In which the group of heroes find themselves attending Sky High for another year of superhero training.

Pairing/s: N/A

Warning/s: N/A

Word Count: 1697

First day of school? Easy.

Second day of school? That's where the exhaustion kicks in.

Tessa blew out a sigh as she dragged her hand through her hair, walking across the quad of Sky High on a sunny September morning. As a junior, she'd had her fair share of first and second days back, but when you were a teenager learning to be a superhero, second days back became stressful.

The dark haired girl walked down the pathways, perching herself on one of the stone walls nearby the staircases leading into the school. She tried to gather her thoughts before her friends arrived, and the five heroes in training would have a day of assignments and evaluations to face.

"Oy, Brennan!" A voice called.

Tessa scanned the quad for the source of the voice, and found it in the brightening form of Kaden Gray, one of Tessa's closest friends, walking towards her. The speedster waved and grinned his charming smile as he approached, one hand on the strap of his messenger bag.

"How did I know you'd be here this early?" Kaden said with a laugh in his voice.

Tessa shrugged. "Because you know me too well."

"True."

Tessa laughed, hopping down from her place on the wall. She looked around, expecting to see their other three friends—Dale, Mark, and Reese—in Kaden's wake. She knit her eyebrows together. "Where is everyone?" She asked.

Kaden glanced around, confusion etched into his face. "Not sure," He responded. "I thought they'd be here by now."

As if on cue, Tessa's phone vibrated. She dug it out of her pocket and looked at the screen, which was lighting up with a message from Dale.

"Who is it?" Kaden asked.

"Dale," Tessa sighed, opening the message and reading it. She suppressed a groan as she typed back a response, then stuffed her phone away. "Our favorite person has a freshman apprehended near his locker."

Kaden winced, his pained expression aimed up at the sky. "Just one year," He held up a finger. "I want to go just one year without seeing that asshole."

"You and me both, Gray," Tessa sighed. "How fast can you get us to them?"

That got the speedster's attention. Kaden opened his eyes, his smile growing. "Pretty fast," He said cockily.

"Then catch me."

"What?"

Tessa leapt into his arms, and Kaden had enough time to quickly react. He held her bridal style, with Tessa's arms linked around his neck, and his under her legs and her back.

"Hold on tight," Kaden said, and before Tessa knew it, they dashed off into Sky High.

~~

Kaden skidded to a stop in front of a freshman's locker, which was surrounded by a small group of bystanders which included Dale, Mark, and Reese, Kaden's best friend. Inside the semi-circle stood Matthew Baines, resident asshole of Sky High, with a petrified freshman before him.

Tessa hopped out of Kaden's embrace and the two shouldered their way through the crowd. They met up with Dale, Mark, and Reese, who watched the scene before them play out horrifically.

"How and why did this happen?" Tessa demanded, her brain splitting into two planes: one, to hear Dale's version of events, and two, to strategize the plan she was about to execute.

"As it always did," Dale sighed. "Kid 's new here, Matt insists on expanding his reign of terror, and now," The nature controller waved a lazy hand in the direction of the brouhaha.

Tessa nodded. "Right," She said. "Got the stuff?"

Without tearing her gaze from the fight, Dale reached up and handed an ice-cold Dasani to Tessa, who cheerfully took it from the bronze-skinned girl's grasp.

"Wonderful," Tessa eyed the water bottle.

Somehow, that got Reese's attention. Bewildered, the blue eyed boy watched as Tessa opened up the bottle. "What, are you just going to enjoy a beverage while that freshman gets pummeled?"

Tessa met Reese's gaze sharply and smiled. "No," She chirped. "But Matt will."

Before anyone could so much as blink, Tessa motioned her free hand, manipulating the water in the bottle into an orb outside of it. Then, in one swift motion, she thrusted her hand forward, and the orb of water flew to Matt's feet as he went in for the kill.

"What the—" He protested, looking down at his feet. The freshman used the moment of apprehension to bolt off so fast, Tessa wondered if he was a speedster like Kaden.

Tessa smirked, and adding the finishing touch. She flexed her palm and the water froze, forming a jagged block around his sneakers. Satisfied, Tessa folded her arms over her chest. "I thought you looked a little hotheaded, so I decided to cool you down."

The group oohed at Tessa's remark, causing the dark haired girl's smirk to grow on her lips.

Matt turned, which must have been hard to do considering his feet were frozen to the ground. He wore a grotesque scowl that caused Tessa to make a face.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Tessa interjected. "You wouldn't want your face to freeze along with your feet."

A ripple of laughter chimed through the crowd, but Matt still wouldn't release his scowl. "I'll get you for this, Brennan," He spat.

Tessa arched an eyebrow in amusement, like a small child was telling her what to do. In reality, Matt could throw her off of the school from where they stood, given his super-strength, but she deemed the probability of that happening with his frozen feet unlikely. "That's what you said the last time I busted you," Tessa made a mock apologetic face. "Face it, kid, you're off your game."

The first bell rang, and Tessa looked down the hall as it did, noting the kids that slowly began to mill around towards their classes. The crowd around them had already begun to disperse...well, save for Tessa, her friends, and Frosty Matt.

"Well, see you around," Tessa grinned maliciously, turning on her heel and marching down the hallway. Her friends followed in her wake, and as soon as they turned the corner, Tessa exhaled the breath that had built in her lungs.

"Tessa, you truly are an inspiration," Mark held up a hand, and Tessa met him halfway with a high-five.

"Agreed, like, that was ridiculously well-played." Kaden grinned, a familiar twinkle in his emerald eyes that Tessa couldn't pinpoint the source of.

Tessa returned the smile and glanced at the rest of her friends. "I like to think of myself as Sky High's caped crusader," She winked, continuing down the hall. "And that Matt's the villain who doesn't stand a chance."

"Well, clearly, that's the case." Dale laughed.

Tessa and her friends laughed and chatted their way down the hall, and in that moment, Tessa didn't seem to care much for the stressful things that awaited them that day.

~~

The stressful feelings came back to her during gym, however.

If it was one thing Tessa didn't love about training to be a superhero at Sky High, it was Save the Citizen games. Seriously, she was almost always chosen to face someone and the whole concept stressed her out to the point of no return. Besides, she looked like a chump in the uniform. Sure, she was strong enough to handle it, but she always felt so stupid going up there.

Tessa sat anxiously in the stands, watching the current game play out. She kept watching the progress of the 'heroes' against the 'villains', and her vision kept darting to the clock to see how much time was left.

One of the kids acting as villains--lo and behold, there was Matt—threw one of the heroes across the court. The poor soul flew across the court, hitting one of the prop lightposts.

Tessa joined the symphony of sympathetic noises coming from the crowd. "Yeah, that's gotta hurt." She noted, turning to her friends that were seated around her.

Mark nodded frantically, his eyes glued to the scene before them. Another hero hit the ground and everyone hissed in sympathetic pain. "If anyone ever asks what my biggest fear is, I'll send them Matt's way."

Thankfully, that was something Tessa could agree with once she saw his powers in effect. She turned her attention back to the game, but the buzzer rang out as the dummy—or, 'citizen'—fell into the shredder pit. Matt and his partner hooted and hollered as their defeated heroes trudged to the sidelines.

"Baines!" Coach Boomer roared. "Villains or heroes?"

Matt smirked. "Villains," He spread his arms as if showcasing the power he had.

Coach Boomer coughed. "There's a surprise," he scribbled something on his clipboard. "Who do you choose to face?"

Notmenotmenotmenot—Tessa thought, but the sound of Matt's echoing voice cut her thoughts off.

"We choose Brennan," Matt cracked his knuckles as his gaze fell upon her in the stands. "And Hale."

Tessa hoped her disappointment wasn't too evident on her face. She glanced beside her at Reese. The blue eyed boy met Tessa's gaze, nodded, and stood.

"Here goes nothing," Tessa blew out a sigh, shuffling out of the bleachers with Reese in tow. They bounded down the steps and strapped on the ridiculous armor awaiting them. Then, they emerged into the playing court.

"Strategy?" Reese asked under his breath as they made their way over to their starting side. His blue eyes flicked in the villains' direction before meeting Tessa's.

Tessa tied her ponytail tighter on top of her head. "I'll let you know when I think of it."

As if on cue, a new dummy dangled from the ceiling. The crowd began to roar as the scoreboard changed to fit the new competitors and time was added to the clock. Five minutes to defeat the villains and save the citizen. Cake.

"GO!" Coach Boomer bellowed, and Tessa's senses sharpened as heroes and villains alike barreled for one another.