I excitedly began the count down.

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6..."

"That clock is five minutes fast Maddison," Vain informed me bluntly, not looking up from the math textbook in front of him.

I stared at the deceiving clock, actually feeling tears coming to my eyes.

"What sort of sick monster does that to people...?" I whispered.

In five more minutes, the bell would ring, and my first day of school...Well, of actually going to class... Would finally be over.

I had been watching the clock for the last half an hour, too exhausted to even pretend to do school work with Vain.

Alex had held out a little longer than I, beginning his clock-watching fifteen minutes ago.

At Vain's tragic news, he groaned, banging his head down on the table in defeat.

"I don't know how you do this every day Vain." I sighed, curling in against his neck. I was beyond exhausted; all I wanted to do is go home and rest.

"It's only five minutes Maddison." Vain murmured quietly, finally setting his book down.

I hummed in acknowledgement, closing my tired eyes. Maybe I could just have a small nap. I snuggled my face in against the cool skin of Vain's neck, letting my mind drift. Vain stiffened slightly, causing me to open my eyes and lift my head.

Dazedly, I saw Alex watching me, and it was like a bucket of cold water in my face.

What the hell am I doing?!

With the size difference, it was sometimes hard to remember that the giants around me were people.

People who I knew and should not be snuggling up against.

Especially Vain.

Slowly, hoping that neither of them would notice that I was feeling self-conscious....not to mention mortified as hell... I sat up from Vain's neck.

If I acted like I hadn't noticed the awkwardness, then Vain and Alex might just let it go.

"Are we taking the bus home?" I asked, saying the first thing I could think to take attention away from my mistake. I was surprised when the answer I got wasn't the one it was supposed to be.

"No," Vain muttered, just as the teacher called out to the class to pack up.

I stared at his profile in shock.

"What do you mean, No?" I exclaimed as Vain stood up.

"I mean, No, we are not taking the bus home." He said nonchalantly, making me grind my teeth in frustration.

"Would you care to explain? Try to use small words, if you can, I wouldn't want to miss anything." I hissed angrily, causing him to sigh.

"You have a meeting with your supervisor after school Maddison." He explained, packing up his books into his bag.

"What?!" I screeched, drawing the startled attention of the students around us.

The people at the Shrink Program had explained to me that I had a supervisor, the person who was in charge of my case.

This supervisor would evaluate me and my actions, deciding when I would be qualified to return to normal.

It hadn't even been a week yet, and now I had to go to a meeting with this all-powerful being!

"Couldn't you have told me that before I spent my entire day picking fights and getting into trouble?!" I hissed at Vain in frustration. "They're probably going to take another inch off me for this!"

"You know that's not how it works," Vain explained patiently. "And if I had said anything about this, you would have made yourself sick with stress, on top of picking fights and getting into trouble."

"You... Cunning little...I should have known better...." I growled, crossing my arms petulantly. "You're screwing with me. This is revenge, for me acting like a complete pain and ditching you earlier and getting you attacked, and that one time I nearly threw up on your shirt! Admit it!"

"...I have no idea what you're talking about." Vain sighed nonchalantly, and the alarm that marked the end of the day finally went off.

On his way out the door, Alex actually seemed to snicker.