The question snapped me out of my daze and I responded.

“Oh sorry, my name is Elliot Elanderin. What’s yours?”

She got off her chair and moved away from the piano to stand facing me. She then stuck her hand out.

“Soriel Kaizen,” she said.

I shook her hand which caused a big smile to appear on her face.

‘Her uniform is blue so she’s a freshman like me. Maybe I have a class with her?’

“So why’d you come here?” She asked me curiously, still radiating an air of pure joy.

“I was just wandering around…wait, why are you here? I don’t think there are any music classes this period. Well, not for 9th grade at least.” I replied. 

I don’t think this is a music class considering that there are no other students or a teacher. The teacher could’ve gone to the bathroom but her being the only student would still be weird.

“I kinda snuck in here during English class. I know that sounds bad but to be fair I’ve never been much of a great scholar heh heh.” Soriel said while she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.

Skipping class so early into the school year was pretty irresponsible but I couldn’t really judge her considering that’s pretty much what I was doing too. 

However, her comment about not being much of a scholar was pretty confusing.

After all, she said that while being a student in the 2nd best school in America.

On that topic, I probably should’ve made my way back to class. I wouldn’t want this to affect my grade because if it did, that’d be a big issue.

But for some reason I wanted to stay here with her. So I thought, screw it, I can stay for a bit longer.

“Your piano playing was really good. Have you been playing it for a long while?” I asked her as a way to continue the conversation.

“Thank you! I’ve been playing for 4 years now so I’m glad to see my hard work paid off. Do you have any hobbies?” Soriel responded, still beaming with enthusiasm.

Her playing was extremely impressive considering she had been playing for 4 years. She played so amazingly that it seemed like she’d been playing her whole life.

“Well, I do some stuff. But I’m not really good at any of those things or anything at all.” I answered.

“So that means you can teach me them and I can teach you how to play the piano!” She proposed excitedly, ignoring the part where I said I wasn’t good at either of those things.

“Sure, I don’t see why not.” I said.

Our conversation basically continued in this manner for a while. We talked about random, meaningless stuff that would probably never be mentioned again. Even so, no matter what it was, everything just came out naturally. 

It was the first time we had ever met yet we  talked as if we knew each other for years. Everything kind of just clicked. 

Not in the sense that we already knew everything about each other, but in the sense that we already knew what we wanted to discuss with each other. 

Unfortunately for me, our bonding time ended up getting cut short. 

I was sharing the piano stool with Soriel as she showed me different keys. I was listening intently although I had no idea what she was talking about.

Regardless of that, she still was patient and explained things slowly and clearly.

“And this key…”

Right in the middle of her sentence, a loud ring chimed throughout the large building. It was the bell signaling school had ended.

“Oh crap, I didn’t expect school to end so quickly,” I blurted out.

“Welp, there’s no point of dwelling on it now.”

Soriel shrugged her shoulders and got off the stool. Then she walked past the different instruments in the room to a stool in front of a drum, which was where her bag was. 

She picked it up, and put it on, while humming cheerfully. Then she walked back to me.

‘Oh, I should get my bag too.’

When I thought back about where my bag was, I froze.

It was back in the social studies room.

“Um, it was great meeting you but I left my bag in my last class and I have to go get it now!” I awkwardly exclaimed before rushing out the room.

“Oh okay, bye! It was nice to meet you too!” I heard her reply after I left the room.

I ran back towards the social studies room as fast as I could. While I did, a look of dread appeared on my face.

‘Dang it, Ms. Marvel’s gonna be pissed. I’m such an idiot! I shouldn’t have stayed and skipped class. Especially since it’s so early in the school year.’

I soon arrived at Ms. Marvel’s room, knocked on her door, and entered.

The room was like any other in the school, filled with rows of chairs and desks, had a board that resembled a television screen, and a teacher sitting at her desk at the front of the room.

But even so, the classroom filled with an indescribable amount of dread and anxiety.

When I walked to my chair, where my bag was, Ms. Marvel called out to me.

“Mr. Elanderin, can you please explain to me where you were during your restroom visit?” She asked with a stoic expression.

Despite her voice being calm and steady, I felt the disappointment and slight irritation hidden under it.

“Uh…um…”

I stumbled on my words as I tried to think of an explanation. I didn’t want to lie, but I also didn’t want to tell the truth either.

In response to my demeanor, Ms Marvel sighed and spoke.

“I am not sure what brought upon such a defiant action, however I can let this slide just this once. After all, you have been performing well in this class and this is the first time I’ve had any trouble with you.”

Her words made me visibly relax and I inwardly let out a sigh.

“Thank you,” I said softly, just loud enough so that she could hear me.

“Don’t let this happen again. You are dismissed.”

Once Ms. Marvel said that, I put my backpack on my back and exited the room. As I did, I made sure to whisper have a good day.

I didn’t feel like that sentence fit the situation, but for some reason I couldn’t help but let that slip.

Perhaps it was out of habit.

Now that I had gotten my backpack, I left the school and began my journey back home.

I had a little bit of walking before I reached my bus stop so I took that time to think.

‘It’s good that everything turned out okay but that was still a bad decision on my part. I should’ve thought farther ahead. I was careless. Something like this could’ve messed with my grades. If I keep this behavior up, I’ll never get the highest grades in my year.’

Yeah, you heard right. I wanted to get higher grades than anyone else out of freshman year.

No, it was more like I needed to.

As I walked, I noticed a man on the street.

He was sitting against a wall, in dirtied and ripped clothing. Additionally, he had a cup next to him with pocket change inside.

The man was homeless.

Many people were passing by as he pleaded for money. Yet, none gave him any.

‘Should I give him some money?’

I always had a bit of cash on me and it wasn’t like it would’ve affected me much to lose some.

But I hesitated.

‘What if he doesn’t actually need the money? He could be a scammer, lots of people do that sort of thing right?’

I began to question if I should be so trusting.

It was my money after all, wouldn’t it be foolish if I gave it away carelessly?

I had already been careless once that day, I wasn’t sure if I could risk being careless again.

So I walked away. All the way to my bus stop without looking back.

I couldn’t do it.

I was too afraid.

Eventually, the bus arrived and after a decently long commute, I reached home.

It was a tall brick apartment. Nothing lavish but it wasn’t run down by either.

I entered the building, walked up the stairs to the fifth floor, and entered my apartment.

When I did, I was welcomed with silence.

The lights were off, and no one was there.

But of course, I expected this.

‘Living alone is still weird.’

You see, I used to live with my parents, but that changed this year. 

When I was 8th grade, we were applying to high schools but since there weren’t that many in the area we had to branch out a little.

By the grace of God, I somehow got into this school but since it’s so far away from my usual house, I moved here for easier travel.

However, I was only 15 and couldn’t legally live by myself, so I was actually staying here with my uncle.

But because he worked so much, I barely saw him and was basically living alone.

‘Welp, nothing I can do about it now.’

Then, I began to turn on the lights and do my evening routine.

I threw my clothes into the laundry, put on indoor shorts, used the bathroom, heated up instant noodles, and watched some television.

Actually, that wasn’t my daily routine. I only really heat up noodles on fridays and usually I’d be doing homework on any other day.

But I guess that isn’t that important to mention.

After a few hours passed, I decided to get ready for bed.

So I took a quick shower and began brushing my teeth.

But as I did, I gazed at my reflection that  was displayed by the mirror over the sink.

‘Ah, I look…disgusting.’

Black eyes, pale skin, a skinny build, and an average facial structure. Maybe even below average.

The only thing interesting about me was my weirdly gray hair. 

It wasn’t bright gray like that of an old man, but noticeably lighter than normal black hair.

Even with my semi rare hair, I still couldn’t help but scowl at the way I looked.

I looked ugly.

I felt ugly.

I was ugly.

When I finished up in the bathroom, I made sure to do everything I still didn’t do.

Then, I got in my bed, threw my sheet over me, and went to bed.

At least I tried to.

‘Why did I mess up that stupid speech? Why did I skip class and fool around with that girl? Was that homeless guy really homeless? Did I make the right decision?'

My body tensed.

'Am I...a bad person?’

These questions plagued my mind even though I had no way knowing the answers to most of them. Except that last one, of course...

I knew the answer was yes.

‘Why am I…such an idiot?’

That was my final thought before I drifted to sleep.