The Hothead and The Ice Queen

Three

As we walked towards the cafeteria, I raised my eyebrows at Layla pointedly. "What was that?"

"What?"

I scoffed. "What? You washed out on purpose and all you have to say is 'what'? You have an amazing gift and now you can't use it to its fullest potential!"

She just shrugged. "It's a fascist system and I want no part of it."

"You said that, but I never thought you'd go to that extreme. And now we won't be in any classes together. Why didn't you tell me what you were planning to do? I would have gladly joined your cause."

She grabbed my hand. "No, Cassie. You deserve to be a hero! Your powers are incredible!" I just sighed and shook my head. I wasn't getting anywhere and the conversation was upsetting me too much. I was happy for Layla- she stood up for what she believed in. But now I was facing freshman year in a brand new school, in a brand new town, by myself while all of them had each other. I knew we'd still hang out and everything, but I didn't know anybody else. And based on my past, my new friend card was maxed out.

We made it to the decent sized cafeteria and after getting a small prepackaged chicken caesar salad, I met up with the group. We were walking through the various bodies to try and find a table. I didn't care where we sat as long as I could eat in peace– at least some anyway. But that wouldn't happen if Zach kept complaining about being a sidekick.

"That's not cool," he started up again. I rolled my eyes, exasperated. When will he stop? The hard truth was, as cool as it may seem, glowing wasn't exactly going to help him in battle. I did feel bad for him though. He was so excited about finally getting his powers.

"I tell you, Boomer will regret making me a sidekick. Alright? Someday, it'll be dark, he'll be all alone, walking to his car. He'll drop his keys, and I won't glow to help him find 'em."

We stopped when we saw Coach Boomer stand up and ask, "You got a problem with me?" I looked up at Zach to see how he would handle this.

He stuttered, "Uh, no."

"No what?"

"No, sir," Zach said while looking to Ethan and I for support. "No, sir! No, sir!" I was surprised when Coach Boomer morphed into the shapeshifter.

He smiled in triumph. "Just messin' with ya, sidekick."

"Hilarious," I said sarcastically. "Grow up, Peter Pan." He chuckled and winked at me before pushing past Ethan and Zach.

Ethan yelled after him, "You're not supposed to use your powers outside of the school gym!" I sighed and motioned for the boys to let it go and help me find a table. We found an empty table and claimed our spots. I was on the end, across from Will, and I had the perfect view of the world beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. Layla was next to Will, and Magenta was on her other side. Zach was next to me and Ethan was on his other side. After we were settled, we all started to eat.

"Am I crazy, or is that guy really looking at me?" I looked over Will's shoulder to see a boy with dark shoulder-length, bright red-streaked hair. He had on a leather jacket. And his unwavering gaze was glued to Will.

"He's looking at you. But, you're still crazy." I shrugged with a smirk and focused on my lunch again. "Who cares? He's not hurting you. Maybe your bright blue shirt is offending him."

"Dude," Zach spoke up, ignoring the glare that Will was sending my way.

"What?"

"That's Warren Peace," Zach answered.

Layla leaned forward in surprise. "That's Warren Peace?" Zach nodded his head.

"I've heard about him. His mom's a hero and his dad's a supervillain. Baron Battle."