No, no, no, no, no! Why today?! Why today of all days?! Sliding down the rail of the main staircase- clothed, hair wet, and backpack held on by one strap- I jumped off and slid past my dad, giving him a kiss and saying, "Love you, dad, see ya!"

"Love you too, Ana!" he called back as I slipped on my shoes and ran out the door.

Somedays, it's okay to be late for school, but today? Nuh uh, being late for school today is a wish for trouble. It's days like these that I'm glad that I live close to the school building.

Five minutes of jogging- read: running at a full sprint- I slid and came to a walking stop next to my friend, and troublemaker associate- though she doesn't accept that title- Taylor Hebert.

Raising an eyebrow, she asked, "Slept in, again?"

I huffed, slightly out of breath, "I swear I set it last night."

She hummed sarcastically. I don't even know how she does that.

"I'm serious here!" I spoke as we started walking up towards the doors of the school, "I distinctly remember me flicking the 'off' on the alarm setting on my phone to 'on'! Then I went and fell asleep- just like I always do!" At just that moment, I felt my phone start to vibrate and the tune I use for my alarm started going off. I buried my face- which was glowing red with embarrassment- in my hands, groaning out, "Oh my freaking god."

Taylor, as unhelpful as she was, stood there grinning like a loon. "Well, you did set an alarm," she said, still grinning.

"Shut up," I mumbled and pulled out my phone, turning off the alarm. It was the seven-thirty alarm, instead of the usual six-thirty alarm that I have set for school days.

"C'mon, let's go get our stuff." She nudged me in the shoulder and we started moving again towards the school. Entering the school, we weaved through the crowds and made our way to our lockers. I was against the idea of having lockers in case they got vandalized, but Taylor had insisted on getting them and I caved.

Quickly overtaking her while weaving through the crowds, I got to our lockers slightly earlier than Taylor. And oh boy, what a scene I came into! "Sophia. Emma. Madison. Could you, ya know, move away from my locker?"

Sophia Hess, one of the school's 'popular' girls, she was a track star in the school. Dark skinned with her black hair pulled into a ponytail majority of the time, she could almost be attractive- if she just lost the cruel smirk she wore ninety percent of the time.

Emma Barnes, the second one of the school's 'popular' girls, she was an amateur model- featuring in several magazines that I've seen at the markets. Lighter skinned with a tan, she usually had her red hair loose and free. I will not admit to finding her attractive.

Madison Clements, the third one of the school's 'popular' girls, she was a late bloomer- one of the ones that hasn't fully developed yet, but she had developed over the course of the summer last year, but you could see remnants of the cutesy act that she'd put up. She had her brown hair about shoulder length and held up with pins, usually blue ones, and wore a strapless top and a denim skirt. Though, she'd expanded her wardrobe a bit more and had on a pileated dark blue skirt on rather than a denim one. She still wore the strapless top, though. She. . . was okay, that's all I have to say on her.

Sophia smiled sweetly, "Oh, sure, we were just finishing up here. Weren't we, girls?" She and her posse giggled. Horrifically. Ugh, it's like watching a horror show with them around.

"Ana, why'd ya- oh. Emma. Sophia. Madison." Oh, sweet, Tay's here. "What'd you do this time?"

It was Emma's turn to smile sweetly, "Oh, nothing much. Don't worry yourself over it. Besides, we were just leaving, weren't we?" The other two nodded and they turned their backs to us, "Bya, Lesbian, Loner."

I raised an eyebrow, "They've got to get over that."

"To be fair, you do like girls," Tay pointed out.

"Yes, but I'm Bi, not Gay. Sheesh."

"Bi, leaning towards girls."

"Semantics." I waved a dismissive hand, "Now, let's see what 'surprise' they left this time."

Emma, Sophia and Madison were what me and Taylor called 'The Trio'. It's exactly what the name implies, they were a trio of girls that tried to make our life hell. But honestly? They were failing. Horribly. With my special way of dealing with problems and/or bullies- namely ignoring them until they worked out or quit- they failed to ever get me truly mad. Sure, they might've gotten on my nerves several times, but they've never gotten me truly Mad, just irritated.

Opening up the locker door, I found a simple little device with a large sack in the middle of it. Poking her head over my shoulder, Taylor asked, "Is that-?"

"Yup. It's a Stink Bomb. Well, not actually a bomb, but the name still stands."

"Could yo-" she was cut off as I put the sack that held the 'stink' in her hand.

"Use it for something," I said, then opened up her locker to see that another one had been planted inside. I easily dismantled that one as well and handed the stink sack over to Taylor, keeping the electronics for myself.

Taylor, used to my simple instructions, put the two sacks in her locker- hidden away- and grabbed her books. I did the same and we moved towards our first class- Parahuman History, taught by Mr. Gladly.

Despite it being taught by 'everyone's favorite' teacher, it was a pretty interesting class. It had the history of how Scion, the Golden Man, came to Earth and how the first Parahumans came about and the subsequent upheaval of the world's- and countries'- laws.

Entering in the classroom, we were met by the typical before-class noise and the smirking face of Emma, which morphed into one of confusion as she saw us unconcerned. Also the lack of smell. Well, noticeable smell. We are in Winslow, of course.

Pushing those thoughts out of my head, Me and Taylor sat down at the back of the classroom- close to the doors to make a quick getaway if need be- like we always did. The bell rang and the remaining standing kids rushed to their seats, not wanting to get in trouble- not that Mr. Gladly will get them in trouble, but he said that he had an aide coming to help him, so they didn't want to get in trouble from the aide. Soon, Mr. Gladly walked in, followed by another person.

Gladly spun around as he reached the front of the classroom, his signature bright smile on his face, "Hello, class!" he spoke brightly, "Hope you've had a wonderful spring break- I know I did- but now we're back to learning!" Nobody cheered. He coughed. "A-anyway, I'd like to introduce to you my new aide- or student teacher, if you want- Nathaniel Brock, Mr. Brock if you want to be formal."

Mr. Brock smiled, "It is nice to meet all of you. As Mr. Gladly said, I am Nathaniel Brock and will be helping him until the end of this semester. As for my late appearance, well, you can blame the higher ups for getting things mixed up. They had apparently gotten me and another person, by the same first name, switched and they said that I had to go halfway across the world to California to act as a Student Teacher." He shook his head, smiling. "I knew something was off and I took it up on them, and thus, I had to wait until Winslow's spring break to actually teach here."

Several students made noises of understanding at this. I looked over at Taylor, who was doodling in her notebook. Rolling my eyes, I poked her with my pencil, when she looked up at me, I nodded up at the front of the room- silently telling her to pay attention. She rolled her eyes, but focused back on the teacher and student teacher.

"What University am I from? Well, I'm from Bay University, the local one here in Brockton Bay," He answered. Apparently someone had asked him a question.

I raised my hand, as did several other people. He looked us over, then pointed at me, "You, in the back."

I nodded and asked, "What are you majoring in?"

"My Majors? Well, I'm majoring in teaching, as you can tell, and also history. Last semester I was student teaching a class for American History, and before that I was doing World History. Good question."

I smiled and nodded as he went back to answering other student's questions. I looked over to see Taylor give me a questioning look. I replied with, "I was just curious. Plus, it isn't as if anyone else was going to ask it."

She shrugged, conceding the point and went back to doodling in her notebook. Again. Rolling my eyes, I focused my attention to where the others were still asking Mr. Brock questions.

Thirty minutes passed where students asked Mr. Brock questions ranging from 'What's your favorite color?' to 'How many girls have you fucked?'- he turned red at that question, but replied with "None!" and quickly moved onto the next question. Soon, Mr. Gladly stopped the oncoming questions and we started to actually work on what he planned for today.

"As you know from before Spring Break, I said that we were going to start on the more recent Parahuman History," he spoke, catching the attention of the class, "Now, who can tell me what the most important event in history after Scion's appearance?"

The class looked amongst itself, not sure. One hand was hesitantly raised- Mr. Gladly pointed at the hand and the owner spoke, "Um, the Leviathan fight?"

"Close, but not quite!" He pointed to another student, "Yes, Bradly!"

"The Siberian fight?" Bradly offered.

"Correct! Good job! Now, who can tell me what was the most important point in the fight against The Siberian?"

Another hand, "Uh, Alexandria getting hurt?"

"No! But that was after what I was aiming after!" I raised my hand. "Yes, Anabeth!" Well, at least he got the pronunciation right.

I nodded, "Eidolon getting killed."

"Yes! There we go! Good job, Anabeth!" Aaand there's the mispronunciation. Typical. I rolled my eyes and refocused onto the lecture- Mr. Gladly telling everyone how the death of Eidolon had almost fractured them, but that they stayed together in his memory.

I'm honestly thinking it was a load of BS.

Soon, the bell rang and we were let out into the mass of humans. Me and Taylor weaved our way through the hallways again, making our way to our lockers. Quickly grabbing what we needed for Coding and Technology- our next class- which wasn't much, we weaved our way through the crowds again, moving towards the computer lab.

About two, three, hours later, and two class periods passed, it was lunch break.

"Okay, I'm gonna stop here, the bell's about to ring," Mr. Brown spoke, "Remember to bring materials to start on the projects. Class dismissed."

I stowed my notebook away in my backpack and stood up, slinging it onto my back. As soon as the bell rang, I was one of the first ones out of the classroom, making a good clip towards the lunchroom. Entering the doors, I glanced at the menus- there were two of them up for two separate lines- and entered one. A couple of minutes later, I was sitting down at my regular table, lunch in hand, and Taylor looking amused.

Raising an eyebrow, I asked, "What's got you so amused, Tay?"

"They tried doing something else."

My other eyebrow raised, "What'd they do?"

"Setting fire to my hair."

"Who's class?"

"Mr. Brown's."

"I'm guessing he didn't take it well." Mr. Brown was never tolerant of bullying.

Taylor cracked a grin, "He's grading them harder on the project than the rest of us. Theirs've got to be perfect."

I cracked a grin of my own, "Sucks for them. Is he gonna go easier on yours?"

She shook her head, "No, I'll be graded fairly, like the rest of the class."

"Hm. Darn. Oh well, at least they'll struggle to make theirs perfect. I'm guessing they didn't take any notes during the class?"

"Didn't see them taking any. They'll probably try to copy off someone else's, and the person they're copying off of might not have taken correct notes- you know who they hang out with."

"Yeah." I truly did know. They were all idiots. We fell into a silence only friends could replicate as we ate. The food was shit, but it was bearable shit.

Finishing up, we quickly moved out of the cafeteria and into the hallways. Moving through the hallways, we made it to our lockers and switched out what we needed for English with Mrs. Johanson- A book and a binder.

Looking past the locker door, I grinned at Taylor, hearing the subtle clicks of my lock changing combination. Again. Rolling her eyes, Taylor muttered, "Show-off."

Grin still in place, I replied, "Better safe than sorry. Besides, it isn't as if I couldn't open it if I tried."

Rubbing her temples, sighing, Taylor replied, "I hate it when you use double negatives- makes your sentences way too more confusing."

"Says the girl that's pegging to be an English major."

"Says the girl who blatantly uses their powers in public."

"Says the girl who doesn't use her power for practical reasons."

"Says the girl who uses hers for absolutely mundane reasons."

"Hey, those reasons are perfectly reasonable!"

"Sure they are. Sure they are."

"Just because you don't use them in normal situations doesn't mean you are better than the rest of us!"

"Just because you use them in normal situations doesn't mean you can start an argument about it."

"Girls, what are you fighting about today?" Mrs. Johanson asked as we entered the room.

I huffed, "The proper applications of powers."

"What Ana's trying to convey is what situations are powers are applicable and when they are not."

I jerked my head at Taylor, "What she's saying is that they're only supposed to be used for combat only, while I'm saying that they could be used for 'mundane' reasons," I said, making air quotes.

Mrs. Johanson blinked, "Could they? Be used for mundane reasons, I mean."

I nodded, "Yes! Take Kaiser's power for example: He can make metal, right? So, utilizing that, he could theoretically make thousands of knives, forks, spoons, or anything metal and sell them. He could make loads more money than he ever would as an E-eighty-eight member."

Taylor side-eyed me, "You've. . . put a lot of thought into this, haven't you?"

I looked at her, "What else would you expect me to do in my free time? Write?"

Both Mrs. Johanson and Taylor replied as one, "Yes."

I blinked, "Am I that obvious?"

Taylor gave a long-suffering sigh, "Yes, you are."

"Huh." I shrugged, "Eh, doesn't matter."

Mrs. Johanson shook her head, "Go get seated, the bell's about to ring."

We nodded and took our seats, while Mrs. Johanson moved outside to watch the shifting crowd of people moving to grab their stuff as the bell rang for them to get to their next class. Slowly, or quickly depending on how they entered, people piled into the classroom.

Sophia didn't even as much glance at us as she entered the room- as usual, she didn't really bother messing with us while alone- and sat down at her usual spot near the wall. Madison, though, gave us a cruel little smirk before she went back to smiling happily and giggling at whatever someone said to her. It probably wasn't even funny.

Looking away from her, I focused onto the front of the classroom where Mrs. Johanson started listing her plans for this class until the end of the school-year.

Another few hours later, me and Taylor walked out the doors of the school building headed towards my house.

"So, what I'm say is: If I can get the wires to connect just right, it'll power up, but the thing is that I don't know which wires it is. Frank isn't helping in that regard, and I doubt he ever will," I said messing with the electronics that I had liberated from the stink bombs.

"Well, which wires do you think powers the suit up?"

"That's the thing- I know which wires it is, yet don't! It's so frustrating! It's kinda like Schrödinger's box over cat: the box is covering the cat, and you think it's dead, but it could be alive, but it could also be dead."

". . .What about the box?"

"Oh, it's just covering the cat- nothing special about it," I said, waving a dismissive hand, "Besides, it's not as if it's mandatory that I finish it. I can go out in a different suit."

"You just like complaining about it," Taylor stated flatly.

"Yeah," I replied easily, "but hey, at least I got you to bounce ideas off of."

"Like you need me to help with ideas," Taylor stated with an eye-roll. Glancing over at the electronics in my hands, she asked, "What are you making?"

"I dunno. Something random. Maybe a timed tripwire without wires." I looked closer, "Yeah, looks like one. Might work with what I have. If I get some fishing wire, I might actually be able make it kinetic instead of software-based. Of course, I'd have to replace the wire every time it breaks, but if I leave it at easily accessible locations then it'll be easier to replace. But additionally-" a hand falling onto my head, cutting me off.

Taylor looked down at me with a raised eyebrow, her hand still on my head. I chuckled sheepishly, "Rambling again, sorry."

Rolling her eyes, she took off her hand and we entered my house- which we had arrived at while I was rambling. Stowing away the half-built tripwire in my pocket, I opened the door, calling out, "I'm Hooooooooome!" while taking off my shoes.

Coming out of the basement door, covered in grease and welder's goggles on his forehead, dad came out, greeting us, "Welcome back, didja have a good day back at school?"

I shrugged, using that motion to take off my backpack, saying, "Eh, could've been better. The annoyances tried to do something- stink bombs in our lockers- but I dismantled them easily."

He raised an eyebrow, "Did ya keep the parts?"

I rolled my eyes, "Duh. Why wouldn't I keep things given to me for free?"

Dad cracked a grin, "That's my girl. I'll be messin' around in the basement if you need me."

"'Kay!" I called back as I pulled Taylor up the stairs to my room.

Slinging my backpack to a corner of the room, I closed the door and activated the holograms, making the room light up in a faint blue light. Smirking as she set her backpack down next to mine, Taylor asked, "Still haven't been able to change the color?"

I scowled, "Nope- still haven't. It's annoying, I want it RED! But NOoooo! It has to be BLUE! Ugh." I shook my head and grinned at Taylor, "Anyway, let's start, shall we?"

Alright, here's the alternate to Worm'd: Gestation; Worm'd: Worthless Opponent!

This is the first one I started on and finally finished. I'll be updating and writing the two books at the same time- if possible- so you can keep a look out on that.

Welp, if you want to see the Build, just put up a review on it, and I'll put it up on here.

I'm also cross-posting this on spacebattles (Same name)

The CYOA I used is Worm CYOA 5: Update Gimel

-FreohrWK