Author's Note: Welcome, welcome! Are y'all ready for greasers, turf wars, crooked politicians, and yankee girl gangs? This story has been bouncing around in my head for quite some time now and I'm super excited to present it to you! These first few chapters will be a little short as I introduce the main characters, but things will pick up quickly! Without further ado, enjoy!
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He rolled his eyes as they traveled to the overly ornate emblem on the corner of the envelope; he already knew the letter's contents. Putting out his cigarette in an overcrowded ashtray, he turned the envelope over in his hands.
Might as well get this over with…
The seal was ripped open and the envelope was torn haphazardly as he let out a sigh, surprised his hands were steady despite knowing what was to come.
Dear Grayson Iwata,
This letter is to serve as your third notice of your lack of compliance of our Academy's attendance policy. As an accelerated and prestigious School of Mechanical Studies, it is vital for our students to have a presence in the classroom.
The Academy's guidelines clearly state in Article 5, Section B (7) that "Students who are absent five (5) or more days during a semester without official written notice will be removed from the roster list, and therefore, expelled".
This letter is also notice of your termination as a student of Umbridge Mechanical Academy. We wish you the best in your academic future.
Sincerely,
Dean Daryl Faustus
Despite the briefness of the letter, he was still surprised he had actually read the entire thing. Upon studying the addressee once more, the young man crumpled the parchment into a ball and tossed it over his shoulder, not caring that it had landed nowhere near his wastebasket. He lit a fresh cigarette and sat on his lumpy bed with a loud creak, contemplating where to go from here.
Grayson. Gray. Son. Iwata. He hated his name – first and last.
Gray; it was the color of stormy skies. It was the tint of the dingy diner that stood on the corner of Walnut and Third Street. The very word seemed synonymous with unclean or ruined. No one liked the color gray; it was the hue of the mold that grew on his shabby dorm room's ceiling where the tenants upstairs had their community shower. He shuddered - it was the shade of the expired bread he found stashed in a forgotten corner of his kitchenette.
That being said, he despised his last name even more. After all, he shared a name with him. He had been a good father at one point, but the young man preferred to forget this fact. It hurt more to remember that his old man's heart was once capable of love.
The first few courses at the academy had been painfully easy – Gray almost laughed at the notion that this was considered an accelerated, prestigious program. The basics came naturally to him; the tips and tricks his father taught him while he was growing up paid off. He was his father's son, after all.
This notion disgusted him as he made the realization of it.
It was a few semesters in when he remembered this unfortunate fact, and it consumed him. He hit a wall. Perhaps it was the material, or maybe it was the fact that he was pursuing his father's field of study… Nothing made sense anymore. It was as if the instructors had all decided to speak another language one day. The young man agonized over his books, the letters dancing about in his eyes, the formulas like a hidden code that everyone understood but him.
He never considered asking the instructors for help. That wasn't what Iwatas did. Upon this reminder that he was indeed an Iwata, the glow faded from his eyes.
What was he doing with his life, he wondered for the millionth time as he came back to his empty dorm room. Trying to live out his father's wishes? Why? He hadn't cared what his father thought for years, or so he believed… Furious, he holed himself up in his room, refusing to show up for class.
He knew that he had sealed his own fate. The only thing to figure out was where his new home would be. As long as it wasn't here, he figured he could manage somehow. It had only been a matter of time before the letter came. He had already packed.
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Author's Note: Well, here we are at the beginning. I would love to hear what you think! This is set to be a much faster-paced story than most of my other works. Look forward to it! :)