Chapter Text
The erratic beeping of Henry's alarm clock startled him so much that he had fallen out of his bed, sending waves of dull pain and bitterness at the early morning through his body. The first time he had an actual healthy amount of sleep in a while, and it just had to be interrupted. It didn't matter to him that it was his first day of high school, the start of an entirely new phase in his life, he was tired and he already wanted to take a nap, despite only waking moments prior. He briefly considered returning to the sweet release of unconsciousness within the comfort of his own bed, but he decided against it. Not of his own accord, however, but because of a familiar voice, that came as someone burst in the room without knocking for the millionth time.
"WAKE UP, YOU SLEEPYHEAD! YOU'RE GONNA BE LATE!" The girl shouted as she barged in, being greeted with the sight of Henry in the middle of trying to unwrap himself from his blanket cocoon on the floor. It was obvious immediately that she was hasty with getting ready, her shoulder length hair still knotted and wildly strewn about, and a mismatching outfit that was definitely thrown together last minute. Her mop-like head of curly hair was bright, fiery red, much like her personality, that faded to it's natural golden blonde at the tips. If she once had any care in the world for her appearance or presenting herself fashionably acceptable, it had disappeared the moment she walked into middle school.
"Ellie, I was getting there." Henry replied, getting up from the floor to rub the sleepiness out of his eyes, running his fingers through his hair in an attempt to straighten it out. "Are you aware that there's something called 'knocking'?"
"Yes, but I will continue to dismiss it anyway. Now, are we going or do you still need time?" Ellie asked, still lingering near the doorway.
Henry took a glance towards the mirror, noting he was still dressed in his outfit from yesterday, now slightly wrinkled and loose. No one would care if he wore the same clothes twice, would they?
"Yeah, I'm good." Henry said, stretching his stiff muscles out a bit before following Ellie out the door. Since she had already started running before he had even exited the room, he had plenty of catch up to do if he didn't want to fall even further behind. A bit of a difficult task, considering Ellie was far more athletic than him.
"Seriously, I don't understand how you could be this exited for this. I mean, it's just going to a new school. We've done that before." Henry pointed out, once he had both caught up to her and caught his breath.
"Oh, but it's not just going to a new school, Henry! It's my wittle baby brother's first day at high school!" Ellie mocked him in her best baby voice, pinching at Henry's cheeks. Even though they weren't biologically related, they had known each other for so long that they practically considered each other siblings. They didn't exactly have many other family members to begin with.
"Cut that out! It's your first day of high school too, being a few months older isn't an excuse to treat me like a baby." Henry pointed out, shoving away Ellie's hands.
"Yeah, and being offered 5 bucks on a dare isn't an excuse to go to juvenile." Ellie retorted. To that comment, Henry gave her a soft jab in the elbow. Ellie jabbed him back.
~
The journey towards the school wasn't exactly long by any means, but due to the the awkward silence occasionally interrupted by Ellie pointing out something obvious, it felt like he might as well walk to the other side of the planet and he'd still be there before they even set foot on campus. Still, the two had somehow managed to make it there before his feet gave up on him and melted into a puddle, but that wasn't the end of it, no, it was only the beginning. Time was only dipping it's toes into how slow and dreadful it could go.
For example, his Geometry class, which he'd have to endure without Ellie due to some scheduling differences. At the very least, he had the fortune of being able to work with her in Science. After some brief introductions, his teacher had already began lecturing about angles and arcs. Henry, unlike others, was taking notes on the subject, and by taking notes I mean occasionally jotting down something important while continuing his work on his paper's increasingly intricate border. After what felt like hours of not going anywhere with the subject, he turned to the person next to him.
"Psst." He whispered, quiet enough for the teacher not to hear, but hopefully not so quiet for the guy beside him not to hear.
"What?" The guy said, turning towards him with a confused expression.
"How much time do we have left?" Henry asked.
The guy looked mildly confused, taking a glance towards the clock before looking back towards Henry and saying "Class only started like, ten minutes ago."
Henry felt shocked, but a simple turn to the clock confirmed it. They weren't even halfway through class, and yet, he still felt that it was already time to leave. Henry rested his chin on the desk, closing his eyes as a small, barely audible groan escaped his lips.
The classes that followed were much the same, perhaps they were of different lengths, but Henry couldn't tell the difference. At the moment, Henry was struggling to make his way to lunch, the surplus of extra students in the halls meaning more bumping into and weaving his way around people than he believed should be necessary.
While he wasn't exactly eavesdropping, per se, he was able to pick up on various discussions on the way to the cafeteria. The school day was barely even halfway over, and yet he had already lost count of how many times someone had mentioned the name 'Charles'. The fact that he had heard so many people talking about him was...astounding, to say the least. It was actually kind of impressive.
From these snippets of discussions alone, he was able to deduce 3 different things about him:
1: He was popular (the soon-to-be head of the student council).
2: He was pretty (apparently someone was planning on asking him out later this week).
3: He was quite smart (near the top in all his subjects, despite only being in his second year).
And by the time Henry was finished with that thought, the cafeteria was already in front of him. Unable to pick Ellie out of the miniature crowd, he moved off to the wall at the edge of the room, taking his lunchbox out of his backpack and snacking on the PB&J stashed inside. He supposed that he'll just eat lunch alone and talk with her at Science.
"Hey there! Do you mind if I sit here?" He heard someone say, someone with a small softness and higher pitch to their voice. Looking up, he found the origin of the voice, a boy that was definitely a few inches taller than him, but still looked around his age.
And to be honest, Henry did mind. He wasn't exactly up for interacting with people at the moment, especially a stranger. Even though he asked politely, he could've just said no and moved on. But then again, he wasn't sure why, but he didn't exactly want to push him away or anything. Besides, it would probably be best for him if he befriended some other people at this school, right?
"Sure, why not?" Henry said, patting a spot beside him and inviting the boy over. He complied, eating a bit off his school lunch tray before speaking up again.
"So, what's your name?" Charles asked, turning towards Henry, quietly waiting for him to answer.
"Um, Henry." He hesitantly answered.
"Nice to meet you, Henry!" He said, his smile growing a little bit brighter. "Are you new here? I don't think I recognize you."
"Yeah, I'm...new. This is my first year actually." Henry felt like he probably would've expected that kind of answer, and yet he still felt slightly hesitant to say it. As if it would be embarrassing for him to tell this random stranger how unfamiliar he was with this place.
"Oh, cool! Trust me, you're going to have a great time here." Charles said, stretching his hand towards Henry in an open, inviting motion. After a tad of awkward silence, Henry reciprocated the gesture, shaking his hand. He was shocked, to a degree. Practically everything about him seemed so...warm and bubbly, the kind of person he would only expect to find in fiction. Even his hand felt warm against his own, bringing a slight burst of warmth to his cheeks that continued to remain after he let go of his hand.
After that, he just started rambling his mouth off. Talking about upcoming events, schedules, various other school related topics that Henry probably should've been paying attention to, but his words seemed to evade his ears, only being able to pick up little snippets of sentences as Henry continued to mindlessly stare at his face. Then out of nowhere, his train of ramblings came to a screeching halt.
"...Am I talking too much? Sorry, I usually try not to ramble often, but I guess I just got ahead of myself-" He said, his smile fading as he looked down towards the floor. The moment those words reached Henry's ears, he was forcefully snapped out of whatever trace he was under, his mind instantly scrambling for a response.
"N-No! I mean, it's fine actually, I really didn't mind." Was what came out of his mouth. While a little rushed, Charles seemed to deem it an acceptable response, given by the way his lips had returned to their natural state.
"Well, okay then. Now where was I?" Charles said, moving his fingers to his chin as he tried to recollect his train of thought from it's crumbling ashes before he was quite rudely interrupted.
"It's your first day here and you're already ditching me to hang out with the popular kids?" An oh so familiar voice spoke up, towering over the two from her position only a few feet away. "I thought you cared about me!" She said, raising her hand to her chest in (hopefully fake) offence.
"It's alright Ellie, you can sit with us." Henry said, patting a spot beside him. Instead of joining them, she merely took a brief, confused glance at the spot he was motioning towards, before looking back towards him.
"On the floor?" Ellie reasonably questioned.
"Um, Henry?" Charles asked, causing Henry to shift his attention to him. "Who's this?"
"Oh, that's Ell-"
"The name's Ellie Rose, the greatest fighter in this side of Stickside, and Henry's best friend." Ellie interrupted, sitting down in the spot Henry had previously offered her. "And you are?"
"Oh, my name's Charles!" He responded, reaching across Henry to shake hands with her. "Nice to meet you. Any friend of Henry is a friend of mine!" He proclaimed.
Since that, Ellie and Charles continued to talk, Henry meanwhile trying to finish his food as Ellie continued to bring up embarrassing stories about him, nearly pushing him to the brink of throwing his chocolate milk in her face. But, just as all good things, it had to come to an end when the bell rang.
~
Ellie and Henry continued to walk side by side, pushing past the people who where rushing to the buses as they tried to find their way back home.
"Man, that was quite a day. Luckily, I don't think I have much homework for now. How about you? How did your day go?" Ellie asked, turning towards Henry.
"Well, I guess my favorite part was lunch. Making new friends, catching back up with you, I'd say it went pretty well." Henry reminisced (is reminisced the right term when it only happened a few hours ago?).
"Yeah, that Charles guy..." Ellie recalled. "...He was pretty cute wasn't he?" She said, a smirk growing across her face.
"Yeah, he-" It took Henry a moment to process what she had said. "Ellie!"
"What? I'm just stating facts here, don't get mad at me." Ellie defended herself, putting both her hands in the air.
"El, just because I'm bi doesn't mean I'm automatically attracted to every guy I happen to met." Henry stated.
"Oh yeah? Name one guy you haven't had a crush on." Ellie challenged.
"Terrence Suave." Henry said, without hesitation.
Ellie paused. "Alright, that's on me, I set the bar too low. That guy was a dick of a substitute, I'm glad he got fired."
"Language." Henry reminded.
"You're in highschool now, grow up." Ellie replied, nudging Henry with her elbow.
Henry sighed. Something told him this was going to be a long year.