Part 1 -- Heroes

678 23 9
                                    

"Miss ____________________, could you solve this problem for us?" The teacher maliciously asked, knowing that you had let yourself space out and trying to get you to admit it. Too bad for him.
"The answer is x=27 and y=3," you say immediately. The class was just learning how to solve this set of equations, but you were already a couple of chapters ahead in the book so you figured that you were allowed to let your mind wander in class from time to time. Most of the kids in the class beside you were older than you, but you had tested out of the low level math courses at your school. You continued sketching randomly on the page of notes that you were supposed to be taking.
The teacher just confirmed that it was correct and then proceeded to explain to the rest of the class how the equation was to be manipulated in order for the answer to be realized. Of course, the second you answered, all throughout the room there were scoffs and even a few people murmuring 'nerd'. After almost half of a year of this, though, you were used to it. You were also used to having no friends because of it. What Junior would want to make friends with the freak Freshman in their classes? Your goal was to graduate as fast as you could and then leave this town forever. No regrets.
When the bell rang you were gathering your things and neatly putting them back into your shabby torn up backpack that you've probably had since you were in 4th grade. A hand at the edge of your vision quickly swiped the length of your desk, scattering every paper onto the floor, most of them also contained the sketches of your bored subconscious. You looked up.
"Why don't you just graduate already so that you can stop annoying everyone in the class with your snarky answers, nerd. At least then we wouldn't have to see your ugly face all the time," said Liv. Of everyone that ever gave you crap, she was the worst. You knew that it was just because she was jealous of you, or at least that's what you told yourself.
"I really do love how you deliberately seek me out to tell me how much I annoy you, Liv, but I really don't have time for this now because I have to go to class now. Tell your probation officer that I said hi, will you?" You say back. You know that she's just jealous, but sometimes you can't help but snap back.
She's livid, and she probably would have smacked you if there wasn't a teacher that was beginning to catch the vibe that something was about to happen. Instead she just flips you off and walks out of the room. She was always so classy, you think to yourself. Several people take it upon themselves to step on your papers and utter insulting words before walking out. You just sigh to yourself and bend down to pick up the papers. You gather them all up in a bunch and then stand up and come face to face with someone. Your eyes widen in surprise.
Karkat Vantas is staring at you, his expression unreadable as always, holding one of your finer scribbles mixed with a few important math notes. He opens his mouth to say something, but before he can get anything out, you snatch the paper from his troll hands.
"I don't need any more criticism, okay? I already know that I'm a fucking freak of nature and that I should just go curl up and die somewhere. Leave me alone already," you say louder than you intended and then turn and walk quickly out of the room.

Karkat stands there for a second, still in shock at what just happened.
"What did you say to that poor girl?" Roxy comes up behind him, shaking her head. "You know, there's no way you're going to get her to fall in love with you if that's how she feels." Jake and Dirk chuckle quietly in the corner.
"Shut the fuck up, all of you," Karkat yells, snapping out of it, "And who says that I want her to fall in love with me anyway?" he says quieter before they all walk out of the room together.

You idiot, you tell yourself silently when you're in your next period class, you didn't even know what he was going to say and yet you chewed him out. Another, darker side of you is telling yourself that he was one of 'that group' and that anything he would have said to you would have hurt worse than anything that Liv could ever say because it would actually be intelligent. You're assuming this because of the group that he hangs out with. No, not just trolls; there just as many trolls mixing in with the kids at the public high school that you go to. Normally you can take anything that anyone has to throw at you, but that group of humans and trolls always made you nervous. They stuck to themselves most of the time and you always felt like there was something different about them. They seemed... better than everyone else that you knew. You knew that it was probably just your imagination, but you couldn't shake the feeling.
Trying to put that encounter out of your mind and forcing yourself to not think of the consequences, you focused on your last period art class. This class always seemed to calm you down whenever things got too stressful in classes. At least not everyone in here hated you for not discernible reason. You were doing watercolor landscape portraits and you had to give all of your attention to the tropical birds in trees on your paper or else you would mess something up. At the end of the period, you still hadn't finished so you borrowed one of the class portfolios to take it home in. You would have to walk fast because you were so into what you were doing that you didn't see the rain when it started. It wasn't pouring, but the slow drizzle would make the walk to where you lived even worse than it usually was. You began the trek.

You've reached the end of published parts.

⏰ Last updated: Jul 27, 2014 ⏰

Add this story to your Library to get notified about new parts!

Karkat x Reader -- God TiersWhere stories live. Discover now