Disclaimer: Still don't own Sky High.
Ivy took an empty seat on the left side of the classroom by an open window. She turned her head to look out the window, and sighed as a tree swayed in the wind. The squeaky door opened again, and two more girls hustled in, followed by an older, lanky-looking woman wearing a long, tacky orange dress. She put her green briefcase on her desk, and winced as she took off her shoes. A few students raised eyebrows at the womans' peculiar behavior.
"I'm getting old. No one look at me like that." She peered at the two girls that had entered the room ahead of her, who were now in the midst of laughing at her orange dress.
She rubbed her temples for a minute before officially beginning the class.
"I, for those of you who don't know, am Jamie Esther. But I prefer Ms. E. Now, this is your final year at Sky High, and as such, you are permitted the wonderful task of picking names, costumes, and sidekicks this year. Now, we're trying a new procedure this year, just to see how it works. Both you and the sidekicks will be evaluated all year, and at the end of the semester just before graduation, you'll be given a list of sidekicks that you are to choose from based on strength, speed, agility, intelligence, and overall cooperation skill level." Loud protests and whines echoed throughout the room. Ivy simply stared at the tree.
Ms. E continued talking and introducing the class to the set of books they would be reading during the year, and discussed nonsense things like why she loved the color orange so much, and how "utterly bogus" the music kids listen to these days is. Ivy smiled at that.
The bell rang, the students gathered their papers and pens and left the classroom. Ivy waited until everyone had left the room before letting herself out into the hallway. She looked around. There were people everywhere. She didn't do well in large crowds. Call it claustrophobia. She pulled her black Guess jacket closer to her body, buttoning it quickly. She adjusted her side bag on her shoulder nervously, looked down at her white piece of paper once more, then slipped her hands into her front pockets. She picked her way through the crowds of people, and eventually found her way to Hero History 4A.
The class passed quickly, and she once again made her way through the maze of people until she landed in math. She took another window seat, and ignored the lectures before her. She watched the clouds pass, and the sun play hide and seek with them. She watched leaves rustle and float to the ground, only to be swept up by the gentle breeze. She spent the entire numbers class enjoying the sweet silence in her mind. The bell rang, and she followed procedure for the third time that day: last one out, strategically move around people, find her next class. As she entered the hallway, she checked her paper again.
"Lunch Break"
Food! Oh, thank god, food! She carefully followed the masses into the bright cafeteria, and lingered just a moment in the doorway before entering. She looked around slowly, taking in all the familiar surroundings, and remembered sitting at a corner table with her mother and Auntie Evelyn not so many years before. After a minute of hard thinking and looking around, she recognized the corner table, and half-smiled to herself. She walked over to it ignoring the stares of many students, and she ran her fingertips across the edge of the table, stopping just a few inches short of the far end. She dropped her bag to the floor, and crouched down on her knees to look under the table.
"Christine and Ivy Stone were here!" was etched into the plastic in harsh, un-rounded letters. A cloud of sadness passed over her as a rough, mean voice interrupted her silent memory.
"Uh, excuse me?" It said with a sarcastic, who-do-you-think-you-are tone.
She slowly raised herself back to height, and stared at the boy in front of her. Long hair, dark eyes. Her gaze passed behind him and noticed a girl in a flower print shirt kick him gently.
"Hey," she said. "He's a little grumpy today." Nodding in the dark boys' direction.
Ivy stared back at her, saying nothing in response.
"Are you new here? I haven't seen you around the past three years." The flowered girl raised an eyebrow.
Silence.
"Layla, I see you've met Miss Stone." Principal Powers walked up from behind Ivy, causing her to turn her head to see her aunt clearly. "She's just moved back to the states from Greece. She's still adjusting back to our culture, I believe."
"Greece? Wow." An Asian girl smiled slightly at Ivy at the thought of a different country. "Are you Greek?"
Ivy looked at her aunt with pleading eyes.
"She, um..." Principal Powers paused, looking for the right words. "She doesn't speak much."
"Does she understand?" Will asked.
"Oh yes. She understands just fine, she just doesn't say much of anything." Principal Powers gave a sad smile, but caught it quickly and changed back to her normal, graceful, dignified self. "Anyway, Layla, everyone, since you're already here, I'd like you take her around. It's been quite a while since she's been here, and I'm not sure she remembers the way things work. Would you mind?" Ivy looked at the group standing before her. Somewhere in the midst of the conversation, the dark boy sat down at the table and took out a graphic novel.
Layla, as Auntie Evelyn called her, was quite pretty. Long hair, not quite curly, not quite straight, large eyes, full lips, good teeth. All the essentials. She wore a long skirt and a flowered shirt, with a messenger bag at her side. The boy at her side holding her hand was the definition of boy-next-door. He was the All American boy, equip with expensive jeans and a nice striped polo. The Asian girl had a funny hair cut. Or maybe it was just the way it had been styled that morning. Ivy couldn't tell, but she seemed nice enough. Fishnets, tank top, Capri pants. She was a punk girl. The boy standing next to her was in very bright clothes. Very, very bright clothes. His hair was spiky, and he had some weird chain hanging around his neck. She couldn't quite figure it out.
They all nodded their heads and said it was fine. Principal Powers smiled and left the group. The four remaining took seats next to the dark boy, and began to eat their lunches.
"Sit with us. There's plenty of room. You'll have a hard time sitting anywhere else." Layla motioned to the rest of the cafeteria which had suddenly been filled to the brim. She shuddered slightly and sat down across from Layla.
The flower-child smiled and introduced herself, her boyfriend Will in the polo, and their friends Magenta, Zach, and the dark boy Warren. She explained that they had another friend named Ethan, but his family moved to California in the beginning of the summer because his dad got some new job that none of them really knew about. Ivy only half listened. It wasn't that Layla wasn't nice, or anything, she just hadn't been home in so long...
She looked around the room and noticed two mischievous looking boys walking in their direction, with some tall, thin female.
"I still can't believe Taylor's actually friends with those two!" Layla exclaimed, noticing where Ivy's attention was drawn.
Magenta went on to explain to the not-so-eager to know Ivy, "Taylor used to be super prepped out, and those guys almost got expelled our freshmen year. Instead they just got held behind so they had to repeat a grade. Seems unfair, but whatever. Warren and Taylor went out for like, a year, right? Then, when they broke up, she totally turned to the dark side, and now she's like, villain-mistress of the school. No one goes near her unless they want to get froze to death."
Ivy smirked at the thought. Taylor looked over in Warren's direction, and noticed Ivy looking at her. Her face fumed, and she changed course, walking straight towards the group. Warren looked up and grunted. All fell quiet in the cafeteria when they noticed that the Ice Bitch was approaching someone.
"Oh God," Layla said. "She's about to pick a fight."
Warren grunted again, and went back to his novel.
"Can I help you?" Taylor asked Ivy in a sarcastic way.
Ivy just looked at her. She's so pretty. Shame she's so mean. Taylor's straight hair was tied up behind her in a long ponytail, and her thin figure was exaggerated by her tight-fitting clothes.
"Hello? Earth to freak? Do you talk?" She raised her eyebrows at the silent Ivy. She turned to Speed and Lash who stood on either side of her, like bodyguards. "She was in my first three classes, and she didn't say a single word all day. Do you know how to talk?"
She is in my classes, huh?
Layla stood ready to fight back, when the girl gave her such a cold glare that in and of itself, it could have frozen Layla solid. She quickly sat back down and became smaller. Taylor then turned her attention back to Ivy. She tried to look Ivy up and down, but in her sitting position it was hard to do.
"Stand up, weirdo."
Ivy did as she was told.
"Oh my god, boys! She's not as dumb as we thought! She can stand! How exciting!" Speed and Lash both snickered. "What's your name." It was more of a demand than a question. "Hello!" She waved her hand in front of Ivy's unresponsive face. She moved her hand to push Ivy's forehead back, but before her hand was halfway there, Ivy ducked out of the way. Taylor missed, and the entire student body laughed. Infuriated by her humiliation, her hands froze into solid ice, and she aimed straight at the fully standing Ivy. Again, she ducked out of the way faster than anyone could notice. She grabbed her side-bag and made for the exit.
She was almost there when Speed stopped her right in her tracks. Ivy looked at him, then glanced back to where they had been standing before.
But he was just-- Super Speed. Right. Super-school. Got it.
Ivy looked at the large boy that blocked her exit, and knew that she couldn't get around him without starting a fight, or touching him, or both. How she hated touching people.
"Whatcha gonna do now, girl?" He taunted. When she said nothing in response, just as she had all the other times, his mocking grin turned to a scowl and he, shockingly, threw a normal punch. She ducked out of the way, and caught him from beneath. She swung her leg around to the back of his shins, and off-balanced him to the point of crashing to the floor. She stood back up, and turned around to face Taylor and Lash. Their faces darkened with their fallen comrade, and Lash stretched his arm across the room to grab her wrist and pull her back. She twisted free of his looming grip before he could actually touch her, and she turned to run through the crowd of students that were now blockading the entrance.
Layla, Will and the rest saw her panicking for a way out, and turned to look at each other.
"We need to help her, yo. I got a baaaaad feelin' bout this." Zach voiced everyone's thoughts. Will stood up, and disentangled himself from the bench. He looked down at Warren, who still read his novel, completely oblivious to all that was going on around him.
"Uh, Warren?" Warren grunted. "Mind helping?" Will furrowed his brows at his friends lack of interest.
"Yes. I would mind. I'm busy." He replied not taking his eyes from the page.
Layla snatched the book from underneath his death grip, and gave him a stern look. "Warren Alexander Peace." Layla knew how he hated his full name. "Get your butt up and help my boyfriend, or your stupid little book is going to be recycled into plant food." Magenta and Zach smiled at each other as Warren's already hard gaze, heated up and got angrier than normal.
"You even try it, I'll burn all that pretty hair of yours right off." He stood up and stalked over to Lash and Taylor, not waiting for Will to catch up.
Layla smiled triumphantly, knowing Warren would never touch her hair if he knew what was good for him.
"Rubberband. Don't pick on girls. It's mean." Lash turned around to receive a full blown fireball in his face that sent him hurtling backwards. Taylor went to freeze Warren, but failed miserably when he melted the ice spikes that she threw towards him.
Meanwhile, Ivy sought a way around the students, knowing that the boys had diverted the attention away from her so she could find a way out. She silently thanked them, and pushed her way out of the cafeteria, never looking back. The fight continued until Boomer and Medulla broke it off just a few minutes later. The five of them received after-school detention and a long lecture from Principal Powers.
Ivy's next few classes seemed to take forever to finish, and she couldn't help but worry if Will and Warren were in trouble because of her. By the time the last bell rang, she had completely forgotten all her lectures, and couldn't remember any of the homework assignments. Good thing I wrote them down. She left her last class, found her locker, put some of her heavier texts away, and fumbled her way through the hallways until she found the main entrance. It hasn't been that long since I've been back... She walked down the front steps, and noticed Layla, Magenta, and Zach sitting off in the shade by a cluster of small trees. Ivy looked around the courtyard and found her own tree to sit beneath while she started some of the nights homework. When she looked up again, she saw Will and Warren walking down the front steps together, Warren literally steaming with anger.
"If I get detention one more time because of you Stronghold, I'll kick your ass all the way to China." He fumed as he grabbed his comic book back from Layla. He carefully put it back in his bag and stared back at Will. "Ass."
Will just smiled.
"Hey! Ivy!" Layla's face brightened when she saw the white haired girl approach them.
Warren and Will turned, shocked to see her. Ivy shifted her bag the way she did when she was uncomfortable, and she eventually settled on a nice spot. She opened her mouth once. Then closed it. She looked like a fish. One more time open. One more time closed. Finally she just took a breath, and looked directly at Will and Warren.
"I don't like touching people." She said slowly, enunciating every syllable, turning her gaze to the ground.
"'Ey man! She spoke!" Zach said enthusiastically.
"We know, Zach. We heard her." Magenta eyed him angrily.
Layla looked at Ivy curiously. "How long has it been since you've spoken?" She hesitated to ask.
"Two years, eleven months, seven days." She looked back at Will and Warren. "Thank you."
She turned to leave when Will called after her. "Hey! Ivy!" She stopped mid-step, but didn't turn. "Everyone's coming over to my place to study then we're going out to dinner to celebrate senior year, did you wanna come?" Layla smiled at her boyfriends friendliness.
Ivy looked back at Will. Smiled slightly, and nodded. "I'd like that." Layla grinned wide at Ivy's response, until she saw Ivy's smile fade.
"What's wrong, Ivy?" She asked curiously.
Ivy looked back towards the school to see Principal Powers standing outside the front doors. She felt a cool breeze brush along her neck, and smiled again. She walked towards her aunt a few steps before stopping. Her aunt nodded and smiled, knowing that Ivy was coming to thank her for everything she had done. Ivy's lips curled at the corners, and she turned back to Layla and her friends. They headed towards the bus that was waiting for them, and Ivy turned to Zach.
"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but, um," She gestured to her own neck and made a confused look. "What is... it?"
Zach looked down at his large chain and said, "What? My bling?"
Ivy turned to Magenta with pleading eyes. Magenta simply laughed and got on the bus.
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Reviews? Maybe? Please?