Top Of The Mornin To Ya

"I'm sorry, but we cannot accept you into this school. We wish you your best with your search."

That's the phrase I heard every day. I had visited every school in the state, looking for anyone to accept me, but my knowledge was too advanced. Schools didn't have the capability to teach me anything more than I already knew.

There is one school I haven't checked...No. I can't. It's not worth it.

The only school I hadn't checked, known as HBD Tech, was the school my best friend Montana attended. It was a high school, but it lead up to college years in the next building over. I had never even set foot in the building because it wasn't what I was looking for, but now I had no choice. No one else would take me, so it was my last resort.

"You're gonna love it." Montana reassured me.

As if.

We walked into the large building to find a huge room filled with lounge chairs and tables, like the kind you find at hotels.

Montana gripped my arm and pulled me to the front desk where a lady with jet black hair was typing on a laptop. She looked up from her work, seeing Montana she smiled.

"Back again, Montana? So you did like it?"

"How can I not? Oh! This is Kylie. She's new, and looking to be accepted." Montana motioned towards me. I smiled at the lady and waved my hand slightly.

"Hey, Kylie! My name's Jess."

"Hello, Jess. Do you work here?" I wanted to make some sort of small talk to lighten the mood, that was clearly dying under the awkwardness.

"Sort of. I'm an intern. I take classes but also stay at the front to check people in. Here's your key by the way." She handed me a silver key with a name tag tied to the ring. It had my name and logo printed just as I always wrote it.

I thanked her and Montana yanked me to the elevators. Once we were inside, she pressed the button for the thirteenth floor.

"I thought people didn't put in a thirteenth floor."

"You do here. I'm not sure why, but I wouldn't worry too much."

We reached the floor and the elevators opened to reveal a large room, a group of people sitting in the center on brightly colored bean bag chairs.

We walked to the circle and took our seats, Montana on a white bean bag and me on a black. There were five others in the circle, a table with cards and waters in the middle.

The boy next to Montana was sitting on a red bean bag. He had dark hair and brown eyes. He looked slightly shorter than most of the others, but more muscular. His hair was dyed red at the top and his glasses were tilted to the side of his face ever so slightly.

The boy next to me was on a blue bean bag. He had dirty blonde hair, grey eyes, and a mischievous smile. He seemed to be tall (he was sitting down so it was hard to tell) and thin. He tapped his fingers on the side of the bean bag, listening to some sort of music in his headphones.

The boy next to him was around the same height, black hair, and small black gauges. His hair was pushed off to one side of his forehead and he was sitting on a grey bean bag. He was reading a book, air drumming to a tune in his head. It sounded a lot like a video game theme song.

God, there are so many boys here. How am I going to live with a bunch of teenage boys for the next week?

The boy on the other side of the muscular one was on a black bean bag with math equations patterned around it. He had dark brown hair and was scribbling something on a notebook while watching his tablet. His eyes were wide from focus.

The final boy was seated on a green bean bag. His height seemed to be the same as the one next to Montana, but he was a bit scrawnier. Bringing my eyes up to his face, I realized he was staring back at me. His lips were curled into a smile as his piercing ocean blue eyes sent shivers down my spine. His toxic green hair messy and unkept as he ran his fingers through it every once and a while.

Then a woman walked into the room and interrupted our staring contest.

"Hello, students! My name is Shelby and I will be your guide for today." Her red hair bounced as she spoke.

She walked to the center of the circle and put her hands on her hips.

"Alright. Let's get to know each other. You don't want to spend the year with strangers. So here's how this works. I'll choose a person to start. State your name and purpose for being here and then choose the next person to go. Okay...you! In the blue."

The boy next to me quickly pulled the headphones off of his head and sat up straighter.

"Um. Hi. My name's Felix and I want to be able to make videos for the internet." He seemed to have a slight Swedish accent, and never looked anyone in the eyes except for the boy who stared at me earlier who just smiled at him, holding back a chuckle.

"Ok, um, red can go." Felix pointed to the boy on the red bean bag who sat up and waved his hand to everyone.

"Hello everybody. My name is Mark. I'm here for the same as Felix. I want to learn the proper way to film game plays." His voice was deep and his words sounded like they had been said a million times.

"Alrighty then. You in the grey."

The air drummer looked up and gave Mark a death stare. Then he sighed and looked at the ground.

"Hey. My name is Nate. I like to make short films so I'm here to learn how to make them properly." He then gave a small wave and slumped back into his chair.

He pointed his finger at the boy on his tablet.

"Hello people. My name is Matt. You can call me MattPatt (bad at spelling). Everyone does." He never looked up from his notes. "I am here to share my theories on games and what their background is." He looked up and at the boy in the green. "You can go, greenie."

The boy growled but returned to his wide smile and faced me.

"Top of the morning to ya laddies. My name is Sean, but you can call me Jack. I'm here to bring joy to people through gaming." He looked at me for a second, nodding, signaling it was my turn.

"H-hi. Um, my name is Kylie. I'm here because my friend here forced me to come because no other schools accept me." Montana smacked the back of my head.

"She's here because she's a genius and she likes filming. Same here. You all know me. Montana."

The group split up after a few more questions and we were left to do whatever we wanted. Montana and I walked to the couch at the front of the room and sat in silence for a few minutes before she finally spoke.

"So do you like it?"

"I don't know. Haven't found the deal breaker yet."

"Well we've got a week. Take your time." Montana patted me knee and walked to the circle of bean bags. She tapped Sean-or Jack-on the shoulder and he looked up at her. She spoke for a second before he looked over at me. I smiled a little and he smiled back, looking back at Montana. He nodded and stood, walking over to me and sitting on the opposite side of the couch. I moved my feet to give him more room.

He reached his hand out, and I shook it staring at our hands instead of his eyes.

He leaned lower so that he was in my view before saying "top of the mornin to ya."

"Thanks, Jack."

Our eyes locked and his smile grew wider.

"Call me Sean."

So this is a first draft of a story I've been working on. If you liked it, vote or comment something so I know whether or not to make more. Thanks!