HEROES & SIDEKICKS ▹ W. PEACE [✔]

four.

A few months into the school year, Astrid and Warren were enjoying their spare time by the stairs at the entrance when the bus of the freshmen arrived, and Lash and Speed acted as their usual stupid, immature selves by taking Ron's cap to play around.

Now, Astrid would usually ignore such a thing, but she liked Ron. He was always friendly, optimistic, in a good mood, and had a smile to spare others no matter how unjust the world they lived in was. The driver clearly loved his job and had Sky High in high regard. Her freshman year was a bit more tolerable because he was the first person she saw after hopping into that godforsaken bus.

That's why, when she spotted the powerless son of two heroes being made fun of, her grey eyes turned white as the wind picked up and swirled around the group until it prevented the cap from falling into a mud puddle where the Stretch Boy threw it. The accessory floated in the air for a few moments before rising to the hands of its owner.

"Why are you meddling into this?" Warren grumbled beside her.

"Because I hate those two, and Ron is one of the few people I like in this place."

Ron nodded in appreciation at her, and Will's group followed his line of attention, coming to a surprising realization that the girl was the one responsible for helping the bus driver.

On the other hand, the duo villains got pissed that their fun was spoiled and glared at her, promising revenge.

"Now they're gonna come after you," her boyfriend stated.

"Their mistake," she huffed.

Warren sighed. "You'll get yourself a detention," he pointed out before dropping the topic. Astrid was a force to be reckoned with when she was defending someone she cared about. There was no way to stop her, and he wasn't crazy enough to try.

🔥

During lunchtime, while Warren read another book, Astrid finished homework, which thoroughly frustrated her. It seemed like she always had something to be done when Warren always had everything sorted out. They both had the same classes, and he was the one with a job. Where in the hell did he get the time to do all that so quickly?

From the corner of her eyes, she saw a hand show up from under a table close to hers but paid no mind to it until a blue tray fell over Warren, and a burger landed on her head, smearing ketchup on her hair.

Despite Warren being the one with a death glare on his face as he rose from his seat to glower down at the sidekick Stronghold, it was Astrid's calm face that actually made the young boy gulp in dread. She stood beside her tall friend, still not offering any signs that she was about to explode.

"This ketchup better not stain my hair," she told him evenly, "or else..." she trailed off, turning her eyes white for enough time to deliver her message before changing them back to grey and returning to her seat, leaving him to deal with Warren.

Will didn't know what her warning entailed, but he was sure nothing good could come out of it. He stood up to his feet and offered a breathless "sorry" to the son of Barron Battle.

"You will be," he snarled back.

"Let's not do this," Will tried to appease the older boy by providing him a small, nervous smile.

"You think you can do whatever you want just cause your name is Stronghold?"

"I'm sorry that my dad put your dad in jail, but..."

Astrid shook her head at Will's stupidity. It didn't take a genius to figure out that mentioning Warren's father was a big no-no.

"Nobody talks about my father." The punk guy grabbed Will by his shirt, and flames ignited on his hands, making the sidekick take a couple of steps backward to create some distance between them.