Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Today is June 18th 201M2046 B.C. and all eyes are on me.

Final game of the season, essentially the state championship. Nine innings in, score is ten to nine for them.

We have a guy on every base and now I'm up to bat, one more out and it's game. Worse yet my girlfriend is watching.

Ok... square up... breath...

The pitcher throws the ball my way and... I miss it like it's my game ever. Strike one.

God damn it Tony, focus.

The second pitch goes about as well as the first one. Fucking hell.

Left without options, I begin praying.

"Zdrowaś Maryjo łaskiś pełna..." I say under my breath.

This time I hit the ball and manage to send it far and high into the left field.

"Pan z tobą, błogosławionaś ty między niewiastami..." I keep reciting, adrenalin pumping in my veins.

The ball now reached its apoapsis and I start running to first base. The left field also began his little race.

"i błogosławiony owoc żywota twojego Jezus."

I run past first base and start making it to second when I hear the slow blind retard they made the umpier call game.

"Święta Maryjo matko Boża módl się za nami wszystkimi teraz i w godzinę śmierci naszej. Amen." I finish the prayer and relax a bit as I hear the screams of joy and disappointment erupt from the bleachers. Thirteen to ten for Green Hill High.

I run over to homebase and join in on the celebrations.

"Next stop: state championship!" I yell as hard as I can in my winded state.

After a few chants and a high-five with everyone, I look over to the seat where my girl is seating and... Nothing... She's not there...

"Hey Felix, you seen where Virginia's gone to?" I ask, slightly worried.

"Dunno. Think she went to the shitter." The scruffy red raptor responded.

Well that wasn't helpful at all.

Whatever I can just text her. I pull the phone out of my duffle bag.

"Hey V where u @?"

Few minutes pass, coach rambels on about something, and still no response from V.

"... and everybody remember to rest well, since next time we're going to the big apple baby!"

Rest of the team erupts in chear, except for me. Where the hell did that girl go to?

As I get all my things from the locker room and start making my way toward the bus station, I notice that something is moving under the bleachers.

It's Virginia oh thank God...

Wait who the fuck is that...? Where is he going with that hand?

"O niedoczekanie Boskie..."

Next few moments become a blur.

Pain, aching nuckels, virginia crying, my coaches voice.

Then I find myslef in the back of my fathers station wagon, him staring ahead into the road and my mom quietly crying in the passangers seat.

I had a busted lip, a bruised eye, and bloodied knuckels.

Indefinate suspention from the team. No going to New York propper, no state championship.

That left a hole in me that percisted through the rest of the school year.

Summer went by in a similarly empty manner, except for July in witch I found out that Virginia had began seeing that guy two months before she began seeing me.

That stung, that stung a lot in fact. Usualy that was the other way around, and I had enought courtusey to brake up with the other one before starting to see the new one.

So this is how it feeles like, Tony you truly are a peice of shit. I thought to myself at that point.

In August my dad anounced at Grandmas sunday dinner that he got that position as a regional manager.

He also anounced that we would need to move to the other side of the country.

Few months ago I would've told my dad: "Hey pops, have you lost your mind?"

Few months ago I had everything: friends, a girlfriend, basicly a won state championship, and a sports scholarship to some nice collage.

Now, after the incident, I had nothing. All I did all day was playing videogames, reading japanesse comicbooks, and arguing with random people online.

By then I stoped caring. I could do the things i'm doing anywhere in the world.

A week before August ended our three got out onto the road early in the morning after all our family members said their goodbyes.

I was kinda sad leave all my family behind, I'm definetly gonna miss grandma Marias cooking and grandpa Waldeks dry ass humor, but I also felt some sort of relife and hope.

Like I could start a new, start living again.

We drove for two and a half days straight, all three of us taking turns.

It were the most mind numbingly dull two and a half days of my life.

The unfinished comicbooks I took with me on the road runed dry after the first five hours. My dads music playlist got boring after ten, and small town radios were nerver interesting to begin with.

Grandmas constant check-up call also didn't help.

But we did get there... eventually.

First diference I noticed about California compared to New York is that their pizza sucks. Since that was what we ate for the first few days there.

Second - Everything's crazy expencive.

Third - Houses here might as well be made out of playing cards.

With these discoveries my slightly higher sptrits got put back to nonexistent.

After the fifth day most of the boxes and furniture in the house had been unpacked, so I could go back to nolifeing in my room.

Unfortunatly not for long since after sunday I would have to go back to school.

Worst part of the move was switiching schools senior year. I was essentially bouned to be an outcast.

Best way to get myself back into the social game will be to get into the schools basebal team. So I can start winning again, without that incident following me everywhere.

Do they even paly ball in california? Whatever.

The important thing is to get through this year smoothly and get my scolarship back. Maybe also find some work and another girl.

I just want to get through it without sticking out like a sore thumb.

Chapter Text

September 3rd 201M2046 B.C.

I am woken up by my alarm clocks electronic beeping, soon replaced by a morning radio announcer that sounds like he just snorted a line of coke.

With a groan I reach to push the off button... only to roll off of my bed and land face first onto the floor.

Well ain't that just the perfect start to the week.

I peel myself off the floor and finally get the annoying prick inside my alarm clock to shut up.

"Hey Tony, everything allright in there honey!?" My mother yells out in a concerned tone.

"Yeah...I'm fine...!" I lie through my teeth. Giving the floor a hickey was in fact not a pleasant experience.

I basicly crawl my way to the upstairs bathroom, entre the shower, wash up, go over to the sink to wash my teeth and...

Wow, I look like complete shit. I guess I haven't had a proper look at myself in the mirror since that day.

My hair was messy, my skin looked oily as hell, my monobrow had grown back, but the thing that stuck out the most was the facial hair.

I do quick work of the rest of the mess before stoping myself as I'm about to shave.

I remember being described once as most avreage guy ever. At leaste lookswise.

Without any hair on my head my face could essentially be a blank peice of skin. Sounds like some monster form Silent Hill or something.

But now... there's just too much off it. My haircut was now in an acceptable state, but the facial hair situation looked like hot ass. My beard was essentially a bunch of hair patches seperated by what could be miles of skin.

I once again do quick work of the "beard" but I stop myself before taking the razor to my moustache.

...

After a short debate bith myself I decide to keep the "pedostach" intact.

That nickname was bestowed upon it by Felix back when I forgot to shave it in middle-school.

But after all these years, it doesn't look like the sad excuse for facial hair that it once was. Instead of an aglomeration of weak blond hair, with the ocasional black hair sprinckel through out, I see a healthy charcoal black moustache. A wery simmilar color to my hair.

It looks exactly like tho one grandpa Waldek had in the photos from when he was younger.

Then a memory of me and my grandpa sitting in his room and warching some shitty celebrity dating reality show.

"Tonuś, you just remember to never treat galls like thoes pricks in that box, alright?" He told me while pointing at the televison from his hospital bed.

"Guys on this kind of shows don't go there becase they wan't to find someone they like and likes them, they go there to make themself famous and make everyone look up to them."

...

Man, homesiknes is a bitch. Whatever, it's too early to think about this.

I go back to my room and dress myself in my usual white t-shirt, jeans, and uncle Johnnys old black leather jacket. The standard fit I put together in sophomore year.

Still a bit drowsy I walk downstairs and turn right to go to the... wheres the kitchen?

Oh right, the kitchen is now on the left of the staircase.

My mom tries her best not to laugth while my dad smiles slightly behind his morning paper.

"Hey sweety, you slept well?" She asks in a clearly amused tone.

"It was fine, thanks." I blurt out without thinking about it.

My mom giggels slightly and dad lets out a sharp breath out of his nostrils.

"I've allready made brakfast, you want some?" My mother asks but really it's more of a stating o a simple fact.

"Yes please, thank youuu." I say now riped out of my drowsy haze and reminded of the fact that I have a stomach that needs to be filled.

Soon enougth a plate filled to the brim with scrambeld eggs, toasts, and bacon lands befor me alongside a hot cup of coffee.

I quickly start eating whats in front of me, before glancing at the tacky cat clock my mother keeps because "aunt Gloria will be sad that we don't apreciate the gift" and see... OH SHIT I'LL BE LATE FOR THE BUS!!

I begin shoveling what was left on my plate into my mouth and get ready to bolt it back top my room to get my backpack and out of the house before my father stops me by placing his massive hand on my shoulder.

"Hey Tony, first of all, language," Oh shi... tzu that must've slipped out. "And secont And second the buss ain't arriving for another twenty minutes. Besides you're coming with me today."

"Oh... Thanks pops." That's unusual. This man had me take the public bus since I was ten years old. I have a bad feeling about this.

"No problem Tony." He said in his calm, very bassy voice.

I finish my coffee to help wash down the callories that I forced into myself in unneeded hurry, and dad finishes the sports collum in his paper, dissapointed like always.

I retreat back to my room room to take a copule of notebooks and a pencil. I walk back down to the first floor and go over to the front door and then my mom catches me on my way out and gives me a paper bag and a kiss on the cheek, before she sends me away to dad who just got the same treatment.

We both climb into the family car and we roll out onto the streets of the city we're gonna call home for the next copule of years at least.

"So," My dadd leans slightly toward me while keeping his eyes on the road. "how do you like it here in 'The Sunny Bluffs'?"

Volcadera Bluffs... beisdes knowing that the cities island is a popular vacation spot I haven't heard a lot about it.

Apparently the whole area had gone through a groth wave and now needed a lot of home robots (and generally everything) to be sold and built, so General Robotics had split it off into it's own sales sector with it's own manager, taht became my dad.

"It's fine I guess." I respond the best I can.

"You know what, i've been thinking recently..." And like an activated sleeper agent I muffle him out for the next few minutes.

That set of words usually ment an incoming preaching or a rant that I didn't have the brain cells or nerves for. Especialy early in the morning.

For the next few blocks I pretend to be lisening while noding sometimes to seem interested.

And then my dad says something I didn't expect.

"...and even you do it, my own son! You constantly pretend to be someone else to impress people you don't even like!"

Now that kind of accusation I couldn't stand.

"Oh hell I don't!"

"Yeah you do!"

"Like when!?"

"Like that time you started to grimace every time mama gives you a kiss, because whatshisname... uh... Toby! Yeah, Toby told you it was embarasing."

"Because It was!"

"You didn't seem to mind until he told you that."

"So what, that was when i was ten, I'm not ten anymore!"

"Oh, you want a more recent example? OK! You keep telling us to turn off some songs that we put on 'cause that girl of yours... Sussie told you that they were silly!"

"Who even are these people?"

See, thats what I mean!" Dad said with disbelife in his voice. " You keep jumping through hoops to try to impress people you didn't like that much, and now you don't even remember!"

I stay silent, looking out the pasanger side window onto rows of houses and shops passing by.

"And don't get me started on thoes girls of yours," He continuous. "Like every month or two there is a new one, sometimes you eye up two at the same time!"

I keep trying to ignore him buthis words feel like bamboo sticks being stuck under my nails .

"And you know damn well it's a sin."

"You finished?" I ask trying not to show that my voice is getting shaky.

Next few minutes of the drive go by in uncomfortable scilence before my dad stops the car. We have arived to our destination.

I reach out for the door handle and grab it before my dads voice stops me.

"Hey Tony, I love you, please prommise to me the you won't brake any hearts or noses this year ok?"

"..." I think about what we both said to each other. I feel my dads gaze on my back and how the atmosphere in the car gets lighter than before.

"Love you to... I-I'll try." I say with a slight crack in my voice.

I walk out of my dads car, take my backpack, shut the door, and watch as my dad drives off to his job.

I check my watch to see that i still have half an hour untill my classes start.

Well I'll better get going there hey? i turn toward my new schools building and and begin walking.

I very mutch didn't know what would my new school look like, but looking at it now... It looks and sounds like a setting for some shitty highschool comedy or a very disturbing documentary.

At the top of a large hill stands a three-story building, coverd in overgrown vines and grafitit as high as the second floor.

As I walk up the long staircase I beging to hear the hum of conversations get louder and louder.

Some easy looking girls wellcome each other like they havent seen each other just three days ago. Some dude is showing off his new rap song via the means of of a cheap blue-tooth speaker. Some dude just tried to do a grind with his skateboard on one of the railings of the stairs and faild landing hard on the ground. Yep, everything seemes to be in order.

Except for one thing, not a single human in sight.

As I climb each step I see more and more colorfull scales, feathers, and claws. Now dinos weren't a new sight to me, Goddamn it hald my team in Green Feild were dinos but this place looked like one of those picture books where you need to find a specific object or person!

I make it to the front entrance and see a group of of odd looking, even for the rest of the school dinos, lost in conversation with each other. I don't really know why i paid attention to that, they just seemed like a weird bunch. Best if I avoid them.

I push open the front door and imidietly feel hundrets of eyeballs lock in directly on my person.

Fuck is their problem, you guys never seen a human or what!?

The coridor itself is in a similary sorry state as the facade of the building. Tags and grafiti covers the lockers, trashcans are allready overflowing with trash, even before the school started, and half the vegitation looks like it's bearly clinging on to dear life. So excatly like my old school back in Green feild.

I start quicky making my way down what I assume is the main hallway, looking for the person my mom told me would be here to show me around, still feeling the stairs od the people around me, now sllightly diminished and conjoined with suspectfull hums.

Then I hear the sound of some running and panting like crazy. What the hell, first day at a new shool and i'm get jumped allready!?

Someone grabs my shoulder and turns me around to face them. I reach into my jackets inside pocket to take out my old knuckel duster.

The imminent pnch to the teeth is stoped by the sight I witnes. A pinkish-red Parasaur (I think is their name?) with messy ginger hair stands before me, proping himself on his knee, wheezing and trying to say something.

"Heee... Heeee... Are you... Tony...?" He blurts out beatween shalow breaths.

"Yeah, man you allright?"

He takes a deep breath and bgins talking. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine... anyway..." He straightens out and looks at me with a smile. "My name's Tommy, I'm the VP of the student council and I'm here to show you around."

After this he put his hand into his backpocket and pulled out a brochure with the school logo and the slogan "VOLCANO HIGH - WHERE YOUGHT FLIES HIGH" written in big, bold letters and handed it to me.

Who came up with this gay bullshit?

I take a quick moment away from my bewilderment at the butchering of the english language to look at the person that just handed it to me.

Tommy's wearing a preppy looking shirt with a white t-shirt underneath, baggy jeans, and adidas sneakers. He's also wearing a pearl neckless.

Bit too lady-like for my taste but hey, what the hell do I know?

His head has a pair of glowing yellow eyes inside, messily brushed ginger hair on top, and a warm smile streaches accros his face. Kinda reminds me of Betty.

The pinkish-red dinos smile begins to sour as he places his left hand on his hip and his hand begins to scrach the back of his head.

"Yeah, yeah i know," He says while sighing as I stuff brochure into my into my inside pocket. "But trust me it's not as bad as it look okay? Now c'mon we got a whole school to see before homeroom starts." He percks up and a smile wellcomes its way back onto his face.

"Isn't the council president also supposed to be here?"

"Yeah but she's... busy." He responds with slight dissapointment in his voice.

We began walking down what he explained was the main hallway and tell me what the purpouse of every room was befor he stoped me where the interactive student interface where the room assingments was located.

"...so you just put in your name and it shows you where your next class is. Now it's gonna be homeroom."

"Mh-hm, I know how they work. We had these back in my old school."

The about six foot tall mashine is coverd head-to-toe in stickers, and of course thoes nametags that every tagger uses to show off their garbage.

The screen itself is coverd in scraches, guess that's what happens when the majority of the scool has naturally sharp claws. I walk up to it and type out TONY DALLMAZZO on the digital keyboard.

"3RR0R: 5TUD3NT <T0NY D4LLM4ZZ0> N0T F0UND 0N L15T" It blurts out in its robotic voice.

"No, no, dude you have to put in your full name." Tommy says with a grin on his face.

I sigh and try to cover as much of of the screen with my body. No one can find out what it is.

The screen began to show a three dimentional color changing ball to signify that it was peocesing the information I provided befir glitching out and making a sound I imagen must come from the souls od sinners being trorchured in hell.

I jump back and fall on my ass before hearing laugther and giggels break through the sound of what I imagen was some fatass being cooked on a skewer above a lake of fire with an apple in his mouth.

I turn back to Tommy only to see him snickering while looking at me.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry dude..." He says interweaved with giggeling. "We only ever do it to freshmen but since you're new hear... I couldn't pass this up."

"Great to know I'm on level thoes shitlings in here." I say under my breath, really anoyed with this school.

Tommy helps me back to my feet and walks over to the portal to hell, gives it a slight kick at the base and it returns back to normal.

"Don't worry dude, you get used to it after a copule dosen times," Piss off man "By the way, cool moustache." Oh and now he's hitting on me. Fucking amazing.

"Thanks." I blurt out, now really annoyed.

I walk over to the ISI and glance at it... Room 307.

"Dude, sick we got homeroom together!"

Now ain't that just terrific! Knowing now that I'll have to deal with this do- dino way more than I'd like to, I decide to spit a little venom his way.

"Anyone ever told you, you use the word 'dude' and 'yeah' a little too much?"

"Maybe, I don't know, now lets go there's still a lot to do." He says, seemingly oblivious.

I follow him not because I want to but but because I know fuck all about this place.

After what I think was an eternity, he helps me log into my student profile and sync it up with my phone, and showd me most of the important bits od the school before he decided that we needed to get to our homeroom.

Now walking back the school topics runed out, so Tommy decided to make small talk.

"So, why did you choose this school?"

"I didn't. Guess there was an opening in the district?" i decide to give him the shortest anwsers I can.

"So you moved here? From where? Los Angeles? San Diego? Seattle? Imberfall?"

"New York."

"Thats the other side of the country!"

"My dad got a job here."

"Damn, got any siblings?"

"None that I know of."

I feel a slight gaze on me. Tommy exhales through his nose, snoot? Hell if i know. "I have a twin sister, you'll probably recodnize her around here, she's hard to miss."

Yeah, easy to say for someone whos lived his whole life insied an abstract painting.

"Uh-hu" I murmur out while noding my head. My standard tactic for not engaging in con-versation more than nessesary.

Tommy tried poking around with questions before landing on one I wanted to engage in.

"You play any sports?"

"Yeah, I played baseball back in my old school."

"Oh cool! I'm really good at running and I'm on the realey race team but I guess theres also a lot of running invol..."

Then suddenly he stops his tangent and looks at me with sparks in his eyes like two cabels just touched in his brain.

"Hey, theres a friendly baseball match after lunch, new students versus out team! You should go and try!" He said with an even goofier smile on his face than before.

"Sure I'll think about it."

We've finally reached our homeroom right as the first bell rang out. We enter the class-room and I take the first empty seat I see.

As more and more students pile into the classroom it fills with murmurs and whispers, now close enougth that I can hear snipets of them.

"What the...innie doing here?"

"Is that... narc?"

"I bet you...cover policeman!"

I try my best to not reach inside my jacket to explain to these guys that I'm not a narc but then an elderly babbon enters the room, witch causes everyone to go quiet. Guss she must be our teacher.

I take a bettter look at her. Shes wearing an old warn out pink dress, and simingly nothing else. Her tits look saggier than a biscut left in her coffee mug for too long. Her face has the expretion that says she'd rather be on her death bed and not here with us.

She makes her way to her desk at the front of the class and sits down. The whole class is so quiet that I can hear a pin drop but I still here someone talking much closer to the front. The elderly ape slams her fists on her desk hard enought to make it jump into the air and for us to straighten out in our chairs.

"QUIET!!!" She screamed out in her awfull high-piched raspy voice.

"Now you all know me, but I'm contractually obligated and since we have a new student here, I'll intruduce myself. My name is Ms. Naczelna and I tech math."

I cringe from the butchering of my native tounge. This is going to be just great.

"Now can the new student come up front and introduce himself so I can get this over with?"

I groan quietly, grt up from my chair and begin walking toward the front of the class.

I stand in front of the blackboard, breeth in through my nose and begin talking.

"Hey everyone, my name's Tony, I just moved here from New York. I lkie music and palying baseball, and I hope we can get along."

I really hate being in the centre of attention, esspecially when everyone is staring daggers into me. Playing baseball being the only exception.

Then as I'm about to go back to my seat I hear some one snicker.

" 'ey everune I'm Toni from Neu Uke' "

...

"Hey you like your teeth the way they are?" I blurt out, my hand clutching itself into a fighst.

"DALLMAZZO SIT DOWN!" Ms. Naczelna shouted in her horid voice.

As I walk back to my seat, behind me I hear a snippet of conversation between two dinos.

"Is he... on the head or something?"

"More like... 'is 'ead! hehe!"

Bunch of assholes, every single one of them. Wait, what the fuck was I even thinking!? Do I WANT to destroy my reputation on the first day allready!

As I sat down Ms. Naczelna began taking attendance. The babbon soon nears my name and I prepare to raise my hand and announce my presanse.

But instead she reads my name, shoots me a glare and I think mutters out "Present..." under her breath.

Next thing I know a folded peice of paper lands on my desk as Naczelna finishes checking attendance and begins ratteling off about something that I don't give a shit what it is.

I slowly it as I look around, trying to find out who tossed it to me. But to no avail.

As I return my gaze to my desk, out of the corner of my eye I notice the person next to me looking at me. I turn in their direction, only to see Tommy look ar excutedly and mouth out the words, "Open it!", while looking at the note.

Hes been sitting next to me the entire time? What the hell, how did I not notice?

I open the peice paper and read it's contance.

"Glad you told them off too bad it waas in front of Ms. Naychelna XP"

Did this motherfucker just use an emoticon on a note.

I quicly scribble down my anwser, fold the paper back up, and drop it on the floor imidietly covering it with my shoe. Tommy notices this and I slide the note to him on the floor. Then he picks it up in a swift, smooth motion.

"Hey no problem what did he do to you anyway?"

He reads my message, writes his response,folds it up and sends it into the air and straight onto my desk.

"He's a racist peice of shit that picks on my sister since first grade ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"

Okay, now thats just impresive.

We exchange notes for the rest of class. Mostly dumb jokes and drawings, sometimes a bit of gossip i didnt understand.

Then the bell rang signaling the end of this lesson, and we took our conversation with us. The topics didn't change tho.

Unfortunaly, we had lessons in difrent parts of the school, so we had to part.

Next few periods are an akward slog of intruductions, stares, murmurs, snickers, and sinking feelings.

Finally the lunch bell rang out and I was allowed a bit of rest from the embarasment.

I make my way to the cafeteria, only to see a line as long as a communist bread line that greatgreatgrandpa Władysław told me about. Thanks for sowing me the way to Tommy, could have told me that it would be of any use.

I sigh at my naivety that a dino dominated school could have a resonable lunchline and make peace with the fact that I'll have to go hungry for a copule of hours, befor a thought hatches in my brain.

Come on, please, please, please be there...

Yes!

I fish out a small paper bag out of my backpack and i check it's contance.

Two hame and cheese sandviches on a kaiser roll, an apple, and a gator-aid with a note taht says: "have a great day love mom" with a little heart at the end.

Mom, I love you so fucking much.

I make my way outside the cafeteria building and aroundback to what I assume is the servise entrance is.

I spot two nervous looking freshmen and the look at me with fright in their eyes.

"Oh shit it's the narc I told you about, run!" One of them says to the other.

"Hey fuck you, don't ever compare me to thoes bastards!" I say with a bit too much emotion in my voice.

They stop about twenty feet away from the palce that they stood and shoot me a suspectfull look.

I just sid down om a small leage sticking out of the wall, take my lunch out of my back-pack and begin eating it.

Halfway through I pull out my cigarette pack. I pluck one out, put it between my lips, light it and take a loong deep drag from it.

God I neede that...

The two dinos, still a little suspecious of me, pull out their vapes and begin talking in a hushed voice.

Guess the rumor mill already branded me a narc for the rest of the semester. God fucking damn it.

After finishing my lunch I still have about half my cigarette left so I continue smoking and I notice the two freshmen look at me from behind their shoulders.

I take the last drag from my ciggy, throw it on the ground and smother it with my shoe before getting up and asking the pair of freshmen a question.

"Hey you," When I speak to them they flinch and turn to me with slight discomfort in their eyes. "Raptor Jesus, ok, you guys know where the baseball feild is?"

"Y-Yeah It's outside the gym, you'll have to go through and exit out the back."

"Thanks dude, I owe you one." I say and begin making my way to the gym.

As I walk through the hallway leading to the gym, a blue pterosaur wearing a green combo jacket shoulder checks me.

"Hey I'm walking here!" I yell out in annoyance at the dino and turn to face him.

"Sorry..." The dino responds in a meak voice only looking over his shoulder. I hear someone giggle in the distance.

"Ghrr..." I grumble and insintectvly check my pockets to see if everything is still in its place.

Man this day has not been good for me.

After walking through the gyms back entrance I notice just how packed the stands are, guess they really play ball in cali. The second thing I notice is some triceratops in a do-rag slipping someting to another student under them.

Just normal trigga hours I guess. Damn, maybe I am a undercover cop after all...

Then I hear a voice brake through the bustle.

"Hey you! New guy! You wanna paly!?"

I identify the source of the voice. It's coming from a yellow stocky T-rex in full pitcher gear, curly dirty blond hair sticking from under his helmet. The voice sounds arrogant and bassy.

"I'll think about it!" I yell back at the dino to brake through the murmur coming from the bleachers.

"Come on we don't have all day!" The T-rex screams back with a smile on his face. Damn thoes teeth are sharp!

Thinking about all the things that happend up to that point today. The murmurs, weird looks, lauthing behind my back, I make my decision.

"No, I think I'll pass!" I yell out my anwser to the T-Rex.

As I'm about to go and find some space on the bleachers I hear the dino yell to what I asume is his teammate.

"I told you the skinnie would be too chicken! Now cought up!"

Now what did you just call me you fucking metero dodger? Oh that's it, skończyło się babce sranie.

"You know what on second thought, I'm in!" I turn around and yell to the dino, trying to seem composed.

"Great, all the equipment should be in the away team dugout!"

I walk over to the small wooden box that this place calls a dugout and take off my backpack and jacket. It was getting too hot anyway.

I place the, now heavy with textbooks, backpack on one of the seats and I take a good look at my impromptu teammates.

The dinos, of course they're all dinos, are streaching and talking to each other, except for one small dino thats sitting alone and staring into his watch.

"So guys, what possition is unmanned?" I ask and feel sixteen eyeballs turn towards me.

"Uhhhh, i think left feild is open." A yellow spinasaur responds while scretching his head.

"Great!" That's my favorite possition.

I walk up to the pile of bats stracked up against the wall of the dugout and take one out and inspect it.

"When does the game start?" I ask the team once again and this time not feel any stares.

"I-In a-about t-t-ten minutes..." A small, lanky compsagrathus speeks up while looking at his watch, visibly trembeling.

To think about it, everyone here is either shaking, fidgeting or visably uncomfortable. How good is that team? Don't let it get to your head Tony. Just focus.

Despite my best efforts i do let it get to my head and i anxiously await the begining odf the game.

The tention is finally broken by the sound of a whistle sperasding through the air, every player on the enemy team taking their designated positions.

I walk up to the wire mesh at the front of the dugout and see the coach giving the Broncy maning the mound a copule of signals and then give the dodger T-rex on second base a firery look.

First up to bat was the stresed out comp, now positevly shaking in his boots as he squa-res up against the serious looking Broncyasaurus.

The pitcher throws the first ball and... the little dude doesn't realise until it's too late ang gets his first strike.

The noise in our dugout turns into groans and worry. Two dinos walku pu to the net in our dugout and egin talking.

"Man, should w really have put him out there first?"

"Don't worry dude! We've been playing with him our whole life, let him worm up first."

Now the second ball comes down the Comps way and he hits it and begins to run toward first.

The dino takes first base as the midfeild almost catches the ball before droping it onto the grass. He quickly picks it up and throws it to second base, but it was too late, as our guy was already there.

The sound of dissapoijntment and anger erupt from from the stands while we cheer our little man, he looks at us and he just gives us a nervous smile and a shaky thumbs up.

As our second bater comes onto the felid I take a good look at the enemy teams coach.

He's a tall, stocky Ankylosarus with a long brown beard and curly hair of the same color. He's wearing a cap with the schools mascot on it, a black shirt with a print the I can't make heads or tails of what's it supposed to mean. Probably some metal band.

Said shirt is coverd in stains of various colors and textures and his shorts are similarly dirty. His left arm is coverd in enought nicotine patches to kill a small elephant.

From what I can see he's yelling something nasty at the pitcher. Nasty enought to make him shrink.

Our second guy rasies his bat and closes up on the plate.

First pitch lands in the catchers glove and then I see a pinkish yellow blur run over to third base and nearly colapse on it.

The compsagrathus is now shaking and wheezing as the taunts from the stands and our cheers get louder. Now the two dinos next to me begin disscusing our next step.

"So what now?"

"You're up next right? Maybe allow Tics to score a run and we'll think about it from there." So the guy on third is called Tics. Man, thats a nasty nickname.

"Without Cap on the team its gonna be twice as hard than it would've been already. Who's taking his place?"

"I'm thinking moustache here." Well that's a lot better than being called a slur.

"What happend to your captin?" I ask the dino next to me.

"He was supposed to be with the rest of us here but I think his old man sent him off to some privet 'trobuled yought' gulag." He says looking at the ground below us.

"They gave him the elan treatment? For what?"

"Dunno, he never talked about it. Or never wanted to." The dino responds with a hint of regert in his voice.

"Hey 'stache, you score homeruns offen? Oh and how old are you?" The other dino saks me in a blunt manner.

"Eighteen, nineteen in february. Yeah, they happen to me, more offen than not."

"Dude you're a senior!? What the hell are you doing here!?!" The dino steps up to me and screams out into my ear in disbelife.

"Just moved here, beside this guy Tommy told me it was new students versus the school. I didn't know it's freshmen exclusive."

"Alright, whatever," The first dino speaks up. "The main thing is that he can bat out home-runs consistanly. I'll tell Tics to stay put and Charlie to go for second while I first, then moustache over here knocks it out of the park." He finishes and I nod to confirm the plan of action.

The second dino looks at me and nods toward his friend. "Watch and learn 'stach"

The other dino whistsels with his fingers wich catches the atention of our guys on the feild.

First he points at Tics, then he slaps his elbow twop times, puts one hand and seperates them quickly before pointing at Charlie and spinning his hand like he's encoureging him to keep talking.

Nextly, he puts his two thumbs up at witch they nod.

Now that the plan had been settled and now I sort of had the meaning of our teams signals down, Mastermind picked up a helmet and a bat befor walking over to the plate.

The situation begins to look hairy as Mastermind scores to strikes, but he looks very calm about it.

Finally he manages to hit a line drive hard enougth to put hime and Charlie on their designated positions.

Show time baby.

I step up to the plate with continuing jeering coming from the bleachers.

Now it's not time to focus on them Tony, focus on playing ball.

I square up agains the broncy and drill my eyes into him as he tosses the ball from one hand into the other.

The first pitch comes my way earlyer than I expected and my bat misses the ball that went straight into the cqatchers hand. First strike.

It's all good. I'm still warming up.

Second pitch I swing too early and once again it goes straight to the catcher. The umpire calls strike two.

Come to think of it, maybe locking myself in my room and not practicing at all was a bad idea.

I begin to sweat and thighten my grip on the bat.

Third pitch comes my way and I finaly manage to hit it into the left feild. Next every single base begins to hall ass as fast as our legs could withstand.

Tics manages to steal homebase while the ball begins to lose altitude. God please let this be a home run.

Finally, the umpire regains his eyesight and calls a homerun. I see out of the corner of my eye the ball land behind the back fence.

Thank you Raptor Jesus!

I run past second base and stumble on something. Looking behind me I see the yellow T-Rex with his leg slightly in front of him. He's staring daggers right at me. Of course teh umpire is looking God knows where.

I look back at the way in front of me, put one hand behind me, and I flip him off. In re-sponse I hear a nasty growl. Okay man, I don't know what you expected.

As I make it off the homebase I see two cute looking raptor girls sitting right next to the dugout. Fuck it. Might as well try.

"Hey girls, you enjoying the show?" I say while puting on my trademark hard-to-say-no-to smirk.

"Erm, I already have a boyfriend." One of the girls i'm talking to responds in a harsh tone.

"You high or something? Get lost you creep!"

Shit, this is not going according to plan.

I scuttel off into the dugout and see Tics trying not to lose his shit.

"Shut up Tick, like you could do any better."

Now the tiny dino is laugthing his ass off.

"H-H-How about you teach me Casanova!" Tics blurts out between laugther.

I would have punched him if i weren't twice his size and if I didn't make that promisse to dad.

Next innings go much smoother than the first one, with a few exceptions. Like Tics drop-ing the ball a few times, Charlie almost tearing into the umpier for calling a strike on a ball that he couldn't hit in a million years, and me getting striked out first in three innings.

Taking everything into account, us "newbies" won eight-six with the school team.

As I massage my hand having it squeezed by the by the T-Rex, fucking dodger, almost hard enough to crush it, I take a moment to apreciate the ruckus I caused with the rest of my team.

The stands are a mix of insults, slurs, and murmurs. Nice job, real nice.

Then I spot something among the dissapointed dinos.

Three girls are calmly talking amongst each other. The messly dressed stego and a four eyed triceratops, are looking towards the feild but the blue scaled pterosaur, I think, with a red bandana tied around her horn is looking at her phone and only responding to her friends.

What the hell, does she think she's better than everyone else? What is that awfull green jacket? Did your mom pick it out for you?

The stegasarous beams at me and says something to bandana, whitch makes her look up her phone and look up from her phone and look at me with bewildement.

I can already loudly hear what shes thinking. "Why is this skinnie staring at me? What the hell is his problem? Fuck off, don't you have a fire to start or a horse to tame?"

Come on, put your nose back in your phone.

Good.

Then I realise that my heart is beating faster than usual after a game and my cheeks burn.

What the hell is going on with me?

I'm snapped out of my state by some hand being placed on my shoulder.

"Hey kid, great game out there." It's the coach, his fiery red hand slowly makes turns me toward him.

"Thanks, but I'm kind of out of practice." I blurt out, now in full auto pilot.

"Well then, I would like to see you in shape palying for..." He is suddenly cut off by a cocky voice shouting from the dugout. I recodnise it asthe yellow T-Rexs voice.

"No coach, any one of them but that skinnie!"

"JAYSON, YOU DID SHIT OUT THERE TODAY!! SHUT IT OR I'M GONNA SHOVE MY FIGHST SO FAR UP YOUR ASS YOU'RE GONNA THROW IT UP." Coach screams out with so much heat I can feel it on me.

"Anyway kid, don't lissen to him, practice is mondays, wednesdays, and fridays. You in?"

"Sure, i'm down"

"Great, my name's Coach Semen, SEAMAN , FUCKING SEAMAN." I find it hard to not laugth at Coach Semens mistake.

"Eghem... What's yours?" Coach Semen stick his massive hand in front of me.

"Tony, Dallmazzo." I take his hand and feel something definatly crunch inside my palm. That snaps me out of my haze.

"Allright Ballmazzo. Now scram, the lessons about to start."

Then like on comand the "BING-BONG-DING-DONG" comes out of the speakers.

I run to the dugout, ignoring the sharp pain in my palm. I slip on my jacket and grab my backpack. Why the hell do all dinos need to have such a strong grip?

The rest of the day goes by rather smoothly. The glances rfrom the dodgers intensyfy with the lack of Tommys escort, but all of them are too chicken to start anything.

Back in Greenfeild someone would have allready been taken of to urgen care.

After hiding away behind the cafeteria through the pep rally, the last thing to do was going to the principals office to over something important that I didn't gvie two shits about.

I enter the office an elderly dinosaur sat behind a small, ancient looking desk. She's filling out some files while occasionally looking over her glasses wiht a colorfull chain toward the computer screen.

I stand there, thinking if she's the principal or weather Tommy showed me the wrong room on our little runabout.

"Excuse me, is this the principals office?" I finally ask the old lady behind the desk.

"Yes love, he's just behind that door over there." She responds while pointing at the door to her right and giving me a warm smile. How the hell did I not notice it?

"Thank you miss."

"No problem dear." She says as she returns to her paperwork.

I make my way to the principals door and hesitate on knocking on it. What kind of crazy freak must be running this rainbow clown show, and do I want to find out?

I decide that the best course of action would bo to just rip this band-aid off and have this behing me.

I knock on the door and hear something fall over and then a groan?

"Is everything allright Mr. Applemans?" The old lady gets up from her desk, looking con-cerned.

"Yes Gladys, everythings allright, now who's there?" A calm male voice rings out from be-hind the door.

"Uh... It's Tony Dallmazzo, Tommy told me to..."

"Oh Dallmazzo, yes I'll would like to speak with you."

I push open the door open and in a grey, minimalist office I see... a blond, about 6 foot 2, 30-ish year old man. He had a buzz cut and was wearing a two peice siut.

What the hell, a human principal in a dino school? Are the cats and dogs gonna get along next!?

"Good evning Dallmazzo, my name's Appelmans. Please sit down."

I sit down in one of the two plastic chairs in front of Apperlmans desk.

"Now... you extracurcralrs..." The principal continous. "I'll be honest with you Dallmazzo, we have one opening in senior classes, and as you know, by California law, you have to attend at leat one those classes, so I hope you don't mind music."

"Guess I don't. Who's gonna be my teacher there?"

"Oh, her name is Ms. Lucy Mous, shes been teaching here longer than I have been princi-pal, I'm sure you'll like her." He says as he types something into his computer.

"Wouldn't baseball practice alreeady classify as extracuricurals?" I ask from geniuine curiosity.

"No that goes to your PE grade."

Man Cali education guidelines are weird.

Now the room is filled with an akward silence only broken by Mr. Applemans rythmic keystokes.

I'm about to ask himif this is all and can I leave now but before the first word leaves my mouth Mr. Applemans turns to me and begins to speak.

"Now for the second thing I wanted to discuss with you today... I have contacted your schools principal." Applemans said in the standard 'serious principal' voice. I'm pretty sure they practice it before applying for the job.

Now I decide that I heard enougth lectures today and I block out what he's saying.'

...

First few sentences go in one ear and come out the other, but after thet will power brakes and my brain begins to proces the words.

"...and I don't want this kind of incidents at my school. is that clear?"

"Mh-hm." I murmur out as I nod.

"You know Dallmazzo..." Mr. Appelmans says before taking a deep sigh. "I was once in your shoes."

♪ I was, down and out with the blues ♪

Fuck off, The Village People I don't need you right now.

"And as a man to another man, not principal to a student. There is lots of people in the world, sme are just not worth it. Try to find the ones that are."

Tierd, I just nod along to his words, but I still feel their weight.

"That's all for today, you can leave now. I hope we won't have to see each other here this semester." Mr. Applenams says while giving me a smile. "Have a lovley evning Mr. Dall-mazzo."

"Yeah, you too." I pick up my stuff and slowly make my way toward the office door.

Just as I'm about to open the door, I hear a loud bang and a roar come from the other side.

"Fuck you mean he had a straight flush!?! God damn it, three months salarie gone too shit!"

I jump away from the doorhandle like its red hot and take a defensive positions. I turn toward the principal.

"Just slip through there and don't make eye contact." He whispers, just as wide eyed and suprised as me.

I nod and open the door just enougth to slip into the next room. I power walk next to Gladys and jump out into the empty coridor.

Few minutes later I find myself sitting alone on the bus stop, smoking while wating for evning commute.

As I lissen to my playlis, Mr. Applemans voice keeps bouncing around my head. In my shoes, yeah rightt, like he ever needed to coexist with a band of racist dicks that he had no leverage over.

My bus dinally arives at the stop and like on que The Vilage Peoples "Y.M.C.A." begins to play in my headphones to taunt me.

Forth disapointment wellcomes me as the age, state, and smell of the is no diffrent from the ones in New York.

I suffer through the drive from school on the school and exit on the stop my mom had me memorise, two hours later. J. Edgar Hoover Street.

I enter the door to my house, to see my mother put food on my dads plate as he's solving a crossword puzzle.

"Hey honey, come on, dinners getting cold," My mom says with a warm smile on her face. "Made your and dads favorite."

As the smell of chicken brast, peauré, and fresh cucumbers with sour cream hits my nostrils, my stomac begins to growl and I sit down at the kitchen island.

"Hey Tony, how was your first day?" My dad saks me, not looking up from his crossword.

The best course of action here is to say just enougth to satisfy his curiosity.

"Boring, got to play some ball tho. I think I even got on the team."

"That's good. Broken any hearts?"

"Thankfully, no." The two raptor girls and Tics laugthing his ass off comes back to my mind.

After the rest of dinner passes with boring small talk and another call from grandma, I retrate to my room. Finally some rest from this shitshow.

As i'm playing some shitty roblox game with Felix I see a message pop up on my screen.

"Dude you have to see this." It's my friend Johnny, my only other friend I kept in contact with through the summer. His message has a snoottube link attached.

I tell Felix I'll be right back and I click on it and it begins to take ages to load. Damn you comcast, if not for you i would have been gold rank right now.

Finally the browser loads, but the video does not. But the title sure did.

"Jealous jock gets his ass riped by coach." Shit. Please don't be what I think it is.

Sure enougth it's a hand shot video of the incident, uploaded just a few hours ago.

My hands begin to shake as i watch the worst moment of my life play in front of me on my screen.

I switch tabs and begin typing.

"Wtf whos vid is this?

"Freds."

"That dickhead I explained to him what happend there and now he pulls this shit"

"Good thing that it only has 10 views. i told you not to trust him."

I keep rewatching the video. You can see absolutley everything, clear as day.

Finaly when rage begins to swell in my, I type out my finall message for the day.

"Punch that fucker in the face when you see him"

I pull my clothes off and lay myself in bed. Staring into the sealing, thinking about everything that happend today, about the video, and all the possibilities of the rest of the year.

Finally totaly exhausted , my eyelids become too heavy and I fall into an uneasy sleep.

Chapter Text

September 4th 201M2046 B.C.

I groan and roll out of my bed, trying to remember who the hell am I and what the hell was I dreaming about.

Slowly and steadly, as I make my way arround the house, imiges from yesterday come back to me. A broke ISI, a overcrowded cafetertia, a baseball game, and a video.

Exiting the bathroom, I stub my toe on the doorframe and hiss in response.

T-shirt, jeans, jacket. Then I finally walk downstairs to make myself breakfast.

Coffee, two ham and cheese toasts, vanila yogurt. And like that, my breakfast is gone. I put the dirty plate and cup in the dishwasher.

Next I walk back to my room upstairs and I take my backpack and cigarettes. Then I grab the packed lunch that my mom left me on the counter before going out with dad to her job interview.

I walk out of the house, put on my headphones, pluck out a cigarette, light it, and begin walking to the bus stop.

On my way over, I finally can aprecieate how much better our new neighborhood is, compared to the one we used to live in back in Green Feild.

Trash cans aren't tiped over, overflowing, or on fire with squatters huddled arround them. Street lamps are working and don't have sneekers hanged on top of them and buildings are not coverd with tags and graffiti.

A proper middleclass neighborhood. The one thing it's missing is a milktruck present at this hou...

You've got to be shitting me. It's parcked on the corner of the street opposite to my bus stop while the milkman is having a smoke.

Hey I'm at my bus stop already! That walk seemed longer yesterday.

Shortly after I arrive the milkman drives off and my bus arrives. This one a newer model than the one yesterday.

I enter it along with several other people and I'm imidietly overpowerd by the smell of piss, vomit, and cigar smoke. Guess it's just the standard experience of public transpot in California. Wich means I'm shit out of luck.

Two hours later I sumble out onto the curb, trying not to throw up, as two bums got onto the seats behind me with no free space in it and stank it up to unberable levels for the last fifteen minutes of the ride.

As I walk toward the school I can bearly keep myself on my legs and I almost bump into two people on my way to the front. Of course the two dodgers call me a junkie or some such under their breath.

Once inside the building I get my locker open and take out the textbook I'll need and make my way over to the cafeteria service entrance, since I still have about half-hour before before first period starts.

Behind the cafeteria, I begin to space out as I smoke my marlboro.

"Hey dude!" A voice brakes out from behind me and I flinch in suprise.

I turn around only to see Tommy with that goofy smile of his.

"Hi Tommy..." I respond in my drowsy, half-asleep voice, while letting the cigarette smoke escape my lungs.

"What are you doing here so early?" Tommy asks while tilting his head slightly.

"Force of habit. Could ask you the same thing."

"Well if I want to get here on foot I need to get out early. Joging I avreage out an hour."

"Where do you start from?" I ask to get a rougth over/under on the distance he just runed.

"Victory hill." Holy shit I know where that stop is.

"Raptor Jesus, that's fifty miles away!"

"So?"

To that response I just look at him in bewilderment and my cigerette falls out of my lips and almost burns my chin.

I drop the cigarette out of my mouth and grab my chin and wince in pain, to wich I hear the response of Tommys giggling.

Pealing the ciggy of the ground I see that I only have a copule of puffs left, so I take the last puffs only leaving a copule of embers and I take out another from the pack. I put the tips together and start puffing away while throwing the butt on the ground.

Out of the corner of my eye I see the pinkish-red parasaurus hungrily eyeball my ciga-rette. So I take the pack out of my pocket, flip it open, and offer it to the dino.

"Thanks dude!" The dino says as he pulls out the Marlboro from the pack.

I put it back in my jacket and go for my lighter, only to see that the dino already pulled out his own.

"Fresh out?" I ask, trying to strike up conversation, since the scilence would be to uncon- fortable now.

"Yeah, I usually buy camel thins or menthols, but you don't look a gifted horse in the mouth, eh?"

"I guess," I respond, now with a sneaking suspition that this guy might be a bit gay. "You know I didn't take you for a smoker."

"Thanks dude, trying to look the part."

That's a weird thing to say.

"You know..." Tommy continuous. "This is a pretty risky spot for smoking."

"Why?"

"Appels likes to snoop here sometimes." He says and looks over his shoulder.

"Appels? Who the hell is that?"

"Appelmans." Tommy specifys, in response I facepalm and he chuckels. Yeah, that's really simple.

"You know someplace better?" I ask, from the simple want of avoiding trobule today.

"Usually people just go out to the parking lot, but that's also a bit to in view. I have a really good spot. I'll show you at lunch."

"Thanks man."

"No problem," The dino finishes his cigarette and flicks the butt onto the ground. "See you at lunch then?"

"Sure, see you then." And after I say this, the dino dissapears as fast as he appeard. After that it dawns on me, what hour even is it?

Next thing I know I'm hauling ass trying to get to the other side of the school, since my drowsy brain decided to leave for a bit too long.

I turn into the right coridor and avoid a group of dinos taking up half of it, and see that a guy is about to close the door behind himself.

I blast through it right after the last guy colsed it, so every gaze in the turns toward me.

"Ah, monsieur Dallmazzo. I'll let you off for bing late zis time, but zis iz ze only time I'll allow it." The streangly dressed, lanky raptor, that I can't remeber the name of, says to me while pointing at a desk.

I sit down, not wondering why he knows my name and the teacher begins to pass around a worksheet before turning toward the whole classroom.

"For today ve vill be vorking in groups of tree. Firzt, zecond, and tird row, fort, fit, and zixt row."

Everyone is unanomusly unhappy with this decision. I front of me I see...the green stego from yesterdays game, giving me the stinkeye.

I turn around, not only from wanting to brake eye contact but also to see who's my other partner.

Oh sweet Raptor Jesus it's her Triceratops friend from yesterday. She's wearing glasses and is looking at her textbook. She's also waring a gray swarter, and what looks like light-brown overalls.

She raises her head and looks at me, but surprisingly not with the usual disgust and suspition I come to expect from triggas, but I do see a smirk creep up her face.

Next thing I know, I'm starteld by a loud bang behing me. I turn around once again and see the grouchy stego girl slamed her book on my desk and pulled her chair closer to my desk, followed by the triceratops putting her chair to the left of my desk.

I open my mouth, but before any sound leaves me I'm silenced by the stego.

"Shut up skinnie creep." She hisses out while narrowing her eyes at me."

"Cynth!" The triceratops says as she taps her on the shoulder.

"Hmph..." Is all I from the stego.

"I'm so sorry for her," The triceratops told me, sounding pretty embarrassed. "I'm Sera, that's Cynthia, and you're...?"

"Tony."

"Right, right, Tony... Hey, Tommy told us about you yesterday!"

"He's also the guy who was oogling Am from the feild yesterday." Cynthia hisses out through her teeth.

"I'm sorry? I wasn't oogling anybody yesterday." I say, remebering that I might have looked at them for a bit too long yesterday.

"Oh so we're lying today." The steggo said in a matter of fact way.

"Cynthia..." The triceratops says, sounding quite defeated.

"What!" The stegosaurus yells out loud enougth for the frenchman to look at us and furrow his eyebrows.

This seems to shut Cynthia up, so she lowers her head, opes her textbook, and begins to look between it and the worksheet.

"I'm sorry for her," Sera whispers to me. "She's very distrustful of new people."

I just nod and also look at my worksheet.

Next few minutes are spent in an akward scilence as Sera, Cynth, and I fill out each quetion and task.

First to put her pencil down is Sera. "You guys finished yet?" Is the question I heear from her soon after.

"Still stuck on thrid task." Cynthia anwsers, almost sighing.

"Almost..." As I put fdown my last anwser to the open questions of the worksheet.

"And done!" I continue, a bit too loudly than I should have wich earns me a look from Cynth.

"So what are you strugaling with?" Sera asks The stego in a voice that reminded me of my first grade teacher.

"I just can't get them to match!" Cynthia responds while spining her worksheet to face triceratops.

I moce in closer to see what she's struggling with exactly. It's a simple word scramble that I did in less than a minute.

"You have to... Wait let me get my notes..."

"This to that, that to this, that to that, this ot this, and that one to that one. It's all about the right accent." I say while pointing to the right answer and look at her to gauge her reacti-on.

"Thanks, but I didn't need to be traeted like a child, I would have got it on my own." She says as her eyes jolt between me and Sera. She's lying, I know it.

"Damn Tony, you good at this." Sera say while looking at her notes and then leens a bit away from the desk while scaning me up and down.

"Thanks, romance languages are like my thing."

Next few minutes are spent cross referencing anwsers. Sometimes (more offten than not) I got someting wrong, Somtimes the triceratops made a spelling error. And of course walking through the whole worksheet. After that we still had about 20 minutes of class left, and so the small talk began.

"So... Cynth... How's the Snootube thing going?" Sage asks, looking around the room and then snaping back to the stego and puts her head on the back of her palms.

"Some commentary cuck made a video on me and now my comment section is fille with trolls and idiots." Cynthia says with harshness in her voice that I can only equate to sand paper.

"Damn who was it?" Sera asks with clear concer in her voice.

"Some nobody with a hundred subs, but thoes guys are the worst ."

"You do Snoottube? What exactly?" I say, finally deciding to add my five cents to the conversation.

"Conspericies, you wouldn't get it anyway." Cynthia blows me off clearly not happy with my input.

"While we're on the topic of you." Sera says to the stego clear dissapointment. "Whach you all about?"

"Whar?" I blurt out at the suddenness of the question.

"Where you're from, whach you like, you know all that jazz."

"Well uh..." Damn it, why is it so hard to name things like that when your asked about them?

"I like to lisen to music, sometimes play games, read comics, and thats about it." I finally say after a good minute of thinking.

"Oh, and where ya from?"

"Greenfeild," I blurt out once again. "New York!" I specify after a second, realising that nearly everyone in the world dosen't know about the existence of my backwater shithole of a town.

"Oh, well then..." And for the next few minutes I'm bombarded with the triceratopss questions, wich makes me resort to my tried and true tactic of just nodding or shaking my head, with an ocasional murmur thrown in there.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Cynthia that looks like she's about to explode.

Right as the bell rings she sweeps her things off the desk, gets up and hurrys past us to get to the exit.

"Why do you always do this..." The stego says as she walks past Sera. Her voice sounding like a money shift, or something equaly bad.

The dino bolts it out of the classroom, forgetting to turi in her sheet. I think I saw eyes begin to tear up.

The triceratops sighs, pulls Cynths sheet towards her and scribels something at the top.

"Go hand it in, I'll go check on her." She says in a tired tone.

"What bit her?" I ask out of geniuine curiosity.

"She's just like that. See you at lunch ok?" She says as she pick us her bag and leaves in a hurry.

I pick up the sheets and and read the names on them. Sera Williams and Cynthia Wittman. Seras wirting is neat and tidy while Cynthias looks like chicken scratches.

I put the worksheets on the teachers desk get out of that classroom as fast as I can to make it to my next class.

The next few classes go by as a slow, gray, boring blur since I either already knew the topic or it was explained so esotericly that i just gave up on lerinig it during the lesson.

The only thing keeping me sane were the comicbooks I brought with me, except they only last so long, and I feel as I'm about to lose my mind from lisening to the cancerous conversations around me.

Finally the lunch bell rings out and I start sprinting toward the cafetria with hope taht I can at least get a stale bologna sandwitch, since the packed lunch I brought with me I ate two periods ago.

I slip into the lunchline, grab whatever is eatable enougth to not cause a food poisoning tomorrow, and I get pushed the sea of identical metal-plastic tbaels and chairs.

As I walk around the cafeteria with my tray I get treated like a stray mut. After the fifth 'this seats taken' and 'get lost skinnie' I get fed up and walk toward the back of the building to eat my lunch on the floor, when suddenly a pinkish-red parasaur waves me over to his table.

When I sit down, I realise that I'm sitting with the group of odd dinos that caught my attention yesterday.

In this group I recognize Tommy, Cynthia, and Sera. But there is also a few dions that I don't know.

Next to me sits Tommy and a cyan pterosaurs with a grenjacket I recodnise from some-where. Next to him sits the similar ptero with a red bandana tied around her horm I recodnise from yesterdays game and Cynthia. To my and Tommys left sit Sera and a parasaurolophus that looks strikengly similar to Tommy except with a more usual scale patern of white with a stripe of tangarine.

In between the Sera and Cynthia sits a creatosp girl with long brown hair tied into a ponytail. She was also wearing a orange zip-up hoodie and a blue T-shirt.

I sit down between Tommy and the guy I can't really put my finger on, and the parasaur fistbumps me as I'm taking off my backpack.

"Hey dude, Sera told me you already met her and Cynth today!" He says with the enthisasm of a golden retriver.
"Mh-hm" I murmur and nod as I chew my slice of pizza.

"I'm Melissa! You're Tony right? " The peach colored energetic dino next to Tommy jumps over him and sticks out her hand out in front of me.

"You're Tommys sister?" I say after swalowing the bit of pizza I was chewing shaking her hand.

"Yeeah, Tommy told me about you. Is it true that you just got out of juvy?"

I nearly choke on the pizza I was eating. "No!?"

"And you wonder why people don't like you." The stego says bluntly and looks funny at Melissa.

I finish my pizza and look over to the dino next ot my right and it finally clicks where I've seen him.

"Hey, you the guy i bumped into yesterday? Name's Tony, and you?" I say as I ball up my fist and stick it out to him.

The ptero tilts his head and squints before lighting up and bumping my fist. "Oh yeah, sorry, I'm Greene."

"No problem, I was tierd then and I'm just glad you didn't take anything with you."

After I say that I hear a fauint 'peiceofshit' come from behind him.

I tilt out of my chair and look at the girl next to him. She's still wearing that awful green jacket.

I try to make a good face to a bad game, so I snap my fingers in a way that my pointing finger is turned toward her.

"And you're...?"

"Amber." She says coldly while giving me a sideeye.

Sensing that i'm unwellcome I miove my finger to the ceratopsian sitting right in front of me.

"Maria." Short and to the point.

"Tony." I respond similarly.

Somehow, when I was getting familiar with everyone, Mellisa and Sera went for seconds in the meantime and now have sat back down. I'll be honest, I wouldn't be eating this stuff if I wasn't starving right now. Boggels my mind how these people can go for more of this.

"Hey Greene," Tommy says and get the atention of the pterosaur next to me. "You sure there is no copy of it online?"

The dino next to me begins to chew faster, swallows the peice of the mistery meat sand-wich, and begins talking to the parasaur while gesticulating with his free hand.

"Man, I told you already, I looked everywhere, even hentai torents, not a single archive of the user manual or a schematic."

"Damn... guess back to looking around chop-shops."

And that was the last thing I remember from that conversation, since the volume of it at the table was just overwhelming. Melissa, Maria, and Sera are talking about some stupid situation that's going on between some people that I don't know. Tommy and Greene are disscusing strats for a map in a game taht they're playing. While Cynthia is scribeling away in her notebook, while Amber is commenting on the drawing.

Not knowing what to do with myself I take a look at what the stego is grawing. It takes me a while to recodnise the charachter, but when synapes in my head finally snap into place I recodnise the form on the page as Denji, chainsawman.

"Good Denji." I say as nonchalantly as I can while pointing at the notebook page.

The two dinos raise thier heads up from the drawing. The stego looks like she's about to do something to me, whiel Amber just looks at me with a suprised face.

"You wached Chainsawman?" The ptero says, still looking at me with bewilderment.

"Heh, wached, I read it all, first edition on less." I might have overdoen that one.

To confirm my suspition Ambers expresion turn to her usual sour grimice, and looks back at Cynthias scetch.

Few m inutes later, Tommy gets up from his seat, pick up his tray, and looks at us liek he's about to make an imprtant anoucment.

"So, you guys wanna hit the roof?" He says with a grin on his face.

This is met with a hum of agrements, and my confusion as I'm unsure if I too should go.

Then he'points to me and says, "You too Tony!" wich causes Cynthia to groan.

I get up from my chair and put my tray on the nearest trashcan, to follow the gaggle of dinos quickly making their way down the main hall.

To coridors and a flight of stairs later, we arrive in front of a heavy fire-proof door. With me at the tail end of the group, breathing harder than usual.

Tommy, at the front of the group, is fiddeling arround in his pockets, when suddenly his usual smile dissapears and sid go as wide as dinner plates.
"Shit I forgot my key, Melissa!" The parasaurus and turns to his sister whos right behind him.

She digs around in her purse and looks at Tommy with a sorry face.

"Sorry, I don't know where it is..." She says as she lowers her head.

"Melissa, you're retarded." Before the parasaur that Tommy just insuled can react he turns away from her.

"Ok, Green?" He says, now sounding even more worried than before, while putting both of his palms together and up to his chin.

The ptero suddenly jolts up and pats his hight breast pocket, then closes hid eyes and exhales slowly through his... nose? Nostrils? Snout? Whatever thing that dosen't make him a mouth breather.

"Shit.." He blurts out in a half tone.

"Ok, fuck, Amber please..." The dinos voice is now that of pure desperation.

"I..." The near identival clone of Greene says looking at the steps blow her. "lostitabout-amonthago" She mubles otut still looking at the floor.

"Well shit." Tommy comments, wich takes Amber by suprise. Guess that wasn't intent-ional. "Fuck, alright, if we're quick we might make it to the garden shed in time."

"Oh, hell no, you're not stinking up my garden shed." Maria says, the first ful sentance I heard from her.

As the agrument between the parasaur and the ceratops escalates, a sudden stroke of genius comes over and i remeber something improtant. I imidietly pat my jacket for it and... Yes it's there! Thank you Raptor Jesus!

"Hey, I think I can help with that!" I say and make everyone turn their head toward me, Shit, try to keep it cool Tony.

"Then get on with it ape, these two are starting to get on my nerves.!" Cyntia says wich earns her a slap on the back of the head from Maria.

I move past the stego, trying to ignore her, on my way up to the door, and I kneel in front of it so that I can asses the difficultiy of the job.

It looked simple enougth, so I pull out my lockpicking kit an get to work.

A minute or so later, the lock twists open and I press the hinge and push open the door.

"Damn dude! I owe you big time for for this!" Tommy says as he lets himself outside, and bumps his fist on my shoulder.

After him the rest of the group flows through the door, not causing much of a fuss, except for Melissa, Amber, and Cynthia.

Melissa looks at me in confusuion, while Cynthia siedeyes me like I just broke into her house, and I can't really put my finger on Amber.

After everyone was out on the roof, I close the door nad follow the dinos, pulling out my cigarettes from my jacket and lighting one.

The dinos now have setteled down by the leage of the roof, protected by a rusty anti-suicide fence. I decide to sit down next to Tommy and Greene, and I offer the parasaur my now almost empty packet. I'm gonna need a refill on my way home.

"Nah, thanks duds." The parasaur say, as he flashed me his hand with a cigarette already between his middle and index finger.

As I smoke my cigarette I lissen in to the conversation between the two dinos next to me, I recodnise some terminology and map names, and I build up the courage to ask them about it.

"Hey, you guys paly Ready Or Not?"

The parasaur and the ptero both turn their heads toward me. Tommy expresion I can't really decipher, but Greene has the expresion of a CIA sleeping agent hearing his activation word.

"Yeah, what's your favorite mission!" Greene responds with the most emotion I've seen out of him.

"Elephant has some interesting mechanics, Walley Of The Dolls is a clasic of course. But if I had to decide it would probably be one of the DLC maps." I say after quicky thinking the question through.

"Dude, sick!" Tommy says finally snaping out of his trance. "You know me and Greene over there have been..."

After that he says that the conversation spirals into a lore and tactics heavy world salad.

To be frank, I honstly enjoyed that conversation, enjoyed it enougth in fact to not realise that I smoked three cigarettes and a conciderable amount of time passed. Those two others dissapeared afrter I gave them to Tommy and Greene.

I only snap out of it when Maria gets up from the leage, where she was sitting allong with Melissa and Sera, and yells, "Alright everyone, ten minutes!"

Now kind of paniced I begin looking around far a place to put out my cigarette, when an old soda can lands right in front of my face, and Tommys hand attached to it.

"Thanks man." I say as I put out the cigarette on it's lid and throw the butt down its tab.

Now basicly running down the steps and onto the coridor below, Tommy stops me and I look behinf me to see what he wants.

"Hey dude thanks for getting door open, and for that cigarette in the morning." He says with a polite smile on his face.

"No problem man, now I really have to get going."

"Wait, just one more thing," The parasaur says with urgency in his voice. "This weekend is the last of the summer, and my parents are away so I'm throwing a party. Wanna come?"

"Yeah sure," I say trying desperately not be late. 'Where do you live?"

"0451 Cyder street."

I repeat the address a copule of times under my breath, trying to memorise it. "Sure I'll stop by, saturday right?"

"Yep."

"Cool, thanks Tommy bye!" And after I say that I run down the coridor as fast as I can with my lungs recovering from three chain-smoked cigarettes to get to my classroom an time.

Somehow I make it on time, and I sit down in the old, gum coverd desk and prepare my-self for anpther mindnumbingly boring hour of my life.

After almost falling asleape, twice, and scratcing out the cool s into the desk, the bell finally rings and I begin to walk to the music room for my elective.

When I said that I don't mind music, I was lying through my teeth. I'm actually kind of scared before entering the class, since my knowlage of music is basicly nonexistant, and my singing is only passable when i'm singing psalms at sunday mass, with a big crowd around me.

As I gently push the door open, I notice that the music room is in a much better condition than the rest f the school. It's not perfect, but still an improvement.

There are information posters on the wall, aranged in way that looks like they're covering raint and plaster falling off the wall.

The desks are aranged in a half circle around the teachers table, and there are a few instruments I recodnise and more that I don't pushed by the wall.

I sit down ant the suprisingly clean desk as the other students pile into the room , among them I recodnise Amber. This time without Cynthia or Greene with her, and with an even grumpier expresion on her face.

The last person to enter the class is an 40-ish year old ptero wearing an oversized baige sweater, blue skinnie jeans, and a pair of black heels.

A sliver neckless with a large teardrop shaped peice of amber hang form her neck to her bosom.

This must br the teacher taht Mr. Appels told me about, whats her name... Lucy Mous if I remember correctly.

The dino walks over to her table, sets her coffee on it, and sits down in a worn out black leathe shair behind it.

The room is filled with a volume of conversation ecuale of that of a coridor between periods. Then it suddenly stops and everyone flinches as Ms. Mous slams her palms down on her desk. Fuck, what is it with teachers here and destroying school property!?

After that the ptero scans the room to make sure that no one will talk over her.

"Now tahat I managed to get everyones attention," The teacher says in the in the most deadpan voice ever. "I'm sure you all know who I am, but again I'm Ms. Lucy, I teach music here at Volcano high, blah blah blah, grade scores, blah balh balh," She actually says this whaile flicking through papers on her desk.

"Oh, there is one more thing before we start , as you know we have a new student in our class. Usually I'd make him get up here and intruduce himself, but I'm sure himself enougth of a dumbass in the last two days," Now thank you Ms. Mous, I'll be forever thankfull to you for this. "So wellcome Tony, and if anyboy tries to be a fucking comedian he'll have to anwser to me, now, for a quick refresher..."

Then the ptero gets up from her chair and walks up to the blackboard behind her and begins to explain... something?

As the lesson goes on both the words and marks on the board, the words that the dino says, and my notes become compleatly incomprehensible.

Then the teacher turns around and asks a very simple question to the class: "Everyone got that?"

The whole class stays silent, since they actually understand the sbject at hand and I don't want to come of as mentally stunted by asking 'Excuse me Miss but what the fuck was all that?'

After this Ms. Mous goes around the half circle of desks and passes out a worksheet that to me looks like hieroglyphics.

"When all of you finish this then I'll dismiss the class early, remember like always you can work alone or in groups." Ms. Mous says as she returns to her desk and begins scribeling something away on assingments with a red marker.

I look at the sheet, than at my awfull notes, than at whats left on the board, and once again at the sheet.

The first question is a multiple choice question with three anwsers. 33,(3)% of guessing right, fuck it, eeny, meeny, miny, moe...
"Hey Amber!" Ms. Mous yells out into the class room. "Could you and help out the new guy over there please?"

I hear Amber groan a few desks away and I snap away from my sheet.

"No need Ms. Mous, I-I think I got this." I say shocked at the teachers decision, and kind of lying through my teeth.

"Kid, you don't got this. You signed up for my class so your gonna bring something out of it. Oh and please, call me Ms. Lucy." The dino says and louses a copule of points in my eyes.

Next thing I know Amber walk up to my desk with a grumpy expresion on her face.

She sighs, and turns toward me with her worksheet and asks: "What are you struggling with exactly?"

I look at my sheet, that still looks like hieroglyphics, and decide to cut the bullshit at this point.

"Honestly, everything."

The ptero sighs once again and puts her face in her palms. "Alright... lets start from the top."

Slowly and steadly, Amber explains to me every task and concept, with incredible patience, and sometimes twice over. By the time it was finished there are only fifteen minutes left of the lesson so she and I return our sheets and sit back at the desk, and once again Amber takes a deep tierd sigh.

"Raptor Jesus man, I thought you'll never finish that." She says in a spent tone, as she looks for something in her backpack.

"Hey, I wasn't that clueless."

"Belive me you were, I needed to coach about fourty people through here, and you only anwserd to one question without my help. Wrong at that." The ptero says as she finally pulls out a volume of a manga I don't recodnise out of her backpack.

"She always makes you hepl others?" I say in a bit of disbelife.

"Nah, people usualy ask for help, but I guess she decided you wouldn't ask it, like ever."

"Why don't you call her Ms. Mous?" I ask out of genuine curiosity.

She slumps her hands on the desk and exhales through her snout like she had to this a thousand times already.

"'Cause she's my mom..." No kidding!

I look between Amber and our teacher. They look exactly the same, same eyes, same scale color, same eyes, same looking wings, except like about twenty years apart.

"I wouldn't have have guessed."

"You retarded or something?" She says as she sticks her snout in her comicbook.

Well, I don't want the conversationto die but it might jsut get a bit too stiff. Ah fuck it I wanna find something out.

"Hey, what are you reading?"

The ptero just look at me slightly annoyed ond goes back to her comic. "You wouldn't like it..."

So I guess that's that then.

Amber doesn't get very far tho, since the last bell of the day and everyone begins to get their stuff and make it as far away from this shithole as they can.

I sweep my useles notebook into my backpack and the ptero retly puts away her things into her bag.

In the coridor, as i'm about to put on my headphones I notice that Amber is walking right next to me. Not as in 'she's walking in the same direction', no shoulder in shoulder next to me.

Okay, whatever, we'll probably split when we hit our lockers.

Several rows of lockers later, and we're still walking uncomfortably close to each other.

Sudenlly, I faintly hear Ambers voice brake through the music in my ears.

I take my headphones off and look at the about a head smaller dino next to me, kind of confused at the situation at hand.

"Dude, what is your problem!?" I can now clearly hear Amber protest without penis music blearing in my ears.

"What?!" I yell, now properly confused.

"You following me or something? You've been staring at me the whole way here!"

What the hell! She trying to make me into some kind of a creep?

...

Damn, have I been staring?

Shit...
I sigh and rub the brige of my nose. "Sorry, I didn't mean to... I'm just trying to get practice."

The dino once again side-eyes me and walks off to her locker.

What's her goddamn problem, why would I've been staring at her all the way from class up to here. Wait, I have been staring.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Shit, my hands are shaking again.

Now with that whole situation in the back of my mind, I make it to the gym locker room, to be wellcomed by Coach Semen at me next to the entrance.

"Ballmazzo..." He says, adding a dramatic pause at the end. I'm not sure if he misheard my name yesterday of if he's doing this intentionally.

"YOU'RE LATE!!!" The ankylasaur storms up to me and bellows out directly in my face.

The stench of roting teeth, chear cigarettes, and whatever was the last thing he ate comming from his mouth combined with the sudden screaming instantly makes me stop like a deer in the headlights and shrink in my shoes.

"You hasd one strike tis year and you allready blew it." The coach says now tryfingly calm. This instant change combined with with the awfull smell coming from his mouth makes it so that droplets of sweat begin to appear on my forehead.

"And do yo know what happens to people who use up that strike...?" If I wasn't compleatly paralized right now, i would have surely swollowed my spit.

After a few seconds of unconfortable scilence and staring, Coach Semen finally brakes out into what I assume is a laugh and pats me on the shoulder.

"Nah, I'm just fucking with yuo kid, you're like a minute late, just let everyone in," He says and points to the door with his thumb, I finally take a sigh of relife. "Bou you do have one strike, now get in there and change."

With that last tidbit out of the way the coach dissapears into his office, and I scurry away into the locker room.

InsideI try to find a space to throw my trash somewhere, but everywhere I look someone already took it or the dickhead in the next locker over smahses the door right as I open it telling me to look somewhere else.

As I'm about to give up and leave my stuff on the floor, a familiar voice calls me over for the other side of the room.

"H-Hey moustache! In here!" It's Ticks, him and his team from monday are all changing ona an old wooden bench with a row of coathooks above it. Shit, still better than the floor...

I dap up every member of masterminds team, wich I learned was his actual nickname.

The one and only time in my life I got something right off of a blind guess.

I quicly change into my PE outfit and as I tie my shoes, Coach Semen bursts through the door and yells out at the top of his lungs.

"GET A MOVEON LARD-ASSES I WANT YOU ALL OUT THERE RIGHT NOW!!!"

Tying my other shoe a little too loosely, I run after the coach into the gym with the rest of the guys. After that the coach makes us all stand in a line as he passes between us and stares us down.

"ALRIGHT!!!" The dino once again bellows out, wich sraightens us out in an instant. "LAST SEASON, WE HAVE ONCE AGAIN LOST TO ST.HAMMOND!"

"THIS IS THE FOURTH SEASON IN A ROW!!!" The orange ankylasaurus begins to turn red on his face.

"YOU SKIDMARKS COULDN'T DEFETE THEM SINCE FRESHMAN YEAR!!!" Now there's a vain poping out on his forehead.

Us, newguys, stand there akwardly like we're on a turkish preaching, as the regular team begins to sweat bullets alomst frozen in place.

Coach then takes a few deep breaths and continous his speech.

"This is why I came to the hard decision... Ah who am I kidding, it was the easiest one I ever made."

Coach Semen stops for a second and furrows his brow like he forgot what he was gonna say.

Then he lights up and point to the usuals.

"Foot Fungus, Cyst, Tit, And Gugger, you're warming the bench from now on."

"Ah c'mon Coach, at least leave Tit alone!" The voice of the yellow T-rex brakes out above the sound of general dissapointment.

"Now this arrangement is still subject to change!" This time Coach is just yelling instead oof riping his vocal cords a new one like before. "You, you, you, and Ballmazzo over there will take their place." He says as he points to Charlie, Mastermind, Ticks and me.

"Wha- the fucking skinnie!" The arogant voice of Jayson once again sounds itself accros the gym.

"Yes that fucking skinnie since unLIKE YOU, HE HITS MOST OF HIS PITCHES WITHOUT FOULING IT!"

That seemes to shut the dino up, but he's still visably unhappy with the teams new roster.

"Now as I was saying," The Anky continous while looking at the T-Rex. "This arrangement is still subject to change. It will depend onyour preformance in uncoming friendly matches and season. For this I want all of us to work extra hard this year, hard enought to become champions of the state! Is that clear!"

Only the echo of his voice anwsers him in the silent gym.

"Well then lets get started, come on, we don't have all day!"

And what follows that command, is what I can only describe as the closest i've ever come to hell in my life.

It's not that the excercises are that hard, It's just intnsity and the rate at wich new ones come thats sucking all the life out of me.

I 'm pretty sure that navy fucking seals are the only ones who work out harder than us.

Finally, as Ticks looks like he's about to die, Charlie is wheezing while proping hiself up on a wall, and Mastermind is sitting in the corner of the gym, Coach makes us move out into the ballpark. That fleeting ray of hope immediately crushed by the dino after ordering us arround evem more.

Thsi sin't helped by half of my team trying their hardest to make me quit as early as they can. Of course I'm not gonna quit on the first day, ths place is my only chance at fitting in.

At some point I turn off my brain and I execute whatever needs to be done for this to be over.

I don't know how much time I spent in that state, but I definitely know that I broke out of it during the practice game after I stumbeld over Jaysons foot when he placed it in front of me after I scored a run.

"Skinnie peice of shit..." I hear him say under his brath as I wipe myself off the dirt.

Ah, get bent you scaillie fuck.

Few seconds later I notice that the T-Rex is staring daggers at me.

Shit, I said that out loud?

...

Ah, fuck it. I can defend myself.

Finally after a grewling three hours, Coach Semen send us back to the locker room, and very clearly informs us that he expects us to be on every practice, unless we want to be substituted in an actuall match, or thrown out of the team.

In the lockers, I notice that mine and all of masterminds teams backpack have been turned inside out and zipped up again. Guess that was what those two identical sidekicks of Jayson were doing when they went to the shitter for so long.

"Dicks." The ever-silent Charlie finally speaks up.

I, way too tired to react in any way, just unzip it, dress back into my normal clothes, take the rest of my stuff out of the backpack, flip it the right way up, put all my shit back in, and go on my way to the bus stop.

Along with me on this, now odyssean to me, journey is the smallest player on our team, Ticks.

"H-H-He's insane!" The compostagsaurs final lets out as we finally aproach the stop.

"Tell me about it." I muble out in a tired haze.

"H-H-H-He wants us to defate The S-Saints straight out of m-middle school! Did the d-drugs finally r-rot out his brains!?" Oh, so we're talking about Coach.

"Hey, miracels happen."

"Y-yeah, but we-we ain't miracle makers! Besides..." Then Ticks goes off ranting.

That rant lasts all the way to my stop, where I finally need to disembark the metal can this city calls a bus.

"See you friday." I I half-hartedly tell Ticks as I get off.

"Y-yeah, see you arou-" The dino is not able to finish, as the bus door closed to quickly for me to hear all of his goodbye.

My backpack and legs begin to feel even heavier then before as I relise I still got around a block of walking to get to the shop and my home.

Every step felt like having lead weights attached to my feet. This was not helped by my my street facing directly east, so the entire walk home, harsh orange sunlight beams directly in my eyes.

Stepping through the door way to my house I'm greete by the sight of my mom carying plates back to our open kitchen.

"Hey honey, how was your day!" My mother greets me, pretty cheerfully.

"Long."

"That's sad," She rasponds in polish. "Dinners ready on the counter if you want, I'm qoing to sleep now. You can eat it with your lazy-ass father if you want!"
"I told you already," Dad responds in italian. "There was no more work for the day , so I got off early!"

"Keep telling that to yourself. Oh and Tony, your package came in! Now I gotta go to bed, early shift at the hospital tomorrow."

"Great!" I say, not sure if I mean the next volume of London Demon Hunters or that my mom got the job.

I pick up my food from the kitchen counter and sit on the sofa next to my dad as he watches the eavning news.

"So what's new?" I ask pops.

"Nothing, same ol', same ol'..." He responds bluntly.

Knowing that that respons ment the end of this conversation, I watch the televison with one eye as I eat my dinner.

Rising prices, not enought social housing, rising tentions on the alaskan border, Chinesse ships near Taiwan. Dad was right, really theres on new stories in the news.

Right as I finish my dinner, the program ends dad turns the televison off.

I put my dirty dishes in the dishwasher and heard to my room.

When I enter my room I notice that I left taht video open on my PC.

I once again hit play and scroll down to the comment section. One sex-bot comment. That's a relife.

The view count grewby almost 40 wievs but the likes and dislikes stayed the same. Raptor jesus i watched it that many times?

Then I notice a notification on Forum. I click it and see it's from... Tommy Arron.

"hey dude forgot to tell you where i live XD" The message says, and it follows his home address.

"see you there saturday!"

Unable to think up a good response I just send a thumbs up. I'm pretty sure he did tell me his address, so I guess that he wants to get in contact with me.

After a few minutes of mindlesly scroling twitter, I get a DM from I guy I've been talking to for a while.

"Hey, how was your first day?" The message says, and I question myself as to the meaning of it.

"what the hell do you mean?" I finally type out after a few minutes of thinking. "that was yesterday"

"Yeah, but nothing esential happend yesterday, how was it?"

"like i told you still a shithole"

"XD" Is the response I get.

"so how was it over there?"

"Met a guy today, he seemes cool." The message pops up on my screen and then is quicly followed by another. "He likes Ready Or Not too!"

"dude sick!"

For the next few minutes we both chat about random bullshit, untill I finally decide that I had enougth for today and ask our standard concersation ender.

"same time tommorow?"

"Same time tommorow."

After that I turn off my computer, and get up form the desk. Next I undress and throw my clothes into a pile next to my bed, before throwing myself onto the said bad, utterly exhausted with the day.

For the next few minutes my brain tries its hardest to keep me awake, constantly replaying the stupidest shit it can, cut I don't give in and I once again drift off into, a now relatevly peacefull sleep.