Xeric rolled over on to his stomach, gripping his pillow over his head so he could try to drown out the alarm clock that was blaring over to his now left. There was a hard collection of banging on his door, followed shortly by a loud, unnecessary, and rude "GET UP!" from his mother. He groaned in protest, only to be responded to with another bang. He rolled over and sat up. He stretched his arms and stood, yawning. He walked to the bathroom, to be greeted by an open window with a steady, freezing breeze rolling in. I thought Florida was supposed to be warm! He thought angrily. He walked over and slammed it shut, locking it and closing the curtain. He turned on the cold water, really cold water. Xeric waited a minute, then stripped down and stepped in, flinching a little, but then letting the water wake his body up. He washed himself quickly and stepped back out. He wrapped a towel around himself after drying off mildly. He grabbed the pajamas that he changed out of and walked back to his room, throwing them in his dirty clothes basket. He turned to the dresser and grabbed a pair of boxers out, putting them on. He walked over to his closet and rifled through the clothes, not all of them as clean as you would think. He picked out a pair of black semi-skinny jeans, and a loose light gray t-shirt with a 'Rainbow Suicide' standard black logo on the front. He slipped on socks and his size 10 Converse All-Star Low Tops and stood back up. He grabbed his backpack and walked out of his room, down the hall, and out of the front door, no goodbyes or anything. He hadn't eaten breakfast either, he rarely did. Although, he took a small toothbrush with a toothpaste ball in the middle inside of a small bag. He took it out and brushed his teeth, taking out a water bottle in the process, swishing and spitting. He turned around and-putting the brush in the bag again-walked over to his car, fishing the keys out of his pocket. He unlocked the door, standing in the weather for a minute, smiling. He opened the door of his 98' Camaro, hopping in and starting it up. He backed out, no music on, he was going to wait for Ellie to come in and turn it on. He went down Shore Drive, getting St. Augustine South Drive, going faster, he was already late. He stopped outside of the driveway of a big brown house near the end, just as a girl came bounding out of the front door, her stuff inside of her backpack askew. Although her outfit and her light, long blond hair were both neat. She hopped in and shut the door as Xeric started going again. "Hey there, Ellie." He said, smiling as she smiled back. "What's up Xeric?" She asked, plugging in her iPod and playing 'The Thespian' by Alesana, which was her favorite song at the time. She acted as if she was drumming on his dashboard, the both of them smiling. He stopped again, waiting for his second carpooler, Rino. His house was a little smaller, orange, with a sidewalk, a small porch, and stairs to get down from the hill that he and his parents lived on, 'On top of the world, or at least the town' he would say. He waited for a minute, glancing at the clock in his updated stereo. If Rino didn't get out here in the next 30 seconds they were going to be late. He honked and stared at the door. Rino finally stepped out, walking slowly with his eyes looking red and puffy, as if he'd been crying. Xeric watched him closely as he got in, same with Ellie, even though she was more discreet about it. Rino was being unusually quiet. Xeric turned around, putting the car in Park. He watched Rino for a few more seconds. "Hey Rino, what happened, what's up?" He asked, getting to the point just as Ellie turned too and grabbed his hand. "What's wrong bud? Did another bird hit your window?" She asked, wanting him to at least smile with bringing up a childhood memory. When Xeric first moved in three years ago, they were hanging out in Rino's room, when something hit his window. All three of them freaked out and ran outside. When they got out there, they found a bird who was lying on the ground still. Rino started crying and held it, waiting for it to wake up. When it did it surprised all three of them as it jumped up and pecked Rino on the head then flying away. It caused all of them to burst into hysterical laughter. The reference didn't work on Rino that time, which made Ellie think something was really wrong, Xeric too. "You can tell us." Xeric said. Rino looked at them and shook his head. "Nothing." He said. "Come on, we're going to be late." Xeric nodded slowly and turned around, starting to drive again. He still watched Rino in the rearview mirror though. Rino looked out the window with what seemed to be something like longing. Xeric pulled up to the long dirt road at the mouth of the deep dark woods that contained the worst thing known to man. Ryka Ronder High School. It was the one place where hormones raged more than in middle school, teachers got serious about stuff, and all the kids were trying to find an awkward place to fit in, which they all were. It was where Xeric hated, and where he was mostly hated. He just walked by everyone, no eye contact or acknowledgment of any kind. He just decided it to be better if he was ignored and he ignored the ignorant. He let any and everything that was said about him or to him roll off his back. It didn't matter who these people were or who they would be, nothing would make a difference to him. He looked around and noticed everyone was staring at him though. Not Ellie or Rino, though. He turned around, they were gone. Probably off to homeroom. He heard a collection of whispers as he kept walking down the hall:
"...did you hear..."
"...yeah, it's the next..."
"...the next descendant!"
He watched everyone and everything he possibly could out of the corner of his eye. Just waiting for it to get freaky deaky like it usually did when things like this happened. The school day went on like that, just a drone of whispering about this 'Next Descendant' person. Xeric walked out of the school at the final bell, waiting for Ellie and Rino. Ellie arrived in a few minutes and smiled as she got in. "Hey Xeric, Rino said that he had to go home early and that he wasn't coming." He nodded and started driving away, wondering what was up, Rino never got sick or anything of the sort. He looked at Ellie. "Hey, did you hear the people talking today?" he asked. "Yeah..." she said. "About this next descendant person?" Xeric nodded. "And the weirdest part is, they were all" He got cut off when Ellie said the most bizarre thing. "Talking about you!" Xeric slammed on the brake, causing the car behind them to erupt into fits of raucous horn beeps and bunches of profanity bombs. He looked at Ellie, ignoring all that. "They were what?!" He asked frantically. Ellie blinked, thinking he had already known. "They were talking about you, being the next descendant of some famous Roman Gladiator." She said. "Didn't you know?!" Xeric couldn't believe what he was hearing. He started going again, almost rear-ending a car, it started going though at the same time, too. He let out a relieved breath and tried to take in what was all happening. He looked at Ellie. "Want to help me research this?" He asked her. She nodded eagerly, an energetic smile forming on her lips. She started bouncing in her seat. "Yes, yes, yeeees!" She said. He chuckled and got them to his house.