1 Being the New Guy

I stand out from a crowd. I have always, being taller, heavier, larger in all ways than the average person. I recently entered a new school, a boarding school, after being forced to leave the other one due to problems that hurt my possibilities in the future. I have a semi-scholarship, weird bullshit that the school made up to say that they wanted me but that I wasn't good enough to take a scholarship from other students. Well, that isn't important. My story started from the first day of school, after my classes had finished.

I am walking down the main path to the student dorms when something catches my eye. There was a girl standing alone with her head resting in her hands, leaning up against a wall, alone. I look around and see no one. I walk up to her, "Hey, um, what are you doing here?"

"What do you want, Michael?!"

"Um, I am not Michael, I am just asking what's up," I nervously stammer through the sentence, "You don't seem happy, what's up?"

"Wait, you're the new kid, what was your name? Ari-, Aris-."

"Aristide."

"Yeah, that's it."

"What are you doing here alone?"

"Waiting for Michael, even if I don't want to."

"Why?"

"He said he wanted to talk to me, and he isn't the type of guy to take no for an answer," She sighs, "He seemed angry and I don't want to get hit again."

"Wait, again? Maybe you should have more control over whatever relationship you have with him, you know? But I am no expert."

"I want to break up with him."

"And you are telling me this because?"

"I don't know, I need someone to talk to, someone that seems nice and trustworthy, not my fake friends that know only to gossip to each other and inevitably it will arrive to Michael's ears."

"You want to talk about this somewhere, like, else? If it is the Michael I am thinking about, I don't want to deal with all those guys right now," She lifts her eyes and actually looks at me, "Something on my face?"

"You said right now."

"Yeah?"

"Does that mean you would deal with them later if it came to it?"

"I don't know, but you were, um, you are in my physics class, right? And homeroom, right?"

"Yeah, that is where I know your name from," I give her an unimpressed look, "Oh, I am Cassandra Miller, can we go somewhere else?"

"Like where?"

"You live on campus, right?" I nod, "How about your dorm?" I look at her with big eyes, "I know, I know."

"Sure, actually, if it'll help you."

"Really? Thank you," She hugs my massive frame with her small body, "You are a savior, let's go before he shows up," I nod and shrug at the same time. I pick up her bag and place it on my left shoulder next to mine, I could tell the size difference right away as it lay on my back, I couldn't help myself but laugh, "What are you laughing at?" She asks as we walk together towards my room.

"Your bag is small."

"You are laughing only because of that?" I nod, "Well, I guess I am not a giant like you, I am only 5ft 5."

"I am 6ft 8, but yeah, I guess I seem taller than most of the guys here."

"Um, excuse me, 6ft 8 is giant," She nudges me.

I place my key in my door and push open the door letting her enter first, it is a small room with a bed, a desk and a few places for my books, it is nearly perfectly clean. She sits down on my bed and then notices the size of the bed, "How do you fit in this?"

"I don't," I say as I give her her bag. I sit down at my desk, "See this chair?" She nods as she looks at the folding chair I have as a desk chair.

"Why that?" She asks as she places her computer on her lap and begins typing, "Are you too big for the other chairs?" I nod and she giggles, "How much do you weight?"

"I am 300, maybe 310, not sure."

"You really are a giant, hey, can you help me with the class today, for physics?"

"Yeah, sure, what's up?"

"I didn't get the Gravitational Potential part, you know, can you explain it again, if that doesn't bother you?" As soon as she finishes her sentence, her phone begins ringing, she picks it up and freezes, "I-It-It's M-M-Michael."

"Yeah? You can answer it or ignore it, which do you want to do?" I ask as I pull out my notes from our physics class. The phone stops ringing, she stopped the call, "You see, easy, so, Gravitational Potential is," I get cut off by her phone ringing, "Turn it off, will you?"

"But, what if he worries?"

"Then let him worry," I reply right after her sentence, "He is preventing you from catching up with your classes."

"You're right," She sighs as she turns off her phone. She tosses it on my bed and then places her notes, in front of her, on her lap, "So, you were saying, Gravitational Potential is?"

"It's the work done per unit mass in bringing a small mass from infinity to that point," She looks at me, clueless, "Did you listen at all in class?"

"No, I was worried, I avoided Michael after lunch."

"Okay, so it means, since we set the potential energy zero point at infinity."

"But, wait, isn't that an abstract idea?"

"Yes, that is the point, and everything away from it is a negative value."

"Okay, but, um, why negative?"

"Since there is a force of gravity, or a pull, there is only one force pulling towards naturally and you will need a force to bring it back, that is why it is negative."

"Um, I think I get it, yeah, I get it, thank you," I smile at her and get back to working on my computer, "What are you working on?"

"Oh, my own stuff, I finished my work at lunch," I say as my fingers speed over the keyboard. She walks up behind me and leans on me as she watches me write, "It's a book."

"That is so cool, you actually write books, is this the first one?"

"No, the 7th, Lab Zone Zero, it's a complicated story," My eyes look down at the bottom of my screen, "I have to do something, football starts at 4:30, it's nearly time, you can come if you want," I grab a sports bag next to my desk.

"Michael is there too."

"He has a practice to focus on, not you."

"What position do you play?" She asks as I close my door.

"Defensive tackle."

"I think Michael plays running back, not sure," She says looking up at me, "How long have you been playing?"

"3 maybe 4 years, not much, but back in Barcelona, I was MVP of the league 4 times with 128 sacks in four seasons."

"That sounds like a lot, I guess it will be fun to watch you then."

"Is it fine if I level Michael?"

"Try not to kill him, oka-," She freezes as a group of boys turn and look at them. I look at her then at the boys, "M-M-Michael," One of them begins to walk towards us. I sigh and put myself in front of Cassandra as Michael nears us. I am a head taller than him and probably out weight him by, at least, 100 or 110 pounds. He tries to shove me out of the way but I blast him sending him sprawling to the floor. I look down over him as his group bursts into laughter. I put my hand out and help him up, "Aristide Simon, nice to meet you, Michael was it?"

"Why is my girl with you?"

"She asked me to help her study, she had a small problem with the stuff we are doing in physics," He ignores me.

"Why weren't you where I told you to be?" His tone had changed and he tries to pass me again. I block him and look down at him smiling, "What do you want?"

"Practice is soon, we should get going."

"You're on the football team," He laughs, "What are you? The bottle boy," This makes his friends laugh, "You better not mess with my girl, you'll see when I get angry."

"I will, but, for now, shut up and let's get to practice," Cassandra walks on one side of me and Michael and his friends on the other.