"C'mon, Darrell! Get out of bed, we need to go to hell!" I groggily opened my eyes, looking to my left. The source of the noise was my younger brother at age 13, Tommy. I sat up and he ran out of my room, I took my time to groan. At first I didn't understand why he said hell, but-"First day of school. How many more times will we do this?" My partner in crime-Cassidy the Espeon-spoke telepathically.
"Well, assuming I don't fail any year-" "How did we even scrape by last year?" I ignored that comment and continued talking. "And the fact that I'm 16, we have about 2 more years of highschool. Then we can go on a Pokemon quest and likely fail, or go to college. But wanna know what's even more unlikely?" I leaned closer to the Espeon, grinning. "Uh… what?" I let out a short laugh. "Getting a job without a college degree. Like that'll happen!" If I born in a different time period, I may have slapped my knees at that. However, I decided to do anything else instead. My phone said it was 7am, 40 minutes until the bus arrives.
I went through my dresser, pulling out a black t-shirt, sweatpants and underwear. I went to go take a shower, letting Cassidy do whatever she does when I am not around. I stripped and went into the shower, wincing from how cold it was, I still proceeded to step in knowing it would get warmer.
However, luck was not on my side. I kept waiting for the water to get warmer, but a minute in and checking the nob, still cold. I inhaled. "FuUUUUU-"
I would have to get back at my younger sibling for that later. One shower that certainly didn't help me relax later, and I checked myself in the mirror. I had caucasian skin, black hair dropping a bit, and overall smooth skin. Of course I also had the clothes I picked out from earlier. I stepped out of the shower that wasn't steaming of course, and checked my phone next to my bed. 7:30. "Cassidy, let's get this shit show over with." I muttered, loud enough for her to hear. I wondered why my Espeon comrade always came with me in school, but she always just said it was not that bad, and what else did she have to do?
I walked down the stairs of our middle class house, and walked out the door-backpack in tow-into the region of my families choice; Merica. It was a sunny day out, our neighborhood seemed like the kind you would see in a opening to a sitcom. As usual for us, Cassidy stayed in my bag for now, I have more pockets for papers and binders anyways (My backpack is big!). "Let's get ready to see the non-existent people waiting for you at school! What's the homeroom again? I will navigate better than you." Helpful, but sometimes annoying. "That's my charm." Oh boy. Reading my mind. Again. The room number in 312. "Gotcha, gonna stop invading your whole 'talk to the reader to explain info the writer wouldn't give himself', thing. Y'know, give em context?" Thus, the 4th wall was shattered. Give me a second while I put it back up.
…
…
…
...
is back online.
Got it. I am Darrell Shawn. A Junior in highschool, no-friend extraordinaire. Although, I really just need Cassidy to pull me through, not having friends doesn't get you anywhere in social life… if at all. Me and Cassidy have one of those bickering relationships where we go back and forth, but we both know we don't mean anything by it. I met Cassidy when she was abandoned, I took her in even against my family's will. They still don't support my decision, but I work to keep her fed. I never understood why my family didn't like Cassidy before I came to a conclusion, they just didn't want to take care of another thing. My mom and dad didn't want more to worry about, and for long periods at a time practically neglect me and Tommy. They also never liked Pokemon much, they were a bunch of neat freaks, they disgust me more than Muk. Due to this, me and my parents don't get along, I don't exactly mind them being gone, they constantly send money while gone on their business trips. Besides, me and Cassidy take care of ourselves well, and Tommy just goes on his phone all day.
"Done reflecting?" Sure. We walked down the street for a minute before we found the familiar sign from last year, the "BUS STOP - WATCH FOR KIDS" sign. I sighed and stood at the side walk. To others driving by I was staring at the side walk laughing, but I was actually having more psychic conversations. "Man, for how much you point out that I don't really have friends, you don't seem to be innocent either." I grinned maniacally, poking my companion. She had a devilish grin, no doubt she had a good comeback. "At least we Pokemon don't feel obligated to try and befriend everyone living around us. Hell, isn't that why you don't talk to other humans much? You're mostly anti-social, and honestly… I don't mind it. We will always have each other's backs, right?" Dang. That was a good point turning into something wholesome. I smiled, even if Cassidy was rash sometimes, she was still my best friend, and pretty much nothing could change that. "That's for sure." I simply responded as the bus rolled up.
I walked into the bus with as much confidence as I could, only for me to realize we had no seats left. Of course, my bus driver didn't give a shit, and with everybody blocking half of their seats with backpacks, I was walking around the bus, panicking. Then it got worse as the driver started to move again, not caring about basic bus safety. I fought to regain my balance when one person looked up from their phone and saw me, his eyes widened before he quickly removed the bag from half the seat, I gladly claimed it. "Thanks man!" I exclaimed, still salty that nobody else cared. "No problem." Then he went back to his phone, headphones in.
Him going back to whatever he was doing was not something I minded, and Cassidy was quick to complain about the shakiness. "Ugh… The audacity of most of these people you are expected to socialize with! Even in the bag I was thrashed around, and the worst part… I'm not even surprised. How have we made it through high school?" Her saying "we" was more truthful than not. I caught Cassidy as said before at age 13, right before I went to high school. When I was failing, me and Cassidy came up with plans to use her psychic powers to cheat. Usually schools make us return our Pokemon to the balls, but unlike any other psychic the school had ever seen, Cassidy's psychic worked even within the ball, transferring me the info I needed, although I was smart on my own, sometimes it's just not good enough for me to remember everything on tests. She only helped me cheat when she knew I needed it. See, Cassidy is a powerful Pokemon, using Psychic outside of the ball is hard for most psychics. The only way she learned it was by developing her power through battle, an activity we were quite competent at, although I would never admit it. We battled after school quite frequently, making quite a bit of money too.
Either way, it was time for a new year. I absentmindedly pet Cassidy, waiting for the bus to reach my school, Spring High School. "So uh… You should check your schedule." Great suggestion. I pulled out my schedule from another pocket in the bag, trying my best to not bother Cassidy, and took it out. We had a system where every other day is different classes, and every second time it's the other day (A day and B day, each with A1 and A2) it flipped the schedule upside down.
A1: Math, Pokemon Biology, Gym, Programming
A2: Programming, Gym, Pokemon Biology, Math
B1: English, Economics, Study, History
B2: History, Study, Economics, English
Oh boy. This is a doozy. I was hoping for something cool like Forensics, but nope mostly just math and artsy stuff. Whatever, it was what I expected. I showed Cassidy the paper and she had a similar reaction. I just kept petting her until we pulled into the giant building known as "High School", or by others "Hell For Teenagers". As the driver pulled into the circle behind a few buses, everyone got up. It was a race done every school day, whoever gets up first from the side they resided in got to go first, the other either acted quick enough after they left, or had to wait for everyone. Today I was prepared, so I won making the kid I was sitting next to and the person across from him have to wait as I took the spot in the single filed line. I got out of the bus and breathed in the fresh chilly air, taking in a few deep breaths of fresh air as if it was my last. I walked inside of the building, to my right was the office, but I wasn't heading there. Instead I kept walking until I saw the spiraling staircase, but no I wasn't going there either. Instead, I took a right until I saw the cafeteria to my left, breakfast at last.
I walked in the line for food and my nose was already stuffy. What do you want, Cass? "Do they have Pecha Berries?" I went on my toes in an attempt to see the food, only to be blocked by other kids backs. We'll see. If not second choice? "Uh… Just whatever you would have?" Can do.
After a minute of waiting, I finally reached where I was supposed to pick my food. I saw some breakfast sandwiches, and a assortment of berries… Yes! Pecha berries. I stretched out my hand to get the small plastic container, when another hand came for it. Hell no. I increased the stretch and got it first, pulling it back as soon as possible before grabbing my sandwich. I smirked to myself, Ah. I remember the struggle of getting what I wanted last year. That person is probably displeased right now, but I don't see a reason to hand it over. One person was gonna fail, no doubt. "You are inner monologuing about grabbing a specific type of food." I am aware.
After paying I went to sit down in the giant cafete- DING DING DING and the bell. "Best part is that you were so close to sitting down, ha! You have to deal with minor back strain!" Didn't you make fun of me for inner monologuing about grabbing fruit? "It's sarcasm you dolt. Although I bet you knew that and were just looking for a bad comeback." "Uh… are you ok there?" Someone said in a sweet voice, I straightened up my back so I could face the newcomer. It was a blonde haired girl with blue jeans and a blue sweatshirt. "Uh… yeah. Just daydreaming!" I stuttered before walking away, I was halfway to the door when "You forgot your food!" I scurried back, grabbed my food "Thanks!" before running out of the door. 3 minutes to class, if I'm late then I will look bad! "Yeesh, you humans are made fun of being late too much. What if something important happens? Who even cares about the stereotypical 'Here is the rules of the classroom' class anyways?" Sometimes I think you are just me with how similar we think.
I sped walk up the stairs to the second floor, as my first class (math) was located there. The halls were already starting to fizzle out with people, but I was close with a minute left. What could go wro- "Oof!" In my inner monologuing I accidentally bumped into someone else. I got up fast muttering sorry before looking at the person I accidentally knocked over. It was… the girl from breakfast. "Uhhhh… It's alright, let's just get to our classes and not be late." She said as she stood up, and I could not agree more. "Sorry!" Thus, I sped walk until I found room 213. I went into the bland room, noticing the generic "Math makes jobs!" type of posters. I noticed the only seat left was in the back, so I took the seat. However, it wasn't apparently as empty as I thought… I saw as I sat down a sorta hidden bag next to it, and sprung right out of the desk, but it was too late. "Were you stealing my seat?" A angry voice spoke, I turned around gulping as I saw the most generic jock ever. But before I could "admire" how much of a jerk I could already tell he was, he grabbed me by the color. However, I was ready for this shit, being a (sorta) loner gives you many similar situations. I spoke calmly to the threatening kid with black spiky hair "Put me down, I saw the bag when I sat down." he expected me to be scared, but did not let up. The teacher apparently walked in at this point "Gentlemen! Stop acting like little children. There should be enough seats." He stared around the room before narrowing his eyes at a "kid" that looked suspiciously old.
"Are you even supposed to be in this class?" He spoke to the man at the right of the room. "Uh… lemme check.." The guy lazily checked his bag before taking out his schedule. "Uh… I am Stewart and I am supposed to be here." He said, but he looked 25! "I bet you a cookie that he has stayed back at least a few years!" Deal. "I see…" The teacher checked his laptop on his desk before mumbling to himself. "Here." Thanks she increased my hearing so I could listen. "Uh...he's stayed back 4 years… Arceus why do you do this to me?" We did our best to cover up our laughs, but our face made it too obvious, thankfully the teacher didn't notice. "Very well. I have a deal for you gentlemen. You two both have Pokemon, yes?" We both nodded "If Stewart wins he will get the seat and you will get a spare one, if whatever your name is wins, I'll give you the seat and Stewart will be separated from the class due to age difference. How does that sound?" what do we do? "We have to take the chance. Plus, if we win you gain respect!" Respect I didn't want, and probably don't deserve. "You deserve some respect, you deal with your parents practically ditching you and your brother for weeks at a time while you are in school. Plus you deal with me and your other Pokemon." Gee… thanks. "What, are you day dreaming?" I quickly shook my head before speaking up. "I accept the battle." Unlike you may have known up to this point… Cassidy isn't my only Pokemon. Plus I have an ability nobody but me and my Pokemon know. See, I-