A few people fit Mary's physical description, but she was almost literally the only person I saw reading a book in this school. Everyone else just liked making up supernatural nonsense and stupid rumors.

"He had to be, like, as big as a horse to drag Spence like that. Really!"

I rested my head against the wall, heaving a silent sigh. Choosing to sit in the back of the classroom stopped people whispering about me behind my back, but it made it much easier to hear everything else. And, for the unforeseeable future, that everything was--

"Hero, man! Jules said Spence swore it spoke to him when he was in the water. Crazy, right?"

"So crazy!"

I stared up at one of the florescent lights when it flickered. Something about it suddenly made me very sad.

"Man, what's keeping the teach?" someone wondered out loud.

The teacher was running late. I closed my eyes as I let that sink in. They were going to run out of things to say about that damn dog soon. And, after that, they'll switch to their second favorite supernatural topic.

"She hasn't said one word yet, has she?"

A trio of girls with their desks pushed together were talking, in not-so-hushed voices, in front of me. Like curious vultures, their necks craned over desks and around heads to look at someone as they continued their gossip.

"Yeah. Becca said the freaks probably ripped off her tongue when they kicked her out."

Okay, first of all, disgusting. What sort of people joked about something like that?

But even worse were the ones who used insults like that. The freaks. Not the first time I heard someone called that in my lengthy career as a high-school student, but at this school that insult was practically synonymous when talking about the Tea Drinkers. I rapped my fingers on the desk.

"More like she's so ashamed that not even a pack of freaks want her. If I were her, I would be trying to hide too."

"What did you say?"

The girls jumped in their seats. All at once, they turned their heads to look back at me.

Strange. Had I said something?

They had bright blue eyes--all three. One of them looked down, then back up at me, and laughed. Her voice cracked. "E-Ew, it is looking at us," she said, elbowing fellow blue eyed friends.

"Yeah, so gross," another said, attempting a smile. The third remained silent. Silent enough to grab the attention of the other two.

"Em?" one said.

"Let's just leave him alone," Em said. I could barely hear her.

She avoided looking at me as she turned back around in her seat. The other two followed suit. They continued to talk, but it was nothing more than hushed whispers-- their heads lowered.

I looked down at my hand. It was white. Shaking. I grabbed it with my other hand and it gradually stopped. The entire classroom had become quieter.

She was wearing a deep blue dress. Mary. The only person who wasn't either looking at me or avoiding looking at me. A notebook was open on her desk and a pen held loosely in her hand. In her lap, she was reading a book-- something thick and old. Every few seconds she would use her free hand to turn the page. Was she really reading it that fast?

She was small. Had to be the smallest person in class-- maybe even the school. But everyone still treated her the same way they treated the intense Kat or the walking mountain, Stallion. Whispering about her behind her back, making up rumors--stories. And, whatever the circumstances, she was alone against them.

When she dropped her pen against the notepad, it was like a gunshot going off. Many people switched from looking at me to her. But she only pushed her glasses closer against her eyes and continued to read. One of the girls whispered something about her hair-- how she was 'trying too hard.'

Her hair was long, draping her small body almost completely. She could hide in it if she didn't wear it in those pigtails. Another popular fashion of the time. It was the one thing that didn't look right on her.

...

When class ended, and everyone prepared to go home, Mouse continued to read. I had spent the better part of class watching as she wrote pages of notes while still burying herself in her book. Her ability to read as fast had slowed during her note-taking, but it was still more multitasking than I thought was humanly possible.

As she packed her bag, her eyes never left the pages. When she finished packing, she remained in her seat and kept reading. The students were quick to leave when they were ready, but she seemed intent on staying to finish. I waited as well.

Soon, the room was empty save for Mouse and I. I waited a few moments more, cleared my throat even, but she remained focused on her book.

"Teacher of the year, huh? Last to enter and first to leave. What's up with that?"

She flipped a page. Pushed her glasses back up. She was still facing away from her desk, towards me, but she never even looked up.

"Uh, Mary?"

"You shouldn't talk like them. It doesn't sound right, you know."

She flipped another page and continued to not look at me. She couldn't still be reading.

"Um, I was just..."

She glanced up. Large brown eyes made larger by her glasses.

Crap. I didn't think this through. What did I even want to say?

"What are you reading?"

She turned another page. No way. She wasn't even looking at the book anymore! Mouse caught her mistake and quickly flipped it back. She held the book up until I could barely see her face. It was older than I first thought. The cover was worn and faded a bland whitish-brown.

"I don't know what it's called," she said, lowering it until her large eyes were peering at me from the top of the book. "But so far it's about some strange person who goes around asking personal questions to people they just met." She lowered the book further, and I saw that she was smiling.

She giggled, a soft laugh held at bay by the open book she raised to cover her mouth. It was so sudden, I couldn't help but chuckle, too. It was short and felt almost forced, but it felt good too. I couldn't remember the last time I had laughed.

"It sounds familiar," I mused, crossing my legs and pretending to be in deep thought for a moment. "I didn't think asking what someone is reading would be considered a 'personal question' though."

"Depends on the someone." Mary half closed the book to wag it at me a few times. "Need to be careful with assumptions like that, Alex."

"Yeah, I guess you're--Wait, you know my name?"

"'Course," she said, swinging back to face her desk, burying her eyes back in the book. "You're the new student. Everyone is talking about you. Also, you're in two of my classes, you know."

"Ah, right."

It fell silent for a moment. I looked around the classroom and froze when my eyes fell on the clock. Damn! I was going to be late! I grabbed my bag, stood up, and prepared to say goodbye to Mary when she spoke first.

"Should I assume that's also why you know my name?" she asked.

Double damn. Did I say her name? I did, didn't I?

"Yeah, course," I said, moving towards the door. "Well, I should get going; it was nice meeting you, Mary."

She nodded, never again looking up from her book.

...

I raced to the meeting. I did not want to have to explain myself if I was late. I wouldn't know what to tell them. That I was trying to get to know Mary before asking her out on a date?

No. I was going to tell them I wasn't on board with this. There had to be another way.

I turned a corner and ran into a wall. I rebounded, falling back like I had been struck. The wall reached out and grabbed my wrist. I stopped so suddenly I thought I might've had whiplash.

"Whoa. Close one there," Stallion said with a laugh, only releasing me after I found my footing. "Got someplace to be?"

"There's a meeting today, isn't there?" I said, still trying to get my bearings. I looked up at the mountain of a teenager and found I couldn't see his eyes. He was wearing his ball cap pointed straight out. Strange.

"Oh, damn, really? Where?" Stallion almost instinctively grabbed the bill of his hat and lowered it while I looked at him. He looked from side to side. It was almost painful how obvious he was.

"Right here, actually," I said, pointing to the door a few doors down from us.

Stallion flinched when I pointed. He laughed to try and cover it and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, really? You don't say?" He started backing up. "Hey, I hate to be that guy, but can you tell the others I couldn't make it? Somewhere to be, something to do, you know how it...shit."

"Wow! You guys got here early again!" Mutt called, the sounds of pounding footsteps echoing down the long hall as he ran up to us. I looked back to see Kat and Mr. Mallard rounding the corner, but taking their time as they followed. Mutt greeted me with his usual big smile and turned to Stallion with a prepared smile for him as well.

It was very strange to see that smile slip away and a complete look of concern overtake his face in the span of seconds. Similar to Kat's ability to lose a smile, but much, much, more jarring.

"Hey, Stallion," Mutt said, quietly, "why do you got your hat like that?"

"Oh, this?" Stallion said with a little laugh, reaching up slightly to indicate it. "It's nothing, Mutt. Listen-"

Mutt moved in a blur. Even though I was standing right there, I couldn't keep up with what he did, exactly. One second he was standing still, and in the next he had moved back a step with Stallion's hat in his hand. Mutt's face became something so blank it almost made me sick.

I saw his grip tighten on the hat.

"Who did it?"

His voice chilled me to the bone. There was no usual chipper tone-- no joy. Instead, his words were laced with such an intense malice that I felt rooted in the spot. I only moved so I could see what it was Mutt was looking at. It was Stallion's revealed eyes. One of them was bruised and swollen.

"It's cool, Mutt, really. C'mon, give me back my hat." Stallion reached out a hand.

That's when Mutt straight up growled. I had never heard a person growl before, but when Mutt did it he sounded like a rabid dog. Or a wolf.

"Who did it?!" Mutt nearly screamed. His words came out in a horrible snarl which echoed down the hall. His face twisted up with raw emotion.

"It was just some of my teammates messing around. It's really no big deal, man." Stallion's voice was somehow calm and steady as he held up his hands. He glanced at me.

His eyes were telling me a much different story than his voice or his hands.

They were telling me to run.

"I'll kill them," Mutt swore, his voice now nothing more than a breathless snarl. He hurled Stallion's hat to the ground with another blur of motion. "I'll rip them apart!"

"Mutt."

A new voice, a powerful voice. One I had never heard before. When I turned to spot the owner I was expecting someone large and intimidating. Not the old and portly Mr. Mallard, who was all I saw.

The weakness in his usual voice was gone in one word that made all of us, even Mutt, fall silent.

"Heel."

And Mutt stopped. Just like that. His shoulders slackened, his fists loosened and I watched the rage, all of it, melt from his face. He sank down to his knees. Stallion rushed over to him to keep him from collapsing. I was unable to move any further.

But I wanted to run. I wanted to so badly.

Mr. Mallard hobbled past us without looking at anyone. Stallion helped the nearly motionless Mutt back to his feet and followed him. I was vaguely aware of Kat watching me as she picked up Stallion's discarded hat.

I still couldn't move. I had forgotten to breathe for a moment. I wondered if this was all another dream. I even pinched my leg.

Nope, reality.

"Come on," Kat said. She was now standing right outside room 314, facing me, her eyes expectant.

Right, the meeting.

"I-I think I might go home, for today," I said, taking another step back. "Maybe next time-"

"The fog is back," she interrupted, tilting her head towards a nearby window. "It'll be safer to leave together."

White clouds were all I could see out of any of the windows. We were back on that island. Isolated from the world.
Damnit. Why was it back today of all days? Still...

I took another step back, half turned away from her. "Still, I'll be fine. You guys have fun without me."

A firm grip on my wrist stopped me. It gripped hard enough to hurt. I spun back and saw green eyes. How fast was she, exactly?

"Don't risk it," she insisted, pulling my arm slightly towards her. It was warm, so close to her, like an aura. "Please."

Her eyes were so unnaturally green. So bright. No one's eyes could be that bright. They had to be fake. Nothing real could make my insides this twisted. Nothing real could change my mind so easily.

...

*Author's Note*

Oh, Alex (hey we finally learned the protagonist's name! That has to be a record or something for longest time between character introduction and finding out their name.) you've made quite the interesting gathering of friends, haven't you? Hope they aren't too much to handle!

And how about that Mutt fellow? He seemed alright, but now...

What do you guys think? Friend or foe? Comment and let me know! (Hey, that rhymed!)

Oh, and if you liked the chapter, you can vote, if you want. I-It's not like I care if you do or not, b-baka!