School. The institution that had been my living hell for for over a year.

But that had been Winslow, generally considered a shithole when put up against the rest of the public schools in Brockton Bay.

Arcadia, in particular. The place I would now be going.

Which was what made it all the more annoying that some prissy princess bitch was trying to show me the supposed 'pecking order' before classes had even started. Typical.

Slowly blinking I generally just shut her out, though without the use of JUST IGNORE IT or MULTITASKER some things still leaked through. My popularity? My reputation? Being cool? Emma and the rest of the trio and company had taught me just how much value there was in those things, but that just meant I wanted what this blond bitch was offering even less.

She was all smiles of course, holding her hand out to shake while her flunkies stood on either side of me. But it wasn't anything I hadn't seen before. Although the nonstop talking was new. No one at Winslow had quite been able to do it as she was.

"I hate to interrupt but are you done yet?" I interjected once she'd paused to take a breath, "Because I need to get to class." The simple bluntness of my question had been enough to make her stop, and at that moment I pushed through them to continue making my way down the sparsely crowded hall before entering my first period classroom.

I was still a bit early, but as soon as I entered I spotted Mr. Jian sitting behind his desk; a stout Asian man who I'd met on Saturday when going over my assessment scoring with the counselor. And scattered around the classroom and seated at the chair-desks were several other students; some of whom I saw look up upon entering before turning to there neighbor, at least if one was close by.

Ignoring the staring though, I walked over to 's desk which was situated next to the far wall of windows and stood there; waiting a few seconds until he looked up and smiled. "Miss Hebert, you are early, good."

As one of the numerous Immigrants from Japan following the sinking of Kyushu, he had been of the lucky number that had managed to put their previous job skills to work, and had gotten a job at Arcadia as a history teacher, after re-certifying as a teacher. As I'd learned when I'd met him with my councilor.

He still had a bit of an accent though, which one would have thought made teaching in English a bit problematic, but to make up for it he made his sentences clipped and short. A bit odd, but it seemed to work well enough.

"I thought it would be a good idea to come in early."

Bobbing his head in agreement, the teacher pulled open a filing drawer in his desk and pulled out a thick manila envelope with my name on it and handing it over. My make up work, and taking it in hand I felt its weight. Not too bad.

"Other class assignments are in there, can go at own pace but have until May fifteenth. Instructions inside."

Surprised that all my classes catch up work was in the folder, I absently weighed it again and voiced my thoughts to ; who simply nodded again. He'd done that more than a few times when I'd met him on Saturday and I was beginning to think it was just something he did.

"You did very well on assessment testing, other teachers and I decided to remove redundant and unnecessary assignments."

Well… wasn't that nice of them. Talking with for a few more minutes I eventually made my way to my assigned seat, a spot halfway down the wall of windows that looked out onto the school grounds and in the row ' desk was in front of.

I wasn't there long though, as while we'd been talking more students had tricked in and had filled in about half the seats. It wasn't long after that that the four minute warning bell rang and the rest of the class flowed in; a stream of teens that took there seats and eventually began to look and whisper to each other about the new girl.

And soon enough, after the bell rang and everyone was seated, I was called back to the front of the class.

Almost as one, the rest of the class looked to me as I stood and walked to the front of the class to stand next to , who clapped a solid hand onto my shoulder.

"Everyone, this is Taylor. She is joining us from now on. Why don't you introduce yourself."

One would think, that introducing a new kid to the rest of the class would have been something that had been figured out by now; to make things as least awkward for the new student as possible.

But if you thought that you would have been wrong. And as the eyes of the teen bore down on me, I felt the slight anxiety and nervousness that had been been simmering beneath the surface rapidly rise up. But I clamped down on it with a brief activation of THE STOIC; and with my nerves settled, I raised my hand in greeting. "Hi."

And thus, began my first day at Arcadia.

+X+X+X+X+

Almost in contrast to Winslow, where everyone pretty much tried to ignore me, at Arcadia there were more than a few people throughout my classes leading up to lunch that tried to get to know me. Or, at the very least, introduce themselves.

It may have been the cynical side of me, or the side that was suspicious of betrayal- which had happened more than once at Winslow -but all the hellos and polite introductions had been a little… off putting.

Which was what had led me to the school's rooftop. Against the school rules… probably. But the door had technically been unlocked when I'd gone through it and there was no sign saying otherwise.

So it was with book in hand and lunch at my side that I found myself sitting atop an AC unit, avoiding everybody.

Unfortunately it wasn't to be, and before I could do anything about it THE STOIC shot to the top of my selection and ACTIVATED. Looking inward, I ignored the empty Slots floating around my mental rolodex and focused on my own, just staring at the errant selection before halfheartedly trying to DEACTIVATE it.

Predictably, as when these things usually happened, it didn't budge; and before I could try and figure out what the hell was going on a commotion in the real world drew my attention.

"Hey you! What are you doing up here?! This area is an out of bounds area for students."

Looking to the roofs edge and the source of the voice to see Victoria Dallon floating over the ledge in white polo shirt and blue skirt. And in her arms was Amy Dallon, in a white polo and the tan khakis; like I'd chosen. Although she had added a sweatshirt to her ensemble.

And~ unfortunately they just so happened to be Glory Girl and Panacea respectively, two of the more prominent members of New Waves' second generation and two of the people I'd been hoping to avoid encountering while here. Yeah, fat chance that had been.

Descending to the roof, Victoria carefully let her sister down before crossing her arms under her chest and rising up to my eye level. "Well? What do you think you're doing up here?"

Simply blinking at her, I looked pointedly from her to the repurposed plastic grocery bag behing held my Amy; then I looked back to Victoria. "Well... I expect its the the same thing you were planning to do. To eat my lunch in peace and read."

Fists clenching tight, she narrowed her eyes at me. "Me and my sister have permission from the principal to be up here. And how did you get up here anyway, the doors are supposed to be locked."

I just stared back at her, an example of favoritism already? Well that didn't take long at all. "Well it wasn't and-" I couldn't even finish before she cut me off; and my did she need to get off her high horse, if this was how she was in public then I would probably need to re-think going on a joint patrol with her.

But nevertheless, judging a book by its cover never was the smartest thing to do in any situation; even if it was just a teenaged cape being all pissy… Actually, that was probably doubly true when said teen being prissy was an Alexandria package with supposed anger issues.

So it was with that in mind that, as she continued her rant at me and I continued to ignore her, I ACTIVATED PHYSICAL LINGUIST and looked at her.

The information gleaned by the ACTIVATED selection came quickly enough, far more quickly than it had the last time I'd used it in fact; and the picture it painted wasn't exactly pretty, and made me just a little sympathetic toward her.

But only a little, thanks to the selection it was clear enough that she wasn't quite telling the full truth about being given permission by the principal to be on the roof and that she was also having just a generally bad day. And soon enough though I let PHYSICAL LINGUIST DEACTIVATE when it started giving me non-relevant info.

"-get out of here before I report you." Beside her, Amy looked to her sister and frowned before shifting uncomfortably.

I just narrowed my eyes at the blond and continued to stare at her. Ok, she may have had reasons for being in a bad mood, however; having a bad day or no, that was no reason to be a bitch. Especially to someone you've never met before, "Yeah," I drawled, intentionally dragging the word out, "how about no. There wasn't a sign saying no one could be up here so how about you just chill and toss rocks, Barbie."

Nostrils flaring, she opened her mouth but I preemptively cut off what was likely to be another lengthy- and this time indignant -tirade, fortunately I knew just the thing to shut her up; no thanks to some of Assaults stories about her. "And you know, flying up here like that in a skirt was awfully indecent," I deadpanned. "You probably flashed your panties to half the school."

Face reddening, she dropped eye level to land on the roof with a crunch of gravel; and looking down to her I saw she was holding her skirt shut as she glared up at me. In fact, she looked so indignation it wouldn't have surprised me had steam started coming out of her ears until her sister touched her arm and drew her attention away from me.

A whispered conversation between the two of them soon had Victoria apologizing before lifting off and flying toward the city. I looked after her before turning back to Amy who was flattening out a section of the gravel a little ways away; glancing up at me as she pulled off her backpack and took out a book before sitting down on it.

Minutes past in silence and in that time THE STOIC DEACTIVATED on its own, I went back to reading, and had nibbled my way through a granola bar. And all the while I could feel Amy's eyes on me every few seconds, I knew- or at least strongly suspected -the cause through. Me.

Past and personal experience told me that having someone basically looking over your shoulder wasn't the most comfortable thing. So grudgingly, for the sake of not feeling her constantly looking at me if anything, I grabbed my things before dropping down to the rooftop and sat down in the shade AC unit as I returned to reading.

Only another minute or so passed before my roof partner spoke up.

"I- I'm sorry about her acting like that. She just broke up with her boyfriend again."

I looked over the top of my book to Amy, who was looking right back at me; her face downcast and apologetic.

"Yeah well she was being a bit of a bitch, and if I had to guess you guys aren't really supposed to be up here either. Otherwise you wouldn't have flown up." I met the other girl's eyes until she looked away and nodded,

"You're right. I mean we can technically use it for if we have to leave on family business if we have to but-" Suddenly stopping, she sat up, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm-"

"Amy Dallon," Interjected, and the other girl's face turned down before perking back up. "Yeah I know who you are. Kinda hard not to. And I'm Taylor, Taylor Hebert."

Nodding jerkily she looked away and I looked back down at my book, but my attention was drawn back to Amy not a few moments later.

"Can I ask you a question?"

I looked back up to her and nodded.

"Why did you call my sister 'Barbie'?"

Blinking, I flipped my book shut- with my thumb holding my place - and tapped it against my thigh to make a show of thinking about her question.

I knew why I'd called her that, but I couldn't exactly give that particular reason since revealing that Assault had told me the name annoyed her would just be opening one big unnecessary can of worms.

"Well… I guess it seemed like a good insult at the time." I absently gestured at the air, "I mean she's tall, blond, pretty, popular, what have you. It just seemed to fit, and I figured it would piss her off."

"You were trying to upset her?" Amy asked, her eyebrows raised incredulously.

"Yeah no offense, but she was being a bit of a bitch. With how she was acting she kinda deserved it."

She frowned at that, but at the same time she didn't refute it. "I see, well again I'm sorry for her acting like that… and I'm sorry if her Aura got to you, she tries to keep it in check but when she gets like that… well, sorry."

"Her... Aura?" I asked. Assault had mentioned it in passing before, and that it was annoying, but he hadn't really gone into detail about it.

Looking at me askance for a second, Amy just gave her head a little shake. "Its… something to do with her power. It temporarily makes people fear or be inspired by her. I- I mean it's not dangerous or anything but… did you not feel anything?"

Huh, so Glory Girls 'Aura' affected people's perception of her did it… well at least I knew THE STOIC worked against it, and it ACTIVATING on its own was probably just one of those quirks I still didn't understand. Me not showing a reaction to it though probably wasn't a good thing. But ultimately there wasn't anything I could do about it after the fact and simply shrugged in response before flipping open my book.

"Um… I was wondering about something you said," Amy asked just a bit later, and looking up from my book she continued once she saw she had my attention. "You said something about your old school? Does that mean you're the new transfer?"

Sighing, I nodded as I set my book aside and shuffled back against the AC unit. I'd just wanted some alone time but that probably wasn't going to happen without being rude about it; and that wouldn't work at all, not when I might end up interacting with the girl across from me in the future. "Yeah that's me, you heard about that huh."

Leaning back she smiled "Usually when we get transfers mid semester its almost always because there's a new ward," She shrugged, pretty much confirming the theory the wards all went to Arcadia. "So yeah, news of you got around pretty quick. If you don't mind me asking, where did you go before?"

"Winslow," I answered and quickly held up a hand to forestall what had likely been just another variant of what I'd been asked already. "And yes, before you ask, the rumors about it are probably all true. I can pretty much confirm that it is a complete shithole."

Her mouth open in an 'O,' she slowly closed it and smiled. "I was actually going to ask why you transferred."

Flushing a little, I was saved from answering her question by the arrival of Victoria; only this time it was without THE STOIC ACTIVATING on its own, which probably meant she'd calmed down. Glancing over to her I saw her absently patting down her skirt, a new bag with the red, ice cream bowl Baskin-Robbins logo on its side. And turning to me with an apologetic expression, she dug into the bag.

+X+X+X+X+

Amy and Victoria Dallon... Not quite what I had been expecting. Looking away from their retreating forms as they headed down the hallway, I stared down at my generous bowl of cookie dough ice cream before promptly stabbing the little plastic spoon that had come with it into the frozen dairy product.

Bringing the little spoon up I slowly, ponderously, licked at the scoop of treat.

Delicious, it had been way too long since I'd had good cookie anything. It just hadn't really happened. But, if anything, Victoria certainly knew how to apologize for being rude to someone. That was for sure.

Maybe I'd been wrong about her.

Turning on my heel though I headed toward my next class, and ACTIVATING AUTOPILOT with just a thought I considered the new selections that had appeared within my rolodex while I'd been talking with Amy and Victoria.

Several, as expected and to my eternal frustration, were blacked out. But two of them that weren't looked rather promising, if potentially even more frustrating.

Default, a selection that could return me to my 'base' form… whatever that meant. And while it wasn't blacked out, I wasn't able to interact with it besides organizing it in my rolodex.

Then there was BARRIER WARRIOR, which admittedly at first glance was a bit weak on its own- what with its one hit take down, but it gave me ideas about how to maybe use it in tandem my fancy new shield.

Noticing I'd reached my destination, I DEACTIVATED AUTOPILOT;and regaining control, I peeked into my Biology classroom to see if the teacher was in. But seeing the darkened lights and only the sun illuminating the black soapstone topped lab tables I just crossed to the other side of the hall; and leaning against the lockers I extracted my book and began to read while I waited.

ORIG NOTE: ALso I totally just realized Arcadia didn't have a uniform so… yeah. And this actually bugged me so, as happens most times, I researched it and there are a surprising number of public schools that have uniforms. So I decided to just go with it and use the prevention of gang colors being shown as an excuse. Not that that kind of thing really works too well in reality but it would be a legitimate reason.

Edit: if problem I may change it, kinda bugging me in retrospect

Note: I also binged john oliver so ttw guesses where the start was inspired from

Note: and here we introduce , history teacher extraordinaire.

note: AND THE LIKES ARE OVER 10000! IT FEELS GLORIOUS!

Note: and ugh, school

Note: ugh, not entirely happy with this.

Edit: note happy with this at all

Note: the reason there are so many notes is cuz I add them while writing, and since i've been writing this off and on the past week there are a lot of notes.

BUT! FORTUNATELY! Past all that unfortunate crap with this chap I've cleared a roadblock thats been keeping me from working on the next bit that ive been looking forward to. So yay.