Your homeroom teacher, Mrs. Wiley, asks that everyone quiet down as static sounds off from the speaker up in the corner of the room above the door. The room itself falls silent and a single voice can be heard filling each and every room on campus. Retired Marine, current Head Principle at Delbrook, Mr. Jack McGregor. "Hello students, staff.. new and old. Welcome. If you would do me a great honor, and stand from your seats, placing your hand over your heart and repeat the Pledge of Allegiance with me? It's fine if you don't want to say it, I understand your disconcerts, but it would please me greatly if those of you who don't at least stand with the rest of us." He gives everyone a few moments before continuing to recite the Pledge, giving another short couple of moments before starting off with his First Day Announcements. "Today, students, you have made it to your first class. Homeroom. Turn to the people beside you and introduce yourself if you haven't already, because this class will be seeing you every day 5 times a week till the end of our school year. This will be the only class you will be seeing on a daily basis unless we have GREEN Days, which are just what we call our minimum days. Green is a go!" McGregor chuckles lightly, clearing his throat. "There will be an assembly, which each and every one of you will be attending before we can turn you over to the festivities that I'm sure you're all aware of that wait for you out on the turf. Before I go, I just want to give a quick appreciative shout out to out school's teachers, cafeteria workers, the custodial staff, the parent volunteers, and secretaries. Without you all, this wouldn't be possible. For you students, please enjoy your day here today at Delbrook Academy High. I wish you all the best in this new year. Make the most of it. Thank you." The speaker cuts out and Mrs. Wiley asks that you all get into a single-file line, once the class has done so, she takes you to the auditorium where you sit through an hour-long pep talk from the school's Vice Principal, Ms. Bauer about how she imagines the school year to run. At the end of the assembly, the VP turns you back over to your teacher who leads you out to the football field and sets you free to your own devices. The field is littered with booths upon booths, almost the equivalent to a carnival except all that's missing is the Ferris Wheel.

The first sound that Toby registered, before he was even really awake, was the noise of his aunt April's scraggly fingernails rapping on his old wood door.
"What the fuck are you still doing in bed!? Everyone's left already! Get moving, you little shit!"
His aunt's grating Midwestern accent met his ears and he groaned, rolling out of bed.
"I'm up, I'm up! Oy vey..."

He limped over to his dresser, rifling through his clothing options before turning to his hamper with a heavy sigh. He hadn't had the time to do his laundry in almost two weeks. He eventually selected a relatively clean pair of blue jeans that were frayed at the edges and torn on the left knee, a red t shirt and a grey and black checkered flannel, also slightly frayed.
Not bothering to comb his hair and knowing he didn't have time to shower, he opened the door to find his hungover aunt standing with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot impatiently. She was still wearing a dark blue bathrobe and holding a bottle of some sort of hard liquor in her right hand.
"Your mom left for a job interview. It's 7:00 and you should have been up an hour ago. Get moving, kiddo!" She snapped, taking a swig from the bottle and shoving her tiny nephew in the direction of the stairs.
"Don't call me kiddo!" Retorted Toby. Even though the kid didn't look it, he was in fact fifteen and a half years old. He was only four feet tall and weighed just 65 pounds. He looked and sounded exactly like your average nine-to-eleven year old, and this is how he would look for the rest of his mortal days. As much as he hated it, and the bullying that came along with it, he couldn't do anything about it.

Toby stumbled down the stairs into the foyer of their apartment, walking into the kitchen to see if they had any food. Unlikely. With his dad working pretty much minimum wage and his mom unemployed, they often couldn't afford things like groceries. Toby's dread was confirmed when he opened the ancient fridge to find half a jar of pickles, some spoiled milk and a single piece of bread. Rummaging through the cabinets he found a couple cans of soup and a box of crackers that were well past their sell-by date. Great. No breakfast for me. He thought, trudging back out into the foyer to get his worn out red sneakers. He picked up one of them and looked at the sole. Needs more duct tape... He thought, grabbing a roll of tape from the kitchen and silently taping the holes in his shoes.
His aunt had returned to the couch, nursing her bottle of booze and trying to get their busted TV to work. Toby could hear her swearing to herself as he grabbed his worn out grey backpack and walked out the door, scaling down three stories of stairs to get to the door that led outside.

It was chilly for a September morning. Toby was glad he brought the flannel. He walked down the front steps, checking the rusty mailbox before beginning his half hour long walk to school. His backpack was already weighing him down as he started to limp his way down Chevalle street. A couple of homeless people wandered aimlessly down the block, and one of his neighbors gave him a glare from her window. This was by no means a good neighborhood, it was just where the Broflovskis had to live. If his mother didn't have to support his aunt and her drinking, maybe they'd have enough money for food and heat. But as it stood, they were just barely making the rent every month.

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By the time Toby got to the school, the sky had clouded over as if it was threatening to rain. He briskly walked to his homeroom class, finding it fairly easily as all his class numbers were marked on his schedule. He sat through the announcement, not really listening to what was being said, then followed the rest of the students to the auditorium. On the way there, one of the hall monitors stopped him. "Excuse me young man, visitors can't roam the halls unaccompanied." He said, crouching down to Toby's level. "Who are you looking for? Did you sign in at the front desk..."
"I'm not a visitor. I'm a student." Toby said briskly, stepping aside to avoid knocking into the hall monitor as he followed the rest of the class. The hall monitor blinked for a moment, then muttered to himself "must have skipped at least five grades to be here..."

Once the assembly was over, the students were basically dumped in the football field where a bunch of booths had been set up carnival style. Toby wasn't really interested in looking at anything and was still kind of ticked off about his encounter with the hall monitor, so he simply followed the crowd of students, trying not to get too close to anyone. As he passed by a group of junior girls, they broke out into a fit of giggles, whispering to themselves as they walked on. Toby blushed furiously, speeding up as he continued to pretend to look at the booths.

Bruno awoke feeling groggy, but excited. He always loved the first day back at school. Much more than his brother seemingly did. He grabbed his phone off the bedside counter, flipped on Instagram and had a quick look, then did the same for Whatsapp and Snapchat. Nothing too interesting was going on in the virtual world. Bruno put his phone down and then went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and get ready. Hair styled accordingly? Check. Teeth nice and clean? Check. Face washed? Check. Now to decide what to wear. It had to be something decent. Bruno eventually decided on a red t-shirt with the Croatian national football team logo on it. Then some clean jeans and it was out of the room, but not before Bruno picked his phone up and got his music ready for when he left the house after breakfast.

He bounded down the stairs and greeted his Mom. His Dad had already left for work it seemed. Breakfast was some organic cereal. It didn't taste as nice as the sugary kind, but it was okay. His mother had been trying to push the whole organic and healthy thing for a while now, and Bruno decided it was better to just bite the bullet and wait for the whole thing to blow over. Bruno finished his cereal (and a few songs on his phone) before his sullen looking brother even came trudging down the stairs. They got on ok, but Bruno didn't really understand his brother that much. They went their own separate ways at school.



Dominik awoke feeling groggy and down. The first day back at school. Damn. He had a great summer, chilling in the garden reading, and meeting up with the few friends he had to draw and listen to music. But now that was over, and he was about to be plunged back into the chaos of American school life. The noise. The jocks. The people. He really did dislike it. But there was nothing he could do. Dominik would just have to go through it the best he could until he got the money to move back to Dubrovnik on his own. That would be a glorious day. He brushed his teeth and washed his face, and checked his hair. It was acceptable. He flung on the nicest looking clothes he could see and headed downstairs.

His brother was already sitting there listening to music. Dominik said a quick hello to his mother and then sat down to eat his own bowl of cereal. It was some kind of oatmeal fruit cereal. He gobbled it down quickly and plugged in his own music. He didn't know what his brother was listening to but they had different tastes.

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The two brothers walked together down the road to the school. The sky looked as if it was about to cloud over, so they hurried along a bit faster to hopefully avoid any rain. They arrived at Delbrook the same time as most of the other people. When the twins phased into the crowd they both went their separate ways until homeroom. They were both in the same homeroom. Neither of them stood during the pledge because they had no loyalties to the US, but also because they didn't know a word of it. They got a few funny looks from other classmates, but nothing too serious. Then the whole meet and greet, then it was time for the assembly. Neither of the brothers really listened. They were too occupied with their own thoughts.

Then it was off to the field for the booth festival. The brothers split up. Bruno headed straight for the soccer signups, but not before staring at an odd person walking by, very out of place student who looked like he was about 11, not 15 or 16. Strange. Maybe he skipped a couple of grades. Bruno signed straight up for the soccer tryouts. Dominik however was a little lost. He had already signed up for the art club, but he wasn't looking for a booth anymore. He was hoping to "accidentally" stumble a girl who had been on his mind a little over the summer holidays.

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"THE BOY'S ARE BACK IN TOWN! THE BOY'S ARE BACK IN TOOOOOWN!" From beneath blue and white covers a hand suddenly shot out like a bullet from a pistol and slammed itself into the top of the insufferable alarm clock which had just been blaring out Thin Lizzy's song. The arm went limp and fell beside the bed after silencing the rude machine but a groan could be heard a few moments later and the bed shifted until with a large lurch of the covers it revealed a 15 year old boy with disheveled dirty blonde hair and a sleepy look in his chocolate colored eyes. The clock read 6am and the boy, Riley Alexander Revels quickly turned the machine off to prevent another outburst. Moving to his dresser he picked out a simple outfit, a white T-shirt with some sort of graphic printed on the front and a pair of dark blue jeans. He also put a change of clothes into a duffel bag for physical education and Football practice. For the final bits he threw a pair of plain looking shoes onto the floor below the clothes and trudged himself into his attached bathroom.

Shower, teeth brushing, hair combing, and the general get ready ritual were performed and Riley walked out wearing just his boxers and looked much more awake. As he was heading towards his clothes he stopped dead and suddenly ran over to a Gibson Songwriter Deluxe Guitar and threw open a folder laying on top of it. He made a few marks and smirked goofily to himself as he nodded and danced back over to his clothes and proceeded to literally dance into them. He was still dancing to the nonexistent music as he left his room, leaving it open and uncaring as he kept things straight and neat. He wasn't a clean freak just his room really and everything else was just sort of fly by the moment. He headed into the kitchen and smelled a motley assortment of breakfast foods and he smiled brightly, lightning up his face and he went to stand beside a large African American Woman finishing up a platter of sausage. "Jeez, went a bit overboard today Felicia?" He asked as he chuckled and then sat down at the table, proceeding to load up his plate with bacon, eggs, toast, and sausage. He received a tsk in reply from Felicia and Riley chuckled to himself as he poured some Orange Juice. He truly loved Felicia and considered her much more a mother than his own who big surprise wasn't home. Not that he really cared if she was home or not anymore but he still remembered when he was younger sitting at the door and waiting for her or his father to come home and always getting upset when they didn't.

"Can't have you going to school on an empty stomach Riley, besides it's your first day of Tenth Grade! Are you excited?!" Felicia had this voice that just sort of soothed your soul, a bit of roughness that stated she knew the world for what it was but at the same time a calmness that let you know that she was going to protect you from that world for as long as she possibly could. Riley rolled his eyes and finished chewing a bite of food and glanced at her.

"I'm excited yes, but more to get it over with." That wasn't entirely true, he was looking forward to Football and improving his music a lot but he played it cool, no need to go overboard along with her. "Thank you for breakfast truly though Felicia." He felt her hug him around his neck and kiss the back of his head.

"Don't ever worry about it sweet Riles. Don't forget your sweatshirt today, it's chilly." She chuckled and then went back to cleaning up the kitchen from her cooking. Riley finished his breakfast in that time and took his plate over to the sink near Felicia and hugged her again before checking the time and wincing.

"Got to run! Gonna miss the bus." Yup, that's right. His family was easily millionaire's in worth and Riley was going to be riding the bus to school. And honestly Riley preferred it to rolling up to the front of the school in a Ferrari or something. He didn't like many people knowing he was rich and enjoyed just being a regular kid. So, running back up to his room he grabbed a simple dark blue sweat-shirt and put it on goofily before slinging his satchel backpack around his shoulder, coming to rest on his right side and then carefully slinging his guitar into place on his back. Satisfied that he was ready he took the stairs two at a time and called out a final goodbye to Felicia before launching himself out the door and into the chilly morning. It wasn't a long walk to the bus stop and he was -right- on time since the bus was approaching the stop now. He waved to a few of the students he knew and also to a few of the newer ones and took his guitar off his back as he sat down in the back. He put a mute on it and began strumming out chords and messing with the music folder.

This occupied his attention all the way to school, though it was harder to concentrate as the bus filled more and more. Riley liked to pride himself on working in stressful situations but there came a point when there was just no hope. He put his life away as they neared the High School and he smiled softly to himself as it came into view. One year was down in the records book and he had another three to go until he graduated. He did a quick check-list in his mind as the bus stopped and began unloading the high school students. Check-in with Coach, check-in with the theater director to see which musical was first this year, check-in with the band teacher and give him his latest thoughts on an orchestral piece he was working on, and then make it to homeroom on time. He took off, turning around and taking a deep breath as he walked down the hallway and smiling again, tenth grade was going to be awesome.

Somehow he managed to make it through all of his check-list with time to spare and so he walked into homeroom a bit early. He waved over at Landon who was sitting in the middle of the room, and also sent a quick wave to Bruno and Colton. He himself took a seat in the back of the room like he preferred and leaned his guitar safely inside of its carry bag in the corner. The noise was actually pretty civil but that all stopped as Mr. McGregor came over the speaker, McGregor was someone Riley could really respect, an ex-marine he was well received by most students and so Riley had no issue with standing and reciting the pledge along with him. He groaned along with some others as he mentioned an assembly and he knew to prepare for an organized lecture. If it wasn't the first day he'd consider sneaking into the band room to work on his music but he knew he would have to just suffer through this one. He rolled his eyes a bit as they were asked to get into a single file line and he caught sight of a rather young looking boy who seemed like he should be in sixth grade or something. He shrugged, he had been taught young not to judge anyone based on their looks and he strived to do just that, besides he might be the next Einstein or something.

As they lined up fully and prepared to leave Riley couldn't help but laugh. "The last march of the Sophomores." The Lord of the Rings reference got a good many chuckles and even Mrs. Wiley smirked. Since most of the students and staff who had been in classes with Riley for awhile knew of his jokester personality it wasn't anything new for them. They made their way towards the middle of the school and Riley laughed out loud as the hall monitor made a scene. As he passed the poor monitor Riley patted the bewildered boy on the shoulder, "0 for 1 there buddy. Don't worry, you'll get one eventually." He chuckled again, winked at Toby and smiled at the monitor to let the boy know he was kidding and then followed the class into the impressive auditorium. The class stayed there for an hour, and hour of getting spoken to on how amazing the school was and how much fun they were going to have and by the end of it Riley had so much joking potential that went to waste that he actually frowned. Oh well, plenty of school left to get them in.

The first day of school was always pretty cool in this school district, they paid a ton of money to get the students excited and ready for the school year. And as they reached the football field Riley could tell it was the same this year. He shook his head at all the booths and then realized he was the only one still standing, instead everyone else had ran off to the booths. Riley went to grab a drink and snack before moving off to the sidelines and sitting on the bench where he once again took out his guitar and put on the mute. He figured he had about twenty minutes before a teacher moved him and chided him to go enjoy himself and he would reply that he was -trying- to enjoy himself if she would stop interrupting, to which he would get a glare and he would surrender.

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"ASTOR! STOP IT, IT'S MYYYY TURN. YOU ALREADY USED THE BATHROOM!"

"GO USE LANDON'S JEEZ, I HAVE TO LOOK PERFECT OK!"

A loud bang followed by more shouting could be heard and inside a still dark room the muffled sound of French cursing and general grumbling could be heard getting louder and louder until when a door opened and light flooded into the room bedsprings would be heard and out from the covers came the form of a fifteen year old who looked very much like a sociopathic killer. The young boy who had opened the door froze, he was small with rather adorable messy brown hair and hazel eyes. But he didn't look very adorable then, cowering into the floor as fifteen year old Landon Miland stood over him and glared at him wearing nothing but a simple pair of gray shorts. Doing his best not to growl Landon stared down at the boy. "Corbin, how many times have I told you -not- to come into my room in the morning? Hm? What if I was getting dressed?"

Corbin for his sake at least rolled his eyes and slowly stood from the curled up ball and stared back at his brother now that he knew it wasn't a monster that was going to carry him into the afterlife. "But Astor won't let me in our bathroom, he's to busy looking 'perfect'. And besides it's not like we haven't seen each other before, I mean we -are- brothers." Landon sighed and had to smile as he heard Astor's words and rolled his eyes as Corbin continued, life with younger brothers was chaotic and insane but honestly for all their annoyances Landon loved them deeply and so he simply grumbled again and moved out of the way to allow Corbin into his bathroom. He himself stretched and yawned, scratching his chest and making his way outside into the hall and pounding on the other bathroom's door. "Astor! You got ten minutes, I don't care if you look like that social worker in France." He giggled again as he heard his brother gasp in horror and he went back into his bedroom. The clock read 5:45 and he couldn't believe the demon children were up so early and already yelling at each other. He wondered if he could grab a few more minutes of sleep...

That wasn't to be since he could hear Corbin slamming drawers and he groaned realizing the boy was going to have to use his toothbrush, whatever. He stood once more, his bed protesting as well at its owner's inconsistency. He slowly walked back into the hallway and waved haphazardly at his Uncle who just grinned like a school-boy and headed downstairs. Landon rolled his eyes again and pounded on the bathroom door again. "Ten seconds Astor!" He could heard the panicked flurry of motion and knew that his brother was probably done anyway and just wanted to -make sure-. "Five seconds." Suddenly the door opened revealing Astor, his hair styled to perfection, checkered button up shirt in pristine condition, teeth gleaming, and the same striking sapphire like eyes that Landon had staring back at him. Landon couldn't be mad and he hugged his brother to his side and bent down to his level. "Don't lock Corbin out again eh? You two share everything but this cursed bathroom, learn to live together. There is -two- sinks after all." Astor sighed but nodded and promised before also going downstairs.

Chuckling once more and wondering where the kid got his need to look 'perfect' Landon yawned once more and began his morning ritual. Luckily he had perfected it and had no desire to look 'perfect' and so he was done within twenty minutes. He walked back to his room in only a towel, his brown hair already curling and styling itself into a combed over look and saw that Corbin had finished as well since Landon's bathroom door was wide open, a wet towel sticking to the floor, and his toiletries were spread all over the top of the counter. Growling again he dressed himself in a blue striped shirt, a pair of acid-wash blue jeans, and a gray sweatshirt. He also wore a black and blue pair of running shoes. He cleaned up his bathroom and then as usual went downstairs last. He was greeted with the usual chaos of breakfast in the Miland/Holloway House but his spot was untouched and a plate of eggs, and bacon was safely protected with a paper towel. He sat down and gave a quick thanks to his Aunt Claire who was still slaving away to fix herself and her husband something.

This insanity continued for another thirty minutes until it was about 7:15. Then like last year, like they had never stopped Wyatt yelped and herded everyone into the Chrysler and sped off towards the Middle School where he dropped Corbin and Astor off and then sped off towards the High School. "So, Landon. Tenth grade huh, that's pretty crazy almost finished with this chapter of your life bud." Landon wanted to roll his eyes but Wyatt was a really cool guy and had done a lot for him.

"Yea, it'll be interesting for sure. I think we can make state this year in Football and Baseball, got a real solid team if everyone stays healthy." That was Landon for you, sports was his life really. Well sports, his grades since he wanted to get a scholarship. His Uncle just chuckled and nodded, used to his surrogate son's antics since he made it a point to be there for every single game so far which was hard and only made possible since he and his father co-owned a Large Security Business.

"Well, you know I'll be there to support you every step of the way. Just try and be a kid also Landon, these are the best days of your life don't just play sports. I know you don't, you love it but just I don't know, make some other friends and explore. High School is the perfect place to really start finding yourself." Landon felt like his jaw had dropped, his Uncle actually made sense. His heart felt funny and he knew he had just had a 'moment' with Wyatt and he smiled softly at the man.

"Thanks Uncle Wyatt, I'll try at least." He gave him a one-armed hug as they reached the drop-off area and he waved as the Chrysler pulled off and he turned to the High School. Already he saw some of his teammates and so he shouldered his Orange North face backpack and headed towards the front doors of the school. He was surrounded as soon as he took one step in by cheerleaders, fellow baseball players, all sorts of people. It was a motley assortment but they were all the jocks of the school more or less. Landon smiled and felt at home instantly, and while he had been at the school for a month already practicing for the football team it was different now that everyone was back.

He finally managed to escape the throng and made it to Homeroom, taking a seat in the middle and finding his gaze locked onto a new boy who looked quite young. He shrugged, some brainier boy probably. He waved to Riley as he entered and his face blushed just a bit. Riley had been his first crush in Eighth Grade and even now he looked just as cute as before. Sighing, Landon listened politely to the announcements trying not to think of his blooming sexuality. As they left for the Auditorium Landon laughed loudly as Riley made his first playful remark of the year and shook his head, the kid was a trip. The assembly was as expected boring and Landon along with most other students were happy it was over. As soon as they reached the football field he was smiling widely and went to go find his friends and to sign-up for the rest of his sports since Football was already locked down. He saw Bruno and instantly made his way over to him. "Bruno! Yo man, what's up?" He called, the Croatian boy was a killer soccer player and last year the combination of Landon playing forward and Bruno wrecking the midfield had won most of their games.

@KaijuBaragon

Toby hesitated at the signups for soccer tryouts. His brown eyes flitted over the paper, reading the names already written down on it. His hand reached out for the pencil, but then he drew it back sharply as if he'd been burned.

He'd always loved playing soccer with his dad and the other poor kids back in Colorado. He was actually pretty good at it, at least when the other neighborhood kids were around his size. But those kids stopped talking to him as soon as they outgrew him, and he hadn't played properly with full teams and such for at least three years. He'd still occasionally kick the ball around with his dad, just for fun, but he never joined a proper team.

Besides, playing with a bunch of kids who were two feet taller than him and probably quite willing to pulverize him was... intimidating, to say the least. He bet anything they would have no interest in a tiny little kid with asthma and a propensity for failing miserably at everything joining their team. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to start getting bullied again. He was already the shortest kid, the poorest kid and probably the only Jewish kid. He didn't need to be the kid who made them lose every game.

He watched two nearly identical brothers walk up, one of them signing up for tryouts, the other trailing off to go elsewhere. Toby briefly looked up at the one who stayed to sign up. He had to stand on his toes a little to see the guys face properly. Even for a 'normal kid', this guy and his brother towered over Toby like giants. But of course, it was just Toby who was unusually small.

Toby lingered a while longer, anxiously biting his knuckles. A couple more kids stared at him as they walked past, muttering to themselves as soon as they thought he was out of earshot.

"Whose little brother is that?"

"Christ, how many grades did that kid skip? And look at his shoes! Is that fucking duct tape?"

"Was that a real live midget back there?"

Toby bit hard into the knuckles on his left hand, causing them to start to bleed a little. He didn't know whether or not he planned to sign up for soccer, but he didn't want to stick around much longer. If he hung around these kids too long he'd be in a sour mood for the rest of the day, and his day already didn't start off so good what with waking up late and having to deal with his aunt's early morning antics. Usually he tried to wake up before his aunt, for obvious reasons. But last night had been rough and he missed his 5:30 alarm.

Toby let out a heavy sigh and started to slowly walk away. He knew that whoever the soccer coach was would probably just laugh in his face if he dared to try out for the team.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEE-SMACK! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Harley groaned to herself. The shoe she'd thrown at the clock didn't work. Letting out a deep sigh, Harley pulled herself up out of her comfy den of blankets and pillows to walk to her alarm clock and shut it off. CLICK! Rubbing her eye gently with a yawn, she turned away towards the door and headed downstairs for the breakfast she could already smell that she knew Aunt Jo was preparing for her brother and her. Eggs? Bacon? Hashbrowns? Pancakes? 'Geez, woman! You're not feeding an army,' Harley thought to herself, but the gesture made her smile inside. She loved her aunt very much, especially how she always went over the top to help her neice and nephew as if they were her own kids. In a sense, they kind of were now, considering she couldn't bare any children of her own. As Harley made it downstairs, Daniel shoved passed her and laughed when she stumbled a bit down a step. "Not funny, Daniel!" she called after him as he disappeared into the kitchen. There was nothing she could or even would do. Boys would be boys, and if he wanted to act like a child at 13, let him. Who was she to stop him? Long as it didn't end in her death, she could care less.

Harley rounded the corner into the kitchen and saw both her aunt and uncle making food, Jo cooking the eggs while Rodney flipped the bacon in the popping grease pan. A collective 'good morning' sounded off from the both of them, and Harley smiled while returning the greeting. Not five minutes longer were they all sitting at the table chowing down on the morning meal before their uncle would go to work, Aunt Jo would tend to her garden and house chores of her own, while both Daniel and herself would be going to hell for 6 hours. I mean, school. Yeah, that's what I said.. Once breakfast was done and gone, Harley ran up the stairs and grabbed herself her clothes and a towel to head in and take a shower, which wouldn't take very long for her. After getting ready, Harley grabbed her folder and even though she was second to wake up between her brother and herself, she made it out to the bus stop first. They'd take separate buses, but they met at the same spot down the road. As the bus rolled up, Harley turned around to look for Daniel and saw a little spec down the road. She shook her head and mumbled 'Idiot, to herself, boarding her bus and smirked as his bus came to a stop behind hers. She couldn't help it, stepping down the steps against the bus driver's wishes as he called to her, 'Ma'am please take a seat.'. Harley hung herself out of the bus and yelled "RUN, FOREST, RUN!" she laughed to herself and turned back, saying sorry to the driver before taking a seat near the front since the rest of the bus was practically empty but a couple of other students.



Harley hardly wasted any time getting to her homeroom, she'd hardly glanced at the printed schedule given to her on picture day for their I.D. lanyards. Mrs. Wiley was her freshman year English teacher and was super excited to see her again. The year before, she'd been known as Ms. James. She'd finally gotten married and was now a few months pregnant. Harley would make it a point to congratulate her at some point or another. The assembly took longer than expected, and Harley's boredom was just hitting its peak when Mrs. Wiley took them out of there and out to the football field where the small carnival put together had been set up. Harley had seen a couple of people she faintly recognized from the year before, but not personally. Besides Colton, of course. As sad as it may have seemed, she made it a point to stick by him once they left the auditorium.

Colton stayed a decent distance from Harley, not wanting people to think they were a thing anymore, but he stayed just in range to keep some civil conversation among exes to continue. It wasn't awkward, at least not much, to be hanging around Harley, but it did bring back painful memories of the time she broke his heart. Colton had remembered the Riley kid had waved to him before and turned to him when they all stopped at the field, nudging his elbow into Riley's arm. "So, you ready for this 'last march' for us sophomores, man?" Colton let out a small chuckle, looking around at all the booths. The food smelled amazing, and Colton hadn't eaten breakfast for this specific reason. It was about to be chow time, that's all he knew. Hell, if this was the start of their last march, Colton would willingly walk into the slaughterhouse.

The alarm goes off long after Maria had gotten herself out of bed. This wasn't her first alarm though. This was her second. The one reminding her to wake up Marco, since he alway slept through his own alarms. Yes, alarms, plural, three to be exact. Her twin brother was the heaviest sleeper she knew and she often had to dump cold water on him to wake him up. This was also the reason the male redhead had to have several bedding sets. She skipped into his room and shock him rather violently. "Wake up Marco, you need to get ready for school!" She yelled and the response she got was a sleepy groan from her brother. Looks like the water wasn't needed today, though she may have to threaten it. "Marco get up." She ordered shaking hime some more. Again he groaned at her. She sighed, "If you don't get up now I am going to have to dump some cold water on you like normal." She threatened, the response wasn't immediate but her brother eventually say up and rubbed his eyes. After a few sleepy moments he looked to his sister and glared at her. She was smiling happily at him however. "Good morning! Breakfast is ready, Dylon is home for a few more days before he heads off to college so he made us breakfast." This caused the male twin to smile. Dylan was an amazing cook. Why he hadn't gone to get his culinary degree nobody could figure out.

"Alright just give me a minute and I will be down." Marco replied before getting himself out of bed. He was currently only in his boxers. He would sleep completely naked if given the option but since Maria always came to wake him up he had decided against it for the most part. He examined his sister, who was already showered and dressed in a white flowery dress with white flats, she was always ready before he was. She was always the early bird. It wasn't often that she would sleep past 9 on any given day. Marco on the other had slept in a lot, often until almost 1 in the afternoon. He could never figure out how Maria got up so early. If he got up that early he would have to go for a jog to wake him up, and his constant training made him a little more lazy when he didn't have to do anything. Maria left the room and Marco shoved on a pair of jeans and a random shirt, which, upon examining himself, found that it was a black shirt with the text "Shhh, nobody cares" printed on it. He chuckled to himself and headed to the kitchen to eat.

After the twins were fed and ready Dylon offered to drive them to school. The rest of there siblings had either taken the bus to school or were dropped off at daycare by there parents how both left rather early in the morning. The two accepted the offer and were at school before they knew it. They headed to their home room as they chatted to one another and took some random seats beside one another. Soon the announcements came on and then they were ushered to the assembly. The twins payed slitted attention to he assembly and were only looking forward to the festivities afterward. When they were finally taken to the football field the twins walked around, stopping here and there for Maria to talk to some old friends or for Marco to play a random game. Maria was definitely the type to interact with others but she wasn't going to leave her brother. He was her best friend and knew he wasn't as gung-ho about talking to other people as she was.

No... I really shouldn't.
Toby sighed heavily and turned around to walk away from the soccer booth. He was sure that nobody wanted him on that team. Even if the coach let him on the team, his teammates would probably just harass him until he quit. Nobody wants to deal with the tiny asthmatic kid who probably can't even afford the fee for sports...

Toby started to walk away, only to suddenly crash into a tall freckled boy with striking red hair who was heading the opposite way. The small boy was more affected by the collision, and he stumbled to the ground, sharply twisting his left ankle on the way down. "Oy! Watch it, shagetz!" He snapped instinctively, hissing in pain and standing up gingerly, dusting himself off. He could sense the other students stopping to watch the encounter, whispers and murmurs running through the swarm of sophomores. Mostly just silly teens hoping to watch a ginger beat the living shit out of a midget. That wasn't likely to happen if the taller boy had any sense about him, but the teens were likely already giddily awaiting the first confrontation of the year.

It wasn't really clear which one of them had caused the collision, but Toby didn't want to start off the year seeming meek. He didn't think anyone would take him seriously if he didn't act as tough as possible. He had a bit of a Napoleon complex, so to speak. Funny, Napoleon wasn't actually that short... He thought to himself, then realized he was getting off track. He glared up at the redheaded boy, tapping his foot impatiently.

@LostDestiny
_{Note: Shagetz (or sheygetz) is a Yiddish slang term for an unruly or violent man, literally meaning 'a man of non-Jewish descent')}

Bruno smiled as Landon came over and greeted him. He liked Landon, he was a pretty decent guy. He was a pretty damn good football player to. Bruno replied in a mildly thick Croatian accent. It had been slowly westernised over the years that he had spent in the US.

"Hello Landon! It's good to see you! How was your summer? Do anything nice, go anywhere interesting?"

Bruno was always very enthusiastic when he talked to people for the first time in a while. It was nice to catch up with people and see how they'd been, Bruno believed. That's not what his brother thought, though. Where was Dominik? Probably hanging around with the other art kids. People do what they want to do, Bruno supposed.

He suddenly glanced over and saw the really short kid from earlier engage in some sort of mishap with a much taller, freckled boy. He quickly apologised to Landon before pushing through the crowd to get to the apparent scuffle, with the intention of stopping it. He glared at the very short boy, a glare that said "Don't even think about it"

"And what're you looking at?" Snapped Toby at the Croatian boy, seemingly rather flustered. He stepped back, feeling extremely out of place in this crowd of people easily two feet taller than he was. He knew he needed to calm the f down before he wound up suspended on his first day at this school, but it was hard when he felt this cornered. He took a deep breath, stepping back away from the two boys. He had no intention of starting a fight to begin with, but the situation seemed to be escalating. He looked pleadingly to the freckled boy, as if to say 'bail me out of this'

He continued to take slow steps back, as if backing away from an aggravated predator. He wouldn't let himself show that he was intimidated, but he really wanted to let this drop. Nothing had really happened anyway. If he'd just said 'sorry' instead of snapping, this already would have been over. His limp seemed to have gotten worse since he'd stumbled, an intense aching sensation running through his bad leg. The duct tape on his shoes was starting to peel off, threatening to trip him up as he took one final step back, leaving a few feet between himself and the boys. "Nothing to see here. Move along, why don't ya?"

Ms. Devereaux got herself up an extra hour earlier than she told herself she'd wake up for school, deciding it was a good day for a run to start off her day. By the time she got home, she had more than enough time to get ready for the day. A look up at the sky before ducking her head into her house told her the skies were planning a winter wonderland soon. Didn't take her long to get ready and run down the hall to wake her cousin who still slept even though they'd need to be to school in an hour. "Wake up, Quinn. We need to go!"

A rude awakening, to which Quinten picked his face up from his pillow and squinted at Davina before grabbing his phone to check the time. "Dav, you realize we got a half an hour before we actually have to leave, right?" Davina smiled brightly down at her cousin and piped, "Oh come on. I know its the one day you've gotten a break from Phoenix, but it doesn't mean you get togo to school looking like you just woke up."

"But I did just wake up," Quinten smirked, rubbing a hand over his face firmly as he took in a deep breath. Mumbling something along the lines 'Alright, I'm getting up,'. Davina laughed and disappeared, leaving Quinten to his own devices. It was different waking up without his son Phoenix by his side. He'd gotten so used to having him through the whole length of the summer that he was having withdrawals as he sat there at the edge of the bed thinking about him.

Quinten forced himself to get up and get ready, and left for school on time like Davina kept badgering him about. She was a bit anal about being places early, but Quinten however didn't care too much to do so. As long as he made it on time, he didn't much care. Quinten parked his truck in the Senior's parking lot, not caring that the actual seniors were giving him dirty looks knowing full well he wasn't one, throwing his deep blue letterman over his shoulder and stuffing his pen into his pocket with a couple of folded-up lined paper. Both Davina and Quinten walked quickly for the front gates where hoards of other students were crowding into. Quinten made it through, but Davina got stopped by a gate guard for dress code violation and was sent to the office.



Davina looked up from the chair she sat in in the office as she heard footsteps coming down the hallway, smiling gratefully. It was Quinten with his letterman, tossing it to her as he neared. "Didnt i advise you against the tanktop? Don't worry, you didn't miss much. The Vice made her same boring speech as last year. Let's go, the fair already started," Quinten practically called over his shoulder. Davina quickly put the jacket on and jogged to catch up with her cousin.

It took them less than 5 minutes to get to the football field and fall into the crowd. Quinten saw quite a few familiar faces, as did Davina. One face in particular that Davina was wanting to see, but she couldn't find him in the sea of faces. Quinten, however, found him before she did and was already scheming. He focused her attention on him as they neared. Quinten gave Davina a quick playful warning before gently shoving her sideways into Dominik who she quickly pulled away from not knowing who he'd pushed her into, turning to apologize to said person only to find the face she'd been looking for. Davina's face turned many shades of red before she managed a tender, "Sorry, my cousin..he's an idiot. He-" she just cut herself off mid-sentence, giving a shy, apologetic smile. "How've you been, Dom? Didn't get to see you all summer.."

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Plucking along on his guitar and getting really into a certain musical phrasing he almost didn't even feel the elbow that targetted him. Luckily he wasn't entirely lost into his world of composing yet and he smiled chuckling a bit before standing with a goofy shrug at Colton. "Hey, man. Yea I'm ready I guess, and ready to beat the socks off our opponents on the field Friday!" It was always exciting, football season that is since the school got really pumped up to see them play, and do well. Last year was a bit of a heart-break on JV as they won everything only to be knocked out in the second round of Play-Off's, this year Landon had already said that he wasn't going to rest until the team was celebrating a championship in the end zone and getting party invites every weekend as well. He noticed Harley standing near Colton and winced, that had to be awkward for the other boy, having his ex hanging around him. Riley personally found Harley to be a pretty amazing person, and very sure of herself but if she had dumped him and broke his heart he wasn't sure he'd be able to just walk around with her like nothing happened.

He followed Colton's gaze around the area and figured he'd go find some activities in a bit, but for now he really wanted to finish that phrase. He patted Colton on the shoulder again and smiled brightly at Harley. "Well man, I'm gonna knock out this part before I go and hang out in the crazy, but if I don't see you until after school, take it easy." He then put his earbuds back in and opened his notebook, instantly going back to where he stopped and slowly becoming lost in the world of music again.

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Landon smirked and did a high-five combining their fists and playfully bumped into him, chuckling."Nah man, nothing really serious. We headed out to California for a bit near the end and had some fun on the beach. Other than that it was pretty boring, just working out and getting ready for the new season of sports." Landon tried to exercise and prepare more than anyone else since he didn't want to get injured, as it would ruin his entire year and prevent him from playing in a sport. That was one reason why in Football he was pretty hard on his Offensive line and made sure they knew his instincts better than their own.

He watched as Bruno excused himself and ran over to a growing escalation and Landon spotted the short boy he had seen near the sign-up station for soccer. With a shrug Landon followed after Bruno in time to hear the smaller boy speak. He thought the teacher had called him Toby something during homeroom so he stepped beside him while Bruno calmed down or spoke to who else but Marco freaking Costello, that cursed boy. He caught Marco's eyes for a moment and Landon almost smiled at him, SMILED! With a sigh he refocused on Toby and hunched so that he wasn't towering over the other boy. Landon wasn't exactly the tallest kid but he was still taller than Toby and he wanted to diffuse the situation, not accelerate the flames.

"Hey, saw you near the sign ups for Soccer. Me and Bruno over there are on the team, wanted to come say hi and talk to you about what position you play. Everything with you and Marco alright? Marco is the freckled boy over there." A crowd was still forming but most were beginning to get disinterested now that it seemed no fight was going to happen, teachers also started towards the gathering group a bit hesitant. Landon backed everyone off and called out over the talking. "Come on guys really? Like Toby said, nothing to see. Move it along."

@Apoalo@Oliver@KaijuBaragon



Marco felt himself bump into someone after he had backed up from the soccer booth and was greeted with a rather unfriendly male he seemed to remember being named Toby. He gave the other male a confused look as he snapped at him rather rudely. He blinked a couple times trying to find a response before two others seemed to intervene, not that he needed the help. He was well muscled from his summer of training and should it have escalate into a fight there is no doubt that Marco would win. He looked around to see the dispersing crowd and burt into laughter, causing his sister, who was beside him, to give him a worried look. "They actually thought I was going to fight this kid! He exclaimed after he managed to get his laughter under control. He turned to Toby and gave him a friendly smile. "You are right mate, I should watch were I am going. I didn't mean to knock you over. I'm not a fan of crowds and for whatever reason the second I headed toward the booth and I was crowded." He pointed to the swimming booth he had just been at. "I was just trying to get out of the middle of it as quickly as possible. Your name is Toby right. Sorry about that man. You can calm down by the way, that tough guy act isn't getting you anywhere.

He continued to smile but turned his attention to the two who had approached in an attempt to defuse the situation. First to Bruno. "Thanks for the help but I could handle the situation. I don't intend on losing my chance to swim this season. Should he have started something I would have just let him hit me." He shrugged casually. He had to think for a minute to remember his name. "Bruno right? Thanks anyway."

He then squinted at the other male that was with Bruno. It was no surprise people knew him who he didn't know but he could vaguely remember the male. He had to think for a minute but he was finally able to pull his name from the back of his brain. He was Landon, if Marco remembered correctly. He hadn't really spoken to the boy but he had classes with him when they were younger and he saw him at a lot of the soccer games when he played. He had given up soccer for swimming after that though. "Your name is Landon right? I could be wrong but I don't think I am. I used to have some classed with you in what? Seventh and Eighth grade? Nice to see you again." He gave him a friendly smile before his sister drew his attention. "Oh, guys, this is my younger sister Maria. I am actually surprised she managed to keep her mouth shut this long. She usually loves to chat." This comment got him a hard smack to the shoulder, to which he chuckled.



Maria stood slightly off to the side during the encounter and kept her mouth shut. She was about the say something to Toby about how he was being rude but was unable to due to a male stepping in the middle of the situation. She was terrible with names Marco was better with them than she was, much better. She watched as Marco addressed each of the males who were in their presents and found nothing to say to any of them, much to her surprise. She eventually cleared her throat which got Marco's attention and he introduced her before making a snide remark which earned him a smack. "I am his twin sister, he is only older by a couple minutes." She pouted a little at him and he laughed at her. She then glared at him and he stopped laughing. He was going to get it later and he knew it.

As soon as Landon hunched down to speak with him, Toby seemed to let down his 'tough guy' guard. He looked down, biting into his lip and shuffling his feet a bit, trying to get the tape on his shoes to stick again.
He shrugged as Landon asked what position he played. "I... I haven't really had the chance to play in a while." He said quietly. As soon as he dropped his aggressive act, he had become shy and rather awkward. "I mean, I used to play midfield back in Colorado. Back when kids my age were around my size..." He laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "But you know, I'm probably not gonna sign up. Those kids would probably beat me into the dirt faster than you could say 'hypopituitarism.'" He smiled slightly, almost apologetically.

Landon introduced a couple of the people. Bruno was the tall guy, and the freckled boy was Marco, and his sister standing off to the side was Maria. Toby was pretty good with names usually, so he wasn't too worried about forgetting them. Landon seemed to know his name already, so he kept quiet.

He he flinched and scowled when Marco called him a kid and then stiffened as Marco said that his act wasn't getting him anywhere. Incidentally, the boy was probably right. It hadn't stopped Toby from getting bullied in the past. It was just all he knew to do. It was instinctive, in a way. When you're about the size of your average ten year old, you've got to protect yourself from bigger people looking for an easy match.

"So, uh... Marco. I'm sorry for snapping at you." Toby started, blushing deeply. "I just wasn't expecting it.... It's instinctive, you know? And, uhhh.... nice to meet you all." He stiffly held out his hand, not thinking anyone would take it. It was more of a courtesy than anything else.

@LostDestiny @Apoalo

Bruno silently let out a breath of air. He was very glad that the situation hadn't escalated into something bad. It could have easily. Toby looked as if he really wanted to cause a fight, and Bruno really, really did not like fights. He glanced over at Landon talking to the apparent prodigy kid, and then turned around to respond to Marco, who had addressed him.

"I know, I know. I just thought I needed to come over and make sure nothing happens, you know? It's always bad when a fight occurs, and I really didn't want to see one take place when we're hardly even into the first day back after the Summer! And yes, my name is Bruno, it's nice to formally meet you."

Bruno gave a quick nod of recognition to the newly introduced Maria, and then turned his attention back to Landon and Toby. Toby now seemed to be apologising for loosing his cool and nearly starting a fight. Bruno could respect that. He believed that people should always apologise if they are in the wrong. If they don't, then they clearly haven't learned anything at all, and that means that they would commit the act again. Bruno leaned down and took Toby's hand, and shook it.

"Hi, sorry if I seemed a bit aggressive there, I just don't like people causing fights, you know? Landon already told you my name, but I'm Bruno. It's nice to meet you. Are you, like, one of those child prodigies?

@Oliver @LostDestiny



After signing up for the art club, and chatting to some of the kids hanging around there, Dominik was wandering around a little aimlessly, secretly hoping to "accidentally" bumping into the girl that had been on his mind a bit over the Summer. Davina. He didn't know why she had been on his mind, but she had. It was odd.

Someone suddenly bumped into him and he stumbled for a second before regaining his balance. He was about to turn around and try to be a little confrontational, but he found himself looking into the face of the girl that he had been looking for in the first place, apologising nervously before asking if Dominik had a good summer. Nerves shook through Dominik's body as he could feel his face getting a little red. Nervously, he answered, in a voice with an accent that was just that bit thicker than his brothers.

"Oh, uh, hi Davina! I've been pretty good, I guess. How have you been? Did you have a good summer?"

Dominik blushed quite strongly as he spoke, feeling quite awkward.

@A Tattooed Girl

Toby smiled as Bruno took his hand and shook it. It was always nice to be treated as an equal. Besides, Toby kind of liked human contact. He wouldn't ever touch people on his own accord now, but as a kid he would always be cuddling random strangers. Ever since he'd stopped growing, he'd become a lot shyer and more aggressive.

Toby frowned a bit as Bruno asked if he was a child prodigy. He was used to comments like that, but he still didn't like that everyone assumed he was a child. "No, I'm fifteen and a half." He said curtly, trying not to lose his temper again. "I have a hormone disorder. Believe me, I get that a lot." He forced a smile, shrugging. He looked around at everyone else, feeling an awkward silence settling in. He struggled to think of something else to say, but came up with nothing. He really wasn't good at conversing with people, especially people his own age.

@KaijuBaragon

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Content that nothing physical was going to occur Landon remained hunched and looked over at Marco, his cheeks turning just a slight shade of pink that could have been from anything. He chuckled at Toby and shook his head at the soccer comment, "I don't think so since a smaller sized forward can do a lot of harm when they play well with their partner. The other team scramble to try and 'dominate' him which leaves the Defense open. Besides, you'll never know if you don't try. How about this, you come to tryouts with me and we'll see what you can do, I'll even work with you some before if you want, though we'll have to figure out when since I'm booked with Football. Better than when I'm juggling Football, Baseball, and Soccer but still busy." He shrugged and grinned at the boy again, he was... Dare he say it even in his mind? Cute.

Nodding at Bruno he listened as Toby proved to be a pretty darn good person and apologized for his outburst. In Landon's mind, you could be the biggest jerk of them all but if you apologized sincerely for going to far with someone than you know it was something that could be overlooked. He knew Marco was a good guy, in Seventh Grade he had almost pushed to be his friend but he was to shy due to his crush to go to far near him, though Physical Education class almost killed him a few times... He heard his name and nodded at Marco. "Yup, that was me. We had just about every class together those two years, you drew me into Soccer you know." That was only half true since he had wanted to play before but when he saw Marco on the team he had hesitated. Eventually his desire for sports outweighed his hesitation and he went for it anyway.

He watched the sibling antics and smiled to himself thinking of his brothers and their own antics. It was crazy, how when you really care for someone you find yourselves thinking of them due to the strangest things. Shaking his head he heard the introduction even though he already knew her name and nodded at her. "Very nice to meet Marco's better half again, I saw you a couple times in Seventh Grade as well. Different class though I think."

He returned his attention to Toby and Bruno and listened as Bruno spoke with the smaller boy. He could tell Toby was forcing his neutrality and he patted him on the shoulder. "Hey, I know what you mean. I have pretty bad Asthma sometimes and as an athlete it really sucks to be hindered sometimes. I think you're pretty brave to tackle your own hindrance every day and all day. You got my respect Toby, and beyond that I think that a lot of people can learn to respect you for it. If anyone ever has a problem with you, tell them to come find me and we'll chat about it." He smiled at the boy again and then refocused on Marco again as an afterthought. "You trying out for the team this year Marco?"

@Oliver@Apoalo

Marco focused on Toby who was having doubts about joining the soccer team and who Bruno had thought he was a child prodigy. "You know, one thing I loved about soccer was size didn't matter. A lot of the time I wished I was smaller. It would have been easier for me on offense because a lot of the times the smaller players could get out of tight situations a lot easier. Don't let your size hold you back." He gave the boy a smile before Landon asked if he was trying out this year. This caused him to think for a moment. "I might, but it might end up conflicting with my swimming schedule at some point. I am not entirely sure. Plus I'm not as good as I used to. I haven't played in a while actually due to swimming and acrobatics." He rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. He had to think. The last time he had even touched a soccer ball was the end of the season seventh grade. He had done swimming eighth and ninth grade. "I do a lot of sports, and if I pile too much on my grades will suffer. I loved playing soccer but swimming helps a lot with my full body workout for acrobatics. It is kind of my competitive workout regimen along with some other things. Maybe if you can convince me to tryout for soccer I will." He winked at Landon. Where as it was common for Marco to date girls he was in fact into guys as well. This was a factor only his sister knew as, even though Marco was confident and for the most part didn't care about what others thought, he was terrified of what the others would think of him should he come out as bisexual. He did, however, like to drop hints here and there to some people of interest. Landon had been a minor person of interest when they were younger but at that point Marco wasn't entirely sure what he was feeling.



@Apoalo

Maria giggled when Landon called her Marco's better half. She wouldn't have said it herself as she saw them as two halves of one picture, but if she really thought about it, she was his better half. She was the one who made sure he got up for school. She was the one that helped him with his work should he need it, and in a way she was a big part of his moral support team for most of the activities he did. Though it was the same when it came to her music. He was always the first to support her. She didn't really say anything in response though since the boys were all talking sports, something that wasn't her thing. Marco seemed to enjoy the conversation but Maria had nothing to contribute. Shrugging Maria decided to wonder on her own for a bit. "I'm gunna go, let you all talk sports and such. See ya around." She smiled and waved, walking off to look for a booth that interested her.

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Toby nodded. "Okay, I guess I'll come to tryouts then." He said reluctantly. He supposed if Landon and Bruno were on the team, he at least had some support if the other team members didn't like him. But before any of that, he had to make the team, and he was still worried about that. Not to mention all the costs involved in high school sports. What would happen if he wasn't able to afford the fee for extracurriculars, or his uniform, or any of that stuff? Toby shuddered just thinking about it.

Toby smiled genuinely as Landon patted his shoulder, reassuring him. "Hey, I have asthma too." He said, laughing a little. Though, thinking about that led him to remember that he'd foolishly forgotten his inhaler at home. He froze up a little, trying not to imagine the worst case scenario. As long as he didn't have an attack, it probably wouldn't matter.

He looked up at Marco as Landon asked him if he'd be signing up for soccer tryouts. The freckled boy looked as though he'd be good at sports. Knowing that these three tall and competent players were signing up for tryouts made Toby a little worried about his chances. Well, at least this wasn't basketball, but height and physical strength was an advantage in any sport. Toby was fast, but he was weak and easy to shove over and put out of play. He tried to force himself to think about something else, looking down at the now exposed holes in his red sneakers. He'd have to somehow get his hands on some more duct tape. His current roll was old and not sticking too well anymore. Well, technically it would be best if he could just have sneakers without holes in them, but he couldn't afford those right now. Maybe he could pick up change on the sidewalk and try to scrape up five dollars for tape... Oy vey, I hate my life. Thought Toby, rolling his eyes to himself.

Bruno blushed a little as Toby revealed that he wasn't a child prodigy, but indeed fifteen like him and most others in the grade, apart from the few straggler sixteen year olds. Toby was obviously trying not to get a little annoyed, but Bruno could definitely hear the annoyance in his voice, just being pushed back past the facade of happiness and understanding that was being put out by the short boy. Bruno couldn't imagine how it must feel being seen as less of a person because of your height or looks. At least, that's what Bruno imagined happened to Toby. He couldn't really relate. Bruno apologised

"Oh, I'm really sorry! Don't worry, I won't call you one again, I promise.

Bruno gave a quick smile, then listened to what Landon was saying about how Toby should join the soccer team. Would the smaller boy really be a good player? As mentioned, football players really didn't need to be tall. Lionel Messi, who some consider the best football player in the world, is towered over by a lot of other football players. But he can weave, dodge and run amongst them. So who's to say Toby couldn't be a good footballer. He once again turned to Toby and spoke.

"You know what, I actually agree with Landon. You should try out for the team. A small striker can do a lot of damage to a team with lots of tall people on it. You can duck and weave and run through them. Ever hear of Nathan Dyer? He's a professional player who plays in the top league in England, the Premier League. He's also one of the shortest players in the world. Anything is possible."

@Oliver