Chapter Text
Waking up at five thirty in the morning probably wasn’t one of the best things to do for a fourteen year old boy, or at least most fourteen year old boys wouldn’t do such a thing. Especially not two weeks before summer ended. John Egbert didn’t care though, because today was the day he was moving into Skaia Academy, the most prestigious high school in America. It was incredibly hard to get in, because students were selected from a hand-picked group. Of course that was the second stage, the first stage was completely random. It didn’t matter how many extracurriculars you were doing, your wealth, your grades, nothing mattered. In fact, nobody knew how things worked. Skaia Academy had only been around for about twenty-five years, but still produced some of the most highly educated and talented students.
For example, John’s father, Harold Egbert. He was an incredibly valued businessman at Crocker Inc., one of the most famous businesses. But this story isn’t really about John’s dad, it’s about John and a few others. But we’ll talk about them later, so for now, let’s focus on the present.
John was currently dressed in a plain t-shirt, tan shorts and blue sneakers. Yeah, he didn’t really have much fashion sense. He had already packed all of the required things he would need - which wasn’t very much considering most of the things he’d need would be given to him. Today he would go on the three hour drive with his dad and his cousin, Jane Crocker. Today, he wouldn’t be left behind.
“John! Hurry up, we need to leave soon!” He could hear Jane calling him, and honestly he was going to ignore her, just for a moment. He took one last look at his room. He wouldn’t see this room until Christmas break. Hell, he wouldn’t see his house, or even his hometown! Gosh, he wasn’t really sure he could do this when it came to it…
“John?” Said teen jumped a little and quickly turned around to see his cousin looking at him with a knowing look.
“Y-yeah?” John cursed his voice for slipping into a slightly higher pitch, he hadn’t done that since he was twelve! He sighed a little looking back at his room.
“You know, you’ll be back eventually John. I had the same worries back when I got accepted for the four years. You’ll be fine, you’re gonna have a great time! Now come up, we gotta get hustlin!” And with that Jane entered the boy’s room and grabbed his two luggage bags and gave one to John.
John smiled a little bit, that’s right, he just had to think positively!
When the two Egberts and one Crocker arrived on Skaia Academy property, John had decided that the pictures did the place absolutely no justice. None. This place was huge! Wait, was that a track he saw? Well, yeah probably, they have a sports department you nitwit! John chuckled as he came to that realization. Of course the Academy did. While they drove to the entrance, John literally shook with excitement. Jane, seeing this, started laughing at her younger cousin. Not with malice, but because she as well had done the same thing just two years earlier.
Harold Egbert merely shook his head with a small smile.
“Alright kiddos, remember to have fun, don’t forget your I.D. cards, and be safe!” Of course John was already out of the car and getting his and Jane’s luggage out of the trunk.
“Jane?” Jane looked at her uncle, she had just been about to exit the car. She raised her eyebrows at Harold.
“Make sure he stays safe, and make sure you’re there for him when he needs it, and that he makes some friends alright?” Jane smiled, rolling her eyes.
“He’ll make friends Uncle. I’ll make sure he stays safe, and I’ll be there for him. Try not to worry okay? I’ll text you. Love you Unc!” And with that she was out of the car, and Harold began to drive away after the two waved at him and turned towards the admissions building.
As the senior Egbert drove away, all he could think about was how quickly Jane and John had grown up, and how unbelievably proud he was of them.
“Alright, so your dorm building is the one across from mine, dorm number 413. You’ll be rooming with another guy, and you should get your schedule at Orientation. Remember John, Orientation starts at eleven thirty in the auditorium, so be there or be square. Trust me, you can’t afford to miss it. And be nice too.” Jane had been rambling for about ten minutes, and frankly John had only caught that last bit of it.
“Alright, alright! I get it… Orientation at eleven thirty in the auditorium, room 413, be nice.” John smiled brightly, and gave a look that begged to be able to leave. Jane sighed and rolled her eyes a little.
“Alright, call or text me if there’s any problems. Love you.”
“Love you too Jane, see you later!”
Before John could even set his stuff down, he heard a knock on the door. John had been the first one there, so he was the only one to look up at the person who had just entered. The first thing he noticed was that he was a lot taller than himself. He also had really blonde hair, like white-blond not dirty blond or whatever. He was also wearing a red hoodie, jeans Vans and really anime looking shades.
Yeah, John knew what anime was. So? What are you gonna do about it?
“You must be John Egbert. Sup.” The other male closed the door and went over to the bed that John hadn’t claimed.
“Uh, hi. How do you know my name exactly?” John was a little, okay he was actually incredibly confused. The blonde didn’t look over when he answered.
“You look a lot like my brother’s friend’s cousin.”
“I see, uh. Who are you?”
“Oh, right. Guess Jane didn’t mention me. I’m Dave Strider, Dirk’s younger brother, freshman.” Dave looked over at John this time, an eyebrow raised.
“Heh, no she didn’t. I think I’ve heard the name Dirk before, and I know I’ve heard Strider before… Huh, that’s really weird. Well, it’s nice to meet you Dave. I’m seriously wondering why Jane has never mentioned you before though…”
“It’s probably nothing Egderp, we should try unpack as much as we can though. Orientation’s in thirty.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” And with that, the two freshman began unpacking. Neither of the two made conversation, and when there were only five minutes left until Orientation both of the boys were done unpacking. Dave was looking at his phone, while John stared at the clock.
John Egbert had a feeling it would be a long year.