Layla POV

The group was meeting to study at the Stronghold house. Both heroes were out in their personas, likely saving the city from another giant robot. Layla had spent countless minutes convincing Will that everything would be fine if he just told his dad he was a sidekick. She thought the whole thing was stupid and frankly just a way to separate and demean students. Seriously, the coach had put Sarah in Sidekick class. Maybe Sarah had preferred that. The girl had confided that she didn't want a lot of noise about her powers.

Layla knew the girl had a deep seated fear of driving people away. Sarah tried to hide it, but Layla could see she was hurt when Jetstream and Commander avoided her to maintain their secrets. They may have valid reasons to keep secrets, but Layla knew that her best-nope! Not best friend! That was Will. Will was her best friend, and maybe that was all he'd ever be. The boy was too oblivious to see that her affection had shifted past specifically friendly. What was she talking about? Oh. Yeah. Sarah was trustworthy. She had kept Layla's crush a secret, and Zach's powers, and whatever Wren was hiding.

Oh yes. Layla knew Wren was hiding something. And that something had convinced Layla's friend to sit at the table with him on her first day. Layla knew her friend wasn't abandoning her. In fact, Sarah hadn't sat with Wren or Warren or even the prince of snakes. All three boys had a thing for or were at least intrigued by the precognitive girl. Lash had given Sarah a handshake, but she doubted anything would come of that. And that circled back to Wren. What on earth could Sarah have found out?

Sarah POV

Sarah was starting to grow worried. Layla had been staring at her in deep thought for the past five minutes and would continue to do so uninterrupted if Sarah didn't do something.

She snapped her fingers under Layla's face. "Earth to Layla? Still in there? Has cotton taken over your brain?"

Layla glared at her playfully.

"Well guys? Let's get back to studying. Ethan?"

"OK, number one. 'A radioactive zombie is charging at your hero. Do you hand him: A) his silver-tipped crossbow; B) a wooden spike; C)..."

"Yo," Zach cut in with his signature tough-guy imitation, "that's so weak, man. I'm holding his crossbow. Why can't I shoot him myself?"

"Cause we're hero support. And if your hero asks for a crossbow, you hand it to him."

"Or her." Sarah said in unison with Layla. It was much easier to do those twin moments if you could see everything in advance. Getting the timing right was a good amount of practice mentally determining when something in her visions would happen in reality. It was like having a bunch of see-through colored layers of reality over her vision. It was a distortment of colors that had at one point made her think she needed glasses and it was quite disorienting. There was a reason she used to have the nickname 'Spacegirl.' And it wasn't because she had been in space. She knew she often sported a glazed or unfocused look in her eyes. Her head wasn't in the clouds, it was sorting through overwhelming amounts of information at once and trying to decipher what was actually happening at the same time coping with constantly changing visions based on her actions or other people's fluctuating decisions. The future was not set in stone, but with enough practice, the next five minutes could be predicable. Of course, that didn't mean she always knew what would be at the 6 minute mark, just that she could make some pretty good guesses.

"If you kids are all in here-" a voice came from the doorway to the living room where they were all gathered on short white couches

Sarah realized it was the second time she had heard the beginning to the phrase, meaning it was real life now and decided to butt in.

"-Who's out there? Dramatic pause. Saving the world?"

The Commander chuckled deeply. "Are you implying that I tend to be dramatic?"

"Nope." She smirked. "I'm saying it."

"Always a pleasure to talk to you, snake princess."

"I'm sorry, what?" Sarah's voice rose through the sentence.

"Serpent Khan was saying his son came home and ranted praise for a straight minute about the girl who had hopped over the barrier to save the Citizen and saved him from serious spinal injury if not paralysis or death. And how she effortlessly avoided and outsmarted the two undefeated champions with her sidekick partner. Imagine my surprise when I recognized the story as my son's resident big hero sister."

Sarah had already prepared a response to the assumption that she made hero class.

"Actually, Coach Boomer put me in Sidekick class."

"What!"

"It was for the best." Sarah cut him off.

"In hero, I'd have to showcase my powers, and they become a lot less effective if people avoid me to avoid basically being watched for five minutes. And Sky High has had both supervillains and superheroes graduate. There is more benefit for me to continue training with your wife than to expose the nature of my powers to the next generation of supers."

"And you know how much Sarah likes to be a mystery," Will added in.

"Pardon? What was that?" Sarah asked in a faux dangerous tone that had Will fake a shudder and Layla and Zach laugh while those new to the friend group looked at Sarah in fear.

Sarah, having seen their reactions five minutes ago, was able to hide the hurt that their new friends would think she was actually threatening Will. She mentally shrugged it off and reassured them.

"Will and I have a running joke that I'm some scary badass girl that doesn't take any nonsense and reacts in a violent manner."

Will was looking at her incredulously.

"Now, most of that statement is true. But I don't react violently unless the safety of myself or my friends are threatened."

"What about those that haven't been your friend for long? The ones that need to be defended."

Sarah wished that question hadn't come up, as Steve was still bustling about in the kitchen, likely listening if the pause in movement was anything to go by.

"I will protect the innocent, but my friends are more important than some random citizen. I would abandon a citizen in danger to save a teammate. Loyalty and trust are of utmost importance to me. I am loyal to those I trust. And to those that trust me in return."

They looked at her silently.

"That's not to say I don't want to save the innocents, but much like a big sister, I'm more worried about pulling my little brother out of the flames than some stranger."

Will was looking at her softly.

"It's human nature to make clans. Clans that are their family. My clan may not be by blood, but you can bet they're family."

Now Layla and Zach were teary-eyed, as much as Zach would deny it till the end of his days.

"And yes, Ethan, Magenta, I consider you part of my clan. Maybe not as close as those who've known and accepted me for years. Trust takes time to build. But you're some of the people I'd pull out of the fire."

Sniffling was heard from the kitchen. I raised my voice. "I'd pull you out too, Mr. Stronghold, assuming you didn't break out and destroy half the building in the process."

An indignant "hey!" sounded from the kitchen.

Everyone laughed, breaking the serious atmosphere, and we returned to studying.