The American Elite (COTE X OC)

Welcome to the Advanced Nurturing High School

JACK POV:

May I please have a moment of your time? I promise it won't take long...

How does one form relationships? Ones with meaning and deep-rooted trust and love. I've only ever had one of those and I can still remember the day we met like it was yesterday.

What does it mean to be a true friend? A good person? Does a true friend stand by you and have your back while your shit-hole father makes you feel worthless? Does a good person try and stop a known gangster from assaulting a woman just to get shot and killed in the process?

What does it feel like to be unconditionally loved? Or to unconditionally love someone? Is it warm? Perhaps it's soft. What does it mean to be truly free?

I realized something a few months back... I wasn't going to find the answers back in Queens. I had lost everything, my father continued to beat me and berate me constantly... My best friend was dead. I hardly ever left the house or talked to anyone without having a panic attack... I found myself wanting to cut myself. That's when a lifeline came... In the form of an online ad...

Due to me missing a lot of the end of my first semester in my freshman year of high school
(A/N: American high schools are 4 years, meaning the equivalent of a third-year middle school student in Japan is a freshman in high school in the States) I was looking for online courses to help me catch up. That's when I stumbled across an ad. It was an ad for, The Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School. For some reason, I felt inclined to check it out. And I found a chance, a chance to find myself again, find purpose.

After the application process was completed I realized that I had no way to even get to Japan, I was broke, and Dad sure as shit ain't giving me money unless it was to buy him booze. As I went to delete my online application... I saw that it said that promising foreign applicants would be flown out to take the entrance exam on sight, however, the spots were extremely limited. Only two students from all of North America would be accepted. I had nothing to lose so I decided to not delete my application.

A few days later I was accepted to take the entrance exam, after confirming they would provide my lodging and flight home should I fail, I packed up everything I needed and left. I didn't say a word to my father, hell he probably won't care. If anything he'll be ecstatic to have one less mouth to feed.

It was a massive risk. I hadn't studied much the last couple of months and the Japanese school system is way harder than the American one. But what did I have to lose? They were covering everything, so who cares? I knew my chances were low, but I tried thinking positively.

Would they really waste the money to fly out a potential candidate? If it wasn't already a forgone conclusion that I would be accepted, why would they waste the time, money, and resources if there was a chance it was just a massive waste?

I had arrived and after a day of being in Japan and getting strange looks due to my height, I took the entrance exam.

It was hard, really hard. I struggled in every subject at least on a couple of questions. Japanese history I was hopeless. I just guessed for all of them. For the written response questions I just drew a monkey and put a note that said, "Please accept this monkey in exchange for a point, Mr monkey says hi." I don't think it worked though.

But by some miracle, I was accepted. This just strengthened my theory of my enrollment being a foregone conclusion. I literally drew a fucking monkey and asked for a point... MULTIPLE TIMES! Maybe it's just the powers of Mr monkey.

Never underestimate Mr monkey.

So then I just waited, I played soccer pretty much all day every day at a local park because that's all there was to do and eventually, the first day came.