Jade sighed as she closed the door behind Quinn. It was almost 9:00pm and Bella wasn't home to stop Jade from falling further into the recesses of her own self-loathing. She'd lied to Quinn about how she and Jade first met. She told him that Bella had been quiet and reclusive, which wasn't a complete lie. However, she also told him that she never had a problem with Bella and that she and Bella were practically instant best friends. That was a lie.

Jade laid down on the couch, flipping through TV channels as she thought. She'd hoped that the sound of the protagonist in some fairytale show would stop her from once again falling into the deep dark hole in her mind, the one that Bella always pulled her back from.

It did not.

"Remember, we have a new student in our class today," Jade's teacher, Mrs. Wallbloom, said in a seemingly happy tone as she smiled. "This is Belladonna. Belladonna doesn't know everything about how we do things in our classroom, so we're going to be patient and help her adjust. That means we're going to help her feel like just another second grader. Ok?"

Everyone said "Ok," but it didn't sound convincing, not to Bella and not to Jade. That was only because it wasn't sincere.

There was something about this new Belladonna girl, something off. Everyone felt it, even their teacher. No one said anything, but it was obvious.

"Belladonna, is there anything you'd like to say to the class before we begin our morning meeting? At the beginning of the year, we shared something we did over summer break. Maybe you'd like to share about something fun you did over the weekend?"

"Um... I didn't really do anything," she said in kind of a small voice. She looked off to the side, toward the windows of the classroom, then quickly turned her eyes back to her feet. Mrs. Wallbloom seemed as if she was about to say something when Belladonna looked back up with what seemed like fake confidence. "I'm Belladonna but I only answer to Bella and we moved here because we wanted to. And Marimoor women do what they want to do."

She looked back toward the windows and smiled. Jade followed her gaze, but saw nothing outside.

What a weird girl.

"Ok..." Mrs. Wallbloom seemed at a loss for words for a few moments before regaining her composure. "Thank you for introducing yourself, Bella."

Bella nodded then sat down as their teacher continued their morning meeting. Everyone refocused their attention on the teacher, but Jade was really interested in why this Bella girl was so extremely weird. She seemed shy in one instant, then looked at the windows -where there was nothing- and suddenly started talking as if everyone should respect her or something.

There was nothing outside of those windows. Why did she keep looking over there.

Throughout the day, Bella kept having normal "shy girl's first day" interactions, but then looked at the windows and completely changed her demeanor.

It really annoyed Jade for reasons unknown to her. Bella was weird and worse, the teacher liked her. A LOT.

Mrs. Wallbloom always picked Jade to run things to the office, to do the jobs that other students forgot to do, to be her helper while she taught. But now, this Bella girl comes and everything changes. True, it had only been one day, but Jade could feel her position slipping away from her.

Good thing the other students still adored her.

Even better, they also thought Bella was weird and needed to be moved to a different class or, even better, a different school. So, at recess, they gathered and made a plan.

"Well, how are we going to get her to transfer to another school?" Thomas asked.

"Yeah, we don't want to do anything that'll get us in trouble," Eli agreed.

"I don't mind getting in trouble if that freak leaves," Liza stated. "You never know what she's going to say or do. Besides, she's just plain... weird. We don't want weirdos in our class."

"Yeah, but we've got to be smart," Jade replied. "I can't get into trouble. My parents'll be really mad. We have to get her to leave without getting in trouble."

"How?" Emilia asked.

"We just have to set it up like a prank, but it has to be after school so that we can't get in trouble with the teachers," Jade said. "Eli, what about that exploding paint trick your sister taught you?"

"What about it?"

"Can you do it? If we put it in Bella's bookbag, it'll ruin everything inside and it'll get all over her too once she opens her bag. She'll be too embarrassed to come back to school."

Everyone nodded, agreeing that the plan would work and, knowing what they already knew about Bella, she'd probably cry and then try to pretend it meant nothing. But they probably wouldn't see her again.

Everyone in the group covered for Eli during art class while he got what he needed to do the exploding paint trick his sister taught him. Nobody really knew how it worked, just that when Bella opened her bookbag, paint would explode in her bag and cover everything green. Goodbye homework. Goodbye lunchbox. Goodbye books.

At the end of the day, they kept distracting Bella so that she wouldn't open her bookbag, but Jade did most of the work.

"Bella, right?" she said when she saw Bella was about to open her bag for some reason. It was probably to put her folder inside, but it really didn't matter. If Bella opened the bag before leaving school, the entire class would be held back while Mrs. Wallbloom lectured them and then she'd tell each of their parents, whether or not they were involved. If it was after school, Mrs. Wallbloom would tell their parents, but each of them could easily deny it since their parents would have first heard them each say how much they loved having the new girl in their class.

That was the plan, anyway.

"Yeah," Bella said.

"Well, I was so busy at recess and lunch and we aren't in any groups together, so I never got to say hi to you," Jade said with what seemed to be a sincere smile. "I'm Jade. I know everything about the class and the school, so if you need to know anything, let me know. I can help."

"Really?"

"Of course."

Jade saw Bella relax and smile. "Thanks. I guess I've kind of felt like everyone here hated me all day. It's nice to have a friend. I've... never actually had one before. I think people just don't like me for some reason." The smile fell from Jade's face just as quickly as she'd plastered it on. "Oh, I'm sorry... I guess you never said we were friends-"

"Ok, class. It's time to head outside so your parents can pick you up. Remember, stay in one line," Mrs. Wallbloom interrupted.

Jade couldn't have felt more conflicted in that moment. She still thought Bella was extremely weird, but maybe it was because she'd never had friends before. Or maybe she'd never had friends because she was so weird. Either way, Jade suddenly felt like trying to get her to leave the class after having only known her for less than a day was maybe a bit too much. There was really nothing wrong with her.

"Bella, before we go outside, I should warn you-"

"Jade, you know better than to talk in the line," Mrs. Wallbloom called out.

Jade sighed. They were supposed to be completely silent in the line. She knew that, but this was important. She'd just have to wait until they got to their spot outside and hope that her parents weren't already waiting for her.

She wasn't that lucky.

Her parents were there, both of them, with large smiles on their faces. "So, Jade," her mother said, "did you make friends with the new kid in your class."

Jade tried to smile, but failed. Bella, however, came right up beside her and smiled wide. "Thanks again, Jade," she said as she gave her a quick hug then ran off to her own mother.

Jade looked up at her parents, who both seemed to be forcing smiles as her father spoke. "We're proud of you," he said. "Come on, let's go get ice cream before your mother and I have to go back to work."

Jade nodded and held onto their hands as they walked to the car, but she never stopped looking at Bella.

Bella talked happily with her mother for a few moments before opening her bag and everything after that seemed to happen in slow motion. The green paint splattered across Bella's face and her mother's clothing. Bella spit some out of her mouth and rubbed her eyes, seemingly only able to open one at the time.

Jade could only just make out some of her mother's words as she went to the car with her parents.

"Which one of your stupid little classmates did it this time?" her mother yelled. "And don't pretend you don't know. You know."

Bella made eye contact with Jade for a moment, then looked away. "I don't know," she said. "Sorry, mom."

"Don't say sorry. Learn to stand up for yourself. If you'd make them fear you like I keep saying..."

Jade missed the rest of the conversation as the door closed to the car. She watched as Bella's mom continued to yell at her, only pulling her eyes away when her father turned the corner and she could no longer see the interaction.

Jade buried her face in a couch cushion as she remembered how Bella had to wear an eyepatch for a week, making her an even bigger weirdo in class.

"Make. It. Stop!" Jade screamed repeatedly as she banged her head against the couch cushions. After the fifth time, she calmed down just a bit and turned her head back toward the TV. She caught the end of some show about an alien race that came to Earth and lived among humans in secret. The clock read 11:00 pm and Bella was more than a little late getting home.

Jade pulled out her phone. At least worrying about Bella made her stop thinking about her first interactions with Bella.

********************************************

"Hades, I can't control this," Bella said, her voice shaking as she watched as everything around her began to break apart, atom by atom. Hades stood maybe 15 yards away, unmoving as the trail of carnage got closer and closer to him. In fact, if Bella didn't know any better, she'd say he was getting closer.

"Yes you can," was all he said in response. That was all he'd been saying to her as she'd said this over the past ten minutes. This time, however, he added something. "If you haven't noticed, it's slowing down."

"Huh?"

"It's slowing down. The area around you was completely obliterated within seconds, but it somehow took ten minutes for it to reach a, what, ten yard radius?" He took another step.

Bella was right, he was getting closer. Hades was either an idiot or crazy, both would get him torn apart atom by atom by her powers, which were much stronger now but in no way under her control.

"Hades, stop getting closer."

"No," Hades said.

"Hades!"

"Sorry, I left something over there I really need for class tomorrow."

"Well it's gone now anyways!" Bella yelled.

"I need it. It's worth 50% of my grade."

"You said you won the games. You'll graduate without it!"

Hades paused, a look of surprise plastered on his face. "I stayed up all night for that project and listened to Alan speak for hours. I'm turning it in." He took another step, causing him to be so close that Bella knew he could probably feel the affect her power was having on the area around her.

"Hades, stop being an idiot!"

"I don't know how." He took a step onto what was left of the grass at the edge of Bella's telekinetic power as Bella took two steps back.

"I don't want to kill you," she practically whispered.

"Then don't," Hades responded as he took another step closer. Bella took several more stops back, but Hades kept advancing until Bella's back hit a tree.

Hades was sure that hitting the tree would be a sign for her, but instead she regrouped and went around the tree as she continued to retreat. Hades sighed, realizing that she was too focused on her fear to even let logic enter the equation. Instead of continuing this "chase," he used his own power to bring about a thick darkness throughout the surrounding area.

Bella was running blind now. How was she supposed to make sure she didn't get close enough to accidently kill Hades if she didn't even know how close he was? She couldn't. It wasn't possible, especially since she knew he was using his power and could see in the thick black coat he caused to blanket the area.

She kept moving anyway, bumping into things here and there, but generally being fine until she felt someone grab her forearm. She reflexively went to punch, but felt really bad when her fist connected with their face and she realize who it was.

"Sorry," she said as the black haze cleared and she saw Hades standing there, rubbing his jaw.

"For a right handed person, you've got a really good left hook," he said.

"Thanks, now get away," she responded.

"Bella, if you didn't have control, I'd already be dead just by being this close," Hades sighed. He watched as Bella looked at her surroundings and slowly realized what he said. He was right. The trees around her would be gone and so would he.

"I have control," she whispered.

"Well, to a degree," Hades said. "You can at least control it enough not to use it. Controlling it enough to use it how you want to will be a completely different story."

"But you'll help?"

"Of course I'll help. It'd be way more evil not to, but that's not my style."

Bella smiled as they made their way back to their spot on the hill. They'd left all of their things up there. Thankfully, Hades had thought ahead and knew something like this would happen. He'd put their things far away from Bella, just as he'd positioned himself far away from her.

"So," Bella said as they walked back up, "how'd you know that would work and I'd gain control?"

Hades shrugged, the look on his face seeming to say that it was obvious. "You were afraid of your power, but you have bigger fears than that and you do everything within your power to make sure they don't come true. I wasn't sure if you were afraid of killing someone or killing me, but my method would work either way."

"Killing you," Bella said after a long pause. "Villains don't get many friends, but I'd like to think you're one of the few I do get to have."

"I think we're friends," he responded. "I didn't know that was up for debate."

"It's not anymore." Bella smiled as they reached the top. She grabbed her bag and pulled out her phone. "Anyways, I only have two friends: you and Jade. My biggest fear is that I'll lose you both, but right behind that one is that I'll lose one of you. Every other fear is pretty far behind."

"I'm that important?" Hades said, a devious smile on his face.

"Don't get conceited." Bella looked at the time on her phone and sighed. "How'd it get so late?"

"You actually took less time than I thought you would to get this far. I thought we'd be out here until early tomorrow morning. Maybe even sunrise."

Bella rolled her eyes at Hades just as her phone started to ring. She answered and began walking down the hill, Hades close behind with the large book in his hands.

"Hey, Jade. Sorry I was out so late and didn't tell you. I know you worry way more than anyone should about these things. I'll explain later but I'm on my way home now. See you in half an hour or so."

"She worries about you?" Hades asked as Bella hung up.

"Ever since second grade," Bella sighed.