Nicholas POV
I dodged another critter as I skated through Lincoln Park on November 1st at exactly four o'clock in the afternoon. I'd moved here from Tokyo, Japan about two months ago with my mom and very loving eight (but sometimes irritating) siblings. The transition from "Tokyonian" life to America had its bumps on the road. The language wasn't a hard difference, since my kaa-san (mom in Japanese) was actually an American. She insisted on teaching us English anyways, so I wasn't worried about having to have a translator with me on the first day of school.
That would've been kind of embarrassing though...
ANYWAYS... the whole story about the "living in Japan thing" but having an American kaa-san wasn't some big deal. She met my tou-san in college after she took a trip with some of her friends to Tokyo. He ended up being their tour guide and pretty much, the rest is history.
Again, I'm getting off point, which I tend to do quite a lot since I've got some sort of mental disorder called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) that makes me kind of talkative and quirky. Well... I doubt that even if I didn't have ADHD, I would've turned out hyper anyways.
AGAIN. I'M GETTING OFF POINT!!
My name is Nicki Whyte and yes, I go by a girl's name. You can say I'm weird and my response will be a simple thank you. I'm sixteen years old and a sophomore at Olivette High. Haha, go Olives am I right? In all seriousness, our mascot is an olive. How lame can you get? Also, another glimpse into my personality was my very eclectic sort of clothing. By eclectic, I mean rainbow. And no, I'M NOT GAY! At least... I don't think I am! No. I'm definitely NOT gay. Nope. Do not like other guys. Anyways, the hardest thing about moving halfway across the world wasn't the people and activity. In fact, Tokyo was way more active than Chicago! No, leaving all of my friends behind was the toughest thing I had to do. Hey, don't laugh! It's hard trying to find someone like me! Well... I actually haven't found anyone like me. You see, I'm different because I have things you guys would call "powers". The thing is, I don't really know what I have. When I was probably about nine years old, really odd stuff started to happen. One time, I hugged my brother Caleb and for some reason, I felt heat almost... surge within me. Later on, I started to shock everyone I touched, making me realize that I'd somehow gained electricity. It was strange! For a few weeks up until then, I'd had stomach cramps and constant fever. When that happened, it basically disappeared. I know, weird right? It seems that sometimes, when I come into contact with certain people, I feel this huge wave of warmth wash over me. Of course, I called it absorption since it felt like I'd absorbed almost like a part of them. I don't really know all the details of it since I don't know anyone else with my powers. Therefore, since I have trouble controlling my emotions most times, strange incidents would happen. For example, I accidentally burned my best friend when we got into a fight at school. That earned me a lot of teasing for a few weeks. Then, I accidentally shocked my pre algebra teacher! Because of these weird little accidents, some people started to steer clear of me. Of course, there were always my four friends who stuck with me no matter what. Now that I've moved, I haven't found anyone to really hang out with. Unfortunately, I've sure as heck have made a lot of enemies who hate my guts.
Ah, the wonderful perks to school.
Anyways, not only am I different in personality to everyone else in this world (except my tou-san), I'm different in... other ways as well. I pushed those thoughts out of my head and focused on not hitting anyone as I skated. Unfortunately, because I was so deep in my thoughts, I didn't see the one guy I was almost skating head first into. It wasn't until the last minute that I realized it.
"WATCH OUT!" He yelled, diving left.
I managed to swerve right to avoid him. With a half laugh, I got up and retracted my skate wheels. My skates were something that I'd engineered where they could be both regular shoes and skates at my disposal. I walked over to him and held out a hand as he disgustedly wiped the leaves off his head.
"Sorry about that. Need a hand?"
He glared at me but accepted my hand. I hauled him up then let go, laughing nervously.
"I'm really sorry about that. What's your name?"
He looked about ready to both strangle me and pull out his own black hair.
"You just about bowled over me after I yelled at you to watch out then you're asking me what my stupid name is?" He cried, slapping his forehead. "What is your problem!?"
I can't help but feel a little bit hurt over what he said. 'Nothing's the problem with me. I'm perfectly fine!' I huffed, offended by his comment.
"Nothing! What's YOUR problem?"
"MY PROBLEM? That's RICH coming from you!"
"Excuse me, I just spaced out or something! Doesn't that ever happen to you wise guy?" I snapped. "Get off my back! And I was just trying to make amends!"
"Good job!"
"Not like you care, but I'm Nicki Whyte."
His eyebrows raised.
"Ahh, you're that guy from my math class who's gay!"
"Wh-WHAT!" I cried in disbelief. "I'm not gay!"
"Well, your clothes say it all!" He shot back.
"I just so happen to like a lot of color!"
"Whatever White Flag Nick!"
My fists instinctively curled into fists. 'That stupid nickname! I hate that ridiculous nickname!'
"Well what's your name? By all means let's make up a stupid nickname for everyone!" I snarled.
"Luke Tanea."
"Ah! Okay then Luke SKYWALKER!"
"Oh I'll get you for that!"
My fingers twitch, my instincts begging me to just-
"Whoa man, you're sparking!"
I blinked, then realized that my hands were sparking. I took a deep breath and the sparking stopped, thankfully. 'Keep your calm Nicki. Don't let him antagonize you to the point of where you do something you'll regret.'
"Sorry. I think you were mistaken." I stuck out a hand. "I think we started out on the wrong foot. Let's start again. I'm Nicholas Kaito Whyte."
He stared at my hand then sighed, taking it and shaking it firmly.
"Luke Tanea. You're a sophomore, right?"
"Uh, of course I am? I'm in your math class."
"Dude. We take Algebra II. That's a junior math class. Sooo... I didn't know if you were like a junior or something like that."
"Oh... I guess you do have a point." I laughed, rubbing my neck. "I have a way of not thinking sometimes."
"Pfft, I think that happens a lot."
"I get distracted easily."
We began to walk down the path together, talking about ourselves. Or maybe it was more me talking about myself. Luke was quietly listening.
"And then, my whole family is REALLLLYYYY big! I have eight siblings. Raina, Matt, Sammy, Sarah, Ari, Caleb, me, Nathan, and Natasha and we adopted Nathan from foster care and omg he's such a cynic it's not even right and Natasha is in the foster system right now and we're working on adopting her!"
For some reason, I heard a snort. I looked at Luke who had this funny look of a cross between amused and confused.
"What?"
"You're so different from me. So talkative. So open. Well, on the open part I don't have a problem with. It's just I would rather stay quiet and listen. Talking is just not my thing and I meet you who literally is a chatterbox."
"Why thank you!" I chirped proudly.
He shook his head, laughing softly under his breath.
"Not only do we act differently from each other... we even look like polar opposites."
I looked at both of us. I wore colorful pieces of clothing that clashed against each other and he wore more simple, softer colored clothes. He had normal black hair and amber brown eyes while I had my tou-san's looks of wavy turquoise hair and deep purple eyes.
"Huh. We really are opposites."
"Yes we are. As for my home life, my mom is a great doctor and my dad runs his own business. I have an annoying twin sister-"
"Wait. Your name is Luke, and you have a twin sister," I said slowly with a smirk.
He groaned.
"Yes. Yes I do. And before you ask, NO HER NAME IS NOT LEIA! IT'S LILIAN!" He grumbled loudly. "For my parents being so smart, I think it's kinda stupid of them to name me something so ridiculous."
"Well... You could've been named something like really bad... Like Lucas!"
He scowled at me, crossing his arms.
"My name IS Lucas you idiot!" He snapped.
I couldn't help it when I bursted out laughing once again.
"Pffft! Lucas, just like the last name of the man who made Star Wars!"
"Trust me, I'm fully aware," He growled.
"Fine, can I call you Luka?"
"Oh HEAVEN no!"
I stopped laughing, straightening up and cocking my head curiously at him.
"Why not?"
"Because that's what my sister calls me because there's some sort of stupid romance tv show where they turn into animals or something. One of the character's names is Luka and I will not be named after some cheesy romance tv character!" He declared indignantly.
"Oh, Miraculous Ladybug?"
He blinked, looking at me like I'd grown two heads.
"Yeah. That's the one. How'd you know?"
"I love that show! And it's not a romance!!" I exclaimed in disgust.
"Pfft, you watch a little girl's show?"
"IT'S NOT FOR GIRLS! So... what should I call you?"
"Luke. I already told you!"
I waved my hands in a placating way.
"Okay okay, just making sure man. Hey, wanna go with me to get some books? I mean, it's fine if you don't want to since I'm a bit of a dork and you're sort of cool and all and popular at least that's what everyone at school says but-"
"Nicki, you're ranting."
I blinked then laughed.
"Sorry. I do that. Though seriously, wanna hang out for a bit?
"Hey, why not?"
"Then come on then!"
Together we walked off, bickering over Miraculous Ladybug because hey...
Why not?