Catching on

Chapter 1 - Odd Girl

(Guidelines on reading my novel)

Scene Breaks:

( *** - A few minutes or hours had passed )

"Being up so early for school, spending every evening playing games like it became my daily job, and having 'friends' that gossip behind my back continuously." The boy muttered as he wore his white uniform and walked towards the balcony of his room, where he observed several grownups passing by on the streets while wearing suits and holding their phones. "I'm sick of everything. I consistently feel like God has discarded me in this world, telling me constant reminders that I have to live life as an outsider in everything. Haa...."

Suddenly, his door opened with a loud *Creak.*

The boy changed his despaired expression into a faint smile as he looked at the door and responded immediately.

"Yes, dad?"

"Oh? I see. Since you're all prepared, I don't have to tidy everything up for you. Come! I've already prepared breakfast for the both of us!" His father exclaimed.

"Got it, dad."

'My existence is simply way too repetitive—to the point that it irritates me.  I just want something to change in my life at least once.' The boy thought to himself as he closed the balcony doors and proceeded to leave his room.

***

"Alright, good luck with your school, my boy!" His dad cheerfully called out to him as he sets off with his car after dropping the boy at school.

"That was embarrassing, I never thought that dad would shout that kind of thing so early in the morning,"

He scanned around and noticed many students staring in his direction.

"Haa..."

"I'm going to pretend that never happened." He muttered to himself as he hastily moved towards the opened gate of the three-story school that had a tracking field on the side of it.

***

As the boy set foot inside, he immediately saw tags hanging at the top of the shoe lockers.

"First-floor - Club rooms, storage, cafeteria, faculty, and clinic."

"Second-floor - First-year and Second-year classrooms."

"Third-floor - Third-year classrooms and library."

He stared at them for a few seconds to memorize which stairs were which before approaching the shoe locker on the left with his name on it.

"Zen Yamashita,"

After putting on his indoor shoes, he approached the stairs that were in front of the shoe locker section and ascended through them. He perceived that it was a bit crowded and noisy, so he decided to hum a tune that always played back in his head. "Mmmhh~ Mmmm~ mmhh~" he continued, as if he was alone in his own bubble, ignoring the other student's stomps and noises as they too hastily ascended the stairs.

***

He stopped his hum after reaching the second floor. Afterwards, he stepped aside to prevent the students from getting blocked on the pathway. At that moment, he realized that it would be a good opportunity to scan what was currently in front of him and see the extra things the current floor had to present. "Hrmm, a bench that is right beside a vending machine together with some trash bins." He paused and continued after a few seconds.

"The signs are hanging and aligned on both the left and right sides of the hallway.."

"..."

"So the left side is for first-year classrooms, and the right side has second-year classrooms. Anyone that enters this floor would get distracted by the signs for sure..."

Following Zen's survey, he inhaled in and out due to exhaustion, "Alright, that's that... There's nothing interesting left for me to look at." He then readied himself and proceeded to walk towards the first-year classrooms. But, suddenly, he stopped halfway after hearing a ton of steps and shouts.

"You guys better hurry up!"

"We arrived first, so we are supposed to look for our name ahead of you!"

"Shut up, bigots! Stop blabbering and start looking for your names on the student lists!"

"Ahhh! God dammit, don't try to overfill the hallway!"

'Crap..'

'It appears that the walls here somehow muffled the noise. No wonder I could not hear any of the needless howls as soon as I arrived on this floor,' Zen thought while scratching his forehead.

'Well, this will be a bit troublesome. I will wait for them to locate their names and let them enter first,'

"Haaa..."

"Might as well buy something to drink here and let the crowd lessen itself." As he walked back and approached the vending machine.

"Hmm, black coffee would be a good choice right now." Said Zen as he reached into his pocket for change.

*Clink! Clink! Clink!*

*Pzzz...*

"..."

*Ching!*

He then grabbed the canned coffee that dropped from the vending machine and sat on the bench beside it,

*Pshhh,*

"..."

"I clearly remember a book I read as a child that claimed that this nation's traditions and educational system were somewhat similar to those in Japan. Not that I can share any details since I just briefly attended the grade school there before switching because my father chose to work on other branches here in Cnidaria." He muttered to himself as he observed the students passing by him while drinking the black coffee he had just bought.

***

A couple of minutes later, Zen noticed that the hallway had become quieter than before, no one was passing by him, and no one was ascending the stairs.

"It's weird that I haven't seen any teachers pass by. I wonder if they're doing something important."

"Thoughts for later. For now, It's good to know that I still have time to look for my name in one of the classrooms." Said Zen as he stood up and threw the can in the trash bin after gulping what was left of it.

*Step! Step! Step!*

"Hrm?"

Zen stared at the stairs because of the loud steps. There, he saw a girl who was panting. He immediately got fascinated by her looks, since she had hair that was really short and silky, enough to be called a tomboy, a physique that was perfectly average for a normal high school girl, and eyeglasses that paired perfectly with her white sailor uniform.

"Uhmm, was I too late?" The girl asked as she straightened her black knee-length checkered skirt.

'Is she asking me?' Zen looked around to see who she was talking to.

"I'm talking to you, silly! Wait, don't tell me you are late too??"

"No, I got here a bit early but decided to sit on that bench and waited for the crowd to thin out."

"Ahh, I see... Hold up, let me buy something from that vending machine over there."

"A-ah, yeah, sure??"

The girl then advanced towards the vending machine while still having her eyeglasses fogged and sweat pouring down her forehead.

"Water, water, waterrr... Ah! There it is!"

*Clink! Clink! Clink!*

*Pzzz...*

"..."

*Ching!*

She immediately grabbed the water bottle and drank it in a single gulp.

"Phewwww! Nothing beats water in the morning after walking twenty minutes from home to school!"

"Ye-Yeah.."

"Oh, let me clean my glasses real quick," Said The girl as she grabbed her eyeglasses on the temples using her three fingers and rubbed the lenses on her sailor uniform.

After cleaning, she wore her eyeglass again and pushed them to the bridge of her nose.

"Well then, let's go look for our classroom together!"

"Eh? Uhhh yeah.."

The girl dragged Zen by his hands and hastily proceeded towards the first-year entryway.

"Wait, He-Hey?!"

"Let's go quickly! I don't want ourselves to get scolded by the teacher after all!"