Chapter 1: Golden Hair

“ ... so– this is the new school...”

Jericho looked up towards the top of the high school building. What stood before him was the school courtyard, with a giant black pine tree in the middle. It was protecting the plants underneath from the ever so bright sun. The sunlight still managed to get through the middle crease of the building’s roofs, beaming down towards the courtyard in full effect.

Jericho then looked around to see a rush of students walking by him and towards their classes. Big black SUVs and limousines rolled up towards the school sidewalk, and the drivers came out to open their passenger doors.

What seemed to be like the rich kids of the school walked out of their cars in esteemed fashion. They began to walk towards their classes. They either stared at their phones, not giving a damn about anyone around them, or chatted with their friends who came along with them.

Everything seemed normal until he spotted a rich-looking girl, pulling a chained leash that connected to a boy’s collar. The boy was in school uniform, so he had to be a teenager just like himself. But he crawled on the floor, as if he was a dog. The girl who held his leash casually pulled him to the direction she and her friends were going, as she was talking with her friends.

Jericho looked around to see if he had the same thoughts as others around them. This was insane. Public humiliation? At school?

However, everyone around them acted as if this was a normal occurrence.

There were some non-pitiful stares towards the chained boy. His face was emotionless and reacted as if nothing was happening. The girl then subtly yanked on his leash, signaling him to hurry up.

“You’re following along too slowly, stupid chair. Keep up with the pace”, she said as her eyes were still on her phone.

Not long after, Jericho’s observations came to halt when a boy bumped into him, causing him to fall down.

“ ... Yo ... move out of the way, shit-head”, the guy said.

Jericho went to look up at the person who pushed him. What seemed to be like a pro boxer before him, was a face menacing enough to make Jericho wish he could go straight back home. The guy towering before him was likely a football player of this school, considering his build.

Even more notable was the gang he had right beside him, all who looked pretty similar to the “pro boxer” guy Jericho compared to earlier.

“Hey ... why are you glaring at me like that, huh??”, the guy smeared.

Jericho attempted to look away, but the result of that ended in Jericho finding the bottom of the guy’s shoe knocking his head towards the concrete.

“When I say move it, I really mean get your ass out of the way kid”, the guy muttered as he and his gang walked away towards three girls nearby who sat near the big tree.

The same guy that pushed him moments later has now forgotten about Jericho and started flirting with one of the girls. Wrapping his arms around hers as they smiled at each other and began chatting.

Jericho, a mere 5’6 145lbs teenager, couldn’t do anything about what just happened. He knew if he retaliated back, he would literally be snapped in half like a twig by that same guy, not even accounting for his gang backing him up.

Wiping his eyes off from the concrete’s filth, Jericho realized how weak his body is, even after transferring. As Jericho was preparing to lift himself off the ground, a girl approached him.

“Jeez, you had that rough ... Do you need help getting up?”, the girl asked as she offered a hand to help him up.

Jericho shook his head, took the girl’s hand and pulled him up to his feet. He couldn’t get a good look at her since he was still getting up from the ground, but she seemed like a nice person just by hearing her voice. Jericho dusted his uniform off as the girl was getting a good look at him.

“I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you a transfer student?”

“Um– yeah... “, responded Jericho.

“Cool! Now, don’t mind those retards down there. They’re just a group of wannabe thugs who like to bother people who look weaker than them around the school. Not that you look weak or anything, just saying. I mean honestly—”

At closer inspection, the girl that stood before him was short yet beautiful. Her hair was colored gold, tied back by two ponytails, along with red ribbons. Her hair was practically glowing in the sunlight as she stood in front of him. Not to mention her face was well tendered and her body figure was slender yet model-like. You can almost say as if she was an angel sent by the heavens to assist a lowly human in trouble.

“--So ... your name??”, she asked.

Jericho hadn’t realized it but he had just dozed off just staring at her for God knows how long. He immediately started blushing in embarrassment, as if a teacher had just caught a student sleeping during class.

“Great first impression...” he said to himself in his head.

What would she think of him? Is he some type of creeper? Pervert?

“My bad! ... My name– it’s Jericho. And your name...?” Jericho stuttered a bit as he said that.

The girl before him placed her hands on her hips, awed that Jericho failed to hear something.

“Didn’t get any sleep? I said my name is Ashley, like... 30 secs ago”, she laughed as she said that.

Filled with regret, Jericho realized that not only did he miss her name but probably her introduction as well.

“Now, what year are you??”, Ashley asked.

“A 2nd year– sophomore”, he responded.

“What a coincidence! I’m a 2nd year too!” she exclaimed.

“That alone might mean that we were destined to be friends! I mean when I saw you as I arrived here, I was like ... Hey, that guy over there is sort of cute but looks pretty bummed about something. Maybe I can befriend him and then cheer him up!”.

“And when I saw you get pushed down by that doofus over there, I couldn’t just sit back and watch...”, she gleamed.

There was then a brief pause. Then she asked–

“So, do you want to be friends?”, Ashley asked.

Her anticipation for a “yes” was showing right through her face. Her head tilted towards the side a bit, along with an innocent smile with her hands behind her back.

In his head, what was there for him to lose? After transferring out of his old tyrant-like high school where he had no friends and had no one to talk to, this was definitely a good sign. Also, she appeared super friendly AND called him cute. Great first step to a better life.

“Yeah! ... We can be friends...” Jericho replied.

Her face almost seemed like it supercharged into another state. She looked so happy.

“Yay! I’ve always liked helping out others!”

“Come on, you want to know your way around the school right? Follow me”, she insisted.

She suddenly grabbed his arm and was practically being dragged along with her. Jericho decided to go with the flow. Ashley seemed way too energetic for her own good, but that was a trait that Jericho can get behind. With himself always having a sluggish vibe, maybe Ashley being around him may motivate him to actually do stuff around the school. Clubs, events, even gatherings.

Ashley showed him around the school. The vending machines, each floor, the clubrooms, gymnasium, cafeteria, auditorium, nurses office and popular hang out spots.

The next thing he knew, the class bell ranged and they both had to go to their homeroom classes. However, Jericho was disappointed as they were forced to live their high school lives separately during class sessions. She was in 2-b while Jericho was sent to 2-c, but that was fine.

“Aww! I was hoping that we were going to be in the same homeroom class...” she whined.

“It’s alright. We can still meetup with each other during lunch period”, Jericho said as he tried to cheer her up.

“Oh yeah! Look at you, using her head”, Ashley laughed as she teasingly slapped his back.

As the laughter died down, they decided to go their different ways, waving at each other as they headed in two different directions.

But before entering his class, Jericho had to meet with his homeroom teacher in the instructor’s office. He was hoping that the teacher was nice and wasn’t a stuck-up old man or a bitchy teacher.

Upon sliding the office door open, he saw a man wave at him, signaling for him to go to him. He was sitting on an office chair near the back corner of the room. He looked like an honest-looking man, was slightly overweight, and was probably in his middle 30s. He had a bald spot on the middle of his head and had distinct glasses that anyone can see afar. Jericho then approached the teacher.

“Hello. Is your name–”

The teacher lifted up his glasses and squinted his eyes towards a paper that had a list of student names on it.

“--Jericho ... Botan?” the teacher asked.

“Yeah, that’s me”, Jericho responded.

“Great! Nice to have you at our school. I am Mr. Miller. You got to consider yourself lucky that you skipped the school’s sophomore speech a few days ago. It was a rather lengthy event”, he sighed.

“Eh ... yeah, speeches can be pretty boring”, Jericho responded.

“But anyways, it’s almost time for class. Do you have an introduction ready to share with your new classmates?”, Mr. Miller asked.

Introduction? Jericho wasn’t good at talking with anyone, let alone talking to a group of people.

“Yeah, here’s the thing Mr. Miller. I’m not good at speaking to others ... so I hadn’t thought of preparing for a speech”, Jericho said in a quiet voice.

“Oh ... well, that shouldn’t be a problem. Just say your last and first name to the class and you’ll be fine”, Miller responded.

Jericho nodded his head as the teacher got up and followed the teacher to classroom 2-c. He gulped as he heard groups of conversations emitting from the room just beyond the door.

Upon opening the class door were a bunch of kids talking to each other, sitting on desks, by the windows, some students even sitting on the teacher’s desk.

Jericho turned to his right to see two students casually make out. And to his left, was a boy on the floor, kissing a girl’s shoe as she was on her phone.

However, this was not the same girl and boy he spotted earlier in the courtyard. This girl was a bit taller and had longer brownish hair. And unlike the girl before, she had a lollipop in her mouth.