Will's POV
This was the perfect time to tell him. He wouldn't be that mad. Right? Surely he'd understand that my powers haven't come in yet? Will believed that. His powers would come in. They just hadn't yet. But, as usual, he chickened out. There would be more time to tell his father. Maybe Will could ask Sarah to come up with some good reasons to placate his father that he was in Sidekick class. Like it was dangerous for him without his powers yet to train with the heavy hitters. Or maybe a world-ending asteroid would fall from the sky. Again.
Ethan's POV
Sarah was scary. At least that's how Ethan first saw her. She had entered the bus, her eyes scanning over each and every person in a cursory analysis. She may have been smokin, but the muscle showing on her arms and her sharp features gave her a tougher look. Then she laughed. She had burst out laughing in a sardonic, not quite evil laugh at the bus driver's hero worship. Maybe his opinion of her went up. After she saved Will from serious injury at Power Placement, he was willing to suspend disbelief. That was seriously impressive afterall.
Her eyes, though sharp and alert when around strangers, went glassy as if she had to constantly reassure her control over her mind to pay attention. Maybe she had ADHD and confusing thoughts. Or maybe she was just a spacy girl. But the calculative look in her gaze at times and her reaction to things that, while at human speed, seemed to start before the thing she was reacting to, made him think more was going on.
Perhaps she had some kind of psychic ability. She could see glimpses of the future and react to that. But that didn't explain the moments where she seemed to know exactly what those around her were going to say. Maybe it did. But they certainly were frequent visions of not always life ending things. And those people were people that she had known a long time. Perhaps she just knew them that well.
But he kept coming back to her utter confidence in what was going to happen. He had only seen her surprised once. Although he had seen her attempt to hide reactions that would have slipped past him had he not been observing her so closely. It was as if she saw things that weren't happening. Or hadn't happened yet. She sat back, observing. She only seemed to lose the knowing look in her eyes a few seconds before she spoke or did any action. Perhaps affecting the future? Or maybe she was just nervous how she would be perceived with an active imagination and fast reflexes. But if that were the case, what was with everyone taking her word as truth. He had heard that emphasis on 'know' in the lunchroom. It implied there was more than intuition happening there. Maybe a mind reader? It would explain her knowing people's next words or actions before they happened. But he'd think that it would take a lot more of a toll on someone and she'd react to things that were thought, even if they weren't going to be said. At least everything that she had said for him were things he was about to say or had planned to say.
He had plenty of other thoughts racing around his head as Zach and Layla dissolved into arguing about whether the zombie and hero were boys or girls or some other equality argument that was given at a time where no one was going to listen.
Sarah POV
As the bus pulled up to sky high, Sarah sighed. She called up to Ron, "Hold your hat before you open the door" The bus driver, long since having learned that the weird advice Sarah often called was given for a good reason, gripped the rim of his had in a tight grasp before using his other hand to open the door. As the door opened, a hand stretched into the bus and attempted to grab the hat, but Ron held tight.
Lash was being his usual bully self. While he seemed to leave her out of it, he had yet to learn to leave Ethan out of his swirlie list. Sarah honestly couldn't blame the dude. Would she ever do something so humiliating to someone? No, of course not. But Ethan just painted target after target on his back, quoting the school handbook, reprimanding people for breaking minor rules, wearing his constant orange pinstripe button up, his not-yet-changed voice and short stature. While two of those things were not his fault, the other three didn't help remove him from the 'target' category. Sarah may not have been a bully, but she understood their thinking.
She exited the bus, patting Lash's arm twice, even as he was still trying to wrestle the hat from the bus driver. Lash may be good at stretching, but his strength was probably less than average when stretched due to the stretchiness not making for a solid blow or even grip. It would be like having latex gloves for hands. Well, not that bad, but his hands weren't as solid as average, making tugs of war a bit harder against a prepared opponent. Upon her touch, Lash's arm exited the bus and he jutted out his bottom lip a little. Sarah was sure that Lash would deny pouting to his dying day, but it was a little funny. They had seemed to reach a truce of some sort after the battle. Or at least, he respected that she wasn't an easy target. That was as close as Lash probably came to respecting anyone.
Sarah dodged a blur that sped past her, still seemingly lost in thought.
Speed, on the other hand, hadn't been able to stuff his ego in a box. He constantly tried to knock her over or punch her, his superspeed attacks missing her each time. He always gave so much warning. He could stand to learn some control. He was like a charging bull, having learned to barrel right through someone instead of taking a controlled punch at their face. A superspeed group of punches might have hit her. She couldn't dodge all of them, but he always made sure to move away as his momentum carried him. It made him harder to hit, but also reduced his ability with someone he couldn't surprise. And he could surprise anyone. Even if they expected it, because they couldn't predict his movements. But Sarah could, so he missed every time. And after seeing her athleticism, he seemed reluctant to stop long enough for her to get a hit.