Introductions
Following my late arrival on the very first day of school, the opening ceremony continued well according to plan. After a good and long speech from the principal along the lines of "you need to be responsible", as he looked at me of course, he went on and wished everybody a happy school year and the ceremony was wrapped up. All's well that ends well would be the thought that would occur to a normal person at this point, but here I am, stressing over how I just introduced myself in the worst way possible to my new school…
New York, Queens
Kew Gardens Hills Academy
09:00
I can't believe I did something like that on the very first day, man… Talk about a bad first impression…
Aaron thinks to himself as he sighs exasperatedly while resting his back at his chair and putting his hands on top of his desk.
After the school ceremony ended, the classes for each grade were announced as well as which classroom each class will occupy for the rest of the year. The majority of the students decided to stroll around the school instead of going to their designated classrooms right away, in contrast to the rest of the student body which had already set foot inside their new classroom eager for the school year to start. Of course, Aaron belonged in the latter group, but certainly not due to eagerness but more like awkwardness.
What am I supposed to do now? I guess I'll head to the classroom…
Was practically what he thought to himself before finding one of the many empty desks to sit on.
And I didn't even have the time to talk to Olivia at all…
"Hey man, is this seat free?" A voice snapped Aaron out of his trance like pulling a loose string of a shirt.
"Uhm…" Aaron made a pause before answering as he swiftly looked up to address his classmate "Yeah." He quickly regained his composure after being caught completely off guard earlier.
"Sweet." The brown-skinned teenager replied as he rested his bag on the desk and dragged back the chair in front of it. "You're the dude that was late, right?" He continued with a playful grin. The more the teenager talked the more apparent it became that he had a british accent.
"Gkk…" Aaron made a sound and wore an expression as if he was stabbed. "Yeah… the one and only…" He eventually replied while a sigh followed right after. His classmate though, couldn't help but laugh at his reaction.
"Ayo chill man. It's no big deal." He finally said as he finished laughing and straightened up. "The name's Jordan Joshua Davies, but you can call me JJ." The young man introduces himself while offering a handshake. Before accepting his handshake Aaron inspected his classmate for a mere second or two. The young student sported a high top fade haircut that matches his black afro hair and is of course wearing the same uniform as him.
"I'm Aaron Beckett. Nice to meet you, pal." Aaron replies with a warm smile as he shakes his new friend's hand. "Still though… I don't know man. It feels like this new school year has started off on the wrong foot!" The young man voices as another sigh quickly ensues.
"Haha, seriously there's no need to worry man. If you don't want them to remember you as "the kid that was late" then you should just give them something else to remember you by." JJ answers after a light chuckle.
"Hmmm… and how do you suggest I do that?" Aaron quickly perks up after hearing his classmate's idea.
"You can run through the halls half-naked for example." The teenager casually replies as Aaron sighs for the umpteenth time today.
"Yeah I'm pretty sure that would only make things worse ya know?" The brown-haired boy voices.
"Haha, calm." JJ nods as he rests on the back of his chair. "But don't worry, mate. Being new in a school is chaotic at first, but you'll adjust before you know it." The young man explains in an attempt to encourage his friend.
"You're new too?" Aaron asks while JJ shakes his head.
"Naah. Not entirely. I transferred here last year. Mid-term."
"Really? Lemme guess… You moved from the UK?"
"Ha! Did the accent give me away?"
"Yep. And the slang." Aaron replies with a smirk.
"Oye Will!" JJ suddenly stands up and waves his hands at a student who just entered the classroom. "Here! Here! There's an open seat for you!" He says while pointing in front of him. "This dude's William. My most trusted pal in this whole school." JJ says introducing his friend to Aaron. "H-Hey…" The student, presumably William, voices with a stutter while readjusting his glasses with his index finger. "I'm William Buck." He says trying to sound more composed this time around. "The name's Aaron Beckett. Nice to meet you William!" Aaron cheerfully introduces himself as he offers his hand. The lean, short guy with the glasses and short dark brown hair accepts the handshake and takes the seat right in front of the two. "He's a little awkward at first but he'll warm up to you eventually." JJ comments with a toothy smile. "JJ!" William cries out in complaint while Aaron chuckles.
"Oh Will, that reminds me! Did you have a chance to play the new Older Scrolls yet?"
"Oh yeah. I'm nearing the end of the main quest line but there's still tons of side quests…"
"Wait, you guys play Older Scrolls too?!" Aaron raises his voice in surprise as he joins in on the conversation.
"'Aaron, you play OS too?" William asks, looking quite intrigued.
"You bet I am, the first time I played I didn't even realize 10 hours had passed!"
"Heh! I knew you were a cultured man since the first time I saw you mate!" JJ comments cheekily.
"But man I'm still stuck on that quest about the undead king's crown!" He continues with yet another comment that spurs on a new game-related conversation.
After approximately 10 minutes of the newly acquainted group of friends talking about their games, a large number of students started flooding into the classroom. "Looks like class is about to start, huh?" JJ voices as he watches his classmates entering the room.
"Oh Olivia!" Aaron says while casually waving his hand at Olivia, who just entered the classroom with a group of girls.
"Who?"
"Who?"
Both of the boys asked, perfectly in-sync
"Oh it's just… a friend! We're in the same class it seems!" Aaron comments enthusiastically as Olivia notices and waves back with her "cute" smile. Or more specifically, "cute" was what Aaron thought it was.
"Riiiight… a friend." JJ voices suspiciously with a smirk, as he watches Aaron's elated expression.
Olivia confidently walks towards the group of friends while placing a hand on Aaron's desk. "Might I have a moment of your time, mister?" She asks quite casually but with a slight hint of irritation in her voice.
Did I do anything to make her angry? Oh wait…
Aaron finally recalls the events of this morning.
I completely forgot about promising to meet her at school! And I even turned down her request of going to school together!
Suddenly, Aaron breaks into a cold sweat.
She's not gonna kill me, right?
He thinks to himself as he looks at Olivia's angelic smile.
"S-sure!" He finally replies after an audible gulp.
"Great! Then let's go to the hallway." She orders while still wearing her smile, which turns into a scowl as soon as they're out the door and out of sight.
"Anything to say?" Olivia asks while folding her arms across her chest.
"Hmm… what are you talking about exactly??" Aaron tries the ignorant act but the girl in front of him doesn't look amused.
"What about the "catch you at school"...? And the "don't be late at the entrance ceremony"…?" Olivia inquires with a wry smile on her face.
"Something came up while I was on the way, you know? Someone stole a bike and I had to stop him!" Aaron blurts out the first thing that comes to mind while trying to make an excuse.
Holy crap I actually blurted out the truth!!!
The teenager breaks in an even colder sweat than before, fearing for the revelation of his identity but Olivia just shakes it off.
"Why don't you leave that kind of work to Wraith and be more responsible towards your own duties next time, mister superhero?" She replies, taking his reply as a mere excuse as she starts going off about how he shouldn't be late for school and how it'd affect his image as a student. But Aaron isn't listening at all. In fact, her talking has already moved onto the background as he's specifically focused on Olivia herself.
I've never seen her outside her house before… Man that uniform looks really good on her! And her hairstyle is the epitome of dignified and cute at the same time! And she's not wearing her glasses either! Contacts maybe?
Aaron continues to observe her as she talks. Logically, the young girl is wearing the school's female version of the uniform which consists of a burgundy wool vest with the school's crest embroidered on the left-chest side and a white long-sleeved button-down shirt. The garments for the lower body are a checkered black and grey skirt, that stretches as far as the middle of her thigh, and a pair of either white or black knee high socks. In this case Olivia's wearing a pair of black ones along with her black and white Vans Old-Skool sneakers. Her blonde hair is tied in a ponytail with bangs covering her forehead, as well as a small and long fringe hanging from the left side of her face reaching almost to her jaw. At the right part of her head the rest of her hair is braided and tucked behind her ear.
"Heyy… Earth to Aaron!" She waves her hands in front of his face in an attempt to snap him out of dreamland. "Don't tell me you didn't hear a word of what I just said…" Olivia comments with a completely unamused look on her face.
"What? Pfffft… 'Course I did!" Aaron says while faking confidence.
"Okay then mister. Care to tell me what I was just talking about?" Olivia playfully urges him on with a smirk as she rests her hands on her hips.
"Uhm… You were just telling me…" Aaron pauses for a sec and Olivia's grin grows wider.
"...That…"
"That…?"
"That I shouldn't be late for school… And…"
"And…?"
"And what will… happen… if I do!" Aaron answers like he's playing a quiz game.
"Okay, then tell me what will happen if by any chance you're late again? Since you were listening to me and all." Olivia doesn't hesitate though and marches onwards.
"Uhm… Bad…" Aaron blurts out in a low voice.
"Bad…?" Olivia inquires.
"Yeah… Bad things… will happen." The teenager answers vaguely.
"Such as?" Olivia's smile grows bigger by the minute as she nods yet again.
"Uhm… earthquakes?" Aaron blurts out like it's a quickfire quiz question.
"Nngh Nngh!" Olivia makes a wrong buzzer sound with her mouth.
"Okay Look! I might have missed some of the things you said but I got the general idea. I shouldn't be late to school and I should uphold my promises to my friend, Olivia! Right?" Aaron voices energetically as Olivia giggles lightly.
"Okay okay. I'll let you off the hook! I got my dork dosage for the time being so I'm good." She says, her smile still apparent on her face.
"Your what?" The young man asks quizzically as Olivia clears her throat.
"Anyhow, what were you thinking about this whole time I was talking?" The teenage girl enquires with a curious look on her face.
"Haha, uhm… you see…" Aaron quickly tries to think of an excuse as he chuckles awkwardly and scratches the back of his head.
I can't possibly tell her I was checking her out! I mean she's quite the looker but still!
"Don't tell me you were ogling me while I was talking?" Olivia asks in a disapproving tone.
"No no no! I was just um-" Aaron is quickly to deny the accusation but a man walking by interrupts the two of them.
"Now now, you two. Let's get inside shall we?" A grown man with short black greyish hair and glasses suggests as he urges the two inside the classroom. "Mr. Myers! Uhm, good morning." Olivia says surprised as Aaron is taken aback.
Phew… Saved by the bell!
"Also, it's not quite your style bickering about outside the classroom, Olivia." The grown man, presumably their teacher, commented as the remaining students took their seats inside the classroom. "Now…" He voices after clearing his throat "Good morning ladies and gentlemen." The grown man says comically. "My name is Steven Myers and I will be the supervisor of class A-2, which is your class. You're free to call me Mr. Myers or Professor or Sir, I'll leave that up to you." The professor quickly introduces himself as he steps in front of the whole class. He is quite tall, and he's wearing a light blue shirt with a black linen vest that matches his black pants and shoes. He's also got some rectangular eye sight glasses on and his short hair is styled slightly upwards. "Together we'll be studying the delicate subject of chemistry. Mostly, we'll have our classes in the lab upstairs but today we won't be doing anything of the sort." He explains while walking around the classroom.
"Amongst you, I've already spotted some familiar faces, with which I'm mostly acquainted…" Myers makes a pause as he turns to the students in the back, where JJ, Aaron and William are seated. "...And some unfamiliar ones as well."
He's clearly looking at me…
Aaron thinks to himself as he notices the teacher's gaze. "Now which one of you new students wants to introduce himself to the class?" Myers proposes as silence suddenly fills the class. It is during one such moment that you can hear a pin drop.
Introduce myself…? Ha! No thank you!
Aaron thinks to himself with a sarcastic smirk.
"Well since no one is volunteering I'm going to have to pick one of you at random." The teacher announces as he looks through the faces of every new student in the class. As he comes across Aaron's though, he pauses and smiles to himself.
Uh oh… you have to be kidding me...
"You there. According to the incident regarding this morning, it seems you don't think much of being the center of attention. Care to introduce yourself first?" He proposes while gesturing for him to walk to the blackboard.
"Are you talking about me, sir?" Aaron points to himself with a perplexed expression.
"Exactly. Now come on." The teacher replies while motioning with his head.
"...Okay." Aaron says after a long sigh as he gets up from his seat.
Just my luck…
He thinks while reaching the blackboard while feeling the intense stares of the whole classroom.
Don't say anything stupid… Don't say anything stupid…
Aaron thinks while clearing his throat.
"My name is Aaron Beckett. I transferred here from Manhattan earlier this summer. I hope we can get along. And also, sorry for being late in the entrance ceremony Mr. Myers." Aaron introduces himself with a smile to the whole class, which erupts in whispers and shortly after in applause.
And that is exactly how the new school year began…
New York, Queens
Kew Gardens Hills Academy
09:00
I can't believe I did something like that on the very first day, man… Talk about a bad first impression…
Aaron thinks to himself as he sighs exasperatedly while resting his back at his chair and putting his hands on top of his desk.
After the school ceremony ended, the classes for each grade were announced as well as which classroom each class will occupy for the rest of the year. The majority of the students decided to stroll around the school instead of going to their designated classrooms right away, in contrast to the rest of the student body which had already set foot inside their new classroom eager for the school year to start. Of course, Aaron belonged in the latter group, but certainly not due to eagerness but more like awkwardness.
What am I supposed to do now? I guess I'll head to the classroom…
Was practically what he thought to himself before finding one of the many empty desks to sit on.
And I didn't even have the time to talk to Olivia at all…
"Hey man, is this seat free?" A voice snapped Aaron out of his trance like pulling a loose string of a shirt.
"Uhm…" Aaron made a pause before answering as he swiftly looked up to address his classmate "Yeah." He quickly regained his composure after being caught completely off guard earlier.
"Sweet." The brown-skinned teenager replied as he rested his bag on the desk and dragged back the chair in front of it. "You're the dude that was late, right?" He continued with a playful grin. The more the teenager talked the more apparent it became that he had a british accent.
"Gkk…" Aaron made a sound and wore an expression as if he was stabbed. "Yeah… the one and only…" He eventually replied while a sigh followed right after. His classmate though, couldn't help but laugh at his reaction.
"Ayo chill man. It's no big deal." He finally said as he finished laughing and straightened up. "The name's Jordan Joshua Davies, but you can call me JJ." The young man introduces himself while offering a handshake. Before accepting his handshake Aaron inspected his classmate for a mere second or two. The young student sported a high top fade haircut that matches his black afro hair and is of course wearing the same uniform as him.
"I'm Aaron Beckett. Nice to meet you, pal." Aaron replies with a warm smile as he shakes his new friend's hand. "Still though… I don't know man. It feels like this new school year has started off on the wrong foot!" The young man voices as another sigh quickly ensues.
"Haha, seriously there's no need to worry man. If you don't want them to remember you as "the kid that was late" then you should just give them something else to remember you by." JJ answers after a light chuckle.
"Hmmm… and how do you suggest I do that?" Aaron quickly perks up after hearing his classmate's idea.
"You can run through the halls half-naked for example." The teenager casually replies as Aaron sighs for the umpteenth time today.
"Yeah I'm pretty sure that would only make things worse ya know?" The brown-haired boy voices.
"Haha, calm." JJ nods as he rests on the back of his chair. "But don't worry, mate. Being new in a school is chaotic at first, but you'll adjust before you know it." The young man explains in an attempt to encourage his friend.
"You're new too?" Aaron asks while JJ shakes his head.
"Naah. Not entirely. I transferred here last year. Mid-term."
"Really? Lemme guess… You moved from the UK?"
"Ha! Did the accent give me away?"
"Yep. And the slang." Aaron replies with a smirk.
"Oye Will!" JJ suddenly stands up and waves his hands at a student who just entered the classroom. "Here! Here! There's an open seat for you!" He says while pointing in front of him. "This dude's William. My most trusted pal in this whole school." JJ says introducing his friend to Aaron. "H-Hey…" The student, presumably William, voices with a stutter while readjusting his glasses with his index finger. "I'm William Buck." He says trying to sound more composed this time around. "The name's Aaron Beckett. Nice to meet you William!" Aaron cheerfully introduces himself as he offers his hand. The lean, short guy with the glasses and short dark brown hair accepts the handshake and takes the seat right in front of the two. "He's a little awkward at first but he'll warm up to you eventually." JJ comments with a toothy smile. "JJ!" William cries out in complaint while Aaron chuckles.
"Oh Will, that reminds me! Did you have a chance to play the new Older Scrolls yet?"
"Oh yeah. I'm nearing the end of the main quest line but there's still tons of side quests…"
"Wait, you guys play Older Scrolls too?!" Aaron raises his voice in surprise as he joins in on the conversation.
"'Aaron, you play OS too?" William asks, looking quite intrigued.
"You bet I am, the first time I played I didn't even realize 10 hours had passed!"
"Heh! I knew you were a cultured man since the first time I saw you mate!" JJ comments cheekily.
"But man I'm still stuck on that quest about the undead king's crown!" He continues with yet another comment that spurs on a new game-related conversation.
After approximately 10 minutes of the newly acquainted group of friends talking about their games, a large number of students started flooding into the classroom. "Looks like class is about to start, huh?" JJ voices as he watches his classmates entering the room.
"Oh Olivia!" Aaron says while casually waving his hand at Olivia, who just entered the classroom with a group of girls.
"Who?"
"Who?"
Both of the boys asked, perfectly in-sync
"Oh it's just… a friend! We're in the same class it seems!" Aaron comments enthusiastically as Olivia notices and waves back with her "cute" smile. Or more specifically, "cute" was what Aaron thought it was.
"Riiiight… a friend." JJ voices suspiciously with a smirk, as he watches Aaron's elated expression.
Olivia confidently walks towards the group of friends while placing a hand on Aaron's desk. "Might I have a moment of your time, mister?" She asks quite casually but with a slight hint of irritation in her voice.
Did I do anything to make her angry? Oh wait…
Aaron finally recalls the events of this morning.
I completely forgot about promising to meet her at school! And I even turned down her request of going to school together!
Suddenly, Aaron breaks into a cold sweat.
She's not gonna kill me, right?
He thinks to himself as he looks at Olivia's angelic smile.
"S-sure!" He finally replies after an audible gulp.
"Great! Then let's go to the hallway." She orders while still wearing her smile, which turns into a scowl as soon as they're out the door and out of sight.
"Anything to say?" Olivia asks while folding her arms across her chest.
"Hmm… what are you talking about exactly??" Aaron tries the ignorant act but the girl in front of him doesn't look amused.
"What about the "catch you at school"...? And the "don't be late at the entrance ceremony"…?" Olivia inquires with a wry smile on her face.
"Something came up while I was on the way, you know? Someone stole a bike and I had to stop him!" Aaron blurts out the first thing that comes to mind while trying to make an excuse.
Holy crap I actually blurted out the truth!!!
The teenager breaks in an even colder sweat than before, fearing for the revelation of his identity but Olivia just shakes it off.
"Why don't you leave that kind of work to Wraith and be more responsible towards your own duties next time, mister superhero?" She replies, taking his reply as a mere excuse as she starts going off about how he shouldn't be late for school and how it'd affect his image as a student. But Aaron isn't listening at all. In fact, her talking has already moved onto the background as he's specifically focused on Olivia herself.
I've never seen her outside her house before… Man that uniform looks really good on her! And her hairstyle is the epitome of dignified and cute at the same time! And she's not wearing her glasses either! Contacts maybe?
Aaron continues to observe her as she talks. Logically, the young girl is wearing the school's female version of the uniform which consists of a burgundy wool vest with the school's crest embroidered on the left-chest side and a white long-sleeved button-down shirt. The garments for the lower body are a checkered black and grey skirt, that stretches as far as the middle of her thigh, and a pair of either white or black knee high socks. In this case Olivia's wearing a pair of black ones along with her black and white Vans Old-Skool sneakers. Her blonde hair is tied in a ponytail with bangs covering her forehead, as well as a small and long fringe hanging from the left side of her face reaching almost to her jaw. At the right part of her head the rest of her hair is braided and tucked behind her ear.
"Heyy… Earth to Aaron!" She waves her hands in front of his face in an attempt to snap him out of dreamland. "Don't tell me you didn't hear a word of what I just said…" Olivia comments with a completely unamused look on her face.
"What? Pfffft… 'Course I did!" Aaron says while faking confidence.
"Okay then mister. Care to tell me what I was just talking about?" Olivia playfully urges him on with a smirk as she rests her hands on her hips.
"Uhm… You were just telling me…" Aaron pauses for a sec and Olivia's grin grows wider.
"...That…"
"That…?"
"That I shouldn't be late for school… And…"
"And…?"
"And what will… happen… if I do!" Aaron answers like he's playing a quiz game.
"Okay, then tell me what will happen if by any chance you're late again? Since you were listening to me and all." Olivia doesn't hesitate though and marches onwards.
"Uhm… Bad…" Aaron blurts out in a low voice.
"Bad…?" Olivia inquires.
"Yeah… Bad things… will happen." The teenager answers vaguely.
"Such as?" Olivia's smile grows bigger by the minute as she nods yet again.
"Uhm… earthquakes?" Aaron blurts out like it's a quickfire quiz question.
"Nngh Nngh!" Olivia makes a wrong buzzer sound with her mouth.
"Okay Look! I might have missed some of the things you said but I got the general idea. I shouldn't be late to school and I should uphold my promises to my friend, Olivia! Right?" Aaron voices energetically as Olivia giggles lightly.
"Okay okay. I'll let you off the hook! I got my dork dosage for the time being so I'm good." She says, her smile still apparent on her face.
"Your what?" The young man asks quizzically as Olivia clears her throat.
"Anyhow, what were you thinking about this whole time I was talking?" The teenage girl enquires with a curious look on her face.
"Haha, uhm… you see…" Aaron quickly tries to think of an excuse as he chuckles awkwardly and scratches the back of his head.
I can't possibly tell her I was checking her out! I mean she's quite the looker but still!
"Don't tell me you were ogling me while I was talking?" Olivia asks in a disapproving tone.
"No no no! I was just um-" Aaron is quickly to deny the accusation but a man walking by interrupts the two of them.
"Now now, you two. Let's get inside shall we?" A grown man with short black greyish hair and glasses suggests as he urges the two inside the classroom. "Mr. Myers! Uhm, good morning." Olivia says surprised as Aaron is taken aback.
Phew… Saved by the bell!
"Also, it's not quite your style bickering about outside the classroom, Olivia." The grown man, presumably their teacher, commented as the remaining students took their seats inside the classroom. "Now…" He voices after clearing his throat "Good morning ladies and gentlemen." The grown man says comically. "My name is Steven Myers and I will be the supervisor of class A-2, which is your class. You're free to call me Mr. Myers or Professor or Sir, I'll leave that up to you." The professor quickly introduces himself as he steps in front of the whole class. He is quite tall, and he's wearing a light blue shirt with a black linen vest that matches his black pants and shoes. He's also got some rectangular eye sight glasses on and his short hair is styled slightly upwards. "Together we'll be studying the delicate subject of chemistry. Mostly, we'll have our classes in the lab upstairs but today we won't be doing anything of the sort." He explains while walking around the classroom.
"Amongst you, I've already spotted some familiar faces, with which I'm mostly acquainted…" Myers makes a pause as he turns to the students in the back, where JJ, Aaron and William are seated. "...And some unfamiliar ones as well."
He's clearly looking at me…
Aaron thinks to himself as he notices the teacher's gaze. "Now which one of you new students wants to introduce himself to the class?" Myers proposes as silence suddenly fills the class. It is during one such moment that you can hear a pin drop.
Introduce myself…? Ha! No thank you!
Aaron thinks to himself with a sarcastic smirk.
"Well since no one is volunteering I'm going to have to pick one of you at random." The teacher announces as he looks through the faces of every new student in the class. As he comes across Aaron's though, he pauses and smiles to himself.
Uh oh… you have to be kidding me...
"You there. According to the incident regarding this morning, it seems you don't think much of being the center of attention. Care to introduce yourself first?" He proposes while gesturing for him to walk to the blackboard.
"Are you talking about me, sir?" Aaron points to himself with a perplexed expression.
"Exactly. Now come on." The teacher replies while motioning with his head.
"...Okay." Aaron says after a long sigh as he gets up from his seat.
Just my luck…
He thinks while reaching the blackboard while feeling the intense stares of the whole classroom.
Don't say anything stupid… Don't say anything stupid…
Aaron thinks while clearing his throat.
"My name is Aaron Beckett. I transferred here from Manhattan earlier this summer. I hope we can get along. And also, sorry for being late in the entrance ceremony Mr. Myers." Aaron introduces himself with a smile to the whole class, which erupts in whispers and shortly after in applause.
And that is exactly how the new school year began…
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