One
Salem took a deep breath as they stood in front of their new school, more or less just taking it all in. “High school, here we come..” They mumbled, then shaking their head and laughing about how cliche that sounded.
Who am I, the protagonist of a 2012 LPS movie?
Their playful attitude quickly faded however, due to the thought of attending school. It was bad enough that they had crippling social anxiety, but being non-binary made everything about 15 times more complicated. They shook their head at the thought of the thousands of times they’d probably be misgendered. Moreover, they had been wanting to try out for the volleyball team ever since they were little, but what team would they even try out for? There was only a boys and girls team, nothing for anything in-between.
“Uhm.. hello?” A voice said from beside Salem. They looked around for a good 2 seconds before spotting a short boy next to them.
“Oh- hi..!” They said, now realizing he was trying to get their attention. The boy was short, maybe 5’3 on a good day, which was quite a contrast to Salem’s 5’11 (Almost 6’0). He had bright orange hair, which was fluffy and stuck out every which way. His eyes were quite big, which combined with the height made him look like he was in 5th grade.
“I’m new here.. Do you think you could show me where the men’s room is..?” He said nervously, refusing to make eye contact.
“Ah- I’m actually new here too..” Salem said, rubbing the back of their neck. The boy’s eyes widened and he repetitively bowed in front of them.
“Sorry! You’re just so tall- I thought you were older!” They laughed shyly. It’s not like they hadn’t heard all of this before, however this new boy was the first one to apologize as frantic as this.
“Oh no, don’t worry, I’m used to it.”
”You should play volleyball, sir!” He practically screamed, Salem just now realising how loud and hyper he was. They decided not to correct him on the ‘sir’ part, even though they wanted to, simply out of fear he wouldn’t get it.
“I plan on it, actually..” They muttered, the boy’s eyes lighting up.
“Really?! Me too! Hi, I’m Shoyo Hinata!” He said, shaking Salem’s hand.
That’s interesting for sure, usually somebody his height wouldn’t play volleyball, but he could just be a libero.
“I’m gonna be an ace, just like the tiny giant!” Hinata screamed.
Nevermind.
“Well then- how about we find the bathrooms together?” Salem suggested, brushing off the topic of volleyball to avoid saying something rude about Shoyo’s height.
“Waa- Okay!” He replied, clearly excited to have made a friend.
“Bye Hinata!” Salem said, waving to Shoyo as they walked into their 1st period, who was leaving to find his.
They sighed and took a seat at a random desk, reaching into their bag and pulling out a small spiral notebook and some pencils. The rest of the class gradually filtered in, some extremely talkative with friends, others more secluded like Salem was.
’Deep breaths. In and out. In and out.’ They repeated in their head, breathing slowly. You can do this. You’re okay.
Their thoughts were interrupted as the teacher walked in, introducing herself as Mrs. Lee. She was a very average woman. Average height, straight dirty blonde hair, and a fairly average build too.
“I figured that since today is the first day of school, we could just take some time to get to know the class more, hm?” She continued, “So I’m going to go around and call everyone’s name, and I want you to tell the class how old you are and one fun fact about you!” Before Salem had a chance to think, Mrs. Lee called their name. “Salem Ayano?”
Well shoot.
“Ahh- Hi.. I’m Salem.. I’m 16 and um.. I’m non-binary?” They pinched their arm and bit the inside of their cheeks.
Are you crazy? What if they’re transphobic?! Why would you bring that up as your fun fact?? You could’ve said ANYTHING else.
They looked around for judging glares, but as far as they could tell nobody really cared. They all either weren’t paying attention or just didn’t give two shits. Well.. I guess it could’ve been worse. The nervous teen’s cheeks flushed pink and they looked at the ground as Mrs. Lee moved on to the next person.
“Erm.. I’m Tadashi.. Tadashi Yamaguchi. I’m 16.. I dunno I like soggy fries?” A few people giggled at the last part, but Salem was a little bit happy that there was somebody else who seemed just as nervous as them.
“I’m Tsukishima Kei, I’m also 16, and I like volleyball I guess?”
Oh cool, another volleyball player. Maybe this year won’t be the absolute worst. And- hold on, how tall is he?!
