School.

"Huh, this the place, right?"

I see a large brick building as I turn the corner and slow my pace down to a walk. I check my watch and it seems I'm here 1 hour early.

"I guess I should probably wash off."

As I get to the gate, I notice the guard standing off on the side and wave.

"Hey Brock, how you've been?" I yell out.

"Haaah? Who're you calling Brock you little…? SHIN?!?!?"

"Yup, the one and only"

"Oi Shin, c'mere you little…"

The guard leaves his post and rushes over to bear hug me. As I'm getting crushed by this giant ape, I notice that the first buses are pulling into the school.

"Oi you giant oaf, let off me. I'm all sweaty from my run and I want to wash off before classes start."

Brock holds me at should length and stares at me.

"I'm glad you're finally coming to school. Staying cooped up at home all day is not healthy."

"Yeah, I know. I'm going to try to come more often."

Brock frowns with that remark.

"Not more often. You need to keep coming every day. Psychological wounds only change with a change of scenery little man. Trust me on that. Plus, who knows. You might make some new friends…even lady friends."

"Ahaha, let's not get to ahead of ourselves now. I just started coming here. I think that's a long way's off."

"Well, you never know. I haven't seen you in a while and you keep reminding me of your father more and more. He was quite the ladies man."

"How badly do you want me to get hitched? Actually, never mind, I got to go. I'll catch up with you after school."

"Alright little man, I'll see you later."

I pass by him and start walking towards the gym section of the school. Brock was always nice to me even though I barely came to school. Brock was an old war buddy of my dad's when they were in the military together. Shrapnel from an IED took one of Brock's eyes halfway through his deployment which forced him into early retirement. My father heard about his eye injury and got him an undemanding job as a security guard at a famous high school. Brock often comes to visit several times per year to check up on me to "see if I'm still alive." He's really just a doting old uncle at this point and he's the closest thing I have to family.

Even though I don't come to school often, I still remember the layout quite well. I've always had a great sense of direction and I never got lost while climbing all over our mountain back home. As I get closer to the gym, I start looking at the doors on the side of the building.

"Which door was it again?"

If I remember correctly, It's the third door, right? I reach out to grab the handle and end up getting the door slammed in my face.

*pow* *Thump*

Ahh yes, I see the other side. As star twirl around my head, I hear some girls voice as I grab my nose in pain.

"Are you okay?"

I get up from the ground while checking my nose to see if it's broken.

"Uhm, yeah I think I'm fine... probably?"

"Are you sure? I can bring you to the nurses office if you feel bad."

"No it's really okay, I do t want to bother you."

I glance over to the girl while I say that and I freeze up. Standing in front of me and showing genuine concern was a very cute girl. She must have been my age, 160 cm tall with long slender legs and had really beautiful straight blonde hair.

While trying to keep my cool I ask,

"So what were you doing in the gym so early in the morning anyway? I'm Shin by the way."

"I just got back from my morning run and had to clean up, the name is Sandra."

"Oh, same as me"

"Well maybe if you ran a little faster you wouldn't have got knocked by the door." She says in a playful tone. "Anyway, I got to go to class. I'm glad you're not hurt; I'll see you around."

"Yeah see you around..." I couldn't even finish the sentence before she took off towards the school building. I watch her run all the way to the school door and open it just as fast as the gym door.

"Damn, she was pretty hot," I mutter to myself while I enter the gym.

"Well, I can't really tell if this day is off to a bad start or not"