“Wake up. It’s time for school.” Elwin says.
“Five more minutes.” I groan.
“No. I already let you sleep ten minutes longer than I usually would. You need to get to orientation.”
“Fine.” I drag myself out of bed, and get dressed. Elwin hands me a quick breakfast, and I hurry down the halls to get there on time.
“How are you doing?” Dex asks when I run into him.
“Been better. You?”
“I’m fine. But, uh, you should probably know that news of your mind breaking got out.”
“What?! How?” I’d gone out of my way to stay invisible since I got here. And everything wrong with me had been kept very secret.
“I don’t know! Someone must have overheard us talking about it, and started telling everyone else.”
“How much do they know?”
“I’m not exactly sure. They seem to know that you were in it for three days, and that Sophie couldn’t bring you back at first.”
“Ugh. What should we do?”
“I guess just act normal until they quiet down?”
“Ok. I’ll try that. Let’s go.” We walk further down the halls, but when we start running into other prodegies, whispers start following us.
“That’s her. Her mind broke? She must have done something really bad if it broke her mind.”
“Just ignore them.” Dex says. I try to block them out, but the whispers keep coming.
“We should stay away. She was probably violent, and that’s why her mind broke.” Eventually, we got to orientation, where people kept whispering.
“How are you doing?” Linh asks when we sit next to her and Tam.
“Well, I can’t watch my own memories, and everyone thinks the reason my mind broke is because I did something violent. Not very good.”
“Aw. Why would they spread rumours like that?”
“Well, they’re not exactly wrong…”
“Don’t think like that.” Dex says. “You couldn’t control it. It was Guilt, not violence.”
“I know.” Nothing is noteworthy about orientation, but I can hardly stand P.E.. Everyone keeps whispering and staring, and the things I hear them gossiping about are awful.
“I take it you’re not allowed to participate?” Sir Harding asks.
“Nope.” I sigh. “Is there anything else I can do? I’m tired of just sitting on the side to watch everyone else.”
“I’ll see if I can set some things up so we can test the limits of your telekinesis.”
“Thanks.” He walks away to talk to Lady Alexine, and comes back a minute later.
“If you come with me, we’ll test your skills.”
“Alright. Thank you.” I follow him into another room, where there are increasingly large objects.
“I have to go help with the rest of the school, but I just want you to see if you can lift all of these objects. If you finish with that eatly, there’s a stopwatch over there, so you can see how long you can hold something up.”
“Thanks.” This is much better than watching the rest of the school do something I’m not allowed to. Since I used to practice this so much, I should be able to lift the biggest object, but I can hardly focus enough to bring the second smallest one off the ground. I grab the stopwatch, and hit go as I hold the smallest object a few feet in the air. It seems like I’m holding it for a while, but when I have to drop it, only 12 seconds had passed. This is no use. I won’t be able to do anything right until I get an ability reset. I end up spending the rest of the session in a corner of the room, trying to watch a memory. I couldn’t see one all the way through the whole time. When I hear people, I walk out and go to change back into my regular uniform.
“So how did practicing telekinesis go?” Biana asks.
“Terrible. I could barley do anything.”
“I’m sure it will all get fixed soon.”
“Hopefully. I can’t keep living like this.” People start staring and whispering again.
“They say she came from another universe. That’s a lie, and she probably has a twin somewhere.” The last thing that someone said upset me.
“Who said that? That I must have a twin?”
“Why?” One of the prodeiges asks. “Is it true?”
“No. And what’s definitely not true is that twins can’t be as powerful.”
“Lori…” Biana puts a hand on my shoulder. I’m causing a scene. But I don’t care.
“Everyone and their stupid stereotypes. Elves from multiple births are just like the rest of us. Nobody has the right to make anyone else feel worse because they have a twin or something.” Tam and Linh come and stand beside me, and so do Rex, Bex, and Lex.
“If you’re really so desperate for people to believe your lies that you have to make friends with these, then you must be worse than everyone thinks.” The prodigy says. A few people stand behind him, snickering.
“She’s not friends with just them.” Sophie says, standing besides me. “And she’s right. Stereotypes about multiple births are stupid and false.”
“And why should we believe you? She broke her mind by doing something bad, and you just attract trouble wherever you go.”
“That is not true.” I say.
“That your mind broke because you did something bad? Our minds break when we get violent. What else would it be?”
“That is none of your business.”
“Can’t think of a good excuse?”
“No, but I don’t need to tell you everything, so you’ll believe me.”
“Ha! You’re the fakest elf here. You gonna claim that you’re ‘from another universe’ now?”
“My life is none of your business, and I think you should stay out of everyone’s. Stop telling lies about how multiple births are bad for some reason, and stop spreading rumors about me!”
“It’s called being a decent elf. Ever heard of it?” Keefe says. At some point, everyone in our group had come to stand behind me, along with a bunch of others. I think I see a few people who look like they could be twins, but they aren’t the only ones. The prodigies with the one who had been talking look surprised that so many people were standing behind me.
“Whatever.” He says, walking away. I turn around so I can look at all the people standing behind me, when Linh wraps me in a hug.
“Thank you for being brave enough to do that.” She says.
“Yeah. No problem.” Bex joins, and so do the other Dizznee triplets. And so does everyone else. I’m in the center of a giant hug from the outcasts and their defenders. Everyone lets go, and those who aren’t in our group walk away, talking with their friends about what I just did.
“Well, you just made things a lot better for yourself, or a lot worse.” Tam says. “But, thanks for doing that. Not many people would.”
“Of course I did. I can’t stand the stupid beliefs elves have about multiple births, and a whole bunch of other things.”
“Yeah. It really sucks. But we’ll fine a way to change it.” Dex says.
“I know we will.” I grab his hand. The chimes sound and we all head to lunch. The whole time I can feel others eyes on the back of my head. Act normal. You didn’t just defend multiple births in fron of half the school and the other half is just hearing about it now on top of all the other false rumors about you and how your mind broke. I tell myself. Those people definitely aren’t staring at you, whispering and thinking you won’t notice.
“Are you ok? You’ve barely touched you food.” Sophie says.
“Yeah. I just feel like everyone’s watching me.” I respond.
“They aren’t. And if they are, then they should get a life.” Dex says.
“Actually, they probably are.” Marella says. “You don’t even want to know the types of rumors going around about you now.”
“Gee, thanks. That makes me feel so much better.” I say sarcastically, rolling my eyes.
“What? So people are talking about you. Get used to it. With everything you do, it’s a wonder it’s taken them so long to notice you.”
“I know. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” The rest of lunch is boring, then it’s time for Inflicting. Which I can do nothing in even if I was allowed to. So while Sophie is trying to come up with the emotion she’d need to inflict faster, I’m stuck in the back of the classroom, watching. And after study hall, I have to report back to Elwin.
“Tomorrow night you can go home.” He promises.
“Ok.” I spend the afternoon with Biana, since Dex has to babysit the triplets. I drink my sedative, and fall asleep.