That night, Sebastian had one of the best sleeps of his life. The combination of being chilled from the cold night air and the warmth of being wrapped up in a comforter created the perfect recipe for a sleep that one would wish could last forever; however, the harsh reality is that all good things must eventually come to an end, and to the dreamer, they end much quicker than they would like them to.
The sun had returned and signaled the beginning of a new day; however, Sebastian wasn’t about to rise with it. The ear-piercing screech of an alarm clock jolted him awake and forced him back to the world of the living much to his chagrin. Realizing that he could not delay the inevitable, he swung his legs over the side of his bed and stood. He grabbed whatever clean clothes he planned to wear out of his hamper and headed to the bathroom to freshen up.
Sebastian didn’t believe in putting his clothes away. He had a system where he would leave his clean clothes in his hamper and pile his dirty clothes on the floor. By the time laundry day came around, the hamper would be empty so he would grab the dirty pile and swap it in. It was a little on the unorthodox side but for him, it got the job done and that’s all that mattered. Plus, since he never had to fold his clothes, it saved time which he could spend playing more video games.
Since his mother’s job was quite the jaunt away from home, she would usually leave in the mornings right around the time he got up to try and beat the morning rush traffic. This left Sebastian to fend for himself when it came to breakfast. Of course, he didn’t mind it one bit because it afforded him some additional peace and quiet.
Once he was washed and dressed, he grabbed his backpack and brought it to the kitchen table. In the past, his mother would scold him for leaving it on the table while he ate but she wasn’t there to say anything to him so he did what he wanted. He fixed himself two pieces of toast with a smear of peanut butter, a bowl of whole oats cereal, and a glass of orange juice. If there ever was a snapshot from a commercial about a balanced breakfast, this was it.
Before he dug in, he made sure to pack himself a lunch so he would have something to eat at school. In the past, he had learned his lesson when he forgot to do that. The hunger pains he felt were something he would much rather forget and never let happen again.
Once he ate, he grabbed his backpack, let out a bit of a sigh, and went out through the back door. Fifteen minutes later, he was back in his classroom as he carried out his tradition of staring out the window. Today, it appeared to be a bright and sunny day; something that Sebastian didn’t truly care for but it wasn’t as if he could control the weather. As he sat there, his homeroom teacher entered the room along with a girl. With Sebastian’s attention diverted to the outside world, he didn’t notice her at first.
“Class, may I have your attention? As I announced yesterday, we have a new student joining us here. If you would, could you please make your introduction to the class?”
“Hello! My name is Delilah Yearwood! It’s a pleasure to meet you all!”
Despite the introduction, Sebastian continued to stare out the window as he had zero interest in taking in the sights of the new student.
Ah, that’s right. There was supposed to be a transfer student coming in today. I would pray that she gets sat somewhere else but the empty desk next to me is the only place that they can stuff her. Maybe I’ll get lucky and she’ll make some friends and request to move her seat. Ugh, but then some other mouth-breather will end up next to me. Either way, I lose. Great…
“Welcome to the class, Delilah. There’s an empty seat over there in Row 4. Go ahead and get yourself set up as first period will be starting in just a few minutes.”
Sebastian continued to stare out the window as he heard the footsteps of the new transfer student draw ever closer. Soon, he heard the plop of a backpack followed by her taking her seat. No sooner than she sat down, other students around her began to whisper their welcomes. She replied to each one in kind as Sebastian internally groaned.
Ugh… her voice is a bit weird. She has a slight northern accent which means she must have come from the northeast. Not that I care or anything. As long as everyone else has her attention, that’s fine. Leave me out of…
Before he could finish that thought, he felt a slight tug on his sleeve. Sebastian looked over and noticed that Delilah was staring at him with a bright and friendly smile. He finally got a good look at her and noticed that she had shoulder-length black hair and eyes of amber; a unique color combination. Her skin was a bit on the pale side but looked flawless. As soon as he noticed her, he caught a whiff of lilac which must have been a perfume she was wearing.
He wasn’t the only one taking in an appearance, though as Delilah was doing the same thing. As soon as their eyes met, she noticed just how cute Sebastian looked to the point she had to try hard not to gasp. Despite his inner thoughts, his outward projection painted a picture of a sweet and innocent boy. Being new to the school and the town, she assumed the same at first glance.
“Hey! Nice to meet you! I’m Delilah!”
You couldn’t resist, could you? You just had to tug on my sleeve and bother me, huh? Ugh… this is such a pain. Why do I have to do this? Then again… she doesn’t know any better. Ignorance can be as blissful as a regularly scheduled life, too, I suppose. Oh well, I’ll just be polite. No good will come from causing a scene on her first day. Besides, people talk about me enough as it is, I don’t need the extra attention.
“Hey. I’m Sebastian. It’s nice to meet you, too,” he said with a faint forced smile.
“That’s a pretty cool name,” she said as she took note of his light and raspy voice. “What’s your last name?”
“Saje… but it’s spelled with a ‘J’ instead of a ‘G’.”
“Sebastian Saje? It kind of rolls off the tongue! I like it!”
Before the conversation could go any further, the first period’s bell rang. No sooner than it did, their algebra teacher had entered the classroom. Delilah was about to get up when she noticed that nobody else was budging. She looked back at Sebastian with a puzzled expression.
“What’s going on?” she whispered to him.
“In this school, only the teachers change classes. You get all of your general classes out of the way and the last period is for electives. If you’ve taken one, you’ll switch and go to a specialty class. If you don’t have any, you just stay here and it’s treated like a study hall,” he whispered back.
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
“Oh, wow. I’ve never been in a school that operates like this before.”
“We’re guinea pigs. This district is testing it out. They said that it works in Japan or something like that. I didn’t pay attention to the details.”
“Ah, gotcha. Well, I guess that beats moving around!”
The teacher asked the class to settle down and went right into the day’s math lessons. He then collected their homework and began to grade them as he assigned some worksheets to keep themselves busy in the meantime.
After a few classes, the lunch bell rang. Not knowing the schedule, Delilah wasn’t sure if it was time to eat or time for another class. When she realized that it was for lunch, she turned to ask if Sebastian wanted to have lunch with her but by the time she did, he had already grabbed his backpack, gotten up, and was halfway out of the classroom.
“Oh, shoot. Just missed him. Haha, I was too slow,” she muttered to herself.
Rather than head to the storage rooms, he took a staircase up to a locked door. Beyond it was the roof; however, only the janitorial staff had the keys to access it. Despite that, there was a small alcove to the left of the door where some electrical boxes hung on the wall. Sebastian had never seen a single person come up these stairs so he deemed this as one of his hiding spots.
Today’s lunch consisted of a couple of pieces of leftover lemon pepper chicken. Without a microwave to reheat them, they were room temperature and not all that pleasant to eat; however, Sebastian was the one who packed them so he didn’t have any room to complain about their quality. As per his usual, he also packed a bottle of water.
Just like yesterday, he pulled out his sketchbook and flipped over to “Roxy.” Before turning the page, he smirked.
“Thanks for letting me visit yesterday,” he muttered with a quick chuckle to himself.
He turned over to a new blank page and began to sketch another character. This time, it was that of a teenage boy. He drew him wearing a simple dress shirt and tie. As with most of his other drawings, it was a simple bust shot. He figured with how short the lunch breaks were, a bust shot was all the time he could be afforded to create something.
He decided to give this character short, spiky hair along with a pair of thin-framed glasses. When he was done, he tapped the end of the pencil on his chin as he contemplated a name for him. After a few moments, he wrote the name Matthew on the paper.
He checked the time and noticed that he finished early. With the extra time, he began to contemplate his interaction with Delilah earlier.
I’m a bit worried about this new girl. I mean, she doesn’t know anything about me so I can understand why she would say hello but to carry on a conversation like that? Surely, she can find other people in the class to befriend. Then again, maybe it had something to do with the fact that we’re neighbors. What about Lucas? He sits on the other side of her, why couldn’t she just talk to him? Jessika sits behind her, too so that’s another option. Oh well, I doubt it’ll be a problem. By now, she probably got invited to eat lunch with someone and she’ll just talk to them from now on.
Sebastian let out a sigh as he checked his phone and noticed it was time to head back. He gathered up his things and headed to class. The access stairway to the roof is a shorter distance to his classroom than the storage rooms were so he made it back with a few minutes to spare. That’s when he noticed that Delilah was already back from lunch. Her face practically lit up when she saw him enter the classroom.
What’s she doing in here… and why is she looking at me like that? You just met me this morning and you’re looking at me as if you’ve known me for years. This girl is seriously starting to creep me out.
Sebastian plopped his backpack down and took his seat. No sooner than he did, Delilah turned her attention to him and struck up a conversation.
“You left pretty quickly. Did you have somewhere to go for lunch?”
“Um… not particularly. I was just hungry so I wanted to grab something to eat.”
“I get that. I just stayed in here and ate a sandwich at my desk.”
Wait! She didn’t go to the cafeteria? Maybe some of the other students asked her to stay and they all had lunch here. Then again, if she did, why was she sitting alone when I came back? Did they wrap up early or something?
“Didn’t hang out with anyone?”
“Nah. I don’t know anyone yet. Plus, I didn’t want to seem like the needy new girl right off the bat.”
I mean… I can get that but does that mean that I’m the only person you’ve talked to here? Maybe this is becoming a bigger problem than I thought. If she’s only talking to me, that means she’s already decided to try and become friends with me. I may be cold and jaded on the inside but I at least try to be nice on the outside. I figured that if I could just keep to myself, nothing would ever be a problem. Maybe I can just ease her away with kindness.
“You should try talking to some people. I don’t think anyone would see you as needy. I’m sure there are plenty of people who would find it interesting to learn about you and where you came from.”
“I mean, I’m talking to you, though. Want to know a little bit about me?”
That’s the LAST thing I want to know. Ugh… that didn’t work. This girl is persistent. Do I humor her? If I do… will that give her the wrong idea that I like talking to her? This is going in the wrong direction fast but it’s not like I can pull a 180 now. She hasn’t done anything to warrant getting verbally smacked upside the head… although that would bring me tremendous joy right about now. Guess I’ll just let her ramble while I think about something else while nodding occasionally.
“Sure.”
“I come from Maine. I used to live up in the mountains. It was really beautiful up there although the winters were pretty brutal. I know it’s still cold here in the Pacific Northwest but it’s nothing compared to the mountains in Maine…”
As she rambled on, Sebastian did as he thought and started only to nod occasionally while he thought about something else. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied the same group of people from yesterday talking and whispering amongst themselves. He made sure not to make direct eye contact as he didn’t want to alert them that he was listening in. A scowl formed on his face as they continued to talk amongst themselves.
“...so my father got stationed here and I was forced to move and… is… something wrong?”
“Hmm? Not particularly, why?”
“You seemed upset there for a second. I thought maybe I was annoying you with my story.”
Well, that’s not far from the truth. I would love nothing more than for you to shut up right about now.
“Oh, I probably made a funny face because I felt a sneeze coming on. Sorry, it’s gone now, though.”
“No problem! That happens to me sometimes but I can never control them. That’s pretty cool that you can suppress yours like that. I wish I had that kind of talent.”
What kind of backwater mountain did you come from if you think suppressing a sneeze is a special talent!?
“I don’t always succeed, though. I guess I just got lucky this time.”
“I guess so! What about you, though? What was a young Sebastian like growing up?”
I’m not answering that question. If there’s one thing I hate more than talking to others it’s talking to others about myself. What’s the most generic answer I can give that won’t make her pry any deeper?
“I…”
Before he could even say anything, the bell rang and lunch was officially over. Their history teacher walked in through the door and requested that everyone be seated.
“... maybe later, I guess.”
“I’ll take you up on that!”
The afternoon’s lessons continued as normal. Sebastian went back to his normal self and sat there quietly taking notes. However, every time he went to jot something down, he noticed Delilah glancing at him through his peripheral vision. It didn’t happen every time but it happened more times than he would have liked. At one point, he got so annoyed that the tip of his mechanical pencil broke from the pressure he applied. A few clicks of the eraser later and he was right back to normal.
I can’t even take notes in peace anymore. Why does she keep looking at me like that? Seriously, I’m not that interesting. Just pay attention to the teacher and forget I even exist!
Finally, mercy reared its beautiful head as the final bell rang for the day. Sebastian quickly gathered up his things and briskly walked out of the classroom. This time, Delilah decided to give chase to see if she could catch up to him; however, by the time she made it out, he was already halfway down the hall. She let out a bit of a sigh and headed in the opposite direction as there was a staircase closer to that side.
When she reached the bottom, she spied Sebastian heading out the front door. She thought that she might have another chance to catch up to him but she soon learned that he was a pretty fast walker. While she wasn’t out of shape, Sebastian still walked at a clip that was beyond her level.
“He seems like he’s in a hurry. I wonder if he has to be somewhere?”
Delilah shrugged it off and started to head home. As she turned right out of the school gate, she made her way up the small hill that was there. Through some lucky timing, when she made it to the intersection at the top of the hill, the signal to cross was still active. On the other side, she made her way down the sidewalk, keeping straight the entire time. She didn’t notice it at first as she liked to look at the ground as she walked but for some reason, something compelled her to look up. When she did, she noticed that Sebastian was in front of her, albeit a good distance away.
The more she walked, the more she began to wonder if he lived anywhere near her. She continued to watch him until he made the right turn down the street that led to the wooded shortcut behind his house. When she looked ahead, she could see her street off in the distance.
Suddenly, her face lit up.