"Hey Erin, Eric wants to talk to you!" someone jibed, and Skyan quickly scooted past the golden-brown haired girl and her tormentor. Glancing back, she felt a bit bad at leaving the girl to the teasing. Her face had turned a slight shade of pink, and she clutched her books to her, brushing past Skyan.brbr

"Why don't you shove it, Brandon?" Skyan demanded blocking the short boy's way. "After all, picking on someone your own size might be a good idea." She paused for a moment, trying to make it appear like she was thinking hard. "Try the Kindergarten. They might have some people who would match your height," she added, turning away. Brandon seemed unaffected, but turned away from Erin and went to go bully another girl.brbr

Skyan wondered what fun he found in this. It was stupid, all of it. The whole thing with being judged on how pretty you were, or how smart you were, or who your friends were... Actually, Skyan had little problems with the last one.brbr

She wasn't friendless, but all of her friends were in about the same place that she was. They were made fun of on occasion, usually ignored and forgotten by anyone other than each other. "Better to be lovingly forgotten than hatefully remembered," she had once included on an essay about loosing someone that you loved. She'd written it on Fi, a Korean girl that had been in her class in first grade. The two had been best friends until Fi had transferred away to a differant school, and few people remembered her. The essay had only gotten a "C."brbr

She sat down in her seat in the middle of the room. She rather liked it there, in fact. When you were in the back the teachers always called on you to answer problems, and if you were in the front then you were supposed to be a goody-goody who knew all the answers no matter what. Much to her surprise, Erin had chosen a spot mainly in the center of the room, a little bit back and left from where Skyan sat.brbr

"If you would please get out the homework assignment from yesterday, and pass it up to the front..." The teacher's voice droned on and on, Skyan fighting to stay awake. She'd stayed up too late last night working on that poem for English. She felt herself dozing off until there was a knock on the door, and then had to fight back the urge to groan.brbr

Eric Sullivan was standing in the doorway. He was one of the more popular guys that she had been cursed with; he didn't really make fun of anyone, but he wasn't exactly friendly with everyone, either. He wasn't particurally smart, either; not dumb, just average. So how had he gotten into an Algebra II class?brbr

She glanced over and noticed Erin blushing slightly, her head turned towards the wall. "Take a seat, Mr. Sullivan," the teacher said, gesturing to the only empty seat in the enitre classroom. Skyan noticed with slight horror that it was to the right of her.brbr

The lanky boy sat down, and Skyan wondered if this could go much worse. After all, she'd already had to put up with him in Biology, and now this? Atleast they sat in opposite corners of the room in biology.brbr

But, of course, Mr. Richard, being the teacher that he was, made it even worse. "Skyan, since you and Eric are properly seated, you'll be helping him catch up with everything that we've done so far, from about chapter one to chapter two."brbr

Erin blushed even deeper whenever Skyan glanced over at her, and this time she didn't even bother to hide her groan.