I frown slightly as I find myself sitting on the bathroom floor, drenched in toilet water, looking up with teary eyes at the boy, Ben, who had merely days ago been my best friend. He stands there, looking down on me alongside the other kids I used to play games with.

"Oh come on, why don't you show us your 'special power'?" One of the kids standing besides Ben asks, in a demeaning sarcastic voice.

"I don't have any powers, I'm not special, just like you said.." I mumble to myself, unsure if I am trying to convince them or simply myself, all I want is for the bullying to stop, for things to go back to how they were once before, but I know it's meaningless. Even when I once tried to tell the teachers they refused to believe me, as before I had tried to tell them about my 'power' and they accused me of simply seeking attention for no reason, as they assumed I am now with the bullying.

"Daniel!" Ben yells down towards me.

"What...?" I speak half heartedly, though somewhat confused by his tone as it seemed oddly high pitched, even for a preteen.

"Daniel It's time to get up! We're going to be late!" A boy besides Ben says in the exact same tone as Ben had.

Confused now, I scratch my head, wondering what's going on before I see the bullies' faces twisting into monstrosities, continually chanting for me to wake up as everything begins to shake, and I scream.

---

I quickly sit up, screaming as I bump my forehead against the metal bars of the bunk above me. Groaning, I roll around in the bed holding my sore skull, I hear a childish laughter from besides me. I glance over to find my younger sister, Wearing her brand new middle school uniform. She looked rather excited at the opportunity to go and make some new friends. Sadly, I couldn't share her sentiment.

Throughout the last year of middle school I had been the main target of abuse for the bullies, though before that I had been rather popular. I was told I was good looking, I tried to be friendly to everyone, and worked hard to ace my classes. Usually that kind of person would never get bullied, but there was one problem that turned it all around for me.

When I was younger I became absolutely convinced I was special. I was certain I had some odd power in my eyes. Fortunately I can't remember much of what I thought it was because it turned my life from heaven to hell. I had entrusted my best friend since kindergarden with my secret, well, my delusion. The very next day he practically told the entire school. They questioned me about it and I reluctantly told them it was true, though from then on my entire life went downhill.

A chop to my still aching forehead breaks me out of my memories and I can't help but yelp out loud. Covering my sore forehead with my hand, I glare towards the culprit, my younger sister.

"Yeesh, why do you have to zone out like that all the time? We are gonna be laaatte, let's go alreadyyy" She says before attempting to pull my to my feet with little effect.

A smile forces itself on my face as I playfully ruffle her hair/gently rub her head, before standing up and heading towards the bathroom in my pajamas with a set of clothes in hand. "Go eat breakfast Ash I’ll be down in a bit." Her full name was Ashley but 'Ash' was what she was usually called by the entire family.

Once inside the bathroom I close the door behind me and look at the reflection staring back at me. A 5'6 short High School freshman with bangs covering half of my face, as well as my odd silver eyes. Beneath my messy bed hair, a slightly asymmetrical face is visible. Would it be too arrogant to tell myself that I consider myself not bad looking? Maybe I could use my looks for a High School debut and try my hand at the age-old popularity race at the new school, this new city ... I shake my head and bury he thought. It was too much trouble, and you'll only eventually get stabbed in the back, dealing with those kinds of people.

'It's better to stay in the background' I mutter my cherished mantra, convincing myself of what I attempt to make my life goal. Even my wardrobe reflects my chosen lifestyle only a simple white shirt, hoodie, and blue jeans. Nothing too fashionable, I lament in the depth of my heart, just enough to not stand out in any way. With a quick brush of my teeth and swabbing some deodorant on, I finally head down to the kitchen, greeting my mother with a quick ‘Good Morning’ before sitting down at the Island in the middle of the kitchen next to my sister.

“Oh my, Its almost the Anniversary of when you joined our family Danny” My mother speaks of the date I was adopted from the small orphanage in our old town. My sister and even my brother had a similar story, just different orphanages, of elder brother even coming from japan. I don’t think it really matters because we are treated as if we were anyway, as mother always tends to go on about how 'lucky' it is that she was, otherwise she might not have such great kids, though I imagine every parent says something similar to that.

Shrugging away my thoughts I turn to my bowl of cereal. Quickly taking my spoon and shovel the cereal into my mouth, I watch the TV on the kitchen counter. My sister, with the power of remote firmly grasped in her hands, has the TV shows a local martial arts tournament which happened two days ago. Although she usually watches this stuff in her room but apparently mom allowed her to record it and watch it during breakfast before it was time to head to school., as it had aired yesterday at midnight and mom wished for Ash to get some shut eye before her first day at a new school.

We had moved away from our old town, a fact I was very thankful for, because father had been offered a position at a prestigious hospital over the summer in New York. It was larger than our old town in Wisconsin by a large margin where everyone practically knew everyone. Here, in the big apple, there is less of that, something I was glad of.

I revert my attention back to the Television, in time to see one teenager, about my height I believe, kick a taller one squarely in the chin, effectively knocking him to the ground. *Heehh, It'd be nice if I could do something like that,* I think to myself, in awe, a thought I haven't had since back in middle school where I had constantly watched martial arts all the time, thinking it was really cool... I frowned at the thought as well as the feeling of an odd throbbing in my head.

 I swiftly shovel the last of the cereal into my mouth before my attention is grabbed by the fight on screen. Seemingly the final match I watched as they exchanged hits, dodging and countering before finally reaching the end of the fight. As I watched intently the feeling in my head continued to throb growing quicker, shortening the time in between. *Bah, stupid bed really hurt my head* I think, annoyed at the wake up. I hold up my spoon to reflect my head, in order to see the damage. There's no mark but I freeze upon seeing the reflection of my eyes, it looks as if they were mirrors themselves. I blink in surprise and drop the spoon to the odd stares from my sister and mother.

"Ah, sorry. Clumsy me." I apologize, lifting up the spoon to look back into my reflection. They are their normal silver color, *perhaps I'm just stressing over the first day and imagining things..* I consider before I feel a strong migraine take over my head. Flinching, I remove myself from the table, as my sister heads towards the front door I grab an aspirin from the bathroom before following.

I walk with my sister a block down to where our bus should arrive, Both the middle school and the high schools are right next to each other, thankfully allowing us to ride the same bus and not have to really split up. After several minutes and a few more kids gather around the bus arrives. We climb on and are instructed that the middle schoolers are to sit up front and the high schoolers in the back, which I view as a problem as I'd rather be sitting with my sister than somebody I don't know. I reluctantly accept my fate with a sigh, heading towards the back of the bus in search of a seat.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Glancing towards the rear of the bus I spot what seems to be a group of Wannabe gangsters. definitely not sitting there, I think to myself before accidentally making eye contact with one of them before quickly looking away and instantlyregretting it as he seems to point me out to his friends. I groan to myself, knowing I should have known better than to break eye contact with potential bullies like that. I hop down into an empty seat next to a kid in glasses with a bad case of acne, who pretty much just ignores me, so I gratefully decide to do the same, I just hope for the day to get over with quickly...

After about fifteen minutes we finally reach the end of the line, I glance out the window to examine my new hellhole for the next four years. The high school is separated from the middle school by a bunch of sports fields, while the middle school looks at least somewhat decent, the high school on the other hand looks rather seedy. Graffiti being painted over, a few taller kids surrounding what looks like a freshman, some rich looking girls who appear to dream about looking like a barbie doll, and I spot some goth punks sitting around under the football field bleachers

*Are all high schools in the big city like this..?* I sigh to myself as I file off of the bus and wave goodbye to my little sister before heading inside, hoping to get to my first class, history, *what a sleepy way to start off the day..* I think to myself before heading up the flight of stairs, making sure to follow the instructions from my class sheet.

The school day dragged its way by, through history, algebra, gym, before lunch had finally came, to my great joy as gym had drained me and food, no matter how nasty, was just what I needed. I sat in a corner of the room, eating the plastic lies they call chicken nuggets and the rocks painted green they called peas, *All in all not too bad for a school lunch* I joke to myself with a little chuckle before I hear a voice speak up behind me. "Something funny?" A deep voice says in threatening tone behind me.

My shoulders stiffen slightly as I turn my head to see the goons from the bus before. "Ahh.. er.. nothing." I speak, feeling an odd mix of anger and fear *Even after I moved I have to deal with this shit...? What the actual fuck* My train of thought is broken as the thug reaches down and squeezes my shoulder tightly. "Why don't you come with us for a little...?"

I freeze up at those words, they were almost identical to what I had been told the day the bullying had began. Trembling slightly I spoke up. "No.."

The punk behind me growls like a dog before grabbing my hair by the bangs and forcing me to turn my head. "Sorry pretty boy but we ain't acceptin' that answer." He says with a vicious grin.

*No, no I don't want to be bullied again, I can't. Not for four more years, no.. no no NO!* and with that thought I felt as if something cracked inside of my head, my thoughts race back to the martial arts video from this morning, remembering vividly every single detail of the fight, from the movements of their feet to every punch and kick. It almost feels like I had fought myself. I stand up in an odd daze as the bastard lets go of my hair.

As soon as he releases me, instinctively I lash out to the surprise of the onlookers, the bullies and myself. 

My body moves involuntarily, as if it had a mind of its own. My foot steps forward, sliding to a stop right behind his own.  My fist thrusts towards his chin. It connects with a dull thud, forcing him backwards. 

He staggers.

Then trips.

Right over my foot.

Surprise and disbelief color(/appear on) his face as he falls to floor..

His friends stand stunned for moments before one of them lashes out at me enraged, My thoughts flash back a time when I was back at the orphanage, only four at the time. We were watching some martial arts movie and I was in awe of the way they moved After it had ended I was certain I could imitate what they did.

My mind returned to the present, the long forgotten memories pushed back,  just in time to notice the  fist of one of the other bullies nearing my face. I lean back, feeling the air as his fist barely passed over my head.  All of my weight shifted onto my left  leg while lifting and bending my right.  Immediately after his fist sped over my head,  I grab his now extended arm at the wrist and allow myself to fall backwards onto the floor, pulling him down towards on top of me.. Just before he lands on top of me, my right heel digs into his stomach and pushes him over my entire body. With a spectacular flip, he flies through the air before crashing into the ground, hard.

I lean back slightly and jump up to my feet just as the final bully kicks out towards me. I slide back allowing his kick to miss by an inch, harmlessly passing by before grabbing his ankle and guiding  it further up towards his head. I effortlessly step forward and break his already failing balance by kicking the foot that held all of his weight.  He struggles briefly, flailing with his arms, before his back smashes into the ground.

The daze cleared as I wonder what the hell just happened, before I realize only fifteen seconds had past since I stood up. Perhaps even less. The surrounding area was in utter silence. I glanced at the nearby students, still sitting at their tables, but several of them had taken their phones out and seemingly recorded the incident. 

My thoughts are a mess and a myriad of questions buzz through my head.

*I just don't get it.. how did that happen, and more importantly where the hell is the teacher in all of this?!* I survey the cafeteria to find a rather overweight balding male watching me with a surprised expression, his believe that things should have gone differently evident on his face.

*I'm confused.. do the teachers just.. not care if people get into fights...?* I shake my head as I notice noise returning to this side of the cafeteria, excited chatter of 'the weird new kid'. 

I can sense their eyes on me, evaluating my every action, attempting to predict my next action.

My heart starts pumping wildly and my pulse starts racing. Even the edges of my vision is starting to get darker. My breathing starts to get rougher. My hands start shaking and I suddenly feel pain in one of my hands. A brief look inform me of the bruises and scrapes on my knuckles.

And still everyone continues to stare at me.

Like I’m some kind of exhibit.

Some kind of strange animal that wandered out of its cage.

Uncomfortable with all the attention I  force down all distracting thoughts, while quickly making my way out of the cafeteria, out of the school, as far as possible. The decision to skip until the bus arrived and head home with my sister is surprisingly easy..

Way easier than finding a place to calm down and think. And hopefully figuring out just what the hell is happening to me...

--------------------------

THANKS TO GUNSEPH FOR THE HELP EDITING!

Alright! a little rushed but I think its okay. o3o Hope you all enjoyed! ^^ Please do the rate and make sure to follow if you enjoy it~