Short update;)

⌲⌲⌲

I keep the night before with Warren hidden in my mind as a secret. While I get ready for school, though, I feel the sadness wash over me when I realize Layla isn't going to want to see me. I want to see her, though. I can't imagine life without her.

I walk downstairs and see Mom and Dad have already left.

"Ready to go?" Will asks and I nod.

We walk down the the bus stop and I slow down when I see Layla there.

"Layla!" Will smiles.

She greets him as usual, "Morning."

"You guys aren't going to believe what happened to me last night," Will smiles excitedly.

"Why are you waiting until now to tell me?" I ask him.

"Because I had to tell you both at the same time. Duh," he says.

"What happened?" Layla doesn't look at me.

"It's about homecoming," Will smiles.

"Actually, I wanted to talk about homecoming, too," Layla says and her gaze drifts over to me.

"I'm going with Gwen Grayson! Can you believe it? Me, a freshman, going with the most amazing girl at Sky High," Will brags and I just smile happily for him.

"Gwen? Really?" I question.

"Yeah!" he smiles.

"That's awesome," Layla congratulates him as the bus pulls up.

"Morning, Strongholds," Ron smiles as we get in.

Layla opts to sit beside Magenta. That's new.

I sit with my twin and try not to look over at the girl who is somehow mad at me right now.

⌲⌲⌲

"So, tell us your homecoming news," Will says as we walk on either side of him into Sky High.

"I'm going with Magenta," Layla says.

My heart sinks into my stomach.

"What?" I ask softly.

"Wow, I didn't expect that. Pretty cool, though," Will nods. "You never mentioned liking her."

"Well, some things change," Layla nods before glancing at me.

"I have a date, too," I announce and they both look at me in shock.

"What? Okay, woah, woah, woah. Who?" Will looks at me protectively.

"Warren Peace," I smirk.

Both of their faces drop.

"Warren?" Will asks.

"Peace?" Layla finishes.

"Ada, the guy is a psycho and our biggest enemy," Will says as I look down. "How could you possibly be going with him? He hates us."

"No, he doesn't," I argue.

"I knew you two were close, but why? What's going on with you?" Will tries to understand.

"Warren apologized for trying to hurt you," I say as we get into the hallway.

"Why do you call him 'Warren?'" Will's face contorts in a weird way.

"That was the secret," Layla realizes. She looks sad and I feel horribly.

"When did you even start hanging out?" Will asks me.

"Last night at the Paper Lantern," I nod before walking into my first class.

⌲⌲⌲

I walk into the cafeteria with a frown when I see Layla at the table with Magenta and Will and Gwen and the other heroes.

"Come sit with me," Warren comes from behind me, placing his hand on the small of my back.

I blush as I follow him to his usual table. I sit next to him with my food.

"What happened with Layla?" he asks me.

I feel everyone's eyes burning on us.

"I think she hates me," I sigh.

"Both of you couldn't hate anyone," he tells me.

"You say that now," I nod.

"We're eating at Warren's table now?" Ethan sits down with a smile. "I feel extremely dangerous."

"Whoa, whoa," Warren looks at my friend in surprise.

"This guy bothering you, Ada?" Zach sits on the other side of Warren.

"More like you're bothering me," he retorts.

I give him a small smile and he seems to chill out a bit.

"This is Zach and Ethan," I introduce them to Warren.

"Yeah, your sidekick friends," he nods.

"Hey, Ada, did you know that Magenta was going to homecoming with Layla?" Zach asks me. "Since... Since when?"

"I don't know. We haven't talked much recently," I say, unable to suppress the guilt I feel.

"Seriously?" Warren asks.

"Yeah," I say as I subconsciously stare longingly at the table she sits at.

"And she's going with me," Warren announces to our table.

"You're going with Warren?" Ethan asks nervously.

"Yeah," I say as I smile at him. "Yeah, I am."

⌲⌲⌲

During free period, I see Will walking with Gwen and Layla with Magenta, Zach, and Ethan. Warren is alone.

I walk over to him with a smile, "Hi."

"Hey," he puts his hands on my waist. He pulls me to sit with him, "Do you think we can just ditch the rest of the day?"

"Considering we're on a floating rock and neither of us can fly, no," I frown.

I see Layla looking over here as she holds hands with Magenta.

"Your hippie friend still seems more interested in you than pinkie pie," Warren observes.

"No, I doubt that. She's still mad at me, remember?" I say.

"Remember how I was your mortal enemy?"

"Oh, come on. You're not," I argue.

"I'm just saying that it's easy to love and hate at the same time," Warren shrugs.

The bell rings and I grab my bag as Warren spins me around to face him.

He leans in and I let him kiss me in public for the first time.

"Come over tonight?" I ask him. "We can- We can work on heroes stuff. My parents won't be there."

"Maybe I'll see you there," he nods cooly before letting go of me and walking off.

I see Warren look over at Layla and her look over at him. Jealousy is evident in both of their faces, but there's no way he was right about Layla. She's angry at me and that's all.

⌲⌲⌲

The knock on the front door stuns Will and Gwen.

"Who is that?" Will asks, knowing that Layla just comes right in.

"Someone I'm studying with," I say nervously.

I open the door to Warren and his eyes immediately land on the couple behind me. In my defense, I had no clue they'd be here.

"I thought you said your family was away for the night?" he whispers.

"I said my parents," I correct him nervously.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Will asks me.

"Studying," Warren says. "Why don't you address me to my face next time, Stronghold?"

"No fighting," I jump between the two. "Please? This house needs to stay in tact and I need both of you to stay alive."

"You are not going to study upstairs," Will shakes his head protectively. "I don't even want this guy in my house."

"Our house," I frown. "And you act like you weren't about to take Gwen up to your room."

"That's- That's different."

"Why? Because I'm a girl?" I challenge.

"I- I-"

"Let them go up and we can, too. We'll each have our own space to... study," Gwen comes over to my brother with a smile.

"I," he looks at her, "guess so. No funny business with my sister, though, Peace."

I gesture for him to follow me as Gwen sends me a wink. I silently thank her.

Warren walks into my room, "I've never seen so much purple in all my life."

"I had a phase and never bothered to change anything," I say.

"It's not necessarily bad," he sits on my bed. Yes, it's purple, too. "Have you ever had a guy up here before?"

"Yeah," I nod.

"That wasn't a family member?" he asks knowingly.

"No..." He laughs. "Are we actually going to study for our chem class?"

"I'll show you some chemistry," he chuckles.

"Shut up," I giggle as I grab my textbook.

"Gee, I forgot mine."

"Oh," I say. "Then, I guess we'll have to share."

I sit next to him and he scoots even closer. I blush and not only from his excessive body heat.

⌲⌲⌲

Within the next hour or so, I'm working on a worksheet as Warren lays on my bed and reads a random book he found. Then, we hear a loud noise from downstairs.

"Maybe I should go check on that," I look towards the door.

"I'll come with," he nods and we walk out into the hall.

I hear people downstairs and rush towards the noise. I swear, all the heroes are here. All of them.

"Is your brother holding a party?" Warren asks in disbelief.

"He's holding a death sentence from our parents!" I exclaim. "Will!"

I rush around the party in search of him. People are using their powers, turning up the music, drinking strange liquids, and overall wrecking our house.

"Will!" I push through the crowds. "Do you-" I lost Warren in the process.

"Ada?" a voice calls. I spin around and see Layla.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" I ask.

"I wanted to check out the party I wasn't invited to," she says. She's hurt. I hurt her.

"Look, this isn't my-"

"If you hate me that much, just say it. I mean, you keep Warren Peace from me, you rub it in my face, and now you're out with other heroes and stop acknowledging your real friends. This isn't who you are, Ada," she pleads with me.

"No, it isn't and I've been trying to tell you that," I say in frustration. "I've been wanting to tell you all of my feelings and hang out with you, but it's almost impossible if you distance yourself from me."

"What are you trying to tell me?" she looks at me in question.

"I..." I look at her and try to find the nerve. If I tell her, does that ruin everything with Warren?

She looks at me and waits for an answer. My mouth is suddenly dry as I fail to say it. I don't have the courage.

"Have fun with your new life without me," she decides.

And that's when Layla turns to leave. My face falls and I take a step forward only to have a hand on my shoulder pull me back.

"Gwen?" I ask when I turn around.

"Let her go. She was holding you back from being a real hero," Gwen tries to explain to me.

"No, no," I shake my head and rush after her. "Layla! Layla!"

I rush outside and see Warren and Layla on the front lawn together.

"You don't understand," he sighs.

"I understand plenty. You two deserve each other, all right? I'm done getting in between it," Layla counters.

"I know you like her," Warren reasons.

"Y-You know?" Layla stutters.

Everything inside me freezes. What? There's no way.

"Everybody knows, hippie," he sighs. "Look, you're both attractive and best friends and whatever, but you're both so blind to not see the mutual pining for each other."

"But, you're dating Ada," Layla reminds him.

"She likes us both and I respect that enough. You need to stop playing that pink girl just to make Ada feel bad about herself. She really doesn't need this unnecessary pain."

"I feel so stupid," she shakes her head. "You're telling me the truth here? And I've just been too blind to see it?"

"Yeah, you're stupid," he shrugs. "I figured it was time to skip the girl drama and just tell you the truth."

"Even if it jeopardized everything with Ada?" Layla asks.

"She's not happy without you," he says slowly.

Silence.

"You know, you aren't that bad a guy, Warren," she realizes. Finally.

"Tell anybody about this and I'll deny it," he switches back to his dark and mysterious personality. It makes me smile.

Layla smiles, too, "Nobody would believe me anyway. Goodnight, Warren."

"Only Ada can call me that," he calls after her as she walks over to her place.

"I want everyone out. of. this. house!" I hear a man scream. Oh no.

"Warren," I rush over to him.

"Hey," he greets me as if nothing just happened.

"You need to get out of here. My parents just got home and they don't even know I go to school with you," I panic.

"Shit, okay, I'll go. See you tomorrow at the dance?" he asks.

"Sounds like a plan. Now, go, go!" I nod as he rushes off.

"Adelaide!"

"Coming!"

⌲⌲⌲

My parents were mad, but they never knew about Warren being here, which is good. Plus, neither Will nor myself actually got grounded.

Unfortunately, it looks like Will isn't going to homecoming. I tried to convince him to come, but I'm his sister so of course he won't listen to me. He seems really down in the dumps.

And, I still haven't talked to Layla.

"We'll meet you there," Dad calls to me.

"Okay, bye!" I call to them as I head out the door.

I take one step and run into Layla, who's ready for the dance, too.

"Oh, hey."

"Hi."

"Hey."

"Sorry."

"No, it was my fault."

We stare at each other awkwardly as she decides to talk, "I like you, Ada. I do. I really, really like you as more than a friend and I've been too scared to say it to you and it was one of the reasons you drifted away. Because, well, I was mad at you for keeping secrets when I couldn't even tell you my own and I'm... I'm sorry. I've missed you. I know you're going out with Warren Peace and you probably don't like me back that way but you deserved to know."

I stare at her in shock at her confession. I knew based off of last night that she likes me, but hearing her admit it to my face is a whole other level.

"It's funny," I chuckle. "I like you, too. In a more-than-a-friend kind of way. I have since as long as I can remember. And... well, you look really pretty."

"So do you. Purple is your color," she smiles.

I nod at the thought, "I'd like to tell you that all the drama is done now that our feelings are out into the universe, but it's... it's Warren. I do care for him and it's weird because I get the same feeling in my stomach with him that I do with you."

"I get it. I figured this would happen. Whoever you choose is fine with me," Layla assures me.

"I don't want to choose," I sigh. "Maybe I can just disappear."

"It's not that easy," she frowns. "But, I know that we'll be late if we don't get to the bus stop now."

"With Ron Wilson driving us? He'll wait for us," I assure her and boldly take her hand as we run that way.