Sarah POV
"Morning!" Will greeted the Bus driver. I stifled a laugh, already knowing how this was going to
go down.
"Mornin'" the large man wearing an orange baseball cap and white button up shirt along with
white gym shorts greeted.
"Is this the bus to Sky High?"
The fat man's eyes widened. "Shh! What are you, crazy? Do you want every supervillain in the
neighborhood to know we're here?"
"No, no. Sorry," Will apologized, shooting a glare at me for my silent laughter and lack of
warning.
"What's your name, freshman?"
"Um, Will Stronghold."
The driver gulped audibly. "The son of the Commander and Jetstream?"
I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing at the moment. The blue shirt and shorts along with white
and red striped T-shirt should have been a bit of a hint at his parentage. Afterall, they were
always decked out in the same three colors. Then again, there were a lot of fans, like the one in
front of them. Although not all of them were crazy enough to mimic their costumes.
The man's excitement was untampered by my laughter. "Everyone!" he exclaimed, standing up
quickly. "It's Will Stronghold! Son of the Commander and Jetstream."
The man dusted imaginary specks from Will's shoulders and grabbed his hand in a firm shake.
"I'm Ron Wilson, Sky High bus driver. If I can make your journey more comfortable, let me
know."
His eyes fell on a short thin african american boy with glasses, decked out in a ghastly shade of
orange pinstripe button up shirt and brown slacks as well as a girl with two buns decked out in
purple with black lace adorning it. Her hair had streaks of magenta in it, matching the color of
her tank top.
"You two! Up! The seat behind Ron Wilson belongs to Will Stronghold."
The orange boy stood quickly, "It would be an honor."
Will quickly tried to refuse, clearly uncomfortable with the attention. "It's fine. You don't have to."
"No, I want to. You're third generation, man." He turned to his seat partner, "Magenta, get up."
"Why?" she asked, "He only needs one seat."
I approved.
"So he can sit with his girlfriend."
"Layla? No, she's just my friend."
I winced a second time. The first had been five minutes earlier. Watching Layla's hopes
squashed for the second time wasn't any less painful.
Layla gave a clearly strained smile. "Yeah, totally. He's like my brother."
A creepy kid with curly bright orange hair in a brown striped sweater vest sweeped off his
glasses in an attempt to be smooth.
"Oh, well, in that case, hi. I'm Larry." The hormones dripping off of that boy were obvious to
anyone there. Layla looked at him with fake confusion. It would have fooled anyone who didn't
know her, but I did.
As they progressed to the back of the bus, I entered past the seat, my full body becoming
visible, unfortunately, causing almost every boy's eyes to widen. I wasn't that much to look at. I
had no idea why a six pack and a few scars were so captivating. I kept walking. If they wanted
to look, there was nothing I could do to stop them. Nothing reasonable anyway. There was
always threatening them, but that wasn't the first impression I wanted to make. It was better to
let such stares progress until the person got themselves under control.
Zach plopped himself in a chair, gesturing for Will to sit beside him. I took my place next to
Layla, putting my arm around her shoulders to avoid the bloody crescents I would have gotten
when she would have grabbed my arm in alarm at the unexpected flight. I decided not to warn
her.
Will's voice broke me out of my thoughts. "How you doin'? How was your summer?" he asked
Zach.
"To be honest it was tough, man. T-U-P-H. I was seriously sweatin' it. My dad going, 'Zach, I
powered up before I started shaving.' And here's me, dude, halfway through August, and zip."
"Oh, so you…You don't have your powers."
"You think I'd even show up today if that happened?"
Will deflated.
"No. No, no. Woke up a few days ago, and … bam!"
I chuckled at the dramatics. Due to being connected with him through the scorpion tattoo on his
forearm, I had known five minutes before he had gotten his powers, calling him the moment he
discovered them in excitement. I knew that he loved his powers. Just as I knew that others
would not.
"That's great. So, what-what is it?"
"You have to wait and see lke everybody else," he said, raising his voice and spreading his
arms. "But it's awesome man. It's awesome."
Will looked down in disappointment. "Come on. It's not like you ever powered up in front of us,"
Zach justified, making Will feel worse.
The bus lurched to a stop and Ron yelled, "Sorry!"
"Morning," greeted a female voice.
"Next stop," Ron dramatically paused, "Sky High!"
Ron flipped down gauges and dials, making the front of the bus almost resemble the cockpit of
a plane. He drove past a "Construction Ahead" sign, then boarded a ramp. Then he drove over
a barrier and the bus started falling. This. is. so. Cool! I was so excited to have my first day at
sky high. And my caution paid off. Instead of leaving crescent moons on my arm, Layla nearly
did it to the fake leather seat in front of us.
"Layla, we're not going to die in the next five minutes," I said into her ear. She calmed
immediately, trusting me. She hit me.
"Ow," I smiled.
"You knew that I would be scared! Why didn't you tell me?"
"Hey, it's not my fault if you didn't notice I wasn't screaming or worried. Don't you think I would
have been trying to do something while panicking before we started falling if we were going to
crash into the ground?"