"Opal! Do you want to be in my group for Friday's lab?" I grinned at Iris's enthusiasm and nodded.

"That'd be great. Who else is in the group?"

"It was just me and Damion, and we both kinda struggle with labs so it'd be great to have someone who actually knows what is going on to be in the group!" I laughed as we walked down the hall together. "See you at lunch!" Iris called as she hurried down the stairs.

The morning flew by and I found myself heading for my locker to get my lunch money. I retrieved the ten-dollar bill and tucked it in my vest pocket. Today I was wearing a deep green, long sleeved shirt with a black vest, white slacks, and black flats.

I turned to head for the cafeteria when Kentin's face flashed through my mind. Slowly I turned to look up the staircase. Only stopping to think for a second, I started up the staircase. Once I was at the top I looked around. Most of the students had cleared out of the hallway already so I soon spotted Kentin sitting on the floor with a packet of cookies in his hand. After another pause, I walked over and stood next to him. He didn't notice me so I knocked on the locker above him which caused him to drop his cookies and fall back from the surprise and he looked up at me with panic in reflecting in his green eyes.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Kentin, I didn't mean to scare you."

"O-o-o-o-opal! Why are you here?" Kentin stammered, sitting up while rubbing his head.

"I was going to invite you to eat with Iris and me again." I looked at the cookies he was scrambling to pick up and frowned. "Amber didn't take your money again, did she?" Kentin looked down the hall, not meeting my gaze and I frowned.

"Come on then, I'll buy you lunch."

"You don't have to do that, Opal! I brought extra money to pay you back for yesterday but Amber and her friends ambushed me this morning when I got to school. I'm such a weakling," Kentin trailed off, his voice trembling. I squatted, wrapping my arm around my legs and resting my chin on my knees so that I was at his level and smiled at him.

"You are not a weakling, Kentin. They are three bullies and you are one person. It only makes sense that they would win in a cheap fight like that. And you don't have to pay me back, I'm happy to help you out."

"You beat them and you're only one person!" Kentin said with red cheeks. A nervous chuckle escaped me as I stood back up.

"Yah, well, I am kind of a freak," I said, remembering what Amber had called me yesterday.

"No, you're not! You're nice and smart, and strong! You're not a freak!" Kentin said vehemently before his entire face turned red and he looked away. I watched him, wondering how I was supposed to react. No one but Auntie had ever said something so nice to me, but for some reason, it was easier for me to accept being called a freak than it was to accept Kentin's view of me. I shook my head and smiled awkwardly.

"Come on. I told you yesterday, cookies aren't enough for a growing boy." Kentin looked up at me with a sad expression but he followed when I started down the stairs. We walked in silence down the hall towards the cafeteria until I saw Iris's familiar figure waving at me just outside the cafeteria.

"Hey Iris, you didn't have to wait for me. I would've found you," I said with a smile.

"The girls I usually eat lunch with are working on a project so I thought I'd just wait for you and we could find a table together," Iris said with her usual enthusiasm. "What are you getting today? They have pizza, enchiladas, hamburgers, or Chow Mein."

"I dunno, what do you want Kentin?" I asked, looking back at him. He was staring at the ground and I wondered if I had somehow hurt his feelings.

"Kentin? Who's Kentin?" Iris asked, looking around before seeing who was standing behind me. "Oh, Ken! Why do you call him Kentin?"

"Well, he said that's what his name is," I said hesitantly, glancing down at the short boy. He had looked up finally and I gave him an inquisitive look. His cheeks went slightly red.

"Everyone calls me Ken, but I like Kentin better," he said quietly. "And I'll get whatever you want."

"Well then what are you getting Iris?" I asked as I mentally vowed to keep calling Kentin by his full name.

"A hamburger sounds good, actually," Iris said while walking towards the line for hamburgers. I followed after her, making sure Kentin was coming. After some coaxing, he chose which hamburger he wanted and I paid for both mine and his and still had enough to get two bottles of chocolate milk.

"Here you go, Kentin. Chocolate milk always makes me feel better," I said, placing one of the bottles in his left hand. He looked up at me and the delight that filled his glass enhanced eyes made me smile.

"There are some seats over there," Iris said, pointing to the end of one of the rectangular tables. I sat down on the edge of the bench. Iris sat across from me and Kentin sat next to me. Iris and I were discussing our upcoming chemistry lab when Iris suddenly stopped mid-sentence and groaned.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't look now but the school witches just walked in. What are they doing here?" Iris nearly snarled. I was shocked at this new side of Iris and wondered who was so bad that they made such a friendly girl like Iris so tense. My question was answered all too soon as a familiar laugh came from behind me.

"Awww, isn't this cute? The freak and the wimp are sitting together! Hey Kenny, how did you pay for that lunch? Wait, don't tell me. Freak bought it for you, didn't she? How adorable!" Amber and her friends all laughed and I frowned. Iris was clenching her teeth and Kentin looked like he was trying to fold in on himself. An idea struck me and I smiled naturally at Iris.

"So, like I was saying, the lab sounds really interesting; identifying different metals by the properties they possess like conductivity, malleability..."

"Hey, freak, I'm talking to you here." I heard Amber snap but I ignored her completely, carrying on my conversation with Iris who was looking at me with a dumbfounded expression. "...and such should be super simple but a bit time consuming. We could either assign a property to each of us and get it done quicker then compare notes after, or we could..."

Suddenly I was shoved off the bench. Instinctively I put out a hand to halt my fall and a sharp pain went through my left wrist. Ignoring the pain I righted myself while massaging my wrist, still refusing to look at Amber or her friends. Iris had stood up with an enraged expression and I reached over to pull her arm gently, trying to get her to sit down.

"Sorry, about that, Iris. I'm super clumsy. Maybe we should eat outside? The grass is usually more forgiving than linoleum floors," I said before chuckling good-naturedly. Iris looked confused but her eyes slid behind me and then widened. Hedging my bets I quickly ducked and felt a rush of air go past the top of my head. I sighed, frustrated that my ignoring tactic hasn't made Amber lose interest. Not sure what else to do, I turned around to see a red-faced Amber gripping the purse she had just tried to hit me with.

"Hello, Amber, how are you doing today?" I asked, attempting to give a natural smile.

"Who do you think you are? You can't ignore me!" she said through clenched teeth. I blinked, wondering if maybe the tactic had worked after all, and cocked my head in fake puzzlement.

"Ignore you? What are you talking about?"

Amber screeched and lunged for me but I leaped from my bench seat and stepped to the side right before she made contact. My arms were wrenched behind me by Charlotte as Amber whirled around and grinned widely.

"Nowhere to run now, freak," she spat at me. I glanced around at the many students who were watching the exchange with varying degrees of interest and annoyance. Why do they keep trying to make a scene? I thought with frustration and decided that a quick exit might be the best strategy for now.

"Please excuse me, Amber," I said with a smile. With a quick jerk, I freed my arms from Charlotte's grip with ease and immediately sprinted off towards the doors.

"Come back here!" I heard Amber screech. I dashed out of the cafeteria, through the main entrance doors and into the courtyard where I ran to the maple tree. Amber and all her friends had been wearing high heels today, very cute, but there was no way they were going to catch me and I hoped that they would lose interest before they ran too far. I stood there for a minute until I was sure no one was going to follow me and then let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing my wrist.

"How supercilious can one person be? And what was she thinking, trying to pick a fight in the middle of the cafeteria?" I asked the tree. Ever since I was a kid I had taken up talking to inanimate objects since there was no one else I could talk to, and the habit had stuck.

"Supercilious? Who says that?"

I spun around to find Castiel giving me an amused look. His eyes locked onto the wrist that I had been rubbing and I quickly dropped my hands to my sides.

"I'm sorry. I forgot that this was your spot," I said, starting to inch away.

"I've never seen someone ignore Amber like that. I was almost impressed," Castiel said. I halted, looking at him with astonishment.

"Im-pressed?" I repeated in confusion and Castiel's lips broke into a smirk.

"I said almost," He said while rolling his eyes. Once they had completed their turn though his eyes fell to my wrist and he gestured to it, casually asking, "Did you hurt yourself?"

"Not really, just jammed my wrist. Does Amber always do that? Attack people in the cafeteria?" I asked, making a point to not draw attention to my wrist.

"Nope. Actually, I've never seen anyone rile her up that much," Castiel said with an approving look and couldn't help but groan.

"Great. So it's my fault. I guess I should have let her take my money," I said, feeling confused. Castiel regarded me silently for a second before he frowned.

"Ah, come on, you almost had my respect, why would you ruin it like that?" I blinked in surprise and then an unbidden chuckle escaped me and I felt myself smile quietly as I shook my head.

"If you respect me for making a bully an even bigger bully then I don't think I want it," I said tiredly, walking past him towards the school.

"Wait a sec." I turned around to see him studying me. "What did you say your name was?"

"Opal," I responded simply. Castiel nodded and then turned his back to me and walked towards the maple tree.

Shrugging, I went back into the cafeteria. I looked around cautiously and when I was sure that Amber and her friends had left I went in. Iris and Kentin looked to be in an intense discussion and didn't notice me coming over. With a sigh, I sat next to Kentin, picked up my bottle of chocolate milk and took a sip.

"Opal!" they yelled in unison, making me almost choke on my milk from laughing.

"Yes, that's my name," I said after I had forced the milk down my throat.

"You got away! You beat them!" Iris said, giving me a look of utter admiration. I looked away nervously.

"I just ran away. I didn't beat anyone," I said, picking at my half-eaten hamburger. Iris shook her head so vehemently that her braid whipped to her back instead of lying over her shoulder like normal.

"I haven't seen ANYONE stand up to Amber like that before! You were so cool!" I felt my cheeks go hot and I kept looking down at my lunch tray, not knowing why Iris was making such a big deal out of it.

"Didn't you think she was cool, Ken?" Iris asked. I glanced over to see that Kentin's eyes were filled with unshed tears.

"I froze. Even though you've been so nice to me and they were teasing you because of me... I didn't do anything to help you..." his voice cracked and he looked away. I glanced over at Iris and her face filled with guilt before she looked away too.

"Listen you guys. I don't need anyone to take care of me. Just being my friend is plenty, trust me," I said, smiling at both of them. Iris met my eyes, a small smile forming in return.

"Well, I do like being your friend. You're going to help me get an A in Chemistry after all." I laughed and nudged Kentin who still had not looked at me. After another gentle nudge, he reluctantly raised his head to look at me and I gave him what I hoped was a soothing smile.

"Don't worry about it Kentin. Okay?" I picked up my tray and smiled at my two friends. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

As I dumped my tray I wondered at how my life was turning out. Things like making friends, defending my friends and myself from bullies, talking to boys... I had never done any of this stuff before. I walked slowly, wondering if these were things that everyone who wasn't a mistake experienced on a regular basis.

A/N Wow, reading through this it seems weird to think I wrote this five years ago :P These first few chapters are just setting up the story so if my writing doesn't seem to flow as much as my other fanfic, it should get better later on when I spend more time rewriting the chapters :P Hopefully you are enjoying it anyways though