Speech Color: #FF0000 || Thought Color: #BF0000
"You look like you're dressed to go on stage. Are you sure you want to wear that on your first day back to school?" Questioned a judgmental mother staring over her newspaper at her son that had just made his way down the stairs. The son looked down at what he was wearing, it wasn't like his mother was wrong. It was probably an exact outfit of what he had worn on stage at one point. Most of his clothes were his stage clothes, but that's what he liked to wear. Besides, it was his first day back, and he didn't want to just go to school in a pair of jeans and a band t-shirt, he felt like he had to do her best to make a first impression, so he went with one of his more favorite outfits. Though, he had to admit that it was a bit weird he was trying so hard to make a good impression on kids he had known in elementary school. They were his peers, not some big record label that he was trying to strike a deal with.
His outfit wasn’t exactly fancy, it wasn’t a suit or even a nice jacket. He wore a long sleeve black button up, and he had rolled the sleeves up to his elbows. On top of the black button up, he wore a red silk vest that stayed opened, though it was meant to be buttoned as well. His jeans were dark washed and ripped, but instead of his light skin peeking out from the tears, a bright red popped out from the leggings he wore underneath. On his head was gray beanie that hid his mess of dark brown hair. He knew that most kids probably wouldn’t wear something like this, but it was actually rather comfortable and he honestly didn’t care that much about what people thought of his outfits on or off stage.
"What's wrong with looking like I'm on stage? This is my favorite outfit, besides it's not like I'm wearing a costume. These are normal clothes," Adrian shrugged as he made his way to the kitchen to make a bowl of cereal for himself.
"I think it looks fine. Adrian looks like Adrian. But are you even sure you want to go back to school, Adi? You haven't seen these people in like three years," His younger brother asked. "They probably won't recognize you or they'll want to use you for your money. I mean, it seems a little weird to be wasting your time with going back to school for a whole year, when you're as popular as you are. You could be out traveling the world, or making a new album."
"Wow, everyone's so judgmental today," Adrian sighed, sitting down at the table next to his brother. "I'm not gonna back out now. Mom and dad already went through the trouble of enrolling me, plus the school is letting me come in late to avoid crowding and such. I'm going to school, for the whole year so I can graduate with the people I grew up with. Whether they remember me, recognize me, extort me for money, or not."
The two sitting at the table stared at him for a long moment before shrugging it off and going back to eating their breakfast. They all had somewhere to be and to worry about Adrian's first day back would be far from their minds if they were all late. He was sure that there would be more arguments to come, but he wasn't going to worry about those until they were there. He had his own problems to worry about, mainly getting to school and getting through his first day back. It had felt longer than three years since he had been in the small town and living a normal teenage life. He felt like he was going to school for the first time in his whole life, which just made him even more nervous.
Adrian arrived at the school at the time that he had been told to come by the principal. It was right after the bell had rung signalling that anyone getting to class at this point would be tardy. It felt weird to be walking around when nobody else was there. He could see people through the windows already in class, and trying to pay attention to the teachers. He wasn't so sure if going back was such a good idea at this point. A part of him just wanted turn back and leave. I could just leave, nothings stopping me from doing that. I could just go back home, get to work on my next album and be home schooled. I'm sure my friends have already moved on. He thought as he got closer and closer to the entrance.
His pace got slower the closer he got to the doors, knowing that once he walked in there was no turning back. Well, there was, it would be just as easy to leave after entering the hallways, but something kept telling him that the entrance was the point of no return. His legs kept bringing him closer to the doors though, even with his mind racing on the idea of just going back home. He had no idea how these people were going to react to seeing him again. He didn't know anything about them, and it had already been a few weeks into the school year. He had no idea where they were with their lessons.
Everything will be fine, you're worried about nothing. You can catch up, you already took all the tests to show that you were at the right grade level. It'll become normal in a few days, and you'll get to see your old friends again. Everything will be great. He took a deep breath as his hand shakily reached the metal door handle and pulled the heavy door open. He'd just have to face his fears now. The halls were just as empty, with a few teachers rushing to their classes or to the office and a few students passing by to go to the bathroom or run to their classes late. He was lucky that nobody stopped him or even noticed him. He just walked to his classroom in peace.
Though, that peace ended the moment he walked into his classroom. The silence of the empty halls was destroyed by the whispers that grew louder with every additional voice. Soon, the classroom was just filled with people trying to talk over one another as they realized who the new student was. Adrian looked over at the teacher, who had been caught off guard by the sudden disruption and just stared back at the new student. This was not what he had expected on his first day back. His classmates all talking so loudly about him, right in front of him and some even going so far as to shout his stage name to get his attention. He felt like he had just walked on stage and was about to start singing. Maybe his mother was right about the outfit, he should have stuck with something simple for his first day.
The teacher quickly got the attention of the class back in order, though it had taken a minute of yelling over the others and threats of detention. "Everyone, settle down! We've got a new student joining us today, would you like to introduce yourself?" The teacher turned to Adrian.
Adrian blinked for a moment not quite sure what to even say, "Well, I'm Adrian Walker, you can call me Adi or Ian or Adrian, I don't really have a preference. And, I'm looking forward to learning with you and making some new friends while I'm here." That must have sounded so cheesy and stupid. he could recognize a few faces in the classroom of old classmates and friends. Though, he didn’t see any recognition on their faces past the starstruck look everyone was giving him.
"Alright, Adrian, why don't you take a seat next to Lucas there," The teacher pointed to the empty seat. Adrian nodded and sat down, trying to shake of the nerves that he felt and the thoughts of running away. This was going to be his life for the rest of the school year.
Lunchtime finally rolled around after a long morning of class being disrupted every few moments by other students asking him what it was like being a pop star. He tried so hard to just keep himself occupied with the lectures and notes, but with every pause the teacher took, came another question from one of the students. Now he had broken from the group of people that were constantly asking him questions, some things he didn't even know about like the latest celebrity gossip going around. He just wanted a moment of quiet.
He grabbed his lunch and sat down at a table that nobody was sitting at. Before he could even think about eating his lunch, someone tapped his shoulder. She looked over at who had decided to do such a thing and ended up face to face with a girl grinning at him. He tried not to look annoyed about this. It was possible that the girl just wanted to sit next to him or recognized him from before he became Ian Bishop. He didn’t know anything about the girl, and for all he knew she wasn’t trying to bombard him with questions and comments like everyone else. He even tried his best to smile.
"Hey, Ian,” The smile dropped on Adrian’s face as the girl spoke, using that name had become a rather bad sign, “I’d like to introduce myself. I’m Emily, but you can call me Emmy. I’m the head cheerleader at this school, and I was wondering if you’d like to go get some actual lunch together. The stuff here is garbage.”
Adrian shook his head, "I'm alright, thanks. It was nice to meet you Emily.”
"Oh, come on, it’ll be fun! The entire cheer squad is going and maybe we’ll even go somewhere else and have some other kind of fun,” The girl got close and bent forward. Adrian had to look away because the girl’s cleavage was right in his face. He felt absolutely uncomfortable with what this girl was suggesting, it even gave him a sick feeling in his stomach.
”No thanks, I’d rather eat my lunch here,” Adrian muttered.
"You won't be disappointed,” She continued her breath practically on his ear. Adrian had to shrink away. He needed a bodyguard, this school was dangerous.
"I said no," He finally stated clearly and calmly.
"Why not?" The girl asked, offended by this point. She had finally straightened up and looked rather angry at Adrian for this statement. The last thing he wanted to do was start a fight. He had just gotten back to school, but he didn’t want to go out with the entire cheer squad. Both were bad for ideas either because of publicity or because of the girlfriend he already had.
"Because," He quickly realized that this girl was not gonna go away if he just told her he didn't want to go. And if Emily did, it would only happen after creating an awful scene where he looked like the bad guy. He bit the bottom of his lip looking around the cafeteria for anyone to help him out. Unfortunately nobody seemed to want to meet his pleading gaze. He had to think quick, and an idea sparked just as the boy that he had sat next to the entire morning started to walk by. He seemed like a nice guy and he was pretty sure he recognized him from before he left school to be a big pop star. If he remembered correctly, the boy was nice, and he didn’t seem that interested in Ian Bishop. He'd be perfect. He pointed right at Lucas. "Because Lucas is my boyfriend, and we were just about to eat lunch together."
"What? Him? There's no way," The girl looked over at Lucas, with a glaring look of jealousy. Adrian peeked over the head cheerleader’s shoulders to try and look like he needed help. He just needed him to know that this girl was not leaving him alone and he needed his help just this once. “You’re not gay.”
”No...I’m bisexual,” Adrian corrected. Not that it mattered, it seemed. The girl still looked absolutely offended at this fact. Why did he have to please everyone?