I woke up furious, panicked, and crying. I rolled over into my pillow and screamed until it felt like my throat was bleeding. I screamed a little longer, til I physically couldn't stand it, then lay there sobbing into the stuffing. I felt my lungs burn and heaved in a breath, then choked out another cry.

“Lia?” The voice of my mother called as there was a knock at my door. “You'll be late for school. Is everything alright?” I turned my head and read seven on my clock. I took a shuddering breath.

“F-fine,” I stammered as I sniffled. “B-bad dream.” I heard the click of her tongue.

“Ah.” Her tone was stilted. “I'll let the school know you may be late. You know where the laundry detergent is.” A pause, then: “I love you.”

I didn't have a reply, and I heard her head back upstairs, then out the door. I had to get up, had to face the day. Again and again and again. With a sigh, I rose from bed, rubbing my eyes dry. I changed into some loose, torn up jeans and a sweatshirt and turned to the mirror.

I didn't want to do this anymore.

I sat down heavily on my bed, staring at the carpet below. Ohh fuck I didn't want to do any of this. I'd tried and tried and tried and fucking tried, but every time I got somewhere I was put back in my fucking place. I had managed to do something no one outside Scion could in taking off Leviathan's arm, but I had to be reminded that I wasn't a hero apparently. I found my eyes drifting to a pair of scissors sitting on my bedside table, eyeing them.

I sat up. Nope. I wasn't doing this right now. I forced myself out of bed and headed upstairs. I mechanically made a pot of coffee and grabbed a doughnut from the fridge. With way too much cream and sugar, and a bit of cinnamon, I sat down and dug into my shitty, sugary breakfast. I focused pointedly on how good it was, rather than letting my mind wander. Once I was done, I sighed and stared out the kitchen window.

I needed a break. I'd lived and died six times now, times three days made it eighteen days of stress and bullshit. I was exhausted, physically and mentally, and pushing myself further would only make it worse. If I let it, it would spiral until I was barely a person at all. I'd lived a life that way for a while and...nah.

I let out a long sigh. No more schemes, not this time around. I was going to go to school, do some crap, and just...not worry for a bit. I wasn't too excited for class, but frankly it would make for a distraction if I tried to pay attention. That was a losing battle, I was well aware, but it would be better than moping around my room all day.

I checked the time and sighed. I'd missed the bus and at this rate probably wouldn't get to math. That sucked, but I wasn't exactly broken up about it. I didn't feel too much like walking. Did I have a bike? I did, oh nice. That would do me good, a long, quiet ride to school like that. I stood and cleaned up my mug, then headed downstairs to collect my things. A few minutes later I was off, riding towards Arcadia.

I stuck to the quiet side-streets on my way to school. The neighbourhoods around here were nice, with beautiful houses lining tree-covered sidewalks. More than a few people, out for morning strolls or exercise, greeted me as I rode by. It was...nice, normal, something I hadn't really felt since getting here.

It didn't take long for me to arrive, and by the time I did I was feeling a lot better. I locked up my bike at a rack off to the side, then headed in. I'd arrived with about twenty minutes to go til the bell rang for second period, so headed into the office to tell them I was here. I didn't really think about it, just knew I had to since Mom had called me in.

Once that was done, I just waited around outside the lab until the bell sounded and the class filed out. I slipped inside and headed to the back, like usual...or at least for the third time. Soon enough I was joined by my other classmates and the bell rang. I pulled out my textbook as Amy walked in, late for the last time she assured the teacher before joining me.

“Hey,” she said after a few minutes. “Guess we're working together.” I turned and gave her a nod.

“Guess so,” I replied. “What's your name?” She blinked, like she was taken aback by the question.

“Amy,” she answered after a silent moment.

“You too?” She cocked her head to the side and I grinned. “Amelia. Call me Lia or it'll get confusing.” Amy blinked, then let out a little huff.

“Sure thing, Lia.” She grabbed her textbook and turned to the page the teacher told us to reference. After a moment, her brows knit together. “Hey uh, do you know what we're doing?”

“Oh, sure.” I'd done it twice before, after all. “A simple redox reaction.” She nodded.

“Cool, cool.” Amy took a thermos out of her bag and opened it, taking a long sip before sighing contentedly.

“Coffee?” I asked with a knowing grin.

“Dirty chai, actually.” She licked her lips.

“Sounds delicious.”

“Like you wouldn't believe.”

The teacher interrupted and I dutifully rose and collected the glassware we needed for the experiment, then made a second trip for the chemicals. Once I had everything, I quickly set the reaction up and waited for permission to start. I knew roughly how much we needed so already had things measured out.

“Damn, you make it look simple,” Amy commented as she finished another sip of tea.

“I mean, it sort of is.” I shrugged. Simpler than...no, no cape shit today. “Add one liquid to the other and measure the volume when it changes colour. Then you do some math and boom, all done.”

“Ugh, math, really?” She rolled her eyes and muttered: “Literally just got done there.”

“I can handle it,” I said, waving away her concern. “I missed it so like, it's fine.” I'd done it twice, what was one more?

“Oh, nice.” She nodded and sipped her chai. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

The conversation fell silent and I got to work. Like I promised, it was simple, at least since I'd had so much practice. After exactly 17.3ml the solution changed colour, I jotted it all down, then plugged it all into the formula the book offered. After a little struggle with things, I got the answer and walked up to the front of the room.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Amelia,” Mr. VanWort greeted me. “That was rather quick. Your notes?” I handed them over.

“It wasn't that hard,” I said with a shrug. He narrowed his eyes and handed back my paper. “We just did one the other day, didn't we?”

“And you needed my help twice.”

“It was really helpful,” I replied. “Seriously, this felt...so much easier. Plus I had Amy, so yeah.” He seemed taken aback.

“Well, I'm glad to hear.” He smiled and leaned back. “You got it, so I won't keep you.” I smiled back and nodded, returning to my seat.

“How'd it go?” Amy asked.

“No issues,” I said, sliding my notes over to her. “You can copy them, just in case he wants to see your work.” She eyed me for a moment.

“You're being awfully nice.” Her tone was cold. Why? “What do you want?”

“What?”

“I mean what do you want from me?” Amy crossed her arms. I cocked my head, did she think...oh, right, healing. Well I didn't really need that.

“A sip of that chai would be nice,” I answered, pointing at the thermos. “Don't really need anything else.” My stomach growled and I winced. A doughnut for breakfast and I'd forgotten my lunch...yeah, that wasn't gonna be fun.

“Really?” It didn't sound like she believed me, but what else could I say?

“Yeah, seriously. It wasn't that much.” I was having a hard time understanding why she was so suspicious.

“Okay cool.” She sighed. “Sorry for the third degree, long night.” That didn't explain anything, but I nodded.

“I get it,” I replied. “Feels like I haven't had a good night's sleep in ages. I forgot my lunch so...guess I'll nap in the library.” If people weren't making out in the quiet spots again...

“Want me to treat you?” I perked up and cocked my head.

“Really?” Amy gave a minute nod and shrugged.

“Sure,” she replied. “Means I don't feel like I owe you or whatever.”

“Oh.” Well if she was offering...why not? It could be fun. “Yeah, that'd be cool.”

We packed our things as the bell rang. I followed her as the hallways grew crowded, avoiding the worst of the jostling thanks to my projection. I did my best to not bump anyone too hard, I really didn't want to get someone trampled. We made it to the cafeteria and grabbed a couple trays. I grabbed some pizza, couldn't go wrong there, and then Amy led us to a table with a couple people already sitting.

“Hey Amy,” one, a guy with black hair and a dark tan said with a smile. He was jacked. “How's it going?” She shrugged and set her tray down with a clatter.

“S'fine,” she replied, grabbing a fry from her plate and eating it. “School, y'know?”

“Yeah, can't say I'll miss it,” he replied with a grin. His eyes flicked to me for a moment, then back to Amy. “Who's--”

“Hey,” a familiar voice I hadn't heard since my first day here spoke up behind me. “Do I know you?” I turned and came face to face with the dazzling smile decorating Victoria Dallon's face.

“Oh, hi,” I said, blinking. “Uh, sort of. You almost landed on me on my first day here.” There was a beat of silence and I briefly screamed inside my own head. Why had I said that?!

“Do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?” She frowned for a second, knitting her eyebrows together in frustration.

“Vicky!” Amy hissed behind me.

“Snrk.” Victoria's lips twitched, then a wide grin broke out on her face. “Kidding. Anyway uh, sorry, I guess, and sorry I don't remember.”

“It's cool.” It was a few lifetimes ago now. “Amelia. Call me Lia.” Her grin widened.

“I'm Victoria,” she said, looking over my shoulder. “And you know, maybe I could call you Amy instead?”

“Hey.” I glanced back and saw Amy cross her arms.

“Amy Two then,” Vicky said with a nod. “Amy the Sequel, Amy Strikes Back.” I rolled my eyes and heard Amy groan behind me.

“I'm a fan of Amy Two: Amelia Boogaloo,” some blonde guy said, slipping his arm around Victoria's waist.

“Awful.”

“Terrible.”

“I thought it was funny.”

“Of course you did Dennis,” Amy said, rolling her eyes.

I blinked and suddenly realized I was surrounded by the Wards. Oh. Oh no. I hadn't thought nearly this far ahead when I'd accepted the offer of lunch. Well, it was fine. I just had to not show off my superpowers, which wasn't exactly hard. My projection was nearly invisible and mostly under my clothes, unless the tan guy who was probably Aegis or Victoria punched me, no one would find out.

“Anyway, sorry, lunch.” Victoria gestured and I took my seat beside Amy. She sat on the other side of her sister and began eating a salad.

“So Amelia,” Blondie, who was probably Gallant, said as he sat next to Victoria. “Are you a friend of Amy's?” I considered it for a second, then shook my head.

“We're classmates,” I answered. One experiment and a basic conversation wasn't exactly friendship, and lying to the guy who could see emotion seemed like an awful idea. “I forgot my lunch, and Amy offered to treat me.”

“Because she helped with a lab,” Amy explained quickly. “That's all.” I nodded.

“Oh, have you worked together before?” We shared a glance.

“Nope.”

“First time.” Well...maybe one lie. Gallant's smile shrank a bit as I took a bite of pizza.

Maybe-Aegis took Gallant's attention in some conversation about sports. At least that's what it sounded like, since they were talking about teams. Dennis, Clockblocker, was chatting with a girl I didn't recognize with thick, dark brown curls. Victoria's friend, or maybe his girlfriend? Oh well. I continued stuffing my face with pizza to try and keep from saying any more stupid shit.

“Do you and Amy share any other classes?” Victoria asked, right before I could take another bite. Damn.

“Yeah,” I said, setting it down. “Textiles. I think that's it.”

“Math in the morning too,” Amy corrected.

“Wait really?” She nodded. “Oh, sorry. I uh, usually zone out.”

“Me too,” Amy said, her lips twitching.

“You guys share three classes and aren't friends?” We glanced at each other, then at her.

“Why would we be?” Amy asked.

“I've shared classes with tons of people I never talked to,” I added. “It's school.”

“Exactly.”

“It's like there's two of them,” Dennis stage-whispered to Aegis. His lips twitched as he hid a smile.

“Well...now you can be,” Vicky said, ignoring the peanut gallery.

“I mean, sure,” I replied. “But I literally don't know anything about Amy.” Okay two lies, and that one was a whopper.

“Wait nothing?” Both of them stared at me like I'd grown another head. I realized the conversation at the rest of the table had gone quiet and my cheeks burned.

“Well, like,” I wracked my brain. What was safe, cape stuff? Shit, yeah, I guess. “If you're Victoria as in Victoria Dallon.” She nodded. “Then I guess she's Amy Dallon, like Panacea, the healer. Which is...cool, that you're doing that for those people.”

“Thanks.” It was hollow, but she probably heard it all the time.

“So you do know her!”

“No,” I replied, shaking my head. “I know she's Panacea. I don't know Amy though.” And please stop making me lie in front of Gallant. I didn't know if 'lying' was an emotion but I didn't want to chance it.

“Just means there's lots to discover,” Gallant jumped in with a heroic grin. “Amy's great, I'm sure you two would get along well.”

“Sure,” Amy agreed quickly. “Anyway, Vicky, how's class going?”

The conversation quickly turned away from Amy and the new girl, and I finished off my pizza. I managed to avoid getting stuck into anything more than basic questions about me: age, electives, interests. Amy seemed to focus when I mentioned writing, though didn't say anything, and I didn't elaborate further. It wasn't technically Amelia Amelia's hobby, after all.

We finished our food and both rose, leaving despite Vicky and Gallant asking us to stay. I made an excuse about homework and Amy just grunted. We cleared our trays and headed out into the halls. Though unintentional, it seemed we were both heading the same way. I shrugged it off and kept heading towards my next class.

“Hey,” Amy said, pausing. I stopped and turned, cocking my head.

“Yeah?” I asked. She opened her mouth, then closed it and frowned.

“My sister,” Amy began, her brows furrowing. “Um, at lunch. Look, we've barely interacted and don't know each other. Don't let her pressure you into like...trying to get close or something.” She shrugged. “There's not much left of the school year anyway.”

“No kidding,” I said with a hint of irony. “I didn't feel pressured anyway. But you do seem kinda cool, healing sure, but also a dirty chai?” I smiled.

“It's good,” Amy said defensively, a small smile touching her lips. “Well, fine. Guess I'll...see you tomorrow.”

“Yup,” I agreed.” See you.”

She turned around and headed back the way we'd come. I continued to my English class and took out my books, settling in before the bell rang and the class filled. I'd eaten lunch, I'd made an acquaintance, and I hadn't come across as a freak doing it. Probably. I sighed. Well, if I'd made a bad impression, there was always next time. That was a depressing thought, and right now I didn't want to be depressed.

I'd had fun, frankly, and hopefully this little break would continue to be.