Hero High School

Zorra walked into school, paws padding on the ground, her tail swishing. Across the school, she heard the jocks making snide comments, knowing she could hear. She turned to her locker hallway. The big school common-way was easily bounded through. The school was bright and decorated in sky blue and silver, the school's colors. Her long, wavy hair glistened like chestnuts in the sun, her green eyes shining brightly as she reached her hallway locker. The new kid was getting the locker next to her. She put in her combination and pulled out her books for Math-Decoding, Science-Bomb Diffusion, and a book titled 'Closing Your Mind' for her English-Villains class, which she laughed at. "Learning about mind readers is silly." she said to herself, believing the hallway to be empty. She switched out her binders and closed her locker. She went to turn to walk out of the hallway when a boy came in she didn't recognize.

Marek carried a small binder holding all he’d need for his first day. His eyes seemed far away, as though they belonged with the stars, not in his handsome face. Messy black hair fell where it wanted, without order. He easily avoided a collision with another student, his mind never touching back down to earth. He stopped briefly at his locker, opened it, closed it, and turned off towards his first class.

Ugh. Why does he have to be cute? Killroy won’t mind... “Hey.” Zorra said, “You’re the new kid, right?” She nearly shuddered at being kind, but something about him looked vaguely similar to a memory, maybe a relative of someone she knew. She watched and waited impatiently for some sort of response, her tail twitching in boredom and interest.

Marek didn’t respond. He didn’t have to, so why would he? Instead, he let his thoughts drown out his surroundings, as usual.

Zorra grew impatient. “You! Pretty boy! You going to answer or what?” She huffed, her tail now twitching aggravatedly. She hated being polite, and she was attempting to keep her composure before scaring the new kid. “Whatever.” She said and turned to leave.

Marek found his destination. Villains class? Apparently, it was mandatory. Along with Decoding. He didn’t have that ‘till 3rd, though. Homeroom fighting Villains. Fun. He thought, opening the door quietly.

Zorra walked into class, and sure enough saw the same boy. “Ugh. My fucking life.” Of course, the only open desk was right next to him. She sat down, rolled her eyes, and stared blankly at the front of the class.

Mr. Draves walked in, saying, “Keep your superheroes close and your supervillains closer!” The class quieted, all eyes on their abundance of a teacher.

Zorra huffed and realized how strange the class was. She looked over at the new kid. “So, are you going to say a fucking word? Or do you just want to be alone forever?”

Marek gave Zorra a sidelong glance, seemingly to say, “What the fuck do you want?” and returned his gaze to the teacher.

Mr. Draves looked at the class. “Glad to see all of you back!”
“An unfamiliar face, hm?” he glanced down at the paper. “Marek? Why don’t you pipe up and say hello; introduce yourself.” He motioned Marek forward.

Marek rose, walked to the attendance paper, and crossed out ‘Marek,’ replacing it instead with ‘Marcus.’ He then turned back and sat down.
“Alright, Marcus, why don’t you tell us about yourself?” Mr. Draves prompted again. Zorra hid a smirk. Marek nodded, gave a flick of his finger, and met the other student’s eyes one-by-one. Even Zorra. He then turned his attention back to his desk, pulling out some paper, a pencil, and his book. With that, he began to read.

“Ugh, stubborn!” Zorra scoffed and the entire class laughed. “Come on, MARCUS!” She said, teasingly. “What’s your power, the Super Silent Treatment? Sounds like an easy way to get your tail whipped!” Her tail clicked as the class, including the teacher, laughed again. Zorra smirked, showing sharp canine teeth, and shot a glance around the room, her eyes changing from green to blue to red and back to glowing green. Her gaze fell on Marcus again.

Marek continued to read, his fingers absently tapping the desk. His brown eyes drank in the lines, absorbing him into another world.

The class looked at Zorra, awaiting her next joke. She simply smirked and starred, easily picking up on his power. People like you are always quiet, always listening. Does it work both ways or can you only hear me? Silence fell and the students, except Zorra and Marek, listened to Mr. Draves intently. “I’d like for you guys to write about your power and which power yours can easily counteract, along with which power counteracts yours.” Zorra grabbed a paper, but kept a thought process going that she knew Marcus was listening to, because he glanced up at her slightly, but quickly looked back down, probably thinking she didn’t notice. Well, come on, since you can obviously hear me, your powers are mind based. Oh, and you might want to wash that tail. Zorra then began to focus on her work, keeping her thoughts blocked.

Marek threw a rather confused look at Zorra. Her body language went from haughty to sneaky, then to prideful, without a word. Whatever she was thinking of, it was making her feel proud of herself. For some reason, Marek felt that it was directed towards him. He decided to ignore her and pulled out a paper. Instead of following the assignment, he wrote of the effects of human behavior when confronted with unknown forces. Whether the teacher understood or not, he didn’t care. The bell finally rang and Marek stood, grabbing his bag and heading off to whatever his second period was.

“Hey, quiet boy, nice job.” Some kids said as they passed him. Zorra just glared. The boy can’t even read minds.... she sniffed. She quickly noticed she was following Marek. They both then entered the stealth class, since they were actually in the classroom today and not outside. Then Zorra remembered the only seat open in that class was at her table, right next to her. Oh, good Lords... she thought and sat down, rolling her eyes.

Marek pulled out the new textbook, absorbing himself in it as he did the other one. Instead of detail reading, however, he quickly scanned the pages, trying to gather as much information in the shortest amount of time possible.

Zorra rolled her eyes and kicked the new kid. Not too hard, but it would definitely get his attention. “Asswipe, why are you so silent? I’m trying to be nice!”

Marek gave a mental sigh. If only.... but the thought was never finished as an elderly lady, addressing herself as “Ms. Tweedy,” waltzed into the room. Marek almost regretted signing up for the class. Almost.

Zorra shrugged and looked out the windows, one ear pointed in Ms. Tweedy’s direction. “We’ll be learning about the need for different kinds of...” Zorra had already tuned her out. She knew the use of camouflage, she used to hunt ages ago. Ugh, forever old and stuck in a school for heroes, and I’m no hero.. Zorra started dazing and remembering ages ago. She snapped out of it and buried herself in her novel, ears still pricked towards Ms. Tweedy, barely listening.

Marek was paying perfect attention. He was taking notes. He was following along. If there was one class he NEEDED, it was this one. He was once again lost in his own world, but this one included someone else. Even Zorra’s spaced-out expression staring out the window across from them was completely lost. He only knew when the bell rang because the teacher dismissed them. Standing, he was brought once again back to reality by a kick.

“You asshole, what’s your problem? Look, I’m not usually one to even want to LOOK at the new kid, honestly, but if we have to be near each other, and Ms. Tweedy is going to pair us up for outdoor activities, the least you could do is say ‘hi’!” Zorra rolled her eyes. “Nobody likes me, and I understand that, but we’re going to have to at least half-assedly tolerate each other, but whatever, see you later.” Zorra started to walk to her locker before heading to Form Control.

Marek rolled his eyes. Unfortunately, she was right. They WOULD have to talk... but that could wait. Friendship was second priority. Even good grades were low on the list, compared to his main goal. With this in mind, he found his Decoding classroom.