Sky High: Next Generation.

Chapter 7: Detention!? On the First Day!?

The group was separated in two because each detention room could only hold 5 super powered students at a time. So in one room sat Len, Max, Eleanor, and Emerson and in another room sat Jared, Lily, and Scott all of whom were waiting for their judgment.

The Detention Room was just a pure white room with five desks and chairs and nothing else, one could get a headache from all the bright white in the room. Aside from the students no one else was in the Detention Room though a teacher stood right outside the closed door in case any commotion became evident. After a full five minutes of silence it was Eleanor who spoke.

"I guess I spoke too soon about this being a good day huh?" She asked to no one in particular.

The boys in the room were too shaken by the events minutes before to laugh out loud but everyone of them, including the black eyed Len, cracked a smile.

"I just gotta ask. Len, is it? What the hell did you do to piss off that Thompson guy?" blurted out Maxwell in a whisper that he hoped only his friends could hear.

"Honestly? You guys are freshman so you wouldn't know but he and I used to be on friendly terms. We had met through friends and had connected because of the similarities of our powers--"

"Oh yeah, you can turn to tile or something, right?" Interrupted Emerson.

"Yes and no", answered Len,"My skin can replicate any surface I can touch, my hands happened to be on the cafeteria floor when I powered up but the down side is that my power can only last a few seconds at a time, if I'm lucky maybe even a minute. Scott, however, has a constant level 2 invulnerability, meaning it would take a lot more then a punch to hurt him".

"Right. But what's his beef with you? Why start a fight on day one of school?" Asked Emerson.

"If I had to guess? I'd say he blames me for him getting placed as a sidekick. See, his power might make him hard to hurt but it still means he's got normal strength which isn't good for a fighting hero. During placement I washed out because of my time limit, I was placed under sidekick despite my power's usefulness. After I went was Scott Thompson, but after the teachers sidekicked me they weren't gonna let someone weaker be a hero, because it wouldn't be 'fair' I suppose. I guess it is kind of my fault, everyone ahead of me was made a hero, it wasn't until after I went that the teachers seem to start looking deeper into people's powers".

"No", said Eleanor," don't blame yourself for someone else's short comings. Scott's power wouldn't make hero no matter what school he went to, no matter who went before him and if he blames you then that just shows how weak he really is".

"Wow, Girl", laughed Max, "You are deep!"

In the other room with Jared, Lily and Scott the atmosphere was a lot less friendly, Jared sat perfectly still reviewing how terrible this day had actually turned out to be. He didn't make hero unlike Emerson, he wasn't going to have a lot of classes with his cute new friend, Eleanor, and now he was in detention while the rest of the students started their classes. With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach and a sour look on his face Jared turned to Lily out of boredom.

Lily's expression was a paler version of Jared's with extra boredom, Lily caught Jared's eyes and when she saw his pained face her features softened. Her normally rigid face relaxed until a wicked smile emerged, the smile surprised Jared the way the genuine smile countered her Gothic appearance made the whole thing look . . . adorable to him. When she saw Jared's surprised look she finished her performance off by sticking her tongue out and playfully winking at Jared then as if it never happened she went back to her original expression.

Jared couldn't help but feel better at the silliness of the whole act, he started to think that maybe things wouldn't be so bad or lonely this year. After all Lily seemed like a good friend to have in his Sidekick classes, plus she was kind of cute in a teen Gothic angel sort of way.

"So before they throw the book at us", Lily spoke without warning, "I'd like to know why you went all viking berserker on the Quiet kid?"

After a few seconds passed neither Jared nor Lily thought he would answer, then he did.

"Len is the reason I'm not a hero right now".

"Really", asked Lily sounding skeptical, " Did he trip you on your way up stage?"

"No", Scott answered.

"Did he slip a laxative into your cheerios right before Placement?"

"No", he repeated with some heat.

"Then what exactly did he do that warranted an immediate sucker punch?"

"When Len failed his placement the teachers raised the bar on heroes which is the only reason I failed the placement".

A single "ha" shot out of Lily as she spoke, "Scotty, that sounds like a load of bull and I think you know that. If that were really the case you would've done this ages ago not a whole year later".

Scott's face turned angry again just like it was during his fight with Len. Jared sensed he might act once again and he tensed trying to think of the best way to protect Lily if Scott decided he wanted to do an encore.

"What? You getting mad, Scott? Well before you do anything stupid remember that in this room your 'toughness' isn't a factor and that while I might not be strong enough to rip your arm off I know 5 different ways to break it and I don't even have to stand up for 2 of them". Lily's voice was dripping with venom as she spoke, Jared's protective reaction turned inward as he told himself never to piss off Lily.

Scott's eyes met Lily for a moment then after a few breaths he looked away, "I don't know, I guess I just saw red today. I was talking to one of you freshman, some kid with a dorky name and I guess something he said reminded me of how angry I was at Len. I don't know what came over me. Sorry".

Before either Jared or Lily could speak the door slid open and Principal Might stood just outside the Detention Room.

"Ms. Hexa and Mr. Brooks please step outside, I must speak with you".
Jared's stomach did a nervous flip as he scurried to the exit while Lily simply pursed her lips and took deliberate and steady steps. When they were out in the hall Jared and Lily both saw that the rest of their friends were there too.

"I have reviewed the footage of the incident, questioned a few trustworthy eyewitnesses and have come to a conclusion about you lot. You confronted someone you thought was doing wrong, when both combatants used powers you did not, when one of them told you to stand down you did not, and when the chips were down you stood up to defend someone you did not know. These are all heroic traits and I applaud you for acting above and beyond your years. Keep up the good work and needless to say you will not be punished for it. Now, please head to the Gym".

Principal Might's speech ironically left the group speechless, before any of them could find their words the Principal had left, dutifully walking off to his next appointment.

"Wow!" exclaimed Eleanor,"the Principal of a Superhero school just called us heroic! I feel like I could graduate any second!"

The rest of the group erupted into laughter as they all leisurely walked in the gym's general direction.

"Wait a second", started Emerson when they was a few feet from their destination, "I thought classes started right after lunch? In that case why are we going to the gym?"

"Let's find out", answered Max as he pushes open the double doors.