An Unknown World

Unable to recall such a dream, Barry just did the preparations for school like it was normal.

After doing all that, he went down the stairs to eat breakfast with his parents before going to school. After that, he was sent to school by his mother as his father couldn't send him today because his father had to rush for an important meeting regarding water-related issues. Not only that, the reason why his mother was the one who sends Barry to school is because she has other errands to take care of at her hometown.

When they have arrived at school, his mother drops him off in front of the school's main entrance gate so that it will be faster for Barry to reach his class on time.

Barry then gets down from the car, tilts his body slightly to the back and waves his hand to his mother as he walks calmly on the way to the entrance gate. His mother also waved her hand back to him before she continues to drive to her destination.

When Barry reaches his class, he enters the class and goes to his seat.

Unfortunately, when he arrives at his seat, it seems that one of the boys in his class is sitting down on his chair chatting with their friends.

But luckily, the boy noticed his presence before he could even say anything and the boy halted the conversation with his friends before letting him sit on his chair.

As he sits down on his chair, he looks at the time on his wristwatch and the time on the wall clock in his classroom to make sure it is always accurate and confirms to himself that he still has 15 more minutes to spare before class starts at 12pm.

He then prepares himself to get ready for today's class. After he has done that, he only then realizes Andrew's and Brian's bags at their seats.

When Barry saw their bags, he talked to himself.

"Why are the bags just here while the owners are nowhere to be seen in the class? Isn't it dangerous to just leave it alone just like this? Plus, it is now just 15 more minutes left before class starts. They should be in class by now! Well, I guess it is... their own choice about when they should be in class, huh?" he wondered.

While he was talking to himself, he shifted his gaze to the front and notices that Angelica's and Alice's bags were also in the same situation as Andrew's and Brian's bags.

He then said to himself. "Huh? What? They too leave their bags just like that? Wow... They're quite brave to just leave their bags like that, if I have to say. If it were up to me, I would have to think twice about doing such a thing."

While Barry was busy talking to himself, Andrew and Brian are heading towards the class while talking to each other.

"What took you so long to come out of the library? You know you are just wasting your time trying to get her attention. Just give up on her. There are still much more girls out there who are better than her. For now, just focus on your studies. Alright? Come on, we will be late for class if you are acting like this!" said Brian.

Andrew pouted and answered him in a depressed tone. "I know that! It's just that... why? Why? It's just so hard to get her attention unlike 'that' guy!?”

When Andrew and Brian reached the class and went to their seats, they noticed Barry has already arrived and was now sitting at his place.

When Andrew saw that Barry was now inside the class, he flinched and thought to himself as he gritted his teeth. "Oh, speak of the devil... He's here."

As Barry was busy playing around with his pens, he suddenly realized that Andrew and Brian has arrived and stops playing with his pens to avoid any embarrassment from his classmates. Even though many of those in the class have already seen it, but just kept quiet and ignored his presence.

Barry then puts away his pens and greeted them in an awkward manner and tone of speech. "H-Hello guys. How are you guys? What a beautiful weather we're having, isn't it?"

Andrew just spontaneously responded to Barry while trying to keep his composure. "Hello, Barry. I'm fine. The weather today is beautiful indeed."

Brian just raised his hand and smiled at him before sitting down on his chair.

Soon Angelica and Alice also just arrived at the class and went to their respective seats in just 3 more minutes before class starts while chatting with each other joyfully.

While Barry tries to regain his composure to prepare himself for class, he looked around at his surroundings in the class as everyone was talking with each other.

He suddenly feels like something is weird about the atmosphere of the class. And somehow he realized what is it that made him feel weird.

Ever since the first day of school until the present time, Barry only now realizes that he has taken none initiatives to make friends nor does he ever considered anyone inside the class as a friend.

This is because he has gotten used to acting as an introvert for a reason since he was at his primary school, which he brought until he is now Form 1 in his secondary school.

All of his classmates have already made friends with each other, except for him, even if he has already got to know a few of them.

This made him feel out of place with the class, but he snaps himself out of it and continues to regain his composure for him to focus in class.

Not long after that, the class teacher enters the class and then the subject teacher enters the class after that.

Soon recess time comes, and the students came out from their respective class to go to the canteen or elsewhere.

Barry was the last one in his class to come out of class as he cleans up his place first before heading to the canteen.

After that, he finally walks out of class to get some fresh air while bringing his snacks to eat outside as usual.

As he walks around the school while eating his snacks. He could see that there are still several students hanging out at their own classes.

While he was on the way to the canteen, he has finished up all of his snacks, which led him to look for a trash can without a lid on it for him to throw his rubbish easily. But there was no trash can to be found anywhere.

This led him to search for it across the whole school compound, starting from the hallway to the school cooperative and the hut next to it. None of those places has any trash cans without a lid, they were all closed with a lid on top of it.

When he finally reaches the canteen, he has finally found a trash can without a lid on it at the other end of the canteen. This made him jump for joy.

He then went to wash his hands at the concrete sink near the entrance of the canteen.

When a boy saw that Barry was at the canteen, the boy took the chance to approach him.

As Barry has just finished washing his hands and was about to leave the canteen, the boy called him. "Hey!"

When Barry heard it, he was surprised which made turn around to see who was it and found the person who called him just now.

The boy has dark brown hair, small brown eyes and has tanned skin. He is shorter than Barry's height. He has a slightly chubby body, but there are some visible muscles on his arms and legs.

The boy came up to Barry and said. "Hey, do you want to join me next time to eat at the canteen? Because I've seen you always eating on your own near the school hall. So? How about it? Want to join me to the canteen next time? We can get to know each other that way. Oh, and by the way, the name's Ethan. How about you? What's your name?"

Barry was shocked for a while. He then said to him. "My name? My name is Barry. Okay. Nice to meet you, Ethan."

Both of them then reached out their hands and shakes each other's hands.

Soon, Barry and Ethan walked back to class together.

When Barry almost reached class, he suddenly stumbled upon a trash can that has no lid on it next to his class at the staircase.

He then thought to himself. "I walked that far all the way to the canteen searching for something like this... just to find it this close to the class."

After that, he sighed, and face slapped himself.