It had been about thirteen years since Jason Livingston first met Angelina. She disappeared after fourth grade, and not long after she left, he befriended someone else, who happened to have powers too. He called himself Speed, which was fitting due to the fact that his power was super speed. Since meeting Speed, he no longer referred to himself as Jason Livingston, but instead used the rather creative nickname his friend had come up with: Lash. He and Speed were the best of friends after they met, and they still were even to this day, their first day of school at Sky High.

Lash was currently on the bus, Speed beside him, and while the rest of the freshmen were screaming their heads off because the bus had driven off the edge of an unfinished bridge, Lash and Speed were laughing hysterically. The bus started falling, causing everyone but the two boys to scream even louder, and after a few moments, the bus sprouted wings and began to soar through the air. The screaming died down, and the bus driver, Ron Wilson, began chuckling. It wasn't long before the bus arrived at the school, and Ron Wilson opened the doors, saying "Welcome to Sky High" as he did. Lash just rolled his eyes and followed Speed off the bus as they headed for the front of the school.

They were met by the head of the Welcoming Committee, a sophomore by the name of Gwen Grayson. The first thing that came to Lash's mind when he saw her was one word: Pink. Lash absolutely hated the color pink, mostly because any girl he met that wore it a lot was too girly for his tastes. The dark haired boy rolled his eyes, ignoring the girl and instead looking over at Speed, who seemed to be doing the exact same thing. Bubble Gum, aka Gwen, led the group of freshmen, including Lash and Speed, to the gymnasium, then proceeded to ditch them all and leave them unsupervised. Lash glanced at his friend before looking around the gym. It looked huge compared to the gym in a regular school, and the rest of the freshman were looking around wide-eyed, when a bright ball of light suddenly flew over their heads.

The ball stopped in front of a podium that Lash hadn't even noticed was there earlier, and she spoke to all of them about going through power placement, though he wasn't really listening. After a few moments, the lady, Principal Powers apparently, left the same way she came, and as she did, a platform rose from the gymnasium floor, a man dressed in a sweat suit standing on it with crossed arms. He introduced himself as Coach Boomer, formerly known as Sonic Boom, and told them how power placement worked before telling them he wouldn't tolerate "whiner babies."

Lash rolled his eyes and watched as Boomer picked what appeared to be the most frightened freshman out of the group. "You, Blondie. Get up here." She had blonde hair, so blonde it was almost white, and her bright green eyes looked nervously out at her audience. Lash's eyes widened as he realized he knew the girl, and he took in a breath. Boomer looked at the girl. "What's your name Blondie." He watched the girl swallow hard before she answered.

"A-Angelina Stark," she stuttered. Boomer picked her sheet out of the handful of papers he had on his clipboard and quickly scribbled her name down before looking at her again.

"Alright Stark. What's your power?" Lina bit her lip nervously.

"I-I can make drawings c-come to l-life." Lash noticed that Boomer raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Come to life, huh?" He wrote that down on the clipboard and glanced at her again. "Alright, let's see it." Lina just stood there, and after a few moments of nothing happening, Boomer turned all of his attention to her. "Any day now Blondie." Lina bit her lip again and looked at her feet.

"I-I can't. Not with all of them s-staring at me." Boomer just sighed and wrote something down on the paper on the clipboard.

"Sidekick," he said, waving her off before looking out at the group of freshmen again. He picked out another student, a boy who could control electricity, but Lash wasn't really paying attention. He was still looking at Angelina. She looked so scared, and it looked like she was trying to stay hidden from the rest of the group. Lash had to admit, he felt kind of bad for her. He watched her for a few more moments before the bell rang, and Boomer said they would pick up after lunch. He pointed right at Lash, clearly trying to look intimidating as he said they would be starting with him, but Lash just rolled his eyes and followed Speed to the cafeteria.

Lina couldn't believe what a fool she had made of herself. She thought she had gotten over her fear of performing or speaking in front of an audience, but apparently she hadn't, and now she was stuck in Hero Support classes because of it. She sighed, staying in the back of the group of freshmen as they made their way to the cafeteria. She sat alone, not really in the mood to talk with anyone at the moment, and picked at her food. After a while she glanced up at the clock, and realizing there was only ten minutes left before she had to head back to the gym for the rest of Power Placement, she decided to make a quick stop at her locker. She didn't get far though, as she ran into someone outside the doors who had been on their way into the cafeteria.

Looking up, she realized it was a boy, a fairly tall one at that, wearing an orange T-shirt with a skull on it, a black and white long-sleeved shirt on under it. He had dark brown hair, matched with chocolate brown eyes, and Lina suddenly gasped as realization dawned on her. "Jason?" The boy gave her cocky smile.

"Hi Lina." His smile faded as he suddenly grimaced. "And I don't go by Jason anymore. Everyone just calls me Lash now." Lina nodded, and suddenly heard someone clear their throat. Looking beside Lash, she noticed another boy there, one who was rather stocky, and short compared to Lash. His blue eyes looked from her to Lash in a mix of curiosity and confusion.

"Who's your friend, Jason?" Lina watched the boy smirk, and Lash scowled at him.

"Don't call me that. And her name is Angelina." Lash looked at her. "Lina, this is my friend Speed." Lina nodded at the boy. Speed looked her up and down curiously.

"I remember you. You're the girl who froze up right? The one who can supposedly make drawings come to life?" Lina blushed at the memory and nodded, and Lash suddenly spoke up.

"Oh, she can. I've seen it." Speed just looked at her skeptically and shrugged.

"Sure, whatever. See you later Blondie. We still have Power Placement to go through." Lina nodded and exchanged a small smile with Lash before the two boys walked away, and the blonde made her way to her locker before heading to the gymnasium as well.

Within minutes the gym was filled with the same group of freshman from earlier, and Boomer walked back onto the platform. After scanning the crowd for a few moments, his eyes landed on Lash. "You, Stripes. Get up here." Lina watched Lash casually walk up onto the platform. "Name."

"Jason Livingston," he said, scowling. "But I'd rather just be called Lash." The rose an eyebrow at this comment.

"Alright, Lash. Show me you power." Lash nodded before stretching on his legs, reaching all the way up to the ceiling, then came back down. "That all you got Stretch?" Lash scowled and wrapped his arms around Boomer several times before pulling tightly. It was obvious the coach was struggling to breathe, and after a few moments, Lash let go, retracting his arms. "Hero." Lash walked off the platform just as Boomer called another freshman, a dark skinned girl with black hair who could clone herself. Lina caught Lash's eye, and he quickly looked away.

She didn't know why, but Lina had the feeling this was going to be a long school year...