Izuku POV
Once upon a time, there were these super human beings called the Greek Gods. They're these people with abilities that controlled the world. Zeus, the God of lightning and the King of the Gods. Poseidon, the God of the Sea. Hades, the God of the Underworld. There's just too many to count.
Unknowingly, I felt a little breeze pass by my head and blinked back and sat up straight. A paper airplane was flying around and everyone was either messing around, playing, or just talking. I shrugged it off as I went back to reading my book.
The door burst open and everyone stopped talking and it went quiet. I turned over to the next page while I had a smile on my face. I'm getting to one of my favorites!
"Okay everyone. I know that we're all excited that school is almost over for the day, but that doesn't mean you get to roughhouse while I'm still in charge," my teacher lectured as he walked to his desk.
"Then along came Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love," I muttered quietly while my finger traced the words on the pages. "Midoriya." She's one of my favorites to read about. "Midoriya.." Even though, there's a lot of negatives about her affairs with other men, I mostly like her because of how she sees the beauty in everyone. But I also love the idea of falling in love one day. Maybe it'll happen in time. "Midoriya!"
My hand instantly closed the book as I panicked when the teacher kept calling out my name. He gave me an annoyed look as he pointed with a long stick at me. "And just what is so much more important in that little book of yours, than solving this problem? Hmm??"
Everyone started staring at me while still feeling under pressure by being the center of attention. I cleared my throat and took a deep breath. "I was just reading something that my friends and I would talk about a lot. That's all."
He still didn't believe me. "Mhm. So, tell me. What was so investing in that book that you would like to share with the class? After being ignored, I feel like this is a plausible punishment."
"Um. Do I have to share?"
"If you would rather clean the stables after school, then yes, you have to." I scrunched my face and gagged a little bit when he mentioned about the stables. "Go on."
There's no getting out of this. My finger fiddled with the edge of the book. "It's just a story about the Greek Gods. Back at home, it's all that I was invested in, so..."
"Okay, okay, kid. You don't need to get into too much of the details. Just put the book away and pay attention."
"Yes, sir..." I grumbled and moved my book to the left side of my desk. Everyone's attention focused back on the teacher. Just get through the day and then I can go home.
"Pst..." Huh? I whip my head around the room. "Pst!!" There it is again. Where is that noise coming from?
"Midoriya..!" I jolted when my teacher called out my name. He clicked his tongue and groaned as he kept writing on the board, "If you're just causing distractions in my class, then meet me after class."
"Yes, sir." I hid my face with my arms as I heard people laughing at me. Why do people always pick on the new kid...? More importantly, I'm going to be late.
I hardly paid attention to time and hardly noticed that class was over. Someone purposely nudged me with their arm as they walked by. Another person snickered at me. Until everyone left the room, I was all by myself. Along with my teacher just standing and leaning on the wall.
"Midoriya." I pushed myself out of the chair and took my book off the desk. I walked up to him as I kept my head down.
"I'm sorry. I understand if you want me to clean the stables. I'll go do that right now—!"
"Will you let me finish?" He brought his hand up to make me stop talking. My teacher rubbed the bridge of his nose and leaned in his chair. "Look, I understand that you just moved here from Greece, but that doesn't mean I should let you get special privileges. You need to start paying attention in class rather than reading junk."
I gasped dramatically, "It's not junk! Every story that's ever been told about the Greek Gods is, is, it's hard to ignore!"
"That may be different back at home, but in school, I expect everyone to pay attention. If I catch you reading that book again during class, I won't hesitate to confiscate it. Do you understand...?"
"I understand, sir.." I replied and said goodbye to him. As I exited the classroom, I felt something bounced off my head. My hand reached for the spot as I gingerly checked my head. Could this day get any worse?
Probably having my dad yell at me for being late and my mother for over worrying about where I was. Seeing that it's almost getting dark, I headed for home.
Step by step, it was only the sound of my shoes making the noise on the concrete as I passed by the streetlights. There's only a few people out and about, but despite that, it's really enjoyable just being outside when it's really warm. It's soothing.
It was soothing up until I arrived home. The minute I walked into my home, I was greeted with four arms catching me in their grasp while squeezing the life out of me. "Mom.. Dad... Can't... Breathe..." I managed to say. Both of my parents let go of me and I tried catching my breath.
"Sorry," mom apologized and whipped the back of my head, "What were you thinking?! Why were you out all alone and late at night??"
My father chimed in, "Your mother and I were worried sick that something happened to you. Can you tell us where you were?"
I held a firm grip on my book like I'm hugging it. "I had to stay behind in class because I wasn't paying attention to the lesson. That's why I came home late." I left the party out where I just wanted some fresh air and peace and quiet, I don't think that'll be a good excuse.
My mother shook her head at me as she placed her hand on where she hit my head, "Izuku... you should know better than to read that book."
"I know, I know," my hand reached up to move her hand away from me, "But I just don't want anything to happen to this book. Not only that, but it's just really hard to understand."
"Then leave the book at home, so you could do better in school," my father suggested.
"Dad, I can't. I don't—no. I won't let anything happen to this book!" I exclaimed as my father tried to take it away from me and I ran to my mother.
My mother looked up at me while I was protecting my book from being stolen. "Izuku..." She called out my name. I felt her hand caress my cheek a little. "Look, I think it's for the best if you leave the book here in your room. I know it's a bit hard with us moving, but we need to adjust. I know you're smart enough to get through school, so don't lose yourself in that book. Okay?"
I hesitated to respond until I nodded my head. "I'll go wash up for dinner." Before leaving, I kissed my mother on the forehead and went upstairs.
"...So don't lose yourself in that book. Okay?" That line kept echoing and replaying in my head while I walked up the stairs and entered my room. There was a bowl of water and a cloth in the room, so I scooped some water in my hand and splashed it on my face.
Some water got in my bangs while I kept rubbing the water on my face to my neck. With just barely any water left, I took the cloth and dried my face off and flopped on the bed with the cloth in my hand.
There's nothing else I could do, but stare at the ceiling. New home, new school, new everything. I miss Greece so much. I miss the islands where my father and I would catch fish, I miss the times where we crash plates on the ground and say 'Opha!' during parties. I just don't know what to do.
"Izuku! Dinner's ready!" On the plus side, my mother always loved to make some of my favorite food from Greece. I sat up on the bed and brought my hands to my knees as I pushed myself up and went downstairs to eat.
-
After that scare last night, my father made me carry a knife with me, just in case I get robbed. I carried my satchel around my shoulder. Yeah, just a satchel...
...
...
I need to go back and get my book!! I can't do it! I feel empty without it! I tried to run away from the school, but I was pulled away thanks to a different teacher. I couldn't do anything to fight back as I was dragged away and getting closer to the school. I'll come back for you...
When the doors shut, I brushed the dirt off me and rushed to my classroom, just in time.
My teacher noticed that I wasn't carrying my book with me again and gave me a thumbs up, "No book today?" I could tell he was trying to smile. Why is that a good thing...? I backed away slowly to my desk and put down my satchel to the side. The teacher stood up and handed each of us a textbook.
Actually, he gave everyone but me a textbook. He did, however, give me one in Greek. I guess that's fair since I don't know Italian that much. I shrugged my shoulders and opened up the pages. Wait, what lesson are we on again?
And now, he's speaking Italian! I keep flipping over each page at a very fast rate, but I can't understand what we're doing—!
"Hey." What? Someone from behind me tapped on my shoulder. I glanced back and noticed it was a heterochromia boy, "Uh, I noticed you were trying to find where we left off, and I wanted to let you know that it's on page 37. Since it's the same book, I thought it might have the same page number."
"Oh, thank you..." I trailed off trying to come up with a way to say it. I don't even know his name.
"It's Shoto Todoroki, but everyone calls me Shoto." He implied and went back to his book.
Okay, so page.. there it is! Okay, so we were just learning about, oh. I'm starting to get it. Normally, an interpreter would help, but my family and I don't have the money right now, so we're trying our best to adjust things in Italy.
I'm finally back on track and tried to pretend I'm listening and understanding this. Sometimes my teacher would surprise us by speaking Italian for almost the whole lesson. Maybe it's just to see how well I'm doing and jotting down all the material I can. That's got to be nerve wracking...
Surprisingly, the day went by so fast and now it's lunch time. Since it's a nice day, I decided to eat outside. I inhaled and exhaled as I walked outside to find a place to enjoy my lunch, until I saw someone sitting by a tree.
It's Shoto! I softly smiled as I went up to where he was sitting and started waving at him, "Shoto! Hi!"
"Huh?" He whipped his head up and looked at me, "Oh, hi. Do I know you?"
"It's me! The one that had trouble finding the page."
"Oh, right!" He said to himself as he finally recognized me. "I'm sorry, I have a hard time remembering people."
"That's okay. Oh, do you mind if I join you?" I asked. Shoto's hand patted on the spot next to him and I sat down. "So, what do you have for lunch?"
Shoto just shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing really, my dad's an awful cook, so I just grab an apple and leave." He said as he threw an apple in the air and took a bite out of it. "What about you?"
"Just some good old fashioned Moussaka." I told him as I showed him my food, but I could tell he doesn't like the look of it with his face all scrunched up. "I'll, um, probably eat it later." I put my lunch away and leaned back on the tree.
We just sat there quietly. The only noise that could be heard was the sound of a crunching apple and the whistling wind. My eyes caught a piece of wood on the ground and I picked it up. That gave me an idea.
My hand dug out my emergency knife and I started to do something with it. I'm trying to carve out and outline something that looks like a star. Closing one of my eyes, I tried to be as careful as possible.
"What are you doing?" I heard Shoto ask as I kept carving the piece of wood.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's really difficult, but fun." And... there! A star! Hmm... it could use a little more details than a cut out. "I'm going to try to—."
Then I accidentally broke the star in half. I stared at the now shattered star and groaned in disappointment. I noticed Shoto looking at me starstruck. Looking around to see what he was seeing, I was confused. "How did you do that?"
I tilted my head to the right, "Do what? Make a shape out of wood?"
"Yeah, I mean, if I were to try that, I would've broken it the first time I cut through it."
I rolled my eyes as I got up off the ground and helped Shoto up by reaching out his hand. He took my lunch and pushed himself up as he handed me my lunch back. "Oh, I'm Izuku Midoriya, by the way."
"Good to know. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." He held out his hand and I took it and shook our hands once. Now, we're both walking side by side. "Hey, um, do you think you can teach me some Greek from that book you always bring with you?"
"Heh. Sure, Shoto. As long as you can teach me Italian."
"Deal. But, hey. About that thing you almost made. I'm thinking you could make a living off of it one day," he suggested as we got closer to the classroom.
"Puh-lease. The only way I'll be making money is by being a mathematician. Man, I hate math." I shuddered just thinking about the math lesson I have to face.
"You and me both." Shoto added and took our seats.
During the rest of the school day, I thought about what Shoto said. Could I make a living by carving wood? That does sound like a lot of fun. Ooo. Maybe I should broaden my horizons and instead use stone! But, I should try practicing some more. I'm going to need a whole lot of wood when I get back home.
A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for reading the chapter to my new book! I had this idea for a while and with writing another fanfic, I thought. Why not write back to back? I hope you like this one as well when the story progresses.
Anyway, that is all and as always, have a good day or night, take care of yourselves, wash your hands, wear a mask, stay safe, eat plenty of food, drink lots of water, and get a good night's rest. Bye!