Chapter 2-

"Okay, let's make this as simple and painless as possible." Emm said and she slid her tray onto the table. Warren looked up from his book with a bored expression on his face. Emm took it as a sign to continue talking. "We don't ever talk, unless it's to argue, so we're not exactly about to become the best of friends or anything." She was trying to settle everything down with him before his friends joined him at the table. "But, we do have to do this."

After their courtyard mix'n'mingle yesterday they had returned to their classes to learn that, apart from attending various little events with their partner, they would have to write a short essay on them and their time as partners. Emm didn't mind the essay much, she could have a fair bit of fun with what was written in the essay, it was spending time with Warren Peace that bothered her. Not that she had anything against Warren, they just didn't get on well. There was also the fact that she was still upset at Maggie and Andrew's pairing.

"And I'm not about to fail, so if you don't cooperate, I'll have to stalk you." As she said this another tray joined hers, followed by a few others, signifying that his friends had joined them.

"Why are you stalking Warren?" Will Stronghold asked. She turned her head to look at the odd group that had somehow become Warren Peace's friends. She still remembered the day they'd all but destroyed the cafeteria, how funny that now the son of the Commander and the son of Baron Battle were best friends. The fates had a passion for irony, it seemed.

"I'm his sidekick for the month, hooray me." She could have sounded a little more enthusiastic, but no doubt they had seen her argue with him, they couldn't be surprised. Warren still hadn't answered her and she could see Dan and Mags waiting for her at another table while Elijah got his lunch. "Come on, Peace, I'd actually like to go see my friends, so make up your mind; are we going to do this the easy way, or do I have to stalk you?" She heard him sigh.

"If it will get you to go away," he began, setting his book aside for the moment, "Meet me at the Paper Lantern at nine." With that he considered the conversation over. It was her turn to sigh.

"Whatever, Peace, you bail on me and I'll have your head." She picked up her tray and left him to be brooding, angry Warren Peace with his little friends. When she reached her own table Elijah was already sitting and they were all looking at her expectantly. "I have to meet him at the Paper Lantern at nine." Dan and Maggie nodded and continued to eat. So far, they thought, so good; they had yet to actually have an argument.

Elijah rolled her the apple he'd picked up and she slid over the pudding cup. "Nine's a little late for dinner isn't it?" He asked as he peeled back the cover. She had thought of it, but really, she just wanted to get it all done. She would eat earlier; she didn't really care if Peace ate dinner at midnight, or if he was eating at all.

"He works there." Maggie piped in. The three of them stopped and looked at her curiously.

"And you know this why?" Emm raised an eyebrow at her friend, apple forgotten for the moment. It was bad enough that she had to worry about Andrew Thompson being with Maggie, if she was hanging out with Warren Peace to boot, her head would have exploded. Warren had to be better than Thompson, though, Emm had no problem admitting that. She couldn't stand Thompson.

Maggie blushed, which didn't mean much because she blushed most of the time over anything. "I've gone there a few time with Mum, he's always there." That was no surprise; Ma Rollings was a big fan of Chinese food. Each of them showed that they accepted her answer in their own way and went back to eating.

Emm wondered why she'd never seen him; she had been to the Lantern before. It didn't bother her much. All the talk of Chinese food had made her hungrier than she already was and she quickly unwrapped her sandwich. In her mind, Warren Peace and she would only have to associate for a month, after that, she would switch partners, hopefully to someone easier to deal with.

The Paper Lantern was apparently not the most popular place at nine. According to Maggie the place was buzzing from seven to eight, but at nine Emm could see very few people at the Lantern. She shrugged her bag higher on her shoulder and moved to sit at a booth.

A waitress approached her almost immediately and asked her what she wanted to drink. She settled with a coke and asked if Warren was there. She rolled her eyes and nodded, which left Emm wondering if Warren often received female guests at the Lantern. It sounded more likely that a few fan girls would come and hope he'd be their waiter, after that whole deal with Royal Pain a few years back girls had taken to admiring Warren; you know, now that they weren't afraid he was going to be a crazed villain like his daddy. It was Emm's turn to roll her eyes at the thought.

A hand, which she could tell did not belong to her waitress, set a coke down in front of her. She followed the hand, immediately recognizing the flame tattoos, up to his face. "Thanks." She muttered.

He sat down across from her and sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose and rolled his neck, showing he'd had a long day. "So," He began, looking at her finally, "You want anything to eat?"

Emm had eaten dinner earlier with her family, but she was a big fan of food, and she wasn't going to just sit in a restaurant and not eat. "I was just going to get some Crab Rangoon, really." He raised an eyebrow at her. "I ate earlier."

He turned to look at the kitchen and shouted something intelligible to her waitress, who had been standing by the door. Suddenly Emm wished she had Maggie's power and could understand him. She'd had no idea that Warren could speak Chinese, and Maggie certainly wouldn't have noticed, it would have sounded just like English to her.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Okay, I'm impressed. Unless, you know, you were telling her to poison my food." She gave him a very serious look. "That would not be cool." She ignored the look he was giving her and clapped her hands together. "Okay, down to business. So, we have to go to all the silly events and do the whole Save the Citizen thing, whatever," She took another drink and looked to the kitchen to see if her crab Rangoon was ready, she was not a patient woman.

She was going to continue but Warren cut her off. "Okay, Garwin, I'm sure with the events we have to go to we'll have enough to write about." It was more than obvious that Warren was about excited about their project as she was, meaning not at all. He nodded his head over to the kitchen and she saw her waitress come out with her Rangoon. She set them down in front of her and gave Warren a look.

Momentarily forgetting their previous conversation she gave him a sly smile. "Why do I get the impression from her that I'm not the first girl here to see you?"

He sighed and leaned back in the booth. "Since that stupid thing at homecoming they've been coming in and wanting me as their waiter." It seemed like such a great burden on his soul, she had to laugh.

"It's no big surprise. Before that all the girls, almost everyone, just figured you would be a villain." She remembered seeing kids shrink back when he walked the halls. Maggie herself had been a little afraid of him; she always blanched when Emm began arguments with him.

He didn't say anything. She knew that had been the case; he knew that had been the case. "What about you?"

The question caught her off guard. "What about me?"

He looked at her like she was stupid. "What did you think?" He shifted his focus to her half empty glass. "Did you think I was going to be a villain?"

Emm looked at him for a second, wondering what he was expecting to hear, and more importantly what he wanted to hear. "Well, to be honest, not really." She moved her glass, if only to make him stop looking at it. "I mean, your mom was a hero, and I antagonized you all the time and you never tried to barbeque me. A credit to your patience I guess." Emm knew very well what a pain she could be when she wanted to.

Warren didn't say anything and she took the time to dig into her Rangoon. They sat like that for a while before her curiosity struck. "So, when you're they're waiter, what do they do?" She had a hard time picturing girls flirting with Warren Peace, the thought seemed so foreign to her.

He groaned and hunched forward on the table. "Stop asking questions, Garwin, you're beginning to sound like them." Emm nearly snorted into her drink.

"I'd like it if you didn't compare me to your fan girls, thank you." She pointed at him with a bit of her Rangoon. "You should consider yourself lucky that you got paired up with me and not one of them. Too bad I didn't have the same luck."

He gave her a dry look, "Yeah, because nothing could be better than playing Save the Citizen with a sidekick that has no powers."

Emm didn't say anything. She turned back to her remaining Rangoon and kept her face straight. Warren didn't know what he was talking about, but being thought of as useless was not something she enjoyed.

Across the table from her Warren let out a heavy sigh, "Listen," he started, "I didn't mean it like that." She didn't bother to look up, she wanted to hear how he would try and get himself out of it. "I'm sure you're a fine sidekick, powers or not."

She almost wanted to laugh. "Don't stress it, Peace. I'll just stay out of your way and you make sure I don't end up in the shredder, that's good enough for me. And if not then I can still kick your ass." When it came down to it she might as well not have had any powers, the chances of her actually being able to control them during the game were slim to none. It didn't stop her from being a very, very confident person, borderline arrogant really.

Out of habit she looked down to her watch. "Crap, I've got to get home." She slid out of the booth and grabbed her bag. "How much is all this?"

She was surprised when he just waved his hand dismissively. "I got it, just go away already." He'd already stood up and set her cup on the empty plate.

Emm shrugged. "Alright, deal." Free food in return for leaving Warren Peace alone? A great deal in her mind. She was almost out the door when he called out to her. Turning around she almost didn't catch the fortune cookie hurtling toward her face. She looked down at the clear packaging that crinkled in her hand then glared up at him from throwing it at her face.

"Nice catch." She made sure to glare at him doubly so before pushing the door open further and leaving. Jerk.