Chapter One
Mike Ross walked cautiously along the empty hallways of his high school. His seemingly smart decision to come in early on this first day of school – to sign up early for elective courses – was turning out to be quite a dumb idea, after all.
After finishing signing his name for his selected electives, Mike had headed for the library to check the hours of operations for the coming semester. On the way, he had inadvertently passed by the gymnasium and came to face-to-face with the school's football team – who was there for early morning practice. And unfortunately for Mike, amongst the member of that team was Trevor – the most popular jock in the school and Mike's biggest adversary.
Due to Mike's special placement in the school (he is already a junior at only fourteen years old, after skipping most of his elementary classes due to his photographic and eidetic memory); he had borne the brunt of much bullying from his much older peers. Sure, most of the time those instances were solved by agreeing to do some extra homework or giving up his lunch money – but sometimes the physical ramifications of their actions were beginning to be hard to explain to Mike's grandmother.
So, on this day, Mike is choosing to try his hardest to avoid the team; to prevent them from catching him. He knew of the "first day high-school blues" – he didn't want those guys to make an example of him in front of the incoming freshmen. What he needed, at this moment, are some credible witnesses – either teachers or one of his two friends.
Mike glanced at the watch hanging in the hallway, it was 7:45am; considering that classes don't officially begin until 9:00am, he was somewhat screwed – the logical thing to do would just be to walk back home, but at this moment, he had no idea where the football team was.
BAM! Mike heard a fist slam into one of the lockers – the sound definitely close by. It was soon followed by the boisterous laughter of the typical high school jocks. Mike took a deep breath and rounded the corner.
"Well, hello there Mr. Ross," sneered Trevor; accompanied by the smirks of most of his teammates.
Mike tried to remain cool. "Hello, Trevor," he replied.
Trevor began to make his way toward him, sneer permanently on his face. "Now, what could you be doing here so early in the morning?"
"Ah, you know…the whole early bird catches the worm thing," Mike said nervously.
"What a funny thing to say," Trevor remarked while gesturing for two of his teammates to grab Mike.
Luckily, Mike was on to it and was able to act quickly, dodging the two pairs of arms about to grab him. With the element of surprise, he quickly scrambled up on his feet and ran as fast as he could from the bullies. With only seconds in delay, they charged right after him.
Mike didn't have any sense of direction; he let his feet carry him along the empty walkways of the school. Then he saw movement, as he passed by the window. There was a car pulling into the parking lot. Mike made that his new target; he needed to get to that car. He could hear the jocks closing in on him – but with a target in sight, Mike only gained more speed. He pushed open the double doors leading to the school parking lot, running across the empty lot to reach the car that had just parked.
The guy was still inside, seeming to be too immersed in the content of his backpack to notice Mike – that is until, Mike Ross practically broke the car window as he banged against it.
The guy in the car was startled to say the least – but Mike didn't have time for formalities and simply grabbed the door handle; sure enough it was open. He had let himself into the car before the older boy owning it could even say a word.
"Drive," Mike pleaded to the unknown driver.
The older boy looked at him, incredulous. "Look kid," he said, "I don't know what kind of game this is but I'm supposed to be meeting someone here. If your mom and dad forgot to drop you off at kindergarten or something, that is really not my problem!"
Mike took a deep breath. "Look, I'm not playing a game. If you drive me out of this lot right now, I'll make it worth your while."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Mike eyes widened, just realizing what he had just said. "Homework help, tutoring," he explained, "You name it, and I can help you."
The older boy still gave him a weird expression. But then he looked beyond the boy's shoulders, to where a bunch of kids in uniform had just exited the building: bullies. He now understood the situation. With a heavy sigh, he started up the car and reversed out of the spot.
He made it a point to pass directly by the bunch of boys by the school doors, glaring at them through his window as he exited the school parking lot. He turned to the kid in his passenger seat, who looked to have gained some colour back in his face.
"What are you even doing at the high school, kid?" he asked. "Are you trying to get beat up?"
The kid looked at him. "No," he answered, "I go there. I'm a junior."
The older boy scoffed. "Are you serious? You look like you're seven."
Mike gave a deadpan expression. "I'm fifteen, and I'm smarter than all of those meathead combined. Probably including you."
"You say you're smart, kid?" the older teen asked. "Well, make it a point not to insult the guy driving you away from the bullies about to beat the crap out of you."
Mike sighed. "Sorry, I'm a little tense." He offered a hand to the stranger that just saved him. "I'm Mike Ross."
The older boy ignored his hand. "Harvey Specter," he stated coolly, "Now, I want you prove to me just how smart you are."
