The next morning was uninteresting and bland, aside from the fact that you got up earlier than usual to allow yourself time to find your new school - you weren't familiar with Redwood Park, or it's bus schedule - and made a quick breakfast of toast; a rare commodity. You quietly tiptoed out the front door, carefully closing it behind you as to not wake your father, snoring loudly through the thin walls, and jogged resolutely down the street to the nearby bus stop. That was almost the only good thing about where you lived.

As you searched through the bus timetable to look for one that would bring you to Redwood - or one that at least took you to the interchange at Abbottvale - you saw a truck pull into the driveway of the house across the street. You watched with the mild, detached interest of someone watching something that was of no interest to them purely because there was nothing else to watch.

A tough-looking man stepped out of the truck and started directing his colleagues to remove furniture and similar objects from the storage space behind the cabin. The men then disappeared inside the rather nice-looking house just as a bus pulled into the stop, the doors swinging open invitingly. You looked briefly at the number at the front - 836 - and, after confirming that it would take you to your desired location, stepped up into the platform, Metro Card in hand. You just barely caught sight of similar trucks pulling into the driveways of the houses on either side. Odd, yes, but really, you had better thing to worry about.

The third bus finally rolled to a halt at Stop 42, and you got off with a tired groan. You looked disinterestedly at the addresses of the nearby houses, turned left, and began the slow, sedated walk of someone who really didn't want to be where they were going.

It's not like you had all that many friends at your old school; but you knew how things were there. You knew who to avoid. You knew who to suck up to if things got bad. You knew who to hide behind, and how to do it without seeming obvious. You knew who you could push around; not that you did it very often.

You were heading into an unknown that was completely... well, unknown.

Eventually, you arrived at your destination; a big, three-story building with the classic, university-style, ivy-covered white-brick walls and a vast front garden, complete with topiary and well-kept hedges that lined the gravel pathway that led to the front doors. The doors themselves were dark-coloured wood and sheltered by a porch-like patio held up by thick columns of stone. The porch extended out to the right, where you could just see a large sheltered area adjoining a car park through the hedges.

You looked up at the building and noted the especially blunt sign with a scoff of unconcealed mirth; it quite literally defined the building with the word "SCHOOL" written in big, bold letters.

You opened the heavy front doors with a sudden sense of dread, clutching the letter in your hand like a lifeline. It had told you to see the principal as soon as you arrived for your timetable and such, but... well, you had no idea where the principal's office was.

You saw movement in the corner of your eye, and turned to see a heavily-set figure walking down the hall away from you, presumably having just exited one of the many rooms lining one side of the hallway, silhouetted by the morning light beaming through the big windows set in the eastern wall.

"Hey! Umm, excuse me!" you called to the figure, watching as it paused and turned. You struggled to hold in your gasp as you saw that he was not a man at all, but a huge, goat-like monster. His face was covered with thin white fur, with thicker golden fur covering his head and chin. Two gracefully curved horns sprouted out from between two floppy ears, and his eyes were... surprisingly kind in their doe-brown depths. He was holding a duffel bag in his huge paw-like hand, and you could see oversized gardening tools peeking out from beneath the flaps.

"Howdy there, young one," the monster said in a low, fatherly voice that wasn't at all unpleasant to the ear. "Is there something I can help you with, child?"

You shook off your surprise and cleared your throat. "U-uhh, yes, can you please tell me where the principal's office is, sir?"

The goat-man chuckled heartily; a warm, gravelly sound. "Please, no need for formality, child. Call me Asgore. And of course, I will show you there, if you wish."

You nodded to him gratefully as he showed you down the opposite corridor and, after a few weaving turns that he promised you would get to know eventually, gestured to a door to your right.

"Thank you, Asgore sir," you said, bowing your head out of habit. Asgore just rumbled a laugh and, after a deep-voiced "Any time, my child,", resumed whatever duties he had been involved with before.

You took a deep breath and rapped your knuckles softly on the door. You heard a kindly, soft-spoken voice call out "Come in,", and you took that as your cue to enter.

The room was surprisingly homey for a principal's office, with childrens' drawings hanging proudly on the walls and photos of different school events sitting on the desk among dozens of papers and files. Another white-furred goat monster, smaller than the last, sat at the chair behind the desk, dwarfed by it's immense size.

Her violet eyes were bright and kind as she looked up from the papers held in her paw-like hands, thin reading classes sitting on a soft-looking pink nose. She gave you a soft smile.

"Ah yes, you must be our new student, yes?"

You nodded nervously.

The goat woman's smile widened. "Come now, do not be afraid, my child. I do not bite. Come, sit, and I will give you your timetable."

You sat delicately on the comfy-looking chair that stood before the desk, watching as the goat woman dug around in the papers she had been looking at earlier, handing you a pristine white folder after a few moments.

"This includes your schedule, a map of the school for each story, a list of extracurricular and after-school activities and a few documents that you will need to sign to authenticate your enrolment," the goat woman said. She then gasped and put a hand over her mouth in shock. "Oh! Where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself! I am Toriel, the principal of this school."

You resisted the urge to giggle at her flabbergasted expression. "It's nice meeting you, miss. I'm Polaris, but you... probably already know that, huh?"

Toriel gave you a sad smile. "Actually, your... father?-" she paused and looked for confirmation at her use of the word, and upon receiving a short, tense nod, continued, "-did not refer to you by name when he called me to arrange your enrolment, and told me to give you the required paperwork when you arrived today, so I am afraid that we know nothing of what we should about you, such as name, age, allergies..."

You looked through the folder and found forms inside that inquired of the same things Toriel had mentioned. "Do you want me to fill them in now? According to this timetable, class doesn't start for another-" you looked to the clock hanging on the wall nearby, "-fifty minutes."

Toriel smiled; the expression suited her. "That would be lovely, my child, if you can spare the time."

You just grinned - sincerely, you noted with a warm, unfamiliar feeing rising in your chest - and slid the forms out of the folder, taking Toriel's offered pen.

Given Name: Polaris

Surname: Greywalker

Age: 16

Birthdate: 08/11/1996

Year Level: 10

Allergies: N/A

Extra Allergy Information: N/A

Emergency Contact:

You hesitated to write down your father's phone number. You didn't want him to be called if you got sick or injured at school; he'd just punish you for it, as unfair as it was, so you left the space blank and continued filling out the form.

When you had finished, you looked up to see Toriel giving you a concerned look. "Have you no one to put down as an emergency contact?" she asked. "Why not your father?"

Thanks only to years of practice, you managed not to flinch. "Oh, uhh, he's at work more often than not, so, uhh, he probably wouldn't be able to pick me up if I got sick or anything anyway."

An odd look flashed across Toriel's face before it returned to her kind smile. "Oh... well, in any case, is there anyone else you can put down? Extended family, or neighbours perhaps?"

After a moment of thought, you remembered the old lady that lived next door. She had given you her phone number after she found you locked outside the house one night when you were six, when your father was out and you had forgotten your keys. She had said to call her if it happened again, and had made you get a spare key cut for the house. Luckily, your father hadn't found out, or...

You suppressed a shudder and resolutely stopped thinking about it, your inert memory instantly finding the combination of numbers and writing them down neatly. You silently promised yourself that you would never get so sick that the school would need to call her.

Having satisfied Toriel, you handed her the forms and leant back in your seat. The process had taken less than ten minutes, but you could already hear movement in the halls behind you.

Toriel ushered you to the door. "Now, you don't want to be late to your first class, my child."

You had your hand on the doorknob when a sudden question hit you out of the blue. "Uhh, Miss Toriel..."

The principal paused in her tidying of her desk. "Just Toriel is fine, my child. What is it?"

"Uhh, probably should have asked this earlier, but... just wondering, is this... a monster school?"

You immediately regretted your impulsiveness as you felt rather than saw Toriel freeze.

"... do you... have a problem with monsters, my child?"

You could hear the hurt in Toriel's voice and rushed to dispel her worries. "No, no, not at all, Mi- Toriel! I was just curious, that's all, I-" You cut yourself off when you realised how little you had thought about your answer.

Were you okay with being in a school full of monsters?

Toriel didn't seem to notice your abrupt stop in favour of sighing with palpable relief. "Oh, I am glad, my child. Now, be off to your classes, it would not do for you to be late! Please, come see me any time to tell me how you are faring, or if you have any questions."

With a muted nod you exited the office and walked through the hallways with the map as your only guide. You saw that your locker was on the second floor, and your first class of the day on the third.

Well, this was sure to be interesting after all.

Yay! I finally actually introduced characters from the game! See? Dad was wrong!

Also, I just looked, and HOLY CRAP THIS STORY HAS TWO FOLLOWERS I THOUGHT THAT PEOPLE WOULD CHEW THIS UP AND SPIT IT OUT. Don't leave just yet. Please.