Are you insane like me? Been in pain like me?

Are you high enough without Mary Jane like me?

Do you tear yourself apart to entertain like me?

Do the people whisper about you on the train like me? Saying that you shouldn't waste your pretty face like me?

And all the people say,

"You can't wake up, this is not a dream

You're part of a machine, you are not a human being

With your face all made up, living on a screen

Low on self-esteem, so you run on gasoline"

— Halsey

Flashback

unknown (Villain X)

'Two more years. I'm halfway through this four years prison they called high-school. I can do this.' I said it multiple times like a mantra as I walked through the door.

I looked around the crowded cafeteria, the entire school was on lunch break now and all seats seemed to be occupied. I was in no mood for lunch, not after the devastating news I'd received this morning.

But one thing I learned about high school was to never show your true feeling. No matter what, people would always judge you for it. If you told them your misery, they'd see it as weakness and then use it against you. I've seen people got bullied almost every day, hell, even I have been bullied during elementary school. When everyone had a pretty lunch box and I had to use paper-bag, they pointed fingers and called me names.

A voice interrupted my mind and I turned to see who had just called me. "Hey, come and sit with us!" A red-haired girl in our school cheerleader uniform waved at me. Her name was Cassandra and she was the head of the cheerleader. I didn't usually associate myself with the cheerleaders since they didn't really hang out with everyone else, except the football team. But on a special occasion like today, when they felt that they needed to do a charity by inviting other students to sit with them, they would invite me to their table.

I blinked back my tears and told myself the fact that the doctor found a tumor in my mother's brain yesterday didn't hurt. I put on a huge smile as I walked to their table.

It was only a few tables left when four figures caught my attention. Just like me, they were walking towards Cassandra. For a minute, I was in dazed as I watched them walking with confidence as if they could break down all the walls to clear their path.

Autumn, Jess, Norma, and Mey. Those were their names. They've been friends for as long as I could remember. If there was anything I wanted more than money for my mother's treatment, it was what they had: real friendship.

By the time I got to Cassandra, Autumn was putting down her tray right next to Cassandra's on the table. She turned to face me and smiled apologetically as she lifted her tray again. "Are you going to sit here? I'm sorry, I didn't know. I'm just going to find somewhere else to sit."

I was about to tell her that she could have the seat since I didn't feel to eat anyway, but Cassandra stood and held Autumn's tray. "Don't be silly. You're sitting here." She took the tray and put it back on the table. Turning around, she raised her eyebrows and put both hands on her hips as she looked down at me with a fake smile on her face. "You, however, good luck finding a seat."

What the hell?!

Anger boiled inside me. She was the one who called me to join them in the first place for god sake.

Autumn seemed to look annoyed at Cassandra's attitude. She crossed her arms and frowned. "Don't be rude, Cass."

"Fine," said the redhead cheerleader as she pressed her lips and faked another smile. "You can sit with us tomorrow. Okay, sweetie." There was no mistake that by that she meant otherwise.

Autumn looked at her, still not satisfied with her response, but I merely shrugged my shoulders as if it wasn't a big deal and walked away. I found an empty seat in the corner of the room. A girl was sitting there alone. The corner table wasn't exactly first class, no one wanted to sit there since it was on the far end of the cafeteria and close to the cleaning station.

As I walked closer, I noticed that the foods on her tray were left untouched. I let out a sigh. Maybe she was having a bad day, just like me.

"Hey, is this seat taken?" I asked her softly. If she said yes, I was ready to dump my tray on the cleaning station and be done with it.

She glanced up and that was when I realized she was crying. I quickly put down my tray on the table and took the seat beside her. "Hey, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

A weak smile appeared on her face. "I don't know."

"Tell me what's wrong. Maybe I could help." I reached for her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

She shook her head. "I don't think anyone can help." She pressed her lips tightly as she tried her best not to fall apart.

"Who said I'm just anyone?" I smiled. "I'm your friend. I have a feeling we're going to be the best of friends."

This time, she offered me a genuine smile and I took it as a good sign. "You don't even know my name."

"Well, then tell me. And tell me who made you cry because I will make sure that they'd pay for what they did to you."

I was making plans for the revenge while she went for a toilet. I saw the Canadian nerd sat two tables away, on the table next to his tray was an opened book where his eyes had been focusing on. Although his body was here, I knew his mind was elsewhere. He was too occupied with his own world to notice I was staring.

I looked at the tables in the center where the jocks and cheerleaders were at and noticed a blonde guy sitting on the jocks' table. Unlike the other, he didn't laugh at others' joke or making his own. He was simply eating his burger, minding his own business. Every a few seconds, he turned over his shoulder to the cheerleaders' table. For a second, I thought he was having a crush on one of the cheerleaders, but as I looked more carefully, I realized he wasn't looking at any of them. He was looking at Autumn Summers. When she stood and walked to the handsome quarterback, Luke, his eyes never left her. They were still on her while she was talking to Luke.

Geez, what a creep.

I let my eyes wander again. A blonde girl who kept stealing glances at the popular kids, a teacher who ducked his head down because nobody liked him, and a boy who didn't seem to fit in.

She came back with an apologetic smile. "Sorry. There's a long queue at the toilet." She looked at my nearly untouched foods. "Are you done?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Let's go." I picked up the tray and left it at the cleaning station. As we walked, I finally figured out what I had to do. "You know, we don't need to do the dirty work ourselves."

She looked at me with a quizzical brow. "What are you saying?"

"We can have minions. A lot of them. Just like Gru, we can make them do the dirty works while we sit tight and watch the world burn."

She stayed quiet for a few heartbeats and I thought she might want to call the whole things off. Yet when I was about to speak again, she said, "How to find our minions? I doubt anyone would want to do something for us. We're not exactly the popular kids."

"Honey, what I learned from life is that people don't work for free. But when they do, they work for the cause. We just have to know what they want in return. And maybe, we'll even manage to find people who want to destroy them as much as we do."

She giggled. "You sounded like a mastermind." A mischievous smile appeared on her face. "Do you know any of these people?"

I nodded. "I think I do."

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