School again.

Dad had convinced me that I should go, but I truthfully didn't see the point. Math was ridiculously easy since the locker and other subjects were too. I ended up bored out of my mind as I outpaced anything the teachers were trying to instruct. Overall, the time spent there became an exercise in frustration. Emma, Madison and Sophia hadn't let up, if anything, they'd started upping the stakes as their efforts fell on my intentionally deaf ears.

I wondered what they were going to do as I finished off the quiz that the the algebra teacher had dropped on us. I didn't know why he had but given the looks I kept noticing from Emma and her cadre suggested they had something in the works.

The bell rang and I began gathering my things, careful to avoid rising until any of her cronies were clear. I had to keep an eye out constantly for any attempts at physical intimidation and use my field to carefully redirect them so it appeared like they would just miss or things thrown at me were off-course. No matter how satisfying the idea of throwing back whatever they did at them was, it wasn't worth the aggravation.

"Taylor, if you could stay after, please," the teacher asked. I blinked as I was shouldering my bag, then noticed the smirks directed at me as Emma and company left. This was probably their doing somehow.

"Sure, Mr. Keller," I absently replied.

The door closed and it was just me and the teacher.

"Taylor, I have some concerns about your efforts in class," he began, his expression somewhere between stern and uncomfortable.

"What is it?" I asked, frowning. "Did I miss anything on the test? I took a moment with that last one as it was something I hadn't seen before ..."

His expression settled on stern. "No, you didn't miss anything. It was perfect. All of it is perfect. And that's the issue. I haven't determined how yet, but I've reviewed your previous performance in class and I want to make it clear that I take a very dim view on cheating."

I stilled, the words not immediately making sense to me. "Mr. Keller, I am not cheating."

"You pay little to no attention in class," he said. "And yet somehow all of your work is flawless, even superior to students who have maintained a straight A's since the year began. Your efforts before the ... incident were average, at best. If this continues, I will bring my concerns to the the remaining faculty and the Principal. Start presenting your own work, Ms. Hebert, or there will be consequences."

"I am," I insisted, irritation flaring briefly at his words. Then it hit me. This. This is what they had been smirking about. They smiled and charmed and now they're attacking me through the teachers.

Mr. Keller shook his head. "Consider this your warning, Ms. Hebert."

I clenched my fists at the uncompromising tone of voice he said that in, turned on my heel, and started toward the door. I wanted to rail at him, to shout about this. But I had already seen the futility of that. Still, I couldn't resist the last word.

"I am not cheating," I said over my shoulder, then I glanced at the equations still scribbled on the whiteboard. "And the third one from the bottom is wrong. X is twenty-eight, not 13." I didn't wait to see if he had a response, heading out of the classroom.

Near my locker, they were waiting.

"Well, well," Emma opened. Sophia was leaning against my locker, blocking my access to it. I stared at her. She returned a bored look.

"So, Taylor's been cheating in class," Emma continued. "Pretty sad. So desperate for attention that she resorts to that."

I tuned Emma out. I didn't use my power. I just ignored her. It was just words and I could always cut them off if it got really annoying. My focus was on Sophia.

"I need to get into my locker," I said.

Sophia made a careless gesture and looked at Emma. "Did you hear something?"

This again. Bullies. It was really getting tiresome. My field felt like it was sizzling at the back of my head. The need to do things growing with my irritation at all of this.

Emma said something in response and there was some laughter, but I ignored it, not taking my eyes from Sophia. She couldn't do anything to me now, but that didn't mean I had to just ignore them.

"Move." I said, almost surprised at how hostile I sounded. Sophia blinked and straightened.

"Oh, Hebert's trying to grow a spine, is she?" she sneered, starting to loom over me. One hand came up and she moved to push my shoulder. I used my field and her attempt ended up flopping weakly in the air. A frown appeared on her face briefly and she stepped closer, staring down at me balefully.

I admit, I thought briefly of seeing how long I could draw out her trying to shove me and missing constantly by the barest of margins but as she made another move to shove me, I let go of my conscious control of my field.

Sophia's attempt to shove me rebounded and she staggered away from me, unbalancing and then crashing to the floor. I opened my locker quickly and took out what I needed, then closed it. Sophia had gained her feet just as I locked it. There was fury in her eyes.

"Think that's funny, Hebert?" she snarled. "Some weirdass kung-fu bullshit? You're going to pay for that."

"I told you to move," I retorted, moving so that Emma was behind me and to my left slightly. "Your own fault for not listening. And yeah, weird-ass kung-fu bullshit, we'll go with that."

"You're gonna pay," she repeated.

I laughed. "Really? How? What could be worse than what you've already done? You got away with it, but kind of hard to top the locker." I assumed direct control of my field again as her temper broke and she lunged. The motion was turned to an undignified stumble that carried her into Emma.

They went down. Somehow dragging Madison down with them without any effort from me. That made me smile as I shoved my hands into my pockets and walked away. There would probably be repercussions from this. They'd spin it somehow, but I found that I simply didn't care. They couldn't touch me, none of them, but that didn't mean I had to just ignore what they were doing.

I needed to think about this.