Sebastian walked in with his mother, the library table almost full with other students. Evelyn, the schoolteacher, greeted them with a kind smile.
"Robin! Nice to see you again! How are you doing?"
Robin smiled tiredly back. "It's been a little crazy lately, with the move and everything, but we're doing ok."
Evelyn giggled a little, and said, "Don't worry. Being from the city, you'll get tired of our boring town soon enough."
Sebastian hid behind his mother's leg, guessing this woman might talk to him at the mention of 'we.'
Seeing this, Evelyn turned her gaze towards him, and bent down to his level. "You must be Sebastian. Hi there. I'm your teacher, Evelyn. Why don't take a seat while I talk to your mommy for a minute?" Sebastian thought Evelyn looked kind, and decided to comply, heading over to the table. There were four other kids there, and it looked like they were all drawing something. He didn't know where he should sit. There was a dark skinned girl, a boy with a football under his arm, a girl with purple hair, and a boy with spiky blond hair sitting in a circle at the table. Without saying a word, he sat next to the blond kid, taking a piece of paper and some crayons from the center. Sebastian couldn't think of what to draw, so he looked around for some inspiration. The girl to his left, the one with the purple hair, was drawing a sword, and he thought that was cool, so he began to sketch a knight to go with it.
Robin called from the door, "Bye, sweetie! Have fun!" Giggles escaped from all the kids, aside from the blond kid, and Sebastian could feel his face turn red as he forced himself to give his mother a small wave. Robin left the library, leaving Sebastian embarrassed and alone with these kids. Evelyn walked over to the table and sat down, opening a large book. "Good morning children!" she greeted cheerfully. "Good morning, Mrs. Evelyn," the small class recited, putting the crayons down and looking at her. Evelyn looked at Sebastian with a smile, and said the most dreaded words a new kid could ever hear. "We seem to have a new student. Why don't you tell us your name and where you're from?"
Sebastian sighed and murmured, "My...name's...Sebastian." A snicker escaped the kid with the football. Evelyn gave him a glare, and he looked down at the silent scolding. "And.. I'm from... the city." Murmurs went around the table, all of them surprised to have someone from such a different place in their class. Sebastian sunk in his chair. "We're glad to have you here, Sebastian. Let's all try make him feel welcome. It can be scary moving to a whole new place. How about we introduce ourselves with our names and something about us? Alex, why don't you start?" He cringed at this a little, knowing it was punishment from earlier. He looked at Sebastian. "Name's Alex. I like sports. 'Specially football," he said as he tossed the ball above his head. Evelyn's kind smile turned into a scowl as she turned to Alex. "Alex! How many times do I have to say that there is no ball throwing in the library? Put that down!" "Yes ma'am," he replied, disappointment in his voice as he put the ball on the floor. "He's also our resident troublemaker," Evelyn joked. This made Alex laugh a little. "Yeah, Sebastian. The time out chair is my territory." The class giggled again, and everyone looked at the dark-skinned girl expectantly, waiting for her to introduce herself. "My name's Maru. I build machines and things. Hopefully I'll be able to build robots someday." Sebastian looked at the picture in front of her. The robot drawing was very advanced, to the point it was almost like a blueprint. The girl with purple hair spoke up next. "I'm Abigail. I like video games." Sebastian smiled a little at this, remembering the collection of games on his computer. The only one left was the blond kid, who just stared down at nothing. Evelyn and the class waited for him to speak, but he didn't say anything. The silence pierced the room like a knife, everyone hoping he would say something, anything, just to stop the awkwardness. It was probably ten seconds before Evelyn stopped the madness. "This is Sam," Evelyn explained, and she paused, hoping he might add something to this, but he just sat there, not making a sound. "Sam is very good with music. He's even learning guitar. Right, Sam?" Sam just sunk lower in his chair, and Sebastian could see the slightest trace of tears in his eyes. Evelyn cleared her throat. "Well, let's begin, shall we? Why don't we start with where we left off at chapter four?"
Sebastian sat by himself at lunch, on the bench by the swings. Alex, Maru, and Abigail were playing on the playground, cheerfully chasing each other on the various structures. Sam sat alone as well, in the grass several feet away. Sebastian stared at him, wondering why he didn't want to play with the other kids, or at least play by himself. Sam fiddled with the dirt on the ground, not really accomplishing anything. Sebastian stood up and slowly approached him. It was strange, Sebastian usually only liked to be by himself, but he remembered what it had been like when his parents divorced, when he had been sad a lot, so he figured Sam might be going through the same thing. Sam looked up when Sebastian stood over him, but quickly returned to his dirt pile when Sebastian sat down. Neither said anything for a few minutes. Sebastian didn't know what to say, not being very good with new people, and he wasn't sure how to start a conversation.
Finally, Sam spoke up. "What do you want?" He asked harshly, giving Sebastian a glare. Sebastian responded, "Nothing. We don't have to talk or play. I just thought doing nothing together would be better than doing nothing alone."
Sam was surprised to hear this, since people usually lied and said they wanted to be friends or something. Sebastian started his own pile, the pair saying nothing to each other. Sam breathed to speak a few times, but nothing came out. Sebastian never asked what he was going to say, not even looking up from the dirt mound. Sam was kind of fascinated by this new kid. He had never met anyone that was ok with silence. Finally, out of curiosity, Sam asked, "Are you really from the city?" Sam wondered what life was like outside of this tiny town, picturing crowds of people filling the streets. Sebastian nodded, still playing with the pile. "What was it like?" Sebastian sighed, "There were lots of people. Too many." Sam wasn't satisfied with this, and was a little annoyed. "DUH!" Sam shouted, "Of course! I mean, what was it LIKE?!" Sam stood up, his arms out in anger. Sebastian smiled a little at this, happy that Sam finally said something interesting. Still not looking up, he replied, "It's constantly cramped. There are too many people. Too many cars. Too little space. But there are some cool things, like the lights and the music." Sam lowered his arms, and thought about this for a moment. "What kind of music?" Sebastian smirked, knowing he found something that interested Sam. "Anything you can imagine. Metal, pop, rap, jazz, reggae, indie stuff, you name it." Sam grinned. "Even..." Sam bent down to Sebastian's ear. "Country?" Sebastian laughed so hard he rocked back a little, holding his stomach and almost falling over. "Haha. No. That's the one kind that the city doesn't have." Sam's eyes sparkled, his grin growing wider. "Perfect."
As soon school was let out for the day, Sam insisted Sebastian come and play at his house, but truth be told, Sebastian was afraid to. He liked Sam, but wasn't sure if going to his house after one day was a good idea. The idea of his parents being there and immediately judging him for being quiet was a little frightening. Then again, Sam had been quiet for a while, according to Evelyn. She had praised Sebastian in private after lunch/recess, glad Sam was finally talking again. She explained his dad had gone off to war, and Sam hadn't been taking it well. During class, she looked surprised when Sam had eagerly answered a question during the history lesson. It was wrong, of course, Stardew Valley was not founded by aliens trying to settle into human life, but she was excited he was excited. When Robin came to pick Sebastian up, Sam begged her to let him come over, but he didn't have to. Robin was ecstatic Sebastian had a possibility of a friend. Now they were sitting on Sam's bed, playing with an acoustic guitar that was far too big for their bodies. "This is a G chord," Sam instructed while placing his fingers on the neck of the instrument. "I just learned it yesterday." Sebastian listened, but truth be told, he wasn't that interested. He tried to hide this from Sam, nodding along, but Sam knew he wasn't paying attention. Not really. Sam got up from the bed, turning to Sebastian. "Be right back." Sebastian nodded, and could soon hear Sam talking to his mother. She was a nice woman, offering Sebastian homemade cookies the second he walked in the door. He was impressed, since his mom couldn't make a bowl of cereal, let alone cookies. After a few minutes, Sam came back with an old keyboard, covered in dust. It looked like it hadn't been used in years and was practically Sam's height. Sam plopped it right in front of Sebastian, looking at him with a wide grin expectantly. "Try it. I promise it works." Sebastian hesitantly switched it on, and an electrical soft hum echoed from the machine. He slowly reached out, trying to decide which key to press. His finger touched the only note he knew, middle C, and he pushed the key down. A strange noise came out, and Sebastian thought it sounded nothing like a piano, but more like an electric trumpet or something, and Sam giggled. "Isn't it cool? You should learn how to play, so we can start a band. If we can recruit Abigail of course." Sebastian gave Sam a confused look. "She told me a while ago she liked drums. Plus she plays flute, so she already has some musical experience." Sebastian nodded in both understanding and approval. Out of his classmates, Abigail was certainly the most interesting, aside from Sam. For the next few hours, Sebastian and Sam tried to learn as much as they could about their instruments, picking up a few notes and chords. After dinner, though, Robin called the house and asked Sebastian to come home. Sebastian was about to wave goodbye to his new friend on the way out the door, when he was stopped by a shout from Sam. "WAIT! Hold on just a second," he yelled excitedly as he sprinted to his room, practically tripping a couple of times. Jodi watched this and giggled a little. Without turning away, she whispered, "I haven't seen him this happy in ages. Thank you Sebastian." She started to tear up a little, and wiped the water from her eyes. Sam's door opened, and he was carrying the keyboard. He was very slow with it, since it covered his whole body, but he eventually made his way to Sebastian. Straining, he said, "H-here. T-take it." Sebastian just stared wide at the gift, and Sam was starting to buckle. "Now!" He shouted, the weight crushing him. Jodi took it from his hands. "I'll help you take this home Sebastian. Say goodbye, Sam." Sam raised his hand up, waiting. Sebastian gazed at the hand unsure of what he should do. "Don't leave me hanging, dude." Sebastian smiled at his new friend. This was the last thing he was expecting from his new boring countryside life. This morning, he was the weird kid from the city, and now here he was, about to say goodbye to what he could only assume would be his new best friend. Sebastian hit the hand with a solid smack, knowing this was the beginning of something special.