School had never been the easiest. Numbers were always difficult for me to wrap my head around, and history just, well, sucked.

But dealing with the school after having "mysteriously disappearing" for two weeks? That was one of the most difficult things that I ever had to deal with.

"Giovanna!" I kept my focus on the floor as a kid that I may have talked to twice tried to flag me down. "What happened?"

"Where's Nadia?" Someone else grabbed my shoulder, trying to stop me so we could talk. I appreciated the sentiment, and I wished that I could've told them that, but I didn't want to talk at that moment. And I knew that if I even stopped to simply tell them that I didn't want to talk, I would be dragged into a conversation I never wanted.

I slipped into my first period class as fast as possible, getting to my seat and pulling out a book that I wasn't actually reading. But, I tried to make it look as convincing as possible, in hope that no one would bother me.

"Giovanna." I looked up to see my science teacher, Ms. Trato, standing in all her unabashed, wrinkly glory. "Did I ever send to you the lab that we were working on?"

"Um, if you did, Greenstein probably brought it back already." I reached into my backpack to grab my folder, but then a loud air horn sound came from the hallway. "What the hell?"

"Ignore it, Giovanna." Ms. Trato opened a filing cabinet next to her desk, looking through some papers. "The basketball team won last night, from what I've heard."

Some other people started to file into the classroom, covering their ears and mumbling curses under their breath. I caught eye contact with Adriana, but she quickly looked away and hurried to her seat. Guess we were back to square one. Not talking to each other.

I was fine with that.

"Oh, I still have it here, Giovanna. I'll have you finish it tomorrow." I nodded, looking down at my desk and resisting the urge to look back at Adriana. I couldn't act like I wanted to talk to her, after all. If she didn't like me, that was her problem.

The bell rang then, but it didn't stop the kids in my class from talking their heads off. Sometimes, I would talk to Nadia, or the guy that sat next to me, but today, I was stuck in my own thoughts. I knew I was in the classroom, but I almost just felt like a spectator in the day's events.

"Class," Mrs. Trato called out, but no one really answered. "Class..."still no answer. "Okay then, pop quiz time!"

I froze as she said those words. I shouldn't have been surprised, but somehow, I had almost forgotten her anger-fueled pop quizzes that my class got far too often. I heard the people behind me mumble very choice words, but I tried not to listen.

Just focus... I thought, watching Mrs. Trato pick up a stack of papers. I felt something soft hit my arm, and looked over to see a blue ball on my desk. I looked over at the guy next to me, arching an eyebrow.

"Stress ball," he whispered, before going on with his own business. I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously, but still took the stress ball in my hands. I didn't think much about the quiz as Mrs. Trato threw the paper in front of me, giving me a pathetically small smile as she walked to the rest of her victims. All I did was give the quiz a quick glance over, before moving without thinking and filling in the answers that I had no clue were correct or not. As usual, I was one of the first people done, but it didn't give me the same satisfaction as it usually did. After handing the paper in without a word or a smile, I ripped out a piece of paper from my binder.

Why the hell are you like this? I wrote, almost as if yelling at myself would make it better. Get your stuff together and act like a grownup for six hours, okay?

I would've yelled at myself more, but Mrs. Trato called for us to take out our review books. It seemed that she really didn't want to teach us today. I fumbled through my over packed bag to grab mine, but when I brought it up to the desk, the paper I had been scribbling on was gone. My head whipped around, my heartbeat quickening as I thought of who could've taken it, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw the loose leaf get thrown back onto my desk.

Don't be so hard on yourself! The words were tiny, almost illegible, but I knew it was guy's handwriting immediately. His name was Brandon, I believed.

I crumpled up the paper, stuffing it in my pocket and keeping my eyes on the review book in front of me. I didn't know what his deal was, and I didn't need his sympathy.

As soon as the bell rang, I busted out of the classroom, not stopping for a chat or even a friendly "hello". I could tell word was getting around that I was back, though I don't know why anyone cared. I searched through the crowds of people, trying to find Ray or Jacob to hide behind. They were nowhere to be found, though. Trying to shake off the slurry of emotions that were filling in me, I headed to my least favorite class of all: history.

The place where I'm reminded every day of how much my existence is supposed to make it worse for everyone else. Most days, it just made me angry.

Today, I somehow found myself laughing. Yup, I was definitely going insane.

"Welcome back, Miss Bandoni," my history teacher welcomed me, always with his slight bow that he did to all of us. I always returned his greeting with a small, polite smile, before heading into the farthest corner possible in an attempt to shut out every single word that he said.

I pulled out my note packet, which I had already filled out at home, like I normally do, and placed on my desk, before putting out a piece of loose leaf to doodle on. That way, it looked like I was doing my work, but I could just ignore the entire class for the period. Win-win for everyone, if you'd ask me.

"Well, class, I've decided to mix it up today." My head snapped up as he said that, wondering if I had recently used the Lord's name in vain or something. What did I do to deserve this now? "Instead of taking notes, I think it would be best for us to put our skills to the test and do a debate today!" Everyone around me groaned.

"Can we just take a test today?" One kid asked, followed by a chorus of giggles.

"No, no, this is going to be fun! We're going to be debating about the topic," he turned around to write on the board, "what was the biggest factor in the collapse of Rome?" It seemed simple enough, but he then wrote four phrases on the board. Environment, Corrupt Politicians, Cultural Conflicts, and, just my luck, Superhumans. My hand shot up and my mouth started talking before I even thought about what I was doing.

"What about the barbarians?" Was the only thing my brain got out before I shut myself up. I felt everyone looking at me, probably surprised that I could even speak.

"Well, that's what we're talking about when we mention Superhumans here, right?" He gave a nervous chuckle, as if he thought he didn't just insult my entire character.

"Well, if you count the fact that the Greeks called anyone that wasn't Greek barbarians, then that's true. But that would include the Romans themselves." I felt my eyes get hot, but I was trying to not let this get to me.

"But in the sense we're talking about, the Superhumans are the ones that destroyed all the major cities, ruining the entirety of Western Rome." He didn't seem to bat an eye as he said "are" instead of "were". I knew it had to be an honest mistake, but I couldn't be in the room any longer. I shoved the stuff that was on my desk into my bag, standing up abruptly.

"I have to go to guidance," I said, lying through my teeth and everyone knew it. I felt as if the room was getting smaller, too small.

I ran out without another word, not waiting for my teacher to answer.