Chapter 218: Start of Sophomore. 2016 CE

[Next day]

Helios stood in front of Gwen's home front yard with a bike helmet equipped on his head, and another in his hand. He rang the doorbell a couple of times, before George opened the front door.

"Good morning Mr. Stacy." Helios greeted. "Is Gwen ready yet?"

"Good morning Theo." George nodded. "She's upstairs, should be done in a couple of minutes."

George looked at the back, where there is a bike parked in front of the fence. "Gonna go to school by Bike?"

"Yeah, less pollution, a bit of exercise wouldn't hurt too." Helios shrugged.

"No cars? Your dad didn't buy it for you?" George raised his brow.

"I'm still 15, Mr. Stacy." said Helios flatly. "Unless… you're allowing me—"

"Nope, your dad's made the right choice." said George, cutting Helios off. George then turned around towards the living room, and shouted. "Sweetheart! Your boyfriend's here!"

Helios was surprised for a second, before raising his eyebrow, a bit suspicious. "Boyfriend?"

George just stared at Helios, before saying. "Don't get ahead of yourself, I just wanted to tease my daughter."

"But you—"

"You're still a spoiled brat in my eyes." George continued, but he looked like he didn't mean it.

"Okay…" Helios coughed. "But… Can I take her to the homecoming dance?"

George looked deadpanned. "Why are you asking me? Ask her yourself."

Helios just sighed. "So I have your permission, great, thanks Mr. Stacy."

"Whatever kid."

Both of them then heard a whine from upstairs, and sounds of hurried footsteps came from the stairs. "Dad?! What did you say to Theo again?!"

George just smiled at her as he kissed her forehead. "Nothing honey, be careful on the way."

Gwen just turned towards Helios, her expression looked suspicious as the door closed behind her. "What did he say to you?"

Helios shrugged. "Like he said, nothing."

"You two were talking about me, were you?" she asked again. "And what's up with my dad calling you my boyfriend?"

"I'm not?" Helios teased, making her elbow him from the side. Helios just chuckled, then he put the helmet in his hands on top of Gwen's head, strapping it tight.

Helios just mounted his bike, with Gwen sitting behind him, and both of them hurried off to school.

—

On the way, both of them enjoyed the air that is starting to cool down, welcoming the Fall season, while New York might smell a bit, it's still a pretty good feeling.

"You didn't bring Baymax? Today's the club fest right?" asked Gwen, looking round the bike to find signs of the fluffy bot.

"I already brought him to school yesterday." he said, crossing the street, almost arriving at school.

"So that's why I didn't see him at the barbeque…" Gwen murmured.

As the two of them entered school grounds, they quickly traversed through the parking lot, towards the bike parking area. On the way to the parking spot, a lot of people greeted them, more specifically Helios.

And almost all of them are girls.

Helios just either wave at them, nod, or smile.

Gwen sighed. "Here we go again…"

"What? Getting jealous now?" Helios teased again.

"It's annoying." Gwen flatly said. "They only act like that with you because they know your family's rich."

"I'm not blind enough to not know that Gwen," said Helios. He then saw two of his friends walking to the school building, and he decided to greet them.

He rang his bicycle bell a couple of times, before shouting. "Coming through!"

The two dudes turned to the voice, and widened their eyes as they saw Helios and Gwen were coming towards them, trying to crash themselves onto them. The two teens quickly dodged, making Helios chuckle a bit. He quickly parked the bike, took the helmet from Gwen, and walked towards the other two.

"Hey Pete, are you ready for the club fest?" asked Helios.

"Oh… um… I quit…" Peter murmured.

"What? Why?" Helios questioned.

"I'm busy dude! I have decathlon practice! And besides, you know, the 'internship'?"

"Jesus christ Peter, you don't have to do it every evening you know?" said Helios. "Besides, what are you gonna do? Help lost grandmas?"

"Not so loud!" Peter whispered. "And for the record helping lost grandmas feels nice, they usually give me free food."

Helios sighed. "Really? Free food?"

"What? It's nice." Peter shrugged. "Look man, I really want to do this, so I can't do that and robotics club at the same time!"

"Great, so it's just me and Baymax alone." Helios hummed. "Wouldn't be too bad I guess, the freshmen look harmless." he said as he turned towards the curious freshmen looking at him, again, mostly girls.

"On second thought, I think I'll help you today." Gwen smiled. "I just need a few minutes to sign up for the Homecoming dance volunteer."

"Nice!" Helios grinned. "I fucking love you Gwendolyn Stacy, you are my knight in shining armour."

Gwen just rolled her eyes, amused at his attitude. "Sure, sure."

And so the sophomore year for Helios began, a calm period in his life, before the storm that will come.