Rim: It seems that so far, I have a few people that like this story off the bat, and maybe one that's wondering what's the point of writing this piece. I know Kenny sounds a bit boring in this piece, but that's sort of the point. Taking a dull, average kid and transforming him over the course of this story. But for everyone that likes this story so far, and wants me to continue it, here we go, the next chapter. More than likely I'll be updating this like every week and a half to two weeks since I have up to chapter 8 wrote, just to span things out until I get chapters 9-17 wrote. And no, I have no idea how long this story will be, I guess as long as it takes to get Kenny through college and in a relationship with Kai. Now on with the story.

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Chapter 1

The male with dual hair stopped in front of his maple desk once he finished the selection in the teacher's edition textbook in his hands. With a short smile, he sat himself upon the desk. "All right then, whose going to give me an idea of the passage's significance?" As he expected, no one was eager to raise their hands and volunteer. Evidently students now and days weren't into reading books and studying literature and when explaining what was read to them came up, their little minds went blank. He blamed the parents for allowing them to sit in front of the TV watching trash like Jerry Springer.

When he was coming up, his grandfather had a strict control over what he did and he was lucky to get in thirty minutes of TV let alone watch something that didn't involve thinking about what was going on. His red eyes scanned his twenty-five students and sighed lightly, that was until his brow twitched with annoyance. Many of his English students either shifted their eyes away when he glanced their way, or had their eyes in the textbooks as if reading.

There was the occasional student with a horrified 'please-don't-pick-me' plea clear in their eyes. Needless to say the reason behind his twitching brow had nothing to do with his empty headed students' reluctance to form a single thought on the selection. No, he could over look that, blaming the parents later. The reason behind his annoyance now was due to the bluenette with his head on the top of one of the desk, a puddle of drool pooling out under his cheek. The boy had been previously in his English 1 class the year before which had been his first year teaching.

Getting up from the desk he sat on, the teacher strolled over to where the boy was sleeping, standing at his desk. The other kids in the classroom turned around to look, a few giggling at the scene, some making noises of disgust, probably because he was sleeping in a puddle of his own drool.

"Tyson Kinomiya!"

"Huh? What? Is it lunch time?" The bluenette's head popped up immediately, staring around with blurry eyes as a long string of drool hung down.

"For one, wipe your mouth," the teacher sighed.

"Huh? Oh…" the boy wiped his mouth then stared up at his teacher with confusion while the male smiled at him. "Is it lunch time already, Mr. Hiwatari?"

"No, Mr. Kinomiya, it is not lunch time, I'm afraid lunch time is over. The class would like to welcome you back from your vacation in the land of dreams though. Now that your brain is more refreshed, could you kindly tell the class your opinion on the passage?" Mr. Hiwatari said.

"My opinion on what passage?" Tyson blinked.

"Page four eighty-nine, John Keats' Ode on Melancholy," the brunette beside him said. The brunette was Tyson's best friend from elementary school, though everyone couldn't figure out why he chose to hang around someone like Tyson in the first place. Since of course whenever anyone saw Tyson, Kenny was always helping his friend with homework.

"Thanks Chief," Tyson grinned.

"Now Mr. Shinoda, I think we should let Mr. Kinomiya figure out what we were reading and discussing," Mr. Hiwatari smiled at the brunette.

"You know that I can't tell you anything about the passage because I was asleep. You're just picking on me because of it," Tyson whined.

"At least you admit your crime, Tyson. So I'm going to reward you with after school detention today. Be on time or it will be another detention for tomorrow. Do I make myself clear?" Mr. Hiwatari stated.

"Yes, Mr. Hiwatari," Tyson sighed.

"Now that we have that settled, I still need a volunteer to explain to me the significance of this passage," Mr. Hiwatari turned to look around the class room again, his kids were still in the zombie brained stage, encouraging yet another sigh from the twenty-four year old man. When he figured he would become an English teacher since he spent so much of his childhood reading all types of literature, he didn't think he would have that many problems finding students with the same enthusiasm he shared. After all…he was only eight years older than these kids.

"Mr. Hiwatari." The soft voice of one of his students caught the man's attention, watching a hand go up. Turning his attention to the brunette beside Tyson, he felt a familiar smile bend the edges of his mouth. He could always count on his top A student to save the day by answering.

"Yes Kenny," Mr. Hiwatari said.

"The title of the passage is Ode on Melancholy, if read wrong, the reader might think that it's about how sad he feels, but odes were never meant to be sad, since before the Romantic era in Britain, odes were always the highest form of poetry and used for the most important events. It's more so a praise to it as poetic inspiration. The last stanza of the poem gives indication he personified the emotion of melancholy as a woman of religion, when he mentions her shrine. And the writer feels that he is but another trophy on her wall to witness her power," Kenny stated.

"Very interesting," Mr. Hiwatari went back to his desk, sitting on the edge and smiled at his top A student. Just then the bell, signaling last period ended. "All right class, for next time I want you to read Why did I laugh tonight? No voice will tell, Ode to Psyche, and Ode on a Grecian Urn and write me thoughts about what you think these three poems mean for Monday."

The kids in the class groaned as they gathered together their notebooks and textbooks before heading out the room. Kenny looked over at his friend who was sulking, slowly gathering up his things before sliding out his desk and walking over to his friend. The two walked out the room, but not before Mr. Hiwatari reminded Tyson yet again to be back in his room in fifteen minutes. Avoiding the other kids in the hallways that were happy it was finally Friday afternoon.

"You know, he sucks so much," Tyson groaned. Kenny turned his head towards the teen beside him who was sulking worst than ever. "I mean, it was just a nap, can he really blame me for eating lunch then coming to his boring class and wanting to fall asleep."

"Well, he has," Kenny remarked. "And if you find it so boring, why did you want to take it in the first place?"

"Well, when you said you were going to do it, I was like it can't be that bad you'll be answer all the questions anyway. You're like the only person in class that would know something about this stuff," Tyson said, placing his hands behind his head. "But of course with your dad and mom being big writers, you must have been born reading."

"That's not true, besides my parents write under pseudonyms and all their book signings are out of town. I never go with them, so it's not like anyone knows," Kenny said. Yes both his parents were in fact popular writers, his mother was a fantasy fiction writer and his dad wrote on everything from alien conspiracies to the supernatural. More than half of the books they wrote went into the bestsellers group immediately.

"Yeah, but from the time I've known you, you were always really smart when it came to things like Shakespeare and stuff," Tyson argued.

"Hey, Tyson, Kenny, wait up!" A wild haired blonde ran up to the two, heading down the hall. He was followed by a young man with black hair head back in a long white bind.

"Max, Rei, what's up dudes?" Tyson said.

"Hey, what are we going to do today? You know that new movie just came out in theaters that's suppose to be like uber scary, you guys want to check it out?" said the blonde. His name was Max Mizuhara, Kenny and Tyson had met him their ninth grade year, along with Rei. Of course the two first met and befriended Tyson before getting to know Kenny, which was probably how things always were. When Tyson and Max got together for anything, it always spelled trouble Kenny would rather stay out of.

"Tyson has detention with Mr. Hiwatari," Kenny said, reaching his locker. Putting in his combination, he opened his locker and grabbed his book bag before setting two books in there and get out another notebook.

"Again, what the heck did you do this time?" Rei said with a shake of his head. Rei Kon was the more leveled headed, having known Max since middle school. Then again, he allowed Max to drag him into trouble and didn't seem to mind it at all. All in all, Kenny was the most settled between them, many times being a silent voice of reason.

"I sort of fell asleep in his class again and he gave me detention for it," Tyson said.

"Well tough luck, I guess that leaves Rei, Kenny, and I to see it then," Max said with a shrug. "Eventually you'll learn that Mr. Hiwatari won't get on your case when you decide to be a good student."

"Oh kiss my ass," Tyson grumbled.

"You keep forgetting Max, I'm not a big fan for horror movies," Kenny replied to his friend. "I think I'll pass it up this time."

"Oh come on, it's not going to be that bad," Rei said.

"You two know that I hate horror movies. I think I'll go home and work on my homework," Kenny said. "My parents left this morning for a book signing thing in New York, so I don't expect them to be back until Monday."

"Your parents are always out, let's have a party," Tyson grinned, his eyes shining with excitement.

"And have my parents deciding not to leave me alone anymore if something goes wrong?" Kenny question while quirking up one of his brows that could barely be seen by the hair curtaining his eyes.

"Sometimes I wonder if you want to do anything exciting with your life, I mean your parents are always traveling around, yet you're like someone's grandmother," Max pouted. "I mean, when you go home, you're just going to pick up a book after you finish your homework and read."

"I like reading, can I help it? I can't always get you three out of trouble when I don't have to," Kenny smiled, brushing his hair from his eyes, but it fell back into place once again.

"You need to spice up your life, get a girlfriend or something," Max said. "I mean, even Emily is known around school and she's like the smartest girl in our grade next to you."

"I'm not that smart," Kenny remarked. "I may excel in English, but every other subject I'm mediocre at. And beside, Emily likes to get attention, I don't, there is quite a grand difference within our boundaries."

"All I'm saying is that you should do something, or you aren't going to be remembered when you leave this school," Max stated.

"I would rather stay out of the limelight," Kenny countered. "Being remembered by people who I don't know would be pointless."

"I give up!" Max groaned.

"You should know that Kenny isn't the type of person who cares what others think about him," Tyson laughed. "I've known him since kindergarten. Even back then he kept to himself a lot, and just shied away from massive attention. Especially when his parents were starting out big and everyone kept asking him how it felt to have bestselling writers for parents."

"Don't remind me how much of a headache that was," Kenny shook his head. "It still makes me uneasy to this day to have people find out about my parents and then annoy me about it."

"You're going to die an old maid," Max sighed. "Well, since you're going home and Tyson has detention, I guess that leaves me and Rei to see that new movie then. We'll check you guys later then."

"All right, but tomorrow morning, we're still going to the new carnival that just opened right?" Tyson said.

"Of course, I saved up money just for it," Max chimed. Taking Rei's ponytail in his hand, he dragged his friend down the hall towards where their lockers were. Tyson and Kenny watched until they were gone before Tyson turned to his best friend with a smile.

"I guess I should head back to the classroom and wait for Mr. Hiwatari to come back to make me do torture work for the next hour or so. I'll call you later when I get home so you can help me with the homework."

"All right, and next time you have the urge to sleep, pinch yourself, you're going to give you or our teacher gray hair before the school year's out," Kenny smiled.

"Then everyone will look at you funny when you're with him," Tyson said slyly, watching a bright splotch of crimson color his friend's cheeks. If there was one thing that Tyson knew he could get a reaction out of his friend about, it was there teacher. Tyson made a game of seeing just how red he could get the other before the other threatened to shut him up for good. "They'll ask you if he's your grandfather or uncle then."

"Tyson," Kenny flushed.

"I know, if you don't shut up, I will leave you to flunk the class and have your father get on your case," Tyson nodded with a smirk. "You threaten me the same way every time I mention Mr. Hiwatari. You know, we have just two more years before you're legal, and he's going to be like how old, twenty-six right?"

"I'm not going to go through this with you," Kenny announced. "I'm going to go home and unwind. Call me tonight if you have any problems with your homework, and don't you think about saying another word about our teacher tonight."

"Fine, I'm going. You just love to take the fun out of things," Tyson sighed.

Tyson went over to his locker a few rows down from where Kenny's was and unlocked it. The only books he would need over the weekend were his English book and Biology book, the rest of his notebooks for the class were at home. Closing his locker back up and waved his friend goodbye before heading back down the hall to their English class. For the moment it was empty except for the janitor that was picking up some loose papers from the floor and sweeping up.

Tyson walked over to a desk and sat down, but not before noticing a couple of sheets of paper on the top of his friend's desk. Getting up from where he sat, Tyson walked over and picking them up, thinking his friend might have been composing another short story in class. It was no surprise that writing ran through Kenny's blood since his parents were writers, but the brunette had no impulse to get anything he wrote published, in fact he just wrote for fun. The bluenette on more than one occasion found the passionate soul his friend didn't exhibit in daily life came out when he wrote, many of his stories were sensual and personal in feel and nature.

Of course, what Tyson held in his hands was not another short story his friend was writing. It was currently a three page letter unaddressed, but Tyson knew exactly from crisp words who the letter was meant for. Kenny would often write letters in this form to Mr. Hiwatari then later destroy them, saying that it let him get things out of his system. Underneath his introverted nature was the heart of a young man who feared rejection and shied away from the dangers of love. Anyone who was looking could see it pop up in Kenny's short stories all the time.

"Hm…I wonder what I should do with this," Tyson said to himself. As he sat there with the letter in his hand, an idea came to mind that didn't sound too bad, if everything went according to plan. If it didn't…his best friend was going to hate him for years to come.