Ruin // Danger Days (Book 3)

16.

Alien had to get used to being called El. She'd answered to Alien for so long that it became difficult to think of herself as she had six years ago. But she had to admit, she kind of liked it. After all, El wasn't that far from Al. But she still called herself Alien in her mind. She'd never liked her real name very much anyway. But of course, just to make the officials happy, she went by El.

Her and David had gone back to Maryland soon after she got there. He had been staying in a hotel in Ohio ever since he'd sent the message, just in case she came. And she did.

He lived in the same old townhouse that he was in when she had last seen him, which was really weird for her. Everything looked smaller, which she knew was because she'd grown, but it was still a little unsettling.

She really had to watch herself when it came to cursing. She had the mouth of, well, a Killjoy, and it was hard to suppress. But she did develop a decent enough filter after a few days. And her dad didn't understand any of the slang she was using, either, so that became pointless. There was no slang now, apparently.

One thing that she had to admit was kind of cool was that she was on the news! The word that there were still Killjoys out there had got around, and she was interviewed on the country's one news channel. She was asked generic questions like "what was it like being the general?"; "have you ever been in contact with BLI officials? Were you captured? What was that like?"; and "what made you want to be a Killjoy?" She answered all of these, attempting not to mention that they used guns and trying not to cuss.

There were a couple of things that she absolutely hated. One was that they expected her to dye her hair back to her natural color, which she was not going to do under any circumstances. If she wasn't able to express herself in the things she said, she had to be able to do it with her appearance. It was bad enough that they took away all of her books because they were "too violent" and "disturbing". It wasn't her fault she liked action! And she was at a really good part of both of the books she was reading/listening to as well. It sucked. They also made her paint over the colors on her van, which she hated. It looked just like a generic BLI van without it! The only thing they let her keep was her communicator. She tried to call Storm, but he didn't answer.

She also was apparently not allowed to listen to "violent, loud, disturbing, or unusual" music. So basically, nothing good. Rock music was a huge part of her life, and she was one hundred percent sure that she wouldn't be able to live without it. Oh, and no one was allowed to play music without an artist license from the government, and only shitty, generic, boring pop music was allowed. But her dad, thank Destroya, had secretly kept a collection of contraband CDs, and even an electric guitar! She showed him what she could do with one, and he was really proud of her. She told him all of the stories about going onstage with the Four, MARS, her band Roof at Midnight, and just jamming with Storm, and David was so impressed.

One last thing that she was dreading was that the government officials said that since she only had an official education up to seventh grade, she would have to finish school. She had hated school when she was there, and was dreading going back. Oh, and there was the fact that she was eighteen and would be surrounded by fourteen-year-olds. Yeah, she liked standing out, but that was a little much. Oh, and the whole shoving useless information down kids' throats just so they can pass tests when they aren't even learning anything useful thing.

And she would have to wear a uniform! Hell to the no! The uniforms weren't gendered, thank Destroya. She could wear pants, but she was also expected to wear a blazer and tie. That, she would not tolerate. So instead of wearing the blazer, she wore her leather jacket. She did not care one bit.

So, long story short, she was really reluctant on the first day of school. She dragged herself out of bed, dragged downstairs, dragged to her dad's car, and dragged to her homeroom. She knew she was getting weird looks, because she was technically famous. And the kids weren't used to seeing unnatural hair colors before, and she was an adult and they were a lot younger, of course.

She sat down in the back of the classroom and looked around. She'd been placed in low-level classes due to her not having gone to school in six years, so there were at least a few kids that were closer to her age because they'd been held back a few years. She was sitting next to a boy who looked around sixteen, and a girl who looked thirteen or fourteen, like a normal eighth grader. The teacher was a young woman, apparently named Miss Ford.

Alien was getting kind of bored, and everyone else was talking, so she decided to talk to the boy next to her. "Hey."

He turned to her without really looking at her, and said "Hey," back. But then, he did a double take and realized who she was. "Oh my gosh, you're General Atomic Alien! You were on the news!"

Alien just smiled at him. "Yup, that's me, last time I checked. What's your name?"

"I'm Frank, Frank Gioia," he said, grinning and holding out a hand. Alien shook it. "I love the Killjoys! Don't tell anyone, but I've heard the Fabulous Four's music, and I love it! You are an actual hero, by the way. Leading an entire army sounds really hard."

"Why thank you," she replied. "It's actually not that bad. We're more of a confederacy, so I don't really do much unless there's a huge conflict or a problem I have to deal with. But yeah, I've done some cool stuff."

Alien felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and saw the grinning face of the small girl next to her. "Oh, hi!" she said.

"Oh gosh, it is you!" the girl looked elated. "I'm Sara, it's awesome to meet you!"

"I'm El," Alien replied. "Or Alien, whatever."

"I'm calling you Alien," Sara told her. "You are so awesome! I wish I was like you. Can we be friends?"

Alien laughed. "Of course! I don't have any friends here, so why not? Frank, you're my friend too, okay?"

"Alright," he laughed, shrugging.

The three of them talked for the rest of the period, when they could. Miss Ford had them all introduce themselves and tell something about themselves. Alien told them she was a Killjoy, of course. Frank said that he liked filming and making videos. Sara said she went to New York City over the summer.

Frank was a serious Killjoy enthusiast. When he was younger, he had been obsessed with the Killjoys and was determined to be one when he grew up. And now, he was still obsessed, thought of himself as one, and regularly referred to himself as the Killjoy name he'd given himself, Alternative Content, or Alt. He'd managed to get his hands on a copy of the Fab Four's record Danger Days that they'd released in the Zones, and he knew all of the words (but couldn't sing them, he said he was really bad at it). He was also an orphan. His parents had died in a car crash when he was thirteen, and he'd been held back so many grades because he'd been really depressed and missed a lot of school.

Sara loved history, and also liked Doctor Who, Alien's favorite show. She didn't have a good relationship with her family, and had considered running away tons of times. And apparently, she had played Killjoys with her friends all the time when she was a kid, and her name had been Chocolate. She asked Alien what her actual Killjoy name would be, and Alien said that "Suicide" would be cool to add on the end, so she did. Chocolate Suicide just had a nice ring to it.

Alien had to take a lot of tests before they put her in school, and they put her in classes based on her results. She found that she wasn't very good at focusing during this test, so she didn't finish the Math or History tests. However, she finished the Science one and did well, and passed the English one with flying colors. So she had Pre-Algebra and U.S. History in the middle school as well as two classes she got to choose (she picked Yearbook because of writing and Art because why not), but for Science, she went to the local high school and took Astrophysics (her choice) with people who were actually her age. Then, for her final class of the day, she traveled to a community college to take high-level English. So basically, she was in eighth grade, in twelfth grade, and a freshman in college at the same time, which made her stand out even more.

She really liked how the classes that people could choose were really individualized to what the person needed. That was pretty much the only good thing, though. She wasn't used to doing work and having to sit still for hours at a time. She was often tempted to make comments in class when she wasn't supposed to, and it happened a couple of times.

But so far, she liked it. Except for the fact that she couldn't rebel. She found that really unfair. But other than that, it was cool.