if I had a date. Thankfully, our little "weirdo" crew, would be going as a group, so no worries. Well at least the four of us. I can't believe I still haven't gotten a hold of Will yet. But today, I have to. It's been way too long, and we needed to get over this whole thing and have a blast at Homecoming!

The hallway was noisier than usual. Must be the adrenaline rush since the weekend is only a few hours away. I walked over to my locker where Magenta was, putting the books back in hers.

"Why thanks for finally gracing me with your presence, your highness." She said mockingly as I opened my locker. As usual, she was all dressed all punk. She wore her purple converse shoes with high-knee black and white socks, a short black mini with tiny frills at the bottom, a black tank top with a purple skull logo, which matched the purple streak in the strands of hair falling on the side of her face. She had chosen to tie her hair up in a pony tail today.

"Oh, come on Frankenstein." I said equally sarcastic. She knew I loved her style, though I would never have the guts to pull it off. "I was copying some last minute notes in Maritime Wonders."

"Whatever" she brushed off. "Did you by any chance talk to Will yet?" she asked, serious.

I smiled wryly and answered "No. But I have to do it today. This is dragging on too much."

"Yeah, you're right." She nodded.

I picked up my back, adjusting the strap on my shoulder. As I turned around to walk to my last period class, I bumped into someone.

"Oh, sorry! My bad." Frantically said a guy whose voice I automatically recognized.

I turned around and sure enough, it was him.

"Will!" I exclaimed, shocked. "Where have you been all this time?"

Surprise dawned on his face. "Layla! Oh, um you know. I've been kind of busy these days, 'cause, you know. Heroes class, planning Homecoming." He listed nervously.

"Well you could have at least told us!"I attempted to scold, but a grin was threatening to appear on my face and apparently Magenta noticed and relieved me from doing the scolding.

"Yes, will. You could have just let us know. We understand." She said, fixing him.

"I know, I know." He said with an apologetic look on his face. "I'll totally make it up to you guys."

"You bet you will," I said, no longer able to suppress the grin that would make the Cheshire cat proud. "You'll have to deal with Zach and Ethan's debates during homecoming since you'll be the only guy. They'll ignore us."

"Umm…about that." He said nervously running his hand through his light brown hair.

"What?" I asked, unsure of if I really wanted to know the answer.

"I'm going with Gwen since you know, we planned it and stuff and we have to represent the committee." He said, his brown eyes rueful.

I felt like I'd just been slapped in the face. After this long enough separation, he was going to ditch us for the bossy bitch of all people? And here I thought I had a chance at telling him how I feel at Homecoming. Guess not. I tried not to let the sadness show on my face and looked at him, my smile fickle.

"Oh…no, it's okay! I totally understand." I said, not able to look him in the eyes. "I'll just catch you later I guess. When you have time, that is." And I walked fast past him before he could see my watery eyes.

"Now, look what you did! You're really an idiot!" I could hear Magenta shout at him. I walked even faster to keep her from catching up to me.

I swept my hand over my eyes to wipe away the tears before they could stream down my cheeks and went in the class room. This was going to be a long last period.

The bell rang the end of the day and people were rushing out of the front door. I was almost down the steps, when something hit me. Shoot! Ms. Lillian had asked me to help her get the rest of the decorations to the gym for the designer crew working there.

"Come on, Layla!" Magenta shouted so I could hear her already half way to the bus the other students were already getting on. "Quit lagging behind!"

I shouted answering her "I forgot something! I have to help out Ms. Lillian! Can you tell Ron to wait just a bit?"

"Ok, fine. Hurry up!" she yelled back, climbing aboard.

I rushed back in and ran to Ms. Lillian's classroom.

"Layla, just in time." She said, smiling. "Help me carry those please?" she asked me motioning to the boxes under her desk. They were six. Great, three trips.

I picked up two and followed her out with them. They weren't that heavy. One of the guys from the crew saw us coming when we got near the gym and opened the doors for us.

The place looked stunning! And they weren't even done. Groups of two's were helping each other on ladders with hanging ribbons. And supervising the setting up of the DJ table was Gwen. I couldn't help it. I hated her to no end. From her way of acting like she was the best thing that ever happened to the world to her whiny high-pitched voice. But I couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy, knowing that despite all that, it was her that Will was taking to Homecoming and not me.

I dropped the boxes on the bleachers at my left and went out before she could notice me. Only two more trips; hopefully she wouldn't notice me.

I went and came back with the second set of boxes and dropped them next to the first. I was about to exit the gym when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder and I turned around to see her. Perfect. Just, perfect.

"Hi, Layla!" she said smiling like a maniac. Why was she even talking to me? It must be something bad.

"Uh, hi Gwen." I answered reluctantly.

"Thank you so much for helping. Really!" she said. "I'm really looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night! Who's your date?" she asked, without a doubt knowing that Will would have been my only possible choice. What a sadist.

"Oh, no one." I answered, looking away.

"No one?" she gushed. "Well, that's surprising. Anyways, I'm going with Will" she finished, though I hadn't asked.

"Yeah, I heard. Since you guys organized it and stuff." I said, trying to comfort myself with this fact.

"What?" she asked, suddenly serious. She seemed to think for a while before understanding washed over her face. "Oh! Is that what he said?" she said, eyebrows almost reaching her hairline. "Gosh, he really is silly. No no no no, he asked me. Since, as you know, we're dating" she finished with a short laugh.

Suddenly, I could feel my heart beating louder.

"Oh my, from the looks of it you're the last to know. That Will, always so forgetful." She casually said, as she'd known him forever. "I told him to tell you so many times and he always said, I will, I will. Ugh. Well, know you know. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to the preparations. See you tomorrow!"

And with that, she turned around and walked back to the DJ table, high-fiving one of her "friends" who leered at me, tauntingly. It was like I couldn't even more anymore, least of all bring myself to accept this.

"Layla, there's still two left, I'm locking up." I heard Ms. Lillian say as she brushed past me heading for her room.

"Oh, yeah, I'm coming." I said, my voice breaking. I followed her, took the remaining boxes and put them beside the others in the gym. Then I remembered I had told Magenta to tell Ron to wait for a few minutes. Great. I ran for it only to find an empty space where the bus was. I was going to have to wait till it got back, which would take a minimum of thirty minutes. My mom would probably be worried, but I really didn't care right now. I walked over to one of the trees around the courtyard and sat down leaning against it'. I felt the tree's aura and it felt peaceful. If there was one thing I was thankful for about my powers, it was my ability to sense nature's aura around me. Once I concentrated, I could feel it and it was always so soothing. That's why whenever I felt frustrated, angry, or sad, I looked for a place with trees or plants and stayed there for a while, till I calmed down. Like the first time I came to know of this ability, when I had gotten in a fight with my mom about her not letting me go to a friend's birthday because my grades were slipping. I ran outside the house, went in the back garden and sat down in the grass. Then I began to feel a tiny waves washing over me on the inside. When I closed my eyes, the feeling intensified. Soon, I was lying in the grass, eyes closed, somewhere between asleep and awake. It was the most soothing feeling ever. So I put my knees up and rested my head against them, closing my eyes.

After a few minutes I heard a voice say "You know if you feel like taking a nap, you should probably go home, hippie."

Breaking my mantra, I looked up to find Warren leaning against the tree. I was a bit surprised at first but I brushed it off . "Shut up. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be home by now?" i said before putting my head back down.

"Ouch, I'll ignore that. I stayed to help some of the staff unload crates for tomorrow. Don't know what was in them though. What's your excuse?" he said.

I put my head up and rested my chin on my knees instead so that he could hear me. "I was about to leave but then I remembered I had to help Ms. Lillian move some boxes to the gym for tomorrow. So I told Magenta to tell Ron to wait a bit. Then when I came out the bus was gone."

He responded with a quiet snort. I hated when people snorted. It was so annoying. But to my shock, his didn't bother me. It sounded, cute, almost. Wait, did I just associate Warren Peace with the word cute?

"Stop it, it's not funny!" I snapped a bit too harshly for my taste before I could stop myself. I guess he noticed, because there was a short silence and he crouched down to sit beside me. I felt a small jolt of electricity as his bare arm came in contact with mine. I could feel his tough muscles and his incredibly smooth skin. He was wearing a black and red sleeveless shirt and dark gray jeans. Not good. Definitely not. Is it okay for this to feel nice? It was the closest I'd ever gotten to him so far, and truthfully, it was a bit intimidating.

He let out a sigh and asked me "What happened, hippie? Anything to do with Stronghold?"

I hesitating before lying "No, why?"

He sighed again before saying "I thought you would have learned by now that it's pointless to lie to me. I guess not. Now, I repeat. Anything to do with him?"

Defeated I confessed "Well, yeah."

"So, what is it?" he inquired picking up a leaf from the grass and fidgeting with it.

I waited a few seconds and started, "He's dating Gwen. I finally got a hold of him today and I asked him why we hadn't seen him all this while and he said he'd been busy with stuff. Then I told him he would make it up to us by bearing Ethan and Zach's arguing during Homecoming and that's when he told me he was going with her because they worked together on it. Then a while ago while I was helping out with the boxes, I met Gwen in the gym and she told me that they were dating. Now I know she didn't make that up. I mean, she doesn't have to. She's got all the boys in school running after her." I finished, taking a big breath after my rambling.

When I didn't hear anything, I looked to Warren to see why he wasn't talking. His jaw was set, and his dark eyes hardened. He looked scary.

"W-warren?" I said, meekly.

He laughed bitterly and said, "I like her, my ass."

Before I could start to ask him what he meant he said, "The jerk told me he liked you. He told me he was gonna make a move soon. I should have known when he started hanging around her a little too much. He really is full of shit after all."

Normally I would have charged at anyone that insulted Will in any way, but right now it stung. Because I found I actually agreed.

"I don't know what to think anymore." I said picking up a small twig and playing with it. "I really thought I stood a chance too."

I smelled smoke and realized Warren had reduced that small leaf to ashes.

My mouth fell and I gasped loudly. As an environmentalist, I would never put up with this kind of hazardous behavior. I put my hand back and sent it flying towards his head but he held my wrist in his grasp before it could reach him. He held it firmly in place. What was he made of, stone? He put my hand down on the grass.

"A chance to what?" he said, his voice dark with anger. "A chance to get played by a shithead who leaves his friends without a second thought. A chance to get hurt again?"

I felt like I was being scolded and patronized. I protested, "But what do you want me to do now?"

We stayed like this in an awkward silence before he spoke, his voice with a hint of malice.

"Do you want to get back at him?" he asked.

I thought for a bit. Did I want to get back at Will? I can't believe it had turned out this way. My feelings for him aside, we were best friends. We had always been. He would never pick anyone over me and now we barely saw each other. And as for my feelings, I would be elated now that I found out he had liked me. But that was long gone apparently. But what hurt me the most was that he had lied to me. Lied, and asked out Gwen. Did I want to get back at him for this?

I felt my mouth curve into a devious smirk. "Hell, yes." I answered Warren.

He feigned surprise and raised his eyebrows saying. "Well, well, well. Come to dark side, haven't we, hippie."

I smiled and ignored it saying, "Shut up, and tell me the plan."

"Well, for starters I'm thinking we should tie him up to a chair, and shock him times and times again until he spills the beans about everything. Pull out his hair strand by strand, Rub his skin with sandpaper and then soak him with lemon juice, and finally for the psychological trick, lock him up in the trunk of a car for 5 hours." He finished looking eager. Too eager.

"Warren, as much as I know you'd love to all that, I think we should go for something simpler." I said smiling as I saw him roll his eyes.

"Fine, fine, if you say so, you coward." He said.

Then all of a sudden, a brilliant idea hit me.

"How about we…go to Homecoming together?"

I was expecting something along the lines of 'Are you crazy' or 'You must be joking, hell no'. But instead after a few seconds he smiled devilishly.

"You know, if this was for any other reason, I would tell you that you were insane. But this is an exception." He said.

"Wow. Warren Peace is taking me to Homecoming. Hell has frozen over." I said teasingly nudging him.

"What can I say? I'll do anything to see that shithead blow his gasket." He answered.

I smiled. I felt relaxed. And happy? At least now I know I would have a great time tomorrow night. My smile grew more as I anticipated Gwen and Will's reaction when they would see us. Then I realized the bus still hadn't come and I needed to get home.

I yawned and said "Well, that aside, we're still stuck here you know."

"Ha, speak for yourself, hippie." He said, standing up and giving me his hand to help me up.

I put my hand in his and he effortlessly pulled me to my feet.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. "Don't you have to wait for the bus too?"

He smiled a dangerous smile and instead of helping me took out a pair of keys, and dangled them in front of me.

"No. Way." I said. He had a car?

"It's not a car" he said, as if he had read my mind. Then he pressed a button on the rubber tied to the keychain. Nothing happened.

I quirked my eyebrows at him inquiringly and he responded by pointing to a space on the courtyard.

I eyed the spot and slowly I could begin to make out a large shape. What was it? I was slowly coming into focus. The handles, the wheels, the seat; it was a motorcycle. A huge black motorcycle with red flames. The inside of the wheels was also red. My mouth gaped in astonishment.

"Yup, it's awesome." Warren said, noticing my awed expression.

"Where did you get it?" I asked, still amazed.

"I guess that's one of the perks that come with having a super villain for a father." He answered, making his way to the bike.

He walked a distance before stopping and looking back to me.

"Come on, I don't have all day. Move it, hippie." He said looking impatient.

"What?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes and said, "God, you're stupid. I'm dropping you home, idiot. Now hurry up and get over here he said turning around and walking.

What? I can't get on that! And besides, it's just an ordinary bike, right? How is it going to get me home?

"What do you mean you mean you're dropping me home? You can't unless you're trying to say that thing can fly too." I shouted, since he was already too far to hear me.

"You're so damn dense!" he yelled, not turning around. "How do you think I get to school?"

I stopped and thought for a minute. Well, that made sense. No wonder I never saw him on the bus. But still! Fly? Me? I have a terrible fear of heights. Taking planes scares me to no end! And he wanted me to be up in the air, and exposed? I gulped, nervously. It was already five thirty, and I didn't want to wait anymore. Where had Ron gone, for goodness' sake? Ugh, so it was either this or staying here alone, huh?

A loud rumble broke me out of my thoughts and I realized Warren was already on the bike.

"WAIT!" I yelled, and I ran towards him! I got there a bit out of breath and he said "Get on."

I got on behind him, scooted up closer to him, and I shyly put my arms around his middle. He must have pressed another button, because I heard a noise behind me, and when I turned around, I saw big body tubes, like the types on space shuttles, but way smaller. They were spitting fire, making me scoot even closer to him.

"If you value your life, you're gonna have to hold on to me tighter than this, hippie." He spoke loudly, the engine roaring over him.

"Don't you dare make me fall, or else I'll kill you! And why don't we have helmets?" I shouted over the engine.

"Relax," he said reassuringly. "You won't fall, no matter how much I would love to witness that happening. And I wonder how you'd manage to kill me when you're splattered on the driveway." I couldn't see him but I could tell he had that devious smile of his on his face.

"You ready?" he asked me. "We're gonna pick up speed first."

I hesitated before answering, "Yeah." Fear was eating away at my insides. I was anything but ready.

"Don't worry," he said, as an answer to my anxiety. "Trust me. I promise. I won't let you fall." And those were his last words before the engine roared even louder and we were speeding away from the courtyard, and towards the open space where the bus usually took off. My hands tightened around his abdomen as if clinging to dear life. We were getting closer and closer, and I shut my eyes as tight as I could. My heart was pounding hard in my chest.

Suddenly, I felt nothing under me. As a reflex, I squeezed his waist even tighter, if that was possible and buried my face in his back. He smelled enticingly sweet, yet sour and musky. It was so intoxicating, that I was no longer thinking about the fact that I was several meters off the ground. I tried to gently inhale his scent without him noticing.

"You can open your eyes now, hippie." I heard his voice, breaking me out of my reverie.

I opened my eyes and looked around me. The sky was so beautiful. It was blue, hinting towards purple, and the wind no longer ruthlessly swept over my face, but caressed it almost.

"It's gorgeous" I whispered to myself.

"Yeah, it is." He agreed. "Now would you loosen your hold? I'm about to die here."

I looked down and saw I was gripping him way too tightly. When I released the bunched up fabric of his shirt, my knuckles were white.

"Oh! I'm so sorry." I apologized, feeling really dumb.

"It's alright." He answered me.

Loosening my hold, I realized I could feel his flat and toned stomach. The muscles were hard under my fingers. I felt my face flush. Gosh, I need to calm down.

'But his body is hot, and you know it.' My conscience chimed in, in a sing-song voice. Oh, shut up I told it.

Soon, we began to descend and in a few minutes I felt us touch the ground as we drove on my street. We got to my house and I got off the bike.

"Thanks a lot." I told him.

"You're welcome." He said, over the rumbling engine. "So, what time do I come get you tomorrow?"

"Uh, is seven thirty good?" I asked.

"Yup, gotcha. See ya, hippie." He said, and he took off. I watched him drive away until he was nothing more than I tiny dot in the distance, and then I went in my house.

The TV was on and I could hear my mom making dinner in the kitchen.

"Hey, mom." I said, standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

"Hey honey, what took you so long? And what was that noise outside?" she said cutting up carrots into tiny pieces and putting them in a bowl.

"Oh, I missed the bus and it was taking too long to come back, so Warren dropped me off."

She was still chopping away, but I could sense the surprise and worry in her voice. "Warren? Warren Peace? Isn't he that scary, dangerous, mean-looking guy you told me about that one time?"

I felt a pang of guilt at the way I had described Warren. I had made him sound like a monster and now, who was the one looking out for me all the time?

"That's what I thought he was, mom. But not anymore. Warren's actually a really nice person when you get to know him." I said, smiling without realizing it.

Apparently, my mom noticed. "Uh-oh, I feel a little story coming on. Is he cute?" my mom said jokingly, and she winked at me.

"Mom! Come on, he's just my friend." I said, annoyed. "Anyways, I'm going up to take my shower."

"Alright, honey." She said, ignoring my defense. Hurry back down. We're having Cantonese rice! I think you'll like it." I heard her say, as I went up the stairs to my room. Gosh, why do parents always have to think the wrong thing when you say a guy is nice.

Author's Notes: There you have it! Tell me what you think!