This opening has taken me about 3 days to come up with. I'm not amazingly happy about it if I'm honest, but I have 3 or 4 other sections of the story that I know what I want to do with. I just need to be able to link them.

A deep roll of thunder awoke him from his light sleep. A soft groan escaped his lips as he rolled over and eyed the digital clock on his bedside table. 6:45am – those red numbers almost sarcastically chuckling as they reminded him that it had only been about an hour since he finally dosed off. He was used to it by now as the summer holidays offered him all the time in the world to sleep but no time for his brain to switch off and allow it

He grabbed the covers and almost violently threw them over his head as he rolled to the other side, hoping to drown out both sound and light. It was a hopeless endeavour as another short clap of thunder jolted through his body causing him to sit up in bed and admit defeat. He only had half an hour before his alarm woke him anyway. As annoying as it was he decided the best course of action was to simply get up and get ready

Len swung his legs out of bed and pressed his feet to the cold wooden floor, shuddering slightly as he adjusted to the temperature. His sleep-filled gaze cast itself to the window and he stood and followed his gaze to the rain outside

"What a great start to the year…"

He half chuckled at the irony. A new school year, apparently about to be filled with yet again misery. It was his second year at this high school and yet he felt like he was about to step foot into the great unknown. He felt like a new born seeing all of this for the first time. While it didn't scare him, he loathed the feeling. He pushed it to one side as he began getting ready

Len was a strange character if only in his own mind. In truth he was painfully average. Just your average 15 year old going to an average school in an average town full of average people. Everything was just normal. Len didn't see the world as normal though. He'd always been on the outside looking in, preferring social solitude to social acceptance. He was never really bullied or had suffered any hardship in his life – a fact that he didn't pretend wasn't true – but being an only child to two hard working (and often absent) parents left him without a lot of social skills. He didn't mind, as he didn't really know what he was missing. But it did mean that this simple normal boy lived quite a lot in isolation, devoid of friendships, activities or anything that most average 15 year old boys would typically have. In that respect, he was far from average

Reaching for a slightly oversized hoodie he made his way downstairs and into the kitchen where his mother had left him a note

"lunch in fridge, see you tonight"

Classic. Well he couldn't complain too much right? I mean, his lunch was in a bag in the fridge so…

He set his over-ear headphones firmly on his head before plugging them into his phone and pressing play. Feeling somewhat safe in his musical bubble he grabbed the bag from the fridge as well as an extra banana to eat on the way and headed out into cool morning air, slinging his backpack over one shoulder and killing the house lights. The rain had eased off slightly but not enough to stop him from needing to quicken his pace to avoid becoming completely drenched during the ten minute walk to the bus stop. Thankfully his stop was one of the few that was an actual shelter, and as he was the only one there he was able to take a few moments to sit and eat his banana before the bus came to a halt. He looked up and briefly considered staying where he was until the bus moved on before the fact that the bus would be warm and dry convinced him otherwise

His usual seat was taken up by some unfamiliar faces. Laughing, happy faces that he didn't think should be happy on a day like today. He lightly squeezed past knees that were hanging over the aisle until he found an empty seat and planted himself as deep into it as possible. He immediately turned to face out of the window and tried to make himself look as vacant and invisible as possible. The bus ride took roughly 30 minutes and he was hoping that he could at least make it to school before having to talk to anyone

The bus pulled up at the next stop and from his window Len again saw 3 or 4 happy smiling faces. Having a chance to take a longer look he soon realised that he recognised none of them. His gaze passed from the window back to the passengers already seated and realised that he didn't know most of the faces here.

They must be freshmen

The though came to him in a moment. Freshmen have an introductory week before the rest of school starts so they can learn bus routes, make friends in their new classes and get to grips with the high school format and layout before being invaded by the remaining years. Len remembered that time all too well, and was very glad he'd never have to experience that again

Len made precisely zero friends that week. 3 people that were in his year rode this bus, and while they remained acquaintances they weren't really friend material. At least, not in Len's book. The same went for all those "introduce the teachers" classes. Sure he exchanged words with people he sat next to, but all he could manage was to get the work done before he escaped to some secluded area to eat his lunch alone. He never got too involved in other people's lives. For him it was just easier that way. He was never bullied, he was never outcast. He just lacked the ability to socialise outside of doing only what was needed. He kept himself to himself simply because. And thankfully that was enough for most people who respected that and didn't pester him

He was suddenly brought out of the trance he was unaware he was in by a light tap on the shoulder. Lazily he turned his head, before shifting his body accordingly as his eyes met those of a girl. He couldn't tell if she was small or if it was just that her overcoat was way too big, but she was short with short blonde hair, light blue eyes and a slightly oversized white bow in her hair. Len's first thought was confusion, then curiosity before bringing himself back to his normal attitude. He couldn't quite bring himself to be annoyed at the disturbance though, and he moved an earphone to one side so that he could at least hear this girl's request

"Sorry to trouble you but everywhere else is taken. May I sit?"

Len held back both his surprise and his – well, some other strange feeling that he didn't know as her light and innocent voice passed through the air and met his exposed ear. He didn't recognise her face so she must be a freshman too. He assumed she thought that of him but he'd clearly not be conversing with her past this so that didn't matter. He also had enough humility to not make her wait while he actually checked to see if she was telling the truth so he simply motioned to the empty seat as a sign that she could indeed sit.

She smiled sweetly and dipped her head in shyness as she muttered a quick thanks before removing her coat and sitting down just as the bus pulled away. Len kept a gaze on her while she collected herself. Not a creepy intense stare, more just an inquisitive glance. Just enough to start piecing together visual information about this girl. She indeed was small, maybe 5"2' at best, and very slim. He couldn't quite imagine her age from the clothes she wore – a small orange hoodie covered almost her entire body, with plain black jogging bottoms covering what he assumed were legs. He'd be forgiven for mistaking them for the legs to the bus seats with how small they were and how little were visible below the hoodie. She was probably Len's exact definition of "sweet"

Having said that, he now moved on to the realisation that there may now need to be conversation between the two. He started to shift his body slightly away from her, hoping that his body language would deter her from engaging any further. After a few tense moments he turned his gaze slightly back over to her and saw her nose deep in a book. Len let out a very small sigh of relief before bringing the earphone back down over his ear, once again engulfing him into his own world before returning his glance out of the window

Something tugged at him though. He didn't know what it was or why it was currently working its way up to his head but for some unknown reason he turned his head slowly and stole one more glance at her

He felt… happy?

The bus ground to a halt just outside the school gates. Thankfully the rain had eased off, but looking out of the window Len realised that this meant crowds of students were now gathering outside, and he'd have to try and navigate the swarm before being able to settle into solitude again. He started to reach for his things before stopping and deciding that his best course of action was to wait for the bus to empty before moving. To occupy himself he pulled his phone out and started to pretend to use it. He felt the seat next to him move as the girl assumedly got up to ready herself

Two more minutes, then we'll move

The thought had just manifested in Len's head before being interrupted by another tap on the shoulder. Turning around his eyes once again met hers. They really were sweet eyes

"Thanks for letting me sit. Have a good day"

She said it without a hint of sarcasm – just pure sincerity. Again she shyly and politely bowed her head, and Len offered the same sentiment back to acknowledge her thanks. She quickly gathered her remaining things and exited the bus, leaving Len to himself. He mentally chastised himself

Why didn't I say something back to her? She took the time to say thanks and I just sat there

Len wasn't angry for the lack of conversation, but more for what he perceived was his rudeness to the innocent face that had just been so genuine to him. Len wasn't normally a person to dwell on things but something about today's interactions stayed with him, if only in a very small part. He was quick to at least brush it to the back of his mind so that it didn't invade his day, and he wasn't exactly going to run after her and apologise for the way he'd just been. She didn't know him or his personality after all, and to be honest she'd probably already forgotten about it

Collecting his things, Len left the bus and made his way into school keeping his gaze towards the floor. He hoped today would pass quickly

Was it worth reading? Does it give you any intrigue at all? Feel free to comment/criticise/suggest anything, feedback is always welcome (if it's constructive of course)

I'd like this story to be a slightly slower paced evolution with character development and a fairly realistic pacing. That being said I'll take the liberty of using chapter breaks to skip forward in time somewhat. As a heads up this is going to focus completely on the development of Len and Rin's relationship, so there's a good chance that other characters may not get very heavily involved in the story - they may not even have their names mentioned. I've still not decided on that