If you lived in the Support dorms, you could expect a wake up call even if you're deaf. Whether it was getting ready for classes, asking for help on an invention, or accidentally knocking my door down with other inventions, I hadn't slept in since I moved in. That's why, on the first day of winter break, I didn't have it in me to sleep past ten AM.

I woke up to my dark dorm room, the only difference being the sunlight that peeked through my thick curtains. My feet fell against the carpet next to my bed, and I made sure to throw on some house shoes before walking on the cold hardwood.

I didn't notice any of my classmates running through the halls with fire extinguishers, so that was already a good sign. When I stepped down the stairs, I found myself meeting up with Double in the kitchen.

He was one of few morning people in our class. Most of us stayed up late into the night with our work, so it was a rare find to catch anyone in the common area before noon. The only other person to be ready to go in the early morning had joined Double in making breakfast.

Standing at a solid half a foot shorter than him was our self-appointed class administrator, Mocha. She secured her curly black hair under a lavender bonnet, wearing also a large t-shirt and black leggings. When she noticed me at the end of the stairs, she gave me a warm smile and nudged Double to grab his attention.

"Oh-, Hey, Rocket- Hey, Rocket," he greeted, motioning to an empty seat at the bar counter for me. He moved to the back cabinets and reached for an armful of baking ingredients to bring down for Mocha. While she read from her phone and listed off all she had, Double drummed up small talk with me.

"I've never-never made pancakes before. So let's- So let's hope she knows what-what she's doing." I didn't mind waiting. It had been years since I had homemade breakfast; I usually skipped the meal all together. Double seemed excited to try his hand at baking though, so I waited patiently for him and Mocha to learn from the recipe.

By the time they came to an agreement after debating over chocolate chip and blueberry batter, more of our friends joined us in the kitchen. Snake rubbed her fist over her eyes, clearly ten times more exhausted than the tall boy behind her.

Dani took a seat at the counter with me. He sported a matching set of pajamas from Foxgloves sleep-wear line, and I only knew that after the countless times he brought it up. While he thought hard about what he wore downstairs, I was certain that Snake had fallen asleep in the same t-shirt and jeans she wore the previous night, and she had just woken up. I didn't need to hear the sound of her welding in her room to know that she had pulled an all-nighter.

Dani sat at the other end of the counter, and Snake soon passed out with her head in her arms. The rattles on her head rustled, showing that she hissed to herself softly, and she was deep in her sleep. Nome of us dared to wake her up.

A few minutes passed, and Double and Mocha soon finished mixing two kinds of batter. After everyone answered with blueberries, chocolate chips, or both, they finally poured out the mixing onto a skillet.

As the warm smell filled the kitchen, we all knew that pancakes were only a second away. Mocha flipped the last few disks off her frying pan as Double began passing out plates. Dani and I were both fine with one blueberry pancake while Double and Mocha preferred chocolate ones topped with syrup and whipped cream. Double even handed out one more of the sugary dishes next to Snake in case she woke up.

As I ate, my tics pinched at my nerves some more, a morning habit of mine. It was after one nerve stung my neck when I turned my head around to see another student stroll down the stairs. Stretching his arms behind a head of strawberry blond hair, he greeted us all with a big smile.

"What's up, fam'?" Dash Junko, or DJ, greeted us and slid into the last empty seat at the counter.

To put it kindly, DJ was extroverted. He was a nice guy to all of us, some more than others, but he was a social butterfly, which was a rarity in our class.

"Is it winter break already?" He asked, peering out the sliding glass door at the end of the wall, "I would have guessed the Professor sent homework for us regardless."

"Like you'd bother doing homework?" Mocha responded from her spot by the sink. It's true that DJ was on top of his game when it came to making friends, starting conversations, and even trying to impress the female members of our class. But just like his attempts at the latter, homework usually ended in failed attempts for him.

DJ reached for the almost empty bowl of batter behind the counter, trying to dip his finger in the uncooked mix until Mocha slapped his hand away and reluctantly slid a plate of cooked pancakes over instead. It felt like a normal routine for us all, but sometimes felt off. One detail was missing, and it took me a moment to figure out what.

I wouldn't call Rose anything close to a morning person. Like us all, she worked late, and we expected her to be downstairs later than normal. Today was no exception, but when she eventually arrived, she seemed off. Dark circles formed on her tan skin under her eyes, and she gripped the stair railing as if she was teetering on the edge of falling asleep again.

"You look terrible," I saw Dani mouth. Mocha leaned up to give him a flick against his neck, likely whispering in a tone only Dani and I could hear or read.

"Well, don't tell her that."

Rose stopped at the entrance to the kitchen, holding a hand up while she shut her eyes. I was just slightly afraid she fell asleep on us, but she soon started talking.

"No, he's right. Not nice, but right," she caved. We all knew something was wrong after that, if Rose was in a spot to admit that Dani was right about her.

She moved to the end of the counter, leaning against it for support. When Double asked if everything was alright, she took another break before explaining. "Yeah, I didn't sleep too well. Koto tried to scare me again last night, and I wasn't sure if she would show up again."

I couldn't help but feel bad for her. Rarely I saw instances where Rose looked defeated, and I only wished that I knew of a way to help. DJ seemed to have a solution in mind as he inched closer to Rose and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. I wasn't sure if it was the proper social protocol as Rose seemed more annoyed than comforted.

"Aww, want some company, girl?" He offered with an obnoxious grin. It wouldn't have been the first time he's made advancements on her like this despite the constant rejections from Rose.

"Not now, not ever, not in a hundred years, DJ," she croaked out through a yawn.

DJ perked up with a hopeful smile, "So, there is a number?" He soon received a quick jab courtesy of Double's elbow.

That quickly put an end to that dialogue. Mocha and Double handed out more plates of breakfast, and we continued the day with soft dialogue about winter break plans. With the ghosts still watching the house for the night, I didn't have to worry about the mischief they were into, and I had the chance to relax. I could just have breakfast with my friends without the supernatural. It was, for a moment, peaceful.

And what a short moment that was.

When Double looked over to the doors, my guess was he heard a knock. It wasn't like we got visitors, unless someone forgot their key, so we all looked over to try and see.

Whoever was at the door didn't waste their time with a greeting. She shoved past Double to run into the dorms, looking around until stopping in the kitchen. I immediately recognized Koto's bright, orange curls, but I couldn't come up with an explanation on why she was at our dorms.

She looked just as tired and worn down as Rose. Her eyes were dull and faded, brimming with unshed tears. She was shaking to a point where she didn't bother signing, only forming a death glare at Rose and holding up a pair of socks in her hands.

I couldn't follow what she was saying at all, and the socks only confused me more. Holes were cut into the ends, leaving them useless and uncomfortable to wear. but that told me nothing. Times like these made me wish I had the ghosts near me to help translate. I tried calling on them in my head, feeling spirits near me, but unable to tell if they were my spirits.

For the time being, I watched the two girls and tried to infer what was said from Rose's words and Koto's movement.

"You had it coming!" Rose argued, keeping her distance while Koto confronted her.

Koto waved her hands as if she was talking, but I couldn't follow along. Looking at Rose, nothing was said before the pair of socks was thrown at Rose's face. That seemed to be the last straw before the two of them took a huge lunge at one another, leaving Dani and DJ to keep Rose back and Double able to pick up Koto like it was nothing.

"Okay-Okay, this has gone too far- too far!" Double told them, setting Koto down and keeping his arm as a buffer between her and Rose.

Rose wasn't so easy to hold back, having that recognizable competitive glint in her exhausted eyes. "She started it! I'm just evening the score," She protested, finally staying still.

I tried to think back to when this all started. Koto didn't handle the horror movie well the other night. Not only did it give a few of us bad dreams, but it kindled a war among Rose and Koto. The two had been going back and forth with their pranks for the past few days, and each one was crueler than the last.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Last night, Rose had came to me for advice on how to get Koto back for illusing creepy voices in her closet.

"Why would I want to help either of you?" I had written an empty note to her.

Rose still looked like she hadn't rested in days as we both waited for her answer. She leaned down to my height, still a pet peeve of mine, and explained to me with a dead serious look.

"Because I can either make her life hell or yours. You pick."

I wasn't impressed. She knew how I was raised, and yet, she still thought she could scare me.

My deadpanned expression didn't waver while I signed to her as simply as I could, "You're evil."

"I haven't slept a lot, okay?" She pinched the bridge of her nose, taking a breath and asking once again, "Will you help me or not? Koto teamed up with the Hero kids, so I need some backup too."

I didn't know if she was genuine or not, but it sounded like she wanted me to ask the ghosts to help her in the prank war. Until then, Rose didn't bother with the spirits. She didn't know them well enough, and they've always been on the fence about my friends. It was interesting to see her think of them, but still, I wouldn't make them pawns.

I typed on my phone, flipping the screen over to her. "You know how I feel about using my ghosts to scare people. I'm not even sure they would want to be in any part of your game."

"It's more than a game now," Rose mouthed, her head tilted down and glaring off to the side. I wanted to ask what had gone down already, but responsibility told me to drop it and stay out of their rivalry.

My ghosts weren't so mature. Edison thought aloud about how he would make pranks much more efficiently than the others; Cleo freaked herself out by thinking about how to scare the girls with a ghost story; then, Jack- well, Jack was oddly quiet. Of all people, I expected him to be the most eager to scare mortals. But I didn't see much of him that night, and I liked to think he had grown out of his devious ways.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

It was a nice thought, Jack surprising us all by staying out of Rose and Koto's scare-off, but sadly, it was far from reality.

When they finally arrived at the dorms and pieced together that Rose and Koto were both angry with how their pranks had hurt the other, I grilled the ghosts for answers.

My eyes went from Edison, who was too proud to work with a mortal teenager, to Cleo, who couldn't put together a plan wicked enough to piss off Koto this much, to finally, Jack.

"What did you do?" I asked him, the voice in my head demanding a clear answer.

"Hey, why do you assume it was me?" He defended himself, holding his hands behind his back, surely hiding his signature shank to appear less guilty.

Jack eventually caved, admitting to me, "You know I can't lie to you, kid-"

"I told you to stay out of it," I reminded him.

He cracked a half smile at me, holding his hand up as if he was pledging with honesty. "And I sure did! I promise I didn't mess with the kid. . . Poe on the other hand made no such deal."

My palm made its way against my head. I didn't want to know what had happened, but one way or another I would have to be the person to explain this to the others.

"Edgar Allan Poe?" I clarified. Jack backed up, knowing I couldn't stop him if he wanted to leave.

"The guy's got a lot of free time," he assured me. The frustration built up inside me as I argued with Jack so much that I didn't realize I was around other people, people who probably thought I was raging to thin air.

I turned back to them and noticed Mocha looked up to Dani with concern. "He's doing it again."

'Again', right. This wouldn't be the first time I had tried to talk to my family and came off as crazy. I had to remember where I was, and that I didn't have to look at the ghosts to communicate.

Koto picked up how I was using my Quirk. Her eyes faced the flooring, tight in thought before darting back up to Rose. She signed briefly while she illused.

"Did you get Rocket's ghosts in on this?" She interrogated Rose. I never saw Koto in a bad mood, but right then, she didn't seem like the person to mess with.

Rose didn't pick up on that, cocking her head to the side as if it was obvious, "Well, duh."

Two words was all it took for Koto's wrath to go from Rose right onto me. She shot me a glare that held more betrayal than anger. Tears welled in her big eyes, and I felt awful, like I had just backstabbed a trusted friend.

Before things could fall out of my hands, I signed to Koto. "I swear, I didn't know about it. I had told Rose to drop it when she asked to use the ghosts, but it's not like I can control what they do."

Her anger was recentered onto Rose, but she still kept a wary eye on me. My excuse failed to get me in the clear, and it only upset Koto more. She leaned against the counter, holding her arms tightly around herself. I was used to knowing that I constantly had ghosts looking out for me, but to someone who never thought about it and had a fear of the paranormal, it couldn't have been a comforting thought.

Koto had started shaking again, and Double offered to help her. Even Rose looked guilty for putting her through this, but DJ, trying to comfort her, gave her the reality check to pull herself together. She gave him a light jab to the torso before walking off to her room.

I had to fix this. My twitching tics weren't helping when I tried to sign, but I still did my best to put the motions together.

Although, Koto didn't bother staying around. She composed herself quickly and backed away from the people in the kitchen, making her way towards the door. Before she got far, she did sign to me.

"I have packing to do."

I couldn't leave things like this. Using my hand to pull away from my mouth and rotate to my wrist, I signed back as Koto stepped out, "Talk later?"

Ironic, wasn't it?

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

That afternoon, everyone stayed in their rooms to pack. We had to be out of the dorms that night, so most of my classmates were rushing to get their things together.

I didn't bring much with me to the dorms that I needed to take back home. I waited on my bed with the ghosts crowding the space around me.

"Aww, I'm sorry your friend is upset, Mordecai," Cleo sympathized. I didn't think up a reply for her, but I watched as she stared Jack down, anticipating for him to jump in.

Jack groaned and crossed his arms. "Look, I'm sorry."

He didn't phrase much of an apology before Edison stopped him there. "No, you're not. You petrified a little girl!"

Jack's tired groans rang through my head again, "What do you want me to say‽ I was bored!"

I covered my hands over my ears, as if that would help at all. It was no use. The only thing in my head as long as they were around would be their arguing. It seemed to go on forever, but I didn't stop them. I already knew they didn't listen to me.

Cleo floated through the air, looking at me as she conjured an idea. "I know! Why don't you talk to your friend?"

"Yeah, I never thought of that," I mocked her, not bothering to lean up from my bed.

"Oh, then, it's a good thing you have me here to help!" Cleo floated over to my desk, phasing through the drawers until she grabbed onto my cell phone.

"I can just ask her to meet you here before you go home."

This was enough to get me out of bed faster than I knew I could. I tried reaching for Cleo, but my hand only went through her. An immediate, panicked sensation caused my heart to pound and my tics to flare up. My eyes twitched and my hands shook, but I tried to focus.

"Cleo, please-" I begged her, holding my hand out for my phone.

"You're welcome!" She smiled, dropping the device in my hand, but I had a feeling she had already done all she wanted to.

I opened up my inbox, and sure enough, there was a new text message going to Koto from me.

"Can we tolk b4 u leev?" The text read. Cleo was still trying to master Japanese, and it definitely reflected in her writing.

My shoulders dropped when seeing that the message was labeled read. The twitching in my eye was no longer a tic, but now the growing frustration with my ghosts.

"What is the matter with you?" I exhaled, but it didn't relieve any tension in my neck or shoulders. I knew there was no taking a message back. My only option would be waiting in the common room to see if she would even show up.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Almost every room on the first floor had luggage scattered across the floor. It was a maze to walk through, but at the end of the day, it would be completely empty. Most kids looked forward to getting home for the holidays. Rose was happy to work on her inventions with Q. Dani and Snake both planned to work at their families' businesses, and Double looked forward to seeing his little sister again.

I was lucky enough to get to see my family every single day at school. Although they went home at night to keep an eye on the spirits at the house, the ghosts often got lonely without their only medium. They followed me for the most part, and the break would just give me more time with them. Even if I was mad at them, they were still the only people I could talk to, so I knew I couldn't stay angry for long.

It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but still, I was worried. I hadn't been alone at the house in a few months, and who knew if I would still be used to it.

Before I could think about it anymore, I was given a text message as a distraction.

"I'm here," Koto's message read. Until then, I wasn't certain she would make it after that morning, but I counted on her for a second chance. I opened the door when it felt right, not aware if she had just arrived or had to wait.

When I saw her again, Koto looked better, like she got the opportunity to rest without classes intervening. I walked with her over to the couch, or the side of it that wasn't holding someone's suitcases and duffel bags.

When Koto took a seat, I didn't wait to start my very rehearsed signs,"If there's one thing I wish people would know, it's that ghosts aren't as scary as they seem. Sure, they can be overbearing and a pain in the neck, but show me a family that isn't."

Looking back up to her, I saw that Koto held the same expression. I couldn't tell for the life of me what she was thinking, and it took a strong will not to try to figure it out before I just kept signing.

"The minute they saw you, the spirits wanted to apologize. It's hard for them to stay out of the living world, but I'm trying my best to show them."

I waited with a pause in my breathing for Koto to sign anything back to me. I didn't know how people had these one-on-one conversations all the time. They were the most stressful thing I could think of.

Eventually, Koto sighed to herself, but that told me nothing. I waited with my flinching hands holding onto one another as she signed back.

"I wish I could believe you." Her face turned down to her lap, like she wasn't ready to see me sign back.

I saw something in those eyes fade again, and the feeling in my gut twisted. That spark in her personality, it was something so trivial but so addicting. I blamed the scientist in me. Whatever it was, it wanted above all in that moment to make her feel better.

"What if I could prove it to you?" I asked, signing with my hands down so she could see. When Koto looked back up, curiosity could just barely be seen in her expression. It led the way for me to do whatever I could to help.

"What if you can talk to..to my family?" When I signed it, it sounded ridiculous, but nothing made me want to give up.

I continued to sign, "If you come over tonight before you have to go home, I can find a way for you to talk to the ghosts, and they'll say they're sorry."

Koto seemed hesitant, and I didn't blame her. I could tell she was thinking about it, weighing the options in her head. Waiting for a reply was somehow more nerve-wracking than signing to her.

She pulled both hands up, no longer shaking but still on edge. Her right hand formed a circle while the other held two fingers out, telling me upfront, "O-K."

I strained a small smile, but inside I was hit with a wave of relief. I started to look forward to our plans. It wasn't often I had people visit the house, so something in my mind was optimistic. Like nothing could go wrong.

In the same moment, the ghosts phased through the floorboards up to fly behind Koto and spot me, shooting me thumbs up all around.

Oh, right.

Chapter 9 is dedicated to -AngelMaria-