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  Victoria got off the bus and breathed in the fresh air. Or, rather, fresh air mixed with bus exhaust. Regardless, it was going to be a good day; a great day. It was the first day of the new school year; her first day of high school, to be specific. She was feeling kind of optimistic. She had spent most of her summer allowance on new school clothes and accessories, so she was feeling pretty good about how she looked, as well.

  Victoria started down the walkway towards the school. As she did, she passed by some other vehicles that were dropping other students off. She happened to catch part of a conversation that one family was having as she was walking by.

  “Are you sure you’re ready for high school?” asked the father in a worried tone.

  “Yes, father. I’ll be fine. I promise you, you don’t have to worry about me,” replied the son, slightly irritated.

  “I just want to make sure that you’re comfortable being in such a public place by yourself.”

  “Trust me, father, I’ll be fine. I have to go now, before I’m late for class,” the boy said, getting out of the car.

  The father sighed and replied. “Okay. Just remember to keep your glasses on.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” The boy said, flicking open a pair of dark sunglasses and putting them on.

  The boy closed the door to the car and slung his backpack over his shoulder and started down the walkway to the school.

  Victoria had made it to class with only moments to spare before the final bell. Too much time setting up her locker with decorations and checking her hair repeatedly in the bathroom mirror was what almost made her late for her first day of high school! That would’ve been bad.

  She took a seat towards the back of the class by the window. The room was almost full by the time she got there. Slowly but surely the rest of the class filed in before the final bell. Most of them she knew from middle school, but there were a few new faces that she didn’t recognize. One of them—a tall, skinny boy wearing a green bombers jacket and black jeans, dark sunglasses and a black trilby hat with a bright green strip around it—took a seat next to her on the right.

    He dropped his book bag to the ground and looked around. When his eyes came to rest on Victoria, he caught her staring at him. He gave her a quick nod, which made her blush and quickly look away. He smiled a bit to himself and turned his attention back to the front of the class.

    The teacher walked in moments before the bell rang.

    “Alright class,” the teacher called out. “Settle down and take your seats. I’m about to do roll call.” The teacher, a woman of average size and stature, stood at the front of the class. She looked to be around her mid-30s. She had long, dark hair pulled up into a ponytail, with some of it hanging down on both sides of her face. She wore a light dress shirt and dark jeans with pumps. Tasteful makeup but a little bit chunky on the necklace.

    She sifted some papers on her desk and then started calling out student’s names, making sure they had shown up for class.

  The students responded with “Here!” or “Present!” as their names were called. Then she called Victoria’s name.

  “Victoria Klass?”

    “Here!” She said, raising her hand a bit.

    The teacher read the next name on the list, “Asper Knockturn?”

    The boy next to Victoria cleared his throat and said, “Yes, ma’am,” giving a slight bit of an accent as he spoke.

    The teacher looked up to see where he was sitting.

    “I’m sorry, Asper, but hats are not allowed to be worn during class.”

    “Oh?” He responded. “Why is that?”

    “Because it’s not part of the dress code. Please take it off while in class.”

    Asper sighed a bit and slowly reached up and took off his hat, revealing a bright green faux hawk. There were whispers and tiny gasps around the classroom as this happened. He sat the hat down at the front of his desk and folded his arms, leaning back in his seat.

    “And I’m afraid you’re going to have to remove your sunglasses as well, Mr. Knockturn. They are against the dress code as well.”

    “I’m afraid I can’t do that, ma’am.” Asper said, putting one foot up on the basket of the seat in front of him.

    “Oh? And why is that?” The teacher asked.

    “I have…” he took a moment to think. “I have a special eye condition that makes them very sensitive to bright lights, like the ones here in the school, and the sun outside. So I have to wear these glasses when I’m out in public so I don’t damage my eyes.”

    The teacher began to get annoyed. “I’m sorry, but unless you have a doctor’s note stating that you in fact have a condition like that then I’m afraid you have to take them off while you are in my class.”

    “Actually, I do have a note,” he said, pulling a folded up piece of paper out of his coat pocket and smirking, holding it between his pointer and middle finger.

    “Bring it to me.” The teacher said flatly.

    The smirk faded from Asper’s face as he got up from his seat and walked up to the front of the class. He handed the note to the teacher and she snatched it out of his hand and unfolded it and began reading skeptically.

    After she read the note she sighed and said, “I suppose I’m going to have to allow you to keep your glasses on then, but no hats.” She gave him back the note.

    “Yes, ma’am.” Asper said, smirking again and returning to his seat. He replaced the note back into his coat pocket and pulled a notebook out of his backpack along with a pencil.

    Victoria couldn’t help but ponder how cool she thought Asper was. Every move he made he did with an air of confidence that she couldn’t help but find attractive. She caught herself staring at him again so she quickly looked away and took out a notebook and pencil of her own from her pink book bag.

    The first class of the day was History; nothing like starting out the new school year jumping right into subjects like war and famine. Victoria wanted to start out the school year strong, so she made sure to take all of the notes that the teacher wrote up on the white board, all categorized with bullet points and separated with cute little squiggles to indicate separate subjects. She highlighted extra-special points that the teacher mentioned more than once in bright pink highlighter, figuring it might be on a future test.

    While she was taking notes, she also took the liberty to sneak a few quick peaks over at Asper from time to time. He didn’t seem like he was really absorbing all of the new information as well as Victoria was, spending most of his time spinning his pencil on the desk or bouncing his feet on the basket of the seat in front of him.

    The kid sitting in front of Asper turned around and quietly said, “Dude, can you stop bouncing your feet? I’m trying’ to concentrate here.”

    “Oh, sorry,” Asper replied, a little embarrassed. He put his feet down on the ground, then moved them back more and hung his heels on the front of the basket of his own seat and resumed slightly bouncing his feet again.

    Asper began tapping the eraser end of his pencil on his desk, bouncing it with his thumb. He couldn’t seem to concentrate. He had never been in such a public place before, especially on his own. Before this all he knew was home schooling and staying about the house, helping his father and trying to fend off his annoying sister. He was nervous, to say the least. Nervous, anxious, and a little nauseous, too. All he could think of was trying to stay calm and not freak out like his father expected him to do. He wanted to prove to his father that he could handle being in a public place on his own. He also wanted to start making friends. What kind of 15 year old kid doesn’t have any friends? He thought to himself.

    Asper turned his head to look out the window. It was such a nice day outside. The sun was out, a cool, crisp autumn breeze blowing through the air. Not too hot, not too cold; just right. Oh what he wouldn’t give to be able to go outside and just take a walk right now. Enjoy the fresh air and not have to worry about anything. Not have to deal with his annoying sister or overprotective dad. A short time where he could just be by himself and do whatever he wanted for a change. But that was impossible. As long as he lived in his father’s house he had a curfew, a small allowance, and a very, very annoying little sister. Why did she have to be such a pain all the time? Sometimes he wished he was an only child, but things happened for a reason, whether he liked it or not.

    Asper sighed and looked back towards the front of the class. The teacher was currently speaking about something to do with the Cuban Missile Crisis, but Asper wasn’t taking in any of it. He never really enjoyed learning about history. All he wanted was to get through the day and make it home where he knew he would be safe. He looked up at the clock, staring at it hard through his dark sunglasses, trying to will the time to go by faster, but to no avail. It still took 60 seconds for the hand to move another minute, no matter how hard or long he stared at it.

    Eventually Asper just gave up and folded his arms across the desk and rested his head on them until the bell rang.

    The class started to gather their things as the bell rang. Victoria neatly put away her things into her cute pink messenger bag. She stood up and slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder and looked over at Asper, who was in the process of haphazardly shoving his belongings back into his backpack and zipping it up. He then stood up, grabbed the hat off his desk and put it back on his head, careful not to squish his faux hawk, picked up his bag and began making his way towards the exit. Victoria followed close behind.

    Out in the hallway, Victoria pulled out her schedule from her pocket.

    “Let’s see, next is… Advanced Algebra; Room 304.” She looked down the hallway. Room 304 was close to her locker, so she shouldn’t have a hard time making it to class on time. She stuck the piece of paper back into her pocket and started walking back to her locker.

    She spun the dial on her locker and it clicked. She opened it and reached into her purse and pulled out a small hair brush. Carefully looking herself over in her locker mirror, she brushed her ginger orange hair back into place and fixed her ponytail. Then she checked her face to make sure she wasn’t getting any breakouts. After that she straightened the cute little two-toned blue heart bows she had in her hair and smoothed out her shirt. It was a light blue, long-sleeved blouse with a ruffled collar and slightly poofy shoulders. It had sleeves that billowed out at the wrists and a dark blue bowtie that matched her hair clips. On the front of the shirt was a cartoon cat face with the tongue slightly sticking out and below that it read “BLEB!” She had on dark blue skinny jeans and light blue high top sneakers. She wore silver cross earrings and a matching cross necklace. Satisfied with her appearance, she closed her locker and headed to class.

    Victoria always did really well in math class, so she was able to catch on quickly to what the teacher was saying and to the assignments that he had put up on the board. While her classmates were busy struggling with the first few problems, Victoria had almost the whole assignment finished already.

    When she had finished completing all of the problems that the teacher had assigned, she turned in her paper to the front, returned to her seat and started doodling in her notebook. She drew a cute little kitty playing with a yarn ball, and then she drew a picture of her precious little dog, Foxy, a beautiful white Pomsky, which is a mix between a Husky and a Pomeranian.

    She liked drawing. She enjoyed the creative outlet when she had spare time or when she got bored, and she was good at it too. She started drawing when she was old enough to hold a pencil and never stopped. She had whole sketchbooks filled with various drawings in her bedroom. Some of her drawings she even had framed on her walls. She had even won some creative art competitions back in middle school. It was her passion.

    Suddenly, the bell rang, signaling the end of class, and the end of her doodle session. Victoria closed her notebook and stuck it in her backpack along with her pencil and zipped up her bag. She picked up her bag and headed out the door to her locker. She checked her schedule again.

    “Next is P. E. class. Finally I’ll get some exercise,” she said. She opened her locker and grabbed a small plastic bag that had her gym clothes and shoes in it. Then she removed her hair clips and put them in a little basket that was magnetized to her locker door.

    “All ready,” she said as she shut her locker and headed towards the gym.

    The gym was located around the corner from the cafeteria. The hallway leading to the gym was lined in glass windowed displays showing off all of the awards and photos of previous champions and winners of sports games that the school had had in the past. Names engraved on plaques and huge trophies adorned the cases, along with long-running records of wins that the school had against other schools.

    Victoria entered the gym, a huge expanse with shiny floors and cinderblock walls. Pennants hung from the ceilings with names and numbers of graduated sports team members. The bleachers were all pushed in against the walls and the whole room smelled of worn rubber and wax.

    She entered the girls’ locker room through a door next to the bleachers close to the hallway door. Inside was a hallway that led to the left and right. To the right, another door that led to the hallway, to the left all the way down the hall was another door that led to the locker room. Once she had entered the official locker room, she went to work trying to find an empty locker to call her own.

    She settled on a locker close to the bathroom in the middle row. She quickly got changed into her gym clothes and sneakers and put her other clothes in the locker. She just left her book bag sitting on the bench in front of her locker. She readjusted her ponytail and checked herself over in the mirror. A cute, pink tank top that read “Princess” in black lettering and light blue sweatpants rolled up to just above her ankles. On her feet she wore pink socks and white tennis shoes.

    “Lookin’ good,” she said, firing finger guns at herself in the mirror. She exited the locker room through a different door on the opposite side of the room that led directly into the gym and sat down on the bottom bleacher next to the other students.

    “What do you think we’re going to be doing today?” Asked on of the girls.

    “I don’t know, but whatever it is it better not mess up my manicure,” said another girl who was very intently looking over her nails, picking dirt out from underneath them.

    Victoria just rolled her eyes and looked around the room. That’s when she saw him, the cute boy from her history class. He was coming from the boys’ locker room across the gym. He was wearing bright green basketball shorts and a long black tank top. On his feet were tall black socks and green and black basketball shoes. He still wore those mysterious sunglasses though. Man what a cutie. She thought. Some other boys were following him out of the locker room, some of them gesturing to him and whispering to each other. He took a seat at the opposite end of the bleachers by himself.

    The P. E. teacher soon came out from her office and blew her whistle.

    “Alright, class, listen up! Today we’re going to be playing kick ball outside!” she hollered.

    Some of the boys got excited and high-fived each other, while the girls just kinda went along with it.

    “Alright, it’s time to pick team captains! Who wants to be a captain?” Tons of hands shot up immediately, some bodies even rising in their seats slightly, hoping to get a better chance at getting picked.

    “Okay, you and you. Get up here,” the teacher said, pointing to two different individuals.

    A tall, fit boy with short brown hair and a Lakers jersey and golden basketball shorts named Tommie Winters was picked for team one captain.

    “Hell, yeah!” He said, high-fiving the guy next to him. He sauntered up to the front of the class next to the coach and ran his fingers through his hair, flipping it in the process. Girls everywhere swooned when he did this, and that included the girls in this class. He was quite the ladies’ man, and everyone knew it. He just had a way to make all the girls fall for him. Well, all girls except one in particular: Victoria. And that irked him, because he liked her most of all. She just never really fell for his arrogance and overly-romantic ways. He shot a look over at Victoria and winked. Victoria faked gagging and rolled her eyes at him. This ticked him off, why didn’t she like him? He would find a way to get to her one day, he vowed, but for now he just ignored her response and looked away.

    The second team captain was a boy named Eric Polanski—a tall, husky blonde guy wearing a dark blue t-shirt and grey basketball shorts. Eric was a nice guy. Always had good grades, loved sports and basically breathed anything Star Wars. A little on the nerdy side, Eric loved sharing his vast knowledge of video games and fantasy novels to anyone who would listen. He was an overall good guy.

    “Alright you two, start picking team members,” said the coach.

    Tommie got to pick first. Of course, all the girls’ hands shot up because any of them would do anything to be close to him. Victoria just rolled her eyes again and sat back against the bleachers with her arms crossed. She honestly didn’t care which team she was on, as long as her team didn’t suck, she was fine with anything. Fortunately, she didn’t have to wait long to be picked, because she turned out to be Tommie’s first choice.

    “I pick Victoria.” Tommie said, pointing at her.

    Every girl in the room turned to scowl at her, while she just sat there, somewhat surprised, yet she kind of expected it from him. She sighed and rolled her eyes and got up off the bench, walking towards him.

    Tommie chuckled a bit and said, “Hey, Vickie. How’s it goin’?”

    Victoria frowned and replied with, “Okay, first of all, never call me Vickie. Second of all, I don’t care to share what’s going on in my life with a scumbag like you. Why don’t you do yourself and me a favor and pick one of the other girls first next time. I’m sure they’d love to tell you about their lives more than I would.”

    “Ouch, harsh,” Tommie replied, a little hurt. But Victoria didn’t care because it was the truth. Tommie had been trying to get at her since the 7th grade, but she never wanted anything to do with him.

    After that it was Eric’s turn to choose. The class then began separating between the two teams until it was only two people left: a short, chubby kid with huge glasses and the mysterious new kid with bright green hair.

    It was Eric’s turn to choose.

    “I pick the Finkster!” Eric said, pointing at the chubby kid. The boy’s name was Todd Finkler, but everyone called him the Finkster.

    “Oh, great. That means I get the weirdo with the green hair,” Tommie mumbled to himself.

    This made Victoria excited. She got to be on the same team as that cute guy! At least she didn’t have to play against him, which was a relief.

    Asper got up off the bench and walked over to his team, remaining quiet.

    “Okay, let’s start heading outside!” The coach said, opening a big metal door that led to the outside.

    The gym filtered out onto the field behind the school and the two captains flipped a coin to see who got to go first. Eric won the flip so his team got to kick first.

    Victoria’s team headed to the outfield. She claimed third base, while Tommie chose to be the pitcher. Asper stood somewhere between the two.

    First up to kick was a girl named Tabitha Marsh. She was a good friend of Victoria’s, so it sucked that she had to be on the opposite team.

    “Alright, babe, I’m gonna roll it nice and slow for ya, ok?” Tommie teased.

    Tabitha giggled and just said, “Okay.”

    Tommie rolled the ball and Tabitha bunted it towards first base, which, unfortunately, resulted in her getting out, as the first baseman was able to get the ball to the plate before she was able to make it there.

    “Aw, that’s okay, babe. Maybe next time?” Tommie said, sweetly.

    Tabitha giggled again and went to stand at the back of her team’s line.

    Next up was Eric. If you were playing any kind of sports game, you wanted him on your team. He walked up to the plate and assumed a good kicking stance.

    Tommie rolled the ball as fast as he could while putting a little spin on it, hoping Eric would miss the kick. Eric took a step back as the ball was released and came forward with his right foot and connected directly with the ball, sending it flying forward towards the left-center of the field.

    Asper was too busy staring up at the clouds that he didn’t notice the ball was coming right at him.

    “Hey, look out!” one of his teammates shouted.

    But it was too late. The ball sailed right into him, hitting Asper right in the face, knocking him to the ground and displacing his sunglasses from his eyes.

    Eric rounded first base as one of the other outfielders ran to grab the ball. They threw it to second base, but he was already safe.

    The coach blew the whistle and hollered, “Hey, Knockturn! You okay to play?”

    Asper groaned and pushed himself up into a sitting position.

    “Yes. I’m fine,” he replied.

    “Alright, just be more careful and pay attention to the ball next time,” the coach said, blowing the whistle again to signal a resume in gameplay.

    Asper reached up and realized he wasn’t wearing his glasses anymore. He suddenly became nervous and began searching in the grass around him for them. Victoria noticed them lying a few feet away from him. She quickly ran over and picked them up then went over to him.

    “Looking for these?” she asked, holding the glasses out to him.

    Asper stopped and looked up slightly, and then he reached out and tried grabbing them without looking directly at her. Victoria placed them in his hand and he quickly replaced them onto his eyes. He then got up and brushed the grass off himself and turned to her.

    “Thanks…” he mumbled quietly.

    Victoria smiled and said, “You’re welcome,” and returned to her base.

    As the game went on, Asper made sure to pay more attention to the game rather than daydream, and soon it was time for the teams to switch places.

    Asper was the first person to step up to the plate, when Tommie suddenly placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “Hey, bro. Mind if I go first?”

    “Uh, sure.” Asper stepped back and let Tommie have the first kick.

    Eric was the one pitching for the other team. Eric rolled the ball fast and hard. Tommie put all he had into his kick and the ball sailed through the air towards second base. He chose to stop at the first base and call it a good run.

    Asper chose to kick next. He stepped up to the plate and got ready. Eric figured based on Asper’s frame that it was going to be an easy out, so he signaled for his teammates to move in a little. Eric then rolled the ball nice and easy. Unfortunately for the other team, Asper held a secret.

    Taking a step back, Asper leaped forward and kicked, launching the ball high over the heads of the other team’s players. The ball soared high through the air, unable to be reached by anyone in the outfield. It landed behind the fence into the track field.

    Everyone was amazed and in awe at the power of the kick. Asper then sprinted towards first base, while Tommie ran to second. They both rounded the bases as someone from the other team went to go retrieve the ball. It was a homerun for sure. Both Tommie and Asper made it to home base before the ball could make it back to the pitcher’s mound.

    “That was amazing!” Victoria said as Asper was passing by to get back in line.

    Asper blushed a bit and scratched the back of his neck, saying, “Thanks.”

    “Yeah. Not bad for a newbie.” Tommie said, walking by and messing up Aspers hair with his hand.

    Asper groaned and fixed his hair, glaring at Tommie.

    As the day went on, both teams did really well and everyone was having fun. The game ended with Eric’s team getting eleven points and Tommie’s team getting thirteen, so of course that boosted Tommie’s ego and was making him even more obnoxious with all the bragging he was doing in the locker room, saying how he was ‘basically carrying his whole team through the whole game’ and that it was because he was such a great captain that his team won.

    Asper just shook his head and ignored him, changing back into his normal clothes, locking his gym locker and exiting the locker room.

Description
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  Victoria got off the bus and breathed in the fresh air. Or, rather, fresh air mixed with bus exhaust. Regardless, it was going to be a good day; a great day. It was the first day of the new school year; her first day of high school, to be specific. She was feeling kind of optimistic. She had spent most of her summer allowance on new school clothes and accessories, so she was feeling pretty good about how she looked, as well.

  Victoria started down the walkway towards the school. As she did, she passed by some other vehicles that were dropping other students off. She happened to catch part of a conversation that one family was having as she was walking by.

  “Are you sure you’re ready for high school?” asked the father in a worried tone.

  “Yes, father. I’ll be fine. I promise you, you don’t have to worry about me,” replied the son, slightly irritated.

  “I just want to make sure that you’re comfortable being in such a public place by yourself.”

  “Trust me, father, I’ll be fine. I have to go now, before I’m late for class,” the boy said, getting out of the car.

  The father sighed and replied. “Okay. Just remember to keep your glasses on.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” The boy said, flicking open a pair of dark sunglasses and putting them on.

  The boy closed the door to the car and slung his backpack over his shoulder and started down the walkway to the school.

  Victoria had made it to class with only moments to spare before the final bell. Too much time setting up her locker with decorations and checking her hair repeatedly in the bathroom mirror was what almost made her late for her first day of high school! That would’ve been bad.

  She took a seat towards the back of the class by the window. The room was almost full by the time she got there. Slowly but surely the rest of the class filed in before the final bell. Most of them she knew from middle school, but there were a few new faces that she didn’t recognize. One of them—a tall, skinny boy wearing a green bombers jacket and black jeans, dark sunglasses and a black trilby hat with a bright green strip around it—took a seat next to her on the right.

    He dropped his book bag to the ground and looked around. When his eyes came to rest on Victoria, he caught her staring at him. He gave her a quick nod, which made her blush and quickly look away. He smiled a bit to himself and turned his attention back to the front of the class.

    The teacher walked in moments before the bell rang.

    “Alright class,” the teacher called out. “Settle down and take your seats. I’m about to do roll call.” The teacher, a woman of average size and stature, stood at the front of the class. She looked to be around her mid-30s. She had long, dark hair pulled up into a ponytail, with some of it hanging down on both sides of her face. She wore a light dress shirt and dark jeans with pumps. Tasteful makeup but a little bit chunky on the necklace.

    She sifted some papers on her desk and then started calling out student’s names, making sure they had shown up for class.

  The students responded with “Here!” or “Present!” as their names were called. Then she called Victoria’s name.

  “Victoria Klass?”

    “Here!” She said, raising her hand a bit.

    The teacher read the next name on the list, “Asper Knockturn?”

    The boy next to Victoria cleared his throat and said, “Yes, ma’am,” giving a slight bit of an accent as he spoke.

    The teacher looked up to see where he was sitting.

    “I’m sorry, Asper, but hats are not allowed to be worn during class.”

    “Oh?” He responded. “Why is that?”

    “Because it’s not part of the dress code. Please take it off while in class.”

    Asper sighed a bit and slowly reached up and took off his hat, revealing a bright green faux hawk. There were whispers and tiny gasps around the classroom as this happened. He sat the hat down at the front of his desk and folded his arms, leaning back in his seat.

    “And I’m afraid you’re going to have to remove your sunglasses as well, Mr. Knockturn. They are against the dress code as well.”

    “I’m afraid I can’t do that, ma’am.” Asper said, putting one foot up on the basket of the seat in front of him.

    “Oh? And why is that?” The teacher asked.

    “I have…” he took a moment to think. “I have a special eye condition that makes them very sensitive to bright lights, like the ones here in the school, and the sun outside. So I have to wear these glasses when I’m out in public so I don’t damage my eyes.”

    The teacher began to get annoyed. “I’m sorry, but unless you have a doctor’s note stating that you in fact have a condition like that then I’m afraid you have to take them off while you are in my class.”

    “Actually, I do have a note,” he said, pulling a folded up piece of paper out of his coat pocket and smirking, holding it between his pointer and middle finger.

    “Bring it to me.” The teacher said flatly.

    The smirk faded from Asper’s face as he got up from his seat and walked up to the front of the class. He handed the note to the teacher and she snatched it out of his hand and unfolded it and began reading skeptically.

    After she read the note she sighed and said, “I suppose I’m going to have to allow you to keep your glasses on then, but no hats.” She gave him back the note.

    “Yes, ma’am.” Asper said, smirking again and returning to his seat. He replaced the note back into his coat pocket and pulled a notebook out of his backpack along with a pencil.

    Victoria couldn’t help but ponder how cool she thought Asper was. Every move he made he did with an air of confidence that she couldn’t help but find attractive. She caught herself staring at him again so she quickly looked away and took out a notebook and pencil of her own from her pink book bag.

    The first class of the day was History; nothing like starting out the new school year jumping right into subjects like war and famine. Victoria wanted to start out the school year strong, so she made sure to take all of the notes that the teacher wrote up on the white board, all categorized with bullet points and separated with cute little squiggles to indicate separate subjects. She highlighted extra-special points that the teacher mentioned more than once in bright pink highlighter, figuring it might be on a future test.

    While she was taking notes, she also took the liberty to sneak a few quick peaks over at Asper from time to time. He didn’t seem like he was really absorbing all of the new information as well as Victoria was, spending most of his time spinning his pencil on the desk or bouncing his feet on the basket of the seat in front of him.

    The kid sitting in front of Asper turned around and quietly said, “Dude, can you stop bouncing your feet? I’m trying’ to concentrate here.”

    “Oh, sorry,” Asper replied, a little embarrassed. He put his feet down on the ground, then moved them back more and hung his heels on the front of the basket of his own seat and resumed slightly bouncing his feet again.

    Asper began tapping the eraser end of his pencil on his desk, bouncing it with his thumb. He couldn’t seem to concentrate. He had never been in such a public place before, especially on his own. Before this all he knew was home schooling and staying about the house, helping his father and trying to fend off his annoying sister. He was nervous, to say the least. Nervous, anxious, and a little nauseous, too. All he could think of was trying to stay calm and not freak out like his father expected him to do. He wanted to prove to his father that he could handle being in a public place on his own. He also wanted to start making friends. What kind of 15 year old kid doesn’t have any friends? He thought to himself.

    Asper turned his head to look out the window. It was such a nice day outside. The sun was out, a cool, crisp autumn breeze blowing through the air. Not too hot, not too cold; just right. Oh what he wouldn’t give to be able to go outside and just take a walk right now. Enjoy the fresh air and not have to worry about anything. Not have to deal with his annoying sister or overprotective dad. A short time where he could just be by himself and do whatever he wanted for a change. But that was impossible. As long as he lived in his father’s house he had a curfew, a small allowance, and a very, very annoying little sister. Why did she have to be such a pain all the time? Sometimes he wished he was an only child, but things happened for a reason, whether he liked it or not.

    Asper sighed and looked back towards the front of the class. The teacher was currently speaking about something to do with the Cuban Missile Crisis, but Asper wasn’t taking in any of it. He never really enjoyed learning about history. All he wanted was to get through the day and make it home where he knew he would be safe. He looked up at the clock, staring at it hard through his dark sunglasses, trying to will the time to go by faster, but to no avail. It still took 60 seconds for the hand to move another minute, no matter how hard or long he stared at it.

    Eventually Asper just gave up and folded his arms across the desk and rested his head on them until the bell rang.

    The class started to gather their things as the bell rang. Victoria neatly put away her things into her cute pink messenger bag. She stood up and slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder and looked over at Asper, who was in the process of haphazardly shoving his belongings back into his backpack and zipping it up. He then stood up, grabbed the hat off his desk and put it back on his head, careful not to squish his faux hawk, picked up his bag and began making his way towards the exit. Victoria followed close behind.

    Out in the hallway, Victoria pulled out her schedule from her pocket.

    “Let’s see, next is… Advanced Algebra; Room 304.” She looked down the hallway. Room 304 was close to her locker, so she shouldn’t have a hard time making it to class on time. She stuck the piece of paper back into her pocket and started walking back to her locker.

    She spun the dial on her locker and it clicked. She opened it and reached into her purse and pulled out a small hair brush. Carefully looking herself over in her locker mirror, she brushed her ginger orange hair back into place and fixed her ponytail. Then she checked her face to make sure she wasn’t getting any breakouts. After that she straightened the cute little two-toned blue heart bows she had in her hair and smoothed out her shirt. It was a light blue, long-sleeved blouse with a ruffled collar and slightly poofy shoulders. It had sleeves that billowed out at the wrists and a dark blue bowtie that matched her hair clips. On the front of the shirt was a cartoon cat face with the tongue slightly sticking out and below that it read “BLEB!” She had on dark blue skinny jeans and light blue high top sneakers. She wore silver cross earrings and a matching cross necklace. Satisfied with her appearance, she closed her locker and headed to class.

    Victoria always did really well in math class, so she was able to catch on quickly to what the teacher was saying and to the assignments that he had put up on the board. While her classmates were busy struggling with the first few problems, Victoria had almost the whole assignment finished already.

    When she had finished completing all of the problems that the teacher had assigned, she turned in her paper to the front, returned to her seat and started doodling in her notebook. She drew a cute little kitty playing with a yarn ball, and then she drew a picture of her precious little dog, Foxy, a beautiful white Pomsky, which is a mix between a Husky and a Pomeranian.

    She liked drawing. She enjoyed the creative outlet when she had spare time or when she got bored, and she was good at it too. She started drawing when she was old enough to hold a pencil and never stopped. She had whole sketchbooks filled with various drawings in her bedroom. Some of her drawings she even had framed on her walls. She had even won some creative art competitions back in middle school. It was her passion.

    Suddenly, the bell rang, signaling the end of class, and the end of her doodle session. Victoria closed her notebook and stuck it in her backpack along with her pencil and zipped up her bag. She picked up her bag and headed out the door to her locker. She checked her schedule again.

    “Next is P. E. class. Finally I’ll get some exercise,” she said. She opened her locker and grabbed a small plastic bag that had her gym clothes and shoes in it. Then she removed her hair clips and put them in a little basket that was magnetized to her locker door.

    “All ready,” she said as she shut her locker and headed towards the gym.

    The gym was located around the corner from the cafeteria. The hallway leading to the gym was lined in glass windowed displays showing off all of the awards and photos of previous champions and winners of sports games that the school had had in the past. Names engraved on plaques and huge trophies adorned the cases, along with long-running records of wins that the school had against other schools.

    Victoria entered the gym, a huge expanse with shiny floors and cinderblock walls. Pennants hung from the ceilings with names and numbers of graduated sports team members. The bleachers were all pushed in against the walls and the whole room smelled of worn rubber and wax.

    She entered the girls’ locker room through a door next to the bleachers close to the hallway door. Inside was a hallway that led to the left and right. To the right, another door that led to the hallway, to the left all the way down the hall was another door that led to the locker room. Once she had entered the official locker room, she went to work trying to find an empty locker to call her own.

    She settled on a locker close to the bathroom in the middle row. She quickly got changed into her gym clothes and sneakers and put her other clothes in the locker. She just left her book bag sitting on the bench in front of her locker. She readjusted her ponytail and checked herself over in the mirror. A cute, pink tank top that read “Princess” in black lettering and light blue sweatpants rolled up to just above her ankles. On her feet she wore pink socks and white tennis shoes.

    “Lookin’ good,” she said, firing finger guns at herself in the mirror. She exited the locker room through a different door on the opposite side of the room that led directly into the gym and sat down on the bottom bleacher next to the other students.

    “What do you think we’re going to be doing today?” Asked on of the girls.

    “I don’t know, but whatever it is it better not mess up my manicure,” said another girl who was very intently looking over her nails, picking dirt out from underneath them.

    Victoria just rolled her eyes and looked around the room. That’s when she saw him, the cute boy from her history class. He was coming from the boys’ locker room across the gym. He was wearing bright green basketball shorts and a long black tank top. On his feet were tall black socks and green and black basketball shoes. He still wore those mysterious sunglasses though. Man what a cutie. She thought. Some other boys were following him out of the locker room, some of them gesturing to him and whispering to each other. He took a seat at the opposite end of the bleachers by himself.

    The P. E. teacher soon came out from her office and blew her whistle.

    “Alright, class, listen up! Today we’re going to be playing kick ball outside!” she hollered.

    Some of the boys got excited and high-fived each other, while the girls just kinda went along with it.

    “Alright, it’s time to pick team captains! Who wants to be a captain?” Tons of hands shot up immediately, some bodies even rising in their seats slightly, hoping to get a better chance at getting picked.

    “Okay, you and you. Get up here,” the teacher said, pointing to two different individuals.

    A tall, fit boy with short brown hair and a Lakers jersey and golden basketball shorts named Tommie Winters was picked for team one captain.

    “Hell, yeah!” He said, high-fiving the guy next to him. He sauntered up to the front of the class next to the coach and ran his fingers through his hair, flipping it in the process. Girls everywhere swooned when he did this, and that included the girls in this class. He was quite the ladies’ man, and everyone knew it. He just had a way to make all the girls fall for him. Well, all girls except one in particular: Victoria. And that irked him, because he liked her most of all. She just never really fell for his arrogance and overly-romantic ways. He shot a look over at Victoria and winked. Victoria faked gagging and rolled her eyes at him. This ticked him off, why didn’t she like him? He would find a way to get to her one day, he vowed, but for now he just ignored her response and looked away.

    The second team captain was a boy named Eric Polanski—a tall, husky blonde guy wearing a dark blue t-shirt and grey basketball shorts. Eric was a nice guy. Always had good grades, loved sports and basically breathed anything Star Wars. A little on the nerdy side, Eric loved sharing his vast knowledge of video games and fantasy novels to anyone who would listen. He was an overall good guy.

    “Alright you two, start picking team members,” said the coach.

    Tommie got to pick first. Of course, all the girls’ hands shot up because any of them would do anything to be close to him. Victoria just rolled her eyes again and sat back against the bleachers with her arms crossed. She honestly didn’t care which team she was on, as long as her team didn’t suck, she was fine with anything. Fortunately, she didn’t have to wait long to be picked, because she turned out to be Tommie’s first choice.

    “I pick Victoria.” Tommie said, pointing at her.

    Every girl in the room turned to scowl at her, while she just sat there, somewhat surprised, yet she kind of expected it from him. She sighed and rolled her eyes and got up off the bench, walking towards him.

    Tommie chuckled a bit and said, “Hey, Vickie. How’s it goin’?”

    Victoria frowned and replied with, “Okay, first of all, never call me Vickie. Second of all, I don’t care to share what’s going on in my life with a scumbag like you. Why don’t you do yourself and me a favor and pick one of the other girls first next time. I’m sure they’d love to tell you about their lives more than I would.”

    “Ouch, harsh,” Tommie replied, a little hurt. But Victoria didn’t care because it was the truth. Tommie had been trying to get at her since the 7th grade, but she never wanted anything to do with him.

    After that it was Eric’s turn to choose. The class then began separating between the two teams until it was only two people left: a short, chubby kid with huge glasses and the mysterious new kid with bright green hair.

    It was Eric’s turn to choose.

    “I pick the Finkster!” Eric said, pointing at the chubby kid. The boy’s name was Todd Finkler, but everyone called him the Finkster.

    “Oh, great. That means I get the weirdo with the green hair,” Tommie mumbled to himself.

    This made Victoria excited. She got to be on the same team as that cute guy! At least she didn’t have to play against him, which was a relief.

    Asper got up off the bench and walked over to his team, remaining quiet.

    “Okay, let’s start heading outside!” The coach said, opening a big metal door that led to the outside.

    The gym filtered out onto the field behind the school and the two captains flipped a coin to see who got to go first. Eric won the flip so his team got to kick first.

    Victoria’s team headed to the outfield. She claimed third base, while Tommie chose to be the pitcher. Asper stood somewhere between the two.

    First up to kick was a girl named Tabitha Marsh. She was a good friend of Victoria’s, so it sucked that she had to be on the opposite team.

    “Alright, babe, I’m gonna roll it nice and slow for ya, ok?” Tommie teased.

    Tabitha giggled and just said, “Okay.”

    Tommie rolled the ball and Tabitha bunted it towards first base, which, unfortunately, resulted in her getting out, as the first baseman was able to get the ball to the plate before she was able to make it there.

    “Aw, that’s okay, babe. Maybe next time?” Tommie said, sweetly.

    Tabitha giggled again and went to stand at the back of her team’s line.

    Next up was Eric. If you were playing any kind of sports game, you wanted him on your team. He walked up to the plate and assumed a good kicking stance.

    Tommie rolled the ball as fast as he could while putting a little spin on it, hoping Eric would miss the kick. Eric took a step back as the ball was released and came forward with his right foot and connected directly with the ball, sending it flying forward towards the left-center of the field.

    Asper was too busy staring up at the clouds that he didn’t notice the ball was coming right at him.

    “Hey, look out!” one of his teammates shouted.

    But it was too late. The ball sailed right into him, hitting Asper right in the face, knocking him to the ground and displacing his sunglasses from his eyes.

    Eric rounded first base as one of the other outfielders ran to grab the ball. They threw it to second base, but he was already safe.

    The coach blew the whistle and hollered, “Hey, Knockturn! You okay to play?”

    Asper groaned and pushed himself up into a sitting position.

    “Yes. I’m fine,” he replied.

    “Alright, just be more careful and pay attention to the ball next time,” the coach said, blowing the whistle again to signal a resume in gameplay.

    Asper reached up and realized he wasn’t wearing his glasses anymore. He suddenly became nervous and began searching in the grass around him for them. Victoria noticed them lying a few feet away from him. She quickly ran over and picked them up then went over to him.

    “Looking for these?” she asked, holding the glasses out to him.

    Asper stopped and looked up slightly, and then he reached out and tried grabbing them without looking directly at her. Victoria placed them in his hand and he quickly replaced them onto his eyes. He then got up and brushed the grass off himself and turned to her.

    “Thanks…” he mumbled quietly.

    Victoria smiled and said, “You’re welcome,” and returned to her base.

    As the game went on, Asper made sure to pay more attention to the game rather than daydream, and soon it was time for the teams to switch places.

    Asper was the first person to step up to the plate, when Tommie suddenly placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “Hey, bro. Mind if I go first?”

    “Uh, sure.” Asper stepped back and let Tommie have the first kick.

    Eric was the one pitching for the other team. Eric rolled the ball fast and hard. Tommie put all he had into his kick and the ball sailed through the air towards second base. He chose to stop at the first base and call it a good run.

    Asper chose to kick next. He stepped up to the plate and got ready. Eric figured based on Asper’s frame that it was going to be an easy out, so he signaled for his teammates to move in a little. Eric then rolled the ball nice and easy. Unfortunately for the other team, Asper held a secret.

    Taking a step back, Asper leaped forward and kicked, launching the ball high over the heads of the other team’s players. The ball soared high through the air, unable to be reached by anyone in the outfield. It landed behind the fence into the track field.

    Everyone was amazed and in awe at the power of the kick. Asper then sprinted towards first base, while Tommie ran to second. They both rounded the bases as someone from the other team went to go retrieve the ball. It was a homerun for sure. Both Tommie and Asper made it to home base before the ball could make it back to the pitcher’s mound.

    “That was amazing!” Victoria said as Asper was passing by to get back in line.

    Asper blushed a bit and scratched the back of his neck, saying, “Thanks.”

    “Yeah. Not bad for a newbie.” Tommie said, walking by and messing up Aspers hair with his hand.

    Asper groaned and fixed his hair, glaring at Tommie.

    As the day went on, both teams did really well and everyone was having fun. The game ended with Eric’s team getting eleven points and Tommie’s team getting thirteen, so of course that boosted Tommie’s ego and was making him even more obnoxious with all the bragging he was doing in the locker room, saying how he was ‘basically carrying his whole team through the whole game’ and that it was because he was such a great captain that his team won.

    Asper just shook his head and ignored him, changing back into his normal clothes, locking his gym locker and exiting the locker room.