It's Monday again, but it's not just any other Monday.

It's the first day of his last year in high school.

Chase absent-mindedly walked on the halls of Adventure Bay High, waving at those he knew as he passed by them.

He made his way to his locker, the very same locker that he had for six years. As of now, it's empty since he's always cleaning it at the end of every year.

After putting some of his things inside, he closed his locker only to turn around and become face to face with someone else.

"Boo!"

Chase jumped back in surprise and hit the back of his head on the lockers, making the other person laugh.

"Oh my god, Chase. You should've seen your face!" Marshall managed to get out in between laughter.

"Do you always have to do this every time?" Chase grumbled, but he couldn't help but chuckle along with his best friend.

Marshall, despite being in a year lower than him, still managed to become his best friend. They were next-door neighbors, and their parents work with each other sometimes.

"Of course," the pale boy said like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "And you never get used to it anyway."

"How could I? You somehow managed to surprise me in a lot of ways."

Marshall chuckled once more. "Anyway, is Rocky gonna meet you here?"

Chase shouldered his bag and leaned against the wall. "No, he said he'll meet me on the grounds. The principal wanted to talk to him about something."

"Alright, I'm just checking," the younger boy said with a smile as he started to arrange his things in his locker which was only a few ways away from his friend's.

"It's been a year. Your mother still had you checking on him?" Chase asked in surprise.

"You know how she is. Besides, Rocky's my friend too," Marshall said, closing his locker with a loud bang. "Anyway, the program's gonna start in five minutes, so we better get going."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Welcome to Adventure Bay High, freshmen, and transferees! And for those who are returning, welcome back!"

Chase was sitting in front of the stage where the principal was speaking on the podium. With a brief glance behind him, he could only just make out Marshall's distinguishable pale skin in the mass of students sitting in the hall.

"Before everything else, let me introduce to you the members of the student council who will be helping maintain the peace in our school alongside the teachers."

Student by student got called to go to the stage who are either the top students of the school or at least, the popular role models.

"And last but not the least, let me call on the student council president, Chase Catchair!"

Applause erupted from the students as the aforementioned boy climbed up the stage to take his place beside his fellow student council members. He smiled down at the crowd of students.

"I hope all of you had a great summer, for this year is sure to be exciting. With this, I hereby declare the official start of the school year 2020-2021!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

If there's a question I repeatedly asked myself while writing this chapter, it's "how do you write the first chapter of a high school story?".

Note: This will be based on my experience as a high school student, meaning that this would be really different from the usual ones (different from the ones I've read, at least).