A/N: So, if you haven't already figured it out, this story is going to be mostly Matt's point of view until Mello makes more of an appearance. But I'll be sure to let you know when it will be the blonde's turn in the story.

Also, yes I know the chapters are a bit short at the moment, but that will change soon I promise!

Enjoy, review if you can, and don't forget to hug a turkey!

I closed my locker door and practically trudged to my next class. Most of the time I just played video games during the lessons because I'd already read ahead in the class and did the assignments, but I'd forgotten my Gameboy today and had to suffer with the teacher's lesson.

I wasn't exactly a favoured student, but I was one of the smart kids. And being one of the smart kids meant that I was an immediate target for bullies.

Not that I couldn't handle them… I just chose not to.

I was seventeen now and I wasn't too scared of bullies. If anything they just really annoyed me. I mean, who cares if you're some big soccer star? My Pokemon were all level one hundred, five IVs each, and trained to completely annihilate any trainer that crossed my path. Plus the fact that I owned the Guinness world record for fastest completed time on several games, I'd won more than enough medals in science fairs, and I completely owned nearly every high score in video games. The only ones I didn't own were the ones I had yet to play.

So… dumb ass soccer star? Or genius gamer?

…

I think my life was pretty squared away.

Right as I turned the corner to head to my next class, I felt a trashcan being slammed onto my head and more than a few laughs echo through the halls. This didn't quite faze me though since this happened almost every time our jocks won some kind of sporting event. I guess it was just m turn to be the nerd to pick on.

Nerd? Well… maybe dork. I was smart, but not scary smart.

I was more 'clever' and 'handsomely witty' than smart.

I merely sighed to myself and pushed the trashcan off of me, having more than a few wrappers stick to my hair, to look at the jock.

Derek was his name. Soccer star and ladies' man, with his short but wavy blonde hair and dark brown eyes. Every girl wanted him, but he just wanted to play the field… so to speak. Almost everyone I knew wanted to be like him, or even be close to him. But me?

Well… I was the nerd.

Once I began peeling off the wrappers, he started laughing at me. "Hey man, that's a nice look for a faggot like you! I'd say keep it on!"

When others started to laugh, I didn't let it bother me.

In fact…

"Oh, so now you find me attractive? I should keep it on then if you really want me to. But if you want me so badly, then all you have to do is ask."

He was stopped in his tracks when I said this, almost everyone snickering at my witty comeback.

I was known to be pretty sharp when it came to the bullies, and I could more than hold my ground against people like him. Stupid and uninspired... just like everyone else.

Derek growled at me. "Listen, fag, I ain't into you or any other dude for that matter!"

I picked off the last of the wrappers and grinned. "Couldn't have fooled me with that crisp, well-cut blonde hair. Didn't you use to have frosted tips?"

More snickers, and this made him angrier. "That was one time! And it was for my girlfriend! She's was in beauty school!"

"And believe me, you were the belle of the ball! I would've liked to have seen more cleavage though. The boobs make the man."

He angrily walked away after having a few people bust a gut laughing at my comebacks. He'd be back though, and he'd want to settle this once and for all.

Too bad for him I only had one more class for the day before I went home.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked over to see a small ball of white looking at me with a sly smile.

"You know he could've kicked your butt, right?" He said as he brushed off a few crumbs from the trashcan.

I scoffed. "Yeah, but I'm not into confrontation. I like to use my head rather than my fists."

"That, and you don't want to break your thumbs so you can keep playing video games."

I grinned at the albino. "You know mw so well, Near."

For the past two years Near and I had been friends. He was young, but a genius in his own right. His parents wanted him out and about more after he graduated from university at twelve, so they put him in high school. The only thing was… not a lot of people respected a tiny genius. The poor kid was picked on way more than I was throughout school, and more times than not I found him with a few bruises and marks. He wouldn't tell me who did what, but I had a pretty strong idea on who it was half the time.

But I guess there wasn't much we could do. The teachers would only make them apologize to us – and they wouldn't even mean it – or they'd tell us to take a stand. But if we did take a stand then we'd get in trouble for fighting on school grounds. The school system was flawed and we were the percentage that suffered the most. Hell, I even knew a kid that had to leave school because he was so traumatized with how much bullying he'd had to go through. But the worst one to date was the one that took his own life thanks to the stress. It had been a hard day for those who knew him…

Even me.

I didn't like the thought of death and leaving this earth. It was just… unnerving. And to think that someone from our school had suffered enough to actually go through with taking his own life…

…it makes me wish that I had done something sooner.

But there isn't much I could do but show the bullies that they didn't bug me. It helped a few people since more than enough of them asked me how I managed to just let go of the anger. The truth was, though, that I wasn't an angry kid. I just didn't have that emotion. I knew resentment and annoyance, but not anger.

It's just how I lived.

If I wasn't angry and I didn't react, then I was balanced and undisturbed. What was there to life if all I felt was anger towards people? Nothing. So I didn't let things like bullies and assholes bother me.

I took a breath before walking down the hallway again. "So what are we doing in science today?"

"Chemical reactions. So I guess we're gonna need partners." He answered.

I hummed at this. "You think Carla will want to be my partner today?"

"Like she was last time?" He sniped. "You know, when she was forced to be your partner?"

"Daryl is probably out sick again." I assured.

"Nope. He was in my gym class today, and making eyes at Carla. You're stuck with me."

I shrugged. "Well, you're one of the better choices. Once we have our work done I can doodle for the rest of class."

"More adventures of 'Doodle the Penguin'?"

"I was thinking more around his sidekick, 'Sketch the Dog'."

A small laugh was shared between us as we headed to class. The one good thing about having another genius around, was that we could share in some of the inside jokes and quips about our peers. And, let's face it, Near could be just as snarky as me some days.

Sometimes worse.