10 years ago, the Atmos Alliance went out to war with the Cyclnoians; Lightning Strike was the leader. All seemed well, and then his own co-pilot, Ace betrayed him; fortunately for Lightning however, he reacted quick enough to fight back when Ace drew his sword. He blocked Ace's blow while trying to keep balance on his Skimmer, he then managed to take back his sword and knock Ace off his Skimmer. The Atmos Alliance won that day, and Lightning Strike was able to return home to his two children: Aerrow and Iris.
Today, it's their first day of school; Aerrow is going into ninth grade, big deal for Laurel and Lightning as Aerrow will be going into his first year in the Senior wing at Atmosia Secondary School. The school is divided into two sections, the Junior wing which teaches grades six to eight, and the Senior wing which teaches grades nine to twelve. Iris on the other hand is going into seventh grade, her second year at Atmosia Secondary.
The siblings entered the gates of the school, Aerrow noticed the school sign at the gates read Welcome back students! on it. Aerrow let out a sigh as he and his younger sister walked past to the admissions office to see who their homeroom teachers were.
"I'll see you later, and I'll remember to tell you all about how totally awesome being in the Senior wing is," Aerrow says to Iris as he departs and enters through the doors of the Senior wing with a cocky smile on his face.
It looks much different than the Junior wing, much larger too, the boy thought to himself. He had to try and find room B205, he had no idea where he was going however he thought by casually roaming the hallways, he'd have to find the room or a friend to point him to that direction. In fact, he got so lost in his own thoughts he didn't exactly watch where he was going as he bumped into someone, Shakia Noel to be exact. She and her books fell onto the floor from the impact.
"Hey! I'm sorry, I should have watched where I was going, you okay?" Aerrow asked as he knelt down and helped her gather her books.
"Yeah," the girl giggled quietly, she then abruptly got up and practically ran off giggling.
The boy raised an eyebrow before continuing his roaming for a rough five seconds. He honestly didn't understand why a lot of girls had a huge crush on him.
"Hey loser!" a familiar voice called out. It was his best friend, Finn. He was waving to him and standing with him were his friend and neighbor of same age, Carolina, and an older friend Vinny.
Aerrow let out a laugh before saying, "Hey yourself, love ya too buddy."
"Hey Aerrow," Vinny chuckled, "how ya liking your first day as a freshman so far?"
"I dunno, I just got here," Aerrow responded with a shrug, "hey, do any of you guys know where room B205 is?"
"Pretty sure it's down past the crush area, hey we have the same homeroom," Carolina cheerfully said pointing straight ahead.
"Man, we don't have the same homeroom, but my homeroom is B212 so we're close by," Finn said, nudging Aerrow's arm.
"The B200 area is just straight down the hallway, go up the stairs, and take a left on the mezzanine," Vinny said.
"Alright I'll find it somehow, wanna come with, Finn?" Aerrow says then looks at Finn.
"Yeah sure why not?" Finn says and the two set off to find the B200 area.
"The crush area is probably where our lockers will be!" Carolina called as the two boys left.
"Noted," Aerrow called back.
They had no trouble finding the crush area, which was packed with lots of people, all familiar faces Aerrow knew. However, one new face stuck out to Aerrow as he and Finn walked past. It was a girl with spiky midnight blue hair secured in an orange headband and dark skin; she was placing her books in her locker, she was assumed to be his age if her locker was in the crush area.
"Hey Finn," Aerrow says, gently nudging his friend, "who's that over there?" he asks, motioning his head towards the girl with no falter in their steps.
"Oh, that's Piper," Finn frowned, "I was actually hoping my parents weren't being serious when they said she'd be going here."
"You mean, that's Byron's sister you're always complaining about?" Aerrow asked.
"Unfortunately," Finn says, shaking his head.
Byron, who is in eleventh grade is a family friend of Finn's; they live on neighboring terras and Finn's father is a blacksmith who Byron's parents went to. Apparently Byron had a younger sister, Piper who is Aerrow and Finn's age but however went to a private school on their home terra. Finn had always complained about Piper talking about how she's a huge "smarty-pants" and had an "obsession" with crystals. Despite Aerrow and Finn being best friends and Aerrow associating and being on good terms with Byron (whenever he saw him), he had never met Piper.
"That's Piper?" Aerrow asked with raised eyebrows, "I never pictured her to look like that," he added, not in an insulting way; Aerrow honestly thought she was really pretty.
"Dude, what did you think she looked like?" Finn asked as the pair approached the stairs to the mezzanine.
"I don't know, had glasses, braces, and was chubby? You never really talked about how she looked, Finn."
"Dude," Finn laughed as they reached the top of the stairs and turned left, "you think she's attractive, don't you?"
"Uh- I- didn't say anything about dating her!" Aerrow stammered.
"Dude, you can do so much better than her. You're popular, she on the other hand, is gonna be labeled as a nerd. Plus, she knows Sky Fu so she can totally kick your butt if you upset her. Even Hallee could be a better match for you."
"What? No- anybody can be a better match than Hallee!" Aerrow retorted.
Hallee is Aerrow's ex girlfriend; they dated for a great majority of eighth grade until she kissed Aerrow's friend at the time, Kad. Aerrow found out, he and Kad got into a fist fight, and that ended Aerrow and Kad's friendship. Aerrow wanted to work things out with Hallee but before he could do any of that, Hallee dumped him; not long after that, Hallee and Kad started going out and to this day, they're still together.
"Look, there's room B205," Aerrow says, desperate to stow Finn away from the topic of Hallee.
"Awesome! My homeroom shouldn't be too far," Finn says, "oh, and why don't you go for Carolina? She's cute, and you guys went to junior formal together."
Aerrow frowned at his failed attempt to steer Finn away from the dating topic, "Yes but Carolina and I are just friends, she is really pretty and totally awesome to be around but I don't see her as anything more than a friend. That's what we went to junior formal as: friends."
Aerrow did believe Carolina was pretty; she was thin, short, had fair skin, black hair that was always in a half-ponytail, maroon eyes with wide-framed glasses and red lips. He and Carolina had known each other when she moved down the road from him in fourth grade, and had been friends since. Aerrow had no intentions of dating her and he was positive Carolina felt the same way. The bell rang to break Aerrow from his thoughts and from this dating topic Finn all of a sudden can't seem to leave alone.
"Hey, I think that was the bell to go to homeroom so I'll see you around, Finn," Aerrow said with a wave.
"Yeah, see ya later dude," Finn said with a smile then departed.
Piper sat at her desk fiddling her thumbs and avoiding eye contact with anyone who looked at her. Within her first hour she knew this, public school is much louder than private school and had a lot more people; people she didn't know. The only people she knew at Atmosia Secondary were Finn and her older brother who never went to private school, Byron. Byron had his own group of friends and she knew it would be weird to hang out with her brother so she thought she'd leave him alone, and Finn, well she'd rather sit on a cactus than hang around him. She rubbed her brow, she was apprehensive about how this day will go, she might make some friends, people might think she's a freak, she didn't know what today will bring; she knew she was likely to get lost at least five times, she had to get Byron to show her to her homeroom. This is going to be a long day... the girl thought.
Finn sat at his desk in the back left corner of the classroom right next to the row of windows, his second period class was in the same classroom as his homeroom, so he didn't have to get up from where he sat. However, his teacher seemed like a complete bore, Mrs. Snow, she looked as if she was in her fifties and she had a nasally droning voice that could cause anyone to fall asleep. To top it all off, it was English class; Finn never got great English marks therefore he didn't like English class. He hoped some friends would come save him from his English class boredom as he watched the familiar faces of kids his age piling into the classroom; some of them he knew where supposed to be a grade level or two ahead, implying they must have failed. He solemnly watched people slowly pile into the classroom until he caught sight of Aerrow and Carolina walking into the classroom.
"YES!" Finn happily shouted with a fist in the air. Aerrow and Carolina's conversation broke as they heard Finn, they both smiled at Finn as they walked over to the empty desks around him. Aerrow sat beside Finn and Carolina sat at the desk in front of Finn.
"Hey Finn, isn't this your homeroom?" Aerrow asked the blonde.
"Yeah it is, why?" Finn asked.
"How's the teacher?" Aerrow asked.
"Dude, I think my pillows have more personality than her," Finn said with sarcasm dripping in his voice.
"So in other words, she's boring?" Carolina asked trying to pinpoint a personality, then she looked at the door and gasped, "Vixen!" she exclaimed and started hitting the desk with the palm of her hand as a way to get her best friend Vixen to sit there.
Vixen is described as a slightly tan thin and tall girl with blue eyes and light blonde hair tied back in a ponytail with some loose bangs hanging in her face topped with a purple headband. She smiled at Carolina and sat down at the desk Carolina wanted her to sit. "Hey guys, what's up?" she asked looking at the people surrounding her.
"The ceiling,"Finn said sarcastically pointing up, the annoyed look he received from Vixen in response made him and Aerrow laugh.
Aerrow looked over to his right and saw one of his other friends, Ivan sitting down at the desk next to him, "Oh, hey Ivan," Aerrow said with a friendly smile.
"Aerrow, buddy, what's up?" Ivan said with a smile.
"Oh ya know, waiting for class to start with these losers," Aerrow said pointing at his friends with his thumb.
"Dude, I am not a loser. If anything I make your life better," Finn said with a cocky smile, using his fingers as pistols.
"Keep dreaming, Finn," Vixen laughed.
"Hey Aerrow, there's your best friend named Kad, and the love of your life, Hallee," Carolina said dramatically with her hands on her chest, evidently refraining from laughter.
Aerrow looked over and saw Hallee and Kad, walking in holding hands; Hallee's nose was high in the air, no surprise to Aerrow. Hallee had long light brown hair that stopped just above her belly button, was thin, tall, and tan with brown eyes. Kad on the other hand was a good few inches taller than Hallee, Aerrow an inch or so taller than Kad. He was very thin with black hair semi neatly combed over. The pair went and sat at the opposite side of where Aerrow and his group of friends sat. While Kad wouldn't even look in their direction Hallee noticed Aerrow and his small group of friends were looking; Hallee looked over to where Aerrow was sitting, gave him a small smile and winked.
"Dude," Finn laughed and hit Aerrow's desk twice with the palm of his hand, "did you just see that?"
"Yeah, I kinda wish I didn't," Aerrow said, with his face formed into a frown, "I don't understand what she's trying to do."
"She's trying to get you to miss her, kinda like saying 'hey Aerrow, see what you're missing?' kinda deal," Ivan said lightly ruffling his blueish purple hair. He had almost the exact same hairstyle as Kad, just a different color.
"That's the smartest thing you ever said, String Bean, good for you," Carolina teased. Carolina always joked around with her friends, it's what she did. She called Ivan "String Bean" because he was really thin and about a couple inches taller than Aerrow, so he looked like that kind of stringy looking skinny.
"Oh quiet you," Ivan said rolling his eyes, "hey, are you and Vixen still friends with Hallee, speaking of her," Ivan questioned.
"Dude, they haven't been friends since Hallee and Aerrow broke up," Finn said with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, she got mad that I told Aerrow she kissed Kad," she stated, "and then got even more mad that I went to junior formal with him, but yeah she hates me now. It's her problem though, she shouldn't have been kissing other guys while dating someone."
"She only hates me because I told her that she can't make me choose between her and Carolina," Vixen said adding on to what Carolina said.
"Dude, she's just a snob," Finn said, rolling his eyes.
The bell rang to indicate period two was beginning and Mrs. Snow rose from her desk to the front of the classroom, "Good morning everyone, I'm Mrs. Snow. I will be your English 9 teacher for the year," the lady began, she looked over to where Hallee and Kad were sitting, "and don't think I can't see you guys making out in my classroom, just because you guys are in the back corner doesn't mean I can't see you," she droned.
That caused a quiet burst of laughter coming from Aerrow, Finn, and Carolina. After a couple of seconds, the snickering died down as Mrs. Snow began to ramble on about more stuff that nobody bothered to listen to.
"Hey Ivan, what class does Brys have right now?" Aerrow whispered.
Brys is Ivan's best friend; he's basically that big and brawny guy of the group although he's not aggressive unless the situation calls for it. He's nearly six foot tall and he's not muscular as a Wallop however he's nearly the size of one, he's got some muscle and some fat content despite being athletic like the rest of his friends. Either way, Brys is a complete goofball and when he's with Ivan, it's twice the goof.
"I don't know, I haven't seen or talked to him since this morning before homeroom," Ivan responded in a whisper, "his homeroom's pretty much on the other side of the school."
"Man, that sucks," Finn piped in, "well whatever he has right now, hopefully he has a better teacher than this lame-o."
After Finn said that, there was a knock on the door. Mrs. Snow strolled to the front door to open it and it revealed Brys with a sheepish grin.
"Hey, I'm in your class. Yeah, I got lost. Sorry about that," Brys said sheepishly.
"Just, go take a seat," the older lady said, rolling her eyes and returning to the front of the class to continue on what she was saying.
"Hey dude," Finn whispered as Brys sat down in the seat in front of Ivan, "you're in this class?"
"Yeah, this wing is confusing, I got lost and had to get some senior to show me here," Brys replied.
"Was it my sister?" Finn asked.
"Obviously not, otherwise he would have said it was your sister," Ivan said sarcastically.
"Dude, just asking," Finn said defensively with his hands up next to his head.
Aerrow kinda rolled his eyes playfully, he had a feeling this class would be very interesting...
Piper's morning classes weren't bad so far; apart from the numerous stares she'd receive from people, nobody has talked to her. She wasn't complaining about that, it was better than getting bullied. However, she had the rest of the day to go, after getting lost a couple of times around the school and having light breakdowns and getting Byron to show her where her class was, she sat down at a desk in that very class for fourth period: Math. Piper was a high achiever in math class, just like every other class but she liked math because it was never an easy class for most people. She didn't want to do math as again she looked down to avoid any eye contact with people who happened to walk by, it didn't help the fact that their eyes were burning into her head; it irritated her. She couldn't wait until she wasn't the "new girl" anymore. She was too lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear the chair beside her scratch against the floor as someone pulled it out and sat down.
"Hello," a voice with a thick french accent said. Piper lifted her head and looked over to her left. A girl had sat beside her, she had thin, dark green hair, and blue eyes. She gave a friendly smile to Piper.
"Hi," Piper responded with a small smile; it honestly felt good that someone was talking to her and not gawking at her.
"How is your first day here?" The girl asked.
Piper sighed, "I guess it could be worse," she says and lets out a laugh.
"Zat is true," the girl laughed, "I'm sure eet will get better, I am not sure how eet feels being at a new school with people I don't know but I don't imagine eet is zat fun."
"It's not at all, you know, you're the first person to talk to me today. Everyone else just kinda stared at me," Piper said gratefully.
The girl started to giggle a little, "I am honored, I'm Dove by zee way."
"I'm Piper," The blue haired girl responded with a smile.
"Well, Piper it's nice to meet you. So what are you doing at lunch, because I was wondering if you wanted to sit with me and my friends?" Dove asked.
"I would love to," Piper says with a smile.
"Awesome, zey are pretty awesome people and very funny, you'll love them," Dove says.
Piper and Dove continued chatting throughout the entire class. Maybe this won't be such a bad day after all... Piper mused.