Chapter Text
It was a beautiful day outside.
Actually scratch that, to say the day was simply beautiful was a massive understatement. It was absolutely gorgeous, stunning, exquisite or whatever other adjective you could think of could be used to describe that afternoon. The sun was shining brightly, its whimsical rays casting down upon the town of Bard, a place so small that if you blinked too fast, you’d miss it. It was still large enough that some type of transportation would be needed to get to where you wanted to go, but it would also take less than an hour to drive from one end of the town to the other.
It was one of those little, large towns.
It was the type of place where everyone knew everyone and people would always share a knowing smile and wave at one another as they went about their ordinary lives. And today was just that kind of day. The temperature outside was comfortable and warm enough, the sound of the local wildlife was rampant with activity in the dance of nature and the soft trickling of the small river that ran through the center of town could be heard if you listened hard enough.
It was nearing the end of summer and many were enjoying the last of the warm days. Fall would be coming within the next month, give or take a few weeks and then it would be thick sweaters and long pants until the next year. Those that were lucky enough to take advantage of the weather did so by going out for casual strolls in the many parks or by cycling alongside the river. The most simplistic of people would just spend hours on end, sitting amongst their sheltered porches and enjoying a chilled drink to sip on before deeply sighing in content, basking in the laziness of the day.
Unfortunately, there were those that were unable to enjoy the wondrous day happening.
Where were they? Well, they were stuck in a building that was in the very center of the town, a large building where parents sent their young teens to be tortured for nine months every year. To most, it was called prison but to others it was known as Bard High School, home of the, well, bards. Although almost every single other education facility tended to have a somewhat cool animal or mythological creature, this school for some reason unknown to everyone, chose to represent its students with a professional storyteller with a funny hat that basically ceased to exist nearly two hundred years ago. However, this didn’t deter the students that entered this school and many wore the mascot with pride because although it was true their mascot sucked, things could be worse. They could be the more northern high school in the city of Bard, which was Buzz High School, home of the flies.
Bard High School itself was a pretty average school, with nothing overly special about it. Unlike Buzz High School, which was one tall building with no escalators that rested on a dry and barren plot of land, Bard High School had multiple buildings and a decently spread out campus to accomodate it's flow of students. All of the buildings were one storey aside from the head office, where the administrative office was located on the second floor. The school had eight buildings in total and were as follows.
Building one was the administrative building, where all the teacher offices, lockers, and lunchroom were located. Building two, had all mathematics related subjects such as algebra, geometry, calculus and so forth. Building three, had all science topics and included a teeney, tiny robotics lab. Building four was a special building, it included all the core subjects but at a much more advanced level and was dedicated for students that required more of a challenge; the library and student council was also located there where students interested in political stances at the school could enroll and get voted to represent the student body. Building five was the arts building and included all forms of art; from painting to photography to music and even had a mini theater for wanna-be actors. Building six was a strange mix and didn’t actually have any core subjects but was dedicated to random electives that might be a potential interest for students; it had courses such as mechanic shop, woodshop, and lesser popular classes like fashion and photography. Building seven was for social studies, including English, geography, history, and language.
And finally, building number eight, was where all athletic sport equipment was located and behind it were several fields dedicated to each sport including football, soccer, volleyball, track, swimming, baseball. The building even had a small gym for those interested in bodybuilding and who wanted to simply work out without having to commit to a sport. Building eight was unlike the rest and it was considered the pride of Bard High School where many young athletes refined their skill and several had gone into pro-athlete sports, representing their small and not-so-well-known town. It had a refined locker room for athletes and even private showers, which had been privately funded by star athletes that owed their success to the school. The buildings were aligned nicely, with building one being at the front of the property and all other buildings were placed behind it. Buildings three, five, and seven were on the left side and right across from the odd numbered buildings were buildings two, four and six. Building eight was in alignment with building one and placed at the far back. To top it off, a small fountain was right smack in the middle of campus, a once bronze statue of a bard holding a lute standing in the middle of it with water pouring lamely out of the lute’s sound hole.
Ironically, the most beautiful day of the year happened to land on the first day back to school, with summer having come to an abrupt end and leaving nearly all the students dreading their return back to school. For the hopeful freshman, it was the start of a new journey and for the tired seniors, they were just happy that the journey was almost over. Especially for one particular student, located in building seven and who was currently in the middle of his third period of the day, twelfth grade English. In the second row closest to the front and right next to the window, sat a young adult of seventeen who had just entered his last year of high school. He was dressed in dark camo knee length shorts with black converse, a white baggy long sleeve that was rolled up to his elbows and finally, a pink baseball cap sat on his head, with brown shaggy bangs sticking out from it.
Despite it being his official last first day of high school, Timmy Turner barely paid attention to what his English teacher, Mrs. Plawker, was saying and found himself unable to focus on her words. He was too busy staring out the window, his light blues eyes focusing on the baseball field that was off in the distance. The brunette was fiddling with the pencil on his desk while his knee bounced in an anxious tick of his. It was hard to concentrate on what was going on inside when he wanted nothing more than to go outside. He’d rather be out in the hot sun, listening to the thwacking noise of his bat smashing into an unsuspecting ball, the smell of the earth as he ran through the bases, kicking up dust and dirt in the process. The sound of cheering from the side-lines, his parents and younger brother cheering him on as he scored a home run that would lead the team to victory.
But instead the young athlete was stuck in a dull classroom with off-white lighting from the half burnt out lights hanging above, in an uncomfortable desk that was making his ass go numb and absolutely bored out of his skull. Timmy sighed loudly, further resting his head on his hand while the other began to spin the pencil on his desk. It wasn’t like he wasn’t the only one bored, almost no one took the first day of school seriously since they were pointless to have. Every year, since he was a freshman, the teacher would introduce themselves as if they hadn’t already taught them in previous years and spend the next thirty minutes going over a boring syllabus that told them what to expect in the classroom and yada yada, blah blah blah, whatever.
Timmy blew air past his lips, licking over his prominent front teeth. He moved again, this time leaning back in his seat and stretched his legs as far as he could, unable to keep himself still for very long aside from his eyes that remained glued to the window. He kept staring at the baseball field and looked for anything that might be different since he was last there four months ago. The bold yellow sign that said BARD HIGH SCHOOL looked like it got a fresh coat of paint along with the rooftop of the dugout, but otherwise it looked pretty much the same. The overturned soil, the prominent white lines that outlined the diamond and the lines of empty bleachers basking in the sun.
Man, he could not wait for tryouts this year and was excited to be able to play again.
Summer had been great while it lasted but he had been unable to play, too busy working to save up money for university or at least that was the plan. His parents had offered to cover the fund but he wanted to prove that he was capable and slaved away five days a week at a crummy summer camp job with a bunch of other teens that wanted the same thing; money. By the end, the fullness of his savings account made dealing with annoying, snot-nosed kids worth it but he was itching to get back into the sport. The idea of playing again made his leg twitch and he strummed his fingers against the desk while daydreams overtook his thoughts again. He imagined himself hitting a ball so hard it soared over the fenceline, the entire school standing and cheering his name in unison.
“Timmy, Timmy, Timmy! ” they chanted as he flew around the field, stomping onto each base. A few girls would scream their confessions and faint at the smile and wink he’d give them before he slid towards home base and-
“--placed in groups of four for the year. Any questions?”
The mention of a group assignment snapped Timmy’s mind from his fantasies and it was suddenly interested in what Mrs. Plawker had been yammering about the last twenty minutes. A group for the year? The entire year? What the hell was she talking about? He looked expectantly at A.J. and Chester, his best friends since primary school but A.J. was deep into writing notes from another subject, typical, and Chester was also staring out the window, a dreamy look on his face. Also typical. Clearly they hadn’t been paying attention either, all three of them engulfed in their own heads. Shit. That was the con of all of them having some form of unchecked ADHD.
A raised hand shot up, from the student that was directly in front of Timmy. He blinked twice, not having noticed the latter in front of him but now that he had, he couldn’t look away from the other because he had absolutely the weirdest hairstyle he’d ever seen on a person. It looked like he was wearing a weird ice cream shaped hat but instead it was dark brown hair that was styled to stand up. It even had a swirl at the very top and was missing but a cherry to go with it. The comparison between the two things made Timmy stifle a laugh into his hand. If becoming a pro baseball player didn’t work out, perhaps he should give being a comedian a try.
“Yes mister–oh –Mr. Neutron, you have a question?” Mrs. Plawker said, her pointed face looking from her clipboard back to the boy in front of him. Although her voice sounded genuine, the pause she had taken made it sound flat and almost tired. Timmy briefly wondered why but his question was quickly answered when the student in front of him replied.
“Is working in a group setting mandatory or optional?” he asked in a voice that sounded much too serious and mature for a seventeen year old. It also sounded quizzical, as if it were trying to find a hidden meaning in her words instead of listening to them. “Are we able to work alone if permitted?”
“Ah, ” Timmy grimaced, sharing a soured expression with his own reflection in the window. “He was one of those. Good luck to whoever gets stuck with him.”
“Mandatory,” said Mrs. Plawker and the boy’s shoulders visibly slouched in disappointment. “And I’ll also be the one to assign your groups–oh don’t start with the noise.” She said, waving off their protesting groans and harsh whispers to one another. Timmy looked at Chester and A.J. again, who were now paying attention and looking as panicked as he felt. They had been friends since elementary school and had never been separated. Not even when schools made students work in sets of two, they always were an exception for the rules.
“It’ll be good for you to interact with other students,” their teacher continued, tapping the clipboard with a sheet on it to silence the class. Once they went quiet, she adjusted her glasses while peering down at the paper. “-and it will prepare those wishing to pursue a higher education in the years to come for when you find yourself in courses where you know no one. Afterall, group work is not learned until it is practiced.”
“So is tolerating other people,” the boy with the swirled hair muttered under his breath, the chair creaking when he leaned up against it. It took everything in Timmy not to scoff but he rolled his eyes at him, sharing a glance with AJ, who had also heard the words. He motioned his hands towards the other in such a way that said ’Can you believe this guy?‘ AJ shrugged a him, not saying a word and they turned their attention back to Mrs. Plawker.
The tall teacher had plucked a pen from her jar of utensils and clicked it loudly, the sound making the situation all the more ominous and dramatic than it needed to be. She slowly started to walk up and down the front of the class, glancing from student to student as she scribbled down onto her sheet. The room was so thick with tension, Timmy swore he could hear the blood running in his veins. As Mrs. Plawker took her time writing, whispers amongst the classroom started up again and Timmy took the opportunity to swivel in his seat to face A.J. and Chester.
“Are we seriously not going to be able to work together?” A.J. whispered, looking absolutely bewildered. He glanced at the rest of the classroom, and began to chew at his lip in nervousness, his eyebrows furrowing. Timmy could understand his worry, he was incredibly anti-social and hardly ever conversed with other people outside of their small friend group. Plus he was an easy target for bullies due to having a smaller-than-average stature compared to most boys his age. Had it not been for Timmy, who had been his saving grace the last couple of years due to his athleticism and hotheaded temper, he would’ve succumbed to being homeschooled as his overbearing mother had originally intended.
“We have to talk to the teacher after class,” Chester interjected, looking between them. His normally relaxed features looked much sharper and alert, which was unusual for his naturally aloof personality. “We always stick together, there’s no way we can let this slide. I literally have never spoken to anyone in this school aside from the two of you.”
Finally it was Timmy’s turn to voice his opinion. He started by shaking his head in disapproval at the whole group idea and started loud-whispering, not realizing that the rest of the class had grown silent. “Dude, I completely agree!” he said, scoffing loudly. He completely missed AJ’s frantic expression and throat slicing motion to shut up. ”Like what the fu-”
“Ahem –Mr. Turner?”
Timmy spun around so fast to face the front in his chair he collided his knee into the leg of the desk, making a loud ding sound that was his bone hitting metal. Along with the noise, there followed a piece of his soul and the breath from his lungs because god dammit did that hurt .
“Ouch-Fu-I mean! Y-yes?” he said, voice cracking, which caused a few students to giggle. He felt his face flush hot and he quickly cleared his throat, trying to redeem himself. “Sorry, yes, Mrs. Plawker?”
“Since you so kindly volunteered yourself-” she said, peering at him from behind her glasses. More giggles ensued and his face turned even hotter. “-I will announce the oh-so lucky members of your group first.” She finished with a content hum before her eyes scanned over her clipboard, which in that moment to Timmy, felt more like a judge getting ready to hand out a life sentencing. The brunette felt himself sink into his chair, cheeks still feeling hot from embarrassment. He pushed his baseball cap down, trying to hide his face from the rest of the classroom, while Mrs. Plawker tapped her the sheet of names, glancing back at him.
“Timothy, you’ll be placed in a group with Daniel, Bobby, and…James.” she said, making eye contact with each boy as she listed them off. At the last name, she looked at the boy in front of Timmy and he groaned internally, his inner monologue banging its head on the walls of his mind. Swirly top–as he nicknamed him in that moment–visibly stiffened.
“The four of you will be in a group together for the remainder of the year,” she said, swaying her pencil around as she spoke. “Also, as I assign your groups please feel free to move closer to your group mates, you’ll be working on a lot of assignments this year so I recommend sitting next to one another to make in-class work easier. If needed, I can always rearrange the desks.”
Timmy blinked, mouth dropping open to protest but Mrs. Plawker had already moved on, listing the groups and the sound of hesitant chairs moving and murmurs filled the room. He looked back at the boy in front of him, James apparently, who had only slightly turned his head to give him a side eye over his shoulder. He was startled to see deep blue eyes, much darker than his own, staring back at him. Thick eyebrows were furrowed, an annoyed expression plastered on his face. Before Timmy could take the moment to say hello, James looked straight ahead again, leaning forward on his desk as if he were trying to get away from him. Timmy wasn’t sure why but the expression and action pissed him off. Why the fuck was he looking at him like it was his fault they were grouped together?
Well, maybe it was a little but still!
He glared at the back of his head, kissing his teeth while he tried to figure out if it was worth shooting spitballs at him but his flow of thought was drained when he caught a glance of the back of his jacket. Swirly-top was wearing a yellow and black letterman jacket that had an atom on the back of it, clearly from the science club and basically a target sign for bullies. The more he looked at him, the more he remembered seeing this guy around school last year, particularly in building four but he didn’t know much about him aside from the fact that he had some weird friends and everyone called him Nerdtron since he was apparently really smart, like Einstein smart . Aside from that, he didn’t know anything else about him. He didn’t hang out with nerds, with A.J. being the only exception.
People like him just didn’t intermingle with people like them. That's how it always went right?
The observing glare at the back of his head only lasted a few more seconds before a tanned hand waved in Timmy’s face, startling him from his thoughts. He whipped his head to the right and saw a blonde boy sitting to his right where A.J. normally sat, who had moved several seats away. The curly haired blonde was absolutely covered in freckles, even more than Chester and they stuck out significantly despite the tanned skin he had. He was dressed in what Timmy thought looked like an outfit from the 90s with all its multi-colours and strange patterns. When he smiled at him, he noticed his front teeth stuck out a little, not as much as Timmy’s but he noticed a very obvious gap between his teeth. He held out a freckled hand in greeting.
“Hi! My name is Bobby, Bobby Square!” he said enthusiastically, grabbing ahold of Timmy’s hand before the brunette could even reply and shook it aggressively. “It’s nice to meet you! I just transferred over here from another district this summer!”
“Uhmm--hi?” Timmy said, unsure on how to respond to such enthusiasm. He looked behind him in search of Chester’s help but he was gone too, having moved to the other side of the room and instead a dark haired, older looking teen sat in his place. He had an undercut and his hair was tied back, a gold rounded earring dangled from his ear. Despite the hot weather, he was dressed in a long sleeved black plaid sweater with a white shirt underneath and dark jeans with white converse. His sharp face was much more familiar and Timmy recalled him hanging out with that weird goth chick that chewed him out once for eating meat and the dude with the red beret at the back of the school during after hours. He remembered seeing them during baseball practice but similar to the nerd in front of him, he didn’t know very much about him.
“Hey,” he greeted with a voice much too deep for someone his age. He gave a gentle nod, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m Daniel, but you can call me Danny. I prefer it, only my mom calls me that.”
“Hiya Danny!” Bobby said loudly, unable to grab the other’s hands since they were tucked away in his armpits but he gave a little wave at him.
“Hey,” Danny repeated in the same monotone voice, giving the blonde a half hearted smile and another nod of acknowledgement. He looked back at Timmy, blue eyes piercing into him, as if he could see his soul. “Timothy–Timothy Turner, right? You’re on the baseball team or something aren’t you?”
“Timmy,” the brunette corrected, a little annoyed at the use of his first name. No one called him that, not even his parents, unless he was in trouble. “Yeah, I play baseball, have been since I was ten. I’m trying to get a scholarship and eventually go pro when I get older so I can get out of this friggen’ town.“
A snort from the fourth group member, who hadn’t bothered to introduce himself yet, caught Timmy’s attention. The annoyance he felt from before was suddenly back and the athlete narrowed his eyes before kicking one of the legs of the desk in front of him, making the other student jerk at the abrupt push forward. Now when it came to confrontation, Timmy was all for it and was not afraid to get his hands dirty and well, if that’s how this nerd wanted to play then he was all for it.
“Oops sorry,” he said in an obviously feign apologetic tone. “Your name is James right? James Nerdtron? ” he said as annoyingly as he could, irritation growing more and more. Seriously, what was with this guy? First, the dirty look that was completely uncalled for and now he was making fun of what he wanted to do with his life? They’d never even spoken before and he was already acting like an asshole.
“It’s Neutron, pronounced Noo-traan.” The teen said, swiveling around in his seat quickly. He pushed his glasses up and shot a glare at Timmy, who returned the look. “And I go by Jimmy but I’d prefer you call me Neutron, turnip.”
“Ironic you call me turnip when your hair is literally the shape of one.” Timmy shot back quickly, unimpressed by the lame comeback. He could feel his body starting to tense, his knee beginning to bounce again from anxiousness as the air between the two of them thickened.
“Ironic huh?” Neutron asked, the sunlight from the window catching his glasses. His eyebrows raised in mock surprise. “Wow, I’m impressed you even know what that word means. I’m even more impressed that an athlete such as yourself has the capability of forming a coherent sentence.”
“Ho-kay!” Danny suddenly spoke up while clapping his hands together, interjecting himself into the conversation before Timmy could retort. “We’ve barely been a group for two minutes, there’s no need to argue already, alright? Seriously guys, it’s literally been two minutes. I know we’re all unhappy about this but let’s not, okay?”
“Danny is right!” Bobby said cheerfully, unphased by the thick tension. Or perhaps he just wasn’t aware of it. Timmy was getting the feeling he didn’t pick up on social cues that well. “We should take this time to get to know one another and to become friends. Mrs. Plawker said we would be grouped together for the entire year so we might as well get along!”
“Yeah well–He started it!” Timmy said childishly, pointing at the other teen. The two of them glared at one another and to be even more childish, he stuck his tongue out at him.
“Yeah and I’m finishing it. So knock it off.” Danny said, his voice getting low. He looked at them with intense blue eyes that showed no room for any type of arguing. Timmy kissed his teeth, wanting to argue further but something about the teen made him uneasy so he just shut his mouth and slunk back in his seat. He heard Ji-Neutron shift in his seat, clearly uncomfortable with the look too and he also remained silent.
“Good, moving on–” Danny continued, pulling out his cell phone; it was a nice opaque white color with several stickers on it. “What are your guy’s numbers? I’ll make a group chat on WazzApp so we can communicate easier and plan meetups.”
“Oh, I’ll give you mine first!” Bobby said, pulling out his own phone. It was a bright yellow and had about five different charms dangling from it, all beach themed. Timmy hesitantly pulled out his phone, which was lime green and had a pink crown on the back of it. Out of the corner of his eye, Neutron also grabbed his phone from the inner pocket of his jacket, it was a black color with an atom symbol on it that matched the one on his letterman.
“I can see why they called him Nerdtron.” Timmy thought, inwardly rolling his eyes but wisely he said nothing, at least he wouldn’t when Danny was around. They each took turns giving their numbers to the other teen who tapped the information quickly into his phone.
“Great thanks, just making it now and I’ll add you guys to it in a sec,” Danny said, tapping rapidly on his phone.
“Oh! That gives me an idea, we need to come up with a group name!” Bobby said with a smile, bouncing in his seat. He snapped his fingers as an idea popped into his head. “What about… Bodatija? It’s the first two letters of each of our names!” Timmy grimaced at the idea but tried not to show it, forcing a smile when the blonde looked at him expectedly.
“Already got it bud,” Danny said, still tapping away on his phone. Timmy and Neutron’s phones vibrated, except for Bobby, who’s phone made a weird charm noise and the three boys looked at their flashing screens.
“Group project?” Neutron said, once more sounding unimpressed and this time his eyebrow was raised in true surprise. “Kind of plain, don’t you think?”
“Well, I think it’s the perfect name, Danny-boy, absolutely terrific and per-fect.” Timmy said, putting emphasis on the word perfect. He wasn’t even looking at Danny as he spoke but instead looking at the fudge head in front of him, wiggling his eyebrows. He didn’t actually give a shit about the name, he was just doing it to annoy Neutron and it seemed to work when he shot him a dirty look. He said nothing though and Timmy made a mental score to himself. One to zero.
“Yeaaah, okay, anyway,” Danny said, shaking his head at the idiotic behavior. He picked up a small notebook that was on his desk, flipping it several pages before he came to a pause. The crispy white paper was full of notes and other things that Timmy didn’t recognize. Was it a journal of some sort?
“So it looks like the first project is due at the end of the month,” he explained, looking up at the three of them. “-which means we have a few weeks to finish it.”
“It would be best to start it now then, so we can have plenty of time to prepare!” Bobby added on pointedly. “Plus if we finish it early, we can spend more time balancing our other studies.”
“What was it again?” Timmy asked, leaning his head on his hand and not bothering to sound interested. He was too busy looking at A.J. and Chester, who had both been put into different groups. He didn’t know what their exact group members were but A.J. was talking with the kid with the red beret that Danny was friends with and he seemed to be more at ease, not looking as panicked as before. Chester on the other hand, looked stressed and he was warily talking to a brunette girl with a high ponytail and Danny’s goth friend; likely afraid to break out in hives if they touched. Timmy wondered if he could convince Mrs. Plawker to switch Neutron with Chester so at least he wasn’t near any girls due to his supposed ‘allergy’ to them. In reality, he really would just get so stressed to the point he'd develop a week-long rash.
“A thousand word essay based upon Lord of the Flies. We have to interpret it from a philosophical view-point and Mrs. Plawker assigned each of our groups three questions to answer and we have to select two. We also need to create a short comic from one of the scenes we use as reference.” Neutron answered even though the question was directed at Danny. He looked at Timmy curiously, head tilted and added on. “You can read right?”
The silence between the two of them was absolutely deafening and Timmy felt his eyebrow twitching in annoyance. He stood abruptly, leaning on his desk with one hand while the other was raised, pointing an accusing finger at Neutron. He opened his mouth, ready to tear him a new one when the bell rang, signaling that the class was over.
“Class dismissed! Please make sure to communicate within your group and ensure that you have a strong answer to the question I have assigned by this Friday!” Mrs Plawker spoke loudly over the noise of scooting chairs, dragging backpacks and chatter. Everyone immediately started packing up, all of them eager to go to the lunch room and to get out of the stuffy classrooms.
“Alright well, this was fun. I look forward to the next class.” Danny said dryly from behind Timmy, standing up with a grunt. He was surprised to see how tall the raven haired teen was, he had to be at least six feet tall and towered over his stature of five feet six inches, well seven inches on good days. “I’ll text the questions to the chat and we can send ideas and go from there, I guess.”
“Sounds like a great idea!” Bobby said, also standing from his seat and looking like a midget in comparison to Danny. He gave them each a little wave of good bye. “See you guys tomorrow! It was great meeting you all!”
Timmy didn’t reply to either of them but closed his still open mouth, lowering his hand to his side. He glanced at Neutron when he stood and was alarmed to find how tall he was too, nearly as tall as Danny though maybe a few inches shorter. The brunette stared down at him with steel blue eyes, and smirked smugly before slinging his bag over his shoulder. Timmy felt his face flush from frustration and he clenched his teeth as he watched the fudge head walk away, joining the crowd of students trying to squeeze out the door.
One to one. The score was all tied up, for now.