A Hero In The Dark

Chapter 148: Same School, Different Academy

~ Tuesday ~

I'm back at school, registered with new courses for my year of tenth grade that I never finished. That means I'm also behind all of my friends by a year and don't have any classes with them.

Mornings start out rough in Math class. I used to be a good student – always taking notes and paying attention when the teacher talks – but now I can't be bothered. Not only is sleep deprivation hardest to get through in the first few hours of the day, but all I can think about is John.

After Math class, it's straight to English. A class that I am least enthusiastic to get involved in. Although I used to write in my old life and enjoyed it greatly, that isn't me anymore. My teacher, Mrs. Harris, talks and talks about nouns and verbs and adjectives and adverbs. Telling us how and when to use each in a sentence and why. But all I end up doing is daydreaming. Mostly about John and me. Sometimes I even recreate visions I had of Pittacus Lore and pretend that he is still alive. I think about Lorien and what it'll be like when I'll restore it; try to imagine how beautiful it will look. Then I think of my parents and try to brainstorm ways to convince them to let me go and do what I was meant to do. Each idea I come up with is quickly scratched out after realizing that it wouldn't work when my Dad responds with a well-planned counterargument.

When English class is over, I get an hour lunch break.

I don't get to eat lunch with my old friends because their schedules are different than mine since they're a year ahead of me. Eleventh graders have break at 12:30 pm. I get my break at 11:30 am.

I don't eat a whole lot. The sandwiches my Mom packs me mostly goes uneaten. If I eat at all, it is usually only a bite or two. And that isn't just for lunch. It's the same for dinner too; I started skipping breakfast.

So, I spend my lunch time in the school cafeteria. At a table on my own. That is until a bunch of students gather around me to praise me on stopping the Mogadorian invasion of Earth. The news really does spread far. They ask me questions like: When can we meet John Smith? Can you show us what you can do? What is it like going up against those pale freaks? How many did you kill? How did you do what you did in New York when that big freakshow of a monster threatened the Americans? Why do your eyes light up like Thor? Is that sweatshirt really from the HGA?

It got annoying and overwhelming real fast.

I wanted to just charge an object with my legacy and let it sit until the energy dissipated, but the lunchroom monitors keep staring at me as long as the attention remains on me. Assuming that they don't want any trouble to brew knowing that there is a Human Garde in their school.

According to the UN Garde Accord, any human that develops legacies is supposed to be turned over to a set of Peacekeepers at specified locations. I guess I was an exception considering that I worked alongside the Originals to put an end to the terrorizing hostile aliens making their threats on humanity. That's why I'm allowed to stay and no one asks me any questions.

I have to admit, lunch time at normal school has made me miss the Human Garde Academy the most. All the students talking and laughing in the cafeteria. Some of them goofing around prematurely while some of them simply don't. Each table – or group of tables – separating them apart from each other into categories.

The Popular Girls who spend their break gossiping about the Popular Boys, and the other way around. The Jocks who do most of the hooting and shouting while they watch some sports game on the cafeteria television. The Musicians who make their own beats with their fists against the tables. The Artists who spend all their time quietly sketching and doodling. The Cheerleaders who come up with new cheers and chants. The Nerds who only read from textbooks the entire time. And so on and so on.