Tadashi's P.O.V

Hiro sat in unnerving silence as Tadashi drove the both of them to school. At the age of eleven, Hiro was embarking into high school for the first time.

Hiro had chosen to skip his last three grades when he had been given the opportunity just that summer. Tadashi had constantly asked him if he was sure with his decision to skip so many grades at once, but Hiro had confidently responded that the work had been childish, and when Tadashi had asked if he would miss his friends, Hiro quickly responded with a wave of the hand and a smile before turning away and walking out of the room. Tadashi found it strange but didn't want to question and push Hiro any further.

Now, he regretted the decision as he glanced over at his younger brother in the passenger's seat, fiddling with his hands with the slightest look of panic on his face as he stared blankly out the windshield. Tadashi inwardly sighed.

"Hey." He said softly but got no response. "Hiro." He said in his normal volume. Still nothing. "Hiro!" He half shouted.

The young boy with shaggy raven colored hair jumped in his seat and turned to Tadashi, startled.

"Hiro, you okay?"

"What? Yeah! W-why do you ask?" He stumbled, giving an obviously fake grin, trying to convince his older brother that he need not worry.

Tadashi gave his brother a smile. "Hey, don't worry so much. You'll be fine. It's just high school."

"Yeah…" Hiro gave a nervous little laugh and rubbed the back of his neck.

Tadashi stopped the car at a red light and turned towards his brother. He gave a small crooked smile and ruffled the boy's hair.

"Hey! No touchie the hair!" Hiro yelled, trying to shield the black mess on top of his head from his brother's wrath.

"Great vocab, bonehead." Tadashi laughed out. "What are you, five?" He grinned and started driving when the light turned green.

Hiro huffed and slid down in the car seat, but Tadashi could tell that the boy's mood had already been lifted. Maybe Hiro skipping some grades wasn't too bad after all…

Hiro's P.O.V

Hiro sat down at the desk furthest from the front of the classroom. It was the last class of the day, and Hiro was already exhausted. Was it going to be like this the whole year?

When Hiro had first entered the school, he found that his homeroom was at the opposite side of the large building from Tadashi's. He was the first to enter aside from a young woman with a name tag that read Miss. Cereno. She had long strawberry hair that was tied up in a ponytail, brown eyes, and freckles that were slightly scattered across her face. She was seated at a large desk in the back of the room, complete with a computer, and organized stacks of papers, binders, and history books. She looked up as Hiro entered but then went back to last minute tidying before the bell rang. Hiro sat down in the front row of the room, somewhat eager to start his first day.

Soon, other freshmen started to slowly trickle into the room, and eventually, most of the seats were filled before the bell that started the day rang. Miss Cereno stood to address the class as soon that the chime sounded and headed towards the front of the room.

She looked at all the faces in the room who were silently watching her. She cleared her throat before addressing the class with the standard procedure.

"Good morning everyone. My name is Miss. Cereno. I am a fairly new teacher here at the school, this being my second year. I teach history for every grade except yours." She smiled and continued. "But that's alright, because I get to see your lovely faces every day before classes."

Miss. Cereno unfolded a piece of paper that she had been holding.

"I will be taking attendance in just a moment before I hand out your schedules for the year. If I mispronounce your name, please correct me, as we have the next four years together. Now, is John Artweld here?"

"Here!"

"Mayara Cayria?"

"Present! But just Maya please."

"Alright. Tiana Forris?"

"Yup!"

"Tantor Garrold?"

"Yo."

"Hiro Hamada?"

Before Hiro could even respond, a voice in the back of the room burst out laughing. Hiro turned to see a boy with curly, brown hair, tipped back in his seat, and covering his mouth with his hand.

"Who names their kid Hero?" He laughed. "Like, did they think that with a name like Hero, the kid would feel like they were something special? Hero. WOW. Haha, they must have been thinking that the kid would just suddenly develop superpowers and save the world from aliens or something!" The kid started crying with laughter and soon, other kids were chuckling as well.

"And who might you be?" Miss. Cereno asked; delight, clearly not in her voice.

The kid wiped his eyes. "Tommy Mackinar."

"Well, Tommy, I do not take kindly to disrespect in this room, and I'm afraid you'll find no one in the school who does. Should I catch another act like that again, you will be suspended from school." She said with an agitated kindness in her voice, though Hiro could tell that she was slightly mocking him.

"What?!" Tommy shouted.

"I do not tolerate bullies Mr. Mackinar, and should I ever hear or see it again, your parents will arrive home with some unpleasant news about their son."

Tommy looked as though he was about to say something, but decided against it, sitting back in his seat.

"Now," Miss. Cereno said, regaining control over the class. "Hiro Hamada, are you present?"

Hiro reluctantly raised his hand and spoke a quiet "Here…"

Miss. Cereno nodded in Hiro's direction, clearly understanding the unease he felt, then went back to the attendance list.

Throughout the day, Hiro had received strange looks from those who walked by him in the halls and had classes with him. He could hear people whispering about him behind his back all day, and when he raised his hand to answer a question, which seemingly was all, he received glares from his fellow peers. During attendances, the teachers always seemed to pause at his name and raise an eyebrow as they called it out, with a few giggles from the class.

Hiro also had two other classes with the boy named Tommy, who, in both, sent a smile Hiro's way that sent shivers down his spine. He quickly found that Tommy was extremely popular with almost half of the freshmen due to the fact that he was the grade jokester and a slightly better baseball player than the rest. And he always had a group of friends with him as he walked the halls.

By the end of the day, Hiro had learned to stay to himself, and try to keep attention away from him. But he found that almost impossible as he stuck out like a sore thumb, being the youngest in each class, and an obvious genius. Most of his teachers had called on him multiple times after asking an advanced question, as if testing out his intellect. And every time he answered correctly, the class murmured with comments such as, "Show-off" or "Brainiac" or even "Freak."

Hiro was mentally worn, and just wanted the day to be over. And after another long 45 minutes, the bell rang and Hiro was set free.

A.N

Hey guys! Soooo first fanfic, but I hope you like! If you have any suggestions, PLZ lemme know as I'm making this up as I go along :P Anyways, will maybe have one or two more intro chapters before we get into the good stuff!

Oh! And my greatest of thanks to Sora Matasuki for inspiring me into writing this! Go check out her stories, they're AMAZANG. ya.