Allie awoke to a most dreaded sound: Her alarm clock. She hadn't needed to use it for months up until that moment. It felt traumatic to hear its jarring bells ring her awake, like coming face to face with an old foe that sent a chill down her spine. Because honestly, school was just one ginormous mountain of dread that she regretted, even though she had no choice in her attendance.

She slinked out of bed deliriously and began her morning routine. Hot shower (maybe fall asleep on the tub floor), brush teeth, apply a thin layer of face cream, blow dry hair halfway, go get dressed, return to finish off the damp hair, add some eyeshadow around her lids, top it with mascara and then she was off to do whatever for the next fifteen minutes until needing to leave. That day she decided to whip up some toast and sat quietly at the dining table, right beside the street facing window. Her eyes peered out at the cold, morning sky. She hated being up this early. Waking up to bright sunshine always made her feel better. Now it was back to chilly dawns.

Her mother came thumping out of her bedroom, dressed nicely for the day. She was a receptionist at a doctor's office, the same one which her father had once worked before… Well, you know the story.

She offered her daughter a smile. The woman looked better. Happier. Allie wondered if she had started looking for someone else yet. The thought conflicted her greatly. She didn't know how to feel about seeing another man enter her home by the means of romantic entanglement with her mother. She supposed the bottom line was her mom's happiness. It didn't matter how Allie felt. She'd be eighteen in no time, then the girl could depart from home and pursue whatever avenue she wished, no worry for step fathers or other household politics. Still, it was a weird thing to ponder.

"Hey honey, I almost forgot today was the first day," She said as she waited by the front door for a few moments in order to talk to her daughter.

"Unfortunately I did not," Allie answered sourly, taking a bite of the buttered wheat bread.

Her wrinkling hand laid on the door knob, "It's a shame that Peter is stuck at Adams."

Allie took a moment to chew her food before saying, "Yeah, 'bout that…" Chewed some more, "He is uh… He got enrolled at my school."

Her mother quickly went down the slide of curiosity, peeling away from the door to stand beside the table. "Whatever for? Did something happen?"

"Someone tried to sell drugs to his sister and he didn't take it too well with the, y'know, the dealer," She explained, which gradually pulled a shocked expression from her mother.

"Oh wow, gee I never thought Peter would do something like that… Did he hit him?"

Allie nodded.

Her mother went on, shaking her head, "The kid is full of surprises."

"You're telling me."

After a moment, her mother glanced at Allie. "You two spend an awful lot of time together."

Allie's eyes flicked around the table nervously, grappling for an answer to dissuade her mother's suspicious eyes when there was a sudden knock at the front door. Oh great.

Her mother confusedly opened it, revealing Peter standing there bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready for the school day.

"Oh!" Her mother said in surprise, "Peter, sweetie, good morning."

"Morning, Mrs. Simmons. Where's Allie?" After his question, her mother stepped aside and allowed him entrance into the home. That's when Allie watched him strut into the dining room wearing an outfit similar to the one he wore at the Pentagon. Some sort of silver ensemble that matched well with his hair. He out-styled her by miles. She wasn't trying to impress anyone at school. She just wanted to dress comfortably and get through the day, so she opted for a knit blouse and a pair of black shorts. Simple, especially for the August heat.

When his eyes landed on her, he smiled and stood there with his hands on his hips. "I figured we could go together, if you don't mind."

Allie shrugged with tired eyes and said, "Not at all."

"Alright kids, I hope you have a good day. I'll see you later honey," Her mother bid farewell to them with a few waves before heading out. They both waved after her and listened to her noisy Impala pull away from the curb and drone up the street. Once the sounds of her mother's driving faded, Allie sighed at the crumbs left on her plate.

"I'm not looking forward to this…" She grumbled with eyes that yearned for more sleep. They roamed up to Peter, finding that he was energized looking, like this was an important day for him.

"You can sleep longer from now, since I can get us there quickly," He told her, which sounded nice but Allie knew a measly fifteen minutes more wasn't going to have an effect on her. She needed at least two more hours to become a fully functioning human being.

"Cool," She replied with a mutter, laying her head on the table.

They hung out in the dining room for a few minutes until Allie stood up and decided it was time to go, so she sleepily walked over to Peter and held her arms up like a child would when in need of being held. All he could do was laugh at how ridiculously exhausted she was before picking her up and whisking them off to school.

After brushing her wind-tangled hair behind a hedge near the school's parking lot, Allie and Peter embarked upon the great brick building that housed nothing but teenage pain. She did her best to familiarize Peter with the school's interior in the couple of minutes they had before the bell, till they eventually made it to their first period class: World History.

Allie paused in front of the wooden door, which had a glass slat in it, giving her a narrow view on all the familiar faces that had claimed desks already. So many people she hadn't seen in forever. People that she didn't need to ever see again, really. But such was being a student. You just had to deal with it.

She flung the door open and stepped inside, feeling eyes land on her as she kept hers trained on the floor. Her feet carried her to the middle of the classroom, which was the only place to claim some real estate. The back was already full of the preps, the criminals and the potheads, whereas the front consisted of the kids who actually had bright futures. Allie belonged to the strange inbetween, which is exactly where she and Peter sat. Thankfully they got to be together.

With the teacher not being present yet, the classroom was in an uproar. People were throwing things, standing on desks, hurling vulgar words and overall just wreaking havoc. Sitting calmly in the mess were her and Peter. They both slowly turned to look at each other, their social batteries already seeming to malfunction over the sheer amount of people surrounding them.

Allie mimicked a gun with her fingers and raised it to her head, keeping in eye contact with Peter the whole time. He just laughed, then his attention was dragged to the classroom door, making Allie glance over as well.

Who could've guessed it? Eddie Hill and his immaculately edgy self waltzed into the room like he owned it. Some of the shouts in the back of the classroom were cut down to murmurs as they noticed him. Typically he'd be crowd surfing himself into the back to enact some delinquent chaos, yet his eyes were trained on Allie and Peter. The chains clamped around his black boots jingled with the strides that carried him to the space between their desks. Once he was standing before them, Allie looked him up and down.

"Hey…" She said awkwardly to him, trying to stave off the urge to squirm when his strikingly pale eyes trained on her. He didn't say anything, like he was playing some sort of game of intimidation with her. She wasn't bothered. "That guy punch out your vocal cords? What's the deal?"

The comment made him smirk as he looked away, breaking his silence. "No," He muttered, then laid those freakish eyes back on her, "Never saw the bloke again."

"Did you… get fired?" She asked. Shockingly, he shook his head.

"Owner treats me like I'm his little pet that can do fancy tricks. He likes us. Thinks we're special," He explained to her, leaning on her desk.

"Oh…" She said quietly. His way of explaining things made it sound like the owner was infatuated by Eddie, and she wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. Obsession is a slippery slope.

Her next question was, "What about the chef?"

He smirked once more, looking around the room as he said, "I made sure he was quiet about it."

The only thing Allie could do was nod slowly. He was so weird. She didn't know whether to take him seriously or not. Being who he was, she assumed he was lying and hadn't gone to extreme lengths to threaten the chef, though a part of her felt that it was a possibility. You could never tell with him.

"I was waiting to hear about it on the news," She confessed, glancing up at him. He snorted, like that was never something he worried over.

"You had yourself all worked up for nothing, princess," He told her. Just then, Peter hopped into the conversation like a bull plowing through a china shop.

"You raid your mom's sewing kit or something?" Peter asked him suddenly, glaring at the surplus of safety pins and tattered fabric sewn in various places along Eddie's clothes.

Without even turning his head to look at Peter, Eddie replied, "The guy dressed like the Tin Man better not be criticizing me right now."

Allie bit back a chuckle at the crossfire of insults, having not a single clue as to where all the aggression spawned from so suddenly. In the midst of Peter shooting daggers at Eddie, and Eddie just smugly staring off into space, the teacher graced through the classroom door, sending the room down to a respectable volume.

Eddie sighed. Allie heard the jingle of chains and pins move only a few breaths away until she felt the desk behind her shift. He was sitting right behind her, wasn't he?

"Good morning class, I'm Mr. Evans, for those of you who don't know. Welcome to World History. I know everyone here is probably thrilled to be back, but let's calm down now and get started for today…" Mr. Evans then did the usual song and dance when it came to first day announcements. Everyone sat boredly in their seats, the useless information going in one ear and out the other. They started with roll call, then went over the syllabus, the textbook and every project they would be preparing for through the year, until eventually their first lesson was on the horizon. But that was when Mr. Evans decided to throw the class a curveball.

"So," He began while sitting on top of his desk, his brown mustache twitching with excitement, "We all are well aware of the latest news, yes?"

Allie peered over at Peter, already wearing a worried look on her face. Peter just met her with a bored smile, rolling his eyes like it wasn't that big of a deal. She figured that the whole mutant thing would be a hot topic at school, but she hadn't been expecting the teachers to bring it into their instruction. She should've known better.

"You all should be nodding your heads, because I know that everyone in this room probably saw what happened on May 29th of our, now monumental, year of 1973," Mr. Evans took a dramatic pause, then pushed himself off his desk and began to pace the front of the classroom, "Each and every one of you were here to witness a pivotal point in our world history. I mean, this has been groundbreaking, ladies and gentleman. With the revealing of the mutant race, we now have so many answers. Folklore begins to make sense, mythology too. All these renowned phenomena that experts had labeled as tall tales are now being reevaluated."

Mr. Evans seemed to be the only one who was amazed by the concept. He noticed this and decided to force some enthusiasm out of the students.

"Michael, how was your summer?" Mr. Evans pointed to some kid in the back. The boy sighed as he sat up.

"Good," He replied lazily.

"Great. And what was your reaction that day on May 29th?"

"I was scared shitless."

The classroom erupted into laughter. Mr. Evans crossed his arms and gave Michael a very drained look as he said, "It's the very first day, Michael, and we are already cussing in front of the teacher?"

"Just being honest," Michael responded as the giggles around him quieted down.

"Okay," Mr. Evans said with a sigh. As soon as he stepped toward Allie's side of the room, she could feel his beady eyes land on her. "Allie, how about you? How was your summer?"

In the same manner of a scared mouse, Allie meekly glanced up at him and twiddled around with her pencil, barely being able to come up with an answer to his simple question.

"It was… Fine."

"And what was your reaction to May 29th?"

Her nervous eyes found their way to Peter for comfort, seeing that he was already looking at her. When they locked gazes, he offered her an encouraging nod, sending Allie back to the task at hand: Don't make a fool of herself.

"I watched it on tv that day. And uhm… I guess I felt scared too."

Instead of moving on, Mr. Evans decided she would be a nice little lab rat for him to prod. "And why exactly did you feel scared?"

What the fuck was she supposed to say to that? "Uhh…" She bit her lip, grasping for an appropriate answer, "I think it was just all the violence. It was scary to watch."

A snicker echoed from the back of the classroom. Mr. Evans just kept on pressing after shooting a glare toward the sound. "I empathize with you. There was more than enough action, that's for sure. Now, what about mutants themselves, what is your opinion on them?"

If only this guy knew.

Allie limply shrugged, giving him a clumsy answer, "I… Well- Hopefully- We can all live in peace."

Mr. Evans smiled warmly, clamping his hands together. "Thank you, Allie, that's a great answer. Now-" His eyes caught onto a raised hand in the back of the classroom. She turned back, seeing that it belonged to Randy Groff. He was a smart kid who wasted all of his intellect on pot, dumb opinions and deplorable people. Whatever was about to occur, she was sure it would be a disaster.

"Yes, Randal?"

The shit eating grin on Randy's face set the tone for the statement slipping off his tongue. "I personally think we should round them up and put them into camps."

Another parade of roaring laughter overtook the classroom, save for Allie, Peter and Eddie, who each found their desks to be rather interesting at that moment.

"Everyone, quiet," Mr. Evans demanded as his body slouched in disappointment. Once the chuckles sifted away, the teacher asked, "Why exactly do you feel this way?"

Without skipping a beat, Randy said, "I think it's the obvious solution. If they wanted to, they could wipe us all off the planet. Why would we just wait around for that to happen?"

"Randy, just because we found out about them recently does not mean they have only existed within our generation."

Nice one, Evans, Allie thought to herself.

"It can be suggested that they've been here as long as we were, yet there has never been human extinction, obviously," He continued.

Randy threw his arms up. "Yeah, but I think they're gonna be scared now since we know about them. They'll retaliate."

"Not to pin you, Randy, but you did say that we should round them up into camps. I would be scared and on edge too if I were them," Mr. Evans said calmly, watching as Randy sank into his seat in defeat.

Seeing as it was a polarizing topic, Mr. Evans let it go and dove into the actual lesson, which was centered around early civilizations.

By the time they were ten minutes till the bell, the teacher gave them an in-class assignment to analyze how the agricultural revolution influenced gender norms, which was to be completed with a partner. Before he could even finish explaining the objective, everyone began shifting around to be with the partner of their choosing. A comfortable hum of quiet voices fell over the room, getting rid of the stale silence that had plagued the last forty minutes.

Allie swung her legs into the aisle and stood up to go kneel beside Peter's desk, laying her arms on its surface. She slid a piece of half torn paper and her pencil toward him, saying, "Can you do this? You can think so much faster than me." By the time she blinked once, the paper was written on, front to back. Whether its contents made sense was questionable, yet she couldn't give two shits.

Since their work was done, Peter leaned in toward her and whispered, "You can't even deny it now."

"What?" She whispered back, leaning in too.

"He likes you," He hissed annoyedly, which had Allie fighting a groan.

"Peter…" She muttered beneath her breath.

"He called you princess."

"Okay, and? Why are you so mad about it?"

"Because it's disrespectful."

"May I remind you how you behaved the first time we met!" She cried a little too loud, so she hunkered down and whispered, "You were a total perv."

Peter was far from thrilled about her bringing up their time at Maggie's Treasures with Logan and the whole team, as it destroyed his argument and simultaneously made him feel guilty.

He gestured to the rose pendant hanging around her neck. "I apologized, okay? Too much sugar and jailbreaking that day, I was all wound up."

"It's fine, I'm just saying. You're acting like you're my boyfriend right now."

The statement made him tense up. She watched as his jaw clenched and relaxed, stuck in a cycle as a million thoughts were visibly swirling behind his eyes. Eventually, he peered at her and grumbled, "Is being your friend not reason enough to care about you?"

Before she could respond, they both watched a paper airplane flutter onto Peter's desk. Having a sneaking suspicion as to who was responsible for it, the pair turned to see Eddie grinning at them.

"You mind writing me an answer there, mate? You've got quick fingers," He told Peter with the sole mission to stir some shit up.

Much to Allie's shock, Peter grabbed the paper airplane and crushed it up into a ball and shot it right back at Eddie with a curt, "Fuck off."

"Peter!" Allie scolded him quietly, looking between the two. Eddie started to laugh as the paper ball bounced off his chest, which only furthered Peter's annoyance.

"C'mon, who pissed in your cereal?" Eddie asked. Peter ignored him. Allie, however, was sick of the whole thing.

"Eddie," She said, swinging around to glare at him, "Maybe try shutting the fuck up?"

Nothing could deter his warpath. "I'm just playin' around. Tin Man's gotta soften up."

She rolled her eyes. What the fuck was going on?

"I'm done with you both," She muttered as she grabbed her pencil and the paper with their answers, angrily walking it up to the front of the classroom to turn in. Mr. Evans smiled at her as she laid it on his desk. Returning to hers moments later, she immediately felt a finger tap her shoulder.

"Eddie," She gritted, "Leave me alone."

"I'm just tryna see what it is that you do, love," He whispered in her ear from behind.

Peter whipped around in his seat. "Stop calling her names. She's not your pet."

Eddie's desk squealed as he sat back, his eyes lazily regarding Peter. "She's not yours either, mate," Then he went back to Allie, saying, "Maybe you've got x-ray vision, like Superman. Say, can you see how small of a prick ol' Peter's got through his pants?"

Allie couldn't even get a word in with Peter fuming beside her.

"Do you want to see how fast I can pour bleach down your throat?" Peter asked Eddie pointedly.

"Would ya look at that, Allie," Eddie said with crossed arms, staring at the back of her head, "Your man is threatenin' my life."

She whipped around in her seat, giving him a narrow glare. "Says the guy who almost killed someone. All for what? Ego?" Eddie shrugged, seeming satisfied that he got her to look his way.

"I just felt sparky that day."

"Take your shitty pun and shove it up your ass," She spat. He giggled like a little girl.

"You're two peas in a pod, eh? Both get so angry. I love it," He told them both with a great smile planted on his pale face.

The bell ringing had never sounded more angelic in that moment. Allie gathered her things and rushed into the hall, feeling Peter close behind her. With only a measly three minutes in between classes, she had no choice but to start heading to the next one, as much as she wished she could hide out in the bathroom and take a break from the social catastrophe already developing that morning.

With Peter now close beside her, she asked him pleadingly, "Can you try not to get yourself expelled from this school too?"

Without looking at her, he said, "I can't make any promises."

"Don't let this loser get under your skin. It's clearly what he wants."

"Yeah."

"What class do you have next?"

"Classic Literature," He answered. Allie frowned.

"I have Art."

"Great," He said with a sigh, "You'll probably be alone with him."

"Better than you being alone with him. I'll be fine," She assured him, "I can handle myself."

"I know… Nice one, telling him to shove it with his pun," Peter complimented her with a laugh and proud smile.

She chuckled too and said, "I can't believe you threatened to force him to drink bleach."

"Well he said I had a small dick, so yeah, I needed to go the extra mile."

"Oh boy, battle of the male egos."

As they walked, he angled his body to face her, allowing her to get a full view of his peeved expression.

"I hope you'd choose my massive ego over his," He said expectantly. Allie purposefully pondered it for an extended period, making him throw his arms up in disappointment, "Seriously? After all that stealing I've done for you?"

"Shut up," She cried amusedly, "You know I'd choose you any day." That made him smile real big, making her feel warm inside.

When they reached the hallway that they would be departing from each other in, Peter nodded toward her.

"Good luck," He said with an expression that told her he didn't want to leave her.

Slowly walking away, she peered at him from over her shoulder, trying to comfort his nerves with a smile. "You too."

And then they were off to their own respective classes. When Allie entered the art room, she was happy to see the familiar laminate counters lined with stools, no forsaken desks in sight. She had taken art every year. It was the only class that she found to be somewhat therapeutic. By no means was she a great artist, however the teacher was a nice old lady and most of the students just minded their own business. The deadlines were flexible, there was a lot of downtime and the tests were always short and based around common sense. There was no reason to not have it included in her elective courses.

Unfortunately, that was what Eddie Hill must've thought too. As soon as Allie got through the door and assessed the open seating in the classroom, she felt Eddie's scratchy laugh flutter down the back of her neck like a cold chill.

"What are the odds," He said while she looked up at him. Instead of feeding into his insatiable appetite for attention, Allie put on a cool face and turned around, spotting an open seat between two nerdy looking guys in the back of the room. Bingo.

She beelined her way over to them and claimed the seat like it was the Holy Grail. Of course, Eddie meandered his way over too, looking like a tiger on the prowl. He slinked up beside the poor kid to Allie's right, which set into motion an unfortunate encounter.

Eddie held his hand out for the kid to shake, to which the boy awkwardly obliged out of sheer instinct. But when their hands joined, the kid jumped.

"Ouch!" He said loudly, glaring at Eddie, "You shocked me."

"Might be that sweater you're wearing. Did you just pull that hideous thing outta the dryer this morning? Why don't you tell your mummy to grab some dryer sheets the next time she goes to bang the manager in the Acme storage room."

All the kid could do was stare at Eddie with a slack jaw. Allie shook her head as she faced forward. How does someone end up like this? Where were this guy's parents?

"Get out of my seat," Eddie then commanded him once the silence had drawn out for too long. Allie heard the kid gather his things and run away. The jingle of metal announced Eddie taking his seat beside her.

She was beginning to doubt Peter's theory. It didn't feel like Eddie had any romantic interest in her. It was more like a stalking operation. With the teacher being absent, Allie was determined to get to the center of whatever the deal was with him.

"Eddie," She said evenly, glancing at him only to find he was already looking at her.

"Yes?" He asked with expectant, raised brows.

"Can we have a diplomatic discussion about what your motives are?"

"What if I have no motive?" He asked mischievously.

"And how about we be honest," She added, "We haven't seen you since the whole Red Melvin thing. Having you been plotting all of this since then?"

"Plotting what?"

"Uh- I don't know- Verbally abusing me and Peter in the middle of class?"

"No one can take a joke nowadays," Was his dry response.

She scoffed. "Okay, I tried. I'm not going to beat around the bush with you forever. I don't even know why I thought you'd have a civilized conversation."

After a moment of silent tension between them, he said, "You want the truth?" She gave him a sincere nod, hoping he would give her an actual explanation. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out two prescription bottles that jingled like maracas. "I'm off my meds."

He popped three pills onto his tongue, two from one bottle and a single pill from the other. Then he tilted his head back, using only his saliva to send the chalky circles down his throat. Following an over dramatic gulp, he looked in her direction with a manic smile.

"I'm bad at making friends," He said, finally giving her the long awaited truth.

"Okay…" She responded quietly, staring at him and his crazed grin, "You're not really supposed to belittle the people you'd like to be friends with."

"Precisely why I just told you I'm bad at friend making."

"Right," She said mostly to herself as she looked at the counter, "Maybe you should start by taking your meds regularly. Why are you even on them?"

He raised his finger to his head, letting a little zap of electricity bridge between his index finger and his temple. "Unwilling electroshock therapy."

"Put that away," She hissed as she swatted his hand, "I don't care if you shove kids into lockers or set this whole place on fire, just don't let anyone know about us, okay?"

His only response was a cackle no different than a Wicked Witch of the West's, which was far from promising.

"Is this officially a truce?" She later asked him with hopeful eyes, using all of her innocent female persuasion to make him accept. Her hands propped up her chin, blonde brows knitting together convincingly, then she pushed her lips out into the slightest pout to really urge him. His pale gaze studied her face for a moment or two, seeming to be the first time in which Eddie displayed a spark of humanity, leaving behind his devilish tendencies. Instead of verbally agreeing, he put out his hand for her to shake.

"You think I'm falling for that?" She asked him with a wary laugh. His hand remained extended to her.

"Trust is the foundation of a lasting friendship," He said, surprising Allie with the brief yet wise statement.

The classroom door opened, entering Mrs. Anderson, a plump lady in her sixties who was stuck in the 1940s with her meticulously curled hair and brown lipstick, though Allie would admit that she wore it beautifully even if it was outdated. Seeing as class would be soon in session, she returned her focus to Eddie's hand.

It wasn't like she was signing away her soul or anything. Still, Allie considered it deeply. She thought about the simplicity of his desire to be their friend. It would've seemed harmless enough had it not been for the fiasco of first period. There was a sour taste in her mouth after all that. Allie didn't like that he had been so determined in his insults toward Peter. Something told her that even if she shook his hand now, Eddie wasn't going to change much when it came to him. And that would absolutely cause her to flip out.

So she lowered her hand toward his, but didn't grab onto it right away.

"If I shake your hand right now, promise me you'll also cut Peter some slack?" She bartered with him on behalf of her friend, who meant a thousand times more to her than this slimy shit Eddie Hill. But she also wanted the taunting to stop, so that was why she was trying to work things out.

Eddie's eyes flicked up to hers. "I'm all jokes, y'know."

Allie cocked her head to the side, saying, "Friends are supposed to joke and make fun of other people, not each other."

"Alright," He agreed, "You oughta work at a car dealership. Real convincing."

"Look at that," She said with a smile directed at him, "That's how you're supposed to compliment friends."

He grinned back as their hands married, bobbing up and down in a solid shake. In the back of Allie's mind, she was relieved that the truce could be agreed upon, though she knew one thing was certain.

Peter wasn't going to be happy.