Vivi didn't usually have trouble sneaking back into school, once she had skipped out of gym. Usually she stayed near enough that she could hear the bells of classes dismissing, so she could time it just right in her return. She would wait to come back into the school building with the outside FFA or PE class, so she was left unnoticed and did not appear suspicious in returning to school from outside on her own. But today she was off her usual routine. She wasn't sure what time it was, and she didn't think through her plan enough to remember to wait to hear a bell ring. She just went up to the front doors, reached to press the buzzer to be admitted in, and stepped through, intending to just figure out on the fly where to go.

Of course, that plan, ill thought out as it was, did not work out so well. No sooner had she entered the building, the doors closing and locking behind her, did Ms. Oliver, the assistant principal, halt Vivi in her path. She was in her late forties, a tall dark-skinned woman with her hair pulled back in a tight bun, and she moved one hand to rest on her hip as she looked down at the girl with an arched eyebrow.

"Are you tardy? I believe I've seen you in the halls here, if you're not a new student, then you should know the policy for tardies. You need a signed note from your appointment or from a parent, or it's an automatic mark towards getting a detention."

Vivi blinked up at her, thrown by her presence just as much as her words. The very reality of having to deal with school authorities, intent on catching and stopping students from the kind of rule breaking she had just committed, had not entered her mind as a possible obstacle for the day, simply because she hadn't yet had to deal with them before.

When she didn't immediately answer, Ms. Oliver's eyebrow twitched, seeming to take this as disrespect.

"I asked you a question, young lady, and when I ask a student a question, I expect a respectful answer in return. You need to have a hall pass or a tardy pass to be coming into this building from the outside, whether because you're late or because you need to go somewhere from an outside classroom. I see neither in your hand, and that tells me you're doing something that you shouldn't be doing or going somewhere you have no permission to be."

She reached out a shapely, carefully manicured hand, extending it in an attempt to take Vivi by the arm, but Vivi stepped back instinctively, her thoughts flashing in anxious memory of Leander's hand, coming in contact with her skin. This didn't seem to make Ms. Oliver any more pleased with her.

"That's it, young lady, follow me into my office," her voice hardened, and she did close a firm hand around Vivi's forearm. "This is a write up."

"No, wait-" Vivi started, making a weak effort to pull her arm back, but Ms. Oliver's grasp tightened, her voice raising up over hers.

"I said for you to come with me."

Vivi opened her mouth, but before any words emerged, they were interrupted by Ms. Oliver's sharp gasp. The woman released Vivi's arm hurriedly as her hands flew to cover her nose and as much of her eyes as a palm was able. She didn't do so fast enough for Vivi to miss that she had begun to bleed, nor were her efforts at stemming the sudden gush of blood from all three orifices successful. Vivi gaped, stricken, as Ms. Oliver's blood spurted through her fingers and began to speckle down her front.

"What…" the woman choked, her voice muffled behind her hand. She staggered back two steps, her knees buckling, nearly bringing her to the floor. "What…."

"I…I'll get help," Vivi stammered, forcing her eyes away with effort. "I'll…"

She directed her voice towards the window of the front office, where the secretary was already coming to look out at the scene.

"She…she's hurt!" she called shakily, pointing towards Ms. Oliver's hunched frame. "She's bleeding!"

Before anyone could call out for her to stay or to go somewhere, or worse, to accuse her of being the cause of Ms. Oliver's injuries, Vivi spun around and almost ran down the length of the front hallway, turning into the first hallway adjoining and slowing her pace before the lockers to a fast walk. She was aware of her heart pounding hard and quick in her chest and pressed one palm flat against it, willing it to calm.

What could make a woman suddenly bleed from her eyes? Not just one, but both? Nose bleeds were one thing, but eyes…how could she just bleed like that from her eyes?

It had been scary to see, and more than a little unsettling, after what had happened earlier between her and Leander. If it had happened. Vivi had seen more than enough blood for one day. She was actually eager now to immerse herself into classwork, preferably as boring as possible.

Shaken, Vivi kept walking, scanning what thoughts she could gather to try to approximate what time it was, and therefore what her next class period should be. She had managed to work out that it was most likely nearing lunch, then third block, before another authoritative voice addressing her made her startle, her spine going rigid.

"Where are you coming from? Do you have a pass?"

What the hell was with everyone being so concerned about her and what she was doing today? Nearly every other day since she'd started high school, Vivi had been as good as invisible to adults, especially during the times she was being bullied and could have maybe welcomed some kind of attention or interference. Today, she couldn't seem to walk two steps without someone stopping her.

She looked up to see a teacher she vaguely recognized by sight but did not personally know, approaching her steadily. The woman was frowning even from a distance at what she probably assumed was a troublemaking student, but the faint downturn of her mouth quickly broadened as she drew near. Vivi thought she recognized concern rather than disapproval suddenly present in her eyes.

"You're bleeding! Was there an accident? Are you all right?"

On instinct Vivi's hands flew up to her nose and eyes, feeling for the sticky presence of the blood the teacher had stated she could see. After what had happened with Ms. Oliver, this was the first place she expected blood to be found on herself, whether she could feel any pain or not. When she felt nothing but smooth, uninjured skin, she followed the direction of the teacher's gaze towards the general area of her neck and remembered. Her fingers drifted to her throat, finding the still open wounds marring her skin, and Vivi felt a cold dread settle low in her gut.

If there were bleeding marks on her neck, then what had happened with Leander had not been some strange dream or fantasy, or even a hallucination. Somehow, it had all been real.

"What's your name?" the teacher insisted, coming to stop a foot away from her, eyes still fixed on Vivi's neck. "Those look deep, almost like punctures. Are you going to the nurse?"

"Um…" was all Vivi could manage, her tongue thick and difficult to maneuver in her mouth. "I…"

"Come with me," the teacher decided, when Vivi did not answer quickly enough to satisfy her. "Let's get you a pass for the nurse."

She reached out for Vivi's arm, and Vivi's memory flickered back to Ms. Oliver, reaching out in the very same way, trying, as this woman was, to bring her somewhere Vivi didn't want to go, to talk to her about things Vivi didn't want to remember. When Vivi jerked her hand back, the woman's frown shifted from concerned more towards the direction of impatient.

"No, I, I'm okay, I'm just-" Vivi tried, but the woman did not let her finish.

"Those look bad, and we can't let a student walk around the school bleeding, that's a health hazard for others as well as for you. Don't be silly, come with me to the nurse."

"No, please…don't touch me, please just-" Vivi started, desperation creeping into her tone.

But still, the teacher would not listen. She didn't even seem to hear.

"You need-"

But she never finished telling Vivi what it was she thought she needed, because the moment her hand made contact with Vivianne's arm, she retracted it, her body flinching so sharply she appeared to have been stricken. Vivi stepped back, frightened, confused, but not entirely surprised when she saw blood begin to emerge from the woman's ears, in the same sudden manner that had happened with Ms. Oliver…and just as with Ms. Oliver, without anyone or anything visible seeming to have made it happen.

For this woman, Vivi didn't call for help, or manage any words or efforts towards assisting her at all. She just streaked past her down the length of the hallway, running almost blind and deaf to everything but the memory of the blood soaking the sides of the woman's neck and the hammering of her heart in her ears.

The school bell rang a few minutes later, signaling the start of lunch period one for some and third block for others. Vivi was now made just one student in a sea of many in the halls, swallowed up by those older, taller, and much more assured in their intended direction. It must have been muscle memory or unconscious instinct that led her into the correct classroom and her assigned seat, second from the back. She didn't have her books or notebook, her backpack or anything else she needed for class, but it didn't matter to her. Nothing mattered but trying to lose herself in the routine of school, of the monotonous expectations of high school. Vivi knew she would answer no questions, complete no work, and likely hear nothing said, but even so, being in a classroom with people around her, expecting little more from her than her presence in a chair, gave her just the smallest amount of comfort in her spirals of her anxiety.

One teacher, one time, had been one thing. Strange, but not impossible. But two…both, just as they touched her? Just as they tried to force Vivi to do something she had not wanted?

Already, the first tendrils of suspicion were becoming close to knowledge in Vivi's brain, but she would not let them blossom in full. It was too much, far too much. Instead she slumped down in her seat, her usually pale cheeks flushed, her thin frame visibly quivering as she tried to maintain something outwardly if not inwardly showing calm.