As I grew up I was always so carefree, nothing could bother me. I know it sounds like every other person's story, but it all changed in high school. No, not because I was being bullied and being beaten up (in fact, if someone dared even touch me I'd rip them to shreds, so no one does that). Everyone has always disliked me, but they're actually pretty polite about it and keep it to themselves. I changed once I realized how alone I am. My grandfather always stuck with my little brother instead of me, my little brother doesn't pay attention to me because I'm a nuisance to him, and everyone else just didn't like me. Then I got a big complex and started over-thinking anything and everything.

I do indeed have three friends, but two are very popular and the other has his boyfriend who he's madly in love with, so we're not as close as we used to be as children. It sucks knowing that everyone hates you. I keep acting the way I used to though, even though it's so damn hard. I lost all self-confidence, yet I kept acting as if I was so in love with myself. I threw around the word 'awesome' to describe myself and other things all the time even though I never mean it. It's an empty word, just like how I'm an empty person.

I decided to not be a depressing person though, since that will make people dislike me even more. And as much as I wanted to just go to sleep and forget about school and my future, I kept on drilling that into my head.

As I stepped in front of the world academy for my first day as a senior, I reminded myself that one more time before walking in through the front doors with a deep breath.

The halls were a sea of people. The freshmen were scrambled everywhere, looking terrified, the sophomores pushing around the freshman, the juniors grabbing there books and walking to class like normal people, and seniors not giving a shit about anything and just talking to friends. There was always the occasional mix of grades, where a kid in one grade is doing something that someone from a different grade usually does, but this year almost everyone was doing just what I had said before. There was only one boy though, who I guessed was maybe a junior or a sneaky freshman, who looked terrified and was walking quickly with a kid in the same grade as me. I had never seen him before but I recognized the older kid as Alfred, one of my few friends.

"Yo Al!" I yelled out and he whipped his head around. I waved my hand up high and he smiled and pushed past everyone with the boy.

"Gilbert! How ya doin' man?" Alfred is the star player on the school's football team (not soccer, football. I don't understand why it's called that though, since 'soccer' is the real football). He's really popular of course, but we've always gotten along and became good friends last year. A lot of people gave him weird looks for hanging out with me, but he always shrugged them off and said whatever because he liked hanging out with me. That's a good friend right there.

"Awesome as always, of course," I mentally punched myself in the face. God, I'm such a liar.

"Gil, this is my little bro Matthew! Matt, Gil. Gil, Matt. He's a sophomore." I guess I was wrong about him being a freshman or junior. If he was a sophomore, I wondered why I had never seen him around before.

"H-Hi, nice to meet you," He spoke softly and shyly, so quiet it was almost unheard. He's Alfred's brother!? No way! Alfred was loud and was always outgoing around new people, but this boy was shy and soft-spoken. They looked alike a bit, but they were obviously very different.

"Nice to meet you too!" I smile at him. He finally shifted his gaze from the floor to my face. He had a pink tint to his cheeks and his eyes were wide, making him look somewhat childish. His irises were an intense yet soft purple. I had never seen purple eyes that were as kind and soft looking as his, so naturally they had me staring. They were so… pretty.

After I had realized I was staring directly into his eyes I suddenly felt shy. I coughed and looked away, my face feeling warm. I glanced at him quickly to see him looking down again, face now a bright red instead of pink. I chuckled awkwardly.

"Uh, guys? Do you want to all walk together?" Alfred asked, finally breaking the uncomfortable silence. He looked between his brother and me. I looked up at him, wishing the heat on my face would vanish.

"Yeah, sure," I gave a small smile.

"Okay! We'll walk you, Mattie, to your room. Then Gil and I will go to homeroom," We started walking off, all just staying to the side so not to bump into the frantic and stressed students. Alfred said hi to a few kids along the way while Matthew and I stayed quiet.

Matthew looked quite scared when he was forced to leave his brother's side and go into homeroom. Alfred gave him a reassuring hug before we started walking again. I hadn't a clue as to why his Matt was so scared to go into his room, but his teary violet eyes even made me feel sad.

"Al? Why was Matthew so scared when he arrived to class? If he's in 10th grade he should be used to leaving you, right?"

Alfred's expression went serious and he looked down, his eyes turning glassy. "O-oh, hey bro, did I say something bad? Don't cry or anything, I'm sorry!" I panicked. I had a tendency to blurt things out, whether it was something I was thinking or something I did not mean at all, the words would just fly right out of my mouth. I never realize I do when it happens, but it often makes people sad or angry with me.

"No, no. I'm sorry… I don't really want to talk about it though," He wiped his eyes before walking into the classroom.

"Alright… You tell me if you do need to talk or something. The awesome me is an awesome listener!"

Alfred gave a small laugh and replied, "Thanks man."

We sat down next to each other, not really caring that we're supposed to be sitting in alphabetical order. No one really does that anyways.

The room fills with hushed whispers as the teacher begins calling out names for attendance. Instead of talking to me anyways, as Alfred usually did during any class we've ever had together, he stares at me intensely.

"Uh, can I help you?" I ask a bit nervously.

"Yes, actually," He answered with an unusually serious expression. "I'm not going to pretend I didn't see you staring at my brother the way you were…"

Alfred looked straight into my eyes and I felt my cheeks heat up slightly at the mention of when I accidentally starting staring. "Do you dislike him or something? You were looking at him kind of weird. He already has enough trouble in his life right now, so if I find out you're mean to him I will kill you." He said, dead serious.

"What? That's not it at all! And I'd never be mean to him, especially since he's your little brother."

"Good," What does he mean by trouble? Matthew seems too shy and polite for people to actually dislike him, I thought.

"What class do you have next?" Al asks, snapping out of his seriousness and back to having a goofy smile on his face.

"Gilbert Beilschmidt?" The teacher calls.

"Here!" I raise my hand then turn my attention back to Alfred. "Gym, you?"

"Really? Matt's got gym next too. I have algebra," He sighs heavily.

"Ha, sucks for you!" I laugh loudly.

Alfred and I parted ways after since the gym was on the other side of the school. I walk there slowly, not really wanting to go there, just as most kids in the school.

I reach the gym and am instantly greeted by loud yelling and someone's paper ball missing there friend and hitting my head instead. People were running around or talking with their friend on the bleachers—except for Matthew. He sat on the bleachers but was in the corner, head going back and forth watching everyone run around. I decide to sit next to Matthew since I'm not friends with any of these annoying people.

"Hallo!"

"O-Oh, hello Gilbert," He greeted back quietly.

"So, do you like gym?" I ask him. He was obviously feeling a little awkward, so I thought I should at least attempt to make a small conversation.

"Well I don't know…" He paused, looking down instead of looking at me. "I'm not good at most sports except for hockey, so I don't think I really like gym all too much. Do we play hockey here?" He really must not have been to this school before.

"Yeah! I love hockey! But I'm terrible at it," I smiled. He gave a small laugh, and then looked down at his old white Converse. We both stay silent for a minute or two before, surprisingly, Matthew spoke.

"There's no need to sit with me just because I'm Alfred's brother, you know. No need to pretend to like me."

"What? I chose to sit next to you. You seem like a nice kid, I'm not pretending with anything," He must be really self-conscious or something. "Unless, you don't want me sitting next to you? I'll move, if you want."

"No! I don't mind, I'm just pretty used to people pretending to be my friend; they'll pretend to like me because if they do or say anything mean to me Alfred would kick their , and since he's popular they don't want a bad reputation. But after a while they'll just disappear… So, if you're only doing this because of Alfred, don't. Please."

"I'm not pretending, really," I say seriously, causing him to look back up, his sad expression leaving and being replaced with a small smile.

"O-Okay," He shyly looked back down again so I just started looking a everyone else. Most of them looked like idiots. I thought maybe there would be chance I'd start talking to people more in my last year, but the only seemingly normal people in the gym is Matthew and a couple sat at the very top of the bleachers. Key word: seemingly.

Matthew was normal as far as I could tell, but the couple was a little weird. The one guy, Ivan Braginski, was really tall and a great fighter (according to the stupid people who chose to start a fight with him) but had chubby cheeks. His eyes were violet like Matthew's, but a bit duller. He's a nice guy to everyone that is to him, but definitely is intimidating and kind of creepy.

Ivan's boyfriend, Yao, is a little less friendly than Ivan, but is still nonetheless. His long hair was kept in a ponytail. He was significantly shorter than his boyfriend, but was a great fighter just like him (again, according to the stupid people who decided to start a fight with him too). Overall, they were both just a bit… odd.

Maybe if Matthew is okay with me I'll just stick around him.

"Today we're not doing anything because we're sorting out your lockers. Feel free to talk as you already have been." The gym teacher says loudly. Everyone gets rowdier while Matthew and I keep quiet.

I didn't really talk much for the rest of the day either. I found that I only had homeroom and history with Alfred, and no classes at all with my only other friend Antonio and Francis (I do walk in the halls with them though, so it's not like we don't see each other at all). Everyone in my classes is even more annoying than I am.

This is going to be a long year.