Prologue: Surviving the new school.

Office of the principal, December 8.

"So, you're not up to the task? Dang, that's…just letting me down. I'm disappointed in you girl, I expected so much more. Guess I'll be needing a new assistant"

"No, no it's not like that at all P...principle Mclean…I did everything I can but…" Chris enjoyed the familiar sound of someone nervously clearing their throat "they just...don't want to move forwards. Success means nothing to them I can't….I can't get into that headspace….into helping them in vain...wasting my time"

"Yeah…i've never really gotten that one either…but hey, I think you've nailed down the issue here"

With a wide smile, Chris shuffled through the papers covered in ex-students, or "failed tutors" to the board, finding the one he was looking for in the maybe pile. Someone who wasn't thinking of success, and with JUST the right kind of consequences should they fail.

A red pin came down between the eyes of the photo. The last option.

Cody Anderson.

Anderson residency, January 22

With a groan, Cody Anderson rubbed the sleep from his eyes and peeled himself off of his des-

"Argh!".

Slowly peeled his face from his desk, minding his back.

Blinking his vision clear, Cody stared at the paper in front of him. It was a review sheet for yesterday's…he moaned and clutched his head….Math exam, right…and luckily it was the last thing he had to finish except-

"The Paper! The history paper!" flinging his chair aside, Cody rummaged through the piles of clothing to find any sign he'd actually made progress on the history assignment. He found it when he knocked over his school bag in his hurry and dozens of papers came spilling out. Cody froze then gingerly reached down, unable to believe his eyes.

"I…did it?" That…was a relief. No waiting in the snow for the cyber-cafe to open but he should probably proofread it while he still has time...

"Cody"

He doesn't have time anymore.

Cody turned to the door where a six-year-old brunette was watching him scrabble around on the floor and giggling softly to herself. This is his cute little sister, Cassandra Anderson.

"Mom says breakfast is ready, sooo" her face scrunched into a playful imitation of wrinkles "clean up, wash up and get your butt down here" chuckling at the word butt.

Cody slowly looked around the room...

"How much of this mess is yours?"

"Just that bit" Cassandra said, sweeping her arm across.

"Come here you little-" he chuckled

"Nuh-uh, last one downstairs and washed has to clean" she said, sticking her tongue out. Cody barely had time to smirk before she was out of the room "and I already washed!"

She was such a little pain sometimes. She was lucky she was so cute.

"Cody! Casandra! Breakfast is ready!

His mother's voice was heard around the house so they'll come down for breakfast, to which Cassandra ran out of the room she shared with his older brother with joy. Cody wishes he had the same innocence. He looked at the little green pillow on his bed for a moment, letting his mind wander until a light icy wind brought him back to reality, damn it, he left the window open again.

Cody took a general look at the room, can say was a bad idea to paint half of the room green and the other pink, anyway, he opted to start by laying both his bed and his sister's, because she simply forgot, did not even take care of the blanket of the Powerpuff girls who bought her a month ago. Then he started to sort out his disastrous desk where he had dozens of books on different subjects and one or the other programming because of his interest in computing.

Once he Cody his old laptop in the backpack, he saw the miniature figures of Spider-man and Edward Elric of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga. He should buy the volume that will go on sale this week from Demon Slayer after how much Sam recommends it. He turned off the room's heating and went to his shared closet, compared to Cassandra's colorful clothes, his clothes were bland with only collar shirts and the typical blue jeans.

Cody took his clothes and went into the bathroom to take a good hot shower, focusing his mind on how to plan the day. Breakfast, going to school, chatting with the boys, surviving Duncan, search for a job, studying in his free time, repeating the next day.

"Good morning, honey, I hope you don't mind that there's only cereal"

"Relax, mom. I like cereal."

Cody sat at a somewhat worn oak table, watching as his mother, Jayden Anderson, combing Cassandra´s hair while the little girl ate a couple of pieces of apple with happiness. The teenager turned on the small plasma TV to hear some noise.

Good morning Toronto, it's looking to be a fine day to kick off the 22nd of January. The weather is a beautiful overcast day with a possibility of light snow later in the evening. We expect a slight increase in temperatures today, climbing .3 degrees celsius before a new polar event will bring out temperatures back to the traditional freezing across the whole country, so better dress warmly. We'll start with the news Today with the essentials …

Cody stopped paying attention and focused on a piece of mail paper, highlighting in red letters the word denied, surely another rejection letter from the bank to get another loan. The situation was getting more complicated, more now that Cody looked as Cassandra hugged her mother's grown belly.

"Honey, do you do your homework?"

"Yes mommy, Cody help me with my math problems. But he makes me fall to sleep every time he explains about addition and subtraction" Cassandra replied while her mother sat down near her and started eating breakfast.

"Ha-ha, very funny Cassie. This is the last time I will help you with your homework, you lazy koala" Cody said sarcastically, looking around to ignore his sister's response. He has to give his mother credit, to maintain the house this clean even when she comes late at home from working as a cashier in an Italian restaurant five blocks from home.

"Eh! Mommy! Big brother is mean to me again!" Cassandra cried.

"Hey you two, please stop fighting or you will have to help your father to clean the basement" in an instant, both were silent and returned eating their respective breakfast, this made the mother giggled. Jayden decided it was time enough to get the tea from the small stove, what a better way to start a day with a green tea and a clean kitchen. She needs to remind her husband to go to the store and buy some chicken so Cody can make dinner for Cassandra in case both come late at home.

"Let's go, Cassandra. It's time to go to school, go get your stuff" once the little girl left the kitchen, the small atmosphere of happiness faded.

"So another negative of the bank?" Cody said, without looking at his mother.

"Yes, your father is still asleep in the room, so much bad news has him mentally exhausted."

Cody took his mother's hand in a sign of support. They were in this together. That's why he strives to maintain the scholarship in high school and, on average, aspire to a decent college. Of course, her mother didn't like her son working and studying at the same time, instead of having fun as teenagers do, but Cody's money really helped in these times of crisis, could only hope for a miracle from God to get them out of this situation.

Cody and Cassandra said goodbye to their mother to head to the bus station stop where the Andersons' youngest daughter took the school bus. Not before Cassandra kissed her mother's belly to say goodbye to a future brother or sister. Always waiting with her older brother, never Cody could leave her alone, knowing how much pervert exists in this city. It's better to lose a couple of minutes than to lose your sister for the rest of your life.

"Hey, do you talk with your friends from the other dimension? You wake me up in the middle of the night" Cassandra asked curiously. Cody only could do a forced smile.

"Y-yes, sorry about that, they are only free to talk to me at night. They said hi to you by the way" a white lie to cover years of self-therapy through speaking to a camera. But Cody admits the camera diary is a good method to open his thoughts.

They arrive at the bus station stop, Cody checks his cell phone to look at the emails he received this morning, keeping an eye on Cassandra and how she is playing with the snow, drawing a smiling face.

"Be careful Cassie, I don't want you to catch another flu for playing drawing in the snow. Or you wanna go to the doctor again?"

"You are not funny big brother" Cassandra inflates her cheeks in a clear sign of annoyance, although to Cody only made her look more adorable.

"So, anything you are looking for today in school?" Cody asked.

"Yes! Miss Lopez said we are gonna play in the computer today, oh, and Lincoln said we can share our toys today so I can finally play with his dragon"

At least she is excited to go to school, not like him. The only thing he doesn't like is how his sister talks a lot about this Lincoln lately, who knows, maybe his big brother jealous starts to appear earlier than he thought.

"Oh, the bus is here" Cody said when he saw the bus. He watched his sister enter the bus and said hi to her friends.

"Goodbye, Cody" Cassandra called, waving from the window of the bus.

Cody waved back, watching as the elementary school bus turned on the next avenue and out of his sight. And when she was gone, the smile slipped slowly from his face. He sighed, with the hot steam coming out of his lips, put on his earbuds, turned around, and began to trudge through the snow. Coming down from his thoughts, he looked up from his feet and a sudden bright flash left him momentarily blinded.

He took a half-step back to steady himself, which unfortunately landed in a patch of ice. Cody lost what little balance he had and toppled backward with a packed thud onto the cold, mushy ground. Overhead, he could hear giggling, but it was a familiar welcome giggle. He couldn't help but laugh a little himself.

"Good morning Cody!"

His eyes cleared after a few seconds, and the blurr standing over him became a pretty girl in pigtails and the BIGGEST smile;

"Morning Kitty" he mumbled. Wow, she looked good with the sun behind her like that "Don't you know another way to greet people without looking like paparazzi?" he hefted himself out of the snow. "I've got a good shot down here, take you a picture for a hand up?"

He obligingly handed over her phone with a semi-playful glare and had already struck a pose by the time he snapped the image. Cody flipped the phone closed and offered it up, only to be grabbed by the wrist and yanked bodily up.

"Sorry about this, it's tough to get a picture of you that you don't go out with your eyes closed." Kitty apologized, biting back a smile. Cody laughed sarcastically at his friend as she hugged him close and brushed him down.

She'd been his friend since the fifth grade when a young and eager photographer had found a similarly young man climbing a tree to rescue a cat. He'd been doing so to impress the small gaggle of girls gathered around the base and had fallen out of the tree shortly afterward, but had insisted it was a noble and brave thing to do, and she'd agreed. She still had the photos in case she needed to prove it. Or just embarrass him. They had kept in touch for years. And when Cody's best friend and Kitty's older sister started had, against all odds, started dating, it was inevitable that they'd meet up again. She'd been an unshakable part of his life ever since and he couldn't be happier. Kitty is part of the few girls who…um….it was a stable friendship. And he thought the world of her.

She was an eager ball of sunshine in his life and he thought highly of her to ever take that for granted….or let himself notice how nice her breasts were…out loud.

Mainly he was trying not to notice right now the advantage of being exactly one head shorter than her.

"Hey Cody, did you do the English homework?"

Here we go again.

"I imagined it, so the photography club keeps taking your time. Just do it before the third period, and for the love of God, don't do a copy paste like last time," Cody said as he opened his backpack to get his English notebook out.

"Hey, I said I was sorry, besides we only received a warning. I promise to pay you for lunch," Kitty replied as if a suspension warning wasn't anything important, seriously this girl lives life very lightly.

"You owe me what? seventy billion lunches if I count the homework I've passed to you over the years.. seriously Kitty, you need to shape up" Cody let out a couple of sarcastic laughs, taking a gentle blow to the shoulder by the selfie addict.

"I knooow" moaned kitty, head in her hands. "The school's starting to catch on and I have trouble with my grades even WITH the cheat sheets" she sighed "The principal called me into his office a few days ago and told me I was getting a tutor this semester."

Cody winced. The principal was a special kind of unpleasant.

"A tutor? Well... maybe I can recommend you to Cameron...or B…or..."

"Thanks, but they already assigned me a tutor yesterday.." she sighed, and Cody was at a loss for what to do. He patted her on the shoulder gently. "I hope it's at least someone who has a lot of patience since it's SOO boring sitting through all that."

"I know Kitty" mumbled Cody, who'd had to walk her through her history assignment more times than he could count "I know"

"Why can't I just keep getting you to help me?" She moaned into her hands "Maybe I'll get Courtney," she hummed. She probably was trying to sound hopeful, but Cody caught a little waver in her voice…or maybe that was just his OWN shock.

"Really? Miss type A herself?"

"Come on, I know you two don't exactly get along… but she's not that bad" Kitty said, only cringing a little. "She's…tough, but she means well and gets results. I wouldn't have gotten through my Spanish finals if it weren't for her."

"Kitty you were mumbling random words in Spanish for a week AFTER the test"

"See? It REALLY stuck in there. Besides, she's really nice when she's not in test mode" Kitty said. Cody just gave her a level stare. "...I mean I really saw her out of test mode…. Once… I swear. She took me camping afterward anyway"

"No, just…no" Kitty opened her mouth to speak before changing her mind and holding her hands up in surrender.

The two trudged in comfortable silence for a few blocks.

"Sooo….how's the family?" ventured Cody.

"Oh, Emma's doing great" said Kitty, jumping at the break in the tension. "She's been over the moon the past few weeks preparing for her date with Noah. If I weren't so happy with her, it'd be impossible to live with. How's little Cassandra?"

"She is doing fine...it's just she recently talked a lot about this boy named Lincoln, I 'm starting to understand this big brother's jealousy, I can't stand the idea of being in love with her best friend, she is only six!"

"I can relate" admitted kitty before turning red "to being jealous I mean….of a sib-OVER a sibling sorry. I…um….I ran into Heather again" she blurted out before wincing.

Cody suddenly stopped smiling, now looking a little uncomfortable "Oh...she verbally attacked you?"

"No, but she is not the best person I wanna close in school...hey" now Kitty's voice is more light, "are you sure you don't want me to talk to Devin and Brick to help you with the whole Duncan problem?" Again, here we go again.

"I already told you, Kitty. I'm already accustomed to both Duncan and my current situation; I'll be fine, you better focus on keeping the photography club open and I am in keeping my scholarship" Cody knew that his smile is somewhat forced. Still, he really wants to leave the subject behind.

Cody had his own problems, a pair of them named Duncan and Alejandro. Privately, Cody started going over his strategies for staying out of their way and studying…And what's more this year they had girlfriends, didn't they? if they came with his girlfriends, it seems that the roof again will be his place of relaxation, another year, and he would graduate, only expected time will go fast.

"Hey, Kitty! Over here!" before she could answer back, they had already reached the entrance to Wawanakua High School. Devin, his girlfriend Carrie, and Mickey are waiting for her. Of course, Cody felt like Carrie avoided looking at him. That's weird, why would she mad with him, she doesn't share the opinion about him like the others

"Do we walk home together as usual? It's Tuesday," Cody said to try to leave and not invade her friend's social circle.

"You bet on it, I see you in biology" both took separate paths to enter into the high school building, the typical American high school with lockers and water fountains.

Cody didn't take much to meet his group of friends in the same old corner.

"Look who is her, the perfect gamer."

"Does it still bother you that I beat you cleanly on the LOL five times in a row, Noah?" the sarcastic guy rolled his eyes before touching his fist with Cody.

"That was great dude, the combination of attack with strategy was brutal, you should try to enter the official competitions," Sam said as he lifted his gaze from the Nintendo DS, for sure playing Super Mario Bros again.

"Nah, all the credit goes to Cameron, he's the one who passed me the traps," Cody made it as he opened his locker to put the books of the day in his backpack.

"It's not a big deal, the big deal was yesterday's math exam, it was a hard one" Cameron said.

"Yeah...I feel so confused. I was still remembering how to subtract and Dwayne put this test on the very first day, GOOSH" Harold said.

"Hey Cody, since you are the expert, Noah and I have a little confrontation of the result in question four. The answer was over six? OR OVER three? Cameron asked, looking at Noah, ready to prove he is right about it.

"Over three, remember that you have to reduce the result to the maximum, you'll be lucky if Professor Dwayne gives you half a point to get close to the answer," Cody replied calmly.

"Yes! I told you, Noah!"

"You're an idiot, Harold, you put it to be minus infinite, which doesn't make any sense at all."

Cody smiled a little as he watched his friends plead for whoever screwed him up the test the most. This was nice, a welcome break from-

"Move you loser"

...Speak of the devil...,

A harsh shove came from behind, and just like that, he wasn't smiling. Stepping past him, every bit as prickly as his metal spikes would suggest was a green-haired teen with a black shirt. Cody glared, and the scoling punk returned it. There was a deep chuckle, off to the side. He wasn't alone…from the corner of his eye, he saw a red-haired goon in a tank top Scott push Cameron over, sending his things clattering to the ground.

While Cody found good company with Noah, Harold, and the others, he had no illusions about their safety. They were the outcasts, geeks and nerds. And with scrawny physicality, weird interests and frequent admittedly loud talks on their general opinions like manga and comics, they were easy to spot in a crowd, easy for predators to find.

Predators like Duncan. Predators like Scott.

Cody could see the fear in Cameron´s face, he could not blame him, he was scared too, scared of Duncan, scared of what happened in this school. It is always like this, the kind of people who enjoy watching others suffer just to feel superior, to feel their infinite ego. Scott, in particular, could ALWAYS be counted on to wear a thin, white tank top that NATURALLY showed off the muscular arms he thought he had, and the shark tooth collar he thought made him look "cool". Cody had to admit, it DID make him look dangerous…like some army dropout.

"Hey, ladies stalker" said the green-haired goon. Cody winced. And not just because Duncan had lifted him by the collar of his shirt "this is just two bucks. Do you want to get a punch?"

"No, Duncan, that's all I have to spend, I swear."

"Pay the tax, or you will not come out of your locker until the end of the day" threatened Duncan, as around them each of Cody's friends gave up their lunch or lunch money.

His toll payed, Cameron valiantly tried to slip away unnoticed. On the ground, Cameron slowly reached for his belongings. Only for a hite, high heeled boot to kick them away and press down hard on his hand.

Where the punks went, their safety net was never hard to find. Taylor Wells and Amy Avery. One looking like she'd smelled something awful, and one looking like she'd bitten into something sweet. The faces of their group, and the most famous "popular girls" of the school. A sport-star wannabee known across campus as a Daddy's child to the core, and a cheer captain who was rotten every bit as deep. They were the spoiled glue that kept their little social strata at the top of the chain in exchange for a LITTLE bit of muscle whenever she needed a favor. Or a victim. Or, in Amy's case, a good time.

She'd been just as bad as Heather for years and unfortunately had had her eye on kitty and him for nearly as long.

It was a hegemony, and they were the popular ones at the top. I've had that problem a lot. No trouble.

Thankfully, Taylor wasn't looking nearly as vindictive.

"Do we have to waste your time here Duncan? Like, everyone knows you can't make more money from poor people like Cody here. And why are we stuck breathing the same air as these commoners?" Taylor said. Cody wasn't sure how much of that she actually thought was real but knew it was better to just shut up. No matter HOW much he wanted to ask.

Amy punctuated her remarks by twisting her heel and watching as Cameron visibly bit back a gasp. Duncan eyed Cody, thinking about it….

Then he let go.

"Just because I'm feeling good today, I'm going to let it go. But I'm waiting for at least five bucks or a good sandwich, or we'll honor the flag with your underpants," Duncan growled before throwing him to the ground. Cody groaned into the ground. Apparently they weren't finished yet, and he couldn't prevent a yelp as he felt a sudden cold splash running down the back of his pants. Rolling over JUST enough, he could see Sugar tossing aside a freshly empty bottle of water.

"Oopps, my bad," she drawled.

Karma? Were you there? He'd been holding out for you for years now, and this would be a great time to show up now….Please?

Cody REALLY hoped karma was listening anyway.

At the edge of his mind, Cody could hear his friends standing, talking to one another. One of them was getting louder and…oh, they simply wanted to go to school, though he noted two things, Harold's strange smile when he looked at the bullies, and a green-sweater girl who looked at him from afar, which she instantly disappeared. It must have been his imagination, well, first-class, math.

Cody didn't mind being a walking cliché as he sat at the back of the class and near the window, like almost all the protagonists of some anime or manga story. It was natural, sometimes he needed to disconnect from this cruel world and just think about the immortality of the crab. Math is a subject that costs you some work, more when you have a teacher like Dwayne teaching the formulas, without offending him, you notice that he is a good guy and loves his work, but sometimes…

"Good morning, I hope my surprise test will help you motivate yourself this semester, let's rock, yeah!"

Anyone could literally hear the cricket sing his melody at how uncomfortable it is to see a man perform in his forties as a fifteen-year-old. If he didn't ask anybody for advice on how to connect with his son, Junior, he would focus on teaching the class so it would be "entertainment". This is not really the case, math is a subject most students like to be taught slowly, but Dwayne´s style of teaching is to focus on one problem for five minutes, and then jump to another problem with a different process of solution or use a different formula. It is not rare that many of the students at the end of the hour ended with more doubts about the class.

Cody was playing with his pencil, ignoring Lindsay and Beth's monotonous talks about how great Heather is or Justin's natural beauty, he had to think of a way to make money soon. His father would suffer another stress collapse would be a coup de grace to how the hospital bill left his family last time.

"Cody Anderson"

Hearing his name came out of the trance, of course, they were delivering yesterday's exam results If Professor Dwayne weren't hated before, doing an exam that counted for grade on the first day after a long vacation, would do it. Cody got up from his chair and headed to the front of the class, ignoring the whispers of some of his classmates about him, no longer mattered. He simply took his exam without seeing the number and returning to his place, he will check this later.

The rest of the class was like any other class, the teacher writing formulas on the board, randomly asking any unfortunate soul about the answer to the problem, often exposing his ignorance in the matter. Survival at school not only looks at your social class but academically too, luckily, Cody had both sides covered.

"Samantha. What is the answer to the exercise number twenty?" Dwayne asked a blonde girl just like Amy, but it is her twin sister, or what he can guess since both are identical, obviously, they are twins after all.

"Ah...uh...I think it's a fraction of x over twelve."

"Uh, almost but no, it's x squared over twelve, you must be careful with the potential young lady" at that moment, the bell rang "that would be all for today's class. I want you to solve the exercises of Baldor from page thirteen to fifteen and give me your procedural sheet tomorrow by entering class, have a great time."

Dwayne left the classroom to be in time for his next class, he really likes being five minutes early than the students. This was the chance Amy took to said something to her twin sister

"Well done Samey, you ruined it again," his twin sister shouted, uncontained at the exit of the classroom.

"Sorry, Amy, I got nervous, and I told you I'd rather you call me Sammy."

"Shut up! Now give me your history assignment that I didn't do!"

Cody just walks by, simply looking at his cell phone. This not concerns him, besides, he is not that brave to jump to rescue her in front of these people, an innecessary move knowing his situation

Next was English with Tom, a young teacher who also had a hobby for fashion, creating a fashion blog with his girlfriend, Jen. Tom is one of the girls' favorite teachers for all the subjects they could talk with him. Cody would define him as an average teacher, without any advantage or disadvantage. From the side, he watched as Kitty winked at him in gratitude for lending him the homework. Cody didn't want another report for plagiarism. In that case, his girl best friend would have to buy a new cell phone.

Then came the worst class of the day for nerds like him, physical education with coach Ryan, an adult muscle who could break watermelons using only one arm. He didn't have to explain the obviousness of how someone without physical condition like him does it in this class. Besides being the only class where bullies have permission to destroy other students without any punishment, luckily, it's winter season, and they would work indoors.

"All right little athletes, we'll start with fifteen laps around the basketball field, run" with the annoying sound of his whistle, Ryan saw his students start running.

Here the task for Cody wasn't to finish the fifteen laps first, that's what athletes like Tyler and Sky were insured, not to forget Eva. The purpose is to survive to withstand the rest of the class and the last few hours. It is scientifically proven that a tired body does not help to maintain the margin in the studies. Even when Duncan stuck his foot in him on more than one occasion, Cody didn't claim at all, he would just get up and continue with the exercise, finishing the first part alive.

"All right class, now make pairs and get ready to stretch" the class quickly re-arranged themselves into pairs "excellent, now—"

"Excuse me." Coach Ryan shrieked…er…hiccup with manly surprise and turned around. A blonde girl in a green sweater who looked like she hadn't seen exercise or sunlight in years was suddenly standing behind him. "I don't have a partner"

"Ah, That's….true. I'm sorry Mrs. Forest, but there isn't anyone available, so I guess you'll have to sit this one out. Over there, where you can't creep up on anyone like we talked ab-"

"What about him?" The Girl, Mrs. Forest apparently, said pointing. Cody couldn't see the free student, everyone around him seemed to be paired up….wait she didn't mean? "He's free"

"Um…that's Cody Anderson" said the coach, looking around in the hope some other student would suddenly materialize to be volunteered. "You…uh….don't have to choose-"

"Is there a reason why I shouldn't?" she said, in complete sincerity. Both the coach and several students stared at her. Coach Ryan could FEEL the eyes pass onto him, waiting to see what would happen next. It was easy to tell, he REALLY didn't want to be having this discussion.

"Erm…none…that I can….say"

"Oh, wonderful! It's decided then '' she said, drifting over. As coach and student alike took a moment to take in what had just happened, the moonchild introduced herself.

"Hello citizen of the universe, I am Dawn, and will be your partner for this class"

"Nice to meet you, Dawn, my name is Cody"

The coach regained enough composure to cover himself with a glare.

"Watch yourself Anderson" Cody didn't need telling. He was worried he'd break this girl in half by breathing too hard. How was she so THIN?

"You have a brown aura you know"...at least Cody was pretty sure she was introducing herself.

Cody recognized her face from here and there, but he'd never really approached Dawn before. And here she was, standing there, waiting for a response…

"Um….thanks, same to you?" Cody answered. She nodded happily at his comment.

"Our pasts are weighing very heavily on our mind" she un-clarifyied, then began her stretches. She didn't seem to be interested in any more conversation, and that suited him just fine. He had NO idea how he'd talk to her anyway.

"Um, yours is very…blue?" he ventured. The girl paused and gave him a long look. "Nevermind, my nonsense" he muttered, starting his own exercises. A girl who read aura…thinking back, that did sound familiar. He'd never really met her before, but something on her wakes up his curiosity

As Cody asked, a blow to the face playing dodgeball took him to the infirmary. It's not the way Cody expected, but he was satisfied to be free of the GYM class.

Next destination, the cafeteria.

The cafeteria operated with two kitchens, one elegant with luxurious but expensive food, and that given by the school with food sent from the oldest nursing home, much cheaper but more disgusting. Don't I need to say where Cody's going to eat?

"Good morning, Chef."

"Good morning, skinny, give me your plate" Cody extended his tray, watching as the old soldier served him something reddish with a loaf on it. Cody could swear that he saw his food move, but it doesn't matter, food is food.

"Hey, give me two grape sodas, please."

"It would be two dollars more."

"I only have one" Cody took out his wallet and showed the solitary bill.

"Sorry, you know the rules."

"Okay, I'm going to the machine that sure would take this dollar" when Cody felt the Chef's hand on his shoulder, he smiled. Cody knew it's a somewhat dirty technique, but they're survival techniques for the poor people, anyway, he was already doing the Chef a favor by being one of the very few students he consumes in his food. After the hot dog scandal with dolphin sausages and the vegans almost castrated the Chef, he was surprised that this place was still open.

Okay, it's time to find a table alone to study a little, bingo.

Or so I thought before Cody saw another tray be placed on the same table.

Oh great, the assistant principal, Courtney.

"Move along Anderson. I saw this table first."

"I'm sorry, but this is the only place I can study, and I get there first," Cody replied right away. He'd just push his luck a little. The next claim goes straight to the roof.

But that claim never came, quite the opposite, at the bizarre moment of life, they ended up sharing a table because of the stubbornness of both, he would only eat and then go away.

Cody pulled back his chair, only to have it yanked back into the table. After blinking in surprise, he caught a glimpse of a green pants leg peeking beneath and a wooden platform heel hooked around the chair leg.

He glared across the table, the assistant principal smiled sweetly back…in that smug way she did.

Keeping eye contact, Cody raised his tray, stepped around the table and placed it deliberately down. There was a small clang as another tray came down at the same time. Cody looked back at Courtney who's smugsweet manner was looking a little less convincing.

He firmly pressed his tray down. It jolted in his grip as the other tray suddenly shoved across the table-top. Cody tightened his grip and pushed back. The two warring students locked eyes as it slowly dawned on them at the same time. There was no way to keep the food ON the tray if either one of them gave way, was there? With a silent nod, and a count to three…the tray-lock broke apart, and silently the two sat down. Each waiting for the other to make the first move.

Cody waited. Courtney waited. Cody glared. Trying to will her to stand and go anywhere else. Courtney groaned.

"Really Cody? You're going to do this? Can't you just study in your free time?" Courtney muttered. Naturally, she didn't want to make a scene. Cody quickly glanced up and found that she hadn't looked at him. She was staring determinedly at her lunch, glaring like it had offended her by stubbornly intruding.

This is the only way Cody thought about avoiding a conversation with her. Dang it, that REALLY backfired. Cody returned his gaze to his own food.

"Didn't think you knew what free time was" he muttered. He could hear her grind her teeth from across the table "and I can't hear you. I'm reviewing my test, I'm busy," Cody replied as he took a bite out of the red thing, which tasted like raw shrimp. His pen scratched over the paper in silence for a few minutes as he and the assistant principal studiously ignored each other. Minding their own business out of spite.

"Hm…" she said. Oh great, she was done. Please leave. Cody looked up and unfortunately, the perfectionist had not, in fact, decided she was needed elsewhere. Instead, she was looking at his paper with professional curiosity, which meant she was putting her frustration with him aside. Oh, PERFECT.

"You need someone to proofread it? Independently check your grade?" she asked. Cody paused. He DID technically need that….and Courtney WAS technically qualified, heck OVERqualified, but he REALLY didn't want her getting her hands on his grades. But…he REALLY needed to pass this class. Maybe she'd go easy on him, for old time's sake?...or at least less harsh?... yeah, that bridge was gone, but he really didn't have a choice.

With a sigh, Cody slipped the papers across the table. A shadow crossed her face for a moment as she seemed to remember that they weren't on good terms "must have done pretty badly" she muttered, accepting the paper. But the siren song of academia quickly washed away her obligation to the grudge "let's see..." straightening out the paper, she took out her red pen and started scritching notes of her own. After a few minutes, which Cody used to finish eating, she cleared her throat and read "Cody Anderson, your grade is...what?"

Cody Anderson Mathematics II

Rating: 97/100

"I see…so that's why." Courtney muttered, narrowing her eyes.

"What was that?"

Courtney slapped the paper on the table and quickly schooled her features into her "professional" face. She abruptly stood, bag already on her arm and spoke quickly in a curt, even tone.

"Nothing! Good test, but don't let it go to your head. We all have lucky days" and with that, she turned and marched across the cafeteria.

Cody picked up his test, brushing the crumbs off carefully and turned to follow the trainee counsellor. What was with her today?

...Well, he didn't really care all that much, and as long as she's not going to complain to her punk boyfriend,it wouldn't affect him. Maybe he USED to care but…that had been some time ago, back when…nevermind. He wasn't going there again. Cody focused on the present, and on eating whatever the Chef had prepared today. Better to pretend that this awkward situation never happened, like Courtney probably was. Man, she could be an ass sometimes, which was appropriate because as much as he liked to see her going, he loved watching her leave even mo...wait, no!

'No Cody! No! That's not you anymore. It doesn't matter how pretty they are, those days are over. you're supposed to leave that part of you buried deep, deep, down…stupid hormones' the geek thought blushing from embarrassment. Rememberings days…long gone. Cody looked back at a table across the room, where a blue-haired girl in gothic clothes was sitting, surrounded by chatting friends and a great boyfriend. He could…maybe she would look over here if he waited and…no. He quietly tore his gaze away. Best to avoid trouble, the past is the past.

No matter how much he enjoyed the memories.

Alone with his thoughts, he slipped unnoticed from the cafeteria. He'd eaten enough, so maybe he could find a nice place to study and…what was that sound?

Turning around he caught sight of Amy of all people, covered in beans and…wait, was she crying? He'd…never seen her like that before or….any kind of emotion except for spite really. She…almost looked like she was actually having a breakdown. Taylor stood nearby, with a freshly spilled tray, so he was probably going to take….no, he was laughing? All around people, probably victims of her on law of averages were starting to notice and join in. that was….odd….but he didn't need to get involved. Honestly, Amy had it coming and-

Stop, stop laughing, I didn't do anything

...oh no. no, this was different. She actually deserved this, she…

Please

…that voice wasn't just in his head, was it?

The scene before his eyes was stuck on repeat. An infinite loop of fresh flashbacks mixing with memories of...a part of him that that couldn't move on. It wasn't…like that, was it? He'd learned. He knew to take the easy path now and could judge others at a glance like…like…not, that was the way to do it. Sure it sucked, but that's why reality, the world sucked right?. Suddenly the laughter stopped and Cody blinked to see what had taken them by surprise.

Ummm! Why was he standing in the middle of them all? Why was Amy clinging to his back and trying to hide behind him?

He wanted to back away but…some part of him couldn't. Maybe it was an innate nobility, or the part that still couldn't say no to a pretty girl, or the part that couldn't say no to THIS pretty girl who had a grip that felt like it could crush cast-iron (seriously. ow), but she wasn't going anywhere, and the most he could do was back away with her as she pulled.

"Thank you..." someone mumbled into his back. It had to be Amy, but it didn't…sound like her? Or maybe that's what she sounded like when she wasn't spitting venom. Those words were barely audible in his ears anyway.

Cody could feel his hands begin to sweat, with his heart at a thousand per hour. Everyone was staring….he had to get out of here…he had to…

There was a call for someone named Sam, and everyone was momentarily distracted. Thankfully including Amy. Cody made his break for it while his better senses still were working. He threw an apology over his shoulder at the girl with her arm outstretched, but he was gone before he could change his mind. And for a pretty girl like THAT it was quite an accomplishment, no matter how venomous…..

...he needed better tastes

Sammy had her hand outstretched to her fleeing rescuer, but he'd stopped looking back. What was that? Why did he just…flee?

At least, she is sure there is still are good people in this school.

After he'd calmed down, being in the bathroom for the rest of the lunchtime, the bell rang. Which means it was time for history. Great, well, it had to be better than whatever that had just been anyway.

"Cody Anderson, please go to the principal's office as soon as possible."

Oh….oh...of course. Wonder what he'd done this time? Cody sighs. It was already exhausting, but it would be better to end this get the day over with. Excusing himself from the room and pretending the rest of the room wasn't watching him, he soon found himself standing out of the principal's office.

Principal Mclean was…not quite the typical principal. He had an odd sort of charisma that had landed him a tv career for a while, something he'd been surprisingly open about, and wasn't as focussed on rules as most principals Cody had met. Which had been something of a relief to him, in hindsight, but still was rather odd for the lynchpin of the school...

Why was he here, anyway? He'd lost some history notes, and Miss Himiko wasn't going to make her presentation again for him….so why was he being called away?

"Cody Anderson" Grinned the Principal, as always "Now, not long ago you didn't excel in any subject. However, this year, you've put a LOT of effort in and taken a really impressive an impressive leap in your grades. Not bad dud, not at all. You've hit an average above ninety-five, being in the top three of your generation, and that's the kind of effort I like to see. Makes the school look good, and makes ME look good as a principal. So, Except for that little incident a few years ago, we can't complain about your behavior, can we?"

Cody flinched at the mention of the…unpleasantness. It was always awkward talking to Mr call-me-Chris Mclean. He had this way of just staring straight through you and finding exactly the thing he needed to say. And it ALWAYS felt like some sort of interview. He'd had job interviews this summer that were more easy-going than a supposedly casual chat with the principal, and to top things off he still didn't know why he was here.

"Sooooo…we have your request to raise your scholarship from fifty to seventy percent" Said the man in question, pulling a slip of paper out from beneath his desk. Cody winced "and that's a little much, don't you think? The school isn't made of money you know, and well, I don't feel like spending a lot even if I was. However we, that is the board and I, ARE aware of those tiny financial hiccups that your family is going through right now." the man hadn't changed expression at all, or even blinked "Total bummer, by the way, and you know what? I've thought it over and I have no problem giving you the scholarship you asked for!."

What?

"Really?!" Cody said, jumping to his feet. Maybe someone up there doesn't hate him as much as he thought.

"You just gotta do us ONE small favour" oh. Dang it, of course, there would be a condition, nothing was ever free in this world. For him anyway. Cody squirmed under his gaze, and the principal's grin grew a little more.

"Oh don't look like that, it's pretty simple. You just have to do a little tutoring work for the next semester. And hay, since you're doing an actual job for the school, you even get an actual salary! Because legally I have to. WE give you a list of names, and if the scholarship will be yours. And if you pass my expectations with flying colors, I have contacts to recommend you at good universities in America. Is it a fair deal?"

No. absolutely not, thank you.

But then…I can't say no to his face, who knows what he'll do. There are those rumors about the mutant shark and…okay, maybe being a tutor isn't something I like, but, the financial aid would keep me from having to waste time looking for work, plus this could be my ticket to studying in America… oh, to heck with it

"I accept."

"Great, introduce yourself to this classroom with all the material you think is necessary for the study session WE've already told your students that you'd accept. SO happy you didn't let them down. I wish all of you the best...and if you don't give me a reason to expel you, you can retire a happy man. Looking forwards to it"

Principal Mclean pulled a piece of paper from the files and passed it across the table. When Cody read it, a classroom number was written down, presumably his. Cody…didn't know how to feel about the expulsion thing, but there had always been rumors …nope, he had to focus on the positive side. That, and adjusting his schedules so this didn't get in the way TOO much of what he had.

Thankfully, his teacher wasn't mad when he re-entered the history class with his Japanese home teacher. Guess meeting the principal was a pretty foolproof excuse, even if he wasn't quite sure how it had happened. The rest of the class hardly even noticed him coming back, they were too busy doing research work in pairs. on the second industrial revolution if he remembered right, and his assigned partner was….there.

Sky, The captain of the school gymnastics club.

Cody sidled over to the desk where she was sitting. Sky is a little short of the average height of the girls, her hair reaches to the shoulders and is black. Sky wears orange pen-shaped earrings, he has a purple pearl necklace, an ivory shirt with a hip line of the same color as the pearls, highlighting her clear skin. She also wore the red sweater of the sports club with the name of the school, tight black leggings and some Nike brand sneakers in purple with orange parts.

He carefully sat down, thinking about how best to break the ice. Maybe this would work.

"I-"

"You can look at the origins and their causes, I've already done most of your workload and I'll have the rest done by the time you finish," Sky said without turning to look at him, focusing her attention on her laptop. The glare on her face told him enough, however. Cody winced.

"I'm…sorry about getting called away like that…."

Her fingers paused for a half-second, which from what he heard was probably her equivalent of a deep sigh.

"That's…not your fault, but we don't have time to talk about it. I've had to do the work for two students while you were gone and you can apologize or you can get started" She said. She kind of sounded sympathetic, he guessed? He'd had a lot of experience with goal-focused girls before, and it was a lot nicer than some people he'd met, so he'd take it.

"Right, right. Of course" Cody mumbled. Setting himself and his stuff down, he pulled his laptop out of his backpack. It is full of stickers from some comic book and manga series logos nowhere near as sleek and professional looking as Sky's. She probably had a much cleaner bag too and…huh. "hey, sky? Are you alright?" as he looked across the table for a quick peek at her bag, he'd noticed an ice pack tied at Sky's ankle

"What?" she said, turning sharply. Cody nodded at her ankle and it took her only a few seconds to realize "Oh…that. Don't worry, it was just a small injury during the dodge ball. I'll be fine for tomorrow" she'd…look a little worried for a second actually. Maybe she thought he meant something else? She…was looking at him kind of intensely now. It was getting a bit awkward. Cody cucked back into his pack to break the eye contact. He could FEEL her eyes still on his back, but maybe, aha!

"Here" Cody said, producing a decently sized (he hoped) stack of papers. Sky looked away from the screen for a second to take the sight in, then took a second longer look. She passed, then turned to him with questions in her eyes.

"Is that?"

"Yeah"

"Okay...how did you do that on the way back from the principal?"

"I…didn't. I thought I'd go ahead and do as much as I could on the subject before class today and, well, this is what I managed. I...uh…didn't want to be a burden." he mumbled.

Sky blinked in surprise before turning back to the papers.

"Could have used these before" she muttered with a smile. As she leafed through the papers, her gaze gained focus and she turned the papers more and more quickly. "Not bad, not bad at all…worth considering…" and locked back onto her laptop. "gonna have to take some work to make it fit though". Cody tried to ask a few more times, but he'd lost her in her focus. Instead, he just did what he could and sent her the files when he finished. The class passed by pretty quickly, although he supposed he'd come in a lot later than the rest, and soon he and Sky were packing up to leave.

"I sent the document to Blackboard...thanks for the extra information" Sky said, giving a fast glace to Cody.

"No problem...eh...good luck in gymnastics" Sky just waved goodbye and left the classroom. What was that? He needs to learn sometimes it is better to remain silent to not transform a casual talk into an awkward moment.

Outside of the classroom, Cody met with Noah, who thankfully took the same class. Thankfully his friend let him take a picture of his notes (then a few more to keep it legible), to cover what he'd missed before he had to leave for his own next class. Which left only two for the day, Spanish and Biology.

Don teaches Spanish, a traveler who learned several languages on his travels around the world, his classes were based more on the memorization of the Spanish vocabulary and the resolution of examples, passing his course is simply in the effort to improve the language. The last course in the day is Biology, taught by Miss Alexa, a Northern Vermont American who loved two things, experiments and talk a lot, leaving the hand of her students sore after their classes. The exam is not so complicated because it has multiple. The problem is that it is the only subject where class activities are just as important as the exam, luckily Cody had already dealt with such teachers before, nothing significant to report here.

Cody walked down the hall after the completion of the regular classes, skipping past many shadows who were busy in their own preferences, such as him. Now you should focus on the near future, how to be a good tutor to get your desired scholarship, should I start with a general exam? Start with something easy? Ah...definitely this day has its positive and negative points

"Cody!" someone shouted his name from afar, watching Kitty run from the school entrance, right, he had to tell her now he is a tutor.

"Kitty—" he didn't have the time to finish when Kitty hugs him.

"You are so brave...even with your fears, you are still can defend innocent people, you are hero" uh...he never felt like a hero, and sure Amy would annoy him tomorrow for embarrassing her in front of the cafeteria

"I´m okay, thanks for the hug, I really need it" Cody said, dedicated a small smile to his girl best friend. Suddenly Kitty remembers something important.

"I'm so sorry. I won't be able to walk home with you today, I was forced to start the courses in the afternoon because of my poor performance last semester. Geez, for sure my tutor will be a boring nerd and nothing fun."

"Seriously? I just took a job as a tutor. Which one is your classroom?" Kitty pulled out a piece of paper, and Cody checked it with him, both with the same class, 1321 "So I´m a dull nerd to you, eh?"

"What?! Of course not! I didn't know you were...will you be my tutor?! Awesome!" Kitty embraced Cody again, this time with joy, which better than your best friend tutoring you for school. On the other hand, Cody tried not to enjoy having her face between her best friend's breasts.

"Anyway, come on, we're late" after the hug, Cody wanted to move on, but something stopped him "Kitty?"

"I'm here to hear you" Cody turned to see her, the change of atmosphere was radical "you promised me that if you felt bad, you'd talk to me."

Cody didn't say anything, just gave her a little smile and squeezed Kitty's hand a little "Sorry, it won't happen again."

After the incident, they were both standing in front of room 1321, Cody took air and opened the door, seeing the three girls who lived this morning somehow Dawn Forest, Samantha 'Sammy' Avery, and Sky Madison. He didn't know whether to rejoice or throw himself off a seventh-floor headlong for having a group with only girls...okay, here goes nothing.

"I'm Cody Anderson and I'll be your tutor this semester, I hope we get along."

A/N: Here is the first chapter, it is very likely that some things will change in their content because I want your general impression first before making any changes. I want to thank so much to Strange Idea. The user who takes the trouble to be my beta in the English version, many improvements to these ideas were improved thanks to him/her.

As you have noticed, this fic follows the current of the anime of tutoring that are breaking it in recent times like that of the quintuplets and Bokutachi, so I hope to focus more on the progress of a relationship than to give a huge harem to Cody. Thanks for reading and I look forward to your feedback, and if Ala wants to, next week I'll bring start posting CoDawn week now coronavirus gives me A LOT of free time to use. Oh, and answer the open-ended question I put to you down, kuna out :)

Tutor Group 4:

Tutor: Cody Anderson

Supervisor: Courtney Estévez

Students:

1-Kitty Chang

2-Samantha "Sammy/Samey" Avery

3-Sky Madison

4-Dawn Forest

5-¿? (You can give me your suggestion of who can be the final girl and why in the reviews or PM)

Important: You can choose the rest of the girls in the cast except these girls because they have a role in the story: Gwen, Sierra, Zoey, and Heather.