Welcome

Micheal Peterson:

"Hey Brian," I say, waving at my friend as soon as I see him in the school's courtyard. "Hey, listen. I am so, so, unbelievably sorry about what happened yesterday. Something just came up and I couldn't drive you. Again, man, I am really sorry. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Brian says with a nod of his head and a shake of his hand. "I'm okay. It's understandable. I'm sorry I called you out of the blue like that. I promise I won't do it again."

"Wait, wait, wait," I say, stepping in front of Brain to stop him. "No. It's fine. Listen, if you need my help again, all you have to do is call. I'll be there for you."

"Sure you will," Brian replies. He takes a step back before walking around me. "Listen, class is about to start. I'll see you later."

With that Brian shoots me a wave before walking away.

"See you later too," I say, shooting Brian's back a wave. "I guess."

With that, I leave for class.

Ashley Aella:

I stare at Micheal as he sleeps on the top of the counter in biology class. He keeps mumbling something to himself but I can't be sure what exactly it is. All I really know for sure is that I'm not the one who's going to be cleaning his drool.

"Micheal," I whisper, tapping Micheal on his arm. "Micheal? Can you hear me?"

"Aaahhh," Micheal replies while making some bubbles in the drool.

"Micheal," I whisper again, making sure Mr. Hall, the biology teacher, couldn't see us. I lean down and whisper closer in his ears. "Micheal!"

As I loudly whisper in Micheal's ear, his head shoots up at the speed of a rocket, almost hitting my own head. As he wakes up, he jumps and stands up, knocking his chair back and holding out his fist.

"Stop right there," he shouts, his head shaking left and right. It takes a minute or two, but it seems he finally remembers where he is.

"Uhh, hey everybody," he starts while chuckling. "How's life? Monday morning, am I right?"

"It's Wednesday," I say.

"Wednesday morning," Micheal corrects, "Am I right? Only halfway through the week. Darn."

I can't be sure about everyone else, but I know I'm staring at Micheal right now with a look of pity.

"Micheal," Mr. Hall says, a tall, bald man with dark skin and glass in a suit starts, "Please sit down."

"Okay."

Quickly, Micheal picks up his chair and sits back down on it.

"What an idiot," I hear Kevin say from three rows ahead of us.

"Hey," I say, bumping Micheal as soon as he sits down. "Are you okay? You look beat."

"I'm okay," Micheal says with a yawn. "Just a little tired. I had a really, really busy night."

He shakes his head and rubs his eyes.

"Ouch. Was the homework really that bad?"

"Homework," Micheal repeats, "Oh, no. The homework wasn't too bad. It was something else. Something entirely different."

"By chance, was it guilt for ditching Brian?"

"No, and wait, you know about that?"

"Brian called me and asked if I knew where you were. I told him I had no clue. Seriously though, what did happen last night? Why did you leave Brian in the dust like that?"

"Believe me," Micheal quietly says, "If I could tell you and Brian, I would, but this is more of a personal matter."

"What does that even mean?"

Micheal doesn't answer me. Instead, he stretches his arms and back, and I hear what sounds like a bunch of bones realigning themselves. About to also ask about the bones, I stop when I hear the classroom's door open. All of us turn to see who is it and the moment we see who's standing there, I also see out of the corner of my eyes Kevin almost immediately turning pale.

There, standing in class, with the same yellow hair, glasses, and yellow-and-green plaid shirt as from before, is Tyler Western. Kevin and I must not be the only ones to recognize him. It takes less than a second for the whole classroom to be filled with whispers and rumors about Tyler Western. I hear a few like one that said this is third science class because he got kicked out of the first two, and one that said he got transferred into this class because he punched and knocked another student through a window.

"This class had stronger windows than that class," someone behind me says.

The whispering and rumors go on until Tyler looks at us. Instantly, everyone is quiet. Tyler doesn't say anything. Instead, he just walks to the teacher and hands him a note from his pocket. Mr. Hall reads over the note before staring at Tyler. He nods his head and stands up.

"Attention students," he says in a bold, loud voice. "Today, we have a new student joining our class. I would like all of you to meet Tyler James Western."

I think normally when a new student would enter a class, the students would applaud and say hello. However, this time, everyone stays as quiet as a bug. No one dare move a muscle with Tyler staring at them. No one dared says a thing. No one except Micheal.

"Hi Tyler," Micheal says with a wave of his hand. "How's life?"

As soon as Micheal said those words, everyone, and I mean, everyone's eyes turned toward him.

"Oh dear god," I sigh, realizing Micheal is still asleep. His head is on his hand but his eyes are closed. Once more, I bump Micheal and he shoots up.

"Hello," he says loudly. "I'm awake. I'm awake. What's going on? What's going on?"

He exhales as he looks around.

"Oh hey, it's you. I remember you. Are you a new student here?"

Everyone still looking at Micheal, I decide to take this opportunity to slightly scoot my seat away from him.

"Micheal," Mr. Hall says, "Please stay awake so you don't miss valuable attention. Once again, this is Tyler James Western. He is indeed a new student."

Mr. Hall looks around for a bit before spotting an empty seat in the corner of the class.

"There's an empty seat right there. It's all yours."

"Thanks," Tyler says, adjusting his backpack as he walks over to the empty chair. He throws his backpack on the counter and sits down. As he sits down, he eyes Micheal with blood-red eyes. Seeing this, I scoot a little further away.

"Is he looking at me," Micheal asks.

"Please don't talk to me," I beg, looking away from Micheal. "I don't know. I don't know. I do not know you."

"Okay," Micheal says, seemingly fully awake now. He places his arms on the counter but raises them immediately.

"What in the world? What is this? Where did all this water come from? I'll be back."

Micheal then leaves to grab paper towels.