Chapter 13

Friday, 30th of November, 2035

(Mandy)

Friday morning came and I woke relatively refreshed. I got myself ready, grabbed a quick breakfast, said good bye to Gwen, and was off. I met D at the end of the road and we walked to school.

"Do you fancy doing something at the weekend," asked D.

"Sure, what did you have in mind?" I replied.

"We could go shopping."

"I don't have any money," I said with a shrug.

"We don't need to buy anything, just browse."

"I suppose," I said, not particularly taken with the idea.

"It'll help you get in touch with your inner girl."

"Hmm," I said not convinced.

"I promise you'll enjoy yourself. If Jane's free the two of us will take you round and show you a girls day out."

"OK, I'll check with Gwen if it's alright but I don't think it will be a problem."

"How is it working out with your sister suddenly being effectively your parent. It must be difficult for both of you."

"It has taken some adjusting to get used to, I think more for Gwen than for me. She has always been my big sister and someone who looked after me when I needed it, so the change from that to someone that's in charge of me legally isn't such a big step. But for her she's suddenly responsible for me without anyone else being in charge of her. She's gone from being barely an adult trying to find some independence from her family to legal guardian and provider to her younger sister."

"A big step."

I nodded, "Yeah, she still forgets sometimes. When I ask her for permission to do something she gets this funny 'What are you asking me for' look before she remembers she's in charge."

"It's cool that she is trying to do the best for you though. Her and Mum having a war council to try and help you out."

"That's a funny thought Gwen and your Mum having a war council. Both of them are not really the warrior type."

"No, I guess it's 'coz they care for you so much that they are acting so out of character."

"Yeah, it is nice to think I've got them both in my corner. It's also good that your Mum and Gwen seem to be becoming good friends. Gwen lost most of hers when she sided with me."

"It's cool, sort of makes the four of us a family."

"Guess that makes you 'big' sister too." I said with a grin.

"Oi, no jokes about my size or I'll put you over my knee, little sister." said D giving me a playful tap on the arm.

We laughed about this the rest of the way to school. We met Jane, who gave us both funny looks for all the big sister little sister patter, at the gate. D confirmed the plans for the weekend with Jane who looked overjoyed. They started planning to teach me about all sorts of girly things from make-up to the finer points of dating.

I was pretty much ignored while the teacher checked the register. I guess all the groups that disliked me had decided to ignore me to see if I would go away. Soon Mr. Griffiths had ticked off my attendance and it was off to the first lesson of the day. Another double science, Mrs. Murphy gave me a look when I walked in.

I found that there was now an exclusion zone around me. A gap of a table on either side with some of Stacy's lot on one side and some MORFS survivors on the other. Both groups kept shooting me hateful glances. I did my best to not let that upset me.

Apart from that the lesson went fairly well, with me, Jane and D worked together. We had to contend with people stealing our equipment for the experiments but we got on with it.

At the end of the lesson Mrs. Murphy asked to speak to me. D and Jane stayed and refused to leave.

"What happened with the incident with Stacy Smith?" she asked.

"Nothing," I replied.

"My Mum and her sister Gwen even came in to complain but it did no good," D added.

"I can't believe that nothing is being done," said Mrs. Murphy, "I may be relatively new teaching here, but I can't help but feel that this isn't what I expected from this school."

"From what I've heard Mrs. Thomas is in a bad position," said Jane. "She's barely holding on to her job as it is with anti-MORFS elements trying to oust her so they can get a more favourable head teacher in."

"I didn't realise things were that bad, call me young and idealistic, but I thought teachers got into this line of work to help any child learn. You hardly do it for the money," said Mrs. Murphy.

"Well Mum and Gwen are going to see if there is anything they can do for Tish," said D. "We have friends too and hopefully some of them can counter Stacy's backers."

"I see you stopped hiding yourself," said Mrs. Murphy. "How has that been?"

"Well apart from the fact that almost everyone seems to hate me now it's been OK," I replied.

"I noticed that people seem to be staying away from you," said Mrs. Murphy.

"Yeah, Stacy's lot because of who I am and what I look like, the MORFS lot because Trisha has labelled me a traitor, and I think some of the MORFS lot don't like hybrids either," I said.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry you are having a tough time of it," said Mrs. Murphy.

"I try not to let it bother me," I said, trying not to look as depressed as the whole thing made me feel. I tried to look on the bright side, "Besides I have two of the best friends anyone could wish for."

I got smiles from both Jane and D for that.

"Well if you have any more trouble I want you to tell me. I want you to have at least one teacher on your side," Mrs. Murphy said.

I thanked her and then D, Jane, and I went off to the library for what was left of our break.

When we entered the library I saw Sally and waved. She waved back and came running over, looking and feeling quite happy.

"Hi Tish," she said.

"Hi Sally how are you doing?" I asked.

"Better, I talked to this shrink I met because of what happened to my friend. She works at the local post-MORFS centre, she's helping me deal with my guilt permanently. Before I was too down to even think of her, but she was more than happy to help me. She was quite impressed with your quick fix," Sally said.

"I'm glad you're getting help I'd hate to see you slip back into how you were before. You say she works at the post-MORFS centre, it wouldn't be Anna would it?" I asked.

"Yeah Anna Clark, you know her?" she replied.

"Oh yes, Anna is a nice lady. I met her when I first came here. Tell her Mort said hi next time you see her." I said.

"Is that another nick name," asked Sally.

"No it was my name from before, short for Mortimer," I said without really thinking about it.

"Mortimer? You were a boy?" Sally asked quizzically.

I felt a surge of panic. Why did I have to tell her that? I had probably just ruined our new friendship, "Yes," I replied breaking eye contact waiting for the hammer to drop.

But instead of reacting badly she gently lifted my chin with one hand and smiled then said, "Well your secrets safe with me. I better get on with my maths homework, I'll see you later Tish."

She took off back to her table and I got stuck into my homework.

Sooner than I would have liked it was time to go to our next lesson further humanities this time. We packed up and set off, on the way over I needed to use the bathroom. I told D and Jane to save me a place, but D said they would wait, not wanting me to walk the corridors alone any longer than I had to.

I was just washing my hands when there was a commotion outside and some intense emotions. A few moments later Helen came charging through the door looking frantically for a place to hide. She looked at me fearfully.

I heard people out in the corridor, "She came this way. She must have gone in there." a voice shouted.

I looked over at the frantic and terrified Helen and made a split second decision to help her. There wasn't much time, I had to hope that my idea would work.

I grabbed Helen and pressed her against the wall, in the corner out of the way. She screamed in fright.

I clasped my hand over her lips then pressed myself against her as close as I could and activated my invisibility willing the field to extend around the two of us. Getting close to the wall helped as I only had to generate half of the field. Still it was a strain to stretch it over her as well as me. All the practice with the mask earlier in the week seemed to have strengthened my abilities a bit, I would have to remember to practice more.

I whispered in the frightened Helen's ear, "Keep still, I'm not going to hurt you."

I gently removed my hand from her mouth and kept dead still, we were in plain sight the slightest movement would give us away. The three girls who had been chasing Helen came smashing into the room I watched them carefully using a mirror next to the sink since my back was to the door. Helen watched with terrified eyes but she kept still and didn't make a sound.

"Where is she, she must have come in here," shouted one of the girls.

"Check the stalls!" shouted another.

They started kicking open the toilet doors checking behind them and anywhere they thought Helen might be hiding.

"She's not here she must have gone in one of the classrooms," said the third girl.

"She's probably long gone by now, we'll be late for class at this rate. We'll get her at lunch," said the first girl.

"Yeah, we'll teach that little traitor good," said the second one.

The three of them rushed off laughing. When I was sure they were gone I stepped back and dropped my invisibility field.

I gave Helen a lopsided smile and said, "Sorry I grabbed you like that but there wasn't time to explain."

She gave me a strangle look then said, "Why did you help me?"

"I know what it's like to be an outcast it's not quite as bad for me here as it is for you but still it's only a few steps away," I said. "Besides you helped me once by telling the truth, that deserves you getting some help in return."

She stared at me for a bit then said quietly, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," I replied.

We walked to the door I went first then motioned to Helen when I was sure it was clear. I got some raised eyebrows from D and Jane when I wandered out of the toilets with Helen. Helen stared at me for a bit then ran off, I hoped she would avoid whatever punishment the 3 girls had in store for her at lunch.

"What was that all about?" Jane asked.

"I hid her when the girls came in," I replied.

"Why? She's one of Stacy's, lot out of favour maybe, but a anti-MORFS through and through," said D looking confused.

"She stood up for me once when she didn't have to, which means she isn't all bad," I replied

D looked at me doubtfully, but said nothing. We headed off to our next lesson barely making it in time.

Since we were only just in time, there were only a few free seats scattered about so we took the few that were available. The girl I sat next to made it very clear I had to move so I was standing up looking for somewhere else to sit when the teacher told me to sit down. When I said that the girl didn't want me sitting there the teacher said I would sit where he told me to sit and the other girl could lump it.

This was followed by a lengthy argument from the girl who claimed that making her sit next to me breached her human rights which only ended when D offered to swap with her.

After that was done we got on with our lesson.

An hour and yet more homework later and it was time for French. I had been studying how the basics worked at home but I was still a long way behind. The teacher had suggested that I get some private tuition to get up to speed, but the cost was prohibitive. I would have to do the best I could learning in my spare time.

It was then time for lunch, someone pushed me while I was standing in the queue and I nearly fell down which caused the group of people to cackle, till D turned around and threatened to rearrange their faces. D was becoming very protective of me even more so than before, jumping on the slightest hint of an attack. I worried this would get her into trouble, that Stacy and her ilk would use D's protectiveness to get her expelled and then once she was out of the way move on to me. I was sure she was the only reason they didn't openly attack me.

While we were at lunch I got a feeling of a strange third faction that seemed to have developed around me. While the other two hated me the third one (or 3rd and 4th one depending on how you divided it) seemed to like me but for all the wrong reasons. They had heard of me standing up to either Stacy, or Trisha, or both, and saw me as some sort of hero who would save them from these two. Since I could barely save myself, I didn't think I was much of a saviour to these people, but still they were desperately clinging to the idea that there was some way away from either or both of these two bullies. The fact that I was associated with defying both seemed to only magnify my status with this group. To stand up to one was a feat but to do both was the stuff of legend.