Anya Forger stepped off the bus onto Eden Academy grounds. The prestigious school the elite and wealthy children attended. A hard school to achieve acceptance to without the right connections, lineage, or status. But with a lot of hard work, Loid Forger had managed to enrol his daughter here.
Anya wasn't going to waste it. She reaffirmed herself, as she found Becky, one of the aforementioned elite, and best friend, waiting eagerly.
"Anya!" She exclaimed happily, crushing her ribs in a tight hold.
"Becky." She greeted, but it sounded more like a rasp. She wheezed as Becky released her to walk together to class. Becky started talking a mile a minute, leaving Anya to catch a few words here and there.
'Right.' Anya thought, while trying to appear invested in Becky's ramblings. 'Today is the day! Today Plan B will be a success! For World Peace!'
To which she referred to was of course the 'Friendship Scheme' she read about in her Papa's mind. To get close to Damian Desmond and use him to breach peace through his father. Avoiding a war through as little bloodshed as possible. Donovan Desmond was so elusive they didn't have many options.
She was helping her Papa as much as she could, unbeknownst to her father, but Sy-on boy was an idiot so it wasn't going very well.
The other plan. Plan A. Was for Anya to become an imperial scholar so Loid could meet Donovan at an event that only Imperial Scholars and their parents attended. But Papa didn't think it likely, so he procured Plan B.
"Bleh." Becky stuck her tongue out at Damian as he descended the steps to their left. She had obvious distaste for the boy and wasn't afraid to let him know.
Damian's face flashed red with anger at Becky as he gritted his teeth.
"Hey!" Emile defended him. "That's no way to treat a Desmond!" He shouted before Damian could say anything. Emile and Ewen never faltering to jump to their 'boss's' aid.
'Ah! Anya thought. Now was her chance as the children hurled insults at each other. "Sy-on boy!" She pointed confidently, ready to smash his hatred of her to pieces.
"W-what!" Damian asked, her gaze unwavering, determined and self-assured. It threw him off, they way she spoke as if throwing the nickname back at him. Compelled him to stand and watch as she dug into her bag.
She proudly produced a first place ribbon from an art competition they had in class. She had worked so hard on that drawing of Penguin and Chimera. It was the best one, the ribbon proved it. If this didn't change his mind, she would be shocked. "Heh." She smiled, victory nearly in her grasp, as she predicted the outcome.
"Wow!" Imaginary Sy-on boy exclaimed in admiration. "Your more impressive than I thought! Your drawing is amazing! Come to my house and meet my father!" The scene turned to Loid accompanying her to the Desmond home. "You're daughter is quite lovely! Let's negotiate peace!" Donovan said to Loid. Mission Complete!
"Great job Anya! You saved the world!" Loid praised her.
Anya was sure this was the way it would go, staring Desmond in the eye, daring him to refute it.
He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it wasn't this trifle of an award that she held up so proudly. "Yeah, so what?" He said, truly not intent on being mean, but thoroughly unimpressed.
SHOCK! Anya was aghast, despair sending her knees to the ground. The plan a failure. Where did she go wrong?
Damian decided to walk away before the feeling in his gut got any heavier as Emile and Ewen mocked her. "Just as you'd expect from Lord Damian! Uggo! Shrimp!" They called at her as they followed after the Desmond boy.
Mission Fail!
"Stupid jerks!" Becky yelled after them. "Really! What do you see in him?" She asked, helping Anya off the ground. Completely convinced Anya had a crush on him.
"I don't get it, but you'll get through to him eventually. Just like that couple on 'Berlint in Love'" Becky comforted her, holding her hand to class.
—
The math teacher drew on the chalkboard, numbers and letters that didn't make sense to Anya's loose grasp of mathematics. Stealing answers and thoughts to help her understand it better and wrote notes that were barely legible. She often went to Becky's or Damians minds for these answers and was acutely aware of sy-on boys eyes on the back of her head.
'What a dummy. She's probably reading off of Blackbell.' He thought loftily from his seat high up in the back.
Anya gasped internally. How did he know that? Trying not to look back at him.
'As if she could make sense of it on her own.' He scoffed. 'She's too busy sleeping in class and thinking about that stupid cartoon. Dummy. She so hopeless, I bet she hasn't even noticed the leaf stuck in her hair. It's been there since before class started.' He thought, suddenly self conscious, a strange, unsettling feeling arising that Anya didn't understand. Similar to that day she apologized to him in the cafeteria. But she felt him quickly avert his gaze from her and bury his head in his books. Trying to ignore whatever it was.
'Boss is acting weird again,' She heard Emile think.
'What is going on with him?' Ewen thought.
"Anya? Did you hear the question?" The teacher asked, bringing Anya to attention. The numbers meaning nothing to hear as she tried to understand it.
"Uh...uh..." She stuttered, frantically reaching for Becky's thoughts.
'Fifteen and a half.' Becky rooted for her silently. 'C'mon, you got this'. Becky didn't know Anya was a telepath, but sometimes Anya wondered.
"Fifteen and a half!" She said, maybe a little bit louder than necessary.
The teacher blinked in surprise along with Becky. Her infamous grades, less than good. "Correct. Moving on." He turned back to the board.
'Pftt. Lucky guess.' Damian commented to himself.
Anya ignored him and tried to pay attention to class. The lesson boring and long. If not for Becky prodding her side every few minutes, she would have taken a nap ages ago.
She looked at her sad notes. Legible only to Anya, and very few, compared to what she saw in Becky's notebook.
She decided math sucked.
Scrawled lazily whatever was on the board, planning on deciphering it later. Not much hope for it, until her Papa could explain it to her. Was wishing she could burn all the textbooks when she felt something unexpected on the edges of her consciousness.
Cold and staticky. Having and always would send chills down her spine. Foreboding and evil. It never meant good things when she could feel them. A loud cacophony she couldn't help but notice.
Something she never thought she'd feel again.
She bolted upright in her seat, the sudden movement drawing attention from Becky and a couple other students. Some curious what was going on.
"Anya?" Blackbell whispered.
Anya looked around the room for the source but it couldn't be in the class with her. Maybe outside the school. Waiting for her.
Anya couldn't read their thoughts but she could feel their minds. Everything was jumbled so she couldn't determine their objectives or location. The lab having always been good at keeping her scared and confused.
"Anya?" Becky repeated, "What is it?" She asked, noticing the sudden awareness in Anya's eyes that searched the room.
She pretended to calm down, shaking her head to placate Becky, and her forced smile told her everything was fine.
But everything was not fine. Her hand shook slightly that held her pencil, knowing who was waiting for her outside. She knew if she wasn't careful, she wouldn't be going home that day.
She guessed they believed she wouldn't be able to sense them. With their devices that scrambled their thoughts into garbled noise and jumbled feelings. She was the only one who really knew what it sounded like, so they had no idea she could still sense their presence.
She realized this was probably the best time for them to take her.
When she had neither her parents nor the walls of the school to protect her. When she was most vulnerable outdoors.
But it would still be tricky.
They had to navigate the children and somehow grab her before she got on the bus without being seen. Or find some way to inconspicuously lure her out when the grounds were all but empty.
Well, no way that was happening. She was never going outside by herself again!
Her heart thumped loudly in her chest, keeping tabs on the minds outside the school. She couldn't lose them for a second. Paranoia that they'd try to sneak up and grab her.
Anya knew they wouldn't come barging in. They wanted to keep a low profile, she was sure.
She's heard Papa think before, about the human experimentation labs that the secret police had taken down in the past. If they caught wind of anymore, they would be shut down too.
If the organization wanted her back, they were going to have be subtle enough so as not to give themselves away.
This helped a little to calm her down. But just a little.
She would be safe inside the school she thought. She hoped. And she would be safe at home. She just had to be careful.
And the bus driver! She realized. She would have to make sure it was the right person before getting on. She couldn't let her guard down for a second.
The stress of this new situation didn't help with her studies and she had all but given up on learning anything else that day in math class.
—-
"Anya." Becky poked her friend to get her attention. She had been spaced out all through class. A perpetual look of worry and nervousness settled on her face.
"Anya. Class is over." She said, finally getting her attention.
"Huh?" Anya looked her way. Had spent most of her time with her mind outside the room. Supposed she could relax a bit inside, but it put her stomach in knots anyway.
"What's going on?" Becky stuffed her books away in her bag. "You're acting weirder than usual.
Anya gasped at the insinuation that she was always weird.
"C'mon. We're going to be late for our next class." She gestured to Anya's things on her desk.
She quickly packed up and followed Becky out into the halls.
—-
The rest of the day seemed to blur by, and crawl slowly along all at the same time.
She dreaded the end of the school day but couldn't wait to be home.
She still sensed the people outside, waiting for her to emerge. Causing her lack of focus and she knew she retained nothing from that day.
The last class finally ending and she neared the entrance doors, with Becky at her side.
To stay safe, she would keep up with the gaggle of children headed for the buses, and clung to Becky's arm.
She hoped it would be enough.