In the bustling streets of the Manchester, New Hampshire, a boy makes his way along sidewalks more familiar than the back of his hand, no, more familiar than all of himself. The sky was clear, the tree leaves painted apricot orange, the air was at that perfect temperature of cool but not cold. The boy looked pretty average, messy brown hair bangs flowing halfway down his forehead the rest reaching halfway across the back of his neck. Lightly tanned skin akin to light brown sand and emerald green eyes that looked forward with boredom. His build is more skeletal than muscular, but somehow he was unnaturally strong for his looks, and he was of average American height for a boy his age. Dressed in his usual lazy attire of plain white hoodie and black sweatpants, the boy couldn't help but think of thoughts he deemed meaningless, like what would he eat for lunch today, or racking his brain to figure out if today is when a new episode of his favorite anime releases. In the end, the boy, Clay Viotta, was thinking up random thoughts to keep himself distracted as he made his way to school with a brisk pace, dreading the day to come.
After all, today was a day like any other, nothing special nor noteworthy, nothing to bring any thrill or fun to it, nothing new or exciting. While everyone else seemed to be enjoying their lives, socializing, falling in love, heartbreaks, getting through school, and excited for adulthood. Clay never found himself as enthralled by the prospect of socializing and the future, he had few friends and even fewer actually close to him and no aspirations for college nor career. To the unentertained high school senior, life has never been interesting.
Clay had his parents whom he felt close to, but they were... to say the least paranoid freaks, at least that's what he thought of them. His father, Adam Viotta, is an electrical engineer who builds his own home defense system, from an electrified fence to homemade cameras constantly monitoring motion, temperature, sound, and everything else he could build into the devices. His mother, Stella Viotta, worked from home and Clay himself wasn't aware of her career as she was unusually secretive about it, only knowing she remained in her study during the day and out of it by the time Clay would return home. The study itself was constantly locked away and Clay was warned never to enter, otherwise he'd be in an unforgivable amount of trouble.
Other than them, Clay had few others, there were people he spoke to during classes of course, but only during classes. It's not like making friends was easy, to most others Clay was a person disinterested in interacting with others, and he was known for bringing himself unnecessary amounts of trouble. For those that meet his parents, the rumors get even worse, saying that Clay is from a family of flat-earthers or paranoid of the aliens. Those who did try to speak to him would eventually whisper to others of his bland attitude, and ability to attract problems; making him a social outcast. Clay didn't care though, to him everyone else were what was boring and bland, they were uninteresting and could never encapsulate his attention.
Well, everyone other than his only friend, Jade Ziva, she was the only reason he couldn't say he was fully alone. Although, Clay would never say aloud that they were close, he himself wasn't even fully sure. After all, she was completely opposite of him, bright, pretty face, black hair dyed with streaks of green, eyes as blue as the ocean, active and very fit, plenty of extracurriculars, and above all else one of the most popular girls in the school. The only reason Clay even considers her a friend is because she said it first, and somehow makes time to talk to him; always seeking him out despite his bland tone and lack of complete focus. Instead, she'd always laugh when his eyes would look outside the window, earnestly smile when he replies to her usual talks about how her day went, or Clay needing to eat more, or anything really.
Although, being friends with her has brought a fair share of problems, jealous guys and gossipy girls' attention have shifted to Clay after noticing their talks. Clay didn't really mind, brought something more interesting to his day, and it's not like he saw her the way they thought he did. Jade really is sweet and kind, fun to talk to, and above all Clay is thankful she has taken some sort of liking to him, but he himself didn't feel any kind of spark and he doubted she did either. Besides, there was a level of friendship they would never be able to reach, she goes out of her way to talk to him in and sometimes even after school, but Clay himself would never be able to go out and hang out with her as a friend, not with parents who wouldn't let him go more than a mile out from their house.
After thinking fondly of his friendship, he finds himself in front of his school, sighing, he begins to make his way towards the front doors of Manchester Private High School. The school was clean and massive, with a design intending to replicate the looks of some of the top colleges in the country, Clay could clearly see the front of the building long before he had even gotten close. The school stuck out like a sore thumb, out of place, and something every other teen in the area referred as the "rich kid school". Before even getting close, Clay himself is stopped by a group of 5 boys around his age. Clay recognized them of course, they were often seen harassing some of the younger years walking to school trying to extort them for cash.
"Hey hey hey. Where do you think you're goin' skeleton?" The largest one of them said, he was at the head and Clay could only assume he was the leader, but Clay was unable to recall his name.
Despite how bad of a situation this looked, Clay continued to look at them with disinterest, he had no hint of fear, instead his tone was bored. "Just to school, need something from me?"
"That..!" The large one's face seemed to wrinkle with shock, appalled by Clay's lack of fear and frustrated by the tone of his voice, "You mockin' me? You think you some kind of big shot who can do as he pleases just cause you go to that fancy school? Don't think we forgot what you did, skelly."
Uh oh, Clay thought, he himself forgot whatever he did, and his mind seemed to have no intention remembering. Whatever he did, must have been something small, but if it was something not worth remembering, why were they so intent on beating him up over it?
"...You really don't remember do you? You messed with our business! Remember? We finally got you now." The large one says, clearly annoyed and frustrated with Clay.
"Uhhh... sorry but nope, not really. But whatever it was, I'm sorry... I guess?" Clay states, with a tone that shows just how unapologetic he is.
"Oh that's it! Get him!" As all of them rushed towards Clay, fists balled, at the ready to attack.