A few hours later her nap was over, Taylor got to say bye to her father as he headed off to work. Once again she emptied anything remaining in the fridge for her breakfast. Still feeling constant hunger and eating far more than she would ever have eaten before. Taylor got ready for school and headed off.

Walking past her locker she saw that someone must have noticed the state of it. As it had been cleaned even if still smelled quite foul, the door on the other hand had not been replaced and even if it had been fixed, she had no intention of ever using it again.

First few classes went unusually quietly with the trio constantly staring at her seemingly baffled over the fact that she was back in school as if nothing had happened.

At noon during the lunch break Taylor was told by one of the teachers that she was needed in principal Blackwell’s office.

Arriving at the office the secretary seemed annoyed at having to deal with yet another student but after a quick check with the principal, she sent her in.

Principal Blackwell was sitting behind her desk looking unhappy. She was dressed in a all black dress, with dark blond hair and a frown that looked so natural it made you wonder if she had ever smiled.

“Have a seat.” She directed with a curt order pointing at the chair opposite her on the other side of the desk.

“Once again you are making trouble. You really need to get a grip on yourself, no person in their sane mine would have tried to store their used feminine products in their locker.” The unexpected verbal attack shocked Taylor for a moment.

“Emma, Sophia and Madison filled my locker with all of that, and then shoved me in there!” Taylor responded growing more and more angry at the nonsensical accusations.

Blackwell’s response only made her anger grow “You really need to stop throwing around wild accusations and made up stories.” For a moment Taylor considered attacking her, it would be so easy. Yet the realization of what she was considering hit her like a cold shower. Cooling her rising temper down. Im better than it, a better person than her. Went through Taylors mind as she forced her anger down.

She did manage to see a brief pause and a look of guilt on Blackwells face before Blackwell resolved back to just an annoyed look as she continued her tirade “You keep throwing wild accusations at those three yet their schoolwork is flawless, and there has never been any evidence of Sophia doing anything like what you are saying. While there's plenty of proof of you making up wild stories. Dear girl if you make another incident like the giant mess with the locker, one that I have to say the janitor was very unhappy to find, you will be looking at being suspended from school, or even expelled. I will not allow your personal problems to cause issues in this school.”

After the wholly undeserved tirade Taylor was dismissed. The anger at the outright insane level of unfairness of the situation was smouldering, yet she knew that she could not really do anything about it.

When she stopped outside the room to take a deep breath to try and calm herself back down she heard the principal's voice, too quiet for someone without her now inhuman senses to hear, “The school can't afford to lose the funding, one student is not too big of a price. I just need to get her to tone it down.” It sounded like Blackwell was trying to justify the unfairness to herself, and made it even clearer that she was defending someone. It has to be sophia, she even specifically mentioned that I don't have evidence against Sophia in specific. Why is she protecting her? These questions kept going through Taylors head, but for now she would have no clear answer. But she did resolve to try and figure it out, the knowledge might be the key to getting the teachers to do their job or atleast get the trio to back off. She only needed to figure out why having Sophia in school would be so important to Blackwell.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

On the way to the next class Emma and her cronies were once again waiting in the hallway.

“I can't believe she dares to show her face in school. If I was as ugly as her I would not dare to show my face outside.” the insults from Emma to Taylors surprise hurt a lot less than they usually did.

How have I never noticed it before, her insults they are so petty, and while she was my friend at one point, the her from back then would not have even given a moment of attention to the pathetic existence she is now. Leaving Taylor wondering on why they had ever hurt her so much in the first place.

The complete dismissal as Taylor barely spared the trio a glance was noticed by Sophia. Something has changed, she should be near tears, especially after I told Blackwell to simply pretend it was Taylor's own doing. Sophia thought.

As was the case quite regularly her seat was once more was covered in juice. Atleast its not glue this time. Thought Taylor as she decided to ignore her assigned seat and simply sat at another seat, there were plenty empty with a lot of people barely bothering to show up for many classes. Mr Gladly looked for a moment as if he was about to ask Taylor about why she was not in her normal seat before stopping himself deciding it's better to not know.

The young teacher was probably the one Taylor disliked the most. Many of the other teachers had at one point tried to intervene before giving up, but Mr Gladly was so focused on being cool and friendly to everyone. However his attempts to help were half hearted and never followed through. Making him an incredibly fake person as far as Taylor was concerned.

Over the course of the school day a few more attempts were made at making Taylors life miserable. But with her new outlook on the situation most of them failed for the simple fact that she did not care anymore about anything the trio said. Attempt to trip her was met by Taylor stepping over the foot without even noticing. Something that made Sophia more and more suspicious. Nothing Taylor did was unusual for a student. Yet it was very much unusual compared to Taylors past behaviour.

“Guys we need to lay off for a bit, something is wrong.” was what Sophia told her friends towards the end of the day.

“Lay off? She has somehow still not learned her place at the bottom.” Was the indignant reply from Emma. “She just ignored me today, I even made sure to mention her crying herself to sleep after her mother's death and nothing. Its as if she thinks she is better than us.”

Sophia who usually would have encouraged her friend instead insisted she leave it for a bit that she needs to figure out what is going on first.

With school finally over Taylor could get to what she wanted to do.

Once again the public library was her saviour, giving her access to computers to do research on. And the information she was looking for was far easier to find than she expected. The PHO forums had an actual Brockton Bay section for known heroes and villains.

The list of villains was extensive but Taylor resolved to memorize as much as she could, and to think of ways of actually stopping them. As the battle against Mush if you could even call it that, was very humiliating.

While doing her research Taylor was wholly unaware of the fact that another young woman was keeping a very close eye on what she was doing.

By the time Taylor left the library it was almost dark but she was far better informed now about the realities of being a parahuman. She even found a solution for her worry over how to afford buying a mobile phone, and better raw materials. As apparently while technically illegal, in reality most heroes would happily take funds off criminals and the police would just ignore it. And if there was one thing that Brockton Bay was not low on, it was gang members.

But for now she would control herself and not go out before she had some planning and preparations done.

Though she was reminded of the fact that with the rate she was spending her pocket money on food she would not have much left soon.

Since gaining her powers she was constantly hungry. And even though she was not aware of it any excess body fat was vanishing at a rate any weight loss enthusiast would be envious of, though not that she had that much extra weight in the first place.

In another part of the town, deep underground, a man wearing a black bodysuit with a white snake motif curling around it was staring at the letter he found on his keyboard, in his base, in his PRIVATE room, one that no one else should have access to.

After a brief check to make sure nothing else had been touched he carefully read the letter, making sure to never actually touch it. “So this would make my whole debt be considered completed. I can work with these rules once I find out the person it applies to. As Long as I don't break any of the rules, they even promised me several vials.” after musing to himself over the letter he grabbed his phone, “Tattletale I have a job for you. I need you to find someone for me. The details will arrive on your email in a few minutes. Don't disappoint me.”

“Ok boss.” was the tired sounding reply from the other end of the phone call.