Grind 1.6

My Dad is great. While I took a week long vacation to pick up my new friends Dad had been busy negotiating with the PRT. He got me transferred to Arcadia, and Sophia was on her way to Alaska. I would have preferred to have Emma and Madison tossed in jail, but I was happy enough just to be getting away from them. Besides from the sound of things Principal Blackwell wouldn't be long for her position either.

Despite the good news I had a hard time feeling really happy about any of it. Not that I wasn't happy it's just facing my first day at a new school had me terrified. Everyone said Arcadia was infinitely better than Winslow. Everyone knew it was at least partly because the wards went to school there. Nobody wanted to piss off a super hero. So everyone was supposed to be respectful.

That didn't really do anything to calm my nerves though. Not when I thought about who Sophia had turned out to be. I could not stop worrying. Making matters worse Dad had confiscated all my books. Normally I could get through even the worst days, so long as I could lose myself in a good book. Given that the expression was now rather literal for me Dad refused to budge on the matter. It made sense, but I still hated it. I also could not take my fire lizards with me. That sucked even more. I had spent a week, apparently, getting to know them. Now they had to stay at home for secrecies sake. Beauty had almost refused to stay home, at least until I fed her half a pack of hot dogs and she slipped contentedly into a cat nap.

Fire lizards make great pets, but they have huge appetites. I really need to figure out a way to make some money for food. That or they are going to have to start hunting for crabs in the bay. They would probably enjoy that come to think of it. But I would need some kind of costume or else have to stay clear while they were out and about. Fire lizards are not particularly dangerous but they would scream new cape to anyone paying attention. I really did not need that kind of scrutiny from any of the gangs or cape geeks.

Thoughts about my new friends were cut off as Dad pulled up in front of Arcadia. I'd wanted to take the bus but Dad had insisted on bringing me in for my first day. "Have a great day kiddo. And remember stay away from the Library and the English classes."

I nodded and waved him off. "Sure Dad. See you tonight."

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So far my first day was going alright. I was something like the center of attention in all my classes. Unfortunately transferring into Arcadia during the middle of the school year made everyone think I was a new cape joining the wards. The worst part is they were half right, and I had to try and hide it. That made things very awkward. At least until Dennis grabbed me by the shoulders at lunch and steered me toward an empty table. That made things easily twice as awkward.

"Dennis, what are you doing?"

"You looked lost. So I thought I'd invite you to sit with me and my friends."

"Dennis we're the only ones sitting at this table."

Dennis waved his hand dismissively. "Ehh they're always late to lunch, bunch of slowpokes honestly."

"Right, well thanks, I guess." I glance around making sure nobody is listening in. "Everyone thinks I'm a cape. Or that I'm here to draw attention from a new cape that's attending some other school. Or they have some other crazy theory. How the heck do you guys not end up outed?"

Dennis Chuckled. "Mostly by keeping our heads down and acting normal. Everyone knows there are capes here. But there are just about a thousand students here. Besides half of the cape geeks think the idea that the Wards attend here is a PRT smokescreen. They think the real Wards are spread out across the other schools in the city."

Huh, that actually made sense. "Umm why aren't they?"

Dennis shrugged. "Don't know, logistics I guess."

I nodded that made as much sense as anything else.

"Look me and some friends from work would like to apologize to you for what the bitch did to you." Dennis sounded uncharacteristically serious. "We worked with her, we knew she was a bitch, but we never realized how bad she was. We all want to apologize to you."

"I, but that would mean?"

"Yup," Dennis nodded solemnly, "after we got briefed on what happened we talked it out and everyone agreed that it was for the best. Also the boss sort of slipped one past your Dad. That stuff you signed applies to all of us." Well that explained that at least, Dad was going to be pissed he missed that.

I felt that old familiar fear that had been just at the edge of my mind all day start to soak back into the forefront. "You guys know, about,"

Dennis cut me off. "We know the broad strokes. I'm not prying and none of the others will either. My, boss, thought we should at least know the basics of what happened and gave us a rundown."

I nodded I wasn't really happy with this situation, but I guess it wasn't fair to blame everyone for Sophia's actions. I gave Dennis a cautious nod. He responded with a pained smile.

"Great how does Fugly Bob's around six sound, it's on us?"

"OK." I was not a huge fan of Fugly Bob's but I didn't hate it either. It couldn't hurt to hear them out at least.

Dennis nodded before turning around to scan the crowd. He waved at a couple working their way through the crowd. They made their way over to join us. "Taylor meet Jack and Jill. Jack and Jill meet Taylor."

"Wait, your names are?"

"Yes." They cut me off speaking at the same time.

"Are you two a couple?"

"Yes." Again they were speaking in sync, though this time with more warmth.

Jack was a tall thin and blond. Jill was about a head shorter than Jack and Brunet.

"So you're the new girl right?" Jack asked. "So when's your Wards debut, and what's your power. Come on, you can tell us." He said with a wink.

"Jack leave her alone." Jill elbowed her boyfriend. "Sorry, he's a bit a cape geek. It's nice to meet you. But how do you and Dennis know each other?"

"Oh I met Taylor a week ago. She was out way past dark and I offered to walk her back home." Dennis supplied before I could get together a story in my head. I guess he had a lot of practice with lying to protect his identity.

"Oh that's cool, but seriously, why the late transfer?" Jack directed the question at me.

"Winslow. They umm let a lot of stuff happen. It was bad. I got a transfer here to help keep it quite."

"Wow. What did happen?"

"Jack..." Dennis tone made it clear he thought his friend should let it drop. I was grateful for that but still felt like I should answer.

"I umm, I'd rather not talk about it."

Jack seemed curious still but Jill got the message. "That's fine, none of our business anyway." She gave me an encouraging smile. I hesitantly returned it with one of my own.

Jack nodded thoughtfully before striking up a conversation with Dennis about an upcoming basketball game.

I spent most of my lunch quietly eating. Despite that it felt really good to be able to sit with people at lunch and not keep a constant eye out for the terrible trio.

As I waved goodbye I realized I'd get to do this again tonight. Yes, it would be with a different group of people. Yes, I wasn't really sure how much I could trust them. If they were anything like Dennis or Jack and Jill though I figured I could cope. With that thought in my head I moved on to my next class a very tiny smile tugging at my lips.