1.4

Moving my way into the hallway I crouched slightly activating my Veil. It would be awkward if anyone caught me moving around like this but everyone at school ignored me anyways. While everyone was on the other side of the wall compared to me I still found that my Veil could still improve as I stalked the hallways of Winslow.

If any of the other students saw me I'd be embarrassed sure but they would brush it off as me being weird. The teachers on the other hand? Well I'd just tell them I was hiding from bullies which would cause them to ignore me again. Making use of the system's corruption was fun! Creeping my way into the girl's bathroom I found that I wasn't alone, two other girls were hiding here smoking. As far as I could tell no drugs were involved, just ordinary cancer causing cigarettes. Luckily they hadn't noticed me, too caught up with their conversation together.

"I can't believe Brad dumped you for Nat." One of them said as I moved around the corner.

"I know right? Fucking loser will go out with anyone that blows him." I grabbed a convenient spare toilet roll.

"Really? She blew him? I heard she has crabs!" Well at least they weren't gossiping about me.

"Shut up, she has crabs? Fuck, that's great!" As my brain cells began to commit suicide I noted that the light armor I had wasn't getting any tougher from this inane chatter and decided to leave.

I grinned on my way down the hallway, my roll of absorbent loot hanging loosely from my fingers. Yup, it looked like my Veil worked perfectly, without it I wasn't sure that I'd be able to sneak past the two delinquents even if they were distracted with gossip. Wait, I was grinning, better change that.

"Sad Taylor, sad, think of something sad." I mumbled to myself. Emma made me sad! She betrayed me, abused my trust! Broke her- wait… I was getting angry now. None of that! Sad, I had to be sad! With the feeling of Elation increasing my Veil power it was difficult to not smile at all. Still, I managed and made my way back to class with what I hoped to be a suitably depressed expression.

I considered trying to move my way closer to Sophia on the way back to my desk so that she'd be tempted to trip me but I figured I shouldn't test my luck. Though unlikely it was entirely possible that I could fall down and impale my hand on a pencil revealing my Parahuman existence to everyone in the room. That and changing my behaviour might tip them off that I was now different.

Nope, I was still the same old, unpowered boring Taylor.

If Mr Gladly had noticed my absence he didn't show it, I might as well be a background character to him. That sounded kind of depressing.

YES! Depressed Taylor! Wait, that was happy now never mind. I nearly wished I could tell someone about my power. Dad would react badly I imagined. Mom dying was a big enough blow to us both, I didn't want him to worry more than he already was and telling him that I planned to go out to fight criminals would probably give him a heart attack.

It almost made me wish I was still friends with Emma.

As I passed her desk she whispered an insult about me being so poor that I had to steal toilet paper. Screw that bitch! She could've had a Cape for a friend! All she had was Sophia and Madison, I was way cooler! Also I wasn't stealing anything, I was a student and thus was entitled to the toilet paper, I wouldn't even need it if those bitches didn't pour Coke all over my seat. Why couldn't they abuse me in such a way that made me stronger?

As I finally made my way back to my chair I began covering it up with toilet paper allowing it to soak up the Coke. It didn't take long and while my seat was dry it was still somewhat sticky, a fact that I tried to ignore. It was at this point that Mr Gladly had noticed me, though he didn't call out. He seemed concerned as if he wanted to say something.

He didn't and he continued onto the rest of the lesson.

The class was genuinely interesting to me, it was about Cape history, of Scion and the Triumvirate. Everything that came out of his mouth however was something I had already known, it probably helped that I went on an internet binge researching Capes when I found out I had powers. While I didn't like Mr Gladly as a person he was charismatic enough that the rest of the class was too distracted to bully me.

Well besides the stunt at the chair at least.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, I managed to sneak off and hide. I considered letting them find me every now and then but I found that I couldn't stand up to the verbal abuse. I tried to ignore it where I could and even justify to myself that everything they spouted was factually wrong. But I could help myself, every time I tried to refuse to take notice of them something would worm itself into my brain and suddenly I was trapped again in that terrible locker.

For now I'd hide, make my Veil stronger. The physical resistance stuff could come later. I didn't want to surprise Dad by cutting myself or hitting my legs with a bat but I figured I'd think of something later.

Just as I was about to leave school I found that the girls had congregated at the main gate. Apparently they were fed up with my elusive nature and decided to just ensure they would see me at least once this afternoon. I couldn't hide from that, too many eyes, too little cover. I'd have to bite the bullet and move past them.

As I came around the corner word of my appearance had spread like wildfire and the group of girls surrounded me. However no words came, only the terrible giggles of a horde of high school girls. Emma tapped Sophia on the shoulder.

"Hey did I tell you how she cried all week when her mother died, so pathetic." I frowned at that. "So useless, used to talk all the time, a real chatterbox. Now look at her, wont even say a thing in her own defence."

Madison decided to get a shot in. "Well I wouldn't want to waste any energy defending something so useless, maybe she knows it's not worth the effort."

I squeezed my hands tighter forcing myself to calm down.

"Oh?" Came Sophia's voice. "I think she's mad, what are you going to do about it huh?" Shit, I had to calm down. I took a deep breath and before I knew it my arms were bound. Sophia had grabbed my arms holding me still.

"Wha-" Before I could get another word in I felt something pouring down my head as it began to cover my eyes forcing me to shut them. A bit of the liquid went into my mouth and I noted that it was Pepsi.

Seriously brain? I'm being drowned and you decide to assign your processing power to determine what the hell I'm tasting?

I genuinely tried to struggle free, damn the Parahuman reveal and it's consequences! I felt trapped! Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you looked at it, my suite of powers didn't come with super strength. For all intents and purposes my teenage girl body still possessed the strength of one teenage girl.

They all bursted into laughter, the crowd acting as a screen against the eyes of the teachers that were undoubtedly ignoring everything in an attempt to rush home early.

I tried to shout and scream but the liquid kept coming! Were they using a bottle or something? Soon it was done and they let go. I tried to brush it out of my eyes but the fizz just made it sting. It was at that point I realized that I wasn't wearing my glasses any more.

I collapsed on the ground as the laughter continued.

"Hey! What's going on here!" The crowd dispersed at that. It was Mr Gladly's voice.

"Oh my god, are you alright Taylor?" Now he asks me? Now of all times? Bit late wasn't it? In fact, he probably came over to check the crowd because he didn't know it was me in the middle!

On my knee my hands continued to search for my glasses, luckily they weren't broken and soon I had my vision back despite the stinging. The first thing I saw was the teacher's look of concern. It made my blood boil.

"Taylor, are you alright?" I paused thinking over a response.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just tripped." A weak excuse.

"I'm not blind you know, you could tell me what's going on." I glared at him.

"Nothing is going on." I retorted more aggressively than I probably would've otherwise. "Just the way the school likes it." He looked as if I had physically slapped him.

"Taylor, I know you're being bullied but, I can't do anything about it if no one comes forward and reports it to me." I wasn't just tightening my grip anymore, I was grinding my teeth.

"I shouldn't have to report anything! It happens all the time in front of you! You just choose to ignore it! If you really want to help, then stop it before it happens!" I turned to leave, I didn't want to hear it.

Sophia tripped me again just as I left the gate, she made it seem so casual. I looked back to Mr Gladly, surely he should've seen that! He had, and with a sad look on his face he turned away. He had the AUDACITY to look SAD?

FUCK HIM!

I could've set all those girls on fire with my power. I could've used my potions to make myself invisible and make their lives a living hell. I could do so much to hurt them all!

They all kept pushing me, what did I do to deserve all this!?

NOTHING!

Why did I hold back?

Because I was better than them all. Because I was going to be hero. I wouldn't ignore someone's troubles just because it was convenient, because it was easier to go along with the crowd! I'd help them, prove to the world that I wasn't another Mr Gladly, that I wasn't a cruel Sophia, that I wasn't a two faced Madison and most importantly that I wasn't a backstabbing bitch like Emma!

I was going to prove to the world that I was better then them all! I was going to go out tonight and show the world that I was worth it, that I mattered.

That Taylor Hebert was going to be the best Hero in the world and nothing was going to stop that from happening.

Edit: Moar spulling mistakes!