Traces of You

Chapter 1

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Myles came to a room full of eyes. A sea of curiosity and disinterest at the new kid who walked into the room during a lesson.

He wouldn't blame their boredom and disinterest. It was a fairly average thing for someone new to enter this school with hundreds of kids. So, it wasn't anything to spark their interest and he would say the same thing. He had already done this dozens of times already before, so transferring to this school wasn't new or nerve-wrecking. It was just like coming to another period of the day.

"So, you're Myles, right?" the teacher said.

Myles focused his gaze on the tall man in front of him. His head bobbed. "Yeah."

"I'm Mr Hayes. I'll be your homeroom teacher this year." Mr Hayes peeked at the classroom and back towards Myles with a thoughtful look. "I know it's a little boring, but why don't you introduce yourself since you seem to be the only new person in this time."

Myles roughly lifted his lips. He held himself back from sighing. Introductions felt like the only theatrics he was ever involved in. The repetitive nature of saying the same three lines consisting of his name, where he came from and what he liked to do.

"Hi, I'm Myles. I just moved from over east. My family moves around a lot for my dads job," he recited.

My Hayes smiled and said the next series of instructions before ushering him over to the back of the class where an incomplete row of desks where sat.

In the end, the class became a blurred memory, and the bell rang.

While he waited for the student stampede to pass over, he shuffled his bag onto his back. A shadow loomed over him and he looked up to find a bright looking guy smiling at him with a friendly face.

Myles immediately felt the tiredness coming along, but that wasn't because he wasn't into making new friends. He just thought that if he had to move again anytime soon, it was going to be a hard to deal with a bunch of people who were borderline 'known you forever' versus 'just met'. He's dealt with it a few times to understand.

"Hey," the guy said to him.

"What's up," Myles replied with the same polite tone.

"I'm Colton." Colton raised a low fist bump which Myles returned with a fist bump of his own. "Came all the way from the east, right?"

"Yep. Just as you've heard."

"So, I'm guessing you've never been here before?"

"Nope, never."

He made a humming face before making another smile. "Want me to show you around the school? It's pretty big compared to the other schools around here. Kids here get lost easily."

"I mean, sure. That would be great."

In the next few minutes, Myles was being dragged by Colton around the campus to all the buildings.

Colton wasn't kidding. His feet were actually starting to hurt. There weren't a lot of buildings, but they were spaced out across the land. If someone had classes in gym and the next in a lab, they would have to sprint across a whole oval just to make it in time.

"So, what are you into?" Colton asked, leading them along a pathway beside the gymnasium.

Here comes the awkward 'Getting to know you' talk.

"Not that much—video games, movies. Things like that," he listed. He knew it sounded boring but there really wasn't much he could say other than that. He's never been the type to commit to something for a long time, and even if he did, he would get bored of it very quickly.