"If I had to pick, it would have to be Yellow! What's yours?"

  "Orange. It's always there no matter what! In the fall with the trees, the fruits on each beautiful tree, and even the sun setting after a long or short day!" I looked at Steve and whispered,

  "For a guy who talks like that, I don't see much of a threat."

  "And oh! Allow me to introduce you to my friends." Emily suddenly stated.

  I turned around and was a tad bit surprised that Jack was extending his hand toward me for a warm greeting.

  "For the record, if stealing homework is called friendship, then I just might have the wrong definition," I said, shaking Jack's hand. It was rather big for a freshman’s.

  "Hey don't worry, I won't steal your homework like Emily over here!" His laugh afterward legitimately boomed throughout the entire cafeteria as I chuckled lightly with him.

  "Hey! I only stole his homework a handful of times." She stated.

  "Uh-huh, sure." I thought of a joke that would combine the handful she said with Jack's large hands. But I got way too lazy to think of any.

  "And I'm uh, Steve." He whispered this in such a low voice that not even a microphone or a miniphone would be able to pick up what he said.

  However, Jack must've had super hearing alongside his enormous hands since he stated,

  "Hey Steve, I'm Jack! That's a mighty backpack you have there!"

  Just a reminder that Steve is still shaking violently from being scared straight so badly.

  "T-Thanks." He said in a quivering voice, going back to playing with his wooden box.

  "Hey, do you mind sitting with us for a little while?" Emily asked him. Me and Steve both exchanged shocked glances as Emily would usually never allow anyone within three feet of her, no other than a stranger.

  "Sure I would love to! Those guys over there I was hanging out with were getting pretty rough anyway."

  As he sat down, I felt like the marbled seat and table had shaken like an earthquake, causing me to nearly drop my notebook. Fortunately, I was able to keep my hands on it.

  "Where are you guys from?" Jack asked us all.

  "All three of us are from the city of Lovingstead in Shtar," Emily stated.

  "Aw, that's nice. It’s not far from here, if I'm not mistaken?" Jack asked her.

  "No, not at all!" She said in an oddly cheerful way. I was wondering if she was trying to go for a more approachable tone. Because if she was, then it was absolutely not working.

  "Where are you from Jack?" I asked him.

  "Ah, I'm from Jorin!" He exclaimed. The three of us were confused though, as we had no idea where that was or that it ever existed.

  "I'm gonna guess you don't know where that's from based on your confused faces." He stated. We shook our heads as Jack sighed.

  "Honestly, I’m not surprised. The county I came from was taken control as a puppet state into the Redwood Federation not a month ago. Many formerly independent nations like mine don't get named when taken over.” He clenched his fist over such discrepancies between fact and reality.

  "Wait I think I heard about it, Frolin you said?" Steve asked him.

  "Yeah! How do you know about it?" I was genuinely curious as Jack asked this.

  "I do my research on current events once in a while and I saw that it was taken over through a small article posted on the internet couple of weeks ago. Didn't they purchase Frolin's land until there was nearly nothing left?"

  "Yeah, they kept spending and spending and everyone bought into their delusion. Their money coming before their passion. I also had believed their money-hungry illusions for a little while until I realized what they were using our land for.”

  “I’m lucky I escaped that industrialized hellhole and came here on a sports scholarship." He stated, staring down at the marble table with Emily looking sympathetic toward him. Which wasn’t a look that was all too common for her.

  "Don't worry, Jack! One day people will view the Redwoods exactly as you do. Just plain old assholes." She whispered the last word out since there was a camera not too far from her.

  "Yeah, back where I came from. You wouldn't ever find a school like this. Mainly because the schools there were just little buildings handled by a singular overworked teacher. That's why I don't exactly know a lot of things nerds know." He pointed toward Steve, making Emily laugh as Steve just smiled. He knew what he said as fact.

  My mind tranced toward the skyline. The luminous sunrise peaked over a small hill, its rays ascending in the middle of the large window. It was a beautiful sight to see, one I would see for four more years until I graduated. What challenges would be in store for me in this distant, yet enclosed school? What obstacles would I have to overcome?

  What secrets would be unveiled?

  "Alright, how's football then?" I zoned out so I completely forgot what they were talking about. And as Emily asked this, I looked up from my trance.

  "As far as I know in this school, it's gonna be a hassle. This high school has one of the most elite football athletes in the whole world. Hell, they even beat Watreford 17-3!"

  Since I didn't know anything about sports, I just assumed that that was a good score.

  Meanwhile, Steve seemed astonished and Emily decided to not continue the conversation about sports, likelybecause she was just as confused with the subject as I was. But Steve persisted on.

  "17-3!? God damn! And here I thought this school's Longcaster team was the best!"

  But before he could explain what the hell Longcaster was, another intercom rang into our eardrums and an announcement boomed throughout the cafeteria,

  "All students now must report to the Cafeteria as an announcement is to be made soon!"

  Of course, because the four of us were still technically in the Cafeteria, we ignored the announcement as Jack excused himself to the breakfast line.

  "So, what do you guys think of him?" Emily asked us as soon as he went toward the extended line.

  "He's nice." I merely said, focusing on a specific piece of lint on the table I had picked from my pocket.

  "Yeah, he's pretty nice," Steve said, likely not having the words to describe him such as I.

  He caught an ultra-crossword puzzle from the sea of papers in his backpack. I watched as he sighed quickly and went to work on the puzzle.

  "That's it!? Just nice and pretty?" She asked the both of us.

  "I just met him. Plus, I don't just solely go off of first impressions." I said.

  "Yeah! Don't you know the phrase 'don't judge a book by its—”

  "Yeah, we know." Me and Emily said simultaneously. We both got tired of Steve talking about quotes from the past all of the darn time.

  "Annnd, all set!" He then plunged his pencil toward the table as he was now done with the crossword puzzle.

  "How the hell did you finish that so quickly?!" Emily exclaimed.

  "Heh, tough luck!"

  I knew this was absolute bullshit. He always finished puzzles as if I was washing one knife while washing dishes. Razor quick.

  "Alright, I'm back." Jack was carrying a stack of food that could rival Emily's stack that she had eaten a couple of minutes ago. Emily and I looked astonished as Jack put his hands together, rubbed them, and dug into his meal.

  "Geez Jack, you look like a dirty pig," Emily said, snickering to make some slight fun at him. Jack looked a bit embarrassed, yet continued to eat.

  "Hey, ease off with the cockiness," Steve said to Emily. She just shrugged and said back,

  "I'm not being cocky, it's the truth!"

  "Mhm, sure. It’s not like you just ate exactly like him not a couple of minutes ago."

  "Yeah, you two are the same," I added to Steve’s words. Both of them looking toward each other and rubbing their necks as Jack then ate the last of. . .

  Whatever slop he was eating.

  Just then though, I caught out of the corner of my eye someone slender reach up to the center of the cafeteria. Mostly the seniors and juniors immediately slammed their mouths shut while freshmen and sophomores still wouldn't, us included.

  As I stared at the slender woman, I knew exactly what was happening. It was the same thing when I first entered middle school and even though it had been a long time, I still remember it vividly.

  You see, the schools in the Redwood Federation have this weird tradition of every beginning of the school year. The principal would be standing at the center of the Cafeteria while everyone else would usually quiet down. Supposedly this was to show respect by themselves, yet I saw this as useless.

  "What's up?" Steve asked me, seeing as how I was legitimately staring at this woman. I suppose I seemed a little bit suspicious.

  "Remember in sixth to eighth grade where at the beginning of every year there was the silent test?" I asked him.

  "Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that! Hey guys!" Steve exclaimed toward Emily and Jack. But they were engaged in a conversation about, of all possible things, the sun.

  "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," Emily stated. Jack simply nodded as I poked at Emily repeatedly. I saw her eye begin to twitch ever so slightly from my pestering fingertip. So, I knew that she was either going to punch me or she was going to say—

  "WHAT!?"

  "Behind you," I whispered at her. Jack turned his head toward the principal glaring and glooming over us.

  "What is this nagging that I'm hearing?" The principal asked in her profound tone.

  I won't even bother describing her outfit because it seemed so menacing that I couldn't look at her direction without shitting my pants.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Once Emily looked behind herself, she was stunned over the principal’s sudden appearance towering over her. All eyes from every student were attracted towards our singular table.

  "And who are you two?" She asked Jack and Emily. I kept my eyes firmly on the table, my fingernails tapping onto its solid surface in repeated succession.

  "M-m-m—" Jack couldn’t get his words out of his mouth.

  However, Emily was calm and said in a bright smile to the principal in a sleek, black suit tucked into her statue of a figure,

  "My name is Emily Barlow, and the student I'm talking to is Jack Broker." She stated.

  "Councils?"

  "Excuse me?"

  "Councils. As in what council are you from?" Emily was stunned as she probably forgot which council she was even from.

  And I don't even blame her, we barely got taught about our correct associative councils in school. Most of our history teachers at our middle school weren’t exactly the brightest.

  "Uhm, I'm from Council 7. She’s from c-council 3." Thank god Jack saved the both of them. The silence and stares from everyone else was becoming a bit too much to handle.

  "Hm. Alright. Thank you." The principal said, going back to the center of the cafeteria by seemingly floating there.

  What a cool magic trick.

  Ahem.

  “Hello everyone to the first day of school. For most of you, this will be the second, third, or fourth year here. However, for the lucky few, this is going to be their first-ever year. Now please, give a warm welcome to the freshmen!"

  As she began clapping her hands together in commemoration, everyone else then clapped with her. This produced an eruption of harmonic clangor that could make a sloth freak out.

  I couldn't even make out whatever Steve said to me and once the clapping stopped. She continued on,

  "As you know, very soon you all will go to the auditorium to process what classes you must proceed to. If you look through your Scruplots, you will see them as of now. Thank you for your blessed time, and have a wonderful breakfast."

  She clapped once more, leaving soon after as students began to their chatter once again. But this time, directed at us. Hell, there was one student who, out of nowhere, said right next to us,

  "The disrespect of them!"

  "I can’t believe they ever went to this school." Another sophomore said.

  "Does she even know the consequences of being this disrespectful?" A senior asked.

  "She'll surely get read like a book here."

  "What a stulkor!" That word meant more than stupid.

  "Hahaha! The idiot couldn't even pronounce his words!" You get the idea of the comments we were hearing.

  "Let's go to the other side of the cafeteria," Jack said, setting his orange hoodie on and throwing his tray away in bitter vexation.

  We followed him to the other side of the cafeteria, which was a whole seven minutes because of how large the cafeteria, in actuality, was.

  We arrived to an open seating area and sat down. Emily put her head down, disappointment wavering loosely from her depressive stance. Steve simply got out another crossword puzzle, laying three times larger than the last one he had.

  "I'm sorry. I just get so tense when it comes to principals or any other authority." Jack said, tailing his fingers in a circle.

  "It's fine, I don't either. She caught us by total surprise!" Emily exclaimed.

  "Yeah she does that, I heard from my uncle who went to this school that in her first year, people were set aback because she doesn't make any noises and she sets off multiple alarms to whoever she talks to," Steve said, continuing to do his puzzle.

  "To hell with that! I hate when people do that." Emily said.

  "Guys, quiet down a bit. There’s a camera right there," I stated, pointing indirectly to the camera on the ceiling behind my back. Emily grumbled at the camera’s hidden face and looked toward Jack instead.

  "Hey, I have a question for you Jack," I stated.

  "What is it?" He asked me back.

  "Why did you run over here?" I asked him now. He was slightly confused over my question for a moment before realizing why I asked that. He replied,

  "Well, I sorta wanted to talk with you three. I couldn't deal with that group I was with before.”

  "What was wrong with them?" Steve asked him, now also invested into our conversation.

  "They just made me uncomfortable. Always trying to one-up each other and critiquing everyone around them, it sucked! I’m lucky I was able to get away from them, thank god for that." He said, putting his head down just like what Emily was doing. I smiled widely at her and stated,

  "You know, I never knew your last name was Barlow."

  "Shut up, I hate using that name." She replied, hiding her mouth with her arms.

  “Why’s that?” I asked her.

  “My family name has been tainted with greed for years on end. My parents are always trying to find new ways to make money. Always trying to push themselves in their delusions and pushing me away at the same time.”

  “There’s just something about my last name that irks me the wrong way because of that. No matter how much I try to live and love with my last name being placed from homework assignments to bulletin boards, I can’t.”

  “Does that answer your question, jackass?” She asked me now. I put my hands up and said slowly,

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  As she was speaking, Steve had finished his puzzle and was in the process of fitting it back into his backpack before Jack asked him,

  "Wait, aren't you gonna finish that?" Jack asked him.

  "Bahahaha! I already finished it, dummy!" He showed Jack the finished puzzle and his jaw dropped to the floor.

  Alright, not in a literal way, but you know what I mean.

  "How do you even do that?!" He asked Steve in astonishment.

  "Well, I'll explain it to you!"

  As Steve explained it to him as if it was the U.S. Constitution. I looked down at the solidified table beneath my hands, my lungs exhaling in a calming sensation I can only get once in a blue moon.

  It looked like I was going to be stuck with these three for a while. Hopefully, I would have a class with at least one of them, probably with Steve because he knows everything that is and has been.

  Still, having a class with Emily could be dangerously fun. Even with her more than usual destructive behavior. And I would still like to get to know Jack more.

  "You alright?" I asked Emily. She sniffled a tad bit which I bet she tried to hide, but she was rather bad at hiding anything. Especially her emotions.

  "Based on that sniffle, I'm gonna guess you're not okay," I stated.

  "It's been a rough day, alright!? I could barely wake up again and I skipped breakfast because I just wanted to make a good first impression for once! But of course, I fail that! Then, I tried to talk to the principal on one of the most important days! And I, of course, failed that too!" She exclaimed this in such a broken voice, a drought would’ve been jealous.

  Nevertheless, I felt bad for her and put my left hand on her shoulder in some sort of conciliation.

  "Usually I'm not an optimist but please, look at the bright side. You made a mark on everyone in this school for talking to the principal like that, which you successfully did. You also remade two friends successfully. You alone ate a whole family meal of breakfast successfully, and you were able to look calm and cool towards the most intimidating principal the world has ever seen!”

  “I'd call that a pretty successful day so far, even if it had some flaws." She sniffled and asked me,

  "You think so?"

  "I know so.” I stated back, a smile stuck onto the corners of my lips. She smiled back at me, wiping the underdeveloped tears from her eyes.

  "Wow, I didn't think that pep talk would work," I stated.

  "No. It didn't. I just hate looking like a sad sack!" She said, punching my arm so hard that I felt like it broke into two. I groaned in pain as she stood up and walked over to Jack to speak to him about, from what I could hear, airplanes.

  In the meantime, Steve pulled out yet another crossword puzzle.

  "Steve, by the time we get to the auditorium, you're going to finish all of your crossword puzzles," I said, my hands crossed over one another on the table.

  "Pfft nah, I have like four more in my backpack. I'll be fine." He stated, focusing back onto the crossword puzzle as I was now alone with my thoughts.

  I took my attention to the bland ceiling above my head. It seemed like it was spiraling out of control, or was my vision forcing it to do so?

  I set my head down, my eyesight straight forward toward a plethora of students talking and laughing with one another. Enjoying their presence as if nothing else mattered. I slight frowned at this sight, knowing they won’t ever seek beyond their happiness to find—

  "That's funny." Steve suddenly stated, his hands firmly placed onto his puzzle.

  "What?" I asked him, looking at his crossword. He had filled most, if not all, of the blanks apart from one specifically placed in the middle.

  "There's this one blank space that doesn't match. Do you think you know what it means?" He asked me. I snorted and asked him,

  "Are you sure you don't know what it means, or are you just trying to get me to talk?"

  "Both..?" He asked me back.

  "But seriously, I don't know what could go here." He passed the puzzle to me and I noticed that there was only one, seven-letter word standing proudly there in its blank slate.

  I slid my fingertips to the cross-section and noticed that you had to decode the definition into a whole other LANGUAGE!?

  "Steve, I honestly can't read this," I stated.

  "Oh yeah, sorry I forgot! The definition is 'the future passion of your fruits'."

  "What the hell!? Is that a riddle or something?" I asked him.

  "Yes, it is. Every definition must be decoded before answering!" He said with his finger pointed towards the air.

  "I'm about to decode this paper into your eyeballs. . ." I said with a grumble, staring at the seven-letter blank once more. I then went back to the dream I had in the morning, and by closing my eyes, the word came clearly into my mind.

  "The future passion of your fruits, huh?" I asked him.

  "Yeah, it's okay if you don't know! I'll probably just have to think a tiny bit harder on that question. So don't worry about it—"

  "Destiny, the word is destiny."

  And right then and there, the word appeared on the paper in a small blaze of blue and red hues, completing the puzzle.

  "What the..?" He asked me, sitting up from his chair to inspect the puzzle in my hands.

  "I don't exactly know how, but I just knew it. It sorta came to me, y’know?" I asked him as if that was a normal occurrence.

  "No, what I mean is, how the hell did the word spawn into the paper like that!?" He exclaimed to no one in particular.

  "It's not supposed to do that?" I asked him, curiosity mixed with worry filled my tone.

  "No! I usually write it down on my pencil, you imbecile!" He smacked me on the head lightly as I was confused about what the hell happened. I set down the paper on the table in which he snatched it and continued to scour through its contents.

  "Did you have a secret pencil in which you inscribed the—"

  "Too many big words, Steve. No, I didn't have a secret pencil or anything else, it just appeared out of nowhere as soon as I said it."

  "That's so strange." He gradually said back, shaking his head. He placed the crossword puzzles back in his backpack.

  "Ask them, ask them!" I heard Emily shout at Jack.

  "I don't really wanna, but alright." He stated, turning toward us. Steve and I turned towards him in curious glances.

  "What's your uhm, what's your favorite colors?" He asked us.

  "I'd say green honestly. It's just so bright and luminous in so many ways. Did you know that throughout the entire world, there is probably as much green as there is blue?"

  He was probably wrong about that. But ever since the Lhz?os sea dried up—the second largest sea in the world as of recently. Perhaps, he's not wrong after all.

  "Mine is black. I don't have a reason for it, though I like how it matches my hair," I stated. This dark hue I liked so much also matched my eye color of a dark grey.

  "That's cool!" Emily exclaimed. I already knew that her favorite color was yellow as she said it beforehand.

  "Yeah, I didn't know that there was more green. Although, that still sounds a bit wrong." Jack said,

  Steve then proceeded on an entire essayed speech about how his statement was true which I couldn't care less about. I just went back to staring at a camera on the ceiling. I truly hated that camera.

  "I guess that makes sense. There's more skin than there is my blond hair, but that hair has to grow from my skin eventually." Jack stated, pulling his hair to his eyes while Steve simply nodded.

  Me and Emily were a little confused about what they were talking about by this point, but we let them be.

  Afterwards, we talked about our future careers. Emily wanted to work in construction. I’m honestly not surprised considering how much destruction she does on anything she touches on a daily basis.

  Jack wanted to be a future star player for a famous football team. Probably the Florid Elephants, which I found rather nice of a dream to chase.

  Steve simply wanted an office job, even though his intelligence could provide way more than just that singular job.

  I wanted to work in politics, or possibly become a doctor. I've seen how money over beliefs can influence those in office. I truly wanted to be the first politician that would be completely transparent for their people. No matter what.

  ??? ??? ???? ???????

  Shut up.

  If being a politician didn't work out, I still wanted to help people as much as humanly possible. So, a doctor would do, to hopefully help heal other’s bodies back together. Never mind their minds.

  As we discussed this, and when I mean discuss, I mean just them discussing amongst themselves. I zoned out into my own thoughts.

  However, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted someone I didn't expect to see. . .