Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High. Yet. =)

---

The following day was Club Night as Layla had started calling it. Everyone was set to meet at Will's place around nine or so, so Ivy spent most of the day doing homework, and flexing her hand once in the while. Just the day before, she had the gained the ability to touch people by means of some genetic serum that her mother's old friend had created for her. She had also learned that she was able to touch Warren without the serum because of his own fire-power. There was so much information to take in, so much that she couldn't comprehend any of her science lectures that she was re-reading. Flabbergasted, she stood up leaving her homework on her kitchen counter, and she walked straight back into her rose-red room. The white trim and curtains seemed brighter than normal, or maybe it was just the lack of sleep. She straightened out her messy black satin sheets, and smoothed over the black comforter. She opened her closet door and went in search of something to wear to the Salsa Club that night.

Long sleeves, full skirts, turtle necks, long gloves, thick pants, high boots, heavy jackets. None of it was right. She hadn't been able to have physical contact with anyone since she was three, so her clothing wasn't exactly people-friendly. She threw all the clothes back into her closet, and grabbed her phone, keys, and purse. She left her apartment and found her car in the building's parking lot out back. She put the car into gear, and made her way to the mall. Of course, she got lost for nearly twenty minutes. But she did find it eventually, and that was all that mattered.

She parked and walked into the mall. She wandered aimlessly for a little while, familiarizing herself with the stores, and the seasons' style. Eventually she started shopping and not just looking. She bought tank tops, and short skirts. Shear shirts, and bathing suits. She couldn't wait to go swimming with her friends, now that she could dunk Zach without burning all his skin off. After a hefty shopping spree, she went back to her apartment and reevaluated the clothing choices for that evening. Hm, salsa club. Nothing too fancy. She eyed a little black dress she bought, and decided it wasn't quite right. Black pants? Red shirt? She held up the combination and shook her head. "Dress to Impress" was what her mother always said. Ivy smiled at the memory of shopping with her mother. They had always had similar taste; chic woman-vests, t-shirts, slacks, and high-heeled boots. And in Ivy's case, long gloves and jackets.

Returning to the present dilemma, she went back to the black dress she had shunned a minute before. Looking at it again, it still wasn't right. Oh! I bought that red and black lace dress! She yelped with excitement remembering the flowy dress she had convinced herself to buy after over an hour of deciding whether or not it was worth the three-hundred and twenty-seven dollars it was priced at. She held up the dress, and right away decided it was perfect. With strappy black heels, she laid the outfit on her queen-sized bed, and took a very long, hot shower.

Curling her white hair, and putting some pitch black streaks dispersed throughout her head, she wondered what shade of lipstick she should wear. She finally decided some clear lip gloss was best, and she grabbed some eyeliner from the top drawer in her dresser. She didn't usually wear make-up, she preferred the natural look, but her mother had made sure she knew how to use it like a pro. At first she just put a little black mascara. She looked in her mirror and frowned. The dress was so sexy and showed off her entire everything. Natural eyes weren't right. She went for smokey. Dark black liner with black, gray and light salmon pink shadow, accentuating her almond shaped gray eyes. All the black liner made her eyes look much lighter than they actually were, but that's kind of the point. She leaned in close to the mirror, and checked to make sure the shadow was even on both sides.

She watched her eyes stare back her, and for the first time in years, she looked at her pupils and not just her iris's. She noticed that there hadn't been any change in them, and that there were still stuck in mid-change. Slightly slit, but not enough to be noticed without close examination, they were stuck between human and feline, probably for the rest of her life. The white outline of the black pupils in between the iris and the pupil had grown smaller over the years, making the slit itself less noticeable, thank God.

She pulled herself out of her memory of the day it happened. The day she spent too much time in her alternate form, and she could hardly change herself back. The day her blue-green eyes hadn't morphed back, but stayed the gray, white and black of her cat-self. The day her mother--

That was the day she lost her color vision, and was only able to see in gray, white and black, the way she did when she was changed. Now, she could only see color when it was dark, so she kept all the lights in her apartment off at all times because then she was able to see like a normal person. She could never experience the physical darkness other humans sought, but instead was blinded by colors, which she had slowly learned was even better.

She glanced at her clock, and saw that she had a little over half an hour before she needed to leave. She returned back to her current issue of even eye shadow, and decided it was fine. She left her blue and gray bathroom, and went over to where her dress was laying on her bed. She had always loved red, and she had only known it was red because she heard a store clerk mention it while talking to a fellow employee. Now that she was in the dark, she saw the deep blood red satin of the dress, and the black lace that was wrapped around the bodice of it. Figuring a bra wasn't necessary, she simply undressed and slipped the satin and lace over her thin frame, re-zipping the side of it. Spaghetti strapped with a straight neckline, the red satin and black lace clung snuggly to her hips and everything above them, and began to flow with it's full skirt from mid-thigh down to her knees. Reminds me of Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. Love that movie. She smiled to herself and pulled her strappy heels on; admiring the outfit in all its splendor.

She returned to her bathroom and put some finishing touches on her shadow, liner and lip-gloss. She admired her hair, and laughed at how ridiculously normal it looked on her. The beauty of being me: black and white looked completely natural on her. She sprayed a little more hairspray, before adding just a tad of her favorite perfume to her collarbone. She picked out a small black purse, and put her spare make-up, phone, wallet, and a pair of black gloves in it, just in case. She grabbed her chic black three-quarter sleeved, mid-calf trench coat, buttoned and tied it, picked up her keys, and left the apartment.

Ivy decided that, regardless of the aid her not-so-night vision provided her, walking alone in the dark wasn't the best idea, and she pulled her car out of the parking lot. She took residential streets all the way to Will's so she could go as fast as she wanted in her five speed '94 Wrangler. She got to Will's at five past nine, and parked quickly, worrying that they were all waiting for her. She made sure the black canvas was securely tied down, locked her car, and briskly walked to Will's front door. She knocked and heard Josie's voice call, "Come in!" from just beyond the door. She opened it slowly and poked her head in first. She smiled when she saw them all standing in the foyer talking about how beautiful Layla and Magenta looked. Ivy was lucky that not all the lights were on, so she was able to tell that Layla was in a dark green knee length dress, similar in style to Ivy's, but with a V-cut neckline, and a less-full skirt with white heels to match the white stitching of the dress. Magenta was wearing black slacks, and a long, sheer dark purple shirt that ended midway down her butt, with black boots and a black bra that prominently stood out from under the purple fabric.

Will was decked out in a blue and white button down with black pants. Definitely a Stronghold. Ivy laughed in her head. He doesn't look half bad... I mean, for a patriot. She let a small laugh slip through, and received a raised eyebrow from Will. She just shook her head and smiled at him. Zach was, thankfully, just in black and white tonight. No burning neon yellow, which Ivy had only known due to a comment Layla had made, begging him not to wear any out dancing. He agreed after he lost the fight and kept his word. A black T-shirt under a long sleeved white button down, that of course wasn't buttoned, and black pants. His hair was spikier than normal, and Ivy could barely resist the urge to mess it up.

Her gaze traveled to Warren who was sullenly leaning against the banister leading upstairs. Black pants, a deep burgundy muscle shirt, and his leather jacket. He had tied his hair back into the small ponytail he only wore for work, and he had even shaved his stubble, which was a rare occurrence. He looked up from his staring contest with the floor, and saw Ivy staring at him. He saw her look him head to toe, and he saw her conceal a smile. He returned the look up and down, and paused on her gloveless hands. He looked at her and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. Then she smiled and nodded happily.

"Ivy, let's see your dress!" Layla pleaded.

Ivy shook her head embarrassed and shy, but Josie wouldn't have any of it.

"Ivy Discord Stone, if you don't take that coat off, I will remove it for you, regardless of the however painful the consequences."

Warren laughed outright now. Everyone looked at him. Ivy knew what he was laughing at, and Josie and Steve assumed as much, but he concealed it well by saying, "Discord?"

Ivy turned an angry red. "Don't call me that, Stirfry." His face dropped at her use of Zach's nickname for him.

"Oh hush both of you, and you," Josie pointed at Ivy, "take it off. Now. Come on, we don't have all night."

Ivy rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. She slowly untied the waist belt, and unbuttoned the coat top to bottom. She awkwardly and uncomfortably shrugged it off her shoulders, and held it behind her, never letting it fall from her hands. Everyone gaped at the girl. Ballerina thin, but not lacking any extremities, she stood picture perfect in her expensive party dress. Ivy, while looking at the floor, her angry red turning to an embarrassed pink, missed a rare look of desire and praise pass through Warren's eyes. She raised her head slowly, and looked first at Josie.

"My God, Steve. She really is her mothers' daughter." Josie put her hand on her own cheek, and shook her head in disbelief. Her husband just nodded and closed his mouth aware that he was being quite rude to the young girl. He turned to his son and Zach. "Boys." He said warningly, and they both caught themselves staring. Layla and Magenta paid no mind that their boyfriends were entranced, because they, too, were in complete awe of the white and now black haired girls' beauty.

Ivy looked nervously to Layla and Magenta for a silent approval, and they both smiled and nodded just enough that Ivy saw it, but not enough to draw attention to their quiet conversation. Will finally shook his head a bit, and waved goodbye to his parents. He offered his hand to Layla and she graciously received it. Zach offered Magenta his arm in a mocking manner, and she laughed at him. "Stop being a gentleman, and be you." He gave her a goody grin, grabbed her arm and pulled her threw the door in an almost comical way.

Warren and Ivy looked at each other awkwardly, before Ivy looked away. Steve glared at Warren, and Warren turned his attention to Stronghold Senior. Steve motioned his head over to Ivy, who was now talking to Josie about the dress.

"Go." He said quietly. Steve smiled, and Warren instantly knew that both Steve and Josie understood her power and his, and them together. But he also knew that they were unaware of Ivy's recently added serum. She had asked him to keep it to himself, just in case it didn't work or something went wrong, because she didn't want to have to answer questions about her power, or the serum. Warren looked back at Steve and slowly made his way across the foyer to Ivy.

Josie stopped mid-sentence when she saw him approach, and she changed her sentence to, "You two should go, they're probably waiting for you." Ivy nodded and turned to go, unaware that Warren was waiting a little bit behind her. She made for the door, and saw him holding it open for her. She gave an almost shocked smile at his chivalry, and went through the doorway. Warren looked back at Steve, and he gave the closest thing he could to a smile, without Josie noticing.

Warren closed the door behind them, and Josie turned to Steve.

"Warren's the only one who knows about her skin." She said to her husband.

He nodded worried. "Just wait till they all find out the rest."

She put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "They won't worry. Look at Magenta!" She tried very hard to eliminate her own worry from her voice.

"Yes, but Josie, Magenta isn't stuck between forms." His entire face saddened, and his wife's own expression mirrored his perfectly. "And Magenta isn't nicknamed 'Discord'." Steve put his arm around Josie, and they turned towards the kitchen. They sat at the table and together sighed.

"It isn't noticeable, Steve. Most of it is internal, anyway." Josie tried, but Steve's sad expression was there to stay. Josie's hopeful smile faded, and she shook her head. "Poor Discord."

Outside, Ivy asked Warren if Josie and Steve were always this excited when the group went to do things. He said no an explained that they had a soft spot for fancy events.

"It's not a prom or anything. It's just a club." She didn't understand.

"Yeah, but it's still an excuse to get dressed up, and apparently that's the best part. I think Josie enjoys it so much just because she doesn't have a daughter of her own, so she takes advantage of the fact that Will has female friends." Ivy nodded her understanding just as they reached the car.

Zach stuck his head out the window and told them to hurry up. Warren opened the door and Ivy crawled inside the monstrous car.

"He gets really excited about dancing." Magenta clarified to Ivy as she settled herself in the far back row next to Warren.

"Ah." She said. "Zach, let's be a good boy, and stay seated the entire ride, OK?" Ivy mocked.

Zach looked at her and nodded excitedly, obviously not picking up on the sarcasm in her voice. Warren smirked at Zach as he struggled to put his seatbelt on correctly.

The ride to the club was short and went by fast because of all the excitement and talking. Ivy explained to Warren about Clark and Bruce and how her mother had introduced them to each other, and they had a love-hate relationship. She told him about Xavier's Institute for Gifted Children, and about each of the X-Men. She told him specifically about Rogue, and he understood why the two of them had remained like sisters throughout the past six years. She talked about the Fantastic Four, and how beautiful Sue and Richards' wedding was, and all about Wonder Woman. Warren laughed most of the time, and eventually everyone in the car was listening to their conversation and the ridiculous stories Ivy had to tell. None of them had ever heard Warren laugh the way he was now. Layla looked back at Magenta, who in return smiled a plotting smile.

Will parked the car, and the six of them trailed out of it. The got to club entrance, and showed their IDs.

Warren looked at Ivy's, and said, "I thought you weren't eighteen?"

A hint of mischievous pleasure passed through her eyes, "I'm not." And she tucked the ID back into her purse.

---

Reviews, reviews, reviews. Yes, please. =)