High School Life of Hope and Despair

Chapter One

It's simple to say that Walter wasn't shocked when he received the acceptance letter. As soon as he had learned a couple of years previously that the famous Japanese Hope's Peak Academy had become a model for a school in America, he began to work his hardest to become the best pilot he could be. He admired the original Hope's Peak even more than the new US version, School for the Future, but as he couldn't speak Japanese, he settled for his nearby variant.

And now the day had come where he stood on the doorstep of that very School for the Future. Thoughts whizzed through his head as he looked up at the door. He ran his hand through his tangled, wild blond hair with a nervous chuckle. "It's all gonna be okay, right? They'll all like me, right?" His reassurances weren't helping his social anxiety all that much, but it had been worth a try.

The watch on his right wrist read thirty minutes to eight. The entrance ceremony didn't start for a half hour. Why dawdle around? Sighing, Walter walked off of the doorstep and towards a small coffee shop. Caffeine was one of the only things he lived for, Walter had decided. He couldn't function without coffee.

"What can I get you, kid?" the cashier asked him. Although slightly frustrated that she assumed he was young just because of his height--he preferred to call himself "vertically challenged"--, he casually slid her a five-dollar bill.

With a quick glance at the menu, Walter decided to place his order. "Yeah, could I have a medium café mocha, no whip, and a shot of espresso? Oh, and make that extra hot as well, if you can." He briefly remembered something he had read about how caffeine stunts one's growth, but ignored his thoughts. He was going to be short anyways.

His fancy coffee was given to him at exactly twenty-four minutes to eight. He still had some time to waste. So, he sat down at a table with a tired-looking young individual who was typing rapidly at a laptop.

The girl glanced up at him, annoyed. Her left eye was covered by the pale, bland gray-brown hair that hid half her face, but her right eye gleamed a timid, angry emerald color. "What do you want?" she muttered. She was small and not well-suited to her low, stuttering voice.

Walter observed her sparingly and shrugged. "I have twenty minutes before I have to get to school, and I decided to socialize. Hey, are you going to the School for the Future as well?" He sipped his coffee and felt that burning sensation on his tongue. Just the way he liked it.

The girl looked right into his eyes. "Yes. Why do you care? If you want to make friends, I'm not the person to go to." She turned back to the screen and resumed typing.

"Could you at least tell me your name? I don't want to be completely clueless." Walter sipped his too-hot yet perfectly-hot coffee again. Man, he had a coffee addiction.

Shutting her computer, she stared daggers at Walter with her one visible eye. "Elise English. Super High School Level Blogger. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be on my way. I have more avoiding human contact to commence elsewhere." Elise stood, brushed her hair back in front of her left eye, and walked out of the shop.

Walter just sat there for a minute. "Well," he whispered to himself, taken aback. "And I thought I was antisocial." It didn't take long for him to remember that he really was, in fact, social. He was itching for a conversation. What better to do than to sit down next to another kid his age, right?

Wrong. That was a bad idea. The kid glared at him from over his newspaper with a look so evil and terrifying that Walter simply got up and slowly, slowly walked away. As he did so, he bumped into another boy, nearly spilling his extra-hot, extra-caffeinated drink all over him.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" Walter told the fairly tall boy whom he had accidentally knocked over. He reached out his hand to help him up. Fortunately, the boy's elaborate suit has gone undamaged by any coffee.