I HAD SLEPT TWENTY MINUTES IN THE LAST TWENTY FOUR HOURS, and those twenty minutes had been spread out between twelve excruciatingly long hours, making me feel like death had grabbed hold of my body and possessed me, leaving me staggering and stumbling around like the undead.

After my victorious return home, Inga had only snapped at me to get to work, commanding me to study everything about the webs along side her and to report back to her every ten minutes. She didn't seem to need sleep; she sat and watched me like a hawk, every so often typing information in and scrutinising her computer screen like there was something extremely important there - maybe there was, but if so, I had no clue or interest in what exactly that was. I had only gotten relief at three in the morning, giving me a full hour of tossing and turning before I was forced awake and taken to school. 

My eyes drooped shut for the millionth time in the past few hours, but I held my head up, blinking away the arms of sleep, trying to beckon me away. I couldn't fall asleep in the middle of class - not that I cared to pay attention anyways - my relief would have to wait until I was finally home and able to collapse, give in to the strong urge to shut my heavy eyes.

Turning my attention away from my exhausted body in hopes of staying awake, I looked around the room, watching the two girls who had confronted me a few days ago. Sally, the girl with daggers for eyes and a tongue like a knife, was giggling to her friend about something, the girl doing her best to look like she was paying attention while she listened closely. I didn't know what she was saying - reading lips had never been my forte - but it was something about me, as I saw the three syllables that made up my persona's name fall from Sally's lips like something repulsive.

Liz mumbled something back, something about 'wrong', and I frowned, watching the girl whisper more things and giggle even more. Whatever it was they were discussing, it was obviously-

"Ms Newman?"

I whirled back to the front, facing the teacher who stood a foot away from my desk, frowning at me. Everyone in the class had stopped and been staring right at me, including the two I had been watching - especially those two. Sally's snide grin said it all, and despite myself, I felt like I had done something wrong, suddenly feeling warm.

"Yes," I murmured, shooting daggers at everyone who took pleasure in the pitiful scene. "Sorry."

She simply clicked her tongue and whirled back around, striding back to the front of the class where she stood, eyes not leaving my reddening face. "Next time, let's actually pay attention, okay? I know that this may not be as exciting as Ms Avril's face-" the entire class erupted into giggles at that "-but it's still important."

I nodded and sunk back down, not daring to turn my gaze. It was more than evident that the two were probably laughing at my misfortune, but I wouldn't be the fool this time.

...

"Emily?"

I snapped out of my dreary state of almost-sleep and looked up at Peter, who was standing over me at my table, surveying my situation with concern. As it turns out, I had fallen asleep at one of the library tables situated in the corner and was left alone floating between dreams and reality, ignored until the Parker boy found me. I wasn't even sure how he did - my table was practically hidden by a large bookshelf and unnoticeable by the casual onlooker - but that didn't really matter much.

"Sorry," I mumbled, ruffling the hair that had just served as a pillow and wiping at my eyes, doing my best to look more awake than my body actually felt. "I wasn't out for long, was I?"

He shrugged, sliding into the chair opposite me and passing me my math textbook, watching me throw them into my bag without a care and have them tumble to the bottom, no doubt crumpling somehow. "I don't know, but it's still lunch if that's what you're asking. I just didn't know where you were and...I figured if I checked, at least I would know you weren't in trouble or anything."

The boy immediately looked almost abashed from his words, and I watched through sleepy curiosity as he seemed to mentally berate himself, debating his decision to reveal his intentions. It was almost childish, in a way, but on him, it wasn't quite so irritating as it would be watching anyone else - it was pathetic, but it wasn't quite so irritating.

"Well, thanks - I guess it did help, considering I've been snoring for half an hour and would definitely sleep through the bell." I followed him out, stifling a yawn as we walked. "I'm impressed with your detective skills, there."

Peter didn't reply to my snarky reply, only shrugging and wearing a small smile that irked me for some reason, but for another reason, I couldn't figure it out. After several seconds of awkwardly shuffling through crowds of apathetic students, he spoke up. "Sorry about leaving you at that party like that. I feel bad for doing that to you."

"It's fine, really," I smiled, doing my best to keep in the bubbles of excitement I had when he spoke of it. If he only knew. "What happened?"

"What?"

We paused near the door to the English classroom, and I raised an eyebrow teasingly. "What was so important to abandon me, leaving me to stand awkwardly all alone in a crowd of people I didn't know? Just a joke, before you feel bad, I swear."

"Oh, well, you know, it really was - there you are!" He finally exclaimed, turning to Ned like he was a beacon of hope from the heavens themselves. "You took a while?"

Ned frowned, giving him a weird look, "I had to find out where you guys were - you didn't exactly explain where you thought she was, so it wasn't like I could just read your mind or something."

"Oh well, yeah, but it's not that big of a school...never mind."

As we stood and waited in tense silence, I surveyed Ned; though I knew almost everything about him, I never cared to take in just what he looked like. He wore loose fitting clothes, almost subtly matching with Peter - although look a thousand times frumpier, and I took note of just how clammy his hands looked, even while he held them slightly tucked into his shirt. Just as strange as I had thought, in the end.

My attention was turned away from the boy as laughter hit my ears - not just laughter, the same high-pitched giggles that had distracted me before, the ones that belonged to Sally and her friend who didn't see to know how to make good choices, especially not with friendship. They stood nearby, whispering about something - something that probably didn't include me. They had so many things to whisper about; they were friends with everyone, and they hated every single one of them. It wasn't me that they were talking about, yet I seemed to be the one most affected, thrown into a daytime nightmare sequence that only I could see.

I stood amongst the crowd in the showers, my naked body shivering under the water that hit my back as if it was pure ice. Each girl around me had similar reactions as they stood underneath the scattered faucets; with nothing but skin and bone and the slightest bit of muscle, there was nothing to help us keep warm. We were only lucky the shower time was limited, or I was sure at least one of us would turn to an icicle; it sure felt like it.

A voice called my name; a single word, nothing more, making me turn and fall into a fist waiting for my face to hit it. I didn't see the person, but it didn't matter to me; I still fell, shaking, naked and now bleeding from my nose on the bottom of the dirty shower floor.

They stopped just above me - I didn't look up, for fear of fists barraging my face again, but I could hear them shuffling and see their feet inches away from my nose. They didn't speak, and no one else did; the room was bathed in the sounds of my sniffling and the faucets slowly dripping to a halt. We all knew that any minute an instructor would come in to yell at us, berate us for bad conduct, but no one dared move.

"Не разговаривать за моей спиной," the girl finally growled, stooping down to perch right by my ear, so it was all I could hear for many seconds after. "вы понимаете?"

I didn't understand, for I had not said anything - the only time I had spoken to someone other than the instructors was when another asked who the stocky girl in the back was. However, as I watched her slide open her locker and share a snide smile with her friend, I understood.

"Emily? The-"

"I have to go," I mumbled, brushing past the duo and ignoring their obvious curiosity. Vomit bubbled in my throat, and as I raced through the crowds, I shivered, feeling the ever-present shadows creep closer and closer to every dark thought. I could feel eyes on me as I shot through the crowds - the opposite way to any class - but I didn't stop to say or do anything.

The bathroom was thankfully empty, and I took full advantage of the emptiness as I bolted to a stool, retching up my stomach's contents, leaving nothing but bile and water into the putrid-smelling toilet, not bothering to be quiet. There was nothing to come out, yet everything was pressuring me and making me vomit everything possible.

I wiped my mouth and stayed kneeling on the floor, trembling, unsure what to do next. I wasn't sure what I was doing; this isn't what Emily would do, far from it. She was happy and bubbly and always kept a big smile on her face. She didn't stare at random girls in the hallway and get freaky visions that amounted to nothing but pure terror and brush away from her friends to vomit everywhere; that wasn't Emily, nor was that supposed to be Freya.

The demons were coming, faster and harder, and I couldn't figure out how to hold them back. At the Academy, we had learned to block them out, replacing the pain with anger and fear with ruthlessness. Here, in a world where I played the part of an innocent girl who didn't have a mean bone in her body, they rejoiced, fixated on throwing memory after painful memory at me and making me break at the worst times possible. They made me vulnerable, something I hadn't experienced in years.

I stood up shakily, brushing myself off and leaving the stall, heading to the sinks to wash my hands. I avoided eye contact with the reflection in the mirror, knowing that what I would see back would only make things worse, and focused on the task at hand, scrubbing at my skin like it was stained.

"Jeez, girlie, scrub harder and they're going to fall off!"

My eyes immediately shot up, and I stared at the brunette watching me with a smile, unsure of what to do. "What?"

Not losing a single second, she nodded towards my hands, still under burning water. "I'm saying, you'd think you were Lady Macbeth in this because you're scrubbing like you've just killed a guy!"

My hands retracted from the water, now a dull red, and I threw them into my pockets, unsure what to say or do now. "Right."

"The name's Betty," she continued, sticking out a soapy hand out but taking it back after long prolonged seconds of no reaction. "You're that new kid, aren't you?"

"Yes. I guess so."

"Cool, cool," she - Betty - mumbled, turning back to her task with another smile. "Careful with your hands next time, eh?"

I nodded, not responding, and slid out of the room and into the hallway. I took my time walking back to my class, however, not wanting to face anyone after that - especially not the Parker boy. He would have questions and worries I couldn't answer, and he would be concerned, an emotion I couldn't handle right now. The boy was starting to negatively affect me that way.

My frown grew and I sighed, wiping a hand over my brow before trudging to class. I couldn't stop now, not when I had so much progress. The demons would just have to prey on someone else, for although Emily was dumber and blander than a mule, Freya wasn't going to let herself be human.

I'm honestly not thrilled with this chapter, but hey, here's another chapter with another vision from Freya - tbh at this point I should just call this that's so Raven because she gets these like every chapter haha. They do serve a purpose, and they're not really 'visions', they're more just insights into her past whenever she gets triggered by an event or phrase or action; why and how she didn't think of all that before will be explained later on in the story, but for now, y'all get utter confusion and more on Freya's behaviour and thought process. Also, just to clarify, Sally and co. isn't meant to be set as the villain; while they were snotheads in the first few chapters, a lot of this is exaggerated by Freya - which y'all see because it's her perspective - so just keep that in mind, that some things are not as it seems.

[ also, just a heads up, no double update this week; I've got my brother's birthday on the weekend and I've got a bunch of papers slowly rotting and taunting me to finish, so we'll see if it happens but prolly not. sorry ]

Thank you for reading!