Hey everyone! I haven't updated in so long, I feel so neglectful. But on the bright side, I got a new fanfic started! Yay! It's a lot different from what I usually do (ALL of my fanfics up until this one have been Soul Eater based) but I think I can adjust myself to fit these new characters (I do Gorillaz roleplays with my friends a lot, part of the reason why I came up with this.)

Anyhow, enough rambling. The main inspiration for this, and the main reason why I've been gone for so long, is the fact that I've been working on getting my GED. It hasn't been hard, just requires a lot of patience (And a lot of not freaking out when strangers hit on you DX) and a LOT of not drawing on the table (I draw when I'm bored, just automatically, and I'll draw on anything and everything too. I might inculcate that into the story soon.)

But anyhow! On this one day in class I was really bored, and my legs were just wanting to run for some reason, I couldn't sit still. I kept thinking about random stuff and eventually thought of the beginning words to a new fanfic...

So I went home and came up with this!

I hope you enjoy it, it's completely Alternate Universe, everyone's basic personalities are still the same, but a few tweaks have been made here and there, for comedy reasons. I think you'll understand what I mean as we go along.

Anyway, here is chapter Uno!

Chapter 1

The New Girl

This was exhaustingly boring. He knew it was. And he knew it wasn't only he who thought so, because everyone in the room was plagued with this extremely bored looking expression, just like the one he had on right now. Here they all were, at least 14 of them, people, including himself, all sectioned off into stations of two computers per desk, all staring at glass monitors, all looking like zombies who haven't had a dosage of brains in four months.

The empty chair next to him, next to our protagonist here, was starting to annoy him. Everyone else had someone to sit by, someone to relate to, someone to pass little stupid notes to, someone to help out and receive help in return, someone who was here for the same reason they themselves were.

At least that's what he thought these double desks were for, for making friends, right?

He didn't really realize, or he didn't allow himself to realize, that everyone here pretty much hated each other, or at least simply put up with one another. The AEC wasn't an actual school, it wasn't a place these people would be spending a good amount of their life in, it wasn't a truly defining part of their future, the people they met here probably won't be people they'll remember as best friends forever. They were all here for one reason, to get their GED. Whether it's because some of them dropped out of school willingly, or weren't "smart enough" to finish school, or had a pretty rough time in their life and really didn't want to go back to school for a diploma. No matter what situation made them come here to get their GED, it didn't really matter, that's what they were here to get.

But in our little protagonist's mind, every single person here was a good friend to their desk mate. A few sat together constantly, he thought that they must be the bestest of friends, and others switched between different people day by day, he thought of them as the social butterflies, the ones with many friends.

But no one has ever, ever sat next to him. Not even once. He thought he'd never make a friend in this place.

Our little protagonist here had no one.

He reasoned that it might be because he was too smart, perhaps. He intimidated them, maybe. His mother always did tell him he was a smart kid. Never could it be said that he fell into the category of those not "smart enough" to finish school. The blond kid behind him, who was always playing on his phone when told not to, he believed he fell under the category of one not smart enough, because he never listened, so there was no way he could learn anything, right?

And the girl next to him, he believed she fell under that category too. Instead of paying attention, she just whispered to the boy. Constantly, she'd be talking to him, asking him questions about his life, his goals, why he's here, where he's planning on going. Often our protagonist listened in on these little conversations they had. He found out that the blond haired boy wants to join the army once he gets out of here, it's simply a need of his, a want, a dream. Our protagonist took that almost offensively, not that it was bad to have a dream, but, why didn't he have one? Why didn't our protagonist want to do something with his life after this? Was it just this, was it just get your GED and get out of here? Everyone here has some sort of dream of theirs. Even the tall, quiet girl who always sits at the very very back of the room has a dream, she wants to become a nurse someday. The boy who is sitting in front of our protagonist has said many times that he wants to become a veterinarian. The brunette over there at the very front of the room, she wants to own her own pencil designing company someday. The kid who is always sitting next to her, no matter where she sits, wants to become a freelance photographer. The older, tan skinned woman with the long black hair who today came in with a black eye, she wants to prove to her family that despite dropping out of high school and having a child at 16, she can get her GED and she can make a living doing something besides whatever she's doing now. And that guy over there with the glasses, he wants to become a teacher someday.

Our protagonist sighed, realizing that everyone here had made their dreams known in one way or another. He listened to them, even though they didn't really talk to him, he listened, on breaks, in the bathroom, as he was walking out of the building to go home for the day, he listened to what they told each other, and he discovered one by one that each person in this room with him had a dream, they had a specific want in life.

But he didn't.

Not only did he not have a dream, he didn't have a friend here either. Maybe you had to have a friend to have a dream, or a dream to have a friend, he didn't really know. But without one or the other, our protagonist felt like he really didn't have a purpose in life. Maybe that's why he ended up dropping out of school during his depression, maybe that's why he had depression to begin with.

He gave out another heavy sigh and shifted his eyes back to the computer screen, when suddenly, from the front of the class room, in came a young woman, with bangs covering her eyes completely. She walked to the front of the instructor's desk and turned her back to the class and bent over to sign her name in the attendance log. Our protagonist couldn't help but notice the extreme contrast between black and white in her symmetrically striped shirt, and was pretty much hypnotized by the perfect pattern. In fact, he was so engrossed in the design of her shirt, that he didn't even realize it was coming closer and closer towards his very eyes.

He shook his head and looked at her face, noting how she was taking in her surroundings to see if there was anywhere else to sit, she kind of didn't feel comfortable sitting next to the guy who just stared her down as she walked over here. She supposed that was the reason why everyone else seemed to have the same idea, as there truly were no other seats to take. She mumbled something in a foreign language, barely audible for our protagonist to hear as she put down a black bag underneath the chair and then sat down, trying to avoid eye contact with the man next to her, who was still glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

She unfolded a piece of paper that had some login information on it, and proceeded to type it into the computer so that she could begin her online class, just as the others were already doing.

There was a sudden silence, a sort of calm to the atmosphere as our protagonist tried thinking of what just happened. A good few minutes went by before his head perked up and he looked around the room.

Everyone has a partner, a friend, as he reasoned.

Someone was finally sitting next to him.

Someone was finally going to be his friend!

He put the pieces together in his head, and he suddenly formed a big goofy grin as his heart leaped with joy at the thought of finally having a friend, a partner, a study buddy, someone to fill the annoyingly empty chair beside him!

He looked at her, staring accidentally, and started thinking about what their future friendship might be like.

Of course he'd first have to ask for her name, they'd have to start with small chat after finishing their own private sessions online, maybe someday he'll have a very hard quiz, and she'll end up with the same one, and they'll use some form of tapping code to tell each other the answers they did know, and they'd both ace the test and be friends forever and ever and...

"Stop staring at me." He heard a stern, feminine whisper come from the girl, his new desk partner, and he was immediately pulled from his dream world.

"Oh, uh, sorry..." He scratched his head and turned back to the computer screen, heating up with embarrassment at the fact that he was indeed unconsciously staring at the poor girl. She probably thought he was a creep by now.

To be honest, though, she looked too young to be here. He was 25, but she looked to be only 19 or 20. Surely not of drinking age yet. Unless she was really 82 and had some weird aging disorder where she got younger as she aged, like that Benjamin guy on the movie...

But anyhow, she seemed friendly, for the most part. Well, like, she did at least sit next to him and not just go to the teacher and ask to be relocated to a different room like the other girl did. Tina, he thought her name was. Yeah, she did that.

But this girl sat next to him, and she was staying. And she looked kinda cute too, her chin and cheeks did at last, as he couldn't see anything higher than her nose...

Oh crap, he was staring again.

Out of the corner of his eye, but still, what if she-

"I said Stop. Staring. At. Me." She seemed to verbally capitalize each word as it rolled off her tongue. Our protagonist cringed and switched his attention back to his work. He noted that despite her starting long after he did, she was already on the same chapter as him. Now how did that happen? Magic? Was she a time travler? A time lord? Gasp! … Was she the Doctor?!

Quite suddenly, our protagonist was face to face with the most gorgeous set of green eyes he had ever come across, and Asian ones at that. Wait, she was Asain?

But more importantly, she was right up in his face, and she looked angry.

"What part of "Stop staring at me" do you not understand?" She angrily whispered. He concluded that he must have been staring again.

"Uh, well, I uh..."

"Stuart! What part of not talking during testing have you not figured out yet!?" The instructor shouted from her desk. Our poor protagonist felt like he was getting the heat from two angles now. Meanwhile, the girl who had no less then two seconds ago been up in his face with fury, was now facing the computer, somehow already on the next chapter of testing material. How on earth was she so fast?

Our protagonist whispered a short apology to Mrs. Robinson, the instructor, and went back to his testing page, figuring he'd think more about making friends with the cute little stripy girl after they were both finished. He avoided looking at her too much after that incident, but she was too darn adorable to simply resist altogether. Every now and then he caught a glimpse of her little green eyes glancing back at him menacingly, and he'd quickly correct himself and go back to his work. He had soon become somewhat of an eye ninja, successfully catching the quickest glances without making too much of a scene. At least, he felt he didn't make a scene, but the fact that he was trying so hard to look at her was probably as obvious as an elephant having walked into the room.

Before he knew it, though, the girl had already finished the last chapter and was getting up to leave. Stuart hadn't even finished the chapter he was on when she walked in an hour ago.

"Wait!" He quickly logged out of his assignment, he figured he'd finish it from home later, and jumped up to meet her face to face, although he did have to keep himself somewhat bent over to see directly into her eyes, er, bangs, as she was much shorter than he was.

"Yes?" She asked in a rather ticked off tone.

"Um, wha' migh' yor name be?" He asked, hints of a Cockney accent dripping off his tongue. The girl rolled her eyes, invisible to everyone but herself, and whispered, "Xia." before turning on her heels and heading over to the desk to sign out. He followed her, and signed out right after her, quickly copying her time onto his so he didn't waste a second looking at a clock. For whatever reason, something made her actually stop in the hallway and keep the door open for him, and when he came out, he mumbled a short "Thank you." before turning to face her and waiting as the door closed before saying anymore bold words, or what was bold for him since this was the first time he ever talked to anyone here who wasn't an instructor or principal or something.

"Um, well I'm-"

"I know who you are, Stuart. Why were you staring at me during testing? It was very distracting. You almost made me fail test 4 and I missed 3 out of 10 questions on test 5."

"Uh, I'm sorry luv, I didn' men teh-"

"Save your "Sorrys" for the instructor, because I don't work like that. I came here, not to socialize, not to make friends, not even to speak a word unless I absolutely have to, but to get my GED and get out of here. Understand?" At this point she had her index finger to his chest, and she was poking him hard, but the green glasses clad lad was too caught up in the fact that his little friend was actually talking to him to even care that it was negative what she was talking about.

"Hey, 2D Boy, snap out of it and answer me!" She snapped her fingers in front of the man, who still wasn't answering whether or not he understood what she had told him five seconds ago.

"I'm sorry, repea' teh question luv? I was, uh... Wai' wha' do yew mean by 2D Boy?"

"Repeat? Seriously? You heard nothing I just said?" She sighed and leaned away from him, returning her hand to her side so it was no longer in the position it was when she was poking at him. She mumbled something, again in a foreign tongue, and walked away swiftly, totally ignoring the boy who just now decided that maybe he shouldn't head in that same direction just yet.

Maybe he'd wait for tomorrow before he tried chatting her up again.

So, was it enjoyable, or horrible?

R&R, pleasies :)

I remember a while back having a book that told you how to write in different accents. I don't really remember how to do the Cockney accent, but through reading other fanfics I just adopted what I learned and tried using it here with 2D.

And no, I'm not changing Noodles name to Xia.

If I could avoid a flame, I would, but constructive criticism in itself is lovely! You know what's even better? Cookies! But the internet has yet to give us the ability to give actual cookies through the computer screen, (Get with it, Google! By next year I wanna see Google Cookies!) but if I could, you know I'd totally give all my readers cookies!

And not just to bribe them either ;)

Until next update!

-The Symmetricalist