"Life's a journey,
to find the people weird like you"

~ Atticus

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Rafael. Rafael made it to school as early as me.

It was purely a coincidence. Apparently, he was preparing a science fair project for his science club, but everyone else had dropped out and he was all alone to work by himself. My eyes had been scanning over my math homework at the time. I had successfully finished two questions out of twenty when he'd finally spoken.

"Are you sure you don't need any help?"

Usually, I would come to school and hide out at the back of the auditorium to do work because the library wasn't open yet. Unknowing to me, the science fair was held on stage in the auditorium every year, and Rafael surprised me so much I threw my book at him. It nicked him in the side of the head and a trickle of blood fell down his temple.

"I am so sorry!" I said as I jumped up and rushed over, examining his head as he squinted and groaned. It wasn't very deep despite the fact that my math book weighed so much. I cursed myself in anger. He wasn't going to heal as quickly as I was- there was no telling how slow an injury like this could take to heal.

"I-it's okay." Rafael winced as he placed a hand over the wound as he continued, "I'm sorry I scared you."

"No, it's fine. I shouldn't have reacted like that." My nerves were jumping all over the place. Guilt filled my body as more blood poured down his forehead.

"We should get something to clean that up."

The boy smiled and brought his hand away, inspecting the blood. "I'm sure it will be fine, Hope."

He actually remembered my name? I shook my head. "No, come with me. I'll help you clean it up."

I left my work behind as I gently grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and pulled him out of the auditorium and towards a bathroom. The nurse's office was most likely locked, but I had a few bandages in my locker I knew he could use.

Rafael was silent as I placed a paper towel under warm water and dabbed at his injury. There was a perplexed look on his face as he stared at me. I tried to ignore his stare as I finished wiping away the blood and made my way towards my locker for the bandage.

"Your bruises are gone," he pointed out. I paused for a moment and checked over my body. Had I not covered enough? I was wearing a regular pair of blue jeans, long socks, and my shoes. My arms were covered in baggy sleeves from my blue sweatshirt. Confused, I looked at him.

Rafael pointed towards my neck. He was closer now since I had leaned forward to put the bandage on his head. Without meaning too, I flinched back when he pointed.

"The bruises from yesterday," he said, "I noticed them when I met you. They're gone now."

Heat flooded my face and I tugged at my sweatshirt strings. "Bruises?" I asked.

He nodded. "My mom gets them all the time. She says she burns herself on her flat iron." I couldn't help but give a nervous smile at this boy's innocence. My fingers brushed over the spots where the hickeys once were. I hadn't noticed before, but it made sense for them to have disappeared by now.

"Yeah. I burned myself a while ago." I finally placed the bandage on his forehead as he continued talking.

"I just don't get it. Technically, a burn will scab over to heal, but my mom's never do that. Though I suppose the heat can change that, along with the probability of-" Rafael stopped for a moment to look at me, "Sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry." I smiled gently and glanced at his bandage again. "It should be okay after a little while. It wasn't that deep and doesn't need stitches, so I would just put some peroxide on it when you get home and have your mom change the bandage."

I closed my locker and glanced around, suddenly noticing a few kids walking down the hallway. How much time had passed already? My eyes scanned the new crowd and I froze when I noticed Vince's familiar face.

"Are you okay? Do you want me to walk you to class? W-we can pick up your books on the way if you want?" Rafael asked quietly as he followed my gaze. He acted nervous too, but I couldn't blame him. Vince had more than one victim- there was no doubt every student had experienced his treatment at least once.

"You don't have to Rafael-"

"No, I want to. We can talk about your homework too if you want? I noticed you haven't finished it."

I blinked slowly, scanning the hallway for Vince, but he was gone. My stomach lurched. Rafael wouldn't be able to defend himself against Vince if it really came down to it. Was it selfish for me to walk with him? There was hope in the boy's eyes and a nervous smile on his face as I opened my mouth to speak; part of me felt bad for saying no.

With a small sigh, I nodded and Rafael grinned. "Great! I have an extra break today at fourth period. If you aren't doing anything I can help you with some homework, but after that I have to work on my science fair project."

The rest of the trip consisted of mainly Rafael talking and me quietly listening. We grabbed my homework from the auditorium before he walked me to my first class on the other side of the building. After waving goodbye, he turned and disappeared down the hallway with the rest of the bodies that were pushing and shoving to get to class.

Part of me wondered if I should just not go to meet him fourth period, but then I thought about that kind smile and I couldn't say no. He isn't actually my friend, I reminded myself, he's just helping me with homework. Mason doesn't need to know.

If anything, the school would call Mason to let him know how low my grades were dropping, and that would be worse. He didn't actually care about my grades, but always used it as a reason to beat me.

Thanks, school. You're doing a great job looking out for the next generation.

The day went by slow. Fourth period rolled around after what felt like ages, and I was so nervous I was sweating. Surprisingly it went by smoother than I thought it would. Rafael was pretty good at explaining things, despite being a grade below me in math, and soon I was getting the hang of it. Within an hour I had already completed the homework from the day before and the homework I'd just been assigned.

Rafael mentioned helping me with my other subjects too, claiming he was pretty well educated in all of the subjects I was in. I didn't doubt it- from what I could tell, the boy was a genius. As I'd worked on a math problem, he had taken some time to write notes about his science project, which I couldn't even begin to understand.

"It's all about the universe- I love it. There's so much out there that we don't know about." Rafael said when I asked him about it. I wondered if he was talking about aliens, but I brushed the thought away immediately.

There was no such thing as aliens.

After fourth period, I slugged my way through every other class until I finally made it to my last one- art. I'd skipped art most days, but I would have to make up the work sooner or later. Art, as the teacher had explained the first day of class, was more about technique and participation rather than perfection. I could only hope he truly meant that, because my idea of art was still macaroni sculptures from first grade.

I brushed my hair out of my eyes as I sat down at the back of the class, right next to the window. Mr. Beckett, the art teacher, noticed my entrance right away but didn't say anything about my absences. When the bell rang, he instructed the class to finish their abstract paintings, looking directly at me as he explained that it was the 'last day to work'.

Splattering some paint around couldn't be that hard, right?

As I sat there, staring at my blank canvas, I curiously wondered if I should just draw a bunch of shapes. Geometry entered my mind, and I scowled. But as I looked at the time, I suddenly knew that I had no other ideas. Maybe obtuse triangles and symmetrical squares would finally be used for good.

"Hey man, what's the deal?"

My hand slipped as I finished my yellow triangle. Pain splattered all over the canvas, but I couldn't be upset. It honestly looked better than it had before. Shyly, I glanced over to my right.

A girl who looked around my height stood there with a frown on her face. Her pitch-black hair was put into two pigtails- the ends were a hot pink color. The rest of her outfit screamed punk rock, and a few dolls were attached to the belt hung low around her hips.

"That's my seat." the girl whispered quietly as she leaned down. I drew my head back in discomfort, but she didn't notice. "I always sit there!"

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize this was your seat." I said quietly. "I can just move-"

"Miko? Would you like me to stop teaching the class so you may finish your conversation with your classmate?" Mr. Beckett asked. Annoyance laced his tone.

"I mean, sure. That would make it a lot easier on me," she said before turning back to face me. In a normal voice, no longer whispering, she continued, "I always sit there. I don't really mind all that much, but I always climb out of that window-"

"Detention, Miko." the teacher grit through clenched teeth. Miko rolled her eyes and begrudgingly plopped down in the seat directly in front of me.

"Not like that bothers me, teach," she grumbled angrily.

I glanced back down at my canvas before dipping my paintbrush in blue. It wasn't the greatest so far, but if I just drew a few more shapes with different colors, and maybe splashed some dots here and there-

"Pst! What are you doing?" Miko flipped around so she could straddle her chair. I took a moment to glance at her before looking back down at my work. Miko raised an eyebrow. "What, are you shy or something? Sorry, I just don't know what's going on. What does abstract even mean?"

I shrugged in reply. Miko glanced at my work. "Hey, that looks pretty good! I think I'll just do what you're doing. If it means anything, I expect to get a high grade from this, so you should be honored I decided to cheat off of you."

"Do you want me to add another detention, Miko?" Mr. Beckett growled. I tensed and shrank back into my chair at his tone of voice, but Miko didn't seem to care.

"Do what you want. I'm trying to have a conversation here." She turned back towards me and smiled. "I don't think I've seen you around before. Are you new?"

"N-no. I've been going here for a few years." I said quietly. With the flick of my wrist, I sent red, orange, and purple across my canvas. The girl in front of me squinted at what I was doing and began to do the same. Tongue poked out of her mouth, she managed to draw a few shapes before looking up towards me again.

"I guess I just haven't seen you around. Sorry, I don't normally come to this class. It's lame." She raised her voice just enough at the end so the whole class could hear her.

"I don't normally come either." I shrugged. Miko gasped and her hands grabbed my arms, shaking in excitement.

"Really? We can be skipping buddies!"

My eyes widened and out of instinct I yanked away. My arms were burning from her touch, but I forced away the urge to shake them. Miko's mouth dropped open for a moment before she slowly pulled her hands away.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you or anything. It would just be nice to have a skipping friend. What's your name?" I frowned. What was with these people asking me for my name all of a sudden? First Rafael, and now Miko.

Miko groaned. "Oh come on! I'm not gonna bite! What's your name? You seem nice. I need some friends- mine are all about rules and doing well in school, and 'you can't just skip whenever you want, you have to think about your future.'" Miko waved her hands around for effect as she rolled her eyes. "It's just boring."

I gave a small smile. "My name is Hope."

Without warning, Miko slammed her hands on my table and stood up, pointing an occupational finger at me. "So it was you!"

I jerked backward. "What was me?"

Fear coursed through my body, but Miko had a giant grin on her face. "You're that new girl Raf has been talking to! Seriously, he won't stop talking about you!" She was smiling so big I thought her face might break. But then it turned into a frown. "He said you threw a book at him today."

My hands waved in front of my face. "N-no, that was an accident. He just scared me-"

The girl hummed as she looked me up and down, inspecting me. "Eh, I'm not sure... he acts like he has a crush on you, but you're practically a dinosaur compared to him. No offense. He's like, nine." she exaggerated, still squinting at me. "Oh well, he'll get his little heart broken a few times in life. Nothing that won't toughen him up a little bit."

"Miko! Principal's office now!"

The girl groaned dramatically and threw some green onto her art before walking to the front and tossing it onto Mr. Beckett's desk. "There ya go, teach. I'll see you in a few weeks!" The teacher's eyes bore into her back as she walked out the door before his gaze fell to me.

"Detention for you too, Hope, for talking and disrupting my class."

Detention? Mason wanted me home early. I couldn't stay behind late or he wouldn't be happy. Fear crawled through my body. "Sir, I can't-"

"I'll add another hour if you argue, Ms. Port."

I was going to be sick. I hated that Mason used his last name to enroll me at school. Not only that, but he would be furious if I came home late. Without warning, I rose to my feet and hurried towards the door. The teacher began to protest, but I ignored him as I made my way towards the nearest bathroom. My stomach lurched and I squeezed my eyes in pain as I threw up into one of the toilets.

Everything still hurt from Mason's punches the night before, and the queasy feeling wasn't helping in the slightest. I groaned and closed my eyes, knowing I would have to head towards the detention room in a few moments. It was already past the time I normally returned home.

Mason was going to be furious.

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I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!

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