The second Ava set foot in the building, she felt all eyes on her. However, her pride wouldn’t allow her to falter. Instead, Ava gave the entryway a sweeping, bored look. Abigail, at her side, smiled at the room.

Ava and Abigail stood together as their packmates split up, a river parting around two rocks. They’d all been given a private tour of the campus earlier in the summer, so they knew where their classes were. This also meant that no one had seen them before.

Ava glanced around the room again before looking to Abigail, who grinned at her, blue eyes flashing. Ava gave her a tight grin, and she knew Abigail would read her dread in it.

“Come on, let’s get to class. Maybe by then everyone will have their fill of staring at us,” Abigail added loudly. Ava bit back a laugh at the surprise in most of the humans’ faces.

“Let them stare if they have nothing better to do,” Ava said, giving the room another bored look. This time, only one person met her eyes.

Ava let her gaze rake over the boy across the room from her, not bothering to hide her stare, like he didn’t bother to hide his. Ava was thoroughly unimpressed. Sure, he was attractive, but shifters didn’t put much stock in a pretty face. The most interesting part of him were his eyes, the way they didn’t look away from her like every other human had.

Of course, it helped that his eyes were the most beautiful shade of green that Ava had ever seen. They were a soft, jade color that shouldn’t have been so obviously green from such a distance, but they were.

And yeah, his dark, messy hair and impossibly clear olive toned skin were gorgeous. Not that Ava cared.

Really, he looks like he just woke up, Ava thought irritably. He just has nice bedhead. 

Abigail noticed her attention and followed her gaze to the boy. Abigail smiled at him and finally, finally, he looked away. Ava forced herself to look at Abigail and gestured in the direction of their first class.

“Ready?” Abigail grinned at Ava’s question and nodded. The two headed to calculus, and Ava swore to push thoughts of the boy from her mind. Ava succeeded, until her third class of the day; homeroom. Ava took a seat in the back of the room, watching the other students file in.

Ava’s first class had been with Abigail, but her second, government, had been spent alone in the back of the room. Ava had full well planned to spend homeroom the same way, but she didn’t get her way.

With seconds until the bell rang, the boy she’d seen in the foyer strode in, the teacher on his heels. They quickly finished whatever conversation they'd been having before walking in, the boy giving a mocking two-fingered salute in response to whatever the teacher said last.

The teacher, Ms. Alvarado, was pretty, Ava supposed. Beauty didn’t mean much to shapeshifters, aside from giving them ideas for a new form. Ava studied her, as was habit. She’d grown up learning that beauty was a weapon, and Ava had been taught how to wield it well.

Ms. Alvarado was pretty in a way that would be foreign to the shifters Ava had grown up around. Her beauty was soft, natural, comforting, whereas the shifters she’d known were all pointed smiles and flashing eyes, and weapons, through and through, like swords fresh from the forge.

Dark, wavy hair fell to Ms. Alvarado’s ribs, soft and shining, but slightly messy, like she hadn’t bothered to style it in any way. Her glasses were askew on her nose. Ava watched her adjust them, noting the way they complemented her appearance in some unexplainable way.

Warm, caramel eyes looked out over the class, a joyful light shining from them. A friendly, open smile graced Ms. Alvarado’s lips, the kind that made you feel welcome the second she looked at you.

She had the height of a model, and a gorgeous, deeply tanned complexion. There was no denying she was beautiful.

But the thing that stood out most to Ava, the one thing that no shifter in their right mind would stand for, were the wrinkles. Soft creases appeared beside her eyes, and in her forehead, the most obvious sign of her age, which appeared to be in her early forties. Most shifters would sooner die than have wrinkles like that. This small detail forced Ava to like the woman, only a bit.

Ms. Alvarado went to her desk, while the guy was left to find a seat. There were only two seats left: one beside Ava, and one beside a girl a couple rows in front of her.

The guy started walking down the aisle and the girl preened, tossing her thick, golden brown hair over her shoulder, smiling at him when he glanced her way.

The guy didn’t even slow on his way past the girl. Ava tried not to feel surprised, and even if she did, it sure as hell didn’t show on her face.

The guy slumped into the seat and glanced at her once before pulling out his phone and typing out a quick message. Ava noticed another guy towards the front of the room turn to look back at the person beside her before turning his attention to his own phone. Ava ignored both of them and looked to the teacher, who had stood and walked to the front of the room.

“Hello everyone, it’s good to see you,” Ms. Alvarado said brightly. Ava leaned her chin on her hand, already bored. “I’m sure you’ve all heard a lot about the changes to the curriculum. One of these is a new class, which you may have noticed on your schedule. Inhuman Basics.

“In that class, you’ll be learning about all kinds of Inhumans, so that you’ll be better prepared to interact with them. Inhumans are not required to take this class, so they will either have an off-period, or they will have the choice of a different elective.” Ava had taken the off-period.

Ava listened to the students around her whisper to each other, just bored enough to actually try and listen to the ones closest to her, instead of Ms. Alvarado. To her right, a pair of girls were shooting dark looks at the blonde girl a few rows up, trading some of the most creative insults Ava had ever heard. For a heartbeat, she wondered what the girl had done to deserve such hatred, but decided she really didn’t care.

The boys in front of her were quieter, and all Ava could catch was one word: “monster.” It left a sour taste in her mouth, and her hand curled into a fist, nails scraping along her desk in the process. The boys froze at the sound and very pointedly didn’t turn around to look at her.

“I have one more announcement, before you get too carried away,” Ms. Alvarado said, smiling. “The school board had an idea to make our new students more comfortable, and help them to get to know us better.

“Each Inhuman student has been partnered with a human student who has volunteered to be a sort of mentor to them. Basically, you are expected to get to know each other, and if our new students have any questions or need help adjusting, the mentors are supposed to help.”

Ava watched as one of the boys in front of her stood up, still not looking at her. Instead he faced Ms. Alvarado, leveling a poisonous glare at the teacher.

“Can I help you, Jeoffrey?” Ms. Alvarado asked with a smile, laugh lines crinkling. Jeoffrey started to shrink back, but his buddy pushed him, an urge to speak.

“Isn’t it bad enough the school decided to let these freaks come here? Why do we have to be friends with them too? So they have a better chance to kill us?” Jeoffrey added, finally looking at Ava, hatred in his eyes. “How many humans have you killed, monster?”

Ava opened her mouth to answer, the edges of her vision tinged red, but before she could say anything, a voice to her left spoke up.

“Shut up Jeff,” the boy beside her said. “Don’t be such a moron. And so self-centered. You don’t have to be friends with them, unless you volunteered, like anyone who isn’t a total dick would do. Just sit down man, and shut up,” he said again, more forcefully, when Jeoffrey opened his mouth to argue again.

“Fuck you, Ry,” Jeoffrey spat hotly. “Just because your sister's a freak-”

Ry shot out of his seat, eyes flashing with an anger Ava recognized. It was exactly how she felt anytime someone insulted her pack. She was surprised to see another boy up front stand up, the same expression on his face.

“Ry’s right Jeff, shut up before you say something you regret,” the other boy said, voice cold. Jeoffrey glanced at him and paled a bit, but still didn’t sit down.

“Don’t tell me what to do, fag,” Jeoffrey shouted. Ava saw red again and started to stand. Before she could do anything, Ms. Alvarado’s voice rang out, harsher than Ava would have imagined she could speak.

“Jeoffrey Adams, get out of my classroom, right now.” Ava saw Ry’s anger mirrored in her eyes, and kept her seat, Argent’s voice ringing in her ears. She couldn’t help but smirk at Jeoffrey as he walked past, and she half expected him to try and hit her. He kept walking, and Ava couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. Ms. Alvarado sighed and went to her desk to hurriedly scrawl something on a notepad. When she left the room, the class burst into whispered conversations again.

Ava ignored them this time, opting to text Abigail instead and let her know what happened. She thought her summary was pretty decent. Asshole alert. Some jackass spouting off bullshit in homeroom. Why was everyone so excited for this?

Abigail didn’t seem to think it was enough, though. wtf??????????

Ava bit her lip to keep from smiling and sent a quick reply, distracted by the boy who’d come to Ry’s defense walking their way. Tell you later.

Ava kept her eyes on her phone as the other boy approached, surreptitiously glancing at them out of the corners of her eyes.. He shot a glare over his shoulder at Jeoffrey’s friend before turning his attention on Ry.

“Hey man, are you okay?” He asked, concern written across his face. “That stuff he said about Diana…” He trailed off, but it was enough to get Ry to look at him.

“He’s an asshole,” Ry said quietly, but not meekly. “I already knew that. Thanks for standing up for her though,” he added, a small, but genuine smile appearing for a few brief seconds. The other boy smiled back, brighter than the sun.

“I’d do anything for you and your family,” he responded softly, before turning to Ava and flashing another 500-kilowatt smile. “Hey, sorry about that guy. Hope he didn’t ruin your first day.”

“Not like I was expecting much,” Ava said, voice colder than ice. He didn’t even falter, just stuck out his hand to shake.

“My name’s Jackson, by the way,” he said when Ava reluctantly shook his hand. She noted that his skin was almost the exact same mocha color as hers, and that he wasn’t fazed at all by the points of her nails resting against his wrist. That was usually enough to throw most humans off balance.

“I’m Ava,” she said, the words slipping out of her mouth before she could stop them. She berated herself inwardly. She wasn’t supposed to befriend the humans. It wasn’t worth it when they’d all turn on her eventually.

“Nice to meet you,” Jackson said happily, reminding her a bit of Abigail. Ava never understood how some people could smile so much. He started to say something else, but stopped when Ms. Alvarado came back inside. He flashed Ava another smile before going back to his desk up front.

Ms. Alvarado smiled tiredly at the class before taking a seat at her desk.

“Ava Dubois, Ry, come up to my desk for a moment.” Ava bit back a sigh and stood, Ry doing the same beside her, avoiding looking at her.

This was the exact opposite of what Ava had wanted. She didn’t want the attention Jeoffrey had drawn to her today, and she definitely didn’t want to make any new friends. Still, she forced herself to walk over to Ms. Alvarado’s desk, coming face to face with yet another blinding smile.

“Ava, before I start, I’d like to say welcome to our school,” Ms. Alvarado gushed, still smiling at her, like Ava was her favorite person in the room. Ava didn’t know how to feel about that.

“Ry,” Ms. Alvarado said, turning to the boy beside Ava, “I expect you to treat her well.” Ava bit back a scoff; she didn’t need someone to ‘treat her well.’ She was perfectly fine on her own.

“Yeah, okay.” Ry rolled his eyes at Ms. Alvarado, and the woman sighed exasperatedly. She glanced up at Ava, a smile in her eyes, like Ava was in on some little joke.

“Ava, this is my son, Ry. I’m sure the two of you will get along well. I'll let the two of you decide how to keep in contact, and how friendly you want to be.” Ava wanted to snap that she didn't want to be friendly at all, thank you very much, but she bit her tongue. Literally. Ava tasted blood as she spun on her heel and turned her back on Ms. Alvarado.

Ava and Ry went back to their seats, and Ava fully expected him to turn to her and start chatting away, if only to appease his mother. He didn't. Instead, he went back to tapping away at his phone.

Ava told herself she was happy that he wasn't talking to her, but she was a bit bothered by it. She was used to people paying attention to her, and she liked it, liked knowing that people couldn't take their eyes off of her, liked knowing that her beauty was appreciated. Shapeshifters were vain by nature, and being ignored didn't sit well with her.

Ava shoved the feeling down, down, down. She would not let this one human throw her off balance like this. Ava pulled out her phone and opened up one of the games she had downloaded to pass the time.

Ava spent almost all of the half hour she had in homeroom on her phone, until right before the bell rang. Then, finally, Ry looked up from his phone. He didn't look at her, though.

Ry reached into his bag and pulled out a notebook. Ava forced herself not to stare at whatever he was scribbling onto the page. Moments later, Ry tore the paper out and slid it wordlessly across the desk right as the bell rang. Ry left the room hurriedly while Ava picked up the note. It was just a phone number, and a couple sentences beneath it.

Call or text me if you need anything. You don't seem like the type to ask for help, but you can ask me. And if anyone like Jeoffrey gives you trouble again, let me know. I’ll deal with them.

Ava glowered at the note, annoyed by the suggestion that she couldn't handle herself. Yet she still folded it up and stuck it in her back pocket before leaving.