The next day, Cedric woke Andrew up.
"Wake up. It's time for school," Cedric said as he gently shook Andrew.
Andrew mumbled a bit as he groggily rose.
"Huh, already?" Andrew asked quietly.
"Yep. Get ready. I need to get you there by 8:00."
Andrew yawned and complied. Once he was ready, Andrew and his parents stood ready at the door w/ Azrael.
"Ready?" Cedric asked Andrew.
Andrew nodded. The four then climbed down the stairs together. Before Grey and Azrael left for work, Andrew gave his G-dad a big hug. Grey, while still being awkward around his child, hugged Andrew back w/ a nervous smile. Once that was done, Grey and Azrael flew off. Cedric then held his left hand out. Andrew grabbed it, both of their tails twitched, and they disappeared. On the other side, they reappeared in front of a large building. Outside of its size, the building wasn't that impressive. As for its title, it was "Ride City High School." Andrew stared at the school unsurely.
"Hey, don't judge before you experience it," Cedric said, "I'm sure you'll make friends in no time."
"You think so?" Andrew asked.
"I know so."
Cedric then gave Andrew a hug. After the embrace broke, Cedric waved Andrew off before twitching his tail and disappearing. Andrew looked up at the building again.
Welp here goes nothing! Andrew thought.
He adjusted his backpack, puffed out his chest, slapped a big old grin on his face, and walked into the building. While the exterior was painfully plain, the interior was much better in comparison. Andrew had looked up pictures of the school on his phone, and the inside of this one matched quite nicely w/ the photos. The floor was mostly white, as were the walls and ceiling. In terms of what was in the front lobby, there wasn't anything but basically empty space. Andrew took out the schedule that had come in the mail. First, he would find his locker to put his clothes in. The number was #257. After Andrew put his stuff away, he needed to go to his first period, which was Geometry class. Andrew checked both sides of the lobby, and on the right-hand side was the office, while the left had rows of lockers and lots of other students of different species.
"Clearly, that's the way," Andrew said while facing the left side.
He then made his way to that side. Due to his strange appearance, Andrew got a few weird looks, but nothing too mean. Eventually, Andrew found the elusive locker #257. When he got to it, Andrew had to do a double-take. The guy using the locker on the left looked a lot like Azrael! He was dressed really sharp, had black hair, and seemed to have a peeved expression. When the guy noticed Andrew staring, he cocked an eyebrow.
"What?" He asked in an annoyed tone.
"Azrael?" Andrew asked.
The guy gave him a look.
"Dafuq?" The guy asked.
"Oh, sorry, I mistook you for someone else!" Andrew said, embarrassed.
He held his hand out.
"Hi, my name's Andrew. What's yours?"
The guy gave his hand a look that screamed, "I know you're not giving that to me." He then turned and walked away.
"Rude..." Andrew said, somewhat miffed.
"Oh, don't mind him," a female-sounding voice said from behind.
Andrew turned. Behind him, there was a girl. She had fluffy brown hair, round glasses, and a skirt attached to her shirt. The girl had a small smile on her face. In her arms, she had some school supplies.
"What do you mean?" Andrew asked.
"Don't feel bad for how he replied. Gasper treats everyone like that," the girl explained.
Andrew frowned.
"But, that's not right."
The girl shrugged.
"That's just how he is."
A bit of awkward silence followed.
"So..., what's your name?" Andrew asked.
The girl, instead of answering right away, actually curtsied!
"Gwendolyn Elodie Neutral. But you can just call me Gwen," the girl replied politely.
Andrew, giggling a bit, copied her.
"Andrew Alexander Anodyne. But you can just call me Andrew," Andrew said.
When the two looked into each other's eyes again, they busted out laughing. Then, a metallic sound rang.
"Oh, shit, the bell! Let's talk later," Gwen said.
She then rushed off. Andrew, not wanting to be late, input his combination as fast he could on the locker. Andrew then put his backpack in, took out his school supplies, and rushed off to Math class.









...




The class order was as follows: Geometry, History, Biology, P.E., Home Ec., English, and Theater. Gwen shared 4 of these w/ Andrew. A good number of the classes ended up being pretty uneventful because the work was pretty much nonexistent. What kept each class from being boring was Gwen. Each time they were in the same room, Andrew and Gwen quietly spoke to each other. Gwen mainly talked about anime and Yu-Gi-Oh while Andrew listened intently. Aside from Gwen's conversations, there were only three notable times in the day. One was Home Ec. The only reason why Andrew liked it was because he learned that they'd be cooking in that class. The second thing was Theater. The main draw of this one for Andrew was the prospect of performing in front of people! But the best of all was lunch. It came before the other three, and while the food was something to look forward to, there was one thing that made lunchtime very special. After getting his lunch of a pizza slice and walking into the lunchroom, Andrew looked around a sea of students sitting down w/ each other. After looking around for a bit, Andrew finally noticed Gwen waving him over. Next to her was Gasper. He looked away from Andrew w/ a scowl on his face. Once Andrew made it there, he looked over to Gasper.
"Um, why is he here?" Andrew asked.
"He's my brother," Gwen said frankly, "We sit together all the time."
Before Andrew could speak, Gasper cut him off.
"Do speak to me, do not look at me, and do not even fucking breathe in my direction," Gasper said.
Andrew was silent for a little bit before speaking w/ Gwen. When Andrew was halfway done w/ his pizza, he noticed someone sitting alone and had to do a triple-take. The person was HUGE! He was also fluffy and sitting in front of a pillar. Even though he was seated, he was still slightly above everyone who was at the tables! The monster wore a huge brown hoodie and a pair of jeans.
"Hey. Hey!" Gwen said.
"Oh, sorry, what?" Andrew asked.
Gwen sighed.
"I was trying to tell you about the anime Bocchi and Friends!"
"Um, that sounds really interesting, but uh, who is that?" Andrew asked while pointing at the giant.
When Gwen saw where he was pointing, she answered him.
"Oh, him? That's Drake Nightshade," Gwen replied.
"Drake Nightshade, huh?" Andrew asked, "Why is he sitting on the floor by himself?"
Gwen struggled to find the words for a bit.
"He's... he's uh... well, he's kind of a loner. Drake always sits away from everyone else and never speaks to anyone," Gwen explained, "Nobody goes near him because he has... this sort of intimidating presence about him."
Andrew looked back at Drake.
"Well, I'm gonna go speak to him," Andrew said boldly.
Gwen shook her head.
"I seriously wouldn't recommend doing that," she replied.
Andrew, w/ a confident smile, picked up his tray and made his way over to Drake. When Andrew plopped right down next to the fluffy giant, there was a collective gasp in the lunchroom. Andrew ignored this.
"Hi, my name's Andrew!" Andrew said confidently.
When the giant turned his head to Andrew, his jaw dropped. Drake had two large sad, sunken red eyes w/ black veins and a long, frowning mouth w/ two teeth connected to the top lip. There was clearish and reddish fluid coming from his mouth as well. Despite the face and the air of sadness, there was something... drop dead GORGEOUS about this guy to Andrew. Rather than answer Andrew, Drake took his tray and moved to a different pillar. Andrew sadly noticed that Drake wasn't wearing shoes. Throughout the rest of lunch, Andrew kept on going to where Drake was, to which Drake would simply move away again. This kept on going until the bell rang. During other classes, Andrew noticed Drake more times, but Drake refused to respond to Andrew's waving and words.









...





Once the day ended, and Andrew waved goodbye at Gwen and Gasper, he chose to go up to the roof for a bit. His C-dad was a bit busy at the moment, and so Andrew went up to draw for a bit. After sketching for a bit, Andrew heard the door to the roof opening. When he looked over, he saw Drake walking over to the railing of the roof. Andrew watched in silent fascination as Drake simply stood there. Faintly, he heard some quiet mumbling coming from Drake. After a bit, Drake left. Andrew looked at the door to the roof in confusion.
"The heck was that about?" He thought aloud.
After a bit, his phone rang.
"Hey, bud," Cedric said, "I'm here."
Andrew hung up the phone. As he packed his things away, he made a mental note.
I don't care how long it takes. I WILL make friends w/ Drake, Andrew thought w/ a blush.