Hello everyone! I really hope you'll enjoy my story! Please leave me comments so I know if what I'm writing out is worthy! ;3; Thanks~3

~Several years ago~

You smiled sweetly at the class of students as the teacher introduced you to them. You had just moved to this area and had to make new friends, again. Your parents' jobs often changed location, depending on the monster activity in the area, so you didn't have much of a choice. Making new friends wasn't difficult, considering the stunning looks you obtained from good family breeding, and the obvious wealth you grew in. Whether you intended to or not, these factors radiated from you and acted as a sort of magnet, causing others to desperately want to be your friend. Or at least, to act like a friend. It was hard to make any genuine connections, as they were usually shallow and fake, seeming more like you were providing them with a status quo than actual friendship. It was kind of lonely, but not much you could do about it. Your parents took pride in their work with the Hero Association, being some of their top executives, you were held in high expectations. If you had any unsavory attitudes or got a bad reputation, it could lead back to them, essentially embarrassing them and causing you to get in trouble for such shame. To avoid this, you usually just played nice with anyone and everyone...giving fake smiles and forced laughs to people claiming to be real friends even if you found them just unbearable. You didn't particularly enjoy being mean to anyone, and you always tried to be a good person no matter what, but talking to people who were clearly jerks or just downright sucky really bummed you out.

"(Y/N), you may take the empty seat in the back by the windows." The teacher said kindly to you, and you nodded in return before hurrying to your seat. You could feel several pairs of curious eyes following you as you walked, and you did your best to just ignore it. Another class full of people who always stared at you, in a few months you could be out of here and in another classroom full of new stares all over again. You just wanted to go ahead and get settled at your desk before getting too much attention. You placed most of your items in the very back of the room in the cubbies and turned back to your chair, setting your small bag down that had your writing utensils, workbook, and a couple other immediate items you liked to keep with you during class. After you sat down, you grabbed your workbook that was required for the class and a couple writing utensils and flipped open the pages to where you imagined the lesson would be starting based on a little bit of information the teacher had already written on the board prior to class starting. It was already several weeks into the school year, and you were used to having to play catchup with each new school. Most of it followed the same lessons, but not every teacher taught the same, nor were they in the same chapter. Some were ahead, some behind, some teaching something completely different, something you'd have to quickly figure out. As you finished setting up your desk to work, the teacher turned back around to the chalkboard, and started the lesson. As you prepared to begin your notes, eyes in the seat next to you had been looking directly at you this entire time, and it started to make you feel uncomfortable, as it felt rude at this point. Most of the other students who had turned around for a moment to watch you had already gone back to facing forward and diligently writing in their workbooks, but the boy next to you had continued to stare. You pressed your lips into a fine line and prepared to ask him to please stop staring, but as you looked over at him, you noticed his gold irises were not actually focused on you at all, but rather, passed you. You watched him for a moment, before following his gaze that was aiming outside the window next to you. Large trees were swaying in the early morning breeze, and looked really calming and pretty. You smiled, noticing this is what he was looking at, and felt a sense of relaxation, happy you didn't accidentally say anything to accuse him of something he wasn't doing. You quickly went back to your notes, doing your best to capture everything the teacher was saying also because they didn't write every single piece of information.

"Garou, quit looking at (Y/N) like a weirdo." the boy in front of you harshly whispered, halfway turned around in his seat and glaring at the boy to your right. Garou's face quickly dusted pink as his gaze shifted from a daydreaming stare out the window, to focused fully on you. He seemed almost surprised you were even there, like he hadn't even paid attention to you being introduced or even sitting down next to him. He quickly looked from you and to the boy in front of you. "I-I'm not! I was looking outside!" he protested in a hushed but frantic whisper. "You were totally staring at her like a creep." The girl to his right chimed in with snooty attitude. "No, I wasn't!" Garou was completely flustered, and just as you were about to say something in his defense, the teacher said Garou's name with clear irritation, finally overhearing all the whispers that were definitely too loud to be hidden. Most of the eyes in the classroom turned to look at the now really red faced boy as he began to stammer an explanation. "T-they were saying lies and-"

There it was again, always something happening to make him the target of everyone else. He didn't even really notice her next to him, just caught up in looking out the window. No one was a friend in this class to him, they all rejected him and constantly picked on him. Now there was another student here, just someone else to pick on him probably, just someone who was like everyone else...

"Garou!" the teacher cut him off before he could even have a chance to try to explain himself. "That is enough! You always seem to cause a distraction in my class, and in front of our new student today no less." The teacher berated him and he stared down at his desk, small beads of tears making their way down his pink cheeks as a couple of the other students snickered at his reprimand from the teacher. Well that was cruel...Why did everyone just treat him like that? Made your heart ache for him as the small tears kept rolling down and lightly dripping onto his desk. You watched him in sympathy and a deep frown pulled down the corners of your lips. This wasn't fair at all, he hadn't done anything wrong and everyone started to gang up on him as if he was some horrible person.

"I think instead of recess, you can spend that time cleaning off the chalkboards and dusting out the erasers." The teacher said before turning around and continuing her lesson. Garou used the back of his hand to try to wipe away the tears on his face, but they just slowly kept coming out and spreading as he did so. You reached down into your bag and pulled out one of the lacey hankies you had that had your initials embroidered into the corner, and you discreetly extended it out to him, so he could properly wipe his face. He saw you out of the corner of his eye, but kept his main focus down at his desk, as if afraid to even look in your direction out of fear that he would be hassled again. You smiled gently in understanding, and while making sure no one was paying attention, you gently laid the hanky on his leg, which brought another shade of blush to his wet cheeks. You went back to writing notes for the lesson, occasionally glancing over to Garou to check on him, feeling like this whole situation was your fault. He hadn't wiped his face yet, but he held the hanky crumpled up in his hand beneath his desk, like trying to keep it hidden. This class, it was already making you feel dread as it was obviously full of cruddy people. The teacher and other students for some reason seemed to have it out for the poor boy, and sure you just encountered him only a little bit ago, but there wasn't anything immediate about him that showed he deserved that kind of treatment. He didn't seem like he was a bully or anything, so why was everyone so harsh to him?

Midway through the class, the teacher announced recess and a break for lunch. All the students excitedly closed their workbooks and scattered to the cubbies along the back wall to grab their lunch boxes or anything else they wanted to take with them on free time. Everyone, except for you and Garou. Pretending to keep writing notes in your workbook, you hoped everyone would just clear out and not bother you, but per usual, that never happened... Internally sighing, you glanced up to the few students that gathered at your desk side, the ones that were taunting poor Garou earlier. "Hey (Y/N)! Would you like to hang out with us on our break time? We could hang out in the jungle gym fort, or swing!" One of the girls sang all cheerfully, as if she wasn't just recently being a brat to Garou. "There's a really cool dead looking bug I could show you." one of the boys, who was the one that sat in front of you, added in. Sure, a cool dead bug would have been interesting to look at, even though the girl in the group made a loud and obvious 'ewww' sound to the boy like she didn't want to see it, but you didn't want to be near any of them. 'Ewwww indeed...to all of you...' you thought internally to yourself, still keeping a forced smile plastered onto your face.

"Um, actually I haven't finished all my notes yet, I'll catch up soon!" you offered a lie, while being really polite. "Oh...okay! But hurry up so you don't get stuck in here with the weirdo." the girl sneered at Garou even though he still had his focus on his desk and hadn't said a word. You gave a weak nod to them, just wanting them to leave. "Garou, there is a stool next to my desk you can use to reach the top of the chalkboards, make sure to properly get all of them this time. And (Y/N), the hall guard will be by soon to lock up the classroom while we're on break, don't be too long with your notes." The teacher said while ushering the other students out. Giving a nod in return of understanding to her, you pretended to keep jotting down notes quickly, even though you just kept writing the same sentence over and over just in a different way. Once everyone else left the room, Garou let out a long deep breath he had been holding, and finally brought the hanky to his face and cleaned the wet sticky residue of his dried tears from under his eyes and off his cheeks.

"I wasn't staring at you, I swear..." He mumbled quietly, looking over at you while extending the hanky back to you. Raising a hand in a polite, yet denying gesture, you told him to keep it, you did have plenty after all. "I know you weren't staring at me, I wouldn't have really cared that much even if you did." Your kind and understanding voice brought a small bashful smile to his face. "Besides, I don't mind if you do look at me, cause, I really like your eyes." you said quietly, offering him a kind compliment, probably not something he had heard in a long time, if ever, considering the way his eyes quickly shifted to you and lit up with what looked like almost shock or embarrassment or maybe both. The golden orbs were amazing and unique to you, not seeing a different eye color like that normally. "U-uh...I should start on the chalkboards." Rubbing the back of his head nervously, Garou stood up with the small specks of pink still on his cheeks.

This was weird, no one ever said anything nice to him like that, was it just a joke? Perhaps she was bullying him in a way that seemed like she was being nice, but really just being sarcastic about what she said. Maybe she really thought his eyes were weird, and giving him false confidence about them was entertaining for when she'd come back later and make fun of them. No...that couldn't be it...she sounded so genuine, and caring.

"Did you finish all the notes before I erase anything?" He questioned, looking at your workbook. "Oh!" You laughed while flipping it shut and standing up. "I finished a long time ago, I just pretended to keep writing so they would leave me alone." Being a little bit taller than him, he slightly glanced upwards to you, giving a cheeky smile about your earlier bluff to the other classmates. Now he was trying to think of a compliment in return, to not be rude and keep it one sided. As you were putting your few things into your bag that you set up in your chair, he looked at you more fully now, not wanting to earlier because of everyone harassing him.

Should he compliment her eyes? No, she already used that compliment for him...maybe her hair? It was tied up in a pretty bow with a couple long laces coming from it, and at the end of the long lochs it was slightly curled. Maybe? No, not that either...

"Your, voice, I really like it." he blurted out, immediately regretting it as you looked over to him with a small dusty pinkness starting to form on your cheeks now. Your blushing caused him to blush and he quickly waved his hands innocently in front of him. "S-sorry! I didn't mean to sound weird!" Your soft giggle to his stammering made him panic a little more but you smiled and replied to him, "R-Really? You like my voice?" your giddy tune got him nervous, now he was embarrassed. How could someone so nice and genuine get picked on like this? Was it because he was a good person that it made crummy people so irritated they just had to put him down to their level of misery?

"I'll help you clean the chalkboards, if you don't mind." Your offer was met with a quick head shake denying the help. "No, its okay, you don't have to stay in here with me. Once they lock up the door for break, you can't leave til its unlocked for everyone to come back in." "I want to help though." You replied, genuinely wanting to be around him. His smile and friendliness was adoring to you, and the thought of anyone being intentionally foul to him was already enough to make you steam with anger. His nervous laugh made you giggle and he ran his hand through the thick silvery, white hair on the back of his head again, clearly shy about this whole scene. He definitely was different than anyone you got to meet before, from his looks to his personality and to his honest actions, it made you feel like you actually might have a friend here, a genuine one. Garou's nervous laugh tapered off as he headed for the front of the classroom, reaching the stool and picking it up while looking at you. His smile revealed some happiness, and you returned one eagerly.

Maybe she was someone who was actually nice, did those types of people still exist? Why did he get such a feeling of happiness that she wanted to stay in here with him and help, even though it wasn't her own punishment. Did she feel guilty, like she was at fault? Certainly hope not...either way, she wasn't like everyone else...and that was enough to make him feel a touch of happiness and hope.

Okay! That was the end of Part 1 of Chapter 1. I hope you all enjoyed~! Til next. time! 3