My hand started to shake out of fear of what I had written on the board. The teacher tells me to take my seat, and as we begin to erase the board, I can feel the students' eyes on me, as if I'm some anomaly. I take my seat down before I get seated, and I feel something poke me in the bottom in sharp pain. I got up and looked down to see what was there. I see at least twenty to thirty bobby pins sitting up, and the sharp end pokes you when you sit down. I take the pins up and look around the class, and I see one of the kids laughing as I pick them up. "You might need these for a project or something later down the road," I say as I walk over to him and hand over the pins. I walk back to my seat and sit down. Becky, next to me, says, "Hey, don't let them get to you, OK?" I keep my head straight because the more friends I have, the better. I tried to blend in with the class so I didn't look any more odd than I do now as the teacher continued with a different lesson; the kids began writing down what he was. From what I can tell, I don't remember putting that on the board. Shortly after the lesson got done, the bell went off, and the students started walking out of the room. "Hey Marcus, since you're new here, I can show you where to go, OK?" Becky approached me and spoke. "Hey Marcus, since you're new here, I can show you where to go, OK?" I followed Becky down the halls, and as we turned the corner, I saw some of the bullies, I guess, waiting for me. As we pass them, the biggest one throws me against the locker, and I can hear Becky begging them to go easy on me. I tell Becky, "It's ok; they are just having fun. Seeing them smile and enjoy themselves makes me feel better." I could tell by how he quickly pulled out his knife that he didn't like my response. He put the knife inside my mouth, whispering, "How about you cut that smile off then? See, you pretty rich guys don't understand what it is like to be looked down on by society." He applies more pressure. I can feel the knife enter the inside of my cheek and see the blade coming through the other side. He starts to pull the blade down towards him. The blade rips through my cheek. The other kids watch in fear because they know they can't do anything to them. I hear Steve's voice down the hall: "Let him go, David." David pulls the blade out, and blood splatters on the ground in front of me. "It's okay, Steve; he's right; I don't understand his pain," I say as I turn to face Steve. Becky and Steve look at each other with pain and agony; I tell Steve and Becky, "where I'm from, this is just another day, but where I'm from, kids didn't smile or look up without permission." David put his knee into my shoulder with a vulgar expression "what do you mean by that, huh? first you write some weird shit on the board, then you tell us that kids didn't smile where you are from". Before I could get another word in, the coach came running down the halls. He sees me with a knee in my shoulder, pushing David off me. He tells everyone, "everyone goes to your classes now," and he points at Becky and Steve. "Becky goes to the nurse's office and tells him to get ready. We got a stabbed wound OK. Steve came over here and helped me carry him to the nurses." As Becky bolts down the hallway, I get lifted off the ground by the coach and Steve, all I could think about is how this is not a life that the other numbers would've wanted. As we continued to walk down the halls, the coach said to me, "Come to om Marcus, sometimes you got to fight back; you can't let kids just walk over you." I could tell by the way Steve was looking at me that he was agreeing with everything the coach was saying. We finally get to the nurse's office, and the nurse tells the coach and Steve to put me on the bed. As I lay down, I could feel the blood rushing down my throat, filling it and causing me to choke, and I began to fade because I couldn't breathe due to the amount of blood blocking my airway. I see nothing but darkness, but out of the corner of my eye, I see that chair and Darkouls waiting for me. I pull the chair back and start to listen to what Darkouls has to say. "Damn, I thought this world would treat you a little better, but I, man, I was wrong," he said as he began pacing around the chair. I replied, "Well, it's way better than it was back then, and at least I'm seeing people be happy without suffering because of me." He got down on one knee and looked me dead in the eyes. Sometimes you have to fight back, OK? Please fight back because if you don't, the deaths of others will be in vain. Do you understand? I look away from him because I'm holding back the tears, and I don't want him to see me like this. He turns me towards him with a tear in his eye and a glare of fire burning within. "Marcus "I won't take control of your body unless it is life or death, but you know the old saying, "When you back an animal into a corner, he fights." I slowly returned to concuss those words that Darkouls said rang out like a bell, but I need to hold back for them as long as I can because I have to say the others. I look over to my side. "Hey, Nurse, he is awake!" yelled the coach to the nurse. The running of her heels told me that she was on edge to see if she had awakened, and as she continued to ensure that everything was OK, I asked the coach. "Hey coach, what class are we in right now?" he asked, his eyes wide with surprise at what I had just asked him. "Um, Marcus, we are in the 6th period, but I think that is the last of your worries." OK, the look in his eyes was telling me that he wanted to ask me some questions. The nurse came over and pulled a chair beside the bed on the right side. She looked at the coach and then ate me with a cold stare. "Marcus, while we were patching you up, we noticed the other scars on the rest of your body, especially the ones on your arm." I looked down at my arms, thinking that the scars were nothing but normal from where I came from. I looked back at the two and took a deep breath. "I'm guessing you're wondering where I got these scars, right?" they both nodded toward me. "All I can say is that where I was before I came here, I had to be the strongest one." The coach opened his mouth and asked, "Why did you have to become the strongest one?" I looked at the coach, then I stared at the wall. "I was the oldest one at that place, so I took the role of all the abuse; I also distracted the sentinels from the others." Before I finished my sentence, the nurse shouted out with curiosity, "Sentinel!" She looked at the coach then back at me with frustration in her eyes. As I explained what the sentinels were and what they were doing, I left off the part about the others having powers because I still wanted to keep that from them. I left out that part to ensure I don't overwhelm them because I still need to keep a low profile until I get a better grasp on this new life.