"Jomy Marcus Shin come to the office with all of your things please." The secretary announced over the loudspeaker. Everyone in the class ignored the message; they had heard it every day last year, why was their second year in high school any different?

Jomy sighed and gathered his materials in his business-like bag that everyone had. The hallway outside was silent except for the clacking Jomy's school-issued shoes made on the hard and flawless tile floors. Even then, the shoes didn't make much noise. The almost absolute silence was creepy and Jomy found goose bumps raising on his skin. He got the distinct feeling that something wasn't right. Then, that sensation was replaced by another unpleasant one; Jomy was being watched and he could feel it. He stopped and looked around, but there was no other soul in the hallway with him. Jomy walked over to one of the windows peeking into the courtyard. Nobody. He walked across the hall to the other window looking out onto the front grounds of the school. Nothing.

"Jomy Marcus Shin," This time the announcement startled him. "please come to the office immediately."

"I'm coming. Sheesh." Jomy muttered under his breath, but he had no doubt in his mind that the administration heard him. The glares he received upon entering the main office confirmed his thoughts.

Jomy didn't wait for anyone to direct him to Principal's office. He had been there so many times during the past year at Number Five High. Principal was a hologram of an old and cranky woman that didn't accept anything but normalcy. She gave Jomy a despair look when he walked in. "Mr. Shin, I believe you know why I called you in here."

"No, I believe I have no idea why you called me here." Jomy continued to stand even though there was a chair right in front of him. Principal would rather he sit than stand, so he stood.

Principal rubbed her skin as if she were a real person fed up with Jomy. "You have been called out of class because of this." She held up a piece of paper with a doodle on it. It was Jomy's placement test from yesterday.

"So what? It's a drawing. It's not good, but I was bored."

"Mr. Shin, if you wish to continue in the Art Path, you may switch now-"

Jomy interrupted her. "I want to continue on the Advanced Path. How can you expect me to sit for an hour while the rest of the class finishes their tests? I needed something to do, so I drew some small little thing. It doesn't mean I'm not capable of being here."

"I believe that you need some…modification to your thinking. Mr. Shin follow me into this room so that you can-"

"Stop right there. Jomy, come with me before they take away everything from you." A boy around Jomy's age burst through the door. He had gray-white hair and red eyes.

But Principal didn't seem to see the newcomer. "Mr. Shin, please step into this room. Everything will be fixed there."

"Jomy, don't go in there. You won't like it. You won't be yourself anymore. Just take off the school bracelet and come with me." The boy took a step closer, but Jomy backed away.

"Who are you? Why are you asking me to leave? I-I don't want to go."

Principal sighed impatiently. "Jomy, the longer you wait, the longer you have to stay here to make up the amount of class you are missing. This will be painless."

"My name is Blue. Jomy, I'll explain everything to you once we get away. I promise. Just don't let them mess with your mind!" The boy stepped even closer and this time, Jomy took his hand.

"You promise to explain everything?"

Blue pulled him away quickly, darting down the hall as Jomy removed his school bracelet. "Not at once, but you need to ditch that thing because that's how the system recognizes you. Without it, your body is invisible just like mine."

"Okay." Jomy held onto Blue's clammy hand as they ran through the halls. Panting, Jomy asked another question. "How did you know I was in trouble and how do you even know my name?"

"You're going to find this really disturbing…but I was watching you. Before you say anything, it was because I had heard that you didn't fit well into the school system. They change your mind set when you don't fit in." Blue was panting even harder even though they were jogging at an extremely slow pace. Once they were out and well away from the school, Blue and Jomy had to stop…well, Blue needed to stop. Jomy really looked at how frail the boy looked when he was bent over, trying to breath.

"You're going to find it easier to breathe if you straighten up and put your hands over your head." Jomy pointed out, doing what he had suggested.

Blue flashed a bright smile that took Jomy off guard. "Thanks…give me a…few minutes and…I'll be ready…to go again."

A few minutes passed and Blue was still panting like he did before. Jomy sighed, then crouched down in front of Blue. "Get on my back. I'll carry you. You did save me back there."

Blue didn't hesitate. Jomy easily carried Blue's weight as well as they walked down the street. The two did get a few strange looks…well it was more so that everyone turned to look at them when they passed. Jomy walked a few blocks in the same direction before thinking of asking where they were going. "Blue, where are you taking me?"

"Shangri La Academy. It's where the strange and the delinquents go when I or some of the professors can rescue them." Blue answered cheerfully, still catching his breath fifteen minutes after the running.

Jomy muttered under his breath again. "Great. I'm a delinquent and all I did was doodle on the back of my test."

"Turn here." Blue pointed to a dark alleyway with dirty buildings and trash everywhere. "This is the street the school's on."

You must be kidding me. Jomy looked around the street but couldn't recognize a school. "Which building is the school?"

"It's this one. We have to disguise the outside of it to prevent anyone from finding the location. Trust me; the interior looks a lot better than this does. There are even dorms because your ties to your old life will be completely cut."

Jomy stopped just before opening the door. "What do you mean by that? I can't see my old friends or my family?"

"Well-"

"Blue! Thank goodness you're back! We thought somebody had kidnapped you. You can't go walking off and-" The old man that came out to yell at Blue stopped. "Blue, who is this?"

"Zel, sorry to worry you, but I had to rescue Jomy. This is Jomy Marcus Shin, the one I told you about a couple of days ago." Blue got off Jomy's back to explain to Zel.

Jomy could tell immediately by Zel's tone that Zel didn't like Jomy very much at all. "The boy that ran into you the other day after beating a referee drone for calling the wrong foul? I thought that we decided not to pick him up; that he was too violent and hot-headed."

"You decided not to pick him up. I think that anyone that needs saving is worth it. Besides, I've felt like I've known him before this. Jomy's special." Blue crossed his hands over his chest stubbornly. Jomy felt like there was something off about Blue crossing his hands like that. It's not the pose; it's his body language. He was different talking to me.

"Mr. Shin! Stop staring out into space and pay attention when we are addressing you!" Zel stared up at Jomy with contempt. Jomy looked away, guilty of staring. "Is it true that they were going to 'fix your thinking'?"

"Principal mentioned something, but it wasn't very clear. Look, I don't want to stay here. I just-I don't know anymore. I thought I was fine at school the way I was, but…" Jomy sank down and crouched. He didn't want to deal with these strange people, he wanted to get home, but his parent's would be gone, and most of all he wanted to go back to the way life had been before that morning. But he knew that time couldn't be turned back, that he was stuck at the strange school with the strange people he hardly knew.

Blue put a hand on his head, "It's okay, Jomy. Everything will be alright. Just stay for a day; I'll show you around. If you don't want to go here, then I'll have someone take you home. Okay?"

"Okay." Jomy stood up and sighed. It won't make a difference if I go home now or stay for a little while; nobody will be home for me.

Blue took Jomy by the hand as Zel tried yelling after them. Inside the building was extremely clean and beautiful compared to the shit-hole exterior. The hallways were painted a light sage green and the floors were spotless despite being white and glossy. The students all wore matching uniforms and talked quietly amongst themselves and to some of the teachers. It was so unlike the boisterous and messy way the other classes were at Jomy's old school. "This is so different from my school, well, old school. People would be throwing things down the halls during breaks and the teachers were mean and strict."

"Yeah, everybody here wants to be here. If there's a problem, we deal with it immediately. We have people to deal with discipline, but don't get in their way. Not even the student council president can stop them." Blue grimaced.

"Who's the pres-" Jomy couldn't finish because Blue jerked him forward.

"Here's my third classroom for the day. The bell's going to ring in a moment."

The other students were already in the classroom and the teacher, a tall and dark-skinned woman, was behind her desk. She was reading a book and Jomy could just make out the title. Romeo and Juliette. Once the bell rang, she put the book down. "Alright, everyone. Take your seats. Blue? Who is the boy that you have brought with you?"

"This is Jomy Marcus Shin. He is coming with me to my classes today so that he can decide whether to stay or not. Jomy, you can sit in the desk next to mine." Blue's desk, Jomy noted, was better than the rest of the class' and even had his name engraved in it. What is going on with this kid?

Class began so there was no time to ask Blue any more questions. It was easy to pay attention in the class because the material she taught was covered last year in Jomy's class, but it was told differently. He asked a lot of questions and even questioned her on a couple of points and, to Jomy's surprise, he wasn't sent to the office for "interrupting class". The debate they had at the end was heated and Jomy really enjoyed her class. Blue listened in, but was the only one in the class that joined in on the conversation every now and then. Despite the silence from the rest of the class during the lecture/debaste, they all tried speaking to Jomy at once after the bell rang.

"That was so intense!"

"You're really smart and know you're stuff!"

"Can you help me out sometime, Jomy?"

Jomy was overwhelmed by the onslaught of questions and was going to yell at everyone, but Blue wrapped his hand over Jomy's mouth. "Okay guys, we have to go to our next class. Please don't rush Jomy like that. He is a new student after all."

All of the students took their time packing their things as Blue dragged Jomy into the next classroom, then the next. All day, the students greeted Blue respectfully, but when Jomy tried talking to Blue about it, he'd always change the subject. Jomy gave up until the end of the school day, which was about 3:05 pm, and was finally given a chance to ask Blue what was going on. "You've been avoiding my questions all day. How important are you to this school. Everyone knows you, and me for that matter. What aren't you telling me?"

"Okay, Jomy. I'll tell you. I chose you to be-"

Blue was interrupted by a loudmouth teen with straight, silver hair. "And what are you two doing wandering the halls? I think we have some fresh meat. What do you think guys?"

A girl with brown hair grinned. "Yeah, Tachyron. What should we do about this?"

Another male with pink and curly hair walked out to the front; he was obviously the leader. "We do nothing until they do something wrong. You know the rules. You, new kid, what's your name?"

"Jomy." Jomy glared at the kid and stood in front of Blue, who had gone still since the others had shown up.

"That's my grandpa's name. You're glare is good. I like you. It's a good thing that you're going to be his vice president and nobody else. See ya around Grandpa." Tony walked away with the rest of his group following like rowdy ducklings.

Jomy turned to Blue very slowly. "I'm your what?"