Normal Girl

Thwarted Efforts and Bolded Letters

"Oh, nothing... JUST THAT MY BEST FRIEND GOT ACCEPTED TO THE BEST HIGH SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY WITH A FULL RIDE!!" Gideon shouted, laughing incredulously.

I giggled bashfully in response. I've never been that great with accepting compliments and praise like that.

*time shkeep*

*BWOM BWOM BWOM BWOM BWOM*

"Ughhhhhh, stupid alarm clock! SHADDAP," I slammed the top of the alarm clock, silencing it immediately. I tear myself away from the warmth of my soft blankets and pillow, shuddering at the sudden cold draft in the window. It's definitely fall, ugh, time for the school year to start.

'HOLY SHIT MY FIRST DAY AT HOPE'S PEAK IS TODAY.'

I was suddenly reminded of the dread, fear, and shame that surrounded that fact. My hands shook with adrenaline from both fear and anticipation as I donned the school uniform that Hope's Peak mailed to me a few months ago along with all the paperwork and information about the school and my admission I needed.

After taking about an hour to finish getting ready, I shouldered my backpack, grabbed my suitcases of remaining belongings, and descended the stairs toward the garage where my mom said she'd be waiting for me in the car by 5:30am.

It was still relatively dark outside as the sun was barely rising by the time I finished cramming my two huge suitcases into the trunk and closed the door before being body-slammed from behind by someone huge.

"(Y/NNNNNNNNNNNNNNN)!!!!!! OH, (Y/N), I'M GONNA MISS YOU SO MUCHHHHH!! YOU BETTER NOT FORGET ABOUT ME!!" he cried with tears in his eyes, no doubt loud enough to wake up anyone and everyone in a 10-mile radius.

"AAHH!! GIDEONNNNN!" I squealed, "I'M GONNA MISS YOU TOOOOOOO!!!" We hugged for a very, very long time. Many tears soaked our faces and each other's shoulders as we whimpered out our goodbyes.

"Though, Gideon, you know I'm not going away forever. I'll be back for holidays and breaks and stuff and whenever I can!"

"BUT YOU'LL MAKE OTHER FRIENDS AND FORGET MEEEEEEE!!!"

"I wouldn't dare! Besides, I doubt anybody will wanna be friends with me anyway," I scratched the back of my neck, "Hey, Gideon?"

"Yeah, (Y/N)?"

"Promise me you'll take care of the treehouse while I'm gone? You still have the key right? And you remember where the spare is?"

"Of course! You love that treehouse so much, I'm sure if it was a person, it'd be your best friend instead of me. And the spare key's in the hole in the second branch from the bottom on the...left! Right?"

"The right, Gideon, but thank you. If you got into Hope's Peak, you'd be called the Ultimate Treehouse Caretaker. Or the Ultimate Best Friend!"

We laughed together and continued talking and crying a bit more until my mom called for me and said it was time to go. Gideon and I hugged extra tightly one last time before I got in the passenger seat and my mom drove to the train station.

*at the train station*

"What do you mean the card was declined!?" my mom argued with the ticket booth guy. I stood next to her bored out of my mind, looking around for something interesting before a sign caught my eye.

'Hope's Peak Academy: the Ultimate High School for Ultimate Students! Requirements: be attending high school, be amazing at what you do! Our scouting agents will find you!'

Below the words on the sign were pictures of all kinds of extraordinary-looking people with their pictures labeled with each person's ultimate ability. There was a picture of the "Ultimate Confectioner," a blonde girl in a pink jacket with puffy sleeves and sweets sprawled around her; the "Ultimate Housekeeper," a sweet looking red-headed woman with an apron and cleaning supplies; the "Ultimate Boxer," a green-haired guy who looked familiar like from TV or something; and a bunch of other cool-looking people. All that confidence Gideon gave me melted away as my fire was smothered out by the awe-striking appearances of all of these people. I know I shouldn't be this terrified; these people were just regular high school students like me, but I can't seem to help it.

"(Y/N)? (Y/N)!" my mom's voice shook me out of my stupor.

"H-huh? What?"

"Your ticket," she held a train ticket out to me which I plucked from her hand, "you know which platform you're going to? You got all your stuff? Need to go to the bathroom? Want a snack? You've got your card, right?"

"Yeah, mom, I've got it all handled, don't worry," I gave her a reassuring grin as I mulled the ticket in my hand.

"Okay, bubs," she pulled me into a hug, "you ready to go?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," I hugged her back.

When I pulled away, I headed towards my gate, ticket in one hand, cellphone in the other. This wasn't the first time I'd ridden the train, not even the first time I rode it alone. Still, a sense of fear hung over my head as I took a seat on a nearby bench to wait for my train.

Only about 10 minutes later did my train squeal to a stop at the station, and I boarded, taking a seat toward the back on the right side, hoping nobody else would sit nearby and bother me on the hour-long ride to Hope's Peak. Thankfully, it worked, and - other than one other person sat on the left a few rows in front of me - I had the last few rows of the train to myself.

The other guy in the back looked like he was around my age. He had wild, white hair and was staring out the window with an expression I couldn't quite read, but if I had to guess, it was some sort of combination of boredom, sleepiness, and... hope? There was no expression in the rest of his face, but his eyes had a compelling, exigent twinkle to them like he was always a step ahead of everyone else, and while that made things easy for him, it also made life quite boring.

Well, whether his eyes twinkle or not, there's probably a reason he sat in the back. I shouldn't bother him. I took my cellphone and earbuds out of my bag, loaded up my favorite playlist, and closed my eyes, letting the gentle rumbling of the train lull me towards the sleep I had lost from having to wake up so early to catch this train. If only the entrance meeting wasn't at 8am, I could've slept in. Oh well, time for some sl- the other side of the train headrest sunk slightly from the weight of...someone... as I heard a muffled voice on my left through my earbuds.

"he..................ito... wh...... yo........?"

'Damn it. I sat all the way back here so that I *wouldn't* have to talk to strangers,' I thought.

My eyes shot open and I took my left earbud out and said, "w-what? I'm sorry, heh, I didn't catch that."

{}{} Author's Note {}{}

I'M SO SO SO SORRY FOR MY ABSENCE AHHH!!! I know I said I would be posting 3-5 times a week, and I really meant it, but I didn't anticipate that my life would get as busy as it did, and I wasn't able to access the computer I use for this stuff for a very long time. I apologize once again, I'm going to try to change some things to help make it easier for me to stay on top of posts. Please, just stick with me!

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, next one will be coming out tomorrow, and I plan to continue daily uploads at least until I've got a pretty significant number of chapters out. I really appreciate those of you that are already here an interacting with this story. You guys are the ones keeping me motivated to keep working on this story and staying confident enough to put it out into the world. So my sincerest of thank yous. <333

That's all for now! See you tomorrow.

Length: 1,180 words