A/N: The developing stages of a fanfiction are my favorite, because it's hard to tell where the plot is heading. Woo, mysterious. Also, I've decided to make chapters longer to make up for the uneven posting schedule. I'm used to long chapters anyway, and routine is seggsy.

As Nick had predicted not too long ago, the first classes of the day were literally all just going over rules, and I was mentally exhausted from having to hear it all. You would think after the first 6 years of reciting these, they would just drop it, but no.

They weren't even obscure rules either, they were just the simple ones like no eating in class or be respectful.

But at least it was over now, and I had lunch to go to instead. When I got into the cafeteria, I immediately noticed Nick sitting over at a table near the corner of the room, and beside him were a few other friends. I recognized them to be Dream, George, and Wilbur.

Nick waved me over, so I wasted no time in walking over to where they were sitting. "Hey Karl," he greeted me when I sat down.

"Hi Nick. Hi guys," I waved, addressing the other friends who were also sat at the table. They waved back.

"Hey Karl!" George was the first to talk out of the others. "How many boring classes have you had to suffer through so far?" He asked.

"Ugh," I groaned. "So far all of them have been lame. It's just the same thing over and over again."

Nick looked over at me sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Karl. If it makes you feel any better, none of us are enjoying it either." They all nodded, silently agreeing.

"I just wanna get out and start living, y'know? I feel like we're just trapped in school right now and we have no freedom."

"I understand that," Dream commented. "It's like this is all we're here for right now is to learn. That's boring."

"Exactly," I replied.

"Plus," Nick added on, "it doesn't help that everyone here is so boring to hang out with, so it's pretty much just us guys."

"Yeah," I agreed. "It's just us. It always kind of has been," I laughed humorlessly. "Do you ever wonder how life is going to go after school? Like where it's going to lead?"

Nick stayed silent for a second, probably thinking about it. "Yeah," he finally decided. "I do."

The others had kind of tuned out of the conversation to start their own, leaving just me and Nick to talk about whatever it was we were talking about. I drowned out their voices, just focusing on our own conversation.

"I think I may go for something different this year. Like maybe try and be my own self all the time, and not be so secluded and stuff." I breathed out, shaking a little at the thought.

"Oh yeah?" Nick queried. He smiled at me encouragingly, seeming genuinely interested in what I had to say. "If that's what you want I say go for it. No ones gonna stop you, man."

I smiled back, appreciatively of course. "Thanks. But yeah, I just want to find out who I really am and stuff. And to not be exclusive about it and stuff."

The look in Nick's eyes was something I couldn't really decipher. I couldn't tell the emotions behind it or anything, which was honestly kind of nerve wracking. I mean, I assumed it was a positive emotion since I don't think he would ever judge me, but it still made me a tad bit upset that I couldn't piece it together.

Was it admiration? Happiness? Support? I had no idea. It was a new one, whatever it was, so I just decided to label it Sapnap. That was the best fitting thing I could think of.

"I'm glad you want to embrace who you are and everything. That's really good."

"Thank you," I finally said.

We stayed like that for a little while, just eating our lunch with few words exchanged. It was a comfortable silence at least, but it finally ended when I heard someone yell from across the cafeteria.

"Oi! Those were my chips, you dickhead!" Whoever it was, they had a really thick British accent accompanying them, so they must have been another exchange student, kind of like Wilbur and George from a few years ago.

"Is that-?" I heard Wilbur start speaking. I was confused. The boy across the cafeteria stood up and towered over a kid sitting across from him at the table. "Oh my god- it is-"

"Is what?" I questioned. "Wilbur, who is that?"

"His name is Tommy, he went to my old school, and he's loud as fuck," he groaned. "We were friends but god he can be annoying sometimes."

"It's not my fault you weren't eating them!" The other kid yelled, his American accent obviously contrasting with Tommy's.

Suddenly, another kid stood up who was sitting right beside Tommy and began defending him. "Even so, those were my friend's! You had no right taking them without asking!"

"And that is-?" Nick began.

"Tubbo," Wilbur stated matter-of-factly.

"Same school as well?" I asked.

"Yep," he replied, popping the 'P' at the end of the word.

The entire lunchroom had quieted down to overhear the quarrel happening between the three boys. For the first day, this was some high quality entertainment.

"There's nothing you can do about it now! They're gone, and besides, they weren't even that good to begin with," the American kid continued to argue.

"You better buy me some tomorrow!" Tommy spat.

Suddenly, for the jokes, Nick began chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" I joined in, and eventually it was our table chanting it, until the entire lunchroom had joined in on the buzz.

That's when the first piece of food flew across the room.

And then many more followed, and it had been universally signaled that the first official food fight of the year had begun; on the very first day.

I laughed, dodging the various fruits being pelted my way, while also managing to scoop up some of my baby carrots and chuck them towards random people.

I heard Nick giggling beside me as he launched bits of his sandwich towards unsuspecting victims across the lunchroom.

Tommy and Tubbo had appeared to be teaming up, because they were both aiming for the American boy who had previously stole Tommy's chips, causing the whole ordeal.

I looked over and saw George sitting on Dream's shoulders, and with the advantage of height, they were able to throw things across the entire room. Many people were teaming up to try and take them down.

Wilbur must have decided to get the fuck out of there as soon as it broke out, because he wasn't anywhere to be seen, and neither was his lunch.

A particularly large orange hit me smack in the back when I was turned around to retrieve more ammunition, and I let out an embarrassingly high-pitched squeal. Nick laughed and I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Come here, Karl!" He motioned for me to stand behind him, so I crouched down, hiding from the all sorts of projectiles being pelted my way. He skillfully picked up an empty lunch tray and began using it as a shield.

Dodging everything seemed to be proving difficult, because he was having a hard time keeping balance. It was when he almost tripped over a banana peel that I wrapped my arms around his waist, holding him in a secure grip to keep him steady.

He looked down, slightly confused, but relaxed when he noticed it was only me.

However, during his time of weakness someone had taken the opportunity to launch a plethora of blueberries towards him. "Sapnap!" I yelled, laughing when he gasped dramatically.

He pretended to faint, just like in the movies, and caused us to both fall back on the ground beside each other. We both began giggling like maniacs when we looked at each other. It was a mess but it was really quite awesome.

Looking over, I noticed that almost the entire cafeteria had teamed up on Dream and George. Sapnap quickly stood up and held out his hand, and I took it pulling myself up. He dragged me over to where they were stumbling and we began fending off the others.

"TUBBO!" I heard Tommy shout to his friend across the room. Even though they were right next to each other, they must have enjoyed shouting.

"YES TOMMY WHAT IS IT?!" Tubbo yelled in reply.

"DEFENSE, LETS GO!"

"YES SIR," Tubbo yelled with a salute to his best friend. The two bolted over to Dream and George, standing in front of them and facing the rest of the people throwing things at them. They held up their makeshift lunch tray shields and began blocking some of the food items from hitting George and Dream's person tower.

It was good to know they were on our side, at least.

With Tommy and Tubbo on defense, me and Nick kept throwing things at the other people in attempt to stop them. At that point, the cafeteria was a wreck.

"Hey!" We heard a deep voice shout from the doors. Everyone quickly became silent, darting their eyes to the source of the noise, like a deer caught in headlights. It was Mr. Jackson, the principal. The single sound of an apple dropping was heard, and George snorted as he tried not to laugh.

The principal's eyes quickly darted to him. It was kind of an awkward situation, considering George was still sat on top of Dream's shoulders. "Would you like to explain to me what's so funny, Mr. Davidson?"

"Pshhhh, Davidson," Dream chuckled, teasingly. Mr. Jackson glared at him, effectively shutting him up. Dream coughed awkwardly to suppress his laughs. "Sorry, sorry. It won't happen again, sir."

"Rest assured it won't," Mr. Jackson confirmed. Dream decided this was an appropriate time to set George back down on the ground.

The principal took another good look around the cafeteria, and I suddenly became self conscious about how I looked. I was certain that was ranch dressing in my hair. Gross. But no matter how bad I looked, it couldn't have been as bad as Nick, considering he was my human shield almost the whole time.

"Look what you've done to this room. You all should be ashamed," he lectured. "You will all be called to the office one by one to explain what happened, and when we get to the bottom of this, whoever was involved will be cleaning up this mess. For now, everyone get to 3rd block."

Everyone sort of awkwardly shuffled around, not really sure what to do after that mishap.

"Now!" The principal emphasized, and everyone began moving with a much quicker pace once he had yelled.

"Do you think we'll ever forget this?" Nick whispered to me once we had exited the cafeteria.

I smiled. "Nope. I think I'll be remembering this one."

~~~

As the day progressed, I had gotten more nervous than excited, and I realized just the extent of it. I would have to go to the office, and I really didn't know if I could do that alone.

Panic began to settle into my mind, and it wasn't going to get as bad as a full blown panic attack, I wouldn't let it, but it was a feeling I couldn't shake off. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I didn't really feel like puking my guts up that day.

It got worse when the intercom came on. "To the office we need the following people: George Davidson, Clay Dream, Karl Jacobs, Nicholas Sapnap, Thomas Simons, and Toby Smith."

I gulped loudly, but at least we were all getting called at the same time, so hopefully it wouldn't be as bad.

When I got to the office, I noticed a row of chairs lined up outside the main door, and everyone was sitting in them. One was open right next to Nick, so I sat down in it and fumbled with my hands nervously.

"Hey, Karl, don't be so uptight, it'll be okay," he reassured. No matter how calming his voice was though, I couldn't believe him. Not completely at least.

I know many people don't think it's that big of a deal, but when you don't get sent to the office a lot or get in trouble for that matter, it definitely is. And it's very nerve wracking.

I kept shaking and tapping my leg rapidly, also blinking too much, which was a big anxiety tic of mine. (A/N: For the record, this is not me romanticizing anxiety. I have the same blinking tic and it's not fun :p)

"Hey Karl, it's okay." Not knowing what else to do it seemed, Nick took my shaking hands and tried to steady them. I was grateful for the help and tried to focus on that, rather than getting sent to the office.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, compulsively.

"Hey, shhh, it's okay, just focus on me." Mr. Jackson came out and called the first student into his office which happened to be Tommy, closing the door behind them. "It'll all be alright. The worst thing they can do is make us clean it up, and after that it'll be back to normal and we can forget about it."

I nodded and eventually leaned my head on his shoulder, feeling comfort in any contact I could get.

More and more people had been called into the office, and eventually it was just me and Nick left. "You're okay," he reassured once more. The principal came out and George left the room, walking back to class.

"Karl," he called, and my heart rate sped up. Nick squeezed my hand once more before letting go to allow me to walk into the office.

"Take a seat, Mr. Jacobs." I sat down at the seat in front of his desk, while he sat at the one opposite. Well, obviously, because that's the way all principals offices worked.

He must've noticed how nervous I was, because his tone softened quickly.

"Hey, it's okay Karl, you're a good kid. I'm not gonna be stern with you, I'm just letting you know what going down. Unfortunately, this type of thing does call for discipline, but it won't be bad, and after that you'll be free."

I nodded and became a bit more relaxed once he expressed that he wasn't mad with me.

"So first I'm going to confirm. The others have all pretty much said the same thing. An argument broke out between Tommy and another kid, and you and the guys at your table joined in with the quarrel. Am I correct?" I nodded once, and then realized that probably wasn't polite.

"Yes sir, that's correct."

"Alright. So, I only ask you to stay after school today so you and the others can clean up the lunch room. After that, we can put this behind us and move on. Is that alright?"

"Yes sir. That's fine with me."

"Then it's settled. Have a good day Karl."

"You too, sir."

I thought it was kind of silly, telling a kid to have a good day after you had assigned them detention. I knew it was a politeness thing but if it were in any other circumstance or with a different kid, it probably would've sounded like straight up venomous sarcasm.

When I left the room, Nick was getting ready to get in there. "You alright?" He asked, concern laced in his voice.

I sighed. "Yeah." And I meant it. The anxious feeling had dissipated by now.

I was about to leave the office when Nick's voice caught me off guard. "Wait for me?" He asked. I looked back and saw him with pleading eyes, and I smiled softly.

"Of course," and I took a seat in the chairs we were previously sitting in.

It didn't take long for Nick to get out, probably because all Mr. Jackson was doing in there was repeating what he said to the rest of us.

When he got out, he had a sort of bittersweet look on his face. I didn't blame him. It was like, you were happy because the punishment wasn't bad, but you were upset because detention was still lousy.

"Alright. Let's get back to class now." I stood up and we walked beside each other down the hallway.

"Hey Nick?" I asked, grabbing his attention.

"Yeah, Karl?" He turned to face me, slowing down so that we had time to talk before reaching our classes.

"I think it was worth it." I thought it over, as if to confirm it for myself, before nodding once. It was.

"What was worth it?" He asked, oblivious.

"You're so slow, silly," I laughed. "I'm saying detention was worth it for that. Like, I had a lot of fun, and I really don't think anything can bring the mood down for me." I smiled, to show him I was genuine. He smiled back.

"I'm glad you had fun Karl. I did too."

And I think that was the first moment I realized why I was truly there. I was going to actually start living for the first time, and the food fight was just the start of a line of matches that would burn in a line.

I wanted to make the most of that year, because I realized what it truly meant to have fun, and I wanted to have that. I wanted to get busy living.

A/N: THIS CHAPTER WAS SO FUN TO WRITE OMFG. Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed it, please vote and comment as it really helps me!!! If you didn't enjoy it as much, constructive criticism is always allowed, because I always want to improve my writing.