"Don't get too ahead of yourself because you manage to skip elementary schooling with the alternative learning system. You literally also skipped grade 7, so… You do your best out there, son!"
At the word 'son', Stray feels his mind going into a short circuit. Spiderman pulls a quick one over him… which is definitely funny. In fact, Stray is laughing in secret, while at it, imagining how to inflict his revenge.
Yeah, son... So funny. Never has he been called son like that...
It is his first day since coming to this world, and his first day coming to school. This is a big day!
The first order of business though, check his Skill System!
[SKILL SYSTEM— SKILL POINTS— (1)
SKILLS: Pickpocket (C), Stealth (E), Lockpick (D)]
"Oh… shit…"
Stray is expecting his already existing skills to be criminal, but seeing it visibly 'named' is a different matter. These skills are definitely not something a 13-year-old should possess. He doesn't even have any skills that will help him have an easier school life.
Skipping elementary and grade 7 is a surprise to him, which by no means will continue biting him for a long time. He has a lot of catching up to do. Luckily, he has the system with him.
"I can only pray that there are no exams on the first day."
"I agree, that would suck…"
Suddenly appearing beside Stray is a brunette about his age. She has a spunky grin and a confident vibe. She places her arm over Stray's neck in a very chummy manner. Stray is not so disillusioned to think the girl is hitting on him. They are freaking 13 years old!
If not for Stray's weird experiences in his youth, he will easily treat this chummy arrival by his side as a friend already. For Stray, it is only natural to feel so guarded. Case in point, Stray feels an icky lingering gaze at the back of his neck
"Tell me, does the creepy guy watching over at our 6 o'clock yours?" Stray bluntly asks her.
"Yup, Happy gave me this stupid assignment to make friends. You are lucky to be picked by me, random friend."
Happy? That name sounds very familiar. Stray keeps his thoughts to his own. Stray ignores the girl wholly on the way. It is not that he chooses to ignore her. He just doesn't know how not to ignore her. The moment they reach the school gates, the girl immediately unlinks herself from Stray.
"So?" The girl makes this gesture of waving her arms around. Stray doesn't really get it.
"So what?" Stray scratches the back of his head.
"So…" The girl exasperatedly drags her voice, for the first time, she meets a person who lacks greatly in terms of communication skills. "Grade 8, class A, my name is Morgan Sta~ Stank… Morgan Stank…" Morgan, as obvious as her identity is, awkwardly introduces her made-up name on the fly.
"…"
No wonder she looks familiar, Stray thinks to himself.
To think that little Morgan from Endgame will grow up this fast. Stray feels that it's just yesterday that he knows of the little missy. This version of Morgan is not so bad either. It is an honest compliment coming from a fan like Stray.
"I am…" Wondering about what name he should introduce himself as. Stray finally decides on one. "Stray… I am Stray…"
"As in a stray dog?" Morgan jokes.
"No, as in stray bullet." And Stray reciprocates.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
The two shares a silent laugh.
"Grade 8, Class A…" Stray shortly adds earning a small smile from Morgan. Grabbing his wrist, Morgan launches off for their classroom.
"Let's go~!" Morgan energetically rushes with Stray in tow, leaving Happy from the school gates whose frown is just getting more creases by a second.
…
Stray's mind is very chill. Though Morgan Stark is one of the original characters unique to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stray cannot find his inner fanboy acting up at all. After all, in his eyes, Morgan is just a little girl just like the one from the movie.
Reminding Stray of his several smaller and bigger sisters in his past life, he remains aloof of Morgan's advances which will confuse the onlookers of the relationship between the two. They are not like girl/boy/friends. Again, they're just 13 years old!
They are just eighth graders? Romance? Ha! Outside of school is Happy entertaining the thought of Morgan's immediate new friend of a possible romance. Happy scoffs as he silently takes a casual look at one of the drones stealthily tailing and monitoring Morgan on a daily basis.
Arriving by the door in front of Class A, Morgan who is literally dragging Stray by his wrist finally lets go. "Thank you for being my shield. I know… We are just eighth graders, and I don't want to be labeled as manipulative, but damn… I am so damn famous, you know, like a celebrity… In my past school, people were literally crowding on me!"
Morgan shares a bit of her past life, a trace of fear quite evident in her eyes. At the risk of others thinking of her as a narcissist, she tries to be as honest as possible… at least to her first-ever-possible friend.
"It was Happy's idea though about the man-shield thing. If I offend you… I am sorry?" A bit shy, Morgan turns around and immediately makes her escape.
Bolting off, she enters Class A's classroom.
Stray doesn't know why, but for the first time, a very curious emotion is swelling deep inside his heart. It is amusement. He rubs his nose, a bit smug about experiencing what is 'youth' should be like.
Entering the classroom, Stray takes a quick look around the surroundings. Several windows, all glass panes. The two doors are clearly wood, and its hinges are of the basic kind, easy to break. After that, Stray takes a quick count of the students in the classroom… a total of 29 students where 16 are males and 13 are females.
When Stray is about to go to an in-depth analysis of the place, he halts himself forcefully. He is no longer that small kid whose very survival depends on the words of others. He doesn't need to find an 'escape route' now every time he gets into a room. He has to abandon that kind of thinking too.
His occupational disease of sizing up his surrounding though 'instinctively' would take some time to fix. However, his paranoia behavior is not so easy and simple... Stray might not even be able to recover from the trauma of his youth.
Arriving by the only empty seat in the middle far end of the classroom's seating arrangement, Stray relaxes his butt eagerly on the seat.
"Toussaint," It is a deep voice coming from Stray's left. "My name is Toussaint." The boy wears a hoodie, but that doesn't hide the wary gaze that the boy himself is trying to hide.
Chocolate skin, dark curly hair, and dignified features— the boy removes his hoodie and then gives off his most charming smile. "What is yours?"
"Stray," Stray concisely introduces himself.
"Stray, please return the items you stole. If you need an eraser or a pencil, I have some extra." Toussaint softly asks Stray.
"I am sorry. I'll return them immediately. I don't know if you'll believe me but I am feeling quite nervous. I don't need your extra erasers and pencil though, I have mine." Stray opens his bag, revealing to Toussaint that he has what he needs.
In the short duration Stray is passing through from the door to the far end of the seats, he kind of sweeps on a few things he finds an easy target...
Quickly, Stray drops off by the desk of each student whom he stole from, and then… he uses his trump card… the 'I am sorry, you dropped this' card! It works wonders.
Obviously, there will also be gradual doubts, but Stray easily ignores them.
"Hey, you dropped your eraser, here you go…"
"Is this pencil yours? Please, take it."
"This sharpener? Is it yours?"
"Hey, whose badass ring is this?"
While at it, strangely, Stray is slowly establishing a kind of reputation that tilts on the good alignment... and slightly tilts on the more heinous as gossips proliferate among the students.
As a reliable classmate who can find and return your things, Stray has become an approachable individual that everyone wouldn't mind being a friend with. That is what it looks like from the surface, but underneath it is oppression.
Poor. Thief. Liar. Bastard. Fucker. Bad things get attached to the back of his name on the first day of the class, and admittedly, it is his fault.
The righteous Toussaint witnesses Stray's deception and troubles. His true feelings aside, Toussaint just lets it be. Toussaint fixes his hoody back to cover his head and then continues sleeping on one side of the corner of the classroom.
Stray returns to his seat, his palms are a bit itchy. It will need a lot of self-control for him to successfully integrate into this new life of his.
"Hey, so you are a klepto?" From his right, Stray sees his other seatmate. The said seatmate is giving him a chilly gaze. She has dark hair, fair skin, and vivid line marks in her eyes.
"Steal from me, and I'll break your bones."
At her threat, Stray nervously gulps.
"Love Foster, Asgardian…" She introduces. Her name strongly echoes in my mind. "I swear I'll break your bones if I find you stealing from me." Love strongly emphasizes the 'Asgardian' part.
Stray chokes on his saliva at hearing 'Foster' and 'Asgardian' together.