I'm sure many my age wonder what High School will be like before steeping foot through those doors for the first time. I'm sure even more people think back to their days of High School, reminiscing to the moments they found most interesting. Many will grow up to love the experience; many will grow up to hate everything about school.

Almost everybody notices the split between our excitement early on, as early as elementary school. Everybody often targets the years of school as an opportunity to socialize and make friends, including myself. Our elders encourage us only to focus on getting grades, but socializing in school is too tempting a chance to pass up given all the time spent there. It's the reason behind the generalization that girls tend to love the idea of a school experience, while boys tend to hate everything about it. Even though being forced into a governmental institution by law for a huge chunk of our lifespan sucks, it comes with the forced proximity of others around us, others in our age range, others we wish to mutually understand and accept.

Men aren't usually down for that kind of lifestyle, not unless it involves sports or cute girls. When neither the two are a focus, being around others all the time can be annoying, draining, or downright awkward, especially when no one gets along. It's no wonder why someone like me thinks that all of school past a certain point is a colossal waste of time.

However, even I must bite the carrot dangling over all of us. No matter how many times I claim to love the solitude and alone time I've accumulated for myself, the only thing in life I want most is a real friendship, as well as more time with Lumina. It's the reason I of all people came into this first week of high school with blended feelings. I do care about my grades, but not as strongly as I do about everything else. Ironically, I have an easy time keeping my academic focus up, but no skill at all when it comes to socializing.

It's high school now; that means everybody is older and more mature than they were before. To me, this doesn't mean much. The chances of having an intelligent conversation are slightly improved, but then, the guard everybody put around themselves is stronger too, including on myself. I don't think anything will be easier for me this year just because of a school and grade level change. Am I ever going to get through to anybody about the secret life I live in the background of my current surroundings? Not likely.

Still, I do have four years to figure it all out. Just four more years until I graduate high school, move out of my family's house, and move up state where I can live a new life with Lumina. Even if all my other plans backfire, I still have Priority Number One to land on. No matter what happens to me this time, Lumina is my top priority, no exceptions.

Did I mention that I was a Scion (coin term for psychic)? Ah, that was a trick question. If you've read this far on without realizing that, then shame on you for skimming through my story without a care in the world.

But if you have been paying attention so far, you have a fair understanding of my special powers. My pool of abilities is no comparison for the powers Lumina has as an Altiri; she's the very reason why I can invoke telepathy in the first place. Without her, I would have wound up as an ordinary boy in this dump. Instead, I've been navigating my life with her presence at my side, wherever possible at least.

I've had to go this entire year's summer without her in any context. I didn't get to talk with her, laugh with her, or cry with her since the end of last April. Last week, I only got in contact with her for one single hour since the summer, just one lousy hour. So long as the air outdoors is thick and warm, my psionic abilities are totally useless, and it reminds me of what life is like without Lumina; bland, dull, meaningless.

I of course did the most interesting thing and fell in love with her. None of the context about where Lumina was from or what her biology was had any impact on my emotions. I fell in love with the person Lumina is, and married her as a result. Nobody else on Earth has a clue about this of course. It's a secret life with a secret wife. On one hand, I'm terrified to talk to others about Lumina, in fear they will yeet me from their social circle or spread the news around the entire school. On the other hand, I don't want to keep this a secret only to myself, because between myself and all other humans, the person I truly am is right here, standing in this place all alone, mirroring the facade that I'm ordinary and uninteresting. It doesn't help that I can't concretely prove my powers to others, but I can't help that! I've thought of everything I could possibly do to convince somebody, but words are the only tool I have.

So of course, I've just been my usual, introverted quiet self around all of these new classmates. I've got my class schedule for the year, and I've already become acquainted with many other high school girls. In a place with so many new strangers, my popularity starts from ground zero, just like everybody else. I don't personally mind being unpopular; I just wish someone would notice me or give me any thought. Oh, and here is the schedule I'll be dealing with this time around.

I shouldn't let myself get down though. I'll be capable of speaking with Lumina again soon. Even though I broke down again this summer, it should all be coming to an end soon. It's kind of hard to enjoy the way things are now though. High school really isn't that different from middle school. The facility might be bigger, but the structure is mostly the same. It's expected that everybody passes through each class with more responsibility than the year prior, but that's simple common sense to us.

All things reconsidered, my life isn't all that abnormal compared to the average person. I might speak to some distant aliens, and from time to time, experience visions of the distant future, but that shouldn't make me a freak. I ask the question to another: What if you were in my shoes? What if all of this happened to you instead, getting purged by an Altiri and listening to their thoughts as a means of speaking? What is really the difference between me and everybody else?