Okay, another chapter for you guys. And, just so you know, I love your reviews. They make me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Most of this one is from Warren's POV, but Emm will probably take center-stage again in the next one.

Chapter 10-

The chill wind bit at her bare legs and she tried to tuck them into her hoodie. She'd worn her favorite yellow shorts in an effort to make the most of the last warm days before fall set in, but nature had decided to have a laugh at her and made it especially cold. A shiver ran through her.

"Whose stupid idea was this anyway?"

Peace smirked at her from his seat in the grass beside her. She bet he didn't even feel the cold, bastard. "Maggie and hippie."

That was right. So, of course, they'd been unable to refuse. At the insistence of the two of them they'd all relocated to the courtyard for lunch (except for Elijah who'd been asked to sit with Anna and her friends). They'd have to watch out for the pair of them, they could take over the world just by asking.

Apparently Emm had missed a memo of some sort because everyone else was wearing jeans and seemed to not be bothered by the cold. Well, Dan would never be bothered by the cold, he probably relished in it. And Peace had his stupid body heat to keep him warm.

"Hey, Peace," He looked at her. "You're an OCD, temperamental, little girl."

He blinked. "What?"

"You heard me. You're a little girl. And when you're not a little girl you're a giant douchebag." Emm had to try and keep from smiling if she wanted this to work. "I don't know how you can live with yourself."

His face remained impassive.

"I wonder if your wear a frilly little apron while you tidy up your room. I bet you dress like a French maid, just for kicks." The image was now permanently imprinted in her mind and she was sure she'd have a good laugh or two at it later.

"It's not going to work, Garwin."

She huffed. A good argument would have heated him up and she would have soaked it up. "I'm your partner, you're supposed to keep me warm." She turned to pout at where the others were playing with the ice balls Dan had created.

He scoffed. "Not for long."

Emm looked over and studied him for a moment, noticing he'd raised his temperature for her anyway. This would be their last week as partners and come Monday morning they'd all be in the gym again, waiting for their next assignments.

She smiled a little. "Yep, you won't have to put up with me for much longer now."

They fell into an easy silence and Emm pulled her legs from her hoodie, satisfied in the warmth he was giving off. It hadn't been so bad. When they'd first been paired off she'd moaned and groaned and complained and imagined a world in which they finally came to blows and destroyed the school. Instead she found that some of their arguments had turned teasing. In fact, most of them had. He wasn't even taking her seriously when she called him a little girl.

She would have to do something to remedy it. Later.

He went to her booth before Christine had a chance to tell him his "girlfriend" was back again. He set the glass down in front of her and raised an eyebrow. "You know, it doesn't matter how many times I tell her you're not a fangirl if you keep showing up."

She huffed up at him but immediately busied herself with opening her straw. "Why can't I just eat Chinese food without it being all about you?" She rolled her eyes while she drank.

She'd come in right around the dinner rush but he figured he could spare a moment before Christine seated someone else in his section. "What are you doing here? I figured the Garwin's were the family dinner sort." The Garwin's immediately gave off the impression of keeping few secrets and generally being open with each other and the rest of the world.

"We are. Just not when mom's locked herself away to paint and dad is on the verge of a breakthrough. Then we kind of forget to eat." She was already half done with her glass. "And, 'Lijah is out with Anna so I thought I'd feed myself."

He pulled her glass away before she could finish it all. It was almost impressive how she could drink so quickly but he knew it only meant he'd have to keep bringing her new ones. "Can't cook?"

She frowned at him and pulled her glass back but didn't drink. "I can make anything if I have a recipe, but not when dad's taken over the kitchen as a temporary workshop. He does that."

He nodded, wondering what it was about the Garwin's and their ability to completely forget everything else when inspiration hit. He caught Christine's eye and she gave him a look, signaling to the family that had just walked in.

Garwin seemed to catch on and handed him her menu. "Beef and broccoli, and an order of crab rangoon. Thanks."

Lei brought her order out to her but he wasn't sure how many times he'd had to refill her glass. He was fairly convinced no normal person could hold so much liquid. Each time he came around with her drink she'd start some sort of argument that would last only as long as he could get away from Christine's glare. It would be forgotten by the time he came back around.

By the time he brought around her umptillionth glass the rush crowd had mostly filed out. There was only one other person seated and they were just starting their chow mien. Making sure Christine was in the back he sat down across from her.

"How do you drink all that?"

"It's an addiction." She told him, matter-of-factly. "So, is it just me or does that Christine lady really hate me?"

He peered over the side of the booth to make sure she was still in the back. She couldn't really say anything because they only other person wasn't even sitting in his section, but still. "She just thinks you're one of the others."

Garwin scoffed. "I can't believe anyone would think that." She looked deeply affronted. "So, what? She thinks I'm moving in on her territory?"

He made a face at her and she laughed. "You can be so stupid."

"Yeah, whatever. I'm not the one who hasn't noticed that the only other person in here can hardly take her eyes off you." He turned and she kicked him under the table. "Don't be so obvious, you idiot."

Ignoring her he looked over to the only other patron. She seemed to be studiously contemplating her chow mien but he saw her eyes flit over then back. She looked mildly familiar but he couldn't figure out where he recognized the short blonde bob from.

"She's a sophomore sidekick. I've seen her talking to 'Lijah." He turned back around to face Garwin who was idly playing with her straw. "She's been watching you since she sat down, and you didn't even notice. Poor girl."

He studied Garwin for a moment while she watched the girl. Until now he'd thought his "fangirls", as she called them, were a source of amusement for her, something she threatened him with for a laugh. Now she looked sorry for the girl. She sighed and shook her head.

"Well, what do they expect? They watch and watch and don't make a single move. What is it with everyone and not having the guts to go after what they want?"

He shrugged at her. "I'd like it if they all just left."

She blinked at him while she drank. "Well, what would you prefer: Warren Peace, dream bad boy boyfriend of underclassmen girls, or most likely to become a villain?"

He scoffed. "I wasn't aware there was a distinction." Half the girls who would have fallen under Garwin's fan category were still afraid that he'd become a villain just like his father. He wondered if she hadn't yet realized that that was why they never approached him.

When she gave him the confused look he now recognized as solely hers he furrowed his brow. "You don't think they all just decided I wasn't going to be a villain after homecoming, do you?"

The look remained.

"You're kidding me." He leaned back and let out a humorless laugh. "Jesus, Garwin." He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the blonde. "She probably still thinks I'll end up like my father. Most people do."

"That's stupid."

Something about the way she said it, the plain conviction, made him smile. "You really haven't noticed? You probably just assumed that everyone thought like you after homecoming. Kind of arrogant of you." He joked.

She was silent for a moment and he decided that was exactly what had happened. She had never seen him as a villain and figured homecoming had been proof enough for everyone else.

"They've clearly never met your mother." She pushed her glass aside and shot the girl a look. "There's no way in hell you could turn into a villain with a mother like her." As if she decided the conversation had become too solemn for her taste her entire countenance changed. "You'd make a rubbish villain."

"You'd be the first person I took out."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Wouldn't be that hard, I'd roast you before you had a chance to get angry."

"And then I'd come back and haunt you forever and slowly drive you insane. Until dad killed you with your DeSoto, then I'd just make your afterlife more of a hell than it already would have been."

The image of having his car slowly come down around him till he was crushed made him wince more than the thought of being haunted. He always seemed to forget that her father could kill a man for having too much iron in his blood. He pitied anyone who even considered hurting Garwin, just a little.

"So..." She drew out the 'o', "Last day stuck with one another, technically."

Tomorrow after lunch they'd all be hoarded back into the gym and assigned new partners. To be honest, outside of Garwin, Maggie was the only other senior sidekick he really knew. Aarons seemed alright, but Warren hadn't had much interaction with him.

When Principal Powers had called out his name after Garwin's he'd wholeheartedly agreed with the loud "shit" she'd let out. They're relationship (or whatever it really was) had always been antagonistic in one way or another and he knew that she got a kick out of riling him up. Of course, he hadn't been any better. He could have always tried to ignore her, no matter how hard that could be, but instead he'd fed right into any spat they could have.

And he may have started a few as well.

The first day of sophomore year, after spotting Will Stronghold for the first time, he'd sought her out in the hallway and purposely, and none too gently, brushed past her shoulder. That had been enough to set her off and, for a while, he'd felt better. Garwin was the perfect person to let steam off on.

The past month hadn't been so bad though. So far he'd only admitted as much to Will, but as far as partners went he knew Garwin would have been the best choice. Even with the bickering that was bound to happen he could always trust that Garwin wasn't afraid of him, at all, and that made her something of a rare breed among the sidekicks of Sky High.

"Oi!" She snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Where the hell do you keep going? You're kind of dreamy lately, aren't you?"

He slapped her hand away. "I was just thinking about how great it will be to be rid of you finally."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, I'll be glad when I don't have to put up with you anymore." She smiled and he knew she was lying.

He fingered the unwrapped fortune cookie in front of her. "I've been counting down the days."

"My calendar has a lovely red circle over tomorrow. I'm so excited."

"I think I might throw a party."

"Mags and I are baking a cake to celebrate."

"I've considered throwing a parade."

"I think a parade is in order, but I'd be the one throwing it- Hey! That's my cookie!"

He sent her a slow smile while he ate her fortune cookie and glanced down at her fortune. Embrace the unexpected and you'll be pleasantly surprised.