Chapter 178: High School!

(Wow. It's been a year since I start writing this!)

[General POV]

"How do I look?" A cute teenage girl asked her friend as she lowered her shirt to make her cleavage more prominent. Her friend replied excitedly, "Good. Are you sure Edward Newgate is coming today?"

The other girl replied with a grin. "Yeah. I overheard some of his friends talking." Both of the girls squealed in amazement as they waited for their idol to enter the school grounds. 

Not only them, but there was a crowd of students camping out on the front door, trying to catch a glimpse of Edward. 

As the crowd became more and more dense, the school's principal, Mr Brown, stood in front of the crowd with a megaphone. He turned it on, causing a shrill sound to explode. The student grimaced in pain and finally turned their attention towards him.

He spoke using the megaphone, "I know what you guys want. But, the school bell has already rung. So it's either all of you go to class right now, or the school's detention room will be packed for a month."

The students all groaned and then slowly dispersed. Principal Brown didn't lower his megaphone and said, "Honestly, you should come to school to study. Not to meet a celebrity. You can leave that part to me."

The student murmured in dissatisfaction, only then did the principal realise he was still holding the megaphone. He lowered it down in embarrassment and then tried to keep a clear face.

After the students had gone to class– albeit reluctantly, Edward's car finally pulled into the school entrance. 

"Thanks Dad." Edward said to his father.

"Hmm…Your first day of school, but I can't even send you to the front door." Ted complained.

Edward rolled his eyes and said, "School started a week ago. I'm already too late already."

Ted laughed a bit and said, "Are you sure you want to go through it like this? Pepper keeps insisting on having a security detail on you and I have to say I kind of agree with him cause without one you're probably going to be hounded relentlessly."

Edward mulled for a while and then said, "Don't worry. I have my own security inside."

"Hmm? Who?" Ted was confused.

Suddenly, the 1.97 metres (6 '4') tall Jacob, with a fierce look on his face, and a small black girl with a tomboyish look exited the school. 

"Hey! You guys are supposed to be in your classroom!" The principal said angrily.

Jacob turned meek instantly and apologized to the principal. However, Elsa glared at him without fear and said, "We're only here to protect our friend! We did nothing wrong!"

"You–" The principal was speechless.

Edward chuckled seeing their reaction and then said, "Sorry Principal Brown. They volunteered to come get me. You know…to make sure I'm safe. You don't want your star student, also the sponsorship magnet for your school, to be dog piled and maybe even injured now do you?"

Ted heard Edward's devious words and was shocked inside. The spineless Principal's angry face melted instantly and turned into a smile. "Nonsense! Alright, Jacob, Elsa, go to your class as soon as you guide Edward safely to his. Okay?"

He walked away immediately after saying that to make sure that he wouldn't risk causing any more dissatisfaction in the young star's heart. Edward chuckled a bit and then said, "Wait…Principal Brown. I don't know my schedule yet!"

"Ah right." The principal stumbled to a stop and then turned back to look at Edward before leading him to his office.

Ted watched everything that happened in amusement when suddenly the female security guard there knocked on his car door and warned, "You can't park here. This is a drop off point."

"I am dropping off my kid?" He said, confused.

"Really? But I don't see any kids inside the car? If you don't move, I will give you a ticket. You're going to block others!"

Ted was extremely confused right now and turned behind him. Considering that he was the only one there dropping off his kid – as they were late…he wondered if the security guard was mentally unstable and thus not qualified enough to keep her job here.

"Okay." Ted didn't argue and then drove away quickly. However, he didn't go back home right away, but instead he drove to get some coffee and breakfast. Well…second breakfast. 

"Hmm…It looks like it's going to rain." He murmured as he listened to the radio when the car was already in his neighborhood. 

Suddenly, his eyes widened as he saw a suspicious figure trying to peek into his house through the window. She was wearing a huge hat and sunglasses, so he couldn't identify that person.

However, as soon as the girl heard the sound of his car, she ran away quickly towards the house next to him. Ted was confused, "Is that a new neighbor?...Why does she look so familiar?"

…

[Edward POV]

After getting my schedule from the principal's office and getting some recommended books, I walked to my locker.

"Hmm? Did he give me the wrong combination?" I muttered helplessly as I tried to open the locker. My locker was located on the top level, and it was actually decorated by the teachers and the students. It made me feel like Peter Parker in Spiderman No Way Home when people knew his true identity. 

Elsa checked her notes and said, "Nah. You did it correctly. Babe. Try it."

She asked Jacob to do it because I was holding my books at the moment. Jacob nodded and then he pried open the locker.

*BOOM*

Countless fan letters and gifts fell on Jacob's face, shocking all of us. Jacob soon fell down to the floor and was nearly buried under them, while Elsa checked the inside of the locker.

"No wonder it was stuck." She mumbled. I nodded in agreement and stepped over Jacob like Psy did in his music video and cleaned up my locker for a bit before putting the books in.

"Ed. Why don't you share the locker with Jacob? I don't think this will stop soon." Elsa muttered in concern. Jacob, who was reading the letters while lying down on the floor, agreed, "Yeah. Wait…How long was your estimate again?"

"A month. I just need to survive this predicament for a month." I replied as I picked up the letters. I didn't want to throw them away, so I got a bag from the janitor and stuffed all of it into it.

"Why a month?" Elsa said before she glared at Jacob, "And how did you know?"

Jacob smirked, "Why of course, it's because I'm his best friend!"

"You're MY best friend!" Elsa said, causing Jacob's heart to throb. I rolled my eyes at both of them and scowled, "Can you guys not rub your 'happiness' in my face right now?"

Elsa and Jacob laughed. I closed my locker and said, "I think I will take that offer. Also, why a month? That's because it's a process of adaptation."

Elsa was confused, so I explained, "Today, they will cheer, and feel like it is unreal for me to be here. Tomorrow, they will be glad I'm still here. The day after that, they will still be glad, but the level of enthusiasm won't be the same. And it will lower periodically until they finally adapt to me being here."

"By then, they will treat me like a slightly famous person, but not on the obsessive level they had when first meeting a celebrity. Maybe a few will, but not most of them. After all, people need to go on with their daily life."

Elsa nodded, "Got it. Like Jenna. At first, she was obsessed with you. But right now, she didn't even come to meet you."

Elsa smirked as she was trying to tease me, but I wasn't reacting the way she wanted, "You guys aren't in the same class right? By the way, I only texted Jacob. You're a plus one."

Jacob nodded, "Yeah. She just wanted to skip the boring history class."

"HEY! TRAITOR!" 

After separating from the stupid couple, I walked to my classroom alone. 

"Hi Teach~" I greeted the male teacher casually as I entered the mathematics class. As soon as I showed my face to the students, they broke into cheer! Even the teacher couldn't control them. It took them several minutes just to calm themselves down.

"God damn it! Mickey! Don't take off your shirt! Jess! Wipe your drool! BEHAVE PEOPLE! BEHAVE!" The teacher shouted relentlessly. "Edward, take your seat." He calmed down and spoke to me for a second before being angry again.

He didn't blame me for being late. He already heard about my particular situation from Principal Brown who had a clear run down of how my first day of school was going to go from the notes I passed on to him. 

"Wow! I really thought it would break differently." Tara muttered as I sat next to Haley. Tara was sitting on Haley's left, and I was on her right.

"Hmm? What do you mean? This is normal for me." I said jokingly.

Tara then said, "Yeah. But almost all the boys here don't like you. They have said so several times and even gone to deep lengths about just how much they dislike you multiple times. They regularly talk about how they don't want you here. But the second you entered, they were the first to cheer." 

Haley nodded before teasing, "You know, sometimes when men love other men so much they don't know what to do with their feelings, they will just be hostile to that person. Most men do it."

I muttered, "Not me though... I know that I like Henry Cavill and Ryan Reynolds. I'm not ashamed of it."

Tara was shocked, but Haley laughed, "Only them?"

"Only them so far." I added with a smirk. "Maybe Ryan Gosling could make the list too but I'm not quite sure about that yet."

Tara asked hesitantly, "Ed…you're not Bi…are you?"

I grimaced and scolded her, "No. I'm just a normal high school boy."

"Really? 'Normal'? Are you sure?" Haley teased. I pinched her nose and then asked, "What page are we on?"

"You're asking Haley?" Tara blurted out in disbelief. Haley glared at her before turning back to me and said, "21."

"Oh. That's fast." I replied.

"Edward. Stop talking!" The teacher shouted.

"Sorry Mr Jameson." I said with a smile, causing a few giggles here and there.

"You're late to start school. But, based on your records, I don't think you would have any problems with this year's curriculum right?" He asked with a slight smile on his face.

The students murmured, and I could hear people asking, 'Is he smart?' 'Is he a nerd?' and many more things along those lines. For my part I ignored the chatter and calmly replied to the teacher, "Yeah. I'm basically only here to socialize. I can graduate anytime I want."

The teacher wasn't offended and was glad instead. "That's good. But, hey, you still have to do the assignments and the homework. You got that?"

"Yeah. I get it." I replied obediently. 

…

"Ed? How can I do this part?" Haley asked me for advice on how to solve the equation.

"That's easy. You just need to…" I grabbed my pen and showed her the solution.

"Got it?" I asked.

She nodded, "Yeah." However, her eyes were staring at me the whole time. I chuckled a bit and took out a small candy and then snuck it into her hand. She blushed a bit, thinking I was trying to hold her hand, but was confused when she got the candy.

"Eat this while studying."

"But it's sugar." She whined.

"Yeah I know. Only using this, will your brains work." I teased. She rolled her eyes, but when Tara said, "Give it to me if you don't want it!", she said hurriedly, "NO!"

Haley unwrapped the candy and popped it into her mouth immediately to prevent it from getting stolen. I smiled helplessly seeing that.

By the way, I was actually doing an experiment with Haley. Not anything bad like sticking electrodes in her head, just messing around with her food intake. 

In the series, Haley became a supergenius when her grandmother died and she gorged herself on food. Alex hypothesized that her brain was finally working after she got enough nutrition, and the evidence at the time did support it.

'So, will Haley learn better when I give her enough food?' That's my big experiment. 

Finally the class was over. And the teacher told the students to move on to their next class. 

"Edward. You stay behind. Let the others go first, or you'll be swarmed to death." The teacher said as he chased out the other students– Haley and Tara included. Haley reluctantly walked away after she whispered that she would save a seat next to me in the next class.

We had almost all our classes together. The only difference was that I took some additional language classes. It was almost impossible to do this, however, a star could have some special privilege, right?

…

"What's going on?" I asked as I entered the History class. To my surprise, the teacher wasn't there. The students' eyes lit up, and the moment I sat on my seat, they started encircling me and asking various questions.

Haley was almost buried in the sea of people, so I grabbed her and pulled her close to my seat. 

I smiled as I answered the questions that I could answer politely, and then asked, "Where's the teacher? Mrs Lin?"

"Oh. I know that." A precocious girl raised her hand. "Yeah you, Alicia."

She squealed and whispered, "He knows my name!!!" Then, she pretended to be cool and said, "Mrs Lin won the lottery, so she quit this morning. Apparently she decided to go on a trip to Europe with her family."

"What?" The students around were all shocked by the news. 

Tara checked her source of information – an interclass group chat that included the school administrators and said, "The school had to find a substitute teacher, and luckily they found one that they could hire to be a permanent teacher– also this morning. The whole thing does seem suspicious. Ed, did you do something?"

Now all eyes were on me, "No I didn't do anything. How can I MAKE someone win the lottery?"

Tara smiled mischievously and then said, "Who knows what you can do with your laptop."

"I can do a lot of things, but the lotto number is really randomized. I mean the drawing is actually completely analog." I replied with a headache.

Suddenly, a student shouted while he ran into the class, "The new teacher's coming! And she's hot as hell!!!"

"WHAT?!" The boys shouted in disbelief. All of the students went to take their seats as the new teacher was coming.

I was drinking some water as I watched the door. Suddenly, a very familiar person entered the classroom.

"Hello Class." Sage greeted with a cold face.

"PFFFF–" I sputtered out my drink from the shock. "GRANNY!?" I shouted in disbelief.

"Edward, wipe your mouth. That's disgusting." Sage scowled. Haley and the rest of the students were alternating their confused gazes between the two of us. 

"Edward, do you know her?" Haley asked, feeling a bit threatened by the teacher's appearance.

"My name is Miss Anna. That's the only name I want you to use." Sage said. 

I finally calmed myself down and whispered to Haley, "Hmm. I met her before."

"Why Granny?" Tara asked.

"Just a nickname." I said, dodging the topic. Unexpectedly, Sage taught pretty well for her first class. And when the class finally ended, I went to talk to her.

"How? And why?" I asked.

"I got punished. Don't think too much." Sage replied casually. I smiled and then teased, "Ohh…They caught you huh."

Sage scowled and then said, "Shouldn't you go annoy anyone else?"

I laughed a bit and then said, "It's a good thing you're sticking around. I wanted to treat you to a meal before, but you had already run away. So, how about tonight?"

"No." Sage replied curtly. "Friday will work for me."

" Damn. Unfortunately it won't work for me."

"Maybe we should just not do it–"

"But I can push my schedule back." I said, cutting off Sage's sentence. She frowned and then said, "You did that on purpose."

I laughed out loud as I exited the class. "I'll text you on whatsapp!"

"I don't have a phone!" She shouted, but I answered laughingly from afar, "No problem! I will send one to your house tonight!"

…

Roof. Lunch.

"Edward!" Jenna greeted cheerfully as she walked towards where I was sitting. Then, she said fearfully, "The roof is off limits. How did you get here?"

"Yeah….I broke the door." I replied with a serious face. Jenna's expression froze and she said, "Are you serious?"

"I'm not. I bribed the janitor to open the door." I replied with a smile. She was finally relieved and sat next to me. As we started eating and talking, Jacob and Elsa joined in, and lastly, Haley and Tara also came to the roof.

We snuck some food from the cafeteria, and some of us brought our own lunch– like me and Jacob who needed the protein. 

"Where's Abraham?" I asked.

"Simping over a senior." Jacob replied teasingly.

"Ah. Got it. Also, both of you…wait, the three of you. Why aren't you guys eating?" I said to Elsa, Haley, and Tara. "You guys aren't doing something stupid like dieting are you?"

"Uh…No?" Haley tried to play it off. 

"I've already eaten in class." Elsa said. "That's true." Jacob backed her up.

Tara smiled and said, "I am dieting. So what?"

"It's lunch. It won't affect much. And you guys need the energy." I said to them, And then, it turned into a 20 minute lecture about how they could still lose weight from eating normally, and just made sure that their body was in a calorie deficit.

"So. Eat." I said as I fed Haley a spoonful of my food. She widened her eyes in shock before she grinned. 

Jenna was jealous, "Can I be fed too?"

"No." I replied decisively, making the group laugh.

"By the way Ed, how did you know the new teacher?" Jacob asked with a dazed look. Elsa was mad and scolded him, "You bitch! You like the new teacher don't you!?"

"What– NO! I'm just curious!" Jacob defended himself instantly.

"Have you seen her naked before?" Jenna asked suddenly. I opened my mouth, but then I realized that I was almost tricked. I looked at Jenna, only to realize that the group was looking at me with shock in their eyes.

"Y–You have?" Haley asked fearfully. 

"What? NO! Also, stupid question. I have never seen her naked! IN this life!" I proclaimed decisively.

'But I did –Multiple times in my previous ones.' I added that internally. 

Then, I widened my eyes as I thought of something. "Wait…why is she here?" 

"Duh… To teach of course." Elsa looked at me in disdain. However, I ignored her and thought deeply about the matter. If it was a punishment, it was a simple matter of getting her into other schools. But why did they send her to be so close to me?

"Hey. Elsa. Did any of our school teachers disappear after we graduated?" 

"Huh? Not that I know of. Everyone is still there." She replied. 

Jenna looked at me in concern, "Why Ed? Is there something wrong?"

"Yeah. Maybe. I don't know yet." I answered while having some tumultuous thoughts.

"I need to go talk to Sage." I said as I suddenly stood up and walked away. 

"Sage?" All of them were confused.

"Ah right. Miss Anna." I corrected, causing them to exclaim in understanding.