I arrived at the school just-in-time to hear the 7:30 bell ring, letting me know that I was officially late… And in serious trouble. While normal classes didn't start until 8:00 A.M, clubs and specialty classes had their morning meeting at 7:30-- Which was why I was supposed to meet Mrs. Mathis at 7:00 for my remedial lessons.

She usually met up with her daughter on the bleachers overlooking the track field at 7:30 for breakfast, then headed back to her classroom and spent the rest of the time she had left preparing for her first class at 9:00.

"If I show up now, I'll probably run into Sophia... Which I don't want to do right now." But I knew I didn't really have a choice; If I didn't meet up with Mrs. Mathis, then she'd definitely tell my mom. Then I'd really be in trouble.

I pedaled my bike past the drop-off point in the school bus parking zone to a metal shed around the side of the building. I immediately spotted the bike rack chained to the wall inside the shed and pulled my bike inside.

I fastened it to the rack with a light chain, I carried with me for just such a purpose, then sprinted towards the side entrance of the school’s main building. The thin metal door creaked in protest as I slammed my body into the handle and burst through the door like a wannabe Kool-Aid man.

You have taken 1 point of damage.

The boring beige walls, white tiled floors, and popcorn ceilings did little to make me feel at home. I’d gone five years without having to see any of them, and to be perfectly honest, I could’ve gone another sixty without the slightest hint of regret.

But now that I was back on earth, and my town had ‘truancy’ laws dictating that everyone under the age of seventeen were required to attend school, I was forced to be here against my will.

I slowed to a fast walk as I approached my classroom and straightened my clothes to make them slightly more presentable. Not that I could do much with a pair of jeans and an old AC/DC T-shirt that my dad owned since he was in high school, but it was the thought that counted, right?

I pushed open the door to Mrs. Mathis classroom and dumped my backpack beside a desk so I could fish out my algebra textbook--

"Oh, there you are."

"Please be alone, please be alone--" I glanced up at the speaker and saw Allison Mathis walking across the front of the room to her desk, a styrofoam cup of steaming liquid in one hand, and a muffin of some description in the other... Sans Sophia, which immediately sent a wave of relief throughout my body.

After sitting her breakfast down on the desk, she made her way over to my side and leaned over to check the assignments I'd spread across the desk. Now, Allison Mathis would never win any beauty pagents, but she certainly wasn't lacking in charm. Her red hair had been cut into what I believed was called a 'Pixie cut' sometime in the summer, and she'd decided to stick with it into the school year.

"Not bad. But you got number fifteen wrong, and thirty-six isn't even remotely correct." She informed me while pointing at each question in turn.

"Sorry. My brain's been all over the place lately."

"I heard about your parents- Leaving on such short notice couldn't have been easy for you. How did you get to school?"

"I rode my bike."

"Are you okay? You didn't have any difficulties, did you?"

"Besides being out of shape?" I joked. "No, I made it here alright. I apologize for being late--" She held up her hand to stop me and waved it away.

"No need to apologize. It wasn't your fault your parents got called away so suddenly."

"When did you hear from them?"

"Hmm? Oh, this morning. I actually went to pick you up on my way to school, but you'd already left and I didn't see you on the way here. Did you take VLM road or Lockheart Blvd?"

"VLM." I explained, referring to Van Lingo-Munster road, supposedly named after a famous priest who lived in the area back in the 1700s.

"Well, listen. I'm going to start swinging by your house in the mornings to pick you up and I'll drop you off once I'm done here, okay? If something happened to you while you were riding that deathtrap you call a bike, your mom would rip my head off."

"Please, mom wouldn't do that." I scoffed. "She loves you like a sister."

"Maybe--" She allowed. "But she loves you more, and trust me, there isn't much your mom wouldn't do for you."

I scratched at the back of my head and sighed, because I knew she was telling the truth.

The school bell rang at that moment and I jerked my eyes up at the clock-- 8:00 A.M. I quickly gathered up my belongings, bid Mrs. Mathis goodbye, and sprinted out the door in the hopes I could make it to my next class before that asshole marked me absent.

While I ran, I lowered my head and activated (Blind Rush).

The skill (Blind Rush) has been activated. Movement speed has been increased by 100%

Even with (Blind Rush) activated, I still arrived two minutes late to first period, which the teacher— Mr. Shyshuk: a partially blind, balding, middle-aged man in a dime store suit made sure to point out. I’d had my fair share of grievances with Mr. Shyshuk since the year started, but I didn’t know what I’d done to make the man dislike me so much.

“I apologize for being late, Sir. My parents are out of town, I had to ride my bike to school today, and--”

“Neither of us have need of your excuses, Mr. Murray. It is your job as a student to make sure you are here on time, every day. And if we consider the fact that you were completely absent yesterday, the number afraid I have no choice— detention.”

“But Sir—” He held up a hand and shook his head, silencing me and amusing most of the class.

A new skill has been created!

Mental Resistance Level 1 (0.00 / 0.00)

For withstand a stressful situation with crying like a child, your mind has grown more resilient. You are 1% more resistant to status effects which effect your mind. Further exposer will increase your resistance.

I discretely closed the alert in time to catch the beginning of a rant.

“I don’t want to hear it. You’ve been nothing but a bad student since you transferred here; you’re absent more than you’re in class, you turn in assignments late, that’s to say nothing of the fact that half the time you leave early. You’re a disgrace of a student, Mr. Murray. And I’ll not put up with it. You’ll be in detention this afternoon, or I swear to God I will see you expelled—”

“I think that’s enough.” A woman said from the doorway.

Everyone in the classroom swiveled her head to look at the speaker— in the class went deathly silent at the appearance of the school principal standing in the doorway in a black pant suit with her long blonde hair fastened securely in a bun behind her head.

Her name was Mrs. Baxter, and yes, she was unfortunately related to the world-class ass hole from earlier. She was his mother and was the main reason he got away with his many things as he did.

That’s not to say that Mrs. Baxter was bad, herself. Rather, she didn’t see her son the way everyone else did, and so she often didn’t believe the people reporting him. Often times disregarding their complaints as simple jealousy.

But towards the students themselves, she was fair, and she didn’t tolerate teachers abusing their power and disparaging the ones they were meant to be helping.

“Mr. Murray has an excuse for yesterday, you were informed of this. As for today, I don’t think it’s necessary to punish him for something that wasn’t his fault.” She said calmly, and with the serious look on her face.

“That doesn’t change the fact that he was late—”

“Which wasn’t his fault.” She insisted. “But you are right about one thing.” She glanced at me, then crooked a finger in my direction.

I adjusted my backpack and walked past Mr. Shyshuk to the door, where the principal motioned for me to step past her.

“Mr. Murray will be coming with me for the time being. Continue with what you were doing.” She shut the door without giving the teacher a moment to reply and began walking.

I followed behind her at reasonable pace while ensuring my mouth remained shut. I didn’t know where we were going, or why she was personally escorting me there, but I had a feeling that it wasn’t for good reason.

As I predicted, we arrived at her office after walking for a few minutes and she directed me to sit in one of the armchairs positioned in front of her desk. The inside of the principal’s office was tastefully decorated in burgundy, brown, and black hues.

She had a large executive style desk that occupied the center of the room, and a tall, backed leather office chair waiting for her to sit in.

“Give me one moment, Mr. Murray. I just need to grab something from my secretary.”

“Okay?” I replied as I took the proffered seat and dropped my bag by my feet.

She was only gone for a few moments before she returned with a manila envelope in her hand, which she set on the desk in front of me.

At her insistence, I opened the envelope and dumped the contents out on top of her desk— “What’s this?”

“It’s the bus rider sign-up sheet. I received a… Conspicuous phone call from your mother yesterday, letting me know that you would need to ride the bus to and from school for the foreseeable future. This form—” She grabbed a paper from the stack and a black pen and placed both of them in front of me. “Is the bus route timetable; I would appreciate it if you would take a look it over, then sign your initials at the bottom.”

“What for?”

“So that I have proof that I’ve relayed this information to you in a way you can understand. That way, if you decide to skip school again, you can’t blame it on not knowing when the bus was supposed to pick you up.”

I wanted to wince at her bluntness. I can only assume she knew that I wasn’t really sick yesterday, and that’s what she meant… Then again, I couldn’t remember if I had skipped school before my trip to the other world.

Maybe she was talking about one of those times?

“What about my remedial classes? I’m supposed to meet Mrs. Mathis at 7 AM, but this pickup sheet says the bus won’t arrive at my house until seven fifteen.”

“Mr. Murray—” She clasped her hands in front of her on the desk and leaned forward. "Please sign the form so I can get back to work, and you can get back to class."

I looked between the principle and the form several times before I remembered Mrs. Mathis words from this morning. "Actually, Mrs. Mathis said she'd be comeing to pick me up in the mornings. So, thanks, but no thanks. I think I'll just ride with her." I pushed the form back across the desk and stood up.

"Yes, I've heard about her friendship with your parents... Very well--" She took the forms and slid them back into the envelope. "Then I'll just keep these in my desk incase you change your mind."

"Can I head back to class now?" I asked hopefully.

She waved a hand in my direction, which I took to be a clear sign of dismissal.

I grabbed my bag from where I'd left it beside the chair and headed out the door, making sure to wave at the principle's secretary through the window opposite Mrs. Baxter's office door.

As I headed back to class, I couldn't help but wonder why Mom had called the principle before she called me. That was incredibly unlike her...

"I hope everything's okay."