Chapter 1
Fal walks to school with his books held tight against his chest. He keeps his head down, shoulders small, hoping no one notices him.
Some students bump him on purpose. Some whisper when he passes. Some don’t even look at him.
No one wants to be his friend. No one ever has.
In Science class, the teacher stands in front of the board with a stack of papers.
“Today’s experiment is simple,” she says. “You’re going to draw the number 609 in a cartoon style, cut it out, and place it above the fan.”
The whole class stares at her.
She shrugs. “Is an experiment. Doing an experiment… is Science after all.”
A boy from the back mutters, “Fair enough… but this is random. Quite random. VERY… random.”
The class laughs.
The teacher claps her hands. “Alright, get into groups of three. One person draws the six, one draws the zero, one draws the nine.”
Everyone starts pairing up immediately.
Fal stays still. As always, he’s alone.
Two cool kids — Gratas and Yuiv — end up as a pair of two. The teacher notices.
“Fal, join those two.”
Gratas sighs loudly. “Miss, this isn’t fair. I’d rather work with William. I don’t want to work with Fal.”
Fal walks over slowly, eyes on the floor.
Gratas rolls his eyes. “Okay, I’ll do six and nine. You do zero, Yuiv.”
Fal lets out a tiny laugh.
Gratas snaps. “Freaking 69 isn’t funny. Who told you to laugh?”
Fal’s smile disappears instantly.
Gratas keeps complaining. “We’re sooo cooked if we work with him. William is so cool, man. I mean Heston, Preston… ahh man, why do I have to work with him?”
Grantas wasn't finished because he kept complaining.
The teacher looks around the room.
“Time’s up. Time’s finished.”
