The pool reminded Rachel of home. Water pressing in on all sides, the sensation of leaving the surface behind and a million other things helped to melt away the world at rge. She could swim faster than the other girls her age, and actually faster than the other boys, though she would never let it be known – that would be a mistake. Instead, she savored these occasional times when she could sneak into the school’s Olympic-size swimming pool.

  When she’d snuck into the pool building, it had still been dark outside, but now the bckened sky had taken on a light blue hue, visible in the horizontal windows running along the top of the building. She would have to get out soon, but for now, she propelled herself swiftly to the other side of the pool, tagging the wall with the palm of her hand before performing a swift turn-around and kicking off toward the opposite wall. Her belly nearly scraped the bottom of the pool as she propelled herself through the water toward the wall, then performed another swift turn, tumbling back in the other direction. She felt alive. She felt-

  “Rachel!” Viv, her sister’s voice echoed from above the surface of the water. With a deep sigh, she pointed herself upward and sailed through the water, twelve feet upward until she broke the surface, looking directly at Viv who stood now at the edge of the pool, arms crossed. She shook her head, looking down at Rachel. “This is keeping a low profile?”

  “Do we need to keep a low profile?” Rachel asked, annoyed. Water spshed around her as she treaded to keep herself afloat. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

  “Get out of the pool,” Viv said simply.

  “Or?” Rachel smirked.

  “Or I’ll tell mom and dad you’ve been breaking into the pool building,” Viv threatened. Rachel scowled and concentrated, causing the water beneath her feet to increase in density, practically solidifying as it began to push her upward. Her body broke the surface of the water as the near-solid liquid formed a dense wave, pushing her toward the edge of the pool. She stepped onto the concrete, the water lowering behind her as she cleared the pool.

  “Happy?”

  “You know you can’t use your abilities like that,” Viv scowled. “What if someone sees?”

  Rachel swiveled her head, looking at the empty pool room. “Well,” she said smugly. “If the life preservers and the benches have anything to say about it, I’ll just tell them they’re seeing things.”

  “Rachel…” Viv warned. Rachel smirked again.

  “You know how humans are,” Rachel huffed. “They don’t believe things like this. You tell them aliens are real, you just get sent to a mental hospital or something. It’s going to be fine.”

  “You say that,” Viv said, handing Rachel a towel. “Until the government takes us away and cuts us into tiny pieces.”

  “Please,” Rachel rolled her eyes as she began to towel herself off. “They’ll poke us with needles first.”

  “Funny.”

  Rachel finished drying off and then slipped into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt waiting for her on a nearby bench. She quickly brushed her hair and then slung her backpack over her shoulder. The pair began to walk along the left side of the pool, toward the exit.

  “You worry way too much,” Rachel smirked as they pushed through the red double doors and emerged onto the sidewalk, the high school within view. “Everything is fine here.”

  “And I want to keep it that way,” Viv snapped. “If anyone finds out-”

  “Finds out what?” Rachel had to work to keep herself from ughing. “People don’t walk around looking for aliens. It wouldn’t even occur to them.”

  “And let’s not give them a reason,” Viv warned her.

  “Change of subject,” Rachel said; the pair fnked the high school and walked toward the parking lot. “You’re graduating this year. Did you look at any colleges?”

  “Nope,” Viv said firmly. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “You can’t follow me around forever,” Rachel pointed out as they rounded the front of the school, emerging into a crowd of students.

  “I can try,” Viv muttered.

  The first day of school was always exciting, and in high school, even more so. It was a new beginning, and the start of a thousand new hopes and dreams. New books, new clothes, new everything; Rachel smiled at the idea as she tugged the hem of her new shirt, making sure it hadn’t ridden up on the walk here. That energy was present here in this crowd as students talked excitedly amongst themselves. In fact everyone looked excited, except for one girl. Rachel squinted as she looked across the concrete apron, at a long-haired girl in a denim jacket and skirt, accompanied by two other girls. She recognized two of them, one was Meredish Schumer, the other, Amanda Powell. Both extremely popur.

  “Who is that?” Rachel pointed at the girl. “I don’t recognize her.”

  “Mm,” Viv said, gncing in the direction that Rachel was pointing. “You remember Chris Barnes? The guy that was dating Meredith? Yeah, that’s him, or, well, was him.”

  “Really?” Rachel cocked her head. “People do that?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” Viv shrugged.

  “I wanna talk to her,” Rachel grinned. “I’m so curious!”

  “We should steer clear,” Viv said, her mind seemingly made up.

  “Why? She might be really cool!” Rachel protested. Viv stopped, pcing a hand on her sister’s shoulder.

  “She’ll draw attention to herself like that,” Viv said. “We don’t want to share that attention.”

  “Ugh, you’re so paranoid,” Rachel pouted. “You said we needed to make friends.”

  “Normal friends,” Viv said. “Pick someone who isn’t going to stick out like a sore thumb.”

  “Pa-ra-noiiiid,” Rachel smirked, dragging out every single sylble. Viv scowled again.

  “Yeah, I’m paranoid,” She said; they reached the front door of the school. “But I’ve kept us alive all these years.”

  ***

  Rachel clicked her pen twice, then a third time, and then a fourth as Mr. Eaton, their Social Studies teacher entered the room. He was wearing a pressed white button-up shirt and a blue tie. Despite it being morning, and despite him being old, he looked like he’d had the most restful sleep of his night as he took his pce in front of the cssroom. He looked over the css and straightened some papers on his desk before addressing the css.

  “Welcome, to Social Studies two,” He said, adjusting his tie as he walked to the right side of the cssroom. He returned to the board and wrote his name in quick, aggressive strokes. The chalk ccked against the board each time he started a new letter. “My name is Mr. Eaton, and for the next year I have the unfortunate job of teaching you the workings of society. We’ll be taking a look at economics, civics, the government in general. Most of you won’t learn anything here, and unfortunately you’ll be allowed to take on the responsibility of voting in not only local matters, but our presidential election. God help us all.”

  Though most of the css ughed, Rachel remained stoic in the attempt a humor; she’d had her fill of politics back home. Her instincts were right, however, as the ughter ceased at Mr. Eaton’s serious expression. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t joking after all. Did he really think all of the students were that stupid? She clicked her pen again; the student beside her gnced over with an annoyed expression.

  “Sorry,” Rachel mouthed to the boy, who shook his head and looked back at the teacher who had begun calling roll. He’d gotten halfway through when a disheveled boy with messy blonde hair and a green shirt burst into the room, nearly breathless. He froze immediately as the rest of the css stared at him. Mr. Eaton lowered his clipboard and pced his hands on his hips.

  “And who might you be?” Mr. Eaton asked with a less-than-subtle hint of irritation in his voice.

  “I’m uh…Harris,” The boy said. “Harris Keilman.”

  “Well, Mr. Keilman,” Mr. Eaton said. “I don’t know how things worked for you st year, but I expect you to be on time. Next time it’s detention, Christopher Barnes?”

  While Harris Keilman had drawn her attention for the moment, it was absolutely stolen at the mention of the name ‘Christopher’. That applied to the rest of the css, too, as any chatter or whispered conversation within the room ceased. Some of the students shifted uncomfortably, and Rachel’s eyes were drawn to the far right of the room where the girl sat next to her ex, Meredith. Rachel had to admit she looked pretty good; she was dressed in that denim skirt with a white t-shirt underneath her denim jacket. She had long hair, and Rachel squinted, trying to decide whether or not it was a wig. Not bad, honestly.

  “She goes by Mariel,” She goes by Mariel, Mariel’s ex, Meredith said nonchantly. The murmuring in the css returned, briefly.

  “And I go by what’s in your school records,” Mr. Eaton said sharply. Rachel raised an eyebrow. And the government will go by what’s on your birth certificate. Are you seeing a pattern, Mr. Barnes? You can call yourself anything you want, but it won’t change who you are. Now, Rachel Lee, present?”

  “Uh…yeah, I mean, present!” Rachel said quickly. She clicked her pen a few more times, the boy gred at her.

  “Right,” Mr. Eaton said, quickly moving through the rest of the the attendance sheet. As he did, Rachel looked over at the girl she now knew as Mariel; even through her makeup, Rachel could tell she was blushing. While she couldn’t identify with this particur scenario, she could rete to being told who you were, when you knew it wasn’t true.

  Mr. Eaton finished up attendance and then set the clipboard down on the desk, returning to the bckboard and picking up that same piece of chalk.

  “We’re going to kick the year off,” He said. “By going over the three branches of government. Can anyone tell me what they are? Mr. Keilman?”

  “Um,” Harris said from the back of the cssroom, as if he’d been pulled out of a deep sleep. “I mean, I-”

  “Wonderful start, Mr. Keilman,” Mr. Eaton said. “Anyone else want to take a crack at it? Ms. Frost?”

  “Executive, Legistive, and Judicial,” Allie said. “We learned that st year.”

  “And you’ll learn it again this year,” Mr. Eaton shot back. “And you’ll learn it again, and again, until you know it by heart. Now, does anyone want to give me an example of the Executive branch?”

  The rest of the css went by smoothly, almost quickly, and as the bell rang, Rachel watched the girl, Mariel duck out of the cssroom, her face contorted as if holding back tears. Her first thought was to go talk to her, but she remembered Viv’s warning. Sometimes Viv was overbearing but she had a point – she had kept them alive since they stepped through the Waygate, since they swam to the surface and took their first breath on this new, strange world. Since Aaron, their protector, had died. Then again…

  She gathered her books and stuffed them into her backpack, following the other students into the hall; as she did so, she craned her neck, trying to spot Mariel in the crowd. She wasn’t too hard to find, and Rachel made up her mind quickly, pushing through the crowd of students to follow her. A simple conversation couldn’t hurt, right? She had so many questions! When did she decide to ‘become’ a girl? Or wait, had she always been a girl? Like on the inside? If there was anything Rachel could rete to, it was feeling out of pce, trying to blend into a new environment, one that might not necessarily accept you. Of course, Rachel’s situation was way different than Mariel’s. At least Mariel was from this pnet.

  Pushing onward, she caught a few glimpses of Mariel, but was never able to keep sight of her. She did, however, know the general direction she was heading and as she saw her round the corner ahead, she knew that they were heading to the gym. Losing sight of her completely, she continued following on the same trajectory, emerging into a long brick hallway that was always kept intentionally dark. She passed through, emerging on the other side, and made a beeline for the wooden double doors of the gymnasium. She paused outside, however. What was she supposed to say? More importantly, what would Viv say if she found out? Sure, Viv didn’t necessarily control her, but Rachel didn’t doubt Viv’s ability to make her life miserable. And she wasn’t going away to college? Ugh!

  Rachel took another step toward the gym, but then paused, as she heard raised voices on the other side of the door. She frowned and tilted her head to listen.

  “Other schools are ughing at us,” She heard from the other side. “…calling us the ‘Girly Boys’. Whatever the fuck that-”

  She strained to hear the rest of the conversation, but seconds ter, the doors burst open, and Mariel tore through the hallway, this time with an expression of sheer horror on her face. Rachel opened her mouth to speak as she went by, but Mariel brushed past her, seemingly not even noticing her. Rachel turned, watching her go until she disappeared down the long hallway, and then vanished completely. Rachel frowned and walked toward the double doors, pulling them open and stepping inside. She gasped.

  ***

  It took less than three minutes for Rachel to barrel down the hallway, doing her best to avoid colliding with the wall at the other end as she rounded the corner. She didn’t even bother to control her speed, which topped out at twenty miles per hour, or at least that was what Viv had clocked her at. She was so preoccupied with what she’d seen in the gymnasium that the embarrassment of bursting into Viv’s senior cssroom didn’t even register with her.

  As she opened the door and walked in, Mrs. Baker’s English students looked up, some startled, some amused. Mrs. Baker looked over from the bckboard, an older, graying woman in a blue blouse.

  “Can I help you, Ms…” Mrs. Baker said, raising an eyebrow and waiting for Rachel to give some indication as to who she was and why she’d basically crashed into the cssroom.

  “I-” Rachel started, but Viv interrupted, standing up at the back of the css and walking toward her.

  “This is my sister,” Viv said to Mrs. Baker, apologetically. “Can we step out in the hall?”

  “Make it quick,” Mrs. Baker said, staring at them.

  “Thanks,” Viv muttered, taking Rachel by the elbow and marching her out the door. She shut it behind them and sighed, looking at Rachel angrily. “Again, Rachel,” She huffed, her voice sharp as a knife. “What did I say about keeping a low profile?”

  “Look, I’m sorry,” Rachel said. “But it’s kind of an emergency.”

  “What, did you forget your lunch money?” Viv rolled her eyes. “What could be so…important that-”

  “That girl, the…the one that was a guy, you remember?” Rachel said urgently. Viv’s eyes narrowed.

  “The one I told you not to talk to?” Viv reminded her. “Yeah, I remember. What about her?”

  “I um…” Rachel stammered, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She couldn’t believe the words were about to come out of her mouth, and Viv was staring her down, expectantly. Finally, she just said it. “She’s one of us.”