"Evan, we need to ask my mom!" Elena almost shouted. It was the same day, and already things had escalated completely. Elena shook her head at one of her best friends. "I don't see why you can't understand that."

"Well, first of all, your mom isn't exactly respected. She's a woman!" Evan exclaimed, saying woman as if it were an insult. Liri widened her eyes, and Shane looked away, instead striking up a conversation with Norman and Stellan. Memoir only sat there, observing, quiet as ever. It seemed to Elena that she had pulled back into her shell once she had sensed conflict.

"And being a woman is a bad thing?" Elena asked, narrowing her eyes. Evan wrung his hands, clearly uncomfortable. He shifted his feet noisily under the table.

"That's not what I said. Most people here are old fashioned. They don't respect women like they should. I'm not saying I agree. I'm just saying that if we found anything with her, the public wouldn't believe us." Evan reasoned. It was obvious to Elena that he was trying his hardest to keep his cool.

A teacher with long red hair pulled up in a messy bun shuffled over, and tapped the table to signal that they were dismissed. Everyone stood up in an abrupt manner, except for Elena, Evan, and Yamilia.
"Listen guys, can't we just ask Elena's mom if she can help? If she can't, we can research Tag on our own." Yamilia suggested, silencing herself after that, but pleading with her eyes for her friends to stop arguing.

"No, not you too!" Evan yelled, causing the entirety of the school to stare at their table. "I swear, neither of you can see reason! People here don't respect kids OR women. We are kids. If we found anything, it would be dismissed immediately." 

"Will you guys stop fighting?" Yamilia begged with tears in her eyes.

"No, Evan, because if what we found was right, it wouldn't MATTER. If we tested it and cured someone, then society would HAVE to see that we are right. But we can't even go there because you refuse to try." Elena told him with disdain, not paying attention to Yamilia. Evan looked at her in shock.

"Me? Refusing to try? No, you are the one who is refusing to try without help from your mommy." At this point the whole school was shooting hundreds of lasers at them through their eyes.

"Whatever you say, Evan. I thought you were different then this." Elena said in anger. She whipped around, her hair flying out behind her, and stomped off.

—

At the end of school that day, Elena walked to the bus with Liri, and Liri only. Yamilia was angry at both Elena and Evan. Elena had been surprised, since Yamilia never got mad, given her bright personality. But she had ignored Elena in class for the rest of the day. Elena assumed it was because of the fact that two of her closest friends had had a rather loud argument in the middle of the cafeteria with the whole school as an audience.

Or maybe she was mistaken.

Elena laughed to herself.

"What's so funny?" Liri asked with a smile. She made eye contact with Elena, simultaneously weaving through the mob of students blocking her path to the bus. Snow fell gently and settled on Elena's eyelashes and hair.

"Oh, nothing," Elena said, looking straight ahead.
The sky was gray with clouds, with no hint of the sun peeking through. It gave the illusion that there was not a sun, nor a blue sky, but instead that the sky was naturally gray. The tree branches were majestically blanketed with a layer of snow, which also dusted the tops of the bright yellow buses that stood out against all the white. Below, students of all kinds chatted and raced to get a seat on the bus. Because there were so few students, the school was for all grades, but because there were fewer students and families, the school could not afford enough buses for it not to be extremely crowded.

Elena picked up snippets of conversation, ranging from the movie that had just been released in theaters that had been showing everywhere else for months, to conspiracy theories about the government. But the topic she heard about most of all was the Tag virus.

We have to cure it.

Tag had changed the town of Highest Peak, and it was noticeable. Panic ran through the air, and the people had to sift through the dark feelings to find the good.

Elena waved goodbye to Liri as she climbed up the steps of the bus. Liri grinned back.

As soon as Liri was gone, Elena felt a sense of dread wash over her. She was alone, walking to the bus. She had never been alone. Yamilia, and Evan-

"Hey Elena!" yelled an obnoxious voice from right behind her. Elena rolled her eyes, and held her breath as Sharon breathed right in her face. "So, what did we find out about Tag?"

Sharon's unevenly cut, overlong brown hair swung into Elena's eyes, blinding her. She felt her shoulder connect with something soft, and rebounded back, tumbling to the ground. Sharon ran over as Elena got up with a groan.

"We haven't found anything yet, Sharon. Maybe you could do some research and come back to us if you find something." Elena told her, in a desperate attempt to get rid of Sharon. If London saw them together... well, it wouldn't be good for Elena's reputation.

And, as luck would have it, London walked by right at that very moment. Her cold eyes took in the unfortunate sight of Elena brushing herself off, her light gray jacket covered in muddy slush that had been stepped in by hundreds of students' boots. London glanced over at Sharon who was waiting for Elena to finish cleaning herself off. London smirked. She had never directly told Elena that she hated her, but Elena knew it was true, and they had an unspoken agreement not to talk to each other.

Ever.

London smirked and looked away, resuming her gossip with her friends.

"Okay Sharon, I really have to go, my bus driver leaves pretty soon," Elena lied, dashing off towards her bus. She stepped up, her eyes sweeping the bus for a seat. She eventually sat down in the empty spot next to Memoir and Adelyn, not realizing that Evan and Yamilia were behind her, not talking to each other.

"Elena, just so you know, I'm done. You can cure Tag on your own." Evan hissed into her ear, getting up and moving further back to avoid an unpleasant encounter. Elena sighed and held back a scream. Was the universe against her today? Yamilia was angry at both of them, Evan wasn't talking to her, Sharon was being insanely nosy, and London was no help for her confidence either. Elena cursed under her breath, looking out the window, afraid even to talk to Memoir and Adelyn for fear they might ridicule her too.

"I believe we can do it," Memoir muttered, sliding over next her. She brushed her blonde curls from in front of her face, staring into Elena's eyes with such certainty that they could do it.

Elena raised her head.

"You do?" she asked in quiet shock, tilting her head. She fidgeted with the one keychain on her backpack, which her dad had given her when he had travelled to Mexico on a work trip.

"Yeah. I mean, what's the harm in trying?" Memoir offered a small smile, "If we do find something and have proof, then we can report it to the people working on it so they can investigate. What did you learn about viruses?"

"Well, I found proof that this virus is like no other. Do you remember sixth grade science, when we learned about the characteristics of life?" Memoir nodded, "Well I found that there is a lot of debate as to whether a virus is living or not. A virus doesn't meet all of the criteria, but it has some characteristics that no other non-living thing has. Except a virus shouldn't give different abilities to a person. Evan, Yamilia and I were sledding and were chased by Jolon, and for a little kid, he seemed extremely strong and fast. Like, superhuman." Elena explained.

"So it's likely that it isn't a virus at all." Memoir said. Elena gave a thumbs up. The bus started moving and the girls continued. Elena looked up and saw Yamilia glaring at her and shaking her head.

Not cool, her expression said, not cool at all.
She ignored Yamilia and went back to discussing ideas with Memoir, noticing that Adelyn was watching them with an amused look on her face.

"I'm wondering if to cure the virus, we need to find the root of the problem. What could have caused the virus to appear?" Memoir paused for a moment, thinking, "We don't exactly get a lot of tourists, and most of our towns income is from online services. It's like what we talked about before, about it being artificial. Unless it's from an animal, since viruses can mutate, but I don't think that's the case, especially if this isn't a virus, although we shouldn't rule it out. But I think we're right, it isn't a normal virus, and probably artificial."

"So if it is artificial, what could be the thing that caused it? Some sort of cleaning chemical is the first thing that comes to my mind," Elena thought out loud. She gazed out the window, still listening for Memoir's response. She straightened her back, bracing her shoulders, and tapped her feet on the ground as she thought of other ideas.

"Yeah, why don't we ask your mom? She's a scientist, right?" Memoir suggested, bringing back the harshness of the earlier part of the day.

"A geneticist," clarified Elena, turning back towards her new friend, and shifting in her seat in an effort to feel more comfortable on the lumpy, brown leather seats. She thought about what Evan had so cruelly said only a few hours before, about how women weren't respected and her mothers research wouldn't be taken seriously.

She was going to prove him wrong.

The last few minutes of the bus ride flew by, and the bus pulled up to Elena's and Memoir's stop, jerking to a halt and causing everyone on the bus to swing forward, Elena nearly smacking her head on the back of the seat.

"Hey, do you want to come over for hot chocolate?" Elena asked, "My mom makes the best cocoa, and we can also ask her about Tag."

Memoir shook her head apologetically, "I really can't, my parents are strict and don't let me hang out with people outside of school, but thanks for the offer."

"Our mom would freak," Adelyn added, putting her gloved hand on Memoir's shoulder and steering her towards their house. Elena nodded in understanding, and sighed, shivering. She adjusted her white pom-pom hat and pulled her fuzzy gloves tighter over her dry hands, and started walking up the slippery driveway to the garage door.

I'll just ask her on my own, she thought to herself, hoping her mom didn't think the same way as Evan. She held back tears at the thought of him. Sure, they had had fights before, but this one had hit deep. He had given up on her, because she was a girl. How stupid was that? She huffed, telling herself he wasn't worth it if he thought that way.

Elena stepped across the threshold of her home, shutting the door behind her, and breathed in the warm air. It was a relief not to be stuck outside in the cold of Colorado winter.

"Mom! I'm home!" she yelled. She heard footsteps from the kitchen and put on a warm smile to reassure her mother that she had gotten all her homework done at school. Instead, she was tackled by a boy with curly black hair like hers, and deep brown eyes.

"Brian!" Elena gasped under his embrace. Brian pulled away and smiled.

"Hey, sis," he said, a bit calmer.

"Aren't you supposed to be at college?" she asked him, glad her older brother was home, and hoping he would be staying for longer than he had last time.

"No, I'm on spring break!" Brian exclaimed.

"Isn't the middle of February a little early for spring break? We're in the thick of winter."

Brian laughed, "Yeah, it is a little early, but I'll take it."

He leaned down and hugged her again, which was awkward seeing as she was short for her age, and he was six feet and two inches.

"Awesome! How long are you here?"

"Two weeks. I haven't seen you in forever, so what do you say we go skiing?" Brian asked with a grin.

Elena nodded emphatically, as she followed her brother to the mudroom closet to grab her skis.