Chapter Text
William Wisp stood before the imposing structure of Centurion High. He clutched a small notebook as his stomach churned with nervous excitement watching other students climb the steps into the building. It was his first day at this new school, his first chance to find his place in the town of Rockfall, and his first chance at shaking off the things that happened back in Deadwood. “Ok Will, just walk in like you own the place. No pressure.”
William took a deep breath before taking his first step, directly onto his untied shoelace. William tumbled to the ground. Several people snickered in disdain as they walked past the humiliated boy. William quickly scrambled to his feet, a bright flush of embarrassment covering his pale face.
William stood still for a moment in a vain attempt to compose himself before dropping to one knee to tie his shoes. As he worked at the laces he felt someone tap him on the shoulder causing him to start slightly in surprise. Looking up he saw a boy with raspberry red hair smiling down at him. The boy held a familiar black notebook that William suddenly realized he had dropped when he tripped.
“Hey, are you alright that looked like a pretty hard fall”. The red-haired boy's voice was almost overwhelming in its cheeriness. “Umm yeah I’m fine” William replied, everting his eyes in embarrassment. “That’s good, getting hurt would be a pretty bad way to start the year huh? You dropped this by the way.” The boy handed William back his notebook and helped him to his feet.
“Thank you” William replied awkwardly as he hugged the notebook close to his chest. “No problem, I’m Dakota by the way.” “I’m William.” Dakota cocked his head slightly, “Are you new? I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.” “Yeah, I just moved in recently.” Dakota nodded. “Well see you around William.” “Yeah, you too Dakota.” Dakota gave the shy boy one last smile before grabbing his skateboard and running up the stairs into the school.
William walked carefully to his homeroom class and quickly took a seat near the back of the room. Looking around the room he immediately spotted Dakota talking to a few people at the front of the classroom. Besides that, no one caught Williams’ eye. Everyone looked very normal. Just an average class of average students.
William set his notebook on the desk and idly flipped through it. Poems and thoughts covered each page in neat handwriting. Writing poetry was something he had always done to get his mind off of things. William took a pen out of his bag and was about to start writing before his homeroom teacher got up from her desk and called for everyone's attention.
“Good morning class, my name is Mrs. Druthers and I will be your homeroom teacher for the year. I recognize quite a few faces but let’s go around and have everyone give their name and a fun fact about themselves starting with,” Mrs. Druthers checked a list of names, “Dakota Damascus.” Dakota got up and walked to the front of the room with a bright smile.
“Hi everybody I’m Dakota, I play soccer and I think superheroes are pretty cool.” “Thank you, Dakota. Next up let's have William Wisp. Do we have a William Wisp with us today?” William pulled his hood over his head before slowly walking up to the front. “Ok, what's the best way to introduce yourself, hmmm.”
William arrived at the front of the room and suddenly remembered something he had written a few weeks ago. "William Wisp is a 16-year-old boy that usually goes unnoticed. He walks around with his head down and typically wears a zip-up black hoodie over a t-shirt. He's got dark denim jeans and sneakers, and under the hood of this hoodie, he has dark eyes and this black messy hair. He has this slender build a soft face and a fair complexion."
The room was deathly silent for a moment before William realized, “Oh my god did I just say that out loud?” Mrs. Druthers looked confused, “Ok uh thank you, William, you can sit down now.” William nodded and hurriedly walked to his seat. “Great first impressions, start the year off with everyone thinking you're a freak great move. Why did you have to write that anyway?”
William hugged his notebook close to his chest as more students went up to give introductions. William glanced up and saw several people staring at him only to look away. “Well, at least they aren’t laughing this time.”
William stared forward and spaced out listening to the monotonous drone of voices until the door to the classroom opened with a loud creek. A shy-looking purple-haired boy wearing a purple t-shirt and headphones entered slowly. As he glanced around the room his eyes met Williams for a brief second before he turned to the teacher.