High school, the last place a kid has to go through before real life sucker punches them square in the face. It is still a dangerous place for many people, but the number has declined over the years. The only way to have high school dangerous for you is if you happen to be different from the crowd and is also noticed by the crowd.
Eridan Ampora was planning high school to be a repeat of middle school, alone and being picked on for being alone. What he didn't know is that someone wouldn't take it.
The first day of high school went pretty swell. Eridan hardly had any classes with people from middle school, which means that a better start could be given then how middle school went. He did end up with the one person he hates the most in the class he would hate the most, Sollux Captor in computer class. They pretty much ignored each other, which is all right for Eridan.
Eridan was fairly tall, even though it was common for guys to get growth spurts. Eridan has always towered over everyone, and he still does, currently going at 6'4". Some people he's known for some time now are getting close to his height, but he is pretty much the tallest person in school. This earns him some notice from people.
Eridan also keeps a bit of his brownish blondish hair dyed his favorite color, violet. Quite a few people in middle school made fun of him for dyeing only part of his hair violet, but he always told himself that they were jealous that he came up with it first.
He also wears a scarf, like always wears a scarf. Most of the time it's a blue and black striped scarf but sometimes he changes it up with some of his other scarves. People also used to tease him about wearing a scarf, claiming that it was perfect for someone with cold blood and a cold heart.
Eridan's gotten used to it all really. The only thing that really gets to him is that no one would be seen with him. They were taught in school that you should feel proud being around people like you and to always make new friends, but no one ever tried being friends with him, the fish boy.
He got his first insult of the year and of high school at lunch. It was one of the old ones, which Eridan doesn't understand why they keep using it. All he does anymore when they use it is walk away. He does that most of the time anyway, choosing to ignore them instead of getting into a conflict.
Unexpectedly, someone actually went against the insulter. It was a short kid with black hair and pale skin, he shouted quite a lot. He was in all the classes before lunch that Eridan has, but he hasn't thought about that yet.
The kid shouts at the insulter and his friends, saying how they should treat people the way they were treated. They looked frightened by the small kid; his voice is what scaring them. After he was done with his yelling, the insulter ran for safety in numbers and the kid turned to look at Eridan.
A small thanks was given from Eridan, but the small guy yelled at him for not standing up for himself. Eridan merely crosses his arms in amusement, slightly smirking. After some discussion, Eridan recalled that this midget's name is Karkat Vantas. He couldn't help be wonder why Karkat even bothered to help him, but after he asked, Karkat merely said that no one should be treated with disrespect. Eridan makes a mental note to thank Karkat again some other time, as lunch ends before he could thank again.