2.03

"That, is why it is so essential to listen to the stories of the past. When you know the mistakes they made, you can avoid them. Whether it is the ancient struggles for power between the Greek city states, the religious wars of the Middle Ages, or even our current skirmishes between Capes. History does not repeat, never repeats, but always rhymes."

Mr. Gudnason was almost frantic in his attempt to reach the students lounging in various states of disinterest in the humid classroom. The entire period, Evelyn had been trying to follow along, and she was sure there was a lesson being taught in there somewhere. It was just… the subject of history didn't matter anymore. The world was slowly dying. Anything worth knowing was happening now, or they would learn about it in the Parahumans unit. Evelyn had taken the time to read every book in the Adlain Children's Home, and she seemed to know everything being mentioned in class because of it, so she had used her time to observe her fellow students.

There was the scrawny boy in the front row, with his hood fully up, who had spent the class with a journal open and a set of colored pencils in hand, drawing spaceships and robots. In a spare notebook to the side he'd somehow managed to take notes every few minutes, Evelyn could see that he'd gotten down several lines for every topic that had come up.

To her left there was a girl who was blowing a green bubble and popping it, every 30 seconds, like the world's most annoying metronome. Mr. Gudnason had called on her several times, and every time she would give a ridiculous answer and let out a cackle, looking to her friends for support. She would take notes to appease his momentary annoyance and then go back to texting as soon as his attention moved on, the phone barely hidden under the table.

"How is it that I can fight zombie monsters and a man who becomes a monster, but I can't even take notes in a slow class like Distracted Depresso, Lazy Alyssa, and a boy who couldn't stay awake after the first 10 minutes?" Evelyn thought sarcastically to herself. The woes of having superpowers, it would seem.

The bell rang out like the cry of a phoenix, resurrecting Evelyn's energy. No power in the universe could match that feeling of freedom. Almost none, anyway. Evelyn packed up her untouched notebook and followed the group of basketball girls who'd copied her strategy of sitting next to the door to make a hasty escape. She just barely caught the last second homework assignment, and hoped she'd remember it because damn if she didn't feel like unpacking her notebook to write it down again.

Even if she had wanted to, the hallway was extremely packed. She barely had the space to breathe, let alone set her backpack down and search for it. Boys whooped as they raced down the corridor, jumping up and slapping the doorframe as they passed it. A group of girls were chatting about a science class, talking about exponentials and ramps, as they exchanged their textbooks with ones stored in their locker. This is the American high school described in the books, none of the homeschooling stuff she'd been doing since childhood.

It was… overwhelming. There were so many people all packed around like popcorn kernels in a bag, and Evelyn was about ready to pop. Where was Erika? She was supposed to be there as the class ended, and now it had been what felt like a few years, or a few minutes. Evelyn needed a break, she sort of remembered Erika going to the right when she'd first entered the classroom, so far back. Evelyn could go this way and try to find some space to breathe, and meet up with Erika hopefully at some point along the way.

She began to push through the crowd, feeling like a fish moving upstream. Red doors meant the Humanities and the lunch hall was at the edge of Humanities and Math, so she just had to get through the crowds until she got to the blue doors.

She wandered, feeling panic rising in her heart. Why was she so bad at directions? There was a blonde girl standing at a locker on the left with a winning smile directed at a towering boy with a varsity jacket on and broad shoulders. A crowd was gathered around them, though giving them space, and packing the rest of the available passage. They couldn't have their sitcom moment elsewhere, where they didn't stop innocent folk like Evelyn from getting to eat?

Evelyn was starting to feel out of control. She was shoving her way through the crowd, feeling like the walls were closing in on her. It seemed like elbows were directly landing on her ribs and her backpack was getting jostled on purpose, was everyone against her? Where did the crowd end, she thought desperately. She closed her eyes and clawed her way out, feeling like her life depended on it.

When she could think straight and breathe free air again, she was in an empty hall. Evelyn couldn't remember where she'd gone, just that she had known she had to get away. The doors had turned green, which was a bad sign. She'd gone into the wrong building, maybe going the wrong way the whole time. The halls were empty here, everyone having already gone to lunch in the right direction. She felt like a fool.

"Well, maybe I don't want that protection," shouted an angry girl's voice just around the corner.

A couple's fight? Something of a more nefarious nature? Evelyn decided to investigate, slowly creeping up to the wall and peaking around the edge. She was Evelyn the Shadow, the super spy. She hunched close to the wall, recalling with only the slightest hesitation the last time she had done so in this new city. At least it was unlikely that there would be a mythical dragon man on the other side, this time.

Her "friend", if you could call her that, Erika was doing her best impression of a dragon, talking to a spectacled brunette. She was all but breathing fire, looking up at the cowed teenage boy who seemed to wish he could be anywhere but here. Erika was speaking in low tones now, jabbing a finger into his chest to punctuate her words.

"If I want a boy like you, don't you think I could find one? You'll leave me alone, or I'll let my father know Kurt MacKenzie is harassing me, and you'll have to come talk to him. Tell your idiot friends that applies to all of them."

The newly christened Kurt mumbled something, then straightened his jacket and walked off to salvage some of his dignity. Thankfully, he went towards the other end of the hallway, not towards Evelyn. As he disappeared into the labyrinth of the rest of the school, Erika seemed to deflate, moving over to lean against the wall. She looked exhausted.

Evelyn did her best to look lost and afraid, which wasn't particularly hard considering what had led her to this hallway, and stepped out into the open.

"Uh, it's Erika right? I'm Evelyn, you were supposed to meet me for lunch, I think…"

Erika snorted, looking like death warmed over. Evelyn took note to keep an eye on Kurt Mackenzie, because Erika had seemed to her like she could take on the whole world alone, up until this moment. She stood back up, and the two girls walked in the correct direction of lunch in companionable silence. Evelyn gave her space to build herself back up before they'd have to sit in a cafeteria in the midst of the whole school.

The hallways became more populated, but most people were already eating at tables with friends so it was nothing as overwhelming as earlier. Evelyn had thought she'd gotten better at controlling her anxiety but it had felt as if she was helpless, earlier. It wouldn't happen again, she'd be sure of it.

Erika pulled her aside moments before they would pass through the door frame, apologizing to a pair of guys who they almost bumped into.

"We're not going to talk about anything you might have seen, before you came up to me, okay? I don't know what you might have thought you could have seen, but you didn't."

Evelyn swallowed. That was an intense dismissal.

"Yes ma'am. Nothing at all. Just walked with you to get food…?"

Erika nodded, the storm passed, and she began to smile again, leading her onwards to lunch. Evelyn had already panicked once in the last half hour from the amount of people, and she thought she had it under control. She was taking notes from Erika, trying to put on the brave face of the punk rocker. It didn't sit well on her face, so she just studied her shoes in between peeks to not bump into tables or other children. She'd need new ones soon, some time in the last few days the tips had worn down. She could almost… she could now see her toe popping out to wave at her. She laughed at the hilarity of having a little worm coming out of her shoe, and heard an answering laughter resound from the table directly in front of her. When did that appear?

Her face began to burn red, like the little sprites she summoned, as she looked up and saw Erika and her group of friends staring at her like she was crazy. She slowly eased her toe back into the shoe and gave a little wave.

"Uh… hello. I'm Evelyn and it is very nice to meet you all."

a/n We're back! It's always a pleasure to write in Evelyn's mind. I have had the story planned out for months, but just getting time to write was quite difficult. I hope to have the next chapter out in roughly a week at most, give or take a few days. As always, let me know what you think!