Lexi

The room was bigger than I had expected and filled almost to capacity. I took a small breath as I pulled out my class schedule and walked over to the man, looking to be in his mid-twenties, writing on the dry-erase board.

He didn’t look away from the equations he was preparing on the board as he addressed me. "Ms. Drake, I presume."

I cleared my throat to keep my voice from faltering. "Yes, Alexia Drake."

He looked at me sideways for a moment, before setting the marker down. "Well, Ms. Drake, please grace us with an introduction." He gestured to the class before taking a seat down at his desk.

Stay strong, I thought turning to the classroom of attentive eyes. "My name is Alexia Drake, but everyone just calls me Lexi. Uh, I moved here about a couple of weeks ago." I turned to the teacher expectantly, but he wasn’t paying as he looked over what appeared to be homework. Seriously? I thought clearing my throat to pull professor Caldwell’s attention back to me.

There were clear signs of boredom etched across his face. "That's all you have for us then? Right," he said rolling his eyes. "Find an empty seat."

I peered over the room, trying my hardest not to look anyone directly in the eyes. There was a free seat two rows from the back and almost right in the middle of the room.

Professor Caldwell called out to me as I made my way over to my desk. "After you've set your books down, please come back up to the board. All new students in my class are required to solve one of the daily equations. I like to know who's going to make it through the semester."

Glad to see Fox wasn't exaggerating. I dropped my bag on the seat and headed back up to the front of the class. Professor Caldwell's look of disdain was barely hidden as he held up the marker for me to take. Resisting the urge to snatch it out of his hand, I just beamed him a smile and gently took it.

As I looked over the equations that I knew no normal sophomore could know, I racked her brain for any semblance of sense it could make.

Caldwell hovered behind me. "Before graduation, Ms. Drake," Caldwell before moving closer to whisper. "I can already tell you'll be wasting my time in this class."

I was trying everything in my power not to throw the marker right at his head as the anger built up inside of me.

"Well class," Caldwell said turning away from me, "you can rest easy that there won't be any change to the grading curve."

That's it! I had reached my breaking point, but before I could turn around, the equations on the board caught my attention. The numbers no longer looked like hieroglyphs to me and the equation seemed to work itself out in my mind. It was like I could see the solution spelled out on the board. It makes sense. How in the heck- Not willing to let this brief moment of clarity escape, I quickly worked the equation out. After a few minutes and what felt like a thousand strokes to my shoulder, I moved away from the board as Caldwell stepped towards it with a narrowed gaze.

The tension was so palpable, my breathing had even paused. He turned around and looked directly at me. "Well, you may be the first intelligent student I've ever had in this class. Take a seat."

The relief that moved through me quickly vanished when I turned and saw a sea of bitter eyes looking up at me. I kept my eyes forward and shoulders back as I moved to my seat. Upon reaching it, a red-haired girl sitting in the desk behind mine gave me the middle finger while staring daggers at me.

Memo to self, learn how to make a shiv. I could feel eyes on me throughout the entire period. When the bell finally rang, I took my time putting my stuff away. There was a good chance someone was going to try to trip me or knock into me, or whatever on my way out. Once the majority of the class was out, I made a break for it.

My left foot was already out of the classroom when I came face to face with it again. The same shadowy figure with pale-yellow eyes and a wide smile. Whether it was my “fight or flight” instincts kicking in or some other chemical from my brain, I just reacted. My fist flew up and hit it across the face harder than I had ever hit anything in my life.

Pain immediately coursed through my hand and wrist. “Shit!” I yelled grabbing at my possibly broken hand. It was almost enough to distract me from whatever impending doom was in front of me. I quickly looked down to where the shadowy figure had fallen, but it wasn’t there. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.”

Lying on the ground with blood hemorrhaging from the nose, was another girl. Through her thick, long blonde hair covering her head, I could see the bright red all over her face. I dropped to the ground as every student in the hall gathered around. I'm such an idiot. What the hell is wrong with me? "I'm so sorry," I pleaded trying to talk to the girl

Her scream practically knocked me back. "Get away from me!"

A deep and frightening voice came from behind the circle of students. "Everyone, back up." A large man in a well-tailored suit, as well as professor Caldwell, pushed their way toward me and the girl.

The large man turned to Caldwell. "You saw what happened?"

The professor turned to me with a cold look in his eyes. "Yes, principal Justice."

Oh, I'm so screwed.

The principal bent down and, with one motion, picked the girl up into his arms. "Make sure the responsible parties are seen to my office and wait for me there. I shouldn't be long."

Caldwell yanked me up by my arm and pulled me into an empty hallway. "I can honestly say I've never met a student, or otherwise, as truly messed up as you, Ms. Drake."

I pulled my arm out of his grip and took a step back. "It was an accident! I didn’t mean to hit that girl." Guilt, sadness, and anger were all vying for the top spot in my head.

Caldwell got mere inches away from my face before yelling, "Really? Then what did you mean to hit? The air? Now's a good time to shut up." He finished by motioning for me to keep moving.

I didn't budge as my anxiety came to the surface and my eyes welled up.

Professor Caldwell was seething. "Move your psychotic ass."

Tears of anger were streaming down my face. "I’m not going anywhere with you! How can you think it's okay to talk to a student like this?"

Caldwell's face changed from disgusted to confused as his eyes looked away from my face and down towards my hands. As I followed his gaze, I watched bright purple sparks play at my fingertips.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Caldwell said taking a step forward.

I raised my hand to get a closer look and barely noticed Caldwell grab hold of my wrist. His grip tightened, but before I could pull away, the purple sparks exploded. I felt my body lift from the ground and move through the air before coming down hard on the wooden floor. My ears were ringing and one of my arms had a weird pain in it, but all I could focus on was Caldwell lying a few yards in front of me. His eyes were frozen open in a state of fear, looking directly at me. I didn't try to get up, but instead rolled over onto my back and stared up at the ceiling as the world around me shattered. This isn't happening. This can't be happening. It's just a nightmare.

A burst of bright green light erupted from my body and surrounded me before the sound of the school bell rang through my ears, pulling me from my shocked state. It took me a few minutes to process that I was no longer on the floor in the hallway, but rather sitting back in Caldwell's classroom. Wait, what? Professor Caldwell stacked his teaching notes together as the classroom around me began to clear out.

"Miss Drake?" Caldwell asked with a confused expression.

I took a deep breath and mustered a faint smile. "Sorry, I was trying to remember the directions to my next class."

He nodded in response before looking at his watch. "Won't matter if you don't get there on time."

I quickly gathered my things and headed for the door, but stopped short of just crossing it. The shadowy figure wasn’t there this time. Walking down the hallway, it felt as though I had just woken from a nightmare as a feeling of relief settled over me. That's all it was. I was having myself a little daydream or day-mare. Whatever. As I climbed the steps up to the second floor, my mind finally settled back to a natural state of calm. Just a stress-induced hallucination that the good people at a doctor's office will have no problem suppressing with lots of colorful capsules of laboratory manufactured sanity.

Once in the upstairs hallway, I headed into the door Fox directed and left my thoughts behind. While scanning over the lab room, a woman with a large smile on her face and even larger hair on her head approached me. "You must be Alexia Drake," she said with a southern pitch before lightly gripping my shoulders.

Feeling oddly comfortable, even though the woman was invading my personal bubble, I gave her a sincere smile. "That I am. Dr. Bordeaux?"

The woman waved her hand in front of me as if swatting away a fly. "Cher, you can just call me Mrs. Sheila." The teacher’s smile widened as she led me over to the tables. "I went ahead and put together some notes for you, so you wouldn't have trouble catching up." She gestured to a small pile of papers on the nearest table. "I know it can be so hard adjusting to a new school, not to mention a whole new city."

Something about Mrs. Sheila's southern accent had me ready to cry right on the woman's shoulder and tell her about every bad thing that had ever happened to me. "You have no idea. I feel like I've stepped into a completely different planet where everyone is in a perpetual bad mood." I dropped my voice to a whisper. "Between you and me, I think the reason is cause it's practically impossible to find any peace and quiet. Seriously, I know it's the city that never sleeps, but would it kill it to take a sleeping pill once in a while?"

Dr. Bordeaux’s laughter was soft and sweet as she pulled out my stool for me. "Oh, ma petite, you and I have much in common already. My first week after moving here, I tried braving the wilds of the subway system. You would have thought I had leprosy, smiling at everyone I passed. Well, one young man took my kindness for ignorance and tried to snatch my purse right off of my shoulders."

My eyes went wide at the idea of being accosted and a small bit of anger formed at the thought of someone trying to take advantage of someone so sweet.

"But my mama always said, keep your enemies close, and your gun closer,” she said while patting her large beehive hair. “Now, I'm not saying you should go out and get a gun, cher, but a pretty girl like you should never walk the city without a few tricks up her sleeve." Dr. Bordeaux gave me a wink before moving to the front of the classroom.

The classroom stool was just as uncomfortable as any other I had ever sat in. I looked around and was stunned to see how quickly the room had filled while Dr. Bordeaux and I had been talking.

Someone very close to me cleared their throat in a rather aggressive way. "You're in my spot."

It took me a second to realize the voice was coming from behind me. "Oh, I'm so-" As I turned around, I came face to face with the same blonde girl from my dream in Caldwell’s class. My eyes couldn’t help looking the girl from top to bottom.

The girl’s voice picked up quite a bit of volume. "Please tell me you aren't one of those girls that loses their shit every time they see a pair of red soles. They're just Louboutins. Take a breath and deal."

I pulled myself back to reality and moved to the next stool over. "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare."

The girl kept her eyes on me as she sat down, but didn't say a word. Her hand flew up into the air, to which Dr. Bordeaux raised both eyebrows. "Sabine, I can't imagine what you could possibly have to ask me since class has not even begun, yet, sugar."

Sabine lowered her and jerked her thumb in my direction. "Dr. Bordeaux, this girl needs to be reassigned to another table."

For just a second, I saw a faint hint of rage streak across the teacher's face. "Unfortunately, Sabine,” Dr. Bordeaux said in a slightly sharper tone. “Everyone else in the class already has a lab partner."

Sabine didn't even bat an eye. "It's probably in your best interest to recall the conversation that you had involving my father."

Without missing a beat, Dr. Bordeaux approached our table with a ferocity that had me ducking under the table. "Why yes, Miss Lancaster, I recall it every time I see your face."

Sabine’s ice-cold facade cracked an inch as a smirk made its way onto her face.

Dr. Bordeaux was having none of it. "So, while your father's money may be able to persuade the principal, I still have to keep the best interest of my students in mind. No matter how craven they are. Luckily for me, your mama came to me with her concerns just the other day." Sabine’s stoic manner completely shattered as a look of sheer viciousness broke through and a smile spread across the doctor’s. "Turns out your mama did not agree at all with your father's thoughts regarding the situation. Why, with her own volition, she went right to the school board about this whole thing, and wouldn't you know it, they felt the same way as your mother and I. So, when I got the news of a bright shining star joining my class of little geniuses, well, I could see no better solution."

Sabine’s head slowly turned toward me, but I was already sliding down my stool, trying to shrink from sight. Oh my god, she's definitely dismembering me in her mind.

Dr. Bordeaux’s sharp tone cut through the tense air. "Alexia."

I popped back up onto my stool. "Yes, Mrs. Sheila?"

Sabine looked baffled by my casual use of the Doctor’s name.

The doctor, however, smiled at me. "Cher, you let me know if there is anything at all I can do to make sure your time in my classroom is as enjoyable as possible. I see a great deal of potential in you. See there," Dr. Bordeaux said looking back at Sabine, "it looks like the two of you already have something in common. Now, Sabine, if you have any legitimate concerns, please feel free to be open with me. Your mama and I only want the best for you." Dr. Bordeaux gave us both a sincere smile before heading back to the front of the classroom. For the rest of the class, Sabine kept her eyes staring forward as she furiously took notes, stopping only whenever her pencil would snap in half.

I want to lend her a pen, but I'm happier with my limbs attached.

Dr. Bordeaux’s cheerful voice rang through the class. "Now, class, before we finish up with today's lesson, I wanna remind everyone that there will be no homework next week, but there will be an assignment on account of professor Goldstein and I combining our lessons before the field trip next Friday. Professor Goldstein will be filling you all in on the details of the assignment you are to work on with your partner."

The bell tolled at the end of the period and with the very little courage I had left, I gave open communication another shot. "So, what do you think the assignment is going to be? I mean, if we're going to be working-"

Sabine looked at me for the first time since the beginning of class. "Listen up, short bus. There will be absolutely no sort of interaction between us that is not class-related. Beyond this room, you do not exist to me. So, until we've been given explicit instruction on the assignment next week, I don't know you."

Too thrown and dumbfounded to even respond, I simply picked up my bag and headed for the door. "This has got to be the worst birthday anyone has ever had in the history of history," I said to myself as I exited the classroom.

A familiar voice stopped me in my tracks. "And why am I just now finding out about this secret birthday?"

I turned around and saw Fox. Oh, thank god!

He was leaning up against the wall near the classroom. "What kind of sicko keeps their birthday to themselves?" He asked moving towards me as I moved towards him.

Just before we were next to each other, Sabine stepped between us as she exited the classroom, but stopped the moment she saw Fox. "What are you doing up--."Sabine paused and looked down Fox's line of sight towards me. "Oh, hell no."

Fox looked at her like she had lost her mind. "Please try to remember that not everyone puts up with your barking. Wait a sec." Fox put his finger up to stop Sabine from responding. "Barking and female equals what again?"

Sabine folded her arms and rolled her eyes. "Even I think you need to come up with new ways to call me a bitch."

Fox put his hands up in surrender while winking at me. "I guess you got me there. I'll take your input into consideration. Now, what's your beef with my new bestie here?"

Sabine looked me up and down before responding. "Can we just not? Besides, we have bigger things to talk about."

Fox put a hand up to stop her from going on. "Way ahead of you, frost giant. Catch up with Dorian in fourth. I have to escort the princess here to our next class."

Fox reached out for my hand and I took his without even thinking. When we were out of earshot of Sabine, I felt comfortable enough to start talking again. "So, bestie huh? That's big talk for someone you haven't known 24 hours."

Fox looked behind his shoulder at a fading Sabine. "Well, you managed to make the most vicious girl in the entire school your arch-nemesis in a single class period. That takes skill." He looked back at me with a smirk sprawled across his face. "Sooner, or later, you two are gonna go at it like pit-bulls in a dog fight."

I punched him hard in the shoulder to which he feigned injury. "What kind of a douche bag calls a girl a dog to her face?"

He just shrugged his shoulders. "You didn't seem to mind it when I called Sabine a bitch."

I looked away for a second as I contemplated the best way to respond. "Well, it's different if the person is half rottweiler."

Fox dropped my hand and raised both of his up for me to high five. "There it is. I knew you had some bite."

I jokingly shrugged my shoulders at him as we descended the stairs. "You know how I do."

Fox dropped his head and narrowed his gaze. "Then again, besties don't hide birthdays from one another."

I tried not to look completely disappointed by the change back to this topic. "Do we have to talk about that? As far as birthdays go, this one is a non-starter."

Fox put his arm around my shoulder as we walked, giving it a light and comforting squeeze. "Not a problem princess. How about you tell me how Caldwell’s went?"

We turned down the third hallway. "Well, that wasn't as bad as one might have thought. It was touch and go at first, but after I solved an equation on the board, he said I was his only intelligent student."

Fox gave me a fist bump and came to a stop in front of another classroom door. "Clearly, I am missing out on some pretty mind-blowing stuff every time you run off by yourself. Try not to disappoint me in English."