A New Virus

Poisoning the Well

Annalise sat in her English class, tapping away at her textbook and staring at the clock, willing it to go faster and let her leave this school. She didn't really want to go home, but she didn't want to be here. It's been a week since Mac moved in and it was just annoying. Dark and Anti both watched Mac like hawks and because of that, all of the other egos have been coming over a lot as well to help the two keep an eye on everything in the house. The only good thing about it was that she got to see Bing often, but she also never had any alone time unless she was sleeping and even then she's had to deal with Wilford suddenly barging into her room and asking where they kept the paprika because he was dying for a snack and it just had to be properly seasoned.

"Annalise, if you'd care to finally listen, I have an announcement for tomorrow." The teacher, Miss. Howland, said in a stern tone. Annalise just turned her head towards the teacher and kept a straight face. "Now, tomorrow we'll be having a guest speaker a free-form 'specialist'."

"Poisoning the well." Annalise muttered when she saw Miss. Howland make air quotes.

"Pardon?"

"Poisoning the well." Annalise repeated, a little louder.

"What are you implying?" Miss. Howland pursed her lips in annoyance when Annalise let out a scoff.

"I'm implying that you're using the fallacy 'poisoning the well'. I'm implying that you are making us think less of our guest speaker tomorrow since you are implying that said guest is a 'specialist' and not a specialist." Annalise's tone was harsh as she answered.

"Annalise Powell, you will watch your tone in this classroom." Miss. Howland warned.

"Then you should watch your tone when you speak of others." Annalise paid no attention to the class' reaction, little gasps and whispers filled the room. "You're all for the 'anti-bullying' campaign this school claims to run when in fact none of you give a shit about any of us when it comes to that unless there is violence in the center of the hall that you are unable to ignore. And now you are using fallacies to insult someone you most likely don't even know which, in the clearest form you can make it, is bullying."

"Annalise! To the principal's office, now!" The room got tense and silent as Annalise slammed her book shut, stood from her desk, threw her bag over her shoulder and went over to the teacher's desk.

"Fuck you." Annalise spat before dropping the book on the desk and walked out of the room. "I am fucking sick and tired of this school." Annalise growled to herself as she walked. "Bunch of fucking idiots, bunch of fucking assholes, bunch of fucking..." Annalise stopped when she saw that Tiana was walking down the hall as well. "Tea..." Tiana just lowered her head and kept walking. "Tea!" Annalise ran over to her friend.

"Don't get near me!" Tiana screamed. Annalise froze and her eyes went wide. "Don't get near me, freak!" It was Tiana's turn to run.

"T-Tiana." Annalise could feel tears forming in her eyes but she blinked them away and sniffed before swallowing thickly and continuing her walk to the principal's office.

Annalise walked in and said nothing, sitting down in the 'trouble chair' and waiting in silence until Miss. Howland came in several minutes later. Annalise said nothing as Miss. Howland filled the principal in on what happened and she remained silent as her father was called, as he was most likely already driving up to get her, and until Dark walked into the office.

"What happened?" Dark asked Annalise.

"Your child was being very disrespectful in my classroom." Miss. Howland stated. "She accused me of 'poisoning the well', implied that I was bullying due to it and then proceeded to use foul language after I told her to go to the office."

"How did she use the fallacy?" Dark hadn't even looked at the woman as she spoke, his eyes remaining on his daughter.

"She said 'specialist' instead of specialist when referring to a guest speaker." Annalise answered in a soft voice, her hands barely lifting high enough to make the air quotes.

"If we're going on a technical-"

"Annalise is suspended for a week." The principal stated before Dark could finish.

"Suspended!?" Dark snapped.

"Fine. I'm okay with that." Annalise got out of the chair and grabbed her bag, walking out.

"Anna-wait-you, fuck!" Dark cursed before following Annalise. "Annalise, wait!" Dark caught Annalise by the wrist.

"I just wanna go home." Annalise said weakly.

"Did something happen?" Dark asked, bending a little and putting his other hand on Annalise's shoulder.

"I don't want to be here." Dark could tell that it was taking everything in Annalise to not start crying her heart out. "I wanna go home, please." Dark gave Annalise a quick hug before taking her bag, slipping it on and then lifting Annalise up. Annalise would usually protest but she just wrapped her arms around Dark and hid her face into his neck, letting him carry her out of the building and to the car.

"You dad isn't home right now." Dark said when they pulled up to the house, the drive back had been stiff and silent.

"Tiana hates me." Annalise stared out of the window. "She screamed at me and called me a freak."

"You're not-"

"I am a freak. I'm a monster. My body is made of literal pixels and I crave the death of others by my own hands."

"Anna-"

"Why am I even going to that school? I don't fit in. I'm not one of them, I've never had and never will be one of them." Annalise let out a shaky breath. "They all hate me. They all think I'm a fucking whore because of Kara. She doesn't say anything about it anymore, but that doesn't stop the rumor once it starts. I can't just kill the whole school...no matter how much I want to."

"Because I wanted you to be a happy, normal, teenage girl." Dark answered, rubbing his thumb on the steering wheel. "You were born into a life of chaos and insanity and I thought if you had school like every other person your age here, it'd give you something for stability." Dark let out a sigh. "We'll discuss it further later when your dad is back home and you're feeling better. It's not like we have a full week before you can return anyways."

"I blame you for my sarcasm." Annalise laughed weakly.

"And I blame your dad for your ability to always get in trouble." Dark poked the tip of Annalise's nose before getting out of the car.

"Did you just boop me?" Annalise's laugh was little stronger this time. "I can't believe that you just booped me." Annalise undid her seatbelt and smiled a little when Dark opened the car door for her, her backpack on his shoulder and his arms held out, inviting her to get carried again. "Please." Annalise said before getting up and letting herself get hoisted back up. She rested her cheek on Dark's shoulder and let out a long and sad breath. Why couldn't life just be easy?