ᕚ---ᕘ

When the alarm clock woke you up at 6am sharp, a hand grabbed the annoying troublemaker and slammed it against the wall. Grumbling, you whispered some swear words under your breath and piled the covers back over your head to avoid the outside world.

Unfortunately, the night always passed too quickly for you. You did not want to go back to school, lost all desire to return to your classroom every morning. For you, school was not a pleasure or an increase in your knowledge, but a single struggle for survival.

The knock on your door made you roll your eyes in annoyance. You quickly pushed the covers back against the end of the bed and sat up, rubbing a hand across your face to wipe the rest of sleep out of your eyes.

"Sleepyhead, are you awake?" your sister´s female voice asked muffled through the thick wood and you hesitated a moment with your answer, thinking about telling her that you were sick so you could stay at home, but you decided against it. "I am awake, I will be right there"

When you heard the footsteps moving away from your door, you slowly got in motion to get out of bed, leaving your small but beautiful kingdom to march into hell instead. In your room, you felt like you were in a glass box that shielded you from the outside world like a protective bubble. Here you were safe and at peace with all the people who loved you.

With a thoughtful face, you made your way to the open kitchen where Kara had already started conjuring up your breakfast. Throwing your backpack onto one of the free chairs at the dining table, you sat down on the bar stool opposite the blonde. Your head dropped to the wooden counter as your finger silently traced the texture.

"Is everything okay?" she murmured between pursed lips. Her head was cocked to the side, her long, honey blonde hair that was tied in a loose ponytail hanging down one of her shoulders. The knife that had recently been used loosely standing in her fist as she gazed at you intently. "You seem so calm to me lately"

Kara had suspected that something was on your mind, her sisterly instincts told her that something was very wrong. For weeks, there was something in your life that bothered you. You have been acting differently lately. Your behavior became withdrawn and calmer. You did not seem to have an appetite- you hardly ate anything anymore. However, she refrained from forcing you into a confession and possibly pushing you further away from her than you have been since your character transformation.

You looked over your shoulder and faltered, clearly uncomfortable at being asked the question. You did not want to tell her the truth, nor did you want to lie to your sister. Yet you were not ready to tell her what was going on in your life.

The blonde would drag the redhead into this situation and both of them might want to talk to your teacher or even your classmates. But that would probably make the situation worse, trigger further harassment.

"Yes. Yes, I am fine," you said quietly and turned your gaze to an imaginary point. Kara, on the other hand, kept her direct gaze strictly on you while an affirmative growl escaped her lips. "Actually, I am not hungry at all. Can you pack it for me?"

She sighed and walked around the kitchen counter to get to you. Her hands grabbed your shoulders and gently stroked them before she pulled you back and gently hugged you from behind. The sudden, loud pounding of your heart and the nervous playing with your fingers, made it clear to the young woman that you seemed to be struggling with yourself. "You can always talk to me, okay? I am here for you"

You snuggled into her arms, which hugged you tightly and full of strength into her body while one of them gently stroked your hair. "I know," you assured her, your voice breaking slightly as you tilted your head up to look at her. "You are always there when I need you"

ᕚ---ᕘ

Despite getting up and leaving the house on time, you missed fifteen minutes of the first lesson. You had dawdled your way to school, getting more nervous each time you took a step further into the building.

Walking up the last few steps to your classroom and turning left down the hallway, you reached the first door of the corridor where math had already started. You nervously wiped your sweaty hands on your jeans and mentally prepared yourself for the impending confrontation. Then, you opened the door and the noise level in the class dropped significantly.

"You are late," your teacher spoke as he sat down at his desk and wrote an entry into the register. You paused at the door and surveyed the nineteen other teenagers before he looked at you warningly and you knew that because of all your delays, the crosses behind your name lined up like on a cementary. "Will not happen again"

On the way to your seat in the back row, the most famous girl tripped you and you stumbled, but managed to catch yourself before you hit the floor. Laughter filled the room and a lame joke was made about you. "Too stupid to walk, Danvers?"

You pained facial expression smoothed out and with an inconspicuous sideways glace, you looked appraisingly at Cindy before your teacher´s loud voice called for order. He ordered you to finally sit down and not disturb the class further than you already did.

Before you even sat down, you saw the doodled on your table that you had not noticed before. They had been re-scribed into the surface of the wood and highlighted with black marker. There is one word you were particularly sad to read about: fag.

Tears welled up in your eyes, which you tried to hold back as your stomach began to cramp up. You made no secret about your sexuality and were relatively open on the subject, yet you did not think it would ever be used against you.

"Who was that?" your trembling voice made it´s way between quiet laughter and silenced them completely. All eyes were on you, but they were by no means pitiable. With that, you turned around and left the room straight away.

The school hallway was not the widest construction and even with few students it seemed to be bursting at the seams. Other teenagers walked past you, it got a little cramped, and you were jostled and pushed against the wall.

Shortly thereafter, you fist collided with the wall, repeatedly hitting the white plaster in short frequencies. Tears rolled down your cheeks and mixed with the blood that smeared on your knuckles as you wiped them from your eyes.