High Impact || Genshin Impact H.S AU

Chapter 5.1

Xinyan walked down the crosswalk, listening to music by her favorite punk band. Looking around, she could see cloudy February sky, bringing a general downer to her environment but she always found music to be uplifting despite what her world says.

Listening to the punk group's beats, blasting through her ears accompanied with a steady vocal that spits out lyrics, touching her heart. It all made her get hyped and excited, preventing gloomy weather from ruining her day or sometimes people.

She stopped at the stairs, looking up and down at the entrance to the high school. She groaned a bit, annoyed at the idea of school. She always found it a big bummer, sometimes killing her vibes though she had to admit some teachers were nice about it and tried to unkill her bummer. Nonetheless, all the sitting around and learning made her restless and she prefers to do something more active.

Whenever she mentions this to her therapist, they always suggest the same thing, to try sports. Which she always rejects, she didn’t mind it but she wanted something less competitive and intense, preferably music.

She decided to go up the stairs and enter the school. When entering she hears a bird ca-cawing.

“I guess Fischl is busy," knowing that Oz can be restless at times. Eventually while walking down a hall, passing the faculty office, she sees Oz zoom by her, wind plastering onto her face for a brief moment. She then sees Fischl chasing g her.

“Me too bird,” she thinks, empathizing with the boredom and restlessness the school brings. Whenever this happens, she just cranks her music up a volume and tries to dive into it. Letting the melodies and beats surround her, coil around and drain her restlessness.

She continues walking down the hallway, reaching her locker. Behind her, she sees the three most popular girls, at least outside of Barbra who is a deity to some.

“So, what are we going to do tonight?” Mona says, scrolling on her phone while chewing bubblegum.

“Outside of student council, I got nothing,” Ganyu says, placing her chin onto Keqing while wrapping her arms around Keqing’s waist.

“I could rent out an amusement park or like we could to my house,” Keqing offers. Xinyan is always surprised by Keqing’s wealth, hearing a snippet of it every morning as the trio locates nearby her locker during passing periods. The two other girls pause for a moment, sometimes also in disbelief of Keqing’s wealth and ability.

“Let’s just go to your house,” Mona says.

“Yeah cool,” Keqing says. Xinyan witnesses from nearby, always felt a spark of jealousy and annoyance when hearing and seeing the trio. She didn’t hate them, knowing they are rather kind and chill, but just watching them she could see all her flaws all over herself.

“Unpopular, annoying, and scary,” she thought. She shook her head, trying to get the intrusive thoughts out before it got darker. She grabbed her books and left, getting away from the trio before she gets harsher with herself.

If she wasn’t so harsh and mean to herself, she would’ve dumped her therapist who gives shit advice at everything else but intrusive thoughts. She wishes she could get the only other therapist in town but apparently, they are too booked up and expensive, thus

Xinyan had to resort to using her current therapist who suggested she should not listen to music so much and engage.

Xinyan always hated that idea, been told that by a majority of adults, teachers, counselors, and her dad at times. It made her furious at the world since after all music is what she loves.

Holding her books, she reached her first class of chemistry with Albedo. She didn’t mind him, he was a pretty cool teacher who did cool things in Xinyan eyes. She sat down, resting her head but not for long because while she had been allowed to have her headphones, she couldn’t afford to sleep, or else she gets punished in Albedo's detention experiments.

She eventually sits straight and witnesses Albedo do experiments till her next period. Her school day continues out as normal, watching teachers do stuff that she occasionally pays attention to. She found some stuff chill like history and science but other subjects just got on her nerves, especially math.

If it wasn’t for Ningguang’s metal personality and hot vibes that tugged at her bisexual heartstrings, she would be pissed and on the verge of a breakdown in every class. She just hated the subject and found it useless after arithmetic.

Otherwise, the other classes were occasionally a dredge to get through, the same old same old that made Xinyan craving for more in life. People always said the Genshin District was made to have people experience parts of the world all in one place but having lived here since elementary school, she only found it a small town with prison bars and threats of ruling your life if daring to mess up.

She sighed, walking down by her locker to put away her math books and get out her English books for Baizhu’s class. She passed by the three hot girls, seeing Keqing and Ganyu muzzle, feeling envious of their relationship. It only made her feel sad inside.

“Lonely and pathetic” a dark corner of her mind spoke. She shook her head, trying g to get rid of it. She decided to turn up her music by a few volumes to drown out the thoughts. It worked enough.

She got her books and headed to her final class with Baizhu, a teacher she found alright ever since she got applauded for her semester group project. She looked back a bit, remembering the fond memories she had, talking and having g a grand old time with her group. Though after the project ended, they all rarely talked to one another, each of the other members busy with their own lives and friend groups to talk to her again. The semester group project became a bittersweet memory for her now.

She entered Baizhu class and left it an hour later. She sighed, the grateful school was over for the day and now she could head home quickly and play with her guitar and jam out. She felt happier with that thought, excited to listen to music and play it as well, write songs based on her feeling and so much more.

Passing by her locker, she didn’t see the trio and quietly whispered “yes", grateful to see them gone as she didn’t have any more thoughts to make her feel bad about herself. She put away her stuff and began to head out the door.

She saw the light, a slight orange color as it was likely nearing sunset due to daylight savings. She gulped, thinking of all the songs she wanted to do and the inspiration she had for writing her own. It just made her stomach grow butterflies.

She ran to the entrance but then in the corner of her eye, she saw a bright sparkling sign that caught her eye. She was a mere foot away from leaving the school but her curiosity took over and made her go to the sparkly sign.

“Talent show sign-ups" she read out loud, seeing the bright cut-out bedazzled letters spell out. She gulped, her mind rushing in excitement. “No way,” she mutters.

To her, it was a chance, a chance for her to play music and no one could tell her no. At times she would go to the garage and play her Amp but most of the time it would be interrupted by her sadness or her neighbors with complaints of it being too loud. It always brought her down and became a big bummer for her to her day.

Now she could play and get recognized, and stage experience. Two things she always wanted, in her efforts to become a musician. She smiled brightly, grabbing the pen that was tied to the side, and wrote her name, right at the top.

A chance for more fun and better times has arrived and she wasn’t about to let it go.