Episode: 4.9

--- Sophia Grey ---

She smiled as another person came up to her and began talking about some asinine thing, just like she did every other day she wasted in this school. That isn’t to say, she disliked coming to the school itself. She just felt there were better ways to spend her time than having the jocks and cheerleaders all vying for her attention.

At first it was fun, making friends in a new town, playing the occasional sport, reading every book in the library, and all the other things she did.

Or at least it was, until that rift opened their first week in town… then everyone realized all of her younger siblings were Deviants, who protected the town from a small horde of malicious monsters.

Things quit being as fun after that…

“Girl, Justin’s giving you the look.” Sarah a perky blonde whispered.

She followed the other girl’s gaze, and saw the school quarterback, a brown-haired boy with a square jaw, looking at her.

He smiled when he caught her looking back.

She smiled because it was less awkward than frowning at him while all the girls around her giggled excitedly.

(Guess he’s not one of the ones Sol’s had a ‘chat’ with…)

She honestly thought Sol had taken the time to have a ‘talk’ with at least half the males in the school before the end of her first month there.

He was a little overprotective sometimes.

The school bell rang, giving her the perfect opportunity to herd her ‘friends’ away from the boy she had zero interest in. Of course, this didn’t keep the girls from trying to gossip about her non-existent and completely unwanted love life.

A large brown-haired boy met her eyes as she walked through the halls, before visibly paling and turning down the nearest hall, even though his next class was behind her.

She couldn’t resist the smirk that came to her face at the boy’s reaction.

(Glad those ‘chats’ are sticking for once.)

Her next class was history, a subject that was interesting enough (if people looked for the truth, rather than accepting the victor’s tale.) The class itself, however, was very much less so since she’d read the entire history textbook at least twice by this point, just to see the difference between what was taught, and what was.

Because of this, she had the bad tendency of ignoring whatever the teacher would tell them in favor of trying to read something else, without the teacher catching her. Especially since, she probably knew more about the modern history of Rifts and Deviants, and the influence both have had on society, than whatever drivel her teacher was spouting.

The teacher, Mr. Smith was a middle-aged white man, with greying brown hair, who’d been a teacher at the school for roughly five years. She wasn’t entirely sure why, given his general lack of enthusiasm for the job.

(Maybe he’s secretly a Sanctuary agent sent to spy on the ‘Deviant town’ and whatever world ending powers that be here…)

The fact that, lil’ Luna would probably agree with that paranoid thought, and tell her to pursue it, made her laugh a little.

“Ms. Grey.” The teacher called on her, for that little outburst, giving her a mild glare for not paying attention. “Given your family history, what can you tell us about the rise of Deviants during the 1990’s?”

That said, the rest of her had to keep from scowling at that question, for a number of reasons. She gave the room a once over, noting how everyone from the teacher to her ‘friends’ were all looking at her expectantly, with wide hopeful eyes. (Hell, even the Deviant kids are giving me looks…)

She was tempted to give them the lecture they wanted, but at the same time the way they were looking at her… expecting her to have some profound insight into the Masquerade, which she did, but… (These people don’t want a lesson to teach them anything, they just want it to entertain them)

Still resisting the impulse to frown, she said, “Deviants were likely around for a number of years prior to the nineties but didn’t actually come into the public light until the first Rifts began opening. At which point a number of Deviants threw away their secrecy in order to fend off invaders as well as trying to fend off the ensuing riots, marking the first generation of masks.”

Her answer was one that could easily be found in any textbook about the 90’s and gave the bare minimum of (public) knowledge on the topic.

She easily ignored the various disappointed looks that were shot her way and was more than happy to leave them disappointed when she was the first one out of class for lunch.

(My family are not a bunch of animals to be observed in a zoo…)

She felt a bit of pain in her hand and glanced down to see her nails on the verge of breaking skin as she clenched her fist. Forcing her hand open, she made her way to the nearest bathroom, and once she was sure no one else was there, sat in front of the door to try and calm down.

(Breathe in…)

She inhaled slowly.

(1… 2… 3… 4… Breathe out…)

She exhaled just as slowly.

(1… 2… 3… 4…)

She subtly repeated this several more times as she made her way towards the school cafeteria. Increasingly grateful Sol had taught her the breathing tricks, he and his friends used back during their ‘soldier’ days to keep calm and focused.

(Breathe in…)

(It’s just another day of the same.)

(Breathe out…)

(Keep calm.)

(Breathe in…)

(And keep moving.)

As she finally began to calm down, she left the bathroom and started making her way towards the school cafeteria where she could grab lunch, find a quiet place, and get some peace.

Sadly, this plan, was put on pause as a girl from her year walked up to her with an embarrassed grin.

(What now?)

Taking one last calming breath, she plastered on a smile as she turned to Shirley, a long-haired brunette she’d met the school year before.

“What’s wrong?”.

“Hey…” Shirley began in a tone, she’d come to recognize as someone wanting something, but being embarrassed to ask. “Sophia, do you think you can help me with my math homework?”

She held back an annoyed sigh. “Isn’t math next period?”

Shirley gave her another embarrassed smile. “Maybe…”

After a moment she gave an exasperated sigh, and then a half-hearted smile. “Alright, but next time you have to remember to do your homework at home.”

“Ah, but you explain it so much better than the teachers.”

She gave the other girl a look, as she held the door to the cafeteria open.

“Fine…” Shirley sighed, before grinning. “And thanks.”

Sophie just rolled her eyes and continued through the crowd of hungry teenagers.

Half-way across the cafeteria she paused, finally catching a glimpse of a tan skinned girl with brown hair and a pair of earrings, eating lunch all alone. Part of her wanted to ditch her ‘friends’ and join the other girl. She almost did, at least until she noticed that the other girl was tinkering with some metallic device while she ate and decided it would just bring her more problems in the long run.

As she sat on the other side of the cafeteria and pulled out the lunch Sol made her, she noticed a couple of boys walking towards the girl.

“Okay, what I need help with is…” She quit paying attention to Shirley after that, since she was just going to explain the entire problem anyway. That way she could help, whoever else was having trouble, including the ones unwilling to admit it.

Since she wasn’t paying attention to her ‘friends’ she was free to notice the boys beginning to hassle the other girl. And while she couldn’t tell what they were saying or doing, she could tell by the way they moved it wasn’t anything nice, let alone well-intentioned.

She frowned, her eyes drifting around the table, and taking notice of the fact that none of her ‘friends’ seemed to notice what was going on.

“So, Sophia think you can help me?”

She swallowed something bitter and shook her head, turning back to help her ‘friends’ with their homework.

(She’s a big girl, she can handle herself…)

Nico, the girl in question, was a frequent victim of bullying, as were a number of Deviants in the school. Though in a Haven Town like, Graceful Hills, the reason was usually less about any apparent racism towards Deviants, (though it’s still an issue), and more often one Deviant being considered ‘weaker’ than another. Which led to the supposedly ‘stronger’ Deviants bullying their less violent counter parts, (because humans are cruel and will always find a reason to mess with each other.)

Sadly, as a borderline pacifist outside of her ‘games’, Nico was frequently considered one of the weakest Deviants in the school. And given how the school’s other Deviants tended to get a case of envy whenever they saw the youngest of the Grey siblings, curb stomp a ten-story monster.

Through some (idiotic) thought process, the people envious of her younger siblings’ power, be they Deviant or not, figured bullying a Deviant who wouldn’t fight back made them bigger and stronger than they actually were.

But even understanding their (worthless) reasoning, it didn’t change the fact that she had to repeat her mantra of (She’s a big girl, she can handle herself…) several more times throughout the day as she watched the same group of kids continue to bully the girl, slowly pushing her to her snapping point.

Something everyone involved would end up regretting.

Despite this, when the end of the day finally came the bullies had apparently decided that no, the amount of torment they’d inflicted on the poor shy girl, was not enough, and made to follow Nico to her usual spot behind the school. A place where very few teachers or students actually visited, given how often Rifts and other dimensional tears opened at the spot.

She wasn’t sure why these people had decided to bully Nico. Be it for issues with her being introverted at school, misconceptions of her being a weaker Deviant, or for any number of reasons.

(Not that any of those actually matter right now…)

She was pretty sure, she was the only one in school who knew how dangerous the grey family actually got, when one of them was upset, Nico especially.

(You’d think the shark teeth would be a warning, but no, people still try to piss off the emotionally fragile Deviant, who can also level half a city in an hour.)

Something in her stomach twisted, and she moved to follow without a second thought.