Okay, so now that I've finally seen Sky High, I've decided to write a Sky High fanfic! Wooo yay for Queen Sammy blah, blah, blah. XD

Tumbler: She's just in a bit of a bad mood. Don't mind her...

Chris: Yeah, she's been like this for a while now. I think it's the headache...

STOP ALL TALKING AT ONCE!

Boys: ((hide))

Thank you. Now, here you are! The first chapter of my new story Winter Time Is Coming. Woooo yada yada yada, blah blah blah. Continue.

Squid: She's trying to be nice. I promise.

Lash: Shut up, no she's not.

SHUT UP!

Boys: ((go back into hiding))

Sorry. The boys are being quite annoying today. ANYWAYS! Now you can read. And don't forget the beautiful little button at the bottom of the page! Yes, I'm talking about the review button!

Note: All that's in italics is a flashback. Just so you know ahead of time. When it's not in italics, it means that the flashback isn't happening. Obviously.

Main Characters: I don't have a full list, but this is it so far: Will, Layla, Warren, Brielle, Lash, and an unnamed heroine who will come in probably soon. I don't know. You'll just have to wait and see.

“There is no future, there is no past. Thank God this moment’s not the last.”

-RENT

Layla stood in front of her mirror, pulling her long red hair into a pair of simple braids. Will sat on her bed, watching her in the mirror. Layla smiled. She really felt that she was the luckiest girl in the world. Will Stronghold was her boyfriend. Hers! Of all the girls in school, she got the son of the Commander and Jetstream. He could have had anyone, but he chose her. Then again, it kind of helped that she’d been in love with him since they were in middle school. After all, they’d been best friends since preschool. It was a lot easier to get to know the Will Stronghold when both of you were still getting used to using a real bathroom.

“What?” she asked, turning around to face him as she fastened the end of her braid with a hair elastic.

Will shrugged. “Nothing,” he replied nonchalantly as he flipped through the copy of Seventeen magazine that she’d gotten in the mail the day before. She didn’t read magazines, but she guessed that they were sending out free samples or something.

“How do you think this color lipgloss would look on me?” Will joked, holding up the magazine and pointing at a hot pink tube of lipgloss on the page.

Layla laughed. “Oh, it would definitely bring out the color in your eyes.” She plopped down onto the bed beside him and smiled, leaning her head against his shoulder. “So, are you ready for the first day of junior year?”

“I think I might survive,” he replied and kissed her on the top of the head. “What about you? Happy with the final elimination of the groups?”

Layla nodded. “That and completely jealous that the freshmen don’t have to go through it like we did. Lucky brats.” Will could tell by her tone that she was joking, but he couldn’t help but be a little jealous himself. It had been humiliating his freshman year, standing in front of everyone and having to announce that he, the son of the Commander and Jetstream, not only didn’t know what his powers were but also hadn’t even developed a power at all! Though it had worked out in the end, seeing as halfway through their sophomore year, Principal Powers decided that the “hero” and “sidekick” groups had to go. They were unfair and ultimately gave Coach Boomer way too much of a sense of authority.

Will took Layla’s hand as soon as he was on his feet and pulled her off of her bed. “Come on or we’ll be late for the bus.” Not that it mattered really, seeing as Ron the bus driver waited for Will no matter what.

Layla smiled warmly at the freshmen that stood at the bus stop, most of them looking nervous. One girl leaned against a tree, a pair of blue headphones stuck in her ears as she stared off into space and tapped her fingers against her thigh. A shorter boy stood next to her, talking, but Layla and Will could both tell that the girl wasn’t listening. Two girls sat on the sidewalk, chatting amiably about certain colors of hair—which colors looked good and which didn’t—and had centered it around hot pink and blonde. They’d decided that hot pink and blonde, well, didn’t look good on a lot of people. Will automatically looked at the girl with the headphones, whose hair was hot pink underneath the blonde. It was odd; Will had never seen anyone’s hair like that.

“I like your hair,” Layla told Headphones Girl, glancing at the girls sitting on the sidewalk and rolling her eyes. The two of them were sophomores, and annoying ones at that. She’d met them the year before, when they were freshmen. They may have transformed into supermodel-type teenage girls, but Amanda and Lauren would always be the two geeky freshmen with matching glasses and frizzy hair in Layla’s eyes. She didn’t care that they both now looked like they belonged in a Victoria’s Secret catalogue. She knew that they hadn’t caught a second glance the year before, and what they were doing now to Headphones Girl made her quite angry.

“Her hair?” Amanda asked, surprised. She stood up as she spoke and helped her friend to her feet. “It’s totally the wrong shade of pink. If anything, her hair should be light pink. Hot pink makes her look too pale.”

Layla gave her a bemused look. What the hell did the color of your hair and how pale you look matter? She was waiting for Headphones Girl to retaliate with maybe a “Well, your highlights make your head look fat” or something like that, but she didn’t. She still stared straight into space, but a small smile was forming at the corner of her mouth. Will was the only one who noticed her gaze falling on a nearby sprinkler and her eyes changing from their simple dark blue color to an ice blue and a silvery-white—one color for each eye. He furrowed his brow and watched her as Layla, Amanda, and Lauren started arguing. Suddenly the sprinkler in the yard behind them flew off of the lawn, drenching Amanda and Lauren with water. Layla covered her head, expecting the water to hit her too, but was surprised when she looked up and noticed that the water was only hitting Amanda and Lauren. A type of wall had formed in front of her, keeping the water from hitting her or anyone else at the bus stop. The boy who had been talking to Headphones Girl was laughing so hard his face was turning red, Will and Layla were watching in awe, and the other boy who had been at the bus stop was suppressing his laughter, probably because he was Lauren’s boyfriend.

When the bus finally arrived, the sprinkler was back on the lawn behind them, Amanda and Lauren were soaking wet, and everyone else was completely calm, even though Amanda and Lauren were screaming angrily at Headphones Girl about their ruined clothes/hair/makeup. She didn’t seem to care though. She was staring off into space again, tapping her fingers against her thigh.

Will stepped forward. “Hey, did you ever think that maybe that wasn’t her? How do you know it wasn’t someone else here? There are two other people here, one of whom has a power that we haven’t seen.”

“Like, oh my God, Will! Why would it be anyone else?” Lauren practically screeched. “It’s so totally obvious that she’s completely jealous of our hair and, like, doesn’t have any friends. We made fun of her, so she got back at us. That is, like, such a villain’s way, by the way.” She shot Headphones Girl a look, but this time, the other girl actually reacted. Will noticed her gaze snap to Lauren’s face at the word “villain,” but he seemed to be the only one. Her eyes, which had gone back to dark blue, suddenly changed to the same silvery-white color from before, only this time it was both eyes.

Suddenly, just as Lauren was stepping onto the bus, she was knocked off of her feet. She fell forward, right into Ron, and slipped to the floor with a loud thud.

Lauren screamed angrily and was about to hurl herself at Headphones Girl when her boyfriend took her gently by the arm and whispered something in her ear. Amanda led her to the back of the bus and her boyfriend apologized to Ron before following them.

“Well, you seem to be having a good first day,” Will told Headphones Girl as they stepped onto the bus.

Layla rolled her eyes. “Don’t even worry about those two. They got what’s been coming to them. It’s called karma,” she said loudly as they passed Amanda, Lauren, and Lauren’s boyfriend. She continued as she took her seat next to Will, “ I honestly don’t know what Ryan sees in her. He could do way better. She’s all looks and no brain.” She knocked on her own skull for emphasis.

Just when Will thought that Headphones Girl, who had taken a seat next to Ethan, wasn’t going to reply, she laughed and pulled her headphones out of her ears.

“Well, I can understand the no brain part, but looks? Come on. She’s like some demented version of a Barbie doll. Like Trailer Trash Barbie. She doesn’t even have room to insult my hair. Her highlights... God, it looks like she hired Billy-Bob of the Trailer Park Salon to do her hair.” She shook her head and glanced at them. She really didn’t want to insult people who lived in trailers like that. After all, she’d lived in one herself at one point, and not anyone looked as bad as Lauren and Amanda—in her opinion, at least.

“I’m Layla, by the way,” Layla said quickly, happy that Headphones Girl had finally decided to say something. “And this is Will. In front of you is Zach, next to him is Magenta, and next to you is Ethan. Those two girls were Amanda and Lauren, and Ryan is Lauren’s boyfriend.”

The boy who had been talking to Headphones Girl sat down in front of Layla just in time for her to finish the introductions. So he said, “I’m Cameron.” He gave a small wave and smiled.

“Brielle,” said Headphones Girl. She jumped slightly as two belts suddenly strapped over her chest. She looked at Ethan, alarmed, but he seemed completely unfazed. “Uh...”

“Don’t worry!” David had to lean over and yell to be heard above all the noise the freshmen were making. “Just hope you aren’t afraid of heights!”

She closed her eyes quickly as she felt the bus shoot into the air. The freshmen around her screamed, but she bit her lips together and kept her eyes shut until she felt the bus hit land again. Only this time, when she shakily stepped off of the bus next to Layla and David, they were still in the air.

“Oh my God,” she said slowly, looking around. She’d known that Sky High was in the air, but it was a bit of a surprise that there was nothing keeping someone from falling off the side of the school. She could just picture herself falling off the side of the school. What a way to die! Then again, she really didn’t have to worry about that with her powers. She could just scoop herself back up and drop back onto the school. The only problem with that was that she didn’t have total control over her powers. In complete panic, she couldn’t control anything. That was mostly why she listened to music. Music calmed her. She would spend her mornings before school in complete relaxation, and that made it easier for her to concentrate in school.

“I told you, it’s pretty impossible to go to school here and be afraid of heights,” said Will, drawing her out of her trance.

“What?” she asked, even though she’d heard him. Saying “what” was just a habit of hers and it really tended to bug the people she knew, because they all started to realize that she’d actually heard them the first time.

“Never mind,” Will said, smiling.

That was something that bugged her. If she hadn’t actually heard what he’d said, it really would have annoyed her, but under the circumstances, she really couldn’t complain. She knew exactly what he’d said. So she merely shrugged and followed the group up the front steps and into the school. The school, which looked large from the outside, was even bigger on the inside.

“Oh... my...” Brielle muttered, walking further into the hallway. “Holy God and Jesus! You could fit, like, ten of my houses in just this hallway!”

Layla laughed. “Holy God and Jesus? I’m not even gonna ask.”

Brielle wasn’t even listening anymore. She was already looking at a list that assigned people who weren’t freshmen or new kids to their rooms.

“Aww, I have to go to the gym? That sucks.” She paused and glanced at Cameron, who had followed them off of the bus. “Hey, kid, you a freshman?”

He nodded.

“Sweet, I won’t be alone.” She slung an arm lazily over his shoulder and turned to Will and Layla. “Hey... where’s the gym?”

Layla and Will both pointed down the hall towards two giant double doors.

“Ah, the double doors. I should have known.”

“At least they aren’t doing the hero and sidekick groups anymore,” Magenta mused. “Or she would really hate it here.”

“And man, why is she suddenly so friendly? She was all quiet on the bus at first, but damn. Now she’s all happy-go-friendly or whatever.” Zach glanced at where Magenta had been standing, but she was already walking away to check the list and see what room she had to go to.

x.x.x

Cameron and Brielle stood in the large gym with a group of freshmen and new kids in other grades. Brielle, who was starting her junior year at Sky High was herded into the group of older kids, and the freshmen each had to stand up on the platform and tell Coach Boomer his or her power or powers, if they had any. If they didn’t have powers, they were put into special classes made for people who would either develop their powers or never get powers at all. The ones with powers, whether they were stupid like being able to turn any inanimate object into a pair of shoes or something amazing like being able to turn an old pair of socks into anything they wanted, including people. But when Brielle stepped up onto the stage, she knew something bad was going to happen.

She stepped up on stage just after Cameron, who, it turned out, could shrink down to microscopic size and climb walls like a spider.

“Name,” said Boomer, looking bored as ever.

Brielle took a deep breath. “Brielle.” She stopped, hoping he wouldn’t ask for her last name. That always brought on quite a bit of attention.

“Brielle what?” Boomer asked, clearly annoyed.

Brielle sighed and bit her lip. “Pensacova.”

Boomer looked over at her quickly. “Pensacova? Are you related to Andrew Pensacova?”

“I’m his sister.” And that was it. Brielle wouldn’t even look at him.

“The daughter of Jacqueline and Evan Pensacova. I never thought I’d see the day...”

Brielle looked up quickly. “Look, can we just get to my powers, please? I don’t exactly feel like going through my whole family tree for, like, half the school.”

Boomer glared at her, but continued. “Fine, show me your powers, Pensacova. Do you stretch like your brother?”

Nothing peeved her more than people calling her by her last name and comparing her to her brother, especially at the same time. It was bad enough that she’d been born with it, but to be called by it? She had a first name for that reason. So when her eyes both turned bright red and the bottom of the stage suddenly caught on fire, she was a little surprised—as was just about everyone else.

“Crap,” Brielle muttered. She quickly jumped off of the stage, lifted both of her hands, and while her eyes turned icy blue, she shot water out of her hands to put the fire out.

“That all?” asked Boomer, clearly unimpressed.

Brielle glared at him. One eye turned celery green, the other turned silvery-white, and suddenly two vines shot out of the stage and wrapped themselves around Boomer’s legs while a small tornado of wind formed just above his head. As soon as they both disappeared, Brielle’s eyes turned back to their normal dark blue, and she turned to Boomer once again.

“Right. Elemental. Haven’t had one of those in a while.” He marked something on his clipboard, and Brielle stepped off of the stage. Everyone who knew the story of her brother and parents stared at her. It was just like before.

Whispering behind their hands as she walked down the halls would have been the courteous thing to do, at least. But no. They didn’t even bother hiding it. Her parents were villains. Her brother was in jail. She had a temper; she was going to be just like them. Even her younger brother, an obvious to-be villain with his destructive and reckless personality. Reckless to the point of self-destruction—that was her family.

Brielle grabbed the lock to her locker, wishing she could just block out the whispers and giggles behind her. She’d tried setting up a barrier of air around her ears so that she couldn’t hear them, but it hadn’t worked. She didn’t have a good enough hold on her powers yet. She knew that there was only one person who could really help her now.

“Bri!”

Perfect timing. As if on cue, her best friend Kelly hurried around the corner, ignoring the accusatory glances that she was receiving from the other girls in the hallway.

“What?” Kelly snapped at a particularly annoying freshman named Lavender.

“She’s a villain, stupid. Don’t associate with her! Are you out of your mind?” Lavender demanded, glaring daggers at the ever-innocent Kelly.

“Look, Lavender, why don’t you take that accusation and shove it up your—” Or the not-so-ever-innocent Kelly. “She isn’t a villain, dimwit! She hasn’t done anything wrong. Can anyone help who his or her family is? Her parents may be villains, but it’s obvious that she’s not. She saved your life, Lavender. Don’t forget that.”

“And her brothers? It’s obvious the apples don’t fall far from the tree.” Lavender gave Brielle a smug look.

“Don’t make that face, Lavender. It makes you look like a pig.” With that, Kelly turned and walked over to Brielle.

“Traitor!” someone else in the hall yelled.

“You okay, Bri?” Kelly asked gently, ignoring the girls behind her.

Brielle shrugged. “I guess. I just... I hoped that no one would realize, you know? I was hoping my parents would never be more than Mr. and Mrs. Pensacova to everyone else. But of course, my stupid brother had to get himself arrested and my parents’ identities were revealed.” She sighed and shook her head. “What am I going to do, Kel? Everyone knows now... I mean, it was different telling you. You understood. They... well, they don’t.”

“But they will,” Kelly told her. “They’ll understand in time. Lavender’s just being a bitch. They all remember how you saved her. And now look at how she treats you—they’ll realize soon.”

Brielle shook her head. “I’m afraid they won’t understand though. It’s bad enough that my parents practically hate me for wanting to become a hero instead of a villain. But my dad... I know he’d want this. And I want to make him happy, even if he isn’t around to see me.”

Kelly nodded. She understood the situation. Brielle’s father wasn’t really the super-villain Masquerade—he wasn’t Andrew’s father either. Masquerade was her stepfather; he was only the biological father of her youngest brother, DJ. Her real father was actually a super-hero named Elastoman. Her mother was Steel Magnolia, one of the most powerful female villains around. Brielle was the oddball in her family. While her mother could turn her skin into solid steel, her father and older brother could stretch their limbs as far as they needed, and her younger brother and stepfather could shape-shift into anything they wanted, she could just control the elements. Sometimes she resented her powers; after all, she didn’t fit in with her family because of them.

“Look, Bri, you can’t let them get to you,” Kelly said. “They don’t know what they’re talking about. But I know you’re a hero and so do you. That’s gotta count for something, right?”

Brielle shrugged. She honestly wasn’t sure. When her brother was put in jail, her name started to spread around school like wildfire. The daughter of Elastoman was part of a family of super-villains. It was just unheard of! Even her brother, Lash, was trying to become a hero. But he’d screwed that one up, and now Lash was in jail. Everyone said that Brielle was going to turn out just like him.

She wouldn’t. Brielle promised herself the day that she left Undersea Academy that she wouldn’t turn out like the rest of her family. Brielle was going to be like her father. She was going to be a superhero. She was going to save the world.

And she was going to do all of this a hell of a lot sooner than she thought.