'There 's, ' Anya swallowed, her hands shaky, 'a

lot

of people. '

If only it was the new moon already. At least then, she would actually be able to walk through the crowd of students without keeling over at the sheer volume of thoughts before her. After weeks spent at home recovering from her injury, suddenly the crowd was too much to deal with, and Anya found herself wishing that she could be back home again. At least there, she wouldn 't have to hear

everything.

Is that Anya Forger? She 's seriously back?

Wait, let me see!

Why is she in school uniform? I heard she got expelled.

What? I heard she got a Stella!

I heard she 's going to get a special medal from the mayor.

I heard she 's been drafted into the army and is going to be sent abroad.

That 's ridiculous, she 's a hero!

It was an effort to tune them all out, and she closed her eyes as she did so, only to find that someone had taken her hand in theirs.