One quick shower and a change of clothes later, I slumped into a chair at the breakfast table with a bowl and the box of Lucky Charms. Was it a kid’s cereal with almost no nutritional value? Yes. Does this technically-a-serving-bowl-not-an-eating-bowl look like I care? No. I fill the oversized bowl to the brim with cereal and milk - because only heathens put milk in before the cereal - and dig in.

I normally wouldn’t eat quite this much before school, but my head’s been pounding since I woke up, and I’m feeling a little dizzy, so my blood sugar is probably low. This oughta spike it nice and high.

After a copious sugar injection straight to my gut, and catching up on my YouTube subscription uploads, I headed up to the bathroom to brush my teeth before school. Eating all that sugar is one thing, letting it rot my teeth is another. I damn near screamed when I flipped the light on and saw the pale visage reflected back at me. Shit. When you’re so pale you jump-scare yourself, maybe it’s time to get some sun. I didn’t realize just how pale I’d gotten from hiding inside all summer. 

Note to self: get some sun later. Not today, because headache, but later for sure.

The alarm on my phone chimes with the Star Wars blaster sound, indicating that I have ten minutes before I have to be out the door. Crap. No time to finish checking out my pasty-ass reflection. I give my teeth a quick brush, run my fingers through my messy brown hair, which I keep short so that ‘finger combing’ is the maximum amount of effort it requires, and I’m off to the races. Or to the bus stop, at least.

I auto-pilot through my commute like any healthy red-blooded American does, and find myself about to take my seat when a cat shoots across my desk and onto the windowsill beside me. I try to get a better look at it, but the sun is coming in at just the right angle to nail me right in the eyes. Shit, I hate this seat.

I was just recovering from the surprise cat when I felt someone bump into me from behind. I knew it couldn’t be one of the jocks, because I wasn’t picking myself up off the floor, so I turned to meet my would-be assailant.

He was a scrawny guy, like me… and shorter than me, like a lot of people, so I looked down slightly at him. “Yeah?”

“Uh- um- I- uh…” he stammered nervously. 

“Are you alright?” I asked, raising a brow. I’d seen him in class, of course, but we’d never really talked. I think his name is Haku? Maru? Haru? Yeah, Haru sounds right.

“Yeah-! I- No! Um…” he continued to stammer, before giving up on his failing attempts at verbal communication and simply pointing at the cat in the windowsill.

Oh. Guess it must be his. Who the heck brings a cat to school? Eh. Maybe it’s a comfort therapy animal or something? I shrugged and nodded at him. “Don’t chase it, the bell’s about to ring. I’ll swap seats with you so you can keep an eye on it.”

“T-Thanks… S-sorry,” he mumbled as we awkwardly shuffled around each other. I collected my backpack and moved over to the vacant seat where Haru usually sat.

Mr. Johnston strode into the classroom, letting out a resounding ‘Good morning, class!’ with the enthusiasm of a morning person. I wondered if he was actually a morning person, or if it had to do with the huge mug of coffee he brought in every morning.

The class mumbled a dead, soulless ‘good morning, Mr. Johnston,’ as was expected of them.

He ran through role call, ticking off names as students replied with droll ‘here’s and ‘yeah’s. 

“Haru?” he glanced around the room, furrowing his brow when he saw me in Haru’s seat.

“H-Here!” Haru chirped.

Mr. Johnston looked over his glasses at him. “You’re in the wrong seat, Mr. Aoki.”

“Uhh…” 

Wow. Someone that might be more nervous under pressure than me. That’s unusual.

“I asked to trade seats with him, sir,” I said, coming to his rescue. “The sun was hurting my eyes and making it hard to see, but Haru said he’d be fine.”

“I see,” Mr. Johnston said. “Is that true, Haru?”

“Y-yes, sir.”

The teacher cast a suspicious glance between Haru and I, then returned to his roll call.

I exchanged a quick bro nod with Haru before unpacking my history book and notebook from my backpack to get ready for class.

“One final thing, class,” Mr. Johnston said as he started passing out a handout. “Your homework for this week is a group project. Each of you will be partnered up with the student next to you. Your assignment is to research the founding of one of the towns on this list and give a short powerpoint presentation. It’ll be due Halloween. As a reminder, anyone who comes to class in costume will receive a point of extra credit on their last test.” The bell rang, but the teacher wasn’t finished. “Wait. Does anybody have any preferences for partners?”

I wasn’t about to let a jock jump in and claim me so I could do all the hard work for them, and I sensed a kindred awkward spirit in Haru, so I shot Haru another bro nod and raised my hand. “Haru and I want to work together, Mr. Johnston.”

“Got it. Anyone else?” he asked, looking around. Nobody else made a sound other than the cacophony of preparing to leave for their next class.

“I’ll post the assignment on Canvas by the end of school today. Dismissed.”

I stood up and walked over towards Haru in my usual spot, watching as his cat dove back into his backpack. Dang. That cat has moves.

I clapped a hand on his shoulder, forcing an awkward smile. "Looks like we're partners. Now we just need to figure out our project. Wanna meet up at the cafe over on Ash street after school tomorrow to talk about it?" He looked a little nervous, so I tacked on: “It’s pet friendly,” with a nod towards his backpack.

“S-Sure,” he nodded.

“Cool, see you there then.” I smiled and turned to walk away, feeling like I might have actually made a new friend, maybe.

Now I just had to make it through the rest of the day.

The guys, of course, were all over me at lunch to see if I had a match last night. I pulled up my phone to show them that I had - then remembered it was a dream, and put it away. “Nah.”

They all seemed disappointed, except Valentina who seemed happy for some reason. Weird.

By the time I got home at the end of the school day, I was absolutely exhausted. I’d felt progressively worse all day, and it was really coming to a head. The last few steps up to my house felt like my sneakers were filled with lead. Thankfully once I was indoors, I started to feel a bit better, but I was starving and thirsty, like I’d spent a day of hard labor.

Not surprising, given that I’m a ‘growing boy’, as they say. A quick refrigerator raid later, and I was vegging out on the couch with my other classes’ homework assignments spread out in front of me on the coffee table, with Netflix on in the background. 

I downed the last of the sandwich I’d thrown together, and the last gulp of soda, then stretched out on the couch.

Just a quick nap, and then I’ll get started on my homework. No problem.

No… problem… at… all…