Copy, (An Astro Boy Story)

Chapter 11: It's A Small World After All

Toby's POV:

Toby got out of his father's limo slowly, clutching his bag tightly as his eyes swept the temporary school. It didn't look much like a school, but then again, it wasn't a building that classified a school with a school-like feeling. It was the kids that went there and the teachers that taught there that made all the difference.

Whether it was a good difference or a bad difference depended.

Toby hoped it would be a good difference.

But he had a feeling that with what had happened during his Time Away—as he had begun to call it—that any school bully around, new or old, wasn't going to leave him alone.

But he could hope, right?

"Good-bye Master Toby," Orrin said, smiling from behind the wheel. "Have a good day at school! I'll be here to pick you up as soon as the last bell rings."

Toby mustered a smile. "Thanks Orrin," he said. "I'll see you then."

He watched as Orrin pulled away and sped off, before turning around, taking a big breath.

Have a good day at school.

Yeah. Right.

He sighed, deciding it was best just to break the ice and get it over with. Keeping his head down, he made his way into the makeshift school yard, trying to stay inconspicuous. He desperately wished he had his Ministry of Science hat with him, to at least hide his identity a bit, but he still hadn't been able to find it, which was weird. He had no idea where it might have gone.

To his relief, no one gave him a second glance as he found an out of the way spot by a tree to set his bag down and pull out his holo-pad. The majority of the students seemed to be enjoying themselves climbing over a few pieces of rubble that had yet to be cleared away from the battle, jumping off of it and clambering all around the junk like it was a jungle gym. Part of Toby wanted to join them, but the other part wanted him to simply relax and maybe read a book on Quantum Physics while he waited for the bell to ring to get to first period.

Not that he knew where his first period was. Pulling out his schedule, Toby read it through and memorized the room numbers; confident he'd be able to remember so he could find them without looking like an idiot by stopping in the middle of the hallway to pull out his schedule again. He wasn't too worried though, since it was everybody's first day at the new school anyhow. No one knew where they were going.

Stuffing his schedule out of sight, Toby lost himself in his book.

All too soon, the bell rang for first period.

Sighing, Toby got to his feet, putting his holo-pad back into his pack and joining the mass flow of students making their way in the building...if it could be called that. All it was was an old abandoned—and slightly drafty—warehouse they had made into a temporary school. The crowd filed into the slightly chilly uncarpeted building regardless though and most everybody, it seemed, were with friends, chatting away about pointless things that they had done over the extended break. Toby didn't try to make conversation, simply keeping to himself. He didn't have any friends to chat with. He never had. He was the smart kid, the son of the famous Bill Tenma—the genius whose intelligence everyone was jealous of and all the bullies picked on. Not many people wanted to be friends with him—or if they did, all they wanted was to leech homework answers off of him.

Toby didn't mind not have friends really. Well, he did mind but he told himself he didn't. He had always sort of wished he had a friend to talk to. He wanted someone to vent to whenever he felt lonely and abandoned by his father, or when he felt excluded from society and his peers because of his genius. He was always lonely and always simply the observer of other kids his age having fun with their friends. He wanted to have that happiness too...but in his mind, he figured, the smart ones-the kids that will be leading figures of Metro City in the future- don't need friends and shouldn't dwell in things of nonsense like 'hanging out' and shopping. No, Toby figured he was better off on his own anyway.