This chapter's really long, but it was fun to write :P two chappies in a day! Whoo
Disclaimer: if you want to read the actual disclaimer, go to either chapter 1 or 2
1/17/16: haha 13 year old me made my oc into a mary sue and i'm assessing the damage. By the way, in the bajillion years i've been gone i've discovered line breaks
The much dreaded first day of Sky High was only in four days according to Will's calendar.
This particular morning I woke up way too late so I just decided to listen to music on my new mp3 with my new headphones. Despite my refusal, the Strongholds showered me with gifts. The only thing I absolutely forbid them to do was replace my old mp3, which had valuable, irreplacable music, but they did it anyways and added a whole new album of songs from my favorite band.
I sat on my bed listening to Fall Out Boy (what can I say, I'm a stereotype) while tapping lightly on me new and completely useless drum set. The door creaked open and I stopped playing abruptly. Will stood in the doorframe in checkered sweats and a blindingly patriotic t-shirt.
"Morning. Sorry if I woke you up, Will," I yawned.
"No, you didn't." He fiddled at the doorway, as if trying to say something. I looked over, noticing his distress. It was amazing how two months in close quarters with a guy could make you used to his antics.
"What is it?"
He dropped a stack of papers on the bed.
I looked over and saw a myriad of headlines. "ZERO GRAVITY AND THE MAGICIAN MAKE THEIR LAST STAND", "BARRON BATTLE FACES OPPOSITION AT THE UNITED NATIONS SEIGE" and finally, a list of obituaries for Lance and Julia Greene.
On top of the stack was a missing person report for their son and daughter.
Memories assaulted my vision.
"Take care of your brother, Avery." A kiss was pressed to her temple, and her tears smothered by a hug.
A strange man breaking down her door and pulling her and her brother into a car.
Her parents in their hero costumes, eyes wide with fear. Their screams of surprise and anguish as he incinerated her six year old brother with a single flare.
Toby...
And finally, her parents looking at her fearfully, and making the decision to sacrifice their lives.
It took them three days to find me. They had found me after being in shock for three full days as I sat among my family's charred bones, invisible and unmoving.
It was the first time I had powered up.
I was brought back by a hand on my shoulder.
Will sat down on the bed next to me. "Is this why you're so distant with me and Layla?"
A lone tear dripped onto Will's hand.
I couldn't bring herself to tell Will that it was more than that, that I felt like it was betraying his memory to go around being happy, to brush off their existence and accept a new family...
But I nodded and leaned on his shoulder anyways.
"I-i just can't..." my voice broke as I tried to word all the thoughts going on in my head.
"No, it's okay. Layla and I just wanted to know why you're always so removed. I personally thought it had something to do with Layla's body odor, but now we know."
I punched him weakly in the side and laughed tearily.
I had fully let down my walls, and I wasn't going back. I forgot to add one thing to the list of new things I had coming: a new me.
The day had finally come. I was nervous and excited at the same time, but of course, I didn't show it. I got up extra early to take a shower and faced the dilemma of choosing what to wear. Along with headphones and an mp3, Josie gave me a bunch of clothes she and Layla picked out. I finally decided on a green blouse (courtesy of Layla), black skinny jeans with a few rips, and my own brown worn-out combat boots. I didn't do anything with my hair, it was its all over the place mousy brown self. Layla recommended putting mascara and eyeliner on to emphasize my eyes, but it kind of made me look like a smoldering case of teenaged angst (which I was), but I didn't have time to remove the makeup so I just grabbed my navy over-the-shoulder bag and walked down the stairs.
"Hey, kiddo! You look great, did you do something different with your eyes?" greeted Steve.
"Yeah, Layla's idea. Is Will up yet?" I asked. I plopped down onto a chair and started nibbling the waffle Josie handed me.
"No… Hey! It's his first day of school, where is he?" Steve said and ascended up the staircase.
Josie turned to me and sat down. "So, excited for your first day at Sky High?"
"Yeah, I'm a little nervous too.
"You'll be fine. Tell me if you see any cute boys," said Josie with a wink.
My face heated up and I opened my mouth to protest only to be interrupted by the appearance of Layla.
"Good morning Mrs. Stronghold. I noticed you had some recyclables in the trash and took the liberty of moving them for you," greeted Layla cheerily. Even at the crack of dawn Layla was still an environmentalist.
"Thank you, Layla. You hungry? I've got plenty of eggs, bacon,"
"No thanks. You know how my mom can communicate with animals? Apparently they don't like being eaten," said Layla with wide eyes. "Hey Ave."
"'Morning," I muttered tiredly.
"I can't believe you guys are starting high school. It seems like only yesterday it was my first day of sky high," sighed Josie.
"Mo-om! Hey Layla, Ave," said Will as he walked into the kitchen.
Suddenly a shrill ringing sound came from Steve's pocket. He reached into it and pulled out a small red phone. After a few quick exchanges Steve concluded that there was trouble-"big trouble"-downtown.
"Oh, shoot. I really wanted to see you guys out to the bus! I remember on the first day of preschool Will wouldn't let go of my leg-"
"Mom!" whined Will. Layla and I exchanged amused smirks. Josie kissed Will on the cheek and left with Steve.
We proceeded to watch the rundown of the "big trouble" downtown. It ended with another victory for the Commander and Jetstream, as usual.
"They are good."
I walked onto the seemingly normal yellow school bus. Josie already informed me that the school was hundreds of feet in the air and the buses that took them there would fly them there. After inspecting the bus, though, it didn't seem to be any different than an ordinary bus. Will seemed to notice this as well, so he stopped right in front of the bus driver with Layla and I behind him.
"Is this the bus to Sky High?" he asked a bit too loudly.
"Shhhh!" he yanked the door shut."Do you want every super villain in the neighborhood to know we're here?" whispered the bus driver furiously.
"S-sorry."
The bus driver shot his hand out in front of Will.
"What's your name, freshman?" he asked suspiciously.
"..Um, Will Stronghold."
There came an audible gulp from the bus driver.
"The son of the Commander and Jetstream?" he asked shakily. Oh god, another fan. Living with the two most famous heroes in the world for the past month had taught me a few things about raving fanatics.
Will nodded.
The bus driver stood up and introduced Will to the whole bus (Really?) and told Will he was Ron Wilson: Bus Driver.
I, personally, couldn't stand the what I recognized as the start of hero-worship in some of these kids' eyes so I shoved past Will and sat down in a three-seater next to some kid who was studying the student handbook diligently. Moments later I was joined by Layla and Will sat down across the aisle from me next to a kid I could easily compare to a highlighter.
"Yo, Will! Ay, how you doin' man?" said the human highlighter.
"Uh, good. Hey, did I introduce you to Avery? She's my c-" I glared at him heatedly "adopted sister. Ave, this is Zach," said Will nervously.
"Pleasure, highlighter," I stuck out my hand and he shook it firmly.
"You can call me Zach Attack," said Zack. I rolled my eyes.
As we picked up a few more kids, I heard to chatter rise to a din around me. "Avery, Will told me about your parents," Layla whispered directing her attention to me.
"Oh." Will and I hadn't talked about it much after but we had reached a general understanding not to talk about the whole traumatic thing and whatnot. So I was a little ticked he took the liberty to tell Layla when he hadn't asked.
"No, no, it's my fault! I made him tell me. I just wanted you to know that you have a fresh start here, and we're going to look after you, Avery," Layla reassured with a bright smile.
Before I could react to that, full-body seat belts appeared from seemingly nowhere, Ron drove us off a freaking bridge, and we were airborne. Will, Layla and everybody else on the bus but me started screaming their heads off. I just sat there and looked out the window, thinking. Something popped out from under the bus and we stopped falling. I let out the breath I didn't know I kept in until now. So much for not panicking.
Ron grumbled something about freshmen at the same time I caught my first glimpse of Sky High. It looked like a floating museum, but even I could admit that it looked pretty cool from the view. Ron said something about an anti-gravitational system as we stumbled onto the front of the floating land mass.
I wobbled down from the bus as some kids literally began kissing the ground.
As the whole group walked to the front doors, immediately there was something circling us quickly and it suddenly came to a stop in front of us. It (or he, if you will) was a short stocky guy with a maniacal grin on his face.
"Hey! Freshmen! Your attention, please," yelled the stocky guy.
A tall lanky guy in stripes stretched (when I say stretched, I literally mean like a rubber band) up next to him.
"I'm Lash," said stripes. "And this is Speed." He patted his friend's shoulder. Ironic much? "And as representatives of the Sky High welcoming committee, we'd be happy to collect that fifteen dollar new-student fee," Lash said as he extended his arm to stop right in front of a orange kid's face.
"There was nothing about a new student fee in the handbook," he said confusedly. Did everybody but me read the handbook? A girl dressed in pink stepped up in front of Lash and Speed.
"Alright guys, very funny. I'll take it from here," said our pink clad saviour. Wow everyone so far seemed identified with a color. She introduced herself as Gwen Grayson, the student body president. She had straight brown hair and large doe eyes. She was so pretty and pink my eyes started to water. I zoned out as soon as she started talking about rules and looked around the campus. People everywhere were showing off their powers and checking the new meat out (I noted how much Lash and Speed started eyeing the orange guy next to me), so I directed my attention to our own crowd. I noticed Layla staring at Will, who was staring wide-eyed at Gwen. Of course. Stupid hormonal teenage boys.
"If you follow those few simple rules, I promise you will not fall off the edge of the school," assured Gwen with a wide smile.
We followed her inside and had a quick orientation with Principal Powers; a middle-aged woman who turned into a comet.
I noticed that the general power level of the students here compared to my school in New York seemed higher, but the New York kids had more flexible powers like elementals and telepaths. Odd, but I'd file away the information for later. She quickly explained Power Placement ("sounds fascist" said Layla matter-of-factly) and flew away in a blazing ball of white.
Then we walked into the gym. It had large stone columns and stone bleachers. It reminded me of the Roman Colloseum, where gladiators fought to the death.
Hm, not much different from high school.
A platform rose out of the middle of the gym and with it came a teacher with a blue hat, gym shorts, and a gym jacket. His clipboard was clutched firmly at his side.
"All right, listen up," he commanded. "My name is Coach Boomer. You may know me as Sonic Boom, you may not. Here's how Power Placement's gonna work. You will step up here and show me your power. Yes, you will do so in front of the entire class. I will then determine where you will be assigned; Hero, or Sidekick." He then rambled on about "whiner babies" and showed off his power to us by yelling at us with his super-sonic voice. I already knew he was going to be a dickhead.
Boomer called up a kid named Larry who looked geeky, but turned out to be a two ton rock-man-thing and made Hero. He slowly started picking off kids one by one until it was clear I was the next victim. Oh, god. This was the moment of truth. When I tended to be nervous or scared, my face didn't show it, but my power did. I started flickering between invisible and visible, something that had gotten me into trouble frequently in New York when I was attending school.
"Avery… Greene," he said, squinting at me with a measure of apprehension and pity. I really did want a new start here, and I was not going to get that if people kept on victimizing me about my past.
I stepped up to the podium with my fists clenched tightly.
Boomer tapped his chin thoughtfully as he contemplated his next move.
"Car!" he yelled, and time froze in place.
Okay, so I haven't explained my powers yet. The reason New York State passed me around so much was my tendency to go invisible and stay invisible. It was part of my nature to be reserved, so I often forgot I was invisible because I was never the center of attention anyways. You can see how this is a problem for the government, who wanted to keep its eyes on the kid with the juvenile record at all times.
About that juvie record. Small incident with my force field shields being deployed on this teacher who called me a "kid with an attitude the size of Texas and daddy issues likely to result in drug addiction". But anyways let's not get into that. Right now, I need to deal with a car.
"Avery!" yelled Will.
By instinct, I felt myself go invisible and I threw my hands up using my force field to block the car. It crashed into the field and then settled on it.
I made myself go visible. "What the hell was that for?! For all you knew, I could have had no powers at all!" I yelled angrily. I tilted my force field and pushed out, throwing the car to the other side of the gym.
Boomer just ignored me.
"Hero."