Stepping off the bus, Astrid was unable to contain the small smile that graced her lips as she took in the large building in front of her. Aside from the two men who made some aspects of school unbearable, Sky High was a haven for Astrid. It was a place where she could escape the suffocation of her home and not feel ashamed to for the powers she possessed.

Across campus, students were relishing in the fact that they had returned to a safe space to demonstrate their powers. Two boys were using their powers to touch Amelia's rear end so she spun round and froze them in place. Penny Lent was performing her annual cheer with her clones, greeting the Freshmen and welcoming back the older students. Against her will, Astrid's foot began tapping along to the annoying song and she knew she'd find herself humming it during Mad Science yet again.

Stood at the top of the steps, Lash and Speed were eyeing the Freshman that had just stepped off the bus mischievously.

"Round 'em up, Speed." Lash ordered, grinning when he noticed a certain blonde stood near the young ones. "And little Miss Healer."

Zooming around the Freshmen, Speed chuckled as he forced them to pack together more tightly. Shuffling out of the way of the speedster and closer to her cousin, Astrid rolled her eyes in annoyance. Not even five minutes had passed before the menaces had made an appearance. In fact, they were slacking this year as Lash usually got her on the bus. However, she hadn't taken that bus this morning so managing to piss her off this quickly was impressive.

"Freshmen, your attention, please!" Speed smirked when he came to a stop in front of the fresh meat.

Stretching himself from the top of the stairs to Speed's side, grinning when Astrid shot him a look of disgust.

So easy to get under her skin, he sniggered to himself.

"I'm Lash. This is Speed," the striped boy introduced. "As representatives of the Sky High welcoming committee..."

"... We'd be happy to collect that $15 new student fee." Speed finished as Lash's hand stretched to reach in front of the kid with glasses, hand open expectantly.

"Um, there was nothing about a new student fee in the handbook," the kid questioned confused.

Stepping in front of the group, protecting them from the cruelty of Speed and Lash, Astrid was disgusted to discover that she and Lash were matching with stripes yet again. Luckily they were different colours but it seemed to be a habit of theirs.

"Leave them alone, Lash." Astrid demanded, shocked that she was standing up to him for once. "Go find something better to do than picking on fourteen year olds because it makes you feel powerful."

Usually she silently took the abuse – she allowed them to cruelly taunt her, wait until they got bored and continued with her day. However, without even thinking about it, she had defended the Freshman and insulted Lash with one sentence.

During Freshman Year, Lash and Speed had spent the first couple of months locking Astrid in closets and shoving her in lockers. They knew full well who her father and uncle were and relished in the fact that she was nothing but a mere Sidekick despite that. It was only thanks to her ability to phase through solid objects that she had been able to escape the tight and dark places they trapped her in.

It had always amused her when she strolled into lessons she shared with the two boys on time and unfazed by their actions. Confusion flitted across their features as they attempted to decipher how she had managed to get out so quickly. Once they had learnt of her power and that she hid this from the teachers to avoid being a Superhero, they stopped teasing her for being weak but accused her of cowardice. They stopped locking her in cupboards but the teasing increased tenfold.

After the death of her father, Freshman Year had passed by without further incidents from them.

Returning to Sky High for her Sophomore Year had ended the spell of peace and Lash had made it his mission to torment her a minimum of thrice a day – Speed just followed behind every once in a while for entertainment.

Lash's face darkened and he took a threatening step towards Astrid but was intercepted by Gwen Grayson, who had come to greet the Freshmen. Giving her cousin a reassuring smile. Astrid grabbed her bag and stormed past Lash, bumping his shoulder as she went. Smirking at each other, Lash and Speed attempted to follow the blonde girl. Unfortunately for them, she had disappeared.

"Bloody invisibility." Lash cursed.

Unbeknownst to him, the girl he was searching for was right beside him. Smirking as she hooked her foot around his ankle, she smirked when he took a step forward and fell. Letting out a strangled yell, Lash braced himself before his face made contact with the floor. Turning a dark shade of red, Lash glared darkly at all the students who were laughing at the sight of him sprawled out on the floor.

Brushing his clothes off after he jumped off from the ground, he glanced around wildly in search for the platinum blonde curls. Anger coursed through him when there was no sight of her.

"You're dead, Stronghold!"

☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰ ⁂☆⁂ ☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰

Morning classes passed by without any drama and whilst she was relieved Lash and Speed hadn't been in any of them, she was dismayed to realise neither was her best friend.

Lunch couldn't have come fast enough and she hurried towards the cafeteria in search of Natalia Rush and Will. After all, she had to check how her cousin's Power Placement went.

Just as she burst into the cafeteria, stomach grumbling at the scent of food, a small brunette collided with her and Astrid barely had time to brace herself for the impact before the pair of them collapsed into a heap on the floor.

"Missed you too, Nat." Astrid chuckled, pulling the excitable girl off the floor.

Natalia was born to two Superhero parents but they had accepted her for her Sidekick status and were supportive of whatever path she had in life.

During Freshman Year, Natalia had overheard someone sobbing in the bathroom and discovered Astrid had locked herself in a stall after the assembly commemorating Samuel Stronghold. The small girl had missed two lessons to comfort the heartbroken girl and accepted her detention without argument. Her only comment had been 'it was worth it'. Since then, the two girls had become inseparable.

Despite the loving family she came from, she was sympathetic to Astrid's own living situation and provided solace from home when Astrid was in no mood to go crawling to her Aunt and Uncle.

"I'm so happy to see you. I am never going on holiday without you again – three weeks with little contact isn't acceptable anymore. Have you grown? Have I shrunk? It's so unfair that you're taller than me. How's your cousin settling in? I heard through the grapevine that you had a run with Lash."

'Through the grapevine' in Natalia terms meant she had heard it buzzing in the brains of the students around her. Mind reading was a power that often sparked interest and amazement in the humans who heard it but Natalia was dubbed a useless Sidekick because she was unable to control other people's thoughts or put thoughts into her heads. She could only hear them so her power was deemed useful for informing her Hero what the Villain's next move would be.

Whilst her main power came from her father's ability to control minds, Natalia lived up to her last name and so her movements were slightly faster than the average Superhero (a trait she got from her mother's ability). Unfortunately, so did her mouth. After almost two years of friendship, Astrid had mastered the ability to understand every word the hyperactive girl spoke.

"No. No. You should be used to it by now. I don't know and yes I did." Astrid answered. "I was just about to check on Will before you tackled me."

"Can I come with you? I want to meet the newbies!"

Chatting about Natalia's holiday to Rome, the pair spoke animatedly as they wandered over to the table where Will and Layla were seated. Zack and two other people that Astrid recognised accompanied them from the bus. Sitting next to her cousin, Astrid smiled at the small but nervous group.

"Afternoon, children." Natalia greeted before anyone could say anything, sliding down into the seat next to Astrid. "Natalia Rush, nice to meet you. Best friend to the one and only, Astrid Stronghold."

"Drama Queen." Astrid muttered before asking the Freshmen how their day was going.

"Power Placement is so unjust." Layla protested. "Heroes get treated far better than Sidekicks. It's as if we're inferior purely because our powers aren't considered cool."

"How did you get placed in Hero Support?" Astrid asked her cousin's best friend.

She had seen Layla in action and whilst people wrote her off as some passive plant lover, Astrid knew first hand how deadly vegetation could be.

"She refused to show her power." Zack explained. "Stupid Coach Boomer."

"What power got you landed in Hero Support then?" Natalia asked intrigued.

"I glow." Zack boasted.

"Allegedly," the girl dressed in black and purple snorted. "Magenta. I shapeshift."

Gasping, Natalia began asking what kind of animal Magenta in excitement and smacked Zack on the hand when he teased Magenta for being a guinea pig. Magenta rolled her eyes when Natalia attempted to make turning into a guinea pig sound useful. Turning to face the quiet boy who had yet to speak, Astrid recognised him as the kid that Lash had attempted to steal money from.

"Hi, I'm Ethan. I want to thank you for earlier with those two guys. It was admi-."

"It's okay, Ethan. What's your power?" Astrid asked kindly.

"Oh, um, I, well, I melt." Ethan stuttered, cheeks flushing as he avoided making eye contact with the older girls.

Finding the ability to make oneself melt, Natalia began rambling about powers and the benefits of them. Eventually, the pair began speaking faster and faster as the two brainiacs became more passionate until no one else had the mental capacity to keep up with them. Shaking her head at the extroversion of her friend, Astrid was amazed at Natalia's ability to make friends. If not for the dark haired girl approaching Astrid, the blonde would spend her entire life with her nose in a book, never socialising.

Turning to her cousin, she tentatively approached the topic of his Power Placement.

"Haven't had it yet. I'm the first one to do it after lunch."

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Astrid reassured, bumping Will's shoulder with her own.

Opening her mouth to attempt to cheer her cousin up, Astrid squeaked when a male voice accompanied by stripes called out her name. Glancing at Natalia in alarm, she flickered out of sight without warning causing the Freshmen to look around in alarm. Hissing at them to act normal, Natalia ducked her head from the searching eyes and continued eating her sandwich.

"Where'd she go?" whispered Ethan, leaning over to Natalia.

Explaining that Astrid was still sat next to Will, Natalia informed them of her ability to turn invisible.

"I thought she could only heal people?" Zack questioned.

"That's what I let people think." Astrid answered, her voice coming from beside Will, who jumped.

Whilst he was used to her power, it still freaked him out that she was there whilst not being there.

"Now, will you please shut up and pretend I was never here?"

Spotting the brunette, Lash stalked over to the table with vengeance pumping through his veins.

"Oi, Rush. Where is she?"

"Where is who?" Natalia asked innocently.

"Stronghold."

"Right here and he's a he."

"Don't be smart. Where's the blondie?" Speed interrogated.

"What's it to you?"

"Little Sidekick tripped me up and now she needs to apologise." Lash explained.

Anger filled Will when he heard the Hero calling his cousin names but Astrid pinched him in the side so that he didn't open his mouth and say something that would make Lash direct his attention towards him.

"I'm afraid I haven't seen her." Natalia smiled sweetly.

Glancing at the other occupants with distaste, Lash noticed that there was a spare seat with Natalia and Will, despite the brunette engaging in conversation with the group. Not only was she sat apart from the Freshmen but also there was a spare sandwich placed in front of the empty chair.

"Oh, really?" Lash mused, strolling over to the 'empty' chair. "So, is this seat free?"

Whilst he subconsciously knew about Astrid's intangibility, it was often forgotten about due to it rarely being seen. Natalia nodded and gestured to the seat but worry pooled in her green eyes. It was too late for Astrid to get out of her seat and run from the man because it would notify Lash to her presence.

Manipulating her body matter, Astrid lessened her density so that when Lash sat down, he passed through. Using all her will power, she prayed that her intangibility would last and she wouldn't end up sat in Lash's lap. Intangibility was often used quickly so using it for an extended period of time drained Astrid. The only indication that something was off about the whole situation was the cold chill that skittered down his spine as soon as she phased through him.

"Tell her she got lucky this time but I'm coming for her." Lash warned before storming off.

The moment that he and Speed disappeared through the cafeteria doors, Astrid became solid and visible once more.

"That was close," she laughed, a slight sheen of sweat on her forehead.

Everyone other than Natalia stared at her in awe.