I sat quietly in my Geometry class, twirling my pencil in my hand. After my delightful conversation with Sandra, she left because she had someone new to hit. Which reminded me - I looked down at my watch, and saw it was 11:20. "Yes!" I whispered to myself, smiling slightly. Only one more period until I got to leave for Lunch to do research for my...problem.

"What are you yes-ing about?" the kid behind me asked, poking at my back. Speak of the devil.

I turned around to face Julian. "Okay, listen," I said. "What I do is none of your business, and-"

"Isabelle, is there a problem?" Mr. Thomas asked from the front, glaring at me angrily.

"Well, I suppose there's no problem...if I have to quietly accept a pencil poking into my back, without doing anything about it," I replied, flipping my hair over my shoulder.

He sighed. "Well, then, can you deal with the problem after class?"

"Whatever," I mumbled, flipping to the back of my notebook, which was filled with doodles of random things. While I scribbled endlessly on the paper, my mind wandered back to the talk with Sandra.

I don't think it'll be good for you, she had said. What did that mean? We're they going to strip me of my status? Ban me from the Death World to live as a mortal? I shuddered at the mere thought of it. That meant I would have to eat, sleep, drink, shower, get zits, and get a period, like other girls.

I was still out of it when Mr. Thomas stood at my desk and rapped hardly on my desk. "Isabelle Daniels," he said sternly.

Crap. I lifted my head up. "Yes?" I asked, smiling at him.

"Turn into your groups." He looked down at my page, which I hastily tried tried to cover up. "And save your drawing for art class."

"I don't have Art," I said quietly, turning my desk around to find myself staring at...him. Ugh, I'd completely forgotten about him.

"So, where should we start?" Julian asked, getting a piece of paper out. None of us replied, just staring at him.

"Dude, you can do whatever what you want," the girl next to me said, yawning. "Just put my name on the paper and I'm good." She put her head down, and I knew she wouldn't lift it until the bell rang.

"Well, first of all," the guy sitting next to Julian said, taking the paper from his hand, "I'm most likely the best at Geometry here, so-"

"You're wrong," I interrupted.

He laughed. "Excuse me?"

"You're excused," I said calmly, leaning back and crossing my arms.

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I don't need your help anyway. You're failing this class, aren't you?"

"Well, yeah, but my exam grades are all 100s, if you must know. It's only because I'm always cutting and never doing homework, that I always get a 60." It was true - I actually tried on the tests I sat down for, just for the kicks of it.

While I had this talk with the kid whose name I didn't know, Julian cleared his throat. "So, guys, if you're both great, why don't the both of you work to-"

"Oh, I didn't try to imply that I would be doing anything for the project," I interjected. "I just wanted to point out that he," I pointed at the kid, "isn't better than I am."

He rolled his eyes. "That's what you're saying, but there's no proof. You could just be bluffing."

I rolled my eyes in return (I did this a lot). "What's the problem, then?" I asked, taking the problem from Mr. Thomas' hand. "I'll solve it, you guys rewrite it, explain it, decorate it, whatever." I laughed after I read it. "Why such an easy problem?" I looked up at Mr. Thomas, who was still standing there, to ask him.

"You think you can solve it correctly without a single mistake?" he asked, smiling, probably knowing the answer himself.

"Um, yeah?" I immediately started writing, and finished quickly. I held the paper out to Mr. Thomas, who skimmed it over briefly.

"It's right," he announced, handing the paper back to me. "Nolan, maybe you could learn from her," he said to the kid, before walking away.

I smirked at Nolan as I handed over the paper. "It's I-S-A-B-E-L-L-E D-A-N-I-E-L-S, if you didn't know," I said sweetly.

I was going to lie down like the girl next to me, when Mr. Thomas came back. "I can't believe I forgot," he said, "but wake up Eliza, will you? Tell her she'll get no credit if she doesn't do something, besides writing her name or the date, and she'll have to stay awake."

"You wake her up," I said, motioning to Julian.

"Me?" His eyes widened, which made my heart bear faster again. Damn it. "Why me? I'm the farthest from her."

I gave him a look. "Does it look like Nolan's going to be sidetracked for even a second?" I asked, forcing myself to keep eye contact with him. Luckily, Julian turned to stare at Nolan, who was ferociously checking over my work.

"Well, why can't you do it?" he asked, bringing his gaze on me again.

I bit my lip, trying to keep my voice steady while hoping my face wasn't turning red. "You know, we're having a very pointless conversation here," I said in a low tone.

"What?" he leaned close, bringing his face near mine. "I didn't hear what you said. Say it again."

For a moment, I was sidetracked by his minty smell. Suddenly, I realized what was going on, and I forced myself to lean back. "Never mind," I snapped at him, shaking Eliza violently. "Hey, wake up!" I barked, "Mr. Thomas said he was going to fail you if you looked dead and refused to do anything."

The girl's head shot up so quickly, her hair nearly sliced my skin off. "That's not fair!"

I ignored her, letting Julian clarify. When I put my head down, however, Julian tapped me on the arm. "Hey," he said, still tapping me, "didn't you hear yourself tell Eliza that she would fail if she kept her head down?"

I clenched my teeth tightly together. His tapping made goosebumps pickle on my skin, and I didn't like the way he breathed in my ear. I closed my eyes, a part of me hoping he would stop, the other part hoping he wouldn't. In the end, my first part overpowered the second. Instead of just snapping my head up like Eliza did, I rose my head slowly, and I could see Julian smiling from my peripheral vision. That smile disappeared after I said my line. "Who said I gave a damn about passing this class?"

When I put my head back down, a part of me hoped he would tap me again.

He didn't.