Wood on steel, she hit the board. Mrs.Shelly never stopped swinging that pointer stick of hers.


'....and that's why slavery is looked down upon, even still today.'


I looked at Jack and Lily, they're the best friends you could ask for. They never ceased to make me happy like my mom and dad, shame I have to go to school.


'Zen.'


I kept lookin' about the room, class is awfully boring. I wish I could go to the playground right now.


'Zen?'


I tapped my pencil against the desk, and looked at Lily and Jack, who now moved their eyes to the side. 'What?'


'Zen!'


'Oh,' I looked at Mrs.Shelly, who stood no more than a foot from me, with a girl next to her, 'Yes miss?'


'Could you show our new student around? You know the school pretty well.'


I hopped out my seat, 'Thank you miss, I won't let you regret this!'


The class looked at me and laughed.


'You're in 5th grade, I've already grown to regret coming here,' Mrs.Shelly went back to the front.


Leaving the classroom, I stood beside the girl. 'What's your name.'


She stood there, in a white dress at that. Her lips pursed, posture stiff, hands entwined, and head down. Her blonde hair drooped over.


'Well names Zen, and I'll show you around,' I threw my arms out to my side. Showing her around, I've grown to tell she was really shy. Brushing my brown hair back, I made a silly pose, licked my finger, and placed it on my bum. 'Tsssss,' I looked at her face, she held in a laugh.

Finishing the tour, we returned to class. Walking in, I saw the teacher was out in the connector. Seeing all the students up and talking, she's probably gonna be absent for awhile. I ran to Lily and Jack. 'Guy's, did you see that fight from the Black Swordsman against the EVIL-' I wiggled my fingers at them, 'Dr.Converter.'

Jack rolled his eyes.

'It was amazing,' Lily said with her quiet, gentle, soothing voice.

'I still don't know what name is "Dr.Converter," ' Jack made a dumb face about it.

'Well either way, I wish I could be like the Black Swordsman, mysterious and powerful!'

'Zen, you need powers.'

Zen pouted. 'I know...'

A girl screamed.

At that, the three of us quickly turned. What we saw was monstrous.

The three biggest kids were pulling at the new girls hair.


I didn't move. I couldn't act. I just watched and waited for our teacher to comeback. Looking around, everyone else was afriad like me. Looking to see if our teacher was coming, she didn't hear.

Jack put his hand on my shoulder, 'A heros might isn't just shown by powers,' he smirked, 'There's more to i-'

I sprinted, leaping on a desk, I jumped and tackled one of the boys, 'Leave her alone!'

The other two dropped her.

'Get him you idiots, Zens nothing compared to the rest of us!,' Hanson shouted.

'Right,' Gabe responded. Picking me up, he slammed me into the third one.

Grabbing and holding me tightly, James laughed, 'Idiot.'

Going in to punch me, I slipped free, making Gabe and Hanson land clean blows on James. Turning to face me, I punched Hanson in the face, causing him to loose balance.

Dodging Gabe, I pushed him into the Hanson. Like dominos, the three of them all fell over, mouths bleeding.

Sneering the blood from my nose, the teacher walked in.

Seeing three beat up boys, then me, she exploded. 'Zen! You know better! I'm gonna have to call your parents now,' she went over to her desk.

'Wait, but I didn't-I mean I did, but the-'

'I don't want to hear it!' Mrs.Shelly didn't care.

Looking to see if anyone would back me up, the class was quiet, my friends were quiet, but then, she spoke.

'Wait!' She closed her eyes and shot her hand into the air, 'Those boys were picking on me,' her voice was cracking, she was very nervous, 'But Zen protected me,' but she kept on talking, for my sake.

'Oh, but that still doesn't promote physical violence! All of you,' She gave a weak smile to me, 'Principal's office!'

We left.

Walking into the principal's office, none of us spoke the whole way. Walking out his office, the principal's eyes widened, 'Oh Zen! You're already here,' He seemed surprised, but sad all at once.

'I know sir, I normally never get in trouble, but-'

'That's not what I meant,' he seemed distressed, in a loss of words. 'I wish I didn't have to tell you this, but....but your parents have been found dead in a car crash,' he looked up at me, then shamefully down.

Looking at the bullies, they seemed to want to laugh. 'Oh,' my voice seemed to lose expression. Losing sense of reality, I walked towards the other three.

'Zen,' Hanson sounded afriad.

'Zen,' the princaple grabbed my shoulder, 'I've arranged a family for you to stay with, please don't cause trouble,' he swallowed his pride, 'I know you must feel broken, alone, but I want my students to have a life to live...so please do this, don't end up growing old and lonely like me.'

Cranking my head to look at him, he seemed happy. 'Yes sir.' I left the office.

Walking into the classroom, Mrs.Shelly was shocked. 'Why are you back?'

I went to my seat and sunk into it.

'I'm talking to you yo-'

The girl stood up suddenly. With the class looking at her, she was shaking.

Looking up at her, all fear she had, melted away.

'My names Anne,' she pointed at me, 'And Zen will be staying with me!'

My eyes widened, 'Y-you?!'

Mrs.Shelly had a confused expression. 'I'm sorry, but what?!'

She looked at me for permission.

With a slow nod, she took a deep breathe.

'Zen's parents died earlier this morning. My parents worked with his, and hearing they had a child, I offered we take him in...' She played with her hands for a bit, 'I've always wanted a brother,' she said embarrassed.

The class went quiet.

'I'm sorry, I didn't know,' Mrs.Shelly changed tone.

'Sure,' I didn't think, I just spoke.

Sitting back down, I looked at my table of four. Like the others, we all had four people, except Hanson's table is missing three. My table is Lilly, Jack, me, and now Anne. I felt something warm grab my hand from under the table.

Anne smiled at me, 'Thank you,' she whispered

My posture didn't change, but my face became more inviting. I still couldn't forget, I refused to, what happened today.