“Ozwald hurry up! we are going to be late!” Higen called me from the kitchen, after the incident with the titan, we delivered the gem to Lulu she informed us that it was the core of the titan and congratulated us for the unexpected mission, now on Monday we are going to go to High School to attend classes as regular people, but before that, I worked to put together something for Higen, “I´m coming wait up!” I took what I was finishing and hid it behind my back.

I skipped to the table where Higen had made breakfast, some toasted bread, and fruits “Good morning, Ozwald, quick! If you don’t eat in the next fifteen minutes we are going to be late to be early to explore the school” he placed a plate in front of me and started to eat, “about that Higen…” he looked at me with a mouth full of bread, I showed him what I did, “listen I know you love your cape and you have been feeling blue without it so I made you this” I had taken a black sports jacket from the clothes we were given and with some of the thread and my new sewing machine I sew the logo of the guards on the back.

“I… I… I” he was dumbfounded “I know is not the best, I had to practice with the sewing machine and…” he threw himself at me and gave me a big bear hug “I… I have no words for this, I love it, thank you so much Ozwald!” “don’t mention it so what are you waiting for try it on” he let go of me and put his new jacket on, it fit perfectly “I’m never taking this off!” he was back to the normal happy Higen I knew, I sat on the chair and started to eat, “remember to clean it often then.”

We arrived an hour before classes started, and some of our fellow classmates were starting to arrive too, we made our way to Lulu´s office, to pick up our schedules and other things we would be needing, “come in” she called us from inside her office, “welcome gentleman, I hope you slept well, here” she produced some plastic looking cards with our pictures on them clipped to yellow files “did you stole our souls?” I asked as I picked the card up, “As much as I would love to say yes, I’m afraid those are just your student identifications or I. D´s if you want to use any of the facilities of the school you are going to need them.”

I looked at my student I.D, it had my name, the year I’m attending, some combination of numbers, and some extra information I wondered how she took this picture it was so small but still retained my features, next I opened the file to see what it had “those are your classes and schedule, classes start at eight o´clock sharp and end at two in the afternoon, any questions?” she asked us, Higen rose his hand, “Higen you know you don’t have to do that here right?” “I used to ask for permission to talk from an authority figure first it is respectful,” he said we are going to have to work on his normal teenage behavior.

“What is your question Mr. Banna?” he cleared his throat “You said that classes end at two in the afternoon, and yet” he turned his schedule to Lulu I looked at mine “What is this class named extracurricular activity?” he was right that spot extended from two thirty to four in the afternoon on some days of the week “you are going to be joining a club or sports team, extracurricular activities will strengthen the bonds you make with your classmates and through them you will learn more and more about the world” that sounds excruciating to me, “today after classes are over the different clubs and teams you can join will have a fair so pick something you like and participate and yes Mr. Voloro is obligatory” I lowered my hand as she answered my question.

Me and Ozwald walked through the now more crowded corridors of the school as more and more guys and girls started to arrive, “algebra, chemistry, history, these classes sound interesting right Ozwald… Ozwald?” I looked behind me and saw that he was still looking at his schedule his eyes had been glued to that paper since we left the office of the headmistress “Copper coin for your thought?” I asked him, and he sighed “I don’t know what I´ll do for the extra thingy I’m not really good at sports or talking to people I don’t know,” he said, “Weren’t you a clerk for your family store?” “Well, that’s different it was like we had an unspoken thing of they come to tell me what they want I give them the items they required, and they leave or make a contract.”

“wait time out,” I said as I got closer to him to whisper in his direction “You telling me that you can fight a literal monster but speaking to people is difficult?” he blushed and looked away, “is… is not like I can just say “begone” and they´ll leave me alone” he sighed again “Higen I’m not like you, you know what to say to people and you are big and tall nobody will think to mess with you” he slide down the metal closets along the walls “people didn’t understand why I couldn’t… I mean why did I choose to be a seamstress and not a blacksmith, at my old school people… let’s say were not the best… Malika got in trouble once when a group of students were picking on me, and one day I just stopped attending and Malika taught me from home.”

Home school wasn’t a choice for me when I was little as it happened with noble children I was targeted in a kidnapping, it was a scary thing at the time but I was saved by my grandfather and my father, I sat next to Ozwald “hey listen we are not at your old school here nobody knows us, so this is what we´ll do, we check the clubs and sports fair and see if something picks your interest and if someone ever says something hurtful to you I will introduce their jaw to the floor” I ended my speech with the biggest smile I could do, he nodded “you are right the least I can do is see what they got, but” he stood up and raised one of his fingers “you have to promise me that you won’t join the same activity I pick, you have to pick something Higen likes” I pouted, I like spending time with him but I guess that is not an extra activity “fine…”

“Alright class I’m going to introduce you to two new exchange students from overseas, guy please introduce yourselves to the class” Higen took a step forward and began the introduction “Greetings and salutation, my name is Higen Banna, I like sports and exercise I hope we can get along during our classes” the class filled with “he is cute” “look at those guns!” “Is he royalty? I wouldn’t be surprised” “Mr. Banna please take one of the empty sits at the back of the room, and you, please don’t be shy to introduce yourself” Higen walked to his desk left his bag on the floor, and gave me two thumbs up I breathe deeply and rubbed my left arm, “my… my name is Ozwald Voloro, I like art and sewing, nice to meet you”

The room filled with an awkward silence, I did not know if they expected more or what so I walked to the other empty sit in the classroom but a girl quickly took it “Sorry I kind of need this sit You can take the other one over there” I didn’t want to argue so I just sat away from Higen, as I walked to my new sit I heard “Art and sewing? Yeah, make sense” “he seems weird” “What a loser” I guess school is the same here or back in the underground.

I opened a notebook and started to take some notes of what the teacher was explaining “Ptss” I heard from my right, I looked up to see a guy, with tan skin in a darker shade than mine, and puffy hair that curled at the tips and black eyes, “hey you new guy, my name is Niko, I like your style” “th… thanks” “wanna hang out at lunch?” this never happened to me “sure I guess” the teacher cuffed “Mr. Cruz, please refrain from chitchat until the end of the class” the other students laughed a little, “Hehe sorry”

“I´ll be there in a moment Ozwald I don’t know why my last class before lunch was so far away, save me a sit” Higen and I have most of our classes together but a few classes we are separated, I sighed, and returned my phone to my pocket and walked to the cafeteria, I bought some food and looked for a table, but must be full, “hey, hey Ozwald!” I saw Niko the guy from class calling me, he seemed too energetic and tough to handle, but… he did have a table and I do need friends besides Higen, so, I took a deep breath and walked to his table.

 “Hi Niko… mind if I sit here?” he nodded, and I lay my food on the table “Thanks, is the cafeteria always this crowded?” “Nah, after a few days, people would decide to eat somewhere else” I nervously laugh I´m not sure what else to say so I just started to eat, all I had to do was wait for Higen to get here and he could do the talking “so… where are you from?” I should have seen this one coming “Oh I’m from a city named Jutan in am… New Zeeland” Higen and I had agreed that we should have a cohesive place where we came from, Lulu suggested that place and use the official name of the underground as cover-up.

“Interesting, I have lived here in Merrionette City ever since I was ten, but I was born and rase for a while in Mexico, is that Higen guy from there too?” I nodded “Yeah he is, actually he should be here any minute now, is it okay if he sits here too?” “No problem the more the marrier am I right?” we chatted for a while and Niko was pretty interesting in about five minutes Higen rushed to our table “Sorry Ozwald I got caught in an argument with some guys and girls on my way here… oh you are from our literature class, right?”

I introduced him to Niko “Yeah I didn’t appreciate the others being mean to Ozwald he seems cool” Higen got all excited “Right! He is, I’m always telling him that” I hit him in the face so he sat back down “Right can we stop praising me, what was the argument Higen?” I wanted to know if something weird had happened “My last class was near the courtyard where the fair was going to take place, and a few captains of sports teams saw me and asked me to join their teams” I shouldn’t be surprised the sports from Elysium are a little bit similar to the sports of this place so it was obvious he was going to get scouted “and which one are you choosing Higen?”

Niko asked, Higen scratched his head “I don’t know football seems like a good option I heard is the number one sport of Merrionette Park maybe swimming could be fun too but I’m still thinking about it, what do you think Ozwald?” he looked at me, “you seem more like a football lad than a swimmer if you ask me, how about you Niko, any idea on what are you joining?” he showed us and instrument case “I’m trying out for the music club, if that goes south maybe volleyball, and you?” he asked me, I haven’t thought about it nor have I looked through the list, what’s the point? For all I know what happened in the first class will repeat again “Why not the dram club you are very dramatic or this arts and craft club you are good with your hands” Higen pointed out.