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Chapter 3

(Reader’s POV)

                It’s dark, and I’m running. I’m not sure what it is behind me, but it is terrifying enough for me to feel the need to run for my life. I can feel the dirt crunching under my bare feet, the rocks digging at my toes. The wind is whipping through my hair, the harsh cold air biting at my ears. My breathing is turning ragged, and I know I have to stop soon, or I’ll fall, but if I stop, I’ll die.

                I’m running through the twisted trees, a familiar, demented laughter echoing around me. I skid to a stop as I see movement in front of me. Hidden in a bunch of sticks is a snake, fast and deadly. It watches me with its dark eyes, waiting to strike. I run to the side, away from the snake and whatever is chasing me, into the trees. The branches clawing at my arms soon feel like teeth, biting and gnawing at my exposed flesh. I continue to run. Run, run, climbing up a hill until I stop at the edge of a cliff. I look over the edge, finding the sharp rocks below, and turn.

                I see a shadow. It comes closer, my breath gets heavier, and yet he comes closer still. The light from the full moon finally illuminates the area, and I can see who it is. I finally speak.

                “Soul?” I ask, taking a micro-step back, pebbles falling into the jagged rocks below.

                He takes a step forward, worry written clear on his face, along with an emotion foreign to me. “Be careful!” He says, looking at me with large red eyes. “Please, step away from the edge, I’ll keep you safe, I promise!”

                I’m tempted to believe him, but something feels wrong. I take a step forward, and I can suddenly see something out of the corner of my eye. I turn my head, and gasp at what I see.

                Soul is tied up at a stake, beaten and bloody, his head hanging low. I look back where he was before, and see him in his place, a sick smile plastered on his face. I take a step back, flinching away from the sight of him, and I’m at the edge again. Soul looks up at me, his face nearly unrecognizable under the scarlet liquid that coats it, and fear flashes over his face, but before he can do anything, he steps forward, and I try to take another step back, only to hit empty air. I hear Soul cry my name as I fall, but, strangely, I am silent, as I watch the ground and dagger-like rocks rush to meet me…

                I jolted up in the chair, my breath as ragged as it had been in the dream. I placed my hand over my heart, panting and feeling my pulse start to slow, my ribs aching. I looked around the room, noticing the bowl of cold soup on the table. I jumped up, picked up the bowl, and took it into the kitchen to take care of it. I washed it and put it away, my stomach deciding to make its presence known soon after. I attempted to reach into the cupboard, but failed as I cringed away, feeling pain race through my ribs like a Porsche. I took the small stool nearby and stepped on it, making the distance more manageable. Holding my now aching ribs, I reached in again, grabbing the granola bar on the second shelf. I climbed down again, opening the bar and munching on it as I pick up my school things and speed-walk out the door, holding my ribs as I go, and trying to shake off the nightmare.

-~*(Time Skip)*~-

                I limp my way into the classroom and take my seat near the top in the back. I chose the corner furthest from the door to avoid being seen. I watch people stream into the room and take their seats, and I envy them at that moment. They can sit where ever and not have to worry about what may happen to them if someone sees them. Hell, they’ll sit closer to the door so people will see them. They don’t have to worry about prying eyes.

                I’m so focused on my thoughts, I don’t see the two people that have moved to sit next to me until I focus in enough to hear…

                “(Y/N)? Hello? You there?” It is then that I notice the hand waving in front of my face. I look over to see Soul and his meister…..Baka? No, Maka! That’s it.

                “You alright, there? You were kind of glaring at the poor people coming in the door,” he asked, looking concerned.

                I put on a small smile. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why are you over here? Don’t you and your friends normally sit over there?” I ask, pointing toward the middle of the seats.

                He smiled. “I figured we’d try something new, get you to meet a few people.” He sits down next to me. “And Maka’s father is subbing for Professor Stein, and she doesn’t want to be seen.”

                I looked over at Maka, who was glaring at Soul and looking like she was planning his death at just mentioning her father.

                Before I could speak, hands dropped down firmly on my shoulders, and I heard a yell. Instinctively, I panicked, flinched, and curled into a ball. I heard Maka yell at whoever it was, there was the sound of something being smacked, and the hands let go. I slowly peeked out, and turned. Maka was glaring at someone hidden behind the wall that served as a barrier between the highest seats and the walkway, and Soul was looking at me, in between yelling at Maka and looking at whoever was down there. I slowly pulled out of my ball and looked behind the short wall.

                I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at, at first. I saw a head of blue, spikey hair above a bleeding face. I believe Maka hit whoever this is with her book. He, as that is what I believed it was, wore a black shirt with what looked like strips of metal around the edges and up the black collar, which stuck up. He had a star tattoo on his shoulder, and on the tips of his shoes, which were black and white, under his white and black shorts. He had bandages wrapped around his wrists, and went onto his hands, almost like fingerless gloves…

                He started to move, and I ducked behind the wall, watching him with wide eyes. He sat up, rubbing his head, and glared at Maka.

                “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT, FOR?” He shouted at her, standing up to glower at her.

                She stood up and glared right back at him. “I DID IT BECAUSE YOU’RE A SELFISH ASSHOLE, AND YOU TERRIFIED (Y/N)!”

                The boy looked confused. “(Y/N)?” he glanced around and saw me hiding mostly behind the wall, and my eyes went wider than before.

                He looked like he was trying to be quieter, but he seemed like the type of person that was naturally loud. “Why are you hiding back there?! The star is out here, you don’t have to hide from a big star like me!!” I flinched under his loud words, and heard a much quieter voice that seemed to be…chastising him?

    I looked up, and saw a tall, thin girl with long black hair pulled into a ponytail. She had curves, which showed partly in her outfit. It was a beige dress with a deep “V” neck and a yellow star on her right breast, around her neck was a black scarf. There was a slit up the side of the dress on the right side, and her belt looked like the same type of metal strip that was on the loud kid’s shirt. She wore black and grey striped sleeves on her wrist, and long, black socks that went to her mid-thigh. She wore tall boots, the same color as her dress, with a square pattern along the bottom. She seemed really quiet, even as she was yelling at him. I tried to listen, but the arguments between everyone there made it hard to hear. I only picked up that the kid’s name was Black Star, which I should have realized before.

    I sat, panicking a little inside while I watched the small fight before me, when I felt a small nudge on my right side. I almost wouldn’t have noticed, as it was that light. I turned and saw a person with pink hair, styled in a flared out bob. I wasn’t sure whether the person was a girl, or a boy, as they had one of those faces that made it hard to tell, but they looked cute either way. They had dark, haunted eyes, and a long black dress-like cloak, with large white cuffs. He/she was looking at me nervously, glancing back and forth between me and the small, loud group.

    “A-a-are you o-o-okay?” He/she said in a voice so quiet, I had to strain to hear. I believed then that it was a boy, going by the lower pitch to his voice. I nodded, feeling a bit calmer with this person. He nodded back, then turned to face the chaos again. “I don’t understand why they do this, they just scare everyone away and disrupt class…” he trailed off, watching at Maka in particular. I smiled, watching his smile slowly appear, when suddenly a loud slam was heard from the front. Maka froze, the boy nearly jumped out of his skin, and everyone else simply stopped.

    At the front of the room stood a man with red, messy hair, in a black suit with a cross-shaped tie. He looked at our little group with dark blue/grey eyes, glancing back at Maka after glaring at each person. When his eyes got to me, they softened a little, making me bring my eyebrows together in confusion.

    He’s probably just heard the rumors about me. It’s pity, that’s all.

    His eyes turned away, and looked at the rest of the class.

    “Well, if that’s over, maybe we can get started with class.” He picked up a clip board. “Now, today, I’m going to take attendance for the boys.”

    I was confused. Why did he only take it for one gender? Didn’t it make more sense to take it for everyone, or no one at all?

    He began calling out names, most of which I vaguely recognized. As he called out each one, the man glanced around the room, studying each face before moving on to the next person. No one else seemed to notice, making me believe that I imagined it. I looked over at Maka, and was surprised to see her glaring at the man. It was then that I remembered that Soul had said that he was her father, and it made me wonder what he did to earn such hatred.

    By now, each of the people involved in the little skirmish were seated in various spots next to or in front of me. The pink-haired boy was staring down in his seat on one side of me, looking at me every once in a while. Maka and Soul were sitting next to each other on my other side, Soul sitting the closest to me. He was glaring at the substitute, though not nearly as intensely as Maka was. Black Star, as that seemed to be his name, was seated in front of me, with his…partner? Girlfriend...the tall, black haired girl seated next to him.

    The man finished calling names, then set the clip board down. “Alright, students. For those of you that don’t know who I am, you may call me Spirit. Now,” He pulled out a stack of papers. “This is a quiz sent by Lord Death. He would like each of you to take it,” groans and protests sounded through-out the room. “Don’t worry, it’s not that kind of quiz. He’d like each of you to answer truthfully, as the results of this quiz are important, though I can’t tell you why, yet.”

    The papers got passed around, and eventually made it to my little corner of the room. I passed the last one to the boy next to me, and I looked at the paper. I could hear mumbled complaints in each row, and Black Star was no different. He was grumbling up a storm, complaining about how he was above having to take such a thing.

    I looked at the first question.

    “Are you or have you ever been involved in taking illegal drugs?”

    …What? I looked at it again, only to have it read the same as before. I answered the question, and looked at the next one.

    “Are you distributing illegal drugs to interested buyers?”

    I couldn’t believe it. I believe that the quiz was one that they gave students in normal schools in America as a drug and alcohol survey. I giggled a bit at the thought of the other students filling this out. I filled out all the questions in that section without a problem, then continued to the next section, this one seeming newer than the last.

    “Are you a victim of domestic abuse?”

    I froze. ‘How am I supposed to answer this? Well, I should answer no, obviously, but it’s supposed to be anonymous, so I could tell the truth. But if I say yes, they’ll investigate, and I cannot let that happen! Oh, but I have to tell someone! What am I supposed to do?!’

    During my mental argument, time was slowly running out, and many people finished their little quizzes, Soul and the others being a few of them. They quietly conversed among themselves, sharing answers and looking around at the people still taking it. I must have looked pretty conflicted, as I saw a hand waving in front of my face again. I blinked, looking over to see Soul.

    “You alright?”

    I nodded. “Just fine. I was just thinking about some things I have to do later,” I lied, and circled “no” on the page. The rest of the questions were similar, so I answered them in a similar manner.

    I finished in time for the bell to chime, and I got up to retrieve my stuff. After carefully putting my bag on my back, I slowly made my way behind the pack, down the stairs and out the door.

    I was surprised to see Soul and Maka waiting outside the door for me, along with the one known as Black Star and his partner. I shyly waved, and Maka shoved Black star forward. He glared at her for a second, then looked at the ground. He sighed. “I apologize, I didn’t realize that my god-ness scared you so badly,” for that, he got whacked upside the head. “Okay! I’m sorry that I was loud, rude, and obnoxious!” He looked back at Maka. “Happy?!”

    “Yes,” she said calmly. She looked at me. “Are you alright?”

    I nod. I saw movement behind her, and saw the pink-haired boy standing behind her, looking down. She saw me looking, and smiled. “This is Crona. He’s a bit shy, but he’ll warm up to you.” She points at the other two. “I assume you know Black Star by now, the girl over there is his weapon, Tsubaki.” The black haired girl waved at me, and I gave a small smile back.

    All of a sudden, a black shape started to morph out of Crona’s back. I took a huge step back and stared in fear at the shape, which was slowly morphing to look like…a…tiny person? The shape clearly had a head, and two arms, which dawned large, white gloves with spikey wrists. The head didn’t really have much for facial features, other than a large white “X” across the face, and two buggy white eyes, each with “X”s in the middle. The body stayed black, and two black spikes formed on his shoulders.

    It looked closely at me, and I fell back, staring at it, and ignoring the pain in my butt/lower back. Its eyes seemed to look directly into my soul, and I flinched, hiding partially behind my arm.

    “Who’s the chick?” I heard a tiny, kind of squeaky voice say, and I put my arm down to look at it.

    “…w-w-what?” I stuttered, not quite believing that that tiny voice just came out of that strange little body.

    He got a bit closer, dragging poor Crona with him. “Who are you? Never mind, do you make good food? Like, better than the flat-chested chick over there?” he rudely asked, pointing at Maka. She yelled, and walked up to smack him, and the two started arguing. Soul and Black Star tried to help, but ended up getting involved themselves, while Tsubaki tried to calm everyone down, though she was too quiet to properly do so.

    By this point, Crona was on the floor, hiding under his hands. So I crawled over and cowered on the floor next to him. The noise stopped rather abruptly. I slowly peaked out from behind my hands to see….everyone in that group staring at me. Even Crona was looking over at me, while his little demon thing eyed me… kind of like he did when he looked at Crona. I got out of the little ball I had curled myself into, and sat on the floor, looking at the ground, my face slowly turning red.

    “Hey, you ok?” I looked up to see Tsubaki looking down at me, her caring nature gleaming in her eyes. I smiled, and was about to speak when a chime was heard.

    ~“(Y/N)(L/N), Please report to the nurses office at this time.”~

    I sighed, and got up. “I’m sorry, it was lovely meeting you all, but it seems that I am needed.” I bow, and turn to leave.

    “Hey,” I heard Soul call. I turned around again. “We’re going to go get pizza after school, you wanna come with?”

    My face heated slightly, and I knew it sounded like fun, but I shook my head. “I’ve got stuff to do after school, and I should be resting, so my ribs can heal faster.”

    He nodded like he understood, but he seemed a bit wary. “Just be careful, okay? It’d be totally uncool if that doesn’t heal right.”

    I nodded back, then turned and walked down to the nurse.

~Mini time skip~

                I knocked on the door, and, upon hearing Nygus’ “come in”, I entered. She was leaning against one of the beds, and straightened as I walked in.

                “Ah, (Y/N), good to see you again. Are you going to tell me how you got that injured, yet?”

                I looked at her. “I’ve already told you, a few times.”

                She looked at me steadily for a few moments, then closed her eyes and sighed at me. “Well, that’s not the reason I called you down.” She walked over to her desk, and picked up a small packet of papers. “This is your note to get you out of gym. Underneath is what you need to know and do in order to make sure that those ribs heal correctly. You might want to make sure your partner knows that this means no strenuous activities and lots of rest.” She looked at me with those knowing eyes, and I shivered.

                “I-I’ll make sure he knows…”

                “Good. Now, make sure you don’t bandage your ribs.” I looked at her, confused. “I know, that used to be standard practice, but we’ve found that doing that can lead to serious injuries, most of which involving the lungs. Remember to practice breathing deeply and regularly, no matter if it hurts, try coughing exercises, and ice them periodically.” She handed me another sheet of paper. “This is a prescription of pain medications. Sadly, ribs have to heal on their own, so those are the best thing for them. Don’t overdose on them, and you’ll be fine.” Her tone changed again. “(Y/N), remember, you’re not alone. Whether you choose to believe it or not, people are here for you.” She placed her hand on my shoulder for just a moment, then dropped it again. “Well, if there isn’t anything else, I’ll have to ask you to be on your way.”

                I stood there for a moment, before nodding, and I left the room, looking over the packet as I headed home, slightly terrified to have to tell him the news.

Description

Chapter 3

(Reader’s POV)

                It’s dark, and I’m running. I’m not sure what it is behind me, but it is terrifying enough for me to feel the need to run for my life. I can feel the dirt crunching under my bare feet, the rocks digging at my toes. The wind is whipping through my hair, the harsh cold air biting at my ears. My breathing is turning ragged, and I know I have to stop soon, or I’ll fall, but if I stop, I’ll die.

                I’m running through the twisted trees, a familiar, demented laughter echoing around me. I skid to a stop as I see movement in front of me. Hidden in a bunch of sticks is a snake, fast and deadly. It watches me with its dark eyes, waiting to strike. I run to the side, away from the snake and whatever is chasing me, into the trees. The branches clawing at my arms soon feel like teeth, biting and gnawing at my exposed flesh. I continue to run. Run, run, climbing up a hill until I stop at the edge of a cliff. I look over the edge, finding the sharp rocks below, and turn.

                I see a shadow. It comes closer, my breath gets heavier, and yet he comes closer still. The light from the full moon finally illuminates the area, and I can see who it is. I finally speak.

                “Soul?” I ask, taking a micro-step back, pebbles falling into the jagged rocks below.

                He takes a step forward, worry written clear on his face, along with an emotion foreign to me. “Be careful!” He says, looking at me with large red eyes. “Please, step away from the edge, I’ll keep you safe, I promise!”

                I’m tempted to believe him, but something feels wrong. I take a step forward, and I can suddenly see something out of the corner of my eye. I turn my head, and gasp at what I see.

                Soul is tied up at a stake, beaten and bloody, his head hanging low. I look back where he was before, and see him in his place, a sick smile plastered on his face. I take a step back, flinching away from the sight of him, and I’m at the edge again. Soul looks up at me, his face nearly unrecognizable under the scarlet liquid that coats it, and fear flashes over his face, but before he can do anything, he steps forward, and I try to take another step back, only to hit empty air. I hear Soul cry my name as I fall, but, strangely, I am silent, as I watch the ground and dagger-like rocks rush to meet me…

                I jolted up in the chair, my breath as ragged as it had been in the dream. I placed my hand over my heart, panting and feeling my pulse start to slow, my ribs aching. I looked around the room, noticing the bowl of cold soup on the table. I jumped up, picked up the bowl, and took it into the kitchen to take care of it. I washed it and put it away, my stomach deciding to make its presence known soon after. I attempted to reach into the cupboard, but failed as I cringed away, feeling pain race through my ribs like a Porsche. I took the small stool nearby and stepped on it, making the distance more manageable. Holding my now aching ribs, I reached in again, grabbing the granola bar on the second shelf. I climbed down again, opening the bar and munching on it as I pick up my school things and speed-walk out the door, holding my ribs as I go, and trying to shake off the nightmare.

-~*(Time Skip)*~-

                I limp my way into the classroom and take my seat near the top in the back. I chose the corner furthest from the door to avoid being seen. I watch people stream into the room and take their seats, and I envy them at that moment. They can sit where ever and not have to worry about what may happen to them if someone sees them. Hell, they’ll sit closer to the door so people will see them. They don’t have to worry about prying eyes.

                I’m so focused on my thoughts, I don’t see the two people that have moved to sit next to me until I focus in enough to hear…

                “(Y/N)? Hello? You there?” It is then that I notice the hand waving in front of my face. I look over to see Soul and his meister…..Baka? No, Maka! That’s it.

                “You alright, there? You were kind of glaring at the poor people coming in the door,” he asked, looking concerned.

                I put on a small smile. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why are you over here? Don’t you and your friends normally sit over there?” I ask, pointing toward the middle of the seats.

                He smiled. “I figured we’d try something new, get you to meet a few people.” He sits down next to me. “And Maka’s father is subbing for Professor Stein, and she doesn’t want to be seen.”

                I looked over at Maka, who was glaring at Soul and looking like she was planning his death at just mentioning her father.

                Before I could speak, hands dropped down firmly on my shoulders, and I heard a yell. Instinctively, I panicked, flinched, and curled into a ball. I heard Maka yell at whoever it was, there was the sound of something being smacked, and the hands let go. I slowly peeked out, and turned. Maka was glaring at someone hidden behind the wall that served as a barrier between the highest seats and the walkway, and Soul was looking at me, in between yelling at Maka and looking at whoever was down there. I slowly pulled out of my ball and looked behind the short wall.

                I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at, at first. I saw a head of blue, spikey hair above a bleeding face. I believe Maka hit whoever this is with her book. He, as that is what I believed it was, wore a black shirt with what looked like strips of metal around the edges and up the black collar, which stuck up. He had a star tattoo on his shoulder, and on the tips of his shoes, which were black and white, under his white and black shorts. He had bandages wrapped around his wrists, and went onto his hands, almost like fingerless gloves…

                He started to move, and I ducked behind the wall, watching him with wide eyes. He sat up, rubbing his head, and glared at Maka.

                “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT, FOR?” He shouted at her, standing up to glower at her.

                She stood up and glared right back at him. “I DID IT BECAUSE YOU’RE A SELFISH ASSHOLE, AND YOU TERRIFIED (Y/N)!”

                The boy looked confused. “(Y/N)?” he glanced around and saw me hiding mostly behind the wall, and my eyes went wider than before.

                He looked like he was trying to be quieter, but he seemed like the type of person that was naturally loud. “Why are you hiding back there?! The star is out here, you don’t have to hide from a big star like me!!” I flinched under his loud words, and heard a much quieter voice that seemed to be…chastising him?

    I looked up, and saw a tall, thin girl with long black hair pulled into a ponytail. She had curves, which showed partly in her outfit. It was a beige dress with a deep “V” neck and a yellow star on her right breast, around her neck was a black scarf. There was a slit up the side of the dress on the right side, and her belt looked like the same type of metal strip that was on the loud kid’s shirt. She wore black and grey striped sleeves on her wrist, and long, black socks that went to her mid-thigh. She wore tall boots, the same color as her dress, with a square pattern along the bottom. She seemed really quiet, even as she was yelling at him. I tried to listen, but the arguments between everyone there made it hard to hear. I only picked up that the kid’s name was Black Star, which I should have realized before.

    I sat, panicking a little inside while I watched the small fight before me, when I felt a small nudge on my right side. I almost wouldn’t have noticed, as it was that light. I turned and saw a person with pink hair, styled in a flared out bob. I wasn’t sure whether the person was a girl, or a boy, as they had one of those faces that made it hard to tell, but they looked cute either way. They had dark, haunted eyes, and a long black dress-like cloak, with large white cuffs. He/she was looking at me nervously, glancing back and forth between me and the small, loud group.

    “A-a-are you o-o-okay?” He/she said in a voice so quiet, I had to strain to hear. I believed then that it was a boy, going by the lower pitch to his voice. I nodded, feeling a bit calmer with this person. He nodded back, then turned to face the chaos again. “I don’t understand why they do this, they just scare everyone away and disrupt class…” he trailed off, watching at Maka in particular. I smiled, watching his smile slowly appear, when suddenly a loud slam was heard from the front. Maka froze, the boy nearly jumped out of his skin, and everyone else simply stopped.

    At the front of the room stood a man with red, messy hair, in a black suit with a cross-shaped tie. He looked at our little group with dark blue/grey eyes, glancing back at Maka after glaring at each person. When his eyes got to me, they softened a little, making me bring my eyebrows together in confusion.

    He’s probably just heard the rumors about me. It’s pity, that’s all.

    His eyes turned away, and looked at the rest of the class.

    “Well, if that’s over, maybe we can get started with class.” He picked up a clip board. “Now, today, I’m going to take attendance for the boys.”

    I was confused. Why did he only take it for one gender? Didn’t it make more sense to take it for everyone, or no one at all?

    He began calling out names, most of which I vaguely recognized. As he called out each one, the man glanced around the room, studying each face before moving on to the next person. No one else seemed to notice, making me believe that I imagined it. I looked over at Maka, and was surprised to see her glaring at the man. It was then that I remembered that Soul had said that he was her father, and it made me wonder what he did to earn such hatred.

    By now, each of the people involved in the little skirmish were seated in various spots next to or in front of me. The pink-haired boy was staring down in his seat on one side of me, looking at me every once in a while. Maka and Soul were sitting next to each other on my other side, Soul sitting the closest to me. He was glaring at the substitute, though not nearly as intensely as Maka was. Black Star, as that seemed to be his name, was seated in front of me, with his…partner? Girlfriend...the tall, black haired girl seated next to him.

    The man finished calling names, then set the clip board down. “Alright, students. For those of you that don’t know who I am, you may call me Spirit. Now,” He pulled out a stack of papers. “This is a quiz sent by Lord Death. He would like each of you to take it,” groans and protests sounded through-out the room. “Don’t worry, it’s not that kind of quiz. He’d like each of you to answer truthfully, as the results of this quiz are important, though I can’t tell you why, yet.”

    The papers got passed around, and eventually made it to my little corner of the room. I passed the last one to the boy next to me, and I looked at the paper. I could hear mumbled complaints in each row, and Black Star was no different. He was grumbling up a storm, complaining about how he was above having to take such a thing.

    I looked at the first question.

    “Are you or have you ever been involved in taking illegal drugs?”

    …What? I looked at it again, only to have it read the same as before. I answered the question, and looked at the next one.

    “Are you distributing illegal drugs to interested buyers?”

    I couldn’t believe it. I believe that the quiz was one that they gave students in normal schools in America as a drug and alcohol survey. I giggled a bit at the thought of the other students filling this out. I filled out all the questions in that section without a problem, then continued to the next section, this one seeming newer than the last.

    “Are you a victim of domestic abuse?”

    I froze. ‘How am I supposed to answer this? Well, I should answer no, obviously, but it’s supposed to be anonymous, so I could tell the truth. But if I say yes, they’ll investigate, and I cannot let that happen! Oh, but I have to tell someone! What am I supposed to do?!’

    During my mental argument, time was slowly running out, and many people finished their little quizzes, Soul and the others being a few of them. They quietly conversed among themselves, sharing answers and looking around at the people still taking it. I must have looked pretty conflicted, as I saw a hand waving in front of my face again. I blinked, looking over to see Soul.

    “You alright?”

    I nodded. “Just fine. I was just thinking about some things I have to do later,” I lied, and circled “no” on the page. The rest of the questions were similar, so I answered them in a similar manner.

    I finished in time for the bell to chime, and I got up to retrieve my stuff. After carefully putting my bag on my back, I slowly made my way behind the pack, down the stairs and out the door.

    I was surprised to see Soul and Maka waiting outside the door for me, along with the one known as Black Star and his partner. I shyly waved, and Maka shoved Black star forward. He glared at her for a second, then looked at the ground. He sighed. “I apologize, I didn’t realize that my god-ness scared you so badly,” for that, he got whacked upside the head. “Okay! I’m sorry that I was loud, rude, and obnoxious!” He looked back at Maka. “Happy?!”

    “Yes,” she said calmly. She looked at me. “Are you alright?”

    I nod. I saw movement behind her, and saw the pink-haired boy standing behind her, looking down. She saw me looking, and smiled. “This is Crona. He’s a bit shy, but he’ll warm up to you.” She points at the other two. “I assume you know Black Star by now, the girl over there is his weapon, Tsubaki.” The black haired girl waved at me, and I gave a small smile back.

    All of a sudden, a black shape started to morph out of Crona’s back. I took a huge step back and stared in fear at the shape, which was slowly morphing to look like…a…tiny person? The shape clearly had a head, and two arms, which dawned large, white gloves with spikey wrists. The head didn’t really have much for facial features, other than a large white “X” across the face, and two buggy white eyes, each with “X”s in the middle. The body stayed black, and two black spikes formed on his shoulders.

    It looked closely at me, and I fell back, staring at it, and ignoring the pain in my butt/lower back. Its eyes seemed to look directly into my soul, and I flinched, hiding partially behind my arm.

    “Who’s the chick?” I heard a tiny, kind of squeaky voice say, and I put my arm down to look at it.

    “…w-w-what?” I stuttered, not quite believing that that tiny voice just came out of that strange little body.

    He got a bit closer, dragging poor Crona with him. “Who are you? Never mind, do you make good food? Like, better than the flat-chested chick over there?” he rudely asked, pointing at Maka. She yelled, and walked up to smack him, and the two started arguing. Soul and Black Star tried to help, but ended up getting involved themselves, while Tsubaki tried to calm everyone down, though she was too quiet to properly do so.

    By this point, Crona was on the floor, hiding under his hands. So I crawled over and cowered on the floor next to him. The noise stopped rather abruptly. I slowly peaked out from behind my hands to see….everyone in that group staring at me. Even Crona was looking over at me, while his little demon thing eyed me… kind of like he did when he looked at Crona. I got out of the little ball I had curled myself into, and sat on the floor, looking at the ground, my face slowly turning red.

    “Hey, you ok?” I looked up to see Tsubaki looking down at me, her caring nature gleaming in her eyes. I smiled, and was about to speak when a chime was heard.

    ~“(Y/N)(L/N), Please report to the nurses office at this time.”~

    I sighed, and got up. “I’m sorry, it was lovely meeting you all, but it seems that I am needed.” I bow, and turn to leave.

    “Hey,” I heard Soul call. I turned around again. “We’re going to go get pizza after school, you wanna come with?”

    My face heated slightly, and I knew it sounded like fun, but I shook my head. “I’ve got stuff to do after school, and I should be resting, so my ribs can heal faster.”

    He nodded like he understood, but he seemed a bit wary. “Just be careful, okay? It’d be totally uncool if that doesn’t heal right.”

    I nodded back, then turned and walked down to the nurse.

~Mini time skip~

                I knocked on the door, and, upon hearing Nygus’ “come in”, I entered. She was leaning against one of the beds, and straightened as I walked in.

                “Ah, (Y/N), good to see you again. Are you going to tell me how you got that injured, yet?”

                I looked at her. “I’ve already told you, a few times.”

                She looked at me steadily for a few moments, then closed her eyes and sighed at me. “Well, that’s not the reason I called you down.” She walked over to her desk, and picked up a small packet of papers. “This is your note to get you out of gym. Underneath is what you need to know and do in order to make sure that those ribs heal correctly. You might want to make sure your partner knows that this means no strenuous activities and lots of rest.” She looked at me with those knowing eyes, and I shivered.

                “I-I’ll make sure he knows…”

                “Good. Now, make sure you don’t bandage your ribs.” I looked at her, confused. “I know, that used to be standard practice, but we’ve found that doing that can lead to serious injuries, most of which involving the lungs. Remember to practice breathing deeply and regularly, no matter if it hurts, try coughing exercises, and ice them periodically.” She handed me another sheet of paper. “This is a prescription of pain medications. Sadly, ribs have to heal on their own, so those are the best thing for them. Don’t overdose on them, and you’ll be fine.” Her tone changed again. “(Y/N), remember, you’re not alone. Whether you choose to believe it or not, people are here for you.” She placed her hand on my shoulder for just a moment, then dropped it again. “Well, if there isn’t anything else, I’ll have to ask you to be on your way.”

                I stood there for a moment, before nodding, and I left the room, looking over the packet as I headed home, slightly terrified to have to tell him the news.