I swear, I'm about to fall asleep right here. I needed to finish this, though. I lost a little part of this and had to rewrite it and I no longer like it as much, but it must go up. This one is entirely Warren centered and not very long. Here it is! Now, I must sleep.

Chapter 12-

"No. I will not stand for you eating my breakfast too."

"Shut up, Garwin."

Her pout and crossed arms would have put a five year old to shame. Dressed in a butter yellow sweater with her hair all around her she really looked like a sullen little girl. It only made the mixed berry Poptart that much sweeter.

"The one day I don't eat my breakfast at home it gets eaten by Peace. That'll teach me."

Aside from a comforting, if halfhearted, pat on the leg from Maggie, she was ignored. The group as a whole had learned to ignore them both when one of them started up. They had even gone so far as to angle themselves away from the two so as not to encourage them any further. Dan and Maggie were already planning their respective dinners at each others' houses (not that it was necessary in the least) and occasionally joining the rest in helping Zack with his history homework.

With one last glare Garwin punched his arm and turned away. Warren would have been lying if he'd said that wasn't the whole reason he'd taken the Poptart to begin with. Hell, he didn't even really like that flavor, but annoying Garwin was one of the highlights of his day.

"Logan!"

Warren looked across the courtyard to see Ayers waving back enthusiastically. They had been partners no more than two days and already Ayers spent all his time with her (when he wasn't in detention). It wasn't so much that it annoyed Warren as it confused him. He'd been spending an inordinate amount of time with her, yes, but their friends had integrated.

Ayers had never, in the four years that Warren had known him, had a real group of friends. He tended to bounce around and talk to everyone, but he'd never appeared to have a steady. solid friendship. Yet, here he was, practically attached to her hip. It confused him, that was all.

Ayers bounded over, crossing the courtyard in a few easy strides. He reminded Warren of Lash sometimes.

"Logan, my favorite, most wonderful hero partner ever," She sent Warren a look, "Do you see the poptart bastard Peace has taken from me? Any chance I could get another."

With a flourish and a bow (it worried him a little how theatrical they both were), a poptart appeared in his hand. Ayers could have fixed world hunger in a flash, provided the duplications lasted long enough, and instead he spent his time cutting class and getting thrown in detention. He doubted anyone went to detention as often as Ayers.

"Blech!" Garwin made a face and pulled the poptart away to examine it. "Cherry? Worst flavor ever."

Warren smirked to himself. Ayers also never got a duplication 100% right either. He took the cherry duplicate from her hand and jammed her original in her mouth before she could say anything. He liked cherry better anyway. And, the look of indignation on her face was too good to pass up.

"Sorry, buttercup, but I warned you." Ayers shrugged and took a seat by Elijah, facing them.

Warren's eyebrows shot up. "Buttercup?"

Garwin rolled her eyes but refused to look at him. All he got was a "shut up".

Lunch was uncharacteristically quiet that afternoon. Warren easily attributed that to the lack of Garwin. Even with Zack demanding their feedback on the costume designs he's made and Elijah's new girlfriend sitting with them there was no one to complain about stolen fries or just be loud and distracting in general.

He was certain he'd never wished for her presence more than when Layla slid next to him with the smile he'd come to recognize as her I'm-going-to-get-something-from-you smile. He stared at her warily.

"So," she dragged out the 'o' and he contemplated the best way to get out of there as quickly as possible, "you and Emm have been spending a lot of time together, even though you're no longer partners." She looked up at him expectantly and continued when he said nothing. The smile that now graced her face would have suited Gwen Grayson better. "And even your fighting is more of banter now and-"

"Stop. Wherever that train of thought is headed, derail it." Even as he said it he could see Garwin roll her eyes at the unintended pun.

Layla looked something like a dejected puppy. "But-"

This time it wasn't Warren who interrupted her, but a loud, deep boom and the emergency lights flashing on. Maggie, Patterson, and Elijah were up and headed out the door before the last lights had finished coming on and it only took Warren a few seconds longer to realize why. He was only a few paces behind them when they reached the Mad Science Lab.

Smoke billowed out of the lab and, with only a few students who had already been out in the hallway and Mr. Medulla standing around, it was easy to see that there was no obnoxious yellow coat in sight. Not that he was worried, but Maggie looked terrified.

"Left. Left. I said turn it left."

"I thought you meant your left."

"Your arm is on fire."

"Don't say that so calmly!"

He didn't breathe a little sigh of relief. You could only be relieved if you were worried. Which he wasn't. At all.

Ayers and Garwin both emerged with a few coughs and slightly singed clothing (Ayers was still patting down his left sleeve). Medulla was on them in a second.

"What happened? I thought we were past the boom stage."

"Calibration." And that was all she said. Medulla took it just as such and, after circling around her to ensure that she wasn't on fire like Ayers had been, peeked into the classroom with dismay. Maggie was on her in a second, checking her up and down and spinning her around. Elijah hovered near Warren but gave his sister a thorough look over as well. She seemed fine, except for the agonized look on her face.

"My coat." He thought he saw her lip wobble. "Logan used it to put out the fire on our workstation." Maggie patted her head while she continued to look like a kicked puppy. "My coat is ruined and the calibration went all wrong and I didn't even get to eat lunch."

Sometimes Warren just wasn't sure what went on in her brain. Most of the time, in fact.

She looked odd in Maggie's borrowed burgundy tunic. Not to mention Maggie's petite height meant that the tunic's baby doll shape came up much higher on Garwin and reminded Warren of a pregnant woman. He wisely chose to keep that to himself.

He swatted her hand away when she began fiddling with the hem, again. "Quit picking at it."

She gave him a look, swatted him back, but stopped picking at it. With a the south hallway of the school still being aired out(the one sophomore wind controller being out sick and Janice Gale being nowhere near powerful enough), all the classes on that end had been escorted to the courtyard to wait. And, so, Warren found himself sitting with Maggie, Patterson, Ayers, and Garwin, again. And he hadn't sat next to Garwin this time, she'd sat next to him, a fact he made sure to remember next time Hippie started thinking crazy again.

It was uncharacteristically quiet for the second time that day, at least on Garwin part. Ayers was having an animated discussion on The Crimson Tiger with Maggie, Patterson, and Aarons which he was sure would have normally spurred Garwin into action, instead she was starring off into space and using her finger as a dry erase marker on an imaginary board.

"What are y-"

She distractedly clapped her hand over his mouth. "Shh, shh, wait." Her finger continued to move through the air while he peeled her hand off. A hand she was too distracted to pull away from his knee where he dropped it.

While watching her finger move trace patterns in the air was entertaining for a minute or two, Warren soon found himself bored with halfheartedly listening to the continuing Crimson Tiger conversation and trying to decipher what she was writing in the air. So he upped his temperature a little. With her hand on his knee she had to feel it. Now he just had to wait and see how hot he could get before she realized.

Across the courtyard a junior girl he thought he recognized as a sidekick was staring at him oddly. Assuming she was yet another Warren Peace fangirl Garwin would later poke fun at, he ignored her.

"That's it!" Garwin's head snapped back around to look at him. "And now I know how to fix it." She was looking at him as though she expected him to actually contribute to the conversation she seemed to have just decided they were having.

"I don't know what to do with you."

And there was that patented confused Garwin look. He just shook his head and continued to heat up. When she moved her hand, however, it wasn't because he was nearly setting fire to it, but because she needed to put her hair up.

Right in the crook of her neck there was a smudge of grease or soot or any number of things it could have been and it bothered him. Without even really thinking about it he moved to wipe it away. The moment his hand touched her neck Garwin jumped a full foot in the air.

"Jesus Christ, Peace!" A few heads turned their way but they went on ignored. "Are you trying to burn me?" She winced and grabbed her neck.

He'd completely forgotten how high he'd turned up his temperature. He'd have been lying if he'd said he didn't feel a little bad. When she moved her hand away there was indeed a little red burn on her neck; it would be gone by tomorrow morning. He moved a few bits of hair out of the way to get a good look at it while she starred him down.

The others had turned to see what the commotion was about and, after determining that no fight was beginning right next to them, they turned back around. Except Ayers, who leaned back and dropped his head on Garwin's knee.

The action seemed so bizarre to Warren- so out of place- it made him uneasy. Garwin was tactile enough with Maggie and Patterson and her multitude of sidekick friends, but Ayers was some newcomer and seeing him rest so easily on her was... odd. Worse yet was the way her hand so quickly found his hair. She threaded her fingers through his hair for a few seconds before moving on to pick a little fuzz off his shirt.

"You okay there, buttercup?"

She nodded. "Yeah, Peace is just trying to take me out. He's failing, but you've got to give the poor boy some credit, I guess."

Warren's face remained impassive while they briefly chatted about what else she needed Logan's help on and her instance on him actually doing his homework. The junior girl continued to look at them from across the courtyard. When she caught Warren's eye her face turned a bright red and she ducked behind Larry the Giant Rock Man. Larry abused his powers too much.

When Ayers sat back up and left Garwin's knee she turned to him. "Can we try not to set me on fire when I haven't done anything?"

"Whatever you say," He smirked at her. "Buttercup."

Dumb luck alone saved him from the swing of her backpack at his head.