As I tried distracting Will from his anxiety of having to give a demonstration on his non-existent powers to Coach Boomer, later on, the six of us entered the cafeteria and got our own lunches and looked for a vacant table to sit at. Zach couldn't stop complaining about the Coach.
"That's not cool. I tell you, Boomer will regret making me a sidekick. Alright? Someday it'll be dark, he'll be alone, walking to his car. He'll drop his keys and I won't glow to help him find 'em," he frowned.
That second, my dragon senses perked up, letting me know that someone was approaching us. Coach Boomer suddenly came out of nowhere. I caught a scent that told me that it wasn't really the Coach himself.
"You got a problem with me?" he glared at Zach stopping all of us in our tracks.
"Uh, no," Zach's eyes widened.
"No what?"
"No sir, no sir, no sir!"
Just then, "Coach Boomer's" appearance shifted and it turned out to be the guy who can alter his form to look like anyone.
"Just messin' with ya sidekick," he smirked at Zach and patted his arm as he walked away.
"You're not supposed to use your powers outside the school gym!" Ethan yelled.
The cafeteria staff requests sidekicks stop ordering hero sandwiches. Principal Powers' voice spoke through the speakers as we finally found an empty table and sat down.
That second, I felt my dragon self perking up like from earlier at the main entrance. I saw the same guy with the red highlights and black leather jacket sitting at another table near us. However, I noticed him giving Will a death glare.
"Am I crazy, or is that guy really looking at me?" Will asked turning to the rest of us.
"Dude!" Zach gasped in shock.
"What?"
"That's Warren Peace."
"That's Warren Peace?" Layla asked feeling shocked.
"Yeah," Zach nodded and opened his bottle of juice.
"I've heard about him," Layla explained softly to us, "His mom's a hero and his dad's a supervillain, Baron Battle."
That name didn't ring a bell.
"Where do we come in?" Will asked gesturing his hand at himself and me.
"Your dad busted his dad. Quadruple life sentence," Ethan replied.
"No chance of parole until after the third life," Magenta added.
"That's great. My first day of Sky High and Ava and I already have an archenemy," Will groaned as he slammed his bottle of apple juice on the table.
"Technically, I'm not a Stronghold by blood," I said.
"You still have the name," Ethan remarked.
"I know. Through adoption."
Once again, my inner dragon was beckoning me to go to Warren, who still held the same death glare at Will. I felt her trying to surface but held it back remembering my promise to Dad that I'd keep her under control. And I wasn't about to start up something on my first day.
"Ava?" Will turned to me with worry.
"Your eyes!" Layla gaped as Zach, Magenta, and Ethan turned to me.
I saw through my reflection on my clear water bottle that they had turned a combination of silver, gold, and blue and had shifted to an elliptical shape. I found the color mix peculiar. It never happened before until now. The only time my eyes were silver and blue and elliptic shaped was when I was in my dragon form. And gold happens when I get angry. It seemed my inner dragon had decided to act up and I would have to find out why before she caused a scene.
A reminder: There is no smoking on the school grounds or freezing or bursting into flames. The Principal spoke through the intercom.
After having lunch, we headed back to the gym. Both Layla and Zach were talking while Will was a complete nervous wreck. I tapped his shoulder to let him know that I would be right with him. He turned to me with a small smile when he nearly collided with Gwen, who just smiled at him while my brother blushed to feel embarrassed.
"I'm...."Will started to say something.
"Will Stronghold," Gwen smiled which never left her face.
"Aha! Mind reader!" He laughed awkwardly.
"No. Name tag," she gestured at his chest.
Will quickly looked down and nodded. He turned to us remembering that he wasn't alone, "Right. Uh...uh, these are my friends and my sister Ava."
"Hey," I nodded with a lack of enthusiasm.
"That's Zach."
"What's up?" Zach waved at her.
"And..."
"Layla. Got it," Gwen cut him off.
"I'm Gwen," she turned to my best friend.
"Hi," Layla smiled.
"I love your skirt."
I sensed Gwen's statement wasn't at all honest.
"Th-Thanks," Layla's smile slowly faded.
"How's Power Placement going?" Gwen turned back to Will.
"Um...great," Will replied with a hint of nervousness.
"I'm not surprised. Hey listen, I need a freshman rep for the homecoming committee, so if you'd be interested, we could talk about over lunch sometime?"
I could tell Gwen was flirting with Will. I didn't like it, not one bit. Neither did my dragon. I could nearly hear her growling in my head. The dragon in me knew Layla's feelings for Will and felt that they were meant for each other.
"I eat lunch," Will grinned awkwardly.
"How cute is he?" Gwen laughed, "I guess I'll see you guys around."
"Yeah."
As she was leaving, she walked in between Will and Layla, brushing her shoulder against his while knocking her other shoulder into Layla in a harsh manner. I felt my dragon snarling in that manner and my best friend's treatment. I was about to say something at Gwen when Will pulled me along.
"I don't think she really liked my skirt," Layla turned to me.
"Her attitude showed it," I said as we continued walking.
My best friend nodded at me.
Right at my side, Will suddenly stopped briefly when Warren got in his way. My inner dragon started purring the minute my arm stroked Warren's despite having his eyes on my brother. As the two of us walked away, I sensed Warren's eyes steering towards me.
Will and I quickly caught up with the others. I sensed his anxiety going into overdrive while my inner dragon made me feel composed.
"Hey, I'll be right back," Will said feeling out of breath, "I have the sudden urge to use the restroom."
He headed for the boy's restroom and quickly closed the door. Layla, Zach and I decided to wait for him to give him moral support.
A couple seconds after Will went in, Ethan ran out of the restroom like he almost drowned and had pieces of toilet paper on his backpack and jacket. I caught a scent that he had toilet water splashed all over him.
"Ethan, what happened?" I asked.
"You don't wanna know," he replied.
However, I sensed that he was hiding something. And I figured that it had something to do with those two jerks, Speed and Lash. I had seen the way they picked Ethan as one of their selected persons to harass. The next time I caught Lash and Speed bullying Ethan, I'd go dragon mode on them, telling them to leave him alone.
I gave Ethan a look that told him that I'd stick up for him and not let Speed and Lash get away scot-free.
All of us returned to the gym just as the bell rang. Coach Boomer was on the platform like earlier.
Will nervously made his way up on the platform and just stood there staring out at us. A couple seconds later, he approached the Coach and whispered something to him, informing him that he didn't know his powers.
"What do you mean you don't know what your power is?" Coach Boomer yelled in disbelief.
"Well, uh...." Will began and nervously turned towards me. I just gave him an assured look.
"I got it," the Coach smirked, "You're messin' with the Coach. Just like your old man!" He pressed a button on the same remote from earlier.
"Car!" And the same rusty banged up car fell through and right on top of the platform.
"Will!" I gaped worrying for him. Even my dragon started to get worried wanting to check to make sure he was okay.
"Are you insane?" Will yelled from underneath the car as he moved to where his head stuck out, "I don't have super strength!"
Coach Boomer rolled his eyes and pressed the same button pulling the car off of Will, sending it back where it came from. My brother stood back up dusting himself.
"Oh, I get it. You're a flier, just like your ma. Why didn't you say so?" the Coach smirked and pressed another button causing a spring to pop up on the spot where Will stood and threw him across the gym. He wound up crashing into the bleachers and tumbled onto the floor.
"Quit messin' around. I haven't got all day. What's your power?" Coach Boomer shouted feeling annoyed.
"I don't have one," Will confessed.
I felt my dragon since the Coach starting to get boiling mad.
"Stronghold! SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDEKICK!" he roared using his sonic power to yell out the last portion causing the windows and every piece of glass to shatter and everyone in the gym to back away from the platform.
As soon as Coach Boomer's vibrating rant was over, Will was sent to the nurse's office. I wanted to accompany my brother but needed to be around for the rest of the orientation. Though I promised Will I'd check on him once it was over.
When Power Placement ended, all of us freshmen picked up our class schedules, which ended the school day. There were other instructors besides Coach Boomer. I could see myself tolerating him throughout the three years of high school since he seemed impressed with my dragon form. Not that I was letting it get to my head, which I wasn't!
I headed for the nurse's office to check on Will. On the bright side, our class schedules included a map of the school.
As I examined the map, I bumped into someone. Again, my dragon started purring once I sensed that it was Warren himself.
"So, you're the Dragon Girl," he said with a small smirk on his face. I was surprised that he wasn't glaring at me as he had been with Will.
"Yeah," I nodded, "Guess word travels a lot faster around here."
"It's what everyone's referring to you now since they saw your demonstration at Power Placement."
Warren then snapped his fingers and a small flame lit up. Plus, I was astonished that I was suddenly popular. But, I wasn't going to let it get to me.
"You're a flamethrower," I said feeling my dragon smiling at him.
"That's right Stronghold. Though, you don't look like one," he nodded.
"I'm adopted. And my name's Ava. Others call me A for short."
"I'm Warren."
Once again, my dragon started purring that it was filling up my head.
"I should get going," I said hoping to get further away from Warren before my inner dragon got any more ideas.
"I'll be seeing you around, Ava," Warren nodded as he walked away.
I got to the nurse's office. The lady there was kind enough to show me to Will, who was seated on the examing table.
"Will!" I sighed relieved to see him.
"A? What are you doin' here?" he asked surprised to see me.
"Orientation ended. So did school. What happened? What are the results?"
My brother had a gloomy facial expression, "Ava. I may never get my powers."
"Don't think that Will," I shook my head, "You'll get them real soon. She can tell that your powers develop sooner than you think."
Will perked up at me and nodded. He knew I referred to my dragon. Both Will and Layla, including Mom and Dad, got that it was another side of me that also communicated with them and could sense things instantly.
"I got your schedule in here by the way," I handed Will's messenger bag to him.
"Thanks, A," he said taking it and sliding off the examing table and followed me out of the school building.
Getting outside, we saw that everyone had gone home and the bus parking lot was vacant.
"Should we call Ron?" Will asked.
"I got a better idea," I replied pulling off my shoes and stuffed them into my backpack and handed it to my brother and shifted into my dragon form.
I nudged Will with my muzzle telling him to get on my back. He smiled and climbed on. Once Will held on tight, I lunged for the edge and opened my wings and flew us home.