"I wish I had that option," she replies with a scowl at the world.

"I wasn't allowed to leave home except when closely supervised until this year. School is a new opportunity. I don't know what you're dealing with but maybe it can be a refuge for you too. At least for a while."

"Maybe this school will be different. That would be nice."

"I hope it is."

The teachers finish their spiel and tell everyone they can go to lunch early or hang around until their next class. They'll be available to answer questions if people still have them.

She does not have questions. "Wanna head to lunch?"

"Sure. I figured I would try what the school is offering at least once before I start packing lunches."

She nods. It would be nice if she had the option of packing lunches without a troublesome risk. Her relatives suck.

"Yeah, I'm really glad there's free lunch. Hope it's good."

"Me too."

The lunch lines aren't yet open for the second block when they get there. Apparently they close to do some restocking and cleaning between official lunch periods.

Valid of them. She finds someplace to sit with a wall on one side so she's less exposed.

Elemi starts to scooch in next to her.

Um.

Shit how close is Elemi going to sit fuck fuck fuck.

If she's not too close than maybe this is an advantage but fuck.

Hailey watches how close Elemi sits.

Elemi will stop with a good 35cm or so of margin. (1'2" for people more comfortable with imperial units.) Close enough that they could touch arms if they moved in the right ways but not close enough that touch is inevitable.

Shit.

She tries to keep it together but nope.

Aaaaaa.

She murmurs quietly and rapidly to Elemi, trying to avoid how obvious whispering can be, but trying to be hard to overhear, and not remotely doing a good job of avoiding run-ons. "Okay fuck I do not want to have to explain but touching people hurts and I don't know why well I know why why but I don't know the how and someone sitting this close is makin' me anxious but sitting on my side like that could block off more people I don't know fuck."

"Oh, sorry." She moves further away to about 60cm (A bit less than 2') "I'll be careful. We could wait outside instead if you wanted."

She takes careful breaths, trying to slow down. "Ugh fuck I overshared that."

Pant, pant, sloooooower, c'mon.

"Yeah, that might be good, or at least after we get the food," she replies after she gets her breathing a little more under control.

"I already said I would keep your secrets. And being outside is nice. It's a warm September."

"You did, but I've known you for one day. If I'm already oversharing I clearly need to get my shit together or half the school will know everything inside a month."

Elemi pauses to think about that. "Is the over sharing you telling me that being touched hurts or the partial explanation or both?"

"Both."

Any exposure is a potential risk. Anything could get back to her aunt and uncle.

"How do you handle hallways without letting on? I guess showing something on your face is different from saying it out loud."

"Mostly I just brace myself before leaving the classroom, grit my teeth, and suffer."

"I'm sorry, that sounds awful." She wishes she could help but even if she was being open about her powers that sounds like the kind of deep work that would need changevine or mind bees. And she doesn't have a lot of practice with those. Maybe she should practice more.

"Yeah, it kind of is."

Elemi already knows she's weird and broken, this much getting back to her aunt and uncle would already earn her more time with his belt, maybe she can afford to say a tiny bit more.

"It might get a little easier if I managed to move out."