“You ready for this?” Tiberius asked as they pulled into the car park at First High, turning to regard Lucien carefully. “It’s gonna be intense. People are gonna know Jason jumped you, too, even if they don’t know every detail.”

Lucien surveyed the entrance of the school from their position in the expansive car park, his expression considering. Was he ready? The weeks after he’d manifested had gone by so quickly, it seemed like his life were being played out in the chapters of a novel. Six weeks had passed in the blink of an eye, and the first day of Junior year had reared its head rapidly.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to be fully ready.” He admitted to Ty honestly, glancing down at his hands. “Sometimes I still expect to wake up and find it was all a crazy dream, and that we haven’t even thrown that end of year birthday bash yet.”

Ty laughed beside him. “Sorry dude, no dice. You’re a bona fide superhero. Deal with it.”

“Technically, I’m an unregistered meta-human.” He said slyly, feeling his mood lift with his god-brother’s words. “Ah fuck it. Yeah Ty, let’s do this. Now or never.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Tiberius said, pumping his fist. “Oh, and remember: Don’t let Jason get to you. That little prep school son of a bitch will try to trigger you the first chance he has. Stay firm.”

“Yeah, I know. If I hit him now, I’m liable to detonate his skull.”

“Not that that wouldn’t be hilarious in a horrifying way…” Ty said after a moment’s thought. “But let’s try not to commit murder, eh?”

Lucien smirked at his best friend. “I can try.”

Ty snorted and the two of them opened up the doors, stepping out of the black F350 and into the car park. This time, unlike so many times and years before, Lucien had chosen to dress just as well as his god-brother. Gone were the hoodies and the hideaway jackets and careless jeans. Instead he wore a black blazer over his white Hyperion ‘HONOUR ABOVE ALL’ t-shirt, and a pair of form-fitting black jeans to match. Gold-laced white canvas high-tops concluded the outfit, and he slung a new charcoal-grey school bag over his right shoulder. As a final touch, he’d acquired contacts from his godmother which hid the bright scarlet of his irises, disguising them as a light brownish-gold instead.

Tiberius, coming around the car to fall in on Lucien’s right, wore his red-sleeved white First High Football Captain’s Blazer, with a branded black muscle shirt and a pair of light grey jeans, complete with a pair of brand new basketball shoes. His best friend gave him a sly smile as they made their way towards the entrance of the school, and Lucien leveraged his advanced hearing. Initially he caught nothing except the usual chatter and exchanges of greeting between students.

Then, slowly, people noticed the pair of them.

The immediate realisation that struck Lucien was that nobody recognised him. It wasn’t entirely unexpected, but something about that fact made him want to laugh hysterically. The student body recognised Tiberius instantly, he wasn’t the one who’d gone through a literal metamorphosis. Lucien? Nothing. Speculation spread like wildfire as to who the new ‘hot giant’ was, prompting animated discussion among those that saw them and those that heard the news of their arrival from other sources.

“Has it started?” Tiberius asked casually, glancing at Lucien with a quirked left eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Lucien said at a low cadence. “They think I’m a transfer student or a distant relative or something. Nobody’s even asked where I am.” Where once he might have felt bitter about that fact, something almost akin to satisfaction filled him at the idea of being forgotten. In a warped kind of way, that played perfectly into his desire to create a ‘new image’ with his anatomical upgrades. If no one cared enough to remember the old him, however petty that might have been, it also meant that the acne-riddled loser image wouldn’t stick in their heads when they learned who he really was.

Or at least, that was his hope.

If someone had asked him seven weeks earlier whether or not he’d be able to just move past the entire student body being too disinterested to remember his existence, he’d have probably cussed them out or given them the finger before walking away. There was still anger, still resentment, and still a sense of displacement that he couldn’t quite shake: He’d been a loner his entire life, after all. With everything that had happened over the summer, though… Well it was hard to cling to old hatreds when he was a literal superhuman. It hadn’t been an easy task to just let go of the things that had stuck with him for years, but the reactions of people in central New Avalon and his time training with Ty had softened the hardness around his soul.

He felt, in a lot of ways, as if he’d shed some spiritual weight.

When they entered the front doors of the school and stepped into the corridors of the school proper, the returning students were quick to notice their arrival. Many called out their greetings to Ty and welcomed him back, looking for acknowledgements from the King — though Tiberius himself was endearingly oblivious to the adolescent politics. Sometimes Lucien wondered if his friend was truly as spacey as he seemed when it came to the High School hierarchy, or if he just refused to acknowledge it. He suspected it was the latter, but he’d never bothered to broach the subject.

The greater majority of the student body in the first corridor, by time they’d made it halfway down, had taken notice both of Tiberius and of Lucien — and speculation was running wild.

“… Some sort of transfer student?”

“… dude looks like Hyperion’s brother…”

“… never seen Ty look small…”

“… bro I think I just turned gay…”

The last comment had Lucien muffle a laugh, drawing a questioning look from Ty which he waved off. If the voice he’d heard say it was the one his super senses told him it was, that knowledge was enough to make the return to school worth it.

“Um, what the fuck?”

Lucien’s head shifted slightly as they passed into another corridor on the way to their homeroom class, and he took note of the female voice that had made the exclamation: Taylor Addams.

“God damn that boy is fine.”

“Hold up, who the fuck? How did that prime piece of meat escape notice all these years?” Hailey demanded, staring at Lucien as he and Ty walked past.

“Honey there’s no chance in hell that fine ass specimen ain’t some transfer student from the mainland.” Heidei Levesque chimed in. “There’s nobody that hot in New Avalon.”

“Meow.” Carmine said simply, her voice a purr of interest. “Style and smarts, if he’s rolling with King T.”

“I saw him first. Dibs.” Taylor said primly, which earned her a round of jeers from the other Squad members in her vicinity.

“With your non-existent ass? Hell to the naw, bitch. He’s mine.” Hailey declared, sparking another round of bitchiness from the gathered girls.

Lucien snorted quietly at the irony of Taylor calling dibs on him and turned another corner as the bickering of the girls was left behind.

“You’ll never believe the shit I just heard.” He said to Ty, shaking his head in disbelief.

“The Squad?” His god-brother asked knowingly, jade eyes amused.

“Yeah. Holy shit.”

“As dysfunctional as they are hot.” Tiberius said wisely. “Jessica’s about as sane as they come, when dealing with that lot.”

“I thought you liked the Squad.” Lucien said, raising an eyebrow at his best friend.

“I don’t dislike them.” Ty said after a moment. “But they’re best experienced in small doses, and with many loyal kings around to distract their appetites.”

“Ah, what a terrible life you lead, Tiberius Washington.” Lucien said mockingly.

“Careful, Luc.” Ty replied slyly. “It’s going to be your life, now, too.”

To that, Lucien had no response.

The boys rounded a final corner and entered their homeroom class without further distraction, settling in at their usual spots near the back and waiting as their usual teacher, Ms Atkins, walked in. While she started calling the roll, Lucien directed his gaze across the class, catching the bewildered stares thrown his way. Harper and Jason were already seated, and both had given him mystified glances as he walked casually past them. He smiled more calmly than he felt, hiding the mix of amusement and slight anxiety — now that the moment of truth had come at last — warring inside of him as Atkins descended further down the attendance list.

“Carlos Ortiz.”

“Present.” Carlos replied lazily.

“Jennifer Palmer.”

“Present!”

One more to go. Lucien thought with anticipation.

“Adelaide Patton.”

“Present!”

At his side, Tiberius smiled conspiratorially. “Here we go.” He muttered.

“Lucien Pendragon.”

“Present.” He said clearly, baritone voice drawing the eye of every student in the class.

“I’m sorry, young man, but is this some sort of a joke?” Ms Atkins asked tersely, the older woman’s brow furrowed in irritation. “What is your name?”

“Lucien Pendragon.” He replied calmly, ignoring the stunned and disbelieving stares being thrown in his direction. God, that kind of reaction felt good.

“Lucien Pendragon has been in this homeroom for the last three years, young man, and you are definitely not him.”

“I am, Ms Atkins.” Lucien said easily. “I just discovered protein later than most.”

That drew a scatter of appreciative laughs, and the teacher adjusted her glasses in a clear mix of annoyance and growing bewilderment. “Young man, I insist you—!”

“Apologies, Ms Atkins.” Tiberius interrupted, clearly struggling not to laugh. “But I can vouch that he really is Lucien. As you know, my parents are his guardians. We live together. That’s absolutely him.”

That was the last nail in the bewilderment coffin, and the class went into a frenzy of whispers and disbelieving exclamations. Lucien caught Harper’s eyes as she stared at him, and then looked to Jason as he joined her. The blond polo captain looked poleaxed, and Lucien very deliberately smiled at him in a way that promised nothing pleasant. Where before Jason might have sneered, now his eyes instead swept Lucien’s arms, legs, and shoulders — and his eyes widened fractionally before he quickly turned back around.

Fuck that felt good. He thought triumphantly, trading a below the desk fistbump with Tiberius as Ms Atkins finally seemed to accept the dramatic transformation of one of her students, moving down the roll dutifully.

The rest of the morning classes were an exercise in much the same, with teachers initially confused by who he was and students catching up their peers on the news. More than once he caught classmates staring at him openly, in both shock and interest, and several other times he caught some watching him with something a little more. He only ever did the same thing no matter what; a calm, aloof smile that somehow seemed right for his features — and a raised eyebrow if someone spent a little too long staring. What amazed him most was the reactions this garnered from members of The Squad whom he shared classes with.

Taylor Addams, for example, seemed unable to pick her jaw up after learning who he was — and unable to stop from staring.

Well, you had your chance, didn’t you?

That wouldn’t stop him enjoying the fun of his new look, but he’d already resolved to not easily forget the disdain he’d suffered at the hands of Tiberius’ friends. Shelving grudges and evolving past petty hatreds was one thing, but utterly forgiving the abuses and slights? The ostracising and cruelty? The open antipathy towards his existence? No, those things wouldn’t be forgiven. He simply wouldn’t allow them to dictate his path forwards. They’d be guideposts, lighthouses in the night directing him onwards. He wouldn’t allow himself to be consumed by the toxicity and poison at the heart of his school.

If Ty could stay his honourable, loyal self through all of it then so could Lucien.

When the bell rang for lunch, Lucien packed up his books from AP English and slung his bag over his shoulder. Much in the same way he had seven weeks earlier, he waited for the rest of the class to file out before he did. Unlike then however, there was no Jason waiting to ambush him in the corridor. Instead he saw only a sea of intensely staring faces, many likely searching for some resemblance or indication of the old him. The term ‘meta’ was thrown around once or twice by the more conspiracy-theory types, but he never reacted to it and most people seemed to disdain the notion.

It was one thing to live in a world of super-powered people, after all, but another thing entirely to believe that someone you went to school with had suddenly become one of them. Even though that was exactly what had happened, and was exactly what did happen all the time across the country, the capacity for denial and inherent scepticism of teenagers was both vast and unyielding.

The crowd parted around him as he walked his way towards the outside eating area he knew Tiberius and his clique would be occupying. Vanessa had made sure to pack a calorie-heavy, protein-rich lunch for him that she’d taken the time to meal prep herself and Lucien wasn’t about to turn his nose up at his god-mother’s offerings. She’d been keeping Tiberius supplied with his calorie and protein intake since he was young, and the only reason Lucien had refused before was a preference for the various cafeteria specials he often enjoyed pigging out on.

He was far more aware of taking care of himself, after the gift of his new body.

More murmurs followed him as he walked, picked up by his sensitive hearing.

“That’s Lucien Pendragon? Holy shit. He actually looks as cool as his name now.”

“Girl the biceps on that boy. I don’t care if he was a loser, that hunk can get it.”

“If I wasn’t already gay, bae, that glorious piece of ass would turn me.”

“Lousy Lucy got hot.”

The last one made him pause and turn instinctively, fixing a withering look on a slightly distant group of girls that squeaked when his attention found them. A collective reddening of their cheeks told him they were scared he’d heard, and the quartet all but bolted away.

“… oh my god did he hear us!?”

“… not possible from that distance…!”

“… had to open your big mouth, bitch!”

A faint thrill of satisfaction filtered through him as the gossiping foursome fled, and Lucien felt a degree of righteous vindication tickling his spine. Readjusting his backpack, he resumed his progress for the spacious outside eating area — passing through the open doors and into the fresh air beyond. His first proper social exposure with his new appearance would decide whether or not he converted the awe others were feeling into proper social standing. Between The Squad and the jocks, it would be an encounter he had to come out on top of.

He smiled grimly.

They had no idea what was coming for them.