No way.

[aidanmccoy]

Aidan McCoy. What adjectives do you think of when you hear that name? Charming, Outgoing, Book reader, superhero? Wait..superhero? Yes. Yes he is. He is one out of many "freak" students that come to this school in the heart of Manhatten, a superhero school. Aidan McCoy's specialty...well you'd have to figure it out yourself. He would tell you. He's a very outgoing person.

*BRING!* *BRING!*

"Dude! Get up!" A voice shouted from the bathroom as Aidan rolled over in his sleep, trying to get the yelling and his alarm clock ringing out of his head. Aidan groaned and rolled towards the alarm clock and slapped his hand ontop of it.

"I'm getting up. I'm getting up."

He said, muffled into the pillow. his friend grinned over at him.

"Good. It's Saturday. Go get some fresh air."

Aidan sat up slowly, the sheets and his blankets tumbled down to pile around his thighs, as he glared half-heartly and still sleepily at his friend.

"Shut up."

Aidan said sleepily, rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes. His friend snorted and headed for the door to leave. "Whatever, man. Get ready and go outside, it's a great day out." His friend grinned as he left.

Aidan lifted a hand and gave him the finger at his retrerating back.

'B*stard.'

Aidan thought to himself, pulling out of bed, and ruffled his black and red dyed hair subconsiously. He sighed and grabbed a towel and made his way into the bathroom. A half an hour later, Aidan was out the door of the his dorm room, and out of the boy's dorms. He sighed as he shoved his hands into his jeans pockets, as he wore a green t-shirt with a grey hoodie over it. The hoodie was up, hiding his face from the unwanted fangirls, but usually the hoodie never works for his case.

"I need coffee."

Aidan muttered as he went into the cafeteria, and then back out to go out onto the grounds. Luckily, he had brought a book with him. He grinned as he felt the small paperback in the pocket of his sweater. He took a sip of his mocha cuppacino and sighed happily. He pushed the doors open and looked around boredly at the grounds.

There were a few people here and there, but Aidan didn't feel like introducing himself to anyone at the particular moment. He spotted an empty bench infront of a grown and shady tree. He grinned and jogged over and sat down. He took out his book and opened it to the first page, indulging himself into the book entirely, not noticing anything surrounding him. He took a few sips of his coffee occasionally, and checked the time on his watch. It read, 10:03 am. He grinned to himself and continued his reading.

[Hadley Chase]

Ooo. Hadley is a coffee fan too! I think I might join...hope you don't mind.

[Hadley Chase]

Back home they called it an addiction. But Hadley had always personally referred to it as her saviour. Never would she acknowledge that without it she could not function, that her moods strictly evolved around it, had everything branched from it. Once that had only referred to coffee. Now it referred to tainted mixtures with alcohol content too, but that part was her demon, her secret.

Rule Number Six of Hawthorne Academy stated clearly that: Drugs and alcohol were strictly forbidden on school grounds. Students caught with these would be expelled immediately.

By not taming her cravings, by letting her urges run with the wind behind them, she had already broken the rules. At the very bottom of her suitcase, shoved between a pile of jeans and wrapped in her winter coat was a bottle of straight vodka. Pure and clear, it acted like a reassurance. In case things did get bad, in case whoever it was up there decided to deal her another unfair hand at the game of life, she was ready. It wasn’t so much the taste hat charmed her, but rather the feeling. The burn at the back of her throat and then later, the numbness of forgetting just for a moment. Hadley had fallen into the understanding of if she eventually drank enough it would outweigh all the wrong that had happened and she could just forget. After all it was hard to see straight when intoxication blew clouds across your memory and blurred your senses. Even the threat of expulsion had struggled to stop her. Her power had disappeared for three long months; it wasn’t like she needed to be at school if they didn’t come back anyway.

It’s amazing the things we sacrifice. Her father had sacrificed her family, the comfort of their home, the peace of mind of the children, the heart of their mother. And now in return and response as a coping mechanism Hadley was sacrificing her dreams, her goals and the chance of a lifetime. Her school used to be her life but she was willing to give it all up for a bottle of liquor.

However that morning Hadley had awoken as she always did, with her head buried in her pillow and her red hair in a tangle of knots and unruly curls. Five seconds passed where a smile slid across her face as she sat up in bed and rubbed her blue eyes with the back of her hand. In that five seconds she forget everything but when it ended all the truths came tumbling back like the opening of floodgates.

With a grumble Hadley threw her legs over the side of her bed and- fell flat on her face.

Ouch.

Picking herself up she took a sharp kick at her packed suitcase. It glared back at her, tauntingly.

Today was Saturday, which meant no classes, which, walked hand in hand with peace of mind. She couldn’t stand another class going by acting as a reminder of what others had that she didn’t. And to think her progress had been going so well. Double grumble. The team had just been announced and Hadley hadn’t made it. She hadn’t expected she would, she still couldn’t shape-shift on command yet and things like that were vital in life and death situations. In fact she was almost happy. Imagine trying to explain to everyone where her powers had gone, or worse yet, what had triggered their absence. That would be the true definition of hell.

Gathering her hair into a ponytail on top of her head, the wild curls streamed loose down her back in a mane. Leaning into her mirror Hadley poked her nose. She looked tired, worn out, and low on caffeine.

COFFEE!

In a hurried frenzy Hadley changed into something more decent that her pyjamas. Today was the first day she’d be wearing something other than her school uniform. Tossing a cropped jacket over her green top she pulled on her denim jeans and ran from her dorm forgetting completely about shoes. Three words chased each other through her head. ToTheCafeteria. ToTheCafeteria. ToTheCafeteria. ToTheCafeteria. ToTheCafeteria. ToTheCafeteria. ToTheCafeteria. ToTheCafeteria. ToTheCafeteria.

Bouncing on her bare heels Hadley made a dash through the early morning breakfast situation. Pausing for a moment as visions of her family at breakfast poured through her mind. She smiled and the stopped herself. It was an insult to smile, an insult to her mothers heartbreak and her siblings confusion and echoes of betrayal.

Grasping the sweltering mug in between two hands Hadley grabbed a piece of buttered toast of a friend’s plate and tossed them a smile. Toast between her teeth, coffee secured she left the cafeteria in exchange for breakfast on the campus grounds. Hadley didn’t like milk with her coffee; she didn’t like sugar either. Just straight three shots in a mug triggered the early morning hyper activity. Taking a long sip from her mug Hadley held onto the toast with her free hand. An empty bench was up ahead, she sped up her pace towards it. Ten metres, seven metres, five metres, three and then- a boy in a hood clasping coffee and a book stole her seat. STOLE IT. Torn between solitude and the need to sit down and prove victory Hadley stood there in front of the boy. Okay so she looked like a weird stalker just standing there but people that knew Hadley knew that she had more class than crazy stalker girls.

As he raised his head to take a sip from his coffee Hadley recognised him instantly. Aidan McCoy, a prized Team member.

“Budge over McCoy. Hadley invading.”

Closing in on the remaining three meters between them Hadley smiled.

“Congratulations on making the Team by the way. You deserve it.”

Now move your ass and make room for the lesser beings.