Chapter 4: Chapter 3
I stared at the student Identity card with groggy eyes, still tired from last night. Or rather, I stared hard at the name on it.
Victoria Miriam Johnson.
It still irritated me to this day that the they had changed my last name. My original last name had been given to me by the matron of the Orphanage, who was the closest person I had to an actual parent. She has given me the name of Celemine because when she found me on the doorstep of the orphanage, it looked as if the I was being basked in the moon light.
Victoria Miriam Celemine was my actual name, at least the one that I choose to refer to myself as.
I felt a smile tug at my face which was promptly replaced with a sad frown. It was days like these when I miss her. When I am about to begin a new chapter of my life. In more ways than one in this case. I thought as I looked at hiding spot of my book.
I shook my head to get rid of the somber thoughts. The book can wait. I had a much more dangerous task awaiting me.
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I left the house after muttering a goodbye to my 'parents'. Unlike my siblings, , I prefered to take the scenic route to school via the bus. Mostly because I would be able to go with the my friends instead of having to wait for them.
I walked down the roads I had familiarised myself with in the two short years that I had been living here. It was hard to believe that I was almost 14 now.
Suddenly I spotted a familiar head of hair walking to the bus station. It was the brown haired, mousy, bespectacled, too-smart-for-his-own-good, upper-classman who also happend to be my best friend. I raised my hand before opening my mouth to call him only to freeze as I properly saw him. He was no longer mousy, having somehow added a few inches to his height, gone was his usual slouched posture as he stood straight. And while he used to be as a stickman, he now had muscles growing on his body, obscured by the baggy clothes that he wore. Oh and he was no longer wearing glasses. The Peter I remember couldnt see five feet infront of him without glasses.
I was incredulous, we had not seen each other all summer but to have changed that much within such a short time, he would have to have had to use steroids or something. Something I knew he wouldn't do. Of course there were better explanation such as this was his look-alike. If magic was possible, so was that.
Regardless I opted not to call out to him incase if it indeed was someone else and instead briskly walked up to him while he was waiting at the bustop. I tapped on his shoulder and boy turned to me and sure enough, this indeed was Peter.
"Peter? I almost didn't recognise you." I wrapped my arms around the older boy as I spoke. "Look at you. I think you grew up a few inches."
"Y.. Yeah. I had growth spurt in in the summer and I've been regularly hitting the gym." Peter spoke his eyes slightly darting to the sides making it obvious that he was lying. Even so, I didn't say anything. I knew that things had been hard for him ever since the death of his uncle last summer, so much so that the only contact we had was through our phones. As such I chose to leave it be at the moment.
"Did you get contacts?" I asked, pointing at his eyes.
"Umm. Yeah." he muttered.
Any further conversation was interrupted when I heard a vehicle approach. I saw a a red convertible a coming from our left, with a certain blonde hair boy clutching something on his free hands, his eyes locked onto Peter who had his back turned to him. I opened my mouth to warn him but by then, the boy had thrown the object, which turned out to be a half empty smoothie cup aimed at Peter. I could only watch the inevitable collision. Or at least that was until Peter twisted his body to the side, barely dodging the oncoming projectile causing it crash on to the lawn, a few meters away from us, sending the smoothie splashing around it.
"Yo Parker? You didn't like my gift? I put so much thought into it." The blonde boy chuckled and his friends laughed in in turn. The aforementioned jackass was the school's star football player and Peter's main tormentor by the name of Flash Thompson(Wait is it Thompson or Thomson). I opened my mouth to cuss them out but restarted the engine, drowning my words before speeding away.
"Nice to see that somethings never change." Peter joked. But I wasn't paying attention to him. I was more focused on the fact that he had managed to expertly dodge the cup even though he had his back to them. Something had happened to by friend and I wanted to find out what. But for now I will keep this to myself.
We spent the next few moments, chatting and discussing our classes until the bus arrived. The ride itself wasn't really eventful however the moment we reached the school and got off the bus, we each saw something that brought a scowl to our faces. For different reasons. Peter because he spotted a red headed girl who used to be one of his and by extension my best friends. Mary Jane Watson. She used to be Peters neighbor, the pair had grown up together and were practically inseparable until a few years ago. MJ hit puberty and won the jackpot as she was blessed with a bombshell of a body with a talent for acting and modelling. People started wanting to become her friends, ones belonging to the more popular cliques. Pretty soon, she began spending less and less time with us until she stopped hanging with us altogether. Soon after that, her father was transfered to another city and the whole family had moved.
Now the sight of my former friend was a shocking, I had long since come to terms with MJ practically abandoning us. As such the cause for my scowl was someone else entirely. It was the girl who was currently talking to MJ. It was a blonde haired green eyed girl who happened to be the stereotypical mean girl in my year. She is one to get along with most people baring her friends and people belonging to the more crowds. And for some reason, she has had it out for me since the moment we laid eyes on each other. She has actively attempted to sabotage my projects, stolen my work and tried to get me in trouble multiple times. So when I had overheard her talking about her parents moving her to a private school, I was ecstatic. But evidently, either her parents changed their minds or she didn't qualify. Her name is Annabeth Thompson(? 🤔), sister of Flash Thompson.
"Please MJ the sale is only for today and stupid brother doesn't want to drive us there. Come on it will be fun." The girl spoke in her signature pleading voice which more sounded more like someone was taking nails to a chalkboard. Me and Peter muttered our goodbyes and snuck our way to our separate classes. Neither of us were obviously too keen on talking to either of them.
Peter was 2 years ahead of me. Yet I had managed to qualify for some of the advanced placement classes I share with him. Unfortunately I still had to tolerate others my age in the remaining classes such as the one I was headed to now, Physics. I all but collapse into one of the seats in the back upon reaching there, still tired and sore from last night. Honestly, I wanted nothing more than to go to sleep so that I can begin training in earnest once I go home.
I crossed my arms in the desk and rested my head on it, to try and catch some sleep. Hopefully I'd get that elderly teacher for Physics. The one who tends to ignore the ones asleep in class. Unfortunately, the impromptu nap was interrupted not two minutes later by the voice of a certain blonde.
"Hey. Wierdo that's my seat." Annabeth spat. If this was any other day, I would have relented if only to shut her up. This was a common move she has pulled over the years. And it wasn't worth it challenge on it as would complain yo the teacher most of the time in response. However, I was currently too tired to put up with her BS and all too irritated since I would rather have been learning magic than deal with the hormonal gauntlet that is highschool.
"Not happening. I was here first and frankly, I'm not in the mood to deal with your s***. So why don't you and your little friends go and sit in the empty seats in the front?". I said.
"Did you grow a pair of balls during the summer, Johnson?" Annabeth replied, her voice obviously irate.
"Nope. Just not in the mood to deal with you." I replied while waving dismissively at her all the while keeping my head in the desk, not even bothering to face her.
Annabeth tried to say something else but was interuptted when Mrs Morgan entered. She was a tenured professor from a very distinguished college who was here on loan for a few years. She was also known for her no nonsense attitude and strict tutelage. Annabeth knew that complaining to her about me was futile hence she wordlessly took an empty seat away from me. While I was thankful for her help even if it was indirect, it also meant that I wouldn't be able to rest due to her presence. And so, I lifted my head off the desk and took out my books, getting ready for the class.
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[Later that day]
I had known that Annabeth was going to try and get back at me for this morning and she did so during the Gym period, my least favorite activity of the day. I was neve a very active person, the only physical activity I partook being the jogging I did once in a while.
Same couldn't be said for Annabeth who was the captain of the track team and her friends. When the teacher had asked us what we wanted to do, Annabeth had excitedly yelled out dodgeball which in itself wasn't too odd. What was odd though was that several of her friends were in my team instead of hers though it didn't take long before it was clear why.
The moment the game began, one of them shoulder checked me making me stumble. The girls on the other team then barraged me with the balls. One caught me straight in the nose and my world exploded in pain. I clutched my nose and before long, felt a something oozing out of it. I almost didnt hear the coach blowing his whistle before coming to check up on me.
I was escorted to the nurse who confirmed my suspicions. My nose was broken. Thankfully, Annabeth didn't get out of this scot free as both the teacher had seen me getting shoulder checked and being barraged on purpose. She was given detention which probably won't last long considering her parents were lawyers and both she and her brother were star players in their respective sports.
Of course there was a silver lining. I was sent home and was given permission to take leave for the next few days. Meaning I would be able to train without any interruptions for the next few days. Perhaps I'll use that time to come up with a way to properly 'thank' Annabeth. Maybe conjure fire ants under her clothes, or some venomous snakes. Or maybe some of the more obscure fauna from Australia. Whatever happens, I intended to make her pay for this.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone