I do go to school. I have to update this daily, like I promised at the start. Yay fillers. Expect decent chapters Saturday and Sunday. I got better at dialogue from writing this. This is really great practice; I appreciate everyone who is following as of now. As always review and critique. I did upload this around 10:00 P.M, technically it was today. I don't know what time it will be listed. If you hadn't noticed already, I'm using a lot of Gym leaders as teachers. The only three exceptions now are Burgh and Elesa and Volkner. I dipped in to other regions in this one.

* Just realized I have been using the wrong name for Chili in previous chapters. *

*Panics to fix it* (: -


He just wanted the day to end.

Nate felt mentally weak and his body had ached. It started off well, but now, all the brunette wanted to do was fall asleep. It didn't come off as much of a surprise with what the boy had just done to himself.

He was growing irritated; other students kept bumping in to him. Nate couldn't handle it, his legs just felt like spaghetti.

The hall was emptying, signifying the bell was about to ring.

Just two classes left. The thought echoed in his head, the day was long and extensive. He would be overjoyed to hear that final bell ring.

Teenagers scurried in to their class rooms, some were nonchalant about it. It was the first day; being late didn't hold as much weight as they typically had.

He had finally arrived in his classroom; it took what felt like forever. He had managed to somehow get there on time; his familiarity with the school aided him greatly. The room was sparkled in color; preppy posters had been hung all over the walls. There wasn't even the tiniest spot of white anywhere across the walls. Paintings students had drawn covered the walls, some were rather interesting. One that had caught his attention was a picture of a yellow-looking mouse. It had red spots on his cheeks and his eyes were full of determination. Painted sparks of electricity had been coming from its cheeks; the whole thing was elaborately painted. From the texture of its fur, to the detail in the electricity, someone had spent a lot of time on this. Other paintings had been less interesting to Nate, but they still had a great amount of detail to them.

Another painting looked like it had been drawn by the same illustrator that made the electric mouse; it had three birds, each representing a different element. Ice, fire, and lightning, they all flew high above a wondrous mountain range.

"Do you like it?" Nate heard a student not very far from him say. The boy turned in his chair, Nate recognized him as Red once he saw his face. Nate interpreted the smirk Red had across his face as pride in his work.

"I guess so. Looks nice," Nate said, shrugging.

"You guess so? Well geez, I'm just so ecstatic that you think my work is just mediocre." Red replied, the sarcasm in his voice was clearly evident.

"You don't have to be an ass about it; I'm not in the mood right now. It's great okay?" Nate spoke, he rolled his eyes at Red soon after.

"That time of the month? Ha-ha, well nice to meet you too. So how well did the office treat you?" Red joked.

"I didn't go." He said, simply and stern.

"Well, well, look at the badass we have here." Red said. He waved his finger back in forth, which only made Nate more irritated.

The bell rung, Red took it as if he was dismissed from their conversation; Red turned in his seat, acting as if Nate had just vanished from thin air.

Nate didn't see Cheren anywhere; it didn't bother him any, knowing Cheren, he would probably be late anyway.

The art class wasn't as crowded as the past few classes he had attended, not many people chose it as their elective. The tables were set in a similar fashion as the past few. They all faced the direction of the white board. The tables were separated, leaving space for people to walk through them. There were two chairs at each table, leaving two people in each. Behind the room there was a large wooden table with a large assortment of tools atop of it. Nate took a seat at a table with two empty chairs, leaving one for his friend Cheren.

The students chatted about, awaiting some instruction from the teacher. He was familiar with a lot of the people in the class, some he liked, some he hadn't cared for any. Red was a strange person, Nate thought, not exactly a cookie-cut out of a person. He got along with him sometimes, a lot of the time through, they hadn't.

The teacher stood from his chair and stood in front of the whiteboard. The chatter started to die down when they noticed he would begin instruction.

"Hello. I see a few new faces; I remember a great deal of you from last year. My name is Mr. Wallace. I've had the privilege of teaching at this school for six years now." The blue-haired teacher informed. The thing that caught Nate off guard was his appearance, for lack of a better term; he did look like an artist.

He wore a white button-up shirt with a black tie, which was just about the only professional thing about him. His hair was long, messy, and blue. His blue hair drooped down from his head in lazy curls. His slacks, which came off the most strange had been purple. Nate didn't even know of a place where you can actually buy purple slacks. He wore white-tennis shoes, which clashed with his dress-shirt and tie, eliminating any value the tie actually gave to the outfit. His blue eyes carried flare and sass; he was quite an oddity to look at. At least with all these colors, he wouldn't have to worry about getting hit by any cars at night.

Nate would either adore a teacher like this, or hate the shit out of them.

"I will hand out a few papers with a couple of questions to answer. Just simple little things about yourself. What you like to draw the most and what other experiences you had, things like that. Me myself, I like to draw the ocean, it's just the most beautiful and intoxicating thing there is. Everything from the fish that swim in the sea, to the fields of beautiful coral," the strange man paused, he put his hands together and locked fingers. He looked up and closed his eyes, as if reminiscing.

The door of the classroom opened. Cheren walked in as if nothing was wrong. He spotted Nate and instinctually sat in the empty seat next to him. Wallace opened his eyes when he heard the door open. He starred Cheren down the whole time he walked to his desk and sat down, as if expecting him to say something.

The man started tapping his foot impatiently.

"Weeeellllll?" Wallace dragged out the word.

"Well what? Are you going to keep staring at me, bozo?" Cheren barked at him.

"What in the world is a bozo?" Wallace questioned.

"You should know, you're like the spitting image of the word." Cheren said. His ego was smeared all over his voice.

"Well, I assume it means insanely exquisite man then, thank you," Wallace said, not even half-trying to be modest. He posed just like a fashion model.

Cheren choked aloud on his laughs. Nate made a sound of pure disgust and couldn't help but to laugh along with him.

"What's with the pants, someone put a red sock in your laundry? Jesus Christ, those are hideous." Cheren pointed his index finger at Mr. Wallace's pants.

Mr. Wallace's mouth formed an O and he put his hand to cover it.

"Clearly, you're oblivious to what beauty is. I could care less what you think." Mr. Wallace crossed his arms.

"Cheren does have a point, you know." Nate nodded his head in agreement.

"I could care less what this, 'Sharon' person thinks." Mr. Wallace gave Nate a mean look.

Cheren gritted his teeth at the way his name was pronounced.

"It's Cher-en. Not Sharon, Sharon is a girl's name and I am clearly a dude."

"Really? I couldn't tell." Mr. Wallace was just trying to offend Cheren now; he quickly picked up on the vulnerability.

"At least I don't look like some sort of tran-"Cheren was halted before he could finish.

"Anyway, just answer these questions so I can learn a little about you guys." Mr. Wallace took the papers from his desk and started to hand them out to each individual student.

Cheren had enjoyed taking the steering wheel of the class for a bit, but couldn't go on as long as he would have liked to.

Cheren poked Nate's side with his elbow.

"What's up, you look a bit down friend. How come you didn't back me up as much?" The boy asked.

"I don't know, I just feel awkward still about what just happened a few minutes ago." Nate bit his lip.

"Yeah I know the feeling; I don't even want to get up when I feel like that." Cheren nodded his head in understanding.

"So, what happened?" Cheren snatched the two papers from Mr. Wallace's hand as he handed it to him.

"Can we talk about it after school? It's like, level 10 bad." Nate took the other paper from Cheren as he handed it to him.

"Oh shit, can't wait to hear about this. Oh man, I have a feeling that I'm going to get to laugh my ass off today." Cheren read the first question on the paper in his head. He took a pencil from his backpack.

"You won't believe this crap. I'm probably going to get suspended or something tomorrow for what happened in class today; but that's not even why I'm embarrassed." Nate beamed at the paper with his brown orbs.

"Suspended? What'd you do, get in to a fight?" Cheren scribbled something down on to the paper. In the corner of his eye, Nate could see Cheren drawing a big middle finger. Nate let a short laugh out.

"I did actually, Cress gets on my nerves. I almost punched him in the jaw, you should have seen him." Nate read the question over, 'what do you enjoy most about drawing?'

"What'd he say to get you to do that? You're usually calm about this kind of thing." Cheren tapped the pencil against his chin.

"He was talking crap about Hugh. He even called him an idiot again. The guy is a coward." Nate contemplated about what he should write. He thought about it for a while and wrote about clouds.

"You really must like that guy, huh? Did the whole thing about him biting your – you know what get you interested." Cheren chuckled lightly. He drew a comically drawn portrait of Wallace. To add insult to injury, he added a speech bubble saying 'Change? Spare change please?' He drew stench lines coming from it.

"No, you idiot. I was kidding; I'm not really in to any of that." He read the next question in his head; it asked what his favorite color was.

"You mean you weren't, until I mentioned it, ha. What kind of questions are these? I'm not a preschooler." He added nose hair to the portrait of Wallace.

"By the look of that paper of yours, I beg to differ." Nate laughed at Cheren's drawing.

"You wish you could draw half as well as me. This is pretty accurate, you have to admit. I captured his spitting image. I may have been a bit too generous with his face through, he isn't nearly as appealing." Cheren flipped the paper over on the blank side and began sketching what looked like an alleyway.

"Can't say I draw all too well, guess you're right. I'm still miles smarter then you, though. Want to do anything today? I feel like crap right about now." Nate trailed his finger down the paper to skim to the next question, it asked about any past experiences with artwork.

"Sure, I'll come over and hang out with you, I guess... As long as N can come over too," Cheren said, "be friends with him damn it." Cheren started drawing Wallace in a skimpy outfit, a torn bra and panties.

"The guy seems manipulative. I don't know, I feel like everything he does has some sort of motive behind it," Nate tapped his pencil on his chin, thinking back.

Cheren chuckled. "Like what? Maybe it's just the way he talks. He can be weird but he's just like you. Look past that and at least try to have a conversation?" Cheren asked.

"What would we even talk about? What he said when he left today, for example. Everything he says just seems ominous. I swear, I don't want to see you two kissing and all that jazz at my place." Nate answered the last question on the hand-out and let the pencil and paper sit on his desk. He snickered.

"I promise, I'll try to stay off of him."

"Do more than try."

"Fineee."

Cheren's drawing was just about done; he thought it was a masterpiece. Mr. Wallace was dressed up as a stereotypical prostitute. He had spots of an anonymous liquid on his face, which can be easily identified as spludge by anyone with a dirty enough mind. It had a similar chat-bubble, but this time the dialogue had read, 'Will work for change.'

"That's actually pretty good." Nate put his index finger on top of Cheren's distinguished art.

"Yeah, hang that up on your wall, bitch." Cheren whispered just loud enough so only Nate would hear it.

Nate and Cheren both laughed.

Mr. Wallace walked over to the table.

"What's so funny?" Mr. Wallace picked up Cheren's paper from the table. Cheren didn't give a crap; he was going to turn it in anyway. He made a cheeky grin that made Nate laugh.

"What does this mean by 'work?' Mr. Wallace asked him." His blue orbs glanced down at Cheren,

"Landscaping."

For whatever reason, that sparked a great deal of laughter in both of them.

"You really captured my image in this outfit. My bra is ripped from labor; the panties and bra obviously symbolize the injustice and humiliation landscapers receive. They're treated as pigs, like their work is unvalued. I was wrong about you, Cheren." Mr. Wallace nodded in approval.

"Is this guy fucking serious?" Cheren broke in to a sharp laugh.

"I will leave you to willow in your work." Mr. Wallace placed the paper back on to the table and walked to his desk.

"Wow Cheren, looks likes like you're finally a favorite student." Nate batted an eyebrow.

"Holy crap, this guy is either seriously retarded or fucking with me." The laughter between them started to die down a bit.

Students started packing their things; the last period was coming up, finally. Cheren certainly made the day go by real fast for Nate. Mr. Wallace asked for the papers, all of the students passed them towards the front row. The bell was about to ring and Nate was ready to leave.

"Anyway, I'll come over today with N. We can talk about what happened, maybe that will get you to trust N a bit more." Cheren reminded.

"Yeah, I'll see you, then." And with that, the bell had rung.

The last class of the day was finally coming up; he was looking forward to finally going home. He had AP Physics as his last class; the teacher was called Mrs. Erika. He couldn't say he knew much of her at all. The class wasn't very far, he went straight to it. He wasn't surprised when he saw he was the first one there. The room was aligned differently. The tables were pushed together to house groups of four. The two tables faced opposite directions, there were chairs at the opposite sides. He hated how they were arranged; it forced him to stare at someone. He took a seat in a chair that had faced the front; he didn't want to have to turn his head to look at the board.

Mrs. Erika waved at him once she saw him. That was a lot more than any of the other teachers had done. He could only make out the short black hair and brown eyes from behind her computer. She wore a soft pink band in her hair.

He had forgotten about Hugh. Cheren had a way of taking his mind off of things.

He was the next to enter. They made eye contact, but only briefly. Hugh sat in the seat nearest to the door.

Was he avoiding him?

Nate couldn't blame him for it. He wouldn't be able to face anyone anytime soon if he had done something like that. He would give Hugh some time. He just hoped they could become close.

Nate wouldn't pester him; he didn't have much of a heart to face him either. He decided to tell him that he wasn't upset with him, at the end of this class. Hugh was fragile in his core; Nate couldn't leave that thought to float about in Hugh's head. He noticed Hugh looking at him in the corner of his eye. Nate just turned his head to him and smiled, Hugh quickly looked away. It was a start, at least. Nate shrugged; pestering Hugh again wasn't a good idea.

The room began to fill up with students. He didn't recognize any by names, just faces from last year. No one sat at his table yet, people who had been familiar with each other quickly acquired a table. He saw a boy take the seat next to Hugh, which made him a tad jealous; he just had to swallow it.

He was startled when he heard the chair next to him move; he was too focused on Hugh.

"You shouldn't stare. Makes you look like a stalker." Elesa purred teasingly.

"I wasn't starring, I was just seeing if anyone I knew would come in. I don't want to look like a loner or anything." Nate pouted.

"Well, no need to look back there anymore. I'm sure your little toy will stay nice and loyal. You do know me afterall, right?" Elesa asked, she rested her head in her palm and titled her head. To Nate, it always sounded like she was flirting, no matter who she was talking to.

"Heh, more or less." Nate rubbed the back of his head.

Despite how flirtatious Elesa was, Nate still found her amazing to be around. It would be hilarious to see her fight off the guys that were sure to come. Elesa was almost never seen alone, she was basically a model, after all.

A blue-haired boy took the seat directly in front of Elesa. Nate identified him as a part of his little group of bullies. Cilan was his name, Nate recalled.

"What are you doing sitting next to this loser?" He asked Elesa harshly, clearly referring to Nate.

"I swear I will rip that jaw out of your face." Nate growled.

Cilan was the biggest idiot of the little group; he could hardly function without Chili or Cress.

He noticed Cilan's expression change briefly to that of fear, he quickly became indifferent.

"What a big man you are." Elesa said sarcastically. She giggled and covered her mouth with a finger.

"Whatever, I'm leaving; I didn't know someone like you would be sitting with this loser." He stood from the chair and sat in the empty table adjacent to theirs.

"Wooow, he sure showed us. Moving three whole inches away." The sarcasm was dripping from her face. She covered her cheek with an extended hand and shaped an O with her mouth.

Cilan turned red and hopped tables again, moving further away.

Both Elesa and Nate let out a laugh.

The room started to fill up more; about 15 students were in now.

Burgh took the empty seat in front of Elesa.

Both Nate and Elesa exchanged glances.

"Hello, dear," Elesa's voice made Burgh shiver.

"Oh, hello!' Burgh spat out his words.

"Wow, you sure have him on a leash," Nate commentated.

"You bet, I tell him to bark, he better fucking bark," her voice carried some weight and authority.

Burgh growled like a muzzled dog.

"If you behave, I'll give you a treat. No, it will not be another ladybug. I think you've had enough of those for today," Elesa taunted.

"That's enough," he said sternly, looking over Nate's shoulder, "something wrong with that Hugh fella'?" The artist asked.

"Somewhat, I guess he just didn't want to sit here today. Don't worry about it; I'm sure he'll eventually lighten again." Nate tapped his chin.

"Oh, did something happen?" Elesa loved drama almost more than anything else.

"No, well… Kind of, don't worry about it through, I'll fix it," Nate said with confidence.

Nate turned around again, to see the other guy talking to Hugh. Hugh just shyly smiled back at him. Nate turned back around.

"You know that guy?" Nate asked Elesa, he already knew what the answer would be, Nate could swear that she knows everybody. He yawned gently.

"Yeah, the blondies name is Volkner. Pretty cute, no? Getting jealous or something? First day man, chill out a bit, don't worry, through, you're cuter than him." Elesa slapped Nate on the back.

"Guess you're right, about the cuter part too."

The bell rung and instruction had begun.