Chapter 1- I became the main character

The blonde haired woman stood in front of the students, not far from where I was standing with a large smile on her face, although it was clearly fake. She looked like she didn't want to be here at all.

She clapped her hands and began to speak to the class.

"Okay class, today we have a new student. Everyone give a warm welcome to Elijah Lutz."

I waved. "Nice to meet you all. I hope we can have a nice year together."

To my surprise the class erupted with chatter. Guys talking enviously about how they need to watch out for me and girls giggling and gossiping about me. A few girls were even arguing over who was allowed to talk to me. I guess Esther was right. This place is a lot easier and people are definitely more feeble minded.

The teacher, whose name I didn't bother remembering, clapped her hands again to shut the class up. I thought it would be a worthless attempt but it was a surprisingly effective method.

"Quiet down everyone."

She scanned over the class for a second and then pointed at an empty desk, right near the window. "Let's see...you can sit right there Elijah."

Window seat, Huh? Well if that isn't the most overused cliché. Well whatever, guess it means I get to be the main character.

I sat down in the seat and let down my red and black backpack. I looked outside of the window to see the courtyard where the athletic events most likely happen, although it was empty now for obvious reasons.

"Since you don't have your books yet you can share a book with a person near you. Don't be afraid to ask one of your neighbors for help."

And with that she turned to the board behind her and started furiously writing on the chalkboard.

I looked to the right of me to see an extremely built guy, the likes of who couldn't possibly be a high school freshman. He had shaven black hair, small eyes, and a large ears. He wore a red and black jersey with the BULLS 23 on it and matching black shorts on it. He was lifting a dumbbell with one arm and flipping the pages of a sports magazine with the other.

Nope, I thought. Not dealing with it.

Then I looked behind me to see a very colorful girl sitting behind me. She had an ombré hair color pattern that started out sunset orange that evolved into a pinkish red into a galaxy purple. Her long hair was extremely sparkly and included star shaped hair clips of different colors. Her eyes were a mix of starry purple and blue but what I found weird was she didn't have regular pupils. Her pupils were yellow and shaped just like stars.

She appeared to be busy coloring a page, which I thought wasn't too weird, until I saw her art. It looked more like she printed an image off of the internet than a drawing. She was coloring in the galaxy and hundreds of stars on her paper only using three markers using a perfect mix of purple, blue, and black.

...Let's try one more, I thought.

I turned around and tapped the back of the guy in front of me.

Please be normal, I thought. Please be normal.

The guy turned around with a confused look on his face. In comparison to the other two he looked surprisingly normal. He had neat blue hair and a navy blue t-shirt. He looked like he was wearing blue jeans but I couldn't tell his shoes from under his seat, not that it really mattered.

"Yo new kid, what'd you need?"

"Hey, by chance, could you share your book with me?"

He studied me for a second but it didn't look like he was looking at me. Rather, it looked like he was looking through me. He looked back to his book, as if he had a tough decision to make. Then he shrugged.

"Sure man, you can take it. I don't really need it."

He grabbed the book and plopped it on my desk.

I really don't trust this guy, I thought. He just gave me a bad vibe. But he gave me his book, so I guess I should at least be appreciative.

I smiled. "Ah, thank you."

"No problem, just tell me if you have any questions." He raised his out hand to shake. "I'm Mark."

I clasped his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

Before he turned around, he leaned in and started whispering.

"By the way, be careful of that girl behind you. She's really weird."

"Noted."

And with that he turned around.

I didn't need your help to figure that out though. To be honest, I don't even think she's worth messing with. It's best I just leave her in her own little world.

I looked down at the book to see it say: Algebra 1. Oh it's math class. How boring. At least give me a more challenging level.

I didn't really pay very much attention throughout the class period. The teacher called on me twice, and I met her question with the right answer each time, much to the amazement of my classmates. At the end of the hour, the bell rung for lunch. But rather than leave for lunch, my classmates swarmed my desk. At least ten people surrounded me, the majority being girls. They began bombarding me with questions.

"Hey, hey, where are you from?" one girl asked.

"Does everyone have white hair and sparkling blue eyes like you where you lived?" Another girl asked.

"Can I touch your hair?" A guy asked.

All the girls paused and looked at the guy with clear disgust in their eyes.

"Ahah, never mind," he said as he backed away and ran out the classroom.

Then the girls resumed their barrage of questions.

"Do you like sports?"

"Do you like anime?"

"Are you single?"

"Do you date blondes?"

Eventually they stopped asking questions and waited for a response. I thought about all their questions for a second before answering, to make sure I wasn't rude and accidentally skipped over one of them. I had to remain likable.

"Classified, no, no, I prefer manga but yes, yes, and no."

I could hear a few disappointed groans and a few celebration yelps from the army of girls that surrounded me.

"He won't tell me where he's from. I was right. He's definitely the mysterious type."

"He watches anime and reads manga? He's definitely a catch."

This is going to be a very easy year if these are my classmates, I thought.

"Hmm, What about, what type of magic can you create? If you go to this school, then you must have magic."

I smiled at them. "My magic's not that impressive. I'm a rune mage," I said.

"Oh, is that all," the girl with long purple hair responded. "Well it's certainly rare but not really that special. Ah, I didn't mean to insult you or anything."

"It's fine. You're completely right," I said. "It's nothing special."

After a few more questions, the crowd dispersed after realizing they wasted half their lunch time trying to play 21 questions with me. With that only a few people were still in the room, one being the sparkly girl sitting behind me, and she seemed to pay no mind to the large crowd that was just here.

My stomach growled.

Of course I'm hungry, I thought. Maybe I'll just leave campus and get food somewhere near here.

I got up and started walking out the room. That is until I was walking out the doorway and a voice stopped me in my tracks.

"By the way, new student, the campus has a policy that students aren't allowed to leave the grounds during lunchtime."

I looked back to see a girl with black hair that was tied into a ponytail and hazel eyes that lacked any care. She had on a white blouse and a blue skirt. She had in earbuds and was staring intently at her iPod.

Di-did she just read my mind? Certainly with magic anything is possible but mind reading should be just as rare as rune magic.

"Huh, how'd you know I was going off campus?"

"I didn't. I heard your stomach growl and wanted to remind you of the school's policy," she answered, not looking up from her iPod. "However, It seems like I was right to do so."

That's impossible, I thought. Her hearing my stomach growl from across the room is hard enough to believe, but she has in headphones as well? It had to be magic of some sort. Sensory magic maybe? Whatever the case is, I need to be careful of her.

"I guess you're right. Well in that case can you tell me where the cafeteria is? I don't really know my way around here yet."

"You're better off asking someone else. I can't help you."

"What do you mean? You know where it is don't you?"

"I can't help you," she repeated, still staring at her iPod.

"Sigh, well thank you I guess. I'll try to ask someone else for help."

Well she's a dick, I thought. I'll just see if someone else knows where it is.

I scanned the barren classroom for others that might be able to help me. Sparkle girl seemed to be finished coloring and was now raising up and admiring her art. Best to leave her alone.

There was a quiet girl with glasses reading a book in back of the classroom. Her eyes were brown like her hair and she had a side bun with a brown scrunchie. She had on a faded orange turtleneck and light blue jeans.

I wanted to go ask her but she exuded pure anti-social aura the closer I got to her. She definitely wasn't an option.

The last person in the room was a boy with blue hair in the corner muttering to himself. He kept mentioning how losing isn't an option and how he needs to remain strong to not let out the demon within. Clearly, he's been watching too much anime.

This sucks, I thought. I'm in a room full of weirdos. I almost miss the girls from earlier. At least they were capable of conversation. Screw this, I'll just find the cafeteria myself. If I'm lucky, I'll find a teacher I can ask for directions.

I left the classroom and turned left in. the hallway. On my right were large windows showing the entrance of the school. On the left were many doors for classrooms, most of which were open due to lunch period. On the blue walls between the classroom doors were fliers for various clubs at the school. None of them really caught my attention but it was interesting just how many of them there were.

As I walked down the hallway, I noticed two guys standing in my way. I tried to walk to the left and they mirrored me. I tried moving to the right and again they copied me.

"Hey you're the new kid right?" The one on the left said. He was pretty big but not exactly intimidating.

Can someone at least learn my name?

I raised my hand out to shake. "Yeah, my name is Elijah. Nice to meet you."

The one on the right slapped my hand out of the way and grinned. He was a lot bulkier then his chubby companion and at least five times more intimidating, but it didn't take me much analyzation to realize he was the stereotypical dumb as a bag of bricks bully.

Esther wouldn't want me to get into a fight on my first day, I thought. I should probably find a way to talk myself out of this.

Both of them held out their hands. "You should know the deal," the one on the right said. "Lunch money, now."

"I would but I had a friend of mine hold my wallet. If you could show me where the cafeteria is I can certainly give you your money."

The chubby one whispered something into his friend's ears and the bulky one nodded.

"Hah, sure thing. Anything for a free dolla."

They definitely think I'm just an idiot. That's probably what his friend whispered to him.

They turned around and began walking and I followed. They occasionally looked back to make sure I wasn't running away. This went on for a minute until the fat one turned around.

"Wait a minute," he said. "You're new. You don't have any friends here."

Hearing this, the brute turned around and got into a fighting stance. It seems words no longer worked on him.

I reached into my right pocket and grabbed slice of gum. I unwrapped it and pressed it with both fingers before tossing it into my mouth and chewing. I stuffed the wrapper back into my pocket.

Plan B I guess.

The buff bully was charging up a punch. Based on how slow he was, it should be pretty easy to dodge. Or at least that's what I thought until the punch was centimeters from my face.

I zoomed past both of them like a gust of wind and stopped once I felt I gained enough distance. The fliers taped to the walls scattered all over the floors and a large gust of wind hit me from behind. I immediately spit out the gum. But before it hit the ground, The gum zoomed away at high speeds, never to be seen again.

Well that was closer than I'd hope. It's strange how much distance he closed in the time I blinked. It's doubtful an oaf him has time manipulation and if he did it wouldn't make sense for him to use it for so short of a time. Well, it's not something I should have to worry about.

Right as I thought that, the two magically appeared in front of me.

"Eh?" I said.

"You were marked by Tenga," the chubby one snorted.

Marked? I don't remember any sort of markin-

Then I remembered the oaf slapping my hand during our first exchange.

Of course he did. This is stupid. I just want to eat. Maybe that's a good enough excuse to tell Esther after getting sent to the principal's office. Yeah, no, she'll probably still be angry with me. It's fine I have a contingency plan.

I gripped the gum wrapper in my pocket between two fingers and pressed on it. Then I took my hand out of my pocket and stood there, waiting.

The brawny giant once again charged up his fist and the chubby one got in a funny position where it looked like he was about to snap his fingers. Suddenly, they stopped and darted past me.

"Wait get back here," they both yelled.

I put my hands behind my head and yawned. Well that was easy, I thought. Maybe I should've just done that the first time.

I felt the silver wrapper in my pocket disappear.

I started walking forward until I saw two figures appear in front of me again.

I groaned. That mark isn't a one time use. I guess I'll just bite the bullet and suffer the consequences later.

"Stop messing with us," the fat one said. "Just take your beating like man."

"I'd like to not fight if possible," I said.

"Of course, cuz you're a wuss," Tenga said. "Only scaredy cats run from danger."

I sighed. Can't say I didn't try.

I thought they'd foolishly repeat the same strategy as last time, but this time Tenga charged at me. I looked towards the chubby one on the side, who was in position to snap his fingers. If my assumption is right, he can turn off a person's consciousness for around a second by snapping his fingers. If that's true, dealing with him takes priority.

I grabbed another slice of gum and popped it in my mouth. I sped past the brute and clocked the fatty in his neck. I spit out the gum and grasped the empty wrapper. I continued pummeling him until I felt the ground shake. I looked behind me to see the brute had jumped from his original spot and was winding up a punch near my direction. I created a barrier behind me and turned back to my original target. I punched him in his jaw and he finally fell to the ground and collapsed.

Just as he fell, I felt my barrier crack. I turned around to see the brute wailing on my barrier, ultimately breaking it like a mirror.

"Well aren't you persistent?" I asked.

I threw a third piece of gum in my mouth and just as I did the brute threw a haymaker. I dodged it and tapped his shoulder.

"See ya later big guy."

I turned away from him and started walking towards the cafeteria. In the corner of my eye I could see him try to move but was unable to. I could hear him yelling threats and swearing at me in the distance.

"Yea, yea, eat a brick why don't you?"

I spit out my gum and just as I did a small storm cloud appeared above it and jolted it with a lightning.

Huh, so that's its downside. I definitely shouldn't forget to spit it out.

Now that that's out of the way, I can finally eat. At least that's what I thought would happen. As I kept walking the bell rung, letting me know my opportunity to get food was gone. Furthermore, a hand appeared on my shoulder from behind me.

"Mr. Lutz, I need to see you in the principal's office."