Adrian's Tale

Exposition

     My name is Adrian Yenza. I'm 14 years old and I've attended High Spring Boarding School (or, high-strung, as students like to call it) for two years now. Thus, meaning I'm a sophomore, the most boring and ignored of all the years.
     Now, here's the thing about High Spring. being old fashioned, it still has two main dormitories: one for boys, and one for girls. apparently I was the first kid on the non-binary spectrum to be open and out in all their years... somehow. so they just put me in a random dorm.
     last year, it was the boys dorm. this year, I chose to be in the girls dorm, cuz my bff Lily slept there. that and I rarely bring my own materials to school and so i usually end up borrowing from her anyway.
     I could just buy my own stuff, but that costs money I don't really have, as High Springs pretty much sucks up any extra muns my fam had in the first place. private schools suck.
     But today, Lily came down with the flu and was in the nurse's office. I hope she gets well and all, but now I have no materials. So I find myself in my usually favorite class- Chemistry- with no materials and sitting in the back banging my head against the desk. "Mx. Yenza," I heard Professor Cardoon say. I glanced up nervously. Cardoon really was my favorite, especially considering he was one of the few teachers that actually respected my pronouns. I hated letting him down. "Did you forget your materials again?"
     I gulp. Cardoon had this quiet way of talking that attracted everyone's attention, and I was not okay with so many eyes on me.  "Um... maybe." I replied vaguely.
     Professor Cardoon just rolled his eyes playfully and continued with his lesson. I tried to pay attention so I could write the notes later- I really did! But the next thing I knew someone was shaking me awake.
     "Mmm..." I mumbled sleepily before pushing myself up and looking at my awakener. Oh, I knew them! Their name was Al Becia. Okay, I don't really know them. I... know of their existence.
     Al is some jock that a lot of kids ship me with. I'm not sure why. Yeah, they're friendly, but come on. We've had a total of, what, two interactions together? Some people are just desperate for people to ship.
     Al smiled at me. "You fell asleep!"
     "Thanks, I didn't realize," I snapped sarcastically before seeing the hurt look on their face. "Sorry, I just... ugh, bad day. Anywho, thanks for waking me up."
     "No problem! Is Lily absent today or something?"
     I waved off the question as I gathered my supplies. "Flu is all."
     "Oh good! I mean, good it isn't worse, haha. Uh, hey, since your best friend forever and ever is absent, wanna hang with me after school?"
     I almost stopped packing, and then I did stop packing. What in the world did this agender think they were doing? "I have studying to do- and notes to catch up on, obviously." With that, I slung my backpack over my shoulder and began walking. Al followed.
     "Okay..." they seemed undeterred by my obvious attempts to make them back off. "How about we study together? I know a perfect little place in the Common Area! You in?"
     I'm not even sure why it's called the Common Area. "Common Area" suggests people go in it all the time, but everyone just chilled in the cafeteria. everyone except Al, apparently. "Fiiiine," I gave in.
     They smiled broadly. "Cool! See ya after school!" And they ran off. What a dimwit, really. Look, I don't have anything against the kid, I just find them mildly annoying and amazingly stupid. But, I digress. If I were to give positive traits to Al, I would say that they're... well, obnoxiously optimistic.
     But all that drama aside, there was one class left until the end of school. And that was Gym. See, Gym is usually reserved for freshmen while all other years get weights, dance, whatever. unless you fail it in freshmen year. which I did.
     I don't even have a problem with the class itself. Sure I'm terrible at anything physical ever, but whatever, no big deal really. The big problem was that I'm surrounded by a bunch of freshmen. HA. at the beginning of the year I found this humiliating, but now it was just... annoying.
     the only thing that that made it even slightly bearable was my freshmen friend named John. John is such a basic name really, but it suits his very basic personality. If there's anything that makes him stand out, I have yet to find it. 
     "Hey Adrian!" he called out as I came out the dressing rooms. Speak of the devil...
     "John!" I replied with sarcastic enthusiasm that he doesn't catch.
     "We're moving on to soccer this month, Exciiiiited?"
     "Me? excited? you know I'm not!" I replied enthusiastically. unlike me, John is perfectly average with sports. He goes on to explain that he wants to be the person that kicks the ball around.
     his story was unfortunately interrupted by the coach gathering our attention and explaining the rules. It sounded pretty easy, and after a while I decided  to be the goalie. I just sit there and occasionally try to stop a ball from getting in the net. Sure I'll probably suck at it, but very few people actually care enough about the class to criticize me on my job.
     Suddenly, the coach clapped his hands and told us to get in our groups to prepare. I could tell no one had been paying attention either, which gave me some comfort as my team got together.
     Luckily there was this one junior- hir name was Meliodas- who always listens. Hir had been held back for this long, and was beginning to get "pretty fucking annoyed" by it. Meliodas began to explain the plan, but I was distracted by the weather.
     Overcast is so amazing, it's still light enough so you can see but not so bright that that it hurts your eyes. Perfect weather.
     "Everyone got that?" Meli asked. My attention was rudely snapped back as everyone nodded in understanding. I'm sure this didnt affect me much, being the goalie and all, but i should still probably do my best or something to get Coach Wood off my tail.
     Seeing that everyone was dispersing, i awkwardly caught up to John and asked where I was stationed, in which he helpfully pointed me in the right direction.
     As it turns out, with Meliodas as our unofficial leader, my team was actually pretty good at soccer. so i found myself zoning out pretty quick.
     At first, my thoughts drifted to Lily's flu. No one else had it- only Lily. Which was weird, cuz if she got such an infectious disease like the flu, shouldn't it be spreading? Don't get me wrong, im glad its not, but still.
     Next, my thoughts found themselves focusing on Al. Now that I think about it, did Al seriously ask me to join them alone in a... basically secluded area? Maybe im being narcissistic, but i certainly hope they dont think im... into them or something. Cuz im not! I dont think... I get platonic and romantic emotions confused a lot, which is so dumb, i know, but i just cant tell the difference. I guess thats part of my quirk which makes me unique, as Mother would say.
     man, Mom would probably hate John. she found being unique one of the most important things about, well, existing. that, or she'd finally find what made John special. maybe his lack of unique skills was what made him unique? I was entertaining myself with that thought when I was suddenly interrupted.
     "ADRIAN WATCH OUT" someone yelled, snapping me from my thoughts just in time to see the ball heading towards me at full speed. I quickly backed away and the ball missed me by a few inches, instead traveling past me and the net. I sighed in relief at the close call, but my relief was short lived. The soccer ball hit the wall behind me, bouncing off and instead smacking into a student.
A/N: Feel free to correct any mistakes you find, and please vote if you think I'm worthy!