A/N: It's done! Chapter one is written up and ready to post. I hope you enjoy it. I haven't fully developed the characters unfortunately, mainly due to this being a quick project, but I hope there is enough there for you to get the general gist of them.
Chapter One - Not The Perfect Family
Tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day I've been dreading for the past two years, ever since I found out I am to go to Sky High, the school my parents both went to, and very soon Will and I will attend. Too soon in my opinion.
It's nearing dinner time at the Stronghold residence and to anyone else it may seem like there isn't a worry in the world for any of it's inhabitance. That's not the case however. If it was then you wouldn't find me sulking in my brother's room, mumbling to the room's owner about the injustices of my teenage life.
"It's so stupid. For one moment I lose control of my powers, accidentally sending out a weak, short distance, pulse, and I'm in the dog house. It only neutralised his powers for a few minutes!" I rant to Will as I pace around his weights in the middle of the room, wearing out my white converses and his carpet.
"He was taken off guard, Jamie. You know how Dad is when it comes to his powers." Will tries to defend our dad, sitting in the middle of his bed as he watches me follow the same path I always do when venting to him in his room.
"It frustrates me so much, Will, that he can't treat me the same as he does you. He's proud of you Will! Whereas he just fears me and my out of control powers." I stop to emphasise a point before changing directions and pacing again.
"Jamie." He calls, but I don't stop my frantic pacing. "Jamie!" I look at him and slow down a little. "Jamie, sit down. You're making me dizzy." Will stands up, grabbing my arm thats covered in my favorite white leather jacket I'm wearing over an old, worn out baby blue shirt that read the word 'Princess' in bold white writing, and pulls me to sit down with him on the bed. I sigh and start fighting with my custom made white gloves that I hate always having to wear. He grabs my hands and stops their movement. "Dad isnt afraid of you, Jamie. He just doesn't know how to handle your powers." He tells me, staring directly into our matching blue eyes with sincerity. I look down and let my tense muscles relax.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. It just makes me feel like he doesn't love me." I confess.
"That's silly. Of course Dad loves you. You're his only Daughter." He says, pulling me into a hug. I rest my head on his shoulder, relaxing in the small amount of warmth he released, not wanting to discuss the matter further and instead choosing to believe my brothers words.
"Will, Jamie! Dinner's ready!" We hear our mother call from downstairs. It's then that Will's stomach makes itself known with a loud grumble causing us to laugh and run downstairs.
I take my usual seat at the table on my mother's left side, opposite Will. Our Dad at the other head of the table. It' still tense between Dad and I, I notice, as when we both go to grab the sauce bottle he flinches away, even though my gloves are still perfectly covering the entirety of my hand. I frown and pass the bottle over to him where he proceeded to ignore it. Not feeling hungry anymore, I wait a few minutes before excusing myself. I'm not sure if anyone really noticed the lack of food eaten from my plate, but I shove it in the disposal and wash up my plate just in case, not wanting to worry anyone.
Only an hour or so after dinner, my dad is searching the house for Will, insisting on taking him out for a friendly game of Baseball. Except his version of Baseball involves a large beam as the bat and massive pieces of scrap metal as the balls. Upon hearing Will's lame attempts at trying to get out of the game and failing, I close my book, marking the page and go to his defence as per usual.
"Will can't play, Dad. He's helping me pack for school tomorrow." It's the first thing that pops into my head and I run with it. Will quickly following my lead.
"Yeah. Sorry, Dad. I promised Jamie I'd help her." He says, walking over to me. Dad seems to be buying it when our Mom unfortunately butts in.
"I already helped you pack earlier. Jamie, what's this about?" She asks upon entering the room, giving Will and I a worried look. I share a slightly frantic look with Will, hoping he can think of something before we have to resort to our last option. But he looks panicked and my mind is blank as well. Giving up, I pray that my acting skills are up to the job.
"Thanks for covering for me Will, but they aren't buying it." Will's reaction thankfully works well with what I said, even though it's really him worrying for me. Mom walks up to me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder while Dad watches on, staring at me in confusion. I take a deep breath before I say my next words, bracing for a bad reaction. "Will can't play with you, Dad, because I lost control again this morning and I dont know how long it'll last. He's only just starting to get his power back. I'm sorry, Will." I cast my eyes downward, knowing Mom will be able to tell if she see's them.
"Again?!" Dad yells, staring down at me in disappointment. "You're grounded for a week." His words not shocking me at all. Mom on the other hand, didn't agree.
"Honey, that's unnecessary." But he doesn't listen.
"No, Josie. This is the second time today it's happened and until she learns how to control herself, she's not going out where she may endanger others." Although expected, his words still hurt.
"Steve!" Mom calls and goes to say something else, but I interrupt her before he can start.
"It's alright, Mom. I'm going to bed." With that I turn around and leave the room, practically running up the stairs two at a time. My eyes slightly sting as I hold back the tears.
After lying on my bed, staring up at the ceiling for god knows how long, I hear a knock at my door. I sit up and look towards the door where Will is sticking his head through the opening. "Can I come in?" When I nod my head my long, wavy hair falls into my eyes and I just leave it there so it covers part of my face at the moment since I don't want him to know I've been holding back tears. Will hesitantly walks in, closing my door behind him and sitting on the bed next to me. "You didn't have to do that, Jamie."
"Yes I did. I don't want to mess up the relationship you have with Dad." I explain, leaving out my beliefs that it's my fault he doesn't have his powers in the first place. It's the least I can do to keep their happy relationship together. Will sighs in exasperation.
"Jamie." He starts, but I don't let him continue.
"Not right now, Will. I just want to get out of here for a little bit. You won't tell them if I do, will you?" I ask, already standing up and grabbing my wallet. Will looks unsure at first, but I giving a pleading look and he caves. "Thanks, Will." I give him a hug before opening my window and climbing out of it, glad there's a tree near the part of roof where Will, Layla and I spend a fair amount of time on. Once I reach the ground, I grab my bike and head out to the one place away from home where I can relax.
Soft, oriental music plays in the background as I enter the restaurant. Anna, a girl who has been my waiter a few times, greets me as I walk into the Paper Lantern. "Hi, Jamie. Where do you want to sit tonight?" She asks greeting me with her usual, dimpled smile.
"Anywhere quiet really."
"I'm afraid all my tables are filled so I won't be the one waitering you tonight." She gives me a genuinely sincere look before leading me to a fairly dark area where no one else sat. I sit down at the booth and rest my head on the table, listening to the calming sounds of music and a low rumble of indistinguishable chatter. Closing my eyes, I think about my Dad's reaction. The same reaction he always has. I don't know when it all started, but it's longer than I like to admit. Although I'm not entirely sure it's always been this way. I still have memories of when he used to pick me up and lift me off the ground, pretending I'm flying. That was before I grew afraid of heights. My thought are interrupted by a male voice near by.
"What can I get you?" I look up to discover the source of the voice is a young man, not much older than myself, with his long hair tied back for work, showing off his handsome facial structure. His work shirt also giving me ample amount of well muscled arm to ogle. He looks at me amused and I'm confused at first, until I see him glance down and I follow his eyes to see that I'm still wearing my baby blue shirt reserved for at home only. I blush and cover up the text by zipping up my jacket quickly. He looks back up at me expectantly and it takes me a while to remember he just asked me a question.
Blushing, I sit up right in the chair and quickly relay my usual order to him, feeling strange since I haven't had to in a long time with Anna knowing it off by heart. "Three servings of Honey Chicken with a side of Special Fried Rice." He looks at me strangely, then to the seat across from me.
"You expecting anyone else?" He asks, as though to rationalise my strange order. I shake my head. "You are aware we serve more of that stuff than anywhere else in one serving, right?" His eyes narrow and he raises one eyebrow, a feet that I'm completely jealous of, as I nod. "Alright. No puking near here then." With that he leaves and I feel as though I'm melting. I swear, that guy is far too handsome for his own good. I watch as he goes into the back and relays the order to the cooks and Anna, who laughs, knowing my strange order off by heart now. I silently laugh along with her at seeing the guy's reaction. I think he sees as well because when he looks over to me again I can actually hear Anna's laughter grow louder. Hearing her lightens my mood. It takes me a while to realise my attempts to scratch the back of my hand through gloves are futile. Giving up, I decide to take them off since I'm sure I'm not going to bump into any Supers any time soon, since I never have here before, and I'm sick of always having to wear them for everything. Taking them off, I lay them to the side and rest my head on my hands, glad for the skin contact and the warm feeling from the metal of my ring against me.
To be honest, even though I love the food and atmosphere of this restaurant, Anna is the main reason I love this place so much. She may be five years older than me, but her sarcastic nature and understanding ways are what cheer me up the most when I come here. A while ago we traded emails so I know her roster off by heart now and try to come here, which I try to make sure is only on the time and days she works. This is actually the first time anyone else has taken my order and it just so happens to be the hottest guy I've ever seen. Thank you, Anna.
I'm not ashamed to say that my mind is currently filled with the image of my new found eye candy. But I am ashamed to admit that I am too preoccupied with the mental image of him that I don't notice him walking up to me with my order until he clears his throat to make himself known. Blushing, I reach out to take a plate from him in a rush to get him to stop staring a me with that amused look, when our fingers touch. My mind is bombarded with an influx of knowledge, causing me to flinch back. 'Pyrokinesis, also known as a form of fire manipulation. Able to summon fire at will, mostly originating from his hands. This also includes releasing heat, light and manipulating the shape of fire. Oxygen necessary for the fire to burn. Also holds strong thermal and fire resistance.' There is a loud noise from the clattering of the plates as they hit the table, thankfully not breaking, that resounds throughout the restaurant. I look up in shock at his face to see it is equally in as much shock as mine. We just stay there, staring at each other in silence, until the realisation of what I just did dawns on me. My eyes open wider and I start to stutter an apology to him which breaks him out of his current state.
"I. I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for that to happen." I frantically say as I start to pick up some of the mess the spill created. He bends down and grabs my hand to stop my movements causing me to flinch again. He frowns at this, but let go of my hand and starts cleaning up the mess himself, moving it all onto his cleaning rag.
"Calm down." He says as he sees me continue to panic and notices all the stares they are receiving. "It was an accident. Don't worry." His words startle me.
"You're not mad?" I ask in confusion, watching him clean up the mess I made, thankful that most people have stopped paying attention to us now.
"A little annoyed, but not mad, no." He confesses.
"I'm still sorry. I didn't think I was going to come into contact with any Supers here so I took off my gloves." As I say this I reach over to my gloves and shove them back on. He glances at them in mild curiosity before looking away again and finishing up with the cleaning. He seems to be getting irritated with my continuous apologising.
"Look, its fine. Just tell me how long it will last." He says, picking up the rag and standing up straight.
"Up to an hour. It should start coming back to you slowly after half an hour or so since I didn't put any power into it." I explain, playing with my gloves as he looks at me as though trying to figure something out. He then frowns.
"Are you alright?" He asks, probably noticing my fidgeting and avoidance of meeting his eyes.
"Ah, yeah. I'm just used to people getting angry or scared when they realise I can take away the one thing most super's consider unique about themselves." Realisation dawns on him and he goes into the classical, 'Ah, I see' stance. This guy is truly confusing me as I'm sure I am doing the same to him.
"Enjoy your meal. Just no throwing up, Princess." His words have my cheeks turning crimson in embarrassment as he walks away with a slight smirk on his face.
By the time he comes back I have already managed to devour half of my food and it doesn't surprise me much when his first words are "How are you not sick?". I laugh at the expression he makes and put my chopstick down for a moment.
"Never underestimate the love I have for my comfort food. Especially when it comes from here." After staring at me for a few seconds he seems to shrug whatever thoughts he had off.
"Here, Anna said it was your favorite." He says, placing a strange purple drink on the table in front of me and all I can do is stare at it in wonder. This wan't. It couldn't be.
"Anna's famous Purple Mystery!" I snatch the drink from the table and take a large gulp from it. The taste making my mouth water and my eyes close in bliss as I place the glass back down. "She only makes me this when she's in a really good mood." I explain to him upon seeing his slightly weirded out expression.
"I know she has a habit of making strange concoctions, but I had no idea anyone liked them." He explains, staring at me as though I'm something he's never seen before.
"Um... Can I please talk to you for a minute?" I say, unsure of myself.
"I guess I can spare that long." He says after looking around quickly, probably to see if any of his tables need anything.
"So you're a Pyro, right?"
He raises his eyebrow in question. "Is that a part of your power?" He answers with a question.
I nod and continue. "Do you go to Sky High?" His face lights up in understanding upon my words.
"Yeah, I'm a Senior. I take it you want to know about it?" The faintest of smiles graces his face causing me to smile as well.
"Just one thing. It's not actually in the Sky is it?" I ask, a little bit of fear colouring my voice.
"Afraid so." I pale at his confirmation. "Afraid of heights?" I just nod my head slightly and he lets out a small laugh, distracting me a little. "Good luck." He says, standing up.
"Wait. What's your name?"
He frowns a little at this, but answers nonetheless. "Warren."
My eyes widen slightly at this, upon realising that I just spent the last few minutes talking to Barron Battle's son. No. Not only talking to him, but developing a crush on him too. His eyes narrow at the expression on my face. That is, until I blush and give him a small smile. "Jamie." I say, omitting my last name in hopes that he doesn't realise I'm the Commander's daughter. After all, it would be bad if he found out the daughter of the Commander and Jetstream is crushing on him.
His face relaxes. "See you around, Princess." He walks away with, what I think is a grin. Oh I so hope that nickname doesn't stick. Then again, it isn't the worst nickname in the world.
A/N: There it is people. The first chapter of this story. I hope you enjoyed it and please let me know what you think in a review. :)