Chapter Text
On Saturday morning, September 1st, thousands of children’s hearts are rattling with the impending doom of the first day of school, the kids having to get out of bed and actually interact with others.
Alex Simons sat among those kids, clutching his stuffed dinosaur to his beating chest as he shields his burning eyes from the morning sun. He finds the plushy spikes comforting as they reek of his unbrushed teeth. His mom won’t be happy to find out he’s chewing his plush again.
Alex's eyes then peeked out from under the covers. He snapped up, and scrambled out of the bed.
'I slept in late! What if dad’s already left? I wanted to watch Pokemon with dad!' His thoughts shouted.
Alex groaned as he slumped out of his own bed, and got ready for the first day of school. Maybe his parents would reward him if they saw him get up earlier then they have supposed him to have to wake up. The sweet treasure and loving of when he gets praised, but no, he had come out to find that his parents were not home at the moment and probably taking his 3 year old brother, Tommy, to a daycare.
Alex rushed through his kitchen supplies to grab a quick snack and head out outside, just before his bus pulled up. The sighs of relief when he found out that he wasn't late to school, and when he finally had himself on the bus, he immediately threw himself on the closest empty seat making sure not to connect eyes with someone.
When the bus reached his middle school, he watched the black and yellow doors open and glide, oh, the excitement that it brought him when he saw those doors open, and he still doesn't know how it works.
He walked through the school building, kids crowding everywhere and filling the entire place up, way too cramped for Alex's likings as he tried dashing towards his designated classroom, the hallways a blur.
It wasn't long before he was at his classroom, and boy, was he early. 5 minutes early, and so, he had to wait outside the classroom door. But, what could he do? What could he possibly do in the span of 5 minutes that wasn't too distracting that he wouldn't hear the bell but also wasn't too boring for his interests?
Oh! He could think, he could think for 5 minutes, that would be exciting. What could he think about? His mindset spiraled into different types of topics until it set on one topic, he remembers several students talking about a student in the hallways. What did they say? He couldn't put his mind to it, but after maybe 2 minutes, his brain finally remembered.
Throughout the hallways of Amemaru Middle School, there were rumors of a new student who was over one-hundred-sixty-seven centimeters tall, and he was in the same class as him!
His thought paid attention on that one boy, and stayed there. Even through the time the teacher said they were aloud to walk in the room and, he went in the classroom and sat down, he grumbled as he slumped down on his chair throwing his backpack on the arms of it.
'Why are the boys at this school so tall? And why am I shorter than all them?' He thought. The boy kept on sulking, spacing out and not paying attention until the bell rang.
But, it was just the average conversation until the teacher said something that sparked a flicker in Alex's mind,
the teacher announced that there was going to be a new student joining the class!
Alex's mind was going off, he was excited! He loved meeting new people, and socializing. Maybe, he's one of the shortest and most introverted kids in the school, but at least he knew how to make friends.
Soon enough, the teacher had the kid come in.
And boy, was the new student tall.
The boy — Will Gold, he wrote on the board, and then soon saying he preferred to be called Wilbur, — was wearing black cargo pants and a white button up shirt under a blue hoodie, and on top of his head stood a beanie.
Alex noticed, when he turned and took a seat in front of Alex of all places, that there was a yellow crescent moon on his hood. His eyes were enhanced by his big, square-rimmed glasses, and he had a small dinosaur button pinned over his heart.
But, why did he choose to sit there? An estimation of 7 seats were open, so why there?
Alex was surprised. His mother had taught him to never judge a book by its cover, even if it was meant positively, but Will presented himself just like his dad did in his middle school graduation! A bright, mischievous smile, huge glasses, and messy hair.
Will he be as cool as Dad?
The day turned out to be torturously long for the small ravenette. For the past two years, a trio of bullies would corner him and harass him out of nowhere. Alex could be yawning in his way to the bathroom when a kid would snatch the hall pass and stick it into his open mouth faster than he can react. They would laugh at his horror: the boys in this school never wash their hands! They'll touch the urinal flush and wipe their nose and brush the bottom soles on their clean shoes for some dumb reason, it was never different.
That had happened more than once. It was a cycle of non stop anger: the bullies make him mad by making him do things that get him sick, then he gets mad at himself for not fighting back.
His parents then get mad — not at him, but whoever hurt their son — and call the administration. He takes a bath that makes his fingers and toes wrinkly, brushing and scrubbing his teeth and tongue so much that they bleed (now his parents are mad).
He ends up relaying all the events that happened that day, thinking not-good things about himself while also convincing himself to try and sleep but he won't be able to because he'll be too scared of what will happen the next day.
Besides, when the morning does come, the same bullies from before will be even angrier because they got in trouble for bullying him, so they'll pick on him more. A positive feedback loop.
Alex Simons was not necessarily a happy kid, nor a sad or an angry one. He was a fearful little boy, who kept to himself and didn't want to make any friends at school, mainly because everyone in his class had made fun of him at least twice.
He was loved by his teachers, though. They thought he was very smart, and so quiet and wonderful that they want him to have fun. They want him to be happy, but they know that no matter how many punishments they give his bullies, they're uncaring enough to keep at him.
That's not to say he didn't have an outlet, though. He knew he could talk to his parents (though he hadn't been lately, in terms of bullying, for independent reasons), but he liked to draw his feelings more.
Alex decided to brush away the thought of his bullies and pay attention to the new kid, his focus staring daggers through the new kid. Oh! He was so so interested, and that interest may happen for more than years or months.
Every little detail, such as,
he was almost as tall as his dad! It surprised Alex, because, Alex's dad was pretty big, whilst Wilbur was just a ten year old boy! He could only imagine how tall he will be five years from now.
Oh, and then, onwards from that day, Alex followed Wilbur secretly, day after day, noticing so much.
At that moment, Wilbur acknowledged Alex. For the first time, and talked to him. Alex was probably just a relief reliever and a punching bag for Wilbur. But, he didn't care. He admired the brunette although he didn't say or give any hints about it. They talked for a bit at the stands, and Alex cherished every moment of it.
Until, he found out the reason why Wilbur was at the court. Wilbur's eyes when he didn't notice a brown haired on the court, and Alex was in wonder, why would he care if there wasn't someone with brown hair on the court? But then, the feeling when he followed Wilbur's eyes to the other side of the gymnasium and onto the stands, and seeing the brother himself, his high school spirit draining away the quieter Wilbur went.
Wilbur was furious, his high school idle, his own brother, wasn't even playing. Alex had no context on this, he just went along with everything about Wilbur, oh, but he was so confused. Not a single wire connected with another wire in his mind.
Wilbur went down the stands, and near the door, and of course, Alex followed behind. He was worried for his new made friend.
Wilbur walked out, fists clenching. Alex followed him again, shushing his classmate, who was yelling at them to slow down.
And apparently, Wilbur was now walking Alex home.
Though, Wilbur was quiet the whole way walking their classmate home, but Alex didn't mind, he was conversing with his classmate on behalf of his best friend, though, he was distracted and could not pay attention on the topic that the classmate was trying to speak with.