I wake up in a bed I don't recognize. The sheets are paper thin and I can feel the cool air through them. I pull them tighter around me and I feel the mattress shift underneath me.

"OHMIGOSH YOU'RE AWAKE!!!" Ochaco's screech wakes me up fully. I open my eyes to be met with blinding LEDs. I squint my eyes at the light, temporarily blinded.

"Shh shh darling," an old voice says. "Don't want to wake any of the other students."

"I'm so sorry!!" She squeaks quietly. After blinking a few times, my eyes adjust to see my friend and a stout old lady standing over me. "Are you okay?" She whispers.

I nod. The pounding in my head has gone, but I'm still really tired. She has already changed back into her other clothes and I notice she has both our bags at her feet. "Thank you," I sign to her, picking up my bag and pulling out my clothes.

"No problem. The bathroom's over there," she motions to a door on the other side of the room, past a few more beds. "I have so much to tell you when you get back!"

"You're good to go," the lady says from next to one of the beds on the other wall. "You'll just be tired for a bit. My healing takes up a lot of your energy and you sustained quite a concussion. Try to be more careful when you're testing your quirk's boundaries, dear."

I just nod and rush to the bathroom as she leans over a freckled boy and plants a kiss on his forehead.

Okay, that was weird, I think as I shut the door behind me. But he looked sorta familiar. Was that the guy Ochaco said she saved from falling when they were walking in? He must've had quite the day. I sure hope he'll be alright.

When I finish changing, I head back out to see Ochaco standing with our bags, waiting. I grab mine and stuff my clothes in as we leave.

"Thank you Recovery Girl!" My friend sends over her shoulder as we exit.

"Okay, so spill," I sign as soon as the door closes.

"Okay!" She says, obviously anxious to talk about what happened. "So we got into the arena and I was running around, touching the robot villains and lifting them up, then dropping them to defeat them. I got through quite a few of them actually, but then one of those giant ones that aren't worth any points showed up and started crushing buildings! I was terrified! Some of the debris landed on me and I was right in front of the robot, so I couldn't move and it was coming right at me!!"

My eyes are wide as I sign "that's awful!!"

"Yeah! But then, you remember that kid with the messy hair that was in the nurse's office with you?" I nod and open the doors to the outside. We are greeted by the sunlight and we both squint, but she continues as we walk down the long road in front of us.

"He jumped up and took down the villain with just one punch!!!" She squealed.

Huh, I guess I underestimated his power, but if he could do that, he must have a pretty strong quirk.

"But then, he started falling from the sky and it didn't look like he could stop himself, so I lifted the rock off me, climbed onto a robot part, and made it fly over to where he was going to land!! I slapped him in the face and made him stop falling!!!!"

My mouth hangs open in shock, but then I start laughing.

"What?" She says indignantly.

"You slapped him in the face?"

"Well... Yeah, it was all I could reach!!!" I cover my mouth with my hand and signal for her to continue with her story. "Anyways, then of course I threw up because I had used up so much power. I saw that both his legs were bent at weird angles and his arm was all purple and broken looking. Then, I heard him talking about trying to get just one point and that confused me! He was so powerful, yet he hadn't gotten even a single point! I guess his quirk hurts him whenever he uses it. So he used his one good arm to start dragging himself across the ground, but then time ran out, so he didn't get any points that entire time! I felt so bad!!"

"Oh no! That's terrible! So he must not have passed."

"That's what I thought! He was being heroic and I figured that should at least count for something! So when I changed, I went to see Present Mic and told him to give the boy some of my points because he deserves to be in this school!" She starts to tear up. I can't imagine being stuck in that position, but I guess that tail boy had a similar experience.

Oh no! I didn't ever get to thank him for helping me!

"But he said that the boy had gotten enough points on his own and that I shouldn't be concerned about him. He said I did pretty well too!! Present Mic knew how I did! Isn't that crazy?!? He's like a big deal!!"

"That's amazing, Ochaco!" I sign, giving her a big smile.

"So what happened in your exam?!? Recovery Girl said you strained your quirk too much and gave yourself a concussion! How did that happen?!?"

So I signed to her the whole story about fighting the robots and that annoying hotheaded blonde kid, then immobilizing the giant robot to save the tail boy, then him helping me to an alley and us taking down the last two robots together. I end the story with him carrying me out of the alley and me passing out.

"Aww! That's so cute!!" She squeals. I send her a dark look. "What? It just sounds like one of those perfect romantic meetings where the guy sweeps the girl off her feet!!"

"And then she slaps him in the face?" I sign with a smirk.

"It's not like that," she pouts to me, a blush creeping up her face.

"Sure, you two just happen to keep running into each other."

"It's really just a coincidence!!"

"Okay, okay. I'll stop talking about it."

"Thank you..." We walk in silence for a bit. "So was he cute?"

"Uraraka!!!" She looks at me with expectant eyes. "We were a little too busy being attacked by giant robots for me to notice."

She looks down at her shoes. "I guess you're right."

I nudge her and she looks back up at me so I can sign, "I gotta turn here. See you at school on Monday?"

"Oh yeah! See ya!!"

We wave to each other and go our separate ways.

When I get home, I shower, then dig through my collection of movies. I end up looking through a box I don't often go into. It's filled with non-Disney movies that Great-Great-Grandma(GGG) deemed worthy of her collection. In the past, I hadn't really given it much thought, so I only watched a few of them. They were a bit too sad for young me, so I gave up on them and just watched the Disney movies, but I think I should give them another chance. Besides, Grandma told me not to watch some of them until I was older. I grab two movies that look interesting: Les Miserables and The Internship. Let's see how this goes.

Thirty minutes into Les Miserables, I pause it to make some popcorn and grab chocolate. This is definitely a chocolate movie. I watch the rest of the movie with a box of tissues at my side. It's near empty by the time the movie ends.

I don't think I'll ever be the same. I understand why GGG had that movie in her collection now. I can't help but feel connected to all of those characters. I lost so much of my family and a love I thought was real. Everything with Grant seems to pale in comparison to this masterpiece.

What did I even see in him anyway? We were young and stupid. It wouldn't have worked anyway.

I wipe my eyes again as I remember the last scene where they are standing on the new barricade and they finally have peace. I hope Mom, Dad, and Grandma found their peace.

As I'm switching the movies, praying this one is more lighthearted, yet still as good as the last one, Mic walks in through the front door.

"HEY KID!!! GREAT WORK OUT THERE TODAY!!!! YOU REALLY SHOWED THEM ROBOT VILLAINS WHO'S BOSS!!!"

"Thanks," I signed with a smile.

"I FINALLY GOT TO MEET YOUR FRIEND URARAKA!!! SHE WAS PRETTY DARN COURAGEOUS TO OFFER UP HER POINTS LIKE THAT!!! HEY, WHEN ARE YOU GONNA STOP BEING EMBARRASSED BY YOUR OL' UNCLE AND INTRODUCE YOUR FRIENDS TO ME PROPERLY????"

I unplug my ears and sign, "I'm not embarrassed of you, I just don't want them asking questions that I can't answer."

"IF THEY'RE YOUR FRIENDS, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO TELL THEM ABOUT YOUR PAST!!"

"I don't need this talk right now, please. I'm just scared of what they will think of me. They'll probably leave me just like everyone else."

"HEY NOW, I DIDN'T LEAVE!!!! GIMME A HUG, KIDDO!!!!!"

I reluctantly smile and give my uncle a hug. As loud and annoying he can be at some times, he is there for me. I just need to be reminded sometimes.

"SO WHAT'RE YOU WATCHING?!?"

I pick up the DVD case and show it to him, then shrug.

"NEVER HEARD OF THAT ONE!!! MIND IF I JOIN??"

"Not at all," I sign with a smile. We make more popcorn and I return to the couch. He grabs a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet and lifts it for me to see. I merely shrug as I navigate the disk menu. He places a glass down in front of me before sitting in his armchair and sipping his own.

This is how it's been with us. He's certainly a party animal and has built up quite the tolerance, but he only gives me small glasses to drink on special occasions. Which I guess this classifies as, using my quirk out in public and completing the entrance exam. I take a small sip of my drink, trying hard not to cough from the burning flavor. I set the glass back down, figuring it will be a bit more tolerable if the ice melts more.

The movie opens to see two guys sitting in a fancy car. As they begin talking, I recognize the blonde man's voice. It's Lightning McQueen!!! All of a sudden the other man turns up the radio and a song is playing that I recognized from the iPod.

"IT'S LIKE RAAAAIIIIIIIIN!!!! ON YOUR WEDDIIIIING DAY!!!!" I sing along in my head, finally understanding this one's presence on the playlist.

And so the movie continues. My cheeks flare up a bit when they get to the strip club scene. This must've been what Grandma was talking about when she said not to watch some of them until I was older, I think to myself, glancing over to Mic, but he doesn't seem fazed letting me watch it.

I end up ultimately loving it. I'm not surprised though. I trust in my family's judgement when it comes to these things. My hands are itching to search through the box for another new movie, but I know I have homework to do, so I reluctantly go to my room and continue with my regular life.