Luke Wyatt slowed his skateboard to a halt in front of the steps of Solwood High, running a hand through his red hair in relief “made it!”

“And just in time too” out of nowhere a guy appeared right beside him “will wonders never cease?”

“What’s new in the land of rejects?” Luke asked the other boy

“You tell me” Obispo ‘Obie’ Cruz grinned impishly, Luke always though he looked like a Mexican elf with his pointy ears, curly black hair, brown eyes, and an air of mischief.

The two childhood friends entered the halls of their high school “first day of spring semester and I already can’t wait for school to end”

“y’know you’d like school more if you made an effort” Obie suggested to the redhead.

“I’d like school more if studying was optional” Luke retorted without missing a beat as he sidestepped to avoid running head first into a petite blonde girl named Phoebe Vesper.

“Sorry!” Phoebe gave him a sheepish smile

“Nor probs Pheebs; where are you going with such Gusto anyways?”

“Um…I gotta meet Mr. Chang” the blonde girl explained “for… an extra credit assignment for history” saying this she took her leave

“Why does she need an extra credit assignment?” Luke questioned aloud “she’s already one of the smartest students of our school”

“The smartest student of our school” Obie corrected him “and that is because of the extra assignments she takes I guess”

“Never going to understand these smarty-pant types” the redhead simply shook his head as he again sidestepped, this time to avoid Matt Owens and Riley Knowles.

“By the way” Obie changed the subject “I heard there’s a new kid in town”

“exciting” Luke deadpanned as he rolled his eyes

“Considering that we live in Solwood, it actually is” the dark haired boy pointed out as they reached homeroom.

“Hey!” Luke greeted Jerry Roday, the boy’s seat was beside Luke and while they weren’t exactly close friends, they were friendly enough.

“Hey!” Jerry nodded back “you look chipper for someone about to take a test”

“What test?” the colour drained from Luke’s face

“The math test” Jerry gave Luke an odd look

“The one that was announced a week ago” Obie reminded his friend as well

“We have a math test?” Luke’s mind seemed to have hit a pause button; the other two boys could only shake their heads wryly as Luke processed his dilemma.

XXXXXXX

“Let’s have a look here” Ryuu Wheeler’s first impression of principal Andrew Webb was that he was a dull man, faded white shirt and slate slacks, gunmetal glasses, even his skin seemed to have a greyish tint to it.

“Grades… extracurricular… other notes…” he finally looked up from Ryuu’s transcripts and into his eyes. “You spent most of your academic life home schooled?”

“Yes, that is correct” Ryuu nodded in agreement

“hmm” he went back to the transcripts for a few more moments before turning to Ryuu “welcome to Solwood high Mr. Wheeler”

“Glad to be here” Ryuu smiled softly

XXXXXXX

“By the way” Jerry stepped beside Luke and Obie as they exited homeroom “did you hear? Another person went missing”

“that’s three people in two months” Luke’s eyes widened “is the sheriff thinking…”

“Serial killer” Jerry nodded “that is the working theory”

“But this isn’t… like, LA or something” Obie protested “we’re a tiny town of 50 thousand people, any new guy would be spotted a mile away”

“You thinking old man Dawson finally snapped?” Luke questioned his friend with a serious face while the other two rolled their eyes

“Whoever it is they have the police stumped” Jerry informed the guys, being the son of the sheriff, he was privy to all the juicy gossip for this “there’s been literally no sign of any bodies, the only reason they still don’t think it’s runaways is because of the frequency of disappearances”

“Weird…” was all Luke could comment as he parted ways with the two.

XXXXXXX

As everyone exited homeroom for their classes, Ryuu realised he had no idea where to go “excuse me” he called out a girl he recognized as sitting beside his seat “Can you please tell me where I can find the physics lab…?”

“Daphne Tyler-Stone” the dark haired Eurasian girl supplied with a smirk “follow me, it’s on the way”

“thanks” Ryuu smiled gratefully as he fell in step with her “So… any word of advice for the new kid?”

“Actually, yeah” Daphne declared after a moment’s thought “don’t question the cafeteria food, just eat it; don’t hate on Lacrosse, it’s a big deal around here; and beware Vice principal Armin, I’m pretty sure he’s trying to legalise corporal punishment for students”

the Svelte girl gestured towards the Physics Lab that they had just reached “and that’s it, welcome to Solwood High”

XXXXXXX

“Alright Class” Ms. Mabel addressed the students once the period started “we’re going to continue with My side of the Mountain, please turn to chapter five”

Going through his bag Luke realised that he had actually forgotten the book.

“here” the brunette girl next to him pulled her desk closer to him “you can share it with me”

“Thanks Jules” Luke flashed a grateful smile to Jules Reyes who shyly smiled back. With gentle guidance from the dark haired girl, he was able to barely understand what Ms. Mabel was talking about.

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“you’re the best” Luke praised her once Ms. Mabel let them leave “Seriously!”

“you’re welcome” Jules nodded with a snicker “so… whatcha doing tonight?”

“Going to Elsewhen” Luke obliviously name dropped the only club in town “you?”

“Probably the same” Jules’ smile faded, though Luke didn’t notice

“I’ll see you tonight then” Luke patted her back casually as they parted ways “bye!”

XXXXXXX

“Excuse me” an unfamiliar voice called out Luke and Obie from behind “where can I find the gym?”

Turning around to see an unfamiliar and good looking guy, Luke couldn’t help but state the obvious “I’m guessing you’re the new kid everyone’s been talking about”

“Everyone?” Ryuu looked decidedly uncomfortable “really?”

“it’s not you, it’s us” Obie assured the boy as he fell in step with them “We’re a small town, last year a typo in the slow down stencil on the road held everybody’s attention for a month”

“By the way what is this Elsewhen that everyone keeps telling me I have to come at?”

“By everyone you mean the girls, right?” Luke smirked as the Asian boy turned a bit flustered “it’s a club where everyone can hang out, with minimal adult supervision”

“Sounds… vague” Ryuu decided

“Basically, it’s better than nothing… just” Obie chipped in as well “and also, Gym down that hall” the Hispanic boy pointed down the hall to their right

“Thanks, by the way my name is Ryuu Wheeler” he gave his introduction as he retreated

“Luke Wyatt!” “Obie Cruz” they called back as they too headed for the exit

“Even his name is like fancy cool” Luke sniggered once they were out of earshot and then saw Obie’s expression “what’s wrong?”

“Having him around means less dates for us” Obie pointed out “we’re fucked”

“it’s not like girls were lining up to date you anyway” his friend pointed out candidly

“And what about you?!”

“What about me?” Luke removed himself from the equation in a heartbeat, as far as he was concerned dating seemed too complicated and dramatic for his liking.

“Poor Jules” Obie thought to himself but chose not to voice it out “whatever, let’s just go to Elsewhen tonight and see what happens”

XXXXXXX

“I’m home” Luke called out, but there was no response, he peered into the living room to see his mom sprawled face down on the couch. “Sleeping off her hangover”

Shaking his head Luke fetched a blanket from her room and draped it on her and then made a grilled cheese sandwich for himself.

After checking the kitchen and making a list of groceries that he’d have to buy, he decided that he could do laundry on Friday as they had enough clothes until then, the house needed a cleaning but Luke planned to do that on the weekend.

“Goodbye mom” he addressed the asleep woman “I’m heading out to meet Obie at Elsewhen” Luke exited the house without waiting for a response.

XXXXXXX

Luke swayed with the music, feeling the thrum deep within him; the lights were dim, the air heavy with the heat and humidity, and the people were packed together like sardines, the redhead loved it.

A pat on his shoulder made Luke turn towards the newly arrived Ryuu. “Hey!”

“Hi!” the two bumped fists as Ryuu planted himself beside Obie and took the club in “kinda loud in here”

“Better than the lonely emptiness of my house” Luke thought to himself “yeah it is”

“Best thing we got going on around here” Obie added his two cents “so you know where the bar’s at” all three of them chuckled.

Soon enough the talks turned to the past. “I’ve actually lived in army bases for most of my life” Ryuu revealed “mom was in the air force and so we were always moving”

“And they homeschooled you?” Obie took a sip of his soda

“Yeah…” the Asian boy chuckled “my moms wanted me to have some semblance of steadiness I guess… what about you guys?”

“Well, we’ve grown up in Solwood our whole life” Luke leaned back into his seat

“Public school kids through and through” Obie added his two cents.

“What about your parents?”

“My parents own the convenience store on the corner of Angler and Ibarra” Obie explained

“I was raised by my mom; dad was never in the picture” Luke shrunk into himself, hoping Ryuu wouldn’t ask more, which the boy tactfully didn’t; in exchange he and Obie dragged the redhead onto the dance floor.

“I suck at dancing” Luke protested even as he awkwardly stood by them on the dance floor.

“no one cares” Ryuu shouted over the music “just as long as you dance” hearing this Luke did try to sway to the beat, but he still felt as if everyone was watching him, judging mirthfully.

“Relax, loosen your shoulders” Obie added and nudged Luke to the left, bringing him face to face with Jules.

“HEY!” Luke greeted the petite girl who replied something he couldn’t hear, so he just nodded and hoped it wasn’t a question. The two started dancing, together, just as some girl cornered Ryuu and another rejected Obie.

After a few more songs Luke finally stepped off the dance floor, “c’mon just one more song” Jules needled him, but Obie and Ryuu also stepped off the dance floor; the latter accompanied by the dark skinned, white braids girl he was dancing with.

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow” Ryuu bade them farewell and exited arm in arm with the girl.

“He moved fast!” Obie noted “they just danced together for like fifteen minutes”

“Funny, I was thinking the same thing about her” Jules had an indescribable look on her face. The three continued to chat for a while but Jules had to go home before curfew so they decided to call it a night.

Bang

Just as they were exiting from behind the club, they saw a girl in a white shirt fly out from back side of the alley and slide down backwards.

“Daphne?” Luke and Obie immediately recognized the Eurasian woman from their class.

“Run!” Daphne commanded as she got up and immediately rushed back towards the alley’s dead end.

Luke and Obie exchanged a quick look and rushed in after her. They didn’t know what was going on but it sounded like a fight, and they weren’t about to let a distant acquaintance fight alone.

Immediately they saw someone dressed like a leopard jump towards Daphne and…

“Phoebe?” Obie cried out in shock as the petite blonde girl waved her hands and a real life fireball shout out of her hands and hit the girl dressed like a leopard.

“NO!” Luke realised, staring at the girl’s spotted face and flattened nose “not dressed like, that girl actually has fur growing out of her skin” and then he saw the unmoving form of Ryuu Wheeler lying on the ground “SHIT!”

Luke tried to run towards Ryuu but was stopped by Daphne “you’ll die before you even reach him” he then noticed the double edged short sword in her hand as she swung it towards the approaching leopard woman, who had unnervingly familiar white braids on the top of her head.

Sword clashed with claw as the leopard woman blocked the attack and leapt back.

“What the fuck is going on?!” Obie was starting to hyperventilate and Luke couldn’t really blame him, the whole situation was surreal.

“you two need to run” Phoebe appeared beside them and splayed out her hand, making the air ripple and shoot towards the leopard woman.

“Actually, none of you are leaving” the voice came from above them.

Immediately, Phoebe waved her hand and sent them back while simultaneous dodging sideways as a guy leapt down feet first where they had been standing just a moment ago.

With rising horror Luke noted the pavement crack where he had been standing just a moment ago, where the feline looking guy now stood.

“I’ll hold them off” Daphne told Phoebe

“No! you need to brace yourself” Phoebe immediately made some handsigns and slapped both her hands onto her cheeks and let out a scream that Luke and Obie couldn’t hear.

“arrgh!” but the two animal human hybrids clutched their ears tightly and staggered, clearly their hearing was more catlike than humanlike.

“Watch out Gabi!” the guy still managed to scream as he dropped to the ground under and incoming blast of light from Phoebe, while the leopard woman tried to sidestep a slash from Daphne’s sword but was still nicked in the arm.

Luke felt he hairs of his neck stand up and glanced back, sure that someone was watching him, but there was nobody.

“You two need to get out of here” Phoebe told the two boys “Pronto!”

“we’re not gonna run away” Luke refuted her

“Then you’re gonna die” Daphne parried another attack from the cat man as Phoebe splayed out her hands and sent a blast of wind towards the leopard woman who was closing in on Daphne.

“you’re only gonna get in the way” Phoebe pointed out without taking her eyes off Daphne and the two chimeras.

Luke once again felt the weird sensation of being watched and noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye.

“Watch out!” Luke pushed Phoebe out of the way of whatever was hiding in the shadows.

“NO!!!” Obie screamed loudly, but Luke turned to see that Phoebe was fine, but she too was staring at him with a horrified look in her face.

“No, not at me” Luke realised “at my body” he then looked down to see a bloody claw jutting out of his chest “oh”

The claw pulled out and Luke fell onto the ground with a thud, simply staring at the spotted snout of the large hyena like creature that stood above him.

A small part of his mind noted that a fireball flew out of nowhere and hit the hyena in its face and Daphne Tyler-Stone screamed “get away from him” but the larger part of him was telling him that sleep sounded like a good idea.

“Luke!” Obie physically shook him, jolting the sleeping feeling into retreat “stay with me man”

“Obie!” Luke smile at him tiredly, it was as if he was hearing his friend from the other side of the wall.

“Stay with me” Obie pleaded, but Luke just felt too tired, he just wanted a quick nap. Obie shook him again a couple of times but it was no use.

Luke Wyatt was dead.