Disclaimer: Don't be fooled...Looks can be deceiving...For all you know, I'm supreme ruler of the world...Heh. Yeah, right. Okay, I don't own Charmed! What's it to ya?

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"Why is she the teacher?" Chris whispered as he and Wyatt took their seats in the classroom semi-circle.

"Because she is," Wyatt answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "I dunno. She's been a teacher for as long as I can remember. Anyways, pay attention. Class is going to start—"

"Hello, kids," Paige greeted them. "Is everyone here?" She scanned the room and all of the seats appeared to be full. "Alright. Today I'm very proud to announce that we have a new student, Chris Ha—Christopher Perry. He comes from, um, Seattle. Isn't that right, Christopher?"

Chris nodded, giving her an awkward look. Perry was his middle name. Why didn't she say Halliwell?

Then it occurred to him. The elders. They could be right here in this very building. Why the hell did they take him here if insane elders were around? He could get caught! And he couldn't go back to the orphanage, they thought he was dead! Where would he go? What would they do to him? Kill him?

"I said, Christopher, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself," Paige repeated.

The class gawked at him like he was an alien. He blushed, realizing he was still wearing his baggy hand-me-downs and that he had about four day's worth of dirt all over him. "Um, I like to play catch..." He said lamely. "And Wyatt and I are friends."

"Got any family history on ya?" challenged a boy about Wyatt's age.

"Uh, not that I know of," Chris said truthfully. "I'm a witch," he offered.

"How can you not know your own history?" piped a girl his age.

He shrugged. "No one ever told me..." He turned to Paige desperately, pleading with her to interrupt. She understood the cue.

"No speaking out in class. I'm sure you can all wait to ask Christopher his questions until after class."

Blech. He hated the name "Christopher" but he supposed the elders wouldn't suspect that he was the scrawny little orphan that they'd ditched at a shelter nine years ago if he had a "proper" name. He'd go with it.

"Who wants to take the test first?" asked Paige.

"Test? What test?" Chris panicked.

"Don't worry, we do it every semester. It's not a thing you study for...you practice for it. It's like a standardized test in school. She tests all of your abilities ever semester and grades them on how well you improve. She can't give you a grade yet—not at least until your second assessment."

Chris didn't feel comforted by this fact in the least bit. He fidgeted with his pockets as a boy—the first one to question him—stepped up and pompously strode into a back room with Paige.

"Behave yourselves," Paige warned them all before closing the door.

"You'll do fine! It's not like you're going to hurt yourself!" Wyatt laughed. He was quickly silenced by a ear-shattering "BAM!" from the next room. He added shakily, "Unless you're that kid. That's Herman. He's...too powerful for his own good."

Herman stepped out of the room, his pride still as valiant as ever. "Beat that, Halliwell," he sneered, passing Wyatt. He cocked an eyebrow at Chris. "Is that scum the best you can do?"

"Chris is not scum!" Wyatt defended.

The boy chuckled with an air of superiority. A small crowd of children had surrounded them, watching. "Then what should we call him? Sludge? Slime?"

"Wyatt, your turn!" Paige called, trying to break up the fight. "C'mon, let's get going..."

Chris' stomach lurched as the door slammed. Wyatt was gone. He knew Paige was only trying to make it better, but without Wyatt, he had no means of protection from all these other creeps...

"Creeps? You're calling US creeps?" retorted a scrappy looking boy in the back of the room. He clenched his fists and raised them up to Chris threateningly. "I'll show you a creep!"

"I didn't call you—"

"You thought it," the boy contradicted.

"Let's teach him a lesson," Herman sneered. His hand rose, and so did Chris. He was dangling in the air, a few feet above the ground.

He'd dealt with bullies like this before. Scared though he was, he wouldn't let them have the satisfaction of knowing it. He glanced involuntarily at the telepath that had harassed him. Could he...? Chris tried to scramble his thoughts. What if this boy found out about his past? That he was just an orphan, a target, thought to be dead and now on the run from bounty hunters and elders?

The telepath's fierce, angry look fell. He looked at Chris, a new emotion flickering in his eyes...Chris would've tried to figure out what it was, but the door clicked open and he was abruptly thrown onto the floor.

"What just happened?" asked Paige, walking over to Chris.

"N-nothing," Chris lied. "They were just—" He winced. "Showing me how to levitate, that's all."

Paige knew better. She wouldn't buy it, but she knew that she had no choice to. She could easily see the betrayed, pained look in his eyes and felt horrible that he didn't trust her enough to tell her the truth.

"Ignore them," Wyatt whispered in his ear. "Oh, it's your turn, by the way."

"How did you do?"

"A minus," said Wyatt happily.

"Good job!"

"Thanks," said Wyatt, "now you go and do your best, alright?"

"Sure."

"Are you ready?" asked Paige. She led Chris into a room, sympathizing the trembling boy. But what could she do? She was merely a teacher now, not his aunt. This was Magic School. She'd ask when they got back to the manor.

"Show me what you can do," she told him.

"What do you mean?"

"You remember those strange powers, don't you? Can you show them to me?" she asked gently. "It's okay if you can't, but try."

"Okay." Chris shut his eyes tightly and thought, 'Orb, orb, orb...' He envisioned himself leaving the ground and orbing to the corner of the room. The blue lights surrounded him and he squeaked in surprise, only to land on his feet again in the exact same spot. "I...I usually have to be scared if I want to go somewhere," he admitted.

"Don't worry, that's how it always is on your first couple of tries. You'll get the hang of it," she assured him encouragingly. She wrote some notes down on her desk. "Anything else?"

Chris gulped. "Yeah." He focused on a little toy merry-go-round music box that was playing music and spinning slowly on top of Paige's desk. He flicked his wrists with a jerk and it froze. He grinned. "I did it..."

"Yeah, good job! That was great!" She scribbled on her notepad again, grinning widely. "Now, can you unfreeze it?"

"Um..." 'Remember what Wyatt told you,' he thought to himself. Closing his eyes and picturing the little miniature ponies springing back to life along with the dorky song, he flicked his wrists again. The song played and the carousel went on.

"Awesome! That's way better than I'd have expected, considering you have no magical training!" She continued to write. Chris fidgeted. "That's all, right? I mean, that was extraordinary..."

"There's more," he said shakily. He couldn't believe that anybody could be happy about his weirdness. But he knew what he'd do next...Telekinesis, Wyatt had called it. Now...what to levitate?

"Um, give me a moment, please," he requested nervously.

"Sure. Take your time."

Chris stared at a book on the shelf as hard as he could. He felt like his eyes were searing with flame, concentrating on its mass and willing it to fly into his arms...A moment later he could feel its heavy weight in his arms and he gasped.

"How can you...? You're only..." She shook her head, laughing. "I guess being separated from the magical world all your life didn't have much effect! You're just as advanced as anyone your age! And with some training, you'll be even better...You'll be ready to fight demons with us in no time."

"Heh."

"I know, bug whoop," laughed Paige, rolling her eyes. "Hey, can you call in Tom Cameron? Thanks."

Chris was about to open the door when he turned back to Paige, who was finishing with her notes. "Uh, P—Ms. Halliwell?" he asked timidly. "There's another power."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah. I can...see things," he said lamely. "Like, in the dark. Things I'm not supposed to see, you know? Like one time Leo was standing over my bed and I saw him, but no one else could. And once I even used my eyes like binoculars and zeroed in on Sammy buying candy about a mile away from me. It's strange."

"I've never heard of that power before," Paige marveled. She looked at him thoughtfully. "You're a pretty amazing kid, you know that? I didn't expect you to know how to do anything. It took me years to discover my powers."

Chris blushed, smiling slightly. Maybe living with these people wouldn't be so bad after all...

"Um, Tom Cameron, it's your turn," he announced timidly. Then all of his worries came sinking back. The bullies...They were coming closer to him. What was he going to do?

"Chris, come over here!" called a voice. Wyatt shoved his way through the crowd and past Herman. "Back off, alright?"

"We were just trying to make nice with our new little friend!" Herman exclaimed indignantly, pretending to be disgusted with Wyatt's accusation. "Isn't that right, Phil?" He draped a shoulder over the telepath boy. The telepath shrugged away.

"I need to practice," he mumbled. He looked down at the floor and walked over to his pack, beginning to read. Herman looked over at his partner but quickly diverted his attention to the scrawny Chris.

"What, did you fail your pass? Is that why you're shaking?"

"I'm not shaking," Chris lied. "You should be, though." What the hell was he saying? He couldn't take this kid on! He must be three times his size!

"Is that a threat, punk?"

"Uh..."

Wyatt tried to pull Chris' arm back, but Chris wouldn't budge, frozen and locked in the gaze of the bully. "Chris..." he warned him. "Don't—"

"I asked you a question. Answer!" Herman boomed.

"I don't have to answer to you!" Chris retorted, feeling proud for using one of Sammy's lines for once. It was exhilarating, standing up for himself instead of Sammy doing it for him...Oops. Here came the downfall.

"Actually, it seems you have no choice," said Herman maliciously. A ball of fire appeared in his hands.

"Wyatt, what is that?" Chris asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"DUCK!" Wyatt screamed.

Chris ducked, juts as Wyatt had said, but his sleeve got scorched. He squeaked and looked at his arm to see a bleeding gash. Tears collected in his eyes but he didn't let them fall. He didn't even move. All he did was straighten himself and stare at Herman straight in the eye, ignoring the blood dripping down his arm.

"Is that all you've got?" he asked as the door clicked open and Paige came in. Chris picked up a book and pretended to be reading so Paige wouldn't see his burn.

Herman didn't dare speak to him for the rest of class.

Chris' arm was throbbing with pain by the time he put down the book and class ended. The class stared at him, expecting him to tell on them all, but he only stared right back.

"Dad can heal that for you! Why didn't you tell Aunt Paige? Chris, you're hurt!"

Chris didn't answer. He didn't want to face his brother after he'd done something stupid.

"It wasn't your fault, Chris—Herman's just a big bully. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm sure," he lied. In truth, his arm was numb to everything but intense pain that shot through him every time he moved.

He picked up his book bag gingerly and saw a piece of paper slip on the ground out of the corner of his eye.

"What's that?" asked Wyatt softly.

Chris shrugged; then regretted doing so with a wince. He picked it up and surveyed it for a moment.

It read in hasty handwriting:

Meet me outside of class tomorrow when the bell rings. Don't bring Wyatt.

"Nothing," Chris lied.

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R&R, please! Buh-bye! Me go to sleep now...