Michelle raked her fingers through her thick hair, trying her best to focus on the worksheet her history teacher had given her to work on. She had finished her test before everyone else, and with fifteen minutes left in the class, Mrs. Fillard didn't want her to spend it staring off into space.
But that's all she was doing.
Her mothers had been fighting for two days now, and no matter how much Emily tried to stay calm and stop herself from throwing a retort at her angry wife, she would end up blowing her lid.
She had tried to calm both women down, letting JJ do her and Megan's nails while Emily went food shopping, and having Emily help her figure out what color she wanted her room to be painted, but at the end of the night she'd hear them screaming at each other once again.
And today had not been helpful.
Noah had been absent their first period together and she doubted he'd show up for the rest of the day, so she was trying as hard as she could to try and be as calm as she could and not break down in the middle of her classes.
Wiping a small tear from her eye as the bell rang, Michelle nodded to herself. That's exactly what she would try and do.
She quickly made her way out of the classroom, rushing down the hall in order to get to her next class, causing her to slam into a teacher walking the other way.
"Whoa," the older woman laughed, seeing the shock in the teenager's eyes. "Careful there."
Michelle gulped, helping the older woman pick up the papers she had made her drop. "Ma'am, I am so sorry."
She shook her head, patting the dark haired girl's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, honey. Everyone has an accident now and again."
Bowing her head, Michelle felt her eyes sting, hearing a group of girls passing by stop long enough to call her a freak. "Well I should go."
The smiling woman bent just enough to look into the young girl's eyes, and she shook her head. "I don't think you're a freak."
"Thank you," she whispered, nodding up to the older woman before taking off down the hall.
"Hey!" came a familiar voice, and Michelle turned to see who it belonged to just as she stepped into the doorway of her next class.
"Noah," she smiled, letting him lead her into the classroom with a hand on her arm. "What are you doing here?"
The older boy put on a grin. "Well I do go to school here."
Michelle rolled her eyes, letting herself slap at her friend's arm. "What happened to you this morning?"
"Doctor's appointment," he nodded, stealing the desk next to his friend. "Just a checkup."
Hearing a call of her friend's name, the blue eyed girl turned her head to see one of her classmates waving to the boy at her side. "Girlfriend?" she snickered, seeing the blond boy waving back to the girl in the back row.
Noah shook his head. "No time for one," he shrugged, stretching his arms behind his head and making sure to flex the muscles he knew he had. "Too many others to fight off, you know?"
Michelle's nose wrinkled as she laughed. "Cute."
After the bell had wrung and their health teacher had handed them all their study sheets, Michelle could hear murmuring in the back of the classroom. She only had a few periods left and she knew she had to babysit her siblings when she got home, along with her grandparents who would be busy doing work the entire time, and she needed to have as little homework as possible, but the noises that were invading her ears wouldn't cease.
Turning her head, the blue eyed girl saw a pair of blondes sitting close together in the back of the room, and they were staring straight at her.
"Hey," Noah whispered, tapping at the younger girl's arm. "Teacher's looking at you."
Michelle sent a small smile to their teacher before picking up her pen, her eyes squinting when she heard more whispers fill the room.
"Excuse me?"
The dark haired girl turned, looking to a redhead who sat on the other side of her. "Yeah?"
She bit her lip. "Are you her?"
Michelle gave a frown, slowly nodding her head and leaning in so their teacher couldn't hear them. "'Her' who?"
The older girl quickly turned her phone around and showed the new girl her screen.
"Oh my God," the newest Prentiss cried quietly, her jaw dropping at the video clip that was playing.
It was her missing poster showcased in the top right of the screen, her kidnapper just under her, and the newscaster speaking to the viewer whose eyes were shining with tears.
Quickly shoving her belongings into her bag, Michelle stood from her chair, her desk squeaking from how fast she had gotten up.
"Ms. Prentiss?" her teacher called.
Michelle's breath caught as a sob erupted from her throat, and her hand shot up to cover her gaping mouth as she felt those judging eyes all on her. Ignoring the calls from her teacher and from her only friend, the teenager ran from the room, her tears falling fast as passing students looked at her with curious eyes. She quickly pulled out her cell phone and dialed in her mother's number, falling on her butt on the lobby's main staircase, her hand clutching the railing for dear life.
"Sweetie? Is everything ok?"
The blue eyed teen sobbed into the phone. "I want to go home."
Emily's chest ached at the sound of her crying daughter on the other end. "Baby, what happened?"
"They know," she hiccupped, resting her head against the tile wall. "They know and I want to go home!"
"What do you mean, sweetie? What's wrong?"
Michelle's heartbeat sped up at the sight of a group of girl's in the lobby looking at her, and she almost screamed. "Mom!" she cried. "I want to go home!"
