The day had come. He never thought it would, but here it was. Here it was, and was he prepared? The answer was no. No, absolutely not.

Physically, yes, of course he was prepared. He had gone shopping with the Captain nearly a week before, and had gotten all of the supplies he needed, including pencils, notebooks, and even a backpack he had had his eyes on for a while, which was a side shoulder bag, covered on the front with dark green plaid.

But mentally...of course he wasn't ready! He had no idea how to fit into a highschool, which was no surprise seeing as he had never been to school before. Only libraries, where he could study what he wanted when he wanted to. To his misfortune, this had to change, according to Haddock. Tintin had protested, saying that he didn't need highschool, but Haddock had of course seen things differently.

So here he was, sitting in the passenger's seat of the Captain's car, his shoulder pack sitting next to him, on his way to highschool.

Thus far, the car ride had been silent, aside from the rumble of the engine and the low sound of the radio in the background. This was of no matter to Tintin however, because he had busied himself with his phone, playing different games like 2048 and Crossy Roads, but that was mostly to help calm his nerves. Finally, it was the Captain who spoke.

"So...uh...lad?". Tintin looked up at this to face the Captain, giving a low 'Hm?' as a response. "Are you, uh...are you excited for your first day of school?"

Tintin was silent for a moment, not in contemplation, but in awkwardness. He didn't really enjoy opening up to people about his feelings, especially when his nerves were rattled. "I...guess so.". With this he turned his attention back to his cell.

"That's good, that's uh, that's great." The Captain said. The silence continued, so the Captain decided to try again to strike up conversation. "You know, I was very nervous on my first day of highschool."

Tintin sighed and turned off his phone, seeing as the Captain probably wasn't going to give up trying to talk to Tintin, or get him to 'open up' like always. "Were you?" He said, trying to sound interested as not to be rude.

"Yea. My older brothers were giants compared to me, both figuratively and literally, so everyone knew about them,"

"Naturally," Tintin said, once again trying to be interested, but his mind still racked with nerves.

"So, it was hard for me to, y'know, live up to the legacy." The Captain finished. Tintin answered his statement again with a low 'Hm.'

"Y'know, you gotta live this day to the fullest.". The Captain continued. "Take risks, meet some people, it's highschool one of the funnest, uh, funnest times of your childhood life and-"

"'Funnest' isn't a word Captain." Tintin said, his expression vacant, as well as his voice.

The Captain was silent for a moment. "Well, looks like someone is going to be in advanced grammar, hm?"

"Grammar isn't a subject, Captain.". Tintin fired back.

"Uh...no...i suppose it...wouldn't be." The Captain trailed off into a whisper and decided that silence was probably his best option, considering he had a cranky teenage boy with shot nerves sitting next to him for the next 3 miles.

XXX

As the Captain pulled into the drop off loop of the highschool, Tintin didn't think that he had ever been more nervous in his life. The Captain slowed down to a stop next to the front door.

"All right laddie, I hope you ha-"

"Bye, Captain." Tintin said quickly as he hurriedly got out of the car. Unbeknownst to him, the Captain then rolled down the window.

"I hope you have a great day!!!" The Captain said louder than usual. "I love youuuuuuu!!!"

Tintin cringed were he stood, trying very hard to imagine that what just happened didn't actually happen. But of course, to his demise, it did, judging by the laughter of some upperclassmen sitting on the rails of the steps up to the front door. Fuming, he continued to walk, walking past the sniggering upperclassmen and earning a few "Daddy's boy!"s.

He opened the big maroon doors to reveal a large hallway full of congregating students, all buzzing with excitement about their first day back to school. Unfortunately, unlike them, Tintin didn't know anyone. That is, except for Penelope Warren.

Tintin and Penelope weren't best friends, but they did know each other quite well. Penelope lived about three properties down from Marlinspike, and was seemingly the only other kid in Marlinshire. Ever since Tintin had moved into Marlinspike at the beginning of the summer, she had hung out with him, trying to make him feel more welcome. They had started hanging out by her coming over to Marlinspike to draw, as she was often allowed by Haddock, but conversing with Tintin while she did. Eventually they hung out more, going to the lake to swim or fish, or to hang out at Marlinspike, or even to play with water balloons.

As he surveyed the bustling hallway, he saw a familiar sight, which made him feel significantly more comfortable. Penelope Warren stood at her locker, seeming as if she hadn't a care in the world. Tintin half smiled and walked over to her briskly.

"Hey!" She said, waving when she noticed him coming over.

"Thank god I found you!" He said, leaning against the locker next to hers. "I thought I was going to be roughing it alone today."

"No worries, I've got you! French fry?" She said in her American accent. It was somehow soothing to Tintin, whenever he had a problem or dilemma, he would talk to her because he liked how calming her accent was compared to his British one or Haddocks Scottish one.

Tintin was silent for a moment, staring at the fry inches from his face. "Nell...why do you have...uh...chips in yo-"

"Fries." She reiterated sternly.

Tintin sighed in exasperation. "Fries" he repeated. "Why do you have fries in your locker?"

"Because, I like fries." She said simply.

Her simplicity was most likely one of Tintin's favorite things about her. It made his problems easier to answer, and their lives a little more...eh...random. "Well, alrighty then."

She smiled and shoved a couple more fries into her mouth. As she tried to talk, she covered her mouth with the back of her palm as not to be gross. "Let me see your schedule. Maybe we have some classes together.". She said with her mouth full of greasy potatoes.

Tintin took out his schedule from his jeans pocket, which was folded into quarters as to not get wrinkled. He handed it to Penelope, who unfolded it gingerly and compared it with her own, which was stuffed into her backpack mesh side pocket. She gave a gentle 'Hm...' as she deliberated.

"Well..." She started, "We have 4th period together, and Lunch together, so we can walk from fourth period to lunch together." She said merrily, trying to make the lack of classes they had together appealing to Tintin.

"What?!? That's it?!?!" He exclaimed, snatching back his schedule as if to check it again.

"'Fraid so my friend." She shrugged and gently closed her locker, cleaned of the previous "fry-infestation" thanks to her morning appetite. "I'll see you then." She said as she started down the hallway.

"No! Wait, how am I supposed to-"

"Sorry bud! You're on your own!" She said, cutting him off and bolting down the hallway to get to her class before the bell.

Now Tintin truly felt helpless. Penelope, his only hope for making it through the day alive, had a totally different schedule than him, and now he was alone in a hallway full of strangers. He took a glance at his schedule, seeing that his first period was science in room 706. Luckily, because of Penelope's persistent coaching over the summer, he knew where most of the classrooms were. He went back towards the direction of the door and turned right down a hallway with doors lining either side. He walked until he found the second to last door on the right, marked 706.

The door was already open, so he gingerly stepped inside. When he was inside, he surveyed the area. There was no teacher, but a myriad of students filled the room. There were a group of about four girls in the back, sitting at a lab table. They were chatting and gossiping about their summers and what they had done, and where they had been, and what have you. There was one girl in particular that caught Tintin's eye, who seemed to be the center of their attention. She had longer, dark brown/auburn hair which was layered in perfectly manicured waves. Her clothes were very preppy, a button up shirt with white and light blue stripes, which was unbuttoned slightly at the top, a red undershirt showing. Her pants were Capri pants curled at the bottom, matching her undershirt in color, and her shoes were boat-styled shoes of a khaki color. Tintin felt like he could be captivated by her for hours.

'No! Staring is weird...just...act cool.' He thought, mentally shaking himself. He continued to look around. The next group he saw was a group of boys conversing around a desk in the front. On the top of the desk sat a boy a little taller than Tintin. He had blonde, exceedingly gelled hair and a green and white letterman jacket with his name embroidered on the front. It read Trent. He seemed to take a cool guy stance, and he was using it to the best of his ability. There were about five other boys conversing with him, chuckling, cracking jokes, slapping him on the back, etc. Tintin got only one vibe from this guy: Every guy wanted to be him, and every girl wanted to be with him.

He made Tintin want to curl up and hide in a shell. In fact, the whole classroom made Tintin want to curl up and hide in his shell. He was the new kid, considering that everyone else there knew everyone. Heck, Tintin was the only one who hadn't grown up with the rest of these kids, so naturally, he was skittish.

He decided that it was most likely in his best interest to lay low, fly under the radar if possible, and not talk to anyone unless they talked to him first. He walked to the nearest seat (literally right next to the door), and took a seat. He tried not to look at anyone, lest he make awkward eye contact with them, but he stole a glance at Trent while it seemed like he wasn't looking.

Trent was laughing about something, but then his laughing ceased, and saw Tintin looking at him. Tintin quickly looked away, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Trent was still looking at him. He then saw him motion to his buddies to get their attention, and out of his peripheral Tintin saw him point in his direction, mentioning something to his friends, who also looked in his direction. Tintin tried to sink lower in his chair, trying to be less noticeable, but before the boys could walk over, the teacher came in.

"Hello class, take your seats please, take your seats." The tall skinny lady said coming into the room. There was some commotion as the students settled into their desks. Luckily, no one decided to sit near Tintin, filling him relief. "I am Ms. Gregory." She said, walking to the front of the classroom. Her hair was a dark raven, and very frizzy. She looked to be about 40-50 years old, and reminded Tintin of Ms. Frizzle from Magic School Bus. "But of course, I know you lot, I've watched you lot grow since you were wee ones in the kiddy building." She said referring to the building next to the highschool. The kids chuckled in remembrance. "That is, all except for one of you."

Tintin froze. He felt her eyes on him. He didn't look at her, just the wall ahead of him. He knew he would have to look at her at some point, but did it have to be that second?

"Young man with the red hair?" She said, motioning towards him. Then it wasn't just her eyes on him he felt, but everyone's.

'Well, there goes that.' He thought. He slowly turned his head to meet eyes with the class.

"Why don't you come up here and introduce yourself." She said, beckoning him to the front if the class.

Tintin debated for a moment whether or not to get up. On one hand, he didn't want to embarrass himself. On the other hand, he didn't want to be disrespectful to his teacher. So, he decided to cut his loses. With a sigh, he stood up from his desk and walked to the front of the room. Ms. Gregory took a seat at her desk chair to watch.

"Um...H-hi." Tintin started quietly, putting up his hand to give a small wave. No one reacted, so he decided to continue. "My name is uh...Augustin, but um...everyone uh, e-everyone calls me Tintin," the class chuckled a bit at this, making Tintin turn a light shade of pink.

Ms. Gregory glared at them and tried to quiet them down with a couple of shushes. After they had quieted down, she said "Go on Tintin."

"Ok." He said, looking to the floor. "I uh...I just started school, and uh...I live in Marlinshire, and uh...I'm adopted." Not able to think of anything else interesting, he blurted the last part. Scratching the back of his neck, he turned an even darker shade of pink.

One boy who Tintin recognized to be a friend of Trent's from earlier, raised his hand.

"Oh, yes James, go ahead." Ms. Gregory said, pointing to him.

The boy, James, then lazily lowered his hand and leaned back in his desk chair. "So, like, you're a ginger, so, you have no soul?" The class gave a low rumble of a chuckle.

Tintin shot a sarcastic look in his direction and fired back, "Well, you're blonde, which means that your brain is as real as my non-existent soul so..." At this the class blew up in laughter, with Ms. Gregory trying to shush them.

When they finally quieted down, she addressed the two boys "That's quite enough boys, no more! Tintin, go ahead and take your seat." She said, standing from her chair and ushering Tintin back in the direction of his seat. Tintin silently sniggered and smirked, proud of the comeback he came up with so quickly. He leaned back in his chair happily, a little more relaxed now that he knew he could handle anything the others threw his way.

XXX

By the time fourth period came around, Tintin had gained some confidence in himself. He walked into the classroom and found Penelope sitting in a desk isolated from the other students. When she saw him walk in, she ushered him over. He began to make his way over to her, but stopped when he saw another familiar face across the room: it was the captivating girl from before. She was sitting a couple of seats away from Penelope, along with her entourage.

Tintin froze. He didn't know what to do. On one hand, his friend, basically his only friend was available to sit by, but on the other hand, there was her.

"...Tin...are you ok?" Penelope asked, staring at him quizzically. She then tried to meet his eye line to see what he was staring at. When she saw, she chuckled to herself. He was staring at the one, the only, Mindy Carlson. The super popular, super nice, super preppy, Mindy Carlson.

'Awe, that's so cute...and so never gonna happen' she thought to herself. Before she could finish another thought, the teacher walked in, and ushered everyone to sit.

Penelope grabbed the sleeve of Tintin's jacket and pulled him down in the seat next to her. Tintin gave her a quizzical and somewhat disappointed glance.

"Tin, let me give you some advice, try not to get too attached." She said.

"But...why?" He asked her. She opened her mouth to answer, but the teacher began to quiet everyone down so he could start the lesson.

"I'll tell you at lunch." She said in a hushed tone. Tintin gave a quick nod and turned his attention to the front.

XXX

"So, where are we gonna sit?" Tintin asked Penelope, the two standing at the front of the cafeteria, trays in hand.

"Come on, I'll show you." Penelope began to walk towards the back right hand corner of the cafeteria, secluded from the others. She sat down at the back table, a table with no other occupants but the two of them.

As he walked to the table, Tintin got a glimpse of two tables near the center of the cafeteria, one mainly occupied by boys, and the other by girls. Sitting in the two seats closest to the opposite table, were Trent at the right table, and Mindy at the left, nearly facing one another.

It wasn't long before Penelope caught him staring in that direction. "Yea, about that, we need to talk." She said, motioning for him to sit down across from her.

He sat and looked at her, waiting for her to proceed. "Like I was saying earlier, don't get too attached to Mindy-"

"Mindy?" He said, somewhat breathily. "How does she have such a perfect name?" He asked.

"Let me finish!" Said Penelope, shushing him. "Anyway, Mindy Carlson is the most popular, nice, preppy girl in school. She is absolutely perfect, which is why you can't get near her-"

"But I-"

"Let me finish!" She said, cutting him off. "Trent, who is considered the most popular guy, and the team captain of the rugby team, is out for her, because if he goes out with her, they'll rule the school and be unstoppable. In Mindy's entourage, there's her best friend, Shelby Cunningham. She's super rude and super evil, basically everything Mindy's not, except for popular. Are you with me so far?" At this, Tintin gave a quick nod, and ushered her to continue. "Ok good. Anyway, Shelby wants nothing but to get with guys and be popular, so she basically rules with Mindy. Now to the boys. With the boys, the second in command is James Gunning. He's kinda like Trent's main guy. He advises what Trent does, and is the assistant team captain of the rugby team. He's basically Shelby, but boy version. The point is, you go after Mindy, you're going to have, Trent, Shelby, James, and their whole posse after your hiney, kapeesh?"

Tintin was silent for a moment. After a second, he looked at her, nodded, and said with a sigh, "Kapeesh."

"Good." Penelope stole a look at the popular table, just for fun, but noticed something peculiar. James Gunning was staring at Tintin, and it wasn't a friendly stare either. "Um...I know it's probably not my place Tin, but, why is James staring you down?"

Tintin turned to look at where he was sitting, and he indeed was staring at him. He shrugged and turned back around. "Well, he said something rude, so I kinda, sorta burned him back." He said nonchalantly, continuing to shovel mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"Oh god. Your already dead." She said, putting her face in her hands. "It's the first day of school and your already dead."

"Hey, don't worry about it." He reassured her. "I can handle it." He grabbed her hand for a moment and gave it a light squeeze, which seemed to calm her down quite significantly.

XXX

The rest of the day was pretty bland. Seventh period was fantastic, mainly because the only person in that class from either popular posse was Mindy. Tintin sat a little closer to her in that class, just to get a better look at her. Other than that, the day was bland.

The Captain had him riding the bus home after school, so that he walk Penelope from the bus stop down their street. In his words 'It's less likely for teenage girls to get kid napped with a big strong teenage boy walking next to them.'

As they got off the bus and began walking, Penelope was talking about how the rest of her day was. She talked about some guy who was in her sixth period, and how she likes him, and how she thinks he likes her too, and whatnot. This made Tintin feel uncomfortable, but he didn't know why. He decided to shake it off and just forget about it for now. When they got to Marlinspike hall, Tintin turned to Penelope to say goodbye.

"Well, thanks for everything. I'd say I had a pretty good first day of school." Tintin said, smiling.

"You're welcome, any time pal." Penelope said, beaming back in response. All of a sudden, Tintin gathered her up in a giant bear hug. At first she was shocked, but then she melted and hugged him back, uttering a content sigh. They broke, and Tintin waved goodbye as she began walking further down the street.

He then turned and walked up to the front door of Marlinspike, opening it slowly as to no be too loud, lest the Captain hear him enter. He tiptoed lightly to the stairs, and right as he was about to dart up them, he heard a booming, "Laddie!".

He cringed and turned to see the Captain coming towards him from the dining room. He smiled a lopsided smile, merely out of politeness. "How was your day?" The Captain asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Tintin sighed an exasperated sigh, and said "Fine."

"That's great. What was it li-"

"Sorry Captain," Tintin cut him off, "but I have some stuff to do."

He began to walk up the stairs, but stopped half way through. He turned around, walked back down, and wrapped his arms around the Captain quickly. The Captain slowly wrapped his arms around him too, giving him a small squeeze, right before Tintin let go.

"Um...th-thanks. For um...for caring I guess." Said Tintin awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.

"You're, uh...you're welcome." Said the Captain. Tintin gave a short nod and dashed up the stairs again, making his way to his room.

'Yea,' the Captain thought, 'He had a good day.'