Dmitri sighed as he rolled over, pale blue eyes slowly blinking open. Once more his sleep had been plagued by memories of darkness and unwanted touches. Finding no solace in sleep, he slowly left the bed and began to get ready for the day.
A knock at the door drew his attention away from buttoning his coat. The door opened, the familiar face of his brother peering in.
"How're you feeling?" Mikhail asked, biting at his bottom lip. Dmitri gave him a small smile.
"I'm fine," he replied, doing up the final button. Mikhail continued to stare as he moved around the room, picking up scattered books and organising them into the satchel balancing on the desk.
"Are you sure? It's alright if you're not ready, you know that."
Dmitri walked up to him, smile tugging at his lips as he fiddled with the strap of his bag. "I'm perfectly fine, Mikhail. If it gets too much, I'll simply go to the nurse's office and request to go home. So stop worrying, okay?"
Mikhail gave a weak smile in return, pulling the smaller male into a loose huge. "I'm sorry. You're my baby brother; of course I'm going to worry."
"I understand that, and I have to go now, so I'll see you later, okay?" Pulling away, Dmitri started down the stairs and out of the house, only briefly pausing to say goodbye to Anna, Mikhail's fiancée.
He reached the curb that the bus stopped at just as it pulled up, following another up the stairs onto the bus. Most seats were already taken, but he was able to find one empty towards the centre. He fiddled with the strap of his bag, feeling the glances from the other students, making his skin crawl and his throat tighten. Taking a deep breath, he turned his gaze to outside, trying to ignore them.
The ride did little to help his growing anxiety, the unexpected flight making his stomach churn. With great relief, he stepped off the bus, fingers twitching by his side as he brought up a map of the school before his eyes. He followed the directions to the office where a woman of average appearance stood waiting for him, dressed neatly in an austere grey suit.
"Good morning," she said as she led him into her office. "Dmitri Kaptova, correct?"
"Kaptsova, yes," he said, accent thick around unfamiliar words, taking a seat as he dismissed the map from view.
"My apologies, Dmitri," she continued. "My name is Principle Powers. It says here that your technopathic abilities placed you in hero, yet you appear to be transferring to hero support classes. Is there any particular reason for this?"
"A safety precaution." She looked up from the file in her hand, eyebrow raised, expression filled with questioning. "It will make it harder for him to find me. No one is to know anything. If there are issues, they are to be direction to my brother, Mikhail. All issues are, in fact, to be sent to Mikhail, with no attempt to contact my mother, again, due to safety precautions."
She gave a small nod, showing that she understood, before pulling a sheet of paper out from within the file and holding it out so he could see.
"This is your timetable, classes are written here, underneath are teacher codes and room numbers. The first number is the floor, the second is the room." Pulling out another piece of paper, she showed him a map. "This is quite self-explanatory. Most of your classes will be on the first floor and your teachers have been informed of your situation. That should be all. If there are any questions, feel free to ask myself or one of the teachers." Dmitri nodded and stood, taking the timetable, map ignored.
"It's not necessary," he said softly at her questioning glance.
"If you believe so. Well then, off to class you go."
Dmitri nodded and left the room, hands gripping tightly onto his satchel as his heart pounded heavily. The halls were clear of students, already sitting in their classes. He walked slowly, glancing from door to door as he tried to find the one that was is.
Reaching it, he took a deep breath and knocked before opening it. All eyes were instantly on him, curiosity filling each.
"Yes? Can I help you?" An older man stood at the front of the room, a kind smile that bordered on needy plastered on his face.
"Ah, you are Mr Boy, yes?" Dmitri asked, biting at his bottom lip.
"Ah! You must be our new student!" Mr Boy quickly ushered Dmitri into the classroom, oblivious to the discomfort he was causing. "Everyone, this is Dmitri Kap—Katsova?"
"Kaptsova," Dmitri corrected
"Oh, sorry. Just take a seat. Anywhere that's free."
Dmitri gave a slight nod before moving to the closest empty seat, next to a girl dressed in an array of purple.
"As I was saying," said Mr Boy, drawing the attention back to him. "Today we're going to be talking about code-names!"
The bell rang, loud and clear, cutting off Mr Boy's story of when he works with the Commander. Dmitri stayed seated, waiting for the class to empty before packing his items up. Leaving the classroom, he found himself back in the hallway, except this time it was packed with students.
Head down and arms wrapped tightly around his waist, he made his way through the halls, bringing the map back up in front of his eyes so he could find the cafeteria.
It was louder than the halls when he entered, the shouting and laughing of hundreds of powered teens echoing off the walls. Taking a deep breath, Dmitri entered the line to collect his food. A small frown began to tug at his lips as he noted most food contained meat, something he promised himself to never eat. It wasn't until he was further down the line that he found something suitable. With a salad, a yoghurt and a bottle of apple juice on his tray, Dmitri paid for his food and left the line, leaving him standing off to the side with no idea where to sit.
Tears began to prick at his eyes but before they could fall, a redheaded girl appeared before him. Dmitri quickly recognised her from class.
"Uh, hi?" he said, taking a slight step backwards. The girl gave a soft smile.
"Hi, Dmitri, right?" Dmitri nodded. "Sorry, uh, my friends, well, I, was wondering if you wanted to sit with us? It's just, you're new and you probably don't know anyone, oh my god, I'm so sorry, do you know anyone? You probably want to sit with them, don't you? Oh my god, I—"
"It's okay," he said with a soft giggle. "It would be very nice to sit with you."
Still smiling, the girl led him to a table where others from the class already sat.
"Oh, hey, new kid," said one dressed in purples, the same girl he remembered sitting next to. She held out her hand for him to shake. "Magenta."
Instead of taking it, he gave a small wave. "Dmitri."
"That's Layla," she said, pointing to the redheaded girl that had brought him over. "Will, Ethan and Zack."
"Pleasure to meet you," he said, finally taking a seat, next to Will.
"So what can you do?" asked Zack.
"I prefer to not talk about them," Dmitri quickly replied as he opened his sandwich, already missing the familiar food of home. "I'm sorry, it's just—I don't really like it very much."
"Don't worry about it," said Layla, still smiling softly at him. Dmitri gave a small smile in return, a warm feeling settling over him, covering up the ever-present anxiety.