Fouzia

"Morning everyone! I hope you are all excited to present your family tree projects." Mrs. Zambiea said.

Her enthusiasm was met with awkward silence. Although it's been two days since their parents decided to let them stay at Morning Star Academy, some of them still weren't over their family issues.

"Can we please just get this over with?" Victoria said.

Fouzia turned to look at Victoria. She winced in sympathy; if she had a family like the Crowns, the last thing she would want to do is talk about them.

Mrs. Zambiea nodded. She pulled out a manilla folder with several sheets of paper. They must have been the class roster and a rubric.

"This is a completion grade, as long as I feel like you actually tried, you get an A." She said.

"Fuck, I'm so going to fail." Jake mumbled under his breath.

Mrs. Zambiea ignored the boy's comment and grabbed a red pen.

"Since we lost two classmates, we're no longer using the boy/girl method and instead will be going in alphabetical order by last names." She said.

She looked at Aerolynn and sighed. "You can be excluded if you want. It won't affect your grade."

Aerolynn looked down at her desk in embarrassment. It was obvious the girl was not looking forward to today. Talking about everyone else's family, probably isolated her from the others. The fact that she was technically the first to present and had nothing to show was all the more embarrassing.

Thank you. Aerolynn said quietly.

Mrs. Zambiea nodded and turned to look at Alexander.

"Alexander, would you please step in front of the class and present your family tree project." Mrs. Zambiea said.

Alexander nodded and grabbed the poster board. He walked to front of the class and smiled.

"Hi, I'm Alexander Aspida." He said.

"We know." Jake smirked.

Alexander's face turned red and continued talking. He pointed to a picture of two olive skinned adults in about their sixties. The man had dark blue hair and a large belly. He wore a grey T-Shirt that was covered in stains. The woman next to him had bronze colored skin that looked like it was carved from stone. She was regal and beautiful, something that contradicted her relaxed demeanor.

"These are my paternal grandparents Tomaso and Christina Aspida." Alexander said.

He pointed to another picture of a younger version of the couple holding a baby.

"My father inherited his quirk of perception from my grandfather." Alexander revealed.

Jarret raised his hand. "Perception? That's a quirk?

Alexander nodded. "My family isn't known for flashy quirks."

He pointed to a picture of a large building with a red sign that read: Aspida Family Pizza.

"My grandparents own this pizzeria in Chicago. It's famous all across Illinois." Alexander smiled.

Sarah raised an eyebrow and expected the picture closely.

"I've been there." She announced.

Alexander smiled. "Oh yeah? Do you live in Chicago?"

"No, but I stayed there for a couple of weeks while my mother dated one of the workers at your families' pizzeria." Sarah said.

Alexander seemed excited that someone from the class had been to the shop.

"Really which one? I know everyone there." Alexander said.

Sarah frowned and scratched her chin as she began to search for the name.

"I think his name was Antonio." Sarah said.

Alexander's face fell. "Antonio?"

"Yeah Antonio Manino I think." Sarah said.

Alexander began to stutter. "Antonio is married. He's been married for almost twenty years."

"Your point is?" Sarah asked.

Alexander had put away his look of shock and concern. "Nothing."

"Your mom dated a married guy?" Fouzia asked.

Sarah shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time."

Mrs. Zambiea clapped her hands and got everyone's attention. "Okay class, let's focus on Alexander's presentation, not on Sarah's mother's romantic life."

"Don't worry Mrs. Zambiea there was no romance, it was just sex." Sarah smirked.

"Ew." Faith gagged.

Mrs. Zambiea gasped. Her face was red. "Sarah! One more smart comment like that and you'll have detention!"

"Yes ma'am…" Sarah rolled her eyes and turned back to face Alexander. "Please continue Mr. Aspida." She said sarcastically.

Alexander blushed and pointed to another photograph. It was of two young boys in the pool. From the full of heads of blue hair, there was no mistaking the boys for Alexander's relatives.

"This here is my father Phillip and his older brother, my uncle Sirius. Sirius married my aunt Carina and had my cousin Anna shortly after." He said.

Next to the picture of the boys in the pool was a of a good lucking girl with a warm smile.

"This is my cousin Anna, she attends a pro hero school in Greece, she recently got her hero license and she now operates under the hero name Spartan." Alexander explained.

Jarret gasped. "Your cousin is Spartan? For a rookie her stats are amazing!"

Fouzia rolled her eyes at Jarret's squeals. Although she was glad the boy was no longer a vegetable, ever since he regained consciousness, he talked about pro heroes constantly.

"So are her tits." Jake whistled.

"You disappoint me so much." Faith sighed.

Jake frowned. "What? They are! It would be rude for me to say they weren't."

Fouzia was desperate to change the conversation and decided to raise her hand.

"What's her quirk?" Fouzia asked.

"Her quirk is Ghost Eye, which means she can turn any object she is maintain eye contact with intangible." Alexander said.

"Finally, someone in your family with an interesting quirk." Sarah smirked.

Alexander ignored her and pointed to a picture of his parents.

"These are my parents Phillip Aspida and Maria Aspida. As I mentioned before my father has the quirk of Perception. My mother's quirk is Analyze. Whenever she looks at something for a whole ten seconds she can have all of it's information memorized." Alexander said.

Alexander pointed to a picture of a hero in a blue body suit. He wore a white belt and had a white G painted on his shirt. He wore a blue helmet that looked like it had Spartan influences. Fouzia frowned, she recognized that man. It was the Pro Hero, the Guardian.

"My dad is also known as the Pro Hero, The Guardian. When he retires, he plans to run my grandpa's pizza shop." Alexander said nonchalantly.

The rest of the class gasped. Fouzia raised an eyebrow, his father was a pro hero? Had he ever mentioned that? He was so nonchalant about it, as if having a hero for a father wasn't a cool thing. Then again kids like Victoria and Matt probably made the other legacy kids uncomfortable with their status. They were prime examples of how privilege and power could corrupt someone. Perhaps Alexander didn't want to be lumped into that world of power and politics.

"You never told me your father is the Guardian." Victoria gasped.

Judging by the look on her face it seemed like she was regretting all the times she called him stupid.

"It never came up." Alexander shrugged.

"Never came up! Dude, your dad used to be in the top ten." Lex gasped.

Alexander shrugged again. "Yeah."

"That's awesome." Jarret said.

Alexander didn't seem to share the rest of the class's excitement. He cleared his throat and awkwardly scanned the classroom, searching for a way to change the subject.

"Well that's my project, I think it's Victoria's turn?" Alexander said.

Victoria sighed dramatically. She reached into her backpack and grabbed a hair tie. With one quick motion she pulled her braids back into a ponytail and got up slowly. The way the girl walked to the front of the classroom Fouzia wasn't sure if she was going to give a presentation or face execution.

"Start speaking whenever you're ready." Mrs. Zambiea said.

"Because Victoria's always had a problem with that." Sarah mumbled underneath her breath.

Victoria forced a smile and faced her class. "Hello everyone, I am here to talk about my family, the Crowns."

Victoria pointed to a grainy picture of a man in a green and gold spandex costume. From what Fouzia could make out he had chestnut colored skin and a large afro.

"This is my father's grandfather, Theodore Crown. His original name was Theodore Washington, but he insisted that Washington was a slave name and he wanted his last name to reflect nobility. When he was legally allowed to, he changed his last name from Washington to Crown." Victoria said.

Faith raised her hand. "He looks familiar."

Victoria smiled. "You probably recognize him because he was the first official black hero in America."

"Of course, he fucking was." Sarah grumbled.

"Sarah!" Mrs. Zambiea hissed. "Don't make me remove you from the class."

Sarah rolled her eyes and turned to face Victoria. "Please continue to tell us how perfect you are Mary Sue."

Victoria ignored her and faced her poster board.

"My great grandfather chose the codename Raptor, which was fitting since his quirk gave him the abilities of a velociraptor. His archenemy was the villainous white supremacist, the Crow." Victoria explained.

"I'm confused how did your bloodline go from dinosaur attributes to shadow constructs?" Kevin asked.

Victoria smirked. "I'm almost on that part."

"After black Pro-Heroes were legalized, Theodore advocated for integration of black superheroes into all white teams." Victoria said.

She showed the class a picture of Theodore and a woman with magenta colored hair holding a small toddler in their hands. Fouzia frowned when she noticed that they weren't smiling at the camera. They were kind of just gazing at it almost as if there was no soul in their bodies whatsoever. As if the camera caught them at the worst possible moment. At least Fouzia knew the Crowns were always heartless, so it wasn't just Victoria.

"Theodore married my great grandmother, Blossom shortly after they passed the Equal Quirks Bill. Several years later they had four children. Two boy and two girls. The eldest son was my grandfather, Roger Crown. You may know him as the Pro Hero Tsunami."

Victoria pointed to a picture of Roger and frowned. "Now Roger inherited Blossom's quirk of hydrokinetic constructs. To those who don't know, it means he could create objects from water."

Fouzia raised an eyebrow, another quirk in Victoria's family that had nothing to do with shadows. Who exactly did Victoria inherit her quirk from?

"Roger met my grandmother, Eliza, at Harvard. They fell in love and had my father, Maurice." Victoria said.

"What is your father's quirk?" Kevin asked.

Victoria gulped. All the color seemed to have drained from her face. She looked down at her feet in embarrassment. What about her father would make her embarrassed? Now that Fouzia thought about it, Victoria never talked about her father. Granted she tried not to speak about her family, but if she ever did; she only spoke about her mother. Until the funeral, Fouzia always assumed Victoria's dad wasn't around, or was deceased.

"Well my grandmother had a quirk of animal transformation and my father more or less inherited that." Victoria mumbled.

Faith raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean more or less?"

Fouzia shook her head. Victoria was hiding something. Something about her family that she wasn't ready to talk about. Which given the nature of her family wasn't surprising.

Faith's question was followed by silence. Then Victoria said something under her breath. "A -ster"

"What did you say?" Jake asked.

"A hamster! My father's quirk is that he can turn into a fucking hamster! Are you happy now?" Victoria yelled. The suddenness made Sara and the majority of the class jump.

"No way! That's too good!" Sarah was the first to burst into a fit of laughter, her face down and fist banging on the desk. Her loud cackle filled the classroom. Fouzia looked around and noticed many of her classmates were trying not to laugh. Fouzia's cheeks turned a darker shade of red trying to keep herself together. Even she had to admit it was funny. If anyone else had the quirk of turning into a hamster it wouldn't be comedic at all. However, given the fact that the Crowns acted like they were gods, knowing one of them was weak just felt somewhat satisfying. Thinking back to it, he seemed a little more reasonable then his wife and was terrified of her. Now it made sense.

Fouzia would have never expected it to have been Victoria's father that would have been a weak link. Victoria was a machine, Fouzia expected her father to play a part in that, perhaps it was all her mother. Maybe she felt insecure about the fact she married a man with a quirk like his.

The look on Victora's face said she would do anything to disappear right now

"Hamsters are pretty cute." Kaleb offered in an attempt to defend Victoria. He was one of the few who didn't laugh at her. She glared at him, signifying that he wasn't making her feel better.

Sarah had to catch her breath and wiped a tear from her eyes. "Thank you for making me feel better about my daddy issues." She chuckled.

Victoria growled. "Very funny. Has your mom slept with any married guys lately?"

"Has your mom started loving you yet?" Sarah hissed.

Victoria yelled in frustration. "I will fucking kill you!"

"I'm sure you will, we both know what you're capable of." Sarah growled.

Fouzia's face fell at Sarah's words. She could feel her heartbeat from her throat. What you're capable of.

Matt. What they did.

"Ladies, knock it off! Now the only reason I haven't sent you to Ms. Morningstar's office is because I know you two are both going through a lot. Do not test my patience." Mrs. Zambiea growled.

Sarah forced a smile. "I'm sorry Victoria's such a cunt."

"And I'm sorry you're going to turn into a useless whore just like your mother." Victoria said.

Sarah balled her fists up in anger. She banged her fists against her wooden desk and yelled in frustration.

"Fuck you Victoria!" Sarah yelled.

Mrs. Zambiea growled and stepped in between the two girls.

"Ladies, go to the headmistress's office now." Mrs. Zambiea scowled.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Yeah I'm sure she'll be a big help."

As the two girls continued to complain, they eventually grabbed their bags and walked out of the room.

Jake scoffed. "I fucking love this class. Never a dull moment."

Mrs. Zambiea gritted her teeth and forced a smile. "This day is about unity and solidarity. Why don't we move on to the next project?"

Lex sighed; the next student was him.

He grabbed his poster board and walked to the front of the classroom. His face started growing red as he looked at his classmates. Despite everything they went through together, Lex still didn't seem to be any better at public speaking. However, compared to what just happened, he didn't think he had much to worry about. He looked around and grimaced with all the eyes at him. Seeing Kaleb and Alexander giving him a thumbs up of encouragement made him feel slightly better.

"Today, I will be talking about my family." Lex mumbled.

He pointed to a black and white photo of a smiling woman with long hair.

"This is my grandmother Martha. She was orphaned at a young age and grew up on the streets for the first couple years of her life. She had a quirk called Curse, which allowed her to curse anybody she spoke to. It took her a long time but after years of practice she was able to control it. A couple years after that she was adopted by the Tess family." Lex smiled.

"Your grandmother is so pretty," Maryanne complimented.

He smiled. "Thanks."

He pointed to a picture of his grandmother holding an infant.

"No one really knows who my grandfather was or if he's currently alive. Some people think my mom was the product of a one-night stand or perhaps he just didn't want to raise kids. Anyway, my grandma raised my mother by herself, with occasional help from my great-grandparents. She took a job as a nurse that specified in helping heroes," He said.

"As I'm sure you guys realized, I get my quirk from my mother's side of the family. My mother inherited a quirk similar to my grandmother, called Omen. It's like my quirk, only much easier to manage." Lex smiled weakly.

Fouzia winced in sympathy. She felt bad for kids like Lex and Kevin who still were struggling to control their quirks. She couldn't imagine fearing the thing that made you special.

"As for my father's side of the family, my grandfather, Frank, founded a construction company that specialized in providing raw materials for companies that made support gear. He married my grandmother Beth, and the two of them had my father, Samuel. My father's side of the family is quite different than my mother's. While my mother's family specializes in bad luck, my paternal side has a quirk called Fortune, which basically gives them good luck." Lex said.

He cleared his throat. "Well that's it, I guess. It's not as interesting as some of your guy's but it's all I have." Lex said.

For some reason, hearing his class clap for him was even more embarrassing.

"Don't be ridiculous, I thought your presentation was great." Fouzia smiled.

Kaleb grinned. "I second that."

Lex blushed. "Thanks guys."

He turned to face Aurélie. "I believe it's your turn."

Aurélie smiled and grabbed her poster. She walked towards the front of the classroom and grinned. She seemed to have put a little more effort in presentation as her poster board was vibrant and colorful.

"Hey guys, why don't I just start from the beginning?" She smiled.


Victoria

"Why are you girls here?" Ms. Morningstar asked.

Victoria rolled her eyes as her headmistress glared at the two girls. She lost respect for Ms. Morningstar months ago. Granted she still feared the woman. However, her pretending to be in charge of this school was a joke. It was just a cover for whatever she was really doing.

"I don't understand why I'm here. Sarah started it," Victoria announced.

Sarah scoffed and crossed her arms. "Of course it's never Victoria Crown's fault."

"It isn't because unlike you I don't instigate drama." Victoria frowned.

Ms. Morningstar snapped her fingers and growled.

"I don't care who started it. All I care about is you two disrupting class time." Ms. Morningstar frowned.

"Please after Matt's death and Hunter's betrayal, I don't think anyone is too focused on school." Sarah said.

Victoria's heart sunk at the mention of the boy's names. How long had she know Matt? How many nights had be spent at her house talking about how much he hated his father, to which she would respond with how much she hated her mother. How many fantasies did she have that when high school was over, and she was free of her mother, she would be able to be with Hunter. Now all of it was gone.

"It's obvious that you two have a problem. Until you can fix, you guys will be in the detention room." Ms. Morningstar said.

Victoria gulped. The detention room. The same place where she had to fight genetically engineered monsters? Sarah didn't seem to think this was a serious threat and began to laugh hysterically.

"Bring it bitch." Sarah growled.

Victoria sighed and slumped her shoulders. "I hate this school."


Lex

"My great grandfather, Louis, was raised in France." Aurelie said.

Lex listen to Aurelie spout facts about her family, he tried his best to listen to her but he was too focused on Faith. The girl sat in her usual seat, sandwiched in between Kaleb and an empty seat that used to belong to Hunter. The girl listened politely as Aurelie spoke. Lex smiled; he missed his best friend. He wasn't sure what he had done for her to start avoiding him, but he would do anything to make up for it. He felt incomplete without Faith Ritter by his side.

"My great grandfather had a quirk called God Hand. It gave him the ability to increase the speed and dexterity of his fingers." Aurelie explained.

She pointed to a picture of a man with greying blond hair and bright blue eyes. He was doodling something on a canvas, however his hand was moving so fast all Lex saw was a blur.

"My grandfather also helped develop the prototype suit for the first French hero." Aurelie said proudly.

She pointed to a picture of the same man and a boy who looked around their age.

"This is my great grandfather and my grandfather, Charles. Louis had to raise Charles himself, since Charles's mother passed a week after she gave birth. Like my great grandfather, Anna also was interested in developing support gear for pro heroes." Aurelie said.

Lex raised an eyebrow. He was starting to notice a pattern. Alexander and Victoria were related to pro heroes, Aurelie and himself had families that made support gear, did all of the kids in their class have some connection to the hero world?

Was the reason Ms. Morningstar selected them some kind of nepotism? Or was something larger going on here?

"My grandfather married my grandmother, Thelma, and had my father, Arthur." Aurelie explained.

Aurelie plucked a photo of her father and her standing in the center of some kind of ballroom. Her father was dressed in an exquisite three-piece suit, while Aurelie was dressed in a beautiful indigo dress that seemed to glow.

"He designed the dress in this photo." Aurelie said proudly.

She held it closer for the rest of her classmates to see.

Cleo gasped. "Holy hell. That looks gorgeous."

"I am totally jealous." Maryanne gasped.

Aurelie smiled and placed the picture back on her poster. She pointed to another picture of a Japanese man standing against the side of an airplane. The man had a confident smile on his face. Something Aurelie seemed to have inherited.

"That's my grandfather Yoichi. He was a navy test pilot in WWII." She said.

Kaleb grinned. "That's so cool."

"Thanks, I thought it was." Aurelie chuckled.

"So did your grandfather kill any Nazis?" Jake asked.

This earned a couple of gasps from some of Lex's classmates. Some looked at Jake appalled that he would say such a thing. Lex, however, would've been more surprised if the boy didn't ask that question.

Aurelie ignored Jake and continued to talk about her family.

"Yoichi and his allies were ambushed in a battle that would cost him his leg. In an desperate attempt to make it back to his fiancé, my great grand mother, he swam fifty miles to get to her town." Aurelie revelaed.

Maryanne gasped in shock. "Did he make it?"

This earned a couple of chuckles from her classmates. Lex smiled, even though so much had happened it was nice to know that Maryanne was still Maryanne.

"Obviously he made it, or Aurelie wouldn't be alive right now." Jake scoffed.

Maryanne blushed and looked down at her feet. Her cheeks were the same color as a tomato.

"Of course." She mumbled.

Alexander frowned. "Leave her alone Jake."

Jake didn't seem the least bit intimidated by Alexander's words. In fact, the boy smirked.

Jake rolled his eyes. "Sorry I forget you and Hippo Hips were an item, Aurelie please continue,"

"Anyway they had my grandmother Asuka who married my grandfather, Joichiro and had my mother, Momoka. My parents met at my father's fashion show and they've been madly in love ever since." Aurelie said.

"That's so romantic." Cleo smiled.

Mrs. Zambiea smiled and walked to the front of the classroom. She turned to face her students and looked at the expectantly.

"How do we show Ms. Duax we liked her presentation?"

Lex chuckled and began to clap. Soon the rest of his classmates began to join in, Aurelie blushed awkwardly and ran her fingers through her indigo colored hair.

"Well I'm glad you guys liked it." Aurelie said.

She turned to look at Jarret, the lanky boy was currently shirking in his seat, in an pathetic attempt to make himself invisible.

"Jarret it's your turn." Aurelie said.

Jarret groaned and grabbed his small poster board and made his way to front of the classroom.

Soft clapping was heard in the row behind Lex's. Lex turned to see Kevin cheering his roommate on, an encouraging smile on his face as he did so.

"You got this buddy." Kevin said.

Jarret blushed and began to speak.

"Well before you get your hopes up, my family isn't as flashy as the rest of your guy's." Jarret informed.

He gulped and pointed to a picture of him, his father, his mother, and a small boy with curly brown hair. The boy couldn't be much older than six, and judging by the fact he looked like an exact replica of Jarret, it was safe to say that it was his little brother.

"Both of my parents were born and raised in North Dakota, it's also where me and my brother Kory grew up." Jarret smiled wistfully.

Jarret gulped and continued to speak. His eyes went to a picture of his mother wearing a white t-shirt and peach colored tights. Standing next to her was Jarret who wore the same white shirt and black tights. He looked regal and composed, a look Lex wasn't used to seeing on the socially awkward boy. His arms were positioned high above his head and his leg was bent inward, his ankle facing his right leg's knee.

"My mom's a ballet teacher, and she's actually the one that taught me how to dance." Jarret smiled.

Jake snorted. "Dude you do ballet?"

He began to snicker loudly, causing Lex to wince in sympathy. He would hate it if someone mocked him for playing guitar. He could only imagine how Jarret was feeling right now.

"I personally think ballet is very hot," Aurelie said.

This comment silenced Jake and caused the boy to perk up.

"You do?" Jake asked.

Aurelie smirked. "Of course I do. Ballet is an art form, and a boy who isn't afraid to tap into his sensitive side to express that is just someone I find irresistibly attractive."

Jake frowned and sat back against his seat. "I guess ballet isn't totally lame." He mumbled.

Lex struggled to suppress a laugh at Jake's defeat. He looked over at Aurelie who was watching Jake with a smirk. She turned back to face Jarret and shot him a look that said a thousand words: You're welcome.

Jarret grinned and mouthed the words: Thank you.

Although a simple thank you didn't seem to express the amount of gratitude Jarret felt for Aurelie defending him.

"My quirk is a combination of my parents. My mother has a quirk called Big Lung, which basically allows her to shoot a powerful gust of wind from her mouth and my father has a spinning quirk, although he can't do it to the magnitude that I can," Jarret explained.

"You have a beautiful family." Faith complimented.

Jarret blushed. "Thanks. Anyway, that's the Han clan, and I think I'm done for now."

Jarret turned to face his teacher as if to ask for permission to sit down. Mrs. Zambiea chuckled and motioned for Jarret to take a seat.

"Up next is Jake Hyde." Mrs. Zambiea said.

Jake jumped up from his chair and clapped his hands. The boy had so much energy stored up inside of him he looked like he was going to burst from excitement.

"Good, I was getting bored listening to all of you guys drone on about your mediocre families." Jake grinned.

Lex rolled his eyes. He wasn't sure what to expect from Jake's presentation. Lex expected Jake's parents to be cruel, but instead they were some of the kindest people he had ever met. He was curious what in Jake's life lead him to be so…well Jake.

"I grew up in California, my father works for a manufacturing company that makes support gear for heroes." Jake explained.

Jake pointed to a picture of his father driving a forklift.

"My father's quirk allows him to turn different parts of his body into shredders." Jake said explained.

Lex smirked. That explained where Jake inherited the shredder in the back of his throat.

Jake turned to face a picture of his mom, the woman was holding exposed wires, yet she didn't seem fazed by it. In fact, she was staring at the camera with a wide smile.

"This is my mother Marina. Her quirk makes her immune to electricity." Jake said.

Jake grinned and clapped his hands.

"Show's over folks. That's all you need to know about my family." Jake smiled.

Faith groaned. "That's it? I had to basically create a whole timeline of my ancestry, and he's going to skate by on two fact?"

"Yeah pretty much." Jake smirked.

Mrs. Zambiea chuckled. "You're not done yet Jake."

She walked over to Jake's poster and pointed to a picture of an elderly woman. Her face was scrunched up in anger, her blue eyes piercing into Lex's soul. The woman was short but had the intimidating aura of a giant.

"Who is this?" She asked.

Jake's smirk fell off his face in an instant. The boy gulped.

"That's Satan." Jake mumbled. "It's Nana Hyde,"

Lex chuckled. Jake's grandmother seemed to have legitimately spook him. It was nice to know there was someone out there that could get Jake in line.

"She can drain energy from people," Jake grumbled.

Jake sighed and turned to look at his teacher. "Am I done now?"

"Yes Jake, you're finished." Mrs. Zambiea said.

Mrs. Zambiea turned to look at Maryanne. "You're up next."

Maryanne smiled weakly. "Thanks."

Jake snorted. "Good luck topping that."

Maryanne gulped and looked down at the ground. Lex frowned and turned to face Jake. Jake had been making rude comments to Maryanne all year, it had to stop.

"Jake leave her alone." He hissed.

Jake shrugged. "Calm down Lex, I'm just having some fun."

"It's not funny if it's at someone else's expense." Lex said.

Jake rolled his eyes and turned to face Maryanne. The brunette was currently setting up her poster board, which was a beautiful shade of bright blue and was covered in pictures.

"Hey guys I want to show you all my family," Maryanne smiled.

She pointed to a picture of a dark haired couple on the beach.

"These are my parents, Ron and Lana. My dad is a mechanic and my mom is a dentist. I got my quirk from my father, he could merge with any body of water." Maryanne explained.

Faith raised her hand. "What can your mom do?"

"She can communicate with fish. It's pretty lame, I know." Maryanne chuckled.

"That's an awesome quirk, I would love to talk to fish." Kevin encouraged.

Granted Lex was sure Kevin would prefer to have any quirk other than his own.

Maryanne grinned and pointed to a picture of a young boy with black hair playing with a soccer ball.

"That's my younger brother Matty. His quirk is a little more useful than mine, instead of transforming into water, he can control it." Maryanne informed.

"Wicked." Lex said.

Maryanne cleared her throat. Was she in a rush to finish?

"Well that's my family, the Islas. I believe it's Cleo's turn." Maryanne blurted.

Cleo smirked. "I'll take the floor Maryanne,"

Cleo grabbed her poster board and walked to the front of the classroom, stepping in front of Maryanne.

"Hello my name is Cleo McScream and let me tell you about my awesome family." Cleo smiled.


Victoria

"I should have packed bug spray." Sarah complained.

Victoria didn't answer the blond's complaint and instead kept walking. Ms. Morningstar sent them to the detention room shortly after their trip to her office. The portal didn't take them to island that Victoria went to last time, instead she and Sarah were sent to a green forest. She was waiting for the murderous monsters to jump out of the bushes however they had yet to make an appearance.

"My feet hurt can we stop walking?" Sarah groaned.

Victoria rolled her eyes. "We just started walking. How are you tired already?"

"Well my feet feel like they are on fire so if it's okay with you your Highness I would like to sit the fuck down!" Sarah howled.

"What is going on with you? Why are you being such a bitch?" Victoria barked.

Sarah chuckled. "Where have you been? I've always been a bitch."

"Your right, I guess I just never felt the intense urge to stab you in the throat till now!" Victoria yelled.

Sarah yelled in frustration and turned to face the opposite direction. Without saying another word, she marched off. Victoria growled and followed the girl. She wasn't going to get in trouble for loosing Sarah Smith.

"Get back over here! We need to stay together." Victoria hissed.

"Fuck off!" Sarah yelled.

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Eloquent as always."

She grabbed Sarah's arm and pulled the girl towards her.

"You were attacking me in the classroom for no reason. You were cold to me in Alexander's room too." Victoria said.

Sarah scoffed. "Do you really think you're important enough for me to hate you?"

"You obviously have some problem with me and I can't afford for you to get all moody on me for no reason." Victoria said.

"And why is that?" Sarah challenged.

Victoria growled. "Because that's how we'll get caught. You, me, Fouzia, Lex, and Alexander, we need to be able to trust each other or our lie falls apart and we all go to jail."

"I didn't kill Matt." Sarah mumbled.

"Neither did I, but I much rather protect Fouzia who not only did what she did to protect you, but also it was accident. She never meant to hurt anybody and now her life is falling apart because she wanted to keep you safe!" Victoria said.

Sarah frowned. "I'm thankful for her protecting me."

"Are you? Are you really? The four of us fought Matt for you. We risked our lives against villains for you. Yet when we get back to school it's business as usual for you. You never stopped to thank us, you just went back to being the selfish bitch you always were." Victoria snapped.

"I am thankful!" Sarah shrieked.

Sarah growled and shoved Victoria away from her. Her blue eyes were bright with anger.

"I'm sorry if I didn't want to be indebted to Victoria Crown of all people." Sarah said.

Victoria raised an eyebrow. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You've had everything handed to you." Sarah said.

"I have not." Victoria frowned.

"Of course you have! Everything just works out for you because you're rich and the daughter of a pro hero. People treat you like royalty. You get to complain about not having friends yet have dozens of people lining up to speak to you. People act like you're a goddess. Maryanne and I had to work our asses off to get on the cheer team, you got the spot just because of you're last name. You were the one Matt respected! You were the one he admired! You're not the one he beat the shit out of in some misguided attempt to deal with daddy issues!" Sarah ranted.

Sarah frowned. "Everything works out for you. My life is falling apart, and you still get to be Victoria Crown, so I'm sorry if that pisses me off."

Victoria was silent for a minute. She didn't know what to say. Was she really that ignorant of some of the privileges she possessed? Sarah sighed and sat down on a rock. It was then Victoria saw underneath Sarah's mean girl exterior and saw the broken girl underneath. She was scared and vulnerable. She had a lot more going on than Victoria gave her credit for.

Victoria sighed and sat down next to her.

"I know what it's like." Victoria mumbled.

Sarah frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"I know what it's like to love someone who hurts you. I know what it feels like to like to care so much about someone and have them turn around stab you in the heart." Victoria sighed.

"What are you talking about? You don't have a boyfriend." Sarah said.

Victoria laughed bitterly. "You're right."

Victoria turned to her side and lifted up her braids to show Sarah a small jagged scar on the side of her cheek.

"When I was younger my mother enlisted me in gymnastics. I hated it. I don't really know what I hated about it, maybe I just couldn't stand the fact my mother seemed to care about gymnastics more than me. So one day I…" Victoria stopped.

Tears began to swell up in her eyes. She tried not to think about that day. In fact she tried not to think about her childhood at all.

"One day during a competition I jumped from the beam and landed wrong on purpose, so I would break my leg. I thought my mother would give me a break until my leg healed. " Victoria admitted.

Sarah gasped. "Oh my god, Victoria."

"My mom caught on. On the ride back home she just started yelling at me. Then…then she hit me. She slapped me hard enough that my head slammed into the window, cracking it." Victoria continued.

Victoria put her braids down and sighed. "My whole life my mother has been training me. She started combat training when I was in kindergarten and would show me no mercy. She would attack me with everything she had in her. I've had more broken limbs and black eyes than I care to count. So next time you want to say my life is perfect, picture a seven-year-old me, picking herself off the ground after a sparring match with her mother. I'll gladly train your mother for the woman that smashed my head into the wall every time I lost a fight."

Sarah was too stunned to speak. A sight that Victoria never in her life thought she would see. Maybe that's why Victoria was so protective of Sarah when Matt attacked her. She wasn't just fighting Matt. She was fighting the memories of her mom.

Sarah reached out and took Victoria's hand. She smiled weakly as she looped her fingers with Victoria's.

"I'm sorry," Sarah said quietly.

Victoria laughed bitterly. "It's not your fault."

"I'm sorry your mom is a cunt." Sarah said.

Victoria sighed. "Well I'm sorry Matt was a dick."

"They're monsters, but we can't let them destroy us. We just took all the pain that they gave us because we thought it was love. Love isn't supposed to hurt." Sarah frowned.

Victoria nodded. Love isn't supposed to hurt. The words struck her heart.

"Do you hate him? Do you hate Matt after everything he did?" Victoria asked.

Sarah sighed. "There's not an easy answer to that. Do you hate your mom?"

"With every bone in my body." Victoria laughed weakly.

"We won't become like them." Sarah reassured.

"Like who?" Victoria asked.

"Like our moms." Sarah said.


Aurélie

'Sarah please don't do something stupid.' Aurélie thought to herself.

Aurélie couldn't stop thinking about the girl after she got kicked out of class. The last thing Sarah needed was Ms. Morningstar finding out that she was pregnant. What if Victoria found out? People finding out that Sarah was pregnant with Matt's child would throw her into a sea of problems. She would hate to see what would happen if Matt's father found out.

"And that's my family." Cleo said.

The girl just finished her project and received a round of applause from the class. Aurélie gulped and looked down at her desk in shame. She was an awful friend; she was so distracted in her thoughts she didn't even listen to Cleo's project.

"That was great Cleo," Mrs. Zambiea said.

She turned to look at Kevin. "Are you ready?

Kevin gulped and nodded. He got up slowly and walked to the front of the room.

"Hey guys, I'm here to talk a little bit about my family. Or at least what I know about it." Kevin mumbled.

He took a deep breath and forced a smile.

"My parents met in Abuja, Nigeria. Two years after they were married, they moved to Rhode Island and settled down there. My mother became a divorce attorney and my father owned a small bakery. Life was pretty good; they had my sister Vanessa and a couple years later they had me." Kevin said.

Kevin pointed to a picture of a dark skin woman holding a baby girl in her arms.

"That's my mother and my sister. My mother and her family were known throughout most of Africa and Asia as healers. Her blood had healing qualities to whoever ingested. Which sounds disgusting, but a lot of people turned to her family in a last-ditch effort." Kevin explained.

Aurélie couldn't help but gag. Drinking someone's blood to heal? She was thankful that she had never been that sick.

"My father's parents died when he was a boy, so he was raised by his grandmother…who also died when he became older." Kevin mumbled.

"My father had a quirk called Bat. Which is pretty self-explanatory, he could do whatever a bat could." Kevin smiled weakly.

Kevin sighed. "That's kind of all I know about my family. I'm sorry if it's boring, it's just that I can't really ask them for help with this kind of thing."

Aurélie's heart ached in sympathy. Poor Kevin, she couldn't imagine what pain the boy was going through. She wouldn't handle losing one of her parents, let alone both of them.

"Don't worry Kevin, you did great." Mrs. Zambiea reassured.

He nodded and grabbed his poster board. He looked up at his teacher hopefully.

"Am I done?" He asked.

"You can go ahead and take your seat." Mrs. Zambiea said.

Kevin looked relieved and practically ran back to his seat. Mrs. Zambiea eyed the next student.

"Kaleb, are you ready?" She asked.

Kaleb shrugged. "I guess." He said rather quietly.

His deadpan and nonchalant attitude was a drastic change from the usual boy that always tried to make sure that everyone had a smile on their face. Ever since his mother had left the other day, he had been less enthusiastic about this assignment and everyone has both noticed this and were increasingly worried. He didn't smile as much as he used to.

He pointed to a picture of his parents doing an acrobatic routine.

"Most of you have met my parents Joseph and Nadia. My mom is from Ethiopia and my father is from Jamaica. They left their home countries for different reasons to try and start a new life in America," Kaleb explained before taking a deep breath. For a second, it looked like he was hesitant. "My father had lost his parents and his little brother when he was only a teen from a famine. He doesn't know much about his family other than them." For a second, he paused, and he bit his lip. "My mother was the only mutant born in her family. Because of that, her family treated her cruelly like a monster and the first chance she got, she left."

Everyone was silent. That must have been a horrible experience. Aurélie had talked with them a little back at the funeral and the two of them were so kind and upbeat that she would have never guessed they experienced such hardship. It now made sense to them why he's been like this. Learning all of his parents' pain and hardship must have been agonizing.

Kaleb continued. "I know this assignment is supposed to be about your family. So, let me start by saying that apart from my father's side, none of these assholes are in any way my family."

Aurélie widened her eyes…the whole class widened their eyes. Even Mrs. Zambiea was stunned for a moment. It was the first time they ever heard the guy swear at anyone. He was always so humble and respectful towards others that the idea never crossed their minds. Jake had a wide grin hearing this.

"Dude…" Alexander said with his mouth hung open.

Aurélie's eyes went to a picture of a large red and white stripped tent. Bright lights hung along the sides of it giving it a beautiful kind of glow.

"Eventually they found themselves working at the circus which was being run by a man named the Ringmaster. He's kind of like my uncle," Kaleb said. "This is my real family."

He pointed to a picture a large man who had to be at least ten feet tall and a large hunch in his back. His skin looked like it was made of stone. He was passing colorful balloons out to young kids.

"This is Jumbo. My parents took him in a couple years ago and he's became sort of like a brother to me. Despite his appearance his quirk isn't physical, quite the opposite, he can soften anything he touches." Kaleb explained.

Aurélie's eyes were drawn to a pretty woman with bright pink hair. The most unique thing about her appearance was that her hair was sleek almost like it wasn't real hair. It appeared to be made out of some unique substance that she couldn't quite identify.

"That's Bubblegum, I don't know much about her past, but she handles the circus's social media influence and crowd pleasing. Her quirk gives her sticky gum like hair and allows her to create giant durable bubbles that people can ride in and telekinetically control them." Kaleb explained. "She's like my big sister."

Kaleb pointed to a picture of two men standing in front of a Ferris wheel. One was pale and Hispanic with dark hair, the other was lean and blond with his hand wrapped around his shoulder and sporting a cheesy grin while giving the peace sign.

"This is Match and Dagger. Match is the dark haired one. He's a firebreather, a trick that's aided by his quirk which allows him to manipulate fire. He has such good control over it he can even create shapes out of flames. The blond man is Dagger. He's from Australia and has a pretty cool quirk. Whatever he touches with his left hand becomes a mark, and whenever he throws a knife with his right hand the knife always hits it." He said.

"Now those sound awesome." Jake grinned.

He pointed to one more picture, depicting a woman with frizzy and curly hair. She had a bashful and shy look as she covered her forehead. She reminded Aurélie much of Adele as it looked as if she didn't want her picture taken. Standing next to her was a fully grown tiger. "This is our most recent addition. Her name is Beast. As her name implies, she's a beast tamer whose quirk lets her bond with any animal she makes eye contact with, even wild ones."

As soon as he finished, to all their relief, he smiled warmly. "That's my family. There are dozens of other members in my troupe who I love dearly and who I would do anything for. I know some of you are probably thinking they're not my real family since we don't share any blood, but they've shown more love to me and my parents than our real family has. None of us are normal, and we never desire to be normal. Being weird is more fun. At the end of the day that's what family is really about, love." Kaleb said.

Aurélie smiled. The statement was beautiful. The whole project was magnificent.

"You did a good job." Mrs. Zambiea said.

Kaleb nodded humbly. "Thank you."

"I guess I'm next, although I think it'll be hard to follow that." Faith said.

Fouzia raised her hand. "Actually, I was wondering if I could make a request."

"Oh?" Mrs. Zambiea asked.

"It's just…" Fouzia frowned as she tried to search for the words.

"I know Sarah and Victoria deserved to be kicked out of the class, but I think they should be here for the last presentations. I mean this day is about unity, and if the whole class isn't here it feels like it defeats the purpose. We already lost Matt and Hunter, we shouldn't push Victoria and Sarah away while we're trying to heal." Fouzia said.

Kaleb and Maryanne both raised their hands in agreement.

"She has a point." Kaleb said.

"I agree, I think they should be here." Maryanne said.

Mrs. Zambiea scratched her chin as she pondered this.

"That might not be a bad idea Fouzia. I'll go get the girls from detention." Mrs. Zambiea smiled.

Aurélie grinned, at least Sarah and Victoria could enjoy the last set of presentations.


Anna Jones

Anna was starting to get a little tired of baking. She had been doing it all day for weeks, in fact she baked so much that just the smell of flour made her want to vomit. She sighed, unfortunately there wasn't much else for a housewife to do.

This is why she was grateful when she heard a loud knock on the door. She needed something to keep her busy. She had no idea she would regret this until she opened the door, standing on her doorstep was her sister, Shaylin.

"Shaylin what are you doing here?" Anna asked.

Shaylin ignored her sister's question and pushed past her allowing herself inside. Anna gritted her teeth to suppress a growl.

"Come in." She said sarcastically.

She closed the door behind her and followed her sister to the living room.

"Did Sarah come to see you?" Shaylin asked.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Not that it's any of your business but yes she did."

Shaylin gulped. An expression of fear began to creep on to her face.

"What did she want?" Shaylin asked.

"She was doing some family tree project and wanted to know more about mom and dad." Anna explained.

"Please tell me she didn't ask about her father?" Shaylin's tone was desperate.

Anna rolled her eyes. "She did. Lucky for you, I lied to her."

Shaylin sighed in relief and collapsed on the couch. "Thank god." She muttered.

Anna crossed her arms and looked at her with a scorn. "You're happy that I had to lie to your daughter?"

"When it comes to this, lies are better than the truth. I'd rather her think her dad is some nameless deadbeat than have her know the truth." Shaylin said.

"The girl is fourteen. She deserves to know who her father was." Anna said. "Can't we just put all this behind us already?"

"I'm her mother, when I decide to tell her the truth about her dad I will. Besides he doesn't want her to know who he really is either." Shaylin said.

Anna frowned. "This is about what happened that night isn't it."

Shaylin didn't answer. Her face fell and she looked down at her feet.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She said.

"Yes you do Shaylin! The night you showed up on my doorstep a hysterical mess. And on top of that you were pregnant!" Anna said.

"Anna, you don't understand." Shaylin frowned. "I told you everything you need to know. Sarah can't know the truth about her father. Especially not after that night."

Anna growled. She hated lying to Sarah. If it was up to her she would've known the truth. The truth might not have been able to comfort her, but it was better than believing a lie.

"Does he even know he's going to be a grandfather?" Anna asked.

"It's been years since I talked to him." Shaylin sighed. "Besides, he won't be for long."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Anna asked. It took her a few seconds before she looked at her sister in shock and slight disgust. "Wait, don't tell me-"

"Sarah's getting an abortion." Shaylin said.

Anna frowned. "You're making Sarah go through with that?"

"This was her choice. I'm not making her do anything, she called me and asked if she could get one." Shaylin said defensively.

"And I'm sure you didn't pressure her into that decision. Admit it, you know that if she got pregnant you might have to actually help out with your kid for once instead of living this party girl lifestyle like you're some coed." Anna snapped.

"Better than making her go through nine hellish months of morning sickness and mood swings." Shaylin frowned. "Don't you dare lecture me about my daughter. You are not her mom!"

"I've been more of a mom to her than you have!" Anna yelled.

Shaylin yelled in frustration and grabbed her purse.

"You know what, I don't need this. I'm leaving." Shaylin barked.

Anna scoffed. "Sounds about right. That is what you do best,"

"Goodbye Anna!" Shaylin yelled.

Anna chased after her sister and grabbed her arm. Shaylin turned around to face her sister and snarled.

"Let go of me." She hissed.

"Just ask yourself one thing. Is Sarah getting an abortion because she wants to, or because she thinks that's what you want?" Anna asked.

Shaylin's face fell. She looked like she was about to say something but instead she just yanked her arm away.

"Goodbye Anna." Shaylin said coldly.

With that, the woman walked out of the house after slamming the door.


Sarah

"How long are they going to leave us in here?" Sarah asked.

Victoria shrugged. She hadn't said much since she revealed her past. Then again, she really didn't know what to say at this point. Just as she was about to say something, she felt another intense stomach pain. She stopped and gasped, clenching her stomach in an attempt to brace herself.

Victoria stopped and turned to face the girl. "What's wrong with you?"

"Just some bad cramps." Sarah lied. "I'm not really the long-distance walking kind of girl."

Victoria raised an eyebrow in disbelief, but she didn't further question her. Sarah sighed and slowly got up. As she was walking, she saw a flash of light in the corner of her light. Sarah frowned and turned to look at the light. She stepped back at a glowing orb of golden light. Soon the light began to grow and reshape itself. Something told her that something bad was about to happen.

"Victoria! Is that normal?" Sarah called.

Victoria turned to face Sarah her eyes slowly going to the bright light.

"That's the portal out of here." Victoria said.

"They're letting us out already?" Sarah said in relief.

Victoria smiled. "I guess we got good behavior."

Sarah turned to Victoria. "How does this work? Do we just jump in?"

Victoria nodded. "I'll go first."

Victoria walked over to the orb of light and gulped. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and jumped into the sphere, sinking into it like it was made of quicksand. Sarah gulped. Although Victoria jumped into the portal with ease, she was still a little skeptical.

She slowly walked over to the portal and looked it up and down.

Just as she was about to hop in, a hand emerged from the light and pulled her into the orb. She yelped and fell into the energy ball, the forest disappearing behind her.

Her scenery morphed into a small classroom. Standing in front of her was Victoria and Mrs. Zambiea. Sarah gagged and stood up slowly. The portal gave her a severe sense of vertigo, which coupled with her pregnancy ensured that she would spend the next five minutes barfing her guts out.

"You pulled us out early." Victoria observed.

Mrs. Zambiea smiled weakly. "A friend of yours stood up for you guys and said you guys should be given a second chance."

Victoria and Sarah shared a look. Someone actually wanted them at the presentation.

"Besides Sarah, you still have to present, are you ready?" Mrs. Zambiea asked.

Sarah gulped. Was she ready?

"As ready as I'll ever be." Sarah said.


Maryanne

The room was silent in anticipation for Sarah and Victoria's return. Maryanne looked around at her classmates. Most of them were either fiddling with their pencils or took their free time as an opportunity to check their phones.

Maryanne turned to look at Alexander. She gave him a warm smile. Alexander looked up at her but instead of smiling back he looked down at his desk. She frowned; did he not see her? No, he must've he looked right at her. Why would he ignore her?

She gulped; did she do something wrong? She thought that her and Alexander's relationship was going perfectly. Before she could dwell on what happened any further the door opened pulling her out of her thoughts. Maryanne watched as her classmates scrambled to hide their phones from their teacher.

Maryanne turned and smiled weakly when she saw Sarah and Victoria enter the room. Things with Alexander were weird but at least she had Victoria.

"Class please welcome back Sarah and Victoria." Mrs. Zambiea said.

Jake smirked. "How was detention?"

"Better than being in class with you." Victoria snorted.

Mrs. Zambiea frowned. "Good behavior or this time I'll send the whole class to detention."

This silenced the trio and caused the rest of the class to gulp. Although she hated to admit it the detention room was highly effective.

"Up next is Faith, I know we had a break in between presentations but I expect you all to give her your undivided attentions." Mrs. Zambiea said.

Faith grinned and grabbed her poster. She walked to the front of the classroom and waved to her class.

"Hey guys, I know the rest of you are probably tired of these presentations, so I'll try to keep mine short and sweet." Faith said.

Faith pointed to a picture of two blond adults standing in front of a large ferry.

"My grandparents, Hans Ritter and Gerda Schmidt, were German immigrants who fled from the USA after the First World War. After the Second World War they settled down and had my grandfather Jonathan." She explained.

Faith looked at her classmates to see if they had any questions. They were silent causing her to blush.

"Anyway," She continued. "My grandfather met my grandmother, Abigail, during the 60s and they became a couple before he was drafted for the Vietnam war. When my grandpa came back, he suffered from serious PTSD, something that still affects him till this day. Sometimes he'll get these awful flashbacks and his quirk would shatter everything in the cabinets. Luckily his condition improved when my father was born." Faith sighed.

Faith walked over to the other side of her poster.

"Well that wraps up the paternal side of my family. Now on to my mom's side of the family." She said.

She pointed to the other side of the poster board. "This is my great grandfather, Lawrence Sinclair, he participated in the Second World War. He was even present for D-Day."

Her comment earned a snicker from Sarah.

"D-day." She chuckled. Sara's neck snapped in her direction with an intense gaze. Sarah sat up straight and attentive. She desperately did not want to go back to detention.

Faith rolled her eyes and continued speaking. "When he came back to America, he met my great grandmother, Lara. They settled down and had two children, my grandma Sandra and my great uncle Stanley."

Faith pointed to a picture of her grandmother yelling into a megaphone. She seemed to be at some kind of protest.

"My grandma was a human rights activist and advocated for the rights of women. During that time she met my grandfather Jackson Summers. Eventually they got married and had my mother, Laura. My mother got her quirk from my grandfather Jackson. My grandmother had a speed quirk, which came in handy when she needed to go grocery shopping." Faith chuckled.

Kevin smiled. "Your family seems pretty nice."

"Yeah they are." Faith said.

Mrs. Zambiea clapped her hands. "Good job Faith, you can go ahead and take a seat."

Faith nodded and made her way back to her desk. The rest of class turned to look at Sarah. At this point everyone had the order memorized. After Faith it was Sarah's turn. Sarah looked down at her feet and sighed. She grabbed a small pink poster board and marched to the front of the room.

She unfolded her poster and sat it down on the desk.

Maryanne looked over at the poster in intrigue. She was surprised by what she saw. There were a couple of pictures of her and two beautiful blond women at various locations. The rest of the pictures were black silhouettes with a white question mark where a head should be.

"My mom's name is Shaylin Smith. She has a quirk similar to mine but has a much smaller range and can't hold an object for as long." Sarah said.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "As we established my mother is a mess, however her sister Anna actually made a decent life for herself. She married this hot lawyer and they bought a house in the suburbs."

Maryanne raised her hand.

"What's with all the question marks?" Maryanne asked.

"Because that's all I know about my family. I don't know anything about my dad or my grandparents. So, for right now they're just questions rather than people." Sarah said.

"I'm sorry." Alexander said sympathetically.

Sarah shrugged. She forced a brave face and looked over at Mrs. Zambiea.

"So am I done?" She asked.

Mrs. Zambiea nodded. "You can go sit down."

Sarah sighed and sat back down. It seemed like the normally confident girl just wanted to disappear.

"Last but not least is Fouzia Zambiea." Mrs. Zambiea said.

Fouzia gulped and grabbed her stuff and walked to the front desk.

"Hi everyone, my name is Fouzia Zambiea and I'm here to tell you a little about my family." Fouzia said.

She pointed to a picture of two adults sitting on a park bench. One of them was a muscular man with strawberry colored skin the other was a woman who had skin like coal.

"These are my parents Emir and Rima. My father is a fire fighter, something that's ironic given his quirk allows him to produce fire. However, my father's mastered it to the point he can create backdrafts to help put out fires. Like my father, my mother is a fire fighter, her quirk is called Spin. It allows her to spin the air that passes over her hands into miniature cyclones." Fouzia said.

"That's so badass." Jake grinned.

Fouzia blushed. "Not really, the most she can do is use her quirk to dry off her hands."

Jake's face fell. "That's less badass."

Fouzia pointed to a picture of her and two boys sitting on a couch. Both of them seemed to be older than Fouzia. One of the boys had red skin and bright brown eyes similar to Fouzia. However the other boy had coal-like skin and black dreadlocks, just like her mother.

"Those are my older brothers Khaled and Emir." Fouzia explained.

Fouzia sighed. "My brother Emir went to a hero school in Kansas, and now operates under the name Gust. He has a quirk called Thermal, this allows him to manipulate cyclones."

She pointed to a picture of her red-skinned brother. "My brother Khaled is quirkless. Being a quirkless and Muslim in our society made him the target of a lot of bullying."

She looked at Mrs. Zambiea and smiled. "Luckily, he found the love of his life who accepted him for who he was."

It was then that Maryanne notice a photo of Khaled and a pretty woman in a white dress, standing on the altar. Maryanne leaned in closely. Why did that woman look so familiar?

"Oh my god is that Mrs. Zambiea?" Cleo gasped.

Jake leaned in closely and frowned. "Holy crap it is."

"Yeah she's my sister in law." Fouzia said nonchalantly.

Kevin gasped. "She is?"

"Jesus Christ, they share the same last name. Did you guys think that was a coincidence?" Victoria asked.

Maryanne blushed. "I thought it would be racist to assume that. You know it's like saying all Middle Eastern people are related."

"That's what I said!" Sarah said.

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Jesus Christ, I'm surrounded by morons."

Mrs. Zambiea chuckled. "Yes class, it's true I'm happily married to Fouzia's older brother Khaled. Although me and Fouzia aren't related by blood, I've known her since she was a toddler." She turned to face the class after Fouzia had took her seat. "I hope you all learned a little about yourself by doing your family trees. I know some of you had revelations about your family and yourself. If these are changes for the better, I'm proud of you. If you find something about your past that you don't like, change it. It doesn't have to be your story." Mrs. Zambiea smiled.

The bell rung, causing the students to sigh in relief. They were finally done with the school day.

"There's a pep rally tomorrow so I won't see most of you till Monday, but I just want you guys to know I'm happy with all the work you guys did." Mrs. Zambiea encouraged.

The class gave off a chorus of "thank yous" before they started to pack their bags up. Maryanne walked over to Victoria who stuffing her color-coded binders into her backpack.

"Hey there roomie, I was thinking of having a girl's night tonight. You know just you and me watching Netflix, and not-talking about boys." Maryanne said.

Victoria rasied an eyebrow. "Why did you say 'not-talking about boys' like it was a curse word?"

Maryanne gulped. "Well you always say you don't do feelings, or romance, or relationships, or happiness. But I know Hunter meant a lot to you and with everything that's happened, I thought you might enjoy a night where you don't have to worry about your mom or Hunter, instead it will just be you, me, and a large bowl of popcorn."

Victoria smiled. "That actually doesn't sound horrible."

"Yay! Girls night!" Maryanne cheered.

Victoria's face darkened and her lips formed into a snarl.

"But if you pick a god-awful chick flick, I will dismember you." She threatened.

"Aw, it's cute when you threaten to murder me." Maryanne chuckled. Victoria sighed as her threats no longer meant anything.

Maryanne slung her bag over her shoulders and looked over at Alexander.

"Let me just go tell Alexander I'm unavailable for tonight." Maryanne said.

Maryanne walked over to her boyfriend who was currently clearing off his desk.

"Hey there cutie." Maryanne smiled.

"Hey." Alexander said coolly.

Maryanne frowned. Normally Alexander greeted her with a warm smile. Now he wouldn't even look at her.

"Baby, did I do something wrong?" Maryanne asked.

Alexander didn't answer and just continued packing up.

"Whatever it is, I'm sorry." Maryanne said quietly.

Alexander sighed and looked up at her.

"Maryanne I really like you, but I don't like being lied to." Alexander said.

Maryanne frowned. "What are you talking about? I didn't lie to you."

"You just lied to all of us." Alexander said.

He pointed to a small logo in the corner of one of the pictures on her poster. She gulped when she realized what it was. A watermark.

"The people you showed us in your presentation weren't your real family, were they? They were just some strangers you found on the internet." Alexander said.

Maryanne felt her heart jump through her throat. Crap. She thought she took all the watermarks out of her photos. What if anyone else noticed? If people didn't think she was weird enough she would be known as the girl that took photos of strangers and lied about them being her family.

"Alexander I can explain." Maryanne said.

Alexander sighed. "I just need…I just need a minute."

"Alexander please just let me explain." Maryanne pleaded.

Alexander shook his head. "I'm sorry I have too much going on, I don't have time for another lie."

With that he exited the classroom. Maryanne bit her lip and looked down at her feet. What mess had she gotten herself into? What if Alexander never wanted to speak to her? A lump began to build up in her throat and tears began to fall out of her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Victoria asked.

Maryanne turned to see Victoria was watching her. She forced a smile and turned to face her roommate.

"Never better." Maryanne smiled.


Faith

"Faith!" A voice called.

Faith was walking through the common room when she heard Lex calling her. She sighed and turned around to face the boy. She had been avoiding him long enough. She had to face him eventually. He ran up to her, out of breath and red faced.

"You walk fast." Lex gasped.

"You walk slow." She shrugged.

Faith looked Lex up and down. She hated how cute he looked right now. His blond hair was messy and his uniform was neat and ironed. They were close enough for her to smell his cologne, a lovely scent that made her want to fall into his arms. She thought back to homecoming where she hoped that they could have had a real future together. Then she ruined everything.

"You've been avoiding me." Lex observed.

Faith gulped. "Go on."

He frowned. "So, you admit it?"

"Yes, Lex, I've been avoiding you." Faith sighed.

"Why? If you're guilty about homecoming, I just want you to know I forgive you." Lex said.

Faith smiled. "You do?"

Lex blushed. "Yeah. I can't lie what you did was messed up, but homecoming taught me that life is too short. I know that you regret what you did, and I don't want to spend the rest of the year hating my best friend."

Faith sighed in relief. She was glad that Lex forgave her. That made things a little better.

"Now can things just go back to normal?" Lex asked.

Faith's face fell. Here came the part she had been dreading.

"Lex things can never go back to the way they were." Faith said.

Lex frowned. "Why not?"

"Lex, I was willing to hurt someone because I was jealous that you were giving them more attention than me. I knew it was wrong, but I went through with it because I was jealous and angry." Faith sighed.

"You made a mistake Faith." Lex said. "And if there's anyone is to blame, it's Matt. He took advantage of your feelings and used you. That's what he does best."

"But I shouldn't be able to make a mistake like that. It shouldn't be that easy for me to hurt someone. I'm not a mean person, I did it all because I just wanted you to like me. Do you know how messed up that is? I was having an identity crisis because if I wasn't your best friend, I didn't know who I was. I still don't. My whole identity has warped into whatever you needed me to be as opposed to who I wanted to be. I just…I need time to figure out who I am." Faith said.

Lex frowned. "Oh. You've been avoiding me because you want to break up."

"It's not a breakup, we weren't dating." Faith said.

"It sure hurts like a break up." Lex said.

Faith forced a smile to prevent herself from crying.

"You will always be my best friend, but right now I just need time to figure out who I am." Faith said.

Lex nodded. "Well I guess until we meet again."

Faith smiled. "Until we meet again."


Victoria

"If Monica sends me one more text about coming up with a new cheer for the football game tomorrow, I'm going to stab her in the eye." Victoria growled.

The two girls were making their way to the freshmen hallway in a desperate attempt to get to their room. Victoria wasn't sure what was going with Maryanne, but it seemed like she needed this girls night just as much as Victoria did.

"At least Monica texts you about cheerleading. She treats me like I'm not even on the team." Maryanne sighed.

"Trust me she's only kissing up to me because I'm a Crown." Victoria sighed.

Sarah's words about having everything handed to her rung through her ears. What would people say if they were not scared of her? What would people say if they weren't just being nice to her because she was a Crown?

"Ms. Crown!" A female voice hissed.

Victoria froze and turned to face the source of who was calling her name. Approaching her and Maryanne was Ms. Morningstar. Victoria sighed and turned to face her roommate.

"You go ahead, I'll go talk to her." Victoria said.

Maryanne raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Relax Maryanne, I can handle her. Go get the movie ready." Victoria instructed.

Maryanne nodded and walked away. Victoria sighed and turned to fac her headmistress.

"Hello Ms. Morningstar, it's a pleasure to see you again." Victoria said sarcastically.

"Likewise." Ms. Morningstar said coolly.

Ms. Morningstar looked Victoria up and down. "I'm proud of you."

Victoria frowned. She never thought she would hear those words from her headmistress. There must have been a catch. "I'm not following." Victoria said.

Mrs. Morningstar smiled. "I just admire how you chose to do your project on the Crowns even though they aren't your real family."

Victoria's face fell. "Excuse me?"

"Did your mother not tell you? Maurice isn't your father. In fact, he's sterile. Your mother was already a couple of months pregnant when she married him." Ms. Morningstar said matter of factly.

Victoria froze. She didn't speak. She didn't blink. She even forgot how to breathe. Dozens of emotions began to crash into her all at once. Maurice wasn't her father. The man that raised her wasn't her father. Everyone in her life had been lying to her.

Ms. Morningstar smiled. "I guess you didn't know. That's awkward."


Sarah

"You don't have to come with me." Sarah said.

She and Aurélie were walking to the school's parking lot. Aurélie smiled weakly.

"I want to be here for you." Aurélie said.

Sarah nodded awkwardly and kept walking. She wasn't sure what to do with the new friendship she forged with Aurelie. She was surprised someone as classy as Aurélie would want to be friends with the teen mom known for her promiscuity.

They kept walking until they her mother's car. Her mother sat on the hood of her car, her face buried in her phone.

"Hey mom." Sarah said.

Her mother looked up and smiled. "Hey Sarah."

Her face fell when she looked at Aurélie.

"Is she coming with you to the thing?" Shaylin asked.

Aurélie gulped. "You mean the clinic?"

Sarah bit her bottom lip. She made a decision. For once she finally made a decision. It was the hardest decision she had ever made in her life, but she couldn't run from her problems anymore. That's what she did with her relationship with Matt. She just hoped that it would go away. She couldn't be a passenger in her own life. Now she just had to tell her mother.

"I'm not going to the abortion clinic." Sarah said.

Sarah's mother frowned. "You're not?"

Sarah gulped and shook her head. "I want to keep it. I want to keep the baby."

"You do?" Aurélie said.

"Sarah, you're too young to be a mom." Shaylin said.

Sarah nodded slowly. "I know."

"It only gets harder after here, are you ready for that?" Shaylin asked.

Sarah looked down at her stomach. Talking with Victoria and the family tree assignment made her realize the one thing she always wanted. Something she wanted more than a boyfriend. A family. All her life all she ever wanted was a real family. Now was her chance.

"I don't know. I just know that I want to keep it." Sarah said.

Shaylin sighed. It was obvious she didn't agree with her choice, but she couldn't say anything.

"Well I'm not going to force you to do something you don't want to do. If you want to keep it we can figure something out." She said.

Aurélie frowned. She looked over at Sarah.

"What are you going to do about school?" She asked.

Sarah knew Aurélie wasn't talking about their core classes. She was talking about her hero classes. She couldn't do combat training if she was pregnant. It was putting herself and the baby at risk. On top of that in three more weeks she would start to show. It was only a matter of time before everyone knew.

"I've thought about it and I know what I have to do. I'm going to withdraw from the Morning Star Academy," Sarah said.


Name: Maryanne Isla (?)

Quirk: Water Spirit

Parents/Legal Guardians: (?)

Medical Conditions: N/A

Notes: Maryanne has the potential to be a good hero. She's likeable, works well with others, and doesn't mind following other's leads. However, her insecurity will be her downfall. She worries about what everyone thinks which means she'll be a liability in the field. She spends more time in her head than she does prating hero work. Her quirk has potential however since she doesn't believe she can amount to anything more she will never grow. Due to a lack of a stable family life she looks to others for praise and love to make up for what she didn't get as a child. Right now, she isn't ready for the special course and probably won't ever be.

Danger Level: Yellow