The cell phone alarm woke Wally up, he had almost forgotten that hateful sound. Somehow, he had to change the melody to a more pleasant one later so as not to wake him up in a bad mood.
Then the first day of school began.
He went into the bathroom and looked at his body in the mirror, it wasn't something usual for him but for some reason he wanted to look decent, after all it was the first day. His hair was a bit longer due to him forgetting to get a haircut but those unruly strands were barely noticeable, at least he could see where he was walking. He took a quick shower and got dressed, even put on some cologne. His father teased him during the morning at breakfast, claiming that his champion was growing up and wanted to look good for the girls. Wally didn't respond to anything and reluctantly ate his breakfast.
Mr. Beatles would take his children to school, especially Joey who was starting elementary school and looked very cute with his new backpack. Wally didn't take the time to say goodbye to his father when he was dropped off in high school as it might lead to angry comments about being a daddy's boy and he didn't want to be talked about so soon in the school. For that day, he had several missions that he went over in his head.
First, there was the fact that he wanted to see Kuki and the rest of his friends. It's not like he hadn't seen her for most of the summer but ever since she left home she's been busy with her parents' business and going out last minute shopping and didn't see her after that. The same thing happened with Abigail and Nigel, although with the latter, he had paid him a visit the previous afternoon and found him in very good company, however, things weren't uncomfortable for either of them and Wally was able to talk with Nigel without problems. As for Hoagie, he had visited him at his house on Saturday where they had an afternoon of nachos and games in his room, just like old times.
Second on his mental list and perhaps most importantly, signing up for admissions to sports groups. He didn't really care much about giving all the tryouts, but he really wanted to make the football team, although he didn't care that he could be on two teams at once.
Third in the life of a teenager, not doing anything that would attract attention because gossip in the halls of high school runs faster than the wind. After all, what could go wrong? For some reason, he started to get discouraged when he picked up his schedule and didn't see anyone he knew and went to his locker. Was he the only one who had shown up at school? He was already feeling like a fool.
"Are you serious?" A voice took him out of his thoughts and he tried not to smile too much so she wouldn't realize that he was happy to hear his voice resounding in his ears "What a surprise Wally, your locker is next to mine" Kuki approached and entered the locker's password and it opened, making the girl empty half of the things she had in her heavy suitcase.
"You do know it's the first day, right?" He asked her, crossing her arms, "Why do you bring so many things?"
"I wanted to make the locker something of my own, very personal, this needs decoration in the Sanban style," the girl commented excitedly as she continued arranging her things and pasting some glittery rainbow monkey stickers on the inside of the door.
"I don't even know why I asked" he closed his locker while he looked at the girl decorating "Have you seen the others?"
"Of course," she answered very energetically, "Abby is at her locker in the other corridor if you want to say hello to her and Hoagie I saw him in the office where the schedules are withdraw and we saw that we only share a few classes and Nigel is at his locker at the end of this hallway, look here he comes." Both teenagers fixed their eyes on Nigel who was walking towards them.
"The one you were crying for has arrived, don't faint, thanks," Nigel told him when he greeted them.
"Wow Nigel, I see you've grown quite a bit over the summer," the girl walked up to Nigel and hugged him.
"Ha, ha, I think so Kuki, nice to see you, you also grew up a little" he said lowering her dark glasses.
"How are you?" Wally greeted him, bumping his fists "I hope next summer you don't go to another absurd camp because otherwise I'll have to beat you up for going to children's things again."
"Don't worry, my dad assured me he was the last one.
"Can we go to the tree house this afternoon?" Kuki asked and went back to decorating her locker.
"But of course, everyone is invited, we need to make up for lost time, there is so much I have to tell you," she approaches Wally with a mischievous look, whispering, "So, what happened between you and Kuki, huh? Look, how you've been together all summer, sleeping under the same roof and now I find you two very close, but how convenient", said a comment that made him blush.
"I already told you that nothing happened, don't start," he said loudly, calling Kuki's attention. "It's nothing, Nigel and his crazy things" he scratched his head uncomfortably and looked for a way to get out of that strange situation "Could it be that we can look for the others? I feel like I don't even remember Abigail's face"
"What are you guys saying?" They were interrupted by a girl who knew very well who it was "I couldn't help but see you when I came down this corridor, you know, you draw a lot of attention, especially you two," she motioned to Wally and Kuki " Are they going to tell me it's over or will they be idiots?
"Abby!" The Japanese ran into her friend's arms and hugged her tightly "But you look beautiful, I love what you did to your hair" Kuki commented looking at her friend who had changed during her trip. Her skin looked more tanned from all the sun she was getting on the beaches of Hawaii. Her hair was worn down in a style similar to the one her older sister wore, but much longer and on top of that, her peculiar red cap. She was now wearing a long blue sweater with white stripes on the sides and black knee length pants, showing off her shapely athletic legs.
"Abby is glad to see you Kuki but she's having a hard time breathing," she said with a small voice.
"Oh I'm sorry. I think I got too excited," she said somewhat embarrassed, letting go of her friend.
"You wouldn't be you if you weren't."
"Did you agree to a meeting before class without me?" Hoagie asked, approaching the group.
"I was wondering where you were," Nigel told him.
The group of five friends was finally reunited. Despite that, Abby and Hoagie didn't speak directly to each other but nobody seemed to notice, except maybe Wally, who although nobody felt uncomfortable, he could notice a certain distance, but at least this time, Abby didn't leave. Their conversation was interrupted by the bell for the start of classes. Wally and Kuki left together because for some reason, their schedules overlapped too much, they were almost the same, except for a couple of classes. The rest took the stairs to go to their respective classrooms. They would see each other later.
Something that caught Kuki's attention was that a group of girls in a corner of the classroom kept looking at Wally who had sat next to her. For a moment she thought that something was wrong with her, though she was embarrassed the first day, but when she looked closely, in reality, her eyes were focused on the blond. If she made a comparison using her girl's instinct based on first impression, in that room, Wallabee, a super beefy dark-haired boy with a green cap and a tall, brown-haired boy with sea-blue eyes were the most handsome of that group.
At first she didn't care much about it because it wouldn't be the first time that the boy's Australian beauty caught any attention, but when she recognized the girl that Wally had greeted at the gym the other day, then she began to worry. She sure as hell was planning her moves to get closer to talk to him and flirt with him again. This bothered her a bit the rest of the morning.
When it was time for lunch, the boys cleared the place at a table in the back of the cafeteria, away from the groups that were clearly the popular ones, athletes and cheerleaders. Abby was already sitting with her tray at the table while the rest followed in line. The next to arrive was Nigel, who seemed a little nervous, but the girl preferred not to ask. Hoagie was accompanied by his girlfriend Alice, who didn't add much to the conversation and ate in silence.
Kuki and Wally finished paying for their lunch and then headed to the table to join their other friends. Suddenly, Kuki realized that she had left his purse on the counter and had to go back.
"I have to go back, I forgot my wallet at the checkout counter, I hope no one has taken it," she said somewhat worried.
"Okay, give me your tray," Wally told her and the girl obeyed, "Hurry up, I don't think anyone has taken it yet."
Kuki went back for her purse and saw it in the hands of a boy who was leaning to the side of where she had left it. She almost bumped into another person but she was nimble enough to avoid an accident.
"Excuse me, what you have there is my purse," she said, pointing to the object that had a rainbow monkey embroidery in light blue and some coins around it.
"So this is yours," commented the boy, approaching her, making her a little nervous, "I was passing by and wondering what girl this purse would belong to, but I didn't expect it to belong to someone as pretty as you."
"Do you think I'm pretty?" She couldn't help but blush at his comment. Something about the boy didn't make her feel uncomfortable, she found it interesting with that strange hairstyle he had, a strip of color in front lighter than the rest of her hair, a jacket similar to an aviator and dark glasses.
"Of course" he adjusted her hair "Would you like to share a table with me and have lunch?"
"Oh, well... it's just that I, well, my friends are waiting for me. Maybe another time"
"Whatever you say sweetie, my invitation still stands. By the way, my name is Ace." He extended her hand to greet her and the girl took it without thinking too much.
"My name is Kuki.
"A pleasure, Kuki, I'll give you your purse back. I am glad to know that it returned to the owner and did not end up in the wrong hands."
"Thank you Ace. I guess we'll see you later."
"That's for sure" they said goodbye and Kuki returned to the table with his friends.
"Why did you take so long?" asked Wally when Kuki sat next to her but didn't say anything more when he saw the girl putting her purse in her backpack.
"So, today there is a meeting at the tree house," Abby began to say that she had seen Kuki talking to a boy in the distance but she wasn't in the mood to listen to her friends argue anything about it.
"Of course," answered Hoagie, speaking with his mouth full.
"Where are your manners Hoagie?" Alice scolded seeing her boyfriend's immature behavior. "So do you think I can join the club?"
"I'm fine with Hoagie taking you to my tree house. What kind of friend would be me if I forbade anyone to bring their dates? And that applies to everyone huh," he told them, looking at everyone present.
Suddenly, a voice was heard echoing throughout the cafeteria. Virtually all of the teenagers stopped what they were doing to pay attention to the voice of a girl speaking over the loudspeakers.
"Welcome everyone to a new school year. This is yours truly Rachel McKenzie, I've been chosen to do the school announcements. First of all, starting tomorrow on the bulletin boards on each floor will be the lists of enrollment in all extracurricular activities, whether you want to join a school club or of course, join our prestigious sports teams. The second on our list may be the most relevant thing about this announcement. The school is having a homecoming dance on Friday night for the start of classes, come dressed up to the gym and look for your partners because this will be great. And third, the school committee is always looking for new members to help carry out the activities. There will be other dances and activities so you can stop by the principal's office to get on the list and see if you are capable enough to be the leaders we need for tomorrow. That's all, Rachel says goodbye and continues enjoying the lunch time."
The murmurs in the cafeteria were getting louder. No one expected that the school would organize a school dance so soon. For the first years, this could be a problem since many were new and didn't know anyone. How were they going to have a date between now and Friday?
"So much fuss over a dance?" Wally spoke, taking a bite out of his sandwich.
"Shut up!" the three girls said in unison.
"I forgot how sensitive girls get about a school dance," Hoagie added.
"Oh come on guys it'll be fun" Nigel laughed nervously, actually the news had excited him.
"If I didn't know you better, I'd say someone already has a date," Abby told him, laughing.
"Who me? No, but how wonderful Abby, where do you draw those conclusions from?" He adjusted her glasses.
"I was just saying," she shrugged.
Kuki finished his lunch in silence as he glanced sideways at Wally who seemed to be more engrossed in his food than in the previous announcements. She really wanted to go to this dance and was excited that maybe Wally could invite her before Friday.
"Wait a second," Abby reacted suddenly, getting up from the table, drawing the attention of her friends and some guys who were at the other tables around her. "How are we supposed to get a dress between now and Friday?" The question alarmed the faces of some, especially the girls.
"It's a school dance, not a graduation, wear anything," commented Wally, earning several reproachful looks from some of the girls.
"Finally someone with common sense in this place!" A red-haired girl stood up screaming at the top of her lungs, causing more than half of the cafeteria to give them their full attention. WHO HAD THE THOUGHT OF PLANNING A DANCE IN LESS THAN A WEEK?
"Fanny calm down, everyone is looking at you," said the handsome boy who was in Kuki's first class that morning, he went by the name of Patton Drilovsky. He was sitting next to the redhead and some other guys.
"She's right," a dark-haired girl got up, "Where do we have to go to change the date?"
Suddenly, many girls joined the conversation and in a fairly large group, they left for the principal's office.
"Can someone explain to me what just happened?" Wally commented.
"I have no idea, friend," Hoagie replied, "Almost all the girls left, even Nigel agreed to intercede for them, how dramatic they are for a dance."
"You say it like that because you already have a date," he crossed his arms.
"Well, you already have it too, you only have to ask Kuki. I'm 99.99% sure that she will say yes"
"Don't start," he got up to leave the waste from his tray and place it in her place, leaving his friend completely alone.
"What's your problem?" Hoagie spoke to himself.
"Well, Hoagie's right, I just have to ask her and she'll tell me she does, but is she able to tell me she doesn't? I have to think about it. I suck at this teenage stuff." Wally thought to himself as he walked through the empty halls of the school towards his locker. He shifted his gaze to the locker next to him that belonged to Kuki. If fate wanted them together, then things would just happen.
A.N. Hello, I wanted to publish this chapter before my birthday, there are only a few hours left, I just didn't have the time. With this I start the second part of this fic I hope you enjoy it :D
