There are many ways that a person would expect to wake up in the morning.234Please respect copyright.PENANA9Q1uoyjdF2
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On a stranger's porch, messily tucked in with a giant comforter, is not one of them. Well, maybe it is for someone out there, but that someone is not me. Also, I don't believe that someone would expect to wake up like this with a cold piece of toast and a note reading "please don't steal the wicker" on the table next to them.234Please respect copyright.PENANANYuG3hSpnJ
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"Miss. Hyde."234Please respect copyright.PENANA18fSameAop
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The note is understandable, as I ended up on the porch by jumping a fence while running from security guards. The guards being after me for stealing an object from the town science lab. Last time I lived here, the lab didn't have guards. Of course, last time I lived here, there wasn't a military base right next door either.234Please respect copyright.PENANAwqJGjwvQuc
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"Miss. Hyde."234Please respect copyright.PENANAGkKfNQMCbh
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Perhaps I should have guessed that maybe guards would have been hired because of the base. A stupid mistake on my part there, but it’s not like I was truly doing something illegal. The object was originally my grandfather’s after all, but I guess once you’re dead, your belongings don’t remain yours. Thankfully, I managed to get away with the object.234Please respect copyright.PENANATm3QLNElFU
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"Miss. Hyde!"234Please respect copyright.PENANAv9Osghkv5Y
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My attention snaps back to the man across the desk from me. Mr. Abrams, the principal of the town's high school, is glaring at me. I stop rocking back and forth and remove my hands from beneath my legs. "Yes?"234Please respect copyright.PENANAb3J33jAXPQ
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"Are you listening to me?" he asks me.234Please respect copyright.PENANAbPOPR6WV2W
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I blink slow as I stare at him. "No."234Please respect copyright.PENANAols3RjERzP
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I guess I should probably be more thankful for that toast, cold or no. It was the first time that I had eaten something for breakfast in months. So, that was a nice change for once. And I should be so lucky that the owners of the house didn’t report me to the police. My grandfather may have had connections here, but I don’t.234Please respect copyright.PENANAiDlQQ2w44M
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Unlike the toast, moving back here, to Zero, was not a nice change.234Please respect copyright.PENANAPGqy47bkOR
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A hand is placed on my shoulder as a woman's voice says something. I look to the source of the speaking, the school's guidance counselor. The woman gestures towards the office door. "This way."234Please respect copyright.PENANA86waNJDuKs
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"To what?"234Please respect copyright.PENANA9CWcFedchx
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"My office, Miss. Hyde," she says. She looks stressed. They all look stressed. I think I’m causing it. I don’t think they like me.234Please respect copyright.PENANAhZ4zRWXhOF
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She doesn’t wait for me to gather my things and is already at her desk when I reach her office. She starts talking the second my foot passes through the door. "Most of your schedule is sorted, but you still need to pick a few electives."234Please respect copyright.PENANAAeJ5vISlhI
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"Those are the ones that I'm not required to be in, correct?"234Please respect copyright.PENANAoMXVuJPjPU
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She nods and points to the seat opposite her. "Sit."234Please respect copyright.PENANAH64Z1uYnfE
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I do as told as she slides a paper with the list of available classes in front of me.234Please respect copyright.PENANAJHNRT1dX2D
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"The ones highlighted are those that you are already enrolled in," she says.234Please respect copyright.PENANAWnWVSF7fMH
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I read the names of the ones highlighted: Algebra II, Biology I, Civics, and English II. I look back up to her. "These seem a bit… basic?"234Please respect copyright.PENANA2ormOC6huO
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"These classes are required for the curriculum. You'll be able to take more advanced classes next year. Now, you are also required to take a foreign language course. You can pick which one you'd like to take."234Please respect copyright.PENANAtDIp5qj62p
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I scan the available choices. "These are the only available options?"234Please respect copyright.PENANAsRfzuQDKf7
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"Yes. Just pick one."234Please respect copyright.PENANA8RdHA0t0Ae
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"Hmm... I guess I wouldn't mind brushing up on Latin. It's a tricky language, always good to know exactly what is being said in it." Wouldn’t want to accidentally summon a cousin again or something.234Please respect copyright.PENANARiBd7j2WSx
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"Okay, and you have up to two electives."234Please respect copyright.PENANAPTSXPoFFro
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I scan the list again. They don’t have photography listed, but there’s one labeled as “Yearbook/Journalism” which is probably as close as I’ll get to it. I’m not sure why they’re paired together, but if it gets me behind a camera, I have no reason to complain. I point to it and the one listed as Astronomy. “These two.”234Please respect copyright.PENANAmb273fi9hQ
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“Alright, give me just a moment,” she says as she clicks away on her mouse a few times and then the printer next to her desk starts up, within seconds I have a new sheet of paper in front of me. She uses her pen to point at it as she talks. "There's your schedule. Your locker number is at the top. This isn’t a very big school, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find everything."234Please respect copyright.PENANASLzHg0UrDp
“Okay, thank you.”234Please respect copyright.PENANAzb38GB2u6X
I’m not even to the door yet when she stops me by talking again, “Before I forget, Miss Hyde. Did Mr. Abrams talk to you about the issue of your hair?”234Please respect copyright.PENANADDxB7vw0Qf
I turn to look at her and nod and then leave before she can say anything else. 234Please respect copyright.PENANAWTHyL0iIYy
The hair issue is the exact reason why I zoned out while talking to him in the first place. He made it a big point to tell me that they only allow natural hair colours at this school and I tried to tell him, but he just couldn’t process that this is my natural hair colour. I wasn’t going to argue with him about it forever, and I definitely wasn’t going to argue about it with another school staff member.234Please respect copyright.PENANA84fo83Eby5
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It takes what seems like forever to find my locker and get my bag into it. Then a slightly shorter forever to find my first class. Civics.234Please respect copyright.PENANAVUPfRvZGZX
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The teacher takes a second to notice me but eventually, she comes to usher me into the classroom. She hands me a textbook as she says, "You must be Pluto. Why don’t you go take a seat back there next to Miss Brooks?”234Please respect copyright.PENANA21tU3sUqGn
She doesn’t point out the desk, but it’s not needed as there’s only one that’s empty.234Please respect copyright.PENANACOB2Ns3KJy
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I look over the body of people scattered around the room as I make my way to the seat. God, I don’t recognize a single person here.234Please respect copyright.PENANAyM3f384Ouk
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The girl in the seat next to mine turns to me and whispers, "We're on page sixty-three."234Please respect copyright.PENANAM4G9LVo3wm
This must be the Miss. Brooks that the teacher mentioned.234Please respect copyright.PENANAmVkprp6yLl
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"Thank you," I whisper back as I flip through the textbook. I find the page, which appears to be about the revolutionary war and turn to the girl. She's still facing me and is the only person that I’ve met today that doesn’t look like a clone of everyone else in the school. As weird as this town is, that may be more literal than not. Would explain why there’s a military base next to the science lab now.234Please respect copyright.PENANA4DEJ1Wa1d5
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"The names Teagan." She nods her head up.234Please respect copyright.PENANAnpEidSqp0K
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I gesture my hand towards myself. "Pluto, but don’t let the name fool you. My small stature doesn’t come from the dwarves.”234Please respect copyright.PENANAfPWnuFcI9u
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She points her pen at me. "You're funny."234Please respect copyright.PENANAjE0lEpxsIR
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"Thanks?"234Please respect copyright.PENANAwCpXoed3Td
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She smiles and then turns back to her textbook.234Please respect copyright.PENANAPp4U8uLmXE
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Well, at least I’ve made a decent impression on someone today.234Please respect copyright.PENANACVePMVNFxT
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No one else gives me the chance to even try to make any type of impression again until I get to Biology. I'm the fourth person to get to the class, one of the other three being the Teagan girl from earlier in the day. The teacher is dressed as if she never left Woodstock, and the music coming from her computer isn't helping her case.234Please respect copyright.PENANA36GInWrxQA
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"Pluto?" she asks as I walk over to her desk. She seems surprised to see me. She knows me? How does she know me? It fades. "You don't happen to be interested in space, do you?"234Please respect copyright.PENANA28Cz2pI6ai
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It’s not the first time I’ve heard the question, but the answer never changes. It’s always yes. "Actually, I do. Astronomy is one of my electives."234Please respect copyright.PENANAFONp0nGZmH
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“Ah, a new student in two of my classes. What a nice surprise.” She’s saying this as if she doesn’t have my student page open on her computer behind her. She continues. “I’m not sure what you learned in Science at your last school, but I do things a bit differently here. I don’t teach from the textbook that often, so you’ll want to borrow some notes to get caught up to speed with the rest of the class. Now, go ahead and find a seat.”234Please respect copyright.PENANADKsZvdOr5z
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I take one of the back seats at Teagan’s lab and am greeted with notes already being passed towards me. 234Please respect copyright.PENANAPAiAGNq06W
“There’s a few days missing in there from when I had a cold a few weeks ago,” Teagan explains, “but Louise should be here any minute and you can get hers for those days.”234Please respect copyright.PENANA8cvwQvNTuq
I don’t know who Louise is or why Teagan is talking about her as if I do, but before I can verbally question it, she appears. She’s tall. Five-ten at the least. She looks to Teagan. “Who is this?” 234Please respect copyright.PENANAMlyxPyiV2m
“That’s Pluto. She needs your notes.”234Please respect copyright.PENANAcn9IzseTDA
Her voice lowers. “¿Ella siempre ha estado allí?”234Please respect copyright.PENANAjiXTKZiVvU
“No, I just started here today,” I answer while copying down the notes. When I look up again, they’re both staring me down. “What?”234Please respect copyright.PENANAvBhNPSex5Y
They continue to stare until the fourth stool at our lab is slid into. “Hello, ladies.”234Please respect copyright.PENANA2htzSZg5Di
“What do you want, Aaron?” Teagan is the one that asks it, but both of them rolled their eyes when he spoke. 234Please respect copyright.PENANAabwgqA2nBR
“Oh, you know, just thought I’d come to greet the newest arrival to this fine establishment.” He’s looking at me. I can’t see him, but I know he’s looking at me. “In case you didn’t hear your friend over there, the name’s Aaron. Aaron White. And who might you be, if you don’t mind my asking?”234Please respect copyright.PENANAm1Mu7DL01r
“Not in your best interest,” I tell him as I go back to copying notes. And I do mind.234Please respect copyright.PENANAcDwXvvQfoS
“Oh, I highly disagree.” His hand slides into my view as it touches the tip of my pen, causing my copying to halt. “You look like you’re exactly what would be in my best interest.” 234Please respect copyright.PENANAd7W39IZUAV
There’s about two seconds left in my pen’s journey from being beneath his fingers and being in his leg when there’s a groan at the other side of the table that stops it and then a “Mrs. V, Aaron’s bothering us again!”234Please respect copyright.PENANA3UKLVzex36
“Aaron! Go back to your seat, we’ve talked about this!” the teacher says. 234Please respect copyright.PENANAl9GzILvPIC
Again, I return to my copying as the boy slinks away from our lab. 234Please respect copyright.PENANA2RJtYD5cnf
The Louise girl speaks up, “don’t worry. Once you’re in uniform and have hair that isn’t the colour of zucchini, he’ll leave you alone, since you’ll blend in.”234Please respect copyright.PENANA7dKSkXby7k
Well, that’s comforting.234Please respect copyright.PENANACHmEwstFkH
Fifty minutes later, the class is over and lunch is starting.234Please respect copyright.PENANAG9i7ThlEOZ
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"I assume you’re sitting with us, right?" Teagan asks as we leave the classroom.234Please respect copyright.PENANABv2fq23zNu
That wasn’t my plan, but I didn’t really have much of one, so I guess I am now. “Yeah. If that’s okay.”234Please respect copyright.PENANAETa44vnQYd
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They both agree that it’s fine and the rest of the walk, all the way up to us sitting at a table, is in silence. However, the silence doesn't last long due to Teagan speaking up. "Dude, where’s your lunch?"234Please respect copyright.PENANAYPIhkg2AGl
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I hold up the milk carton that I grabbed. "What are you talking about? I got a milk."234Please respect copyright.PENANAH4RIQBZOQo
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"Yeah, but you didn't get any food."234Please respect copyright.PENANAnEGpZ07LWo
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“I didn’t like what was on the menu,” I tell her even though it’s not true. It’s not even an excuse that's possible, as there were several different options to choose from, and I like most of them. But I just, I can’t afford anything besides the milk, and even that required me digging through my backpack for change. But I can’t tell them that.234Please respect copyright.PENANA9efqsLwYmi
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She doesn’t press the matter any further, and neither do I.234Please respect copyright.PENANARfIcRUGJZM
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Neither of them end up being in my other remaining classes, but when I make it outside at the end of the day, they seem to be waiting for me.234Please respect copyright.PENANA4Pt6JdhjAa
“Zucchini!” Louise yells and waves me over.234Please respect copyright.PENANAR8MAlrccuD
I guess that’s my name now.234Please respect copyright.PENANABKPCSts72A
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She continues talking once I’m within hearing range of them, “Teagan is coming over to watch TV at my house. You can come over too.”234Please respect copyright.PENANAg51LOwfrBG
“Okay,” I mumble.234Please respect copyright.PENANAwKEiZP3g7v
It turns out that she lives right down the road from the house that I stayed at last night. I could have easily slept on her porch instead. She doesn't have a porch, but that's not the point. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by this. Zero isn’t necessarily a small town, but it only has about a dozen streets. They’re very long streets, but still only a dozen, so technically every house is only just down the road from each other. My own house is right behind the building on the other end of this street.234Please respect copyright.PENANA5kt4uPLbZQ
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Louise runs off as soon as we walk into her’s.234Please respect copyright.PENANAUcrYCe6I6x
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"Does it usually smell like tomatoes in here?" I ask Teagan.234Please respect copyright.PENANAlyM7onXwxy
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"Her mom sells salsa, so yeah, pretty much." She walks in the opposite direction of where Louise went. "Come on, the living room's this way. Louise will be back in a second."234Please respect copyright.PENANAvBgQsEKNX3
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When we get in there she turns on the tv and plops down onto the couch. I take place in a recliner. Louise returns to us, out of uniform, and goes right for the spot next to Teagan.234Please respect copyright.PENANAWq8j94YTME
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"What do you want to watch?" Teagan asks.234Please respect copyright.PENANAYjkHRt8J5W
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Louise shrugs. "I think there's some House episodes recorded."234Please respect copyright.PENANAx0migP2PS6
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Teagan looks at me. "Do you like House?"234Please respect copyright.PENANAtW35daokzG
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"I don’t know, I've never watched it."234Please respect copyright.PENANA3Wy0C5ngWb
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"How have you never seen House?"234Please respect copyright.PENANAv27geRU0pb
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"Grandparents didn't have it for VCR. Dad never had a working television."234Please respect copyright.PENANAUIdHpW0SHV
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"Well, you're going to see it now," she says.234Please respect copyright.PENANAuCboX6Mv3d
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Over the next few hours, we watch the show, with a few interruptions of Louise's mom coming to see if I want to buy any salsa. Despite my telling her that I don't have any money, I somehow end up with three jars of it. She never offers me any chips, though.234Please respect copyright.PENANAz8MZyYF6pS
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It's nearing eleven when Teagan announces that it's time for us to leave. She kisses Louise on the cheek and says goodbye before standing up and motioning for me to do so as well. So I do. I wave bye to Louise as we head for the exit.234Please respect copyright.PENANAGq3hniySsp
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Louise waves back. "Bye, Zucchini."234Please respect copyright.PENANA9T47OifPOW
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"She's going to call you that forever," Teagan says when we get outside.234Please respect copyright.PENANAUM4Aeih4kA
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I stare down the road, at the house from last night. "As long as she's calling me it in a friendly manner."234Please respect copyright.PENANAfXfXBXPYp8
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"She is. Hey, my mom should be here any second, do you need a ride home?" she asks.234Please respect copyright.PENANAmPPYxp8Uni
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An upstairs light in the house goes off, leaving it all dark. I change my focus to Teagan. "No, it's okay. I can walk, but thank you."234Please respect copyright.PENANAxazRtIGUEw
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"Alright, if you say so. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?"234Please respect copyright.PENANAVt7zHpxsZ8
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I nod. "Yeah, see you tomorrow."234Please respect copyright.PENANAG3NaZUlsG5
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I look back down at the house, lights still out, and I start walking.