Vriska couldn't believe her luck. She stood there, leaning against the frame of the door of the computer lab, asking the walls for the steadiness her legs had suddenly lost. The room was not that big, and since there were still at least fifteen minutes left until the beginning of the class, only one student was sitting in front of one of the computers. He had arrived way too early, and since it was the first day of the course and he had yet to build his daily routine, the best idea seemed like getting a cup of coffee and waiting for the rest of the students and the teacher to arrive. Of course, he didn't expect to meet any acquaintance of his. Specially, not Vriska Serket.

The girl stood still there for what both perceived as a fucking century. Neither her body or mind seemed to function properly, and she was unable to either speak or move. Or, for that matter, even think straight. This ain't happening, a voice inside her head muttered nonstop. The boy stared at her own eyes without even blinking; he obviously was as shocked as she was. But Vriska could also see a strange gleam behind his glossy iris. What was that? Compassion? Fear? Hatred? Of course, she thought. All they thought you were in Germany. And they probably wished you stayed there and never came back. The idea, for a reason she could not fathom, struck her as depressing. Although she wasn't expecting to meet any of her old high school partners at this place (or any other, for that matter), she was blindly convinced that after a year spent studying abroad on her own, no ghost of her past could possibly affect her emotional sanity. It had been a whole year, after all, and she felt that the girl who graduated from high school had been buried by her new, more mature self. She could not change the things she had done, nor ask for the forgiveness of her victims, but those were things that she had left behind in the airport, between her father's advice, her mother's sobs, and her sister's requests and gift ideas. The moment she had stepped on that plane, destination Berlin, Vriska Serket knew that that was the moment to rise from the darkness of her mistakes as a new person.

Until now, that is. Suddenly, the shadows she had escaped from surrounded her once again, as if they had never truly left in first place, and she felt like screaming as the truth dawned on her. As she saw the boy open his mouth, she turned around and disappeared as fast as she could before he could speak. It was too early for this, it was too fucking soon, it seemed. She couldn't face her past, at least not right now. She still had fifteen more minutes until the class started, and in that time she could have a smoke and figure her shit out.

The boy watched as the high school bully ran away from him. What the ever loving fuck was wrong with her? It had been like motherfucking ages since they had seen each other, he thought, and she had been all up in Germany and shit. He'd figured that maybe she'd grown up a bit and left all the bully shit behind. Or at least the social awkwardness. But he was probably wrong, because in the moment he all up and was going to greet her, she turned around and left him with the words hanging from his tongue. How rude. But, then again, neither of them were expecting to meet ever again. Maybe the shock was normal. Maybe she was embarrassed and regretted all the stuff she had done and couldn't face him. Shrugging, he took a sip of his coffee and went back to distracting himself from his waiting by scrolling through his Facebook's home screen.

Summer had left long ago, and the brown and golden leaves were lazily dragged by a chilly morning breeze through the street. It was seven-forty five, and despite the darkness of the sky, many people walked on the way to their jobs or classes. The cars lined up behind the red lights, desperately honking as if the sound could help their way in the traffic jam. Vriska was sitting on the low concrete fence in front of the private design school she was attending, nervously flicking the ashes off her lit cigarette. The constant honking was slowly driving her crazy, although her own current thoughts were enough to make her cry. While idly staring at the noisy traffic, her eyes started tearing up, and the corners of her vision field subtly blurred. She could not swallow the fact that, for a whole year, she had believed that those awful high school years were gone, that she was a new person and all that shit.

She had lied to herself without realizing, and only now she was aware of the depth of the problem. Her self esteem, which had always been the foundation for her overwhelming personality, was quickly crushed under the weight of this realization. The hand that hold the cigarette shook all the way up to her face, and tears flowed down her cheeks as the words slowly started making sense.

She was and had always been a big, fat phony, and no matter how far she ran, she could never escape herself.

Hello! This is the first fic I've ever written in English. Sorry if this is kinda short or messy! Or lame, lol. I'll try to update it as much as I can, but I don't know how long will it take until my brains wear out from trying to write prose in a foreign language. Please, if you read, review it! So I can know how to improve my writing. Thank you very much!