(Zack)

The fuckers tried taking Luca away. Father didn't let them, though, and I'm glad for that. I don't think he could handle such a thing. He's grown too attached to the dogs and me after his brother's death and his parents' arrest.

Now, I'm being woken by my father, who's doing his best to not wake Luca. The little guy gets scared anytime he's alone, and sleeping makes it worse. I don't blame him, since they were attacked while he was sleeping.

Even having the dogs in there doesn't work, so he's joined me each night, curling up on my bed while clutching his teddy bear.

"The fuck you want?" I ask as quietly as I can, to avoid waking Luca.

"For you to watch your language," he says, waking Luca. "And Zack, yesterday was the last day of your suspension. You need to take a shower and get ready for school."

"No."

"Yes," he says. "You will be returning to school, Zack. And if you get into trouble again, they're expelling you."

"They're going to cause trouble," I say. "Then pin it on me. That, or they're going to make stuff up. That's how it is. I'm going back to bed. You woke Luca up."

"You're going to school," Father says. "And so is Luca, Zack. Now get your ass out of bed and get ready, or your grounding is extended."

"Like that even works," I say.

"Or you're going to military school," he says, and I freeze up at that thought. He's completely serious. "If you get expelled, Zack, you are going to military school. So get your ass out of bed, get in the shower, and get ready for school."

He turns and leaves the room, and I let out an irritated grunt. Father is an asshole. At least I know why my parents hate me, now. Who would be happy about having a kid who can read minds, projects his thoughts into theirs, and move objects with his own?

Jeez.

I don't even have the ability to project my thoughts anymore. That faded away forever ago, it seems. Maybe one day, I'll regain that particular ability.

"Come on," I nudge Luca. "Father didn't leave us much time for a shower, so we need to hurry."

Luca and I climb out of bed and shower, then once we're dry and in our school uniforms, we head downstairs to the dining room, where breakfast is served. After quickly eating it, we're given our school bags and driven to our schools. I attend a private junior high while he attends a private elementary school.

Even before his parents killed his brother and tried to kill him, he was a student there. Father wanted to make sure his servants' children were well-educated.

I hope Luca does alright without Braden. I hated the punk, but at least he acted as a shield for the little guy.

Entering my school once I'm dropped off, I ignore the glares of my classmates. None of them want me here, I don't even need to sense their minds to know that. The ones who are physically close to me, I can even hear their nasty thoughts.

They hate me and wish I had died when the truck hit me.

I enter my homeroom and sit in my usual seat in the back of the room. There are a few other students already here and they're all giving me annoyed or uneasy glances. They're like everyone else.

My eyes flick to the woman at the desk. She's not our regular teacher, so I'm going to assume she's a substitute. She's glaring at me, which tells me that she knows exactly who I am.

I turn my gaze to Noah, who's just entered the class, dressed sharply in the school uniform. I hate our uniform. The part that's the same for both sexes is the white dress shirt. Males have to wear either a tie or bowtie which is red with green stripes.

It's not fucking Christmas. I hate it and Santa. I've never gotten much I've liked. If it were possible to kill Santa, I would. A dozen times over, and then more just for good measure.

Girls have to wear either a tie or a bow around their neck, and it looks fucking ridiculous. Their option of skirt is black with either red or green plaid. For boys, we have to wear either slacks or dress shorts, black. All shoes must be black dress shoes.

Over our dress shirts, we wear either a vest or a blazer with the school's emblem, a pair of crossed spears. I'm wearing a black blazer left unbuttoned, though I could pick from black, red, or green if I went with a vest.

If I were to wear shorts, or a girl to wear a skirt instead of black pants, then they have to reach past the knees while standing. It's the same for both sexes, which makes me amused when someone complains about our 'sexist' uniform policy.

If both sexes have the same standard for coverage, how is it sexist?

Speaking of the girls' uniform, Jess does look nice in hers. She just walked in behind Noah, and I realize that they're talking. My anger flares up at that. He knows I like her, after my comment at the hospital. I'm sure of it.

He's taking her so that I can't ask her out. It doesn't matter that I wouldn't in a million years, but it still makes me mad!

I fume as they take their seats, which are thankfully on opposite sides of the room. Normally, I'd lash out already, but I do not want to go to military school, so I need to keep myself in check. Pushing everyone away without getting in trouble is going to be tough as fuck.

The bell rings a couple of minutes later to alert everyone that we have five minutes until class starts, and I continue to simmer, glaring at anyone who looks at me. I can't get into trouble for glaring. Well, I could, but I'll raise hell if they do.

The teachers glare all the time, so why can't we? Not only that, but what else am I supposed to do when people keep looking at me? If I kept looking at them, they'd glare at me and not get into trouble.

I fucking hate people.

The bell rings and the sub starts roll call. When she finishes, she asks if there's anyone who she didn't call the name of. I nearly blurt out me, but catch myself as she glares. I raise my hand.

"What's your name?" She asks.

"Zack Noruva."

"I called your name," she says.

"No," I say. "I would have responded if you did, and you didn't, so I didn't."

"Are you back-talking me?"

"Are you calling me a liar?" That came out before I can stop it.

"Go to the office," she says. "Now."

"No," I fold my arms over my chest. "I'm not going to the office because you want to call me a liar. You didn't call my name. You said 'Zachary Norva', which isn't my name, and isn't what's written on the attendance thing. My name is Zack Noruva."

"I called for Zack Noruva," she says.

"Liar."

"Office! Now!"

"No," I glare. "You're just trying to get me into trouble. Ask any student in here. You did not call my name."

"I'm calling the office," she goes to her phone.

"You do that," I say. "I'll have you fired."

"As if you could ever do that," she snorts as she picks up the phone.

"He might not be able to," Noah stands up. "But I can. You didn't call his name. You attempted to provoke him. This incident is entirely your fault."

"Sit back down," she says. "You're getting written up, too."

"Don't bother with the call," Noah pulls his phone out and presses it to his ear.

"Put that phone away!"

"Would you mind coming down to my homeroom?" Noah asks. "Our sub just tried provoking Zack, and while he did respond, he hasn't done anything I think's unacceptable in the situation. You can't expect him to change overnight."

The moment he says that, a strange flash goes through his mind, and I narrow my gaze on him as I try to overhear his thoughts.

"We can't let him get expelled," he's thinking. "Oh, good, Dad's coming."

I lose my focus and am out of his mind. Too many other minds around interfering with my senses.

"My father's on his way," Noah pockets his phone and sits down. "And since he owns this school, I'm sure my word will be weighted heavier."

Why doesn't Noah want me expelled?

The sub ignores him to tell the office about a pair of belligerent students, and she hangs up.

"They've got security on their way," she tells us smugly.

"If so, then it's for you," Noah says, and I try to push back into his mind.

"I didn't like her in the first place. Operation Rehabilitate must happen."

Operation… Rehabilitate?

He's thinking about me, isn't he? The only thing I can think of is that he's got some plan to pull out the 'kindness' in me that he found when I shoved him out of the way and took the hit for myself.

I narrow my gaze on him, focusing all of my annoyance at the very thought of him try to change me, and Noah jumps, twisting to face me. His sudden movements startle the students around him as I glare.

His face tinges with red, and he quickly turns around. He doesn't know I know about his plans to change me, but he knows he's upset me.

Noah's father soon reaches the classroom, and our sub looks even more smug when she sees the two security guards behind him.

"What happened?" Mr. Elis looks at his son, and Noah explains what happened, then the man looks at me. "I see. I can't say that I approve of the response, but it's not the same he would've done two weeks ago."

I bite my tongue to keep from responding. I can tell he doesn't like me, even after I saved his son from a deadly accident.

"However," he turns his gaze back to the sub. "Your actions were unwarranted. You were attempting to provoke Zack into reacting negatively, and-"

"You can't trust a kid," the sub says. "They-"

"I can't trust my own son?" Mr. Elis asks. "If I can't trust my own son, who has an exemplary track record, then I can't trust a substitute teacher. I'll be taking over this class until their teacher returns. They'll escort you to the office."

She attempts to fight him, but Mr. Elis doesn't budge, winning the fight. It's hard to win when the school's very owner forces you out. He takes a seat at the desk, then reviews the attendance report, marking something on it.

Probably that I'm here.

Then, he runs through the announcements for today, finishing just as the bell rings to signal the end of period. Our next class is in here, too, so we remain seated, though Mr. Elis calls me up to the front.

I reach it and glare at him, my arms crossed over my chest.

"Mr. Noruva," he says. "Do not think you'll be allowed to do something like that again. Next time, you go to the office, and there-"

"I get called a liar as well?" I ask. "Because I know that's what will happen. You'll listen to what the teacher says, then completely ignore me in favor of them. Why? Because I'm just a kid, and they're adults."

"Are you giving me attitude?" He asks with a warning note to his voice.

"Stating the facts," I state. "Whether you see it as attitude or not is entirely dependent on whether you want to acknowledge said facts."

Without waiting for him to respond, I turn and make my way back to my seat, plopping myself into it and slouching, just to annoy him. He doesn't bother correcting my posture, even though we aren't allowed to slouch.

The rest of the day passes without too much incident, and when it's time to leave, I ambush Jess on the way to her ride.

"Go on a date with me tomorrow."

"What?" She looks confused.

"Tomorrow," I say. "Saturday. Go on a date with me."

"Why would I do that?"

"Several reasons," I state. "First, if you and I go on a date, it might help dispel some rumors that George spread. After all, why would you want to date me?"

She shifts uncomfortable. George is a kid in the eighth grade, and he's an ass. His birthday is right after the cutoff, so he's already fourteen. I've put him on his ass a few times, so he leaves me alone. And usually walks as far on the other side of the hall or street as me.

"Second," I say. "Because it'll get you out of your parents' party tomorrow afternoon. I know how much you'd love to attend that."

She frowns.

"And what's in it for you?" She asks, and I squirm a little. "What? I know you aren't asking me on a real date."

"I need a cover," I say. "I pissed off my parents, so my grounding got extended. If I say I'm going on a date, then they'll let me leave the house. Probably out of shock more than anything."

"What do you need a cover for?" She asks.

"A wolf's giving birth," I answer.

"Uh-huh."

"Meet me at Irene's Cafe at two."

"Where?" She gives me an incredulous look.

"It's a cafe," I say. "Just search for it. Tell your parents that you're going on a date with me or whatever."

"The party starts at one-thirty," she says. "Make it one. We can call it a late lunch, then we can go to the amusement park after that. I've got some friends who'll go before we get there, and they'll get our wristbands then, so it'll look like we showed up earlier. How far's-"

"The amusement park?" I ask. "It's about twenty minutes from the cafe. If we say an hour for eating, we can say we'll be there around two-twenty to two-thirty. Thanks, Jess, I knew I could count on you."

"But that-" she starts as I walk away. "Wait! Zack! Wait!"