In a galaxy far, far away in an alternate dimension, the dormant Force is a forgotten memory to all but the most ancient of minds. And in this universe, all Anakin Skywalker wants to do is survive his new high school on Coruscant. Pairings will be many and highly fluid. This is high school, after all. T for language and romance. Pairings may include but are not limited to Anakin/Padme, Obi-Wan/Anakin, Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan, Amedda/Palpatine, and Anakin/Palpatine, to name just a few. Things are gonna get messy, lol.

Coruscant High: Chapter 1

"Anakin Skywalker."

Anakin jerked his shaggy head up and stared at the secretary who had called his name. "Uh, that's me."

"Headmaster Valorum is ready to see you now," the Rodian's face was pinched with disapproval, probably because she was the one who had to complete his transfer paperwork after the school year had already started. Anakin made a note to avoid this one. He sensed trouble.

"Yes ma'am, thank you," he stood from the chair that was much too large and followed her pointing finger down the stark white hallway. Coruscant was a scary enough place for a fresh-faced kid from backwater Tatooine, but this high school was even more intimidating. Nearly every student he had seen was dressed in the finest robes and carrying the latest tech. He clutched the old tomes tighter to his chest as he neared the open doorway.

Everything was so clean and dust-free. No sand in sight. A cough startled him out of studying the gleaming doorframe. "Mr. Skywalker?"

"Yes, sir," Anakin stepped inside at the older man's beckoning. The headmaster was tall and grey-haired, with a stern face that filled Anakin with foreboding. This wouldn't be a good man to land on the wrong side of. He tried to smile.

Headmaster Finis Valorum smiled back, and the sternness dissipated somewhat. Not enough. "Have a seat, young man. I have your schedule here."

When Anakin had settled into the white chair (why was everything white?), the headmaster settled back in his own seat and pulled up an interactive display over the desk's surface. "Your grades from the previous year on Tatooine are standard, Mr. Skywalker. I hope you realize that here at Coruscant High, we expect more than standard performances from our students."

Anakin bobbed his head. "Yes, sir, I plan to study very hard."

Valorum leaned forward, raising both eyebrows. "I hope you also understand that even though you are here on an athletic scholarship, we expect no less from you academically than any other student."

"Absolutely," Anakin nodded. "Sir."

"Well then," the man sighed and flicked a new image onto the display with a stout finger. "Your first class of the day is Applied Starship Mechanics. I'll take you that direction."

Anakin stood up quickly when he did and followed the headmaster out of the room. They passed the secretary, who looked down her long face at him like she smelled something bad. Anakin took a deep breath and hurried after Valorum.

They moved down several long hallways and rounded one corner at a brisk clip, and Valorum stopped. Anakin nearly ran into the back of him and sidestepped just in time. He looked ahead and spotted two figures locked in a tight embrace in one of the shadowed edges of the hallway.

"Mr. Palpatine, kindly remove your tongue from Mr. Amedda's mouth," Valorum sighed. "Or is it the other way around?"

Anakin giggled, a high pitched and nervous sound, and slapped his hand over his mouth as the boy in question pulled away from the bright green-flushing humanoid and looked back at the new arrivals. Unlike his companion, Palpatine didn't seem alarmed in the slightest. He smiled easily, revealing faintly crooked white teeth under a pair of almost colorless blue eyes.

"Headmaster Valorum, I thought you were meeting with the Board today."

"Young man, how do you know what my schedule - " Valorum stopped. "You know what? Nevermind. Don't you have a class to get to?"

"I might," his thin lips turned up at one corner, and he glanced at Anakin. Curiosity flashed in the pale depths, a look that speared Anakin to the floor, then he was sauntering away down the hall, his long arms swinging easily at his sides. Valorum watched him go, and Anakin had never seen such an expression before: exasperation and pride mingling together.

"Brilliant boy, and entirely too ambitious," Valorum stroked his chin and seemed to realize something. "Mas, don't you have Applied Starship Mechanics this hour?"

Mas was slowly returning to his normal sky blue color, but the horns of his lethorns still twitched nervously, and he shifted from shiny boot to boot. "Yes, Headmaster."

"Good. We can talk about being in the halls during class time later. Will you please escort Mr. Skywalker there? He is a new student in our school." Without waiting for a response, Valorum turned to Anakin and smiled an empty smile. He was already thinking of something else. "I look forward to seeing you around our halls, young Anakin."

"Um, same to..you, sir?" Anakin said to the long back retreating up the hallway. Valorum didn't seem to hear his whimpered response, but Mas pointed at his books.

"You need help carrying those?"

"No thanks, I think I can manage." Anakin fell into step beside the other, taller boy, shifting the stack in his hands.

Mas studied him openly. "You know, it's really weird seeing someone carrying traditional books around. Don't you have any flimsipads?"

"Uh, no I," Anakin swallowed, suddenly embarrassed. Of course they would notice he was different right away, too poor to even afford real school supplies. "My scholarship only covered my tuition," he finished in a mumbled rush at the floor. His hopes shattered on the gleaming white floor.

Mas's cold amphibious eyes regarded him, unblinking. "Okay, you might want to think about getting a bag, though."

Anakin stared. The Chagrian still wasn't looking down his nose at him or laughing at him. He cracked a smile. "Yeah, I guess I should."

The Chagrian paused, and then added, "I'm Mas Amedda, 3rd year." Mas extended a slightly moist hand, and Anakin shook it enthusiastically.

"I'm Anakin Skywalker, 2nd year."

"Welcome to Coruscant High." Mas nudged him into the next hall over, a smaller passage lined with doors of many sizes and shapes. "Here's a shortcut."

Anakin boggled at one of the doors, transparent and revealing a bubbling wall of water behind it. "What is this?" he asked, trying and failing to see into the murky room.

"This is the wing for non-standard students," Mas pointed. "That's for the ones who can't live out of water. They have their own private campus entries and everything."

"I've never seen so many different species," Anakin admitted. "On Tatooine, it was mostly Dugs and Jawas and Tusken Raiders."

Mas paused in the hallway and turned to look at him, a long black forked tongue suddenly flicking out and tasting the air. Later Anakin would learn that this meant he was either surprised or perturbed. "You come from Tatooine?"

"Yeah, wizard, huh?" He hoped the humanoid would get his sarcasm.

"You know any Hutts?"

Anakin scoffed. "Those slimos? Everyone on Tatooine knows them. They run the place."

Mas smirked. "You'd get along well with Palpatine. Ever since the little slug Jabba ratted him out at his last private school, he's hated their slimy guts."

Anakin hesitated. "Palpatine… He was, back there?" He remembered the faintly dismissive eyes, the cool appraisal, like the older boy had been able to peer into his soul in one glance. He also remembered what Palpatine had been doing, and he felt his cheeks burning.

Mas nodded, flushing a faint green. "Yeah, we're together right now, but sometimes I get the feeling he only puts up with me for my spot in the Student Senate." He sighed. "Nobody's supposed to know, but everyone does. He's exciting, and I think I've in love, but he's flighty, you know what I mean?"

Anakin didn't, and the conversation was making him very nervous, but he nodded like he knew. "You bet."

Mas steered him down yet another hall, and Anakin was getting completely lost. The Chagrian shrugged as they walked. "As long as I stay one Senate procedure ahead of him, I should be good."

Oh. All this talk of politics had Anakin worried. Was this one of those schools, where everyone obsessed over who got to run the circus? He wasn't very good at politics. Really, all he wanted was a chance to get on the racing team.

"Here we are," Mas announced as they rounded a final, bright green door. Just beyond, the room was filled with younglings of all shapes and sizes, huddling over welding tools and tortured pieces of metal that Anakin faintly recognized as starship parts. "You're in luck, it's a lab today."

Anakin felt the worry slide away. This, he could do.