Chapter Text
Monday, September 2, 2026
Oh, how I yearn to be awoken gently on a day such as this, but unfortunately we don't all get what we ask for. I am rudely awakened by my 7:30 alarm to which I have lovingly named doomsday clock. I hear a familiar knock on the door and the muffled voice of my mother.
“Time to get up, Ricky Bear!” I groan and roll over, forcing myself to sit up. I blindly reach for some random clothes and end up wearing a simple gray t-shirt and jeans. I am not trying to impress anyone. I sleep-walk to the bathroom and start my routine.
I walk out of the bathroom after flushing the toilet and walk downstairs to see a stack of reheated eggo waffles on the table. I sit down and grab a waffle and some butter. Audrey follows soon after as she comes down the stairs and sits across from me. Arms wrap around me and a kiss is pressed to my cheek.
“My baby's first day of sophomore year, you are growing up so fast!” My mom coos as she ruffles my hair. I just force a smile in response as I continue to eat while keeping an eye on the time.
I sling my backpack over my shoulder as Audrey and I walk to the bus stop. The cool autumn air fills my lungs as we wait in silence. My sister and I have never had a good relationship, It's just hard to get close to her.
I hear the unmistakable rumbling of the bus as it pulls up. I clamber on after Audrey and we take a seat in the back. I pop in my earbuds and put on Cave Village as the bus starts moving and check my phone:
4 New Dishcorn Messages From August
I smile slightly and glance to Audrey to see that she isn’t watching before clicking open the message:
Goodmorning Sunshine<3
Good luck surviving your first day lol
:)
My cheeks warm slightly. He is so sweet, no way he is a 40 year old creep.....right?
~~~
As the bus halts its movement, I wipe the condensation off of the window and look out the blurry glass. Here we go, the first day of my own personal hell, but then again, I would rather be at school than anywhere mom can reach me. I take the paper copy of my schedule out. I had written down things like my locker number, code, and bus number the night before, just to be safe, because there is no way I could remember any of it by memory.
I stand up and step into the aisle with Audrey close behind me, both of us trying our best not to get shoved by the kids in the crowded bus. As we step out onto the concrete, we begin to walk into the building, and it’s packed with people. I look down at my schedule and turn to Audrey.
“Uh, I'm going to go find my class…. Um…. Have a good day?” I mumble awkwardly. I start walking away and begin navigating my way to Room 202. She doesn’t reply.
Eventually I end up finding the room, and I weave through the crowds and step in. The desks are lined up in rows, while posters, along with other various things, line the walls and tabletops. I look around to see a bunch of kids already in seats. I pause as I see a handsome blonde haired man dressed in a black turtle neck standing at the front of the class. On the board, I see a name in big bold letters:
Mr. Hayes
“Everyone, take a seat wherever!” He guides as more students file in. I take a seat at the very end of the middle row, next to a red haired girl dressed in a jersey. I pull my backpack down and rest my arms on my desk as I wait for the 8:30 bell.
The familiar sound of the bell fills the room as Mr. Hayes comes up to the front, wearing a shining smile.
“Good morning everyone! You may call me Mr. Hayes or Mr. H; whichever works! For the rest of the year I will be your homeroom teacher. So today for the first day, we will do a refresh of the school rules. But first, I’m going to take attendance while you all get settled!” Wow, this guy is cheery. As Mr. Hayes starts calling people’s names. I fidget with my leather bracelet absentmindedly as I practice saying ‘Here’ in my head for when he calls my name-
“Astrid Gray?......Astrid Gray? Is there an Astrid Gray here?” He repeats, looking at the paper and scanning the room.
“Oh! Right here, sir!” The girl next to me raises her hand. Judging by the notebook paper in front of her and her arms, she must not have been paying attention, as there are doodles covering both surfaces.
“Ah, there you are!” Mr. H marks his paper. “Rick Alder?”
“Here.” I raise my hand as he nods and marks his paper once again.
Nailed it.
~~~
After being forced to sit through rules that I have already known since freshman year, I head to my next class. As I approach Classroom 206, I see a very stern looking older woman standing tall with her arms crossed, watching each student that passes in the halls like a hawk. I slip past her and into the room and- holy flash bang, these lights do not need to be this bright. I squint, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the light. I just know this class is going to be headache inducing. I check the board and see a seating chart that I proceed to stare at until my brain finally catches up and realizes where I am supposed to sit. I take a seat there quickly.
I end up sitting next to a tall boy with black hair to my right. His skin has dark and light splotches, I think it’s called Vitiligo? To my left, a pale curly haired girl, who was picking her fingers absent mindedly. Not a bad seat, I hope. The bell rings and like clockwork the teacher comes in with her clipboard in hand, scanning the room like we owe her money. She looks like a cranky librarian that was forced to substitute a class.
“Hello class, you will call me Mrs. Cromwell. When I say your name please just say ‘here’.” She adjusts her glasses and begins to call names.
As she gets to the last table, I learn the names of my table mates.
“Juniper Elsher?”
“Here,” the girl next to me raises her hand.
“Rick Alder?”
“Here” I mutter
“And finally Philip Gatlin?’
“It's Aster, Ma’am,” he corrected.
“It says Philip, and that is what you will be called.” She looked at him from above the small glasses on her nose. The guy didn’t seem too happy with her, but he let it go.
“Now… First things first, let's go over the rules for my classroom.” Oh boy, here we go.
“There will be no eating in my class. You may drink water but if you spill, you will be the one cleaning it up.” She went on pointing to the rules on the Smartboard.
“You will be called by the name that is on my roster. No exceptions.” She looked pointedly at Aster, who grumbled something under his breath that I couldn’t hear.
She drones on for about an hour about a bunch of strict rules, not that I was listening. No matter whether or not I ever get in trouble, Mom would never think I’m in the wrong, even if I am. I’m lucky I didn’t end up a spoiled brat. At least I hope I didn’t. Fuck if I know. I always try to break away from my mother as much as I can, but god, it's hard. She always treats me like a child, which technically I am, but I never understood why. I mean, I’m not even her own blood. I’m so tired of thi- My thoughts are cut off by the bell.
“Thats all the time we have for today. See you all tomorrow.” Mrs. Cromwell sighs loudly as chairs screech against the floor and people walk out.
~~~
The next class came and went. Soon it was time for lunch. I usually buy an orange juice and some chips, then sit by myself and write in my notebook while I listen to The Bird Husbands, and that has not changed. Audrey has her own friend group to sit by anyway. I sit at my usual table in the back and wait for the line to calm down before going up. Once I am able to get my food I sit with the notebook open and my chips when I see someone sit down next to me.
“Rick, right?” Aster tilts his head as he sets down a lunch box
“Uh, yeah and you’re Aster” I nodded in confirmation
“That's me…..” We sit in silence as he eats a sandwich and I write in my notebook
“What are your pronouns?” I looked up at the question and was a bit surprised. I have never been asked that before.
“Uh He/Him, you?”
“He/it” he smiled “Whatcha ya writin?”
“Oh well it's a journal but I also use it to…to write poetry. Well I don’t really know if it can even be considered poetry, I mean I don’t like to read much, that’s more of my sisters thing”
“Your sis go here?” He tilts his head
I nod “Yeah her name’s Audrey. We aren’t close at all but but she's cool” I gesture to her table near the front of the room
He turns to see her at the table talking with her friends “Ah, if I see ‘er later I’ll say hi; I’m tryin’ make some friends on my firs’ day” It smirks
“Oh you're new?”
“Best believe it” he says crumpling up the plastic wrap around his now eaten sandwich and trying to make a trick shot into the trash which he promptly fails
“Damn” he shook his head as I chuckled at his antics
We continued to talk until the bell rang
“I will see you around I supposed” I smiled
“What ya next class?” he tilted his head looking at a paper which I guess was his schedule
“Woodworking, Mr. Hayes” Aster hummed in response
“Cooking class” he squints at the paper “Ms. Harper” I nod as I wave goodbye before walking to 210.
It takes just a bit of wandering but I eventually find the room. The room is pretty big, much like the art room. I see many work stations set up all over the classroom. I take a seat and set down my bag rolling up my sleeves. I took this class last year before Mr. Hayes taught it. I always loved creating things. It was the one thing in my life I felt like I could control, at the very least I could do something on my own without my mother breathing down my neck. Of course we are not starting the actual woodworking until at least next week so for now we go over the syllabus. Students file in as the bell rings. I don’t see anyone I recognize but then again when do I ever.
Mr. Hayes walks in and greets the class
“Hello everyone, welcome to woodworking 2. As I am sure most of you know, your old teacher sadly had to retire and I am here to take his place! You may call me Mr. Hayes or Mr. H. For today we are going to go over the syllabus and you will have some free time to sketch if this goes smoothly!”
I loosely listened to what Mr.H was saying. It didn’t matter to me what exact units we were doing as long as I got to sculpt.
With 10 minutes left of class I opened my notebook and began sketching. By the end of the class the page was covered in scribbled out drawings from front to back. I sighed at my unsuccessful attempt and closed my notebook, beginning to pack up. Next was gym class. The bane of my existence but what class wasn’t. As I peaked into the gymnasium I saw people already talking in groups and-
Fuck. Audrey and all of her friends are in this class. I sighed and stepped in trying my best to stay invisible as I stood awkwardly in the corner fidgeting with my bracelet like a weirdo.
A kid walks past me in a green backpack. I recognize him at least I think. He’s……interesting to say the least, they are more of an acquaintance though I know he is a good friend of Audrey.
“Sup!” He smiled cheerfully
“Oh, uh hi” I wave and he is over by Audrey’s group before I could say anything else. Typical.
The bell rings and Mr.Lopez walks out of his office. He walks to the center of the room holding his trusty megaphone. After being in his class for a year I have become used to his antics but it still-
“EVERYONE QUIET” I jump at the noise and see other students covering their ears at the feedback from the device. Mr. Lopez clears his throat and puts down the megaphone
“I will assign each of you numbers. This will determine where you stand as I take attendance” Lopez moves along the line as he begins to call names. I ended up getting 17 right next to, was it Alaska? I never really kept track of their names or their faces, mainly because I can’t recognize most people by face. She always seemed nice enough though.
We go through the normal P.E routine of sitting on the floor while Lopez explains how each exercise station works. How fun. We get started and I am put into a group with 3 other people. One is a guy named…..John? And two other girls, one with glasses and an angry looking goth one.
P.E goes as normal and soon the bell rings. Last class of the day you can do this. I walk into class 213, It is a dimly lit carpeted room with motivational posters and historical puns decorating the walls. At the front of the class is my new social studies teacher Mrs. Jenkins. She is tall and dressed in a dress shirt and tie with the coat she was wearing over it hanging on her chair. She has freckled skin with curly brown almost reddish hair and she looks to be in her early to mid forties. I see desks in 5 organized clumps around the room and a laminated seating chart placed on the whiteboard with a magnet. I locate my name and sit down at the far left table closest to the door . For once it seems I am one of the first people to get here.
While I wait I take out my note book and pencil and start sketching. I begin drawing the shape of a buffalo’s head erasing multiple times before moving on. I quite like buffalo, I’m not really sure why they just appeal to me. They are bulky with all their fur and have cool horns. They are able to protect themselves and they are tough to knock down but they are also very intelligent-
“Is that some kind of cow-rhinoceros hybrid?” A boy spoke while setting down his green backpack effectively snapping Rick out of his train of thought
“...” Rick stared at him in silence for a moment “No…?”
“Nah just kidding man, cool doodles though!”
“Oh uh thanks” he mumbled closing his note book as the bell rang
I watched as Ms. Jenkins grabbed a chair and put it in the front of the room and sat down. As she did this the class began to quiet down and as it did-
“What is History, go” She spoke with an intensity in her eyes that kinda scared me. As expected no one raised their hand but she seemed unbothered by this and continued to wait. One kid raised their hand and she nodded to them.
“It's the study of past events” They stated matter of factly.
“And why do you say that?” she questioned
“Um, it's the definition”
“Mhm Mhm, Anyone else?” she asked, scanning the room. A few more kids started to raise their hands each giving a different answer to which she gave each a cryptic response.
“In this class I am here to teach you one thing, History is never concrete. If you were to look at other textbooks telling about the same event would they be saying the same things?” She asked and most of the students shook their hands “And why not? Because History can be so easily twisted. Tell me, what is the distinction between a hero and a villain?”
“A hero is a good guy and a villain is a bad guy”
“A Hero helps people and a villain hurts” All responses were along these lines.
“The distinction between a hero and a villain is whoever is telling the story.” Ms. Jenkins corrected, standing up. “In my class I will not be taking attendance to learn your names. I will learn each and every one of them by you leaving an impact on this classroom. No student will blend into the background. Because just like the textbooks under your desks, each of you have your own interpretation of history. I will give you my name though, My name is Martha C. Jenkins, You may call me Martha,Ms. Martha, Ms. Jenkins, or you may call me O’ Captain, My Captain. Welcome to Social Studies” The whole class was in stunned silence. As corny as that was, at least the class will be interesting.
~~~
As Ms. Jenkins’ speaking was cut off by the bell, I stood up and slung my backpack over my shoulder, beginning to make my way to the door.
“Uh, see you tomorrow!” The kid with the green backpack says while waving at me.
“Yeah see..see ya” I attempted to smile slightly. I walked down the hallway and out by where the buses were lined up where I scanned the crowd. Successfully finding Audrey, I walked over to her where she was standing in line to get on the bus. Once we made it to our usual seat, I set my backpack on my lap and rested my arms on it. I forgot how draining school was. I looked over at my adoptive sister who I'm pretty sure is texting her friends but she looks up at me when I sit down.
“How was your first day?” I questioned curiously, proud of myself for not stumbling over my words.
“It was okay I guess.” She shrugged and paused before speaking again, “how was yours?”
“Incredibly draining. But not bad.” I said truthfully. “Better than I thought it would be.”
“Same,” she replied and I simply nodded. Success.
~~~
As the bus creaked to a stop I stood up and stepped into the aisle, I nod to the bus driver mumbling a thank you before stepping onto the sidewalk. As Audrey and I begin our short walk to the house I spot mom’s car in the driveway and my heart sinks. She’s home early.
I wait for Audrey to open the door before stepping inside and hear my mother from the kitchen,
“Welcome home my lovely’s! How was your first day?” She calls from her place at the table. Forcing a smile and walking in, I reply,
“It was good” I decided against giving her any details. “How was your day?”
“Oh well today I of course came home early-” Her words become only background noise as I take off my shoes, turning back to her with an expression that hopefully looks attentive.
“Are you hungry?” She asks
“What? Oh uh no I’m all good” I lie heading for the stairs
“Tell me if you need anything, Ricky Bear” She calls as the stairs creak with my footsteps.
I drop my backpack down next to my door and collapse onto my bed. This should be an interesting school year.
~~~