By the third period, I can't take it anymore--the way my peers continue to snicker under their breath and glance over to me while doing so.

I try to ignore it the best I can, but it does almost nothing for me.

People who were in my math class even repeat, still, "It's Jupiter, sir."

I anxiously tap my pencil on my desk as my English teacher goes over the rules and guidelines for her class this year. I focus on the whiteboard to try to block out the rest of my peers' whispers.

Randall wads up a paper and tosses at the back of my head.

I can hear Savannah starting to laugh as she watches. I pick up the paper, unwadding it before reading it; the paper simply says, "how's your face?". I groan, crushing the paper in my hand. My face still hurts... a lot. I've been sniffling the whole time since the incident and I'm starting to wonder if I fractured it or something.

Randall starts to laugh the moment he sees me crumble up his note and he reaches into his bag, tossing a pencil at the back of my head... And another... And another.

The first time I'm able to ignore Randall, but soon enough, I can't anymore. I get up to avoid Randall's aim--under guise that I'm just going to get a tissue.

I should've paid more attention to Randall when I moved over to the side, but I didn't. Big mistake.

Randall sticks his leg out as fast as he can and I trip, smacking my face against one of the empty desks.

The class bursts out laughing when I fall and my English teacher makes an amused noise.

I groan with pain--not only did it hurt my already injured leg, but it hurts my nose more.

I stand up, embarrassed, brushing myself off as they continue to laugh. My nose feels like it's bleeding at this point---but I don't check it right away... Last thing I needed was for someone to mock me and repeat me wiping my nose. Face burning bright red, I just grab my stuff and run out as I hear Randall shout, "That's what I thought!"

I run off to my locker as fast as I can--I can still hear my classmates' laughter continuing as I go. I frantically try to open my locker and it doesn't open. "Fuck! Dammit!" I curse as I continue to twist the combination lock like a maniac. "Come on! Just open! Damn you!"

"Slow down maybe?" A voice calls behind me as I start trying to yank my locker open. "Calm down. You're not gonna get the locker open like that."

That voice... It was familiar--I didn't know where I had heard it before, but it still scratched that part of my brain.

Slowly, hand still on the dial of the lock, I turn to look over.

It's her. It's the girl from the gas station on the old road.

She recognizes me too. "Oh... It's you... From the other day."

I don't say a single thing. I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to say to her--especially with blood dripping onto my lips from my obviously broken nose.

She notices my anxious posture and overall demeanor and asks, "How's your dog? Mars?"

I swallow, a bit of the blood's bitter, metallic taste touching the tip of my tongue. "He's good... H-He's good."

"So uh... Jupiter? That's your name?" She asks me.

I nod, heartbeat roaring fast in my ears. "Yeah... It is."

She continues to try to be friendly. "That's a really cool name, actually. I love space."

I try to force a nod. "Yeah... I-It's pretty cool." I wipe the blood from my face with my sleeve.

"I'm Catalina," she says, offering a hand out for me to shake.

I hesitate before taking it and shaking it. "Nice to meet you, Catalina."

"Nice to properly meet you too, Jupiter," Catalina says with a gentle expression.

I pull my hand away, turning my gaze back to my locker and trying to open it again--still nothing. "Dammit!" I kick my locker in annoyance.

"You wanna head back to class?" Catalina begins. "The lesson will be starting soon."

"No, I don't," I tell her. "I'm going home."

"Are you sure--" Catalina's caught off.

"I broke my nose, sliced open my leg, and almost got run over today," I tell her, not once turning around to face her. I swallow. "I'm going home... I'm going to my room... And I'm never leaving." I try opening my locker again and I finally get it open. "Fucking finally," I mumble under my breath, putting my text books inside and pulling out my backpack and slinging it over my shoulder, slamming the locker. I slide down the wall to sit down on the ground, exhausted with everything.

Catalina pauses before she comes over to sit down beside me. "You sure you don't want to come back to class? I can talk to Mrs. Miller. We can get the rest of the class to leave you alone."

I shake my head, nose still bleeding. "No. That'll do nothing. They'll never listen... Even if we got a teacher involved... A principal even."

"Do they always treat you like this?" She asks.

I nod. "Yeah... They do. ...And honestly? I'm just tired of all of this."

"Home's gotta be better for you, right?" Catalina begins to say. "I mean... It's got to be your reprieve from school, right?"

I shake my head at that once more. "God no... They hate me back home too... Bet I just make things worse for them too. I mean, I breathe and my family gets stressed out--I'm ruining it all for them." I stand up again, my chest feeling simultaneously both heavy and hollow.

"Jupiter?" Catalina begins to call out, standing up too.

"I appreciate you listening, Catalina," I tell her. "...But I think I'm done... With it all." I head out, rushing to the doors and heading outside into the rain.

I need to get out. I need to walk...

No. Not walk... Drive.

I feel my breath remaining heavy in my throat before I take off, running in the direction of my family's house. It's daytime... I know my father will keep the garage door unlocked.

I ignore my throat catching fire... And I ignore the raging pain in my leg. Soon enough, I see my family's house and run faster.

"Jupiter?" My mother begins, getting ready to head to work, hand on her car's door handle. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school right now? It's not even lunchtime!"

I ignore her and run into the garage and toss my backpack aside before looking at the cabinet tops. "Come on. Come on..." I push various papers and tools aside to look for the truck's keys. "Come on! Come on!" I push more papers to the side, frantically and finally find them and then get into the truck and start it up, taking off as my mother shouts from her car.

I don't stop. I just continue to tear down the road, eyes on the horizon. I have no clue where I'm going... But I need to be alone.
As wind and rain continues to lash against the vehicle before--just like a few days ago--a shrill siren shatters the air and I press my foot down on the gas pedal, jerking the wheel to turn the car off towards the supercell passing through.

You'll just get a few shots of the twister... They'll be great... And they'll calm you down, I try to reassure myself as I continue to gun it down the road.

Despite the fact I should be focusing on the monster weaseling its way through the countryside ahead of me, I can't help but have my mind wander.

"It's Jupiter, sir."

"It's Polish."

"...my last name is pronounced Kra-vyehts."

"Young lady..."

"That's what I thought."

"Guess that mutt doesn't have balls."

"No, no, Savv. Don't apologize. ...Not like that impact could've made him uglier than he already was--somethin' like that's not possible."

"...You look like an elderly cat on its deathbed had slept with roadkill. Not kidding."

"He needs to stand out from all the rest. He's the most handsome kid in our home."

Hideous.

"...Not like that impact could've made him uglier than he already was--somethin' like that's not possible."

Hideous.

"...Not like that impact could've made him uglier than he already was--"

Absolutely hideous.

I mindlessly crush the gas pedal beneath my foot, hearing the words echo in my mind, not noticing just how close the funnel of dust and wind is in front of me.