SHRPG Highschool Grp. A (Zell, Apex, ANONYMOUS)

Even the greatest heroes and darkest villains find their way to the realm of sleep. Responsibilities and plots fall away, for it was now time to rest, and recover and plan a new day at the following sunrise. Wherever they slept, wherever they laid down and closed their eyes, A far reaching hand touched their dreams, pulling them to another place.

BRRIIIIIIIING.

The Alarm Clock rings. The sun shone brightly into your bedroom, and the idyllic chirping of birds greet your early morning. You are in your bedroom, wearing your pajamas, living the life of a High School student in Japan. You live in a house that was likely Japanese Middle Class. The wall calendar had vague marks that suggested it was Monday. A familiar voice from downstairs calls your name, and calls again as your breakfast was getting cold, and that the school hour was upon you. Your friends lived on the same street, and they would be waiting for you, as usual.

The alarm was off before it even rang. Darrick was already awake. As usual. He didn't actually get sleep the night before. As it was with most nights.

"Dar-

"COMING, MOM!"

Darrick had to practically jump off his chair to get changed out of his pajamas and into his clothes, or else incur the wrath of a Korean mother. Thank God he already took his morning shower.

"DAR-

"HOLD ON!"

Darrick started putting on wax in his hair, styling it in the usual fashion. He then checked himself in the mirror.

At 16, Darrick looked every bit his age. Compared to the other guys, he was short, coming in at 5'7". Yet he seemed not too young either. His face spoke of ages of weariness, and the bags under his eyes were fucking huge. Too many nights staying up.

Darrick then sprinted downstairs into the kitchen. His father was sitting at the table, drinking Korean tea while reading the Korean newspaper. His mom was preparing a typical Korean breakfast: rice, Korean bean paste soup, and Korean side dishes. Darrick had a very Korean family.

"Did you stay up doing homework last night?" His mother asked as she set  the plates down on the table.

"Yes, Mother." In truth, Darrick had been awake playing video games the entire night. He had finished all of his homework within the hour. Thankfully he didn't get his ass kicked for being too much of a geek.

As Darrick was wolfing down his breakfast, he noticed that he felt off about being with his mother and father. Darrick shrugged it off.

"I'll come down to the shop when I get back, Dad."

His father only grunted in reply. A truly strong and stoic man.

Darrick finished his breakfast, kissed his mother, grabbed his bag, then headed on out to the sidewalk. He began jogging. Despite being a nerd, Darrick still exercised regularly, and was a part of his high school's cross-country and track teams. He made his way to the Collin house.

He was there waiting when he saw Sean coming down his front steps.

"Hey guy!" Sean said while munching on a piece of toast.

"'Sup, Sean!"

Darrick clapped his friend on the back.

"Let's go! We need to get Silus!"

Zell:
*******
Awake already, grooming himself when the alarm clock rang for his other family member. Zell hadn't slept at all... Insomnia takinghold of him yet again. It was the nightmares...the same ones he always had. After 3 am he just sat there in his underware leaning against the headboard and staring at his knees. Then he waited hours until the current time, when Zell was slow and deliberate with how he took care of himself. Teeth clean, his tie was straight and his suit was withour a wringle. The dark navy blue colored jacket with the school insignia on the right brest fit perfectly as he then unfolded his black thick-framed glasses and slid them up the bridge of his nose, perfectly keeping himself in order as he reflected on his agenda today. He had all advanced and honors classes, despite many peole seeing him as the lazy and laid back person he was, he was truly a bright person a genius even. The only thing he took seriously was his schooling anymore, then agan that was just because he made a promise to his mom. Mom... it was six years from Wednesday since she died. With a sigh all Zell could really think was "Showtime" as he stepped form the bathroom and took a messanger back that sat outside it and walked down the stairs in a rapid descent.

"Zell-kun, let's go. You're gonna be late." The voice said. Zell's eye twitched as he looked to his older brother, Aramis who was at the table with a bag of fast food breakfast. Zell was irritated by it actually, it was a drag that he had to eat fast food every day. Actually he wouldn't be eating breakfast today.

"I'm not eating that crap. You're gonna have a myocaridal infarction by the time you reach our teacher's age at this rate. Learn how to cook rice at least!" Zell said to his brother matter of factly, bored in tone as he walked towards the door. Aramis just watched him go out before shrugging and taking a bite.

"Ay ay, I vote you should cook. I'm the one takin' care of you since mom died. Least you could do was give me some lessons on how to make rice like you do. I'm gonna miss it when you're in college!" Aramis called out. Zell waved it off before calling back he'd show him someday and Zell made his way to the bus stop. None of these people were ones he'd consider his friends, and none of them were really worth noting. There was Sean Collin who apparently was running behind as he brought his breakfast with him, the other one was Darrik Faust the only reason that he had any meaning to Zell at all was because of the fact he had the name of the protagonist from his favorite play. No one else was worth noting to him, not even the other dark haired kid with glasses.


Silus:
*******
"Silus sweety, time to get up." A sweet voice came as there was a rap on the door. Silus burned bright red as he dove to the other side of the bed and threw the covers over himself a moment while anticipating his mother's entrance. She of course let herself in and looked around, shocked to find his head popping up on the other side of the bed. "Sweetie, what are you doing down there?" His mother quizzed, a little concern hidden poorly within her words. Silus just looked about and smiled a little.

"Just making sure I have everything before I get a shower." He said. His mother just smiled as if it all made sense to her now, then she turned and walked out, reminding him that there was breakfast for him when he was ready for it. Silus thanked her before sighing with releaf and falling back against his floor. Parents and privacy were not meshing real well around this age. He quickly got himself up and collected his clothing before sneaking himself into the shower and washing away the grime and the sweat accumulated in the night under the nice fluffy blanket of his. Smelling nice and clean he stepped out, singing a little song to himself as he buttoned up his dress shirt and put on the remainder of his uniform. He fixed his own glasses in the mirror, a little too big for him for whatever reason, but he had to make due with them sadly.


"Hi daddy!" Silus said to his father who stood there in a police uniform.

"Good morning Silus. You ready for school?" His father would ask with a cup of coffee in his hand. His father worked the night shifts, sadly he was just getting home and getting ready to go to bed.

"Yeah, I guess. I dunno... it's a lot different here." Silus said nervously as he seemed to mumble through his words. His father seemed to understand him, which is why Silus got along with him so well.

"Well if you run into any trouble just let me know who it is... I'll pull their parents over and give them a ticket." "Daniel!" Of course his father was joking but his mother still had to correct him anyway. Daniel chuckled with Silus and Silus dug into his breakfast. Pancakes, cherry syrup and cinnamon and banana slices.... Silus' favorite breakfast. Running a bit late he took his book bag and took off flying towards the others. At the bus stop he found that virtually everyone was already there.

"SILUS-KUN!!!!!" a loud voice called as Silus found his personal space totally violated by two tan arms and an ear to ear grin with unremarkable hazel eyes shut. It was none other than Yancey, violating him yet again. In a non-sexual way thankfully. Silus looked about and took notice of the fact that Zell was looking at him, an odd expression on his face because of his overly affectionate and very loud friend. "Hey guys! It's Silus!" Yancey announced, being his loud self. Zell immediately went back to ignoring them, Silus feeling a bit disheartened by it all. It didn't matter if Silus was the head of the thespian committee or the fact he was the chair of his classes student council. For some reason everyone bothered the shy guy except the person eh wanted to bother him.

Silus burned a bright red form being the center of attention and he mumbled out a little "H-h-hi guys... He whimpered, his adorable 4'6 shy self trying to break free from the glares. He quickly fixed his fauxk-hawk hair style and pushed his glasses back onto his face, noticing the ever familiar friends known as Sean and Darrick

As the two shorter kids were trading banter, Darrick's eye was drawn to a new face at the bus stop.

The girl,Darrick noted, was very attractive. More notably, she was taller than both Silus and Sean, standing at 5'2", yet shorter than himself.

She was sitting cross-legged at the bus stop bench, reading a book, unlike the other guys. She wasn't interacting with anyone. Well, there were no other girls ins sight. Did Darrick mention that attractive and taller girls intimidated the other guys at the bus stop?

Darrick decided to have some balls and talk to her.

He sat down on the bench next to her. As he was about to introduce himself, the book that she was reading shocked him into saying something that he will never regret having an outburst about.

"You're reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?!" Darrick originally wasn't going to make it so abrupt, but he was just so shocked he could practically fall into a fucking coma. You could hear it in his voice.

The pretty girl only raised her eyebrows in amusement.

"Yes...do you have a problem with me reading it because I'm an attractive girl?"

Darrick sputtered as his mind raced to find an answer.

I fucked up...

Then she laughed.

"I'm shitting you. For the record, I am an avid reader of science fiction, and the works of Douglas Adams are no exception."

Her sophistication, no....her.....intelligence intimidated him. He kinda liked it. It turned him on more than anything. He was still fucking stuttering though.

"Uhh...I haven't seen you here before....you must be new....uhhh.....wait. How did you know I find you attractive?"

Her laughter began to relieve Darrick of his worst fears.

"You're quirky. And yes I'm new. And I didn't know. Well, now I do!"

Her laughter was music to his ears. The pitch was just perfect.

"Where are my manners? My name is Ashley Grimm. Nice to meet you!"

She held out her hand.

"My name is Dr.-"

Darrick cut himself off. Why would he call himself a doctor? Darrick shook his head.

"I'm Darrick Faust, at your service." He shook her hand.

They both heard a loud noise and turned. The bus was coming.

"Well, since you're the only person here I know, wanna sit with me?" She gave him a -very seductive- smile.

It was now Darrick's turn to laugh.

"You bet your buttons!"

Today's gonna be great.

Wait.

Damn. Silus and Sean will give me no end of crap for this.

Darrick came back to reality, then looked at Ashley.

Her smile won him over.

Worth it.

Zell noted these people and could only feel slightly annoyed as he raised a couple fingers from the bag slung onto his shoulder. He acknowledge Sean but moreso out of a common respect thing for his fellow man than actually wishing to engage in anything social. The bus pulled up and he meandered back to his seat. It was his seat, his typical seat that no one else took. He sat himself down and let out a little sigh. The bus ride was enough for him to catch a little resting shut eye, but not enough for a full blown nap. Sadly with insomnia like his it was difficult. His heavy eyelids drooped and he took a deep breath in. The darkness of his eyelids was retained thankfully, the sun didn't peek and try to illuminate the spheres in his face.

Silus and Yancey went with Sean onto the bus, Yancey sitting down in a seat behind Silus, figuring that Sean would want some time to see the kid. Silus was indeed younger than most, but for a 15 year old he was pretty bright. Silus shurgged at Sean, remaining very quiet so that only the people nearby could hear him. That mostly being Yancey and Sean. "N-nothing. I-I uh... just goin to school." Silus said quickly. Yancey nudged Silus in the arm, causing Silus to look at him. "Stop drooling, you'll ruin your precious books." Yancey sniggered at his own comment. Silus growled before turning and trying to force himself against the corner. It was quite clear that if he had a way to escape through the wall, he'd totally have done it. "Don't be like that Silus-chan, if Darrick can get that girl to notice him then maybe today is your lucky day too. Oh shit- hey look. Darrick looks like he's finally got a girl! She must be new, give it a coupel days and she'll be runnin' like the rest of them! Heheheh" Yancey sniggered. Silus' eyes narrowed into a glare before he looked to Sean and rolled his eyes with a sheepish smile. They had a whacky friend alright. A very loud one too. Silus then looked about to see Zell sleeping, then he found himself staring awkwardly. How does one do what that Zell kid does?

Come into school, not caring. Act so cool, be able to have everyone want to be friends with you but be so nonchalant about absolutely everything. Learning coming so easily to you and somehow still so mysterious. A dark side had that kind of effect on Silus, they were intriguing to him, alluring in a sense. But not in the sense Yancey portrayed it, at least he didn't think. Awkward years could mean anything. The bottom line though was that he just wanted to get inside that guy's head. He was wise, experienced, he kinda wanted to impress him. Wouldn't that be a feat? Silus found himself staring then turning bright red as he looked back to Sean. "I feel...funny. But-wait Darrick's got a girl!?" Silus asked, his voice the loudest it had ever been, shock in his voice. Everyone in the school bus turned to look at him. There were whispers and little "awes" as many people whispered and commented things like "Awe his voice is so cute!" and "So that's what his voice sounds like!" "It's nothing like I imagined it!" and other things that made his blush only go darker as he decided to sink back into his seat again. The worst of it all was the fact that he managed to get that Zell guy to notice him...but it wasn't how he wanted. Oh god his life was over! Oh he had to be dreaming! Dreaming..his mind lingered on that for a moment. He looked back to Sean slightly confused. "H-hey Sean...uhm... whose your mom again?"

Zell on the other hand was shocked, but the voice was oddly fitting for the little unnoticeable shy guy. He began to think about that... he never spoke out loud before had he? No Zell was pretty sure the kid was mute...and oddly staring at him all the time. The Sean kid was just a little livewire of weird and craziness. It was kinda cool, but it wasn't anything Zell could stand for long periods of time. That Yancey kid was a howl...no he wasn't overly funny, he was just loud as a wolf's howl. He, like all the other members of that posse, was really nice though. That Darrick guy was odd, he was very -W̶̢̡̿̋̃ͤ͒̉̋̉̎ͬ̆͗͌̅̚̕҉̻̲͉͔̣̬̳̲͎̲̻̹͚ą̴̡̗̺̦̬̾͒ͦ̔̐͛̌ͦ̂ͪͭ́̆̃̕͝k̴̢ͣ̏ͩ͆̿͂̍ͪ̀҉̣̻̹̼͚̪̫̦̳̣̤͉̟̥ĕ̢͙̲̹͈̭̫͎̳͎̤̻͉͓͖̭͋̈ͭͭͥ͐ͥͦ̉ͦ̓̈̽̓̚͜ͅͅͅ ͑̾̊ͨ͐ͦ̚͏̩̟̞̻̲̦̣͖̟͚͢͟ừ̡̩̻͉̫͙̫̽̽̐ͫ̎̽̀p̯̱̻͇̗̳͙̗͈̥̥̺̃̐̍ͣ̽́̀̕ͅ- Zell shot forward with a quickening pain in his head, it felt like he was giving birth, though he's not sure how he knew what that felt like... He just groaned as he leaned back and tried to relax, the pain slowly fading.

"Well, I'm not busy tomorrow...yeah, you can show me around the city tomorrow!"

After about half an hour on the bus they were finally nearing the school. On the way, Ashley and Darrick had seemingly clicked. It was quite ironic actually. For starters he was Korean and she was white. Differently cultured people usually didn't get along as well as they did. But then again, they shared the same passions. and were the same age. They both liked to read works of science fiction, running, alternative rock, and video games. And they were both intelligent. She was a nerd's wet dream, except that there was so much more to her than her appearance. To Darrick, she had substance.

Darrick was in love.

Everyone's surprise in the bus actually did not embarrass him. When she inquired about it, he answered truthfully.

"I never thought any of the girls that I dated for a little here and there were interesting. So, they ended up getting bored and left within the month."

Darrick shrugged.

"I can handle commitment, I just need someone that I want to commit to. But then again, everyone else here thinks I'm crazy after letting down several  HB10s."

Darrick paused, pondering for a moment.

"I'm crazy, but I'm not crazy enough to stick with a girl with no substance."

It was at this point in the conversation that everything, except for Silus, Zell, Sean, Darrick and Ashley, paused. It was only a very short moment. Darrick saw Zell reacting to it. So did Ashley. He did not see Silus and Sean, though. When he blinked everything was back to normal. There was a lull in the conversation.

Thankfully Ashley was able to save it.

"So...you wanna hang out sometime? Maybe show me around the city?"

"Huh?! Uh....yeah! Sure! Yeah, you can bet-shit that sounds weird. Sure."

Ashley  raised her eyebrows in amusement.

"Well, I'm not busy tomorrow...yeah, you can show me around the city tomorrow!"

Darrick was dumbfounded by her enthusiasm. Out of all the girls that he ever talked to, she was the only one that had ever captured him so. And vice versa.

"Okay, cool!"

Darrick tried not to sound too excited. It slipped out of course. He was going to explode with joy. The one girl he was attracted to, physically and emotionally, probably felt the same way, too.

The bus came to a stop. as they were leaving the bus she gave him her address and phone number.

"Do you take the bus back, too?"

Darrick said yes.

"Awesome, I'll find you at the end of the day!"

She walked off to the office where she would receive her schedule. Darrick watched her go.

He was thrown out of his reverie by a sudden pain in his arm. It was probably Sean yanking his chain.

"Good luck!" Darrick heard whispered into his ear.

Darrick then made his way to first with Silus and Sean, and as always, having every single class with them. When the bell rang, they were in AP Chemistry. In all honesty, Darrick had no idea why Sean took the class. It was a huge work load, and he was lazy as shit. No. Lazy like fish shit. It only moved when something disturbed it.

"Alright class, welcome back to school! We have a new student today! Her name is Ashley Grimm."

Darrick's head shot up from his desk. He didn't see the others looking at him. He only saw Ashley. He smiled.

She saw him and smiled back.

On that note, fuck what Si and Sean think. This is totally worth all the crap from them.

Conveniently, almost as if in a dream, she was seated next to him.

This is unreal....

Elena. Elena sounded familiar. It reminded him of Elena Marie. But why was that name so familiar to him. Silus looked about a moment before looking to Sean. "You think? C'mon dad how do you not know your own mom?" Silus asked in disbelief, he didn't even caught what he said until Sean's expression was on him. Silus just blinked and smiled. "I-I'm just joking. I was asking because my mom has a weird name. Oh uh. Here? I'll see you first class." Silus whispered before hugging his books, a book bag on his back as he quickly made his way through the bus to vanish into the school. Silus had wondered why he had this weird feeling, little did he know how familiar it really was. He turned the corner, put his book bag in his locker, turned round and sighed as he felt a dull headache hit him, and soon...he forgot everything.

  "New level of strange Silus-chan." Yancey said. Silus had completely forgotten what was strange. But why did he forget? He knew he should remember, but he couldn't. Strange. With a shrug he silently took his books and made his way to AP Chemistry. Sean would be there, as always, Darrick and his new girlfriend would be there, and of course the ever lazy and detached Zell would be there as well.  "So Sean-kun, did you ever manage to work up the nerve to ask that person out?" Yancey asked Sean, of course Silus was far too shy, and was busy being embarrassed FOR Sean. If he weren't as he were though he'd have given Yancey a fist to the top of the head and told him "Not so loud you idiot!" Silus found himself trying to hear Sean's response, interested to hear if Sean had finally thought to ask whomever out. Silus was indeed distracted however by Zell who was rubbing his temples.

 "ATTERRIUS! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A CHILDREN'S CARD-BWAH!" A young man said before running at Zell, sticking his arm out and pointing at him. He was interrupted by Zell's fist that was driven right into his nose. The man fell back and whimpered while Zell had a slightly peeved look on his face, eyes still closed and a slight scowl adorning his features.

  "By Kami, you people are so loud!" Zell said.

 "Atterrius-san. Explain yourself!" The large teacher's voice bellowed. This man was anatomically built like a 8 strength body builder. Nothing about him looked small, save for the glasses that had a gleam with the way the light hit them, menacing in it's own right. Silus broke out into a sweat immediately at the scary teacher, but he found himself in awe yet again.

  "Oi Oi, sorry sensei, he pointed at me and I just assumed he was gonna do that American fist bump thing, so I went to move and his hand shifted as he pointed and I hit him on accident. It's not like I punched him or anything, he just ran into my fist." Zell said casually and relaxed. The teacher leaned forward the gleam fixating as the stern and cruel narrowed eyes fixated on the male on the ground, blood streaming from his nose and a slightly swollen nose with tears in his eyes.

 "Is this true Mitsuru-kun?" the teacher's slow and deliberate voice so intimidating as he asked such a simple question.

  "Y-yes Tatsumasa-sensei!" the young man said quickly, obviously paranoid once he looked at Zell's cold eyes. It was apparent to him that Zell was the one to be scared of. There was something about his fearlessness that made him more intimidating than their teacher even. Immediately the teacher glared at Zell, whom just sat there and he let out a long hum.

 "HHHHMMMMMM.... Okay then. Please go see the nurse Mitsuru-kun. Now then students I trust you all had a wonderful weekend!" The teacher said, his stern features turning into nothing but happiness and sunshine as he seemed to lighten up and soften into a fatherly figure. Silus looked to the others of his group and blinked.

  "I-uhm..." He began to stammer. Yancey grinned before looking to Sean.

  "Sean-kun. Silus-chan needs advice on how to ask someone out. Teach him what you know!" Yancey said, though obviously no matter what Sean replied to earlier it had it's own purpose here in now. If not to tease Sean or to flatter him slightly, it had a purpose.

Darrick, for once in this entire morning, was paying attention to something else other than Ashley.

He just couldn't understand why Silus and Sean were so fucking awkward. Seriously, Yancey and himself were fucking weird, but at least they talked to other people outside their group.

"Silus, if you need to ask anyone ask frickin Yancey! Sean barely talks to anyone out of the group as it is."

"QUIET OVER THERE!"

They quickly went diligently back to their work. Well, everyone but Sean. He was too busy copying Silus' work.

"Goddamit, Sean."

Darrick gave his shake of disapproval and went back to doing stoichiometry.

The bell rang and everyone packed up as Mr. Tatsumasa dictated their homework.

They walked out together to the same class, as usual, with an Ash tagging along.

Whelp, I guess she's a part of the group now...

Zell sighed when Darrick spoke up against Sean whop was actually sitting there doing his own work. Zell didn't care what Sean, Yancey or that other kid were talking about, this Darrick kid was a dick and he needed put in his place. Zell sighed and shook his head. "Kid, you're really fucking loud. I'm not even going to bother trying to reason with a total waste of space like you, but I'd recommend you get it into your thick skull that you are probably the only person who cares about anyone who needs help asking for a date." Zell said very calm and collected, his voice not elevated in the slightest. He paused and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, the lenses glaring light off at Darrick. "You should judge yourself before you judge your neighbor. Sean has had dates in the past, as has Yancey. In fact you're the only person here I know of who is just NOW getting a date in High School. So I kindly request you do what's best for you, and least embarrassing for yourself as well... Grow up." Zell said as he sighed, lazily laying back. It's not like Darrick could say anything about him, since he had the highest GPA and QPA in the entire grade, if not the entire school.

  Truthfully Silus was shocked. Zell speaking out was a very seldom thing, so he knew that Zell must REALLY not like Darrick, which made Silus uncomfortable a little since Darrick was his friend...sort of. He was a dick, true but Silus never had anything against him. Yancey smirked when Darrick said about asking him to learn how to ask someone out. "I-I...uhm." Wait a second was Zell actually looking at him for a reason, or was he looking at Darrick. Hopefully Darrick, that glare was scary as fuck. Zell was the really lazy, yet really fucking smart and scary one. Silus was just painfully shy, like now when he tried to sink back and away from the glare.

  "Awo AAAWWWOOO!!! Tell 'em Zell!" Yancey said with a hooting form of wolf howl. Yancey sniggered at Faust, and there wasn't much that could be said there since Yancey was popular. Faust was back into a corner a little bit by that standard. He was the overly fucking weird one in thsi case. Sean may be lazy and copy a little but he wasn't a social outcast, and Silus was....well Silus was just fucking Silus, everyone knew he was like that. Faust was just a prick in that regard, and he was called out on it in front of everyone. If there were a time to feel one inch tall..this was it. All eyes were on him as fellow students looked at Darrick with slight smiled on their faces as if this were amusing to them.

 As they all walked out of the class together Zell snagged Silus and Sean, pulling them back a little. Yancey was busy flirting with Helia (a dream version anyway) and Darrick was stuck with Ash. "Don't let him bully you around." Zell scoffed as he brushed through them.

  "I-uhm. Z-zell..." Silus chirped up. Zell stopped and lazily turned himself, lolling his head to the side to look at them. "Uhm...Thanks." Silus added in before looking to Sean to see if he had anything to add in.


  Regardless...second class here we come...

Darrick walked along with Ash down the hall towards gym class. The other three were with Zell, behind them a little bit.

Zell didn't like Darrick. That was fine with him. Darrick didn't survive his rough life by being liked by everyone. He survived by being persistent and stubborn. That was the only way the Koreatown gangs would respect you, which was if you stood up to them. It was also a sure way of getting shot, but Korean gangs had a sense of cultural bonds. Therefore, poor shop owners, like Darrick’s father, were treated better. Raising your kids well, in the Korean fashion, was also a big plus. It was ironic how the gangs could be extremely polite in one moment, and undistinguishable from others gangs in the next.

In any case, Darrick didn’t particularly care for Zell. Though he was number one in the school, the only reason that Darrick was not able to top was because he had family duties to perform as well. He thought Zell knew that. Everyone could see that Darrick’s family was barely scraping by. Zell, in Darrick’s mind, needed to loosen up. Too tense. Too confident. Too…quiet. Everyone seemed to think Zell was the scariest person on earth. Darrick could give less than two shits about his intimidating looks. All he cared about was the man underneath.

Despite these thoughts, Darrick had to agree that Zell was not a pushover. No, Darrick respected Zell. Though he knew that the feeling wasn’t reciprocated. Again, Darrick didn’t couldn’t care less about that.
What Darrick did care about though, was his rudeness. Does Zell not understand how the friendship between the four of them worked? The reason they were a group to begin with was because they all brought something to the table. Silus was the shy, quiet type; Yancey, the outgoing type; Darrick, the loud and arrogant type; Sean, the….well he was Sean. In fact, the only thing they shared in common was the fact that they were all extremely polite; well, not to each other, but they were all nice. Zell didn’t see that. That was probably the one thing that Darrick didn’t like about Zell. He was a conformist. Never attract too much attention, never do anything weird. Hell, everyone was weird, Yancey and Darrick more than some. But Zell strangely…was not. At all. Maybe that made him weird? Paradox? Not being weird like everyone else, means you’re weird?

Darrick’s head started hurting so he moved to another topic. Girlfriend? He seriously met this girl not two hours ago. And jabs at his celibacy, practically asexual orientation (yeah, he lied to her when he said he had had dates before; she probably realized that when Zell was chewing his ass out like candy), did not really touch him. Darrick, unlike the others, did not see a point in high school relationships; the others could do whatever the fuck they wanted, they were his friends, he would support them. Even though he honestly like Ash, he couldn’t see himself with her in frickin’ high school. It would just make him lose focus on his studies. Pretty much a typical Korean celibate’s answer.

“Darrick?”

Darrick came out of his reverie and saw Ash looking at him with a questioning look.

“Why are you just staring at me?”

Darrick immediately began busting his ass on the floor. He was probably going to die from Charlie Chaplin’s Disease. In case you didn’t know, it’s a fatal disease. So take this as a word of caution- you know what fuck it. I’m trying to say he was laughing hard. Really hard. Like difficulty level insane. Okay, I’ll stop, I realize me writing this is probably not very amusing. Please don’t hit me.

“Shit, sorry Ash, I was just thinking about something!”

“Were you thinking about how that cute guy totally handed your ass to you back there?”

Darrick stared mouth agape.

“What?! A lot of the guys here are-“

“No, not that! It’s just-I-like-I did NOT get my ass handed to me!”

“Then why did you remain silent?”

“Because I’m gay for him!”

There was a moment of silence. Darrick looked around. The other three were just out of hearing range. Ash had her jaw on the floor.

Darrick proceeded to contract Charlie Chaplin’s Disease again.

“Haha, I’m kidding. I’m straight. But I don’t want to-“

Ash stopped him mid-sentence.

“You also have not said anything to people saying that I’m your girlfriend.”

Darrick thought for a moment.

“I don’t want to feed the tro-“

“You also lied to me at the bus stop.”

Darrick let out a wicked grin.

“Yeah, I knew you caught on. Truth is, I’m practically abstinent. I’m never interested in relationships in high school, think they’re dumb. I’m fine with other people doing it, just not myself. Also, I was trying to hard I guess.”

Ash laughed.

“Well, you’re not the first guy to pull something like that. In fact, what you did was actually better than I expected.”

They arrived at the doors to the gym.

“Well, I have to go with my cross-country team for this period. I’ll see you later!”

“Wait! Where do I go?”

“Oh, just go with the other guys! They’re heading in the same direction as you are!”

Darrick waved and left, running towards Coach Hippo’s office (yes, his last name was really Hippo.)

Ash turned around and went over to Yancey, Zell, Silus, and Sean.

“I guess I have the chance to get to know you guys now!”

Ash noted that she was actually taller than all of them, unlike Darrick, who towered half-a-foot above her.

(Just a side note: I realize Ashley is practically a Mary Sue. I’ll fix that in upcoming posts. She’s based off of someone I actually know, and, in real life, she’s a lot more whimsical, not as serious, but also…I don’t know….mean at times? Well, mean in a playful type of way. Not as serious as Ash is in the story right now. Anyways, I’ll be controlling Ash. Right now, she’s a regular human NPC. No stats to be noted of really. If you guys want, I’ll add that if it’s required, but I see no point as I’m going to add her to my full roster when we’re about to finish up.)