Chapter 5:

"Get the hell out of my school!" Flash spat at me, his face flushed with anger.

The amount of hatred Flash seemingly had for me was impressive. It almost felt personal, but I had never met him before. Before I took over this body, the old Valerie was a sheltered slave living in Britain. She had never even left the area of the small cottage she grew up in.

{Flash Thompson - Level 9:

Thoughts about you: Thinks you're a mutant Freak and hates you! He would attack you if you were alone with him.}

'Jesus…' I thought after reading that. This guy has some serious issues.

"Shut the hell up, Flash!" A pretty blond girl sitting nearby yelled at him. "Why are you so afraid of mutants? They've never done anything to you!"

Flash scowled at her. "That's bullshit! A mutant tried to attack me a month ago. You were there." He said.

"That's not true!" The girl spat back at him. "A guy with blue skin walked up to us and asked us for directions. He was very nice too. You screamed in fright and punched him in the face! If he wasn't a mutant, you would have ended up with an assault charge!" She explained loudly. The majority of the students in the room started sending judgmental looks towards Flash.

He growled at the negative looks he was getting. "He was planning on robbing us. It's true!" Flash exclaimed, standing up suddenly. "The police said so when they took him away in handcuffs like the freak deserved!"

"Those police officers were racist pieces of shit!" The girl retorted. "They didn't take anyone's stories. They just arrested that guy because he was a mutant."

"No, they didn't! They were good guys." Flash said but at this point no one in the room believed it. He scanned the room for support in the argument, but no one met his eyes.

The pretty girl scoffed at him. "You're such a bad liar. This is why we broke up." She mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear. She turned back to me and gave me a soft smile. "Just ignore Flash. Everyone else does anyway."

I didn't know who this girl was, but I appreciated the pretty blonde sticking up for me.

Flash crossed his arms with a huff and angrily sat back down. I didn't like the way he was now glaring at the girl who was apparently his ex-girlfriend.

Also, I wasn't expecting to get verbally harassed as soon as I walked into the classroom. I was not even a mutant! I was a Dhampir! And yes, I understand being a Dhampir is arguably worse than being a mutant, from a regular human's perspective at least. Since I need to drink human blood to survive. However, it's not like anyone here knows that yet.

[It's probably better for people to think you're a mutant over a Dhampir anyways. Do you want a Vampire Hunter like Blade coming after you when you're currently weak?]

'Shit, is he a real thing here?!' I asked in my head. I did not want someone like him coming after me. That would be very bad for my prolonged health…

All the students were muttering amongst themselves about the argument that just happened between Flash and the blond girl. Some of them spoke up and asked me if I was a mutant as well?

The teacher apologized to me before he yelled at all the disruptive students to quiet down. He then turned to me. "You do not have to answer whether you are a mutant or not. It's against District Policy to out students for being mutants. Our school does not discriminate."

"That's okay." I said loud enough for the whole class's attention to shift back to me. I looked Flash dead in the eyes and didn't back down from his glare. I might only be a Level 2, but I certainly wasn't scared of some high school bully. I was a damned Gamer!

"Yes, I am a mutant." I lied to the whole class.

[Wow, you're really doing this? Good luck.]

There were a couple of audible gasps from the students at my sudden admission. Flash had a smug look on his face. Unfortunately for him, he forgot one thing. I was a supernaturally beautiful girl. This wasn't going to go the way he thought it was.

"I'm not going to hide the fact that I was born with awesome superpowers!" I said smugly to everyone in the room before I continued. I placed my hand across my chest and smiled at everyone in the room. "Nor am I going to lord my powers over other people and pretend that it makes me intrinsically better than all of them." I lied again. "Whether or not someone has powers does not define them as a person. Every single person is different after all. Having superpowers doesn't make anyone better than anyone else. And not having powers doesn't give anyone the right to jealously discriminate against the people who do either. People should only be judged on who they are instead of what they are." Most of the people in the room were sending me looks of admiration when I finished talking.

They were the same looks as I was getting before Flash had spoken up in the first place, so nothing had really changed. Even if I was a 'mutant,' I was still supernaturally beautiful. Therefore, people still liked me.

[Being pretty is a real cheat in life…]

That, or I was just apparently really good at giving speeches. It might have actually been the latter.

Did I honestly believe any of what I just said? Not really. Having powers and being a Gamer did make me better than everyone else. That was simply a matter of course. That didn't mean I was going to start spouting that fact out loud though. I didn't want to end up sounding like Homelander or Magneto and turn everyone against me.

Another reason why I just 'outed myself' as a mutant was because the technology in this world was already advanced to the point that cell phones and the internet were commonplace. Cameras were everywhere. I knew that, realistically, it wouldn't have taken very long for me to have been exposed as having powers anyway. Maybe a couple weeks at most. Agencies like SHIELD probably had half the cameras in the city tapped.

Therefore, I decided then that it was better to proudly 'out myself' and be in charge of my own narrative. I'd prefer people to think I was a mutant instead of a blood-sucking monster for now. And if mutant haters wanted to kill me when the cameras weren't rolling… I didn't mind using them as XP or blood banks.

"She's so awesome!" One girl in the back shouted out.

"Hell yeah! You tell them, sexy new girl!" Another boy added on. "Please go out with me!"

"It's like this girl is getting more beautiful and perfect by the second!" The student recording me exclaimed. "This is going to get so many hits online!" He declared as he pressed stop on his recording.

I almost spoke up and asked him not to post it, but I stopped myself. I supposed it was a pretty good impromptu speech and it could only help people's stance on mutants and myself.

[Good job almost making the whole class worship you with only a few words! Here you go:]

{Your Charisma has risen by 1!}

{You have gained the Perk: Commanding Voice - When you speak, people listen. People will always stop to listen when you start talking. Your words will also reach much farther than they normally would be able to, even in a loud room.}

I thought that that was a very interesting perk. It honestly sounded like the perk a Super Villain would have. Could I just start monologuing mid-battle and everyone would stop and listen to me? That would be hilarious.

I turned back to the teacher and saw that he was wiping a small tear out of his eye. "That was a truly beautiful speech, Miss Tepes. I'm proud to have a student like you!"

"Thanks?" I was barely even his student yet…

"Please take your seat now. This is still a school despite the clownery we have seen this morning." He pointed me at the empty desk at the back of the class next to the window. It was the designated main character seat. It was also directly behind Peter Parker. That was pretty cool. I got to sit right behind Spiderman!

I started making my way over before Peter stood up with a scowl on his face! He pointed his finger directly at me! "She's not sitting behind me! She's probably just waiting for a chance to attack all of us! I'm with Flash on this one! Fuck this new girl! She's an evil monster!"

'Never mind then… Fuck Spiderman. What the hell is this guy's problem!?' I wondered in surprise. This was another outburst that was catching me completely off guard. And it was coming from Spiderman of all people? Spiderman was supposed to be a good guy. I didn't recall him ever being racist. I used Observe to try and figure out what was going on with him.

{Peter Parker - Level ?

Thoughts about you: He loathes your very existence! He is currently contemplating how to seriously hurt you or even get rid of you…permanently.}

'What. The. Fuck!? Am I in some kind of AU with an Evil Spiderman now, System!?' I asked in my head.

[Huh… I'm honestly just as confused as you are. I can absolutely confirm that he never met the old Valerie once in his life. This is a mystery.]

"Peter! How could you say that!? You've never even seen this girl before today!" A girl sitting next to Peter yelled at him. She had very similar features to him.

{Penny Parker - Level 13

Thoughts about you: She thinks you're very pretty and admired you for your bravery to out yourself as a mutant. She wanted to be friends with you. She is scared her twin brother has just ruined that chance…}

"Hell yeah, Parker! When did you become cool like me? I knew you'd come around to the good side one day!" Flash bellowed cheerfully. "We should hang out more, buddy."

At this point, the teacher looked livid. This was the second hate filled outburst after all. This was also coming directly after he told me this school was 'mutant friendly.' "Detention Mr. Parker and Mr. Thompson! With me after school. For now, though, both of you leave my classroom and head for the dean's office!" He yelled at both of them and pointed at the doorway.

Peter scoffed as he stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He gave me a vicious glare before he left the classroom and slammed the door behind himself.

Flash followed after him and almost got comically smacked in the face by the door. The class laughed when he yelped and leapt backwards. "Fuck you guys!" He yelled before slamming the classroom door shut himself.

With both of them gone, I awkwardly took my seat by the window. A couple guys nearby tried whispering to me, but I pretended like I didn't hear them.

The teacher started teaching class once everyone quieted down again. I had a hard time paying attention, though. I was trying to figure out why Peter hated me so much. Unfortunately, I was drawing complete blanks. I jokingly wondered if I'd wronged him in a past life, but I actually remembered my past life. The answer was obviously no.

I was still lost in my thoughts when the bell rang an hour later, signaling the end of my calculus class. Students started clearing out to get to their next classes. A few students stayed behind to talk to me. The pretty girl who had argued with Flash was one of them.

{Liz Allan - Level 9

Thoughts about you: Liz is bisexual and thinks you are the most beautiful girl she's ever seen. She loathes her ex-boyfriend, Flash, and was more than happy to stand up to him for you. She hopes that you're single, but she doesn't care if you're not and is still going to try and make a move on you later...}

'Wow…' I thought after reading that. It was nice being referred to as "the most beautiful girl someone has ever seen."

The girl next to Liz Allan was also a recognizable character.

{Mary Jane Watson - Level 8

Thoughts about you: She wants to be a reporter one day, and is wondering if you would do an interview for the school paper with her? She's been best friends with Liz for years and can clearly see her friend is attracted to you. She thinks you're very beautiful too, but she's never been very interested in other girls.}

I was glad that the MJ of this universe was the familiar redhead who wanted to be a reporter. The MCU version of MJ was just plain cringe. Her only purpose was to provide sarcastic one liners.

As for giving her an interview, I wasn't quite sure about that yet. Everything I currently knew about my new life was not something I'd like to share with the public. I was a Dhampir that was supposed to have been raised as a secret weapon for Voldemort. I later became a Gamer and am currently plotting my way to reach the pinnacle of this Universe…

Yeah… I'd rather not broadcast any of that information.

Other than Mary Jane and Liz Allan, there were two more girls who stayed behind and hovered near my desk. Once again, they were two recognizable names.

{Jean Grey - Level ?

Thoughts about you: She was incredibly impressed with your speech and your bravery for almost openly declaring to be a mutant. She wants to be friends. She can't read your mind or Peter's and is very curious why.}

I would love to be friends with the best Mutant girl in X-men. I just hoped this wasn't a Dark Phoenix universe. If it was, I'd do my best to stop it.

The fourth girl who stayed to talk to me was Penny Parker. I figured she stayed behind to apologize for her brother. I tried to use Observe on her again to confirm that but it failed to work.

[Observe can only be used on a person once a month…]

'What is that about?' I asked the System. 'Why the cooldown?'

[It's an OP ability that reads into a person's very essence. Of course, it has to have a cooldown.]

That was annoying to find out. I supposed it made sense though and I shouldn't be relying on it anyways. Constantly spamming Observe would take all the fun out of 'The Game'.

Penny Parker was a cute nerdy girl with short brown hair and a lithe build. She shifted uncomfortably as she stood in front of my desk. "Hi Valerie, I'm Penny Parker. I'm Peter's sister… I'm so sorry for what he said earlier. It was wrong!" She bit her lip nervously and waited for my response.

The other three girls were all watching my reaction as well. They were kind of putting me on the spot here, but I obviously wasn't going to snap at Penny for the way Peter acted with me. I wasn't that petty of a person.

I looked up at her. "I can't accept your apology because it wasn't you who wronged me. I can tell you and your brother are two very different people. I wouldn't mind us being friends if you would like?" I suggested.

Penny smiled brightly and innocently at me. "Y-yes! I would love to be your friend! We should sit together at lunch." She suggested.

"Sure." I said. I didn't see anything wrong with that. At the very least, her friendship would shield me from Penny's twin brother Peter… maybe.

"Great, I'll see you there!" Penny said as she excitedly ran off to her next class.

I stood up to get to my next class as well. According to my schedule, it was… AP Biology. 'Fuck you, System!'

[Tehe… you're welcome!]

Liz Allan couldn't seem to hold herself back from talking to me anymore. She ran up to me. "Hi Valerie! I'm Liz! What class do you have after this? I can show you wherever it is. I don't mind being late to my next class." She told me with a faint blush on her cheeks.

I passed the girl my schedule so Liz could take a look at it.

She smiled when she looked at it. "Oh, we all have that class next. We should walk there together." Liz suggested. She didn't give me any room to argue as she latched onto my arm and started leading us down the hallway.

As we walked and she held onto me, I didn't miss the way Liz was subtly pushing her breasts up against my arm to judge my reactions. They were very perky and felt nice pressed up against me.

"Your arm is very toned!" She complimented me. "Do you work out?"

"Kind of…" I replied. Does killing people for XP to boost my stats count as working out? I guess it does in a way…

"I love your accent, Valerie. Are you from England?" Mary Jane asked me.

"Yes. Lived there most of my life in a tiny boring village." I said. I didn't have anything else to say about it because I honestly didn't know anything else about it.

"That's so cool. New York must be a whole new experience for you though! If you want anyone to show you around the city, I would be more than happy to!" Liz said. "I can give you a very personal tour~"

I caught her obvious innuendo but pretended like I did not. "Thanks, maybe we can all go check out the city." I suggested and she pouted. She obviously wanted the 'tour' to be just the two of us.

Mary Jane snickered at her pouting friend and winked at me. She caught on that I was messing with her horny best friend next to me and clearly found it funny.

Jean Grey had been following us this whole time, but hadn't spoken up yet.

"Hi, I'm Valerie. You're Jean, right? The teacher said that you might be able to tutor me?" I asked the beautiful red-headed mutant. She had a toned hourglass body, long fiery red hair, and brilliant emerald eyes. She was a total knockout. All three of these girls actually were, but Jean was objectively the most beautiful.

Jean smiled at me. "Yes, I'd love to tutor you! We can figure out a schedule later," She told me. "There are some other things I'd like to talk to you about as well… in private." She trailed off while glancing at Liz and MJ. I was pretty sure no one else in the school knew she was a mutant.

Liz practically hissed at Jean and held onto my arm tighter. "What do you need to say to her that you can't say in front of everyone?"

"N–nothing too important. Just some study stuff." Jean lied unconvincingly.

"Uh huh, sure…" Liz trailed off jealously.

Mary Jane laughed at her friend. "Don't be jealous of Jean just because she gets to tutor the pretty new girl and you don't, Liz." She said jokingly.

Liz pouted cutely while turning to me. "I would totally tutor you myself, Valerie. But… I'm also struggling a bit with Calculus. Penny Parker has actually been tutoring me herself. She's pretty smart and way easier to talk to than her creepy weirdo brother." Liz grimaced when mentioning Peter Parker.

Mary Jane sighed. "...Peter used to be so nice when we were kids. About a year ago he almost completely changed." Mary Jane said. "I don't know what happened."

Liz snorted in clear disdain while she explained to us. "It's obvious what happened. Peter asked MJ out last year and she rejected him. He got butthurt from the rejection and ever since then he's been totally weird and creepy! Stay away from him, Valerie." She warned me.

That was definitely my current plan. Liz's explanation didn't explain Peter's personal hatred for me though. I still wondered where it came from?

{Quest Started: The Dark Spider - Find out why Peter Parker wants to kill you. +500XP}

{Bonus Objective: Defeat him and permanently dissuade him from attacking you! +5000XP}

'Thanks for the quest, System. I definitely want to get on this one asap!'

[Yeah you do. Worst case scenario…Spiderman isn't bulletproof.]

I grimaced. 'He may not be bulletproof, but he can practically dodge bullets with his Spidey Sense. If we fought, I'm sure he'd destroy me almost immediately.' I replied.

When we made it to the next class, Liz made sure to sit directly next to me. She pushed our desks closely together. "You don't have your books yet, so you can share with me, Valerie." She said as she leaned closer into me.

[This girl is very thirsty…]

'So am I, now that I think about it.' I wasn't making any moves to push the cute blonde girl off of me at least. I could admit that I was enjoying the attention she was giving me. I was enjoying it a lot actually…

…My instincts were telling me to take this girl right then and there and claim her. I had to resist those thoughts because we were in the middle of a classroom.

[Vampires are naturally VERY sensual creatures. You're half vampire. You're going to have to regularly satisfy your bloodlust and your…lust-lust.]

The System snickered in my head over its own pun.

'What happens if I don't?' I asked.

[You'll go crazy and attack someone! Whether that's to drain their blood or sexually assault them will depend on how pent up you are. It should be pretty hard to get to that point though.]

'Well, isn't that just awesome…' I thought sarcastically.

The biology teacher walked in the room a moment later. She was a lot more strict and didn't allow any interruptions during her class, no matter how many students wanted to speak to the new girl. Personally, I was glad for the hour and a half of silence so I could collect my thoughts. She also made Liz back off me and push our desks back apart.

This class went by peacefully after that. The bell rang later when class ended and it was time for lunch.

I made my way to the cafeteria ahead of the other girls. They all had to use the restroom first. I noticed that I hadn't needed to do that in a while now. Not since I had woken up in this new world actually.

[Gamers don't have to ever relieve themselves…unless they want to for some weird reason. They still have to eat, or in your case, drink blood though.]

I added that to my growing list of known abilities. It was probably one I wasn't going to talk about openly.

'What's my superpower you ask? I never have to poop…'

[Hehe! Still a cooler power than some poor bastards in this universe end up with.]

'Yeah, I remember reading about a mutant whose power was being able to make himself explode…exactly once. After he exploded…he died.'

As I was chatting with the System in my head, I was following the campus map towards the cafeteria. When I got there, I found that it was almost completely full already. I didn't see any open tables. I had forgotten about this annoying aspect of highschool life.

The most open table I saw had one guy sitting at it by himself. I actually thought the lone guy was pretty cute–if a bit little sickly looking.

I decided to sit at his table since it had room for the other girls as well. I had also been solely talking with pretty girls so far and now I wouldn't mind throwing in a cute guy. I wasn't one to discriminate based on gender…Only looks.

[Wow, that's shallow!]

As I walked over to the guy's table, I noticed that he looked vaguely familiar to me. As if I had seen him somewhere before. He wasn't in any of my previous two classes though.

"Hi there, I'm Valerie. Do you mind if me and my friends sit here for lunch?" I asked him.

The cute guy was staring at his phone and didn't notice me until I spoke up. He was startled and let go of his phone. My hand shot out and grabbed it mid-fall before it could hit the ground. My enhanced reflexes were on point! I handed it back to him with a grin!

"Thanks." he said as he took it from me. His eyes finally caught sight of my face and he momentarily blanked out. He just stared at me as his brain rebooted and told him that the gorgeous woman (AKA: me) in front of him was actually real.

I knew that this was going to be a typical reaction whenever I meet new people for the rest of my hopefully immortal life.

I waved at him to snap him out of his staring."Hello again. I'm Valerie Tepes. Who are you?"

"I'm Harry. Harry Osborn."

XXX

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