A week had passed since the new school year had started and Greg had settled into a routine just like the other kids...which meant he didn't have one at all.

Greg wasn't a social butterfly, he wasn't a jock even though he was athletic, and he wasn't a nerd even though he had the highest grades in the school.

Greg was definitely the textbook definition of a loner. Lunch in the library, no clubs or sports despite his father's clear insistence, and no friends.

'What would we talk about?' he thought to himself as he sat waiting for class to start.

'At exactly what degree of humidity does the average DNA evidence become inadmissible in court?' he continued to ramble in his head as he stared out the window where he saw the janitor mowing the grass outside.

'I can barely recognize you without your white robe or pointed hat, Mr. Grandwizard," he scoffed in his mind. 'But we have a very special surprise for you very soon.'

Just then the bell rang and the teacher walked in.

"Sorry I'm late, class. There was another fight in the hallway," Mr. Smith sighed with obvious annoyance. "We actually have a new student today. Will you please stand up?"

A girl two rows beside Greg stood up slowly, clearly shy as she kept her gaze locked on her desk.

She wasn't much shorter than Greg, had shoulder length black hair that looked like dry straw, and was wearing what looked like an old, faded school uniform that was incredibly too small for her.

"Tell us a little bit about yourself," Mr. Smith urged her as the rest of the class remained silent.

"Well, my name is Terra Louis and I'm new here..."

"Duh," a student interjected, causing the class to snicker.

"Th-That's all..." Terra quickly finished and plopped back down in her seat.

"Thank you, Miss Louis. Just for further reference, you don't need to wear a uniform to school." Mr. Smith stated quickly, hushing the laughter that followed.

"Old habit..." Terra muttered in embarrassment.

"Now let's get to the lesson!" Mr. Smith raised his voice to snap everyone back to attention, or at least the little he usually received.

Later in sixth period, Greg was thinking about his newest masterpiece. How would he do it? Could it be done? Could he--

"Mr. Matthews," the teacher called out to him, breaking Greg's train of thought. "Why don't you tell us the meaning behind the small fly the young Spartan drew on his shield?"

The class snickered quietly, expecting Greg to have nothing to say since he usually never spoke anyway.

'Simple fools,' he thought, trying not to sneer at all their staring eyes.

"When the enemy sees the fly from a distance, it appears as just a harmless black dot, but if the warrior got closer, it would appear as large as a threatening lion. In short, it means not to take a distant enemy lightly because up close, they are the most dangerous."

"Very good, Mr Matthews. I'm sorry that I assumed you weren't paying attention," the teacher apologized as the class scoffed at him actually having an answer, and a well put one at that.

'That's because we aren't' Greg huffed to himself silently.

"May I use the bathroom?" he didn't hesitate to ask soon after, already up and walking out of the class without an answer.

Terra had already asked a few minutes before him and wasn't back yet, which meant another student wasn't supposed to leave, but Greg honestly didn't care.

As he walked down the hallway, he thought about how happy he was to be leaving this place full of immature spawn of incompetent adults in a year.

Just as he turned the corner, he saw two people in the hallway blocking his exit. One was the new girl.

'Wasn't her name Sarah? Oh, who are we kidding, we never forget names...'

The other figure was the captain of the wrestling team, Chad Wilson, a local bully who pretended that bragging on social media about "going hard on the mat and weightroom," made up for having a silver spoon forever in his mouth.

'Hashtag primitive ape,' Greg joked darkly to himself, rolling his eyes.

"It's good to see you again," Chad chuckled as he moved closer to Terra, backing her against a locker. "I thought I scared you off before. You're still wearing that uniform I see. It looks a bit tight, why don't I help you stretch it out a bit?"

Chad looked like a drooling middle schooler as he shamelessly started to unbutton the girl's jacket.

"Stop it! Now!" Terra demanded with false confidence, but Chad ignored her as he slid off her jacket and untied her neck ribbon.

"I told you to stop!" Terra demanded louder and tried to shove the boy away, but she ended up just shoving herself back against the locker.

There wasn't a world where she could budge the 6'3, 200lbs wrestler who tore open her shirt right in the middle of the hallway.

"Is there a problem here?" Greg asked in an uninterested tone, distracting Chad long enough for Terra to slip away and hide herself behind him.

"Nothing that concerns you, freak!" Chad snarled, stepping closer. "Why don't you fuck off before I beat the hell outta both of you!"

"You could, but then you'd be suspended not just from school, but also permanently suspended from the team. After losing to me, that is," Greg explained with a smirk larger than the one Chad had plastered on his own face after his pathetically empty threat.

Chad glared at them both before shoving Greg out of his way.

"This isn't over!" he growled before stalking away, leaving behind Terra who was shaking with tears collecting in her green eyes.

"Thank--"

"Change your clothes and don't talk to me again," Greg said monotonously, not even looking at her as he walked away.