AN: I saw Super 8 last week and it has been in my mind ever since. The actors portrayed such simple yet dynamic characters that captured my attention from the moment they appeared on screen. I knew before the movie was even over that I would end up writing a fanfic about it. This story will be primarily told from Preston's perspective. I felt like he didn't get enough attention during many parts of the story, but was still just as important as the other characters... so that's basically what compelled me to write from his perspective. Anyway I'll shut up and let you read now. I hope you like this first intro! Please leave me reviews telling me what you think. :D

Pairings in this fic: Charles/OC (Kendra), Alice/Joe

INTRO

Life use to be so much easier. Back before the train crash. Back before the alien. Back before our town burned. Back before my friends became part of the Fab Five without me.

The media was the one to come up with the nickname "Fab Five". My group of friends, which now includes Alice, make up this elite team. After "The Alien" had ascended into the sky, news personnel had rushed onto the scene to interview anyone they could find. That is when they first heard the amazing story (which would later be re-told over and over and over) of my heroic friends and their once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Since the three weeks that have passed, our once-quiet hang outs have been bombarded by journalists eager for their piece of the tale, hoping to discover some detail about the Fab Five no other media outlet had spoke about yet. My friends were labeled as heroes, and soon had fans all over the country. There were even rumors about international broadcasts being planned. Suddenly it seemed like the whole planet wanted to know Joe's favorite color, or Martin's shoe size, or what type of camera Charles had used when he shot the only surviving film of "The Alien". Once in a while a newscaster would try to talk to me, "the lucky boy who hangs out with the Fab Five", but only to ask questions about my best friends. I should be happy for them, and I am, but things just aren't the same.

Each of them had their own unique story to tell. Alice had been captured and held hostage by The Alien late one night and was rescued by her now-boyfriend Joe Lamb and their pyro friend Cary who had distracted the beast with small explosives he carried around. Joe quickly became known as the sensitive, brave, attractive boy who would risk anything to save a person in need, much like his father. Joe, Cary, Charles, and Martin shared a bond (that I was no part of) as they witnessed men being eaten alive by The Alien when they were forced to escape from the school bus they were being held in by evil Air Force marshals after breaking in the closed school and discovering the truth behind the whole operation. They would often re enact this event, leaving me out or asking me to play the part of the alien. The only time I truly saw the alien was on the stupid film from Charles' camera.

The worst mistake of my life was not going along with them on their hunt to save Alice. I hate being the reasonable, smart one in the group. I shouldn't have stayed behind in the shelter our town's population had been evacuated to. Even that idiot pothead got some recognition for taking them into town and not dying, even if he was stoned at the time. Martin gets so much attention because of his injury. His leg was hit with a bomb in the crossfire and random girls started paying him visits in the hospital after The Alien left, swooning over how "brave" and "courageous" he was. He still walks around with his crutches, even though I don't think he needs them, because people who never paid him attention before stop him in the streets to compliment him on the pain he took to help someone else. Cary is pre-occupied with his explosives, as always. He even has endorsements by several companies now! Executives from places like Fireworks USA and TNT Tyrants stop by his house to offer him commercial deals and give him free samples of their products. He usually accepts. He even has a billboard up in Cleveland.

Charles took video of the billboard as proof during his last trip up there. He also brought back other video proof... of his new, fancy long-distance girlfriend. She's an average girl with a few freckles and bright red hair. He met her at a film convention for young directors in Cleveland just a couple weeks ago and now goes on and on about how great it is to finally meet someone his age with "the same passion and dedication to film making as him" blah blah blah. Her name is Kendra. None of us have met her yet, but she sends him short letters and even calls him long-distance almost every single day!

Sometimes, I feel like I'm nothing more than a brainiac extra in my group. The Fab Five plus one. I'm that plus one people usually forget to add in. It's 1979 and we're starting high school in just another month. I don't want to go into high school being a "plus one". The guys try to treat me the same, but it's obvious there's something different about them that I just don't have. I need to do something to change this. I can't derail a train, or pull an alien from the sky, but there's got to be something. I just don't know what... yet.