First day at another school. My brother and I are so used to being the new kids by now that he's not even remotely nervous about it. Why should he be? Everyone loves Ianto. Me, on the other hand...Totally different story. I'm definitely nervous. Not just your average, butterflies-in-your-stomach nervous, either. No, mine's the oh-crap-I'm-gonna-be-sick nervous. Brilliant.
Our dad dropped us off early and Ianto ditched me for a group of junior girls. I heard him flirting as I tried to find my homeroom class. Getting lost would be inevitable, but even though we had the same homeroom, there was no way I'd ask him for help. There was no way he'd acknowledge me as his twin sister, much less descend from his instantly popular status to help someone. He never has. I'll be surprised if he ever does.
I walked through hallways lined with lockers and trophy cases. Hugging my notebooks to my chest, I pushed past the many groups of people who'd probably known each other since fourth grade until I got to the weird split-floor and decided to go up the stairs and look for Room 15. Everyone else who was there early were already talking in small groups. The talking stopped while I stood awkwardly in the doorway and everyone stared at me as I looked for a seat where I wouldn't be forced into conversation. First-day-type conversations at schools like this never went well if I was involved.
I finally dropped my stuff into a desk in the back corner, next to a window. It wasn't very long until the rest of the class filed in. They all looked pretty normal. I don't ever mean to look, but I know there are still some of us alive that came directly from the experiments, and they hardly ever can pass for average people, even to our standards. There was one at one of my old schools. People avoided him more than they avoided me, which is saying something.
Didn't look like there were any here. Two girls sit next to me, but they don't say a word to anyone. One of them was wearing this weird ninja armour that was definitely out of dress code, but no one was saying anything. The bell rang and my brother waltzed in, overconfident as always, his posse of already adoring girls by his side.
After a while the teacher tried to break the ice by making us do this thing they did at all the schools where we'd say our name and our "talent". It always irritated me, how they called them talents. Just another way to make us feel less like freaks so they feel less immoral in what they did. Anyway, it was always mortifying, especially if I had to go after Ianto.
They started at the front, and it was a lot of normal, useful, cool things like levitation and invisibility. Then, it got to my brother.
"I'm Ianto," he said, standing up. "Ianto Singh. My talent..." He proceeded to lift the teacher's whole desk, teacher included, over his head with one hand. "Does it really need saying?" He gave this half-smile thing that was supposed to be sexy but only made me feel like I was going to be sick even worse than before. The girls from his side of the room sighed. After much protesting from the teacher, he finally put the desk down and returned to his seat. I was proud that I didn't roll my eyes. Maybe I did. The urge was strong.
The girl next to me who was not dressed up as a ninja stood up and did both of theirs. She had persuasion and ninja-girl had a healing factor. Awesome, right?
No. Because that meant that I had to follow that up. As if my "talent" wasn't already lame enough.
I stood up slowly, supporting myself on my desk. I get dizzy a lot, especially when I'm under pressure, so I was surprised when I didn't fall over. "My name's Chrys," I mumbled. I heard a couple of snickers from the other side of the room. "I've, um...My talent's..." I took a deep breath and decided to get it over with. "IhaveweirddreamsandIgetdejavualot," I said and sat down as fast as I could. Those snickers turned into suppressed laughter.
I hid my head in my arms until the girl next to me, the one with persuasion, tapped my arm. "I'm Riley," she said quietly. Motioning to ninja-girl, she added, "This is Rinkashifu, but everyone calls her Rin. You're our friend now." She grinned.
Usually I don't make an attempt to make friends, given my extreme inability to hold a conversation and how often we move, but I was glad for the change. Plus, I couldn't really refuse.
I smiled back.
