Valeria didn't get a wink of sleep that night. When the alarm went off at seven, she turned it off, sat up in bed, and studied her reflection in the mirror ahead. Her tousled black hair was a mess. She had bags under her eyes. She had experienced terrible situations before, but they were at least familiar. The notion of going to school, a place she hadn't been in years, made her particularly anxious; she was afraid of the unknown.

She showered, brushed her teeth, and dressed in a simple t-shirt and jeans. She opted for something plain to avoid standing out. She applied a minimal amount of makeup, brushed her hair, and went downstairs where Frank and Jada waited for her.

"Already packed your bag, kiddo," Frank said while handing a book bag to her.

Jada offered a piece of toast coated with peanut butter. "Already packed your lunch. Eat this for breakfast, it will keep you full."

Valeria wasn't sure who was more nervous; her new foster parents or herself. While other parents might have worried about their kid adjusting to a new school, her situation was more complicated. She needed to succeed and avoid exposing herself as a Rogue.

"Now remember," Frank began, but Valeria cut him off as she grabbed the toast. "Don't tell anyone I'm a Rogue. Got it."

"Have your phone?" Jada asked.

Valeria removed the old phone from her pocket. "Unfortunately, yes."

"Good," Frank said, handing her a note-card. "Directions to the school. It's a twenty minute walk or ten minute bike ride. You decide."

"Bike - definitely."

"Sure you want to get all sweaty?" Jada asked, her face bunched into a frown, "and while we're at it – you want to wear that on your first day? Not one of the dresses?"

"Clothes are all right," Frank added, "but maybe too much makeup. Sure you don't want some glasses to blend in more?"

Valeria groaned as she finished the last bite of toast. "I'll be fine. I'm not sure who's more nervous; me or you guys."

Frank put an arm around Jada. "Alright, kiddo, we'll stop. Have a good day at school."

"Remember, your name is Valeria Ramirez!" Jada yelled as she left the kitchen. "Foreign exchange student from Mexico City!"

"I got it!" Valeria yelled as she opened the front door. " See you later!" She exited through the front door and found her bike waiting at the bike rack. She unlocked it, studied the note-card's directions to the school, and hopped on.

Seems easy enough.

Valeria breathed in the city air as she cycled to school, passing crowds of people on their way to work. She marveled at the massive scale of the city and the people that inhabited it. Giant buildings were everywhere, towering above them like a concrete jungle. 

The school was situated within the buildings, but unlike the modern skyscrapers, it looked small, plain, and outdated. Crowds of teenagers piled into the school entrance on the street via buses or carpool. She looked for a bike rack, but didn't see one anywhere.

No one else rode bikes except a boy approaching from the opposite street, and she motioned for him to stop. He was tall, dark skinned, and wore a green t-shirt.Valeria also took note of the instrument case strapped to his back. "Excuse me, do you know where the bike rack is?"

He brushed away strands of coarse black hair from his eyes, his forehead moist with sweat. His face remained blank, but his eyes widened upon noticing her.

When he didn't respond, Valeria cocked her head to the side and asked, "are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry were you talking to me?"

"You're the only other person on a bike. Who else did you think I was talking to?"

"I don't know," the boy stuttered. "You just caught me off guard. That's all."

She found his reply and demeanor odd; the question was a simple one. But if a question was too complicated, perhaps a simple command would have to do. "Well how about you just pretend I'm invisible and go lock your bike. I'll follow behind you."

"Okay."

She followed him to a small parking lot nearby. As he locked his bike, she pulled up beside him and locked her own.

"I don't think I've ever seen you before," he said. "Are you new?"

"Yeah. I'm Valeria. I'm a new foreign exchange student," she said, offering to shake hands.

He looked at her hand, paused, and shook it. "Nice to meet you, Valeria."

They continued shaking hands for a long awkward moment. She tightened her grip on  his hand and asked, "You gonna tell me your name?"

"Oh...yeah. My name is Sai. Sai Gupta."

"Sai...that's an interesting name. Isn't that some type of weapon?"

"If you're a fan of the Ninja turtles," Sai said, a smile across his face, "then yeah. It's Raphael's weapon."

Valeria nodded, realizing Sai was right; Raphael was the Ninja Turtle with the red bandana. "So your parents named you after a weapon? That's kind of badass."

"I wish," Sai replied with a laugh. "They named me after Sai Baba of Shirdi, a legendary Hindu figure." He paused a moment before adding, "But that doesn't mean I'm not a badass."

She hadn't expected that response. While it would have sounded arrogant coming from most people, Sai almost sounded cool. Almost. "Alright Mr. Badass," she said, trying to hold back a smile, "think you can escort me to the front office?"

"Yeah. I can do that."

They talked all the way to the office. He was a nerd, but also charming in his own way. After receiving her schedule and leaving the office, Valeria found him sitting in a chair strumming his guitar.

"Take any requests?" she asked with a smile.

"For you my dear, of course."

"Know any songs by Camilla Cabello?"

Sai grinned as he started strumming a familiar tune on his guitar. "Havana ooh na na," he sang with a surprisingly harmonious voice. "Half of my heart is in Havana ooh na na."

She couldn't help but grin. She was about to say something before an office assistant opened the door.

"Mr. Gupta! I already told you - no playing guitar in the hallways! Get to class - both of you!"

Sai picked up his guitar and pointed at her, a playful smile across his face. "You got me in trouble. Shame on you."

Laughing, Valeria followed him down the hallway. "You're a badass, right?"

Sai shrugged. "Maybe I am - when I'm with you. Your class is over there," he said, pointing to a nearby classroom. "Hopefully I'll see you around."

"You will. Goodbye Sai," she said, waving before entering the classroom.

She was greeted by an older African-American teacher with graying hair. He smiled and said, "You must be Valeria? I'm your homeroom teacher, Mr. Duvall. The office told me we had a new foreign exchange student."

She handed him a paper from the front office with her information. "Yes, that's me. Where should I sit?"

Mr. Duvall shook his head. "Wait here a second. Listen up, everyone! We have a new student joining us today. She's an exchange student from," he trailed off before turning to Valeria, "where are you from, my dear?"

Blushing, Valeria cleared her throat. "Mexico City."

"Just what this school needs...another Mexican immigrant," she heard someone protest from the back.

She winced, the words hitting her like a slap to the face. She had endured insults like this before. And while she had developed thicker skin over the years, these comments always found a way to burrow underneath her armored exterior.

Mr. Duvall frowned and looked toward the back of the room. "Who said that! Was that you Mr. Smith?"

"Yeah, it was him," another boy said from the back.

Valeria focused on the back row. A handsome white boy with blonde hair was pointing toward an overweight one.

"Backstabber!" the overweight boy growled at his friend.

"That's enough! Mr. Smith, go to the principal's office - right now!"

The overweight boy groaned, stood, and approached the front of the room. He stopped by Valeria, frowned, and said, "don't get too comfortable here. You'll get sent back like the rest of your kind."

Anger roiling beneath the surface, Valeria wanted to lunge at him. She never got the chance; Mr. Duvall grabbed his arm and forced him toward the door.

"Get out of here, you stupid boy," he chastised.

The handsome white boy with blond hair grinned at her from the back of the class. "Ay caramba! Jerry might not approve, but I sure do!" he exclaimed, whistling in a suggestive manner.

Once again, Valeria wanted to tackle one of her new classmates. She focused on remaining calm, taking slow steady breaths.

"Any more outbursts, Mr. Wormer, and I'll send you to the office too!" Mr. Duvall chastised. He turned to Valeria. "I'm sorry, Ms. Ramirez. Is there anything you would like to share about yourself?"

She looked around the room and thought, yeah - I'm a top recruit for a secret international criminal network. "No, not really," she said aloud.

"Very well," he said, pointing to the back of the room, "please take a seat next to Ms. Herawitz, near the back."

She clutched her bag against her chest and walked to the back of the room. Some students eyed her with curious or suspicious looks, but most ignored her and conversed amongst themselves.

Taking the vacant desk, Valeria sat and noticed an attractive blonde in the adjacent seat. Her neighbor ignored her and continued applying lipstick and studying her reflection in a personal mirror. An intoxicating perfume wafted into her nostrils, overwhelming her senses. She gagged, unaware the blonde had put her makeup away and turned toward her.

"You're somewhat pretty," the blonde said, eyeing her up and down. "With a makeover, you could be attractive."

"Thanks...I think?"

"I'm Sheri. What was your name again?"

"Valeria," she said, offering to shake hands.

Sheri refused and pointed to her nails, "Waiting for my nail polish to dry, sorry. And you said you're from Mexico? You speak Spanish right?"

Valeria nodded, but didn't offer a reply. She couldn't tell if Sheri was being mean, nice, or stupid, and braced herself for another insult.

"We need a girl like you in our squad. We used to have a Hispanic friend, but she moved with her family back to Miami Beach."

Valeria tried to conceal her distaste. She had never been in a high school before, but she had seen enough movies to understand what cliques were, and didn't plan on joining one today. "Why should I join your squad? More importantly, why me?"

Sheri winked at her. "Every Taylor Swift needs a Selena Gomez."

Her anger boiled beneath the surface again. While this girl thought she was being nice, Valeria knew this was just another form of racism. In a matter of minutes at this school, she had been exposed to three types: intolerant racism, sexist racism, and coming in third - token racism. "Maybe," she said, trying to remain calm. "I'll think about it."

"Don't wait too long," Sheri said with a hint of impatience. "Offers to join the most popular kids in school don't come around too often."

Valeria turned away as she rolled her eyes, trying to mask her disinterest. She had always been an outcast; her expectations were already low. She didn't care about this school or the people in it. She would start training as a Rogue soon, and that's all that mattered. But she remembered what Jada had said and had an idea. She turned to Sheri. "I want to make friends, but I need to focus on my schoolwork," she said, trying to sound humble. "If I don't keep a 3.0 GPA as an exchange student, I'll have to go back to Mexico."

"That's terrible," Sheri said with a yawn. "Don't worry, I'll get some of the nerds to help you out. I can take you to their table at lunch."

"Sounds good to me." The words couldn't have been more true. Being left at a table with a bunch of nerds didn't sound enticing, but it sounded better than the alternative presented by this racist Barbie Doll. When it came down to it, Valeria had expected to be disappointed today. She expected to be mocked, belittled, and shuffled to the back of the room. She expected to remain isolated and alone. And thus, she never thought she would make new friends today.

Until she did.

                              #

Later that day, Valeria followed Sheri to a table near the back of the cafeteria. A group of nerds sat there, and Sai was among them. There were two other boys and a girl. She was white, skinny, had red hair, and wore oversized glasses and braces. One of the boys had long,curly black hair and an oversized nose. The other was Asian, with glasses and a collared shirt buttoned all the way to the top. They stopped talking as the two of them approached.

"Hello, fellow classmates," Sheri said, her tone polite.

They offered confused looks, but the boy with the curly hair was the first to speak. "Hello, Sheri Herawitz. I'll do whatever you ask."

Sheri giggled. "Well aren't you sweet. I do have a favor to ask."

He looked up at her with a toothy grin. "I'd do anything for you."

Sheri turned toward Valeria. "Valeria is going to be the newest member of my squad. The only problem is - she needs a 3.0 GPA, or she won't be able to stay. If that happens, she'll get deported, and we wouldn't want that."

"No," the boy said, his face glued into a dreamy grin. "We wouldn't want that. With our help, she'll have a 4.0 GPA."

Sheri looked over at him with a seductive stare and said, "Thanks, John."

"James."

"Whatever," Sheri said, turning back to Valeria. "They'll help with your schoolwork, and when you're ready, you come back to our table. Okay?"

"Okay," she said with little interest.

"Later," Sheri said, releasing a feminine giggle as she walked away.

"Bye Sheri!" James called after her.

Valeria sat next to the girl with the glasses, across from Sai. She hated to admit it, but seeing his smile helped her relax.

"We meet again," Sai said, his smile widening.  "Welcome to our table."

James looked over at him, a curious look across his face. "You know her?"

"We met before school," Valeria said, her tone sarcastic. "He explained how he's a badass."

The redhead laughed. "Yeah, right. He's just a hippie with a guitar." Her blue eyes narrowed on Valeria as her tone turned serious. "So, you think we're going to do your work because Sheri told us to? Don't count on it."

Valeria shook her head. "I wasn't expecting that. I would never ask anyone to cheat for me."

The redhead massaged her chin. "Hmm, you might be a decent human being then. I'm Roberta, nice to meet you, Valeria."

"Nice to meet you too," Valeria said, shaking her hand.

Roberta pointed to the boy with the curly hair first. "The guy drooling over Sheri is James."

James smiled with a toothy grin. "Mucho gusto, Valeria, y bienvenidos a la escuela."

She sighed, clearly unimpressed. "Necesitas trabajar en tu juego senior." You need to work on your game mister.

"What'd she say?" Roberta asked.

James looked confused. "I think she said I need to play sports better? I'm still only in entry level Spanish."

Sai placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Forgive my friend. He can be an idiot sometimes. As for me? I'm just your average hipster with a guitar." He smiled at Valeria and said, "You should know, I live a double life - hipster at school, straight-A student at home."

Valeria scoffed at the irony. He had no idea what a double life was; she needed to juggle being a student and Rogue at the same time. "Sounds scandalous. Any other deviant behavior I should be aware of?"

Roberta pointed to their asian friend next to James. "That's Jon. He's quite a proficient hacker, if its deviant behavior you're looking for."

Jon looked up and frowned. "I'm no deviant. I hack systems to seek the truth. You'd be surprised how much corruption I can find with a few keystrokes."

"A hacker with a code of ethics?" she asked, her tone playful. "I like the sound of that. Surprisingly, all of you seem okay to me." Valeria paused a moment. She had intended to lay the sarcasm on thick, but her remark came off as sincere. Perhaps that's how she really felt? 

"Wait," James said, narrowing his eyes. "Are you saying you like us - for real?"

Valeria shrugged her shoulders. Sure, they were a bunch of nerds. But they weren't condescending or superficial. Sitting with them felt comfortable. Relaxing. Safe. She hadn't felt that way in a long time.

"Why would you want to hang out with us?" Roberta asked. "You could join the Elites, right? Everyone else would join them."

Valeria shrugged her shoulders. She met Sai's eyes and said, "I'm not like everyone else, I guess."

Sai blushed and looked away, while Roberta tapped her shoulder. "I just had an amazing idea. You could infiltrate them for us, like a spy!"

"Why does that sound familiar?" James asked.

"That's what Lindsay Lohan did in Mean Girls," Jon said without looking up from his phone. "You don't have to be a spy for us."

Valeria massaged her chin, perplexed by this idea. Frank and Jada had tasked her with learning how to blend in with regular society. This might be a good way to practice. "Alright, I'll be your spy," she said, a mischievous grin across her face. "What's the plan?"

"Find out as much as you can," Roberta answered, her tone eager. "Find out their weaknesses so we can embarrass them."

"That's also from Mean Girls," Jon replied with a yawn. "Not surprising, Roberta. You never have any original ideas."

As the two of them bickered, Valeria weighed the options in her mind. She could follow their plan and embarrass the popular kids, but it felt mean spirited. She didn't want to be friends with that Barbie Doll and her friends, but she needed to practice blending in. What did Frank call it? Being...charismatic?

"I'll try to infiltrate them as a spy," she said, laying out her compromise. "But I'm not sabotaging them unless they deserve it. I'll report about any parties or anything else fun they're planning. We can all go together."

James clapped his hands excitedly. "I can't believe this is happening. You know, Valeria, if you really wanna be one of us, you should join our campaign."

Sai looked over at him and shook his head. "Easy there, James. Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"What the hell are you talking about," Valeria asked, eyes narrowed. 

Sai's cheeks flushed beet red. "Nothing important. It's something nerdy, and I doubt you'd be interested."

"She might be Sai," James protested. "After Mike left, we could really use another player. She could be our new Rogue!"

Valeria's eyes went wide. "Excuse me?!"

"You should quit while you're ahead, James," Roberta groaned.

"Why not?" James asked, pointing at his friends. "It makes sense with her spying on the Elites, anyway. It's almost poetic for her to play a Rogue."

Valeria had heard enough. Her heart pounded against her chest, her mouth went dry. She had no idea how or when she'd been discovered. Without thinking, she leaned across the table and grabbed the boy's shirt.  "Who told you I'm a Rogue?!"

James released a terrified squeal and held up his hands. "You don't have to play a Rogue. It was just a suggestion."

Valeria leaned closer, tightening her grip on his shirt. A panicked expression crossed his face and she felt a pang of guilt. She swallowed the lump in the back of her throat, and gathered her resolve. She had been given a rare opportunity to become important, and she'd be damned if some rich kids ruined it. "Answer me! How do you know I'm a Rogue?!"

Sai stood, grabbed her arm, and said, "Let him go, Valeria. He was just saying you could join our game."

She maintained her grip and looked over at Sai with narrowed eyes. "Game? What game?"

"If you let me go," James whimpered, "I can show you."

Valeria paused, exhaled, and released him. He dusted himself off, reached into his book bag, and his hands trembled as he removed a colorful thick book and held it up. The title read, "Dungeons and Dragons, Player's Handbook: Fifth Edition."

Valeria exchanged curious glances between the book and her new friends. "This is some kind of game?"

"Yeah," Sai said, his eyes downcast. "I told you it's kinda embarrassing. Just forget about it, you don't have to play if -"

"There's Rogues in this game?" Valeria interrupted, her tone fierce.

Sai shrugged as he took the book and opened it, searching the chapters. He found the section he wanted and turned the book around for her to see. The title of the chapter was titled, "Rogue," and had a picture of a shady male figure in black leather with red accents.

Her eyes went wide, her breath caught in her throat. The image was eerily familiar; it looked like a member of the Assassin guild.

"You're sure you want to play a Rogue?" Roberta asked. "You might be better off playing a healer or something."

Valeria didn't hear her as she read the character's description, which didn't sound much different than the Rogue Faction she joined in real life.

Rogues rely on skill, stealth, and using their cunning to discover their foes' vulnerability to gain the upper hand in any situation. Their resourcefulness and versatility make them the cornerstone of any adventuring party.

She hadn't taken a breath since reading the description, and her lungs screamed out for air. She took in slow deep breaths, trying to process this new information. Jada had told her the Rogue Faction was a secret, and yet, here she was, reading about it in some book. How was that possible?

"You don't have to play," Sai said, avoiding eye contact.

Valeria shook her head. "No, I'll join you guys. And I'll play the rogue."

Sai looked up, his eyes expressing surprise. "Really? I think you're too nice to play a rogue."

She exhaled again, relief spreading out across her body. She was too nice? This guy had no clue who she was, or what she was capable of. Her secret identity remained intact, and that should have been the end of it. But Valeria still had unanswered questions. She wanted to know how this game related to her secret life."Thanks, but I'll still play as a rogue. So, what do I do?"

James took the handbook and held it out for her. "Read over the chapter and make a character sheet. The instructions are in there. We try to play once a week."

"Alright," she said, placing the book in her bag, "Count me in. When are you playing next?"

"Well," Sai said, looking at James. "Tonight. But you could always wait until next week."

Valeria shook her head. She wanted Frank and Jada to meet her friends and see their game. They might reward her for bringing it to their attention. "I can play tonight. Why don't you guys come over to my house?"

"Seriously?" James asked.

"We wouldn't want to impose," Sai added.

"Shut up, Sai," Roberta chastised. "Just take the invitation."

"Alright," Valeria said, packing up her things. "It's a short walk to my place. I'll meet you guys by the bike rack after school."