High Hopes || Mashton AU

Chapter 1

There's always this cliché thing in high school, where the people are divided into groups. Every school has it, some just less obvious than others. But it's always there. Even if people deny it, or say they can get along with anyone. No one can get along with anyone.

To name a few examples, we have the 'jocks'. Those who are athletic and mainly in the school's sports team. Usually this is soccer or football, which is quite a popular sport not only in high school, but globally. The jocks are generally guys, who are proud and will do very much anything to uphold their status. Their sports are also many times more important than their grades.

Up next are the 'cheerleaders'. Those who are a part of the school's cheerleading team and seen, by themselves mainly, as uttermost important during a game. The cheerleaders are generally girls, who consider themselves classy and on top of the school. They often also end up seeing the jocks as their possession and more often than not, cheerleaders and jocks have relationships.

Then there are also the 'nerds'. Those who excel in any class and often even take extra classes. They are focused mainly on their grades and on what they will follow their high school up with, which is hopefully the best of the universities. The nerds are generally seen as the weaker group, who only hang out to study, even if they sometimes do have a life besides school and grades.

Obviously, it's possible to go on and on about the stereotypical groups any high school has. About their stereotypical behaviour and looks, or the drama that -again- stereotypically occurs. But, we all know the groups and we all know the expectations, so we'll leave it at this.

Though, there's one last thing to be said before this story can start. Which is basically the introduction of a group, that will always come last. In many, many ways.

The 'outsiders' or 'outcasts'.

This group is basically a combination of anyone and everyone who doesn't fit in with any of the other groups. Whether it's because you don't want to be in a group, or whether you just belong to multiple groups or no group at all. If you don't have a group, you automatically are put in this one.

This one is of importance, because this is the one where we find Michael Clifford.

Michael Clifford is one of the many teenage boys, going to East Coast High in Sydney, Australia. Which honestly, is a typical name for a high school, but nobody really bothers with it. After all, it was once named that way, so why question it?

He was a pretty normal teenage guy, Michael. Not too tall, not too short. Not overweight nor underweight. No excessive clothing style nor any crazy habits. He was just normal.

Perhaps, he was a little shy. And he preferred being alone over being social -also known as being introvert- and thus he didn't go to much parties or engaged in many social things in general. People would almost call him mute, with how little he spoke. But he did speak, so mute wasn't the right word.

Michael was also quite smart, when it came to the subjects at school. He always had good grades and he spend enough time studying. It wasn't the amount that the 'typical nerd' spend on studying, but he did study. Therefore, he was just smart, but not necessarily a genius. He did often get called a nerd though.

Sports however, weren't his thing. He always participated in PE, yes, but he wasn't fond of it. He didn't have trouble with it though, he just hated that he always got picked last, or how people wouldn't pass him the ball because they didn't expect him to make a goal. He was quite invisible, actually, if we'd have to find him one word to describe him.

Michael was invisible.

Not literally, because he did have friends (one true one that didn't go to the same school, unfortunately). But if you were to ask any random person at East Coast High if they knew a Michael Clifford, by any chance, the answer would be 'no'. Maybe some classmates would say they think he has the same classes, but the keyword there would be 'think'. Because they wouldn't be sure.