My thought process was interrupted by the teacher’s voice, “Does everyone know what to do? I will give you half an hour to complete the assignment, some of you are to present it to the class afterwards.” Of course, I didn’t have a clue what to do. I completely missed her speech. She wouldn’t let the delinquent present anyway, so I should just wait out the time. I didn’t need to be committed to that class. I just needed to be here. That was the only requirement Livingstone gave me.

I stared to the front, folding my arms, and then closing my eyes. “Do you need help?” a quiet voice from beside me was asking.

“Does it look to you like I did?” I didn’t even open my eyes to answer.

“Yes.”

That took me by surprise and made me stare at the blonde with raised eyebrows. His honesty kept astonishing me. Studying his innocent eyes, I couldn't detect harm or insult in his words, though. “No, I don’t. Stop bothering me.” I clicked my tongue and went back to my previous state of closed eyes and folded arms. He didn’t answer, and I didn’t care about what he was doing.

I let my thoughts flow freely to my parents, my schools, my friends that I would preferably call ‘temporary acquaintances - no strings attached’, and what the year here would be like. I couldn’t picture the future at all but was quickly brought back to reality, when 30 minutes were over and Mayer started to select the students for the presentation, “I would like to see Lucian, Ilyona and Misha present their results today.” She smiled at the class and made her way to the back, so that one by one the students could show with what they came up.

I glanced at Misha, who was fidgeting the whole time since his name got called, his eyes and breath unsteady and his cheeks slightly pink. He seemed to dislike presentations as well, so when it was his turn, he closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and then made his way to the front. 

When he started talking, he seemed surprisingly composed and confident, and even though I didn’t know what he was talking about, I was sure that he did well. He ended his presentation with a warm smile on his face until he went back to his seat. I didn’t comprehend why, but that made my chest feel warmer, almost as if I was proud of the boy.

As soon as the bell rang to announce the end of this class, I quickly got out of the stuffy classroom and attempted to find to the next one. The arrangement of the classrooms was quite intuitive, so it didn’t take me long to get to my next class. Math. I frowned by the mere thought of it. I knew that I had barely any basics, so I already decided to merely stare at a wall for the rest of the lesson. Angel did not share this class with me, so I sat down on a seat in the right back corner.

Just as predicted, I did not pay any attention to what was going on. I couldn’t understand anything anyway. Time passed by slowly, but I finally made it to the end of my last lesson without any incidents worth mentioning. As soon as the bell rang, I stormed out of the classroom towards my shared room to pick up my gym clothes. When I entered, Angel sat on the desk again, working on something boring, I suppose.

I could see that he wasn’t sure how to behave around me. He was trying to smile, but was creasing his eyebrows at the same time, which just made him appear very weird. Before he could greet me, I did the speaking, “Where’s the gym that students can go to after school?” I just hoped that the principal had not been lying about it.

“Uh, it’s building number 3, on the far right back from where you enter the school grounds...” The buildings have numbers? I could still hear the uncertainty in his voice, but he didn’t stutter anymore while speaking to me. What a shame.

I did not thank him, quickly fetched my bag, and made my way to said building. When I arrived there, I noticed that it was the same building where the principal and me had been talking. A bit hesitantly, I grabbed the doorknob and pushed it open. It indeed was a gym, and there were a few students already training. They only spared me a short glance before wholly focusing on their training, which I was grateful for.

“This gym is only for students,” I was stopped by an unknown voice. I looked in its direction and saw a young, strong built man in front of me. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?” I was already annoyed by his assuming behaviour.

I clicked my tongue and suppressed any comments that would get me kicked out of here in an instant. “I am a student here and the principal told me, I can go here. Just call him.”

He raised one eyebrow but still pulled out his phone from his back pocket and started dialling a number. "Sir? Yes, it's Miller speaking. I’m currently at the gym and here is a young man demanding entrance, but I have never seen him here.” He paused, just nodded, and was listening to the other line. “Yes, purple hair, yes… Oh, that’s him. Should I let him enter then?” Another pause. “Alright sir.” After putting his phone away, his attention shifted to me again. “Okay boy, you may come in. The changing room and showers are on the left; you know how to use the equipment?”

I gave him a brief “Sure,” before passing by him and entering the changing room. Luckily, it was empty. I quickly got changed and put all my stuff in the locker, before searching for the punching bag. It was in an empty corner. However, there were not many people in the gym in the first place. 

I pulled some bandages around my hands and started punching the hard bag. My movements became more powerful and faster as time went by and shortly after, I was feeling almost totally liberated, almost carefree. The world around me became blurred. There was only me now.