The next day at school, Ender was slowly walking to the bus stop, actually surprised that Stilson had not decided to come in and make fun of him yet. He had high hopes that maybe the taller, stronger boy would decide to be a little easier on him since he had in fact saved the world.

If only his hopes came true. Soon enough, Stilson walked up to Ender with a big sneer on his face. "Hey Bugger Killer!" He greeted and then laughed loudly.

That was apparently his new title around school. Bugger Killer. He didn't really mind the name all that much, but at times it could be annoying. Though, he didn't like being called Third or fart eater either, so it was really just a lose-lose situation.

Anyway, he had earned that new name how most people would think he did. Everyone had watched the videos with his voice commanding the fleets of starships, looking closely as he blew up their planet. Nothing had been censored, nothing taken out or edited to make the fight look fairer. But… the thought did come to him that if they had watched the videos, why didn't they have more respect for him? He was the one who had saved life as they knew it, and this was what he got?

Some people just couldn't win, could they?

"Bugger Killer, you going to answer me?" Stilson continued, causing Ender to break free from the solitude in his mind.

"Hello Stilson. I see you haven't changed at all." Ender greeted quietly, averting his gaze and staring up at a wisp of fluffy white clouds in the sky.

"Nah, I've just been living my normal life here. Unlike you, though, up in space with all those buggers and whatnot, right? I bet that was so exciting…" Stilson raised an eyebrow, his tone sarcastic and unbelieving. It was obvious that he still didn't believe that Ender had reached any of those great feats.

"Not really. Just a lot of hard work." Ender replied absently, his gaze wandering over to the large yellow bus that he could see trudging slowly down the long street. Why couldn't it go faster? He was anxious to get out of the other boy's clutches.

Stilson bit his lip and glared at Ender for a moment, wishing the kid would just speak up and answer his questions. "Fine." He muttered under his breath and began to walk away on the lonely sidewalk.

Ender couldn't help but let a small smile come to his face, beyond happy that he'd finally got his schoolmate to go away without having to resort to violence and the like.

Soon, the bus came to an achingly long, squeaky stop next to him and opened up the yellow door. A mob of kids that lived near Ender jumped on, leaving him to stand alone. Finally, he seemed to pull himself out of his trace and walk up the high stairs. Of course, still no seat for him anywhere on the bus except for the one right next to the bus driver. That seat was especially undesirable because if you did sit there, you would practically be watched by the bus driver the whole trip home. Not like he cared all that much though, since he wasn't the most active, mischievous boy on the bus.

Ender sank into his seat quietly, his gaze on the window while he placed his school bag onto the worn, gray leather bench-like seat. Just as the doors were about to close, a girl ran onto the bus and quickly sat down in the little space between Ender's bag and the edge of the bench.

Why would she want to sit next to me? Ender wondered, studying the girl. She appeared about his age, maybe a little older, with deep green eyes and a paler skin tone. Her hair was fluffy and long, cut into a spikey pattern that framed her delicate face. Was she new at the school? He certainly had never seen her before….

"Hi, I'm Raven, but you can call me anything you like. You know, like freak or something. That's what the guys in my toon called me." The girl greeted in a soft voice, only meeting his gaze for a moment before she glanced away. Did she… maybe she was shy to talk to him? That was certainly a logical reason. He himself had been rather distant when it came to having a social life way back then.

"Nice to meet you, Raven. I'm Ender." He replied in a mostly blank voice, struggling to give her a small smile.

Raven seemed to be surprised that he had spoken to her, and that really made Ender wonder why. Though, her next words did answer his internal monologue;

"Oh… So you're the guy who was up in space, leading the missions against the buggers? That's cool." She replied with a tiny smirk, shrugging. "I was up there for a while too, in Battle School. But they didn't appreciate having a smart girl there, so I got kicked out and now I'm back here. Sucks, huh?"

"Yeah, what section were you in?" Ender asked, for once happy to have someone to talk to on the bus.

"Alligator."

"Really? I remember playing against that team…but there wasn't a girl on it…" He said, a little confused at the moment.

"Oh, well they made me sit out. I was pretty much ignored by the whole team. The only kid who paid any attention to me was a little guy who probably had a huge crush on me…" Raven laughed, making it seem like the whole idea of someone ever liking her was ridiculous.

"That's… ah… good?" Ender said uncertainly, and then quickly spoke again when he saw her dark glare at the word 'good.' "Um, no, never mind. That's bad. Definitely bad."

Raven huffed and absently picked at a tearing piece of leather on the seat. "I know. You probably think everyone should like me. Well, they don't. No one does."

"I'm sure tons of people do. I think you're a pretty good person." He told her honestly, but then looked up as the bus came to a stop. "Well, it was nice meeting you Raven, but I have to go…"

Raven raised an eyebrow as she also stood up. "Ah, so you're our neighbor? My mom told me they had a boy my age." She shrugged a little before turning around and walking down the stairs of the bus and across the street to her home.

Ender, ironically, followed right after Raven, only he went into the house right next to hers.