Chapter 1

"Good work again, Ariel," Mr. Lux said as he handed back her math test. "Top marks as always. If only the rest of the class did as well as you."

"Thanks." Ariel slid the test away into her binder, not wanting to let anyone see it. Do they always have to point it out if you do well? Ariel thought, listening to the whispers from students behind her.

"Of course, teacher's pet always does well."

"Does she, though? We never get to see her results. What if it's faked?"

"Faked?"

"He just marks them right, even if she's wrong."

"But she's at the top of most of her classes."

"Maybe she needs to be taken down a peg. Being at the top too much can give you a big head."

A shiver ran down Ariel's spine and goosebumps trailed up her arms. Not again. Why does this always happen? I better make sure to avoid empty hallways from now on.

"Quiet down, class." Mr. Lux finished handing back the tests and proceeded to go over the questions since half the class didn't do well.

As soon as the bell rang, Ariel had her books collected and was out the door to the busy school hallways. She did her best to avoid running into people, but ended up pushed off to the side by the washrooms.

Geez. Can I have a school with fewer students?

"Oh, are you headed to the bathroom, too?" Janice from her math class shoved her into the bathroom.

"No, I wasn't." Ariel tried to leave, holding onto the straps of her backpack with shaking hands.

Janice shoved her back again and a couple of her friends entered behind her. "Tch. That wasn't a real question."

"I don't know what you want, but I have no business with you. Now, if you'll let me leave."

"Of course not. Why do you think I pushed you in here in the first place?" She rolled her eyes. "So-called smart people are always so insufferable."

Why can't they just leave me alone? I don't do anything to them. It's not my fault they don't have better grades. "Leave me along and I won't report this incident—"

"Are you trying to threaten me?" Janice laughed. "The gull of this girl." Her friends behind her laughed as well. Janice shoved Ariel back into the sink and ripped her backpack off.

"Best not to bruise the face; we don't want any questions," one girl whispered to Janice.

"We'll let you off with a warning, this time." Janice dumped out the contents of Ariel's backpack into the garbage.

"What are you doing?" Ariel reached out to stop her, but the other girls held her back.

"And for good measure." She emptied a bottle of nail polish over top of it.

"Why are you doing this? I didn't do anything to you." I don't deserve this.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm doing this to put you in your place."

"My place?"

"Quit making us look so bad in front of Mr. Lux and maybe we won't have to do anything more." Janice laughed.

"All of this is because of a teacher?"

"He's not just any teacher." Janice looked at her with disgust. "He's the hottest teacher around, and you're hogging all his attention. Little miss goody-two-shoes. You know what? You're ticking me off even more. Maybe I should mess up your face so he won't even want to look at you."

Ariel took a deep breath and let out the loudest scream she could. "Ah!"

Janice and the girls all covered their ears, so she took the short time to shove them all aside and bolt out of the washroom and down a random hall before they could chase after her. She hid behind the lockers, hands over her mouth to mask her heavy breathing.

"Where'd she go?"

"She couldn't have gone far."

"What are we supposed to do now? I'm not going to chase her down. Ow!"

"You will chase her down if I tell you to. We can't let her think she's above us anymore."

"But is that what— Ow..."

"Don't talk back to me; it shows weakness in our group."

What a tyrant.

"Girls, what's going on here? Someone told me they heard a scream and someone ran out of the washroom."

"Mr. Lux, we don't know what they were talking about. We didn't hear anything, right girls?"

"Yeah."

"No screaming here."

Should I come out? Tell him what they did? But what if he doesn't believe me? What if they turn it around or bully me more? I can't trust him to take my side. What about my backpack? And my ruined textbooks. I'm going to get into trouble over that.

"Well, what do you want to do now? It'll look suspicious if we search for her now."

"Yeah; we don't want to let anyone know what we're up to."

"Does it matter now? I doubt she'll keep getting in our way after this."

"You make it sound like we're done with her. We're not. You don't think a few ruined possessions was enough, did you? That won't even be enough for her to tank a test. We've got to get creative and maybe even physical."

"Isn't that a bit much? She hasn't really done anything. If anything, it's Mr. Lux who's giving her attention. Ow! Why did you smack me?"

"For being an idiot. Don't blame him. If she wasn't trying so hard, he wouldn't pay her any mind."

"Look at the time! I have to go. Sorry." One Janice's friends sped off.

"Well, I suppose that was enough for today. Let's go." Janice flicked her hair over her shoulder and sauntered down the hallway.

Why me? Seriously... Why is it always me? I don't bother anyone, so why can't they leave me alone? Ariel pressed on the bridge of her nose as tears pricked her eyes. This is so unfair. I hope my brother gets relocated again soon. This place isn't worth it.

Ariel waited, hiding down an abandoned hallway until long after Janice and the girls had left, in case they decided to come back. She snuck into the bathroom and grabbed her sticky, ruined textbooks, binders, and pencil case, and stuffed them into the equally damaged backpack.

I won't be able to hide this from him if he comes home today. How am I going to pay for this book?!

Well after her normal time, Ariel arrived home to see the driveway at their townhouse was empty. He's not home yet. Maybe he won't be back today, then. She kicked her shoes off at the entrance and brought her backpack upstairs to the bathroom.

With some time and patience, she cleaned off the nail polish from her backpack and pencil case, but she was afraid to use the dish soap on the textbook.

"I'm doomed."

Growl. Her stomach gnawed at her.

There's nothing I can do about this, but they're going to want money I don't have for this book. She stuffed her things back into her damp backpack, tossed it into her study room, and headed to the kitchen to grab a microwave dinner.

With her chicken parm defrosting in the microwave, she plopped down at the kitchen table and rested her head on the table as she waited.

Thud. A loud noise came from the backyard and sent vibrations through the house.

Ariel jolted up. "What was that?" Conner, why'd you have to stay at the base today of all days? She swallowed hard and grabbed a kitchen knife before heading to the living room to look out the double-window to the backyard. Ariel rubbed her eyes in disbelief. "What is that? Who is that?"