Mad World

Ok this if my first heroes story, but I love the show and I hope whoever reads the story will like it. It doesn't follow where the show left off at… but some of the things are the same haha. Hopefully it will be clear in the story. Please review because I just want to know if you hate this story or like it or whatever haha. Thanks read and enjoy…

Big Summary- Claire is in her first year of college at NYU and she's recently turned 18. She hasn't seen Peter since he saved her at homecoming. Peter has remained friends with Niki, Dl, Micah, Hiro, Ando, Matt and of course Nathan but no one else. He's also gotten control over his powers. Sylar's been gone for a while but news is that he could be back. Peter is 29. Again Nathan is NOT Claire's father.

Chapter 1: Slow New York

Claire Bennet pulled up her low-rise jeans and grabbed the last box she had to move into her dorm, from her car. She wasn't quite sure why she brought a car to her first year of college in New York. It has been a present from her dad, sort of an apology for all the crazy stuff that had happened over the last couple of years… or ever since she found out she was basically a freak that was invincible. But she was trying to move on from that thought, and live a normal life. And who could think of a better way to do that then going to college with other normal kids in New York.

She struggled up the one flight of stairs to her dorm room, anxious to start unpacking and get settled into her new life. When she opened the door she gasped because there was a girl in there, who definitely wasn't there before.

"Oh my god, sorry I didn't mean to scare you." The girl said sweetly walking over to Claire.

"Oh um, no problem." Claire said, "Are you my roommate?" Claire asked her while putting the heavy box down on her bed.

"Yeah, my names Jennifer, but you can call me Jen. Everybody does." Jennifer said.

Jennifer was tall and slim, and had wavy long brown hair. She was wearing tight jeans and a pink tank top.

"Hi, um my name's Claire." Claire said reaching her hand out to Jennifer.

"Nice you meet you Claire… or should I say roomie." Jen said laughing as she shook Claire's hand.

"Do you need help getting stuff up here?" Claire asked Jen, considering she was already done.

"Oh, um thanks but my parents have the van with all my stuff and they're not coming till later tonight, so right now we can just chill." Jen said jumping onto her bed. "Where are you from Claire?" Jen asked her.

"Texas." Claire said sighing as she sat down on her messy bed.

"Awesome! I've actually never been to Texas but I hear there's a lot of farms and stuff there." Jennifer said.

"Yeah, in some parts of it." Claire said, "Where are you from?" Claire asked her, kind of laughing. She could tell she was going to like her new roommate, because she was very easy to talk to.

"I'm from Denver. I've totally loved New York ever since I was little, and I'm freaking out that I'm like actually going to college here." Jen said.

"Yeah, I can tell I love it already. Really different from where I'm from though." Claire said thinking back to the small Texas town she was from.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Jen asked Claire, looking all gossipy.

"Um no, definitely not. You?" Claire asked back.

"Ew, no. I'm all about being a single college party girl." Jen said.

"Totally, me too." Claire said smiling.

Later on that night Claire agreed to brave the streets and find her and Jennifer something to eat, while Jennifer moved in some of her stuff with her parents. Immediately when Claire got outside she regretted that she hadn't brought a jacket, because she was only wearing a thin t-shirt and it was really windy. Being from Texas was not going to help her with the winter weather that was coming soon. But she was too lazy to go back and get a jacket, so she just started walking down the busy street trying to find a cheap place to eat.

Claire wasn't watching where she was going when she ran into someone head on.

"I'm so sorry." Claire said looking up and almost gasping when she realized who it was.

"Oh my god, Peter?" She asked.

"Wha…" Peter started, but then he realized that it was the cheerleader he saved two years ago. "Claire." He said smiling and reaching out to hug her. Claire awkwardly hugged him back.

"Um, what are you doing in New York?" Peter asked her, not knowing what else to say to a girl that he randomly saved from dying, and never saw again.

"Um, starting my first year of college at NYU." Claire said.

"Wow. I um… your in college now." Peter said.

"Uh, yes I am. Just got moved into my dorm today." Claire said.

"Well cool. Um look, I really need to get going, but I'd love to have dinner with you tomorrow night." Peter said.

Claire hesitated. She wasn't sure she wanted to be connected to her old life so quickly "I don't know if that's a good idea." Claire said.

"Come on, I want to hear about your life." Peter said touching her lightly on the arm, which made Claire's body tingle to her surprise.

"I'm not sure I can." Claire said, trying to think up any excuse.

"I know the best Italian place in New York." Peter said raising his eyebrows "I'll even pay."

"I don't like Italian." Claire lied.

"You are so lying." Peter said pointing a finger at her.

"Alright I am, but…" Claire was going to make up another excuse but she finally decided against it "Ok, I'll meet you for dinner tomorrow."

Claire walked into the Italian restaurant Peter told her to meet him at. She had turned down his offer to give her a ride. She scanned the restaurant and couldn't see him anywhere.

"Looking for me?" she heard a voice ask her, and she realized it was Peter. He had put his hand on her back lightly trying not to scare her.

"Uh, Yeah." Claire said.

A pretty waitress came up to the two of them "table for two?" She asked them… but dropped her jaw when she saw Peter. "Peter freaking Petrelli!" She said loudly.

"Oh my god, Brooke." Peter said embracing her in a hug.

Claire looked at the two of them quizzically.

"Sorry, let me get you two to your table." Brooke said grabbing two menus and leading Claire and Peter to a table by the large floor to ceiling window that looked out onto a busy New York street.

"Peter, I can't believe I haven't seen you since college." Brooke said smiling with wide eyes.

Brooke could practically be model she was so pretty. Claire was immediately jealous of her bright red hair and perfect body. For all she knew Brooke and Peter were probably some hot couple in college, and for some reason this made her hate Brooke

"I know, that's crazy." Peter said.

"I can see you've moved on. Is this your new girlfriend?" Brooke asked him motioning to Claire.

"Oh um, no this is my friend Claire." Peter said smiling at Claire who returned it gratefully.

"Oh good, I was going to say. She looks a little young for you." Brooke said with a laugh.

Claire shot a cold look at Brooke. That was a bitchy thing to say.

"Anyway, can I get you guys something to drink?" Brooke asked them, but she was only looking at Peter.

"I'm fine with water." Peter said.

"For you?" Brooke asked Claire, finally looking at her.

"Waters fine." Claire said through clenched teeth. Something about Brook just rubbed her the wrong way.

"Ok, be right back with that then." Brooke said winking at Peter and practically skipping away.

"Old girlfriend?" Claire asked Peter, and he reacted by laughing a little.

"No, we were good friends in college but I haven't seen her in like four years." Peter said, sensing that for some reason Claire was jealous, and he liked the thought of Claire liking him… he knew he shouldn't be thinking that but he was.

"Oh." Claire responded looking down at her hands that were resting in her lap. She took her napkin and folded it in her lap.

Peter looked over at Claire. She sure had grown in two years… and she was pretty hot. Peter silently cursed himself for even thinking that, but he knew it was true.

"So um, what have you been doing since I last saw you?" Peter asked her.

"Trying to move on." Claire said "I haven't even used my power once."

"Really? Wow. I've tried to get control of mine. See I, kind of, absorb other people's powers when I'm around them so I've been getting help from this guy Claude to control them all." Peter said.

"Interesting." Claire said.

"And I'm friends with a bunch of other people, you know, like us, who live in New York. I'm going to see all of them tomorrow. You should come." Peter said.

"I can't." Claire said.

"Let me guess, you're busy." Peter said, sounding frustrated.

"Actually no. But I just don't think it's a good idea." Claire said.

"That's what you said about having dinner with me, but you know that you're having fun right now." Peter said smiling, trying to lighten the mood a little.

"Peter…" Claire started, looking down.

"What?" He asked her leaning forward a little.

"Look its great seeing you and everything, but I'm trying to move on. You know live a normal life." Claire said.

Peter paused for a while "Look I completely understand where your coming from Claire, but you're not normal." Peter said.

Claire laughed a little. "Believe me, I know."

"I really think you should come with me tomorrow. It would be a good idea to get to know these people, you know have them on your side." Peter said.

"Why, its not like Sylar's around anymore." Claire said a little jokingly.

"Actually that's not completely true." Peter said.

"What are you talking about?" Claire asked him, feeling a shot of fear run through her body.

"No one's seen him yet, but there's a lot of rumors that he's back… and I have a feeling he's going to come to New York sooner or later." Peter said.

"Great." Claire said sarcastically "goodbye normal life." Claire said to herself.

"I just want you to be safe Claire." Peter said, wondering if that was a kind of intense thing to say to a girl he barely knew.

"Of course, you are my hero if I remember correctly." Claire said, thinking back to when he first saved her.

"So will you come with me tomorrow?" Peter asked her.

Claire looked into his eyes, and saw that he really was pleading with her to go. He looked genuinely worried about her.

"Ok, I guess. But I don't want my roommate to know that I'm having a party with a bunch of…" Claire was trying to search for the right word.

"Freaks." Peter said for her.

Claire laughed, "yeah, I guess."

"Well I wasn't planning on finding your roommate and telling her or anything." Peter said.

"I just… if you ever do meet her… basically I'm not planning on telling her that I'm invincible." Claire said, with a lot of frustration.

"Ok, don't worry." Peter said.

Brooke watched Claire and Peter laughing with each other from a distance. She didn't know who this 'Claire' girl was, but she could tell that she had a thing for Peter, which was not going to work seeing as Brooke definitely had a thing for Peter.

Claire walked into her dorm room smiling as she collapsed onto her bed.

"How was the date?" Jen asked her looking away from her laptop.

"It was not a date." Claire said defensively.

"Whatever. I need to meet his Peter guy. Is he hot?" Jen asked Claire, sitting on the edge of Claire's bed.

"He's 29." Claire said.

"So? Your eighteen, that's pretty much ten years." Jen said waving her hand as if it was no big deal.

"Yeah, exactly… ten years is kind of a lot." Claire said.

"Not really. My parents are eleven years apart in age difference. Plus it's less weird when the guy is older then the girl." Jen said.

"Jen, I can't date Peter. That's too weird." Claire said.

"Well, I mean, you did just go out on a date with him." Jen said.

"Shut up." Claire said grabbing a pillow and hitting Jen.

"Your so defensive. Girl you totally have a crush on this guy." Jen said playfully hitting Claire back.

"I do not!" Claire said "but to answer your question, he is pretty hot." Claire said quietly.

A smile spread across Jen's face "Oh I can't wait to meet Peter. I'll have to see how you two interact to fully assess the situation… but I already know you have a crush on him."

"Whatever, I so do not." Claire said, but she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face.

Claire and Jen were walking out of their room the next day. Claire was heading out to meet Peter, and Jen was going running. The two of them walked up to a very hot guy.

Claire was planning on just walking right by him but Jen stopped.

"Hi I'm Jen, do you go to NYU?" Jen asked him.

"Yeah, I'm Jesse." He said smiling at both of them, and if Claire didn't imagine it, it seemed like he smiled extra at her. "What's your name?" He asked Claire.

"Claire." She said, no she did not imagine it. He was definitely giving her a very big smile right now.

"Well nice to meet you guys… or girls I mean." He said.

"Yeah, hey do you know of any parties tonight or sometime soon. I'm totally need to get wasted and have some fun." Jen said smiling.

"Actually there's one tomorrow night. My friend told me about it. It's at this bar. Why don't you give me your number Claire, and I can call you tomorrow about it." Jesse said.

"Ok sure." Claire said, taking Jesse's phone and entering her number in it.

"Alright, I'll call you tomorrow." Jesse said walking away from them smiling one more time at Claire.

Jen was pouting, "Why do you get all the hot guys?" Jen asked her.

"What are you talking about?" Claire asked back.

"It's obvious that Jesse dude likes you, and Peter probably does too." Jen said.

"You haven't even seen Peter yet, so you don't know if he's hot. And I don't think Jesse likes me." Claire said, even though she was pretty sure he that he did.

"Liar, and Claire, his name is Peter Petrelli, he has to be hot with that superhero name." Jen said smiling.

"What?" Peter Petrelli doesn't sound like a superhero name." Claire said.

"It totally does." Jen said "anyway, I don't have time to argue about superheroes with you, I've got to get running. I'll see you later tonight." Jen said waving to Claire as she took off running.

"Ok bye." Claire said waving after her.

Claire walked out onto the sidewalk and waited for Peter.

She was really nervous about meeting everyone for some reason. She felt like she wouldn't fit in…even though that didn't really make any sense. She was wearing jeans and a pale blue long sleeved shirt with a simple necklace. Her long blond curls were hanging loosely, and she hoped that she looked put together… without trying to be. She was so deep in thoughts of herself that she practically screamed when she felt Peter place a hand on her shoulder.

"Whoa, you ok there?" Peter asked her.

Claire laughed, "Sorry, I was just daydreaming." Claire said rolling her eyes, could she possibly embarrass herself more in front of Peter. Screaming just from his touch… not good.

"Aright, well are you ready?" He asked her.

"Yeah, let's go." Claire said taking in a deep breath and following Peter to his car that was parked down the street.

Claire and Peter arrived at Niki, DL, and Micah's flat. They walked down the hall towards the flat but Peter stopped walking when he realized Claire wasn't by his side. He looked back and saw her leaning against a wall.

"Claire… you ok?" He asked while walking towards her.

"Yeah, fine. I'm just a little nervous." Claire said trying to laugh it off. Why did she have to act so… young.

"Don't worry, they're going to love you. I mean I do." Peter said.

Claire looked at him sharply, and Peter realized what he had just said.

"I mean, you're really cool Claire. They're going to like you." He said holding out his hand for her to take "come on."

Claire placed her hand in his "here goes nothing." Claire said.

They walked up to the door Claire's hand was still in Peter's. The young Micah opened up the door.

"Hey." Micah said. All the sudden Niki came running towards the door yelling.

"Micah! What did I tell you about opening the door to strangers..." She said but then trailed off when she saw that it was Peter "Oh it's Peter. Well still, Micah you should let me or DL answer the door." Niki said placing a protective hand on Micah's shoulder.

"Sorry mom." He said shrugging.

"Sorry about that, come in Peter… and I'm assuming this is Claire." Niki said smiling at Claire.

"No problem, and yes this is the Claire I was telling you about." Peter said letting go of Claire's hand.

"Hi. I'm Niki, and this is Micah." Niki said.

"Hey." Claire said taking in a deep breath.

A few seconds later DL, Matt, Hiro, and Nathan walked out from another room in the flat. Claire felt her breath quicken. Peter must've sensed this because he grabbed her hand again and pushed her ahead of him a little whispering "your doing great" into her ear. Those few words gave Claire a lot more confidence, not to mention almost made her melt.

"You must be Claire." Matt said.

"Yes I am." Claire said putting on her best smile.

"Claire, this is Matt, Hiro, DL, and Nathan." Niki said taking the initiative to introduce everyone.

"Nice to meet you all." Claire said, already feeling better about the situation. Niki had a really calming effect on her for some reason, and the fact that her hand was still in Peter's helped too.

"You the cheerleader." Hiro said smiling at her "save the cheerleader, save the world." Hiro said.

Claire laughed; she could tell she liked this Hiro guy "yes, that's me." Claire said.

"So your invincible?" Matt asked her.

"Um, yeah, pretty weird I know." Claire said.

"We're all pretty weird." Nathan said.

"Well I tried my best to make some lunch, so if you guys want to sit down anywhere then I can bring the food out here." Niki said.

"Sounds good." Micah said jumping on the couch.

"Um, Micah, could you please come and help me?" Niki asked him.

"Mom…" he whined.

"Come on." She said motioning him over.

"Alright, coming." He said getting up and running after his mom.

Matt, DL, Hiro, and Nathan all went to sit down.

"Nathan's my brother." Peter whispered to Claire as he led her over to two empty seats on the couch.

"And Hiro has a friend Ando, but he's couldn't come today. I'm sure you'll meet him soon." Peter said waiting for Claire to sit down and then taking the seat next to her.

"So Claire, you're in your first year of college right?" Matt asked her.

"Yes, just got moved in yesterday." Claire said.

"I don't want to alarm you or anything, but be careful and try not to go to many places alone. Word is that Sylar's lurking." Matt said.

"Yeah, Peter told me." Claire said.

"Well you probably don't need to worry too much." Nathan said.

"Hiro will protect you." Hiro said.

Claire laughed aloud "Thanks Hiro." She said smiling.

"Ok guys, here's lunch" Niki said as her and Micah walked into the living room with trays of food and drinks.

After lunch the group talked some more about their powers. Claire got filled in on Niki's crazy alter ego Jessica, but that Niki has gotten pretty good at controlling her now. Claire was especially impressed with Hiro's ability though.

Claire and Peter left at around four in the afternoon and Peter drove her back to her dorm.

He walked her up to the door of her dorm building.

"Thanks for making me go. I'm really glad I did." Claire said.

"No problem. I thought you'd like everyone." Peter said.

"Yeah, I did. That Hiro guy is pretty cool." Claire said.

"Not as cool as me though right?" Peter asked her, jokingly acting all macho.

Claire laughed "he's like ten times cooler then you." Claire said.

"You're so mean." Peter said, "I have no self esteem thanks to you Claire Bennet." Peter said acting all sad.

"Aw, I'm sorry, did I make little Peter sad?" Claire asked him.

"I don't want to talk to you anymore." Peter said, still acting sad.

"How about a hug?" Claire asked him.

"That might help." He said.

"Ok." Claire said rolling her eyes and leaning over and giving Peter a hug "your actually pretty cool too." She whispered as she pulled away from Peter.

Peter nodded at her "Are we still on for breakfast tomorrow?" He asked her.

"Of course, we can walk there right?" Claire asked him.

"Yeah, I'll meet you here at ten." Peter said.

"See you then." Claire said walking into her dorm building.

Peter watched Claire go… why did she have to be so damn hot, and have such a cute laugh, and have the sweetest personality. Peter loved being able to be her support when she was scared to meet everyone today. But Claire was so young, wasn't it wrong to like her in that way? Well he didn't know the answer to that but he was pretty certain he did like her in that way… and that probably wasn't a good thing.

That was the first chapter, please review… please haha. I love it when people do. Um I should update in less then a week and I hope you liked the first chapter.