Heroes, Vigilantes, and Villains

Chapter six

Sleeping in Saturday morning, I started looking into online schools after waking up. I'd need to find one quickly if I wanted to avoid going back to Aldera. Most of them seemed to have their own share of problems, the longer I looked, the more I found.

One of them was a half-and-half school. The students come to the school every other day to be taught and helped in any subject that the students are struggling in. Going to school on these days was mandatory. So every other day I would be stuck around people who were just like the ones at my old school.

Another school that I managed to find had a similar set up. On Mondays and Fridays, the students worked from home on individual studies, but on Tuesdays through Thursdays, the students came into the school to work on group producers for test grades and work in study groups... That wouldn't work for obvious reasons.

All of the other schools had similar conditions as the other two. The only legitimate option was a completely online school where the students work at their own pace, completing quizzes and tests once every two to three weeks. The only problem was that the school had an entrance exam...

School has never been my strong suite, not really. During the lessons, I always seem to get the material, to understand it well enough that it's almost like I've always known it. When I do the homework and the tests, it all always seems right, but when I get the grades back... they're all b's at the highest.

There's no way that I'm going to pass this...

It says on the website that the entrance exam is a mix of all of the subjects based on the student's grade level. I can barely do well on the units in class when they're being taught to me, a cumulative final type test that I have to relearn all of the material by myself... I don't think I'll be able to pass it.

Getting up, I brought a printed out copy of the information on the school website to where my mother was sitting in the living room. It was strange to do this, for the first time in a week, I was able to leave my room without having to hide in a too small hoodie. For the first time in years, I was able to walk around my home without having to drown in too large clothing to cover the scars. Though I didn't feel comfortable changing that just yet, it felt better knowing that hiding them was just a product of my shame, not a secret I had to keep.

When I walked in there, my mom was on the phone with the tv running on mute. While she had the device to her ear, it seemed like she was on hold. I sat down on the couch seat next to her, laying the paper down in my mother's lap. She glanced at me before picking it up and reading through the brochure that I'd given her. A small smile formed on her lips while doing so before she looked at me and nodded. My gut dropped at the show of approval. I shoved the feeling aside, feelings have never helped me in the past and these were no different.

I pointed at the phone, drawing her attention back to me. She pulled the phone away from her ear, whispering. "Calling the school to pull you out."

I stared at her oddly. I know that she wants me out of there... but I don't even have a school to transfer into yet. Other than that... "It's Saturday, Mom."

She nodded before adding: "monthly teacher work day."

Oh... so that's why he was always angrier one Monday out of the month.

Once every month, my teacher would come into class full of more anger and spite than he usually had. On these days, his hatefulness was a beastie that wasn't just reserved for me, no one was safe on those days. No one dared to ask him what happened, though no one cared enough to want to know either.

I left her there while going back to my room. While I didn't have to do the work packets for homework anymore, it still pulled them out from the book bag when I sat down at my desk. They were made for the entrance exams that we have to take towards the end of the year. I might as well test their usefulness now.