The next few months went by as quick as possible. I didn't know why, but they just... Did.

Summer ended the same day we were given the OK to end the separation of humans and those that aren't human. But only in our state as a test run. For now.

High school was starting and I didn't know anything about it. What are my classes gonna be like? Will I make new friends? Get bullied like I was before this? Jesus, why are you so fucking paranoid!? You'll be okay! You have Emma and Luka there to keep you safe on the off chance that anything will go wrong today. I mean, you also have Ben... And his pretty smile... Jesus Christ, Sky! Don't go thinking like that! It won't happen, not unless him and his people get the freedom to be able to marry anyone like you, any humans! My mind was racing on multiple different topics, and I couldn't slow my thoughts down before my friends got to my place to walk to school with me.

Even... Bendy.

Of course, in Emma fashion, she, as always, got them all there an hour early, but god only knows why.

"I literally live only 2 blocks away from school, Em! You didn't have to get here this early, you know...!"

"Sorry, Sky!" Emma giggled. I knew exactly what that giggle meant. She either did something or she's fucking plotting something.

"... Em, what did you do?"

"Who, little old me? Nothing!"

"Em. I know that giggle. Now what did you do?"

"Nothing! Scout's honor!" Luka just facepalmed.

"Emma, here, convinced my dad to push for the president to give Ben and others like him as much freedom as humans have as a trial run in our state."

"Wh- Em! Why!?"

"Because!"

"Em, because isn't a reason, now what's your actual reason!?" Emma just giggled, and I pinched the bridge of my nose in annoyance.

"Your house is bigger than mine...!"

"Huh?" I looked over at Bendy, who was in awe at the size of my house. "How small is your house...?"

"He... Lives in a row home..."

"... Oh- I'm so sorry- I shouldn't have brought it up- I didn't mean to hurt your feelings if I did!"

"No no! You're okay!" Bendy walked over and stood right in front of me. "You were just curious, I get it, it's okay, Sky!" I noticed Emma making a heart shape with her hands.

"What the- Em, why are you making a heart shape?"

"Why do you think?" Emma giggled, and I caught on.

"EMMA!" I hid my head in my hands in embarrassment. "WHAT THE HELL!?"

"What's with all the yelling out here?" Dad and Steel walked over to us, Chris behind them.

"Emma embarrassed Sky, sir."

"As always..."

"I had to, Sky!!" Emma giggled a little. "You made it way too easy."

"Alright, kids, you still have an hour until school starts."

"It was all Emma's fault! She got us here early!"

"Hey! I just want us all to be on time!"

"I get that, but an hour early!? Emma, that's overkill!"

"Not when you like sleeping in late." Oh, she didn't!

"Alright, alright, you're already here, so just come on in." We all walked inside the house together and sat down. "Now, Ben, tell us all about what your life's like."

"It's kinda tough being one of the odd ones out... People pick on us all the fucking time because we're not like everyone... They see us as freaks and monsters... Not by my dad, I mean, but by other humans... I hate it... It's the worst..." For what felt to be around 5 minutes, we all fell silent.

"I know how you feel." I eventually mumbled under my breath. Then, I suddenly felt a pair of eyes looking at me.

"What does that mean??" I mentally cursed myself and sighed.

"I was... Picked on a lot in the human schools. I was the freak of nature because of my autism and my wish for this entire scenario to even happen."

"She also had to watch out for her twin because of his dyslexia, and because their dad started all this, they were picked on even more than the other kids."

"Way to remind me that everyone blames my dad, Emma."

"Sorry! I was just joking around...!"

"I know you were." I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "That still hurts... Dad wouldn't do that."

"We know, Sky." Skylar sighed before looking at the clock by the door.

"... HOW DID WE WASTE 40 MINUTES JUST TALKING!?" I quickly grabbed my stuff and ran out to the front yard.

"Sky, wait up!" Steel and the others all ran out next. I waved goodbye to dad as I ran down the block towards school, Emma, Luka, Steel and Ben behind me.

#

When we reached the school, I froze up out front. No. All I could see when I arrived were the protesters. I locked eyes with one of them and recognized them. MADDIE. Of fucking course she was in on this protest! Maddie gave me a smirk.

"EVERYONE! SKYLAR AFTON IS RIGHT THERE!" The protesters all set their sights on me that second.

"CLEAR OUT. NOW. LEAVE HER ALONE OR YOU WILL BE PUNISHED!" I heard Luka shout from behind me, but no-one budged.

"Oh, yeah? What are you gonna do about it, little boy?"

"My dad's actually on his way here right now, so scram!" Again, none of the protesters moved. "I SAID SCRAM! Jesus!"

"We aren't listening to some random little boy that goes here."

"I'm not just some 'random little boy' you asshat. My dad's the mayor."

"Yeah, right." One of the protesters approached us, and both Emma and I were suddenly pulled behind the boys. "I'll only believe it when I see it."

"You poor kids." The other protesters came up next to the first one. "You all got accepted into the worst school a human could get into. With freaks like this one." The protesters pulled Bendy away from us, causing him to yelp slightly.

"HEY! Leave him alone!" I tried to push past Luka and help Bendy, but the protesters kicked me down. "OW!"

"Sky!" I heard a voice yell out my name as I fell. Just by showing up at school, we caused all this. I tried to stand back up only to feel someone digging their foot into my back.

"It's because of Skylar's dad." I heard come out of Maddie's mouth as her foot dug deeper into my back. It was then I realized she was wearing heels.

"M- Maddie, get off!" I tried to pry her foot off, but she just dug it even deeper, and I couldn't help but let out a pained cry.

"GET OFF HER!"

"Stay out of this, freak!" I looked as the protesters restrained Bendy before one of them pulled out something. A pocket knife.

"Don't hurt him!" Emma tried to help, but she, too, was thrown onto the ground for it. I felt Maddie's foot move as someone helped me stand.

"Luka, why are you friends with her anyway!? I'm way better!"

"No the fuck you're not! She's sweet! You're a spoiled brat!"

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME!?" I used this opportunity to get to Bendy and pry the protesters off of him before he could get hurt by any one of them.

"Exactly what you are! A spoiled brat! Look how you're acting!" Maddie and the protesters looked at the four of us, then they all just walked up to us again just as Steel finally caught up.

"Guys? What's going on?? Do I need to get your dad, Luka??? I saw him nearby."

"Please go and get him, Steel." Steel nodded and left to find Mayor Aishi-Yamada. This gave the protesters an opening again. Next thing you know, they all had knives in hand.

"Guys... You don't want to do this... My dad will punish you for this...!" Luka guarded me and Emma again, and I guarded Bendy, just to make sure he was okay. But that wasn't stopping Maddie and all the other protesters. "Just leave us alone before Steel and my dad arrive!"

"We aren't scared of your dad, kid. You should be afraid of us." I took a step back, still guarding Bendy. Then, Maddie and all of the other protesters attacked us.

#

It took Steel about an hour to find Mr. Aishi-Yamada. The school nearly closed due to the protest but it didn't. It took a lot of convincing for the principal to keep it open but delay it another hour or two. If I'm being completely honest, I was terrified after that. There was so much blood, and ink, shed. We were all cut and bruised in many different places. It was horrible. Why do they hate Bendy's kind...? Why...??

"Is everyone okay?" I looked at the principal and shook my head no. "... Yeah. That was a dumb question. Of course you're not okay."

"Sir, why do people hate us...?"

"It's because you're different." Ms. Dreemur kept track of our injuries.

"Luckily, nothing's broken." Steel sat down next to me, but I broke down.

"I never wanna see Maddie or those other protesters again..." Especially not after Maddie threatened to kill me... Emma sighed.

"Don't worry, Sky. They're never coming back. Right, Mr. Mayor?"

"As long as I can catch them all, of course."

"You have to, dad. They're gonna come back, especially Maddie." Mr. Aishi-Yamada gently patted Luka's back.

"I will, Luka." Everything around me just faded into muffled noise after that. I knew exactly what that meant. Why do this now? I thought as other thoughts started to fill the gaps. I was stuck in my own head again. Why today? Why does Maddie hate me?

"Uh... Guys?" A muffled voice broke through my thoughts, but it didn't pull me back. I just went a little deeper into my own head.

Now the muffled voices were gone. Only my thoughts remained. How much worse can today get? Should I be scared? Thoughts like that kept popping up over and over again. I couldn't get it to stop. Not on my own.

That was, until I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Sky? Did you get stuck in your own head again?" I blinked and looked at the person in front of me, only to yelp and back up as I saw Emma's face directly in mine.

"Em! When did you get in my face...!?" Emma just laughed.

"Yep. She definitely did." I suddenly felt my cheeks hearing up out of embarrassment.

"Um... Is she okay? Her cheeks are very red, guys..."

"Emma embarrassed her, that's why. She's fine, just really embarrassed."

"Why are you like this...?"

"Cause you're cute when you get embarrassed!" My cheeks heated up even more than before. Goddammit Emma...

"Um... I think you made her too embarrassed this time, Emma."

"What? No I didn't. I couldn't have for one rally big reason, Luka. She's not spouting gibberish."

"Wh- So making her entire face red isn't enough, Emma!?"

"Nope!"

"Ugh... Can we just go to class already...?"

"No. You kids are going home. Or to the fucking hospital."

"Wh- Mr. Mayor-"

"No. I don't wanna hear it, Skylar. You're all hurt and need medical attention. School's postponed, kids. For everyone. Not just Edgewood. I already informed the other schools about it while they were trying to pull you out of your own head."

"But we've been looking forward to this for the entire summer!"

"Thank the violent protesters for the delay in your first day, kid." I groaned and slammed the back of my head against the wall. "Don't go knocking yourself into a coma, now."

"Please, Sky... Dad's already worried as it is, I just got off the phone with him..." I just screwed my eyes shut. "Don't make me go get him and bring him here... He threatened to commit murder over Maddie and those protesters..."

"I don't think leaving him out of this is an option, Steel... You might wanna turn around."

"Where's your sister?" My eyes shot open as I looked over at dad and Steel in time to see him jump in shock. He turned to dad just as dad looked at me. "I'm just glad you weren't caught up in this, Steel. Sky, are you okay??"

"Yeah... I'm fine, dad."

"No, Sky. You're not." I quickly turned my head to give Luka the "Zip it" look only to get dizzy immediately afterwards. "You just slammed your head into the wall. Don't lie."

"You did what?" I flinched and looked at dad out of the corner of my eye. "Why?"

"Cause dad told all the schools to postpone their first day due to the protest."

"I mean, I can see postponing Edgewood's... But all of them?"

"Yeah, Edgewood isn't the only school in the city that accepts students that aren't like them, sir. What if they got caught in other protests like this?"

"... That's a good point. Now I see why you had all of them delay their first day."

"Wait, go back." I had just registered the comment that Luka's dad made. "Edgewood isn't the only school accepting students outside of their normal acceptances?"

"Nope. Why? Did you all think it was?"

"Uh. Yeah actually."

"You're just telling us this now, dad?"

"Well I'm sorry that it slipped my mind to tell you that all of the inhuman schools could select humans and that you weren't the only humans attending an inhuman high school!"

"Okay, let's just get them to the hospital."

"We don't need a fucking hospital!"

"You watch your language, young lady, or you're grounded until next year!"

"What!? No!"

"Then you better watch your language." I groaned. "Say it."

"Fine. I'll watch my language." Don't be such a jerk.

"Good. Now someone help her get to the car please." I suddenly felt someone, Bendy, lift me off the floor. I only know it was him because I felt his ink sticking to my shirt a little bit, staining it.

"Um... My ink's running a little bit, I don't wanna stain your car seats..."

"Don't worry, I have some old towels I stained with oil that you can use, kid."

"I mean no offense when I say this, sir, but I think I'd rather take something else so that my ink doesn't get everywhere and ruin your car... I already stained her shirt..."

"No offense taken, but I insist. I don't want anyone making your condition worse on public transport." For a minute, Bendy went stiff, and I felt it.

"I... Didn't think of that..."

"I'll go set them down." Steel ran to the car, coming back two minutes later. "Towels are set up on the seats and the floor."

"Alright. Um, I didn't think of how you'd all fit in the car."

"... You have the third row. Remember dad?"

"Oh- I'm tired, I completely forgot I had three rows. The car's over here, kids." Dad led us to the car, and that beautiful, deep, almost royal purple paint was the last thing I saw before my vision went black.